The Boys

Here is a cute snapshot of my boys at fathers and sons last weekend. I'm glad they like camping and outdoors.

I also wanted to do a shout out to Marshall. It's pretty good timing too with Father's Day coming up. He has worn many hats the last few months including the responsibilities he does day to day. He took on finishing our basement and has show me that he can frame, do electrical, paint, continue to be a great dad, house keeper, cook, nurse to sick kids, manager at Lowry Doors, teacher, gardner, maintenance, etc. Bottom line is that he's amazing! It hasn't gone unnoticed all that he does around our house.
Thanks Lovest!

Color Me Mine

Lynnlee and I had a fun girls night my sister Ali and Katelyn last weekend why the boys were at fathers and sons. We went to Color Me Mine. Lynnlee painted a princess bank and I painted a chip and dip bowl/serving dish.

We went to dinner at Bajio when we finished. It was a much needed girl's night. She loved having me to herself and it was nice to be able to give her all the attention. We watched Frozen and I let her sleep in my room with me. Then we painted nails in the morning.

Our pottery was glazed a few days later and then we picked it up and here is the finished product.  I was going for a little different shade of orange and blue but it still fun and I'm excited to use it. Lynnlee was so happy with her princess bank, she gave it a big hug when she got it.

Memorial Day Weekend

This was a strange holiday weekend for me. I was scheduled to work Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. With three shifts back to back I knew I wouldn't be up to doing much since I would mostly need to sleep in between shifts. I slept a little Sunday in between church and Marshall's meetings. Then Sunday afternoon Marshall took our kids to his parents house and I headed to work. Most of their cousins were at grandma's house and they had so much fun playing with them. They all pretended to be wolves and Maya was the leader of the wolf pack. Marshall said they ran around the house for two days howling.

Monday morning they started out with fishing on Deer Creek. The weather was perfect and the kids all had a good time on grandpa's boat.  

That afternoon they took a ride on the four-wheelers around Midway. James and Lynnlee are too little to remember the one time they each went on a four-wheeler so it was like going for the first time. James loved riding all around and wasn't afraid.

Lynnlee didn't get to go out with the group but Marshall took her out after and she had fun. She is more of the leisurely rider and is happy with a nice and easy ride.

I was bummed to miss out on all the fun. Thank goodness I ended up being on call Monday night so I could spend time with my family that night and feel like I got to enjoy a small portion of the holiday.

Blog About a Blog

When I started our blog 6 years ago it served the purpose to update both of our parents while they were on missions. James was only a few months old and I didn't want both our parents to miss out on seeing him grow up and all of the changes that happen in the first 2 years. After they returned home I decided to keep blogging as a family record and scrapbook. I knew I wanted to get blogs book printed but I haven't taken the time to actually do it. Marshall surprised me this year for Mother's Day and made a blog book for me. It was the best surprise. This book starts with the beginning in 2008 and goes through 2010. It has been so fun to look at. The great thing about blogging is that its like a scrapbook but way easier to keep up, especially with smart phones and the Blogger app. I can upload pictures from my phone in minutes.

Twist and Shout

James had a dance festival at school on Friday. He was really excited for it and practiced a few of the steps at home before. The sixth grade danced first and then fifth, fourth, etc. down through kindergarten. He danced to the song "Twist and Shout." He did a great job! Kaden and Lynnlee were really good through the whole thing. The weather ended up being perfect too. It was overcast and cool.

Fashionista

Lynnlee has really been into dressing up lately. Random side note: The thing that is fun about Lynnlee is how much she loves skirts and dresses. She picks out her clothes everyday and it is always a skirt or dress. I was definitely not like that as a child. I was more of a tomboy and I still have no style. I think she will be the fashionista of the family. So anyways, back to dress ups. Lynnlee has been dressing up and so I've snapped a few pictures lately.

Kaden wanted to dress up one day and most the boy costumes are too big. I found this Spider-man costume and figured he could squeeze into it which he did but it was super tight and the legs were like capris. I was surprised he left it on for so long.

I know what you are thinking when you look at this picture. You are thinking he hated it and was mad at me for putting it on him and taking a picture. It was actually opposite. He begged to put it on and walked around with it on for five minutes. Then it was time to go to the store and I told him to take it off so we could go. That's when the tears came and he was so sad he had to take it off.

Heart to Heart

Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a luncheon for heart moms. Intermountain Healing Hearts holds this every year and it's always a really neat event. It's fun to get together with other moms who have a child with various heart conditions. Even if they are different conditions, we can all relate to similar experiences. I'm always nervous to go but then I leave being so grateful that I went. This year was amazing. We had a delicious lunch at the Sky Room at BYU and then watched a short slide show of all of the heart kiddos. It was a tear jerker to watch. It's amazing how many kids out there have heart defects. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Then Hilary Weeks spoke/sang to us. She is so talented, funny and uplifting. She had a wonderful message of hope and God's love for all of us no matter what we are going through. She talked about how our trials shape us and make us who we are. It was really inspiring.
We got a picture of everyone and so it's like a Where's Waldo to find me in the picture.

Also this week, Lynnlee had her annual heart check up. It's amazing with all that she has been through that she only needs a check up once a year. When she was first born I dreamed of this day and now we are here and sailing through. It's always nerve wracking in the days leading up to the appointment. I worry that we will get bad news or they will find something wrong or something along those lines. She started off with an echocardiogram. It takes about an hour and requires her to hold completely still. She did great! Then she had an EKG and her cardiologist examined her. Everything looked great and Dr. Everitt had no concerns. It is a relief to walk away with good news. Here's to another great year for Lynnlee!

Lynnlee's graduation

Lynnlee had preschool graduation on Saturday. She will be in preschool again next year so it's kind of funny to have a graduation but it was fun to see her perform songs with her class.

This is Lynnlee and her friend Mykah.

Lynnlee and Miss Loni.

That night we went out to PF Changs. There's never a dull moment taking these three out to dinner. It was a little chaotic but luckily no major disasters. I just keep enjoying it because once we add two more we will be sticking to take out.

It was fun reading everyone fortunes. Mine seemed quite fitting.

Walls

We now have walls. The dry wall went up Tuesday. The tape and mud happened yesterday and today. If all goes well then the texture will get done Friday and Saturday and we can start painting next week. It's like Christmas this week. It's so fun to see all the changes and now it's starting to look finished. 

Family Room

Hallway

Bathroom

Bedroom/Office

Italian Garden

The gardens at Thanksgiving Point are beautiful and it is really fun to walk around and see all of the areas. My favorite is the Italian Garden. I feel like I've stepped out of Utah.

It doesn't matter what face you tell Kaden to make because he ends up with the same look for every picture.

These three had fun running around burning off energy and I had fun getting out of the house and walking around.

I don't know why it has taken us this long to get a pass here. It is so close to home. We don't feel like we have to be there for hours and see everything but instead we can go for an hour and see what we want knowing we can always go back another time.

Work In Progress

While I've been busy growing 2 babies, Marshall has been busy working on finishing our basement. This weekend he is finishing up the framing and electrical and then the dry wall will go up next week. A big thanks to my brother, Charlie for helping with our electrical. He saved us lots and was so nice to squeeze us in to his busy schedule. We will miss him and his family when they move to Texas!!!

Next week I will post pictures after the dry wall is up.

The plumbers came this morning and got the bathroom ready to go. I'm a practical person so I chose this one piece bath/shower because it is functional but also very easy to keep clean.

This is taken from the corner of the bedroom/office looking towards the stairs and family room.

Just 10 weeks to go so hopefully if everything works out we will have it finished in time.

Another Year

We celebrated my birthday this week. I picked french toast made from Kneader's chunky cinnamon bread and syrup for breakfast. Yum! My kids helped Marshall make it and they brought it to me in bed. It was a good way to start the day. 

My mom took my kids and I to lunch at Magelby's Fresh. We had fun going out with her. 

The rest of the day didn't go quite as planned. Kaden's eye has started to have green goop around it again. The eye doctor is only in his clinic on Wednesdays and since the rest of our Wednesdays this month are filled with other doctor's appointments, I didn't have a choice but to take Kaden this week. The doctor was running hours behind and so we ended up not being able to make it back to go out to dinner with my in-laws. After dinner we planned to go to the movies. Kaden and I were a few minutes late but I'm glad we at least made it back for the majority of the movie. I was disappointed that things didn't work out as planned but I guess that is how birthdays go when you are an adult. My in-laws and Marshall helped out with James and Lynnlee and the night wasn't a total bust. 

On a side note, Kaden's eye goop is expected and the doctor gave us eye drops to help clear it up.

We got a family pass to Thanksgiving Point for my birthday. We had fun going to the museum and farm last week.

Going on a wagon ride with my buddies.

Belly Belly Jeans

Here is another round of belly shots to complete the 2nd trimester. This week I start the last trimester. My doctor won't have me go past 38 weeks so I have 10 weeks to go! Sometimes it feels like these babies go through growth spurts and I wake up feeling a lot bigger. I'm like a Chia Pet. Now I get the comments from people wondering if I'm due any minute. One day I was applying lotion to my belly and James told me I look like a rhino, thanks James. I'm glad I'm not a rhino. Their gestation is 450 days.  

March 30th: 22 weeks

April 6th: 23 Weeks

April 20th: 25 weeks

May 4th: 27 weeks

Sharks, Penguins and Sting Rays

We checked out the new aquarium last week with Beckie's family. These three had fun running around together and checking out all of the exhibits. 

I was surprised James went on the the rope bridge because James is terrified of heights.

Lynnlee seemed scared but once she was on it she did great.

My favorite was the penguins. It was feeding time when we got there so it was fun to see them dive in and catch their food.

James was all about the touch pools. He wasn't afraid to touch the sting ray or starfish.
Kaden just wanted to get in and swim. He kept trying to climb over the edge and was so frustrated that I wouldn't let him.

We spent a lot of time in the shark tunnel. I'm lucky to have such cute little buddies!

Thanks Beckie for taking us along!