Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day. We celebrated Cody all day long. We started off with a special breakfast and presents. Cody requested crepes for breakfast and that's what we did. But before we started eating he had a card from me, one from the kids and 2 presents from the kids.

Cody's present from Broc was all Broc's idea. When I asked Broc what we should get his dad he really wanted to get him a fishing coloring book they could color together because they both love fishing. I thought it was such a sweet idea that we found a fishing coloring book and that was Broc's gift to Cody. 

Maren and Henry's gift to Cody was an Aebleskiver pan. Aebleskivers are Danish and are essentially pancake balls. Cody really loves breakfast foods.

After breakfast and presents we went to church, where Cody got spoiled again. Our ward really goes all out for mother's/father's day. The primary kids sing(so Broc got to go up, he didn't really sing, just waved at us a smiled the whole time) and they hand out a little gift after Sacrament meeting like most wards but during primary they have all the Father's and primary age kids have a brunch and play little competitions. Broc loved having his dad come to primary! 

For dinner Cody requested french toast(did I mention Cody LOVES breakfast food, especially breakfast for dinner). So I did my best try at Kneaders French Toast. I think I did pretty well because it was really good, I almost felt like I was in a Kneaders back in Provo. 

We sure do love Cody. He is a great dad and does so much for our family. He is a great provider, cook, and maid. He does so much around the house and with the kids. The kids ask all day long when Dad will be home. They love to wrestle him, play games and watch movies with him. I am also very grateful for my dad. He taught me so much and still continues to. He is such a big part of my life and who I am. He really is the greatest dad in the world. 

Easter

Easter has become such a special time of year for me. As a kid Christmas was always the most anticipated holiday of the year. But as I get older Easter has slowly taken over. Don't get me wrong I love Christmas as much as the next person. Although I am a firm believer in no Christmas stuff till the day after Thanksgiving, I am all about Christmas. But although it is full of wonder and love and Christ and family and awesomeness, it is also full of stress, and pressure and just STUFF. And that is one of the reasons Easter has become so special to me(even though it probably should have always been that way). Because Easter has all the wonderful parts of Christmas, love, family, Christ. And none of the bad like stress, and STUFF and all the extra. Another reason I always look forward to Easter is because it is close to General Conference. It is just a really good time to reflect on the most important thing the atonement of Jesus Christ, and if you are utilizing it in your life, and how you can more deeply understand it and write it on your heart and apply it in your life.

We started celebrating with making sugar cookies  

I had the kids follow their own colored streamer through the apartment to find their Easter baskets. They loved it. I think we will make it a tradition.

Starting the hunt for their baskets

When I was a kid I would always get a new Easter dress. We have not done that before but this year I decided I wanted to carry on that tradition. So we got all the kids new Sunday clothes to wear to Church on Easter.

Found em!

I don't want to brag but I have a pretty good looking bunch. Two things I think are funny about this picture: 1. Broc and Maren holding hands. I don't know why they did that, we didn't tell them to and they don't like to hold hands. 2. Broc's tie outside his vest. I tried to get him to tuck it in but he refused and insisted he wear it like this. I like to think he is starting a trend and that he is just fashion forward ;)

Church here we come

Broc's Birthday

Broc turned 5! That's right 5... he is no longer a preschooler, he is an actual full blown schooler now! It is so fun to watch him grow and see the boy he is growing into. He loves life, he gets so excited about everything! He loves the color red and his favorite food is broccoli. He loves sports and wrestling with his dad, watching Justice League and Scooby Doo on netflix, Legos, army men and setting up battles, camping, and fishing. He is so excited to start school in the fall. It is an exciting time of life for our growing boy. A lot of changes are coming up with our move, school and his new brother. But he is a good boy and I can count on him to do more and more around the house. Happy Birthday Broc!
Broc wanted a Justice League themed party so that is what he got. We had balloons and hanging lanterns with all the symbols of the members of the Justice League. I also hung some pictures of Broc dressed up as different superheroes through out the years. I cut out masks for the kids to decorate, so they could dress up like super heroes. I also told all the parents and kids they could come dressed up in super hero costumes, if they had any, so we had quite the assembly of super heroes! Broc had a very specific menu in mind for this party. He wanted pizza, bread, meat, and hotdogs. So I did the best I could, we had Little Cesar's pizza, pigs in a blanket, and watermelon. And then we had cake and cupcakes for dessert. After dinner we went outside and did a pinata! It was really fun and they kids did really well. Cody and I had quite the time trying to find a dog poop free place to do it. The pet owners in our complex are not the best at picking up after their furry friends. But overall Broc had a blast and loved having his friends over to play with his toys. We asked that the party goers for go the gifts for Broc. It was the best idea I have ever had. There were many reasons for this decision but the main one by far is I want my kids to be content with less but followed by we are in a tiny apartment and are bursting at the seams as it is, we are about to move and I don't want to pack anything more, and we invited a lot of people so it would have been WAY too much if he got presents from them all! And all Broc really wanted was to play with his friends! So that's what we did.

On his actual birthday we celebrated with a birthday breakfast. Broc asked for eggs, bacon and pancakes. So that is what we did, minus the bacon. Not that we didn't try to have bacon, its just we had one too many cooks in the kitchen and one in particular that is a little, let's say inexperienced, I mean he is only 18 months so how did he know that turning the oven temperature dial to broil would burn the bacon beyond being edible. Anyways it was a great breakfast. Then we his opened presents. His big present this year was a bike! I bought it like a month ago and have been hiding it in the trunk if the car. So after presents we told him we had one more surprise and drove to the church parking lot and let him open his helmet and then he guessed what the rest of the surprise was. We opened the trunk and he saw his bike and just started squealing in excitement. We stayed about an hour and let him ride his bike. He did really well for not really ever riding a bike before. Then he came home and played with his new army man set the rest of the day. He is such a great boy and we are so grateful he came to our family!

Candles in the cake...pancake that is.  

Trip To Provo

In February I did one of the things I never thought possible. I took the kids on a trip without Cody! We decided to go to the Provo City Center Temple open house. We lived in Provo for a long time and it is such a special place to us. It is where we meet, fell in love, all our kids were born and spent those wonderful years at BYU. We were even there when the tabernacle burned down. It was so sad. I remember waking up on that Sunday morning and when we were driving to church seeing the smoke and wondering what happened. And then learning it was the tabernacle. We had many stake conferences in that building. I was so excited when it was announced that it would become a temple. And then we left just 9 months before it was finished. So I really wanted to go back and see it. Plus I got to see some faces I had missed. A friend here in California was going to a wedding in Utah so we decided to carpool. She is such a trooper and amazing for dealing with my... well let's just say energetic kids for that long. Plus since it was a holiday weekend we hit BAD traffic, took some ill-advised detours(it was all my idea, sorry Marlee!) and it took waaaay longer then we thought. But we made it. But over all the kids were pretty good. We stayed with my Aunt Becky. She is so amazing and my kids love her! They always talk about go back to Aunt Becky's house. And the whole time we were there they never wanted to go do the activities I had planned, they just wanted to stay and play at Aunt Becky's house! And she is such a wonderful host. She made us wonderful food and visited with us and it was so great to see her. She also told me she was going to be the pianist for one of the sessions of the temple dedication. That's how cool Aunt Becky is. Like I said, she is amazing!

Aunt Becky's house is the best!

We tried to go to the open house on Saturday morning but the line was way too long. We didn't have tickets so we were in the stand by line and I waited alone with three insane wonderful kids for almost 2 hrs and we weren't even half way through the line to get into the temple and then they said the tour was about an hour. So we left and went had lunch with my bestest bestie Olivia. She was such a darling to squeeze me in her busy schedule. Oh didn't I mention this trip was a last min decision! Anyways then we saw some of my other dear friends, my old roommates. Claire and Lauren were also so wonderful for squeezing us in also. They both had family in town and a lot of other plans and we just dropped in and they made time for us and it meant a lot to me. They are wonderful friends. 

We finally made it to the temple! It was worth it. It is amazing!

 We drove around Provo and saw all the places we use to live. Broc and Maren even remembered the last place we lived and the playgrounds we use to go to. When we were driving to our last apartment Broc even remembered the way there. He told me how to get there.

Since we missed the chance on Saturday, we woke up early on Monday, the day we were leaving, and went to the temple. We tried(keyword being tried) to get there right when it opened but we were about 40 mins late. Which I thought was really good for having to get all four of us ready and feed by my self. But it still worked out because we only had to wait about 15 mins. And then were in. Once we actually got in the temple the kids were really good. But the 15 mins we waited in line I think they were having mental break downs because this was the one time in their entire lives they have actually wanted to hold my hands. And not just one but all three of them, and you can see how this would be a problem since I only have two hands.  The one that wasn't holding my hand would just scream and throw a huge tantrum. But i just powered through and it ended up working out. They didn't try to run away or touch anything too many times. And there were some nice people around me that helped me wrangle them. It is such a beautiful temple. I wish we had lived there a little longer so we could go to it often. I think it is my favorite temple ever. If I was getting married again I would get married there. Oh it was amazing! After the temple open house we got in the car and said farewell to Provo once again. It was a good trip all in all. 

It's a Boy!

We are expecting baby #4! We are really excited about this addition to our family but also a little nervous about what having 4 kids will look like, well I think I already have an idea. But with Broc starting school in the fall and starting to be involved in more activities, its going to be a lot busier.

Last Friday I had my ultrasound and it is a boy and the baby is looking really healthy and growing right on schedule. So my due date is still set for Sept 22. Although it is a lot later then I had original thought, I am actually really glad about it because hopefully it will give us time to get settled in with the school routine and into a house after our move before the baby comes. But the whole moving at 6 months pregnant thing does not sound fun but I guess it will be an adventure. Here are some more pictures.

Baby's Head(side profile)

Half of Baby's face from the front. I think these 3D 

Half of Baby's face from the front

I love this part of pregnancy. I am not sick, I feel really good, I can feel the baby kick(which is fun and reassuring everything is ok), I know the baby's gender(I can obsess over names constantly and refer to it in appropriate pronouns rather then "it" or "the baby".) and I am not too big yet so I can do 99% of everything I usually do. Although I feel a lot bigger at this point then I did in my other pregnancies. I am pretty tall so I can usually hide it pretty good but  not this time, it is just out there for everyone to see. And one of our friends is pregnant also and we are just a couple days apart and you can't even tell she is pregnant at all! So that makes me feel even better but oh well, Who has time to worry about that stuff anyways(well, obviously me because I just wrote all about it). But I am so excited to have another little boy running around.

This and That

Here is a glimpse at our daily shenanigans. Broc went through this obsession with Disney's version of The Three Musketeers, with Mickey, Donald and Goofy. He wanted to watch it every day! I was in the middle of morning sickness at the time so I gladly accepted a couple hours of him entertained and letting me nap. So he watched it MANY times.  

Broc, one of the three musketeers. 

Cody has instituted a new family tradition: Family Movie Nights. When we have them, we have a special treat and the kids bring out all their soft, special things to make a little nest on the living room floor. They all snuggle down there for the first 30 seconds of the movie and then at least Henry has had enough. We rotate through the family, youngest to oldest, for who gets to choose the movie. 

All ready for the movie to start.

Henry has hit a few milestones lately. Back in January he learned how to walk(some of the videos are from when he was first learning how to walk). He has 16 teeth and is trying to talk. So far the only thigns that are really clear are mama(which means food and mom, I know that's all I am good for, feeding) and dada. He also loves to shake his head. His Aunt Heidi got a fun video of it in slow motion at Christmas when she was here. I think one of the funniest things about it are his screams/grunts at the end, I just think they are so funny in slow motion. He love to play with his siblings, when they are nice to him. A couple videos are of Henry and Broc playing football together.

Cody's Birthday

Shortly after Maren's Birthday we celebrated Cody's. The major excitement for Cody's birthday was a surprise hunting trip I planned with his friend Kyle. I secretly got him all packed, got him snacks and woke him up at like 4:30 on the big day and had breakfast, eggs, toast, bacon and orange juice, waiting for him. I even lied to him about what time it was. I told him it was 7 and I just wanted to have a quiet breakfast with him without he kids for his birthday. But after he saw the clock in the kitchen he had a hunch I was up to something. Anyways he was gone hunting all day and they did not come back empty handed. They got a pig, processed it themselves and split the meat. It was a pretty successful day. I was so glad Cody had a good day because he really deserves it. He is such a great guy. He works so hard for our family and always provides for us. He is a rally good dad to our kids. They love him to death and whenever daddy comes home it is marked by ear drum breaking squeals of excitement and happiness. He definitely is the "fun" parent. I am so grateful for the example he sets for our kids. I am so happy I get to spend all the rest of his birthdays with him because he is worth celebrating.