Captured Moments

Thanks Julie!

Look at that form

Showing some tummy while looking at the camera. Love the form. Squishable.

Utah Down South....Part 2

Our trip to Utah continued down South to the city of Hatch. Ever heard of it? It was a fun drive up the windy dirt road to get to the cabin and take in a view like this.

The family cabin, named Tucuban, is so much fun and has a tin roof. We were blessed with plenty of rain down there and enjoyed listening to the sound of the rain hitting the roof.

Camping at Tucuban was peaceful and beautiful. This picture is of the river on the property.

Just as Dave did when he was a kid, the boys enjoyed walking on the rocks and fishing.

Dave and Isaac happy to be here too.

Somehow in between all the rains, we did find time to build a fire and roast hot dogs and smores.

We also found time to find some red rock to hike around. The boys enjoyed hiking around a lot.

We finished our trip by stopping in St. George to visit my brother David and his amazing and fun yoga -teaching wife Kim, and their 3 girls. What a fun family. I'm still trying to remember my yoga postures, Kim.

Here are Jonny and James with the youngest cousin Sasha. She is so adorable and sweet to hang out with our boys. All the girls in between their comings and goings were so fun to be with (unfortunately no pictures of Stephanie and Brooke)

The day with my brother and family was spent enjoying their amazing view of his back yard (Snow Canyon National Park) and swimming in the pool. Aaaahhh! When can we come back?


All in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back next year! Or better yet, some of you come and visit us. It's your turn!

Family Vacation '08 (Part 1)

We just returned from a trip to Utah and had a blast! Here are some of the highlights. Before we even got to Utah we decided to stop at Lake Tahoe and take a look since none of us have ever been there before. It was scenic and beautiful and we hope to go back sometime soon. Here is Isaac in the water. He never seems to get enough of any water activities we do.

What's in Utah? Two of my awesome sisters and their families. We had time with each and enjoyed all of it. Here's a cute picture of Melinda and Jessica (my other sister Libby missing due to her living much too far away in N. J.)

One of the highlights was seeing Jessica's brand new 6-week old baby Theodore (aka Teddy). He is most precious and beautiful and I love seeing Jessica as a new Mom. This baby is one loved boy. I can't wait for Isaac and him to grow up and play together.

And of course another highlight was seeing Melinda's family. Her kids are so cute and really great kids. Here are two of them -- J.M. (14) and Eden (7 months)

Here are Melinda's oldest daughters, Maudi (13) and Taylor (17). They came over to Jessica's for a girls night while Dave and my brother-in-law Mike took the young ones camping. I heard it was a rough night, but hey, we had a great time.

Here are three more of Melinda's kids -- Samuel (9), David (7) and Kayte(5) sandwiched between my two on the T-Rex at Thanksgiving Point's dinosaur museum.

And also Ammon (age 3), another of Melinda's kids. Did I mention my sister Melinda is busy? She is such a great Mom and I'm amazed at how she is able to give of herself to all of her children.

Our two blondies -- James and Ammon loving the display of dinosaurs and volcanoes and sea life at the museum.

Another highlight was going over to Grandma's house for a fun FHE of yard clean-up and root-beer floats. I think it's great my kids know their great-grandma because she is one of the most amazing people in this world -- always serving and building others and never a complaint.

Of course visiting Utah without swimming at the AF pool just wouldn't cut it. It's practically tradition. I love seeing all those boy cousins together.

This cracked me up seeing the men (Dave, Mark and Mike) on the front lawn of Mom and Dad's house deep in conversation about who knows what. (Mom and Dad -- we can't wait for you to come back from your mission to do more of this family bonding stuff!)

Thanks sisters and everyone for a great time!!! I already miss you. Your turn to come out here for a visit!

Stop growing up!

My James is going to be 4 in one week. I love him too much and don't want to let him grow up.

Last week Dave was out of town and I wrote these thoughts down in an email to him:

"For some reason, the solitude I've had this week has allowed me to somewhat calm down. I am always running and dealing with things...taking kids here and there, involved with park days, swim lessons, summer camps, etc. So this week we have had nothing and my phone has barely rung and it forced me to slow down. So today I reflected and just went with the flow of the kids. It was nice. I got to just be with them and I especially took notice of James who so often gets lost in the talking of Jonny and the physical demands of Isaac. I had fun discovering with him how a model train goes around a track at the museum today. I watched him get excitedly scared while watching the big crocodile-looking animal in the Land Before Time as I folded laundry. He would gasp, cover his mouth and squeal right before he'd look at me and say, "I'm not scared, Mom." And I got to play ice hockey with him and shoot dinosaurs with him at Chuckey Cheese. He beat me at ice hockey and his delight was and always is so endearing. I saw him jump around inside the car as we were trying to go somewhere and as my impatience started getting the best of me, I noticed that he wasn't just jumping around. He was doing things that he saw needed to be done first before he got in his carseat, i.e. choosing the exact cd he wanted to listen to, and then finding just the right toy for Isaac so that he would stop fussing. Then he was ready. On our outing, he brought along a small dinosaur and the dinosaur would have to eat leaves everywhere we went. Danville and San Ramon have a lot of leaves, but sometimes we would get caught up in a parking lot island waiting for that dinosaur to finish eating those leaves.

I am a bit emotional about this because I feel like the last couple of years with James have flown by and have I really been able to just "be" with him and enjoy who he is? I can't stand that he is going to be four and I don't know if I savored the time with him like I should have.... "

So my mom in her experience of raising 5 children said that with raising kids, you pay so much attention to the first one that you blink your eyes and all the younger ones grew up without you even noticing. That's what I feel like has happened with my sweet James. He is growing up and I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet. But what can I do? Life has got to happen. Love you James!

Fun Visitor

Recently we had a very fun visitor come California. Dave's sister, Julie, who is super fun and happens to also be an amazing aunt (as you can see her always giving us Mom's a break from holding our children), came here for her Spring Break! (Although this is a picture from a while ago.)

We always do fun things when Julie is in town. And the cousins see more of each other. Here is Grandpa holding Isaac and cousin Baby Dayne. (At Chuck E. Cheese)

James taking after his dad doing water sports.

Jonny and cousin Crewe killing the dinosaurs.

The trampoline was new that week too, so the boys enjoyed a lot of jumping time.

Jonny couldn't be any happier.

Everyone was over for rock band (thanks Ashley) and we tried sticking the boys in the room to watch a movie and maybe go to sleep. No such luck. They were not tired and wanted in on all the action.

James was loving the drums. I don't have a picture of Crewe but he is pretty darn good at the guitar, especially those dance moves!

The partying had to come to an end at some point.

Photos of Isaac

Isaac might be a little too big for his carseat. I won't give it up though until he gets so heavy I can't carry him anymore, which is almost now.

Love those cheeks!

Isaac's first trip to the snow. We were in Utah just for fun.

Shouting James

I originally wanted to title this 'Shout out to James', but decided to change it to 'Shouting James' since that is what he is currently doing right now. See, I'm supposed to be doing yoga with Dave in our living room (don't laugh, we're trying...) but James decided he had every reason to be out of bed. So he is upset that I have been putting him back in bed without any acknowledgement to his 'needs of the moment'. But really this is a shout out to James and how much he has grown up even just these last few months. I acquired these pictures from a friend and one of the Moms in our preschool group. I just have to say, I LOVE this preschool. I love the concept of moms taking turns and that I get to participate and that so many other moms are amazing in the way they come up with ideas and contribute to make preschool in their home a successful and fun experience. And I also Love the Cost! ...which is pretty much free. So thank you to all the moms who are or have participated in this. James has grown and learned a lot and most of all made some great friends!

James out in front at the zoo with all the kids in his preschool group. Six kids total (each with a baby brother or sister making it 12 kids total).

He had a 'J for Jungle' theme and went on Safari with binoculars that each child made. (I wish that was my idea -- very cute!)

SEVEN THINGS of '07

Okay, I was tagged by my sister, Jessica, months ago, but now I am finally getting around to doing one of those list things where you reveal a few things about yourself. So here goes:

Seven Things I learned in 2007:

1. Three children are more fun and less stressful than I thought it would be.

2. Under a lot of pressure, I can and did rise to the occasion.

3. I'll probably never know what it's like to give birth naturally (c-sections for me every time) and I think I'm okay with that.

4. My husband is still an amazing Dad and 'gets' boys way more than I ever will.

5. Some years are better than others, this one was better than the last for me.

6. New wrinkles can just pop up out of the blue without much notice. Boo!

7. After 3 babies, I still got what it takes to wakeboard. Whew! And I don't ever want to quit doing those fun things!


Seven Goals for 2008

1. Go to bed earlier -- (don't laugh Dave, one of these days...)

2. Do a mini triathlon (very mini)

3. Do yoga or something semi-regular for my physical well-being

4. Tackle some home-improvement projects (i.e. paint, furnish, put pictures up)

5. Write my parents more often.

6. Be more patient.

7. Try not to ever yell.