Midway getaway

Spent the afternoon on labor day up in midway with the fam. 

Joe was working; couldn't pass up working a triple on holiday pay. He really does work so hard for our family.

It was THE MOST glorious day. Sunny, warm but not uncomfortable, and slightly breezy. 

We went for rides in el-jeepo with the top off, and laid out on blankets in the grass. Bike rides, and plasma car, and running after those crazies. 

So fun. 

Success

Im not saying transition has happened just yet, but little man slept in his bed last night! Aaaaand both kids slept til almost 8. The mattress was just on the floor because we didn't get to finish setting up the bed, but he only cried for 10 minutes before going to sleep.

Did I mention that the night before he climbed out of his crib in the middle of the night? So, pretty much I know how my kids work and what they're all about.

And ikea is my definition of a love/hate relationship. Ugh, that place is awesome, but really the worst. Trying to buy a lamp is a nightmare. And buying two is like pouring shards of glass in my eyes.

Happy Saturday!

more thanksgiving

found some more shots from our trip to ca for thanksgiving.

aquarium at legoland. enthralled.... not really. he had kind of had it by then!

found a great hiding place in the condo to play :)

mom took claire to legoland one of the days, and had a little face painting done! so fun

splash pads are so fun for her. she loves it!

driving school.... uh not really quite ready for this yet. but fun!

as close as we got to a santa this year.... i'll share more about that another time

feasting

turkey

cute face

and now hes driving a motorcycle. why are my kids growing up so fast?

thats more like it. a slide, just right for his age :)

im a little obsessed with how handsome i think chunkers is. 

big head

this is katelyn, one of my kids i babysit. shes a cutie for sure. we bonded great at first, went through a rough patch for a while, and now are on great terms again. we have an understanding now. shes close to bubba's height, but very petite, and extremely girly. 

her parents think she has a big head.... and one day they dropped her off wearing this. i didnt think it was that big until that day. 

visiting TEXAS

my mom has been awaiting grandkids for a while. claire and bubba kinda make her really happy. she wanted some one-on-one time with claire, so to texas she went! she flew out with my sister, and i went for a couple days and brought them home. 

we had a blast, every day we wore the kids out completely. although claire stayed true to form, and woke up sometime around 5am everyday. (she always does this when shes away from home. we cant figure out why.) i got some much needed mommy time, a few naps and sleep ins, and some play time with the doggies. (i really tried to bring one back.... i just couldnt carry a dog and a baby in my lap. next time?) sad joe had to work, but getting a ski day kinda made up for it, right? also, some nice warm weather was excellent for this popsicle. utah was kind and has been absolutely freezing since the moment we got back.

anyways, texas has lots and lots to do.... lots of parks and play areas, plenty of ways to wear out the kids :)

my kids are truly SPOILED by grammy, one day she took them to a rain forest cafe for lunch. claire barely had to ask for an elephant drink and she ordered one for each kid. bubba takes his drinks very, very seriously, and downed the entire thing.

typical, anytime we went anywhere.

master piano players and entertainers. they loved the piano, and practiced often.

a fun morning at a blow-up jump and slide place. neither kid wanted to leave!

i spotted a potbelly's not far from my parent's house and decided i had to grab some shakes and a sandwich for old time's sake. (we had one across the  street from us when we lived in dc. so yummy!) he liked his shake as much as i did! and wouldn't let go of it. like i said, takes drinking very seriously.

typical.

grammy's bed is ALWAYS the most comfy.

these poor doggies..... they are SO patient with my kids, even though its painfully obvious they don't want to be. they never once nipped or snapped at them. barked from a distance.... maybe. but never mean.

claire wanted to pick them up all the time, and they just didn't love it. but again, so patient with her. i am sure they are resting peacefully for the next week to recover. 

sharing with the doggies.

my mom has been waiting to bring the kids to this place for a while. LUPE's. or loopy's as she calls it. pretty decent mexcian food, and it has a pretty fun sand box outside for kiddos to play in. the chicklets loved it, naturally. and bubba loved the beans. 

my mom got what she always does- her new fave, fajitas. because the meat is soaked in tequila.wink, wink mom! we decided if we were alcohol drinkers my mom would be a margarita drinker. no question. 

thanks for the trip mother dear! i know the kids LOVED it, and miss you dearly. claire has been asking for you all day :)

Sigh.

I am right there with you little doggies. Headed back to Utah tomorrow. Going to be a long day, but we will for sure be excited to see daddy, who we missed dearly. Back to real life. Thanks for the vacay Grammy and grandpa! can't wait to see you closer to baby e's arrival! Got tons of photos coming, we've had a blast here in Texas, we will need to come back and really do some more discovering.

Hungry boy

Loooove the very hungry caterpillar. Bubba-love does too. And the doggies outside playing in two inches of snow.

that's right. Haters complained enough, and got some stinking snow. I was rather enjoying my balmy fifty degrees, no coats, windows down and sunshine,thankyouverymuch. I was starting to think it was April. I'll just keep de-junking anyways I guess. Not that anyone can tell....

Only child

I think bubba monster likes all the attention, with not having his sister around. And getting to play with whatever toy he wants. He's been going from toy to toy, thrilled that mama lets him play and doesn't try and take anything away. And he slept in, waaaaay past his normal wake up. But I think he misses his sister. Sorry for all the one-photo posts. Promise lots of good ones are forth coming. Mi madre has my memory card. I'll snatch it next week! Someone has to pick up Claire....

Missing

this little blondie. I heard she was in texas, with an aunt, grandparents, and two puppies. Anybody seen her?

just a few

we squeezed in a quick photo session with an old friend in CA over thanksgiving. we got there much later than anticipated, so lighting was kinda out the window, and the kids were a little stir crazy. which means, less than super stellar photos. but im glad we have them! the last group shots we did were after claire was born, and although the family continually changes, im way glad we got these in. finally seeing these pics after all the fam left after christmas festivities for the night (and being sad joe had to work) finished off a pretty wonderful day for me.

so much to be grateful for. i cannot even begin to list it all. its almost disgusting to think how much i have when so many don't have some of what i consider basics. i use an electric toothbrush to brush my teeth for crying out loud! i can straighten my already straight hair into something silky! i get to drive a car around, and park it in a garage and not scrape off ice. i can drink bottled water when i want. i can have diapers shipped to my front door. i can throw diapers away and not have to wash them! virtually any book i could ever want in my hands, as fast as i can think of them. i can talk to my mom 50 times in a day after pressing some buttons. food is so readily accessible, i dont even think about throwing away leftovers i might not eat. my clothes and dishes are washed AND dried for me. 

and on and on. i was thinking all this while i brushed my teeth, that lots of money was spent on to straighten. to STRAIGHTEN. (they werent even that bad to begin with.) and none of that even matters- i would give it up for my family. for my husband and kids. my wonderful parents, siblings, extended family, in-laws, any of them. for my constantly nudging baby GIRL in my tummy. 

and none of them would even mean that much to me if it werent for my Savior. no matter how much i would give up, it wouldnt amount to anything next to His sacrifice. 

and there i go crying.

perhaps i am not as stone-cold-hearted as it seems. 

welp. i love my husband. my family in its entirety. it was a christmas to remember, with some miracles mixed in. wouldnt be christmas without them, huh? 

one little miracle, and then good night: my parents drove here from houston, and got stuck in roswell, NM for 24 hours while they waited for the roads to become drive-able. my dad grew up in roswell, and went 55 years without a white christmas, and just happens to drive through it and get stuck there 2 days before christmas. how RANDOM is that? they dd make it late on christmas eve to provo, thank goodness! but really, of all the places?!?!?! just happy the made it safely :)

meet the asian

susan is a roomie from my freshman year in the dorms.

susan is a rock star for so many reasons. 

she is asian. 

she is the only member of our church in her family, and is such a good example.

she finished her nursing degree, after having a baby.

she has the fattest asian baby ever. (it takes everything i have not to eat her)

she has some sweet dance skills.

she likes HP more than i do.

she is kind, sweet, smart, funny, and lets me watch her fat baby.

i love staying connected with this girl. we see each other regularly. i watched her kid while she went to school. but we got the husbands to watch kids, went out to lunch and lost track of time talking. i love having a friend that i can do that with. in fact, i saw her three times that day, and we still had things to talk about. how? and how did we end up living just on other sides of the freeway, and we dont manage to see each other more?

and she is an incredibly good cook. legit asian food- i still drool thinking about her chow mein feasts she cooked up for us. and anything she bakes. i couldnt resist saying yes to some of her cookies last night, after we already went out and had ice cream.

gotta love a good friend. 

back it up.

turns out, i have been taking more pictures that i thought. 

we'll start with some of our CA trip. my family lived in ca for many years. we lived all over ca. and then we moved, and no one is there anymore. we went there for thanksgiving, with my family to warm up all the idaho and utah kids. joe had only ever flown through LAX, so this was especially exciting  we stayed in carlsbad, which is not one of the places we lived, but is still gorgeous. its close-ish to san diego, so lindsay, joe, marshall and i all went and did a session in the san diego temple, while my mom graciously babysat the kiddos.

i think i had just punched joe in the stomach. 

if you really know me, you know this was the temple i ALWAYS wanted to get married in. but being the easy going middle child, i graciously let my husband decide on the nauvoo temple. not a choice i regret, (it was a pretty perfect day) but i think he now finally understands WHY i always had that little desire. it. is. GORGEOUS.

 aw, sisters. 

thanksgiving meal. we managed to make the whole dinner in the little kitchen, including a turkey! and everything was delish. i took the picture- proof we were all there!

maybe i'll find some more pics another time.... i forgot i even had these!

HUGE thank you to my parents for putting us all up for the week. it was so fun to all be together, keeping the tradition of not having thanksgiving at home :) and especially for getting up and occupying kiddos so we could sleep. amazing.

we loved getting to see the beach, the awesome hot tub, legoland, gorgeous condo, and just hanging out together. such a rarity, and so wonderful. 

these pics are from today after church. i seriously LOVE my kids. i think they really are hilarious. im sure everyone thinks that about their kids, and its probably true, but i cant stop laughing at them constantly, even all through church....

 bubba-licious decided to finally start folding his arms for prayers today. we've been working on that one for a while, but he started doing it during prayers at church today, and claps for himself every time. so stinkin' cute! 

 sorry, but i really do think he is rather handsome. thanks husband, since he is your mini-me, it really is true!

and you can barely tell that claire has a mullet here! she really loves her bro.

my mom made her that adorable little dress. so sweet!

side note: claire started going to sunbeams in primary the last couple weeks.... hopefully she'll adjust because she still loves nursery so much! 

real pictures. what?

doing what i can to embrace fall. definitely some slacking, but i'm trying. the last monthish.  

 claire looking cute with her headband. headband lasted 2.9 seconds. we try. 

take that back. i try. she doesn't.

 model man. and screeching katelyn in the background. but cute bubbers.

 i live like 2.9 seconds from here. GORGEOUS this time of year. and this isn't even super pretty yet. (this was a couple weeks ago.)

 stink bug changed her mind about pictures.and headband.

shifting gears.

family time. thats all five sibs together. missed mom and dad! and happy bday sarah bear. FINALLY 18. that took forever. 

 shifting again.

hee haw farms. i gotta know- are all pumpkin patch/hay ride/corn mazes this ghetto? i was expecting a little more..... either way. both kids had a BLAST. like, giggling most of the time.

 as soon as claire saw this dumb animal train she wanted to skip the pony ride (which was LAME.) and hop into the pig asap. silly girl. joe got in on the action though, so that was kinda fun.

 probably her fave thing after the corn box.

 pig touching. can you spot my little blondie? that was fun for her too.

 corn box. i decided this should be what playgrounds have instead of sand or wood chips. i'm sure it was dirty, but way less dirty than sand and no splinters. no sand in the eyes. awesome.

 sweet hair dude. he was unsure at first, but got into it when he saw claire going to town.

we even did this twice the kids loved it so much.

good times for everyone! we even ran into some friends and picked out pumpkins with them. the kids were kinda done by then, and claire kept getting frustrated she couldn't carry any, but so fun anyways. yay for family time! 

and yay for non-phone or ipod pics! thats a miracle, huh?

back to the byu game. i should probably not watch those. they make me physically ill, i get that into them. probably send me into labor.