'Tis the Season

So as we have already been receiving Christmas cards early this week, good on all of you organized enough to do that, I decided that it was time for us to take Christmas card pictures. I took some of the kids in the afternoon. This is pretty much how it went. Me: "okay you guys sit there. No, sit. Come on, sit. I'll give you a treat if you sit. Okay now big smiles! Say cheesy! Okay, you have to sit still. Now look at me, no at me, where are my eyes, look at the camera. Okay just a couple more. Now put your arm around her, no don't lay down, come on sit up, sit up, no sit up." And on and on. The kids thinking: "What great fun! I can actually see Mom's sanity slipping away. I know just what to do - laugh and run away from the pregnant lady, Mua-ah-ah-ah!"
So then after dinner McKenzie was a saint and came over to take family pictures where there was more of the, "no, you have got to keep your hands down. Look who's in the camera, is it Annie (Liam, Lenny, Cole, etc.)?" And general begging and pleading and yes, bribing for some sort of decent picture. Jaxon was actually pretty good through both picture sessions, but Sammi, oh Sammi. When Kenzie was over she went through a time where she was actually on the floor kicking and screaming. Awesome. But after all of that we actually did end up with some pretty good pictures, and a lot that need to be deleted after we get a good laugh out of them. Huge thanks to McKenzie for being an awesome (and free) photographer!
So I don't know if anyone else has had this problem this Christmas season, but I thought that I was all sorts of organized and ready for Christmas. My neighbor gifts have been done since October, the kids presents mostly taken care of by the end of summer (thanks to garage saling, of which I am totally addicted to), and everyone else's gifts all purchased and waiting to be wrapped. But the more I think of it, the more I realize that I have got a ton still to do! So much for being ultra-prepared and on top of things. Ah well, 'tis the season! Merry Christmas one and all!

Another one

It's a girl! We found out almost two weeks ago that this sweet little thing is going to be our second little girl. We couldn't be happier. I think Jaxon is okay with it. When I went to go pick him up at my parents house after my doctors appointment the first thing that he said was, "Is it a girl?" I nodded and said, "yah". "Okay", he sighed , "I'll still share my dinosaurs with my new baby sister." What a guy. Everything is looking perfect and she is growing right on schedule. She's starting to be quite active and I'm getting more large and in charge everyday. Yay - we are so excited to have another little girl to spoil!

The blur I called October

So October is always a busy month for us. Has been ever since Jaxon was born really. Between 6 birthday celebrations (two of them being Jaxon and Sammi, born 3 days apart), a Hall girl retreat, Riley constantly traveling (not really, but seems like it), and Halloween parties. Throw in sickness, preschool (which McKenzie and I do together), and a funeral and we were pretty booked. All in all it was a great month with lots of reasons to celebrate. To summarize briefly, we ate too much birthday cake and treats.
The kids had a blast going to the Hall Halloween party that we had at McKenzie and Cole's house where we played lots of fun games and generally laughed a lot. Jaxon's birthday was so fun. He's at this great stage in his life where he knows very very well when it pays to be good and to be a good host, such as at your birthday party when people bring you gifts. Sammi's birthday was great, too. She absolutely loved all the princess and dress ups that she got and is in one every day. Jaxon was a little jealous of the attention, but those are the breaks.
We sure love our kids and feel so blessed to have them in our lives. Every day is such fun with them around. They say and do the funniest things that make me laugh so hard, even if they are being a little naughty sometimes. And they are both so loving, just coming up and giving hugs and saying "I love you" in their sweet little voices that just makes your heart so fill with joy. So blessed.
And we are so excited to have a new little one coming into our home in April! I'm officially 1/2 way done and couldn't be happier to reach that little landmark. We have another ultra sound on Thursday and should be finding out if this little sparky is a boy or a girl. Jaxon was insistent on having another little sister because he was all the brother that we needed. So in an attempt to get him to see the good of having a brother I told him that brothers were fun because then he could play dinosaurs with them. Now he really really wants a brother. Time will tell I suppose! Enjoy the slide show! It's a bunch of pictures Halloween and the kids birthdays.

A whole handful

Well, it's that time again I suppose. We're expecting our third baby the beginning of April and couldn't be happier that our little family is now going to number five! I'm 16 weeks pregnant and finally feeling somewhat normal. Everything is looking good so far and besides morning/afternoon/evening sickness, being crazy tired, and a bout with the swine flu and pleurisy a couple of weeks ago I've been fantastic! We'll be finding out the gender of this little gummy bear probably around Thanksgiving. Jaxon is so excited to have another baby because he, "just loves babies and I'll be such a good brother to the new baby". He's always telling me, "Mommy, I'm sorry that the baby is making you feel sick". Such a sweet guy! I thought Sammi didn't have a clue about what was going on, but the other day she saw the ultra sound pictures and said, "baby in mommy's tummy!" over and over again. So I guess I should give her more credit. Really, though, we are all thrilled and just hope that we won't get knocked down too much more this winter with sickness. I'm excited to finally have a baby not in October and to be pregnant during the holiday's instead of trying to loose baby weight during Christmas and Thanksgiving. So bring on the fudge!

1 and 1/2 down 4 to go

Well, Riley is in Chicago. Number 2 out of 6 trips that he's taking for work between now and the first week of November. He just informed me that he was waiting for his genuine Chicago pizza. Tonight we had Little Caesars hot-n-ready. But that's ok that he gets to go to all of these cool places and see cool things while I'm at home trying to get my kids to eat their dinner and make the house not smell like stinking diapers. Because someday he is going to take to me to Hawaii. I live on that someday.

Oregon at it's finest

Last Wednesday afternoon my parents suburban was packed to the gills and we (meaning my parents, Emily, and all of our posse) headed for Junction City, Oregon. Why? Only to visit some of the coolest people in the world - Mark and Katie "whatchu talking about" Willis! What we thought was going to be a 12 hr. drive turned into 14, which is quite gruelling at 4am and you want to sleep so very badly. (Seriously, Oregon, what's with your 55 mph speed limits when it's flat and mostly straight and there is NOTHING AROUND?) But we made it and it was well worth it.
First things first, we put the kids right to work at Katie's store, Luxe. Plug: you should go there if you are in Eugene, such a great place! Jaxon now wants a job there.

The next day we went to some waterfalls, but as soon as we opened the car doors to start our hike, it started raining. Welcome to Oregon, right? So we waited it out by playing cards for a while in the back of the Suburban (crazy fun). And then decided that we might as well just go and see those waterfalls. I think the rain only added to it all, we had so much fun!




The next day was beach day and we thought that we lucked out because it was sunny and hey, no rain! We hiked up to a lighthouse first, picking blackberries all the way.


Next stop was to find a free beach to play on and have our picnic. By the time we found our "free" beach, which we had to pay to park, some major fog rolled in. Awesome. Couldn't even see the waves. But we hunkered down and played anyway. Jaxon and Sammi had a blast searching for buried pirate treasure that Mark was secretly stashing away for them. Jaxon was only slightly concerned when he started eating one of the pirates cookies, which looked strangly like the cookies that Katie made... Riley became a seagull whisperer and made them dive and catch crumbs of bread mid-air. He had tons of them around him, I swore up and down that if any one of them pooped on any part of me, he would be in some major trouble. But we all escaped unscathed.




Then we decided that we were going to find that water and play in it, fog or no fog. About forever later we found it. Jaxon soaked up being at the beach for the first time, quite literally. Sammi just laughed and laughed at Katie helped her scoop up water from the waves in a bowl. We all got a little wet, but Jaxon and Sammi got the brundt of it all, and they loved it!




The rest of the time was filled up with playing all sorts of games, laughing our heads off, taking walks, and eating fantastic food. All in all it was a fantastic trip, rain and fog and all. Made some awesome memories and I'm itching to go back. Mark and Katie, you guys are the best! Thanks for showing us such a good time - we owe you one!

Vacation!

So our big family summer vacation this year consisted of us going down to Provo with Riley (he had to go to BYU for work) for a couple of days, overnight really. We left early on Wednesday morning and came home late Thursday night. The highlight for the kids was getting to stay in a hotel and go swimming. That night as we were trying to put the kids down to sleep this is what I heard:
Sammi - (grunting unhappily all the while) Mommy?
Jaxon - Sammi, are you nervous?
Sammi - (still grunting) Mommy?
Jaxon - It's okay Sammi, they are just right over there.
Sammi - Mommy?
Jaxon - Do you want me to tell you a story?
Sammi - Uh huh
Jaxon - Ok, once upon a time.............once upon a time..........
It was about then that they started whacking eachother with pillows and laughing hysterically. It was then my job to somehow stop laughing and discipline. They eventually went to sleep even though Jaxon was way offended when Sammi knocked off before him and he tried to wake her up.
I think the all around favorite was going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Pointe. That is seriously such a fun place, there was tons that I wanted to do, but we only had time for one, so the dinosaur museum won out. We were not dissappointed. If you can go, I totally recommend it!

4th of July

The fourth of July weekend was such a blast - tiring as it was. On the fourth of July eve we had a whole bunch of friends over that we haven't seen in a long time (eventhough some live sooo close by, pathetic, I know). It was so fun catching up with everyone in person instead of just through their blogs and such. Jaxon and Sammi decided that our party sounded like a drag so they took off to Ogden. We left to join them after the party. We had a major 4th party down at Kevin and (Riley's sister)Kelsi's house. We camped out on Friday night and the kids did awesome, so I'm told - thanks to aunt Bailee! The next morning we were awoken nice and early, 5:30am to be exact to the sound of the Hill Airforce base cannons. Then someone in the neighborhood decided to accompany it with the Star Spangled Banner played on their electric guitar. Then Rick's car alarm went off...I think someone wanted us up...

But I digress, so then we had a delicious breakfast of scones and fresh fruit then got all gathered up and went to the parade.

Here's Jaxon showing his patriotism.

After the parade we went back to Kevin and Kelsi's where we played outside all day because it was just so gorgeous outside! There was plenty of food, swimming, water balloons, sun, badmitten, fun, and fireworks.

Here's Sammi getting ready to nail someone with her arsonal of water balloons.
We left that night after the fireworks. So everyone was pretty much useless the next day because we were so hammered from partying over the weekend. We sure wish that Kevin and Kelsi live closer. Sammi keeps on asking to hold their kitty and Jaxon has found a new best friend in Kelsi. Maybe someday we'll all live close together, but for now we'll just have to have these whirlwind party sessions!

P.S. ~ Thanks Kenzie and Barbara for taking pictures for me as I was a bonehead and forgot mine - go me!
P.P.S ~ Happy birthday America - I sure love living in a land as free and as blessed as you are.

Signs of Summer

Riley got a new wheelbarrow. So far this is the only thing that he's used it for. But he's prepared for when the time comes, just like a good little boy scout is! Summer can really take it out of a guy.
First day of getting to play in the water - we love it!

It has honestly come now...I think.

The Dentist

Jaxon went to the dentist recently and was AMAZING! He first went to see Riley get the whole thing done and was so covetess of the free toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss that he decided that he wanted to make an appointment. So the big day came and he did perfect. And for all of you who know my son well, it's nothing short of a miracle. I was so proud that I was trying not to cry as the dental hygenist was sucking his spit. So now he thinks he's a pro and wishes he could go to the dentist more than twice a year because he got to go out to lunch afterwards, got a new movie, and a toy at the denist, not to mention the bag of tooth care items.

Happy Father's Day and Stuff! (it's never too late, right?)

The weekend of Father's Day was nuts. Riley went white water rafting with the Priests all day and into the night. He's itching to go again. Jaxon had a Primary activity day where he went to the firestation and made a sweet tie for Riley and got to sit in the fire trucks and help wash them as a service project. So cool! I was bummed that I forgot my camera. My Granny and Grandpa came into town as well as Katie and Mark with Mark's brother Steve for a whirlwind weekend trip. Before Jaxon got Steve's name down he called him "Crazy Uncle Mark other Mark" for short. On Father's Day the primary sang again in sacrament meeting. Jaxon was all geared up and ready to go, or so I thought. He was the first one up on the stage and then promptly came back down because he didn't want to be up there all by his lonesome I suppose. And then once all the kids were up on the stage there he thought there was no room for him so he didn't want to go up there. So once again he stood by me while I led the songs and then burst into tears when we had to sit down because he didn't go on the stage to sing. It's hard being a little guy!

This is Sammi showing off one of Daddy's ties. Dad took care of himself for father's day and got himself some suits on ebay for on the cheap. Plus they came with a bonus tie. Of which I will not let him wear one because it's lavendar and pink. Uh, no. Sammi loves it though!

Here's Riley sporting his tie that Jaxon made for him at his activity day. All the dad's loved them; they were all beaming! On Monday morning Jaxon was eating breakfast with Riley when he asked, "Are you going to wear yours new tie to work, Daddy?" So hopeful. Riley informed him that it was a special tie that he could only wear on father's day.

Riley took Jaxon on his very first campout the weekend before Father's day. They both came back tired, but had a great time!

This is a picture I got of the four generations of women in our family. Granny Gene with her daughter and her daughter and her daughter. Kinda cool, huh? Like my white knees?

Explanation: Walrus day = Father's day. A few years back my family were all together for Father's day and decided that Father's day needed a mascot, if you will, for the holiday. Kinda like Santa or the Easter bunny. We thought that a walrus would be fitting for such an occassion. So happy walrus day one and all!

It was Emily's birthday on Monday. She's such a babe! We celebrated it all together over the weekend while everyone was here.

Here's the whole crew. Thanks Steve for taking the picture! Riley is missing because he was busy having an awesome time with the priests as was mentioned before.

So there's kind of a scattered run down of what's been going on with us. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense and is kind of disconnected, but Sammi has a stinky bum and it's really distracting, so I must go. Happy Father's Day!

Why, mom, why?

So today I was sitting on the couch reading Jaxon a book, as I often do, and Jaxon asked me a question that I didn't have an answer to. "Mom," he said, "what holds up the sky?" Uh............ I told him to ask Dad when he got home. Jaxon is very inquisitive and very literal so I have to always be careful what I tell him! Kids are great, aren't they?

The Goings Ons

So there has been a whole mess of stuff going on since I last posted. So sorry if I don't go into detail, but I will make up for the lack of info by having a whole photo montage if you will.

First, McKenzie and Cole moved and are now our neighbors again. Hooray! I'm already loving it - just today I abused their closeness by having Kenzie look after our kids as I chased after an escaped Lenny. But I digress, to see further info about their big move, just go to their blog!

Then onto Barbara's (Riley's mom) birthday - we were at a wedding in Draper, but celebrated it the following Sunday - she's amazing!

Next it was mothers day - yay for mom's! I led the primary kids in sacrament meeting. Jaxon sat on the steps of the stage and said repeatedly and very loudly that, "it's too scary!" until I finally picked him up and he helped me lead.

Then my birthday, wahoo, 26 and still alive, mostly.

Followed by our anniversary. Five years of craziness, but I couldn't have picked a better one to go through it with. We are too cheap to spend money on such things as professional photography so I did my own little photo shoot. I still think that we are a fetching couple...

kissy facenice.

Onto Bailee's (Riley's sister) graduation from high school. Talk about awesome - I owe her more than I could ever repay. But she informs me that there is no charge for awesomeness or atractiveness.

Yet another birthday - this time it was Cole's. He never saw such fancy wrapping from me as he did that day with a rake in a small bag with tissue paper. He totally didn't know what it was until he opened it!
And then last but certainly not least - Crazy Uncle Mark and Katie (my sister) came!

We had tons of fun with them. We went to the zoo, on a hike, played games, went shooting (well, not me, someone had to bathe the children for church), played mario kart, ate like there was no tomorrow, and laughed a whole stinking lot. We miss them already.

hiking at cress creek

yes, the picture is crooked. no they are not laying on their backs and shooting up, that would be dumb. forgot to fix the picture before I uploaded so you'll have to tilt your head. sorry!

while we were doing the above, the kids were doing the below.

So that's what's been going on with us - hope you're all having a wonderful spring!

Happy Easter!

Yet another Easter has come and gone. Our little family did much more for Easter this year than we have in the past - which was essentially nothing. But I figure we make a big "to-do" about Christmas and pretty much celebrate the season from Halloween on, why not do the same for Easter. I mean, the only reason why we celebrate Christmas is because there was an Easter, ya know? Well, we didn't celebrate Easter starting on Valentines day, but we did do things for most of the week. Here are some pictures of the festivities. All-in-all it was a great Easter week, a time to remember all our Savior did for us, and that He lives!

We colored some pretty awesome eggs.

We decorated some scrumptious cookies that some of our lucky family and friends got to partake of...we had more than our fair share as well.

The Easter bunny left an easter egg trail from their bedrooms to this sweet Easter spread.

Jaxon was really excited to come out and see what the Easter bunny brought him - but also made sure that the Easter bunny was no longer present. The day before he was asking us if Santa turned into the Easter bunny, we told him no, they were great friends who shared a summer cottage though.
Hope you all had a great Easter as well!