Happy Birthday Emma!

Happy 4th Birthday Emma!

Today was a very anticipated day for the past several weeks, months really. Emma has been really excited about her birthday, and especially her party. Several weeks ago, we decided to have an ice cream party for her birthday. She loves ice cream and I liked the idea that it would be pretty easy since it's just a couple weeks before my due date. We ordered some cute ice cream cups and I congratulated myself for early planning....

Then.... Emma decided what she really wanted was a pony party. She wanted a pony cake, and not just any pony cake, but one with wings.

No problem I said, we'll have a pony/ice cream party. Then she showed me a backpack with the exact pony she wanted on her cake. Oh boy!


My idea was to find a plastic toy that I could stick on top of a cake. Unfortunately, this pony is one that is no longer available and Emma was hoping for THIS pony on her cake. Jared, the artistic one in our family saved me and offered to decorate her cake. Phew...

Didn't he do a great job?

Before the big day rolled around, Emma had a lots and lots of other ideas to add to the party planning. We couldn't do them all, but officially it was an Ice cream/Pony/Show party! Here are some fun pictures.

I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream!!!

Making ice cream Sundaes.

mmm.. doesn't it look delicious!

Opening presents is always fun, I loved this picture!

The cake was a big hit!

I used the ice cream dishes as party favors too. It was perfect!

Emma has such a cute group of friends. It was a great party and a really fun day for all of us. Happy Birthday Sweet Emma!

A Great Weekend!

My parents came out for a visit this past weekend! They arrived early Saturday morning. My dad, Jared and the kids all headed of to Linsey's soccer game. It was a gorgeous day and her team won 6-3. Grandpa offered to treat everyone to donuts to celebrate Linsey scoring a goal. I'm sure she did it just for him.

My mom and I headed off to my baby shower, it's so nice she was able to come out for it. My sister-in-law and good friends did such a cute job, the shower was perfect in every way. Even though this is my fourth baby, they went all out and made everything extra special. I'm so lucky.

Just look at all those cute details. From the invitations to the favors, it was all color coordinated and darling.

I'm NOT one to take many pregnant pictures, but my friends insisted I pose for this shot. (They say I'll be grateful later.) I wanted to show off the delicious breakfast buffet so focus on that..

My mom waited to give me her gift until we got home from the baby shower and Linsey could be there with her since they had worked on making it together. It was a darling BYU quilt. I love it and it even matched the boys room perfectly. Thanks mom and Linsey!

Later we went to a park for a picnic. Emma was such a sweetheart and kept bringing me fistfuls of flowers..... ya gotta love that.

My mom taught Linsey to play hop scotch.

My dad and Jared supervised Hunter doing what boys do best.

We had a great weekend and were glad for the chance we had to visit with my parents.

Once they left and I started trying to find places for the new baby items I got from the baby shower, I got busy setting up the crib and arranging Hunter's room into a BOY's room. We decided to keep the extra bedroom a playroom and we're hoping to put little brother in with Hunter as soon as he sleeps through the night. (Wish us luck.)

Easter Fun!

Happy Easter!

All dressed up and ready for church.

Our kids love the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Here they are Saturday morning all set to go.

Emma was very slow because she would find an egg, pause, and then look at us with a big smile. We were all yelling for her to GO, but she continued this little routine each time. It did make for lots of cute pictures.

Hunter got to hunt for eggs in a more woodsy area of the park. When they said go, he darted off for the trees and came back with a full basket of eggs and a giant smile.

He had so many eggs that he decided to give some away to a few of his friends.

Here Linsey is all lined up and ready to run.

She didn't do so bad either.

Of course we always have to get a picture with the Easter Bunny.

The kids came home with a pretty big stash of candy. They divided it up and since none of them like nuts or peanut butter, they ended up with quite a pile of unwanted goods like Snickers and Butterfingers (really, can you believe our luck). They cleverly decided to make and easter egg hunt for dad in his office. Jared found a note instructing him where to start and played along great. He said it was actually quite fun, I guess it's been a few years since he got to do something like that.

The kids were still left with plenty of candy and really started off with pretty even amounts. This is what was left by the end of the day. As you can see, Linsey is our saver, Hunter made a pretty good dent in his stash, and Emma wasted no time at all eating EVERYTHING but a few measly jelly beans. After so much sugar, I was really wishing I hadn't bothered buying any candy for Easter.

Here are a few pictures taken Easter morning.

...waiting to see the easter baskets... come on dad!

Happy Easter!

Announcing a name

Apparently Emma has been "announcing" a name for our baby. I've had a couple friends come to me and say that Emma has told them we are going to name him LITTLE FOOT. Really....

She does love the movie Land Before Time. The other night she asked to watch it and then offered to say the blessing at dinner. Her prayer went something like this:

"Heavenly Father, Please bless that I can watch my show tonight and when I ask daddy if I can watch my show, he will say yes and then I can watch my show.. please....."

Unfortunately, we don't have a name for the baby picked out quite yet, but I'm sure we'll come up with something. We've got a list going. The poor kid won't be called Little Foot, that's for sure.

An update

Many pregnant women talk about a nesting instinct, the powerful urge to prepare their home for the baby by cleaning and decorating. I always think, man that would be nice but it never really happens to me. One of my friends loves the scent of Pine Sol and during her third trimester she has to use it daily somewhere in her house. I wish I felt that way, but my last 3 pregnancies I never really did. Instead I feel sluggish and unmotivated; I find that I only do what is absolutely necessary. I feel sore and my belly is big, I can barely bend over the edge of the tub to scrub it, so I don't bother. Lately my kids have been doing the vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms. Normally, I would follow after them to make sure things were cleaned to my standards, but lately I just think, it's better than it was before and it's going to have to do for now. I justify that it will all be over soon anyway.

I’m not sure what makes this pregnancy different from the others, but I think that nesting instinct might actually be kicking in. I’ve definitely found myself doing odd chores like cleaning out closets and drawers, rearranging furniture and this past week I’ve been sewing crib bedding. It’s so nice to once again feel somewhat productive. I did hit a small stumbling block though. My sewing machine broke. I was so close to finishing and then my machine that’s performed so well for the past 9 years quit on me. It’s not an expensive machine, but it’s been through 3 moves and lots of projects and has never given me any problems so I guess I shouldn’t complain. I was so bummed about it though. I’m not sure which was worse, the fact that it broke or that I couldn’t finish my project. I tried all the trouble shooting tips that my manual gave and then I asked Jared to take a look at it while I took off to a school event the other night. I came home and you can imagine my shock when I saw this!

Unfortunately, Jared wasn’t able to find the problem, but I’m glad he was able to put it back together for me. I took it to the repair shop today and we’ll see if it’s worth fixing. In the meantime, maybe I’ll have to think about cleaning something with Pine Sol.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love to do a Valentines themed breakfast for my family on Valentine's Day. This year it fell on a Saturday which meant our nice meal didn't have to be quite so rushed. Everyone was thrilled with their food and treats, Linsey especially appreciated the pink heart shaped pancakes and loved drenching them in strawberries and cream. As we were eating I told my kids, "I love my kids!". Hunter responded with, "and I love my mom". Then, Linsey said, "and I love my meal".


I think all 3 of my kids favorite part of their breakfast was the strawberry daiquiris (virgin of course). Jared and I became addicted to them on our latest trip to Cancun and I thought I'd give our children a little taste of paradise. Yum!

Hope the rest of you have a great Valentine's Day too. We love you.

Sweet Success

My kids will do anything for a penny these days, and I mean ANYTHING! They all understand enough about money to realize that a penny isn't much, however Jared and I ended up with a gumball machine after a white elephant exchange over the holidays and now a penny has an entirely different worth. I didn't want to deal with the mess of gum so I opted for jawbreakers, something my kids haven't had much of before. It was new and exciting and really, I think the thrill of the gumball machine creates a big portion of the excitement!


I told my kids they could not use their own money from their piggy banks, or any money that they found around the house. The only coins they could use in our candy machine were coins awarded to them for good behavior, chores, or whatever I decide to ask them to do. (call it a bribe.. whatever - IT WORKS!)

Sometimes the candy machine even spits out two jaw breakers for the price of one! Just look at the excitement!

Bedtime is always a hard part of the day for me, especially lately. I'm so worn out and tired and it's such a process. Tonight Jared had to leave just as we were finishing dinner. While the kids finished up their food, I started on the dishes and wished there were someway out of the whole bedtime routine, just for one night. ...PJ's, brush teeth, pick up rooms, prayers, scriptures, read books, all of which take numerous reminders and encouragement all along the way....

With a glimmer of hope, I announced to my kids "whoever gets their pajamas on, brushes their teeth and is in their bed reading a book by the time I get the kitchen cleaned up gets a penny on their dresser that they can use in the morning!"

Zoom!! - all three of my kids went running up the stairs and scrambled into their beds without another word from me. It was amazing! I finished up my cleaning and went to each of their beds to tuck them in rewarding them with their pennies. There isn't much you can get for 3 pennies these days, THIS..... was a fabulous deal.

Name that Movie...

So this morning I hear Camille in a rush trying to get the kids off to an early morning dentist appointment. At one point I hear her say, "Emma, please get your shoes on and get in the car, I meant it."
Then I hear Emma running by my office door on the way to the garage say back, "anybody wanna peanut?"

I laughed until I cried.

They're off!

A few months ago we met with an orthodontist and determined that Linsey would need some work done with those pearly whites. Most things could wait a few years, but we all were in agreement that it might be worth doing something about those two front teeth. We've always thought Linsey was beautiful, but she could fit her entire finger in the space between her front teeth and they stuck out far enough that there were marks on her bottom lip. The plan was to put braces on those top front teeth only and the orthodontist assured us that it would only take about 3 months and less than $300.00. We weren't sure it would really be that fast, but the price was set either way so we went for it.

She got her braces on shortly after school started mid-September. I talked with her about the things kids might say thinking she might get teased. I was surprised when I took her to soccer practice and all the girls crowded around her admiring her shiny new braces with pink rubber bands. They all thought it was soo cool and made remarks about how LUCKY she was, wishing they also could have braces. Not what I expected, but it worked out great for Linsey. She got the same response from her friends and rarely complained.

We were surprised that in only a few short weeks, her teeth had already moved together and looked amazing.

True to his word, nearly 3 months later Linsey got her braces off.
Worth every penny!

Hmmm...

We are expecting a new baby boy in May. I can't help but wonder who he is and what he will look like. Even Hunter has asked, will he have brown hair like me? I had dream about him the other night and in my dream he had huge cheeks. None of us know, but I remember well finding out that Emma was a girl and assuming she would look similar to Linsey. Boy was I wrong.



Linsey was a healthy top of the charts child, averaging 90% in both height and weight for the first two years of her life. Emma was my smallest baby and nearly fell off the charts at 5% and she's still quite small and petite for her age. Linsey had a full head of dark hair when she was born. It all fell out and came in bright blond. Emma didn't have much hair, but it looked slightly red and even curly right from the start. I questioned every nurse that came in the hospital room asking if her hair looked red to them. They all would study it for a brief moment and then confirm that it was red. I just couldn't believe it, never expected it. My girls have some similar features, but I love that they are so unique from one another too. Their personalities are quite different too, but there's no mistaking that they admire one another and Emma especially tries really hard to follow in her big sister's footsteps, adoring everything she says and does.


I look forward to watching Hunter take on the big brother role. He is so sweet with his younger cousins and will love teaching a little brother how to play trucks and cars. I'm sure his little brother will look up to him and adore him much the way Emma adores her big sister and that will be good for Hunter in so many ways. I guess we'll just have to wait a few more months to get a glimpse of this little guy. For now, I guess we should focus on a name.