So behind...

I'm so behind on updating my blog, I'm sure many of you stopped checking it! October was crazy with a lot of eventful, happy experiences. First, we went to AZ for Jeff's baby brother's wedding. Trevor and Ashley are such a great pair. It is fun to have another awesome sister-in-law. Their wedding was gorgeous and I love the sash on her wedding dress! It was a quick trip as we had to get home to close on our house. We thought we'd be able to close before our trip to AZ, but that didn't happen. We got home from AZ Sunday night with high hopes that we'd be able to close the next day. Finally, Monday afternoon, we closed. The seller/builder surprised us by giving us the keys before it funded. So, Jeff and I left the title company and went and got a U-Haul. We couldn't get out of that apartment fast enough. Anyways, moving was a huge process! But, we did it!

Then, Oct. 29th (a week and a half after moving in), Tanner had to go in for his surgery. It all went well, but it still was a worry. The biopsy came back just fine. So, we were thankful for that. His recovery went surprisingly well. He goes back for a follow-up appointment Dec. 2nd. At that time, the plastic surgeon, will plan out his next surgery. We are hoping to get his next surgery in before the baby comes. But, we'll see. You can see his nice scar--this is what it looked like when we got home from the hospital. It looks much better now and it has healed very nicely. It was a little stressful at first to try to keep a busy, clumsy, almost 2 year old from touching it, poking it, falling on it, etc. But, it all worked out okay.

Lastly, we topped October off with Halloween fun. Braeden and Carter wanted to be cowboys. And, Tanner was a lion, sort of. He really didn't want to have much to do with his costume. He wouldn't even let us put on the top part of his costume. He wasn't all that thrilled with trick-or-treating either. I think he was still a little tired from surgery. So, you can't blame him. He was happy to help partake of the candy though. Braeden and Carter had a blast. Carter got to dress up for Pre-School. Braeden's school doesn't allow Halloween costumes. What PARTY POOPERS! I'm sorry to all the teachers that have to deal with the huge distraction--really I am. But, honestly dressing up in my Halloween costume for school was the funnest day of the year. Bummer! Oh well, Braeden still had a fun Halloween.

November is flying by. I'll get another update in here soon. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I am making a ton of rolls. I hope they turn out perfect. I think that rolls are the crowning jewel of a nice Thanksgiving dinner. My grandma always made the best rolls ever! I mean the best. I have experience Lion House rolls and other yummy rolls, but still have yet to taste on as good as my Grandmas! I hope to someday--after years of practice--be known as a great roll maker too. I'll get lots of practice this year as I'll be making over 100 rolls for Thanksgiving. Wish me luck!

I'm such a boy mom!

It's
a
BOY!

We just found out this morning. We were grateful to see a healthy looking little guy. We just told his brothers, and Braeden and Carter were so excited--Tanner doesn't have a clue what's going on. Boy #4 is due in March. Now we've got to figure out a fourth boy name. They'll be no shopping on the other side of the store for us. I hope he likes hand-me-downs!

Happy!

I'm so happy to say that they are installing our kitchen appliances today! Our house is almost done. We have our final walk-through one week from today!

I really couldn't think of any cute or clever way to say this, but our family has some exciting news!
We are expecting our 4th child March 13th. I went to the doctor yesterday and they found a fast, little heartbeat. We find out what we're having October 12th. We are waiting until then to tell our boys, so if you see them, don't mention it to them. It's hard to believe we'll have 4 kids.

Also, Tanner's surgery is scheduled for October 29th. The good new is that it ends up that this will be an out-patient procedure. The bad news is that it will take many surgeries (at least 3-4) to fully remove the mole and repair the area.

We close on our house October 7th! We are soooo extremely excited.

Poor little kitties

We went to our new house on Saturday so I could see the cabinets that were just installed (love them by the way). Anyways, to make a long story short, I observed a lady dumping a tote full of kittens. We got her license plate info and even a few pictures to document this disturbing crime. She will now be heading to court, facing a misdemeanor on her record, and a fine of some sorts. We spent nearly an hour trying to recover the kittens. Sadly, we were only able to find one. The rest don't have great chances as she dropped them off in our subdivision which currently has no occupants and there are no houses real close. It's no secret that I'm not into cats at all, but that was so mean. Braeden named the cat Garfield and I hope animal rescue finds him a good home.

Last week on Saturday, the lady that works in the model home observed another crime--an R-rated crime I might add. Let's just say that a middle aged married couple will be facing a charge of public nudity. This happened early Saturday afternoon last week--about the same time of day as the kitty incident in the same exact spot--right in front of our driveway on our dead end street.

I hope we're not moving into a heavy crime area!

School Boy

Braeden has his real first day of school this past Monday. So, he has successfully made it through his first week of school. He loves it. He's gotten into his routine pretty good. We have him take a shower every morning right when he wakes up. It seems to wake him up as he is NOT a morning person. I think he really likes feeling a little bit like a grown-up taking a shower all by himself. He is always concerned with how he looks. He wants to make sure he's always got his white undershirt on (just like dad). I like the layered look anyways, so it's all good. We had a few conflicts over his hair at first. He wanted it flat (just like dad) and I wanted it spikey. He has now realized that his mother is going to do his hair spikey. He is trying to be such a big boy--he even wanted deoderant today.

He has quite a bit of homework for a kindergartener in my opinion. He usually comes home with a worksheet that has been taking about 20-25 minutes to complete. Then he has a workbook that he can do at his own pace--we usually try to do about 4 pages a day. Then, their school wide program encourages 20 minutes of reading every day. This keeps me busy as he needs assistance with all of it. It's really good though.

I got to go be the parent volunteer in his class for about 45 minutes today. I worked it out to switch off every other week with another mom. We also switch off our kids on the off week. So, it works out perfect. I loved being in his classroom. I helped the kids pass off their homework workbooks and pack up their back packs. Braeden thought it was so cool that I was there. I am very impressed with his teacher and his school. We are so lucky. This school is almost like some charter schools in the sense that there is a high expectation that parents get involved and help out. I think that's so important. So, I hope to do as much as I can. We also decided to enroll him in the Spanish class that is taught right before school starts. It starts a week from Monday. It might be a little crazy trying to get out of the house even earlier, but when we move into our new house it will work out perfect because Jeff can just drop Braeden off at school on his way to work saving me a trip in the morning. Braeden really wanted to do it when he heard they were doing crafts, games, and a pinata! We think that he could learn pretty quickly right now. His pre-school teacher last year called him Webster one time because of his ability to remember and use big words (and provide the whole class with the definition). So, we'll see how that goes.

House Picture

I am anxiously awaiting a call from the builder. We should be getting our 30 day notice today if all goes well. It looks like we should be closing right after Gen. Conference which should work out well. They are putting cabinets in today! I can't wait to go see them tonight. I hope I like how they look. They are mostly done with the exterior; they just need to put up the shutters. Jeff pretty much picked the color for the exterior. I initially wanted more of a sage green and he thought that would look too feminine. He really wanted a darker green. We drove through neighborhoods looking at green houses (hard to find amidst all the tan houses here). We found a green house that we liked that our builder built a few years ago. They were able to look up the green they used and we just had them take it a shade or two lighter. I admitted to Jeff last night that I like our dark green better than the sage green I wanted. So, I was glad we went with his first pick instead of mine. Now when people ask which house is ours, it's nice to just be able to say the green house.

Try to look cute!

We went to Idaho last weekend. Braeden got a hold of our camera and instructed Jeff and I to pose for a "cute picture". He explained to us just how he wanted us to pose and told us we had to look cute. He showed how he wanted Jeff to put his arm around me. What a character. Here are some of the pictures he took.

Party's Over

We just wrapped up our third day of celebrating Jeff's birthday! We went to Chili's last night to celebrate on his actual birthday. Then we went to our house to check on the progress. They had done a lot of the finish work. All the moldings around the doors and windows are in and all the wonderful closet shelves are in! The interior railings are supposed to go in today which will be great because it's pretty dangerous for the kids there until those are in. We have a loft area upstairs that overlooks the staircase so it's a big random drop off. I can't wait to see the progress tonight. They are almost done with the exterior work, then we'll post a picture that will really show what our finished product will look like on the exterior. Then we went out to get get our taxes from a guy that was reviewing them for us. I guess that wasn't so fun. TAXES depress us!

Saturday we went to a waterpark for Jeff's birthday. We actually just let the kids think that Saturday was his actual birthday. By the time we got home and had his birthday dinner...french toast with strawberries and whipped cream (one of his favorites) and bacon, it was too late to do cake and ice cream. So, we extended that part of the celebration to Sunday.

The boys love all the birthday excitement--especially Braeden. He just loves to plan everything and help buy the party supplies. He is always so insistent that we have party hats and horns. I HATE party horns! Ugh! Oh well. He loves planning birthday parties. He has his birthday parties all planned out for the next 95 years I think--his six year old party he wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for a friend party--I think the next year he wants to go bowling. The other day he even brought up the fact that he wanted to go to McDonalds for his 100th birthday and get 100 cheeseburgers. What a character.

I hope Jeff had a good time celebrating his birthday! He deserves it. I hope he's prepared for the super huge celebration we're going to have next year for his big birthday! Everybody mark August 25, 2010 on your calenders now!!!

Summer fun coming to an end!

The first day of school was yesterday (more about that later as soon as I download pictures) so I guess that means that summer is basically over. I think I'm okay with that. I'm ready for a little more structure. Plus, that means we're that much closer to moving into our house.

Clarification

Okay, I think it was kind of confusing about Tanner's surgeries. The picture of him at the hospital was from his ear tub/tongue clipping surgeries. That was back in June and I am finally posting pictures. We still have to go in for a consultation on the plastic surgery. Sorry, I made that kind of confusing.

By the way, I forgot some other exciting news. Okay, well 99% of you may not find it all that exciting, but to Jeff and I it is absolutely thrilling. CARTER is POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, we just have one kiddo in diapers. Happy day!

As promised

Finally I have posted some pictures from our summer. It's been such a good, crazy, busy summer. It's hard to believe that school starts in a week and a half. This summer flew by; I can't believe it's already halfway through August. We hope that all our friends and family are doing well. Leave us a comment on one of our many new posts to let us know you dropped by!

Favorites from the Summer of '09

Dinner date without the kids and with great friends.
Boys loving the construction trucks.
Homemade ice cream which Tanner thoroughly enjoyed.
The boys with their old man on Father's Day.
The bike ramp that provided hours and hours of fun.
Fun to sit on as well.
Tanner's favorite toy: loves the "mow lawner" as Braeden calls it.

Tanner's surgery

Ignore the hideous outfit they made Tanner wear for his surgery. Can you believe the poor kid was stuck wearing that ridiculous outfit at a time like that? He seems pretty happy--it's nice that he's too young to know what's coming.

Home Depot Builders

Braeden and Carter had fun at the Home Depot kids workshop with daddy on the fourth of July. They each built a little tray carrier thingy. They did a good job and it was cool to see how proud they each were of their creation. I love the little aprons. Man these guys love hammers. They love visiting our construction site.

Carter and his best buddy

Carter loves his buddy James. They had fun at the city pool together.

Summer Fun!

These guys can't wait to have a backyard again so they can have fun like this all the time!

Big Sky Country

Back in July, we went to Montana up to Jeff's Aunt Edith's ranch. She lives in a very secluded area (how they function without a Wal-Mart, Costco, or SuperTarget is beyond me), but it is absolutely gorgeous too. Here are some pictures from our trip. Here we are at the lake on Aunt Edith's property. They have over 2,000 acres and have their very own lake on their property (at least when there's not a drought).
Tanner was in heaven playing in the sandy mud.
Carter loved it too!
Braeden loved it too--at least during all the fun. He, and the other kids that went a little further out in the lake, got attacked by some itty bitty little bugs. He was very itchy all over afterwards. Benadryl and Cortisone cream seemed to fix the itch.
Aunt Diane has kept amazing records of each and every reunion this family has ever held. Part of her tradition is getting a family picture of everyone each time.
Everyone loves the four-wheelers! So fun!
Braeden enjoyed a long horseback ride with Daddy and all the cowboy cousins (I think Jeff was one of the only Wrangler-free people there). Funny thing happened during this ride, Braeden took a break to relieve himself in a way that any cowboy would--out in the open. The farm dog, Draego, came up behind Braeden while he was peeing (sorry for the graphic nature of this story) and licked his bum. Jeff said that the look on Braeden's face was worth a million dollars. We wished we had it on video because we're conviced we could have won some cold-hard cash on America's Funniest Home Videos.
Here's Jeff's dad, Rodney with 4 out of his 5 siblings. Jeff's Uncle Gary died of cancer a few years ago, but all living siblings were there. From left to right is Rodney (AKA "Grandpa Scallywag"), Aunt Judy, Aunt Edith, Uncle Terry, and Uncle Daryl.

Plastic Surgery for this perfect looking little guy?

He doesn't need botox, a facelift, or a new nose (we like his button nose just the way it is). Unfortunately, it's looking like he will need to have his mole removed sooner that we thought. Most people think this mole is actually a birthmark. He went to the dermatologist for his bi-annual check-up and the doctor thought it was time to meet with a pediatric plastic surgeon to determine a course of action to have it removed. We presume that this is going to be a fairly involved surgery or surgeries as the mole goes well onto his ear. We go a week from this Weds., so we'll post an update after his appointment sometime. It's a little scary to think about. We hope he can get it removed and that they can reconstruct his ear so that no one will ever even notice. It is better to have it removed as it has a high probability of turning cancerous.

I love what you do for me!

Do you remember those old Toyota commercials that ask where were you when your Toyota hit the 100,000 mileage mark or the 200,000 mileage mark. Well, on Tuesday I was driving home from the old neighborhood where I went running with a friend and our Toyota Camry hit 200,000 miles! You gotta love a good reliable car that will run and run for your for 200,000 miles without a major problem. This car's been with us for some of our biggest events, driving off from the temple after we got married and bringing three little babies home from the hospital. I hope we make it to 300,000 miles with this gem.

Side Note: This car does not qualify for the Cash for Clunkers program. Don't even get me started on that. I just don't understand how a program intending to help the environment and economy will allow for people to get a Toyota Tundra (Jeff's dream truck) because it is an improvement of a few miles per gallon from the "clunker" they turned in. Do you know what kind of gas mileage a vehicle like that gets? I do see that there have been some benefits to this program, but I feel bad for the used car dealerships and charities which accepted old cars that are suffering. Not to mention that I found it a little weird that only 2-3 out of the top 10 cars being traded in this program are American-made cars. Sorry, just had to vent. Don't even get me started on HEALTHCARE REFORM, I might explode! We saw on the news this morning that Pres. Obama is heading to Montana and Colorado for "town-hall" meetings. Hmmm...I saw a few clips from his meeting a few days ago in which every person there was a huge Obama supporter and huge supporter of this Ka-Trillion Zillion dollar piece of legislation. That's really productive to have all these people come to show America that really everyone is in favor of such reform. This was total unrepresentative of the over-all population and sad that those opposing Obama's plan were not allowed in. I know that it would be difficult for Pres. Obama to have all the answers to their difficult questions immediately pull up on his beloved telepromter (that he can't seem to speak without). Well, I guess if he doesn't have an answer to someone's difficult question, he could just call the hotline that the Whitehouse set up. It would be awesome if he could do this right in the middle of a cancer-survivor's question like a Congresswoman did yesterday in Texas (I think it was TX, I could be wrong and I can't remember her name, but I've seen the clip 4-5 times now and it was UNREAL that she would just get on her cell phone right in the middle of this lady's question). Anyways, I guess I should stop going off on this now. And, I was half serious when I told JP that we should head to Montana or Colorado (both great states to visit) today to get to one of these town hall meetings where I'd love a chance to express how I feel. I just wish we could all get the chance to VOTE on this. I don't think we can trust our elected representatives on this one--the majority of them admit they haven't even read the bill. Ridiculous!

Okay, sorry to go off on that "side note", but I guess I had to vent somewhere.

House Pictures

The house is coming along and I am finally getting around to posting some pictures. I am going to try to get Jeff to post a whole bunch of house pictures showing it from start to finish. Jeff has been the official photographer of all the construction work. I don't think he's missed a thing. He wants good pictures of what is behind the drywall so that he knows where all the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC things are located. You never know when that kind of information will come in handy. So, far things are right on schedule and we have been very happy with the builder we have used. It is all very exciting.

We went to our new ward on Sunday. Since we moved out of our old house, we decided it would be best to go to the ward we will be in once our house is complete. We also went to a ward party at the city pool yesterday. We feel really good about this ward and have already felt warmly welcomed. It has helped that we already knew a few families. I probably mentioned that our new ward borders our old ward. So, the house that lived on the street to the side of us (we were on a corner lot) were in our new ward. So, it is kind of interesting that we are moving to a new subdivision and will end up in the same ward as our previous neighbors. Braeden already knew a few of the kids in the ward from Pre-school and he was excited to meet a new friend name Grayden. He thought it was cool that they were Braeden and Grayden. A new adventure begins as we await callings. They have a huge Primary--so I wouldn't be shocked to end up there. That is where they always put the new people--right?

Relief!

We finally closed on the sale of our house today. We were supposed to close last week, but the buyers had some complications with their lender. We were getting a little frustrated and nervous every day we went without signing. That's a huge relief. Adjusting to apartment life has been interesting. We try to get out a lot. Everyone is doing pretty good except Tanner has had a really tough time adjusting with his sleep. So, that makes it hard on everyone. I hope he gets back to normal soon. He is usually very structured with naps and bedtime--a nap at about 12:30 until about 4:00 and then to bed by 8:30. I usually just put him in his bed and he falls asleep on his own just fine. Well, ever since we moved he thinks he doesn't need a nap and has a hard time going to sleep at night. Oh joy! We are having fun.

Our new house is coming along just fine. All the drywall has been hung and now they are mudding and taping. They should be starting the exterior (hardi plank) next week. Now that we are living in a small apartment, we are even more anxious for our new place to be done. They are still telling us the middle of Sept. at the earliest and the end of September at the latest. It better be done before General Conference.

School starts in just over 2 weeks. Braeden is going to love it and I am really excited for him, but a little hesitant too. This whole kindergarten thing is a new phase of life for our family. All of a sudden our plans are going to revolve around the school calander. It will be really good for him, I think he's getting a little bored at home. He loves to learn and is such a smart little stinker. He saw me scrapbooking on the computer and wanted to learn. I taught him a few quick things and before I knew it he had a page made with pictures of him and his friend Katie, he had text, embellishments, a background, and was really having fun with it. NO, it's not just a girly thing. I was impressed that he could figure it out so easily. Since both Jeff and I have degrees in business, we were really impressed the other day when he was making plans for a lemonade stand. I asked him if he wanted to have it by Katie's house. He told me that wouldn't work. He said he'd rather have it by the bus stop sign in front of our apartments. When asked why, he said that he could get more customers there because there were more people and more traffic here (which is all true). What a little business man. Forget KINDERGARTEN--HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL here we come. What a character.

One of these days...

One of these days I'll post a whole bunch of pictures, but for now I'll just give you a little news. The past week has been CRAZY. Last Thursday we started moving into our temporary home, a 2 bedroom apartment, where we will live until our new home is complete (hopefully in mid-September). Braeden and Carter went with my parents to Idaho for a reunion while we were moving. They had so much fun and I missed them a ton. We were so busy though, it went by really fast. This whole apartment living thing is going to be interesting. We are on the second floor so there are people above us and below us. AH! So, with three busy, sometimes noisy, little boys I get a little stressed out about them bothering our neighbors who seem to be very quiet. Parking in a parking lot is a little crazy. We have assigned covered parking and a nice, but very big, truck is assigned to park next to us. So when I got home last night the truck wasn't parked yet. I tried to park as straight as I could (the truck driver can never seem to get it straight and sometimes I can't fit in with my SUV). So, today when we left our apartment and were heading to the car, I realized that we were sandwiched in. So, I couldn't get the doors open wide enough to load the little guys into their carseats without hitting the truck and car on each side of us. So, I had to back out my car before I could load the boys in. I guess I've been a little spoiled for the past 6 years having a garage that I only had to share with Jeffrey. It'll all work out okay living here, but it will definitely be a little challenging sometimes. We should close on Monday on our house (it should have happened a few days ago, so we are hoping everything works out okay). I really hate moving. This has been much harder than I thought it would be. Good thing we are planning to stay in our new house forever. Speaking of our new house, it's really coming along and we are always seeing progress. It is all framed and the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing is all done. It looks like they are starting the roof today. We meet with the builder on Monday and we should get a new estimate on completion.

Jeff has been at scout camp. So, it's been "fun" being here alone with the boys. Tanner's been a little crazy lately with sleep. I don't think he's been feeling well and has also had a tough time adjusting to sleeping in a new place. So, Weds. night when Jeff was gone, he woke up in the middle of the night for almost 3 hours--NOT FUN. Last night he wouldn't go to sleep until 11 p.m.--NOT FUN again. Tanner has pretty good sleep habits. He never really wakes up in the night unless something is wrong (like being sick). He usually goes down at night really easy around 8:30. So, last night was seriously crazy. Well, I'd better get going.

Moving right along

Well, this will be short and sweet, but it's better than nothing. We should close on the sale of our house by the end of July. At one point it looked like the new owners would maybe do a lease-back. That didn't end up working out. So, we'll be moving into a little apartment for a little while. We've been packing like crazy and using my parent's trailer to haul stuff to a storage unit. We've made a lot of progress, so I think it should be a smooth move (if there is such a thing). Our new house is coming along. The framers are almost done and the house is really starting to take shape. It's very exciting! Jeff has been taking pictures of the house every step of the way. We'll post those later (not that you really care to see a hole in the ground, a whole in the ground with concrete in it, etc. etc.--rather boring to most I suppose). We just went to Montana for a family reunion (Jeff's dad's side of the family). It was held at his Aunt Edith's ranch. They have over 1200 acres of beautiful farm land with their own lake and everything. The boys had fun riding 4-wheelers, horses, eating, playing with their 2nd cousins that they just met, and best of all being with Grandma and Grandpa.

Under Contract

Well, we got another offer on our house this past Saturday. After a few negotiations, we accepted and it's under contract now. So, as long as everything goes well, we should close at the end of the month. We are hoping that the buyers will consider doing a lease back, but we aren't counting on it. We'll probably end up renting short term and putting our stuff in a storage unit. We've started packing already with the hopes of a smooth move (if there is such a thing). The progress on our new house is steady. They should start framing on Tuesday. We're heading to the fireworks tonight and doing more tomorrow too! I love the Fourth of July! What fun times! We're trying to get Carter potty trained which is going okay (can't say it's going great). I'll be glad when that's done. Well, I better get going! Happy Independence Day everyone!!!

Dig Baby Dig

First off, some of you knew that Tanner was having a minor surgery yesterday. He had to have ear tubes put in (those darn ear infections) and had to have his tongue clipped (poor kid couldn't even stick his tongue out). It was good that we could have both procedures done at the same time. Everything went very well and he is doing fine. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can get them downloaded. He did really well through the whole process although he was a little embarrassed by the hideous hospital gown/pants they made him wear. You'll see in the pictures. It was minty greenish blue (not a cute color at all) and had dorky teddy bears on it. I have seen much cuter hospital attire so I was very disappointed. Oh well.

They finally started digging on our new house! The boys were so excited to see the construction workers busy at work. It'll be fun to see more and more progress. We got an offer on our house yesterday. It doesn't seem to be an offer that we would accept and the buyers have a tricky situation with their financing. So, we're not too hopeful, but it's still nice to know there's interest.

Quick Update

Many people have been wondering how the sale of our house is going. So, here's a little update. We had 4 showings last week. So, that was good. But, showings mean little or nothing unless we get an offer--which we haven't. At this point, we aren't too worried as it has only been on the market for three weeks. They should start digging our new house in the next few days if all goes well. The city said they'd have the permit ready for today. So, we'll see.

I'm freaking out though because I just found out that there is someone else named "Alice" in the ward we'll be in when our house is done. Okay, to all of you with common names out there you're used to having someone else with your name in your school class, neighborhood, or ward. I'm not. I don't know how to deal with this. I used to complain to my parents about the old-fashioned name they gave me. The only time I ever heard of any one with my name was if we were visiting a nursing home. Seriously. Now I've come to terms with my uncommon, old-fashioned name and am glad that I don't have the same name as anyone around me. Until now! I don't know who this person is--or more importantly, how old she is. But, I know we share the same name. This will be a new experience for me.

Other than that, today is our 7th anniversary. We celebrated over the weekend though. My mom came and stayed with the boys so Jeff and I could have a night away. We had a nice time--mostly just being able to talk without any interuptions. We couldn't help but reflect on all that we accomplished and been through in 7 years. We have been very blessed and are so lucky to have each other and our boys. I try to avoid getting too mushy, sentimental, or sappy on my blog...I try to save that for private conversations. But, I truly am a happy girl and love my Jeffrey more than anything.

More posts to come soon. The boys (all four of them) had a blast making a ramp over the weekend. I'll post pictures soon. We were surprised that even little Tanny is totally into it. I love being a boy mom!

Race Day

Here he is about to cross the finish line! Go Braeden.
Here he is passing another kid. He was trying so hard.
The Garmin's already to go. It looks huge on him--well, it is pretty huge. But it does a lot. It computes time, distance, pace, and all kinds of cool things that I'm not quite sure how to do. I usually just like to know how far I've gone and what my pace currently is, and then an average when I'm done.
All ready to go. He loves his sunglasses. I think the bright sun really bothers him. He thinks he's pretty cool in them though.
Stretching--or trying to. He kept falling over when he tried to stretch like this.
More stretching.
Braeden with his buddy Abby. She was made up perfectly for the race. She's a really cute little girl.


Braeden ran in his first race today! The elementary school he'll be attending in the fall was holding a 5k/Kids Run fundraiser race. Since Braeden has been to quite a few of my races in the past year, he's always asking when he can do one. So, this was the perfect opportunity. He was all ready to go. He made sure to wear proper running clothes, his sunglasses, and even my Garmin. Okay, so maybe I was a little bit over-the-top. But, I wanted to know what his time and pace was and the exact mileage. Plus, he sees that I wear it when I run. He was so excited to get to push start on it when he started to run. It was a quarter mile race and he ran it in about 2 minutes 33 seconds. He was so cute. He didn't place (although I told him he did), but he was pretty proud of himself for passing a fellow runner. He told me he was trying really hard to pass him. He's watched Lighting McQueen, Herbie Fully Loaded, and enough race car shows to understand strategy. What a character. His friend Abby came too. They made sure to stretch really good together. It was so cute. Abby's mom, Amanda, is my running buddy/good friend, so it was fun to see our kids running together. I am so excited about this elementary school. Everyone talks about how great it is and it was fun to participate in a school event already. My friend Jodi is going to be the PTA President next year, so we're also excited about that. She did a great job today on the race. Oh, the best part of the event was after his race. He came and sat down with me and in a very serious voice told me thanks for helping him with the race (I had come and run alongside him for a little bit), he said "that really helped me a lot mom" and thanked me again. Sometimes he can be a little stinker, but he has moments like this that make me so proud.

Soccer Season

Braeden's Pre-School Graduation

Braeden just graduated from pre-school. He loved his pre-school class and teacher, "Teacher Chelsea". He had a great year. They did a great little graduation program. Braeden did a great job reciting his little part with his cute personality shining through. Now on to kindergarten and Carter will start pre-school this fall.

Pictures from Braeden's Birthday

Braeden had a blast celebrating his birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's. He wasn't the only one that had a good time. Tanner LOVED it. He wanted to go on all the little car rides over and over again. Carter had a great time too and especially loved getting to put the tokens in all by himself. After all the fun there, we went home for cake and presents. Braeden's main present was a new bike. His old bike (a 12 incher) was getting a bit too small and his skills seemed to have exceeded what that little beginner bike could handle. So, he got an 18 inch lime green bike. He thinks it's pretty cool now, but at first he wasn't so sure. It came with training wheels on it and when he tried to ride it with them on, it was too hard. He has been riding with no training wheels for a year now, and these training wheels were raised up. So, it just felt weird to him. When Jeff was able to take the training wheels off for him, he was off and away. That kid was born to bike. He just loves it--and he's pretty good at it. He had an awesome birthday. He is such a cool kid. It would be impossible to try to describe how much we love him. I just can't believe he's a FIVE year old now and that he's going to kindergarten in the fall. Crazy!