Silver Lake

Last night and the night before, we took the drive up American Fork canyon near the top to Silver Lake. Sunday I called Jared Young and suggested driving up somewhere and doing a little bbq grill up. I had in mind actually staying low and maybe just going up to Canyon Glen, just below Bridal Vale Falls. His idea was different and he ended up dragging us 45 minutes up the mountain.

The last 3 miles into Silver Lake is bumpy mountain rode. As you could imagine, that didn't go well with VeeAnn because of her concern for Brooklyn and her head stability. But after finally making our destination, all seemed well and we were happy to be in such a beautiful place. Reagan, Kenna and Kaylee were excited to be free and ran down near the water. It makes me happy that my girls love to go to the mountains.





Our first night up, we weren't there all too long. We were there long enough to start a fire, cook up some hotdogs and for Cassadie to eat dirt. It started to rain, so we headed out. The next day we decided to do it again, and this time Devin and his family and Ryan Anderson came with us. We took fishing poles so us boys could go go snag up some trout. I took my dog, Addie, and all she wanted to do was swim. We had to stop her so she didn't get in the way of our fishing. She kept going after the ducks in the water.

Devin and Ryan were the only ones to catch fish. We ended up with 5 small trout, including 1 golden trout. We took em back to the camp fire and cooked em fresh aside our tin foil dinners. They were delicious! Dinner was great, and everyone had a good time. We stayed a lot longer than intended but the ride home turned out to be a sleeping spell for the girls.

Goals

I've made some goals for myself this year that I hope I can begin to have success with. The first goal? Lose some damn weight! As far as exercise, I think I'm on my way. VeeAnn gave me my best birthday yet this year and got me a mountain bike. I never thought she would actually do that. Because they're so expensive, the only way it could be made possible was for her to buy a used bike from one of my good friends.

It was funny because I was in the bathroom chippin' some porcelain and Reagan knocked. I told her I was finishin' business and when I stepped out, she was standing there holding a bike tire! I freaked out and was in shock! Since then (that was June 8th), I've been trying to bike 3-4 days a week. I usually ride with my good friend Matt Baird.

The first time we went, I had to stop and take a breath break atleast 7-8 times. A couple times I thought I was going to pass out, leaving my biggish body to roll down the mountain and into the backyard of one of the mansions below (which, of course, would require the momentum of my oversized personage to bust down a fancy stoned wall).

After 4 weeks Matt decided to sign me up for a bike race up at Sundance. That made me a bit nervous. After some persuasion, he dragged my ass up there and the next thing I know, I'm truckin' up a hill behind about 15 other racers. We both raced beginner class, which is 1 lap of an 8 mile course. Sport class races 1 1/2 laps and expert competes in 2 laps. Of 18 racers in beginner class, I placed 15th :-( It was tough! It took me 51 minutes. Matt did it in 45 minutes which put him in 9th place. I think I pushed myself too hard at first and didn't pace myself well at all. I blew out (which is the threshhold of exhaustion) about half way through the course.

After a couple more weeks of riding Matt, once again, persuaded me to compete in another race up at Sundance. I gave in AGAIN. BUT, I must say, I did a lot better. I'm willing to bet I shaved off atleast 5 minutes. I was actually passing people this time! I don't know on my time yet. I'm still waiting for that to be updated on the site. By the end of the summer I would like to be competing in Sports class. The expert guys are doing 2 laps in 1 hour and 5 minutes! INSANE!

So, anywho, that's one of my goals; to lose 30 lbs. I'm getting the exercise in (although I need to start lifting again), but I need to start watching my diet. I figured it was pointless until VeeAnn had her baby and then we could both start watching what we're eating. We'll see how that goes. About 16 months ago I was doing great with both diet and exercise, but fell out of the habit, so I know I can get back into it again. The goal is not to be the fat brother of the family, but a title I'll hold proudly for the time being.

The next goal is to increase my income enough that VeeAnn doesn't have to work anymore. VeeAnn loves her job and really doesn't mind working. She works part time and gets paid well. She also gets benefits for our family which is something that my current job doesn't offer. Supposedly that may be changing, but I'm not holding out. I love my job, love working from home and love not having someone breathing over my shoulder, but it's hard for me to completely trust people that I only communicate with over Instant Messenger...so when they say they'll get us benefits, I say "great...I'll believe it when I see it."

Family Update:

Brooklyn is doing great. She really is an excellent baby. I've never heard her cry for more than a minute. She doesn't have fits, she just belts out to let you know she's hungry or that she doesn't like you changing her diaper. She's loving her baths now and loves to be talked to by her sisters and Mommy. Dad? Eh, she thinks I'm okay. Lol.

VeeAnn's mom leaves tomorrow. She's always great to have around, especially when the new babies are here. We'll be sad to see her go. Every time she comes for a new baby, she's made a blessing dress for each one of them. Her and VeeAnn finished it today and it's really cute. Her mom's a professional seamstress, so she does amazing dresses for the girls. Brooklyn's baby blessing will be September 7th. And yes, Dad, we will be doing it here in OUR ward.

People often ask how Reagan and Kennedie are handling the new sister. They are great! Reagan is completely in love with her new sister and is so gentle and loving with her. Kennedie thinks too that she is pretty neat. Kenna's usually in her own little world but is so cute when she spends time with Brooklyn. I think all 3 of them will be very close for the rest of their lives! They're all super cute. I make cute kids! VeeAnn contributes as well. Harhar! Now pics of the kids and the new finished rooms

Brooklyn is Home!

We had the option of staying at the hospital for another day, but VeeAnn was anxious to come home. I was anxious to get them both home as well. The great convenience to all this is that Vee's parents were coming into town for a family funeral--her uncled killed himself last week :-( . Her Dad can only stay until Sunday (her Mom plans to stay for a couple weeks) and has to get back to work, so if we had the baby on the delivery date (next Tues) he wouldn't have been able to see her. Now he gets to enjoy Brooklyn for his whole stay here! They arrived shortly after we got home.

For those who didn't know, we finished our basement. We had the carpet laid last week and have all the furniture rearranged. We're excited for that because now Reagan and Kenna can enjoy their new room. We bought a new trundle bed so Kenna can just pull her bed out and put it back so they have room to play with their toys during the day. We were originally planning on a bunk bed, but come on...my girly girls need to keep it feminine! Reagan saw the trundle bed and liked it much better than the bunk we were checking out. You don't fight it, you just go with it. It looks great though! We're glad we got it.

The guest room is huge, so we've set up the queen bed in there and have it for anyone who wants to come and stay. Don't come now though. Vee's parents have it occupied for the time being.

The other room (the one without a window) has officially become my office and I have it all setup so I can continue to work comfortably from home. We also have the futon in there should we have a handful of guests here that need a place to sleep.

Back to baby--she's doing very well. She is sleeping plenty and only cries when she gets her diaper changed. I don't think she likes feeling any air or breeze running over her body. She likes being bundled up. I was real worried that she would be restless and a screamer, but she is a very good baby. Believe or not, Vee actually got sleep last night, so we'll see if we can stay on pace like this for a little while. Here's some more pictures. Just as a reference, wife keeps several photos on her DropShots account, so check it out. She's been keeping pics on there for a few years, so there's plenty to see.


http://www.dropshots.com/veeann

Beginnings!

Aside from starting this new blog for our family, we also have a new daughter amongst us! Brooklyn Anne Mogle was born yesterday at 2:10pm.

VeeAnn started having quite strong contractions about 3am yesterday morning. She assumed that she would go into labor that day, but the contractions stopped at about 9am. She had called her brother Daniel to let him know that we might need him to come and watch the girls so we could head to the hospital but called him back and let him know that Brooklyn was just playing games and inflicting false labor.

Well, come 12pm the contractions were consistent to 3 minutes apart (which is pretty much a big sign of labor) and they were very strong. We called Daniel back but he wasn't going to be able to leave work now until 1pm. VeeAnn figured she had plenty of time. Just minutes before he arrived, VeeAnn was starting to feel a lot of pain and we knew we didn't have much time left. He showed up and we were already loaded up in the car. We left our house at 1:30 and got to the hospital 15 min' later.

We darted in through the main entrance, grabbed a wheel chair and headed for the 2nd floor (labor and delivery). We had to call in to get through the door and once the door opened and I pulled her from the wheelchair, she fell to her hands and knees in response to a very strong contraction. The nurses saw her, grabbed her and mentioned that she must be close to having a baby.

We were immediately admitted to the nearest room (room #1!) and within minutes the nurse checked her and confirmed that she was dialated 9 1/2 centimeters which is the mark that it's time to start squeezing a kid out. The Dr. arrived 5 minutes later as did the anesthesiologist and within another 10 minutes they had her water broke and a spinal shot given to numb the pain. It was then that we started labor and within minutes Brooklyn was into the world. We arrived at the hospital at 1:50 and Brooklyn was fully delivered by 2:10. Crazy!

Her stats are 7lbs 6 oz and she's 19 1/2 inches longs. Brown hair? Yup...left me with some questions, but the face structure and cheeks confirmed she was a Mogle. Reagan came out with nearly black hair. Kenna was the only one to be born with blonde hair.



Both mom and baby are healthy and all has been well. I've been taking care of Reagan and Kennedie. We just got back from the hospital from what will be the girl's last visit there. I'll wait for Daniel to get here around 5pm once he's off work and then I'll go back and bring mom and baby home around 7. Yay! More pictures and video to come!