Chlobug

I am LOVING this little girl and her smiles. I love my boys, but there is something very special about a daughter and I am seeing it more and more everyday. From her constant neediness, cheeriness, squeals, growls, giggles, and her cute tongue that she constantly sticks out.
I just had to follow her around the house the other day and get some pictures of her cuteness.

Megan's Weekend

We got to steal Megan away from her family for 2 days and it was so fun. The boys LOVED LOVED LOVED having her as did Chloe, Seth and I.
We started our visit Friday morning by going to Seth's parent's house. Megan helped me watch the kids and clean. She was so great.

After a not-so-fun start we had to up our game and packed the rest of the day full with swimming and biking/roller blading around the lake.
Saturday morning was crazy. I had to help out with our stake scout camp. I was released about a month or so ago, but they still needed help to finish. So I had to be there from 8-8:30 for teaching the opening song, the from 11-1 for making the lunch for all the leaders and passing out Popsicles to the boys who had passed off their 10 commandments. Then back again at 2:30 for the closing song.....I was so lucky to have Megan who took great care of the kids while I was running around crazy.
So after another not-so-fun start to the day we had to make it up to her and the kids...so off to the movies we went. We went and saw Cars 2. It was so good. We loved it, as did Megan.

After the movie we got some pizzas and had a pizza party to finish off the night.

Late Saturday night I got a call to see if I could teach Sam's primary class. So Megan and I got to it. We had a great time. She was a great help and taught the kids a lot.
Her family came and picked her up Sunday afternoon so we had a fun BBQ and all us girls got the itch to paint us some fun toe nails for the 4th. Joy is so great and always paints my toes for me because I stink at it and because she is just such a great sister!

We had so much fun having her and can't wait until we can steal her again! :)

Hand Slaps

Seth has done this with each our our kids and they have each loved it. And now with it being Chloe's turn we just had to capture it. I just love her little giggles. She will even crawl over to the couch, climb up and start doing it next to Seth.

Swim Lessons

We finally paid for our first activity for our boys. Let's just say that it's a good thing they are out of diapers, because that's where the money is going now, and I must say, I would much rather pay for swimming lessons than poop! :)
The boys did great. We went with a program that comes to our pool so that they can learn the safety of their surroundings where they swim.
We really loved our teacher, Kristen. At first I wasn't sure if it was worth it...the cold days, the packing everyone up, the holding Chloe through it all or trying to find a babysitter...but about the 5th lesson it seemed that everything started to click for the boys. Sam is getting so close to being able to swim. He works so hard but is just under the water.
James is my little anchor! :) He loved the lessons just as much but you can really see the age difference when they are in the water.

father's day 2011

There is one bonus to the fact that I have to get us with a baby around 5 a.m. and that is that if I want to get anything done before everyone wakes up I can. And today that something I wanted to get done was a proper dad's day for my favorite dad.
I got up with all the kids and told them that we were having a surprise for Dad. Sam said we should hide and yell surprise when Dad came down the stairs. So we sent James up to wake him up with strict instructions to just say, "come downstairs."
Well, come to find out he said, "Happy Father's Day. Can I have a donut?" Cute, I know. If anyone knows us well, they know that we LOVE Dunford Donuts. So I paid a secret visit to their bakery and picked up our favorites for our favorite Dad.
So Seth, with a inside tip, knew what was up. He came downstairs and we all jumped up and yelled surprise. It was a lot of fun. We quickly dug into the donut tower and presents.

Seth finally got all the proper tools to go along with our new grill we inherited. He is an amazing griller and now he can even take his skills to the next level with his new "toys".



We had a nice relaxing day of church and then a family nap. After a great nap we headed down to Joy's for a dinner for my dad. It was fun to just hang out, eat great food, and have some laughs.
I am so grateful that I was raised by such an amazing Dad who diligently worked to provide for my temporal and spiritual needs. He was a constant example of all that is good....
And to top it all off, I am glad that I am married to someone who is just as diligent and hard working, who loves me and my kids so much.

Our Newest Hockey Club Member

Chloe is now big and loving going to Dad's hockey games just as much as her brothers. I just can't believe that she is old enough to be crawling around and playing with the big kids.
Sam and James played their favorite game of turning around their sweatshirts and running around with their hoods on their faces! James also got really into pushing Chloe around in the stroller. I loved it. All I had to do was walk!

Safety and Protection

Seth and I take praying for our safety and protection very seriously. It seems that that phrase is a bit redundant in prayers, but I have come to have a major testimony of it.
Last fall I packed up my-now 3 kids-in the car and took off to run an errand. On the way I rear-ended someone. No one was hurt thankfully and it was a "minor" accident, but afterwards I realized, while having a conversation with Seth, that we had not prayed for safety in our daily activities that morning.
Since that incident my testimony has grown.
Well, today I received another blessing of safety and protection...
I consider myself a good mother who keeps her kid's welfare at the top of her priorities. With that said...
Today on my walk I had James and Chloe in the stroller and Sam was riding his bike. We have started walking over the bridges and around the lake. Sam has done very well on his bike and I have tried to teach him bike safety with all the hills and edges that we use.
His bike is great, but lately the chain has been falling off from time to time. I never considered it to be a safety issue, just a huge inconvenience.
Well, today while crossing the bridge we ran into Sister T, a great lady in our ward who loves my boys. I stopped to say hi to her and meet her husband. While doing that Sam got away from me. I told him to stop and say, "hi". He was going pretty fast and tried to brake just as he was going off the bump at the end of the bridge. I saw his chain come off and my heart dropped. I was so scared. He was headed down the huge, steep, winedy hill that is encompassed by a huge rock wall and turns out to a almost direct shot to the lake.
I yelled, wedged the stroller in the wall and started running faster than I have ever run before in my life. I was so scared. I could only think of the worst things that could possibly happen to my little boy. It was amazing to me that so much could run through my mind in mere seconds.
It was one of the worst feelings I have ever felt in my life as I kept watching my child go faster and faster and finally disappear as I tried with no luck to catch up.
Then it happened. I could see him again and Sam, who was doing amazingly well, steering, staying on his bike, and keeping his cool, crashed into the one perfect spot that would help to protect him from the rock wall and the lake. He hit the railing post straight on and as he fell to the ground I was able to be there to grab him and comfort him. The poor boy was so scared and not quite sure what had happened.
He had smashed his bell and reflector to pieces, and I was happy to sacrifice those for a safe child.
I was SOOOO grateful for the safety and protection that my family is blessed with everyday. I know I don't even know about all the times that my Heavenly Father sends help and guides us to keep us safe, but when times like this occur they are all brought to mind.
I am grateful that when I needed to learn a lesson (a bike needs to be PERFECTLY working to be safe) that the Lord had placed so many things just where they needed to be to make us safe. I had a wonderful neighbor there to take my other children and help talk to us and make sure we were okay when it was all over. There was 1, yes 1, post just in the right spot to stop my son from huge injury on sharp rocks and a cold, deep lake. And I have been working out recently which allowed me to be able to just take off and have the physical strength to rescue my son.
After it was all over we were able to piece back together his bell and walk home calmly. Sweet Sam said to me, "Mom, I don't know what's going on with my crazy bike!" I chuckled and couldn't have agreed more. What a sweetie.
Needless to say, bike expert Grandpa T will be coming over tomorrow morning to fix his bike.

Clean!

It was way over due, but we finally got to it. We had our carpets cleaned and wow! does it look and feel great. Even if you can't see the difference that much, you sure can feel it!
The kids loved having all the furniture up and out. Our house felt so much bigger!


I was amazed at how much we were able to squeeze into our kitchen and still keep paths to the pantry, garage, and fridge.

When putting the furniture back I decided to try a different configuration. It was fun to move things around and play a bit. Out room seems so much bigger now with how we have arranged things. The couch is a little too long for the far wall, but I will either live with it, or contemplate making the wall a little longer....so I guess it will just live with it! :)

We have been doing so many projects around the house. I guess what they say, about 5 years and it's time to go through and really clean and fix.

Bear Lake and Twin Falls

We got away for a week and it was SOOOOO nice. It was been another busy year (I think this is the new trend for growing family!). We are so grateful that we can always pack up and go to Bear Lake and get away from everything.
We just chill and lounge around. It is fun to not have an agenda, chores, or tasks to do. I even got a break from doing all the cooking. Seth is becoming quite the Grill Master, and just in time since we just inherited one. We ate well this trip. it was so nice to eat BBQ. It always cheers me up
I think the kids love the vacations too. It's fun for them to just play together and with their parents without having to worry about anything else. Chloe was s hoot. She is really developing her own little personality and we love it.


One of Sam and James' favorites to do at the bear lake house is to have long bubble baths. They love to stay in and play and splash and finally get out when their hands are totally wrinkly.

Seth taught the boys a new trick. They love doing down the bar slide, whether it be on the legs or arms they think they are pretty big. I love Sam's face in this picture. It is classic.


As a result of their new found fun on the bar slide, James is down one half tooth. The boys came back from the park not even knowing he had done it. It doesn't really hurt him. He just thinks he's pretty cool.

Parks involve a lot of swinging. Especially when you have a great dad who gives the best under-dogs ever!


On the way back from the park we decided to walk down to the lake. Sam was determined to go swimming and exclaimed that he couldn't do that with his clothes on, so we stripped him to his whitie-tighties and let him wade. It didn't last long, actually to say that is an over statement. He wanted to get dressed again, and in a hurry. It was freezing...especially when you are a little rail like Sam.

After a great time at bear lake we headed up to Twin Falls. On the way we stopped at my brother Matt's house. His wife just had their baby and we got to go visit on the way up (and the way back). She is SUCH a little cutie.


We went with Seth's family to Twin Falls where Seth's Aunt Betsy was going through the temple for the first time. It was a very fun trip and nice to be with family. I probably would have enjoyed it so much more if I hadn't been attacked by major allergies. I felt them coming on in Bear Lake, but I had no idea that they would over power me like they did. Thankfully my doctor, Dr. C was there to save the day (again)! :)
Our hotel was great. The rooms were great. They even had a recliner in them which was great for me with Chloe. They boys love going to hotels now. To them it means eating a lot of chicken nuggets, fun breakfast, and lots of swimming.
It was quite the experience having all the kids in one room, but we did pretty well. Chloe was great. She is the funniest little sleeper. I just had to get a picture of her sprawled out with her foot out of her jammies. She always manages to find a way to get her foot/feet out. She woke up once totally mad because she had managed to get her foot out of a space over her stomach and she was stuck!

Sam wanted to give James a run for his money in the injury department. He was running around the pool, slipped, and hit his head on the metal handle rails. Our poor kids looked pretty beat up after this trip.

We took Chloe swimming for the first time. It was so fun to get her in a chute little girl's swim suit. She is already following after her brothers. She is a major water bug.



Speaking of water bugs...we were the firsts ones to arrive at the hotel, so we took the boys to the pool. I had forgotten their floaties, so they were coming with Grandma. The door to the pool was open and Sam ran right in and jumped in the hot tub. I of course then jumped right in after him, fully dressed. I guess that's what you do as a mom. You react however is best to take care of your kids.
Before leaving we got the family together for a picnic at the Shoshone Falls park. It was beautiful.

Shoshone Falls is beautiful. Water is so beautiful, powerful, peaceful, and scary at the same time. It was amazing to me how calm the Snake River is right above the falls and how vicious the water looks as it tries to race down the falls.

While there we passed a group we had no idea existed. Apparently there are even "bikers for Christ"! :) I guess if you're going to have a cause....

Proud Father

A few weeks ago the boys got into X-men with Seth and boy was that ever a proud day for their father. They can't wait until dad gets home from work so that they can watch the old-school cartoons with him. Then they have to name all the characters during the credits and when it is all over they run downstairs to get the action figures to play with.
Believe it or not, Seth didn't have all of the figures, so we had to get them. The boys get so excited when a package comes so they can open it with Dad and see what new ones they got. They love Wolverine a lot, but Sam's favorites are Storm and Beast, and James' is Commando, a no-body, but he does shoot a bullet. :)
I just can't believe it. Out of all the things that Seth is into (Star Wars, GI Joes...), they love X-men the best!