The Ocean

We have the worst luck with going to the ocean.  Whenever we go in the Spring, we always seem to hit really bad weather.  This time, it was FREEZING and WINDY.  We came prepared and made the best of it, but I think we were all relieved when we loaded up the car and headed home.

Jake flying his kite.

Here are Jake and Luke flying their kites.

Luke and his lovely "snail trails" ... You'll notice my fortress of solitude in the background.

The boys and the dog braving the water.

Poor Luke on our little walk.  Those light marking in the sand is actually sand being blown across the beach.  It hurt pretty bad when it hit you in the back of the leg.  Luke was whimpering at this point.

Little Noah, bundled up for his first beach trip.  He was having none of it.

Me and my honey.

All of us...with Noah under the blanket.

Bedtime Stories

Almost every night the boys BEG for a bedtime story.  Since Joe's been in school and gone a few nights a week, it's a rare treat to have Dad read to them.  Tonight it was even better, because they were able to "camp out" in their shark tent.

Boys and the Mud

Have you ever noticed how much fun kids have in mud.  We had a couple of days where the temperature was in the 70's and Jake was sure that he was going to melt.  So, I let them make a "pool" and this is what happened.

Going Private.

I'm following in the footsteps of quite a few people we know and setting our blog to private. I was really hoping to avoid this, but I have too many people we don't know accessing it. I try to be careful and not put too much personal information on it, but it only takes one slip up. I also post pictures of our kids and a lot of my nieces and nephews, and I don't want to just put other parents' kids out there. So, if you would like to still access our blog send me your email if we don't already have it.

My Morning...

My day began at 4 am with Noah.
He wasn't crying or hungry, just fidgety. However, since Joe had school today, I got Noah and took him into the living room. Right now, we don't have TV, because I don't want to pay for it and it just takes up too much time, but this morning I really wished we had it. I grabbed the laptop and pulled up some design show to occupy my time while waited for Noah to fall back to sleep.

Jacob woke up at 6 am and began talking my ear off.
I had to inform him that Mom doesn't talk this early in the morning.

I made it back to bed at 6:30,
reached over Joe and and discovered Luke in our bed and he had an accident

...AWESOME...

I was just glad that it was on Joe's side. Joe took him to the bathroom and changed him.
In the mean time, I had a giggle attack and couldn't stop.

Some time between 6:45 and 7:00
I fell asleep,
only to hear the

alarm go off at 7:10
to get Joe up for school.

I fell asleep again...
Noah was back up at 8.

After all that all I can do is laugh and think that I am so grateful for mornings like these, even though I don't care to repeat them often. I am happy to be a mom and a wife and know that one day I will long to have these mornings back.

They Will Kill Me When They're Older...

Need I say more?

Noah's Blessing

Noah was blessed on March 7th.  I don't remember picking a Sunday to bless the other two boys to be such an ordeal.  We had to work around, my Mom's work schedule, then Conference, then when my brother and his wife were going to bless their baby.  March 7th seemed perfect, because there were 2 other babies in our ward born within a week of Noah and they had not made it back to church yet so I thought that we were clear.  I was wrong.  We got to church and there was around 300 people there that day.  Our ward meets in the small chapel, just to let you know.  There was 3 blessings that day.  One baby was born in January and the other baby was born sometime in the fall.  It was soooo hot in the chapel.  Here's to planning!

Resourceful?

My kids make toys out of EVERYTHING! If you didn't know any better you would wonder if we bought them toys at all. I assure you they have TONS of regular toys, but sometimes they just aren't good enough.

In the top picture Luke make a dress out of tissue paper. Now, he doesn't have any dresses, just to clear that up, but for some reason he is a fan of "fancy dresses". We hope the stage passes soon.

The bottom picture is of the boys racing horses and having a rodeo. Jake started moving his chair forward, then pretty soon they both started moving their "horses" around the kitchen.

A Day at the Zoo

On Monday the 1st, it was a beautiful, sunny day after a bunch of rain and Joe didn't have much school work, so we kept Jake out of school and headed down to the Sacramento Zoo. You're probably wondering why we did this and the answer is, we were supposed to go to the zoo the day I had Noah and poor Luke hasn't forgotten. Every weekend after that Joe has been too busy with school or it has been raining. Today was PERFECT and Jake didn't mind missing a day of school.

Noah enjoying his first trip to the zoo.



Jake at the giraffe exhibit.


Luke at the flamingos.


Joe and the boys "racing" animal statues.

My Surprise From Joe

The week after I had Noah, Joe called me and asked if I could be dressed and ready to leave the house around 1. I was a little irritated since Noah wasn't sleeping well and I really didn't want to go anywhere, but I got ready anyways. Then we all loaded up in the van, so I thought that we were going to the park with the boys. Then Joe pulled in front of a laundromat, and all I could think was, "why are we here?" He hopped out and I stayed in the car, then he motioned for me to get out and we walked in to a nail salon (right next to the laundromat). Joe had set up and manicure/pedicure for me. I was completely surprised and very happy. It was so nice to have some pampering and I hadn't done anything like that in about 7 years. Later that night Jacob and Luke were staying the night at their aunt and uncle's house, so Joe set up a dinner date. On the way to the restaurant we detoured to Sam and Olivia's, because Joe had asked them to take Noah for a couple of hours, so we could dine kid free! As you can see he was full of surprises.

Noah's First Bath

At 2 weeks Noah was ready for his first full bath. So, we got Jake and Luke to bed and gave Noah his first bath. I think he liked it, as far as you can tell from an infant. My main clue was, he wasn't crying.

Noah has Arrived

(Jacob drew the heart for us)

Noah Edwin was born on February 6th at 10:39pm. He was almost a week late, and born the day before his induction date just like his brothers. I don't think I will ever have a baby on time...EVER! We were expecting a good sized baby at least in the 8 pound range. However, Noah must not have been getting enough to eat and weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. He has since then made up for what he lacked while I was carrying him and has gained a pound a week since being born. We are so happy to have him it was quite a wait for us and we're just grateful to add another BOY to our home.



Here I am right before having Noah. Thank goodness for epidurals! When I had Jake I decided to call them Happydurals. They are soooooo worth it. Look at me, I'm smiling through the whole painful experience. Noah joined us about 5 minutes later.

New Years

I know that this is incredibly late, but better late than never! For New Years Eve we usually go over to Sam and Olivia's to celebrate and this year was no exception. We enjoy playing the Wii, visiting and eating tons of good food. Here are some pictures from the night.



Joe and our brother in law, Jesse, sword fighting on the Wii. Look at those faces!



Jacob was the sword fighting champion. He even whopped up on many of the adults. Jesse was the victim here.



I do not LOVE video games, and while I do like Wii, at 8 months pregnant I opted out of playing this year and just enjoyed watching. Here is me with Veronica.



Here are Gary, Leah, Olivia and Rachel visiting and laughing which is normal and how we like it.