Lilly Rae Hellbusch

Their last picture as a family of three.

♥ Welcome, Baby Girl ♥

As I drove from my appointment in Idaho Falls back to Taylorsville, I called Erika to check in. At Pocatello, she was heading over to the midwife, finally in labor. I made a quick call to Kara to see if she could go stay with Nathan, Hyrum and Kailee until I got there; Nathan would keep watch until she got there. By the time I got to Tremonton, I got a call back that she was already born! Kara hadn't even made it to the house yet (from her home in Tooele), so it was a very good thing that Nathan was there and they didn't need to wait. After waiting and waiting through false labor for over 2 weeks, I was so happy that Erika had a quick delivery. At Erika's request, I went right to the clinic to see them before heading over to the house to relieve Kara.

After a couple of hours, and a delicious omelet made by the midwife, Bret and Erika brought their new baby daughter home.

Kailee Jo was instantly in love and has been a loving and doting sister.

Lilly is such a calm, sweet baby. She only cries, and barely so, when she wants fed or needs a change. We each took turns cuddling with her and had a hard time passing her on to someone else.

Kara was such a blessing on this day and got to be the first extended relative to meet Lilly.

Though Lilly has her own looks, she also looks a bit like Kailee Jo.

Kailee on the left, Lilly on the right.

Newborn toes and soft newborn hair, along with floppy, foldy newborn snuggles are one of my favorite things!!

Grandpa Edwards couldn't wait to meet his new granddaughter, so when she was four days old he made a special trip to Utah.  Justin also met her that same day.

A new baby is such a joy and blessing to our family!

LeRoy with his girls... Erika (1993), Kailee (2016), Lilly (2018)

Waiting for Lilly

Facebook posts from Erika Jo:

April 26

Pregnancy and motherhood are not always beautiful and glamorous. I spend more days than not in sweats or leggings and my husband's t-shirts because nothing else is comfortable. My hair goes unwashed for too long because finding time to shower without Kailee's help is not an easy task. I'm grumpy and tired and get really frustrated when my sweet girl acts just like me and is stubborn beyond all reason. My house is a disaster. We eat a lot of corn dogs and mac n cheese because they're fast and easy. Some days I'm not sure I can do this, but then these moments happen and they make everything worth it.

Kailee has been extra clingy the past few weeks and mostly just wants her momma. I can't always take the time to just sit with her like this and sometimes it's frustrating to always have her wanting to be touching and climbing on me. But when I pause and just sit with her, my world is perfect. My pregnancy pains are dulled. My stresses don't seem to matter as much. My heart just melts and everything is perfect! I don't generally share pictures I feel I look horrible in, but regardless of looks, I felt like the luckiest woman in the world when I woke up with this angel snuggled up against me. She doesn't care how fat and frumpy I look or feel. She doesn't care if I don't think I'm good enough. All she cares about is that she has her momma. She loves me. She thinks I'm good enough. And that is truly all that matters.

April 29th
Exactly one month till our due date! We will hit 36 weeks on Tuesday. Can't wait for sweet Lilly to be here! I'm currently insanely grateful for swimming pools and how well the water lifts all of this extra weight off of me. It's the only time I'm not hurting. Thanks for taking this awesome picture Levi Edwards!

May 9th
37 weeks! Thanks to the exercises the chiropractor recommended, I'm in a lot less pain than I have been my entire pregnancy and am feeling pretty good! The entire house is finally ready for miss Lilly to join us (nesting is a very real thing, my friends) and we're getting more and more anxious and excited!

May 26th
Right after school was out on the 25th, Nathan, Hyrum and I headed to Erika's house to hang out until baby Lilly made her debut. Erika and I both had terribly dry feet and hers were so swollen that a pedicure was a must! They gave her cute little disposable flip flops to wear thinking she had "forgotten" her shoes.


May 29th
39 weeks and 2 days along and still no sign of Lilly 😭 in fact, she has now flipped and is in the wrong position! Little punk. Fingers crossed she decides to flip back and make her way into our family soon. We are so excited to meet her!

On the boys last day of school, I picked them up and we headed to Erika's house. We were going to stay there until Lilly was born, which we were expecting would be in the next couple of days. We ended up being there a full week....waiting. Bret, Nathan, Hyrum and Kailee went downtown for some adventures. When they got back, I quickly typed as they told us what they did and saw.

"We stopped at Fizz for mixed drinks and then went to the Salt Lake temple and were walking around and found a revolving door. We were so excited to go through the revolving door a few times. We went to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building to see the temple from clear up high.

We looked for a train to go on because it would be free and fun. Somebody jumped up on a planter and had a button up shirt and yelled "Lucifer in the house". He was tumbling around, took his shirt off, almost got run over. An Irish man commented, "if he gets run over, he'll probably die and really meet lucifer.

Nathan did pull ups on the train. Once off the train we went to the Jazz stadium and we were posers in front of the Jazz note. It started to get hot so we went to the fountain and got wet. We went on a few escalators 'cause I love escalators. We wanted to get drinks but the wallet was in the car so we took a train to get back and actually took the wrong train.

We went to Macey's where the car was parked. We went to The Junction to eat and got pizza and Bret got a hamburger with an egg in it.

On the way back we saw some lady missionaries who had a lemonade stand and a sign that said, "free lemonade and a message about living water".

Bret: "We were almost home and these two raggedy people were walking down the street and Nathan says, "there are so many homos here". Those are "hobos", not homos!"


After they got home, Erika and I went out for our own adventures.

We went to the salon where they massaged our feet, put them in paraffin wax and grated our scaly dry skin off. It was so relaxing and felt great! They painted our toes with cute lilies on them for our little Lilly.

Then we went to Zupas for lunch and had berry salads and turkey bacon avocado sandwiches....so yummy! We stopped at Walmart to get milk and ended up sitting in the van with the AC on just talking. It doesn't take much to rejuvenate us worn out moms.

When we got home, we realized that we didn't have a house key. Bret had it. One of us had to climb through the back window to unlock the front door. The nine-month pregnant momma wasn't going through any window, so I got too.

Luckily(?), Erika took a picture.

Still no Lilly!

I had to make a quick trip back to Rexburg for an appointment with Miles. I first took a picture of Nathan's eye hoping that Miles could direct us what to take since the dermatologists suggestions didn't work.

A few weeks later, Nathan's eye looked so much better!! It wasn't a stye at all, it was an infected wart cluster and the herbs Miles suggested cleared it all up.

On my way back, I brought some porch chairs and a bench for Erika's yard, as well as the weed eater so that we could clear the area under their big shade tree.


Still waiting!

Kate and Mike invited us to their house for a barbeque. On the way there, Erika and I stopped to pick up a Batman car for Kailee that we found on Facebook Marketplace. It was also a surprise for Bret, who didn't know we were getting it.

They both loved it!!

After a morning on her feet, Erika zonked in a chair for a while.

Her swollen feet needed the break. Growing a baby is exhausting!

School Activities

Hyrum's final project before graduating from elementary school was the wax museum. He put research, writing and memorizing to work and was very well prepared to represent John C. Fremont.

His fourth grade year was great because of Mrs. Summers. Her classroom setup, personality and teaching style were exactly what Hyrum needed.  

So long, Hibbard Elementary. Hyrum completed kindergarten through fourth grade here.

I can't believe my baby is so grown up.

It feels like I'm graduating with him. 

Nathan finished up sixth grade with a final orchestra concert. He has decided to take engineering classes which means that he doesn't have room in his schedule for orchestra. I will miss hearing him play the cello!

Gymnastics also wrapped up with a brief skill performance and awards. It's so fun to see him having fun while building a talent. The Allred family is really a wonderful part of our week.

Camdyn and Nathan have known each other since birth and are best friends. Aimery has been a great big sister for both boys, and Val is a perfect gym mom for Nathan.

First Ever: LeRoy and Kimber Family Reunion

27 years in the making . . . 

On November 23, 1990 LeRoy and I were sealed in the Jordan River Temple in the large sealing room with the stained glass window.

On April 29, 2018 LeRoy and I were in that same sealing room with all six of our children, including two of their spouses, one grandbaby, and another grandbaby on the way....our posterity. I was so touched to have all of us in the exact same room where we began.

After the tour, we spent about 30 minutes playing in Heavenly Father's yard. Kailee was happy to run in circles; Nathan and Hyrum were happy to chase her. Justin got in his signature hand stand and Levi wandered the grounds getting some really great pictures. Once Erika's swelling ankles had had enough, we continued on with our plans.

P.S. We did try to keep her ankles from swelling by using a wheelchair for the tour. Alas, pregnancy has a way with ankles.

Our forever has already begun and it is beyond any dreams, expectations or hopes that I have ever had. I am so honored and blessed to live life with these beautiful souls to call family!

Kailee (2), Bret, Erika, Nathan (12), Kimber, LeRoy,
Daymia, Levi, Hyrum (10), Justin, Derek

The temple open house was the starting point of our reunion but we couldn't just meet up and go to the place where our family started, we also needed to play and laugh and be together. It was time for the very first, LeRoy and Kimberly Edwards family reunion.

Prior to our temple tour, our reunion actually started in Rexburg. Justin and Derek were home so we all went to the drive-in theater to watch Infinity War.

We piled into the back of the trucks, set up a couple of camp chairs and snuggled up for the show. The best part of the whole show was after the very last scene, when LeRoy stood up and declared, "that was the stupidest movie I've ever seen". He prefers a happy, solid ending without a cliff hanger.

The next morning we headed to Utah to meet up with Bret and Erika for the temple tour. After the temple tour we made our way to JCW's The Burger Boys for some lunch.

Though they had delicious food, we left feeling a bit guilty for wasting so much. The portions were huge!! Still, our bellies were full and we were ready for some fun.

Before heading over to Boondocks in Draper, we checked into our hotel and quickly changed clothes. Never a dull moment with this family, not even in an elevator.

It's a LeRoy thing.
Their shirts say it all, hunk of a Grandpa and stud university student.

Boondocks was a blast!! We felt quite official with our credit card like pass cards and wrist bands.

Whew, Derek is tall enough for all the rides!

Our first stop was golfing, at least for most of us. Poor Erika had ankles the size of baseballs so she sat for most of the time with Kailee contained in a play area.

Everyone has a special golf pose...

Next stop: go carts.

Hyrum wasn't quite tall enough to ride alone so he and Levi partnered up. Erika, Kailee and I cheered them on from the side lines.

The batting cages drew out any final aggression and left a few sore muscles the next day.

Kailee was not to be left out. She donned a helmet and dragged her bat around like she was a pro!

We were able to get all that in with only a few rain drops, which were actually quite refreshing. While Idaho was still in a springtime slumber, Utah was well into the higher temperatures and we weren't quite used to it yet.

Inside, we wandered at our own pace, pairing off with whoever was interested in the same game, as we took on the arcade and laser tag.

Our very favorite was the XD Dark Ride 7D. We chose the Zombie movie for our virtual experience and it did not disappoint!

We gave our best attack as we screamed and squealed, all the while shooting at zombies as we were tossed in our chairs, with fake wind blowing in our hair. Hyrum was the one who was adamant that we do the Zombie movie and we could tell he loved it by his big eyes, hesitant grin, and the comment, "well, I'm gonna have nightmares tonight".

After a drive to Utah, the temple tour, and several hours at Boondocks, we were ready to relax. The hotel swimming pool was the perfect ending to the day.

I stayed in the room and put Kailee to sleep so that Erika could get off her feet and let the water take the belly pressure off of her hips.

This picture is a pregnant woman's dream. Relaxing, weightless, floating comfort in a cute swimsuit!
Erika was a champ throughout the whole day! She could have easily gone home and every one of us would have understood, but she stuck it out, even if only to watch the fun instead of fully participating in it. I'm so proud of the woman that she is!

After a good night's sleep, we gathered the next morning for an IHOP breakfast, carrying on the vacation tradition that we've had with each long trip home from Texas. We always stopped there for breakfast before hitting the last stretch of road home.

I absolutely loved this weekend with my family! I love watching my kids hang out together as friends. I love their laughter, their personalities, and their love for each other. I'm grateful to call them all mine.

Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida

 The closest we could get to Nationals in Florida was Ogden, Utah. The send off was a perfect way to see the full routine and to show our support for Justin.

The Weber Spirit Squad has become a second family to Justin. I've been impressed with the coach, the team and their encouragement of each other. They headed to Florida as returning national champions.

Justin kept me posted throughout the event, which helped curb my guilt over not making it a point to be there. I knew logically, I didn't need to be there but over the last three years I have really grown to love watching his competitions and his growing skill.

I've never prayed for good internet connection and speed, but I admit that I did during the live broadcasts of Justin's performances. They had a qualifying performance one day and the finals performance the next.

During the prelims they had a couple of dropped stunts but Justin and his team went into finals with positive attitudes, and used those fails to motivate them to do their very best.

It was so great to watch Justin in his solo tumbling pass right there front and center. I held my breath, clapped and cheered at his completion, and was a bit teary-eyed with pride.

The results came just a short time later and with the internet hanging on by a prayer, I got to watch live as they announced Weber as back-to-back champions! Hyrum had just gotten home from school and together we danced around the kitchen, cheering for Justin and his team.

So much work went into that trophy! Justin will have a National Champion 2018 ring, memories and friendships as his take-home trophy.

I'm so proud of this kid and his hard work! I'm also proud of his positive attitude, commitment, ability to get along with those who are, at times, difficult, and his willingness work as a team member.

♥ LSWT ♥