Allen and Patrice McNeil

Emmie Sue McNeil

2010-12-08T10:39:00.001-08:00

Emmie Sue's arrival (Allen's narrative):

Sunday morning....

5:10 - Patrice woke me up informing me that she thinks her water broke, that she is having very bad contractions, and that we should probably call her mom to come over and be with Evan while we go to the hospital.

5:10 and 2 seconds - I jumped out of bed.

5:12 - I called Sue to come over and then jumped in the shower knowing that we had a few minutes until Sue got to our house and hoping Patrice wouldn't realize that I had jumped in the shower.

5:23 - I am out of the shower and getting dressed. Sue had arrived at our house. Still hoping Patrice hadn't noticed that I had jumped in the shower.

5:30 - I had things packed in the car and we were ready to go.

5:30 and 10 seconds - Drove over bump at the end of the driveway and Patrice yelled at me to slow down and not drive over bumps.

5:40 - Driving very quickly to the new Park CIty hospital. Patrice still yelling at me to slow down and stop driving over bumps. I agreed to do so and then sped up.

5:45 - Almost to the hospital. I asked Patrice if she was timing her contractions (because I had been and they seemed to be 2-3 minutes apart). Patrice said there was no break in the pain and thus could not distinguish contractions.

5:50 - Arrived at hospital. Main entrance was closed so we parked in the E.R. entrance and went in.

5:51 - I told E.R. intake guy that we needed to go to Labor and Delivery. Patrice told him that she needed an epidural (not sure he orders those).

5:52 - Debate between two E.R. workers, me, and Patrice about whether or not she can sit in a wheelchair to be pushed to Labor and Delivery. Patrice informs second E.R. worker that she needs an epidural.

5:53 - In wheelchair and heading to Labor and Delivery. E.R. guy pushing wheelchair tells Patrice she probably shouldn't push.

5:54 - Passed the early morning cleaning crew. Patrice asks them for an epidural.

5:55 - Made it to Labor and Delivery. Patrice informs all nurses that she needs an epidural and inquires how long it will take to get one. Nurses take Patrice to her delivery room.

5:56 - Debate between Patrice and nurse about whether Patrice can go to the bathroom before the nurse checks her. Patrice lost the debate, but won the subsequent debate about whether she had to put on the hospital gown (result = Patrice stayed in my lucky Patriots shirt). Fresh off of her no gown victory, Patrice again requests and epidural.

5:57 - Nurse checks Patrice and says that she is "complete" and ready to deliver. Patrice informs the nurse that she cannot deliver the baby without an epidural. Nurse will not make eye contact with Patrice and mumbles something about seeing what the doctor says.

6:02 - Another epidural request. Nurse tells Patrice not to push.

6:07 - Another epidural request. Even less eye contact, no mumbling or response whatsoever. Nurse again tells Patrice not to push. Patrice kindly suggests to the nurse that she is in fact not pushing, that her body is doing it by itself.

6:11 - Dr. arrives at hospital and is immediately greeted with an epidural request. Dr. informs Patrice she will not be getting one. I wait for Patrice to lose it, but she does not. She listens to the nurse and starts slowing down her breathing.

6:12 - Dr. is speaking with nurse and says she is going to check Patrice, but then says there is no need cause she can see that the baby is coming.

6:15 - A few good pushes from Patrice, and....

6:17 - Emmie Sue is born!!!!!

6:18 - Patrice informs me that she will spell Emmie (as opposed to Emmy) however she wants.

6:18 and .05 seconds - I agree.

Patrice was unbelievable. I can't believe that she delivered our little Emmie without an epidural. She is an amazing, wonderful, and beautiful wife and mom.

This is one happy dad to finally see his little girl.

Our beautiful little Emmie looks just like her mommy.

Grandma and Grandpa Shuppy were first to visit Emmie. Thank you so much for coming over to watch Evan and for bringing your camera to the hospital.

The next visitors to see Emmie were Grandma and Grandpa McNeil along with the Buti girls. Emmie loved to see that she has so many girls cousins to play with

Emmie first bath. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 inches long.

A visit from Aunt Giselle. Noah and Rajko would come and visit a little later. We also had visits from Sam and Tiana, Amy (arm pictured above), Cassie and Nate, Jane, Holly, and the Gunnersons. Thank you to everyone for visiting.

Emmie getting ready to head home on Monday afternoon.

And off we go on our new adventure....

Home Sweet Home

2010-05-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

I'm going to leave the green background since we are just now seeing green in the Kamas Valley. Just a week ago we got about 4-5 inches of snow. Partially because of the bad weather, we haven't finished some stuff on our new house. However, to prove that we did in fact build a house, I am going to post some interior pictures.
This is a picture looking from the kitchen into the family room. After we close on our permanent financing, we will hopefully be upgrading to a larger t.v. The main parts of the house (everything except the bedrooms) have knotty alder trim and doors with a dark cherry stain. The paint is "krisp khaki". A huge thank you to everyone who came and helped do the stain and paint, especially Patrice's dad Jon.

This is looking towards the family room/kitchen from the front entry. The main floor is open to the basement below, which is unfinished. We had to do a small finished room at the bottom of the stairs until we finish the basement someday. Doing the stairs and railing was one of my least favorite jobs.

This is looking from the family room towards the front entry. The wood/travertine inlay was also a job that I did not enjoy, but it looks really nice. The room off to the left is the office, which we did in hardwood flooring (not too hard of job). The front door remains unfinished because we need some good weather to take it off for the day.

This is the kids bathroom. The mirror will eventually have a knotty alder frame, but just installing it was enough for a while. Thanks to my dad who did the tile work in our showers (I will have to post a picture of that later).

This is Evan's bedroom. Patrice wanted to finish it in a blue paint that she saw in a Pottery Barn catalog. I was hesitant, but it really does look like a perfect room for a little boy. Although I love the alder trim in the house, the white trim in the bedrooms looks good.

This is guest room/future kid room. The paint is another Pottery Barn paint. This time it was green.

Shot of the kitchen. It is hard to tell from these pictures exactly how much travertine we laid down in this house, but trust me it was a LOT. The cabinets are knotty alder finished in the same dark cherry with accent antique white cabinets.

Another shot of the kitchen looking in from the family room.

So there it is. We really did build a house. I will post more pictures as we finish everything in the house. Again, thanks to everyone who helped us on the house. It was a ton of work, but we are very happy to be moved in.

I told you so...

2010-03-04T07:58:00.001-08:00

What have I said all along? Just see below to see that my WORST suspicions have been confirmed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_mediterranean_cruise_ship_accident

I have one more word for you: Titanic.

Let's never ever go on a cruise.

WORST. VACATION. EVER.

My Life would Stink without You.

2010-02-18T06:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, You, Love.

Just to be clear, THIS IS NOT a Valentine Post. This is just a long time coming, thank you from the bottom of my heart post.

I know you have worked tirelessly for the last 7 months on our house and that you work all day long as hard as you can and miss your little boy sooo much when you just have to come home and work on the house all night. I knew you were a hard worker, and that you were tough and amazing and smart. But I never knew that you could really work THIS hard. I LOVE that you are such a perfectionist. Everything is perfect in our house, and if it's not, you tear it out and fix it. I know you are getting tired of it... and I wish I could help more. (If anyone else is reading this blog I guess I should promise an update with pics of the house. Pretty much don't hold your breath for that.)

I couldn't be more happy with our eternal family. I love that after all these years (14 to be exact) you still say things that make me think and give more depth to the wonderful person I married. It is more than I ever imagined it would be. This is a true story. Seven years ago, after you had FINALLY proposed I was driving down the freeway in Salt Lake, thinking: I can't believe I am getting everything I ever wanted... My very own fairy tale life and happy ending.

Well guess what?

I got more.

Thank you, and I love you, my hard working man.

Seriously so Cute

2009-05-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

I don't want to spoil Evan's 1 year birthday pics, but I just have to post a sneak peek of our handsome boy. I have been going over and over the 200+ pics Grandma Shuppy took of Evan and I just can't choose. Thank you Grandma for taking the pics and helping us make Birthday card mess on your kitchen table for one week. I completely monopolize every second of her spare time. Now that we live here I don't know how I lived without my BFF for so long.

Beware! He bites. Especially when he is very happy. He also ate everything he was quick enough to get in his mouth while we tried to take pictures.

Ello Gubna! (Allen's contribution to this post)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLEN DEAR

2009-03-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe you are 30! I have just spent the last half hour looking through all our pictures from the last 6 years and each picture just made me think of all the happiness that you bring to my life. I can't list 30 great things about you because I will inevitably forget all the best things and the 30 things just wouldn't cover it. So, instead, I tried to pick some pictures that are "just so Allen" and you wouldn't be mad at me for. (This was difficult... and they are in no apparent order.) I truly wish you Happiness all year and the best Birthday ever! I love you luva!

Best Daddy Ever

All dressed up as Dwight

Such a hard worker

My favorite Dr

Golf Junkie

Perfect Son

Super Uncle

Birthday Boy

Christmas Elf

Super Duper Uncle

Aah the early years... enduring my cooking

Such a HOTTIE

Oh man I love you Birthday Boy. I can't wait for the next 30 years!

Highlight

2009-03-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

It's my turn to update since Allen did it last. Just a few highlights about the highlight in our life.

Evan crawls, stands up next to everything, and my favorite, sits on his little knees when he finds something to play with. However, along with his new found mobility, he has starting throwing tantrums about everything he doesn't want to do... only to me!! He reserves his worst behavior for his mom and even bawls his head off when Allen is around and I try to hold him in public. I narrowly escaped having my front teeth knocked out last week during one of his tantrums.

He gives all kinds of kisses. That is a complete lie. This kid is not a snuggler. In very rare cases, he might give us a little pat. Kisses are only achieved by eating salty chips so he wants to eat any remaining salt off our lips. And yes, he is trying to bite my lips in the picture below.

Evan reading his first Valentine from his mommy and daddy.

Evan is such a little biter. Mostly he likes to eat any kind of book or paper, but he also likes to chow down on socks and shoes, the couch, remotes, and his dad's fingers. I've included the pics below so you could see how enthusiastic he is about taking his socks off and eating them.

I love how happy this kid is. (When he is doing what he wants.) I 'm sorry some of these pics are blurry, but those little teethies make me smile.

Trapped in a Box

2009-02-08T10:27:00.001-08:00

Patrice told me that if I didn't update our blog, she was taking it down. I thought I would just skip the Valentine's Day background and go straight to St. Patrick's Day. I'm not sure why, but this apparently erased all of our blog links, so who knows when we will get those back up.

Here are some pictures that Patrice took of Evan playing inside his diaper box.

And here he is enjoying some yummy food...looks maybe like toast?

I just heard him wake up from him nap. Guess this will be a short post.

Our neglected Pet

2009-01-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

I'm so sick of seeing that last post on my own blog that I just had to change it. I'm sorry, this is not a real post. It's a shout out to my husband. If you don't keep this blog updated we are going to get rid of it. It's just like pets. If you don't take care of them you can't have them. And everyone knows with your hair/germ phobia this is as close to a pet as we may ever get.

So much to blog about

2008-11-30T21:47:00.000-08:00

As a general rule, blogging is last on my list of things to do behind things like, oh, brushing my teeth, showering, cleaning my house and doing laundry. Unfortunately it seems like my daily list is never finished and therefore, I never update the blog. **Warning: This is going to be world's most boring post. Allen is asleep on the floor and I don't know how to download recent pics. I will be including completely unrelated but cute pics of Evan.

Here is what we have been up to the past month:

1. We moved to Utah. And yes. We were THOSE people that you have all heard Allen complain about. People showed up at our house to help us move and we were not ready. I'm sure people went home and told their wives how we had stuff all over the house that wasn't in boxes. Not to be dramatic, but it was the worst two days of our entire lives so far. We both agreed and decided on the 6 hour drive home that we will be seriously dejunking before the next move. Also a big thank you to Grandpa Earl who came down to help. He didn't even say one word about how unprepared we were. We love you and thank you! Also thank you to everyone who unloaded in Utah.

2. We realized that we didn't have a washer and dryer. YIKES!!! I think I wash as many loads of laundry as Billie Jo. (Just kidding, not possible!) But I wash every day and loading all that laundry with my baby up and down my new stairs is my least favorite thing ever. However, thank you mom and dad for letting me use yours. Thank goodness my new washer and dryer will be here soon.

3. We tried to unpack. Every time I see Tess and Ellie they ask me if I have unpacked, organized and cleaned my house. NOPE. (See #2. This process takes up entire days.) I'm sure they just can't fathom the snail like speed I am getting my house put together. It particularly bothers Tess. I'm sorry Tess girl, I'm not amazing like your mom and dad. :(

4. We ate Zach's amazing wings. YUM! And my Utes beat BYU.... what more could a girl ask for?

5. We cried at Wal-Mart. (Ok I cried at Wal-Mart.) Everyone has been telling me that my 6 month old should probably be eating rice cereal, which may be true, but I just can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast. (I don't even think we have mentioned that Evan has teeth! 2 to be exact. And they are adorable.) So I went to Wal-Mart to buy rice cereal and baby spoons and stood there and cried because I can see that he is growing way too fast and before I know it he will be graduating from high school.

(Thank you Addy for emailing me this picture.)

6. We ate a delicious and wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Thank you everyone in the entire family who contributed! It was excellent. We were just missing our Sassie. I can't think of anything I'm more thankful for than my family. We also got to see Chelsea and Jack and have Thanksgiving 2 today. Have we mentioned how happy we are to be so close to both of our families?

7. We saw Twilight. I'm not going to be weird about this. But I loved it. That's all.

I can think of a lot more that we've done, but I better save something for later. Please note all the pics of Evan where from Las Vegas when I should have been packing. (See #1.)

Just for Billie Jo...

2008-10-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLIE JO & ELLIE! We love you both so much and we hope it was a great day.

Ever since Evan was born I've been looking for the perfect opportunity to give a much deserved thank you to world's greatest Billie Jo. I can't think of a better day than today.

I think everyone knows Allen and I are both horrible procrastinators. So, when Evan decided to come one month early we were really not ready. On May 24th we had Evan boy by 7:30am and since Cassie was having her farewell the next day, no one in my family was able to come and Allen's family was out of the country. Billie Jo was our first visitor by 4:00pm. She managed to find sitters for her 3 small children, pack, get a flight, stop at the store to buy preemie baby clothes and show up in my hospital room by around 4pm to be our first visitor. (That list didn't even include the 8 loads of laundry she inevitably did!) She picked up a rental car and arrived with her lists and gifts and all the while looking fabulous.

In the few short days she was here, she did the following:

Cleaned my entire house from top to bottom. (This would take a normal person about a week.)
Grocery shopped.
Filled my entire freezer with several weeks worth of gourmet freezer meals.
Took inventory of my baby stuff and went to the store and picked up the remainder of the necessities.
Brought me everything that should have been in my overnight bag and an outfit to come home in.

When you see this list you might think I never saw Billie Jo the entire time she was here. But not true. She spent most of the day sitting in the hospital with me and visiting our baby in the NICU. She was so protective of me and watched my nurses and Dr.'s like a hawk. Then she went back to my house and did the above list in the middle of the night, making it all look effortless. To top it all off, she drove our Passat back to the dealership in Utah so Allen didn't have to leave the baby and I.

So many people came and were so wonderful, but Billie Jo came when no one else could, despite the fact that she has quite a handful at her own house. (Thank you TIM for being so supportive and understanding and taking care of everything at home!!) I know we always tease that Billie Jo is amazing, but the truth is, she absolutely, positively is. When we come home for a visit she always calls us every couple hours to see where we are and she's always excited to see us when we finally get there. She stays up for us to party and continues working even after we go to bed. She gets up early and makes amazing breakfasts and all kinds of treats and food, all while taking care of her own family.

She just has so many talents and she uses them all to serve everyone around her. So Billie Jo, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you just like my own sister and I will never be able to express to you how much this all meant to me and how much I look up to you. Happy Birthday!

A Scary Fun October

2008-10-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

We have been having so much fun in October that we haven't had time to blog about it, but we luckily took a lot of pictures. Here is what we have been doing the last few weeks:
Evan was very excited to break out his Halloween shirts. If you can't read his shirt, it says "Short & Sweet". I just hope he is not disappointed next year when he is actually old enough to eat candy corns because those things are not good.

At the first of this month, we went up to celebrate Chelsea's birthday in La Verkin. We decided to carve pumpkins which eventually turned into a pumpkin carving contest. We were going to post the pictures on a blog and have people vote for their favorite, but Chelsea poisoned the voting pool by mentioning on her blog which pumpkin she carved...so from left to right: Chelsea, Jack, Max, Patrice, Evan, and Allen.

Evan was proud that he is making up ground on Jack. They must have taken this picture when we went to dinner and left Jack to babysit Evan.

We went to a pumpkin patch in Las Vegas to get some more pictures of Evan in his Halloween attire.

Evan didn't care too much about the pumpkins, but he did like the straw. A true farm boy.

Alright, getting pretty tired of pictures at this point.

No, we didn't take a break from the pumpkin patch, this picture is somehow out of order. Evan has started to like his bumbo a lot more and likes to play with toys on his tray. His favorite is his little pig that moves and makes noises. He mostly just likes to put it in his mouth. Yum...bacon.

Nope, we aren't lost in the straw maze, we are wondering why it is 90 degrees at the end of October. Utah, here we come.

Six Quirks

2008-09-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

Noah, please don't think that I just answered the quirks tag because Rick and Tim re-tagged me. I have been planning on doing it since you first tagged me. In any event, with Patrice's help, here are six of my quirks:

1. Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, I will not use a public restroom. This has resulted in many outings being cut short as I insist on heading home to the comfort of my own bathroom.

2. I love to look at the ads in the Sunday paper, and I have a specific method to do so. First, I will go through and pull out all of the ads. Next, I will arrange them in order of least favorite stores to most favorite, except that I won't put two of the same kinds of stores together (e.g., circuit city and best buy). Finally, other people cannot look at the ads until I have done so as this would risk them getting out of order.

3. I am exceptionally good at catching things with my feet. Not like a baseball or football (altough I probably could), things that are dropping to the ground (e.g., a glass, cell phone, etc.). I actually don't "catch" the object, but I can always break the fall enough that the object will be safe.

4. Patrice has pointed out that I always get a drink of water before we leave the house. This would make sense to me as it may be a while until I get another drink; however, it seems to be extremely irritating to Patrice. Apparently, it is the most irritating when I am telling her we are late and then still insist on getting a drink of water.

5. I wear a two-week pair of contacts for a minimum of five months. I believe my record is somewhere around 7 months. I refuse to be a sucker to the money-making consipracy between eye doctors and contact lens companies.

6. I love ketchup! I know that anyone with McNeil blood is reading this and thinking "that is not a quirk," but other people probably don't realize how much I love ketchup. I don't necessarily eat it on strange foods, but when I do eat it, I like to use a lot. In fact, I seem to recall eating breakfast in a certain golf course clubhouse with Rick screaming at me for using too much before I passed it to him (there were only 30 other bottles sitting on tables right next to us).

I believe the only person who hasn't answered the tag is Max, so I once again tag him. Max, let me get you started. Max has added another level to the food pyramid - string cheese. I believe the appropriate servings are 6-7 per day?

Alright, now that I have done the tag, here are some pictures of our boy:

This picture is in honor of our Aggies who got their first (hopefully not last) win of the season this weekend. Thanks Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Max for the best shirt ever!

Do not let this picture fool you. Evan HATES tummy time. In fact, he quickly learned how to roll from his tummy to his back so that he doesn't have to stay on his tummy.

Here he is being very proud that he got himself off of his tummy. Patrice puts him back on his tummy, but I like to reward him for rolling over by letting him stay on his back.

This hat is still a little too big. Luckily it will be summer in Las Vegas for many more months to come.

This is probably my favorite picture ever. This boy is going to love the snow just like dad.

Changing Time

2008-08-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's finally completed...well almost. I started building Evan's changing table before he was born, but because of his early arrival, I didn't quite get it finished in time. I have tried to find time here and there to work on it, and now, several months later, I am almost done. The only thing that I have left to do is put a few pieces on top to hold the changing mattress.

As you can see, we decided to go with a distressed green finish. The color is actually "heath green." I was a little nervous about the distressing, but we are very pleased with how it turned out.

This is the Pottery Barn changing table that I used as a model for my own. I followed the pattern pretty closely, but we wanted to be able to take the changing part off the top and have it be a regular dresser as well, and of course, we wanted to try the distressed look. I think we will also go with some antique-looking hardware instead of the painted wooden knobs to keep with the distressed look.
A little closer look. I think next time I might try a little less distressing, but once you get going, it's hard to stop.

The "E" on top was painted by Patrice. Also, she picked out the lamp base and shade. The lamp shade has construction equipment on it that you can see when it is turned on.

Next up...crib.

Has it been a while?

2008-08-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

We know, we know. Worst bloggers ever. Remember when I (Patrice) didn't want a blog because our lives weren't interesting enough? Well now our lives are interesting, but we don't have time to blog. Allen is the usual blogger at our house but since he only comes home to visit us every now and then, he's not blogging in his spare time. He usually comes home at 5 to kiss Evan and then back to work until 8 or later. Since getting a shower is quite the feat for me, I certainly can't blog. Anyway, we know what you're really here to see so, here is a picture of our little Evan boy.

Sleep deprivation has been great though. It has helped us discover Allen's secret talent. I know all new parents complain about this, but to be fair, it's not our baby. He is a very good baby. It's those darn Olympics which are only on in the middle of the night. Anyway, back to secret talent. The other night Allen and Evan were sitting in front of the tv and I asked Allen if he could put the sheets on the bed while I got in the shower. I get out of the shower, no sheets on the bed. I slam some drawers to make sure he knows I'm out of the shower, he never comes. Furious, I go to see what the issue is. I find them sleeping on the couch. As I suspected. I kindly asked him if he would like me to put sheets on the bed. I then marched myself back to the bedroom. A few minutes later Allen comes in and cheerfully says, "Oh, there aren't any blankets on the bed." I'm sure I don't need to describe what happened next. Someone became very angry and someone pretended to look shocked. The next night was when we discovered the talent. Allen asked me why I got mad at him and after discussion he told me we never had a conversation about the sheets. Secret talent: Allen can appear wide awake and carry on full conversations while sleeping. Ridiculous.

Well, here are some of our favorite pictures from the last few months in no particular order. (Mainly because putting them in order is going to be a huge difficulty and I want to go to bed.)

Daddy and Evan before church this morning. Please ignore the white trash dent out of our garage stucco. I have no idea where it came from. Probably from someone trying to break into our garage.

Evan loves to stick his thumbs out of his jammies. We think it is the cutest thing ever!

Evan sucking his thumb.

Our sweetest Tess girl on her 5th Birthday. (No she isn't ours, but we hope to have a little girl as cute as her some day. The odds are good since she looks so much like she belongs to Allen.)

The Three Boy cousins and their dads at the Bisel Reunion.

Evan in his lion towel after a bath. (This is a rare moment of happiness after a bath, since he HATES lotion.)

Evan at the 4th of July parade in Oakley.

Ellie and Evan on the 4th of July. How lucky is he to have such sweet cousins to take care of him?

Last but not least, Evan and Eli on the 4th. We were at Billie Jo's, hence the pink background. (Rick, don't worry it's fine for your son to have his picture taken on a pink blanket.)

Hopefully it won't be another month... but we aren't making any promises.

New Post Coming

2008-08-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

Patice has promised that she will be doing a new post tomorrow. I just thought I would let everyone know so you will know who to blame if there is not a new post.

OH CRAP!!

2008-06-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

I hope that everyone was expecting another post all about our little boy. We have really seen a change in his demeanor over the past week or so. After weeks of tickling, poking, and prodding, trying to get Evan to wake up and eat, he is finally waking up every few hours and telling us that he is hungry. After he eats, he usually has some awake time and will eventually fall asleep, provided that one of us is holding him of course.

Evan loves to play a fun game when his diaper is being changed. The rules are pretty simple, basically Evan tries to see how many times he can go to the bathroom without a diaper on, and then tries to beat his record the next time. The funny thing is it seems to be a game especially reserved for dad. There are bonus points depending on what type of mess, distance, and coverage on dad. We took a picture of his high score below.
Every morning when Evan wakes me up, I get him out of bed and lay him by his mom so that she can hear him fussing and feed him. Sometimes she is able to convince him to go back to sleep for just a bit.

Evan likes to be trendy sporting his pink binky.No matter how tightly we wrap him before bed, he manages to work his arms free during the night.

Patrice has really been working with Evan to open his mouth wide for eating. It is certainly paying off for both Evan and Patrice.
Evan has graduated from premie clothes to his newborn outfits. We haven't weighed him lately, but I'm guessing he has reached the 7 lb mark.
Here Evan is getting ready for game time with dad (see above).
Evan actually doesn't mind taking a bath. His little tub with the hammock thing works so well (thanks again Staci). He only looks calm in this picture because he didn't see mom coming with a gallon of lotion.
I know Patrice is still getting some cards out, but thanks to everyone for all of the baby gifts!

Best Father's Day Ever

2008-06-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

As today is father's day, I thought it would be appropriate to post more pictures of our new baby boy. Patrice and Evan have established a daily routine of trying to wake Evan up, trying to get him to eat, and changing him. This takes about two hours, then they wait thirty minutes and start the cycle over again. Evan has loved having visitors the past few weeks. He shows his excitement by sleeping.
We had a great time when Chelsea, Max, and Jack came down. We just had Jack babysit for us while we enjoyed our company. We hope that Evan can someday catch up to Jack as these cousins will be in the same class.
Grandma, Grandpa, Rob, and Giselle also came down to see us. Grandma was nice enough to give Evan a bath while she was here.

Unlike most babies, Evan does not love being swaddled, or at least he does not like to have his hands trapped in the blanket. Here is a very pround Evan after successfully freeing his arm.
We can already tell that Evan is a genius baby. He spends hours a day just sitting in deep thought as you can see from the picture above.
When Evan is not deep in thought, he is, of course, deep in sleep. Again, it took him a while, but he managed to get his hand out of his blanket in order to comfortably sleep.

It was so wonderful to spend father's day with our little boy. We also want to wish our fathers a very happy father's day!

Home Sweet Home

2008-05-30T13:56:00.001-07:00

Our sweet little boy was finally released from the hospital today. Here he is happily resting at home. However, this entire week has not been so pleasant. Hopefully these pictures will catch you up on the first week of Evan's life.

Here is Mom with Evan in the special care nursery. Behind them is Evan's little isolette that he had to stay in for a few days after his birth. Also, you can probably see the feeding tube that they put down his nose into his tummy. He only had to use it for a few feedings, but they left it in most of the week.
One of the reasons that Evan had to stay in the hospital was because his bilirubin count was a little high. As a result, he had to stay under the bright lights for the first part of the week. You will also note that they put an IV in his poor little arm.

Another shot of Evan in his isolette under the bright lights. In addition to the feeding tube, the IV, and the mask, you can see that they also have various wires and tubes hooked up to him. Poor little guy.
Grandma Sue came to see Evan in the hospital and he was thrilled. Cassie Jo also got to come and see Evan before she heads out into the mission field. Thank you very much for coming down to see us. We are looking forward to your return.
After hearing of Evan's birth, Billie Jo caught the first flight down to Vegas to take care of us. She made 874 meals in one night, bought 2478 items at babies r us, cleaned the world's dirtiest house, and turned a pumpkin into a carriage. Thank you so much for coming and taking care of us.
All of my sisters will be happy to know that I have learned to firmly burp Evan, although I still don't like it. I think you can see the size discrepancy and I don't know if babies should be hit that hard.
Finally, the ride home from the hospital. Yes, this is a normal sized car seat. Luckily we passed the car seat test thanks to the special newborn insert. Seriously, how cute does he look in that seat?

I also tried to get a picture of Evan in his new car. I was in Utah on Friday being sworn in the the Utah State Bar, and I stopped by the ford dealership. Seven hours later, I drove back to Las Vegas in a new 2008 ford edge. I know a new car warrants a separate post, but I think Evan takes precedence. I ended up getting home about 10 minutes before Patrice's water broke.
Once we got home, we put Evan in the sunlight. We are trying to give him a nice tan for the summer. Actually, as you probably know, the sunlight is to help with the jaundice.
And at long last, comfortably sleeping at home with mom and dad. We could not be happier to have our little boy home. Thank you so much to Billie Jo, Sue, Cassie, Chelsea, Jack the giant, and everyone who will visit us. Also, thanks to those who have sent flowers, made meals, and offered congratulations.

INTRODUCING EVAN MCNEIL

2008-05-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

Evan Ralph McNeil was born at 7:09 this morning, a mere 4 weeks early. The baby weighed in at a booming 5 lbs 7 oz and was an impressive 17.5 inches long. We will make a formal post when we have finalized the name of the baby, but we wanted to put some pictures up for everyone to see. Patrice was amazing and progressed very quickly through labor. Needless to say, we did not think we would be taking home a baby when we went into the hospital this morning. Thus, many of these pics are with my cell phone camera.

La Reve-ing It Up

2008-04-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

Life is continuing as usual here in Las Vegas. We are counting down the days until we have our little baby boy and can have interesting blogs. Until then, here are some of the events of the past few weeks.

We loved Phantom of the Opera so much, we thought we would try another Vegas show. A few weeks ago we went to La Reve at the Wynn. If you are not familiar with the show, it is an acrobatic/water show. It was pretty impressive and I told Patrice I was going to shave my head and start training to be a performer.
In case you can't tell, there is a large round pool in the middle of the theater. During the show, there are people performing acrobatic routines above the pool, dancing on platforms that come out of the water, etc. I took a few pics with my phone underneath my jacket.
If you have seen Chelsea's blog, then you know that they came down a few weeks ago and I gave baby Jack his third haircut. Jack said he wanted it cut like mine so he could be handsome like Uncle Allen. He is VERY smart. As you can tell, Jack was very pleased with the final result. I don't know if Chelsea and Max were as pleased.
Last Sunday Rick called to tell me that exam results had been posted on the Utah State Bar website. I knew that number 18518 felt like a lucky application number. I could tell Rick was a little disappointed that he is no longer the only attorney in the family licensed in both Utah and Nevada.
We also had a fun visit from my dad, Olivia, Luke, and Noah this past week, but we forgot to snap pictures. Just try to picture a foosball table, two boys having fun and playing, and then one boy crying at the end....sorry that I beat you dad.

March Craziness

2008-03-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and busy month of March and haven't even had time to blog about it. Hopefully this will catch everyone up on what we did during March.

Patrice had some time off of work for spring break, so we decided to take a trip to Utah to be with our families on Easter. There was still a ton of snow on the ground which made me quite happy as I had planned a snowmobile outing with Sammy. Thanks to Sam for taking me and for snapping some pics. Don't be deceived, the picture below was on my way back down and not at the peak of my jump!
Amy and Zach were also home on vacation and we were able to go out to dinner with all of Patrice's family (less Jon who was on another world traveling expedition). We were celebrating my birthday, and we were also celebrating Cassie's mission call. For those who are not aware, she is going to the Nashville, Tennessee mission and leaves at the end of May. I have a special message for Cassie to give to the Tennessee Men's Basketball team, but it does not involve forgiveness.
My family had a birthday celebration for Olivia and me. We had pizza and Patrice made my favorite kind of cupcakes, rainbow chip. Here is a picture of Olivia and Patrice. I know that you can't tell, but they are both pregnant and due in June.
We also dyed Easter eggs at the birthday celebration (and the next morning with Patrice's family as well), and had a feats of strength competition . The events included various yoga balancing positions and the main event - hand stand push-ups. Tim and I won the main event with 7 each, although to be fair to Tim, he was a little worn out after trying to help Rick do one push-up.

We arrived back in Las Vegas and put our Easter candy with our already-existing snack pile. Yes, those are Sun Chips. I know what you are thinking, Allen and Patrice are such health nuts. It's true, we like to avoid the sweets.
We had another ultrasound after we got back from our trip. The baby has turned around and his head is now below his feet. I can't believe he is already practicing his hand stand push-ups. I am so proud. Look at that little square foot and second longer toe...just like dad!
Thank you to everyone who made our trip home much fun, and thanks to Tim and Billie Jo for letting us stay at the Butikofer Manor.

Tagged

2008-03-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

Giselly Tagged me, and Allen said if I didn't respond then he would do a tag for me... so here goes:

1. I love to see a movie on opening weekend when it is the top movie for that weekend. I like to feel like I am part of the group that made the movie so popular. I actually just love the whole movie experience... getting a drink and popcorn and of course the biggest size so you can get a free refill on your $10 popcorn. Aaah... I love the movies.

2. I admit it. I booby trap the house. I know Allen thinks this might be a tad crazy, but he seems resigned to the fact. (Although, last time he went out of town he did refuse to push the couch in front of the front door.) I make up new traps all the time, and one morning when Allen walked out of our bedroom, all the bedroom and laundry room doors were closed with various items stacked strategically against them to make a loud noise if the door was opened. For some reason Allen thought this was funny and took a picture.

3. I also love watching movies at home, but when I'm not watching movies, I watch Law and Order reruns. Allen got me hooked when we first got married, but then he got burned out and now hates it. It's great because you can watch it from 4-10 almost every night. I only like the original, I had to stop watching Criminal intent and SVU, (and CSI and City Confidential for that matter) because it seemed to be contributing to my paranoia. See above.

4. I am a makeup junkie. If I could have any job in the world, I would have my own makeup line. Or, I would like to sample all sorts of makeup creams, products eyeshadows and let everyone know which ones were the best. It's also no secret that shopping is probably my favorite past time, so if I could be paid as a personal shopper that would also be a dream job. If those never happened, as nerdy as it sounds, I'd be an accountant. Fortunately I am an accountant so things have worked out well for me.

5. My favorite thing ever is to hear "news" and be the first one to tell everyone. My favorite is to be the first to tell Allen. When I say news, I mean things like when stars are pregnant or when Britney Spears shaves her head. I get extremely disappointed if he already knows something that I am excited to tell him. He has actually started pretending he doesn't know things he thinks I would like to tell him. He then pretends he is very surprised and he can't believe what I am telling him.

6. When I start reading, I can't stop. I get completely absorbed and am completely unproductive. Recently I finally decided to read the Twilight series. I'm not one to read vampire love stories, and I thought Allen might make fun of me, so I didn't broadcast it. He is however very observant and immediately began relentless teasing, biting and telling me how tasty I smelled. The picture below is just one example of what I had to deal with the entire week it took me to read the series.

7. A few of my favorite things: Cheese, Oriental salad with macadamia chicken from Kona Grill, Dr. Pepper, and squishing Allen's cheeks. He doesn't love this so much, but after five years at least he knows it means I love him. I CAN'T WAIT TO have our own little boy to squish and kiss his cheeks to my heart's content. In fact, I have really embraced the boy idea because Allen is quite lovable and it will be like there are two of him to love... except I get to boss one around.

I tag Allen.

Angel of Music

2008-02-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

For Valentine’s Day Rick and I decided we would treat our wives to a night out on the town. Rick suggested that we take them to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. I was surprised that Rick would come up with such a sweet Valentine’s surprise for his wife, but I later learned that Rick is a die hard Phantom fanatic. Despite Rick wearing his Phantom mask as his “I [heart] Christine” t-shirt, it was an absolutely wonderful night. The performance was spectacular! I don’t know if Patrice appreciated that I would only speak in song for the rest of the night, but we couldn’t stop talking about how great of a show it was. This is a shot of the theater at the Venetian. You can’t image all the special effects and how the stage transforms so quickly between scenes. I’m sure the performance would be good no matter where you see it, but it was truly amazing to see it in a theater that was built specifically for it.
Speaking of Angel of Music, look at this unbelievably gorgeous angel. We have had several requests to post a picture of Patrice’s baby bump. Sadly, my baby bump is substantially larger than hers, but there will be no pictures.
A little closer shot.
A few weeks ago I had to fly up to Reno for a hearing. This sign was only a few blocks from the courthouse so I thought I would walk down and take a picture to document my trip to the biggest little city in the world.
I also took a picture of the courthouse because I loved the fact that it was the old original courthouse of Reno. Stay tuned for more pictures of this beautiful city as I will be flying back in March.

A Boy Named Sue?

2008-01-26T00:12:00.000-08:00

For anyone who didn't know, Patrice and I were absolutely sure that we were having a little girl. First, we just felt like our first child would be a girl. Second, we had about half-a-dozen ultrasounds during the first few months of pregnancy, and in our last ultrasound on December 17th, we were told that although it was too early to tell for sure, it might be a girl. We were very happy as we have only agreed on one name, which happens to be a name for a girl. We are keeping the name confidential, but the middle name was going to be Sue after both of our mothers.

We were both very surprised to hear that we are in fact have a BOY! I think Patrice was a little startled as she began remembering the horror stories that she has been told about me as a little boy. I assured her that those stories are exaggerated and I was as close to a perfect child as you can get. I think she was convinced because we are both very excited for our little boy.

Here are some tiny little feet. Sorry that you are only getting shots of random body parts. We're not sure if it was the ultrasonographer or if it was because little boy would not stop moving, but we really didn't get a good shot of the whole baby.

Here is a shot looking straight at you. Does that cute little face inspire any name ideas?

And finally, proof that we are in fact having a boy. Patrice told me that this picture isn't appropriate for posting, but again, we did not have a lot of options from which to choose.

New Beginnings

2008-01-01T13:47:00.001-08:00

We would first like to thank all of those who made Christmas so special this year. It was so much fun and seemed to end too quickly. Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pictures of Christmas, so no Christmas pictures to post. We also rang in the new year with just the two of us and so no pictures to post of that either. We thought about inviting Rick over to our house so that he could take a picture of us kissing at midnight, but he informed me that he would be down on the strip at the big party. Since it's the start of a new year, we thought we would post some of the new beginnings in our lives.

This console table is new in our lives. Actually, I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of it since I am so proud of it. Patrice and I made a deal that if she would let me buy the woodworking tools that I wanted, I would build the furniture that she wanted. The first thing on the list was a console table for our front entry. The list is very long and I have seemingly hit a speed bump in my building. One of my new year's resolutions is to get back to building. I think I need to hang up my autographed picture of Norm Abram for inspiration.

This is also not really a picture of anything new, but I had to post it. That is a batch of caramel that I made for our ward friends and home teaching families. Patrice made fun of me because I told her to take a picture for our blog. She said "you mean take a picture of you baking for your blog." Then she asked if I was going to scrapbook afterwards. I can't help that my talents are abundant.

For those of you who still do not know, we are expecting a baby at the end of June. This ultrasound was taken on December 17th and we were so excited to be able to actually see the baby.

New golf shoes and a new driver for Christmas. Santa was very sneaky and these presents were a great surprise.

Patrice has decided to quit her job and make clothes from home. Actually she is just trying out her new sewing machine that she got for Christmas. Her specialty is sewing up old blankets that should have been thrown away years ago.

This is the new office building for Goodsell & Olsen, the law firm where Rick and I work. Although we have moved in, there is still a little work to be done, like the firm's name on the building.

This is my new office. I still need to do a little bit of decorating. It is hard to find time between cooking, blogging, and scrapbooking,

Here is a picture of Rick's new office. Yes, he only has one window and someone else has two. HA HA!

2007-12-13T21:46:00.000-08:00

Alright, I admit that progress on the blog is a little slow. I wanted it to be the most spectacular blog layout that anyone has ever seen before I made an actual post. Since I do not see any free time on the horizon, I will go ahead and do a pre-grand opening post.

We were finally able to get our Christmas decorations up. Patrice would not allow us to purchase the giant inflatable snow glob for our front room, but I did convince her to let me put up a Christmas forest. We also went to the live Nativity with Amy, Zach, and their kids. Here are a few pictures of the recent events.

The Christmas Forest!

Patrice's Handy Craft!

Oh little town of Bethlehem...

Angels we have heard on high.....

Under Construction

2007-12-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

McNeil Family Blog...coming Christmas 2004