The sun was shining today.....

It was a sunny warm day of 65 degrees today
we had fun outside as a family
here are some pics capturing our day

And my belly for the day......

Randomness......

I finally got around to downloading my memory card.....
here are some random pictures from the last few months.....

Miles and Ladds bdays......


My two birthday boys (no, Miles isnt picking his nose)
Miles wanted to have his cake in the basement (it isnt finished but it was his birthday so thats where we went!)
and thats where his bike was since it was too cold to ride outside...one benefit to having an unfinished basement....send the kid downstairs to ride his bike or skateboard when he is driving you crazy with too much energy

Miles with his birthday present....was in heaven!


Our "pwetty pwetty pwincess"
If we dont unbuckle her out of the car right away, she says "hey, you forgot to get your pwetty pweety pwincess"
Excuse the mess of pictures behind, I am still waiting for Ladd to paint over the "baby poo colored" walls before I hang pictures!


Making cornstarch goo


Miles is in heaven!


Yes, it was very messy!


And my two little buddies snuggling up watching something on tv

Live Out Loud!

Any of you sick of Miley/Hannah Montanna? I am. I just found this "tweens" LDS group that I am excited about. Lauren eats sleeps and breaths Hannah and I am not very fond of her lately!

http://www.lolthegroup.com/

It was fun to point out to Lauren that these girls are dressed modestly and sing songs that are fun, yet talk about good and uplifting things!!! She was instantly excited and wants to get their CD's!

Its about time for something new!

Let me know what you think!

Stupid Mormon Humor....

This made me laugh!

35 and 6

Happy Birthday to the two men in my life!

I cant believe my Miles is 6!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband and amazing son!

How lucky Miles is to share a birthday with his dad!

They love being together and Miles would be the happiest boy on earth if he could just spend all day with his dad.

I love you both and hope that you had a wonderful day today!

I am so in love!

with my kids....

they....

amaze me

make me laugh

bring a smile to my face

press my buttons

teach me patience

challenge me

have filled my heart with more love than I could ever have imagined

make me want to be a better person

make me try harder

and truly are the greatest blessing ever!

A call for baby names.....

Ok, so we have it narrowed down to about 5 names.....but I am still not sure on any of them.

I need ideas people! Anyone have any boy name ideas they want to share?

His middle name is going to be Mathias...same as Ladds and a family name that needs to be carried down the line.....

Isabelle

I am trying harder to keep a "family journal" and have decided that blogging it is the easiest way to do it....for now....

So, sorry to bore you...but here are some cute things that Isabelle said today....

This morning I ran to the store before Ladd left for work (going to the store is so much easier without kids....I use to think it was hard with one kid when we just had Lauren, then Miles came and I was exicted to go to the store with JUST Lauren, and then Isabelle came and now I get excited if I only have to take 2 kids to the store....Anyways, when I got home, I found Isabelle with a piece of chocolate, I took it away from her and told her she hadnt eaten her breakfast yet and she said to me with a very STERN voice "Mom, I am just not happy with you this morning".

I was on the computer trying to do something today when Isabelle came to me with her binky and blanky and wanted me to hold her (she is the snuggling queen). I told her to hold on and let me finish what I was doing. She started crying and said "But mom, I dont have anything that I "yuv" (love) right now. I felt so bad, so I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around me and said "Now I have something that I YUV YUV YUV". I love this girl and apparently she yuvs me too!

The other day when I was running errands with Isabelle and Miles...Isabelle did something to Miles that made him mad and he said, "Isabelle thats not nice, thats mean" and she said again in her very STERN voice "Dont even think about saying that to me mister, I am a happy girl"

Of course these are all cuter in person...but they bring smiles to my face and I will enjoy reading them down the road when my kids are all grown up!

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy Day!

I just got a call from my brother-in-law that my younger sister,
Cammie just delivered a healthy baby boy! Tears immediately came!
This is my sister who lost her sweet Sage a little over a year ago.
What a sweet day it is to know that she is holding a sweet little baby boy!
I only wish I could be there to witness the beautiful moment that my
whole family has been waiting for!

Congrats Cammie and Kenny!!!! I cant wait to see pictures!

Ladd

I got this from my friend Carlen's blog....

what's your husbands name?

Ladd

how long have you been married?

10 years

how long did you date?

3 months
engaged for 1 month

how old is he?

6 years older than me
(I wont go into the "when you graduated highschool I was only.....)

who eats more sweets?

I do all the way and I have the body to show for it

who is a better singer?
I say he is

who is smarter?

depends on the issue

who does the laundry?
I do
But he probably wishes that he did sometimes when it takes me a week to get it folded

who pays the bills?
auto pay

who sleeps on the right side of the bed?

me

who mows the lawn?

he always has

who cooks dinner?

me
we would eat ramen noodles if he did

who drives?

mostly me

who is the first to say they are wrong?

he is

who kissed who first?

he did
(even though it was soooo against his "policy" to kiss someone when
only knowing them for a week, but it was the middle of the night and we were on the beach and it was a full moon...how could he resist???)

who asked who out first?
we never really had a first date...we just kind of started hanging out together as much as possible

who wears the pants?

not sure

i tag:

everyone

A Great Video

Going Private...

I am going private....too many people visiting from places I dont know.....

Leave your email address if you want an invite...

Church History Sites....

Yesterday we decided to head out and explore this new land we live in. We started off first to Independence, Mo. We went to the Church Visitor Center there. What a great experience. They have a wonderful 20 minute tour called "Gods Plan for Families". That was a tear jerker and motivated both Ladd and I to work harder as parents and focus our attention more on our kids.

Then we were off to Liberty Jail - another amazing experience. To see the actual site where the jail stood and learn so much more about Joseph Smith and his experience while he was in this jail for 4+ months. It has made want to be better, do better, and work harder. To take my struggles and trials and turn them into faith building experiences and to draw closer to the Savior. It was a wonderful day for our kids to see these places and hear what the sister missionaries had to say. It was wonderful for us as parents to see their excitement and watch their testimonies grow!

Knowing that Joseph was in this jail in the exact same freezing weather that I am in, yet I have a warm house, carpet, bathrooms, food, a stove and so much more....I cant even begin to complain about this bone chilling 8 degree weather, with the windchill, -10 degree weather. He is an amazing man that I want to know more about and be more like!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas Season.

I finally got around to taking some family Christmas pictures. I would have loved to go outside and take some pictures....but it is FREEZING here!!! With the wind chill it is 9 degrees and tomorrow with the windchill it is suppose to be -6. So not worth it. So this will have to do. Maybe next year I will get around to doing Christmas Cards. I always tell myself "next year will be the year I do them...and here we are, I am telling myself the same thing. Maybe if I start on them in a few months I will get them out in time for next year. Oh wait...I am going to have a newborn. We will see.

We are all doing well. Life is good. We feel very blessed in our lives.
Lauren was baptized.
Miles likes school.
Isabelle is as cute as ever.
Ladd LOVES his job...(and it is stable....that part I like!)
I am getting bigger and bigger and this baby is coming soon.
We are happy and healthy.

How is that for a Christmas card?
Maybe I will do a "Family Spring Newsletter"???

I

Crazy Spaghetti Dinner

My Bishops wife in Issaquah gave me a "care package" for our road trip to Kansas and in it was this great book called "Family Fun". It has a million things to do with your kids to have more fun as a family.

One of the ideas was "Pig Out Dinner".....you serve your kids favorite dinner in pie tins and tell them they can not use their hands....Only their mouths. We had a lot of fun and of course the kids were laughing the whole time...

Thanks April for the wonderful book.....

Christmas is here

I miss Washington, my friends, the beauty....that sums up my day today.  

Thats all folks!

Miles Prayer...

I forgot to mention in the last post that Miles said the opening prayer for Lauren's Baptism...It went like this...

"Dear Heavenly Father, We are thankful for this day. We are thanking for the Gospel. Please help Lauren to feel the Gospel when she is getting baptized. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

This boy makes me smile!

Lauren's Baptism

Lauren was baptized yesterday. It was a wonderful day. It was neat to see her countenance change instantly when she was baptized and she could not stop grinning ear to ear. She said she just felt so happy. We are grateful to have sweet Lauren in our family. She is a happy child and has been from the beginning. She is a wonderful daughter and sister and we are grateful for her choice to be baptized.

Her birthday was on Thursday....she is having a party next Friday with friends....more pics to come!

17 weeks to prepare.....

We are having another BOY!

I smiled...
Ladd was excited....
Lauren laughed.......
Miles giggled and giggled and giggled....
And Isabelle said "No, I am having a baby"

I am just grateful for the technology we have today to make sure this baby is healthy. I am grateful to know that he doesn't have any neural tube defects like Miles did. Not that I wouldn't love him any less, but it is nice to know ahead of time to prepare yourself mentally. I am grateful for the neurosurgeon who performed Miles surgery and that is has been a success so far...Although I still think he gave Miles superman powers when he did his surgery because nothing stops that boy.

Now I just need to prepare myself for non stop determination and energy....
for counter climbing at 9 months
for trying to climb the fridge at 10 months
for running and climbing on anything and not letting anything stop him....
for no fear in a child
for broken bones from jumping off things he shouldn't be
for a child that is full of life, love, and energy.

I use to say that I couldn't handle having a boy and Miles was every reason why I was afraid to have a boy. My friends would ask me how I do it with him everyday.

But this boy is the love and joy of my life. He is simply amazing. Nothing stops him. "no" is not a part of his vocabulary. And I am realizing that I don't have to prepare for another boy. I just enjoy them one day at a time and everything that comes with them. Life is more amazing with him, more adventurous, more real.

And besides that....their is something special about a boy and his mom....their love for each other is special and words do not describe it.

I am grateful that God is blessing me with another little boy!

Just some reminders for me of what is to come.....

I thought I would get a little break when he broke his leg and the Dr. said I would too...but he was up and running 2 hours after this cast was put on.....with his leg dragging behind him....

does this pic need any explaining?

2 year olds......

Isabelle is the cutest thing in the world...the things she says, her voice, how she says them and everything she does. I know I am her mom...but I just love this little girl!


What I opened up to when I heard the water running in the bathroom.....

These two are little buddies...it is a love hate relationship, here they are when they are in the "love" part of their relationship.


I made cookies with JUST Isabelle last week when Miles and Lauren were in school, we had lots of fun and she enjoyed having the beaters to herself :)

My thoughts...

Ok, they are someone elses, but I am thinking the same thing!!!

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

-William J. H. Boetcker

A week of pictures....

The Carvings



The Fairy Princess



The Hannah



The Love

The Bath

The Belly

The Magic Act

The Singing Act

THE END

I had a time out today.....

I had a wonderful day today! It started at 4 this morning and a 3 hr drive to Omaha, Nebraska with my sister-in-law Angi. We went to Time Out For Women, it is a wonderful conference put on by my church. Their are 7 "presenters", some sing and some give very uplifting talks! Over 1000 women attend and it is a great meeting of strength, hope and very uplifting.

It was amazing and I am so glad I had the opportunity to go!

I also had a blast from the past while there. I ran into a friend from high school who I havent seen since highschool and a friend, Heidi who use to live in Issaquah and moved to Omaha 2 years ago. It was great to visit her and talk about how much we miss and love the Issaquah 5th ward and all of our friends!

I am greatful for the spirit, closeness and love I felt from the Lord today and am greatful for the "recharge" I have been given!

Dinner!

What I made for dinner tonight!
It was absolutely delicious. Fresh green beans with onions and lots of garlic.
Who said sweet potatoes are only for Thanksgiving? I love this casserole and my kids do too. It has apples and onions and some spices. Yummy!
And organic brown rice with some salt. This is actually my kids favorite.
And our tummys were happy and full!

Watch out!

What happens when your 5 yr. old-absolute all boy and couldnt be anymore boy decides to pour his ball box over the balcony. I only wish you could have heard him laughing and giggling his head off!

What happens when all 3 kids want a piggy back ride upstairs to bed....

Ok, I think I have done my quota for posts for a few months :)

I am going to bed. Good night all!