Merry Christmas from the Kesler Family!!!

So much to be thankful for . . .

This Thanksgiving was a very special one for us. Brynlee Kae Ulrich was born into our family on Wednesday, November 23rd. 

On Tuesday night we headed to the hospital around 10:30 and I was already dialated to a 6. They immediately hooked me up to IVs and gave me my epidural. We then sat and waited as I was slowly progressing. Scott was a champ! Poor guy had a terrible bed, but was a trooper. With people coming in every 5 seconds all night, you are bound to get NO sleep.

Scott even got to help with the epidural.

At about 3:30 AM they checked me again and I was at an 8. They put me on pit just to get things moving a little quicker and that ended up backfiring. They kept checking me and I was continually at an 8. They finally decided at 7 AM that they were going to just break my water. The doctor broke my water at 7:15 AM and things went really quick from there. At 7:30 I felt like I needed to push. With every contraction it got more and more uncomfortable. Finally they allowed me to push and I pushed 3 times and Brynlee was born. The thing that made it even more special is that Scott was able to deliver her (with the Doc by his side). Scott did everything. It was really neat!

Brynlee was born at 7:43 AM weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long 

Proud Daddy!!!

My mom was kind enough to come and stay with the boys the night we went into the hospital. They came over and visited us the morning she was born! It was so fun to have them there and to see the excitement of having a little sister!

Austin & Brynlee - he has been so excited for so long and was so thrilled that she was finally here!

Jaxon & Brynlee - We were worried how Jaxon would respond to her, but he has been so cute with her.

Koen & Brynlee - He wasn't really interested at first because Cars was on TV when he got to the hospital, but he came around!

On Thanksgiving Day we were lucky enough to go home. 

It was a very special Thanksgiving. We are just so grateful to have her here and and that she is healthy & strong. We are so grateful to have such wonderful kids & feel so blessed. I am personally grateful for a wonderful husband that has helped me through this whole pregnancy and made the delivery as comfortable as possible. He has been so patient and loving despite my moodiness and discomfort. I am truly grateful that families are forever! What a wonderful Thanksgiving! A great reason to reflect on all that we are blessed with!

Kesler Family Videos on Studio 5 KSL TV in Utah

So Studio 5 in Salt Lake City, UT has discovered our family music videos and wanted to know all about them. Since Kelsi (my sister) is the brains behind it all, they invited her to be on their show and explain how to make them. She did a fabulous job and made the family proud. Here is a link to watch the clip of her on the show and to see a little of each video!!! So fun - way to go Kels!

http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=71&sid=18036995

Annual Kesler Family Music Video

Back in Action!!!

Wow! We have been out of commission for quite some time. Our computer died and we were without one for 2 months. Scott was very kind and actually bought me a new one for my birthday. So here we are . . . 

Well a lot has happened since Jax' birthday, but it would take forever to update, so we will start from now. 

Austin just turned 6 two days ago. It is crazy to think that he is 6 already. Wow how time flies!

We didn't go all out on the cake this year, but he was pumped about the Mario characters.

He struggled blowing out the candles at first, but he got there.

He had a lot of family there to celebrate with him. Thanks so much to everyone that came. 

He got spoiled from EVERYONE! Stars Wars Leapster game . . . 

Beyblades . . . 

Lego set and light up car . . . 

A lego table to play all of his legos on . . . and more.

Koen was really wishing it was his birthday!

Jaxon's favorite part was the birthday cake. He downed it. He ate it a lot better than his own cake on his birthday! He was such a happy camper as long as he had cake in front of him. It was hilarious!

All in all - Austin had a great birthday. Thanks again to all those that came and celebrated with him and for the very nice gifts. He is so lucky!!

Some other big news in our family is that we are expecting our 4th baby! Crazy to think, but we are so excited!!!

I am 22 weeks along now and definitely starting to show. 

The boys are so excited to have another baby. Jaxon on the other hand is not so sure. We were at the cabin with my family this last week and there were 4 new babies there and anytime Scott or I would hold one, Jax would get so mad. We will have to see how he does. It could be a challenge.

Since I am 22 weeks along now we do know what we are having . . . . . . . 

and it is . . . . . . . . . 

um . . . . . . . 

um . . . . . . . 

um . . . . . . . 

um . . . . . . .

A GIRL!!!
We are so excited! The day we found out, Scott went around the office at work saying, "Who's the man?" The boys are so excited especially to get a girl! We all can hardly stand it. We are due December 5th! It seems like an eternity away, but I'm sure it will fly eventually. The pregnancy was really rough at first - probably worse than the boys. But about 13 weeks I leveled out and feel pretty good as long as I eat when I am supposed to. So pink is coming into our home and we can't wait. 

Dance Day 2011

On the show 'So You Think You Can Dance' they are having a National Dance Day and they posted a video for people to learn. We all decided to learn it and it is so much fun! Scott is on the front row in yellow. Wow - does he have some moves or what!!!

National Dance Day 2011

This is one of 2 videos that we made this year at our Kesler family reunion. More to come . . .

Michael Meets Mozart

Here is another amazing composition by Jon Schmidt!!!

Jax' Birthday!!!

Now that this was a month ago- I thought I had better blog about it. Things have been crazy and so now I can finally do it. On March 18th, Jaxon turned 1 year old. It's crazy to think that it's already been a year and how fast it has gone. Where does time go? Scott's sister Kaci took some 1 year pics of Jax and these are a few of my favorites:

It's just so weird to think that he is 1. But its true!!! For his birthday we had a Sports party. Kaci came to the rescue again and helped me with the party. This was our centerpiece (yeah I'm cheap).

We made Jaxon his own personal basketball cake.

 Kaci put together these yummy cupcakes with super cute football sprinkles.

 And to polish it off, she made these luscious sugar cookies - aren't they so cute?

 Jax' birthday wasn't the best day for him. He didn't feel well and wasn't really into it. It's always so sad when you get so excited about something and then the kids just don't feel good enough to enjoy it. It was sad!

 This was the happiest he was all day. We gave him some of the balls from the centerpiece and he was loving it.

 The other 2 wanted in on the action as well.

 He kindof got into unwrapping the presents, but it wasn't nearly quick enough for the other kids.

 Someone gave him slim fast. (How rude!) j/k! It was hilarious! Way to go Keri & Bryce. Comical!

Scott & I had to jump in and assist because every time he would open a gift, we would all get so excited and loud and he did not enjoy that. He would immediately start crying and then have to get him calmed down for the next gift. It was a job for sure!

 It was time to blow out the candles and he did not want anything to do with it. I don't know if the "large" flame scared him or not, but whatever it was, he didn't like it!

 Scott finally just put some cake in his mouth to see if that would call him down and get into it, but . . . 

not so much! He was not so sure about the frosting on his hands.

Overall, it was a fun day for the rest of us. I hope Jaxon had a little bit of fun at least. Thanks to Kaci for all her help. It was a success!!! My baby is 1 - CRAZY!!!

What a Depressing Night!!!

So last night was a little depressing at the Ulrich household. We were all pumped up for the big day of NCAA March Madness Sweet 16 round especially because BYU and Duke were both playing that day. Needless to say the mood switched real quick as the games progressed. First we were all excited because BYU was keeping up with Florida and thought that this was it - BYU was going to make it to the Elite 8. Then OT began and the hopefulness went down the drain. Scott was so upset. It was rather comical really. It was just sad to see BYU have such a great season and get to this point and not progress, but Kudos to them for getting that far also. They were definitely a fun team to watch. 

And then it was time for Duke to take on Arizona. We were confident that Duke had this game in the bag. In fact, we were confident that Duke would at least make it to the Final Four - even the Championship game and eventually win the whole thing. The second half was super frustrating because Duke just couldn't make anything. Then Scott got REALLY mad. The game continued and our moods kept going down and down. When all was said and done, the Blue Devils got worked by Arizona and our night was officially ruined. Scott was not a happy camper. Duke was fun to watch all season as well!

Needless to say we had a rough night, but they are still our favorite teams. We will root for them again next year, but a definite damper to the March Madness. Our brackets are messed up like crazy, so we are rooting for the underdogs to take the championship. So, go Butler!!!

Ulrich Milestones!

It has been an exciting month here in the Ulrich home. Jaxon started crawling 2 weeks ago and it was so shocking. He has been so close for so long and then one day we were sitting at my parent's house and he all of a sudden took a few "crawling steps". We all screamed and were so excited. After him crawling for only a week, I was already missing him just sitting in one spot and playing with his toys. He is everywhere and into everything. He's opening all the drawers and cupboards and loves to empty things. So needless to say I have to follow him around and put stuff back together. It is fun that he is finally crawling though. 

Koen has been potty trained for 2 weeks as well. He turned 3 in November and we had been trying since he was 2  1/2. (It's been a long time). We would try for a few days and he wouldn't be one bit interested so we would stop for a couple of weeks and then try again and so forth. We tried tons of incentives and "punishments", but nothing was working. If he would have an accident, he would ask for his punishment. Weird! Finally Scott came up with something that finally worked and within a couple of days, there were no more accidents. It has been 2 weeks now and he has only had 2 accidents. He even stays dry most of the time at night as well! FINALLY! It was such a relief not only to have it done, but exciting because we didn't have to change 2 kids' diapers and buy 2 kids' diapers! Hallelujah!

Austin is now officially registered for Kindergarten. He is so excited. When we went and registered him he said, "When do I start going there?" I had to explain to him that it would be quite a few months still. He was so confused. He's definitely ready though and so excited. He asks almost everyday if it's time to go to Kindergarten yet. 

I was asking him whether he wanted to go in the morning or afternoon (after breakfast or after lunch). He goes to preschool right now after lunch and has to leave right before Scott gets home for lunch. His answer to my question was, "I want to go after breakfast so I don't have to miss lunch with Dad." I thought that was so sweet.There are days he doesn't want to go to preschool because he will miss the chance to eat lunch with Scott. It's really cute how much he loves to be with his Dad!

Our boys are growing way too fast and it's super crazy! We are so blessed to have the boys that we have and are grateful that we get the chance to be their parents. 

Girl's Weekends are the Best!!!

This past weekend the Kesler girls took a trip down to Salt Lake to have a little getaway. It was so much fun and much needed (at least for me anyway).

We started our weekend off by attending the Draper, UT temple. It is beautiful! 

We enjoyed a great session!

Then it was off to IKEA! You can't go down to Salt Lake without going to IKEA (the store that has something for everyone). Annie & I's kids are obsessed with "herbies" so we thought we better get a pic.

We all found some fun things. We were there for 2 hours and could've been longer! Great store!

And of course, you got to love the cinnamon rolls at the checkout. I'm sure they do that on purpose. Probably some of the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had!

And you can't leave without buying Daims. They are like mini Skor bars. AMAZING!

We then headed off for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. None of us have eaten there before except for Cami, so we thought we would give it a try. It was well worth the try. Amazing food - huge portions, but amazing food! 

This is right before our table almost got stolen. After waiting 85 minutes it was finally our time to be seated. There was a group of young couples that were standing by us and pretended they were us. But don't worry - Mom came to the rescue! It was hilarious!

We stayed the night at the Kimball Condos right by the Conference Center - very convenient! We had a great time staying up into the wee hours of the morning chatting! Good times huh?

We started the next day off by going to the Beehive House to have a tour. It was neat to see! I love old houses, furniture, etc. It was interesting to see how they lived back in the day! (Brigham Young's day)

In the South Visitor's Center on Temple Square they have this replica of the Salt Lake Temple. It is amazing how perfect it is. It was also neat to have it right there in front of the real temple so you really can see how identical they are.

On one side they have it open and have mini replicas of the rooms in the temple. It was identical and so amazing! How fun would that have been to make that! Highly recommended!

We carried on and had a tour of the Conference Center. It was neat to be so close to where the brethren sit. I've always been in the boonies, so it was neat to see what the view is like closer! Fun Fact: the Conference Center is 1.5 million square feet! Crazy huh?

We tried to take a pic of ourselves in a mirror! It worked!

On the roof of the Conference Center! I had never been up there before. Fascinating!

We had such a great time and are so glad we were able to go. We are missing 2 sister-in-laws and hope to be able to catch them next time. 

FYI: if you get to go to the North Visitor's Center on Temple Square, they have an amazing progressive video called "God's Plan for the Family". It is amazing and you will love it. It really puts our Heavenly Father's plan into perspective. Needless to say, we had a great time and I know I am looking forward to the next one. Thanks everyone!