Our Spring Break

Spring Break has come and gone!  We stayed home and didn't have any big plans, but I knew it would be vital to my sanity to have an outing planned for the kids each day of the week.  So our week of staying home quickly became a busy one!

Mark and Lisa come down from Logan to warm up for a few days and we were so excited to meet their new little guy, Baby Calvin.  This tiny little boy was born weighing less than 5 pounds and we have been so anxious to meet our new nephew and cousin.  He is two months old now and about the size of Jensen at birth. (Almost 8 pounds!)  We enjoyed having them over for dinner and getting to spend some time with them.  

Lisa and I also enjoyed this moment...

I mean really, how often do you see two brothers changing their baby boys' diapers?  We've got good ones! 

I also got to do a little photo with Baby Calvin, those pics will come later.  

We spent a lot of time at the park, Pierce and Madi enjoyed riding their scooters with friends, and Madi played on the playground while Pierce played ball, while Jensen and I hung out in the shade with his girlfriends.  

I am thoroughly enjoying this stage when I can sit in the shade and chat with my friends with the babies, I know it wont be too long before I'm running ragged chasing a little boy around the playground.  Enjoying him sitting in my lap very, very much.  

We all enjoyed having a fun BBQ with the Halls.  The kids were thrilled to get to roast marshmallows!  We are so thankful to live so close to these fun cousins and to get to play with them often.  

Madi, Brooke, Pierce & Matthew 

I had to include this picture, I thought it was so sweet...after I snapped the above pic of the kids, Matthew asked me to take a picture of him and Pierce together on the "Todd Bench".  He instructed Pierce to sit to the side so he would not cover Todd's name.  (This bench was a gift to Jeff & Crystal after Todd's death and the plaque has an inscription of Todd's name.) Sweet brother.  

I was happy to manage an outing of my own during the week!  It was definitely needed!  

Annette, Me, Lynds, and Mel  out to celebrate Annette's birthday.  I am so very thankful for the wonderful friends I have!  I love these gals! 

A major highlight of the week was our big bake sale.  Last year Pierson broke a window at Grandma's house, he had been playing catch with her in her front yard and a neighbor stopped by to chat with her.  He was a little bored waiting and decided he would try and see if he could throw the baseball over her house.  He was successful so he thought he'd try it with a rock, which was not so successful.  He hit Grandma's front window.   We payed to have the window replaced and told him he would have to pay for half of it.  Since then we have been having him pull weeds in the yard to earn the money and it's been a slow go.  So over the break my friend Kathryn and I decided we'd let the kids do a bake sale.  Meaning we slaved in the kitchen making delicious goodies and let our children sell them and benefit from it.  It was a huge success though!  Kathryn made cinnamon rolls and her delicious mint brownies and I made cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies.  We set up a table at the entrance to our subdivision and sat out there with the kids, we thought we'd be bringing home leftovers, but we sold every single item we had!  We made over $80 and even split in half with the Woodbury kids, Pierce made $40!  This was a huge haul compared to the $30 he has made by pulling weeds many a  Saturday!  I wanted to get some good pics of our cute table set up and some close ups of our goodies, but before we were even finished setting up the first customers were waiting, so this was the best picture I got!  

The kids had a blast and are already asking when we can do it again.  Thanks to all of our kind friends and neighbors who stopped by and bought our treats!  

And the highlight of the week for Madi....Learning to ride her bike with out training wheels!  She decided she was ready, I ran down the driveway with her one time and she was off!  I could not believe how quickly she was cruising around and even starting out by herself.  She was so excited!  And I've decided she's already too tall for her bike.  Guess I know what to do for her birthday.  

I've been loving the pretty spring blossoms!  

They are so beautiful, and I love the detail my camera can get on these!  I was also able to manage a photo shoot with Kathryn's little darlings over the break, those pics to come soon too.  

And the finale of the week: Thunder Over Utah!

Ryan was able to take Pierce and they went out with good friends Bishop Joe and Joey.  They had a great time and got to see an AWESOME show!

My Sunshine and My Scout

The time is flying by way too fast these days, I have so many pictures I want to post and so little time to do it!  Here are a few recent events that were big time excitement around here...


It's hard to believe that it's been three years since Pierce was in Mrs. Barrett's Kindergarten class and had his big week of "Being the Sunshine",  Madi was the little toddler eager to visit Brother's class with her back pack full of books.  Now all of a sudden here we are, Madi's turn to be "Sunshine of the Week" in Mrs. Barrett's Kindergarten class.  She was absolutely ecstatic for her turn!  She helped me carefully select which pictures she wanted on her poster,  and she completely loved it!

She was so thrilled for us to visit her class, especially Daddy!  We read one of her favorite stories with the class "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are" (Dr. Suess) and played a game she planned - Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Witch, the obviously more fun version of Duck, Duck, Goose.

Here she is with Mrs. Barrett, showing off her beloved poster.  A Kindergarten highlight for sure!

Next up was Pierson's Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.  Each boy was supposed to decorate a cake for the event.  He chose to do a BYU cake and did a great job.  He and Ryan made the cake, which was super delish, you can find the recipe here.  That's right, he and Ryan made the cake.  My husband is awesome.  Anyway, the cake was delish, the frosting was also delish - I made my regular vanilla frosting but used almond extract instead of vanilla, yum.  Pierce did a great job with his "Y" and loved adding the blue sprinkles.  He was very proud of his cool cake.  And I think we were all glad that we ended up bringing 3/4 of it home.  It was delicious,  did I mention that?  

Busy As A Baby Can Be!

Oh my!  My little baby boy is not so little anymore!  He is growing much too fast and I wish I could slow him down!  I am absolutely loving his stage right now, my absolute favorite baby age!  Happy, playful, mobile, but not yet a destruction crew.  Here is a look at some of his new skills and his to die for cuteness....

I could also say messy as a baby can be!  He has mastered the trick of ripping off his bib, fun for him, not so much for me.  These are the kinds of messes I get to clean up all day long.  And this is just what's on him, the floor is a whole other story.  It's a good thing he is melting me with his smile and eyes whilst he is making a gigantic mess!  (Thank goodness for Oxi Clean!) 

His crawl started out at as an awkward little scoot, it was all his own style and it went something like this...

...it cracked us up.  Bum in the air, then feet flailing in the air, but he managed.  He has quickly moved on though and has mastered a great army crawl. He is fast!  The baby proofing has begun!  

He loves feeding him self!  He is eating about half baby food half table food, but I know it wont be long before we say adios to the baby food.  Anything he can pick up himself is preferred!  And have I mentioned how much I love those beautiful blue eyes?  

It was like a whole new world opened up to him when he finally made it to the hardwood floor!  He thought it was so funny when he hit a new surface and would laugh and pat it with his hands.  Now he is all over the floor in every part of the house and my main focus in life has become trying to keep the floor clean!  I'm constantly after Pierce and Madi to keep their thing picked up, but of course it doesn't happen and I'm often yelling "hurry get that -insert name of dangerous to baby object- before Budgey gets it!"  Here's what happens when Madi leaves her Friend magazine on the floor...

...lots of fun for Jensen!  I didn't stop him this time, hoping it would teach her a lesson.  It didn't.  But I did get these oh so adorable pictures of him in total bliss!  He gave me this big grin when he noticed me snapping pictures of him and then ditched the magazine ....

....and came to love on Momma!  

He definitely has an interest in my camera now.  And he is definitely a Momma's boy!  What can I say, I love it!  I know all too soon he'll be wanting to get down and run away from me.  So I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Hey There, Blue Eyes

I need to do a post all about Jensen and his current phase, but before I get to that, I just have to share these pics.  I took these in October and could never seem to get around to posting them, but they are some of my absolute favorites of his beautiful blue eyes!

They melt me.  Constantly.

He's the cutest, I know.  You don't have to tell me.  Ok, go ahead, you can tell me.

Joining the Club

Here we are almost the end of January and I'm still trying to wrap up 2011.  Well not much has been happening this month anyway, I think January is kind of a bummer month, I'm always sad that Christmas is already over and it's time to put the decorations away, and there's just nothing too thrilling happening.  So I'll just go ahead and finish up my 2011.  I decided I could not end my 2011 blog with out posting about this major milestone in my life...

This was a big year for me, first I joined the "3 Kid Club", which I was not quite sure about wanting to be a part of.  But I'll say that although being a member of this club is definitely challenging, I am LOVING it.  I am just so in love with the little man that initiated me into the club, that it's a complete joy.  Have I mentioned lately how cute he is?

His blue eyes just melt me.  More of this cuteness coming soon.  

Next I joined the "30" club.  I was really, really not excited to join this club at all.  Completely dreading it.  I know some think it's no big deal, but it was a tough one for me.  It's definitely not fun being a member either, the  pregnancy weight has been coming off about 4 times slower than when I was a spry 25 year old new mom.  And I swear, the Fates of Age are evil and the minute you turn 30 they are just waiting to bring out the fine lines around your eyes! And suddenly make you very aware of just how noticeable  the expression lines between your eyes are, it's as if they are trying to make them deeper by the day!  And as if that wasn't bad enough they also start to work on the expression lines around your mouth!  It's like enough is enough!  One fine line at a time please!!!  It's been more than I care to take!  

Now, the reason I had to write about this...

since I had  joined the "3 Kid Club" I also had to cave and join the "Mini Van Club"!  This is old news to my neighborhood friends, I've been sporting this thing since summer, but I just had to document this and also share it with my far away blogging friends.  I NEVER thought I'd drive a mini van!  Ever.  Why not, I drove my Mom's in high school?!  Maybe that's why.  Although my Mom's mini van was very cool.  It was a stick shift.  No one else had a stick shift van.  Most girls couldn't even drive one.  I was very proud I could drive a stick, I was lucky my Mom taught me to drive in that cool ol' blue, Ford Aerostar.  Good times.   Anyway, still, I really never ever wanted to drive one.  I love, loved my Honda Pilot and was sad to downsize and sell it a few years ago.  Our goal was to come back to a Pilot as soon as we could afford it.   But what can I say, minivans are just too practical.  Ryan and I discussed the mini van vs. pilot many nights during the last trimester of my pregnancy.  And I'll just tell you this, it took me one day with baby #3 in a car seat to be totally and completely over the "I'm never driving a mini van" syndrome.  I am SO over it.  I LOVE my mini van!  (Except for the tan interior.  Shows way too much dirt. Don't get tan, go for grey.)  Every mother of three should have one.  If you are on the fence about a mini van vs. SUV, go for the mini van, you wont regret it.  And no one will think you are less cool.  Just totally practical.

Pierson's Broken Arm

You may have noticed in all of our Christmas pictures Pierce has been sporting this lovely blue cast.  If you didn't notice then you probably need glasses.  I have an excellent eye doctor I can refer you to if that is the case.  :)  Thankfully the cast is off and the broken arm is old news, but this definitely needs to be included in our blog - our first broken bone.  Well not our first broken bone. Heaven knows Ryan and I have both had our fair share of broken bones, so I should say the first broken bone of our children.

Pierson was playing with his buddy Joey one afternoon, they flying paper airplanes, which I used to think was a safe activity!  Us moms didn't see it happen so I am uncertain of what exactly happened, but apparently Pierce and Joey both dove on the ground to catch a paper airplane and Joey's knee landed on Pierce's arm.  They came into the house, he was crying pretty hard and at first glance I thought maybe he had broken his wrist.  The way he was holding it looked like it was really hurting and his hand was just hanging from his wrist.  I took him home and we put some ice on it, he seemed to be able to move it fine and he didn't have any swelling.  We figured he sprained it and that he'd be fine so we didn't get it checked and sent him to school the next day.

Well the next afternoon I got a call from the school and had to go pick him up early.  A ball had hit his arm while playing at recess and it was really hurting him.  There was still no swelling, but we figured we better have an x ray to be sure.  Ryan took him in for the x ray that evening, the Dr. told them it wasn't broken that is must just be a bad sprain, they wrapped it up and told him to be careful with it for a few days.

Well the next morning after I'd sent him off to school I got a call from the Dr. saying I needed to bring Pierson back in.  Why??? His arm was broken!  The problem was that they were thinking he had hurt his wrist so when they looked at the x ray that was the area they were looking at.  The x ray did show the break but it was at the very bottom of the screen and when looking at it on the computer it was covered by the date and information.  So when the radiologist looked at the x ray in the morning he immediately called the Dr. to let him know this was a broken arm.  Pierce had a choir field trip that day, which he was really excited about so I didn't go get him, I figured he'd call me if it was really hurting him.  Yes, I felt like the mother of the year sending my son to school for 2 days with a broken arm!   When he came home I told him the news and we headed over to get the cast put on.

I thought it must be a tiny hairline fracture if the Dr. hadn't seen it, but it was very noticeable, even to me, both bones were actually fractured just below his elbow.  The image just needed to be moved up on the computer screen and there it was!  He was a really good sport about the whole thing.  He seemed really interested watching the Dr. put the cast on, and of course he was excited to pick a BYU blue color.  Then once we got in the car and and cast started to harden I could literally just see his spirits fall.  He was so sad once he realized how uncomfortable it was and how little he could move that arm.  I was so sad because his Christmas piano recital was one week away.  He had been working so hard on 2 recital pieces this year and had one of them memorized for weeks and played it beautifully, the other was a harder piece and he was working so hard to get it and was so close to having it memorized.  I was so sad he wouldn't  be able to play.  I tried to cheer him up with trip to the store for a prize and Arctic Circle for a shake.  Julianne and Joey were so sweet to come over when we got home and bring him a get well balloon, a treat and a card Joey made for him.  You'd have never known anything was wrong when Joey showed up with a treat for him!

The first few days in the cast were frustrating for him, he couldn't write well or cut with scissors and it was just plain awkward.  His teacher was really nice to help him at school and Ryan and I wrote out most of his homework for him.   He decided to go ahead and participate in his piano recital even though he could only play the left hand notes.  Kathryn was so sweet and played the right hand with him.  I promised him we could have a special recital at home once the cast was off.  After a few days he was doing great and he did just fine adjusting to the cast.  Fortunately he only had to have it on for 4 weeks!

Here he is on the last day of the cast, getting ready to go get it taken off, he was happy about that!

He was a little nervous about that saw!  And Jensen was terrified, the noise is pretty bad!

I took him out for a celebration lunch at Ice Berg and then we came home and SCRUBBED that arm!  I gave him a little spa treatment and his arm was looking great after that.  It took him about a week to start using it normally. He was so used to eating with his left hand,  I'd notice him doing it and remind him he could use his right hand again!   He started working hard exercising his hand and  re-learning his piano songs.  A week and a half after getting it off he felt ready to perform his songs.  We had a fun little recital for him at home, I made special treats and we had Grandma, The Halls, The Woodburys and The Brooks come over.  He loved it and I know he felt really special having everyone there for him.  Now he is back in business and I'm reminding him to "be careful, I don't want another broken arm!"

Our Christmas

Christmas, it was such a joy this year.  Well mostly.  Of course we had a few fits from our drama queen.  But, we had a wonderful day!  I love having Christmas on Sunday, so nice.  (And I was very happy that we had 1:00 church!)  The kids did great sleeping in until about 7:30, then we made them wait until Jensen woke up at 8:00 to go downstairs.  Luckily they were so excited for his 1st Christmas they didn't even put up a fuss about it. Here are a few highlights...  

My only good pics of Madi, you know how she is.  She was thrilled to find a La La Loopsy doll in her stocking, espcecially since this was her only toy.  Side note: we've been having issues called- Madi wont pick up her toys.  We've been warning her for months if she didn't start taking better care of her toys she would not get any new ones for Christmas.  She hasn't improved so we stuck to it.  We did not get her one toy.  Trust me this was harder on me than it was her!  Santa brought scooters for the kids, (I didn't get a pic of Madi with hers) so that was perfect- something for outside and our kids have never had them before so they were very excited!  So, the Loopsy doll was the only toy she got.  She was very happy and she is lucky Santa is a softy.  Next she is modeling her new hat Santa also left in her stocking.  And last new books from Budgey.  (She LOVES books so it was something exciting we could give her that was a non toy.)

Pierce with his Transformers scooter from Santa and Star Wars shower set, (Madi got a Hello Kitty bath/shower set, these were a hit also!) and excited about a Star Wars ship from Jensen.

Jensen had a hard time deciding what he was more excited about, Madi's new toothpaste...

...or his new basketball toy from Santa.  Both were great fun for him.  Thank you Santa! 

There was so much to be excited about, it was toss up for him between the wrapping paper, the box his new toy came in, the actual new toy or Big Brother's Star Wars shower decals.  An exciting morning for sure!

After we enjoyed seeing our gifts from Santa, we let the kids open one gift each (one from each other), then we told them gifts from Mom and Dad were for after church.  Even though we had the 1:00 time slot, I needed leverage! We enjoyed a slow morning and a yummy breakfast of  muffins and eggs then got ready for church.  We tried for a family picture and got a moderately decent one...

Then of course I had to take 20 pictures of this cutest boy, here are some favorites...

My sweet little man's 1st Christmas, he really is such a joy in my life and our home.  I am so thankful for him and especially how happy he is!

Can't get enough of those ornaments!  (He soon discovered the sparkly ones aren't that great.)

After a short visit to the cemetery to take Christmas trees to Todd and Grandpa, we finally let the kids open the rest of their gifts.  I actually enjoyed dragging it out, it wasn't all over in the first 20 minutes of the morning, it was nice.

Exited to finally get Episode 6!  This middle pic of Pierce is my favorite!  No, he is not ecstatic over the Costco milk carton, he was realizing Mom had put the transformer he was hoping for in there!  I love tricking him by wrapping things in random boxes!  He was one excited boy.  We gave him Iron Hide and Star Scream, the Auto bot and Decepticon he's been wanting for so long.   

This was were Madi's 3rd fit of the day came, she got pretty upset when she saw Brother getting 2 new toys and she didn't get any.  She was excited for another new book, Fancy Nancy, and new pink boots, and cute new pajamas, but when she opened up the curling I gave her while Pierce was getting a toy, oh my!  She finally calmed down and said she wanted to keep it when I said I'd just take it back to the store.  I just hope she'll learn from this and decide, with out me threatening to take them to D.I., and yelling after 10 times of asking her calmly, she is capable of picking up her toys.  

After gifts, we had Grandma come over to join us for Christmas dinner, we watched our family home video from a few years ago with Grandpa reading from the scriptures while the kids performed the Nativity, then we read a new Christmas story - "A Christmas Dress for Ellen".  If you haven't added this one to your Christmas story collection, I definitely recommend it.  But I'll add a warning too, it's a major tear jerker.  I could barley get through it.  It was a great way to end our Christmas day, a beautiful reminder of all that we are blessed with.  Truly we have so very much and have so much to enjoy.  The kids were very excited to have Grandma sleep over and went to bed knowing the party wasn't over yet!  

Ryan and I stayed up enjoying some time together and looking through my new cookbook, Our Best Bites.  (If you have not "met", Kate and Sara, you are missing out!  Check them out!)  Where we found a delicious recipe that Ryan made for breakfast the next morning!  That's right, he let me sleep in as long as Jensen slept, got up and  made french toast with homemade caramel syrup that was pretty much like the yummiest thing ever on french toast.  Great morning.  The kids loved having Grandma here, between that and the syrup it was like Christmas again.  

It was a wonderful Christmas and a very special one with our new little man to add to the fun.  Not to mention that Christmas with an adorable 7 month old was WAY more fun than last Christmas getting over pregnancy sickness! Much to be thankful for.