Random News

I realize that I do NOT blog as much as I used to, so here are a bunch of random happenings. Most of these things are pictures that are going in my Project 365 book (which I love more and more!!) We also just upgraded our internet speed, so uploading pictures isn't such a pain, so hopefully I'll be more consistent.


24 weeks!
we are almost to the Third trimester! WAHOO! Except, this little girl is VERY active, and I still have 4 more months for her just to get bigger and stronger. Last night Michael fell asleep on my stomach, and baby girl started kicking him in his head. He was so exhausted that he didn't notice, but I did!

We are doing great! Back pains have started, it's getting hard to bend over to pick things up, and the bathroom is once again my best friend.

Current cravings: TWIX!!!

Once again, chelsea took this picture. She is so awesome!
I have been feeling very unfit lately, but it's too cold to go walking (at least that's my excuse), and a gym membership isn't realistic...I'm NOT getting up at 5:00 to go, and I'm just too darn tired at night...so here's my solution:


It wasn't quite what I was looking for, but much cheaper, so I went for it. I LOVE IT! it came with a workout video which moves VERY fast. I'm so excited about this!

For Valentine's day, I tried to be super cute and make a festive breakfast. We had heart shaped pancakes with red food coloring, topped with strawberries and whip cream. And of course, sausages. The kids thought the heart shape was cool, but didn't know what to think about the pepto-bismol colored pancakes.


I had a lot of fun with this holiday. I think it might be one of my favorites, because the few gifts I give the kids are from US, not from Santa, or the Easter Bunny, etc., but just from mom and dad because WE LOVE THEM!


These are the Valentines Chelsea made for her school class. She did an awesome job!


On Sunday I tried to be ambitious and make this heart hairstyle I saw online. It was such a pain, but turned out okay. Probably won't be repeated this hairstyle for another year..

That's enough for this post. :) Wouldn't want to bore anyone!

WARNING! Cute pictures below!!!

We are running a little late over here. I finally took Michael in to JCPenny's for his birthday pictures. He was hilarious during the shoot, acting like this tough little kid. I'm very pleased with the pictures, especially at $3.99 a sheet. Isn't he a cutie!?


I love his tough-guy pose.

For the grandma's:
I have 5x7's of the following, so let me know which one you like best so I can get it off in the mail!







I also finally took him in for his 3 yr well check up. Here are his stats, for those who care. :)
Weight: 35.2 lbs (75 percentile)
Height: 39.7 inches (84 percentile)
cuteness: off the charts!

Help?!

I am in need of your advice and input!

I would love to get a new camera before the baby is born. We didn't have one for Michael, which I totally regret. We took pictures at the hospital using our new camcorder, but those pictures are pretty grainy. We bought one shortly after, but it's been a big disappointment. The zoom lens broke (not sure if it was our fault or not) so most of our pictures are blurry. It is a Kodak Easy Share. I would Love to be able to have some great pictures of this little one, from day one!

ANYWAY, I'm so overwhelmed by all the choices. I would LOVE and SLR, but not sure I need one. As I look at your blogs, it seems that many of you have great cameras. So my question to you is:

What kind of camera do you have?

I don't care if it was a really cheap one or an expensive one, I would just like to know what you use and if YOU like it and possibly, WHY?

Thanks so much!

Overheard in our church....

Setting: at church. Dan was sick, so I was alone with the two kids. Chelsea is an angel and his content to sit and draw. Michael...not so much.

Michael was getting restless and starting to eat his snack after the opening song. I told him he had to wait until after sacrament. As the meeting progressed, he got more wiggly, and eating more. I couldn't let him down his snack in the first 15 minutes when there was still at least another hour to go. This conversation repeated itself several times. I knew if I took the snack away, it would make the situation worse with a tantrum. So, finally, the sacrament began to be passed.

Again, he started eating.

Mom: Michael! Wait to eat your snack until the boys sit down!"
Michael: Kneels up in his chair and looks around at the Deacons "BBBOOOYYYYSS! Go sit DDOOOOWWWWNNN!!"

I guess that's one way to get a snack early. :)

Overheard at our house

Michael has been going through stages with his prayers.

Stage 1: We tell him what to say, and he would only pray if we helped him

Stage 2: He finally got to where he wanted to say them by himself and wouldn't allow any help. HOwever, his prayers always went like this.

Several deep breaths, in and out. "Heav'ly Father" (more deep breaths) "help our bodies be healthy, help our bodies be healthy, help our bodies healthy. Name of Jesus, Amen."

We've been working on trying to get him to think of other things to say, for several weeks now. Which brings us to:

Stage 3: He now blesses everything! :) Tonight the prayer went something like this:

same deep breaths in and out "Heav'ly Father, thank you for this day. keep our bodies healthy," eyes slightly open, peers around the room (yes, I peaked) "thank you for food. Thank you go on airplane ride last day. Thank you go to Nate Nate's house last day. Thank you could snow last day. Thank you go to park 'morrow. Name of Jesus, Amen."

Note: he asks all the time to go to the park, but weather hasn't allowed us to go. I guess we're going to the park tomorrow, rain, snow, wind, or (fingers crossed) shine!

Does someone need some attention?

I was uploading some pictures from my camera, when I came across some pictures, I am positive, I never took.



So, in an effort to embarrass by cute little sister, I'm going to post them on my blog, since OBVIOUSLY that was her intention when she took them.






Wow. are those some big eyes or what? Beautiful, of course.


This is her schexy look. I love little Channing's face, constantly being blasted by the flashing camera. Poor guy.


Now for some picture that I WAS aware of. This was one she offered to take for me. She must have gotten carried away before or after...


These were taken at this awesome pool in Lehi, Utah. Whenever we go visit anyone, we try to find an indoor swimming pool, since there are NO public indoor pools in the tri-cities. There are four indoor pools, but all are part of fitness clubs, where a membership is required. ANd, they are boring. Just plain lap pools. BOOORRRING.



My Kids LOVE to swim, so it's almost always on our itinerary. I asked my siblings if they knew of any fun indoor pools that might have a splash park. They didn't know of any, so I did a quick google search, and found this baby. Talk about AWESOME.

IT had everything! A huge lap pool.BORING. (although I do love to lap swim...just not with kids in tow). Then they had a separate kids pool, shown here.


The bucket at the top was HUGE and was very intense when it dumped the water out. Beware! This "park" had a cool tunnel slide, and lots of splash park features.

Next to that pool, was like a mini-lap pool. Mainly a big open pool that only got to about 4 ft deep.

There was a lazy river, and a bubble couch (never figured out exactly what that was...)



...and a humongous slide.You climbed to basically the roof of the facility, and entered a slide (completely covered) that went outside, mad many turns, then entered back in the building to dump you back in a little pool, again only 4 ft deep. Right after you left the entrance, it went pitch black, adding to the excitement. The kids LOVED this, and Michael almost went down by himself, but luckily stopped when he heard me yelling at him. Phew!

THEN there was a "baby" section. They had these cute little swing-type things that went around in the circle, so just the baby's toes/knees got wet. There was a mountain with two slides.
Everything was padded, even the ground. THE BEST part was the temperature of the water. it was AT LEAST 90 degrees. LOVE that. We had a blast and can't wait to go back! IF you live in Utah, you have got to check it out. It's the Lehi Legacy center. Have fun! My kids just saw these pictures as I was posting them and are crying "We wanna go back!" Oh, we will. WE WILL!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dad celebrates his _:)__ Birthday today!
Happy Birthday dad!

Thanks for being such a great dad.These are some of my favorite pictures that I have. I couldn't have asked for a better dad!



I love this picture. We had a reunion in Arches 4 yrs ago. It was about 104 the entire week we were there, and Dad wore his long pants and long sleeve shirts, every day. I don't think I've ever seen my dad in shorts (except his swimming trunks) and rarely in a short sleeve shirt. He burns easily and is very good about taking care of himself. This is one of the unique things about my dad that I love so much!

That being said...he is not afraid to cool off when he needs too! Actually, we were all playing in this oasis of a river, in our clothes, on the last day in ARches. The water felt SOOOO good.

Thanks for being a fantastic grandpa who never tires of playing ring-around-the-rosy.