Where does the time go??

The past few months have gone by so fast and I am so obviously far behind with updates. So, here we go with an update....Halloween was fun! We had a Storm Trooper, a ninja, and a garden gnome. We had 3 days of Halloween - a trick-or-treat night at Brayden's school, the ward trunk-or-treat, and then a festival at the park. Good times!

Just a few weeks later Brayden turned 6!! I can't believe he is 6 now! We celebrated with his favorite breakfast before school - waffles with whipped cream and a big "6" candle and hot chocolate. Then just 3 days later Landon turned the big 4!! (unfortunately I can't find the pictures of his big day!! Bad mommy!!) That weekend we had a party for the boys and rented a huge bouncer at the park. They had so much fun and still talk about it. I will forever rent a bouncer for birthday parties - it was so entertaining!

Tarell's football season ended! He did such a GREAT job and had a blast! We can't wait for the next season to come around. He has really gotten into football lately and it's been fun to see. He tries explaining the game to his brothers and it's so fun to listen to.

Thanksgiving was fabulous! My brother and his family were here from China and it was so fun getting to know their sweet family. They have 3 of the cutest little girls ever and our boys had so much fun playing with their new found cousins. We can't wait until they come back someday. I know we too pictures but can't find them. I don't think I should be in charge of the camera anymore!

Latest baby news - things are still moving along and this little guy is growing nicely. My last ultrasound last week showed him moving (which I feel ALL the time!!) and he weighs about 3 pounds now. Right about where he should be. My blood pressure is still really high so the doctor ordered me to stop working and get more rest! He figured this would bring down my stress level - little does he know that staying home with 2-3 kids everyday and worrying about money will only bring more stress. I guess I'll have to work on it. This last week I spent a few hours in the hospital getting fluids. I was super dehydrated after spending 15 hours not able to keep anything down at all. Then 2 days later Brayden got strep throat! So far there hasn't been much resting - maybe after Christmas. I see the doctor in a week and then after that I have to start going 2 times per week until the end, which will probably come about 35 weeks. The doctor's goal has been to keep this baby cooking until about 35 weeks (anything after that will be a bonus) and depending on how the baby is I could deliver. So, we could have this baby anytime after January 20th! I can't believe it's almost the end! We are praying every day for a healthy baby - keep us in your prayers too please! We will keep everyone updated.

Last - today is my darling husband's birthday! Of course, true to form, I took no pictures! Sorry honey!! We had all the local family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. It's always so great to have family over - we love you all! Mark is having a hard time believing he is the big 37 now! I love you sweetheart and hope you had a great birthday!!

Baby update

We had our ultrasound today and the baby looks great! We didn't get a good look at the full spine because this kiddo was a little stubborn (imagine that!!) :-) It was a very exciting hour as the tech tried to get a good look and give us the one piece of info we really wanted. FINALLY, we found out that we are having .......a........

BOY!!

Yep, another boy for the herd. We aren't disappointed at all, we are only super excited!! Now, only to decide on a name. Any suggestions??

School

Brayden started 1st grade at the end of July! 1st grade people!! We moved him from the Charter school he went to last year to the public school by our house. It was such a hard decision but the school by us seemed to be a much better choice. The first couple of weeks were a little rough on Brayden - he got several time-outs and was even in a fist fight the second day! I didn't realize that changing schools would be so traumatic for him but he seems to have settled down and is now liking school and has even made several friends. He is doing amazing too! He loves spelling and mathm and is such a great reader - he can even read the same books Tarell reads. Good job kiddo!


Tarell turned 10 August 1st and is definitely growing up. The following week he also started school and is really happy to be back. He enjoys playing with his friends and learning new things. He also loves math and we are so proud of him! Tarell decided this year that he would skip out on orchestra and try something new - he chose the trumpet. He is super excited to learn this new instrument and we can't wait to hear him play.


Landon started preschool at his daycare and LOVES it! This kid is almost always happy. He is so outgoing at school and also enjoys playing with his friends, which he has a ton of! Landon can make friends wherever he goes. He is working on letters and numbers and recognizing colors. He loves it!


I LOVE when the kids go back to school. I love homework time each day after school and I love hearing about their daily adventures. It's also so nice to know that someone else is entertaining these darling kiddos each day, especially since I have not been feeling so well the past few weeks. YAY for school - it really is the most wonderful time of the year!!

San Diego 2010

For our summer vacation we went to San Diego this year and had a blast!! There was so much to do. We:
Went to the beach
Spent a day at Sea World
Hit up Old Town
Played at the Mormon Battalion (a MUST!!)
Hung out at the beach again
CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!!

Here are some of the pics we took while there

Customize a photo slideshow

Cravings...

So everyone has been asking about any special cravings I've had lately and it makes me laugh. It seems that I've craved almost everything I could at one point or another. When I was pregnant with Brayden I really craved Jack-in-the-Box tacos - weird right? With this baby it changes about every 5 minutes but I can't always satisfy them due to the overwhelming and constant nausea.

Funny story - for about the first 2 weeks after finding out the fantabulous news all I wanted to eat were Hebrew National hot dogs (specifically) and cheddar & sour cream potato chips. I never actually got to eat either of these things though. Toward the end of this craving the nausea was becoming unbearable so I called my doctor and asked for a prescription of Zofran - I specifically asked for Zofran because it has fewer side effects and is totally safe. When they called back they wanted me to first try eating potato chips and drinking lemonade. WHAT?!?! I explained that I hadn't been able to eat anything for about 2 days because I was so sick and they wanted me to eat this? The thought only added to the nausea. Well, I never did try this but I had to laugh at the suggestion. I finally did get the Zofran after 2 additional phone calls and an entire weekend. Luckily it helps a little but they also gave me Phenargan, which helps but knocks me out. Oh well. I'm happy to be nauseaous - it means that I really am pregnant still. YIPPEEEE!!

If anyone has any nausea helps I will happily take them - as long as they don't involve potato chips and lemonade.

Really??

For 5+ years now we have been seeing doctors, tried unsuccessful treatments, been heartbroken, felt hopeless, went another direction...but never stopped trying. I guess relentless determination pays off....

I'm pregnant!!!

We were shocked at first but I think we have moved past all that to just beyond ecstatic now. I don't even have words to explain how I feel. This is truly a miracle that we had been told would most likely never happen for us again, for unexplained reasons. AMAZING!!

So, on July 4th, after feeling really icky for a week or so I decided to take a test - who knows why, just a random thought. To my incredible surprise it said positive! I couldn't believe it. I yelled for Mark, who came running while wondering what was wrong. I was shaking so hard that he couldn't even see what I was holding so I had to explain it to him. He was in shock also. Then he went to the store, upon request, to buy 3 additional tests but different brands, to make sure it wasn't a false positive. After those 3 were positive also we went to my doctor for a blood test - I still didn't believe this. As we were driving I kept thinking of all the other possibilities...I could be in renal failure with excessive protein in my urine causing a positive pregnancy test, I could have a uterine or ovarian tumor causing the HCG hormone...it was too much to actually think we could be having a baby.

The next day I got the positive blood result from the doctor - we really are going to have a baby!! Since then we have had 2 ultrasounds - the first was too early to show much more than a blob, but the second (just yesterday) showed the beautiful heartbeat and gave a due date of March 7th.

The boys are also pretty excited and can't wait to start shopping for a new sibling. This is such a miracle!

So long kindergarten!

The end of May brought Brayden's kindergarten celebration, also considered a graduation of sorts. It was the cutest thing ever and he was so excited! I can't believe that he is now a 1st grader! I'm so proud of Brayden and everything that he accomplished this year. He can now read at a 2nd grade level and is doing 1st grade math - awesome!! It was fun to see how proud he was of himself too.

On the last day of school there was a birthday party for one of his classmates that turned 7 and Brayden was so amazed that he can do everything his friend can do and is even ahead of the friend in math. He said "Mommy, I'm only 5 but Ryan is 7 and we can do the same stuff, except I beat him at math!! And we are in the same class!" Brayden told me that I was right, that he really is smart like I tell him all the time. I'm so glad he now realizes that he is smart.

Father's & Son's

May always includes the Father's and Son's camping trip and I think I look forward to it more than the boys do. I LOVE that I get a night to myself - even though that night usually just includes me hanging out in my PJ's watching a chick flick...FABULOUS!!

The boys all had a great time. They went up a little past Payson by the fish hatchery. The wind was blowing and it was freezing but they had a blast. The highlight of the trip seemed to be the campfire, which I'm told was the biggest campfire of them all. Good job guys! On the way home they made a stop at the hatchery too - what a great weekend - and they even made it back in one piece, that's always a plus!.

Help!!

A few weeks ago we were at the park and the boys were playing while Mark and I were talking. Since we were discussing something (it must have been important at the time) we were just letting the boys play on their own and weren't really paying attention. After a few minutes we heard this little, tiny voice say "Ummm, can I get some help here?" We looked around and saw this....

Somehow Landon had gotten off the platform while grabbing onto this ring-thing and was just dangling in the air. Mark rushed over to "save" him while I quickly snapped a picture. Luckily for everyone, Landon is quite the adventurer and wasn't too scared to keep playing - he actually thought it was pretty funny when he was finally down. This kid makes me laugh!

Spring

The past few months have been very busy for us...work, school, extra activities, etc. Life is fabulously busy all the time. Here are a few of our activities - loaded with pictures of course.

Mark's family came to visit and we had a blast with them! We took more pictures than you will see here but I can't find them. But we have great memories! We spent a day at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium and I definitely recommend it. It is quite a drive but so great! Mark took the boys on a great log ride and they all got soaking wet! We also saw some weird creatures and the boys pet a stingray - good times!

Easter weekend was a lot of fun too. We colored eggs at my parents and the next day we had an egg hunt. The boys loved it!

Spring in AZ is beautiful so we have spent a lot of time playing outside.

Brayden has had a wonderful year in kindergarten so far. His reading skills are amazing and he loves math! He can add and subtract double digit numbers and is reading Tarell's books now - amazing! They have also learned about cowboys and got to dress up and had a field trip to see dinosaur bones at the Natural History museum, just to name a few of his favorite topics. Brayden also just started soccer and is quite the player!

Landon just started a new preschool/daycare and is loving it! He has made some new friends and continues to develop such a fun little personality. We have been a little worried that his vocab skills are a little behind but the past few weeks his language has just exploded! He loves to ask questions and learn and it is so fun to see!

Tarell is the best big brother ever!! He is such a great helper all the time and is growing up so fast. Although he loves school he is really looking forward to summer. He keeps asking what we are going to do over the summer - I guess I should start planning since it is coming up so fast!

Christmas (Finally!!)

Our Christmas was fabulous - I love this holiday! We opted for a real tree again this year and found the most beautiful one. We had a great time decorating it together and it looked so pretty and peaceful, I never wanted it to come down.

A few weeks before Christmas Brayden lost his first tooth. Boy did he think he was grown up! At his dentist appointment in November the dentist saw that it was a little loose and Brayden obsessed over it and wiggled it until he wiggled it out. He looked so cute with a little missing tooth.

We had our family Christmas party on the 23rd (I had to work on Christmas Eve - boo!!) and it was so fun. There were even a few celebrities that made an appearance! Santa came with presents and all the kids were in awe! We even had our China and California cousins on Skype and Santa was able to send them a present using Christmas Magic - it was amazing! All the kids personally received their Christmas pajama's from Santa himself. Then, the Dancing Doll and the Dumb Baby made their appearances. Good times were had by all. Christmas morning was spent opening presents and visiting family.

A few days after Christmas Mark and the rest of the guys in the family went snowmobiling in Yellowstone for 3 days - BRRRRR!! The high during the day was 15-18 degrees. Surprisingly, no one froze. They had such a great time and look forward to doing more activities together.