Monday, October 18, 2010

Ethan's Baby Blessing













Ethan was blessed on the 4th of July by his Dad, Ivan. All in white and looking so adorable, Ethan stayed quiet the whole time and was blessed with many wonderful things that will be a great strength to him all his life. He has been such a sweet and cooperative baby, we couldn't be any happier!! Here's our little smiley guy when he was 8 weeks old. At his 2 month check up he was over the 100% percentile for his height (grew 2 inches in two months) and 97% percentile for his weight. (14.8 pounds) He's a hunk of chubby love.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Ethan at 3 weeks old




I love this little guy, Ethan. He has been so much fun for all of us. I love waking up to his piggy snorts and grunts at 4:00 in the morning as he is looking for his early-morning breakfast. (The other morning Ethan was snorting on one side of me, and Ivan was snoring on the other and I had to smile to myself because I felt like I was in the middle of a piggy farm.) I have enjoyed rubbing his soft peach-fuzz hair and putting his head up to my cheek. I love sinking my little kisses into his soft warm baby-licious cheeks and giving smoochies. He's something I look forward to in my day. He's a great baby!!






I love to hear Kaylee (10) sing Ethan a little lullaby when I hand him off to her. She loves being a responsible "mini-Mom" and I'm so glad she's here to lend a hand!






Jayden(8) can often feel of Ethans sweet spirit. Once when he was in a pouty mood he came in my room and started complaining about something. Then he saw Ethan. He smiled at the baby and his whole disposition changed instantly. Babies have a way of bringing a better mood to the room.











I can tell Ashlyn (2) is very nurturing because she loves to take care of "Bee-bee Efan." She'll run and get a diaper for me when he's stinky and says "HI!!!" really loudly into his bassinet in the mornings. When she wants to hold him, she'll say"Hold him, me?" (and she'll hold him until he squirms so much she'll hand him back to me.) One time she sqeezed his toes too much and he started to cry. She felt so badly, she started to cry, too. I felt bad for them both, but I didn't join in the tear fest, I just thought it was kind-of cute. I really think they will be life-long friends.





During sunday school, Tyler's teacher asked him some of his favorite things at home were. He said, "Holding my little brother, Ethan." Tyler(5) smiles and talks cute "baby talk" to his little brother when he holds him.














Ethan has filled up the feeling that someone was missing in our family. He has charmed us with his coos and helped us all talk a little quieter. He's been a sweet, soft spot during our busy days and I look forward to the snuggly moments we get to spend together every morning.
I can't help it, I have a crush on Ethan!















Sunday, August 1, 2010

An update on the Fantastic Four

A Quick update of Kaylee, Jayden, Tyler and Ashlyn.
(Pics taken 6 weeks before Ethan came.)
Kaylee is her mom's right arm around the house in helping out. She's extremely helpful and always willing to be "mini-mom." She's our little book worm and has created a family book club for us to do. She chose "Pride and Prejudice" for our first book, so everyone is invited to participate. She's head and shoulders above her parents, and a great example, that's for sure!!
Jayden, our big 8 year old, loves boy scouts and memorized the motto a few weeks before he even joined!! He loves getting his badges at the award ceremonies and keeps on his parents to pass off more. He is excited about life and seems motivated about any rewards out there. This past summer he beat his personal best in the butterfly, freestyle, and backstroke. One of his fun silly things he loves to do with his sister is have a "belly flop" competition. It's fun to watch, but looks painful! He likes to do that and anything else to make us laugh!! He's a great guy with a great sense of humor!!



Tyler (5) is as rough and tumble as a boy can be. He prides himself on being able to "take down" his older brother's friends in a wrestling match on the trampoline. He thoroughly enjoys putting on his battle gear and wacking the life out of long grass or the swing set in the back yard. He is always the first to say "Thank you for the meal, Mom" at supper and gives the strongest, tightest hugs we've ever experienced. He's a bundle of energy!













Ashlyn is our little sugar. She is two years old and loves her blanket she calls her "Mimi." We think it's called that because if you try to take it she'll run over to it and say, "Me...me!!" Like, that's mine, no touchie, touchie!!
Daddy calls her "Little Birdie" because everytime he dishes up a bowl of something good to eat upstairs in his big chair she comes up to his side, opens her mouth like a bird, and waits for something yummy to be dropped into it.
We both love when she comes into our bed in the mornings and has a whole lot of something to tell us. It's definitely not in English, but there's tonz of expression and heart she puts into it.
Our favorite thing is when we come home from being away and she bee-lines to the door when we come in yelling, "Dada, or Mama!!" It makes our day! Everyone needs a little Ashlyn in their day to make the bla-bla moments go away!


Our four QT pies have sure had quite a year!! They are growing up so fast, we blink and they get taller on our height chart every month! We are having a hard time believing that this is Kaylee's last year of Elementary school and Tyler's first year of Kindergarton. They find out who their teachers will be soon, and they're pretty excited.
They've all been awesome older siblings to their little brother Ethan. He couldn't ask for better brothers or sisters!!





































































































































Thursday, July 1, 2010

Expecting our fifth











For any still unsure if I was pretending to be pregnant, here's a little proof. I knew I was going to deliver soon, so I grabbed a couple pics of the children with Grandma. These were taken Wed. May 26th. Our baby boy was born two days later.

(Tyler told me he didn't like taking pictures because the sun was too bright in his eyes.)









Sunday, June 27, 2010

Announcing our new bundle, Ethan Porter Hepworth

Our Sweet little guy makes us feel so much more complete! He's been such a good baby!! Ashlyn calls him "Bobby" since she can't say "Baby" very well. So she'll say, "My Bobby...mine!" Now we refer to him as Bobby. Ivan thinks that's a funny nick name for Ethan. We think it's cute.

One Day Old.

He's always hungry...of course!!










Since I was 6 days overdue, and Grandma and Daddy were getting antsie, I decided to get induced. This was my first time and I quite liked it. All week long, I had a few false alarms of labor, but nothing for real. I was induced Friday May 28th, (2010) 8:00 a.m. and little Ethan Porter was born at 10:15 a.m. Weighing in at 8 lbs. 3 oz, he was quite a healthy little guy. He had soft, strawberry-blonde peach fuzz for hair and beautiful dark blue eyes. And yes, he looks like one of the family! He was healthy and everything went smoothly. We have a lot to be grateful for.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Houston Astros honored Ivan Hepworth

Ivan won "Teacher of the Year" at Nimitz High School in May of 2008. Then he went on to win the "Teacher of the Year" at the District Level later that month. Ivan felt like he won at the district because his community service list was so long, as he was also serving as Elder's Quorum President. (Hurricane Katrina and Rita clean-ups, driving deaf people to church, after-school tutorials, and assisting who know how many people move.)
A year later, the Houston Astros honored all the "Teachers of the Year" at the district levels by treating their families to complimentary tickets to the game. The outstanding teachers and doctors stood on the 3rd base line as their names were announced. The crowd gave them a round of applause and we were all so proud of Daddy. (May 2009)



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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

11 months on the 11th





We took Ashlyn's pictures on April 11th and we realized she was exactly 11 months old that day. She had a smile for everyone that day. It's been 11 super wonderful months and we can't believe she'll have her first birthday soon. She's quite the mover now. She loves to crawl away from me at full speed sqealing all the way down the hall. She loves to empty toy bins and fill them up again. She loves to pull herself up to standing...especially on the dishwasher and "help" us with dishes. She loves to feed herself little petite things like peas and carrots. She loves her super soft blankie that puts her to sleep, but she especially loves to giggle at her brothers and sister's funny faces. She's been a gem.