Cupcakes

How has it almost been a month since my last post?  Not much going on this week, thank goodness, and no baby for now which is...okay.  I think if she isn't here next week sometime I'll be a little more...uncomfortably pregnant. 2 weeks and she'll be evicted, so I can't complain - I know there is an end in site - although that requires the whole labor and delivery part and even though I know it's coming,  I haven't really mentally prepped myself for that yet.  I swear the little girl has got to be bigger than my last two because there is not much room left in there.  And Miss Peanut called her Cupcake the other day so henceforth she'll probably be know as Cupcake for blogging purposes.  I think cupcake came from last week when we had a baby shower and my friend made these yummy Red Velvet cupcakes.  Of course I for got to take pictures at the shower, but they were yummy.  This being my 3rd I didn't really expect/need much, but thought the diaper shower idea would be kind of fun.  I was amazed, seriously, in addition to lots of cute little outfits I'm now stocked with diapers for at least 3-4 months.  AMAZING!  A couple of pictures to post, not great, but we are getting a new camera - should be here tomorrow and then there will be an overload I'm sure and these totally unrelated to the shower or anything really.  We've been having lots of rainy days and it still cold out so we've been hanging out lots.

Miss Peanut with her "Rapunzel hair"

His hands are constantly in his mouth, poor guy has gotten 3 teeth in the last month and there are at least a few more on the way.

His first big bonk,  looks better than I thought it would, thank goodness.

 

5 weeks or less...

My quiet books, still in progress, but I've been finishing up a few other things.  I've made flannel quilts for my other kids and really wanted to do another one for this little girl.  I make the ones that fray cause they're easy and they hide my many mistakes, but they are so snuggly warm, both of my kids still sleep with theirs every night.   So here it is:

Front

Back

And I, for the life of me cannot find the canopy/visor for our carseat, so I decided to make one since we'll be traveling right after she'll be born.  I still have to find some cute buttons for the straps but I love how it turned out.

And the beloved belly shots - I'm 34 weeks, but my doctor agreed to induce me at 39 weeks because I'm kind of stressing a little about traveling that soon after delivering,  this way she will be about 2 weeks old before we leave for DC.  Although, part of me is really hoping she'll come a little early like Handsome did - surprising us around 38 weeks.  Well that's about all for now. 

Objects in motion

I haven't posted any video for a while, so I thought I would share a couple moments with you.  I think my kids are hilarious, and just like all kids are constantly moving or at least keeping me moving.  They play pretty well together and now that Miss Peanut is a little older she has loved helping me with things.  Who knew that laundry and cleaning could be so exciting.  I know the day will come when I will hear something like...do I have to? But for now I'll take what I can get.  Miss Peanut loves to help dust, clean windows, do laundry, and anything helping me in the kitchen.  Handsome has also started to pick up on her helpfulness and has started doing a few simple things.  He loves to take his dishes to the sink after dinner, put his laundry away after bath-time, pick up shoes and toys.  I'm amazed at how well he understands and he's starting to talk so much more now as well.  I often hear help-pease, down-pease, up-pease, and keen-up.  Anyway - I'm really grateful for the help as its getting harder for me to do simple things like bend over :) to pick up whatever.  Here's a video of them in action (I do sort the laundry first, and so far we've avoided pink underwear :)

And this is one of my favorite things - the difference between girls and boys is hilarious to me.  Miss Peanut has her moments of all giggles and being a silly girl, as well as her moments of drama. Handsome, though,  has such a need to wrestle, tackle, growl, etc.  Every evening around bath-time he gets his sumo on when I strip him down to his diaper and then once he's dressed in jammies it continues a little something like this.

 

We all just love when Daddy gets to be home in the evening.    

I look forward to Tuesday

For most people, it's Friday or Saturday night, but for us it has been Tuesday.  Officers is still working weekend swings and for the longest time (pretty much since he started swings almost 2 years ago) finding a date night has just been pushed to the back burner a lot.  We've had lunch dates, get to the temple dates, and take all the kids with us dates, but an actual date night hasn't happened FOREVER!  I finally decided this past month or so that at least until baby comes we need that desperately. So I arranged for one of the young women in our ward to come over whatever time she could every Tuesday until this baby comes for a few hours so we could get away.  Its been just a few weeks in a row now and its wonderful!  Its not like we do anything super exciting - I mean really its Tuesday, but still he gets the door for me,  we hold hands without keeping track of two other little sets of hands, and just to converse without distractions and interruptions...it's been so nice.  I love getting to date my husband again.

Nesting...

I'm to that point,  I have this list of things I'd like to get done, cleaned, projects finished, etc before baby comes.  I'm pleased to say that I'm making progress.  One project I've been wanting to tackle for a long time was making quiet books for my kids at church. We had one growing up that was well loved and I have lots of memories of playing with it during church.  My kids have a hard time sitting still - like most I'm sure and with new baby arriving soon I'm somewhat terrified about how church with go. Right now officer is able to come with us, but for the most part of the last 2 1/2 years I've had to tackle the two monkeys on my own - his schedule changes every few months so who knows what it will bring.  I'm hoping that it will keep my kids busy for at least 10-15 minutes - and with 2 books I'm really hoping for more like 20-30 minutes.  I've bought stuff over the last couple - years - sadly it's taking me this long to get much done.  This week Officer has been gone a lot for work/court/scouts etc so in the evening I've been getting quite a few things done on them.  In the last week I setup and cut out everything for the 18 pages of the quiet books (9 pages in each) one for Miss Peanut and one for Handsome.  I found so many super cute ideas and template online so I can't take credit for some of the ideas, but I'm really excited about how they are turning out.  He're a quick look.

1. Apple tree
2. Shapes
3. Car/road
4. Tent w/ bear
5. Rocket
6. Noah's Ark
7. Treasure Chest
8. Tool Box

1. Girl with hair to braid
2. Vase w/ Flowers
3. Barn w animals
4. Crayons
5. Tic Tac Toe
6. Phone
7. Coo-coo Clock
8. Mailbox
9. Butterfly net

 Ultimately I want to finish them completely with covers. etc by Easter, but this week  I'm hoping to get at least 1/2 of the pages assembled.  I'll show you the finished product hopefully soon

Almost finished

I still need to decorate, but I think our project is just about finished.  I really like the look of the new fireplace and tile, we even got to snuggle up with the fire going the other day when it was snowing - yes it is still snowing here.  I like having the TV up where little hands can't reach,  now we just have to build or find somewhere to store all the toys we usually put in the entertainment center. 
BEFORE

AFTER

May is going to be a busy month.

We're having a baby, (April 28th or sooner )by the way, so that will keep us just a little busy, but you can catch up on other things here and here.  Today we were informed that in addition to these great accomplishments Officer will be a recipient of NAPO's TOP COP award.  This means that we will be going to Washington DC in May and he will meet the President and...it's just incredible and I'm so proud.  We knew that he had been nominated, but we never expected anything to come of it because across the nation there are so many exceptional officers and only a small number are chosen for this award (I believe that they choose 10 incidents and award the officers involved in those incidents).  Some officers never receive a recognition like this in their entire career and in such a short time as an Officer he has shown such exceptional service, character, dedication to his department and our community.  I'm so grateful that he has this opportunity to be recognized for his service.

Sweet things

I have a baby shower to go to this weekend for a friend and I made these to go with a little outfit I bought for her.  I think they are so sweet and it makes me excited to have another little girl.  Miss Peanut had that helmet when she was little, so we were limited in ways to accessorize.  Ooh, and 10 weeks or less - that's right!  With Officer being such a big deal and having a BIG ceremony the first part of May, my doctor agreed to induce me (if I still want to) the last week of April.

Valentimes

That's how Miss Peanut says it.  I can't say that we don't usually celebrate in a big way cause we don't always, but some valentimes we've been on trips to the Caribbean and last year we went to see Wicked in San Fransisco.  Officer worked this year, so we celebrated with our kids and had a heart pancake breakfast.
 

Officer also surprised me by picking up a dozen of these on his way home early Valentimes morning.  Luckily we were able to sneak away for a few hours the next day for dinner and a movie.

Barefoot and Pregnant

I miss barefoot and pregnant.  Every morning for most of my last two pregnancies I have had the morning ritual of getting out of bed and putting compression hose to help with my ever-increasing yucky varicose veins.  They are bad enough that I have to get a prescription hose for enough compression.  I recently had to get stronger compression in them and they seriously take 10 minutes to put on in the morning.  They are miraculous things, really, they help a lot, but my poor toes have spent the better part of 7+ months stuffed in stockings and I miss being barefoot and pregnant.

He's kind of a Big Deal

I shared a little bit about Officer's accomplishments not long ago.  I'll be honest, often I try not to share somethings about us that are a little more personal,  but I'm really so proud of him and you all need to hear about it.  This morning Officer was informed that he and two other officers involved with the incident last summer, in addition to receiving the Silver Star and a Life Saving award, were nominated and unanimously chosen by our Attorney General Medal of Honor Commission to be awarded the Medal of Honor.  It is the State's highest honor, and it's kind of a big deal.  Kind of is an understatement; this really is a BIG deal!  In May there will be an award ceremony and we'll tell you all about it.  It was wonderful to be able to share this news with his family today; they are so proud of him!  It's kind of surreal, and he's been kind of modest about it because he has read about some previous years' recipients.  They are all exceptional in their service, and he is no different, whether he'll admit it or not.  I am privileged to spend my life with him and I know that this is not the only honor he will be given - he will continue to do exceptional things throughout his life.  I love you, Congratulations! 

Project

You may remember when our fireplace exploded.  It has been taped off and unused most of the winter while we were dealing with insurances etc.  Long story short, we're finally getting a new fireplace to replace it and decided that we might as well do a little remodel in the process.  Grandpa has been here to help lots and Handsome has wanted to be right in the middle of it except for some of the really noisy tools.  Here's our progress, hopefully tomorrow we'll have a new fireplace and next week sheetrock and tile.  We're excited to be able to move our TV above the fireplace and replace our old entertainment center with a book shelf or something of the sort. 

My little big boy

Handsome is getting to be such a big boy, it's good because there are only 11-ish weeks until a new little one gets here.  He's wanting to do everything like big sister does - all by themselves.  It is kind of sad at the same time,  he has just been such a great baby.  This past week I thought I would just try letting him nap in a big boy bed.  It didn't go well at nap time, but tonight I decided it was as good as any to try it out at bedtime.  He didn't protest, he got out of bed once, and within 20 minutes this is what I found.  It just made me realize that he really is getting to be so grown up. 

Officer

I just have to take a minute to tell you about My Officer.  He has had some pretty rough experiences in the few short years he's been with the department;  of course that is a given in his profession.  I'm glad that I don't always hear all the details, but although I don't hear every detail I know there are things that have truly changed him, good and bad.  One such experience was last summer and although it was difficult, it was amazing and truly touched his heart.  Through his training and his faith and with the help of several other officers, they were able to save the life of a young mother.  He was later nominated along with these other officers for a life saving award.  He found out today that in a few months they will be recognized for their service and he personally will receive a Silver Star and a Life Saving Award.  A silver star is in my understanding one of the highest honors that you can receive as an officer.  I just want to take this minute to thank him for being such a remarkable man, leader, husband, father, as well as Officer.  I know that he has received many positive commendations over the last few years for his abilities in his profession as well as his ability to sincerely help people whether it be as simple as changing a tire for someone, or talking someone through very critical moments and decisions they are facing.  I am grateful for his service to our community and for all that he does for our little family.  Thank you!

Some days I need another set of arms

I turned my back just long enough to help Miss Peanut on the potty before getting in the bath.  Apparently it was too long; I turned around to get this little guy undressed and he'd already found his way in.  Have I said that I have my hands full with this one!  Love him to pieces, anyway!

Kid Comedy

(Kid comedy is inspired by my Sister-in-law.  Kids seriously say the darnedest things.)

Dinner Tonight:

Me: Handsome, you are not eating anything today and its driving me nuts.

Miss Peanut:  He's not driving you nuts.  We mash nuts in the backyard.  (recalling one of her favorite past times of "smashing" walnuts with a hammer.)
Me:  You're right.

To Do list...Fold Laundry.

It was so fun to hear the giggles from my kids playing so nicely together this morning, until I came around the corner to find this...

They had emptied all their drawers onto the floor and were playing in a "puddle."  At least they're creative right?  Guess I'll be folding way more laundry than I had planned for today.  They really are so cute and hilarious.

What's for dinner?

For some reason my children decided that sleeping was way overrated last night.  After getting up 3 times with miss peanut, and 3 diaper changes from handsome (he's had some serious diarrhea for almost 2 weeks - poor guy)  I crawled into bed around 2 am.  Officer came home around 3 and Church was at 9:00am...I'm tired today.  How tired you ask?  I just checked on my dinner that has been cooking in the oven for the last hour....and I forgot to turn the oven on.  Guess it'll be a little later than usual.  Miss peanut did give her first talk in Primary today,  I can't believe how all grown up she is.  I'm counting down the hours til bedtime...but not holding my breath for a good night sleep.

and a Happy New Year!

It's already the new year and we're just getting back home from our California Christmas; it's taking us a few days to get things together.  We really had a great trip and and a wonderful Christmas, despite the fact that all of us had a head cold and all of us caught a really awful stomach bug.  I intend to write more about the whole trip, but if I don't get there...bear with me.  Here are a few of the highlights.

• I ran into an old high school friend at a McDonald's in Nevada, totally random, but so fun to catch up for a quick minute
• The Sierra's were just beautiful to drive through!
• Officer got to meet his baby nephew for the first time.
• Miss Peanut and Handsome loved hanging out with all the cousins.
• Handsome couldn't get enough of Grandpa and his tractor.
• In &Out Burger
• Christmas eve... Christmas story with the grandkids, videography thanks to Jed - hillarious!
• Snuggling up by a cozy woodstove with Officer
• Christmas morning we didn't get up until almost 9 - mostly cause we were up with barfing kids all night, but still sleeping in until 9.
• It was the first year Miss Peanut really got the idea about Santa,  so fun.
• Handsome learned how to say "Cheese" for the camera.
• Officer surprised me with an overnight  trip to Monterey, CA - where we went on our honeymoon. Officer really spoiled me this year and it was a really great to get away for a day.   
• Officer's parents bought all the Daughters/Daughter-in-laws a really real pearl necklace. They're beautiful.
• Finding out Christmas day that we are having a BABY GIRL.
• Putting together a puzzle with Officer and his Mom.
• Listening to constant rain on the rooftop one day while it rained all day.
• CA thrift store shopping.
• Officer got to play basketball with the "A" team.
• Officer getting pulled over in Oregon.

Boy, it really was a packed trip, I'm sure I've left out things too, but here are just a few pictures to get you started.

Trouble...with a capital T.

College Bound

Tonight as I was getting dinner ready Miss Peanut and Handsome we playing so well together.  She came out of the room for a minute to tell me that she was packing.  She had an over-niter with with Grandma, so I figured she was playing that she was going to visit Grandma again.  After dinner as I was collecting pajamas for bath time I walked into Handsome's room to find this...

The crib was completely FULL of every portable toy she could muscle over the edge into the crib.  And this was her explanation.

She was sick with a stomach bug one day this week and just rested on the couch most of the day.  Obviously, she has watched Toy Story 3 a little too much this week.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday, was my birthday and it was a big one...3-0.  Honestly, I don't feel old or anything and I'm not terrified of saying that I'm 30, but really - I'm 30??? To celebrate the day I had a lunch date with family, took Miss Peanut and two of my sisters to the Nutcracker Ballet, and to my surprise - Officer had a few surprises of his own for me.  Just before I left for the nutcracker he gave me a new dress coat - I've needed one for a while and he gets 2 thumbs up for picking it out on his own!  Blame it on pregnancy brain, but I didn't pull out my camera to take a picture of us girls at the Nutcracker until we were in the car leaving the ballet.  Lame, I know, but it was a fun afternoon anyway. Then when we got back from the ballet, he had a birthday cake waiting for me.  Eat dessert first right!  There was a little hiccup to his original plan so we did have cake first and he actually arranged for my Mom to take our kids for the evening.  Seriously, it was our first kid free evening + night in over 18 months!  We had a little time to kill so we drove downtown to shops I would never attempt going into with my kids and just walked and looked.  Although it was raining, the highlight of the day was driving up into the mountains, where I was surprised with a horse drawn sleigh ride into a little cabin where we had dinner.  This really was a big deal - next to keeping our honeymoon destination a surprise, it was the most elaborate evening he has ever planned in our nearly 8 years together.  It was a really great evening and we had a great time.        

Sweet tooth

Both of my kids have a major sweet tooth.  Grandpa shared some yummy cupcakes with us yesterday, and we had some left today after dinner.  Miss peanut loves to eat just the frosting, but Handsome likes it all.  This is literally how he eats any and all cake; and after attempting to stuff it all in at once he spent at least 10 minutes licking every crumb from his fingers.  And I just love the green mustache on Miss Peanut.

Compromise

Since finding out I was pregnant I've really thought it doesn't matter what we have.  I really have never cared much with any of my pregnancies.   Don't get me wrong, it was fun to find out with each of them, and we already have such a hard time picking names that knowing the gender at least helped us narrow it down some.  This time though - we already have one of each, so really it doesn't matter - we have lots of girl stuff and lots of boy stuff - the only thing we've been starting to stock up on is diapers.  Officer, on the other hand is pretty adamant that we find out.  So to compromise, I asked him to wait until Christmas.  We've had our ultrasound and our wonderful doctor was so good to keep things pretty quiet.  We have a healthy baby with a beautiful heart - all 4 chambers, nose, upper lip, working tummy, spine, fingers and toes and that's what we know.  I'm such a nerd, but I love all that stuff, so really it was a little hard to not look, but our doctor was good to just turn the screen ever so slightly that we never saw a thing.  He took the card I gave him, left the room and brought it back sealed - he even taped it so there is no cheating!  And Christmas morning Officer gets this little envelope in his stocking.  So what do you think it is, any guesses?  When miss Peanut was asked today by the nurse, she said she wanted a sister, and when asked about the baby's name - she said...Rufus.  There you have it.  We'll see what her prediction brings.  As for Rufus - NEVER, except maybe a family dog someday. 

I had to include this little countdown calendar I made cause I think it turned out super cute. So in 18 days, we'll know what were having...unless I can convince Officer otherwise.

It's been a week

I'll apologize now that this seems more like a journal entry.  It really has been a week, it started last Saturday when I had this moment that I really needed my mom.  She just wasn't really available so I called my husband in tears wishing he wasn't working that evening.  The following day was hectic at church; you know one of those days where you spend most of your time shuffling one child to the bathroom, changing another, or just in the hall because the one who just learned to walk is determined to make it up those stairs to the pulpit or the one who knows how to sit still is just totally wild.  I had my hands full as officer left just after sacrament meeting for work (That is normal for us - sometimes I don't think many people realize that he has to leave each week because of his work schedule).  I was in the foyer with above mentioned children when a sister from our ward was leaving with her family because they received one of those phone calls you never want to be on the receiving end.  My heart just broke for them as I learned later that evening that their son had been killed.  Needless to say, it brings about a lot of reflection on my own life and family and how fleeting mortality is.

The following day I was exhausted, I am on most Mondays, it's our family's Friday.  Officer had worked well over his regular hours and I'd hardly seen him for 5 days.  I put the kids to bed and decided to snuggle in front of my fireplace and give myself a  much needed pedicure while I can still reach my toes.  Within just a few minutes as I was snuggle just a foot or so away - our gas fireplace exploded and the glass shattered.  The majority of the glassed remained in the frame, but small glass shards were still spit in my direction; of course I jumped up turned it off, but I didn't want to touch the thing to turn out the pilot light.  I called officer to come rescue me.  There are benefit to being able to call 911 and know that dispatch knows who your husband is and loves the cookies/cinnamon rolls you send their way on occasion.  Officer was able to come home briefly and brought the fire department with him just to be sure that there was no gas leak and they were kind enough to remove the glass for me.  Gratefully my children had been in bed, gratefully I was unharmed, gratefully the explosion did not damage anything other than the glass, but I didn't sleep that night even after Officer got home from work. 

Tuesday is kind of grocery shopping clean up house, laundry, run errands day as well as adding finding someone to fix the fireplace/calling our homeowners ins, etc. and then Officer had to work that evening until midnight.  Most of the time I can get it all done, but I was beat by that evening.  I fell asleep on the couch waiting for officer to come home and woke up to Miss peanut screaming.  As I half awake wandered toward her room I see this figure down the hall coming toward me - I seriously almost put some kung fu panda kind of moves on him - he scared me half to death.  It took me a few seconds to wake up and  realize it was Officer.   

Wednesday - I made this yummy pot of chili that cooked all day.  It had snowed, um like 8+ inches and we didn't have much planned - it was really quite nice.  There have been a lot of families in our ward that you just want to help in whatever way you can and Officer decided that he would shovel some driveways for a few of them.  I was supposed to have cub scouts, but we canceled it because of the snow, so unofficially Officer took our cub scouts with him (with parents permission of course) and he had extra helping hands/shovels with that service.  I'm grateful he enjoys doing those things for others and also setting an example for those scouts.  I made yummy homemade bread that afternoon and just as I'm letting it raise to put in the oven...Handsome, who since learning to walk 2 weeks ago has decided that he must climb everything, fell off a chair in the kitchen for probably the 4th time for the day this time catching his upper lip on the kitchen table as he went down.   It bled forever it seemed like and we decided that we should probably take him in just to make sure that he didn't need stitches.  His lip and gums were pretty swollen and I'm just hoping that he didn't kill his 2 front teeth - poor guy has only had them for like a 2 months and can you see it now - every picture missing his 2 teeth until he's like 6...Anywho - gratefully no stitches, just a sad little guy with a busted bruised fat lip. Bread - salvageable, but not my best, covered in chili it didn't matter.

So glad for Thursday - Gratefully - officer found someone to cover the overtime shift he was scheduled for and I was able to attend a craft/chat night with some great girls from our ward. I was even able to make and finish one of my many unfinished projects.  It's been months since I've been able to do that because they are usually on a weekend during Officer's normal work week.  I really loved being able to have a fun evening and get to know some of the girls better.       

Friday I had to take my kids in to the doctor for their regular check-ups/immunizations, that is never much fun, and then after a deep breath we were back to the work week for officer.  Long night - teething, cranky, sore kids, tired mommy...morning came to early.
   
Today we attended the funeral for the young man of the family in our ward.  What an amazing and strong family they are.  We admired them and were so grateful for the help that the family had been to us as we planned Trek last summer -  but watching them come through this past week...we admire them that much more. I'm sure they will have many rough weeks ahead, but I know that they have great faith. 

It hasn't been a horrible week by any means - but just exhausting in every way.  Tonight as I was getting my kids out of the tub and ready for bed - I realized how truly tired I was.  I'm almost embarrassed to share, but not really cause I know you mommies out there have probably done the same thing.  I pulled Handsome out of the tub first and began to dress him - what comes first - the diaper of course...It took me several seconds to process that the pretty panties I had put him in were just not right - and then I laughed so hard for the longest time - and even harder again as I tried to retell Officer when he called to see how the evening was going.  With that said, I'm grateful to start a new week.

Checking it twice.

I've been looking over my address list and many of you have moved this year.  Please leave me a comment with an updated address, if you're hoping to see our family Christmas card/letter this year.

Snow much fun.

Today Officer was brave enough to get out and put up Christmas lights.  The previous 2 years we just haven't put them up, so I was really grateful that he was willing and able to this year.  He and Miss Peanut also made a snowman, and I followed around this little bundle.  Seriously - kids in snow pants are just adorable!  He loved being out in the snow and cried when I finally brought him in.  I don't have boots little enough for him and his poor little feet were so cold - I'll have to go find some, but I didn't think he'd love it quite this much enough to go get them.  

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Baby Girl.

Today is Miss Peanut's Birthday,  she's 3, already?  How it happened so fast, I can hardly believe.  We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends yesterday and since Officer is working all day today we had we did Birthday cake last night and presents this morning snuggled in our bed.  I sure love this girl - for the last month she has been telling everyone that her mommy was going to make her a Jessie cake for her birthday.  Jessie from Toy Story is one of her favorites and so  I attempted a cake that resembles (slightly) Jessie's hat.  I am very novice when it comes to cake makin skills, but when she saw the finished product she said exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes, "you made a beautiful cake...for me?!"  I love the vision of a child; to her it was beautiful and just what she wanted.

Been on the road again...

We have been traveling fools this past month and it has taken me a few days to recover.  Total, the kids and I have spent 21 days and way more than 50 hours in the car on "Great Adventures."  I'm so grateful that our kids are good travelers.  First week of October I took the kids (by myself - I'm was feeling pretty brave) and went to California to be with all of Officer's family.  It was a very last minute trip and unfortunately there was no way officer could get off work, but the kids and I had a really great time.  

While we were there we got all 21 grandchildren together for a picture, went to a sticker factory, the Jelly Belly Factory, Apple Hill, and really great pumpkin patch (I can't remember the name right now), celebrated birthdays, ate lots of yummy food, and played around with all the turkeys, deer, lizards, fish and anything else that the cousins could catch.  

We went home for a week and packed our bags for Arizona to see Officer's brother's family.  It was another "great adventure" in the car and to break up the trip we stayed one night in LasVegas. 

 

  

Officer and I had never been so it was kind of fun.  We got there early evening and left the next morning so we didn't see all the sights.  We stayed in "the castle"  we told miss peanut and then walked part of "The Strip,"  went to the M&M store and ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  The next morning we were able to drive over the Hoover Dam and then drive back and go over the new bridge that bypasses it.  It was pretty impressive to see from below, but driving across we were hoping to have a cool view of Hoover Dam, but unless you stop and hike a little (which we weren't to thrilled about because it was windy cold and with two small kids; one of whom was throwing up that morning.) its just like any other boring old freeway.

    

Once we got there we were able to enjoy lots of time with cousins and lots of Halloween parties.  We had pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pinatas, even magic pumpkins, trunk or treats, bounce houses, BBQ, costume contests...and the parties just kept going - so did the sugar rush. Seriously I can't believe how much candy we had and really we only had one trick-or-treater.  The weather really was beautiful and we got to spend lots of time outside for the parties and at the parks and at our nephew's football game. My sister and brother in law took us to this fun little place called POP the soda shop, where it is literally just all different types of sodas from all over the world even.  We brought quite a few home and it's been fun to try them.

   

We also celebrated our twin nephews birthdays.  My sister in law was so sweet to make miss Peanut a cake too because her birthday is coming up this month.  2 out of their 3 birthdays we've been there to celebrate, so it was cute to watch all 3 of them sing and blow out candles.  Officer and I got the chance to go to the Mesa Temple one day and I was also able to meet up with 2 of my college roommates that live in the area for lunch one afternoon. It was so fun to catch up;  we ate at this cute little restaurant and then stopped at Sprinkles Bakery for cupcakes afterward.  It was such a treat to see them again...and the cupcakes were sooo yummy too! 

 

We made our way home driving through beautiful Southern Utah and stopping in Salt Lake overnight to visit Grandma-great and all of our other family there.  I must say I'm glad to be home for a little while, I was really missing the fall weather.

How are you going to be celebrating Cinco de Mayo 2011?

We're thinking a little Mexican food and maybe having a baby? Yep, it's true, baby #3 is on the way, my official due day is May 4.  Usually we've tried to keep it quiet a little longer...everything is looking great and I'm just starting to feel not so barfy and completely exhausted, so we thought we would share.  It's kind of funny really - I was working really hard and training for a half-marathon when I found out.  I told Officer I wanted to run a half-marathon and then I didn't care when #3 came.  I know there are "real" women out there that can push it and run while they're pregnant - I'm just not that girl.  Gotta admit that I'm a little bummed that I didn't run my half (it was last weekend), but there will be plenty of time for that when kids are grown and gone and it really is such a great blessing to be able to have another little one.  We're excited for this new adventure!


 

Happy Birthday Handsome!

 I can hardly believe that this little guy is already a year old.  How did that happen so fast? Monday Oct 4th was  his birthday and since Officer had to work we decided to celebrate Handsome's birthday in shifts this year.  So we started with a birthday breakfast and presents on his birthday and then On Tuesday, we got to go to the farmstead, corn maze pumpkin patch and had lots of fun and then had some friends over for birthday cake and pumpkin pie.  


 

This little guy has just been so much fun to have in our family.  His smile and constant giggles always make my day!  Happy Birthday - love you!    

Family Photo Shoot

I asked my dad if he would help us try to get a family picture.  My kids were more than he bargained for!  He got a great new lens for his camera and was learning how to use it and by early evening time my kids are just typical - tired and uncooperative at least at directing attention to a camera or whatever. We got a handful of shots that turned out, but most of them look like this.

Here's some of the others:  So give us a vote on the last four!

 

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