A Whole New Family!!!

Coming this November a fifth member of our family will arrive!! We are all very excited.

This pregnancy so far has been TOTALLY different than my other two. With both boys I felt good most of the time -just a little tired. But, this go round, I have felt sick most of the time. We're thinkin' it's gotta be a girl this time. Ben has talked about a "baby sister" before he even knew a baby was coming. But, ya never know; we'll just have to see.

Joe really wants a girl, but I'm a little nervous. I've done okay with boys -how would I do with a girl? I go back and forth from okay with the idea to totally scared. It's a whole new world! Yet, little dolls and dresses around the house and watching Joe play Barbies are pretty cute thoughts. I'll be happy with either, but I'm a little nervous.

Joe and I also have different tastes in names, and we haven't talked too much about names yet -so, if anyone had any suggestions, we'll be happy to consider any~for boys or girls.

Amazing Parks!

St. G. has some of the best parks I have seen! I have made a goal to visit every park this spring and summer to find our favorites! So far this "green park" is at the top of the list. It's incredible, and has sooo much to do -I couldn't post all the pics of everything available, but it is just awesome.


Here's a small glimpse of one side of the park. Cute and great for my boys' ages.
There are a few bouncy toys like the dinosaurs. Awesome slides everywhere!

Lots of physically challenging things to climb! This park wears 'em out!

Ben can climb this wall like a pro....it's fun to watch and he loves the adventure.

It's huge! And this is only one side of the park.

This is another park we visited months ago -it's so crazy and interesting. It's hard for me to describe...it's science-y! Most is too big for the boys to do by themselves, but we helped them and they loved it.

A rope bridge to a cave or a slide! Fun -where was this when I was little?!

I love LOVE St. G. It has just been wonderful -the parks make life a lot of fun. Love it!

Amazing and I Am Grateful.

Again -I type these stories out mainly to remember them.

Ben was sick in the middle of the night, last week. He threw up several times, and I held him as leaned over the toilet. After he had finished, I gave him a little hug for comfort, and in the most sweet way, he said, "Mom, thanks for taking care of me." I told him, "no problem" and that I loved to help him. What a great kid. In my worst feeling moments I rarely treat anyone with much kindness or appreciation - He is truly an example to me.

My mom was in town, and asked if Ben still had his piggy bank. He did. She asked, "Does Ben want to do extra work to save money for Disneyland?" And, Ben said, without pause, "I'm not gonna save money for Disneyland; I'm gonna save money for my mission." Grandma agreed that that would be a better idea. (That is what his piggy bank is for.)

Yesterday, I picked Ben up from preschool. His teacher loves him, and he LOVES her. She usually tells me few things that happened at school that day and how good Ben was. When she put him in the car, she said, "Ben talked a lot about church today. He kept saying, 'I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And, the Holy Ghost is my very best friend.' He was very good today." I'm not sure if his teacher is even a member. I was very impressed that he would be thinking of these things and talking about them without a problem. I love that kids are not afraid to talk about anything. Yet again, he's my constant example. LOVE this kid!

Not Yet!

Just now I was putting the boys in the bath tub. And, while I was starting the water, Kade started peeing on my bathroom rug. I screamed in surprise, and he stopped. It was a natural instict, to put him on the potty. I didn't think he'd do anything, but he did!! He peed forever. Then a few minutes later, he said he wanted to get ou of the tub to go potty.
So, I indulged him and put him back on -and he peed again! Ten minutes later, when we were getting out of the bath -he told me he had to go potty again, and he did! What?! Three times.

I do not indend to start the whole potty training process -becuase over all I don't think he's ready. (He cant take his clothes on and off easily, so we'd have to figure that out first. Ben was almost three -and Kade is only just over two. ) I know there's a huge difference in understanding and maturity with even those extra month.)

However, we'll see what tomorrow brings. If he tells me and goes, then I'll start. If he is hit and miss, then I'll wait. Craziness.

A Funny Song.

Ben was just singing "I am a Child of God. "

His version went like this......"...And He has sent me here. Has given me an earthly home with parents kind of dear..."

Joe wasn't home to here to hear it, but our nieces were, and they thought it was very funny. Yes, i would say, that Joe and I are kind of dear. Very Funny.

Amazing Things....

Lately both boys have been saying the most wonderful things. I am making post, more to get it written down than to brag...but hey that's a bonus.

Kade

I asked Kade the other day, if he wanted to be a missionary.

He said, "Yes. I want to be a missionary with scriptures." Uh hello -he's two. I was very impressed. And grateful.

One morning the first things Kade said to Joe was, "Hey dada, hey dada, hey dad. Jesus is in the temple."

Kade, at random, came up to me and said, "Hey mama, you're beautiful." Needless to say, I melted and love that both my boys are very complimentary of me and Joe.

We were driving past the temple last night -it was all lit up and I pointed it out to the boys and as we past it, Kade said, "Bye Jesus. Bye. Jesus has to go sleepy. Bye Jesus."

Ben

Ben asked me today, "Mom, will you marry me when I'm and adult?" I love it! I explained that I couldn't but thanked him for asking. ;)

They are growing so fast and are so big. I have learned a lot from them both.

The scripture, "We talk of Chirst, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ and we prophesy of Christ..." has always been one of my favorites. I am not the best missionary (AT ALL) but I remember this scripture when I'm talking to my boys. Teach your child while in his youth comes to mind too. The things we mothers teach our children really does stick, and I am very grateful to the Lord for this fact.

Kade is TWO!!

Our Kader-bum in TWO! It is so hard to believe. This year we celebrated a few days early. Joe and I were heading to Hawaii and would be gone on his actual birthday. Kade didn't mind at all. We celebrated in Vegas with grandma and ate big cupcakes. We love our little Kade. He is such a happy, energetic and determined little guy. He is smart and so funny. He always has a smile on his face and is just too sweet. I love this beautiful boy. I love that we've enjoyed his sweet spririt for two whole years now. He is a blessing to our family, and has added to our livesincredibly. I am excited for the years to come.

Ben's First Accident

Three days after

BEFORE

TWO DAYS AFTER ACCIDENT

Over our Thanksgiving trip, up north, Ben had an accident where he fell onto some cement. He hit his nose pretty hard and cut his lip.

But, if the kid was gonna get hurt there was no better situation to be hurt in. We were two blocks from a hospital (so I was able to hold him during the ride). Plus, we were with family, and we could just leave Kade -for how ever long it would take, and not ever worry about him.

We thought he'd need stitches for his lip. But, the doctor said, that with lip injuries they don't do stitches very often anymore, because lips heal so quickly anyway, and there's less chance of infection. SO NO STITCHES!! Then, the doc said there's less of a chance of a concussion when a person lands on their face, verses some other part of the head. PHEW. We thought (and still do think) he broke his nose, but doc said, all we can do, whether the nose is broken or not, is wait for the swelling to go down and then see how it looks and visit an E.N.T doctor (which we already know one!)

Ben, as you can see by the picture, is still a happy kid and is doing great. Already the lip looks amazing, but the swollen nose and black eyes will be here awhile. (He won't let us ice it.)

They say "When ya have a boy, accidents are just part of the package" -now I know it to be true.

Aw, that will never happen. NEW NEW Goals -Pray even more every day, increase my faith, and hope for the best. Boys will be boys. ;)

Whoohoo Decorating!!

Since moving into our new home, I have acquired the help of my amazingly creative sister Katie for decorating help and advice.(Seriously she has some of the greatest ideas...and has the skills to make the things she thinks of...she's awesome.)

She came up with the ideas for this half wall nook/shelf space. I love it!! She painted and stained the frames for the pictures and then made the staggered Family letter blocks. I just got the blocks and this is the whole space finished. I think it looks pretty good!! I never would have put this together myself. I did, however, have the idea to put the scripture above the door -it's the "Establish a house of etc etc...." (That is my goal for our home.)

Also, Joe has been gone the last two weeks -back at class in Seattle. So, I have kept myself busy (once the boys are asleep) with decorating the master bedroom. I am almost finished and will post pictures soon.(I am waiting for Joe to get home tomorrow to help put up shelves.) This house has been fun to decorate and I'll keep ya posted. I am just happy things are coming together.

Pumpkin Patch

I love being here in St. G. There are so many things to do with the boys. Today, my mom and I took the boys to a great farm/pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun and the first time either of the boys had gone to one.

There were games for them to play -sliding down a slide into dried corn, taking a wagon ride and a corn maze. We ate hotdogs and saw allt he live stock and other animals, and I think the boys had a lot of fun. I didn't have the camera with me the whole time, but I didn manage to snap a few pictures of the boys with a few pumpkins. (Although they're not exactly feeling the love for the camera.) Love making these kinds of memories!!

A Very Funny yet Very Sad Teeth Story.(Sorry so long)

Yesterday Ben had to go to the dentist go have a crown put on a poor little tooth with a big cavity. Although -I would say- we've been pretty good about brushing and flossing teeth, he still managed to need this type of work. I feel so bad.

But, I tried to gear him up for the whole thing -I knew it would be rough. We told him he had a tooth that wasn't very strong, and so the dentist was going to give him a "robot tooth". He was pretty excited about that idea -since he is in love with all things robot these days.

SAD PART
Our appointment was at 6:45am and Ben did very well waking up and going. He did fine until the doctor wanted to "show him a cool band-aid." There's no foolin' Ben. He knew exactly what the band aid was for and started crying and saying "NO!" He got his sedation shot and soon was limp and groggy .He let the dentist take him away from me. (That's when I got choked up. I hate handing over my child and leaving the boys alone while going through tough things, but it's something that's gonna happen a lot, and I held it together.)

I couldn't hear any screaming or noise at all out in front, so I assumed he'd did great. He didn't the dentist said he screamed the whole time. He wasn't in pain and wasn't crying tears, it was as if he was a kid having a nightmare. He screamed. Even with the laughing gas and another shot, he wasn't okay. They hurried and finished and I got to go to him. (That's when they told me he had been screaming. I wanted to bawl. Poor guy.)

Funny Part
So in the recovery room we sat on a couch and I just held the very sedated Ben, who would go in and out of emotions and thoughts. He ask to go home and then drift asleep for one minute then wake up and cry or talk to me.

Even though it was not a fun time, Ben was hilarious. At one point he looked at me, and his face got really confused. HE stared at me for awhile and finally asked. "Why do you have two mouths?" I couldn't help but laugh. Then he asked, "Why do you have four eyes?" I just told him, "I', just being silly." ('Cause how are you supposed to explain drugs and their affects to a three year old.) He would grab at the ceiling and ask what all those circles were (the lights and other things) He was pretty funny to watch even though I was just praying he'd come out of it quickly.

We got home and he was pretty much back to 100% within a few hours, and is not upset at all about his robot tooth. He doesn't remember AT ALL the procedure -the only thing he brings up is the shot. (For that I am very grateful.)

Moral of the Story
You can never brush or floss your kid teeth enough, and kids who are under medication can be very funny to watch. (I hope that doesn't sound bad.)

New Beginnings!

Ben started preschool! He's so big, and we all excited. These pics were from the first day of school. He picked out what he wanted to wear -down to the undies- and we loved wearing his back pack.

There was no crying or nervousness; he just walked right in and waved goodbye. This is the start of a whole new routine for the boys and me. It will be a good one!

After I dropped Ben off, Kade and I went to the park we love. It's just up the street from Ben's preschool. It was fun to play one on one with Kade. I rarely get that. We had a good time playing for an hour (almost half of which was spent on the swing). Kade is loving the undivided attention, and has started bringing me more books to read and starting to sing primary songs with me.

I love the types of change that bring growth. Ben will grow at school, and Kade will grow by having more time with me. I love it. I am loving St. G.

Also, I started my Institute class yesterday! I love it! I love having an additional class to learn what the Lord wants and expects of me. I love getting to really dive deep into the gospel. It's an hour and a half class, so we cover a lot. Whoo hoo!

Better Late then Never.

Back on the 24th of July, Joe and Ben were in the Pioneer parade in Enterprise, UT. Joe has to do the parade thing every year with the other firefighters. This year he figured Ben could join him on top of the big engine and throw out Frisbees.

I dropped Ben off to Joe and then found a great spot for me and Kade to watch the parade. Ben sat next to Smokey the Bear and enjoyed the parade. It was a lot of fun. (I haven't had the camera around to retrieve pics, plus I never blog anymore, it seems.)

Amazing To Me.

After a good reprimand from a friend, who said I needed to post more of the cute things the boys say or do, I am posting a quick post to do just that.

Ben has always been a good pray-er. But, lately he's been blowing me away with the thoughts he has, and the things he prays for, or about.

In one prayer, he said "Please help the bad guys want to repent and be good guys." I about died. 'Cause neither Joe or I ever prayer for "the bad guys to repent". It wasn't something he was repeating from us. It was something he was thinking about, and knew was a good thing (for bad guys to repent) and so he prayed for it.

And lately, he'll ask about the bad guy on a show...like Zurg, or Scar, etc. He'll ask, "Is he a bad guy?" I say "yeah", he says, "I'm gonna baptize him." I tell him that would be a great idea. He wants these things! I love it.

It is sweet, and I am praying everyday to be able to help him maintain this awesome desire into adulthood.
It has been on my mind, more lately, that parenthood is such an incredible responsibility. We hold these little children in our arms and we are to mold them and help the Lord shape them into the people they are suppose to be -to reach their greatest potential.

Ben has been driving it home, to me, that kids start out full of the spirit and full of the desire to do good. What they learn from us as their parents will either add to that or detract from it. I am ever prayerful for the Lord's help in this great calling of parenthood. Kids! What a blessing! What a responsibility!

The 4th with the Fam.....

This past Tuesday, my older sister and her two boy, came to visit and see our new place. We all were joined by my mom and younger sister, who came later. Fun was had by all, and though I have a lot of pictures, I still don't have pictures for everything we did this week. We swam and had a blast and the fireworks on the 4th were awesome, but I didn't get any pictures of those things....so this is just a gist of the good times had by all.The Boys! Reading and enjoying each others' company.I just liked this picture. Taken after a huge water fight ensued.

The water fight. Grandma and Katie were willing enough to get out there and get soaked! (I was pooped and and opted for the "observer" role.

A beautiful view of the St. G temple! LOVE IT!!!The boys posing during our little hike to the"DIXIE".

Pretty cool, and a fun quick hike...not too much for the kids or us old folks. After this picture we continued up the back and onto the top of the "Dixie". The view was beautiful.
A train ride with grandma at the park.
Cousin Gavin trying to win the contest.
All in all, this past week was a lot of fun. I loved having my family up visit and Ben and Kade always enjoy playing with cousins. (Especially the older boy cousins.)