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 :)

I wish I could explain how happy my chicklets make me. I am bubbling over inside with happiness and joy thinking about what is coming their way tomorrow (my parents and their puppies) and the following days. I went shopping for the last time for a while- such relief to be done with that part. Snuggling, wrapping, baking and eating, and more snuggles starts now! A most merry Christmas to you and yours!

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. 

christmas spirit

this, lovely readers, is what christmas spirit looks like.

they were on a bit of a sugar high- making sugar cookies.

regardless, i hope to be this joyful with them for the rest of the year, and then forever. but at least through the new year.

so, you all have been warned: for the next three weeks, if you are not deliriously happy when you enter my home, you will be blasted with christmas spirit. if it fails to brighten your day, you will be asked to vacate the premises. because i will not have anyone ruining my fun with the children. 

thanks in advance. 

and thanks for stopping by linds. the kids sure do love you. 

(and everyone who comes to the door. they attack the door like puppies every. time. someone. knocks. it gets old after the first time they try to escape into the cold with no shoes on.)

almost done with christmas shopping. are you?

birthday girl

remember how it was the big girl's birthday, like a month and a half ago? oh yeah.....

claire loves being 3. pretty much the best thing ever. i had already planned on doughnuts for her birthday, and then lindsay showed up before work with the sweet UGE doughnut just for the girl. it was fitting, because we always got the UGE doughnuts from across the street when we lived in CA. she loved it, duh! everything that day was pink, balloons, cupcakes, decorations, so it was great. love this girl.

we also had a mommy-daughter date for some fro-yo, because thats what i was craving. she hated it until we got to the toppings, and she could pick what she wanted. so funny. she keeps me on my toes that one, pushing the limits. i can just imagine the fun, years from now. we'll just think about how much fun she is at the moment :)

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! 

funniest boy. ever.

failing

miserably. at

blogging

making dinner

keeping my house at least inhabitable

dishes

RS

getting out of sweats/pjs everyday

and so much more.

priorities. thats where i'm at. basics. its all i can handle.

but. i think my kids are mostly happy. i know they love each other, and they usually love me. 

and i am pretty sure hubs loves me. at least kinda. 

coming home from an amazing vacation with the family is so hard. back to schedules, jobs, reality. lets just all go back there and stay. please? a beautiful pool, the beach, great shopping, and oh yeah, we were all there together? eating meals together? that was really nice. we didnt even use the clean up crews or room service- wasnt necessary in the slightest. remember the uge hot tub we all fit in? that was heavenly. even though it was 'cold' in the 60's all week, i would take that over the temps here any day. every day. 

i havent seen my husband since sunday. i dont count sleeping. having spent endless hours in the car with him last week makes me miss him that much more. and reminds me why i cant get enough of him. we were planning on having all day tomorrow together, but we are already scheduled away til at least noon. argh. we've got eternity, right?

ive been somewhat of an emotional wreck the last, oh, three months at least. anything and everything. thanks baby! and life! i watch other people's kids. im happy to, really. hard, some days, absolutely. but also kinda easy? sometimes. after everyone is gone for the day, my kids seem like angels. they have their moments for sure, but they play remarkably well together, and make each other laugh over just about everything. i love them. they are a dynamic little duo. mischief makers in training.

oh so much more to blog. no more pictures because im lame. maybe soon. i hope i sleep tonight? i spent last night throwing up. i had nothing to throw up, so that was fun. i did lose 4 pounds, so hopefully doc next week won't flip out over the feast we had on thanksgiving? now how to keep that off....

and its still not decided on whether or not we are finding out baby's gender. it was supposed to be tomorrow, but we now have til friday. i may have to take my friend susan's advice and flip a coin. (don't worry, i am like 22 weeks or something. i'm awesome and on top of things :)

refusing

i refuse to be sick any longer. too much to do! my doc's nurse (im not her biggest fan at the moment) told me to call today if i was still sick. im ignoring that, and im done being sick. done. i win.

i would love to post pictures of claire's hack job on her hair, but, its a no go. too much to do! but head to lindsay's blog for some. she is mucho better at documenting than i am. i was too close to tears the whole time! i wish you all could take a peek at her room- the first thing you see straight ahead is a shrine, dedicated to the little miss. she sure does love that crazy bumkin. love ya linds!

i love my fam. what, five days til we are all reunited finally? so stinkin' excited!

i never thought i'd be this person, but we are on a strict schedule these days. i've always had a pretty set schedule for naps, eating, more naps, more eating, but kept it flexible, left it open for moody babies. i decided we will never function normally again with all the kids running around unless a set schedule happens. and so far, sweet success. bubba was ready for his nap promptly at 11:25, falling asleep in my lap. ahhhhhh its glorious. little to no crying from everyone. we'll keep this up.

the kiddos are bathing right now, and when caleb laughs, it is so funny. he laughs like an old man. chuckles, belly laughs, giggles, everything. i can't get over it. love him to pieces. now to go clean up some water!!!!

its late. this is life.

his hair was long. i thought it was so funny to put little piggies in, and he didnt care. i thought he looked like claire, so i left them in and he went to sleep with them.

and then i made joe cut it the next day. and almost cried. my baby is gone. just gone. now hes my little boy. 

kids are sick. i am sick. joe is sick of his back hurting.

i have babies and chicklets and kids running around my house most of the day, except for the now mandatory nap time/quiet time. i get to sit down, but constantly have to get back up.

i am pregnant, and while i may be snoring, i dont think i am actually sleeping. not a lot to be done about it at this point. i think i have what i call pregnancy induced sleep apnea. the circles are getting darker under my eyes, and i don't know what to do for energy since i ate all the kids halloween candy.

my doctors appointment today: doc walks in and started to get upset he hadnt seen me in ten weeks and hadnt had my ultrasound. then when he figured out the nurse screwed up big time, he had to do some educating on how to add 4 weeks to 14 weeks. it doesnt equal 24, i'll tell you that much. then we chatted about going to the beach.... can't wait! and finally told me he couldnt believe this was baby number three. he said i looked like i was 12. ummmmmm

again with my age. inconsistent on every side. no one in RS believed i was 23 on sunday during my lesson.they all thought i was older.

nope. 23. i'll be 24 by the time baby comes though..... so michelle duggar has me way past beat. 

the other ladies in my relief society presidency could either by my mom, or my grandma. HA.im not sure if this is worse than the young women possibly being my sisters.....

claire got her nursery leader fired on sunday....... for eating play doh. i tried to explain to her leader several months ago that she should just not play with it in nursery anymore.... and look where that got her. what do i need to do to be released???? (just kidding mom!)

by the way, i am severely failing at the whole relief society thing. big time. i don't know anything. my head is constantly spinning. and no one tells me things, or corrects me when i just start doing things, soooooo its been interesting. 

my little world is reallllly small. connections, friends, they are everywhere. especially in my ward. yikes.

i miss seeing my husband everyday. its a good thing we will have hour upon hour in the car together in just over a week. can't wait. babies have no idea whats going to hit them.

and with that, i will hopefully crash in bed, with tissues stuffed up my nose so the boogers don't drip down my face. i was doing good with getting a blog up every so often, and then blogger decided to stop working on the ipod, and i watch five kids plus my own, and i got pregnant and tired, and my husband keeps working, and i have to be nice to everyone at church, especially everyone because for some reason i agreed to it. 

by the way, this was not a complaint. one day i will look back and go- i had things sooooo easy. this is just what life is at the moment. yay for vacations!!!!