Welcome To Our World!

Time's a Flyin'

2011-06-21T21:45:00.005-06:00

We've had a LOT going on lately with a new baby in the house, the warmer weather, Trevor's new work schedule, Canadian visitors, etc. Here's a brief overview of our last month or so.

Mother's Day

Jace had an incredibly cute Mother's Day program at school. They sang and danced. Here he is with one of his best school friends.

Jace did so good with all of his parts. His teacher does such a great job with the kids. We're so excited for Sissy to start next year.

Me & Jace. This was about 6 days days after I had the baby. I feel bad because the original date for the Mother's Day Program was on the day I was supposed to have Cole, so she moved it up a couple of days, but obviously that didn't all work out! Luckily Grandma & Grandpa came over to watch Cole so we didn't have to bring the babe.

Cole is still a BIG hit! The kids want to hold him all the time! They are so sweet and gentle with him. Pay attention to Brooklyn's hair because she had her first major hair cut!

Rylan came and stayed a couple of nights with us a couple of weeks ago and we LOVED it! Trevor has been working late and I get lonely, so it was perfect to have him come and stay! He is such a sweetheart and the kids LOVE playing with him! I think he asked me how he could help out about 50 times while he was here!

Cole and Logan are besties! They're getting so big and are so much fun! They especially like it when we dress them as twinners ;o)

Grammy and Papa came to visit us for a week the first part of June and Cole got spoiled with lots of loves and a beautiful quilt from Grammy.

Papa had the magic touch! When Cole was fussy, Papa would pick him up and Cole would cuddle right into his neck.

Cole is in his new elephant onesie Grammy and Papa brought for him. Grammy loves elephants!

We took the kids to the Dinosaur Park while they were in town and they loved it!

Here is Brooklyn sporting her new little bob. I definitely cut it shorter than I wanted (than had to have my stylist fix it!) but I'm loving it!!

Grammy and Sis. I'm not digging her new "cheese" whenever I take pictures. I have to tell her not to smile now so that she looks like herself in the pictures!

More fun at the dinosaur park!

Grammy and Papa with the babe. It was so sad to see them leave. Jace just sat there and sobbed saying he didn't want them to go. We love them so much!

We've had a great month and are loving the changes to our little family. It's definitely been challenging....my house is never quite clean, and the kids don't get bathed as much as they should, but we're enjoying our family of 5!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T20:30:00.001-06:00

Loving Cole

2011-05-31T21:14:00.002-06:00

We have been LOVIN' us some Cole! The kids are constantly arguing about who's turn it is to hold him and wake up every morning so excited and surprised that he's here. They can't leave the house or go to bed without giving him multiple kisses and hugs. They especially love his hair! They are constantly rubbing it, flattening it, or making it into a Mohawk, etc. In fact, Brooklyn will ask me if I can put Cole in his bouncer so she can "pet" him!

Here is Jace cuddling Cole. He has been so sweet with his little brother. He told me one night while I was tucking him in that "if Cole doesn't want any milk, or his binkie, than you should bring him to me, because he might want some 'Jace Time'". Now he's always saying that the baby needs some "Jace Time".

Brooklyn with the babe. They're both really good with him. A lot of the time I will give them the baby and they will put him to sleep in just a few minutes. (Except when he "accidentally" fell off the couch!)

We gave Cole his first bath which was a huge hit with the kids! They were very "helpful".

Cole LOVES to get his hair washed!

He wasn't too sure about the bath part, but didn't cry until we got him out and got him dressed.

Being a baby is exhausting!!! (Although I wish he was a little more 'exhausted' in the middle of the night!!)

Cole's Story

2011-05-23T22:16:00.001-06:00

I know a lot of you either know a lot of this already or don't care, but I'm sharing anyway because I love hearing/reading birth stories...

Background: I'm a good baby baker. So good that my babies don't seem to want to ever come out (unless forced). I carry high so I don't dilate or really efface much. I went 6 days over my due date before we evicted Jace, and Brooklyn we scheduled 6 days before her due date. Both babies were born on the 4th of the month (August 4th and October 4th), so when we went to our first appointment with this pregnancy and were told our due date was May 4th we knew that would be the day.

Fast forward 7-8 months to April 26th. I woke up in the early morning with painful contractions. Now I've had Braxton Hicks contractions throughout all of my pregnancies but these suckers HURT!! I tried to sleep through them and eventually got up to take a bath and drink water to try to get those babies to go away. I know it probably sounds crazy, but I really didn't want to have my baby until our induction date. I still had a lot to do, and we'd figured out arrangements for the bigger babes, etc. Anyway, I wasn't ready. I timed the contractions after all of my attempts at stopping them failed and they were consistently 3-5 minutes apart for 2 + hours. When my OB's office opened I called to see if I could go in and get checked, but my doctor was in surgery all day. They said I needed to go to the hospital to get monitored. Ugh.

After I got off the phone, I think I was so taken back that I scared the contractions away! They were still consistent, but not all of them were painful. I kept telling Trevor he should go down and work on the basement (we were hoping to have the kids' rooms finished down there before the wee little one arrived). Every time I told him that, I'd have another painful contraction. We finally decided to go up to the hospital just so we could see what was going on. We dropped the kids at my sister's and reluctantly went to the hospital.

When we got there, my contractions slowed down . Of course. I kind of felt dumb, but oh well. There were still some painful ones, but nothing too bad. The nurse checked my dilation and I was a 1+. I know that doesn't sound impressive to most, but that's the most I've dilated on my own, ever. We told her we'd prefer to wait to be induced but if they could give me something for the pain and make the contractions go away, I'd happily be on my way. They gave me a lortab and we left. We didn't even make it to the parking lot when they started getting really painful again. I was doubled over in pain. I didn't want to go back (I already felt stupid) so we went back home, leaving the kiddos at my sister's just in case. I took another bath. Didn't help. Not even close. By this time I didn't care when we had our baby, just so long as the contractions stopped and the pain went away. I yelled at Trevor nearly the whole way to the hospital that that he was driving too fast over bumps ;o).

.
When we got back to the hospital about 5:30ish I was at a 3+. They started fluids and admitted me. I got my epidural, the doctor broke my water, and at 10:28 p.m (without any pitocin and pushing through 2 sets of contractions) we had our sweet precious boy. It was such an awesome experience!! He was perfect!! The other really neat thing is that even though things didn't go as planned, he was born on April 26th which just so happened to be his Uncle Jeremy's birthday.

Welcome to the world Cole Jeremy Zezula!!

Cole's first picture. 7 lbs, 2 oz and 20 1/2 inches of perfection!

Still a little shocked. So were we!! It still hadn't really "hit" me that we were having a baby. I thought I had another week to prepare myself!

Our first picture. We're so happy and instantly in love.

Grandpa and his newest grandbaby.

Jace with his brand new baby brother. He was a little reluctant at first, but still wanted to hold him. (Although when we asked him if he wanted to take him home, he said he'd rather bring Logan home [his cousin who's 11 days older than Cole]).

Our first picture with the whole family. (Thanks for telling me how crazy my hair looked, Tara!!)

Grandma Barnes with Cole.

Daddy and his boy.

Jace and Brooklyn were a lot more excited with the idea of Cole second visit to the hospital. Brooklyn even got off the iPhone to come give him loves, although she didn't really want to hold him quite yet.

All ready to go home!! It still boggles me at how tiny they are in their car seats!

We have almost survived the first month with Cole in our home! We've had some ups and downs, but it has been so wonderful having a newborn around. The kids have adjusted well and love their little brother a little too much sometimes! The recovery and adjustments have been much easier the third time around. We just love this little guy so much, and even though he keeps us a little sleep deprived (okay, sometimes A LOT) we couldn't imagine our family without him!!

Easter!!!

2011-05-10T20:46:00.005-06:00

I know, I know...who wants to hear about Easter when it's been 2 1/2 weeks and I haven't posted about the baby yet? Well, I had this post just about ready to go but the wee little one had other plans in mind. Late...but not forgotten...here is what we did for Easter...

Lucky for us, the Easter Bunny visited us Saturday morning since Daddy had to work Sunday morning. Here is Brooklyn with her Tinkerbell flip slops!

The Easter Bunny hid eggs around the house and the kids LOVED finding them!

Even better was that they had candy and toys in them!!

Next was a trip to Barnes Park for Grandma and Grandpa's annual Easter egg hunt.

They got spoiled rotten with toys, treats, and even money!! (Even though Ry and Ky hit the jackpot on that one!!!)

Here they are Easter morning in their Sunday Best (making goofy faces).

Awwww...they do love each other!

Huge cheesers!!

More goofy faces!

We had a great Easter!! I'm glad the Easter bunny came on Saturday so we were able to focus on the true meaning of Easter on Sunday. We're so grateful for the Savior and his atonement and resurrection. It's fun being able to teach these special things to our children.

It's about time!!

2011-04-25T21:40:00.003-06:00

So I'm a crappy blogger. I know. I can honestly say that these past few months have been the most stressful of my life! Work has been really busy and I've tried to pick up some extra visits when I can, Trevor has been busy with school (he has 3 semesters after nursing school to get his BSN) and finding a job (which has been tough....every employer wants nursing experience, but no one wants to give it to you!!). On top of it all, I'm hugely pregnant with everything that comes along with it. Enough of the complaining, I'm now on maternity leave from work, Trevor has a job, and he's done with his spring semester (with straight A's!!!). Life is good.

With work being so busy, and Trevor not working (also, school hasn't been quite as tough this semester as it was in the nursing program), he's been able to spend more time with the kiddos. He's become quite the "Mr. Mom"! Here he is blow-drying Brooklyn's hair after bath-time so she doesn't have to go to bed with wet hair. What a cute dad!

Jace and Brooklyn are two little peas in a pod. They "help" me clean and want to be involved in whatever I'm doing. They play so well together, and it's so fun to hear their conversations and role playing. I am SO blessed to have had such a wonderful surprise 14 months after Jace was born!

Best buddies. LOVE them!

We had our first experience with the kids cutting their hair. Luckily, it was Jace's and not Brooklyn's! If you ask Jace, he'll tell you "I cut my hair without asking". What a little stinker! I buzzed his hair and it's kind of been nice not having to do it the past few weeks!

Here is Tara and I the day before she had Logan (a week and a half ago). I realized as I was coming back from seeing a patient that we hadn't had any pregnancy pictures together AT ALL and since she was having her baby the next day it was pretty much the last shot we had. Don't judge, this was very impromptu and we were both tired and dragging at the end of the day... (Sorry, Tara. All of the pictures we had were ugh. I thought we told Wes to take good pictures of us!!). Now Tara's tummy is flat, and mine is even bigger!!

Behold, the baby bump. Although I think calling it a "bump" is being WAY too nice! I'm 37 weeks here. I'll probably have Tara take some more pictures of the belly and kids in the next week since this is probably our caboose.... I definitely think I've been more tired, sore, exhausted, etc with this pregnancy, but I can't complain too much! Now that I'm done with work and have more time to "nest" life is much less stressful. We're excited to meet this little guy and welcome him to our family!!!

Surviving the Winter

2011-01-31T15:11:00.003-07:00

After the passing of the holidays, we've been trying to keep ourselves out of the "Winter Blues". Considering that the weather has been decent for this time of the year, it hasn't been too bad, but we still struggle through these long months until spring.

We actually have had a couple of snow storms, requiring Trev to get out the snow blower (although I think he's secretly disappointed that he hasn't had the opportunity to use it more! )

The kids love to play in the snow, and are anxious for some more accumulation. We have hardly any snow, and the snow we do get, usually melts in a couple of hours.

The kids have been having a lot of "Daddy Time". Trevor's going to school this semester to get his bachelors in nursing but his schedule requires a LOT less time at school, so the kids get plenty of time to play with him! Also, I'm still working on-call Monday-Thursday nights and have been picking up extra visits to pay off some Christmas/basement debt. I'm very much looking forward to Trevor getting a job!! (He takes his boards next Monday, and hopefully will be able to get a job easier once he has his actual RN license.)

The kids love to play pillow fights and wrestle Daddy any time they get. They double team him but Daddy still manages to tickle torture them every time!

Last week Trevor decided to have a little camp fire in the back yard and roast hot dogs and marshmallows with the kids (while I was working). Doesn't seem like something you'd do in January, but the kids LOVED it! I'm happy they had a good time (even if it was without me) but I'm sure not a big fan of the whole house smelling like a camp fire when I got home!

Life is good, and we're surviving the winter. I need to take some pictures of the bedrooms downstairs that we're working on ("we're" meaning mostly Trevor, although I do help, doing all of the crappy jobs, if you ask me.). Hopefully we can get the rooms done downstairs done soon, so Jace and Brooklyn can move down there before the baby arrives! Time is going by way too fast though, and there's too much to do! I guess that's good though, it's nice to be busy this time of the year! It will be spring before we know it!!

Precious Pictures

2011-01-18T13:42:00.003-07:00

A week or so ago, we had our target ultrasound for this little guy! It's always fun to go in and see all of his organs, and each atrium of his heart working to pump blood through his little body, the different ventricles of his brain... Everything looked great, all of his parts were there, and he looks as healthy as can be! The other great part of the ultrasound is that we can see his little face in 4D! He was somewhat cooperative, and we got a small glimpse to what this babe is going to look like!

This is probably the best face shot. My babies like to have their fists up by there face all of the time, so it makes it hard to see what they look like!

There's the little fists I was talking about!

He looks a lot like our other babes in utero. Cute little nose, full lips.

This one's not great, but he's touching his nose!

I can't believe we're almost to the third trimester! As slow as this pregnancy has seemed, it's gone by really fast (if that makes any sense)! It's fun to feel him wiggling in there, he's up in my ribs already! Looks like I'll be carrying this one super high like Jace and Brooklyn!! Pregnancy hasn't been terrible. I can't complain. I've just had a lot of heartburn and reflux, some sciatic nerve pain, and the general aches and pains. I'm excited to meet this little guy, but we still have a LOT to do in the next 15 weeks!!

What a Month!

2010-12-26T16:45:00.007-07:00

What a great month!! I absolutely love this time of year!! The only problem is it has gone by way too fast and we've been way too busy! We started out the month with some more Canadian visitors!

Brooklyn and Papa watching some TV. Papa hasn't come down to Utah for 4 years, so we were very happy to have him here!

Grammy is smart and know that the key to the kids' heart is through making sugar cookies! They had so much fun pouring and mixing and of course sprinkling!

Sissy helping Grammy roll out the dough.

Trevor graduated from Nursing School on the 8th!! We are so excited to be done with this chapter in Trevor's schooling! It was even nicer to have his parents there, as well as my family for support.

Because I am an RN, I was able to "pin" Trevor at his pinning ceremony! It was awesome!

Trevor with one of his favorite teachers and his study partners at graduation. Too bad he starts school in a week for his Bachelors in Nursing! The fun never ends!

Brooklyn loved playing with Grammy!

We took the in-laws to the Aerospace Museum. Jace and Brooklyn kept wanting me to take pictures of them and I love how this one turned out. They really are the best of friends!!

Here Brooklyn is giving Grammy some "Cheeky Time". She loves to cuddle and have cheek-to-cheek time. I love it!

The kids loved to wrestle with Papa! They also enjoyed playing foosball with him. They stayed for about a week-and-a-half and left way too soon!

The next big event for the month was Jace's preschool party/program. Here's Brooklyn with Santa. Where's Jace? He was too afraid!!

After a visit from Santa we frosted sugar cookies, made crafts, and read Christmas Stories.

Jace is already a big tease to his sister! But he loves it when she's able to come to preschool activities. He wants her to be included in all the activities and is very protective over her.

Here Jace is getting ready to sing "Rudolph". He did such a good job and sang all the words!

Such a sweet boy!

Here are some of Jace's preschool friends with Mrs. Lisa. He has grown up and learned so much since starting preschool! I can't believe he'll be starting kindergarten this fall!

Next up was our ward Christmas party. Again, Sissy sat on Santa's lap but Jace wouldn't.

Kylee was happy to take Brooklyn up to see Santa and is always such a good helper and friend to the kids when she comes over.

Jace & Brooklyn the Sunday before Christmas! Such sweethearts!

Getting ready to open presents on Christmas Eve at Grandpa & Grandma Barnes'. I felt bad that all of us got presents on Grandpa's birthday! Like always, they spoiled us way to much! They kids are getting much better and sitting, smiling, and looking at the camera. They are such cheesers!

Saying thanks to Grandpa for all of the presents! They were spoiled!

Giving loves to Grandma.

Trevor and the kids on Christmas Eve night in their Christmas jammies! It was so fun getting ready for Christmas this year! The kids were so excited to leave out cookies and milk for Santa and were so anxious for his arrival! They make Christmas so magical!

I ended up taking more video of the kids than still photos on Christmas morning so I'm kind of bummed! The kids were so excited about each of their presents and were so fun to watch! Here they are cuddling in their stuffed animal-sleeping bags. I will post some pictures of their favorite toys and presents later. Santa spoiled them way too much! We had such a great Christmas!

We went to Tooele to spend Christmas day with Marc & Shelly and their family. It was so nice! The kids loved playing with their cousins! They all played on iTouches or iPhones all day! The older kids and grown-ups played several rounds of Settlers of Catan and enjoyed spending the day in our jammies and relaxing.

Here is Brooklyn cuddling with Shel!

In other news, most of you know that we're expecting a little boy due May 4th! We're excited and anxious for this new arrival! The kids are getting excited to have a new baby brother and are anxious to spill the beans to anyone who will listen! We're kind of scared to be out-numbered by kids, but we're excited to add to our family!!

Thankful

2010-12-01T14:27:00.006-07:00

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone! I think the more I anticipate events, the quicker they go by!! We started out this thankful week by having the Edmonds (aka Trevor's sister and her family) come down for a week long visit!! We love having them come for visits, the kids absolutely adore their cousins, and their cousins dote upon the kiddos all week. Unfortunately, it's become a trend that when I'm busing having fun with family, I don't take nearly enough pictures!! I've really got to get better at it, because the kids adore looking at these pictures.

They started out the week playing outside with our first real snow storm.

Here is their beautiful snowman!! When we came home from church we had a bunch of neighbor boys in the back yard building forts and throwing snowballs up the street. So the kids (sweet Chrissy went out and helped Jace & Brooklyn) went up the street to a vacant lot* to have some fresh snow. (I'll talk more about this later...)

Jace had a Thanksgiving program at school. He got to be an Indian!! I volunteered in his class with their Thanksgiving feast and the kids were a blast! I love his preschool and teacher, and better yet, he loves it too!

Here he is singing during the program. (One of the parts that he actually participated in the actions!!)

Thanksgiving day was FABULOUS!!! We had my parents, both sisters and their families, and of course the Edmonds with us....19 in total. The food was great, and the company even better.

Marc, aka Ariel. Brooklyn thought this was the funniest thing ever!

Wes and Noah. Such handsome boys!

We looked through all the ads, and formulated our plans for the next day (actually, we started that night and didn't get home until 6:00 am the next morning!).

It seems like there was a LOT of playing on the iPhones, laptops, etc. This is a frequent scene at our house. I think my kids have spent more time on my iPhone than I have!!

More playing on the computers....

And again...more iPhones! It's nice that Jen's girls get along so well with Shel's kids!

And then on Saturday, it was time to say goodbye :o(. The week went by way too fast and we couldn't believe it was already time to say our farewells. Here's Brooklyn with Uncle Kevin.

Aunty Jen got some gifts for the kids to give before she had to go. (And she left more to give to them on Christmas! She spoiled them WAY too much!)

Kisses from the little Sissy Mouse.

The girls are helping Brooklyn play her Princess Memory. Jace, on the other hand didn't want much help, he just wanted to play his own way!

Jace giving a big kiss to Kevin! He sure loved him! He always wanted to sit on his lap and cuddle him.

More kisses to Sarah.

Sarah, and Brooklyn!

**Here is the whole Edmonds family on the lot that they BOUGHT while they were here! We are absolutely THRILLED!! It's across the street and up a few houses/lots from us. We're counting down the days until they will build here and make the big move, but apparently it's going to be about 2 years....but we're hoping it will be sooner!

We also saw the new Harry Potter and Tangled while they were here, did WAY too much shopping, ate WAY too much food, and didn't play NEARLY enough games. We loved our visit, and look forward to our next set of Canadian visitors at the end of the week!

Halloween Overload!!!

2010-11-12T21:52:00.008-07:00

We had so much fun this October! There are so many fun things to do during the fall, and we loved every minute of it! Since I'm doing a condensed post, I just chose a couple pictures from each event..

The Pumpkin Patch

This has been the third year we've gone to a local nursery where they have hayrides to the pumpkin patch and the kids are able to pick out their own pumpkins.

Here's the kiddos waiting in line. Luckily, Kylee came! She is so great with the kids and they love spending time with her.

This is the typical greeting between Noah and Jace. Jace absolutely ADORES Noah, and Noah is so sweet to put up with Jace's excessive doting.

Jace & Brooklyn standing in front of the tractor. They absolutely LOVED the tractor ride!

Jace with his prize pumpkin. I was happy that he chose one he could carry himself!!

My beautiful Brooklyn. Both of these pictures were cute enough to post.

LOVE this girl!!! We've been enjoying spending some quality "Mommy and Brooklyn" time while Jace has preschool lately. She makes a GREAT shopping partner!!

Black Island Farm

Jace had a field trip to Black Island Farms a few weeks ago, and I thought it would be fun to bring Tara and Noah along!

This picture is after they went on a hayride and learned all about pumpkins, corn, onions, carrots etc. Again, they got to pick out their own pumpkin to bring home! Noah was not thrilled about the picture, Jace is trying to make him feel better, and Brooklyn is keeping her distance!

Brooklyn playing in the "corn box". This has become a classic Brooklyn face. It's like Zoolander's Blue Steel!!

Noah LOVED playing in the corn!!

The kids also enjoyed going down the slides, feeding the llamas, watching the pig races, and jumping in the bouncy house. This is the abbreviated version!

Jace's Halloween Party

Jace had a pre-school Halloween party. Jace and Brooklyn got all dressed up, and enjoyed playing games, trick-or-treating, bobbing for donuts, etc. Jace was always so concerned about his Sis. He made sure she had a turn doing everything, and that she wasn't left out. They can be so cute sometimes!

Jace and Brooklyn. Jace decided to be a pirate, like last year, and Brooklyn decided to be a butterfly (actually, she wanted to wear her puppy costume from last year, but the pants were total floods, so she was convinced to be a butterfly!) I LOVE that they love each other (most of the time).

They had the cutest Halloween program! I was such a proud Momma!! I don't know how to upload the video, but it's the cutest thing ever! I was so proud of Jace for singing and doing the actions. It was far better than the primary program a few weeks ago when he just sat there the whole time!!!

Halloween

For Halloween we went to Tooele for Kylee's birthday. Kylee was a sweetheart and invited the kids to her birthday party at Build-a-Bear. They were in heaven! Unfortunately, I took all of the pictures with Marc's camera, and haven't gotten copies yet...

This is Jace sneaking a peak at the treats they were passing out. He elected to be spider man, and was very impressed with his muscles!

Here's Brooklyn's classic face again. I didn't get any cute pictures of her in her Halloween outfit. She was a fairy princess!

The birthday girl!!! I can't believe she's NINE!!

And little Noah spent most of the night walking around with something hanging out of his mouth!

Last, but definitely not least, here are Jace and Brooklyn trying on princess clothes. I think it's sweet Jace plays dress up once in awhile! Just as long as he doesn't go roaming the neighborhood dressed as Sleeping Beauty!

We had such a great time celebrating Halloween! This time of year is so much fun. It's just one holiday after the other! We're excited for the festivities of the next few months!

Trevor's Pride and Joy

2010-10-13T16:13:00.001-06:00

Trevor has been busy this summer babying some raspberry and strawberry plants he bought this spring. It's our second attempt with both (last year our neighbor's bunnies liked to munch on them a bit), so this time around Trevor has been out there just about every day hand watering (although we have a drip system that he could utilize), weeding, and cleaning up the neighbor's cat poop. We weren't expecting any berries this year, because it's their first year, but we've had a dozen or so of these delicious raspberries!

Trevor and Brooklyn showing of the goods.

A closer look...

Brooklyn, enjoying the goodness.

These two rugrats have also been loving that their Daddy has been around a little more often (he only has class one day a week and clinicals have been somewhat sparse before precepting starts next week).

Like father, like son (in so many ways!!)

She's THREE?!?

2010-10-09T21:10:00.005-06:00

I can't believe my baby is three! Seriously. I feel like everything is going by so quickly! I'd just like to pause things for a little while and enjoy these two little rugrats before they grow up any more!

Here is Brooklyn a couple days before her birthday sporting her "I heart Olivia" shirt to send to her cousin Olivia for her birthday (which I have yet to send...I know, I'm the worst auntie ever!)

Here's Brooklyn going to town on her pinata. Yes, we didn't have a great way to hang the thing, and yes, this is a rake that Marc is holding to hang the pinata on! (As a side note, I LOVE that my kids call pinatas "Beehauna")

Noah even took a try, although he almost hit Trevor's head instead of the pinata!

Rylan was so focused, although Dylan was the one to finally destroy the thing...

Of course Brooklyn had the constant help of her big brother! He was much more anxious to open presents than she was! (Tara overheard them talking before we opened presents. Jace asked Brooklyn, "Are you going to be a nice girl or a mean girl?", Brooklyn said "A nice girl". Jace said, "Do you know what that means? That means you have to share all of your presents with me.")

The beautiful birthday girl!

Opening more presents. I swear it felt like Christmas!

Giving Dylan loves. So sweet!

The princess birthday cake. Not my most beautiful creation, but definitely not my area of expertise either! I don't like my cakes cooked all the way...and discovered that they aren't very pretty if they're not...and they're even harder to frost!

Blowing out the candles

My beautiful birthday princess! She was so excited with all of her dress-ups. Her and Kylee couldn't possibly wait until after the cake to try them on!!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest three year old I know!!!

Some Firsts

2010-09-28T14:59:00.002-06:00

September has been a fun and exciting month for Jace. He started preschool for the first time and goes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and has LOVED it! It's so fun to watch him learn and be independent.

Here he is on the first day of school. Still so handsome! I still can't believe my little guy is in preschool!!

Jace and Brooklyn. I thought Brooklyn would have a really hard time watching Jace go to preschool, but she's been loving her "Mommy Time" (which mostly consists of cleaning the house so I'm not sure which part she enjoys!!).

Jace was too busy laughing to take a good picture. And I'm pretty sure he needs to go potty. I swear that kid has the biggest bladder...and he refuses to go potty until it's almost too late. He never has any accidents, but I don't particularly enjoy watching him hold himself all the time!

Jace with his teacher, Mrs. Lisa. He absolutely LOVES her! We love her too. She does the cutest things with the kids, and Jace has already learned so much in just a few weeks! When I ask him who his best friend at school is, he always says "Miss Lisa"!

Jace also got to go on his first Father-Son camp out with Daddy! He was so excited!!! (Brooklyn was ticked that she didn't get to go, but we had a fun GNO, although I didn't take any pictures to document it). Here is Jace licking the marshmallows off of his fingers.

Jace was in heaven roasting his stick. I guess this was a pretty popular activity among the kids and kept him entertained all night!

Here's Jace getting ready for bed. Don't worry though, they definitely didn't "rough it". Trev borrowed Shel & Marc's tent trailer and loved every minute of it!

Here are my boys eating their breakfast! I'm so happy that they're starting to do fun activities together. Jace just loves his Daddy, and asks him several times everyday, "you're still my best friend, right dad?". So cute

Jace is FOUR!!!

2010-09-26T16:19:00.005-06:00

I know, I know. It's been a long time. Things are busy, and sometimes it seems like no one really reads this thing anyway, so I've put it on the back burner. Anyway, let's back track a little, and maybe I'll get caught up one of these days!!!

Jace celebrated his fourth birthday while we were visiting Canada! We had a great time, I can't believe Jace is 4 already! Seems like only yesterday I was taking him home from the hospital!

The kids were very excited to wear birthday hats!! They are always putting things on their head and pretending they are birthday hats...

Jace hugging Grammy. He was so excited about all of his presents!

Jace laying on choo-choo rug.

He also got a Buzz bubble rocket ship. I don't know who liked it more, Jace or Kevin!!

Kind of an unfocused picture, but here's Jace blowing out his candles. He requested cupcakes with worms on them!

The next week Jen, Kevin, and the girls spent over a week here. We were in heaven! The kids have been in withdrawal ever since. We're really trying to recruit them to move down south!!

And I couldn't leave this Sleeping Beauty out! There's nothing sweeter than your baby sleeping! I can't believe my baby's going to be 3 next week! YIKES!

Kind of a Catch Up

2010-08-15T21:55:00.003-06:00

The summer has been flying by, and I have not been the best at documenting it! We've had a lot of fun, and can't believe it's already the middle of August!

We went to several parades and carnivals and enjoyed every minute of it! I'm teaching the kids to realize the goodness of cotton candy!

We've done a LOT of swimming in the back yard and playing on the slip-n-slide. Seriously, the kids could be outside every day, ALL day, if I let them!

The kids think the slip-n-slide is a glorified drinking fountain!

The kids were introduced to "Monster House", a cute animated movie. Every time Jace watches it he keeps his hands by his eyes so he can close them if it gets too scary! He loves any movie with a monster, dragon, or "mean guy".

Brooklyn's been a cute little mommy to her babies! She sure is sweet and thoughtful of them. Sometimes she asks me to hold them for her, but is very specific about how I need to hold them. She also is a PRO at wrapping them up in a blanket!

Jace has discovered that he, too, can wear a tutu. The kids dress up in them and twirl around the house. It's all good until he wants to go outside in it. That's where I draw the line!!

We recently went up to Canada where Trev was a groomsman at his best friends wedding!! We had a great time up there, and, like always, the time flew by!! Trevor had a busy semester at school, so it was nice to take a break and be able to spend some time together!

More blogging to come soon (I hope!) about our trip to Canada, Jace's 4th birthday, and our Canadian visitors!!

Showing Our Canadian Pride

2010-07-01T12:02:00.007-06:00

In honor of Canada Day, the kids and I are sporting our Canadian attire. Unfortunately Trev has clinicals most of the day, and I'm on-call tonight, our celebration will be minimal. However, we had to take pictures to prove our Canadian pride. The kids were so excited to wear their Canada shirts, but thought that meant they got to go to Canada today. They were disappointed when I told them we wouldn't be going for another 4 weeks. Anyway, here are the kiddos showing their pride.

I had to bribe them with candy they got from the parade, but they did hold still for a 1/2 a second for me to snap a picture. They're so enthusiastic!

This is how most of the pictures turned out. Laughing, wrestling, tickling. LOVE these kids!

Waving to Grammy & Papa in Canada!

Shouting "Hooray"!

Again, this is how the majority of the pictures turned out...

Two little monkeys hanging from the swing!

We wish we were in Canada to share in all of the festivities, but I suppose we'll just have to wait a couple days to celebrate with parades, fairs, and fireworks! Oh how love the summer!

Summer is Finally Here!

2010-06-22T15:32:00.004-06:00

Now that summer has finally arrived, we've been having a ton of fun!

The kids love playing outside on their swing set, and are little monkeys climbing and swinging from everything they can. Best news of all, is Jace has learned how to pump on the swing! HALLELUJAH!

We've made some yummy treats that seem to get more on their faces than in their mouths! This is a classic Brooklyn expression when she's trying to explain something to me. Love it!

On a rainy day, we brought the cushions from our swing inside, the kids found that they made perfect little beds to lay on while watching t.v.!

I gave Brooklyn her first haircut (scary, I know). She was very disappointed to find out we only used scissors instead of the razor like when I cut Daddy & Jace's hair.

I didn't really get a good "before" shot, but her hair was pretty long, and not really even, so I decided that I'd just trim it to one length (except for her bangs which are taking FOREVER to grow!).

Here's the finished product. Certainly nothing fancy, I'll save that for when she goes to a professional! It's a lot easier to keep up now, and looks a lot less straggly! (On a side note, don't you just love her little bum?! She puts her underwear on backwards sometimes and walks around with a wedgie!)

We celebrated Father's Day on Sunday by waking up and cuddling in bed. There's no better way to start the day!

Working on the Basement

2010-06-09T16:06:00.001-06:00

Over a year after we started the basement it's finally ready for dry wall! Trevor had the majority of last week off of school, most of which was spent in the basement finishing up electrical, framing in air ducts, and doing insulation. Luckily we have some great family and friends who have helped out a ton! I even was down there doing some of the grunt work! (You know if I was down there helping, they must have been desperate!)

Here's my sexy man in his work attire!

Cutting wood for framing.

This was my really fun job. I got to cut the insulation so that it was easier to put up. Oh my achin' back! Ugh. I am not as young as I used to be.

Here I am stapling the insulation. Trevor took the staple gun and showed me how to do it (he just went pop, pop, pop, down the seam, connecting the dry wall to the studs.) I tried it, and it wasn't exactly as easy as he made it seem! Good thing Marc came the next day with a battery powered stapler!!!

Now, we just get to wait and watch as our basement gets dry walled! I'm so happy we've hired it out and don't have to worry about it! It'll probably be our last project for a little while, until we can make some more money to finish it! Sheesh, it's expensive!!! I'm excited to have it done so we can entice our Canadian and out-of-state family to come visit us :o).

Floating Across the Duck Pond

2010-05-27T14:58:00.003-06:00

Yesterday my sister Tara came over and we decided to take the kids on a walk to the duck pond. When we got there we scouted out some hungry looking ducks, and walked across the bridge and down to the water's edge. Well, I got a call from Trevor, and Tara was talking on her phone to Wes, and next thing I know, Tara yells my name and starts laughing hysterically. I'm not sure if the kids bumped the wagon or what, but it rolled right into the pond. Tara just stood there laughing, and I hurried and took my socks and shoes off and ran into the water after it, but it just floated further away....and I was not about to submerge myself in that nasty water! Random people were stopping and taking picture of our little mishap. Luckily it eventually floated to the other side of the pond and I was able to wade out a little bit and grab it. Of course we didn't bring our camera, but luckily Tara had her camera phone! The quality isn't the greatest, but it makes me laugh just looking at these!

Here's the wagon floating across the pond. It floated under the bridge and across to the other side. I was kind of nervous because this lady there was saying that it would probably just stall in the middle of the pond and we'd need a kayak to go get it.

Here is Brooklyn on the other side of the pond watching the wagon. The kids were very distressed about this, they love that wagon!

Here I am in the filthy water! The kids were cheering, and kept saying "Mommy save the day!" so I guess it was all worth it!

I'm just happy that there weren't any kids in the wagon...and that the wagon floats! Sure made for an entertaining day!

Cowboys, Worms, and a Little Bed Head

2010-05-25T15:17:00.004-06:00

Well, the kids are home, and life is back to "normal" again...although I'm not sure if things are ever really normal! The kids were excited to find out we got them presents while we were gone.
Jace said, "I'm sorry, Mom, we didn't get you any presents. It's the wrong holiday for you to get presents. Maybe on the next holiday you'll get some presents!" What a cutie...

Here are the kids in their cowboy hats. The first thing they just had to do was get their rocking horses. (What's a cowboy without his/her horse?!) Then they had to watch Toy Story, because now they have a hat like Woody!

With the nicer weather we've been having, the kids have a new found love for bugs. I will probably dedicate another post to that, but this picture is of Brooklyn saying "Shhh, Mommy, my worms are sleeping!" She had her worms wrapped up in her blanky! What a good little mommy she is!

And here is Jace with some MAJOR bed-head!! I think he looks just like my brother, Nate, in this picture! We actually just cut his hair on Sunday, we just couldn't handle the shag any longer..but I must say I'll definitely miss the bed-head!!! More pics to come...

Seven Years!!!

2010-05-16T20:35:00.006-06:00

Seven years ago today, Trevor and I were married. Crazy to think how fast time flies when you're having fun with the one you love! We've officially made it through our "Seven Year Itch" with no itchiness at all! We've had such a great year...each one seems to get better and better!

For our anniversary, Trevor surprised me with a weekend trip to Jackson Hole. He arranged for the kids to go to Shelly & Marc's for a long weekend (Thursday through Monday) so we could spend the weekend together. It has been so nice to escape reality and spend a few days with just the two of us, although it's funny, because as soon as we get a break from our kids that's all we can talk about! It was nice to focus on each other and relax together but we've missed the kids a lot and realize how big a part they are of our lives and our marriage.

We did a lot of shopping and walking around the weather was fabulous! We also were able to see both Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood which was a lot of fun! We're both big movie buffs, so it was fun to actually see some movies while they're still in the theatre! We weren't too good at taking pictures, but snapped some today before we came home...

Here I am outside our hotel. Ugh. Hate it, but I guess it documents a memory..

Trev outside the hotel...

Here we are with "Trev's DAD"... I mean Big Foot!

Standing by the Antler Arch in Town Square...

Trev was so excited to get his picture taken!

We had a blast, but it's also nice to be home. It's especially nice that even though it's hard to go back to reality, reality isn't all that bad....

Catch Up

2010-05-07T15:18:00.006-06:00

Seems like it's time to catch up! We've been busy taking advantage of the nice weather and I haven't been the best at taking pictures. Here's some of the things we've been up to lately...

We have been frequenting the park. It's nice to let the kids run around and burn off some energy!

The kids love the "baby" swings at the park! Jace is way too big for them but I don't really care!

We had an Easter Egg hunt inside the day before Eater since there was snow on the ground outside (yuck!).

The kids loved searching for the eggs and loved even more what they found inside them!

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny hid some more eggs.

By this time the kids were pros at finding the eggs!!!

They were thrilled to find out that the Easter Bunny brings presents too!

The kids have been loving their new bikes and are getting really good at riding down the street!

We've been playing a lot with bubbles too! We got a fun machine at Costco that automatically blows the bubbles, so we can just sit and watch!

Trevor and Wes went to Moab for a WEEK so Tara stayed over and we took turn watching each other's kids so she could do her exercise group in the morning, and I could work in the evening. It certainly made us realize how much we love and miss our hubby's when they're gone!

The kids have loved having Daddy home, especially since he makes cookies usually once a week!! He's such a great Dad!!!

In other note-worthy news, Trevor graduated from PN school a couple of weeks ago, and has just finished his first week in the RN program!! He will be taking his boards for his LPN early next month and should graduate with his RN in December! We're so happy and proud of him!! And I'm especially excited for him to take over my role in the working department!!!

Spring Festivities

2010-04-05T13:54:00.003-06:00

I have been procrasti-blogging for awhile because I keep forgetting my camera when we do things, and I keep forgetting to get copies of the pictures my sister/brother-in-law get. Anyway, last weekend we went down to Tooele to celebrate Dylan's 16th birthday (I know, I can't believe he's 16 already!). Again, I forgot my camera, but at least we got copies from Marc!

Jace and Brooklyn in their Easter dress-up.

Trying to kiss for the camera.

LOVE this picture of Jace whispering to Brooklyn. Seriously, they're such buds.

Showing their "I Love You" signs. They're so sweet and always telling me they love me in sign-language.

The only cousin shot we got. I don't know where Dylan & Rylan were...

Kylee showing off her Easter Dress. She looked beautiful! I can't believe how big she's getting!

Rylan showing his skills on the skate board.

Sweet little Noah...drooling and teething...poor kid..

It's kind of funny that there's no pictures of the birthday boy! He was down stairs on the wii or computer most of the time! It was great to have an excuse to get together though!!!

Super Man!

2010-03-23T14:34:00.002-06:00

Brooklyn & Jace love to wear their superman capes around the house, especially when they watch movies. They're such little buddies! They always want to be the same and are always together. I love watching them talk, play, argue, tease, and learn together. They really are best friends and always watch out for each other. Jace has to make sure that Brooklyn gets what she wants...even if she doesn't know she wants it yet! And if Jace cries for a toy, even if it's Brooklyn's turn and she's having fun playing with it, she always gives in and gives it to him. They still act like siblings some of the time...but like best friends most of the time. I LOVE it!

SIX Cavities!

2010-03-13T13:30:00.003-07:00

We took Jace to the dentist a few weeks ago and found out he had SIX CAVITIES! Yikes! Especially considering we don't have dental insurance since Trevor's been laid off. Yeah, that hurts... They did half of them on his initial visit and finished the rest this week. Jace was very brave, unlike me, because I made Trevor take him both times. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Jace said that this time he had "a little cry and a big cry" but was happy to be done with the dentist for awhile. We're happy too.

Here are Jace's teeth. I kind of feel a little trashy with all that silver in his mouth, but why pay the extra money for white fillings when he's just going to lose these teeth in a couple of years. Trev said the dentist had to pretty much do the equivalent of a root canal where the silver cap is. Poor Jace. I hope he doesn't have bad teeth for his whole life. We've definitely stepped up on the oral care and he's a lot more willing to let us brush his teeth now that he has the threat of the dentist if he doesn't. I feel like a horrible mommy...like I could have been doing more to prevent this. Good things kids are so easy to forgive!

Pink Snakes

2010-03-09T14:53:00.002-07:00

Although the weather is getting warmer, there are still days where it's just too yucky to go outside. We're trying to fill this time by doing less TV watching and more of the other stuff. I have found with my kids, if I don't keep them busy, than the messes seem to add up a lot faster. Although, sometimes the things that keep them busy are even messier! Any way, yesterday the kids patiently sat in the cart while I shopped at Hobby Lobby (LOVE that store!) so I let them pick out a craft to paint. They chose snakes! (Of course they chose the same thing, and if they didn't, I probably would have made them. I've been a mother of two long enough to know that I'll have some melt downs and tantrums if they don't have the same thing.)

Here is Jace painting his snake. Of course he had to start out with his favorite color, pink!

Such concentration!

Brooklyn's favorite color is pink too!

The kids had a lot of fun, and it wasn't as messy as it could have been! I think we'll have to get the paints out more often, the kids were very proud of their art-work, and have carried the snakes around with them every where they go!

When the boys are away...

2010-03-01T14:36:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Trevor, Wes, and Marc worked their behinds off in Tooele, putting tile in Shelly & Marc's 3 bathrooms and kitchen so the girls all got together to hang out with the kids. I'm sure once Marc catches his breath (he had a crazy schedule with church meetings and work all day yesterday) he'll post pictures of their handy work here (right, Marc?!?).

Anyway, I had fun with my sisters...and we realized that things are a lot more challenging with 5 kids! Shel's kids are so great with the younger cousins and Jace & Brooklyn have been going through withdrawals since they left.

Kylee, Brook, and Jace took a bubble bath, and after turning on the jets there were TONS of bubbles!

Jace & Brooklyn hugging. (I guess they do like each other once in awhile!) This kind of shows how many bubbles there were. I was constantly having to get water from the sink to poor over their faces and hands!

Noah joined in the fun after we let some bubbles out. He loved them too!!

Jace Face playing in the bubbles. As you can see he has a black eye. He slipped on the tile earlier in the week when he was getting out of the tub. Poor kiddo!

My beautiful Brooklyn!

The kids love playing with the Ry Guy too! To those of you who know Brooklyn know that getting kisses from her are like gold...because she hardly gives them out. I think she must love Rylan.

Shel and I did some crafts over the weekend too...hopefully the flowers will start blooming soon! I am so happy it's March!!

Big Boy Bed

2010-02-23T14:40:00.001-07:00

Jace has finally graduated from his crib (which we sold yesterday on KSL!) to a big boy bed! I'm sure most kids graduate a lot sooner, but we enjoyed the fact that he was contained in his crib, and didn't push the whole "big boy bed" thing. Although he could climb in and out of his crib easily, Jace never would get out when he woke up from a nap or in the morning. It was bliss! Well, we finally decided that if Jace had it his way, he'd probably start kindergarten in his crib, so we (meaning Trevor & Wes) set up his new bed (which I bought almost a year ago and has been sitting in our garage in a box.). Anyway, we set it up and Jace loves it! We thought it would end our days of child-imprisonment, but we have been pleasantly surprised that Jace doesn't get out of bed in the morning until we come and get him! He still naps too! And has only fallen out of bed twice. He's doesn't really like sheets, and isn't sure about the whole pillow thing, but loves his new bed!

Here are some pictures of the sleeping beauty...

There's nothing sweeter than a child sleeping....

V-Day

2010-02-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun time celebrating Valentine's this month! I think Valentine's Day comes at a perfect time, during such a "blah" time of year. Not that we need a reason to show our love to one another, but it's always nice to have an excuse to celebrate!

Brooklyn's hair is getting SO long (and needs to be trimmed). I was able to do some festive hair-dos for her, and she loved having hearts in her hair!

We decorated cookies again. I mean, who can ever get enough sugar cookies?!

Look what the little lady has been sporting lately! Don't get too excited though, shortly after this, she pulled them off and peed in the tile in the bathroom. She's pretty good though, and if I put more effort into it I know she'd be potty trained. Problem is she wants to stand like Jace when she goes potty...

Oh, the concentration!

Trevor even made pink marshmallow popcorn for the kids when I was out seeing patients one night! It was delicious! He even remembered to take pictures...although the kids were so excited they all turned out blurry.

And what's Valentine's Day without flowers?! I LOVE Lilly's!

On Sunday we had all of my family over (minus Nate & Fam who are in Pennsylvania) over for dinner. Trevor made his mom's lasagna recipe from scratch! It was the yummiest lasagna I've ever tasted!!

Here's Noah & Grandpa! That boy is growing up WAY too fast!

Here we are decorating our "Valentine House". We never decorated our ginger bread house at Christmas, so I got a bunch of Valentine's candy for the kids to decorate!

It was the saddest gingerbread house I've ever seen! Almost every piece was cracked some how, and Shel & I tried to fix it up the best we could. It ended up imploding at the end! The kids didn't care though....they were too busy eating the candy!

What a great way to spend the day of love, with those you love! Hope you all had a nice holiday!

Spreading Love

2010-02-05T12:18:00.003-07:00

We had some friends over the other day to play and we decorated Valentine's cookies! The kids were excited all morning, waiting for our friends to come over and carried around their sprinkles with them every where they went.

Here's Brooklyn decorating her cookie. There were sprinkles EVERYWHERE!

Jace sneaking a taste of frosting. I'm afraid my poor kids have inherited my sweet tooth!

Here's Hailey with all the big kids eating her cookie! My kids absolutely love Hailey and are showing that the are going to be very helpful when they get a little brother or sister.

Here's Jake showing he ate all of his cookie! I'm surprised he wasn't all green! He had a nice healthy layer of green sprinkles on his cookie!

The Beautiful Life

2010-01-31T19:04:00.003-07:00

My talented sister, Tara, has always had an eye for photography, digital scrap booking/regular scrap booking, and pretty much makes anything she touches pleasing to the eye. She's been doing a lot of research, and taking classes on taking photos, editing photos, etc. and has willingly used my kids as some of her guinea pigs! She's also taken a zillion cute pictures of Noah and has started a blog with all of her recent photography. She started out doing it more as a hobby and wanting to capture her sweet little son, but has really enjoyed doing it and wants to become more professional and share her creativity with others. Check out her blog at www.labellavitaphotography.blogspot.com. "La Bella Vita" means "The Beautiful Life" and I definitely think she caught the beauties in my life!

I absolutely LOVE this picture...it captures how big my little boy is getting. Tara thinks he looks just like me in these pictures.

She edited this one as a joke, but I actually really like it! It's totally Jace, unabashedly picking his boogers. Not afraid to make himself more comfortable!

And then there is Brooklyn. She was a great model, just sat there looking beautiful.

This girl is so sweet! I absolutely love having this dainty girl in our family. Don't let her fool you though, she can definitely hold her own!

Love the expression she captured, completely a Brooklyn look.

Seriously. I can't say anything more than this picutre already says.

Love love love those lips. She's been a real prude lately about giving kisses and I can't stand it. You can't be that cute, with such luscious lips and not give your mom kisses!!!

Thank you, Tara, for letting my kids be your model for a day (more like 15 minutes...that's all they lasted). We are more than happy to "model" for you any time! And although she says she's not "ready" to take other people's pictures yet, I'm sure she'll be wanting some other guinea pigs to try out her skills!

Surviving January

2010-01-24T21:42:00.006-07:00

January is such a tough month! We haven't been doing very much and it just kind of seems blah. I need to take more pictures, but who wants to see pictures of my messy house and my kids still in their pajamas at noon?! I feel like all I've done since we've been back from Canada is clean and organize, and organize and clean. The air quality has been yucky for most of the month, so we haven't spent much time outside, and I haven't been the most creative in finding other things to do. My kids have kind of felt the same way. They don't want to go anywhere and just want to stay in their jammies all day. Who can blame them?

So, here are some pictures of the fam this past few weeks. I certainly am slacking on my New Years Resolution of taking more pictures, so hopefully this will get me going...

Jace is now a Sunbeam!!! I can't believe it! He's been a poop lately at letting me take his picture, but here he is after church being a goof with his foot in his mouth. I was kind of nervous about the transition from nursery to primary (what kid in their right mind want to leave toys, snacks, and treats?) but Jace has done really well! He loves being a "big boy" and going to primary. The bigger transition has been for Brooklyn who now has to go to nursery alone.

Jave loves to help his daddy shovel the sidewalks.

Brooklyn likes to help too! They each have their own shovel and usually make more of a mess, but hopefully some day we can put all this practice to some good use!

Such a sweet little snow bunny!

Brooklyn has discovered how to climb out of her crib for the past month or so, making lot of messes when she's supposed to be asleep. This day she found the baby powder!

Trevor and the kids reading a Dora story on the t.v.

The kids have also been taking a lot of baths. They absolutely LOVE the water, and could spend most of the day in the bath if I let them!

Such a cheeser! I LOVE it!

I'm thinking I need to get the kids a pass to the Treehouse again, to help ease us through these winter months. Also, I think I'll start taking them to Story time at the library which is once or twice a week. Does anyone else have any other suggestions of some fun & cheap things to do with my kiddos this winter?

Merry Christmas, ya Filthy Animal. And a Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T22:26:00.003-07:00

We had a chilly but nice Christmas & New Year in the Great White North! The kids are at such a fun and magical age, especially at Christmas, and it was fun to experience Christmas with them. We had such a great time with Trevor's family and friends....I wish we were all closer, the flights were cheaper, or that 15 hours in the car was more tolerable. We had WAY too much good food (which I'm now eating healthy and exercising every morning to undo!) and stayed up WAY too late every night (although the kids slept in until 9 am, so we also SLEPT in every morning too!). Anyway, I could go on, and on. Here's the rundown of the holidays...

CHRISTMAS EVE

Jace & Brooklyn "helping" Grammy with preparations for Christmas dinner. By "helping", they splashed in the water the turkey was defrosting in. I know, very sanitary!

Christmas Eve night we got together with "Auntie Jen" and her family for some dinner. (We missed you on your Birthday, Dad!)

Jace & Brooklyn LOVED going to Auntie Jen's house and the girls loved playing with them. Here they are at the kids table eating their dinner.

Here's our annual family picture in our Christmas Eve jammies. I got Trevor and I footy pjs and the kids got Toy Story & Tinker Bell ones.

I love Trevor's feet. My mom made sock monkeys just like that! (Trevor was a little less enthusiastic about the pjs, I thought they were super comfy although not the most flattering! I just hated that every time I had to go to the bathroom I had to half undress myself. It's COLD up there!)

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Jace was very enthusiastic about his presents, especially his stocking! He was sad he didn't get to see Santa when he delivered the gifts, but was excited for what he left! He was more into opening presents this year instead of playing with each one as he got them, but when there weren't any more presents to open, he wanted everything out of the boxes and batteries to make them work!

Brooklyn was excited too, although she probably could have taken all day opening presents if Jace wasn't so excited about it. She wants to be just like her big brother!

She's so laid back...just playing with each little toy she got.

Jace is demonstrating to sissy how to properly blow-dry her ponny's hair.

Jace by all of the presents...

NEW YEARS EVE

We spent New Years with family, friends, and insanely good food at a community hall up there. We played games and ate way too much food.

Jace & Brooklyn were so good! They even stayed up until midnight without driving us crazy! When we were all yelling "Happy New Year!" Jace kept asking whose birthday it was and if he would get some birthday cake.

Chrissy (and Vickie) played with the kids most of the evening, which is probably why they were so good! The kids just love their cousins!!

NEW YEARS DAY

Brooklyn was so generous with her kisses to Sarah! Grammy & Jen got one the whole time, and Sarah got tons and tons!

Eric (family friend) serenaded us all with his guitar and made up silly songs about everyone.

Jace playing with Uncle Jeff and his cousins Brody & Mason.

Grammy, Sarah, and Brookie.

The kids playing with Chrissy again (where was Vickie when all of these pictures were taken?!). I kind of felt bad for the girls because the kids would maul them every time we were together and didn't want anything to do with Trevor or I (which was really nice, don't get me wrong...)

Trevor with his Dad! They had so much fun playing some old-school Nintendo games that my brother-in-law got for the x-box. They were just like little boys. And I may or may not have been like a nagging mother to them once in awhile. I'm pretty sure the x-box brings out the worst in me!

Jace Cheesin' it. Love that boy!!

Priceless.

Jace has learned how to sign "I Love You" and does it frequently. Melts my heart every time.

Cindy (Behr, a really close family friend) and her grandbaby snuggling..

Well, sorry about the picture overload, but I had too many to choose from and probably didn't post a lot that I should have. We are so grateful for our families, and that we were able to spend time with the Zezula's over the holidays! They were such gracious hosts and we loved every second we were there. Now it's on to reality.

Hope you all had a VERY Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!!

Canadian Surprise!!!

2009-12-22T17:46:00.003-07:00

Trevor and I decided to make a surprise visit to Canada for Christmas! We told Trev's mom and she was able to keep it a secret from everyone! (Very impressive!). We got up here on Friday night just in time for the Mummer's "Retirement Party", which was just an excuse to get everyone together for when we arrived. Anyway, we've been having a blast so far except for the fact that we're freezin' our tushies off! Geez....it's cold! Here are a few pics so far....many fun memories come...

Jace & Chrissy watching "Mr. The Grinch" (That's what Jace calls it anyway). Jace is loving his older cousins, and they love playing with him! They're constnatly doting over the kids and are at they're beck & call.

Jace & Mason. They're only 6 months apart and are buds.

Jace & Mason wrestling with Papa (they were a pretty good match!).

Using Papa's tummy as a trampoline!

Mason showing Jace & Brooklyn how to play with his Dad's I-Phone.

Aside from the COLD weather, we're having a great time relaxing and catching up with family! The kids can't wait for Christmas! (And neither can we!)

He Survived!!!

2009-12-09T14:30:00.003-07:00

(Trevor gowning up to go into an isolation room)

Trevor has officially survived the first semester of the Nursing Program!! We're so proud of him, and happy that he has no school or work for the rest of the year!

Our Latest Happenings

2009-12-07T16:20:00.003-07:00

Well, I haven't been the best at keeping up with all of our on-goings lately, so I'm going to do a quick catch-up!

Brooklyn thinks she's still a baby and likes to ride in the swing (when we get it out for Noah). It's hard to tell her no when she still meets the weight requirement!

Jace & Brooklyn are the bestest friends and have SO much fun together! Trevor & I have enjoyed the new freedom that their friendship has brought! They like to go into their rooms to play and yell at us when we try to come in. I wish I could be a fly on the wall...

The kids love to read every night before bed.

Last week we had our first real snow storm of the season and I helped the kids make their first snowman. I haven't made one in years and forgot how much work they are to make!

We celebrated Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa before they went to Hawaii and the kids can't get enough of their new "forts".

We've enjoyed spending more time with Daddy, even though he has to study a lot. He has two more finals and he's done for the rest of the semester. We can't hardly wait!

Brooklyn is finding new hiding places.

And I'm trying to prep myself for taking her "meemee" (binkie) away. I don't know who depends on it more, her or me!

We went to the Festival of Trees over the weekend and the kids loved to see all the trees! We had to get some cinnamon rolls while we were there. You could smell them from the parking lot!

Trevor had to get a picture of the Canadian Christmas tree!

On Saturday we took the kids to Home Depot for their Kid's workshop.

The kids loved to used the hammers and other tools!

Here's Trev & the kids with their final products!

Giving Thanks

2009-11-29T14:31:00.005-07:00

I just love this time of year! It's such a nice excuse to take time and realize all that we have to be thankful for. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The food was awesome and the company even better. In fact, I'm still full! It's nice to indulge a little (okay, a lot) and spend time with the one's you love.

Brooklyn's trying to get a sneak peak at the ads before dinner. My kids love looking at ads, and this year should be pretty easy for Santa, because my kids want everything they see! (On a side note, Tara, Shelly, Anna [one of Shel's friends] and I woke up at the crack of dawn and did some major Black Friday shopping!)

Brooklyn wanted to help carve the turkey.

Jace is such a cheeser. He held this face until Tara took a picture of him.

Ry & Ky dishing up seconds.

Trevor, Joel (a family friend), and Wes.

Me & my Daddy.

I was on-call Wednesday & Thursday nights which were the busiest of the week. Ugh. I guess I can't complain though. Especially now, I am grateful for a job that pays the bills and allows me to be home with my kids.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying this wonderful time of year!

New Moon Premiere

2009-11-20T13:51:00.003-07:00

Yes, I am a nerd and went to the "New Moon" premiere last night. It was such a blast!!! It's been SO long since I've had a GNO and it was fun to dress up like Twilight junkies. I definitely decided that I'm not one of "those girls" and got bugged pretty quick with all the screaming and cat-calling throughout the entire movie (hello! I should have been expecting this...). It wasn't just the teeny-boppers too. Grown up women in their 60's were screaming like children and making some pretty provocative comments....ummm...I'm pretty sure Jacob is 17. One word, STATUTORY! Anyway. It was a lot of fun. Jacob is hot, Edward...not so much (even though I'm still on "Team Edward").

Here is Tara & I showing off our bite marks!

A group shot of us waiting in line. (Tara & Marie and me & Kami)

Tara & I again. We were sad Shel didn't come with us but she ditched us for her other friends.

Here I am sporting my vampire teeth marks and "Team Edward" shirt.

Thank you ladies for such a fun night, and thank you Taylor Lautner for getting in such wonderful shape for this movie :o)

Entertainment

2009-11-11T08:25:00.001-07:00

I love it when we have work done in the basement. The kids are captivated by the new faces (which are sometimes quite colorful!) and the noises. They are allowed to sit on the stairs and watch the entertainment. (I would say free entertainment, but the 50 gallon water heater was definitely not free!) It's like watching a movie- they need their blankets, a few toys, and some refreshments. I can't wait for them to do the dry wall. It will be an all day event!

Halloween!!!

2009-11-01T14:01:00.009-07:00

We had such a fun Halloween yesterday!! Our Halloweens are usually spent in Tooele with the Taylor's, because Kylee's a Halloween birthday baby!! This year was extra special because she was baptized on Halloween too!

The Taylor Family. Kylee looked like an angel! I can't believe she's 8!

Brooklyn & I at the brunch. They had such yummy food!

Brooklyn looking beautiful but NOT wanting her picture taken!

The kids got to hit a pinata outside (it was a gorgeous day). Of course the birthday girl went first!

Jace decided to take a turn too.

Jace was in heaven! Tooele apparently got a LOT more snow than we did, and he enjoyed playing in the left-over snow fort that Rylan & Kylee made.

I love to catch these moments! Jace always has so much fun at the Taylors. Makes me sad we don't live a little closer...

Sorry hun, but you know good & well I was going to take your picture. It's not my fault you gave such a serious face. This is the only proof that Trevor spent Halloween with us so that's why I had to post it. (He did most of the picture taking).

Kylee opening presents. She was spoiled-rotten!

Noah and I hanging out. Have I mentioned how chill this boy is? It amazes me every time I'm around him how easy going he is. I want to put in my order for one of these next time I have a baby!

Brooklyn & I in our Halloween shirts.

Noah was the cutest skunk I've ever seen! He was a trooper and rode in the stroller while the kids went trick-or-treating.

Captain Jace. Although we practiced for weeks saying "Argh", "Ahoy", and singing "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me." Jace was a little too nervous to get into character.

"CHEESE"!

He was so excited! He was very good to say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at ever door.

Brooklyn a.k.a. "Fifi".

Such a sweet little puppy!

Here's the two babes after trick-or-treating. They ate way too much candy and were pooped by the end of the night. (In fact, when Brooklyn woke up this morning she puked up most of the candy she'd eaten last night! Poor thing...)

Dylan, the vampire!!! He was such a good sport to let the girls plan his costume and put on his make-up!!

And last but not least, I have to post the pumpkins Tara & I carved the night before Halloween. We were pretty proud of our selves considering we aren't avid carvers. We also ate "Dinner in a Pumpkin" and had a nice festive night!

Fall Festivities

2009-10-25T16:30:00.003-06:00

We have had such a FUN FALL!!! I love the cooler weather (for the most part, I wouldn't mind a summer day here and there), the smells, and especially the colors! There are so many things to do with the kids!

Hay Ride(s)

Every year a nursery near our house does hayrides & the kids get to pick out pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. This year, the kids couldn't get enough and we went three times!

The Fam on the Hay Ride.

Helping Jace pick out the perfect pumpkin!

Brooklyn & I scouting out pumpkins.

Brooklyn, Jace, & Noah getting ready for the pumpkin ride.

Jace is about to give Noah a kiss. It's not really fair, because Noah gets "free" kisses all the time, I practically have to beg for them!

The next week we went with Kylee & Rylan. Believe it or not, this is the best picture we got of the five of them together and not one of them is looking except for Brooklyn, who is glaring at me!

Yesterday we went for the last time and Brooklyn fell in love with this particular pumpkin. She carried it around every where!

Bestest Friends!

The Farm

There's a farm by our house that Tara & I took the kids to. It was a BLAST! There was so much for the kids to do & see. We could have stayed there all day!

There were huge slides that we were made down the bales of hay. Jace thought it was a blast to run from me & go down the slide before I could get a picture!

Having fun on the slide!

Brooklyn is usually a dare-devil, but she wouldn't go down unless I hiked up the hay and went down with her. It was actually pretty fun!

Brook waiting in line for the pumpkin bouncy house.

She's refusing to look at me. They both were big stinkers at getting their pictures taken, and the scenery was so beautiful with the corn, hay, and blue skies. I LOVE FALL!

She finally looks at me! What a beauty!

Love that squinty-eyed smile!

The kids got to play in the "cornbox" and had a lot of fun digging through the corn.

Brooklyn showing me the corn, which is the only way I could get a picture of her face instead of her back!

Next we went through the Kiddies Corn Maize. Jace would run in front of us & show us which way to go.

The kids definitely had to go on the Cow Choo-Choo and of course Jace wanted to go in the pink cart!

The next time around they wanted me to go with them. Sounded like fun. We were super squished, but thought we would survive. I must be getting old, it was a very brutal 5 minutes, although it felt more like 30.

Noah was a champ & just chilled with his Mama the whole time. I have never met such an easy going kid!

What a great time of year! This week the fun events will continue with "dinner in a pumpkin", pumpkin carving, and of course, Halloween!

Two Year Stats

2009-10-16T14:44:00.005-06:00

We took Brooklyn to her 2 year old well check last week and she's back on the charts!

Weight: 22.2 lbs. (3rd percentile)

Height: 32 inches (8th percentile)

Head: 49 cm (85th percentile)

(We have lots of brains in this family!)

Lucky for us, our pediatrician is just down the road from Grandma & Grandpa Barnes' house!

Our beautiful 2 year old! She had to get 2 shots but was such a trooper!

Playing in a bird bath. There's so much to discover at Barnes' Park!

Grandpa & the babes. They have him wrapped around their fingers! Jace is always dragging him around. I feel bad, but he loves it!

Grandma & Sissy.

Jace didn't want anything to do with the camera, he just wanted to play!

Brook's cute on the little cars. She totally understands the concept of moving the steering wheel back and forth to accelerate. She's also much more of a daredevil than Jace & likes to go down the hills!

Playing in the bark. Cleaning up Grandpa's pine cones. He can be a good helper but it has to be on his terms!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

2009-10-08T14:28:00.003-06:00

A little over a month ago we went to our friend's baby blessing and Jace ended up having a poopy bum and whoops...we forgot a diaper. Solution = Jace went the rest of the day commando and had to go potty like a big boy. Since then, Jace has wore underwear every day except nap time & bed time. Only problem is he saves his poops for when he has his diaper on, and refuses to go to sleep with his underwear on. What do I do? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. (We do have a very special prize for him when he finally does go poop in the potty, it's in the bathroom for him to see every time he goes...)

For your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of Jace modeling his undies.

Which looks an awful lot like George modeling his undies!

Numero Dos

2009-10-04T22:24:00.002-06:00

Today is Brooklyn's 2nd Birthday!!! I can't believe my baby is two already!!! Where does the time go? I was going through her baby pictures, and pictures right after she was born and can't believe she was ever that small!! She was such a surprise to our family, and I wasn't sure how I would survive with her & Jace being so close in age. She has been such a blessing and we just love having her in our family!

Baby Brooklyn in the hospital. SO TINY!!!

Love the milk drool...

Brooklyn at one. Still so tiny...but getting bigger!

Last year at her birthday party! I can't believe how short her hair was!

And here is the little Birthday Girl Today!! We had a great birthday party for her, and she got SPOILED ROTTEN!!

She was sweet and wanted a chance to read her books before moving on to the next present.

Tara is helping Brooklyn change her baby's bum. She LOVES that baby and was obsessed with putting a diaper on her!

Kylee so kindly gave Brook her Barbie Jeep (which was originally Nate & Angie's, so thanks for getting such a great gift for Lexi years ago!!)

Brooklyn loved her new baby and stroller! She wouldn't allow Jace to come near it.

She got an adorable Elmo restaurant/kitchen from Grandma & Grandpa and Wes & Tara. Here she's giving "Uncle" Tim bones!

Time to blow out the candles on her princess cake! (Of course, Jace had to help!)

Eating her birthday cake. (She does know how to use utensils, I promise!)

Noah just chilled the whole time, and sucked on anything near his mouth! He's such a good baby!

Yes, my friends, the terrible two's have begun!!!

Blast Off!!!

2009-10-03T14:26:00.005-06:00

Trevor got "the kids" (even though we all know who it's really for) a rocket last week. He's been wanting to do this for some time, he has some great memories of rocket flying/launching as a child with his dad. First he and the kids had to put it together.

Trevor couldn't possibly wait, so he took the kids without me, while I got ready for some friends who were coming over. Of course, there are no pictures of this... Well, yesterday, we decided to take the kids out to play with the rocket again.

Jace is getting ready for the rocket to launch. So excited!!

The result of the first rocket. We underestimated the wind and the rocket landed in a tree! I went to the house real quick to get a ladder and broom, but fear not, there was a park for the kids to play in while I was gone!

After Trevor successfully rescued the rocket, we decided there was time for one more launch (it's getting dark so early now!). This time I got to do the honors.

Trevor and Jace setting it up.

Me & the kids launching the rocket.

****Apparently there is an unwritten (and unspoken, I might add) rule when launching the rocket that the person pushing the button (a.k.a. me) is supposed to watch to see where the rocket goes. Whoops. Now our rocket is lost.****

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

2009-09-29T14:16:00.005-06:00

Well, today is my birthday. The big 2-7. I'm not going to make any comments about feeling old. I decided a long time ago that I wanted to embrace each birthday instead of making it depressing. Anyway, my birthday just happens to be on a very inconvenient day this year. Tuesdays are bad for us. Trev is at school from 8-2:30 and work until 10:30ish and I'm on call @ 5:00 pm until 8:30 am tomorrow. Anyway, not a big deal. We celebrated my birthday on Friday.

Me & my daddy. I sure love this guy!!!

Shel & Julie in the kitchen getting the yummy food ready!

Ky-girl. What a sweetie! I swear she probably gave me 20 hugs & kept telling me Happy Birthday!

Like always, Noah was a big hit...and we all wanted to hold him! Ry is so good with him!

Jace helped me blow out my candle (he gets upset now at every birthday that's not his.). Marc & Shelly are evil and brought over cheese cake when I'm trying to eat healthy. I guess it's okay to splurge on your birthday, right?!

Don't mess with a man & his cheesecake!

The HIGHLIGHT of the night is when Trevor surprised me with a piano!!! (Actually a Yamaha Clavinova). I was so excited and so surprised! We've been looking at pianos and clavinovas for a while now...and I have been so lonely without one for the past 7 years. We've looked on KSL and piano dealerships, and have just been waiting for a good deal and some extra $$$. Well, Trevor SCORED!!! Apparently this piano belonged to Chris Heimerdinger who is a local author here who wrote a series called "A Tennis Shoe Among Nephites". I never personally read any of his books, but thought it was interesting! He got a really good deal, and I am LOVING it! I am beyond words with happiness that I am to finally be able to play the piano whenever I want! It's nice to be able to put on earphones when the babes are sleeping so I can play really loud!

We also got a new camera last week (The Nikon D60)!!! I'm so exited to take nice pictures...and learn more about SLR/Digital cameras and photoshop.

So you would think that I was more than done for my birthday, but no. This morning I woke up to a wonderful candy card from the hubby along with a gift certificate to get a massage. I told Trevor that he definitely wins "Husband of the Year" award!!! I love him so much and am so lucky to have him!! He's always trying to do little things (and BIG) to make me happy and feel loved.

I wanted to get the candy put away before the kids woke up (plus I didn't want the extra temptation lying around!) but I went out of the room and came back to see Brooklyn chowing down on a snickers.

I feel so ridiculously spoiled and happy for my birthday! We were able to go have lunch with Trevor during his break so that was fun! Jace must not have gotten the memo that he was supposed to take a really good nap for my birthday, but it's all good!!!

A little too Scrap Happy

2009-09-22T20:47:00.002-06:00

So I've been a TERRIBLE blogger lately!! My excuse? Usually twice a year we go to the Scrapbooking Expo with all the girls in the fam, spend Friday scrapbooking, the night at a hotel, and the next day scrapping again (MISSED YOU, ANG). Anyway, it's a lot of fun. Since then I've been addicted to digital scrapbooking. Every chance that I'm on the computer I'm scrapping away. Why am I not sharing? Because I've decided randomly to start with 2008 (I'm way behind...) and I've already shared most of the pictures. My goal is to get caught up so that I can just scrap a couple pages every time I blog. We'll see...

Anyway, life here is busy. Trevor has to work Sun.-Tues. nights until about 10:30 pm and has school Mon.- Wed. with labs and clinicals on Thurs. & Fri. This means the kids don't get to see him from Sunday noon until Wednesday night and I don't get to see him much more than that! Life is a little crazy but Trevor's doing well in the nursing program and really enjoying it so far. The kids just love spending time with him...and when he is home, the three of them are always playing.

Here's the cool fort Trev built for the kids with the couch, love seat, and chair. The kids loved it and have requested it quite frequently. I've decided it's kind of a pain in the rear to do, so it's something special they can do when Daddy's home! (That way he can have all of the fun!)

Sweet little Brooklyn can stand up in the fort and loves that she can be faster running than her brother can crawl.

Jace & Daddy

The kids love to wrestle with their Daddy! I try to wrestle with them and it's just not the same.

Brooklyn cuddling her Dad. The kids just love their Daddy and love to spend time with him. Even though the quantity of time is not there, their definitely making up for it in quality!!

Trees!!

2009-09-08T20:52:00.003-06:00

After spending the summer with hardly any shade at all in our back yard, we finally broke down and bought some trees. 13 trees to be exact. And let me tell you, trees are NOT cheap!! Our house faces North which is not the greatest direction to be, but hopefully with some time we'll have a nice shaded back yard for the kids to play in (they guy at the nursery said we'll be really happy in 7 years with the growth of our trees. Hello! We might not be in our house another 7 years!!) . We took the kids to get the trees with us and let them have a little too much fun. I'm mad I didn't have my camera with me. The kids were drenched in muddy water from splashing in puddles and playing in the mud. Trev & I were ready to pull our hair out by the end!!!

Here's the lonely tree we planted in the front yard. The rest are in the back all along our fence line. Thankfully we have good neighbors who were willing to help us plant most of them!!

The kids were a little too helpful in helping to plant the trees. They loved to play in the dirt, and use shovels and rakes. We did find, however, that they can be easily distracted and entertained by worms. They loved when we dug up any worms, and were thrilled to watch them squiggle around. Kind of gross....but worth it...

Same-ies!

2009-08-30T22:48:00.005-06:00

Jace was SO excited to wear the same jammies as Noah tonight. This is just the beginning of all of the twinner outfits they have. Tara and I hit a lot of the same sales together and got Jace & Noah matching outfits (not necessarily on purpose, we just like the same things and got really good deals on them!)

Jace just loves his little "cutie pie" cousin and loves spending time
with him. Lucky for Jace (and Brooklyn) Tara & Wes come over to play every Monday and Tuesday evenings while I'm on-call and Trevor's at work! We're so lucky to have Tara, Wes, & Noah!!!

Change in Venue

2009-08-25T14:41:00.003-06:00

Trevor started Nursing School yesterday (YahOoO!) and thus his prison sentence has begun. He's also working part time, and I'm still on-call 4 nights a week, which means we will be lucky to see each other at all during the week.

About a month ago Tara so graciously offered to watch the kiddos so that Trevor and I could spend some time alone together before our lives get crazy. It started out as long weekend to Vegas. Then, I was able to get more time off of work, and we thought about doing something a little fancier (Mexico, Hawaii, etc.). Airfare was so expensive so we went back to "Plan A" and decided to go for a little longer to trip to Vegas. Well, a few days before we were going to leave, Trevor out-of-the-blue said "What if we go up to Canada?". Just like that we changed plans and decided to drive up North. (We did contemplate taking the kids with us, but didn't know how they (or we) would do with two 16 hour car drives in one week. Everyone was very disappointed. I'm pretty sure they'd rather see the kids than us!) So off to Canada we went.

I didn't take very many pictures, and this one isn't the greatest with all of the shadows, but it will have to do! This is what we did almost every night for dinner. It was MUCH cooler up there which allowed us to eat outside without melting.

While we were there we had to have Trevor's mom's fried chicken. She grew up in the South and makes fabulous fried chicken (among other things). She was very patient in teaching me how to prepare the chicken, bread it, and fry it! (I even had to take the back-bone out of the chicken. Yuck!)

Here's our finished product! YUM! I'm drooling just looking at it! (Especially since I'm in the process of losing all of the weight I gained up there as well as the weight I gained while Trevor's sister was in town. Those Canadians sure know how to eat!)

Trevor and his Mom. It was so nice to spend time with his parents. In a way it was kind of refreshing not to have the kids with us because we were able to devote more time with his family. I missed them desperately though!!!

Trevor celebrated his 29th birthday with Black Forrest Cake (his favorite)! We had a lot of family and friends over to celebrate and had way too much good food! Trevor has such a great support system up there. Makes me sad we live so far away...

Trevor and Tom. Tom is Trevor's best friend from his pre-marrital days. They brought the foosball table outside and played like the good ole' times!

We had such a blast! Time went by too fast, although I missed my babies so much!!! Tara & Wes were such troopers watching them for so long! Tara recorded Jace while we were gone so we could see him. It's the sweetest little video and makes me realize how much he's growing up! I must have watched it 10 times when we were up there and teared up almost every time. If you didn't see her blog entry click here. We are so lucky to have such great family! Thank you SO much to Tara & Wes for loving and watching our kids. Thank you too to Trev's family for letting us come and bombard you with such a short notice!!!

Now....back to the reality of life....

Jace's First X-Ray

2009-08-11T14:12:00.004-06:00

At church on Sunday I was sitting in class and recognized a sobbing little boy in the hall. I got up right away and Jace was in hysterics. His nursery leader was holding him and he was holding his hand up. I immediately saw his poor little finger. I guess he was trying to move his little folding chair over to the table for snack time and got his finger pinched in the hinges. The top layer of his skin was broken and it was already swelling and bruising pretty quickly. It broke my heart to see him in so much pain! We put ice on it, went home & got him some motrin and headed out to find an Urgent Care. Of course, the few that are by our house were closed. So we started calling around. I really didn't want to go through the ER because it takes forever and really, it didn't seem to be emergent. The only place open by our house that accepted our insurance didn't have an x-ray tech on site. *sigh*. By this time, Jace was back to laughing and joking. We decided to just take the kids home, let them nap, and see how he did. When he woke up you would have never thought there was anything wrong with him. He used his finger just fine and was bending it and everything. It was still swollen and the bruising was really starting to show. I finally got a hold of his pediatrician and he said he wanted an x-ray just to make sure.

The only way Jace would show me his finger is if I asked him how old he was. (He's really holding up three fingers, although it kind of looks like two).

Here's another shot. You can't really tell how bad it is, but it looked like a "way big owie", which is what Jace called it.

Here's Jace at the hospital after getting registered. Give him a couple suckers and he's as happy as can be!

Here he is getting ready for the x-ray.

Here's a cheesy grin of him afterwards. He got a cute little elephant and they gave us a copy of his x-rays.

Here's an x-ray of his whole hand, the middle finger is the one in question.

Verdict: No broken bones! I really didn't think it was, but better to be safe than sorry.

Jace is THREE!!!

2009-08-04T18:35:00.007-06:00

Today is Jace Man's THIRD birthday! I can't believe it!!! In some ways it feels like he's always been in our lives, but in others, it seems like he was this tiny only yesterday.

Jace at the hospital....so sweet...so innocent...it was definitely love at first sight.

I love his big mouth! When he cried it took up his whole face!!

Here is Jace on his first birthday. LOVE those big BLUE eyes. During my pregnancy Trevor always commented on how he wanted him to have blue eyes. I told him the chances were pretty unlikely considering his are dark brown and mine are hazel. I am happy to have been wrong....

Jace on his second birthday, becoming such a big boy.

Here's my baby today. Not really a baby anymore. It's sad but so fun at the same time. I love getting to know him more every day. He has such a fun personality and always wants to have a good time.

We celebrated Jace's birthday on Saturday while Jen, Kevin and their girlys were in town. Here are the kiddos fishing at the fair.

And of course we had to indulge in Cotton Candy!

Here is the birthday boy at his Mickey Mouse party. All of the fam came over and we ate incredibly good food (spring rolls, dips, spreads, stuffed mushrooms, antojitos, veggies & dip, etc.) and visited.

Here's "Sissy Mouse" (that's Jace's nickname for her....so cute.) in her tutu and Mickey Ears.

Jace was really good at letting Brooklyn help him open his presents. He was so excited with each gift that we had to remind him that there were more to open.

Kylee drew Jace a beautiful birthday picture!!

Jace driving his new Jeep. He caught on pretty quick and can go forward and backwards. We're still working on his steering.....

Brooklyn wanted to take a turn too. She just puts the pedal to the metal and goes until she crashes into something.

Jace blowing out the candles on his Mickey cake. He had a lot of practice this past week with Wes' & Vickie's birthday.

Jen & the Vixter are trying to get kisses from Brooklyn. She's such a tease!

All of the kids enjoyed Jace's gifts. It was fun to see how well Shel's kids got along with Jen's kids.

The "bigger" kids got into it too!

Even though we celebrated Jace's birthday on Saturday, I still wanted to do something fun for him today. I called Tara up and we took the kids to the Kangaroo Zoo. It has all sorts of bouncy slides and toys for the kids to play on. At first the kiddos just wanted to jump at the bottom of the slides, but they got pretty daring and had fun going up and down the slides.

Brooklyn riding the dinosaur/Loch Ness Monster.

It's been a lot more fun this year because the kids are more into birthdays and actually understand the concept of it. We've been discussing birthdays for the past month or so and Jace was really looking forward to his special day. We just love our little Jace Man!! It's nice to have an excuse to celebrate him (not that we don't celebrate him every day) and remember him as a little baby.

Fun Makes Time FLY!

2009-08-02T22:51:00.006-06:00

We have had so much fun this past week! Why is it that the more you enjoy life, the faster it goes by? This week has come and gone so fast, if we hadn't taken pictures, I'm not sure if I would have believed it all happened! Here are a few highlights of what we did:

The Splash Pad

Jace was loving the water gun...

Brooklyn's a little dare-devil and doesn't mind getting wet.

She was in heaven because her cousin's were at her beck-and-call, getting her drinks whenever she wanted and carrying her around.

Covering the water with her tootsies...

Chrissy's about to get splashed!

Jace's "Cheese" face! He's in heaven at this park....

Giving kisses to Sarah-Boo.

Vicky's Birthday:

The day started at IHOP per the birthday girl's request.

Then we went to the Hill Airforce Base Aerospace Museum.

The kids "helped" Jen make a Black Forrest Cake.

And Miss Vicky girl turned 10!!! Jen made us the best ribs I've ever tasted!

Now the week is over, our house is empty, and I'm probably 10 lbs heavier! Tomorrow is going to bring a food diet, a money spending diet, early morning exercising, and work. I guess all good things must come to an end...

They're Ba-ack!!!

2009-07-30T21:04:00.004-06:00

Well, the Canadians are BACK!!!! At least some of them. Trev's sister Jen & Bro-in-law Kevin came down for a little over a week and we have been having a blast (which is why I haven't been the best blogger lately). I'm a little behind so I'll start with last Friday, a.k.a. Pioneer Day. I love July! Any excuse to get together for BBQs and fireworks!

Here's the kiddos and Vickie swinging at Grampa & Gramma Barnes'.

Jace loved Sarah. The kids got some firework ball things that when you bang them together, they make a snap. Jace was in heaven.

Brooklyn giving Noah some kisses...

Brooklyn was a little unsure of her cousins and decided to be really clingy. I kind of enjoyed it and have got some really good cuddles out of it!

Jace was so excited for the "Christmas Lights" which is what he had been calling them all week. He wanted to look at the package of fireworks everyday...and was so excited. When it came down to it, he was scared of the loud noises and wanted to stay in the garage. He settled for sitting on Sarah's lap...

Brooklyn was front and center. She's so much braver than Jace.

Jace eventually wanted to sit on the front porch and covered his ears the whole time.

Jace was all over the "Sprinkles" too. Every night when we go to bed we have to say that we're thankful for the sprinkles...

Here's the biggest kid of all. He made a special trip to Wyoming...and was in heaven...

Oh, and I've convinced Jen to get on the blogging bandwagon. Now we have to convince the rest of the Canadians to join. See them at http://jkklan.blogspot.com.

2009-07-19T22:50:00.003-06:00

On Friday I called Tara up & told her to drop of Noah (aka "Baby Tara" as Jace calls him) so her & Wes could see the new Harry Potter movie. Although she was nervous leaving him with me (Hello! I do have two kids of my own! Maybe it's because she knows that we all love him a little too much!) she obliged and we got to spend several hours with her sweet boy. I was kind of bummed because I was making jam (7 batches of apricot freezer jam with apricots hand-picked [by me] from my parents yard. Anyone interested?) so Trev got to hog him all to himself until the kiddos woke up.

Here's uncle Trevor and Noah chillin' out watching some manly movie. (I'm sorry Wes & Tara, I hope Trevor's awful taste in movies doesn't rub off on your son!)

When Jace woke up he was pleased to see his favorite little guy. He just keeps saying over and over again "He's so cute!" He loves his tiny toes and tiny fingers and hates it when he cries. Noah is pretty patient with letting Jace hold his hands and feet, and touch his nose and head.

Here's a rare shot of Noah alone, although you can see Jace sitting right next to him. Pay attention to his shorts. We thought it would be funny to see if they would fit Brooklyn...

Not too much of a shocker....they fit!

And quite comfortably too! True, they are quite baggy on Mr. Noah, and reach down to his mid-calf, but still...

Gotta love the little pot belly!!! (Yes, I know she kind of looks Ethiopian and yes, I do feed her.)

Thanks to Tara & Wes for letting us get some "Noah Time". We're looking forward to your next date! Although I might have to fight other family members on baby sitting rights!

Pictures are Priceless

2009-07-13T13:55:00.007-06:00

Yesterday we had an impromptu BBQ with some of my mom's side of the family. We don't get to see them nearly enough (pretty much weddings & funerals, unfortunately) and decided last minute that we would get together for a BBQ. I'm horrible and didn't have my camera out, but luckily, my cousin and uncle took some awesome pics of the kiddos!

Brooklyn

(My little piece of heaven on earth)

Mommy & Jace:

(Jace was being a poop about taking pictures, which is why there are only a couple of him)

Brooklyn & Wes

(One of her most favorite people in the world)

Trevor

(Like my cousin Stacey said, What's a BBQ without it's chief?! Thanks hun for the yummy food!!)

This has definitely increased my desire for a nicer camera. I like that my point-and-shoot camera is small, and mobile. But I need something nicer to take pictures of my beautiful babies!!!

This is the camera that I have my eye on. The Nikon D5000. I definitely don't have a lot of skill in this area. I would love to take a class on photography just so I can take better pictures of my fam. I need some input from all you camera savy people!

God Bless the USA!

2009-07-08T15:13:00.002-06:00

I absolutely LOVE the Fourth of July! Parades, fairs, cotton candy, BBQs, fireworks, patriotic music, it doesn't get better than that! I know that I sound like a broken record, but everything is so much funner with kids too! I love watching them get excited and experiencing things for the first time, it's very refreshing!

We started the day in Tooele at the parade. Here are the kiddos with Trev and Marc waiting for the parade to start.

Jace's favorite thing by far at the parade was the flag he got. He waved it at everyone who passed by. (Now the flag has been turned into a wand, and Jace and Brooklyn point it at each other and say "Abra cadabra!")

Rylan was such a sweetheart at the parade. There were a lot of kids (and adults) that were getting to the candy faster than Jace could. Rylan would pick up candy and drop it in front of him and say "Look Jace!" so he could pick it up. I'm very disappointed I didn't get a picture of this lady at the parade who was at least 6-7 months pregnant. She was literally ripping candy away from the kids. I couldn't believe it! She almost did the splits fighting all the kids for a first-aid kit, it was crazy! I just don't understand some people.

Here's Jace and Daddy after the fair. Jace is holding his and Brooklyn's first pets: two African Dwarf Frogs named "Green" and "Froggie". Unfortunately last night we had a casualty but I don't think the kids have noticed yet. We have followed all of the "instructions", so maybe it was just "Froggie's" time to go.

In the evening we hit some BBQs and did some small fireworks. (Trevor was very disappointed he couldn't make it to Wyoming this year for the good stuff.) Here is Brooklyn watching all of the other kids with their sparklers. She was SO messy by the end of the day, but still cute none the less.

Jace LOVED the sparklers! In fact, now every time we say prayers, he makes me say that we're thankful for the "Sprinkles". Such a cutie..

We had such a wonderful 4th! It's nice to have a holiday to reflect on how lucky we are to live in this beautiful country!!

Oh CANADA!!!

2009-07-01T11:22:00.004-06:00

Here's a shout out to all of the Canadians out there!!

Happy Canada Day!!

The kids are showing their Canadian Pride.

Yay!!!

Too cute for his own good.

Jace is trying to help Brooklyn shout "Hooray"!!

"Hooray!!!"

Fun at the Fair

2009-06-30T15:13:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday was "Heritage Days" in Syracuse. Last year we didn't really participate too much in the festivities because we had barely moved here and didn't know what was going on. This year we had a lot of fun!

Here are the kids waiting for the parade. They were thrilled!

Jace was ecstatic because the first thing in the parade were about 15 fire trucks! He kept looking down the street and laughing and screaming "FIRE TRUCK, Hooray!" as they approached (It's a song from Barney). The funny thing is, Jace says it more like "Fire Furruck" and Sissy says it the same way, except she doesn't say the "r".

Jace learned the drill pretty quick. Wave and smile, then people will throw you LOTS of candy! He was very polite and yelled thank-you back each time!

Brooklyn enjoyed watching from afar, especially when the candy started rolling in, then she'd try and sneak treats while we weren't looking!

Brooklyn and Jace with their loot! They got WAY too much candy, and I have eaten WAY too much of it!

Here's Trev & the babes in front of an old Fire Truck at the fair.

The kids enjoyed the bouncy house....

....and the choo-choo train (of course!)

Jace sliding down a "carpet slide".

I didn't take pictures of my most favorite aspect of the day, which is quite obviously Cotton Candy!!! I love going and checking out the booths at the fairs too. I got the coolest towel-bibs for the kids that have sleeves and cover their entire shirts! Also, my and my sisters got some awesome watches (with the interchangeable beaded bands). I LOVE fairs!!!

Picnic in a Box

2009-06-25T14:31:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Trevor and I had to close on our refinance (Hooray for 4.75% interest!) and luckily it was just down the street from my parents. They are always so good to watch the kids for me, and the kids LOVE going over there and playing on the swing set and with all of the toys.

When I went to pick the kids up, they were having a picnic in a box! Luckily, my dad kept the box to the BBQ we gave him for Father's Day and the kids thought it was the funnest thing ever! I guess they played with it the whole time I was gone, making it into a house, a secret hiding place, a lunch venue, and finally a hamster wheel. I'm afraid to say the hamster wheel did the box in, but the kids definitely got their enjoyment out of it!! Why is it that the boxes are so much fun to kids? My dad and I decided we're going to invent some sort of plastic box for kids that doesn't get trashed so easily!!!

Here's Jace trying to take Brooklyn's CapriSun, and Brooklyn holding on for dear life! She won't let her brother bully her around!

Thanks to the parents for watching the babes...and having such a fun time with them that they didn't want to come home!

South Ogden 5K

2009-06-24T16:07:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Trevor ran in the South Ogden Days 5K. I was kind of bummed I couldn't run with him but I messed up my knee a couple of weeks ago, plus I was on-call (work) so I didn't know if I'd be out or not. Luckily, I didn't have anything and was able to see him finish!

Here's Trevor right after he finished. He finished faster than I thought, which is why I don't have any pictures of him running. At the time I thought I should cheer instead of taking a picture. Now I wish I had the picture! He did awesome though, finishing in 27 minutes!

Here's Daddy with his # 1 cheerleader. We were actually lucky that the finishing line just so happened to be right by a playground! Way to go, hon. We're all very proud!

Thanks go out to Tara who hung out with us so we were able to see Trevor finish (since I was on-call) and Shelly for offering. I love my family!!

Choo Choo Trains

2009-06-17T10:13:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we went to the Union Station for some festivities they had down there. There was a Disney Train for the Christmas Carol (which I believe is coming to theatres this fall) and it was FREE (aside from the $20 parking ticket I got....don't get me started). Well the kids love trains, and you certainly can't argue with free, so we decided to invite some friends and check it out. I guess the idea was good, because there were a TON of people, which accounts for the 2-3 hour wait just to tour the train. Considering that we had 4 kids 3 years old and under, we decided that wasn't going to happen. We decided to just let the kids play around the trains, which ended up being fun for the babes.

Although he looks grumpy, Jace was in HEAVEN! He LOVES trains! (He also loves mud puddles and splashed through everyone we passed, although I didn't get any pictures.)

Here's Jace saying "cheese". He's always pulling out the "cheese" face when I take pictures. The only problem is that he doesn't usually look at the camera.

Here's Brooklyn. She's such a monkey, and wants to climb on just about everything! Jace has rubbed off on her, and she loves trains too (she also follows Jace through the mud puddles too, by the way). I think she's going to be a little tom-boy.

They definitely weren't cooperating in getting their pictures taken. This is Jace's "cheese" face, at this point he was yelling "cheese" because I didn't take the picture fast enough.

This is how we ended the day. Jace saw kids taking off their shirts and playing in the fountain, so Jace took his shirt off. Of course Sissy had to take off her shirt too, which also led to the removal of her pants. Of course Jace had to take his of too. (Do you see why my kids are in their diapers a lot?) Even though we didn't see most of the festivities, it was nice to get out a play! Thanks for coming along, Jen!

Baby Noah

2009-06-10T14:52:00.005-06:00

He's finally here! Tara had her baby on June 5th. He is 8 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches of pure sweetness! Since Tara stayed with us for a good chunk of her pregnancy, I feel like I've bonded with this little guy for a long time. Still, it's so amazing to see him in person! Since most of the pictures I took are on Tara's camera, I only have a few to share. (Tara, I need to download them to my computer ASAP!). He actually looks very similar to how Jace did as a newborn (no wonder he's so adorable :o) ). I'll have to post some pictures of both of them side by side...

We talked to Brooklyn and Jace a lot about Baby Noah while Tara was pregnant. They loved to kiss her tummy, and Jace talked about how he was going hold Baby Noah, and give him kisses and hugs, but when we got to the hospital, this is what the kids were mostly interested it.

They did take turns giving him kisses though. Jace said he didn't want to hold him though, because he's too big. (Um, hello...they don't get much smaller than that, Jace!)

Here's one proud aunt with her new little babe. (I may or may not be a little baby hungry, so I have been a very big baby hog with Noah every time I see him.)

Trevor and Noah.

Brooklyn giving Wes some loves. (The kids have been missing Tara and Wes a lot lately because they used to get to see them every day. Brooklyn LOVES Wes!)

Here's Brooky and Tara. Tara was such a champ and did so well! I'm so happy for her! She already is such a good Mommy! Good thing she's had nieces and nephews to practice on!

No Pets Allowed

2009-05-28T15:51:00.006-06:00

Look what we found at the park yesterday! It was funny because I was reading the sign that said "No Pets Allowed" and looked over and saw a HUGE snake slithering around by this guy. I went over to check it out. Apparently, "Baby", even though there is nothing baby about this serpent, does not qualify as a pet! I asked what type of snake it was, and all I really caught is the word "constrictor", but he said she's not poisonous and was very sweet. I tried to get Jace & Brooklyn to come and see her, but Jace wouldn't really even look in our direction (although as soon as the "snake people" left, he started whining that he wanted to pet the snake).

Brooklyn eventually came over to check her out, and to pet her tail. That girl is fearless and is much braver than her brother.

**As a side note, Trevor and Wes were both shocked that I would touch a snake, let alone hold it. I told them that I was the one that asked to hold her. Do I not seem like a snake kind of girl, or what?

The Start of Summer

2009-05-26T15:18:00.004-06:00

So Memorial Day is pretty much the start of Summer! I can't believe we're already here! Time is flying and we're having a lot of fun!

For Memorial Day we had our annual Grandma Kemp (Julie's Mom) Memorial Day Lunch. It was a blast! The weather was perfect, the food was yummy, and the kids had a blast! The only problem was I didn't take enough pictures.

Here is Brooklyn playing with a balloon. There were a lot of games for the kids to play. They were in heaven.

Brooklyn loved carrying this ball around, it's funny because it's the same size as she is!

Someone gave Jace a whistle for a prize....I don't know who, but they're going to pay...

Here's Brooklyn and one of her favorite people. She hasn't got to see much of Wes lately, and was all over him today!

After the luncheon Trev & I took the kids back for naps (I guess I should say kid, because Jace sure didn't take a nap!). Shel & Marc and their kiddos and Wes & Tara came over and we BBQ'd hotdogs & Brauts (yes, I ate a chicken one! It was good too!!!) We played a fun game of soccer and LOVED the weather!

Here are the little cheerleaders. They were dirty so I stripped them down. They both just got up on the chair and sat side-by-side. They're getting along so well and I'm loving it.

I love watching them play together and when they make each other laugh. They're the bestest friends.

My little boy is getting SO big! He's saying and doing the funniest things. I swear each new stage they get too is my "favorite".

Kylee absolutely loves Brooklyn. She's always sad when she has to take a nap, and asks constantly to check and see if she's awake yet. Brooklyn has started to reciprocate those feelings, and they're turning into good friends. Kylee is so good to hold her and play with her. We love our cousins!!! (And we especially missed Nate & Angie and their girls today!)

We're looking forward to what the summer will bring, and hope there are a lot more BBQs and Soccer Games to come!

Six Years and Counting....

2009-05-17T13:35:00.006-06:00

Yesterday Trevor & I celebrated our 6th Anniversary! I can't believe it's been six years since we entered this crazy married life. This last year has been such a great year! Now we enter the "Seventh Year Itch", whatever that means. Don't we look so young and naive?! We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!

We had such a wonderful anniversary!! We stayed up at the Johnson Mill in Heber on Friday night and had a couples massage in our room. It was definitely needed and enjoyed. We went to dinner at the Snake Creek Grill and stayed up late eating junk and watching movies. Fun! On Saturday we had a great breakfast at the Johnson Mill, did some shopping in Park City, and went to a movie. Thank you SO much, Tara, for watching and loving my kids. It was so nice to enjoy a little time to ourselves and remember what life was before kids. It was also nice to realize that we do miss our kids when we are away. I love those little rascals!

On a side note, I had a terrific Mother's Day! Trevor and the babes spoiled me rotten and got me my own lap-top. Now there will be no excuse for not blogging! Marc reformatted everything and put all the newest, latest, and greatest on it...so I'm loving life! I love being a mother, and it was fun to celebrate all of the mothers who have influenced our lives. Motherhood truly is a gift.

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time....

2009-05-10T22:51:00.000-06:00

We've had a busy couple of weeks! I'll give you a brief run down of what we've been up to so I can start being current on blogging.

First off, we had a baby shower for Tara at my house. So I decided I should finally put my family pictures up. It kind of ended up snowballing and I spent way too much money and going a little crazy on decorations. We were all exhausted by the time the shower came, but the house looked a lot more cozy!

Here is Tara helping to put up the curtain rods for the curtains. (The boys were out of town so we tried to show that we could do things ourselves. Too bad they took the batteries for the electric drill so we had to do it by hand!)

Don't be too impressed, but here is one of the valances I made for my windows. We now have curtains in the kitchen, family room, master bath, and master bedroom!

Next project was to hang the family pictures. I wanted to hang them above the stairs, but didn't realize that it would be so difficult! Trevor & Wes made some scaffolding to stand on so we could hang the pictures up.

Although I am petrified of heights, Wes's bow-making skills were not quite up to par, so I had to get up there and tie on the bows.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out! It's hard to get a good picture of it, but this gives you the general idea.

Next we tackled the entry way.

Not that this is really a decoration, but I guess it's a better way to keep the kids toys in one spot in our family room. One day I will have a toy room.

This is on top of the armourer in the family room. Looks much better then the clutter I had up there before!

Here's our master bedroom. I definitely did not make these curtains, but I think they turned out really nice, and actually make our room seem a lot more cozy.

Here's the loot from Tara's shower. There was a great turn out, great food, and great conversation. Tara scored in the gift department! I'm getting so excited....three weeks to go!

Somewhere in between, the boys (i.e. Trev & Wes and some of Wes's buddies) went down to Moab for a "long weekend" which kind of turned into a week. Trevor was the paint ball king and they had a blast. It was a much needed break for both of them.

Here they are hiking in Devil's Garden. If anyone has ever been here it is gorgeous!!!

Also somewhere in the past few weeks Trev & I took the kids to the Hill Airforce Base Aerospace Museum. We had SO much fun, and the best part is, it was free!

Here's Brooklyn playing in a small jet. The cute old guy who works in the educational center was wrapped around here little finger, and was sweet enough to bring out the plane/cars for the kids to play with.

Here's Jace. He was in heaven.

We also went to the zoo this past week! Trevor has never been to the Hogle Zoo, so it was a real treat! Here is Trevor & Brooklyn on the train. (Jace was sitting with me, and was way to excited to have anything to do with getting his picture taken.)

Jace & Brooklyn with Grammies favorite animal, the elephant. It's so interesting to see the animals close up, but it's depressing at the same time seeing them all cooped up. The kids (all three of them) loved it though!

And last but not least, I had to throw this cute picture of Brooklyn in here. After the boys came back from camping, Brooklyn wanted to wear Wes's hat around the house. She is such a cutie! I seriously can't be in the room with her for more than 2 minutes without smothering her with kisses.

BIG *sigh*. Now I feel very relieved, I've been putting this off forever. I hate procrastinating, but seem to do it too often.