Pictures

We had our family pictures taken last week. Sarah did my brother's wedding pictures and was amazing with my boys. She had them smiling within 5 seconds which is a feat that no other photographer has been able to do so I knew instantly I had to have her do our pictures. And she did it again. Within a few seconds she had them laughing and smiling from start to finish. She was so cute with them; she is amazing! If you want a sneak peak until I get the cd here is the link to her blog.

Day at the Park

I've been meaning to do this post for weeks. Better late than never right?
At the beginning of March when we had a random warm day I decided we'd go enjoy a day at the park. Zack and Austin wanted to walk there so I let them and decided that we'd just go at their pace. It was fun to just watch them explore and see what were they fascinated with?
Big sticks,
hitting trees with sticks,
and throwing rocks, what else?
I was so proud of them; right when we got there they immediately ran over to the slides and went down them by themselves with no promptings and forcing from me. In the past it takes them up to an hour to feel comfortable enough to really run around and do anything by themselves so it was so nice that they just ran around and played and we had the park to ourselves which was awesome!

Zack
Austin

Gavin had a great time sitting there being cute and playing with the sand.
Austin has always been really nervous on playground equipment being able to see through the holes and would usually end up crawling along or not daring to move unless I was holding his hand, but not this year; he was running all over. I'm so grateful for the breakthroughs!
They even dared to climb up this way; Gavin even made it to the 2nd rung before I noticed. :)
Gavin was so funny, he had no fear and crawled after his brothers where ever they went. He even went down the slide by himself, but I obviously couldn't get a picture and catch him.
It was a perfect day! I love being a mom to these 3 boys!

Baby Animal Days

About a week ago I took my boys up to baby animal days in Logan. My mom was kind enough to come up and help. It was such a great day! It was one of those activities that I've wanted to take my kids to forever and had been planning on going and then the night before the thought of getting up at 6 and dealing with all of that myself was not at all appealing. I debated about calling and telling my mom never mind and then decided to just suck it up and go and I'm so glad I did! Having these fun days and moments with my kids reminds my why I love them and how lucky I am to be their mom. Sometimes when we are in the day to day routine being a mom just gets so exhausting and it was great to have that reminder. Now on to the load of pictures.

All 3 of them had so much fun petting bunnies, goats, pigs, lambs, calves, colts, and I'm sure others that I'm forgetting. For some reason I didn't think Gavin would really care or notice the animals, but he had as much fun as the boys.
They all loved petting this calf; especially Gavin. He didn't want to just stop at petting though he decided to crawl all over the poor thing as he was trying to sleep.
I don't know if they loved riding the horses or train better. Although, Austin was a little unsure of the horse at moments.
They even got to ride in this old car that the guy turned on for them. Gavin LOVED driving it and wouldn't let anyone else behind the wheel.
And they all got to hold some baby chicks. Austin loved it and the chick loved him. I think he could have held it all day.
Thanks Grandma for all of your help and for letting us drag you around for hours!

Easter

I don't know if Heavenly Father is trying to teach me something by having sick kids for every holiday, but I wish I knew what it was because it's getting old. In the last 4 Easter's last year was the only one that we were able to enjoy the holiday with my family. Aaron and all 3 kids were sick this year so it made for a nice mellow day. We spent the morning enjoying conference and eating cinnamon rolls.
Then after naps since we were missing the Easter egg hunt at my grandma's we decided to do one in our back yard. The boys had a lot of fun and in a way it was nice to have one with just the 3 of them. They aren't very aggresive so this way they didn't have to really fight over the candy. They were funny, after they found a couple they just stopped and watched Gavin and we had to really prod them to keep going and finding more.
Yes, I realize he's still in his pajamas, but that's just what kind of day it was.

Zack
Austin

I didn't know I was going to be making all of dinner so I had to hurry and throw together a menu. We had cauliflower au gratin, beans, and rosemary rolls. We were also supposed to have ham with it, but every recipe I looked at said to cook it between 45 min- 1 1/2 hours. So a little after 4 I thought I should look at the ham and see what it recommends and that's when I found out it was going to take 3 hours for it to cook. Oops! So I hurry and threw it in the oven and it was finally ready at 8 (almost 4 hours later). Oh well, I have 6 pounds of ham chopped up in my freezer now ready for future meals. :) Not like it mattered I was the only one that had an appetite yesterday so none of them ate hardly anything anyways. But they all ate the fresh strawberry ice cream I made for dinner without any problems, priorities!

After dinner we finally got around to coloring our Easter eggs. The boys thought it was great! And it was fun for them because they were able to dip them mostly by themselves.
Gavin just wanted to eat the egg. (Pardon the runny nose)
You can't really tell in this picture, but poor Zack has been miserable. His eyes are all swollen and red and his lip and nose were all red.
Austin practicing his smile, isn't that the cutest face!

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Even though we had to stay home we had a nice day as a family and we are so grateful for the gift that Christ has given us.

A Typical Saturday

Sorry the pictures are so dark

Austin, Zack
Zack
Austin

Gavin, Gav, Gavster

Gavin had his 1 year check-up on the 23rd. The pediatrician said he looked great and she didn't have any concerns. She did tell me that 2nd (or 3rd children in his case) tend to start tantruming earlier and generally have bigger and better ones than a 1st child and in the last week Gavin has been trying to prove her right. Here are his stats:

Length: 29 1/4 in.- 35%
Weight: 20 lbs. 3 1/2 oz.- 15%
Head circ: 47 cm.- 75%

He has really dropped in the weight department, but I can't say I was surprised since I said before that he apparently thinks he's a vegan. Here are some of the things I want to remember about my favorite red-headed little boy.

• he absolutely loves any and all fruits and vegetables (which is probably good for us because we eat a lot of fruits and vegetables now a days.)
• he loves to tackle and if you are laying on the floor you can bet he will come and get you.
• he took his first step the day after his birthday, but isn't exclusively walking yet. He will only takes steps when he wants to do it and has never been much of a fan of holding on to your hands and walking
• he can be very determined and obstinate when he wants something or wants to do something.
• he has already become a mommy's boy, but he still loves his dad and will go to him too
• he melts my heart and I love him more than I can even say!
  
• he has 8 teeth and is getting 4 molars which has made him a bit grumpy
• he has been saying momma, dadda, and hi for about 5-6 months, but otherwise doesn't seem terribly interested in talking (momma was his first word)
• he loves to play peek-a-boo especially when you lay him down for nap and bedtime
  
• I have felt a very strong bond with him since early on in my pregnancy
• he loves to play with his mouth or anyone's that's near him and make noises with it
• his smile and laugh are the best things ever!
• he gives the best open mouthed kisses
  
• I can't imagine a day without him!

We love you so much Gavin! You are the best surprise we've ever had! Your brothers love to play with you and you love to be wherever they are. Our family would never be complete without you!

2 Years

It's been 2 years today since the worst day of my life. What better way to spend it than in the temple with my family. Daxton we will never forget you. You are always in our hearts and thoughts. I will love you forever!

How is he already one?

Yesterday was Gavin's 1st birthday. How did that come so fast? I can't imagine our lives without him, he is the best surprise we've ever had. He got his balloon in the morning and loved it until about 10 minutes later when Zack popped it. Their balloons lasted for over a month, but they pop Gavin's within 10 minutes. It was hard figuring out his meals because like I mentioned he won't eat much. So for breakfast we had Oatmeal Berry Muffins and fruit.

In the afternoon we went to Surf and Swim. It was so much fun and perfect for the boys! Gavin was able to crawl all over and Zack and Austin were able to run all over the place. It was the perfect pool for young kids. We all had so much fun!

Zack, Austin, GavinGavin, Austin, Zack

Then the boys all went down for naps while Aaron and I finished cleaning the house and I finished Gavin's cake and made dinner. Aaron and I were "strongly disagreeing" about something and I opened the cocoa container with too much force apparently.
Cocoa powder in the eye hurts, but it also ends an argument very quickly. :)

My family came over for some food and fun. I made sweet and sour chicken with lots of carrots, green peppers, and pineapple in it for Gav and a side of broccoli. Then Gavin got spoiled with some fun presents.

Beautiful quilt my mom made Gav

Gavin was not interested in opening his presents, but all of the other boys had a great time doing it.
And there has to of course be some wrestling.
I was going to do a cake of Jack Jack from the Incredibles because so many people tell us Gavin looks like him, but it was stressing me out too much so he got a monkey cake instead. I figured I would carry on the theme of animal cakes for their first birthday.

I loved how he picked all of the M&M's off first.
He was so funny he kept going down like he was going to stick his face in it, but then he would just pause like he was trying to do all of these photo ops.

I loved the first cake experience! Zack and Austin have always been sick on their birthday and wouldn't even hardly touch their first cake so I've always felt like I missed out on those pictures. He loved the cake!
We had such a fun day and love that little boy to pieces! Thanks to everyone that called, texted, and came over for helping us celebrate our little boy!