Halloween

Thursday night we carved pumpkins which was an interesting activity with Zack and Austin. After Aaron cut the top off we gave them the spoons to start gutting it and apparently they are already very frugal boys and didn't want to waste the inside so they thought they would eat it instead. When they finally got a little taste of it in their mouths they weren't very impressed, it was pretty funny!


They both were really mad that we wouldn't let them hold the knives themselves and they would definitely not go for holding it with us (our independent minded children!) so that made the rest of the carving experience interesting. Austin had a hard time getting past it and cried a lot of the rest of the time. After we were done they decided to try eating the tops of their pumpkins like apples, until they tasted them and then they decided it wasn't that good of an idea.


It was an adventure and will probably be a few years before they can do most of it themselves, but it's a fun tradition that me and Aaron have been doing since we were dating.


This morning we started a new tradition and had pumpkin pancakes with apple cider syrup for breakfast (yum!). Then me and the boys headed outside for a photo shoot, it's not easy trying to get them to smile and take the pictures!

I just had to include this one because Austin was so cute helping me rake the leaves in to place.

Zack
Austin

Here is my little Yoda. Disclaimer: We did not decide to have Austin be Darth Vader because we think he is evil. Those were the two costumes that Aaron liked and Zack was picked to be Yoda because he is smaller and his face was rounder which we thought looked cuter with the Yoda ears plus the Yoda costume drove Austin crazy. In Aaron's words "Darth Vader isn't evil, he just strayed off the right path for a little while. We love our boys equally and think they are both wonderful!!

Our cute Darth Vader


Here is how our boys really felt about the photo shoot. Austin HATED his hat!! I told him I would give him candy if he left it on so most of the pictures are of him with a sad face saying "cany."


Then we had our traditional potato soup in bread bowls for dinner. I love having traditions! My boys getting ready to go trick-or-treating for their first time. They didn't really get it, but I'm sure next year they will be running from house to house. Either way after only about an hour we got more than enough candy!

Park City

On Friday we headed up to Park City for a long weekend with my family. Kirstin Roper met us up there in the afternoon to do our family pictures, she found some great places and I can't wait to get them.
Saturday morning Aaron, my dad, Steve, and Dave all went fishing up at Trial Lake, the rest of us left when the kids woke up to go meet them and play at the lake. While we were getting the kids all loaded in the car Austin threw up so I hurry and ran in the hotel and got some towels to clean him and the car seat up and some extra clothes. After getting him cleaned up we were on our way, we were probably about 1/2 mile from the hotel when in my mom's words "he erupted" so we pulled over in a parking lot and I proceeded to again clean him and his car seat up. At that point we should have definitely just gone back to the hotel, but everybody was riding with us and we had gone to the trouble of moving Neal and Henry's car seats in to our car so I didn't want to ruin everyone's fun and decided to just deal with it. Lucky Angie was sitting in between my boys and got to be the one to catch the throw up two more times and clean him up. We didn't remember how to get there for sure so after a bit of a detour and driving for almost two hours we finally got there. The boys were all packed up and leaving when we pulled up, it was so windy and freezing! After 4 throw ups and 2 hours of being crammed in the car we just turned around and drove back to the hotel where I got to do laundry and wash the car seat. Although thankfully that was the last of the throw ups. We did a lot of relaxing, playing games and swimming up there which is always nice. It does suck though to not be able to hot tub (because of being pregnant) when it's so cold at night!
Sunday we tried to go to church, but for some reason every time we try to go up there it's Stake Conference. We went on a nice long walk with our boys instead and let them throw rocks and have fun playing.

Austin

Zack

Mandy, Michelle, and I made Halloween trick or treating bags for our kids. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of us working on them, but here's how my kids turned out.



Monday we went swimming (we swam everyday) and then Matt and Aaron went and played tennis while me and Michelle finished the bags. Then we went to the outlets and headed home. We had a fun weekend, but wish we could have stayed longer.
The boys loved swimming or in Zack's words finning and one of there favorite activities for the trip was doing bubbles with Grandma. She has been nicknamed Grandma Bubbles and if I say her name at all Zack will come up to me saying bubbles. Neal and Henry shared some germ love so our boys came home with colds, but so far I've only had to do one breathing treatment so hopefully it won't turn in to any thing worse. I also started having a lot of Braxton Hick's contractions up there which makes both of us a little nervous, how early did any of you women start having them? Is it normal for me to already be having them, they started when I was about 18 1/2 weeks. Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun trip!!

Austin, Zack, and Neal playing in the tub after swimming
They have these carts for bringing your luggage in and out, our boys loved them! Every time we walked past one the boys would immediately go and sit on it hoping for a ride.

Bonding time with my dad.

How worried should I be?

Aaron has been a little stressed with work and last Wednesday as soon as he got off work I left with Angie to take her to get a pedicure for watching my kids (I thought it would be a good idea to tag along). As soon as I got home we put the boys in the bath tub to get ready for bed and the next thing I know Aaron was in there with them, I think the stress of work has gotten to him a little bit, do you think? The boys had a great time playing with dad, I guess as long as they are happy.

Happy Birthday Mom

I'm a little behind on my posts so here starts my catch up. The 22nd was my mom's birthday, she had taken the day off work to relax, but I got a call the night before and she offered to come down and watch my boys for part of the day so I could sleep after I got off work. That is how my mom quite frequently is, we can pretty much always count on her to put down whatever she's doing to help any of us out in anyway. My kids love her and not just for her bubble blowing skills, they always get excited and ask for maman (that's how they say grandma). I hope you had a happy birthday mom! We love you and appreciate you all of the time, even when we aren't good at showing it!

Fun, Fun, and more Fun!

We started our two days of fun yesterday with my cousin Kealie and her cute kids Jordyn and Jackson. They came down and we went to the park and had a picnic. I have always considered her to be one of my best friends, but it seems like we never get a chance to hang out anymore. We had a great time talking for a good 4 hours while our kids ran around and played.

Jackson was so funny and went and sat on Austin's lap and then decided to take him out; Austin decided he prefers to be the aggresive one!


The boys had a great time riding the dinosaur for a couple of seconds.


Then that evening we went with Nate, Malinda, and their kids to the Dinosaur Park. We had a great time with them and I'm glad we went, but for the money and the amount of stuff you could see in the dark I don't think we'll go again. By total coincidence we both picked Star Wars themes for Halloween costumes so they all looked really cool together. The boys loved the dinosaurs, especially Austin- he kept saying wow and oohing and aahing. I love my boys!


Aaron and I were duds and didn't dress up, but here is our cute Darth Vader and Yoda.


The boys loved these glow sticks that they got there; and there is cute Abby sitting with them and Elise behind them. We got hot chocolate and scones at the end and the funniest part of the night for me was when Elise threw a tantrum because there was slobber on the straw, she is quite the character!


Today we went to the Ute game (8-0 now, GO UTES!). It was hot and during the boys nap time, but they like football so they did great. They've even learned to say football this week and it's so cute because they put a really strong pronunciation on foot. Michelle bored Zack right to sleep which was amazing because they will never fall asleep anywhere but their beds.


Austin wouldn't stop trying to kick and hit poor Uncle Matt, I think because he looks so much like his dad and they love to wrestle with their dad. The highlight of the game was when Austin sneezed after a candy corn had been in his mouth for a good 15+ minutes. There was so much drool that came out with that sneeze that it went all over in Michelle's hair who was sitting in front of us and all over Aaron and Austin. That kid is so funny with how long he will keep food in his mouth!


Then we went to Pack's Pumpkin Patch to find our perfect pumpkins. Aaron and I have been going there since we moved to Farmington and I've been so excited for when we had kids to take there. It wasn't exactly how I had pictured it. I think being in the sun all day, not getting naps and tripping on all of the vines to fall in to pokey things was a bad combination. We didn't stay there long at all because the boys were not having fun!




So we came home and played outside for awhile and the boys found the apple bucket (they are the best apples I've ever had, thanks mom and dad!) in the garage so they helped themselves. They are very independent now, but I couldn't get over how cute they looked eating an apple like that. Austin kept saying apple juice and Zack would take a bite and you could hear him sucking up as much juice as he could, yum!



I love the fall!!

Doctor Appointments

Wednesday Zack had an appointment with an immunologist to see if they had any ideas why he is getting sick so often and why he reacts so severely to minor viruses. I can't say that I was terribly surprised with his answer of he's not sure (it seems to be a pattern in our lives). He had several things that he was throwing around, but he wants me to keep an illness journal for the next few months and see if we can find anything that correlates. So basically if in four months things have been the way they have since January then we will go do some more invasive testing and if they have gotten better (fingers crossed!) then we will just bag it and count our blessings. Even though it seems like we often don't have answers when it comes to that boy I'm so grateful for the pediatrician we have, she is amazing!

Yesterday I had another ultrasound and my OB has gone from 80% sure it was a boy to 0% sure of anything. Our modest little baby had it's legs tightly crossed with the umbilical cord going right down the middle. She wasn't sure if she could see a penis anymore so she's now thinking it could be a girl, but the baby just didn't want to show itself. I have my targeted ultrasound with perinatology in 3 weeks so we should hopefully find out then, but for now it's either Gabe or Gabby. On the note of baby names me and Aaron are having a survey about what name you think is worse- Gabe or Dylan?

This is what happens when we forget to turn the chairs over after dinner.

My 3 boys

Here are just a few of the reasons why my house probably won't be clean for the next 20 years:

We always keep our bathroom door closed because of drowning hazards and germ hazards, but this morning I was putting away towels and this is what my boys managed to do in about 30 sec (It was of course a new roll of toilet paper).


Our boys discovered this week if they climb on the kitchen chairs then they can get on the table (head injury waiting to happen!) so if you come over this is how you will now always find our chairs in between meals.


My darling husband was being helpful and carrying laundry downstairs for me the other day, unfortunately he struggles going up and down stairs. This is from his foot, I think he only said one bad word. :) If anybody knows how to repair textured walls and get the textures to match up, your advice would be much appreciated!


I love my boys!!

Conference Weekend

We had a great conference weekend. On Saturday I rode Frontrunner (not impressed!) up to my mom's where we had a fun filled girl's day. While watching the morning and afternoon sessions we all worked on our own sewing and painting projects and ate, ate, ate. My mom made us yummy BLT sandwiches with fresh basil for lunch and for dinner me and Michelle made grilled pizza. I almost got my Christmas tree skirt finished that I've been working on for two years and I started crocheting a blanket for one of my kids.

This is all I have gotten done after probably at least 6-7 hours, they take forever!


I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera so I didn't get a picture until Aaron brought it up that night before the priesthood session and by then Cheri, Angie, and Mandy had left so I don't have any pictures of them.


Thanks for the great day ladies!!

On Sunday we enjoyed a lazy day at home and that night had a yummy turkey dinner. I love the fall and I loved conference! I thought the talks were wonderful and were what I have been needing to hear lately. My Progesterone shots also started last night- I think Aaron secretly gets satisfaction out of giving them to me. :) Hopefully this one will be a full-term baby!

21 month check-up

Austin and Zack had their 21 month check-up today. I know it's at a weird time, but their pediatrician didn't want to wait the normal distance in between check-ups because of their history.
Austin's stats:
Weight: 24 lbs 11 oz (20%)
Height: 33 in (25%)
Head Circumference: 48.4 cm (50%)

Zack's stats:
Weight: 22 lbs 1.5 oz (5%)
Height: 32 in (10%)
Head Circumference: 48.2 cm (50%)

She was really happy with how they are progressing in size and development and said they appear to be in their terrible twos which I most definitely agree with.
Austin is doing really well and other than his cardiology appointments she is going to just follow him now like she would a normal child versus the more frequent appointments we have been doing.
Zack has been diagnosed with asthma which he may or may not grow out of, but we started him on Singulair so hopefully every time he gets a cold he won't start having the horrible wheezing and respiratory distress he's had the last few times he's been sick. Insurance is also buying us a nebulizer and that should hopefully help prevent him from having it develop in to pneumonia and keep us out of the hospital. She is also referring us to an immunologist because of his frequent illnesses and because of the severity of them. Our appointment is in a couple of weeks so I'll update on that then.
We are grateful everyday for how well our kids are doing and are so grateful they are a part of our family! Here are some random pictures of our cute boys:

The boys figured out if you blew in these tubes they could blow bubbles in the tub and they thought it was hilarious, it was so funny!




Thank you Malinda for your master editing skills!

Our newest nephew

Yesterday Matt and Jenny had their baby. They had a sweet little boy whose name is yet to be decided. He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and is very cute!


Here is the cute family minus Charlie