Welcome baby Rhea Hope

The story of our forth born child has not been told; and it only happened 12 weeks ago. It's 6AM on the first Sunday morning in 12 weeks that I actually slept the entire night before. So I'm compelled to sit down and tap away at the key board.

I'm 44 years old and I have a 12 week old, 22 month old, 11 year old, and 20 year old. I guess technically I'll have a 29 year old in a year too, since Alex is marrying Ben Barlow - soon to be Ben VanDongen...I don't think he knows he's taking Alex's name yet.

Ok, on to the birth 12 weeks ago; the birth of Rhea Hope VanDongen. She was born on 2/18/2014 at 2:18 AM at Lake View Hospital in Bountiful. Cristal was surrounded by me and two nurses. We paid for a doctor, but, like Abigail, Rhea did not wait for the doctor.

February 18th was a Tuesday. The day before, Cristal's doctor had told her she was fine and likely had a couple weeks left before we needed to really be ready for the baby's birth. So that night Cristal and I had a conversation that went something like this - 'hey, the baby's not coming for a couple more weeks' - 'cool, lets not do anything to prepare for another week' - 'that sounds like a great idea'.

So we went to bed on February 17th hoping we'd have two kids born on February 28th. At about 1:30AM Cristal jumped out of bed and proclaimed, 'either I peed the bed or my water just broke'. Considering the fact that I'm the only adult in our household that has ever peed the bed, I thought it was highly unlikely Cristal had just done that. So we were off to the races.

Ally and Sam Chacon, our Nights in Shinning Armor, were there for us; as they have been countless other times in our lives. Ally had already warned us that we better call her in the middle of the night if we needed her, well, we needed her. She was at our house within 10 minutes to stay with Abigail.

We grabbed the go-bag, that was packed, despite our clear attempts at being slackers. So we were on the road, in my police car, with Sam timing the contractions within 10 minutes of Cristal waking up. Sam meticulously kept time of the contractions, asking if 45 second contractions 3 minutes apart was a good sign. We knew it pretty much meant we'd be lucky if we made it to the hospital.

Because we'd played this game before, we called the doctor on our way to hospital, as opposed to waiting to get there. We entered the ER at 2:08AM. The receptionist must of seen the urgency in our faces, she promptly dropped the paper work clipboard and got us directly to labor and delivery.

The labor and delivery nurses were fantastic; Heather and Sarah. Cristal and I told them the baby was coming NOW. I know, from being in a similarly chaotic profession, that you learn very fast that 'calm breeds calm and chaos breeds chaos'. The nurses were calm, cool, and collected and said, 'sure the baby is coming now, just lay back and enjoy the music and let us do our work...'

Cristal laid back, the nurse took one look, and the color drained from her face - the baby was coming. The nurse really did try to hide her surprise and concern at the impending birth without a doctor, and she may have convinced us that she wasn't concerned if we weren't trained to read body language. Although, I think even a novice crime solver would recognize 'WHOA, THAT BABY'S COMING NOW!' as an apparent surprise to the proclaimer.

I asked the obvious question, 'this is a hospital, isn't there a doctor somewhere?' The nurse smiled and said yes, but they're all scared of labor and delivery. For any man that has been by a woman's side during labor, that statement makes complete sense. So I shrugged my shoulders and got to work helping the nurse.

Within 10 minutes, Rhea was born. I have to say, Cristal is a walking birthing machine. Our forth child came completely natural, again. I've seen grown men cry more about a splinter than Cristal did that morning. In fact, Cristal pretty much ran the show.

Like all our kids, Rhea did not want to wait until the due date. She came three and a half weeks early; our earliest. She was healthy, but a bit a yellow (Jaundice) and really small. They put her under the lights for a night; she was not happy about that, but it worked. Her color returned. So far she's the darkest skinned of our all our kids, with the least amount of hair, and the darkest color hair.

We were out of the hospital within two days and on our way home to our next life adventure - two kids in diapers at the same time, one kid in college and engaged, and a boy in the middle that won't slow down for anything - what on earth are we thinking???

I know exactly what we're thinking. The heart's capacity for love is unlimited. Rhea just fills that cup with a little more love.

There has been no greater joy or adventure in our lives than our children. Cristal and I have had a lifetime of adventures, from ski and biking trips in our early years, to our high mountain adventure for our honeymoon in the northern Canadian Rockies, to our crazy public safety jobs. We love adventures. And what we've learned over the last 20 years is the adventure of parenthood is the greatest of them all. I can't wait to see what the next 20 years will bring.

WHAT!!!!

What does a father say when his daughter sends him this photo in the middle of the night? Well, a mother gets a tear in her eye and exclaims her happiness for her daughter. A father says, 'maybe she said no...'

She didn't say no. The night of 12/28/2013 Alex officially grew up. Her boyfriend, Ben Barlow, proposed to her. She said yes.

This was really no surprise to Cristal and I, since Ben came to me first and asked for my blessing. What does a father say to this type of inquiry, certainly not unequivocally 'yes'? I asked the hard questions, and there were hard answers. But, after much deliberation, I finally did say 'yes'. I told Ben he was exactly the type of person we'd want Alex to marry...other than him not being Catholic. So I gave my blessing and I guess we'll see what happens when worlds collide. God has a funny way of bringing people together.

We've always been proud of everything Alex has done in life. This next step for her is no different. We're looking forward to adding Ben to the crazy VanDongen life...I just hope he can keep up.

Christmas number 2!

The 2013 Christmas differed from the 2012 Christmas in the sense that Abigail was self aware. A year ago she laid on a couch and slept through the Christmas celebrations. This year she ate crayons and tore through packages. She made the season special for all that celebrated with us.

Old man winter hit hard in December 2013. An arctic freeze gripped the Wasatch Front with bone chilling temperatures to start the month out. Then mid December the snow hit, and hit, and hit...it was absolutely beautiful and back breaking. We had an east coast type of snow storm that dumped the heaviest snow I've ever experienced in Utah; my entire office showed up the next day with back pain.

Sam, Abi, and Pele wasted no time with the snow. Battle lines were drawn with neighbors, forts were built, and snow ball caches were stocked. The great snowball battle of 2013 ended with Dad - 1 and Sam, James and Abi - 0...pretty much how they always end. However, I'm fearing next year's arm strengths.

Sam and I started the Christmas season on the ski slopes. We logged many hours; which equated to almost as many hours of icing my old knees. But it was definitely worth it. We found groomers, bumps, jumps, and dad's favorite untouched 'pow pow'.

We shopped for Christmas trees in Fruit Heights with Grandma Pam and the fam. We found a great local lot that even had live trees to cut. Alex and Sam cut our traditional Charlie Brown tree for our house. What a great afternoon we had doing the simple chore of finding a tree for the house.

We did our annual pilgrimage to the Bryant's Solitude home the weekend before Christmas. As usual, an amazing weekend of perfect friends, fluffy snow, good beer, and lamb chops to die for. Samuel set a Wanaka (the Solitude home) record of 12 lamb chops devoured; the previous record was eight. We worked the chops off the next day with endless slopes...and dad got a couple laps in Honeycomb Canyon at the end of the day. We love the Bryant side of our family...their slope side home makes it easy love.

Our tree was decorated during Grandma Pam's birthday celebration at our house. Abigail broke as many ornaments as we hung.

Our church had a live nativity during the Christmas Eve mass. The whole family attended mass and Sam played the role of Joseph in the nativity and his good friend Matthew was a Sheppard. The blemish on Sam's face in the nativity scene is not make-up, it's an ice friction abrasion. Only Samuel can turn Christmas Eve sledding into an extreme sport, and get injured while wearing a helmet.

After mass, Christmas Eve was spent in our traditional way at Grandma Paulette's and Grandpa Dave's house. Alex's boyfriend, Ben Barlow, was on leave and traveled to Utah from Fort Lewis in Washington. He spent the Christmas season with us.

Christmas day was as magical as always. The kids woke early, as they always do, and we obliged them. After reflection of the season, the kids did what kids do on Christmas morning. Santa was pretty generous this year, and apparently felt that Sam was old enough for a rifle; an authentic elfish Ruger 10-22 imported directly from the North Pole was under the tree.

Other family members joined us later Christmas day. The day was full of Grace, family, friends, sunshine, and love. Pele particularly enjoyed Niki's dog loving parents, Ted and Debbie. Both of whom had Pele doing his Frisbee tricks on packed snow; no easy feat for a paw foot.

 

The sunshine provided the perfect lighting for great family photos.

Christmas night was spent enthralled in an epic Nertz tournament. For those that don't know what Nertz is, don't waste time figuring it out. You'll only find that Cristal can't be beat and Sam always looses.

After Christmas day, we took Grandma Pam to Hardware Ranch above Hyrum. It seemed like a good idea; sunshine, a horse drawn carriage ride through a huge herd of wild elk, and family. What could be bad about that...other than 1500 other people had the exact same idea we had. I'm not sure that two hours in line in 20 degree weather was worth the ride. But, if you've read any of my other posts, you know, after many years of hunting elk, this was as close as I've ever been to the animals.

Our family loves Christmas. We spend much of the season reflecting on God's Grace, family and friends. Christmas cards from family and friends are always a joyful anticipation for Cristal and I; we enjoy reading each one and reflecting on those that sent it. Because of our relationships with family and friends, Cristal and I feel blessed beyond measure. Abigail continues to grace us with many of life's firsts; and its' an absolute joy to experience.

The Throws of Winter

Abigail’s arrival to our family’s lives has been nothing less than a blessing. The experiences with her through the Fall season have added a new spice to our lives. She’s challenging, charming, beautiful, chunky, shy, and loud. She has Alex’s demeanor, Sam’s drive and her mother’s reasoning. She’s obsessed with bellies and mine is the only one with hair, so she loves it…hopefully, she doesn’t get that from me.

The Fall started out with the family participating in a 5K run in support of a work colleague’s wife who was going through breast cancer treatment. Cristal even participated, pregnant no less, while pushing Abigail in the jogger. It was Sam’s first organized run like this. We agreed it would be a slow, family affair. However, upon arrival, Sam saw the runners warming up. He asked if there was going to be a winner in the race; we said yes, but that we were just here for the fun run.

 

Sam was having nothing to do with a fun run. As we lined up with the other runners, Sam began to make his way to the front of the very large group of runners. When the gun sounded, Sam was off with the lead pack of runners. I attempted to catch him to explain that even though 5K was not a significant distance, it was still not sprintable. I was not able to catch Sam. And it was not from a lack of effort; I ran my best 5K time since I was in my 20’s and came in 18^th place. Sam placed 2^nd, behind a competitive cross country runner.

 

Alex continues to make us proud with her commitment to school, her country, us, and God. Her grades are better than they were in high school. She's an engaged ROTC cadet and soon to be soldier nurse. She spends every Sunday with the family. And she rarely misses Sunday mass. We love that kid.

 

Alex with Utah Governor Gary Herbert

 

The Fall weather provides the perfect opportunities for activities along the Wasatch Front. One of our favorites is mountain biking. Sam has become an accomplished rider. However, his confidence bites him from time to time. Look closely at the third photo...Sam does not have a third nipple, that's where his handle bars almost impaled him during a ride above our house.

 

 

 

Halloween was absolutely priceless with Abigail and the rest of the family. Abigail was a hedgehog. Sam demonstrated what he thought of referees; he was a blind referee. We trick-or-treated in the neighborhood. Abigail definitely figured out the gig. At our neighbor’s house, the McMasters, their dog Buddy, who Abigail knows well, brought her a ball at the door. She took the ball, and instead of throwing it as she normally would, she put it in her goodie bag. The neighbors thought it was so cute we ended up with another ball for Pele.

 

 

Pumpkin carving is always an event at our house. The kids love it, mom and dad love it, and Pele loves it (because he harnesses his inner vegan and eats the seeds). It starts at Packs Pumpkin Patch in the west farmlands of Farmington and culminates in the zombaic creations that light our porch on Halloween night.

 

 

 

We did our annual pilgrimage to St George Utah for the Thanksgiving soccer tournament. I’m not sure how many years we’ve been doing this, but I think it’s on the order of ten consecutive tournaments; and based on how our life is evolving, I don’t see an end to it any time soon.

The tournament is always a good time. Sam’s team always does well in tournaments; however, this year was different, they were knocked out early and did not make it to the play-off rounds. We had a gaggle of grumpy boys on our hands.

 

Our solution for the grumps was to extend the trip one extra night. We reserved a room in Springdale with our good friends, the Skoruts. An afternoon hike in Zion National Park quickly helped the boys forget about the tournament. Then a carb laden dinner at The Bit and Spur restaurant rounded out the day so the tournament blues were nothing but a distant memory fading away in digestive juices.

 

Sunday morning I woke up early for a run through Springdale. I’ve run through Springdale before, but never before dawn and never during the Christmas season. It was absolutely magical. The Christmas lights illuminated the streets, and the stars were abundant in the moonless sky. The 20 degree morning was bone chilling, but I was lost in the experience and didn’t notice how cold my hands were until I entered the hotel gym. While warming up in the gym, still before dawn and before anybody in the town was stirring, Sam came wandering in and joined me while I did a Short Card. These tiny moments in time are my life long treasures.

Winter is now bearing down on us. We've squirreled away our winter stash and dusted off the skis. And wouldn't you know, the first major storm hits and Sam and I are both down with the flu. This morning I woke up from my flu induced daze to see Cristal, 7 months pregnant, shoveling snow in the drive-way.
 

Abigail has enriched our lives more than we ever could have imagined. Our lives have always been filled with meaning; however, watching new lives develop before your very eyes is truly a spiritual experience.