Preschool Graduation

Our cute Asher finished preschool. He loved it and his teacher was amazing. I can't believe how much he learned and what Evie has learned hearing him. He knows the days of the week, the months of the year, even simple math. And he learned so many cute songs to go with letters. He still will break out in songs that I've never heard before. He's getting so big! Where does the time go?

Norah

Norah is already 7 months old!!! I tell you time is flying! She's hit all the milestones including rolling over, sitting-up and laughing! She's eating everything and grabbing everything. She loves her special blanket, along with the rest of our kids. It's funny how they recognize this blanket as early as a few months old. She's still not sleeping through the nights... but I get to hold her one or two more times a day because of it... She has this little tuft of hair. The rest of her head is all but bald except the very front, a reverse receding hairline. Her cute ears poke out and she loves her feet tickled. She laughs every time she sees herself in the mirror. She's our cute cute girl.

Happy Easter!

Special Date

Evie just earned a special date! A few years ago we started this special date idea. Every good choice they make they get rocks to put in their jar and every bad choice rocks are taken out. Once their jar is full they get a special date with either mom or dad. They get to choose what we do. I love this form of discipline/bribery. It's amazing how much they focus on earning rocks and how easy it is for me to enforce taking rocks out for bad choices.
Evie earned a majority of her rocks from being the sweet girl she is. Anytime she gets a treat or some kind of privilege she immediately follows with , "what about Asher?" Not to say she didn't loose a fair share of rocks by acting like... well a 2 yr old! She may be sugar and spice, but she definitely is not lacking sass!
Evie and I went to the Gateway Discover Museum. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. Usually the kids always choose Brian to go with them, (it's ALWAYS dad, no matter if they're hurt, want to play with someone, or take their turn to put that kid to bed, it's always "I want dad.") This time I volunteered myself. It was so nice to spend one-on-one time with her. We just played and pretended until they closed. Then we got ice cream and a toy of her choice from the dollar store. It was so fun for both of us. Asher's last date to the movie theater.

HAWAII

Heavenly! It was such a wonderful vacation! Everything about it was amazing, well maybe not the tsunami evacuation part of the trip, but even that was made pleasant by the hotel accommodations.
The hotel was amazing!!!! We stayed at the Hilton on the big island and the rooms were really nice, but the hotel as a whole was unbelievable. The food was my favorite. They had a breakfast buffet that was to die for! Brian teased me saying that the breakfast was going to be the only thing I remembered about the trip and to be quite honest it really was one of my favorite things. (I've decided since I'm used to eating hot dogs, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and peanut butter everyday, I've found a whole new appreciation for food.) This picture from our room just doesn't do it justice.
We went snorkeling and it was beautiful. The coral was so close I started to have anxiety that I was going to scrape my belly because it was so shallow. On our way to our snorkel destination, we saw three whales! We were probably 100 yards away from a 30 foot mama and her baby. And then we saw another large one, as well as two 8 foot mana-rays. It was amazing.
We had massages, which Brian thought was a huge waist of money and time, but since we didn't pay for it I figure it's okay for him to take one hour of doing nothing! We also went to the volcanoes to see the continuing lava flow. Unfortunately we weren't able to get too close, but we could feel the heat from under the rocks below us so I guess that's close enough.
We played in the water at a black sand beach, so neat. And being in Hawaii of course we also went to a Luau. Brian and I both were pulled upstage to try to dance with the amazing hip swingers. I'm sure we looked like idiots. It's funny I would've never done this 10 years ago. I don't know if it's just age and being more comfortable with myself or if Brian's carefree attitude has worn on me, but I had a lot of fun making a fool of myself.It was hard to leave the kids, especially Norah, but it is so nice to have my time with Brian, not having to share him with anyone else for 5 whole days. Thanks family and Mandy who played with our kids for us.
This is "we're in Hawaii!" face

Yearly Questions

ASHER
1. What is something that Mommy always says to you? “yes"
2. What makes Mommy happy? "making good choices"
3. What makes Mommy sad? "When I make bad choices"
4. How does your Mommy make you laugh? ”jokes"
5. How old is your Mommy? “30”
6. How tall is your Mommy? “30 hundred and sixty pounds”
7. What is her favorite thing to do? “help and play.”
8. What does your Mommy do when you're not around? “shower”
9. What is your Mommy really good at? "bingo"
10. What is your Mommy not so good at? “bingo.”
11. What does your Mommy do for her job? “written" I guess because I'm typing.
12. What is your Mommy's favorite food? “broccoli.”
13. What makes your Mommy proud? "Shows on the stage like Johnny Cash."
14. What do you and your Mommy do together? “Play.”
15. How are you and your Mommy the same? “Sometimes we wear the same shirts”
16. How are you and your Mommy different? “you're bigger than me and I'm smaller than you and Evie is smaller than you and Norah is really smaller than you."
17. How do you know your Mommy loves you? “You like me.”

1. What is something that Daddy always says to you? "No and Yes"
2. What makes Daddy happy? "When I play with him and when I hug him and when I kiss him."
3. What makes Daddy sad? "When I make bad choices."
4. How does your Daddy make you laugh? ”Like this, (his arm up and his mouth open singing opera"
5. How old is your Daddy? “31.”
6. How tall is your Daddy? “Very tall."
7. What is his favorite thing to do? “Play with me and make me laugh.”
8. What does your Daddy do when you're not around? “He goes to work and to the store.”
9. What is your Daddy really good at? "violins, and guitars, and drums."
10. What is your Daddy not so good at? “I don't know.”
11. What does your Daddy do for his job? “Go to work."
12. What is your Daddy favorite food? “I don't really know. Not chocolate."
13. What makes your Daddy proud? “When I laugh at him and when I play with him."
14. What do you and your Daddy do together? “Play with all kinds of stuff”
15. How are you and your Daddy the same? “sometimes we wear the same shirts."
16. How are you and your Daddy different? “My dad is bigger than me and I'm smaller than him."
17. How do you know your Daddy loves you? “because he loves me so much in the whole live planet."



EVIE
1. What is something that Mommy always says to you? “a secet (secret)."
2. What makes Mommy happy? "My dad."
3. What makes Mommy sad? "a leaf." ( I think this mean when she leaves)
4. How does your Mommy make you laugh? ”Maybe Noa (Norah)."
5. How old is your Mommy? “I da know.”
6. How tall is your Mommy? “Four."
7. What is her favorite thing to do? “Four”
8. What does your Mommy do when you're not around? “At the tore(store)"
9. What is your Mommy really good at? "At the tore."
10. What is your Mommy not so good at? “Not the tore.”
11. What does your Mommy do for her job? “Weed the books."
12. What is your Mommy's favorite food? “Wice.”
13. What makes your Mommy proud? “a T.B. (TV)” ?
14. What do you and your Mommy do together? “Maybe a ellipoter (hellicopter).”
15. How are you and your Mommy the same? “A mommy and a mommy.” (they match)
16. How are you and your Mommy different? “Back and a front.”
17. How do you know your Mommy loves you? “I isten (listen).”


1. What is something that Daddy always says to you? "A name."
2. What makes Daddy happy? "A fawer (flower)."
3. What makes Daddy sad? "And you sad too."
4. How does your Daddy make you laugh? ”(Laughing), Like tat (that) way."
5. How old is your Daddy? “Two, no I two. Brian is four and Asher is six.”
6. How tall is your Daddy? “Bigger and bigger."
7. What is his favorite thing to do? “Like, like treats.”
8. What does your Daddy do when you're not around? “When I answer the door.”
9. What is your Daddy really good at? "A lights."
10. What is your Daddy not so good at? “Not like cookie.”
11. What does your Daddy do for his job? "work."
12. What is your Daddy's favorite food? “Chicka nuggets.”
13. What makes your Daddy proud? “Proud, proud."
14. What do you and your Daddy do together? “ I da know.”
15. How are you and your Daddy the same? “ I da know.”
16. How are you and your Daddy different? “Yeah."
17. How do you know your Daddy loves you? “I da know."

bounce house blues

We thought Evie broke her ankle but it was just very badly sprained. This bruise is 10 days after the collision. I made Brian take her in because I didn't want the questioning from the doctor since we've previously been in twice for dislocated arms! Poor Evie. She still plays it up occasionally. She was able to walk with a limp about a week later, but even a month out she'll still saying, "Daaaadeeee, cawry me, I tant walk".

Bath time

Norah is our bathing beauty.  She loves the water.  She is often fussy from belly aches and this is sometimes the ONLY way to calm her down.  (Promise you won't judge us from our disgusting grout on our counters and sink. A new kitchen is hopefully coming this year.)

And the children shall lead them...

Asher found a magazine that showed a picture of some of the broken buildings in Haiti. He asked what it was and I explained there was an earthquake and a lot of the buildings fell.
A: "Are the people okay mama?"
Me: "No honey a lot of them got really hurt."
A: "Did they go to the hospital?"
Me: "I think the hospital might have been broken"
A: "Can we bring the people to our hospital to help them?"
Me: " I don't think the planes can land because the roads were destroyed."
A: "Well what can we do mama?"
By this time I am crying. It's so funny how you hear about these catastrophies and it's so sad, but a 4 year old can completly bring it to life for you and you are able to look at it in a different, more real light.
Asher looked at this magazine and asked questions for 45 minutes.

Events of 2009

We have had a busy 2009! The most exciting news is our favorite Norah. We're so excited she's part of our family and I can't think of a better thing to be spoiled with!
Brian was called to the stake presidency and although he is gone quite often, somehow it feels like we're able to do more together as a family and I know we are being blessed for his dedication- and I warrant some of those blessings for being a single mom on Sundays! Along with this, I was released as Primary President. I really loved that calling and miss it, but it's nice to have a break.
Toff came home from Iraq! I still can't look at any pictures of soldiers, or hear any stories without my eyes welling up.
My mom came to live with us in July. It really has been nice having her here. She's a great help, and it's kind of fun to have someone to watch Gray's Anatomy with!
Asher started preschool and he LOVES it. It has been so good for him to have structured scheduled time. If you know Asher at all you know he loves schedules and always wants to know "what time" we're doing everything.
As of December Evie is now potty trained!!! Hooray for the toilet! She is even staying dry at night so it's wonderful only having one child in diapers again.
We found out Brian and I are going to Hawaii the end of Feb!!!! His job doesn't have many perks but this is a HUGE one!
Well that's it in a nutshell. It was a perfect 2009! Thanks to all our friends and family that have made this year another wonderful year in our lives.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Asher loved all his bad guy and spider-man paraphernalia. Evie's favorite part was that the reindeer ate the carrots we left out for them. Norah was just excited Santa thought to go to Walgreen's at 12:30 the night before so she had presents and the other kids wouldn't thing Santa forgot her. Another wonderful Christmas.
We hope everyone had a Beautiful Christmas season and we send all our love!!!

Norah

Norah's blessing

Norah is still tiny but she is getting bigger! Two months old and she has just outgrown the newborn size and is beginning to fill out 0-3 month clothes. She is starting to smile with a little persuasion.

Six Years Baby!

Brian and I had our 6 wedding anniversary a few weeks ago, so I wanted to tell our story. Brian had ran into his friend from High School Jenna Christensen and thinking she was a hottie, (you still are Jenna!), asked her on a date. He lost her phone number and when he found it again she was engaged to her ex boyfriend. She thought Brian was awesome-which he is- and told him her roommate would go with him. This is where I come into play.  I was so embarrassed my roommates had to find dates for me.  I was the consolation date!  But I decided I had nothing to loose, so we went on a date.  We had so much to talk about, and my cheeks hurt from laughing so much by the end of the date.  As we were driving I distinctly remember thinking that Brian would be a very important part of my life, whether we were really good friends or something more.
We dated for 6 or 7 months and then decided we were going to get married. We had decided on a date, scheduled the temple and even had engagement pictures taken before he had officially asked me to marry him. Poor Brian, I took all the thunder from him. When he proposed he took me up the canyon and while we were driving we talked about all our friends engagement stories. When we got to the top he pulled out his guitar and started singing me a song he had written. The whole time I just kept thinking, "he should save this for when he proposes!" I was holding the notes with the words of the song and he told me to turn the page and there were no other pages. We had lost the end of the song. So he had to just sum it up and then he got on one knee and pulled out the ring. This was impossible because we had designed a ring and it wasn't supposed to be done for another week or two, that's why the whole time I knew he wasn't purposing. I just started laughing and after a few minutes I told him I never said yes, and then he reminded me he never asked, we were too busy laughing and smiling. So cheesy but it was so amazing and I'll never forget it. I love you Bri and marring you was the best decision I've ever made.
I had to include this picture for all of you to see exactly who I fell in love with!

True Love

Need I say more?

Rip it off like a band aid!

The day has come!  We threw away Asher's "yellow shorts".  We had to just rip it off like a band aid because he wasn't cooperating with the phasing out we had been trying to do.  He cried for the next 3 hours because he "missed them so much".

The Amazing Miss Norah

It's so funny how with my first kid I couldn't wait until he started doing this or was able to do that. Now with the third, I just want her to grow slow and let me enjoy every part of her. In the last 10 days Norah has gained 1 pound and grown an inch! How does it happen so fast. She's still only the 7% but she's growing like a weed!

NORAH EMILY IS HERE!

She's here! Our little girl is a few weeks early, but we are so excited to have her home! On Sunday I charged the camcorder, made sure the camera had batteries, charged my ipod and started packing my overnight bag at about midnight. Even though I wasn't due for a 2 1/2 weeks I could tell my body was getting ready and she would come before her due date.  Fifteen minutes later my water broke!  With Asher and Evie my water broke after I was in the hospital in labor so I wasn't sure what to do since I wasn't having contractions. We didn't want to wait too long because my labors are so fast, but because I was going unmedicated I didn't want to go in too early. So we waited a few more minutes and sure enough the contractions began and we decided to get going. It was a perfectly calm hypno-birth, (I'm sold on this approach so if you want encouragement I'm the one to talk to!) Anyway, Brian did not pass out this time, and was as humorous as ever, even asking after one of my contractions, if my "happy place" involved a midget on a trike! What a nerd. Norah came 3 hours after we left for the hospital and the doctor was able to get his gloves on just in time to catch.  Her blood sugar was low, because of my gestational diabetes so they had to take her and give her an IV.  She was in the special care nursery for the first 24 hours but then she was back to us and it was great.  I've always taken healthy babies for granted, but after having her hooked up to an IV and the threat of having to go home without her unless her blood sugar came up I realized what a great blessing it is to have such perfectly healthy babies.
Anyway she was 5 pounds 13 ounces and 18 inches long- just a little peanut. She brought Asher a helicopter with guns and so he was so excited to meet his sister and insisted his Nana buy his sister a doll since she brought him a gift.  He's pretty much indifferent to her, which is a huge improvement since his last sister was born.  Evie on the other hand can't get enough of baby Norah.  She's always wanting to hold and share her dolls.  Evie is missing the attention though.
We had a hard time deciding on a name. It came down to Norah or Paige and when we had decided on Norah we told Asher and he started chanting "Paige, Paige, Paige..." then Evie joined in.  It's hard not to be a little persuaded by such determined kids, but we decided Norah was the better fit.  Asher later informed us that "nobody cares about me! Nobody listens to what name I like."
Norah is beautiful and such a good baby. I miss sleeping through the night, but the trade off is well worth it!

1st day of pre-school

I'm a little late but I had to post pictures of Asher's first day of pre-school. He loves it and is so excited to be old enough to go to school. The only challenge is convincing him to wear different "school" clothes, really he can wear anything BUT his usual EVERYDAY outfit.

"I have a great idea!"

We just found out my sister Klare is having a boy so I was so excited to tell Asher he was going to have a boy cousin, since he only has two older boys and the other 5 are girls. I explained to him Klare and Dan are having a boy baby. He sat there for a few seconds than said, "I have a great idea. When you're baby comes out we'll give it to Klare and when her boy comes out she can give him to us!" In his mind he had totally come up with a perfectly logical, solution. What a problem solver!

Happy Birthday's!!!

We celebrated Evie's and Asher's birthday together again this year. We took family and bounced away at the bounce house. I think the adult guys had just as much fun as the kids! On their very birthday we just had cake and ice cream at the house. I can't believe my kids are 4 and 2!!! Where does the time go. Thanks for everyone's help on their b-day it was great!


EVIE
-I love that she can spot a McDonald's from miles away.
-She can sing her ABC's and count to 11. Smart girl!
-She loves to tickle your face and arms.
-She is seriously the sweetest thing. She will always share, most of the time without asking, and loves to help with everything.
-She's overly polite. For example, when I clip her nails she says, "thank you mommy" after each finger.
-She answers to the names piggy- (because she makes the cutest snort when you ask what a pig says), pickle and pretty.
-She eats everything.
-She loves to talk about mama's baby and look at my belly.
-She loves animals, Curious George and anything pink.



ASHER
-He loves the fact that he's four. His birthday morning he woke up and coughed and got so upset because, "four year olds don't cough!"
-He is obsessed with spider-man. It's my favorite to listen to him sing, "spectacular spider-man" when he doesn't know I'm listening. He is always shooting everyone with his pretend spider web.
-He's basically the funniest kid I know. He always has something to say that makes us laugh.
-He loves to talk about going to school.
-He now will wear the exact outfit as long as I let him before I insist I wash it. I think we went for close to a week last time! (is this bad to admit?) So if you think he's always wearing the same thing every time you see him, it's because he is!
-I love that with all his personality he's still shy when he meets new people.
-He is still a little scared of loud noises, but much better than before. The automatic toilets are his arch enemy, especially when they flush while he's still using it.
-He still wants to name the baby Paint. This stemmed from us asking if he liked the name Paige, he replied, "no, but I like Paint".
-He loves chocolate as much as his mom!

We love our cute kids and are so happy we get to watch them grow and learn! Love you Ash and Eves!

Trip

We try not to make a habit out of vacationing separately, but Brian got to go to Alaska to go fishing and so I thought since we got a new van, (I'm converted! It's wonderful!), we'd go visit my dad in North Dakota.

Kate and I driving

Kate was nice enough to come with and help with the 19 hour drive.  While Brian was catching huge fish grandpa Kelly and Katee took the kids fishing. It was a nice visit and great to just spend time together. Dad and Kara were nice enough to have a birthday party for the kids while we were there. Kara's spider-man cake killed the cakes I made! DVD players are amazing!

Dad, Kara and Karl

Swimming at the pool.

Fishing with Grandpa Kelly

This plus 50 lbs in our freezer!

This plus 50 pounds of fish is now in our freezer!

A Summers events-

Well we've been out busy doing fun stuff! We went to Lagoon. The kids had so much fun. I thought that Evie might be too young to enjoy it or that they might be kind of scared, but they LOVED it!

Evie still talks about riding a zebra everyday.

We had a really low key 4th and we just did sparklers at home.


We went with cousins to the dinosaur park.

We went camping by Heber were Asher figured out the purpose of the small door in the tent, and we enjoyed a flat tire, forgotten flashlights and lots of ants! It was still a lot of fun.

We participated in the days of 47 children's parade. Our stake's primary was able to walk in the parade. We all dressed as TV's since the inventor of the TV was LDS. The theme was "catching the vision". Because he had the vision of the TV we are able to watch conference and receive the vision. Let me tell you how glad I am as primary president to have this over with!
We've been really busy with Monday night softball games as well. Here's Brian hitting a home run. I've learned to never be surprised by Brian. We've been married almost 6 years and he casually mentions he likes softball and we should play sometime, so this year when we have an opportunity to play I learned he's not just kinda good, he's the star player! He pulled the same surprise on me a couple years ago when I heard him play the drums, and my brother said he was WAY better than the drummer in his band, and Bri hadn't picked up the drumsticks in 10 years!!!
Anyway, those are our fun events for the summer.