Amber and the Boys

Perfection

2012-01-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

In the scriptures the number 7 often symbolizes perfection. Adam is 7 months old. And has achieved perfection. I just don't think they come any cuter than this: (Slight bias acknowledged, but come on, this is CUTE!!)

I love it when he sucks on his lower lip like this:

This is probably one of my new all time favorite pictures ever. I love how he looks like he is up to something:

And our 7 month laundry basket shot:

What Adam is up to:

Still tiny. I tried weighing him on my postage scale the other day and I think he is about 14 pounds now. He seems to be having a growth spurt this week though and will not stop eating. He ate 3 containers of baby food today on top of tons of milk.

He can sit up but he doesn't sit up. It's like he has the muscle power but not the desire, so he just doesn't. I think it is coming soon though. Dr. said that as a preemie he has until 8 1/2 months to sit and still be within the normal range.

He loves to eat all his baby food. The only thing he hasn't liked is peas. I tried biter biscuits recently and apparently they don't make the really hard suck on till the are just a wet mess kind anymore. I handed him one and within seconds he bit a piece off. Bummer. We will have to wait on those I guess.

He has no teeth yet.

He has started doing a fake laugh that is so funny. He does it all the time lately. He also makes kind of a purring sound when he is looking at someone he likes. Very sweet. He is squealing and talking a lot more all of a sudden. I am working on getting him to learn the ma ma sound. :) No luck so far.

I love him.

Family Pics

2012-01-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

I never posted these and I need to. I was kind of waiting for Christmas to pass since they were our Christmas card pics and I didn't want to spoil the card.

For a long time I have been a really big fan of my friend Liz's photography. The thing I like most is how bright and light they are and how happy they make life look. I like bright things and I like to thing that I look at life in a bright way, so they speak to me.

She came out to Utah to visit in August and asked if she could take our family pictures. Um, yes. Please!

I love how they turned out. I need to get a bunch printed and framed on our walls. Here are some of my favorites. Thank you Liz!!!! (I posted a few of my favorites of Dallen on his birthday post already)

Awards

2012-01-19T19:36:00.000-08:00

Back in November we had some big awards in our family. Big awards to the boys, awards that meant a lot to them and I haven't posted about them, so I here they are now.

Jack entered the Reflections contest at school and he WON!!!! I admit that I was really surprised when I got the phone call saying he won. I just wanted him to enter for the experience, I didn't anticipate him winning.

Winning was a HUGE deal for Jack. Since then he knows he is good at art and maybe he will be an artist when he grows up. He gets out his water colors all the time to paint. And it has boosted his self confidence a lot. He even took his medal with him to Denver at Thanksgiving to show it off. I am so proud of him and so happy with the impact this contest has had on him. Here are some pictures from the award's ceremony:

A week or two after that, Nathan earned his Wolf badge at Scouts along with like 3 beads, a pile of belt loops, 4 or so Arrow Points and the World Conservation Award. He was pretty excited. He got really motivated and did tons of work to get all of this done and we are proud of him. I am not sure what we are going to work on between now and June since has done almost everything he could do. He has such a great leader and so much fun in scouts!

Matching

2012-01-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

Adam and his Uncle Jason have the same hairstyle:

What do you do...?

2012-01-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

When in the middle of the night you have 60 mile an hour winds that feel like they are going to knock your whole house down and when you wake up the next morning you find this:

Ugh! Luckily, the golf course guy drove by as Josh was attempting to deal with them and told him he could throw them in the golf course marsh behind our house. So they are gone now. Though the wind blew away a whole bunch of our wood chips and scattered them all over our yard and down our window wells. We'll be dealing with that later.

Bug Bite

2012-01-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

After refinishing Josh' piano in December, the refinishing bug has bitten. I want to do more and lots more!

I went to Saver's thrift store and bought an ugly chair:

Ugly and dirty and scratched:

And I refinished it:

I love how it turned out. I wasn't planning to keep it for myself. I was actually hoping to sell it on craigslist, but I like it so much that I just might keep it around.

This is how I fight the January doldrums. With projects.

It's the Most Wonderful Time...

2012-01-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

No, I don't mean January is the most wonderful time of the year. I am just late on posting about Christmas. January in fact, is probably my least favorite month, though weather wise it has been kind to us so far this year.

But anyway, Christmas this year may have been my favorite Christmas since Josh and I married. We had both of our families in town and we packed in a ton of fun!

Christmas Eve was my favorite day. We started the morning with a service scavenger hunt with my family. We divided into two teams and hit the town to see how many acts of kindness and service we could perform in about 1.5 hours. It was a BLAST! The highlight of Christmas for me. The best part was that the kids got really into it too. I think that will be a Christmas tradition for us now.

That afternoon we went ice skating. Even Grandma and Grandpa skated! The boys loved it and it was nice to have so many uncles and grandparents to help keep them on their feet.

For dinner we did fondue. The whole three courses-cheese, meat, chocolate. It was yummy but a lot of work. Then, we attempted to pack in acting out the nativity, singing Christmas songs, playing Tommy Wright, opening Christmas jammies, and playing Minute to Win It games. This is the one part of the day that was maybe a little too much. We were exhausted by the end of all that.

The boys got matching Christmas jammies made by mom. Adam loved his:

(On a side note, yes, Nathan has a red mark on his forehead. He is Harry Potter and that is his scar. Actually, Jack has one in this picture too. Nathan has marched around the house like that for several weeks now. At least our kids can never complain that we didn't let them be themselves. I didn't even make him wash it off for the picture!)

Santa brought sleds and some small Ninjago toys. We spent the morning of Christmas with my family, went to church, then went to Josh's grandparents to see them and his parents. Unfortunately Grandma was very sick and actually headed to the hospital while we were there, but the good news is she is feeling much better now! We really missed her though. After playing with Josh's parents for a while we came back to our house for Christmas dinner with my family. I think breaking up the day like this was perfect for the boys. They were so happy the whole day, very little whining or complaining or fighting. It was the best!

The rest of the week was filled with way too much fun with both of our families, and THAT is why January is my least favorite month. It's so boring after all the fun of Christmas. Of course there are always my many projects...but those are for another post.

Big D

2012-01-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

The last blog post was titled demolition. That could be the title of this post too really. This post is about Dallen, and Dallen has been known to create his share of demolition.

Dallen turned 4 today. And we celebrated the only way we could think of for Dallen:

We flipped. Dallen's favorite place to go is Lowe's Air Sports Extreme. It's a trampoline and foam pit heaven and this little boy is a dare devil. The trampoline that he is flipping from in this picture is the same one that he back flipped off last time we went there while I wasn't looking. He loves to jump, climb, flip. Perhaps that's the cause of much of the demolition I mentioned previously.

Dallen is very thoughtful. I believe in a previous birthday post, probably the one when he turned two, I mentioned this same characteristic. We noticed it early on and it is still true. I love that about him. He constantly thinks of others in ways that I believe are beyond the scope of a typical 4 year old. He shares, he thinks to thank, he cares about others feelings. Today he said to me "sanks for the birthday." Love it.

He is also very fun. He has a ton of energy and gets very excited about things. He makes our family more fun because of his zest for life.

Right now Dallen's favorite thing is Lego Ninjago, so we celebrated Ninja style today. His cake was a Ninjago face:

His Joy School cupcakes were Ninjago:

He wore his favorite costume, his "Jays." (Jay is his favorite Ninjago character.) And his birthday signs hanging all over the house featured all of the Ninja guys.

The lady who likes to sit behind us in church told me last Sunday that if Dallen went missing not to come to her house to search for him. I think she has a little crush on him. That's good because that was just after she had watched him break the hymn book holder on our pew. Did I mention destruction?

This picture sums up Dallen in a way that no words could. This is pure Dallen:

I took Dallen out to lunch this week for a free birthday meal and while we were there I interviewed him. Here are his responses:

Favorites:

Color: Blue, Red, White, Black. The Ninjago colors.

Food: French Fries, Hot Dogs and Chicken Nuggets

Drink: Chocolate Milk and Rootbeer

Show: Ninjago

Treat: Cosmic Brownies

Best Friend: Jack

Thing to do with Mom: Light Saber Fighting

Thing to do with Dad: Daddy Date

Thing to do with Brothers: Play Sonic and Mario Olympics (wii game)

Toy: (You guessed it...) Lego Ninjago

Song: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Jingle Bells

If you woke up one morning and you could do absolutely anything what would you do? Have screen time all day.

What makes you...?

Excited: Birthday!

Scared: Getting jammies or clothes wet

Happy: When some of my clothes are clean

Mad: When we have to go home from somewhere

What do you want to be when you grow up? 16

No, I mean what do you want to do for a job? Drive you to somewhere.

Best thing in your life? Screen time (as you can see, it's a good thing we limit screen time in our house)

Hardest thing in your life? When I make a big mess in my room

Love this kid!

Demolition

2011-12-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving we went to Denver. The whole family was there. Every cousin, aunt, uncle, grandma and grandpa. That equals 16 people. Out of those 16 people 3 of those are girls.

What happens when you have that much testosterone under one roof? A lot of competition. Turkey bowl football games, card games, nerf wars, and the crowning competition, a pinewood demolition derby.

My brother Doug built a track:

All the crazy boys (and Grandma and Aunt Natalie) built cars.

And they raced them. And let them crash into each other until they broke. Once your car broke, you were out of the race. Unfortunately, the cars were quite strong this year and a few of them never did break completely:

Here's Dallen about to race his car:

Here's my mom's Pretty Hippo car:

Nathan about to race:

The full lineup of crazy cars:

And a closeup of our family's cars (Nathan's on the left and Dallen's on the right):

Jack's car:

My boys were a little disappointed that their cars broke pretty early on, but they still had a great time. My brothers are crazy.

Half a Year

2011-12-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

Adam reached 1/2 a year old last week. He's so tiny though you wouldn't know it. He had his 6 month Dr. appointment last week and he's so little that he's not even on the growth chart for weight and just the 4th percentile for height. He's teeny!(13 pounds, 1 oz and 24 3/4 inches long)

He started eating all kinds of foods-rice cereal, bananas, apples, peaches, pears, sweet potatoes and squash so far and he has loved all of them. We notice that when we are all eating, he gets mad if he doesn't get to eat too.

He has started to be a little bit of a mama's boy, and I have to admit it, I sort of like it. Not that I am going to play into it really. I am still going to hand him off to other people and let him learn to like it, but it does make me feel good that he really likes me.

My favorite thing is that he has started to be very affectionate. He loves to put his hands on faces of people he loves. I will pick him up and he reaches out and puts his hands on my face and nuzzles in to me. I love it!

He still really wants to blow raspberries and still can't do it. He'll keep trying though.

His hair is getting a little bit longer and still just stands on end. I LOVE it!!!

And really, can you beat this kind of cuteness?

Here you can kind of see his fuzzy head:

And here's our 6 month laundry basket shot:

Christmas Card

2011-12-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas card and poem for anyone who hasn't already seen it:

Paradise Lost (and Found)

Hello from the Prices! As we finish up a year
We wish you Merry Christmas, with lots of holiday cheer.

We started out the year in San Diego, warm and sunny.
We’re ending it in Utah where the cold makes noses runny.

Why did we leave paradise? You’d think that we were nuts,
‘Cause once we left, it all broke loose, no ifs or ands or buts.

We got to Utah, bought a house and moved in right away,
Dug sprinkler trenches, baptized Nate, and partied for Jack’s birthday

Within two weeks Josh started his new job at BYU,
Teaching O-Chem to the Cougs, who wear the white and blue.

Before we’d had a chance to catch our breath from all this change,
Life changed some more, and looking back, it all seems kind of strange.

Amber was expecting then, her due date in July
Another son! “Woo hoo!” we thought, our fourth cute little guy!

We thought we still had many weeks to go before he came
But we were wrong. Her labor started at a baseball game!

Five weeks early, and with pre-eclampsia to boot,
Emergency c-section, but our little guy was cute!

Amber soon recovered, though, and quickly Adam grew
(He spent his first two weeks in a small bed in the NICU).

It seemed much longer, but before the fireworks were done
We finally were able to bring home our little son.

Things began to settle and become much more routine
We quickly saw that life in UT could be quite a dream.

With friends, a job, and family, and temples all around,
It seems the paradise we lost can’t beat the one we found.

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Josh, Amber,
Nathan, Jack, Dallen and Adam

Merry Christmas to Josh

2011-12-10T20:29:00.001-08:00

I'm nuts. Just ask anyone. Nuts for sure, but a happy, productive nut. So when Josh left town this week, leaving me alone with the 4 kiddos from Sunday afternoon until Thursday afternoon, I saw my big opportunity.

A few years back we bought a piano off of craigslist. It was old and beat up, but you couldn't beat the deal we got on it. It's a baby grand and though it was out of tune, it played well and had character.

When we prepared to move to Utah we decided to sell it. We listed it on craigslist for the same price we paid for it and not a nibble. After a week or two of this, some serious thinking started rolling around in our brains and we realized we would never find a piano like this for the price we paid again. We decided to keep it and pay the extra cash to have it moved to Utah. Someday, we told ourselves, we will refinish it, get it all fixed up, make it nice. Let's keep it.

Well, someday came this week. While Josh was gone, I refinished it. I have refinished exactly 1 thing prior to this in my life. Dal's dresser-I did that about 2 months ago. That went so well that I figured, hey, how hard could a piano be?

Thanks to pinterest and some nice tutorials on how to refinish furniture, I felt vaguely confident. At least confident enough to try it, though I admit I was VERY nervous and dreamed about it and worried about it a lot the week before I did it.

First thing Monday morning (Josh having left on Sunday) I got to work. I decided not to sand (after trying and feeling like it wasn't going to be worth it), so I got some primer that is intended to be used without having to sand. All day Monday I primed. Primed the whole thing that day. That was a lot of work. I also got help from my brother to move the big top piece to the basement to the work on it down there.

Tuesday I got paint and started painting. That was a little trickier because it was oil based paint and took forever to dry and I was on a time limit! And I was scared to death that I was going to spill it on our carpet or something.

After having my other brother help me lift the big lid part back on to the piano while it was still sort of wet, I had some touching up to do, but in the end, it got finished. (All except the bench. I didn't start that until today.)

Josh was scheduled to come home Thursday afternoon. His flight got in at 1:30 and he was supposed to go straight to work for a meeting at 4. I suspected he might stop by home to surprise us and say hi on his way to work. He did. Darn him. The piano tuner was coming at 3:00 that day and Josh was there when he showed up, so the surprise didn't go off quite as well as I would have liked. Also, the very first thing Dallen said to Josh when he saw him was "Dad, you gotta see what mom did to the piano" to which Jack responded "shhh Dallen! Dad, ignore him. Don't even look in the piano room." So much for the element of surprise that I was going for.

Anyway, that was a long story about this process. Let's just see the pictures now.

Here are a couple of before pictures:

And here's the finished product:

It's not perfect. But it looks pretty neat. And, it's tuned and repaired and sounds beautiful. I love it when Josh plays it! And I may have found a great new hobby...

Little Adam

2011-12-02T12:29:00.001-08:00

It's about ~~a week and a half~~ ok, now it's two weeks past Adam turning 5 months, but we were on our way to Denver for Thanksgiving, so I took the 5 month picture at the right time, but didn't post it yet.

We sure love our little guy. And he is really learning to love his brothers. I find him looking with complete adoration at them all the time. And they dote on him like crazy, so who can blame him? Today Dallen got in the car after Joy School and walked straight to Adam's car seat and got down in his face to say hi and play with him for a minute. Adam couldn't control his joy and I just sat and smiled and watched. So sweet.

As for being a little guy, I think his 4 month check up was after I posted about him turning 4 months, so I probably didn't post his stats. He was only in the 3rd percentile for weight! If you adjust for age (since he should be a month younger) he is 15%, but either way, this guy's little. I am curious to see what his 6 month checkup shows.

He started rolling just days after turning 4 months. Three times in a row I found him on his tummy in his bed one night. At first I thought it was a fluke, but after 3 times I realized that we had a roller. That was rolling back to tummy and he also does tummy to back too but less often.

He seems to want to be part of things but doesn't have the muscles yet to sit up so he gets mad that he gets left laying on the floor.I notice him trying to sit up in his bouncer chair. Good luck buddy!

I started him on solid food. And since he is my 4th kid and I am sick of fighting the rice cereal battle, I went straight for apples. Much better. He has only had them a handful of time so far and was frankly appalled at what I was putting in his mouth at first, but now he likes them better. That's good because this kid seems hungry a lot lately. I think we will try a veggie this week and then add another fruit.

He wants SO badly to learn to blow raspberries. As I mentioned in previous posts, he has his tongue out all the time, so I guess it's natural to want to make sounds with it, but he can't figure out how. He stares at us so intently when we do it. I hope he learns soon. That will be cute.

He has maybe 1/2 inch of hair on the top of his head and it sticks straight up, especially after he has a bath, so he looks fuzzy. I love it. Speaking of baths, he finally likes them! So I am making an effort to make sure he gets to have one more often:

Here's our 5 month laundry basket shot. Filling this basket up now!

Oh, AND, at Thanksgiving he got to hang out with his cousin Billy who is the same age. Not the best picture what with barf on the shirt and things but I thought it was cute how Billy's hand is on Adam's head. They're pals.

He is happy most of the time, sleep pretty well and is just a dream to have around. I am so glad he is mine. Adam, mommy loves you!!

First Snow

2011-11-21T19:58:00.001-08:00

Josh and I woke abruptly to the noisy squeals and shrieks of three little boys at 7:15 Satruday morning. This was strange because they are usually pretty good about just playing quietly on weekend mornings. Then they burst into our room and the reason became clear. "It snowed!!!"

After three years in San Diego, these boys missed snow. And remember, Dallen is only 3. He's never done snow. They immediately bundled up and headed outside for several hours of snow playing in the 1 inch of snow on the ground. My favorite part was when I looked outside and Dal was sitting there eating snow...in a pile of bark and dirt. Yum.

Sleep

2011-11-20T21:15:00.001-08:00

This is how we typically find Dallen when we go in to check on him before we go to bed each night:

Weirdo.

Friendship

2011-11-17T13:06:00.001-08:00

For this week's "I'm Grateful for" post, the thing that comes to mind is friendship. Old, new, rekindled, all types.

Since moving to Utah I have spent some time with an old friend and roommate (Colleen) from college after not seeing too much of each other for about 10 years. It has been so much fun to reconnect and I am reminded what a good friend she is and it is fun to let our families get to know each other. (Well, she knows Josh. She can at least partly take the credit for helping hook us up.)

Today I had lunch with a friend from San Diego (Bronwyn) and it was so much fun to reconnect with her even though it has only been 5 months since I last saw her. Again I was reminded what a good friend she is and how much I miss her. But friends are friends, not matter how far away or how often you see them.

And I really am grateful for the friendships I am forming here in Utah. New friends who I hope to form deep relationships with and spend a lifetime developing I hope. I had a friend who was going to come over and play today (well, the kids were going to play, she and I probably would have just talked) :) and she was flexible and willing to reschedule to accommodate my surprise visit from Bronwyn which was very sweet.

I am a people person through and through. I love people and I love friends. I am so grateful to have so many good friends in my life. Friends, family, cousins, brothers, my mama, Josh's family, everyone.

What if...?

2011-11-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

There's a quote floating around the internet these days that says something along the lines of "What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things that you thanked the Lord for today?"

That thought hit me profoundly and has played around in my mind repeatedly over the last few weeks. It's made me more aware of what I say in my prayers and the "amens" I add to others' prayers since those thank yous count for me too.

And since it is November, I decided to record some of the things I am grateful for. But I am not going to post it daily. I will write them down throughout the week and maybe post them weekly or something.

So here goes for this week.

The first thing that came to mind this week was the temple, and specifically the Mt. Timpanogas temple. I had the chance to go there twice within a week. It was the first time I went since moving away from here 8 years ago and that temple is such a special place to me. It feels like that's where it all began. Outside that temple is where Josh held my hand for the first time, where he proposed and where I was endowed. Until San Diego it was my favorite temple, but now I have a very soft spot for San Diego too.

Now, I have a view of the Mt. Timpanogas temple from my home. When I rock Adam in his room I can see it there, off in the distance. From our bedroom I can see it and it makes me feel like life has come full circle. When Josh held my hand there what, like 12 or 13 years ago I never dreamed that someday I would look out my window while rocking his baby and see that very place. Very special to me.

Other things I felt grateful for this week:

Three year olds who wear Dash masks all day long even though they can barely see out.

Warm soup at the dinner table with my favorite boys in the whole world

Good books-oh how I love to read. Happiness is a nightstand piled with books to read and mine is VERY full right now.

Bacon Blue Burgers. Oh yum.

Teaching a gang of cute 3-5 year olds in my house and having a blast with things like an impromptu dance party with glow sticks in my closet.

This wonderful, wonderful ward here in Utah that has made me feel so welcome and where I already feel like I have so many friends.

Sewing. I love to sew. I love to create and this week I spent a little bit of time sewing some very fun Christmas projects.

My house. And not just because I like how it looks or anything like that. It just feels so good to have a house that is ours. And this one just feels so right for our family with it's location, with it open layout that allows me to be in the kitchen while the kids sit at the bar doing homework or are nearby in the living room playing wii. I just love it.

More to come in the next week...

Halloween at our House

2011-11-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween...a week ago. It's been a busy week. OK, every week is a busy week, but anyway, getting my Halloween pictures up now.

After we bought our pumpkins and brought them home, Adam happened to be wearing cute overalls and an orange shirt and I thought it would be a great idea to try snapping some pictures of him with pumpkins. He was less enthusiastic.

First of all, it was so bright outside for his little eyes, he could hardly keep them open:

Doing a little better:

Still trying for a smile without success:

Now we are falling:

Maybe from the back would be better? I don't think so mom:

OK, enough is enough!!!

Now, on to the big events. For Halloween this year we had a Ninja (from the newest obsession in our house, Lego Ninjago):

A Cougar football player-JJ Di Luigi (I even embroidered Di Luigi's name on the back and it is the correct number-10):

And this little monkey was going to be another BYU football player, Rylie Nelson. Wait, let me back that up. He thought he wanted to be Jake Heaps and we told him no, you definitely don't want to be Jake Heaps. You Cougar fans will understand that. So Rylie Nelson it was. Until the Halloween events started and then he wanted nothing to do with that costume. Instead, throughout our Halloween events he was an astronaut (no picture), a Jedi:

and on the big day, he was Dash. Dash is what I wanted him to be originally and he refused. Until Halloween morning when he put on his super suit (which I made him a few months ago) and the asked for his mask. No mask had been made since that was not what he was going to be. Luckily I was able to whip up a mask in about 3 minutes and he wore it ALL day even though he could barely see out. So cute! (We have a large collection of costumes-that's why he had so many options):

And Adam? He was the football. :)

Oh, and the only, ONLY, adult who dressed up for the church Halloween breakfast?

Oh Josh thought that was so funny. That's cool. I am ok being the only fun adult in the place. :) And that's not really a subtle costume either.

Projects

2011-10-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have always liked doing projects...just ask my mom, she can attest to that. (It may have been the bane of her existence when I was a child.)

Something about having a new home has really unleashed a beast in me. Poor Josh. But I am loving it.

And then, add to that my new addiction to Pinterest (a site that gives me LOTS of ideas of things to create). I may or may not be totally obsessed.

I have promised pictures of some of my projects to a few people so, here they are:

Dal had a boring old dresser that didn't really add much flair to his room. So, I spiced it up. This is my first refinishing project, and it may have unleashed a new beast.

Here is the before:

And after. As you can see, I need to add some paint between the orange and green drawers. Didn't realize that part needed to be covered.

Also for Dal's room: I built this from crates on Joann's

Monster:

A couple of Halloween decorations: Did this one on a whim after seeing something similar in a store. Mine is cuter than the store's. :)

This idea just came straight out of my brain:

A cute candy corn dress I made for a friend who just had a baby girl.

And the rock wall we built in our front yard:

Chubby and Bald

2011-10-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Bet you can guess who this post is about just by the title. There is only one person in our family who is chubby and bald...and now he is 4 months old!!! Here's his 4 month pic:

I'm not going to post all the other pics in this post because they are just 2 posts ago, but you can click here if you want to compare.

He's really cute and he's really sweet and we really love him.

He's pretty much happy all the time. Rarely cries and is smiley and fun.

He loves to stick out his tongue.

He looks at me like I am the most amazing thing in the world.

He is starting to almost roll over...but it might be a fluke. He did it twice today but it may have been just luck. I am not sure he is fully capable yet. That's from back to tummy rolling.

He has chubby cheeks and a double chin. And is bald as can be still. So, we tried on some hair today:

He's not so sure about it. :)

Eye Candy

2011-10-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

How about a little treat for your eyes on this lovely October day?

Say "Trick or Treat!"

OK, here you go:

You're welcome. :)

3 month old and a Preschooler

2011-09-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

I am a lucky mom because I get to spend my days with very cute short people. And I love it. I really really do. Who wouldn't want to spend their days with this:

The big news is that that's Dal's first day of Preschool picture. I wasn't planning on having him in preschool this year. I have always sort of thought that I should enjoy every moment with them while they are young because soon enough they are wisked off to school all day every day.

But after 6 weeks of big brothers being in school it was becoming very apparent that Dal was flat out bored spending his days with me every single day. We already did a full year of that last year and I just felt like he was needing more interaction with other kids. So, when 4 of the moms in the ward asked me to join their preschool it didn't take me too long to say yes.

I admit, my heart was sad when I dropped him off for his first day. But, it's only 4 hours a week total and after today (day 2 for him) it's obvious that he loves it. He has been singing songs from it ever since I picked him up. And I get a chance to have time to myself (well sort of, Adam's there too) so I am refreshed and a better mom. So far, so good.

As for Adam, he is 3 months! Well, he hit that last week, this post is just a little late. He is such a sweetie pie. I especially say that this week because in the last week or two he has started to consistently sleep 5-7 hours at night. That is a big jump because before that he was only doing about 3.5. Happy mama.

He started laughing last week but the little stink won't do it for me this week. But he smiles and coos all the time.

He loves to sleep with a blanket right up by his face. If he is in the car seat or swing I will give him his pacifier and then hand him a blanket which he will hold with both hands right over his face. It's very sweet.

I think he's probably about 11 and a half pounds or so, but that's just a guess. Not bad for a preemie. If he was only 2 months like he should be, that would be a pretty good size. As you can see in the pictures, he's getting fat. :) He is right in between 0-3 month and 3-6 month clothes right now.

He is sweet and rarely cries-only if he needs something and if he is getting his diaper changed. Not a fan of that. He doesn't really dig the bath either, but at least he doesn't cry in it anymore. (Ahem, that is when we get around to bathing him. Let's just say that as a 4th child he probably gets a bath about 1/4 of the amount of times Nathan did.)

Time hasn't flown too fast with Adam which I am appreciating. I feel like I have taken the opportunity to enjoy him the most of all my babies. Not that I didn't enjoy them all-I have had all easy babies and have loved having newborns every time, I have just tried to enjoy every moment even more this time. I am so in love with him. So is the whole family.

And here are the comparison pics for 3 months:

This was 1 month:

2 months:

3 months. I am kind of mad at myself for not getting a better picture at 3 months. I didn't realize there was a glare on them till I uploaded them and now I don't want to redo them because he is a week past 3 months. Oh well.

2011-09-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

You've just got to love him:

We dug in the basement this week for Dal's next installment of hand me down clothes and found the outfit pictured above. Too cute. Problem was, the neck was so tight on him that he kept making gagging sounds so eventually we had to lose to tie and unbutton the top button. And the pants were so big on the waist that they fell down during church. :)

Also during church, I was out feeding the baby during sacrament meeting-not a good idea and I won't be doing it again because Josh needed to go up and play the organ for the rest hymn. He figured he'd just take Dal with him since he maybe can't be trusted to sit alone with his brothers. Dal was unimpressed by this idea and made it known, loudly and with increasing force as Josh began to play. About this time I got back in to the chapel and saw what was going on. There's Josh, trying to play, with Dal clinging to his arm and screaming for all the ward to hear. A very nice friend went up to try to help and peeled Dal off Josh just as I got there, traded the baby with her for Dallen (I am told the baby promptly threw up on her) and left the chapel with a crying 3 year old. Anyone in the ward who didn't know us before does now. :)

During the sacrament little Dal accidentally took 2 pieces of bread instead of 1. I saw his eyes grow big as he popped them into his mouth and realized what he had done. Then, quickly, he pulled one out and put it back on the sacrament tray. Don't worry, I rescued it.

Love my Dal.

Smiley Face

2011-09-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

I finally caught it-a smile from my angel:

He always sticks his tongue out when he smiles. I love it. And may I just ask, is there anything better than walking into a room and having someone completely lose control of themselves, arms flailing, legs kicking, drool dripping and a huge grin, just because he heard your voice? And now he coos too.

How about this for a handsome face:

Happy at Home

2011-08-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

I made no secret of the fact that I didn't want to move to Utah. Anyone who has known me for even a little bit of time probably knows that. I really didn't want to move back to Utah. When it became apparent that a move back to Utah was in the cards for us, I admit, I prayed and said look, I don't want to do this, but apparently this is the plan, so just help me to like it. Please.

I confess-I am one happy girl in Utah. Things have gone well. That's not to say that I don't miss San Diego, because I really do. And I probably really will in January. But things have been better than I ever imagined here.

To start with, the ward is fantastic! Hugely overwhelming because there are a million people with new ones every week, but the young moms in particular have been so welcoming to me which really means a lot. I had a calling within a month of being here. I feel pretty well integrated already with obviously much more getting to know people to come.

We love having family close. My boys are over the moon about having Uncle Jason and Tims close and they think going to cousin Daniel's or Great Grandma's house is the greatest.

And, I love my house. For a looooong time I have wanted to be a home owner and I am so happy to be one and to own this house.

Here is why:
This is what I see from my backyard. Is that gorgeous or is that gorgeous? And just to clarify, that large building that looks like an English manor is the golf course club house-people always ask what it is.

Backyard view 2:

And the beautiful view of Mt. Timpanogas from the front yard. The front yard also features farm land not far away.

Here is the house. Really I was just taking this pictures as a "before" shot because we are about to put in a rock wall and tree and then next year we will add lots of flowers.

And I just thought a few pics of the inside now that we actually have some furniture and things in it might be nice. There is still much to be done-projects to do, things to buy, but all in due course. I love having stuff to work on around the house.

Love my kitchen! Love the island where the kids can sit while I cook and whatever:

Living room

And, my favorite (other than the kitchen). The Piano Room. This read couch is super comfy to lay on and read a book and the best part? My boys haven't figured out to look for me there yet. I can usually get at least 10 minutes of quiet time there.

Back to School

2011-08-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

It was a little rough to go back to school this year. When you don't know anyone it can be pretty daunting. This hit Nathan just after we tucked him into bed the night before school started. And then he started to worry. I reassured him that both daddy and I had been in the same shoes at least once in our lives and that yes, it was going to be hard but that he could do it and that I would be praying for him. Little did he know that his mommy was probably even more worried for him than he was. It's hard to go to school and not know anyone! The thought of my baby boy wandering around the playground alone was heartbreaking.

Jack on the other hand was totally pumped. I don't know if it was the new backpack or what, but he had no fear.

Turns out that everything went really well. Jack made a new best friend the very first day. His name is Jackson and Jack says its like they are twins! :) Nathan, poor sweet thing, walked in the cafeteria and sat down near some random people. Then he spotted a girl he knew from church and went and sat down near her but she didn't notice him and then he noticed a boy from Cub Scouts and went to him and they clicked and have played together every day since! Oh how that makes my heart happy.

Anyway, here are some pictures from Day 1:

And this year's back to school cake. Every year I make some sort of cake for a celebration that night. This year I decided to simplify and instead of the grand idea I had for a pencil cake made with fondant, I stuck some school supplies on a basic 2 layer and I think it turned out really fun!

Goodbye Summer!

2011-08-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

This summer was without a doubt the most insane summer of my life. Big move, new house, new job for Josh, new baby who arrived via emergency c-section followed by an apparently very serious illness, putting a yard in, trip to Denver, adjusting to 4 kids, visitors almost all summer long, trying to get to know new people and make friends, finding new doctors, etc.

Wow! In some ways I am not sad to move past that. But I am sad to say goodbye to spending long days with my 4 boys having fun, reading, eating popsicles on the porch, going on big outings, swimming, late bedtimes, ice cream cones, and relaxing. In fact all day today I have been missing them-Nathan and Jack are at school.

By the time we got settled after the move (well, semi settled I mean-we still aren't totally settled) and our last visitor left, I had 2 days with my boys before I had the unexpected arrival of Adam. After his birth and the weeks of going to the hospital to feed him, I was really mourning the fact that my summer seemed to be slipping away and I hadn't even had time to just be with my boys. It was really stressing me out to miss out on summer. So, a month after he was born and when our last helpers/visitors had left this time (we were quite needy this summer-thanks helpers), we hit the summer fun hard. Insanely hard.

Here is a run down of some of our summer activities, so we can look back and remember this summer in years to come:

Swimming lessons-6 weeks of them for all 3 boys, though I only attended 2 weeks worth. The grandmas did the other 4. They learned a ton this year. Lessons here are WAY better than in San Diego. And half the price.

Basketball camp for Nathan and Jack for 1 week. They LOVED it. Dal was SO sad he couldn't do it too.

Owlz Games-Dal's favorite activity this summer were the 2 Orem Owlz baseball games we attended. Mine...not so much. Well, I enjoyed the games, but it was from the first game that I left for the hospital and ultimately Adam's birth. Crazy.

Bingham Copper Mine-Nathan's highlight of the summer. A big, big, very big hole in the side of the mountain from which copper has been mined for years. All three boys were enthralled by the whole experience. Both Nathan and Jack have decided to be miners when they grow up.

Children's Discovery Garden at Thanksgiving Point-we did it twice. Once with Aunt Natalie and cousin Daniel, once by ourselves. There is a splash park, a hedge maze, a river to play in, dirt to dig in, etc. A little boy's dream.

Krispy Kreme-I've never been there so I took my boys. Bummer-the machine was broken that makes the doughnuts so there were no hot ones to try.

Taffy Town-Somehow I have grown a serious addiction for Salt Water Taffy ever since moving here. 7 lbs of taffy from Taffy Town in Salt Lake did nothing to help that addiction. Yum.

Bean Musuem and Creamery-We explored the Life Science Museum at BYU and then walked to the creamery. This was actually my first outing alone with all 4 boys and it went really well. Felt so good to be out and about with them.

Cougareat at BYU with Daddy-Met him for lunch.

We raised our own butterflies-from caterpillars to butterflies, then we released them.

We took a week long trip to Denver which was HEAVEN. We got to spend time with my sister in law Natalie and her kids, my cutie granny and gramps, a couple of my brothers, of course my mom and dad and lots of my cousins:

We went swimming in Denver twice. Here is Uncle Doug with lots of boys: (there are 7 cousins-all boys)

Adam got to meet two friends. His cousin William who is just 3 weeks younger and my cousin's son Noah who is um, maybe 5 weeks younger or so? Here he is snuggling Noah:

We also went up to the cabin in the mountains of Colorado for 2 days and had fun. Here are the boys cooking s'mores.

We tie dyed shirts because Jack has been dying to do that for a while. They turned out awesome. I will have to take a picture and add that at some point.

We took quite a few trips to 7 peaks water park because we have season passes. Only I couldn't swim for 6 weeks post c-section, so I mostly got to watch.

Speaking of that though, I took a weekly trip to the Dr. every single week for 6 weeks postpartum. My incision had some serious issues. I know my Dr. really well now.

We went to Trafalga to mini golf, play laser tag, ride go carts, etc. quite a few times because we also have season passes there.

Dallen has been desperate for a "super suit" so that he could be Dash. He asked me every day to make him one during the week that I came home from the hospital. He couldn't understand why mom wouldn't do it. It's hard to explain a c-section and baby in the NICU to a 3 year old. Finally I did it. Now I am a hero:

South Fork Park-We went on a picnic up the Provo Canyon to South Fork Park. We had a cold foot contest and threw rocks in the river. My boys were in heaven.

We went to lots of food places here for our Summer Coupon books made by me: Purple Turtle, Sonic, The Sweet Tooth Fairy, Smart Cookie, Little Caesar's, and several more.

Summer reading program and trips to the library including meeting Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven. We always ended up with WAY too many books to carry.

Fireworks for the 4th at our house and again for American Fork Steel Days at Great Grandma's house.

I am sure I am forgetting quite a few more things, but that about sums up our wild and crazy summer. Summer, I will miss you, but it will be nice to maybe finally get some things finished up around this house.

It's All About Adam

2011-08-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Why is it that 2 months with a baby on the outside of your body goes SO much faster than 2 months the baby inside your body?

Adam is 2 months old today. Two wonderful months. We love this kid. His brothers just can't get enough (I hope they remember that a few months down the line when he starts breaking their lego creations and such), I just can't stop holding him and loving him and daddy thinks he's something special.

I haven't posted pictures in a while-frankly my life has seemed sort of completely out of control for oh, say, the last 2 and a half months. I have no idea why. But here are some pictures to catch up. Also, a run down of what he is up to:

Adam started smiling for us at about 5 weeks. I wasn't sure whether to expect him to hit milestones at regular times or later since he was a preemie, but the smiling happened nice and on time, which is great! I haven't really caught a great picture of it yet, but he is sort of smiling here. My heart melts when he smiles at me just because I am me, not because I have done anything to make him smile.

He is trying to "talk" when he smiles too. The last few days he is working so hard on cooing but nothing has come out yet.

Sleep-wise he was doing great! Then we went on a vacation to Denver and everything completely fell apart. We have been back a week now and we are getting back to regular. He is up about 2 times a night. Josh does one of those feedings with a bottle usually which I have never had him do with any of the other kids and it is heavenly!

I think he is in the 9 pound range now. Keep in mind he started out at 4 pounds 12 ounces, so he is almost double now. I am sort of loving that my two month old still feels tiny like a newborn. He is starting to chub out though. Someone even commented on his cheeks at church today.

I have taken some comparison pictures and plan to continue this each month for the first year. Unfortunately I couldn't start until he came home, so he is 2 weeks in the first ones instead of brand new and he was up a full pound by then.

Here he is in the carseat the day we brought him home:

At 1 month:

At 2 months:

Here he is in the laundry basket at 1 month: (notice the male pattern baldness)

And 2 months:

And a couple of other random pictures. Here is "Adam's Territory" which Nathan created for him just tonight:

Here he is on his blessing day. He was lucky to have both grandpas and one great grandpa as well as 4 out of 5 uncles there to help bless him.

Here he is sporting a blanket on his head care of his loving brother Dallen who thought he just might like to be warm:

And just for fun, here is a picture of Adam on the top and Jack on the bottom wearing the same outfit at about the same age (though of course Jack wasn't a preemie). Not the same, but brothers for sure. I love Jack's cheeks. Maybe Adam's will catch up too!

Take Me Out...

2011-07-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Dallen has a talent. It's quite a talent. He has a mean vibrato. :) He loves to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game and it is adorable, but the best part is the way he finishes it off. My dad managed to catch him on video. The quality is not good and it is sideways but what matters is that you can hear the talent. :)

A couple of funny Dallen sayings lately:

"When 2 was done being the age I was, I had a birthday and turned 3."

He and Jack were sitting on the floor playing. Jack was holding a toy squirrel and said "you stupid squirrel" to which Dallen immediately responded "I am not a squirrel Jack." Just funny to me that he automatically assumed that if Jack was saying something mean he was referring to him. And that it wasn't the "stupid" part that bothered him, but the squirrel.

Mr. Jack

2011-07-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Now it's time for a post about Jack-the post that I would have written back on his birthday if I hadn't been in the middle of a million and fifty other things.

First of all, Jack is finally toothless! I love toothless kids. In this case though, his teeth never got loose. I had to take him to the dentist to get them pulled because the ones behind were growing in. I hope that doesn't happen with all his teeth. But you can't beat a toothless smile: (or almost toothless since those adult ones are already growing in)

(And by the way-that's fudgesicle around his mouth. That's what summers all about right?)

On Jack's birthday we had only lived here for less than 48 hours and we also baptized Nathan that day. I was worried because I didn't want Nathan's birthday to overshadow Jack's birthday but Jack was unconcerned and still had a great day. After the baptism we went to a park nearby and had a party with both sets of great grandparents, both sets of grandparents and all sorts of uncles and one of the Aunt Natalies and cousin Daniel. Jack was a happy camper.

I love this kid so much. Jack was such a challenge from the age of 1 until he turned 5. Then something happened and all of a sudden he was much more agreeable. Still strong willed and knows what he wants, but willing to express it or deal with it in a more reasonable way.

Jack's obsession right now (and when I say obsession with Jack-I do mean obsession) is Legos. I love it because it is the first toy or activity that has been able to fully capture Jack's attention. He has never been one to play by himself contentedly-until now. And he is a master at coming up with cool creations (and leaving them all over the house and underfoot). :)

Jack is passionate-when he loves something he loves it. When he hates something he hates it.

Jack is tender. He is my most sensitive and emotional child. He is in love with baby Adam and wants to hold him and snuggle him all the time. Leaving San Diego was hard on him-we had a lot of crying and night terrors. Happily he has totally adjusted to Utah and loves it here.

Jack did wonderfully in Kindergarten this year. He is very smart, good at math and reading and made some wonderful friends. Honestly, if I could have hand picked his friends I would have picked the same ones he did. Great choices. He is quiet in class-I hope he gets a teacher this year who will draw him out a little more-but always follows instructions and is a good friend to others. Every time I was in his classroom helping I was proud to see how good he was in class.

What more can I say? Jack is a wonderful kid who I love!

My New Mantra

2011-07-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Lately when we ask Dallen to do something like pick up his toys before bedtime his response has been "I'm just tired of doing everything."

Me too Dallen. Me too. You have no idea how tired mommy is of doing EVERYthing. :)

Nathan's Big Days

2011-07-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's well over a month past birthdays/baptism and I haven't written about them yet, but what can I say...life's been crazy.

We pulled into town (as in, moved into Utah) on Nathan's 8th birthday-he was a trooper about traveling on his birthday. We let him open presents every so often while we drove and then that night we went out to dinner with the WHOLE family at the Brick Oven-his favorite restaurant. He said it was a good birthday-I hope it was. At least he got to have a cool party in San Diego before we left.

Two days later he was baptized. It was really neat because we had so much family there. And since we knew no one in the ward yet, it was only family other than the Bishopric representative, the Ward Mission Leader and the Primary representative.

It was really neat to have so much family:

Great Grandma and Grandpa:

Great Granny and Gramps:

Grandma and Grandpa:

3 of The Uncles: (Tim, Scott and Jason)

Grammy and Grandpa:

Aunt Natalie and Uncle Alex and Cousin Daniel

With a very proud mommy and daddy

And, the whole family:

Also, Aunt Dina and Uncle Bruce (Josh's aunt and uncle) were there too but we didn't get a picture.

I wish Josh's face wasn't so dark in this picture. My photo editing software is on the other computer...

It was really special. Nathan's two Grandpas gave the talks. Grandpa A talked about Baptism and it was really cute, because Nathan kept putting his input in all through the talk. Also, he made mom and dad look good with his knowledge of the covenants he was making. Way to go Nathan!! Grandpa P talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was baptized and confirmed with all of these men participating. When Nathan came up out of the water Jack just about jumped out of his chair with excitement which was neat. He said he was really feeling the spirit.

About Nathan on his 8th birthday:

Nathan is a special guy. He has a heart of gold and wants nothing more than to be a good boy. He works hard at everything he does. He excels in school-he is a very good reader and writer. He is also very creative. He is a boy who is friendly with everyone. All of his classmates, girls and boys, seem to enjoy him. He also is willing to play with kids of all ages, which younger kids always love. He enjoys music a lot and is very talented at the piano. He also loves to draw. And he still talks a lot. Oh, and he sort of lives in another world some of the time. :) We love our Snood.

Adam's First Pictures

2011-07-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

I feel bad that I haven't posted more than 1-2 pictures of Adam so far. I guess I have some valid excuses, like that he was in the NICU for 13 days and that we are sort of in mayhem in our lives what with moving and having a preemie and whatnot, but still-post some pictures already Amber! Poor 4th kid doesn't want to be neglected.

Adam is a doll. He is so good natured and easy going. I have had all easy babies (or maybe I just have the magic touch right?) but he is the most good natured of all so far. He cries only when he is hungry or getting his diaper changed or having a bath. I can lay him down on the floor and he will look around contentedly for a while and then fall asleep. He is just so sweet.

I admit to holding him and spoiling him a ton since he came home. My mom thinks I will teach him bad habits. I say I don't care. He hardly got held for the first 2 weeks of his life and I am making up for it now big time. (Another reason why I haven't posted pics I guess. It's hard when your arms are full of baby.)

He is up to just over 6 pounds now and something like 20 inches long now.

Anyway, I truly love this baby and it's a good things since getting him here was quite the ordeal (especially when you count the ectopic back in 2010). So, without further ado, I few pictures of my darling:

He's a deep thinker I guess:

I had to post this picture: this beautiful quilt arrived in the mail from an AMAZING friend Sara. Seriously what kind of friend makes you something like this? A really good one. Adam loves it.Thank you Sara.

And, the first bath. Not a happy camper.

Home for the 4th

2011-07-04T20:09:00.001-07:00

And celebrating in style:

Preview

2011-07-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Somebody special is coming to live with me tomorrow. Here is a preview of the room he is coming to live in:

This is the first time I have done very much in the way of a nursery. I love how it turned out. I think I still need to add a few things on the wall and of course on the little shelf there by the turtle. I plan to frame a picture of him or his birth announcement for that spot.

Tomorrow is a big day!

Update on Adam (and me)

2011-07-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Adam is 10 days old now, would have been full term today and is still a dream. I love him, have I mentioned that?

I thought it might be time for an update on how things are going.

Adam is still at the hospital in the special care nursery. I was discharged last Saturday. Since then I have been going to the hospital 4 times a day to feed him. The other 4 feeds he gets through a feeding tube in his nose.

At first I was told I had to do every other feed by mouth, the opposite feed by the feeding tube. This meant going to the hospital at 10:30 p.m. and then waking up to pump around 2 and then going back to the hospital at 4:30 a.m. followed by a 10:30 a.m. and then again at 4:30. We did that for a few days and may I say, that was exhausting, especially for someone trying to recover from a c-section. Now we go just during the day, instead of the middle of the night, 4 times.

So, when we go for a feed, I nurse him as much as I can get him to do. Then he tries a bottle (that is new in the past few days) and then anything else (he always has a set amount he is supposed to eat-right now he is up to 47 grams) he gets through his feeding tube.

Adam has to eat at least 75% of his feed by mouth in order to get his feeding tube removed and move to entirely by mouth feeds. Yesterday he hit the 75% mark for the first time. Today he has done 100% of all mouth feeds on his own! The entire thing, no feeding tube at all. Tonight he did his entire feed just nursing, no bottle. This kiddo is clearly getting strong enough for this.

The neonatologist gave the go ahead today to move to all mouth feeds. This means he gets to try eating every time, if he won't do it, he gets it through the tube. I am frustrated because I let the nurse do one feed today (one of the ones I don't usually come for) and he only did 19 grams. I think if I had been there I could have gotten him to do much more.

Anyway, I suspect he will be home soon. Very soon. And I can't wait. I am going to rock him and snuggle him endlessly. He is so tiny and so sweet. I can't get a good picture in the nursery but I promise many pictures once he is home.

In the meantime, my incision has been causing some issues. Because of my low platelets I bled way too much and had lots of old blood under the incision. The Dr. has been threatening to reopen my incision and clean it out. UGH! I was really praying to not have that happen.

Wednesday night my incision started to bleed. Conveniently I was on my way to the hospital for a feed at that time so I just went down to labor and delivery. They called the Dr. who said to patch me up the best they could and have me come into his office the next day.

The next morning I REALLY started to bleed, but we started to notice it was old looking blood. Long story short, when I got to the Dr.'s office it turns out that my incision had not opened but was oozing (sorry, that's pretty gross) out the old blood underneath it. It was actually exactly what I wanted to have happen in the way I least expected it. Love it!

So, all is well here. Hopefully we will have a sweet little baby in our midst soon. I am hoping so much that he will be home by the 4th of July, but at least by Tuesday or Wednesday I think. Yay!

Adam's Entry

2011-06-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

I feel like today is the day to write this story because it was a week ago tonight that it all happened, or began. This is going to be long and maybe somewhat graphic, but I want all the details recorded for history.

Last Monday night, June 20th, I packed up the family after dinner and herded us out the door to the Orem Owlz' (minor league baseball) opening game of the season. We met my brothers, Tim and Jason, there. It was packed. It was opening night and we have season passes along with half of Utah County to Seven Peaks and included in those passes are baseball tickets. So, we were there with half the Utah world.

It was fun-we were having a good time. Sitting on blankets in the grass on a beautiful summer evening. We ate pizza, sang "take me out to the ball game" and overall were enjoying the night. I think it must have been during the bottom of the 7th or beginning of the 8th that I started to get a killer headache. And I do mean killer. I have never had a headache quite like that. I tried laying down, it didn't help. I got up and walked to the bathroom-still felt awful and noticed that my heart beat seemed really slow, almost non existent.

I walked back to my family and told Josh I thought I better head home and I didn't think I should drive myself. Jason agreed to stay to the end of the game for the fireworks and *running the bases* that my boys were counting on. He said we could take his car and he would take ours when the game was done.

So, we headed into the UVU parking lot in search of Jason's car. In the meantime I started feeling worse and worse. Finally I told Josh that I had to find a bathroom-we found one in the UVU library where I lost a lot of bodily fluids, but I will spare you that detail. Back to the parking lot, back to the bathroom. I was feeling awful.

Finally we found Jason's car and headed to the hospital. By this time the game had ended and hoards were pouring out of the stadium. Luckily traffic didn't get too bad too fast. I would have called an ambulance right then and there if it did.

We drove to the hospital-only about 10 minutes away. By the time we got there I felt quite a bit better. We walked in and I sheepishly announced that I didn't think I should be there, but that I had been feeling "not right" and thought it best to come get checked out.

They reassured me that I was doing the right thing. This was about 10:30 pm. They got me in a lovely hospital gown, hooked me to monitors, etc. Tested my blood pressure and said it was really high. 180 over 100 or something. Yikes! They drew blood, took urine samples, all that fun stuff and called the Dr.

In the meantime I was having severe back and rib pain. They wouldn't give me anything for it for a while because they didn't want to mask symptoms, so it was really painful. I was also having lots and lots of contractions, though not painful ones.

They started giving me medication to lower my blood pressure and monitored it closely. The medication didn't seem to be helping really at all. They mentioned that there was just trace protein in my urine which is a sign of high blood pressure, but it wasn't too severe at that point. They also took blood and noticed that my liver enzymes were a little high.

The doctor showed up at some point and assessed me. They continued to give me more blood pressure meds which continued to not make too much difference.

Finally they dropped the bomb...you must have this baby tonight. After a little bit of shock, I said, "ok, let's go for it. When can I get some drugs?" My back was still killing me.

They started pitocin around 1:00 a.m. and also gave me fentenal. Pitocin, yuck. Fentenal, heaven. The room started spinning and I felt BETTER. For about 30 minutes. Then the back pain started again. They gave me more and it helped again for about 30 minutes.

Contractions started with the pitocin but nothing major. Still not painful. However, Josh and I were smart enough to recognize the sound of the baby's heart rate dropping on the audible monitor significantly several times.

The Dr. came in after a while and said the baby wasn't doing well with his heart rate and it was time to start considering a c-section. They waited a while to monitor the heart rate, but again, we could hear it dropping and we were getting nervous. And my blood pressure still wasn't much better.

This part is really cool-the Dr. (name Douglas Allen by the way. That's my brother's name.) sat down at the side of my bed and said "I like to follow mother's instincts. What are your thoughts at this point?" I appreciated that he asked. I told him I felt like this was going to end up in a c-section either way and I wanted to get the baby out while he was still safe.

Dr. agreed and they started the prep for surgery. This was about 3:00 a.m. (Boy, time was going by so fast.)

At 3:23 they began the c-section. This is the part I hate. I COULD NOT stop shaking. And I mean shaking like I was having a seizure shaking. I was SO nervous, plus they say the meds can do that to you. They had him out by 3:32.

I heard his tiny cry. And all of a sudden a wave of happiness and peace washed over me and it was all worth it. I couldn't stop calling "I love you! I love you!" to him from across the room. I needed this moment so badly. I needed to remember why I was doing this. They cleaned him up and checked him (the neonatal NICU team was there). Don't forget, if I haven't mentioned it, he was a preemie.

So, he was born at 3:32 a.m. via c-section on June 21st. I think it is fantastic that his birthday is Summer Solstice. He weighed just 4 pounds, 12 ounces.

Unfortunately, after bringing him over to meet me for just a minute, which was one of the best moments of my life and one I will never forget (he seemed like he recognized my voice instantly and was so peaceful and so sweet and I kissed his warm little cheek), they took him off to the NICU. Along with Josh.

So, there I was on that operating table for the next HOUR getting sewn up. To the sound of "am I doing this right?" and "no, not quite like that" from the Dr. who was teaching the nurse midwife how to stitch up a c-section. In the meantime I was STILL shaking so badly I could hardly stand it. This honestly was probably the worst hour of my life. The anesthesiologist was with me the whole time and he was very comforting and sweet. That was nice.

Finally, at 4:30 they took me back to my room. I was still shaking and couldn't move my legs at all. But within about an hour and a half the shaking stopped, I could move my legs and I the pain meds had kicked in. They gave me Benadryl for itching (apparently a side effect of a spinal?) and I went to sleep.

At some point that morning they moved me to my recovery room where I was to stay for the duration of the week.

I felt pretty good from this point on. They gave me all sorts of pain meds including the Benadryl for itching which totally knocked me out and made me loopy, but also helped calm me. I know that I sounded horrible to anyone who talked to me that day. I felt better than I sounded, just drugged. I promise.

Finally about 7:00 or 8:00 that night they took me to see my baby for the "first" second time. I guess the momentary meeting in the OR counted, but barely. I held him for a while but really, I was so drugged it wasn't much of any good meeting. The bigger boys came to visit me and I fear I scared them to death because I could hardly keep my eyes open from the drugs. Ugh.

Wednesday morning I felt amazingly better. Nurses and doctors kept insisting that I needed not 1 but 2 percosets, so I complied, but really, I felt no worse than after a regular delivery. I really felt pretty great!

Then my Dr. came in and mentioned that they had tested my blood and found that my platelets were LOW-really low and my liver enzymes were really high. I had something called HELLP associated with pre-eclampsia. Basically, the Dr. said, I was a VERY sick woman and it is a VERY good thing they got the baby out when they did. This freaked me out a little.

He said that he believed my platelets were probably at their lowest point on Tuesday, but not knowing it was an issue, they hadn't checked them. But on Wednesday they were very low. He assumed they were on the rise but couldn't be sure. Thursday they were better (medication helped), so that's good. They have climbed since.

Now let's discuss my incision. Of course I had a c-section incision and yes, it was a little bit sore, but not that bad. I noticed that every nurse who saw it gasped. At this point I started to learn why. I guess due to my low platelets I was bruising, very badly. Very badly.

If you were to see my incision (which you most certainly wouldn't want to-I don't even look at it at all if I can avoid it) you would see dark purple bruising in any direction within 6 inches of it. It is swollen like I am 6 months pregnant and horrifying. I kid you not, every nurse who saw it gaped. I had to reassure all of them that I feel a lot better than I look. It really didn't hurt all that much in the hospital. Since coming home it has been quite sore. But getting better.

In the hospital they continued to monitor my platelets and liver and give me medications to help regulate them. Luckily my incision stopped bleeding, because they did threaten to cut me back open and clean it out. Oh please don't let that happen.

I came home on Saturday. It was nice to be cared for in the hospital for so long.

As for Adam, he is in the special care nursery (not the NICU, not the regular, but somewhere in between). He has a feeding tube and is learning to eat on his own as well. I feed him every 6 hours and pump milk for him every 3. Yes, this does mean driving to the hospital frequently and since I am on percoset I can't drive myself. My mom is here and between her and Josh I get there every 6 hours, middle of the night included.

He just needs to learn to eat. Then he can come home. I can't wait to have him home. He is the sweetest little man in the world. When I show up to feed him he recognizes my voice and opens his mouth big for milk. I love him and I can't wait to hold him and hold him.

Sunday Nathan and Jack got to attend sibling hour and hold him for the first time. They adore him. They won't get to hold him again until next Sunday or until he comes home-whichever comes first.

Have I mentioned I love him?

A couple of other thoughts. I can't believe the overwhelming feelings of love and tender mercies during this. I am alive. I am alive perhaps because I received a prompting of the spirit to go to the hospital instead of home Monday night. Who knows what might have happened. I don't want to know. I am just really happy to be healthy at this point. I love the gift of the Holy Ghost.

People have done so much for us. In the last month we have needed so much help and it has come from all directions. My brother Jason stayed the night with the kiddos while I was at the hospital. (Oh and put together a dresser and went in the backyard and did some work on the landscaping projects, etc.) He is a gem of a person.

My mom flew in Tuesday night and has been taking care of the kids ever since. And cooking dinner and driving me to the hospital, etc. We literally couldn't do this without her.

Alex, my brother in law, came to help give me a blessing in the middle of the night when I was about to have the surgery. Such a simple act of service but it spoke volumes to me. Especially now that I know just how sick I was. In the blessing the only thing that stood out to me was the very first part: that this was an anticipated event. That the Lord knew it was coming. This was not unexpected. Interesting to think about.

Natalie, Josh's sister watched the kids all day Tuesday and we didn't have to worry a bit about them that day. So reassuring.

Tim showed up with ice cream.

Josh waits on me hand and foot.

Grandma and Grandpa Price brought me flowers.

I could go on and on. If you have served us, know that I recognize and appreciate it.

I think this is a "trial" but it doesn't feel like one. It feels like an amazing blessing. I am so grateful to see the Lord's hand in my life. I can't put into words all that I feel.

Last, we have some serious thinking and praying to do. We thought we still wanted at least one more child. I definitely didn't feel done. I think we need to reconsider. Between this episode and an ectopic pregnancy that could have killed me, perhaps it is time to be content with the 4 little men I have. I know the Lord will help us know what to do, but it is going to take a lot of thought and prayer.

In the meantime I am going to enjoy little Adam as much as I can. He might be my last.
I love life. I love family and I love the Lord.

22 Days

2011-06-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

I better get this recorded somewhere. In the last 22 days in our family, we have:

Moved from CA to UT
Celebrated Nathan's Bday
Celebrated Jack's Bday
Baptized Nathan
Celebrated Josh's Bday
Celebrated Father's Day
Bought a new car
Unpacked and put together our house almost entirely
Bought a whole ton of new furniture for our new house
Installed blinds (well, MIL did that-thanks!)
Installed most of a sprinkler system in the backyard with the help of family
Had a baby premature along with some nice complications for mom
Been to 7 peaks water park twice
Trafalga 3 or 4 times (laser tag, mini golf, etc)
Made new friends in our ward
Nathan started Cub Scouts
Had 2 cases of hand, foot and mouth
4 people have had colds

I could probably go on and on. Are we insane? Yes. We are. Some of these things had to happen. Others, maybe not. Have we been happy and handled it well? For the most part. Have I been a perfect wife and mother? No. Have I been a beast? I don't think so. Not perfect, not horrible. Frankly, we have done fairly well.

But, as I was laying in my hospital bed late Wednesday night this week having what I call "hormonal thoughts" I had a new revelation. I need to stop treating my body as if it is invincible. Because it is not. I commit to this today. There is more to be said, much of it beautiful and touching and profound, at least it was to me late that night. We have been truly blessed this week. The Lord's hand has been very present in major ways and in small ways. And I will write about it soon. But for now, I am going to bed. Like a good, non invincible girl.

Baseball Season

2011-05-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

It has finally ended-34 games later (that's 17 per boy though a few were rained out). It was fun and the boys learned a lot. I am glad we did it, but also glad it's over. I already posted about it earlier, but these pictures were too great to pass up:

This is what made it fun for Nathan-his two best friends were on the team. Bradley left, Damien right.

And here is the whole team:

Color My World

2011-05-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

One of the things I will miss most about San Diego...

These are some of the moms from Jack's class at school who I have gotten to be really good friends with. I can't believe I know these amazing and beautiful ladies and I can't believe I am leaving them.

This is Meha (top left) who is Indian but grew up in Kenya, Celestine (top right) who is Indian and has lived in the US for maybe like 8 years now, Ohmy (bottom right) who is from Thailand (and her husband is Dutch) and Cristy (bottom left)-oh sure, she's a white girl like me, but her husband is Chinese. I feel so boring amongst these ladies.

Not pictured and who could have been: Shilpah (Indian), Lilac (Israeli), and several other more casual friends from Italy, China, etc. And there's also our wonderful neighbors Tala and Damien from Iran.

Honestly these women have expanded my world both through friendship and sharing in motherhood during the kindergarten year but also in teaching me about their countries, in helping me see what a big and beautiful world we have and how neat it is for our cultures to come together. This has been an invaluable part of living in San Diego. And I am really going to miss it. Oh and Celestine's Indian cooking which she has shared with me several times. :)

Birthday Party Squared

2011-05-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

It's birthday season in our house. Jack and Nathan the first week of June, Josh two weeks later and I wouldn't be surprised if this baby decides to make an appearance say June 30th just to keep our June hopping. (Though he would technically be preemie by a day at that point.)

Since we will be in Utah by the boys' birthdays, we had an early party here. And since I feel bad that we are leaving and since they only have parties every other year, we sort of went all out. I have to say, it was really convenient that we did them on back to back days (Jack's was Friday night, Nathan's Saturday night) and that we did the exact same thing twice. So while I went to a lot of work, it was work for two parties, not just one.

And, I maybe went a little over the top. But I had fun doing it. We had a Lego theme (because Jack is smart and knowing that he wanted to get a lot of Legos for his bday figured if he themed his party that way, people would bring him legos. He was right.)

Here are the invite:

Inside the favor bags:

This is Lego shaped candy:

There were a few other simple things inside the favor bags which looked like this:

(can you tell that that is supposed to be a Lego guy head?)

Lego themed juice boxes:

Lego pinata:

I made some Lego banners and hung them around the room along with red, green, yellow and blue streamers and balloons:

The table had the same color scheme (and notice my cool fork holder):

And the crowing glory...the CAKE: (Me and Josh spent a LONG time rolling out all the little balls to put on the Legos:

For the party we actually kept it pretty simple. A game of pin the missing piece on the Lego brick, a pinata, a treasure hunt, pizza, cake and then we just had Lego coloring pages and Legos out for the kids to play with and they ran around in the back yard. Oh, and a rousing game of "Lego, Lego, Brick" (aka duck, duck, goose):

I didn't take too many pics during the party because I was enjoying the party. But here are the happy birthday boys:

I spent all day Friday decorating the house and getting things set up and when they got home from school their reactions made every bit of it worth while... "oh wow! Look at this! This is going to be SO fun!" "This is amazing!!" etc.

Summer Fun Kit

2011-05-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

This post is 100% tooting my own motherhood horn, but I am just so excited about these that I couldn't resist.

Last year I made my boys a "Summer Fun Kit" that they received on the last day of school stocked with supplies to keep us happily entertained during the summer. It was a hit, so I decided to make it a tradition.

This year there is added incentive to make it fun and special. On June 1 we will pick the boys up from school and drive out of town...for good. I am heart broken just thinking about it but thinking about them being so sad leaving their friends breaks my heart even more. So, I want to do anything I can to ease their sadness.

On their chairs when they get in the car they are going to find the following:

And on the inside:

That includes:
Flip Flops
Sidewalk Chalk
Bubbles
Summer Adventure Books (which in truth is my excuse to get them to write in a daily journal)
Coloring Book
Markers
Drawing Pad
Large Jawbreaker
Water Bottle
Goggles
Bubble Wand

and the best part, the Summer Fun Coupon Book that includes a coupon for each week of the summer...things like a cookie ice cream sandwich at Smart Cookie, a cupcake at The Sweet Tooth Fairy or shake and fries at The Purple Turtle. Each week they get to pick one. We had a blast doing this last summer.

So there you go. I told you I was doing nothing but tooting my own horn. But I am pretty excited about these.

The Girlies in My Life

2011-05-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

I guess because I have no girls in my life, the Lord decided to bless me with a weekly girl's night out in the form of Young Women's at church. For the last 13 months I have been serving as the YW President and before that for a year and a half as the Miamaid Advisor and 1st Counselor.

Sadly, they didn't seem to think I could continue this calling with a weekly or biweekly commute from Utah, so this past Sunday they released me. This was my favorite calling yet. More work than I had imagined, but also sweeter rewards than I knew. And here are those sweet rewards:

Beautiful, bubbly Ashley who happened to run into the wall the day before this picture,

hence the scar on the lip:

Sweet Hannah who plays "the finger game" over the pew in church with Dallen and the amazingly talented Cindy:

Stalwart Crystal who can always be counted on for anything:

The gorgeous sisters: Denise and Vanessa (or Vaneshka as I like to call her):

Wild and crazy Erica. Isn't this picture amazing?

Cuties Melissa and Amelia who looked at me crazy when I wanted to take their picture until I told them I always wanted to remember them and then they happily posed:

And my dear Natalie. Positive, happy, fun and one of my boys' favorite people (ahem, and one of mine too):

This is Saint Susan. After working with her in YW for the last 2 years I have decided at add Saint to her name officially because she is in every way a saint. Truly, she would do anything for anyone. I adore her. I wish I was more like her.

This is only a handful of my girlies and leaders-so many of them weren't there Sunday!! I will have to try to get more pictures. I took some at my house last week during our activity but they didn't turn out very good. And the leaders I have worked with have been amazing and wonderful. How am I supposed to leave these people? Really, while it is a relief to be released in some ways, it is more sad than anything.

So, to say goodbye to each girl and leader, I made them a necklace with their name and birthstone. I had a blast making them and they really seemed to love them!! New hobby!

Sigh. I feel like this was just part one of many goodbyes to many things I love. I hate moving away.

Happiness is...

2011-05-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Father and Sons Campout when you are a mom of nothing but boys. Oh what will I do with myself for the next 20 or so hours? I have a few ideas... :)

Help Me Out

2011-05-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

OK, I guess I am getting desperate in order to be posting this on my blog. This is not a big deal, but it keeps rolling around in my mind with no solution, so I thought I would enlist some help. PLEASE respond to this. Don't leave me hanging.

As you know, I am about to be a home owner AND about to have a new baby. I want to decorate the nursery a little since I can. So, I started with a concept, but I haven't gotten very far. Here is what I have:

I have those 4 little guys-I haven't framed them yet (those pics are from Etsy). I wanted to theme the nursery around them, specifically the turtle because I am in love with him. But that is as far as I have gotten.

I thought I might applique them out of fabric on a blanket for the crib and then just get a matching crib sheet. But I don't know what colors to use. Pastels, bright? What colors? I have no flair for this sort of thing. I copy ideas well but I don't come up with them.

What else could I do in the nursery? I want to keep it pretty low cost since we are spending tons on the house and other things.

Please give me your creative ideas.

Game Ball

2011-04-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Before Jack's T-ball game last Monday night, his coach approached me and mentioned that Jack was scheduled to play catcher one inning during this game. Up to this point when he was asked to be catcher Jack refused. I told the coach I would do what I could to get him to try it, because this might be his last chance before the end of the season.

I called Jack over before the game began and told him that he had the chance to play catcher today. He said he wasn't interested. I may or may not have offered a small bribe if he would give it a try...I wanted him to at least give it a chance, try something new, stretch himself. He still said no, so I left him with the parting words "ok, well, you think about it."

When the first inning began, there was Jack, gearing up to be catcher. (Money talks with Jack and the bribe was monetary.) He did it. He played catcher. And it turns out, he loved it.

Now, if you remember, Jack's tactic at the beginning of the season was to avoid the ball at all costs. We have had a complete change since then. His favorite position now is first base-the one with the most action. When he plays first, as soon as the ball is hit, his two little hands, one of them baseball glove clad, go up in the air, waving to the player who has the ball to throw it his way. Big change from the start of the season.

When he runs the bases it's all focus. Getting from first to second without getting out is serious business. But once he is there, if you watch closely, you'll notice that he takes a minute to recognize he is safe and then he jumps up and down and dances and just basically shows in his own sweet little way that he thinks he rocks. And then sometimes he turns and gives me a big smile and a thumbs up. And I admit, I swoon every time. Whose cute kid is that?

So, after trying catcher for the first time and reportedly getting some great hits (this is what his coaches told the team-Jack got some great hits!), Monday night Jack earned The Game Ball. The coveted sign that you played a great game. One kid earns it each game and this was Jack's night. Oh the joy that comes from being recognized for doing something great. Jack literally bounced the rest of the night and even for several days after. He was SO excited.

Easter Fun

2011-04-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

With Dallen being down for the count for two weeks, I was also mostly down for the count. I spent 10 days doing hardly anything but sitting on the couch with him watching movie after movie or "rocky-byeing" him.

So, when I talked to my mother in law on Thursday last week and she told me all the Easter fun she was planning for her Easter dinner that she was hosting, the bug started to kick in. In a bad way. I knew I needed some projects.

When Friday morning dawned and Dal was miraculously feeling better (exactly at the 10 day mark, just like they said), we hauled ourselves to Target to get some supplies and to be ready for some Easter fun.

A whole weekend with nothing going on other than 2 Little League games meant we had lots of time to fill with Easter excitement. It was wonderful-we haven't had a weekend that empty in a while.

Here is a sampling of our Easter activities:

"What is that?" you may ask. That is a s'more made with Easter marshmallows. It was REALLY good.

Or, for those of us (Josh) who really wanted to walk on the wild side, a s'more made with a peep:

We also made sock bunnies to decorate our Easter table with:

And a fun peep inspired centerpiece. I don't like to eat those things but I sure do think they are cute to look at!

The Easter bunny showed up. Easter Bunny Snood that is. Nathan always has big ideas. Sunday's included making himself Easter bunny ears and then putting on "Bunny and Chick School" for Jack and Dallen all day long. They played and played and played and had so much fun together. Nathan and Jack were bunnies and Jack was a chick. They did everything from math to show and tell to PE. It was wonderful and cute.

Other festivities not pictured: Dying Easter eggs, having a spur of the moment spiritual lesson about the events leading up to Easter that the boys were really engaged in, Easter cookies made with Reese's Pieces Eggs, Easter egg hunt, and Easter Egg cake balls. Yes, lots of food. Also lots of fun.

A Whole Lot of This Going on...

2011-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Ice cream sandwich eating that is. Way more of that going on lately than normal. Dal had his tonsils out last week. We were fully stocked on popsicles, ice cream, jello, pudding, and yogurt, but when it came right down to it, what he really wanted were the ice cream sandwiches. And we let him eat as many as his little body could handle. At least it's food and hey, it has the name sandwich in it, so it counts as a meal right?

He had his tonsils out on Tuesday, April 12th basically because they were huge and he tends to get sick a lot. It was sort of optional and really I wish somebody would have said "this must be done" instead of leaving it up to us, but in the long run we decided to go ahead and do it.

That was 10 days ago and it has been a long ten days. For him and for me and for Josh. When we first brought this little guy home from the hospital we noticed that he had a real knack for knowing exactly the moment that Josh and I crawled into bed and then immediately he would start "nnnnnyyyyeeeeing" and "eeeerrrrrrgggging" so that we had to get up and take care of him. It seems that knack came back this week and I have to say, we were up in the night more with him this week than I think we were even when he was a newborn. It's been a long week.

But today he is feeling much better and we are hopeful that it will all prove to be worth it. In the meantime I have come to realize how much so many people here mean to us. One friend brought him a couple of books, another brought him a stuffed dog tied to a bunch of balloons. This dog really brought a lot of comfort to him this week: (he named it Balloon since it came tied to Balloons)

Another brought more ice cream sandwiches, another brought dinner, others called to check in. And it really hit me that we are leaving all of these wonderful people. Sigh. We love these friends. And I am really grateful that Dallen is feeling better.

Couple of Pictures

2011-04-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

A few folks have been asking to see the following:

These are for Dal's room at our new house. I am doing a monster theme and have some other fun projects planned, including a third monster (frame is painted and ready, I just need to make the monster). I have had a lot of fun making these and discovered that my appliqueing skills are better than I thought, although if you looked too closely you would see that they are far from perfect. As a side note, women who are 6 months pregnant should not sit on the floor to sew, and yet I do it all the time. I don't know how to sew any other way. All in the name of cute projects

And because you know my mother keeps asking (ok, she doesn't really, but she does say she wonders what my gut is looking like these days) this is me today-27 weeks pregnant, aka hello third trimester. No, that is not a high quality picture, but I thought it was cool that it looks like a star is growing out of my eye, so I decided to use it anyway.

I have to say, I think I am enjoying this pregnancy more than any other so far. (Other than the morning sickness in the beginning.) I think maybe my body was in better shape from the start-I don't know, but I still have ab muscles which seems weird this late in the game with a 4th child and I haven't gained all that much weight at all so far, knock on wood. And I have been determined to feel cute this time around instead of large and frumpy and so far, so good. I love it. I feel good.

Yesterday I found out I am anemic and the nurse said "the Dr. would like you to start taking an iron supplement in addition to your prenatal." So, uh, I was thinking maybe if I actually started taking my prenatal I would you know, have enough iron. So I did the past two days and what do you know, my energy level seems to be up. Guess I should keep taking those...

Corvette Diner or We Don't Suck Anymore Part 2

2011-04-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

About 9 months ago I posted that we had stopped thumb sucking in our house entirely. Well, it turns out that I lied. I should have known it wouldn't last-Jack's thumb sucking habits were pretty intense.

At his most recent dentist appointment (about 6 months ago) I told the dentist to go ahead and do the metal insert in his mouth that would prevent him from sucking anymore. And then they told me the out of pocket cost...$500. I quickly changed my mind and decided we would try some (more) home remedies first.

And then it took me about 4 months before I finally bought what I should have bought AGES ago-Mavala STOP. This is probably my favorite product ever invented. (Thanks Laura for recommending it. You are my hero.) Only $13 on Amazon.

You paint it on just like nail polish but it has a REALLY bitter taste (apparently, I didn't actually try it). Being the sneaky mom I am, I went into Jack's room one night while he was sleeping and painted it on, thinking he would fight it if he was awake.

About midnight we woke up to crying from Jack. When Josh went to check on him he found Jack marching around his room spitting. He had tried to suck his thumb and had NO idea why it tasted so bad. When Josh told him what was going on, Jack was mad. And threw a slight middle of the night fit. But then he went back to sleep and literally did not complain once ever again about wearing the Mavala. I painted it on about twice a week and what do you know, a little over a month later he is completely stopped sucking even without the help of the blessed Mavala.

And so, as promised, our family took a celebratory trip to the Corvette Diner. This is a 50's style diner with a big turquoise corvette up front and wild and crazy waitresses who do things like dancing, singing "weenie songs" if you order a hotdog and decorating little girl's hair with straws.

We had dinner, but the best part are the shakes. They are real, honest to goodness shakes and they are yummy. I mean, just look at Josh. Doesn't he look slightly shake inebriated?

There is also an arcade with all kinds of fun games. No, this is not an inexpensive reward for breaking a bad habit, but hey, I saved $487 by not having the buy the mouth contraption so I am so WAY ahead.
Plus, we had all sorts of fun!

This is the Place

2011-03-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

When Brigham Young and the first group of saints marched into the Salt Lake valley and he informed them that this was the right place, I think some of them questioned him. Really? You want us to live here? Are you sure?

I am with those early saints right now. We're moving to Utah-I spent the last few days there and I admit I just kept thinking-really? This is the place? I am going to live here? It's going to take some adjusting after beautiful San Diego.

But, this helps:

I really, really, really like my new house. (Or soon to be my new house. It's under contract.)

This kitchen was definitely one of the biggest draws:

The rest of Utah may take some getting used to (other than a few great things like being close to family and friends and Cafe Rio). But I trust the Lord has a plan for us just like he did for the early saints and for some reason this is the right place for us. So be it. We move in early June.

Batter Up!

2011-03-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

We started Little League for the first time this spring (yes, well in San Diego, where it is always spring, I mean spring in the sense that February is when practices started). Nathan is playing CAPS (machine pitch) and Jack is trying his had at T-Ball.

What seemed like a good idea when we signed up started to worry us last week when their very first games were much longer than we anticipated. I mean, they were loooong. And they each have 17 games. Oh wow. I wonder how we will be feeling about Little League when June rolls around and we are just finally finishing up games.

But, they seem like they are having a good time, Nathan in particular, which surprised me because I sort of felt like we were feeding him to the wolves starting him this late with a bunch of boys who have been playing for years and who have dads who are a bit obsessed. So I am glad he is enjoying it.

Nathan plays for the Angels. A friend got a picture of him at his very first "at bat" experience, but he hasn't sent it to me, so I will have to add it to the blog when he does. Yesterday, in Nathan's second game he got his very first hit! I feel so proud of him and I wasn't even there to see it! That machine pitched ball can be quite intimidating so I am thrilled that he managed to connect with it. This is the only picture I have of him so far: (someone else took this-he just happens to be in it)

And now I have another picture: His very first at bat attempt:

Jack plays for the Diamondbacks. The thing about Jack is, no matter what he is doing or how he is playing, he thinks he is awesome. Glad he has some confidence in himself. :)

His favorite thing to do when playing in the field is to avoid the ball. He hopes it won't come to him at all.

He likes hitting the ball and running the bases though. (ps-I didn't take any of these pictures-other moms on the team did and shared them)

Flirtatious and Fickle

2011-02-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

I have fallen in love again. Head over heels in love. I am so sorry Josh. I just keep falling in love and finding new boyfriends and poor Josh has to stand back and watch as I am smitten with another man. I've gone and done it again. Meet my newest love obsession:

Yes, it's a boy!!!! And no, his name is not Feet. I put that there to indicate where his feet are in this picture. Clear above his head. He is literally folded in half. The u/s tech was getting a kick out of that. I was falling in love. Isn't he cute?! Boy was he a stinker for her. He likes to live way, way down in my belly and he did not want to come up higher thank you very much no matter what she did.

A couple people I have talked to have sort of tried to console me that it's ok that it's another boy. No need for that. I am so over the moon excited and so in love with this little man already. I am just happy to have a healthy little guy. (Hopefully-no call from the Dr. saying anything was wrong on the u/s-we have had phone calls on the past 2.)

And phew-what a relief! I won't have to change the title of my blog. I am still "Amber and the Boys." Lucky lady.

And just for the sake of my mother and others who ask but don't get to see, I snapped a shot of myself today-19 weeks 3 days pregnant. (Though the little guy measures 5 days ahead-with his head being the biggest part-oh goodie for me.)

(Just for the record, it's been 32 years since a girl was born in my family-that was me.) It looks like this is grandson #7 for my parents, #5 for my in laws, and both sets of great-grandparents have nothing but boys either. It wasn't too hard to guess what this one was going to be.) :)

Amber, I'm ashamed to admit...

2011-02-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

...that in almost 10 years of marriage, 13 years of knowing you, I've never been brave enough to sing you a love song. I hope this begins, in some small way, to make up for lost time. It's not very good, but it's my Valentine's Day offering to you, with all my heart. I love you!!! Now don't laugh at my squeaky voice :).

Peer Pressure

2011-01-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

Why does peer pressure always get a bad rap? In this case I like it.

First, let me preface this by saying if there is one time in my life when the neighbors might suspect me of being an abusive mother it is when I give haircuts. Oh the wails that come from my little ones. It's like I was ripping off their fingernails one by one. They cry, they scream, they tell me I am a bad mom, that I am hurting them. And then 6 weeks later they are shaggy and we have to do it all again. They usually get too shaggy before we do it because of the screaming.

Yesterday as we were driving home from school Jack said to me "mom-I want a haircut."

"Excuse me-could you repeat that?" I asked.

"I want a hair cut."

OK, sounds great! But I asked for an explanation. It seems the kids at school were "laughing at his hair." (Which truthfully has been sticking out kind of funny this week.) He told me that Eric said to him "you're hair looks kind of cool" and to Jack, apparently, that equaled "being laughed at" and ended in a desire for a haircut. So, a haircut he got and not a word of complaint came from his mouth. Love it.

Now, if someone would PLEASE tease him a little about sucking his thumb...

Shorty Pants

2011-01-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

Dal had a birthday-he turned "fee." I love three year olds (it's my favorite age but don't tell my other boys). Dal is the light of my life (well, at least one of them). Being home with just him this year has been such a huge blessing and so much fun.

This kid is flat out lovable. He is fun and he is happy almost all the time. He talks up a storm and I mean it-we have full conversations about everything. He is happy to play with toys at my feet while I get stuff done-he will play for hours just chatting away with me or make believing with his "guys." He wants to be just like his big brothers. There is nothing Dal hates more than to be treated differently from them. Jack is his best friend (at least that's what he tells me. I try to convince him that I am his best friend.) He charms hearts everywhere he goes. It seems that people fall in love with him right away when they meet him. He is SO squeezable. He is getting sick of me squeezing his squeezy legs but they are just so squeezy! He is learning his letters and has started pointing out "D for Dallen" to me everywhere we go. Oh, and 3's "like I am!" Honestly he rarely, at least at this point in life, throws a tantrum or has to have time outs. Right now if he is mad at something he yells "stomach!" and then tells me he said a bad word. He loves to snuggle in bed with me, "get cozy" and read stories. He loves to help me bake. He has short legs. As in, he wears a size 18 months on the bottom-and he's 3. He truly is so much fun to spend my days with. Can you tell that I am head over heels in love?

Dal was SO excited for his Buzz Lightyear birthday party. He told everyone he saw about it-all of my friends, all of his friends, waitresses at the restaurant, checkers and the store, everyone. I hope it lived up to his dreams. It was only an hour long, involved three friends and featured bubble blowing, hot dogs and cheetos, cupcakes and presents. And that was it. Sweet and simple. He was jumping up and down with giddiness the day we sent out his invitations. He was so excited when they said they could come. And then they brought presents. Whoa-what a day!

Here are some pics from the party:

Hugging Van after getting a present:

I love this kid, Dal's buddy Coleson:

The 4 boys:

Excited before the party:

And, the cupcakes:

I love this kid-he's something special. Kind and considerate and loving and wonderful at the sweet age of three.

There's Something I Haven't Told You...

2011-01-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Josh and I have decided to take on a new way of life for the year 2011-or for this summer specifically. No more namby pamby summers on the beach or sitting poolside enjoying the San Diego sun and swaying palm trees. The new program is called "Let's See How Much Change/Stress We Can Pack In to One Summer." Sounds fun. Anyone want to join us?

You know you see those lists of things that cause stress in life? Here are the ones we have chosen off that list to throw into our summer:

1. Move out of state. In June (around the 10th probably) we will move to Utah
2. Start a new job. Josh will start as a chemistry professor at BYU around June 15th
3. Buy a new house. Affiliated with above mentioned items.
4. Have a baby. Due July 22nd, but given my history HE (let's not kid ourselves now shall we?) could very likely arrive by early July at the latest.

We'll also throw in three birthdays (not counting the new baby's) and a baptism during the month of June as well just to spice things up a little.

What do you think? Sound like a good plan for summer? :) Oh bye bye my beloved beach and 70 degree days in January.

December Rerun

2010-12-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

OK, on to December and the fun we had during it. This is the most low key Christmas I have ever pulled off and it made the season so much nicer. Everyone we know got the same present which we bought back in May, I was done shopping, wrapping, Christmas carding, etc. before Thanksgiving and just enjoyed the season (other than being a business owner which often makes me want to curse at this time of the year).

Here is some of what we did. On a whim one day I decided we should make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. We just used stuff we had in the house. I guess this is Dal's idea of posing nicely for a picture:

Jack really got into this activity. And yes, that is food around his mouth from eating his art:

Nathan's house:

I had a Santa hat photo shoot for our Christmas cards and it left me with all kinds of great pictures of this guys.

I'm in love...

I'm in Love....

And I don't care who knows it!

Seeing Santa. I wish Nathan had you know, thought to look at the camera. I love the face Dal is making and made the whole time he was on Santa's lap. He kept his eyes averted and leaned out to avoid too much contact with the big guy.

Christmas Eve of course included acting out the nativity. My favorite part is Sam the Lamanite who we attempted to slay with marshmallows. Nice of him to play that role, but hey, when your name is Sam, you HAVE to play Samuel the Lamanite right?

And last, the big day:
Adventure is out there! Tell me that those aren't the coolest Explorer hats you have ever seen?!? Aunt Natalie A. rocks!

It was our first time having Christmas completely by ourselves. It was pretty nice. Very relaxing. We built A LOT of legos. We watched movies, we played games. But by 5:00 we were wondering if the day was EVER going to end.

I love that in this picture Dal is very slyly checking to see what Jack is doing. In the next picture he was, of course, making the same face.

November Highlights

2010-12-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, not only has it been a while since I really blogged, but I even forgot about doing many of the things that I took pictures of. This is why I blog. So that in years to come I can remember the fun I had with my little kiddos.

Looking back to the month of November, here are some of the highlights.

The boys had a short week-I can't remember but I think it was a 3 day week-followed by half days for one full week, followed by the whole week off for Thanksgiving. I love having my kids home and I like to have some plans for fun activities to help us fill our days. Here are two things we did:

We learned about "Pointilism" and some artist who used to do art in this style. Obviously it was an engaging lesson since I don't even remember the artist's name, but we had fun and that's what counts.

Dallen's masterpiece (ok, maybe he didn't get the pointillism part, but still, pretty impressive for a two year old huh?)

Jack's Work:

Nathan's creation:

And the real reason I am even posting about this-so that I can demonstrate my mad art skillz. I mean come on, this baby should be in a museum or something....right?

Second, we made a balloon version of the solar system (idea courtesy of my friend Liz who home schools. I love to see ideas of fun things she does with her kids and then do them myself.)

This is a very rough estimate of the planet sizes in relation to each other and then strung up in order:

And truthfully, those are the last cool things we have done for a while.

But then, Grammy and Grampa came to visit along with Josh's sister and her hubby and son for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun. Someone commented to me that they couldn't believe my mother in law was staying for like 10 days. I have to say I am totally cool with it. I like my in laws. A lot. Plus she did all the laundry the whole time she was here. :)

Here is Gramps with Dal and cousin Danny who are just 7 months apart in age. (And finally one of my nephews at least knows who Aunt Amber is.)

On Thanksgiving evening we kept with our yearly tradition of a Polar Express Party. Complete with Josh dressing up funny and leading the whole gang around the house in a "train ride" for which they need tickets (which he of course punches). Following that we (or should I say the boys because the rest of us can't stomach it) watch the movie including a break for hot chocolate presented by their tap dancing mama at the hot chocolate scene. This is one of our best Christmas traditions.

Christmas Memories

2010-12-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't blogged in a long time. Soon I will catch up. My computer which was dead and has my photo program on it was in the shop and now it is back-I just need to upload some photos to it. (In the meantime we had to buy a new computer.)

It's Christmas Eve and before I go to bed I wanted to record a few sweet things that I know I will want to remember in years to come.

This is Dal's first year of "getting" Christmas which has been an absolute blast so far. Today he was making up his own Christmas songs that went something like this "It's a light Christmas song!" or "It's a pumpkin Christmas song!" followed by a "sing with me mommy."

When I asked him what he thought Santa would bring him he said "I don't know." When I asked him what he hoped Santa would bring him he said "maybe clothes." :) Bet he would be thrilled with new clothes.

Tonight we acted out the Nativity. For the 5th year in a row Jack played the baby Jesus. He has a very tender heart and loves babies and so he always wants to be baby Jesus. The kid is sort of busting out of the manger, we may have to move him into a new role soon, but for now we let him play it.

Dallen, when asked which part he wanted to play, insisted that he wanted to be Mary. I tried to explain that Mary is a girl but he wouldn't relent. He figured once he "turned a girl" he could play Mary. After some talking tonight we finally had him being "Daddy Mary."

Nathan was our angel in the nativity, as always. Poor Nathan isn't feeling good at all so he wasn't a big part of tonight's fun. Still, he was sweet as always. When he opened his new jammies the reaction was great. "Thanks mom and dad-These jammies are so cute. Oooh, I love them. Thanks so much!" Then he wrote a letter to Santa that said "Don't you think it's a joy on this blessed season to know on Easter Jesus died and was born for us." He has a beautiful testimony and a great heart.

I love my family. This was a perfect Christmas Eve. We miss our families but we are so happy to be together as our own little family this year (and having Cousin Laura, Sam and Uncle Mike over tonight was icing on the cake.)

Halloween Happenings

2010-10-31T22:02:00.000-07:00

It is with sadness that I bid October farewell. It's my favorite month of the year, though things have been so hectic and crazy with all my big ideas for fun that it will be a bit of a relief to move on to November...until the holiday stuff starts!

Here are some highlights from our October:

First, the costumes. We had a knight. The helmet (in the second picture) was not originally a part of the costume. This is a leftover costume from years ago but Jack insisted on wearing:

A Wizard:

And a Doggie:

Oh, and I was a witch. My dream is to find a really flouncy black petti skirt to wear with this costume someday:

We went to the Ward Trunk or Treat at the church last week and took some of the boys' friends from school, Amanda (the Leafy Sea Dragon below-bet you have never seen anyone dress up as that before!) and Andrew (Darth Sidius) and their parents.

The obligatory pumpkin carving which creates memories, messes and rotten pumpkins 2 days later:

Big bummer to have Halloween on Sunday this year, but I think we successfully made up for it with plenty of other fun. We hosted a Halloween Bash Saturday night before Halloween as a consolation for not getting to trick or treat. It was a blast and I think we will make it a yearly tradition:
Pin the nose on the pumpkin, Halloween bingo, bean bag toss, pinata (homemade by us), donuts on a string:

(That's my buddy Nithilan from Jack's class at school I love him. He figured out my name (you know, other than Mrs. P or Jack's mom) and now always yells "Hi Ambah!" every time I see him.)
and the best part, homemade rootbeer (or crazy potion full of acid, toxic sludge and radio active powder, topped off my Pluto rocks made by one mad scientist):

It was amazing, fun and the kid's LOVED it!
Tonight we played Trick or Treat Trivia-the boys answered questions and got candy. Then we played a scavenger hunt game in our house. Fun, fun, fun! The boys were busting with excitement and happiness.
Happy Halloween!

Lately

2010-10-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

What have we been up to lately? I haven't blogged in close to a month and even now, I don't feel like I have any pressing things to blog about. It's not that life hasn't been fun or busy, I guess I have just lost my blogging motivation for now.

But I feel an obligation as I imagine grandmothers everywhere sighing when they log on to check my blog and find no new pictures of grandchildren or updates on their latest goings on. (Though certainly a certain sister in law of mine's lack of blogging should be more noticeable. And since I have only 2 sisters in law and one blogs regularly, this one will know who she is.) :) And so, I will blog.

In the past month:

The boys started their first ever organized sport. That is unless you count Nathan's soccer class when he was three from which I have pictures of him picking his nose rather than playing while his best friend Trey preferred to sit on the ball and watch the class happen. I guess Jack took a soccer class when he was 3 too, and loved it, but this is the first "real" soccer experience.

Jack thinks he is a soccer pro and Nathan is tolerating it/enjoying it more than I expected. Nathan's poor team has yet to win, but this week they tied instead of lost, so they were thrilled! Jack's team has won only once, but that was a big win-7-0. One little boy on the team scored 6 of those 7 goals.

I don't have great pictures because my camera has no zoom whatsoever (of of the few things I don't like about it) and it is hard to get a good picture from the sidelines with no zoom.

This one is for Grandma A. I don't know if you can quite see it, but Nathan most definitely inherited the red face syndrome.

One Friday afternoon recently me and the boys took a quick trip to the Miramar Air Show. We only had a one hour time window, so we didn't get to see much, just the most important part. The Blue Angels. The boys were going crazy with excitement. We were up close to where Fat Albert and a few of the Blue Angels parked. I didn't try to get any pictures of the Blue Angels in motion-have you seen how fast those things go?

Last, this is why I love being YW President. Where's Waldo. Can you find me?

We had an activity at the mall with about 10 of the leaders dressed up in crazy ensembles and the youth had to track us down and have us sign their card within about 35 minutes. I am proud to say only 3 of the 5 groups found me (I was sitting in the kid's play area with a book in front of my face).

More pictures are sure to come as our Halloween festivities begin...

Having Trouble?

2010-09-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Josh was reading aloud to the boys the other night-Fablehaven. He paused in his reading to take a breath or think or something and Nathan, waiting patiently for him to go on questioned "are you stuck on a word?" Yes, Josh has trouble sounding out his words sometimes. :) We're still laughing about that days later.

A New Friend

2010-09-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

On Jack's first day of Kindergarten they had to draw a picture of something they wanted to learn this year. Jack's picture showed that he wanted to learn how to make friends. :)

Within about 3-4 days in Kindergarten Jack started mentioning each day that he ate lunch with a boy named Andrew. Soon I met Andrew and then Andrew's mom who said that Andrew was also talking about Jack all the time. (And actually, after talking a little we discovered that Nathan sits next to Andrew's sister Amanda in his class!)

Jack and Andrew have quickly become best friends. Andrew is sweet and a little timid at first, just like Jack, but fun and a great kid to be around. We had Andrew over for the first playdate last week and they were in heaven. I am thrilled that Jack has found such a cute, sweet, well behaved friend. They make a good pair. And tell me these kids aren't adorable:

ps-Jack has made several other friends now too, though Andrew is still his favorite. I am happy that he is being friendly and making good friends!

pps-I have also made a bunch of friends-moms on the playground. I had forgotten how nice it is to have to get out of the car for drop off because you meet all the parents. (Only have to do that for Kindergarten, so I didn't have to do it last year.) And it is amazing that my new friends are from all over the world-India, Thailand, Taiwan, etc. Love it!

Bad Manners

2010-09-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

Dallen likes talking on the phone to his Grandma's. Today he asked to call Grammy so we dialed her number. There was no answer so I told him to leave a message. He was little ticked off that she wasn't there to talk to him. This was his message: "Call me back you stupid Grandma."

Nice. Someone ought to teach that kid some manners.

(ps-He was sick and grouchy, so you gotta cut him a little slack.)

Bon Apetit

2010-09-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

I hosted a meeting tonight at my house for all of the YW leaders and promised them crepes a la Josh if they came. Before the meeting my boys informed me that they had secret plans for during the meeting. I kept trying to get the secret out of them but no one would crack.

This was it:
"Pierre" and "Jacques" were on hand to serve up the crepes-menu, french mustaches, hand drawn Eiffel tower pictures and all. The menu was written in French offering appetizing combinations such as crepe de chocolat featuring a crepe filled with creamy chocolate pudding and topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. The menu offered 5 or 6 options and each lady got to place her order with Pierre and then was served by both Jacques and Pierre while Henri cooked in the kitchen.

My favorite part were the signs on the door (which I didn't even know were there until my fellow leaders start showing up). Jacques' said "Free food today!" and Pierre's said Le Crepe Chateau.

They were a hit! Love these boys! (Especially the big one who just makes it so obvious why I chose him to marry.)

Back to School

2010-09-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's bittersweet, but the boys are back to school. Jack was SO excited to start kindergarten. I think mostly because Grammy bought him a new shirt and pair of shoes that I told him he couldn't wear until school started, but still, it got him excited and so far he is loving it. Nathan always loves school, so I knew he would be excited and I knew he would be thrilled.

But without further ado, here are the traditional first day of school pictures:

Nathan, my big second grader. Can I just say that I LOVE this picture of him. It is so Snoodish (Snood is what we call him around here). I think I will be framing it and hanging it in our living room:
Jack, on the other hand just kept looking like he was in pain. He is not in fact in pain, but doing his version of a smile:

Until this one where I got a genuine smile:

(BTW, it was like 95 degrees that day but my boys chose to wear long sleeves anyway.)

And of course, Dallen, aka "Me too" had to have a picture that morning as well:
And, good moms always make special back to school treats right? :) (Actually good moms probably feed their kids fruit after school, but whatever.) Each year I try to do something for their first day of school and here is this year's creation. Jack couldn't tell what they were-I hope you can:

I tell you, that first day of school was nutty! After dropping the boys off at school, Dal and I went out for bagels with some friends, then on to Target quickly, then home to get the cupcakes made before picking Jack up at 12 and then Nathan up at 2:30 and I can't even remember what else other than that I got 44 phone calls that day. Yes, 44. I counted. All but maybe 5 of those were business. That was by far my biggest day of the year so far, which is great, but add that to trying to get all the back to school stuff in there and I was exhausted by the end of the day.

So far school is great. Jack has found a sweet little friend, Andrew. who just happens to be the brother of a new friend Nathan made and who he sits right next to in his class, Amanda. Fun! They both love their teachers and are doing well so far. Of course homework hasn't started yet so they aren't complaining about that every afternoon.

I get to be the "Play Dough Parent" in Jack's class. How cool is that? We made 4 double batches of bright play dough yesterday. I already have big plans for orange and black play dough for Halloween, cinnamon and peppermint scented play dough for Christmas and pastels for spring. I am such a nerd. :)

Life in the Lap of Luxury

2010-09-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling a little bit guilty that I haven't blogged about what we did on our trip to Wisconsin other than to state the things we miss or don't miss about Wisconsin. Guilty-like maybe my mother in law is secretly ticked off at me for not showing a little gratitude after a great trip or at the very least for not showing her pictures of the boys having a good time at her house.

Josh's mom and dad know how to show us a good time. When we got home and everyone asked how our trip to WI was I responded that we were spoiled and we loved every minute of it.

The boys have a blast riding plasma cars in the basement with grandma and singing songs at the piano with grandpa. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at Grammy and Grampa's house and I loved it and for anyone who knows me, that's saying something because I usually like to be on the go!

Some of the highlights included:

The best bubble bath I have ever seen:

Chalk artwork on the driveway: Nathan's love message for Grammy-
And Josh displays his artistic talent (that's a bubble spill on Buzz's arm)-

Playing at the park:
Oh wait, I meant the little boys playing at the park:

(One more thing I forgot to list on our "we miss" list-king chairs! I have never seen one of these swings in CA)
Slip n Slide fun:

And of course Josh and his dad pontificated about all the deeper meanings of life and the world's political woes. It's tradition.
I brought a pile of like 10 books with me. I am not kidding. I got through 1 and part of 2 others. But the one I got through was REALLY good.

I wish everyday could be vacation.

Farewell Summer

2010-08-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost over-sigh. I will miss the lazy days, the lingering in bed until we want to get moving instead of having to rush out the door, the fun daily activities, the summer reading program, the late bedtimes, and so much more. I admit, I won't miss the constant and incessant fighting between Jack and Dallen.

Probably my favorite thing we did all summer were the three days that we drove down to Cousin Laura's pool and went swimming and then out to lunch. The boys got Wienerschnitzel, me and Laura got amazing pizza or Chipotle. And then we had a picnic. After swimming the boys like to lay out on the concrete to warm up. I used to do that as a kid. And I admit, I still sometimes join the boys in it. (Nathan is being a lizard in this picture, that is why his tongue is out.)

We also did beach days every Friday. I finally braved the beach with my camera one day when my car was parked close enough that I could take the camera right back to the car after I took some pictures:

Laura came only twice-the punk! She was out of town most the summer!
Nathan was digging a really deep hole-hence the strange pose.

My pictures of Jack didn't come out good. :(

Other highlights included swimming lessons (two sessions-wish we could have done more), BBQ/pool parties with the Soelbergs, park days, splash park, and Mt. Soledad. And everything. It was a nice summer and I bid it a wistful and fond farewell. The good thing about life though, is that there is always something exciting to look forward to. Now we move towards Fall and Halloween and then the holidays!

Hello Goodbye

2010-08-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

Having friends is a wonderful thing. Making friends and then not getting to live close to them anymore is a sad thing.

In Madison we were attached at the hip to the Dickmans-basically spent every single day together and since our families match up perfectly (2 boys each back then, 3 boys each now), it worked great. When we both moved away from Madison two summers ago it was pretty devastating to me. The good news though is that they moved to Northern CA and we moved to Southern CA, so we get to see each other once in a while. And when we do it's like we never separated-so much fun! The kids pick up right where they left off and I feel like I just can't stop talking to Nanci.

One lucky weekend at the end of July, the Dickmans came to town (isn't it convenient that their family has a reunion in San Diego every year?) We spent all day Saturday with them doing some San Diego things like the Mormon Battalion and Mt. Soledad and then we went to the beach with them on Monday. It was a dream come true. Sad that it was short, but it was so much fun while it lasted. Check out this roundup of kids and moms:And because I never have pictures of myself with my friends, I finally got one with Nanci. (I think this is the first and only picture I have of the two of us together):

In the same weekend that we were saying hello and goodbye to the Dickmans, we were also saying a sad farewall, or hopefully see you later, to the Soelbergs.

One summer, two months is all we got with these guys but oh what fun we had. I think the highlight of it all for me was the day at the beach (every Friday we went to the beach) that Sara and I boogie boarded. What a wonderful life it is when you get to boogie board with a good friend while your kids play on the beach with your other friends. It was great. Nathan, Jack and especially Dallen can't stop talking about LibbyJenna and Sara and Joe. In fact, this morning Dallen told me that I am Sara, he is Libby and Daddy is Joe. Honestly I don't think he even knows they are gone. What a wonderful family. Now, check out this brood of moms and kids:

And, because, like I said, I never get pictures of me and my friends, I made sure to get one with Sara:
Friends are a good thing. I am glad for good friends. Justin agrees:

Balancing Act

2010-08-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

I was a cruddy mom today. Cruddy with a capital C. Don't try to tell me differently, don't try to soothe me-my kids could tell you the truth, but I'd rather they didn't.

I wish that there was some way to erase those mistakes. There is only one that I know of-and thank goodness for it-but I wish that I could erase it from my kid's minds too.

I wish that there was some sort of balance-if the good you do during a day outweighs the bad, then you win! Cause I did good today-we rode bikes to PQ donuts, we read Ramona, we had a pizza/cupcake/movie slumber party in the living room tonight, we went to the library... ah, but the library is where things turned sour. Two year olds will be my downfall-I am sure of it.

Anyway, I hate that feeling at the end of the day that I messed up and I can't change that. So tomorrow I recommit to live as "if the Savior stood beside me". I am declaring this to the world so that I will do it. I just hope Dallen makes it easy on me.

America's Dairyland

2010-08-16T22:22:00.001-07:00

I remember the first time I visited Wisconsin. Josh and I were going to visit his parents shortly after we were married and as we flew in, I looked down from the airplane and saw rolling green hills and large cornfields dotted with large red barns. It was just like the commercials and movies always showed-America's Dairyland, America's Heartland. Wisconsin.

Several years later when the Lord made it perfectly clear that Madison was the place for us to attend Grad School we were a little skeptical. Neither of us was sure that we wanted to live in Wisconsin-San Diego or Boston sounded WAY more enticing. But off to Madison we went.

Wallace Stegner (one of my favorite authors) spent 9 months living in Madison and has this to say of it: (in my favorite book, Crossing to Safety)

"Back in Cambridge some people felt sorry for us, going out to Wisconsin, as if it were Siberia. They just don't know. They don't know how warm and friendly and open and eager it is. And bright."

After living there for 5 years I feel the exact same way.

And now we have been gone from WI for 2 full years. And last week we went back to dear old Wisconsin to visit. We spent the week at Josh's parents' house and one day in Madison. We talked a lot while we were there about what we missed about it, what we didn't miss and how different the culture there is from California.

And here are our conclusions:

Things We Miss:

1. Friends. So very many friends.

Nathan and cutie BrookeSweet and wonderful Paulette and Chris. I also miss Chris giving big bear hugs and calling out whoever got to say the closing prayer after Sunday School.
Erika, Shannon and Jen
Maggie and her little cutie Jessie
And Victoria, er, I mean Valerie. :)
Side note-this list most certainly in not inclusive of all of our friends, and we didn't get to see nearly enough of them, this is just a sampling. Don't feel offended if you aren't on it. :)

2. Getting spoiled by Grammy Pammy and Grandpa
3. Summer afternoon thunderstorms. (Unfortunately all we got while we were there were middle of the night wake the kids up thunderstorms, but hey, at least it was something. I haven't heard thunder in years)

4. The gorgeous, lush green-ness of summertime.

5. Red barns and cornfields.

6. Babcock ice cream.

7. The friendly, we're all in this together kind of feeling.

8. Biking on nice flat roads. I went on bike rides almost every day and I realized how much I miss it. It is hard to bike where we are in San Diego because of hills and our location.

9. The accent. :) Oh how I love to here someone speak in a Wisconsin accent. Josh does a nice imitation if you need to know what it sounds like.

10. The Bratfest. And for those of you not from WI that is Brat not as in a spoiled kid but Brat as in the weeny that you eat on a bun. Hundreds of thousands of Brats in one weekend. (And hot dogs for those of us who couldn't quite handle a brat.)

Things We Don't Miss:

1. Humidity

2. Heat

3. Snow

4. Cold

5. Wind

6. Bugs

7. Snow

8. January

9. February

10. March

As you can see, we mostly don't miss the weather. Weighing those things we miss and things we don't, I asked Josh if he would move back. His was a resounding yes. Mine, I'm not so sure. I guess that shows how powerful of an influence weather has on me. Bad Amber. I am supposed to declare independence from the weather. :) But I would rather just have my friends move here or something. Really though, we love Wisconsin and had a wonderful trip (thanks in BIG part to Josh's wonderful parents-thanks Pam and Tracy!!!)

ps-The things we miss about WI in no way diminishes our love for CA. There are things we love and things we don't about CA too, but let me just say that I think we currently live in paradise and I am happy to stay here for a loooong time. The beach, palm trees, sunshine, millions of fun things to do. Love it.

Embarassment

2010-08-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

I took Jack out on a mommy date tonight to get his school supplies for Kindergarten and to get a Blizzard at DQ. While we were chatting about his upcoming school adventures I mentioned that I hope his teacher will let me come volunteer in his class sometimes.

"Would you like that?" I asked.

His reply-"ya, but I hope you don't fart and all of the kids point at you and laugh."

You and me both Jack, you and me both.

Before and After

2010-07-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

When we moved to San Diego we were thrilled with the weather and the backyard with a view. We were less than thrilled with the state of the backyard. It was rundown and yucky and our three boys did nothing to make it better. It was an eye sore that truthfully I was embarrassed of for almost two years. We did nothing to improve it since we are renting and are not permanent here, but finally we decided to sink a little money and time into it. And Josh has found that he has a hobby! He loves to garden.

Here is the backyard at the end of May this year. Ugh! You can't see all the weeds here, but trust me, it was even worse than this picture looks. When I told my cousin Laura that we had "gardners" she laughed. All they do is mow the lawn.

And here it is today:

I don't know if the pictures do it justice, but it is so improved and I love Josh for it.

This is the most beautiful addition:

And just for fun, here are some of our beauties. Meet Miss Amber. No really, this rose was called Miss Amber-that's why Josh bought it. And isn't she a beauty? :)
Signature Rose:
And our hibiscus tree who we affectionately refer to as Hibby or Sparky. (Actually the boys have named all the plants.)
We figure that putting down roots, literally, is a sure fire way to get uprooted. I am crossing my fingers that won't happen yet. (Oh and you can't see it, but we have an orange tree-a tiny baby one. I wish we would be long enough to see him (Heber) grow up.)

Baseball, Bikes and Surprises

2010-07-27T21:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Nathan got a new bike and Jack requested that we take his training wheels off his bike for the first time, so today we headed to a park to try riding.

I took Jack's bike out of the trunk and handed it to him and told him to walk it over to the park and I would help him learn how to ride without training wheels in just a minute. I turned back to the van and pulled Nathan's bike out of the trunk, turned around and Jack was gone. Doing this:

OK, that was easy! He literally just got on and rode away. Jack is a funny kid. He doesn't want anyone to teach him to do things, he just does them. Same thing happened with skipping. I had no idea the kid could skip until 2 weeks ago when he took off skipping down the sidewalk. He pulled the same thing with reading recently-opened a book and read it to me. But if I ask to help-"want to read this book with me Jack?" the answer is no. He does it on his own time and his own way, but he does it.

Then it was Nathan's turn. He learned to ride training wheel-less last summer, but then his old little bike had a flat tire all winter and he hasn't ridden a bike since. I think he was a little unsure about moving up to a bigger bike AND going without training wheels but he hopped right on and did it. I knew he could. Something about that old adage...once you learn how to ride a bike I guess you just don't forget.

I love that his tongue is sticking out. This is a trait that goes back many generations.

Jack got some new baseball gear with his birthday money, so we also played ball!

And then a surprise arrived at the park:
And brought me this:

Boy does he know how to make a girl's day!

Fat Jack

2010-07-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

I was recently telling some of my friends about how fat Jack was as a baby. They have known him only a short time and were surprised because he is so wiry now. So to prove my point and for a walk down memory lane for the rest of us, here is Jack at about 2 months.

Check out those cheeks!

And another, this one at just one month old. Don't forget, this kid was born at just 6 lbs 13 oz. A month later and check out those jowls!!!

We stopped calling him Fat Jack after Elder Holland gave his talk saying never to call your child fat even in whimsy. And then we felt guilty. But not too guilty because he was fat, but not too fat for a baby and he most certainly is not fat now.

Oh how I loved to kiss those chubby cheeks!

A New Bed

2010-07-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

One night I got home from YW or something and Josh said that Jack was hoping I would come upstairs and kiss him goodnight. I ran up the stairs and into his room where I expected to find him sleeping on the top bunk. But he wasn't there. Weird. Nathan was asleep on the bottom, but no Jack. Then I heard a little voice behind me..."hi mom!" I turned around and there he was-all curled up in a box with his pillows and blankets.

I questioned him on it. "Are you really going to fall asleep in there?" He assured me he was, so I kissed him and left him in his little nest.

When I came to check on him at my own bedtime this is what I found:

Kind of cozy huh? (We moved him to his real bed at this point.)

Heaven Sent

2010-07-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

It was a quiet day at the park on a Wednesday in late May. I sat forlornly on the grass watching my two littler boys play and feeling lonely and maybe just a little bit sorry for myself. A may have even uttered a silent prayer for a friend. And then, to my right I heard the words "ward" and "bishop" and my ears perked up. Under a pavilion not far off I discovered a few members of the next ward over (one of whom I already knew) and...a girl who announced herself as a new member of our ward! A new member of our ward? (I am in YW and didn't even know there was a new family that week.) A new member of our ward who showed up to playgroup her very first week? I knew immediately that this was my kind of girl.

And from that day on, my summer has been happy. Sounds sappy huh? But we just love this family:

(We like their dad too, we just don't have a picture of him.)

Libby is Nathan's age and they are buddies:

And Jenna is Jacks age and they are buddies! Actually, the foursome are all pals. Dal loves them too and calls them "LibbyJenna." And I have a great time sitting and talking to Sara while the kids play.
We love these people not only just because they are so much fun to talk to and play with and be around, but because they are the kind of people who like to get out and have fun! We have done splash parks, park parks, beach days, swimming parties, Mt. Soledad, and more parks. We have plans to do the zoo and more beaching (with boogie boarding included for the moms), more parks and who knows what else in the next few weeks.

Yesterday we even saw them twice! In the morning we went on a picnic at the park, in the evening we celebrated Libby's birthday with a BBQ at their pool. Twice in one day and they don't even seem sick of us yet. :)

Here's the kids at Mt. Soledad:
We adore this family! But guess what? They are only here for three more weeks. Then they leave to go back to school in another state. :( Sigh. Nathan is excited that at least he will have a new pen pal.

Goodbye First Grade

2010-06-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

Just some fun pictures of the end of first grade for Nathan.

Clara moved in during the school year and Nathan instantly befriend her (which makes me proud). He said he told her "don't worry that no one else in this school is named Clara. I have a book about Clara the Cow" and their friendship blossomed. :)

Nathan sat by Carissa for a big part of the year. Until Ms. B had to separate them because Nathan just could not keep himself from the temptation of making Carissa laugh.

Ms. B. The greatest teacher ever. We love her.
And our friend Nana came to be the cookie fairy for the class the day before school got out:
Nathan does have friends who are boys too. I just didn't get pictures of them. His best friends in school are Bradley and Damien-our two neighbors.

A Pie Worth Writing About

2010-06-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

For Nathan's birthday he wanted a pie. A pumpkin pie he said. "Really?" I asked. "You want a pumpkin pie for your birthday?" (He doesn't even really love pumpkin pie I don't think.)

I offered chocolate pie, chocolate peanut butter or chocolate mint and he decided on the chocolate peanut butter pie option.

In an effort to simplify and not have to run to the store, I decided to create my own recipe for pie with things I had around the house (mind you I keep a lot of baking ingredients around the house.)

So here it is my friends. My own creation. My own recipe. And definitely the best peanut butter chocolate pie I have ever eaten. And so simple. Don't try this if you are allergic to peanuts. :)

Make one box of chocolate instant pudding (the bigger box, not the small kind.) Let it set up for 5 minutes.

Take a large dollop of peanut butter-maybe about 1/2 cup-and mix it in thoroughly.

Spoon part of that mixture into the bottom of an Oreo pie crust (the kind you buy premade at the store).

Next, crush some Reese's pieces and sprinkle them on top of that layer.

Then, mix some cool whip-a cup or two-in with the peanut butter pudding. Spread a layer of this on top of your last layer.

Next, add a layer of just plain cool whip. Then top with more crushed Reese's.

Like I said, so easy but so good. I just had to share.

It's always fun

2010-06-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

when Grandpa comes-especially when he brings grandma and Uncle Scott along with him. In September and October last year all three of them visited us-but they each came separately. It was really fun to have them all here together this time (this time being weeks ago-like the end of May but I am just now getting around to blogging about it).

We really had a great time with them. It was a good balance of going and doing and sitting and relaxing. We took a driving tour of San Diego (me being the driver) that my dad learned about through the Chamber of Commerce. I love to drive and see things, and so does my dad, so the two of us were in heaven. Not so sure about the rest of the gang.

We also went to the beach, of course. Coronado. The prettiest of the San Diego beaches. Also the coldest and yes, it was COLD! (The water I mean although the day was only in the 60s.) But when you come to San Diego to boogie board, you have to boogie board, so boogie board they did.

We went to Point Loma-a little finger of land that sticks out into the ocean. My parents and Josh and I did the temple one evening which was a really nice evening while Uncle Scott babysat the kids. And we just played, ate and had fun.

Oh, and Scott gained a new nickname coined by Dallen who had a hard time strining uncle with scott. Unsle Cott.

Birthday Boys

2010-06-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

It is the afternoon of Father's Day and in just a few short hours, the whirlwind of June celebrations will be over. We start the month with Nathan's birthday on June 2, then Jack's two days later, Josh's less than two weeks after that and then end with Father's day, this year just three days after that. Phew!

So I never wrote about Jack and Nathan's birthdays other than to say that we went to Legoland. The truth is that I have to write about them because I have pictures of my hard work on the treats I made-I have to share them with someone!

We started out by celebrating their birthdays with a BBQ on Memorial day while my family was in town visiting. We had cousin Laura and Sam over and the missionaries too (thanks to Josh and his kind heart that invited them over without checking with me to see what our plans were for that day). It was quite a party.

On Nathan's birthday he got up early and went to breakfast with Dad and then came home to the house decorated by me and Jack and he opened his Legoland pass. Then Josh dropped him off at school with these:

Cakepops. Probably the world's yummiest treat. Little did I know the reaction they would get. When I went to his school to have lunch with him that day the secretary in the office had heard about them and commented about it. Then the teacher raved and even the principal was excited by them. I guess I am now famous for cakepops.

(Reality: I was cursing myself the night before for not being the kind of mom who could just go to store and buy a pack of cookies or something simple, but instead chose to spend my time making these multi-step concoctions.)

Anyway, that night we opened presents, I made him a pie (and honestly, that warrants a whole post of its own. It was good-really good.) And then we just played Wii bowling and had fun together as a family.

Jack's preschool had a picnic the day before his birthday, so we took cupcakes. He wanted "toadcakes" (he is obsessed with Mario and wanted them to look like Toad.) I was a little unsure of how I was going to create these, but they turned out great. He was thrilled and that's what counts.

Friday, on the day of Jack's birthday, we surprised the boys and went to Legoland, but I already wrote about that. For his treat that night he chose mint ice cream and Reese's pieces. Interesting combination.

Really, I think there were several other celebrations thrown in there, but I honestly can't remember. It is always an exhausting week, but fun.

Now, things to remember about each of these little sweeties on their birthdays this year:

Nathan-Age 7:
Wants nothing more than to do good. He has a heart of gold. He aims to please-his parents, his teachers, and Heavenly Father and I love that about him.

He reads and reads and reads these days. There is nothing he likes better. He also loves to draw and write. He writes really well and his teacher even made copies of a story he wrote and gave it to the other teachers to see because she was so impressed.

He can entertains himself for hours if allowed to. Playing, reading, writing, drawing, anything.

Which brings up another thing about him-he hates to be rushed or told what to do, especially if it is hurried. He gets involved in something and absolutely hates it when I make his stop.

He loves to learn. He is smart, and he knows it. (We may have to work on humility as he gets older.)

I love his freckles, his toothless grin and his giggles. He loves to laugh and we love it when he does.

He is good at making friends. He has a lot of friends at school-he is friendly to everyone and is not afraid to be friends with anyone-even the girls who might have cooties. :)

Jack-Age 5

The first thing anyone would say about Jack is that he is strong willed and that is still so true. And I am sure it always will be. I was just saying to Josh that no one can make Jack do something-he has to decide on his own to do it. The other day he picked up an early reader book we have and read it to me straight through. I had no idea he could do that. I grabbed another and tried to get him to read it. Nope. Not interested. He will do it on his own time and in his own way, but when he does it, he will do it well. His handwriting is good for a 5 year old boy and that is of his own doing. I suspect he is capable of reading more than he lets on to-of his own doing.

He is also the most tender of souls-though most people don't get to see that side of my sweet Jack. He absolutely cannot resist snuggling. Even in his maddest moods if I offer a back scratch he is putty in my hands.

He feels things strongly and the way to connect to him is through love. He has a soft spot for love and tenderness. Loves baby things like turtles or any other baby animal. In general he loves animals (poor kid has two parents who don't.)

He is very obedient. He is almost always the first one ready for bed or done with his chores. When we ask him to do something, he does it. (Which I guess sort of contradicts what I wrote first about him doing things on his own time. Let's just say the Wii is powerful motivation for Jack to get his chores done.)

These are two special boys who I love and adore and treasure each and every day with them.

LEGOLAND

2010-06-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last week was birthday week in our family-Nathan's birthday Wednesday and Jack's Friday. Celebrations began Monday and lasted through the week. (More on that to come.)

We are sort of sick of Stuff in our house. So, in order to limit the amount of stuff the boys got for their birthdays we decided to try something fun.

The morning of Nathan's birthday, he got to open a present that contained this:
This was to tell him he was getting a season pass to Legoland. It was funny to watch Jack's reaction. He got sad and sulky that Nathan got a pass. Seems like he would have immediately realized that two days later, on his birthday, he would get the same thing. He did catch on pretty quickly.

On Jack's birthday when he opened presents he found Lego letters spelling LegoLand TODAY! Meaning we were going that day. Josh took half a day off work and we headed to LEGOLAND in the afternoon! (Only about 20 minutes or so from our house.)

We are thrilled with Legoland-so uncrowded, so much lower key and less stressful than Disney and so perfect for our boys.

Here are some pictures from our first day in Legoland:

Summertime is here

2010-06-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day of school-and a half day at that-so we had to celebrate! Popsicles in the backyard were a must. And what says summer better than some cool shades?
(I love this picture because it looks like Dal is yelling "ya!")

I gave the boys a present for the kickoff of summer. It was a bag of summer fun gear-bubbles, chalk, sunglasses, water balloons, glow sticks and coupons books made by mom that include things like getting a treat from the ice cream man or walking to 7-11 for a Slurpee! They get to use one coupon a week all summer.

I am so happy for summer break. Today they all slept past 8. Then we spent the morning at the park and now the boys are either napping or reading quietly. I love the low key lifestyle that summer allows-no homework, no rushing out the door in the morning.

Don't get me wrong though=we will be out and about plenty-beach, parks, zoo, swimming lessons, etc. But on our own time table, not a school calendar.

Hello summer!

Reality: Behind the Blog Facade-While I am thrilled summer is here and mean every word of this post, my house is thrashed! Summer also means messes everywhere!

Where's Nathan

2010-05-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

He's reading. And reading. And reading. These Magic Treehouse Books are amazing. He is devouring them. He reads one in an afternoon. We find him sitting next to his nightlight reading them late at night. He comes home from school and acts out whatever plot he read most recently.I love it.

King Jack

2010-05-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Meet King Jack:
Isn't he cute? He likes me to make the crowns extra big so they will slide down over his ears. He likes it that way.

Dallen

2010-05-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

Dallen is cute. Really cute. And I don't think it is just because I am his mom that I think so. I have mentioned before that he has a fan club. He is a charmer and he is fun. Lately he is talking in full paragraphs in his high pitched little voice. He sings tons of songs-his favorites are If You Chance to Meet a Frown (the above picture is his version of smiling that frown away), Jingle Bells and many others. Do you know sweet it is to hear a two year old belting out "I know He lives. I will follow faithfully?" His other newest trick is jumping and he does it all the time. He loves to get his feet off the floor. And he usually ends his jumps with a half spin that makes him look like he is dancing. I love it. I adore him.

But let me tell you the truth behind that darling, lovable, kissable face. Dallen is a stinker, a punk, a beast. (Those are the affectionate terms we use for him.) Let's start with an example:

On Saturday morning about 10:00, me, Nathan, Jack and Dal were in Nathan and Jack's room. I was reading them a chapter book while they played on the floor.

I guess I have to preface this story by saying that we have the doorknob on their door on backwards so that they can't lock us out. Recently Dal has learned to lock it, so he has locked his brothers in several times. Not cool in their book. Especially when mom is in the shower and not available to rescue them right away.

So, Jack got fed up and insisted that I do something. So, I, being the clever mom that I am, put a child proof doorknob cover on the outside thinking then he couldn't flip the lock.

So, back to the story. We were reading the book, Dal went out and, you guessed it...locked the door! And then couldn't get it unlocked because of the doorknob cover. So Jack, Nathan and I were trapped in their room. No phone. The doorknob has a keyhole. We had no key. And Josh wasn't going to get home for 3 more hours. I thought about trying to get onto the roof out their window, but Dal's window was closed, so I couldn't go through there and the house was locked, so even if I got off the roof that wouldn't do me much good.

Well, lucky for my kids, I am skilled in the art of breaking and entering, or in this case exiting. We found a Popsicle stick in their room and within a few minutes I had used it to bust us out.

Just a small taste of the trouble Dal can sometimes cause.

I have never had a child who draws on walls. Dal has created a masterpiece-repeatedly. The list of things Dal has broken in our house: the wii, our TV input/output holes, numerous DVDs, not just by scratching, but also by snapping, my computer (standing on it is NOT good for lap tops), window blinds, the piano in several ways, the lamp in his room (almost started a fire-he is now lightless in his room) and the list could go on and on. And on.

Anyway, we love this little punk. Adore this little punk. Especially because he always apologizes with a sweet "I sorry mommy." How can you not love that? And that adorable smiling face?

UP Party

2010-05-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Josh was out of town last week, so I had to step up the cool factor in our home in order to compensate for a missing daddy. Or something. So we had an "Up Party."

We started out making "Adventure Books." (I can't claim this great idea-it came from my cool sister in law Natalie. Did you know that I have a total of 2 sisters in law and they are both named Natalie? I think my boys think that all Aunts are called Natalie. So anyway, this idea came from one of my cool sisters in law Natalie.) Next we of course watched the movie. With Popcorn.
We had our neighbor friend Damien over for the party. Damien is 7. And yes, Damien is texting during the movie. :)
Last, we had "Upcakes." I got this idea from my favorite site, Bakerella. Hers were cooler than mine, but the boys liked them and that's what counts. (In case you don't get it, that is supposed to be the big bunch of balloons flying through the sky.) This is my version:
Reality: Behind the Blog Facade
Before I finish this post that makes us sound like such a cool family (right?), let me give you some insight into what really went on that night.

After making the Adventure Books I sent the boys upstairs to get in their jammies. Well, I guess because they have a Y chromosome they heard "go upstairs and wrestle. And hey, if you feel like it, bite each other." So, soon enough Nathan's hand met Jack's nose and Jack, being prone to nose bleeds, started spurting blood.

He ran for the bathroom where he attempted to spit out a mouthful of blood into the sink-only he missed for the most part and spattered the bathroom with blood.

Then, he ran all over the upstairs looking for me (I was still downstairs). Blood on the carpet down the hallway, on the wall, on my bathroom door and toilet, etc. You get the picture.

And then I yelled at Nathan and made him cry. And the look on his face was heartbreaking. Don't worry, I apologized and we worked it out, but still. Bad mommy.

So, now you know they whole truth about our night, or most of it anyway. :)

Aaaaaaargh!

2010-05-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of Saturdays I left in the afternoon to go to the temple. It's always nice to go to the temple, but it is even better when you come home to this:Aaaaaargh! Nathan was gone all day that day, and I do mean all day (8 hours to be exact) to a birthday party and Jack was missing him quite a bit. But never fear, Dad had some great tricks up his sleeve. These pirate ensembles were created by Josh off the cuff and the bunk bed was their ship. Pretty impressive and SO much fun.

Incidentally, is the aaaaargh a pirate says pronounced with a hard g sound at the end or is it just a long, drawn out "are" sound? I always made the g sound at the end and just recently realized that typically the gh in a word (such as sight or right) is silent. Have I been saying it wrong all these years?

We Don't Suck Anymore

2010-04-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

For a long time we have sucked-thumbs, nigh-nights, you know the drill. Nathan sucked his thumb on the ultrasound at 12 weeks. Jack started sucking his thumb right after he was born and never looked back. (That thumb was in there all day most days-while watching tv, driving in the car, snuggling with his beloved pillow, getting his back scratched by mom, etc.) And Dal, he was never a thumb guy. Instead he liked his nigh-nights (pacifiers).

A few months ago we couldn't find a pacifier when we put Dal to bed. And eventually he fell asleep. When we still couldn't find it a day or two later, we decided to just be done giving him his nigh-nights should we ever find it again. When he did find it, he popped it in and I popped it right back out and said "we are done with those. You don't need that." That was easy.

But Jack and Nathan. At 6 Nathan was still sucking his thumb to put himself to sleep at night. And Jack was sucking so much that his teeth are badly out of line. He once told me he didn't want to stop sucking and it was ok, he liked looking like a walrus.

Last week, after a trip to the dentist and some good advice, I decided it was officially time to be done with this thumb sucking business. I told the boys if I caught them sucking their thumbs they would lose whatever they were doing at the time. (Watching a movie? Movie goes off. Snuggling pillow? Pillow in time out.)

I also promised a candy bar of the their choice to anyone who went 24 hours without sucking. And a trip to the Corvette Diner when they are both completely done.

Josh and I braced ourselves. Jack has been known to be a tad bit opinionated. If he doesn't want to do something and you try to make him, expect a fight. And maybe some mean words. ("You're a jerk!" Nice.) We thought we were going to be in for it for several weeks of fighting.

Imagine our surprise when about 4 days into this Jack had stopped sucking about 80% of the time. In the car when I glance in the mirror-no thumb. Pushing him in the stroller at the zoo? No thumb! Watching a movie or reading a story-no thumb! Holy cow. I didn't expect that. I guess the thing about Jack is that if he sets his mind to something, he is stubborn enough to do it. I caught him once or twice huddled in a corner sucking and at night we find him asleep with his thumb in his mouth, so we have a little ways to go, but wow.

And Nathan, as far as I can tell is totally done. We took trips to the stores for candy bars and the Corvette Diner is in our near future.

That was easy. Way too easy. And Gramps-this post is for you. :) (Gramps is a dentist.)

Random Happiness

2010-04-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures of sweet moments in our life recently:

Dal insisted on me doing this to his shirt. And then he walked around like this for at least 20 minutes.

Two little astronauts playing together:

I love this. Found them laying on the floor reading a book with each other:

With me it's all or nuthin'

2010-04-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

I have gone for 16 days now without that blessed taste of chocolate, the sweet taste of warm cookies or a nice bowl of ice cream after the boys are in bed. Josh too-we're in this together.

We decided to swear off treats for the entire month of April. And I think for some reason that has ticked off at least 3 people-not sure why. They ask "why? Why are you doing this?"

I don't know. It just seemed like the thing to do. I can't seem to eat treats in moderation. So in order to cut back, I felt like I had to go cold turkey. I felt like I needed to prove to myself that I am in control, that I can stop this addiction if I want to.

I admit, for the first few days it was hard. I had headaches and cravings. But after about 3 days, the cravings went away and I don't think about it all the time. And I feel healthy and good.

But, boy oh boy-I can't wait for May 1st! :)

Hate Speech

2010-04-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Words recently heard from the mouth of Dallen:

"I hate dat cup."
"No, I hate dat Mac and Cheese."
"I hate naps."
"I hate dat song."
"I hate does jammies."
"I hate dat book."
"I hate Jingle Bells."
and I might have even heard him say once "I hate dat Grandma."
Sorry, he didn't really mean it. Seems we are in a phase. :)

Mural

2010-04-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

One week in the past month all 5 of us had either pink eye and/or strep throat, so we had many days at home together. The strep wasn't fun, but pink eye is my favorite sort of sickness because no one really feels sick, they just can't go to school, so we get to play!

One of those days while we were all at home and getting a little restless, I broke out the newsprint paper and we created a mural. The deal was that everyone got to draw whatever they wanted and we would all work together to create this masterpiece. Nathan was so excited by this and literally spent hours working. Here is some of his/our work:

Some of you were even featured in Nathan's artwork:
Grandma P.

Granny:

Grandma A (you are standing on the sun-hence the red face and "ouch")

Cousin in Law Sam with the Carebears (they were drawn by me. Did I mention I have mad skills at drawing! :)

Forgive me

2010-04-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, my loyal blog reader, I realize it has been nearly a month since I blogged. And I apologize. I don't know why I haven't written. Perhaps it is the huge pile of books that I had requested from the library that all became available at the same time. And two of them were over 400 pages and REALLY good, so I have been reading... a lot. (At least a lot for a mom.)

Or perhaps it is that I was called to be YW President which as my mom said "is a doozie" and already takes up quite a bit of my time. But forgive me and I promise a string of posts, one each day for several days. And lots of pictures. The first of these promised posts below.

Which holiday?

2010-04-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Some fun holiday pictures for your looking enjoyment. But which holiday is this?

Costume, pumpkin, but why is Amber posting pictures of Halloween in April?
Why is Jack's pumpkin filled with eggs? (By the way, he is not in fact grouchy or sad in this picture, this is his version of a posed smile.)

I promise you, we do not have our holidays mixed up. Well, Josh and I don't anyway, the boys might. We took them to the ward Christmas party in their Halloween costumes (because they are red and green-we have to be festive don't we?), we took them Easter egg hunting with their pumpkin buckets, hey, at least our kids can never complain that we squelched their sense of individuality and creativity. We just go with the flow.

Anyway, a family in our ward invited us over for an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday afternoon and the boys loved it. This was Dal's first experience finding eggs and he was a pro!

And he liked the chocolate:

Reality: Behind the Blog Facade

2010-03-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Smiling kids, gourmet treats, clever stories of cute moments in my kid's lives. Those are the posts of my blog each week. Ah, and don't we all smile and think what a cute family?

But you know, we are a cute family-a cute, sometimes rude, almost always dirty, frequently frazzled, wild and crazy, three boys family. So today, I am giving you a glimpse behind the "blog facade."

This is what my house looked like Monday afternoon (and looks like most afternoons):
And this is what Dal's face looked like: (Josh came home and said "Dal, what's all over your face? And Dal replied "meatballs is soooo yummy!")
and this is what my day was like:
Dal started the day off for me by getting himself a frozen waffle and, while still frozen, pouring syrup on it himself by removing the lid of the syrup container and dumping it...mostly on the kitchen floor. Then he ate it, still frozen and then walked over to my desk, took the container of blank CD's that was sitting on it, touched each and every one with his sticky hands and dumped them on the floor.

Next, he proceeded out to the van where, with his still sticky hands, he "drove" the van. Meaning my steering wheel was now sticky.

Where you might ask, was I? I don't know. I was either in the middle of telling Nathan that he couldn't go to school nude from the waist down or to find his shoes or else he had to wear his church shoes to school or something like that.

The rest of the day included things like Dallen jamming 3 or more CDs into the van's CD player, thus jamming it and ruining several CDs (you'd think I wouldn't let him into the van), Dal dumping bits and pieces of his previously mentioned "meatballs" all over my desk and shipping scale while I scrambled to try to get things packaged up to ship at FedEx (for business) which meant loading everyone into the car for a quick FedEx run (and is the reason I never got around to washing Dal's face. Well, that and I thought it was cute.)

Also Jack, standing on the plastic container that we keep the train tracks in, ignoring me when I said "don't jump on that or it will break" only moments before he jumped on it and it, yes-broke. Or someone breaking several more of the blinds on our window.

Oh, and me, trying to keep up with business which is always tricky on a Monday because I don't work on Sundays and because Mondays are always my busiest day. Packaging, answering phone calls and emails, processing orders, angry customers, the works.

Jack sitting on the floor leaving a confetti of green and purple paper as he practiced his cutting skills while Nathan did his homework and Dal did whatever it is that Dal does. Oh, that might have been the moment he climbed on the counter and reached on top of the fridge and grabbed my old camera and tossed it to the floor.

And all this amidst the toy scattering we had created earlier in the day while we were babysitting a friend and had to play with every single toy in the toy closet. By the way, Uncle Tim, when you come to visit YOU get to clean up each and every little green man that you so lovingly sent our children. :)

Of course I could go on and on, and on and on and on. And so could all of you. I know it. Life is crazy no matter what we portray on our blogs or on our smiling faces each day. The Blog Facade.

But isn't life wonderful? And aren't we glad that we smile and see the good in life? Yesterday was a great day. I had a blast playing hide and seek for an hour with my kiddos, the sun was shining, the grass was green, the orange and palm trees swayed. I don't even mind that my house looked like an explosion because the boys did a great job helping clean it up before dinner and I like being the kind of mom who lets my kids be kids.

And this is the view out my backyard:

Who wouldn't be happy when their backyard looks out on that? :)

And THAT was a really, really long post.

Smiles for Great Grandma

2010-03-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is for you Great Grandma P. We took these last week when we thought you might need a smile. We are glad you are feeling better, and sorry we didn't get these up sooner, but who couldn't use a smile any day of the week? :)

Aaaaargh!

2010-03-16T12:50:00.001-07:00

Dallen was sitting on me in bed yesterday morning and mentioned something about Daddy.
I said "where is that Daddy?"
He responded "Daddy at work-Pirate ship."
"Does Daddy work on a pirate ship?"
"Ya!"

Love it! Josh is swash-buckling, plundering, and treasure grubbing all day at work. I knew it.

Clara

2010-03-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

Nathan has a little friend at school who is so cute! She is new (or was new several months ago anyway) and Nathan befriended her immediately (which makes a mom's heart proud). He said that he went up to her and said "don't worry that no one else at school has the name Clara. I have a book about a cow name Clara." Nice intro Nathan. :)

Last week I was at the school for the Jogathon and I thought it was so cute that in the class pictures Nathan and Clara had their arms around each other like the buddies that they are. They sit together at lunch and play together at recess. I love it! (Oh, and Nathan had just run a mile and a half-his red face lasted for a looong time after poor kid.)