Climbing the Wall!

Adam's first report card

2012-02-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

Adam brought home his first report card this week. I want to record the comments his teacher made about him:
"Adam is such a sweetheard and I'm so happy to have him in my class this year. He is one of the kindest and most calm boys I have ever had and sets a good example for other studens. Even though Adam is on the shy side, he is making friends and plays with boys and girls. I want to make sure he is feeling comfortable and safe at school. He is often timid when asking questions and making decisions throughout the day. When there is free choide time, most kids will quickly choose their favorite activity and begin playing. I often see Adam wandering the room looking confused or unsure of what to do. I wonder if he just has a hard time making a decision?? Academically, Adam is making some progress. It's slow but steady. He frequently gets 'E' and 'F' mixed up as well as 'b' and 'd'. (very common) He is learning many of the sight words we have worked on, but still needs some extra practice. I think a lot of Adam's problem to move forward so to speak is his confidence in himself. He seems so unsure even when he know the answer. I think the lack of confidence holds him back a little. He knows most of the sounds and can usually figure out how to spell something (phonetically) if an adult helps him one on one. If I walk away he often has a much harder time and often doesn't push himself. Adam seems to enjoy coming up and reading in his guided reading group. We are working on sight word recognition and decoding words.
Adam is a great kid! I look forward to watching him progress throughout the remainder of the school year."

I really love Adam's teacher, and have enjoyed being able to volunteer in the classroom again. I can't believe his Kindergarten year is half way over!

What we've been doing...

2012-02-10T08:58:00.000-08:00

Life has been moving along here at our house. Nothing too exciting going on, but I thought I would do a little update. Mostly, we've been working on getting Kate into a routine. She has started sleeping so good at night! Some nights she still gets up to eat twice, but most of the time, it's just once, and I am enjoying the longer stretches of sleep! Newborns always make me realize how much I really need my sleep to function properly!! The next step is to move her into her own room. She sleeps really great in the cradle that my grandpa Conrad made that is in our room. She's starting to get better at sleeping in the crib in her room, but she can't seem to soothe herself when she's in the crib. I don't know if it's because it's so much bigger and she doesn't feel as secure, or what. But, she's been taking her daytime naps in the crib, and it's getting better and better. A pattern to her naps is starting to emerge, so I feel like we are finally getting into that routine. It only took 3 months!!

Adam has been enjoying getting to feed Kate her bottle. Some nights I pump and let the boys take turns feeding her. They both really love it. Adam is such a good helper with her, and he loves holding her. I can't wait to see their relationship as she gets bigger and more interactive (although, I really don't want her to get bigger - she is growing way too fast!)

The boys also love to play with her on the floor. This is one of Kate's favorite things to do - lay on the floor under her little thing. The star at the top plays music and little lights blink on and off. She will lay there for a good 45 minutes just kicking her legs and smiling at the lights! Once in awhile, the boys will crowd in and smile and coo at her as well!

I had to include this picture, because Jackson's head just makes me laugh. He likes to talk to Kate in a really high pitched voice, and he moves his head a million miles a minute. He's a blur!!

Speaking of Jackson - we're working hard on keeping him happy. This kid has mood swings like a teenage girl! This is usually his mood when he gets up from his nap! Grumpy! He is such a fun little guy - but he is also very much two! I have so much fun with him during the day!

And, last - a cute pic of the little miss! She has discovered her tongue and loves to sit and smile and coo and chew on her tongue! This is often what happens when I'm trying to feed her. She is so bright eyed and tries so hard to talk to me!

So, life moves on! We're loving it!

I'm Melting!

2012-01-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

The snow is officially melting around here. It warmed up and started raining yesterday morning, and there is wetness everywhere. This morning, I looked out my bedroom window and saw our poor snowman. We all got a good chuckle!

Yesterday morning, Scott took the boys sledding for one last time. Who knows when we'll have sled-worthy snow again, so it was kind of a last hurrah. Jackson came home looking like this...

Apparently, he wanted to go down on Adam's sled, which was a bit faster than the one he had been using and didn't tip over quite as easily. Scott said, he started down the hill, and instead of turning, like he was doing on his own sled, he shot straight like an arrow. Scott ran after him, and screamed for Adam to try and catch him, but neither of them could get to him in time. He went under a tree, which is what scrapped his face up, and finally flew off the sled, flipping head over hills, heading straight for the creek. Luckily, he stopped before falling into the water, but he's got a nice goose egg on his forhead. Just to show how tough he is, he went down the hill 3 or 4 more times before Scott could convince him that he needed to come home and get cleaned up. The pictures don't really do his face justice. He looked pretty nasty when he came walking in. Scott said he's never been more scared than he was as he ran after him, trying to stop him. But, all is well. He'll have a bit of a bruise on his forhead for a few days and he's still got the goose egg, but he hasn't complained much, unless he bangs his forehead into something (which he happens to do quite often!)

He wasn't in too much pain - this is what he was doing while I tried to get a good picture of his injuries! Always a clown, this kid!

We will miss the snow, but it will also be nice to get life back to some sort of normal. Get Adam back into school and try to get everyone else on a schedule. I may even be able to start excercising and do better at watching what I'm eating. To try and keep Adam entertained during the week, we made cookies or treats every day. Not so good for losing the left over baby fat! But, it was fun while the snow was here!

Another Snow Day!

2012-01-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be the day when the snow turned to rain. Well, it's 4:00 in the afternoon, and it's been snowing or ice raining all day long! We woke up to ice pellets and a totally frozen car which took forever to defrost so I could take Kate to her two month checkup. By the time we got home, the ice had changed to snow, and it's been snowing ever since. Adam went outside to play with his friends, and only lasted about 45 minutes because they got so cold out there! I'm guessing that there won't be any school tomorrow - three snow days to make up at the end of the year.

Here are a couple pictures I took a few hours ago of our back yard.

Mr snowman really can't see now! Poor guy is getting more and more buried!

And here's most of the yard. It's gotten windy today, so the snow is starting to pile in drifts. It sure is beautiful, so long as you don't have to venture too far in all this!

Here's one picture from yesterday I forgot to include. After our sledding adventure, we came home and had hot chocolate to warm up. Jackson really enjoyed it!

Miss Kate - Two Months old

2012-01-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

It's hard for me to believe that Miss Kate is already two months old! I actually ventured out to her two month check up this morning, even with all the ice and snow on the ground. It was the fastest appointment I've ever been too! I'm glad I don't have to reschedule like all the other million people.

Here are her stats at two months:

Length - 23.5 inches (85th percentile)

Weight - 12 pounds, 6 ounces (80th percentile)

Head Circumference - 15 and 5/8 inches (90th percentile)

She's an inch shorter than her brothers were at two months, and weighs a pound less than Adam and two pounds less than Jackson did.

Poor third child - there haven't been a lot of pictures taken of her. We did take several pictures last night, trying to capture her beautiful smile. She was being a bit grumpy, but here are some of them...

A bit later, Scott got some good smiles when he was talking to her...

Kate, has certainly been my most challenging baby, but she is also such a joy! She is a cuddler, and I am learning to just sit down and enjoy it! I feel like we are finally getting into a night time schedule and she has slept great the past 3 nights - so I'm hoping that continues. We haven't established much of a daytime routine yet. She kind of eats and sleeps whenever and where ever we are. It's during the day that she want's to be held and cuddled while she sleeps. She has started being awake more often during the day, and has started making cute little cooing noises and she works really hard to talk! I love to sit and watch her try to talk. Her eyes are a beautful blue(it's hard to tell from the pictures), and every day I wonder what color her hair is going to be.
It is so fun to watch her grow! Her brothers are head over heels for her as well. Adam wants to hold her all the time, and he is so good at it! Jackson can be found smothering her (literally) with hugs and kisses. I have to be careful when I leave her in her swing or laying on the couch. We are all so thrilled to have little Kate as part of our family!

Snow Days

2012-01-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it continues to snow around here. We've had snow on the ground since Saturday. Pretty crazy for Washington! I love this picture of the boys sitting at the window watching it snow. This was taken Sunday morning.

Adam, Kate and I ventured out to church that afternoon. Scott stayed home because he was still feeling a little iffy and Jackson stayed to get a nap since church is right during his nap time. Since Sunday, we have continued to get snow every day!
Monday, Scott was home in the morning, and we mostly hung out at home. Adam and I went grocery shopping in between snow flurries.
Tuesday, Scott had to work all day. It snowed pretty hard all morning. By afternoon, the boys and I were ready to get out of the house. So, we ventured out to a friends house where the boys played outside for a bit, and I got to visit with a good friend. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.
Today, it has snowed and snowed. It's supposed to be the worst day of snow. We probably have over a foot of snow outside! Last night, Scott took Adam sledding when he got home from work, and now, that's all Adam can talk about. Real sledding. He begged all morning to get to go. So, I called our neighbor and asked if she would mind watching Kate for an hour or so. She was happy too, so the boys and I bundled up and walked down to Logan Park. We had so much fun! Here are some pictures...

Jackson wasn't sure about it at first, so he went down with Adam. After that, you couldn't stop him! He wanted to go all by himself - and it was a pretty good hill! I did convince him to go down with me a couple of times! He just laughed all the way down!

Adam found a couple of school buddies were sledding too - and his school teacher, Mrs. Dumo was there with her kids. That was a fun surprise!

After sledding for about an hour, we made the trek up the hill. And it is quite the trek! I got more excercise today than I have since getting pregnant with Kate! Here's Jackson at the top of the hill. Don't let him fool you though...

He was like this the entire way up that hill. At least he was on the sled. He enjoyed the ride up, and I got a little (or a lot) of weight resistance for my workout!!

It ended up being a fun afternoon! This was the first snow for school - so, there will be at least one day to make up at the end of the year. We'll see how the rest of the week goes...

The Snowman

2012-01-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

It snowed more last night. We woke up to about another inch of snow. Jackson and Adam were looking out the window to the backyard, and Jackson suddenly got very panicked and said, "Dad, we need to go outside!" Scott brushed him off and continued making breakfast until Jackson said the same thing again and again. He finally asked him why they needed to go outside. Jackson said "The snowman can't see!" The snow had covered the snowmans eyes!

Seriously Toothless

2012-01-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

Adam lost the second top middle tooth tonight. There are some serious gaps in his mouth! He's waiting on three teeth to grow in! I may need to start pureeing his food!

Snow Day

2012-01-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

We've had a rough couple of weeks around here! First, Adam got the stomach flu and missed three days of school. The upset tummy stuck around for close to a week. Then, Scott got the stomach flu, and he's been sick all week. He's finally started to feel better. We're hoping that it ends with the two of them! So, when it started snowing this morning, we were all excited to spend sometime outside doing something fun!

Adam has been waiting for snow since before Christmas. He asked me several times during his break from school when it was going to snow because it's supposed to snow at Christmastime. I told him we lived in the wrong place for snow on Christmas. But, finally today, it snowed. Both boys were so excited and they spent quite a bit of time outside. Scott joined them for a snowball fight and to build a snowman. Here they are doing both.

Kate and I joined them for a little bit. Kate was all bundled up and she enjoyed sitting in the snow watching her crazy brothers.

Here's the snowman. We finally got to use the snowman kit that Aunt Tiffy gave us for Christmas, two years ago...

One last pic of cute Kate, sitting by the snowman!

It's supposed to be cold all weekend and possibly into the start of the week. Luckily, Adam doesn't have school on Monday or Tuesday, so if the snow sticks around there won't be any makeup days. We'll see!

Prayers

2012-01-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Jackson loves to say the prayer. His normal prayer includes: "bless daddy to come home safe, bless mommy, bless Adam, bless Kate, bless Santa to go home safe, bless Tiffy, bless Uncle Brian, bless grandmas and grandpas (always plural), bless diapers, bless blankie and binky" and on and on. Every night there's something a little different, but he always includes daddy, Santa, Tiffy and Uncle Brian. I guess we know who he loves the most!

Mommy's lap

2012-01-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Last night, while Scott was trying to get Adam's tooth out, Jackson decided he wanted to cuddle with mommy. This never happens anymore, (he usually just wants daddy!) so I jumped at the chance. Then Kate started crying, so we all crowded onto the rocker together. It's so amazing that Jackson is only two years old. He seems so humungous compared to his sister!! Especially when I have them both on my lap together...

More Mutant Mouth

2012-01-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

Adam seriously has the weirdest mouth. Several weeks ago I was looking at him and noticed a gap in his top teeth. I thought maybe he had lost another tooth without us realizing it. After some investigation and counting his teeth, I realized that he had not lost a tooth, his teeth were moving! He originally had a bit of a gap between his top middle teeth. Well, one of those teeth was being pushed closer to the other. I wish we had taken a picture of his mouth before the tooth came out. By the time Adam let Scott pull it out, it was overlapping his other tooth. Scott has been trying to get it out for a good week, but Adam would not let him get his fingers in his mouth. Finally, last night, Adam decided they could try the slam the door trick, and it worked. I swear his tooth was only being held in by the gums surrounding it. The tooth is finally out, and you can already see his permanent tooth growing in! The other middle tooth is loose as well - hopefully it won't be such drama to get that one out! I can't believe how huge the gap is in his mouth - He only lost one tooth, but it looks like there's room for 2 or 3 in that gap! I'm betting this kids gonna need braces!

Kitty

2012-01-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, Jackson saw a cat in our back yard. He was so excited to see the kitty! Ever since, I can often find him staring out the back window waiting for the kitty. On New Years day, he was doing just that, and saw the cat again. He quickly ran to the front door, put on the first shoes he could find and ran to the back to try and catch the cat. He looked so funny stomping around the back yard in his PJs and my tennis shoes. I just had to take some pictures.

Unfortunately, the kitty was gone by the time he got out there. And those darn shoes just wouldn't stay on. And, it was cold outside. Here he is running back in the house!

Kate's Blessing Day

2012-01-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

Kate was blessed on New Years Day. It was such a great day with family and friends. We were blessed that Scott's parents were here, as was my sister from out of town, and then a couple of my cousins who live close, and then lots of friends who came to join us! Such a wonderful reminder of the great people we have in our lives! Scott gave Kate a beautiful blessing, which brought tears to my eyes as I listened. I have had such a feeling of peace since Sunday. I was talking to a good friend yesterday, whose husband stood in the circle, and she mentioned that when her husband came and sat down next to her after the blessing she noticed he had tears in his eyes. He leaned over and told her, that while he was standing in the circle, he had an overwhelming feeling of love for our family, and understood the Heavenly Father was pleased that Kate had joined our family, and what a special spirit she is. Scott's dad had a similar experience. It was a special blessing!

I wish we had taken pictures with our friends that joined us, but this is what we did get.

Our family

Scott and I with Kate.

Brothers and a sister

Jackson really wanted to hold Kate.

Mom and daughter

Kate in her blessing dress.

Kate's dress is special because it is partly my blessing dress. The top dress is the dress that I was blessed in. I was a spring time baby, so it was warm when I was blessed. It's not so warm in Washington in January, so a friend in our ward made the long slip that went under the dress for Kate to wear. Here is a picture of the dress that I wore.

And three generations - me, my mom and my daughter.

Kate getting a kiss from my mom, who she is named after.

Beautiful little girl!

I am so blessed with three wonderful children! I look back 10 years ago or even 8 years ago when we thought we would never have children, and now, I have two great boys and a beautiful daughter. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for these three wonderful blessings!

New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

We spent New Year's Eve at home again this year. We're a pretty wild and crazy bunch! We enjoyed our fondue tradition. Tiffiny and I decided to add scones this year as well. Back when we were in high school, the church hosted a big New Years Eve dance at Bell Square Mall in Bellevue. We would go with all our friends and there was youth from all over at the dance. It was one of the funnest dances of the year. After the dance, everyone would head back to our house, and my mom would make scones. It was always a blast. My mom says that there were youth coming into her home on New Years Eve that she had never met before and never saw again. I think we probably invited everyone we met to come over. How lucky am I to have had such great parents who opened their home to total strangers at midnight! Anyway - Tiffiny and I were reminiscing and we both tried to remember when the last time we had eaten scones was, and we both decided it was probably back in high school. So, we made some and they were just as yummy and we remembered. These aren't those baked scones you get at the fair, these are really yummy fried scones. They are so good hot with honey or jam smeared on top. Yummy!

I didn't take many pictures, but couldn't resist these of Jackson enjoying the chocolate. We didn't get the fountain out, just did chocolate fondue, but Jackson sure did enjoy it!

This is how Kate and Grandpa Wallis spent the evening...

We celebrated the New Year at 10:30 with the boys and then sent them off to bed. Everyone else left around 11:30, and Scott and I watched the fireworks over the Space Needle at midnight while I fed Kate before we all went to bed. It was a lovely, uneventful night! Happy New Year!!

Children's Museum

2011-12-27T18:38:00.000-08:00

We spent the morning at the children's museum with our friends one day during the Christmas break. Jackson had never really been to the museum, and he had so much fun! Here are a few of the highlights.

Jackson's favorite place was playing in the water.

And driving the tractor.

Robyn had fun holding Kate.

Adam cut Xander's hair.

Jackson tried his hand acting. Isn't he good at making a pouty face.

Adam and Xander built a house.

And did some tractor driving.

It was a fun way to spend a morning.

Playing with Grandma!

2011-12-26T17:36:00.000-08:00

The boys have had so much fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa Wallis while they've been here. One day, Adam and Grandma built this huge tower out of Tinkertoys. The thing was taller than Adam! I think they worked on it for well over an hour!

We love having Grandma and Grandpa here!

AJ the Elf

2011-12-26T12:43:00.000-08:00

We had a special visitor join us shortly after Thanksgiving. Santa sent us our very own elf. We got to give him a name, and quickly decided on AJ (which stands for Adam and Jackson). So, AJ the elf spent the month of December watching the goings on at our house, and reporting back to Santa each night about whether or not the kids were being good. Some days, I'm sure Santa didn't get a very good report on the behavior of the parents or the kids in this house. But, we worked really hard and being nice to one another, and doing the things that we were asked to do. Several times, Jackson could be heard saying "sorry AJ, I'll be better" after he lost his temper and threw one of his "I'm a two year old" tantrums. The best part about AJ coming to visit was getting to look for him every morning. AJ was a mischevious little elf and did lots of crazy things when he got back from the North Pole. We didn't take many pictures, but we did keep a list of all the things he did.

1. The first morning, we woke up to find AJ swinging from the lamp in the stairwell.

2. Then he was sliding down the handrail of the stairs.

3. He made himself some hot chocolate.

4. He played some Mario Cart on the Wii.

5. He sat outside the boys bedroom and read Christmas books.

6. He relaxed in Kate's swing.

7. He played the piano.

8. He built some crazy stuff with Legos.

9. He drove Jackson's buzz lightyear car (Jackson thought this was so hilarious - he talked about it all day! We actually got a picture of this one...)

10. He did some coloring.

11. He built a tower with tinker toys.

12. He climbed up the ladder of the bunk beds looking for the boys (they had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house and AJ couldn't find them)

13. He started putting ornaments on the Chrismas Tree.

14. He played with the Little People Nativity Scene

15. He watched some TV

16. He had a race with Buzz Lightyear

17. He ate some cereal

18. He took a rest in Kate's boucy seat.

19. He climbed to the top of the Christmas Tree

20. He put on Jackson's shoes and Adam's gloves.

21. He climbed into Adam's stocking.

22. He climbed up the Santa calendar to give Santa a hug

23. He traveled all the way to Grandma and Granpa's house to find the boys on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, before the boys went to bed, Adam decided he needed to have a picture taken with AJ, so we could remember what he looked like.

Then AJ sat next to the milk and cookies we left out, so he could go back to the North Pole with Santa.

We sure had fun with AJ, and hope he comes back next year.

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas Day at home where everyone came to us! It was nice not having to get in the car to go anywhere. The boys slept in until about 7:30, then we all headed downstairs to see if Santa had visited. Here they are coming around the corner...

Jackson checking out the Aquadoodle mat the Santa brought for him.

Santa ate all the cookies, except for two little crumbs. Jackson told everyone that Santa ate the cookies and left a note. He thanked the boys for making his favorite chocolate chip cookies, and for taking care of AJ.

While we waiting for Grandma and Grandpa Wallis to come over with Uncle Brian, the boys played with some of the toys that Santa brought. We got a game of Twister, which Adam was excited about. He knew all about playing Twister from school. He was a pro!

Not sure where this move came from... I don't remember anything on the spinner that said "full body on Daddy", but this happened several times during the game!

Kate and I were in charge of the spinner...

Santa brought Adam a Beyblade arena, which is what he really, really wanted! The boys all played some Beyblades while we waited.

Opening presents was lots of fun too.

We are so blessed! It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Wallis here again with us this Christmas. We are thankful that they travelled out to spend the week. It was also fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Conrad come, and Aunt Tiffy, Uncle Hyrum, Uncle Brian, Uncle Daris and Aunt Rachael and Robyn. We have so much to grateful for! Especially our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas Day. I am thankful for his life and example! Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

Adam and Jackson spent Friday night at Grandma and Granpa Conrad's house, so they could go to the airport to pick up Aunt Tiffy. This was a good thing, because I had not had a chance to wrap one present. So, Friday night I wrapped and Saturday morning I wrapped and got everything done. Then Scott and I spent the rest of Saturday making cinamon rolls and getting stuff together for Christmas day. Christmas Eve ended up being a nice relazing day.

We got ready and headed over to my parents house in the afternoon. Kate was given this cute outfit from some friends. She looks darling, even if she was unhappy about sitting on the couch!

We had the normal Christmas Eve festivities with a great dinner, reading the Christmas Story from the Bible and doing the nativity activity. Then we opened up new pajamas. Here are a few pictures from the evening. Jackson being his funny self...

Posing in front of the tree.

With my cousin's daughter Madison.

My boys.

The whole group sporting our new pajamas.

Our little family.

After all the pictures, Grandpa got to open a special Christmas present. He is officially an owner of an NFL team. My mom bought him one stock of the Green Bay Packers. He was very excited, as you can see from his face.

Baby smiles...

2011-12-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Kate has started smiling, and I absolutely love it. We can all sit around for hours talking to her in high pitched funny voices, just trying to get her to smile. Here are a few pictures we took on Christmas Eve as we tried to get her to smile...

And finally - success! A smile we actually caught on camera!!

Sleeping

2011-12-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

Kate has been very spoiled over the Christmas holiday with all our visitors. She loves to sleep while being held. As long as there's a warm body holding her, she doesn't seem to care what position she's in. Here's proof...

Cookies for Santa

2011-12-23T10:36:00.000-08:00

The boys and I enjoyed making Santa's favorite Chocolate Chip cookies again this year. Jackson was excited to help this year. He and Adam took turns adding ingredients.

This is what Kate did as we made cookies...

Showing me messy hands...

Flour everywhere...

Christmas Stockings

2011-12-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Christmas decorations to put up every year is our family's stockings. My stocking was made by my Grandma Conrad way back when I was born. She made one for each of us the year we were born. She then made one for Scott when we got married. Once we started having kids, my mom took over the stocking duties and she has made one for each of my kids. These are not simple stockings - Tiffiny and I made a new one for our mom last year, and they are a lot of work! Each stocking is many hours of love and hard work! I should have taken a picture of all of our stockings hung up this year, but I didn't. There's always next year!

Scott got this great picture of the boys sitting in front of the fireplace looking up at the stockings. I wonder what's going on in their heads.

This is the stocking my mom made for Kate this year. Isn't it beautiful?

My boys always love getting their stockings out each Christmas, and I know Kate will be the same.

One Month

2011-12-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how quickly a month can go by, while at the same time it can feel like time is standing still. I'm amazed that Kate is a month old! It's been both a challenging and a wonderful month all at the same time. Here's a picture of cute Kate at one month (and two days) old. (What can I say - I'm a busy mom, I didn't take a picture of her on her one month birthday).

I haven't been very good about blogging about what Kate's been doing since she was born, so I'll list it all here.

She's been getting lots of loves from both of her brothers. Adam loves to hold her and is very careful with her. Jackson likes to hold her too, but he only lasts about 5 seconds before he's done. He does give her lots of kisses on her head!

She's been bundled up in the Moby wrap everyday to pick Adam up from school. It's hard to tell in this picture, but she's all wrapped up, ready to go. I've already gotten a lot of use out of my Moby wrap - I bought it before Jackson was born and only used it a handful of times with him. After just a month, I'm a pro at putting that thing on with Kate!

More snuggles with big brother...

She's been playing legos...

...with Jackson. He's been very good about sharing toys with her. Hopefully he continues to be good at this when she actually wants to play with his toys.

She's done some snuggling with Jackson...

Lots of snuggling...

She's enjoyed bath time with her brothers.

Kate has had one visit to the doctor at 12 days old. She was up above her birth weight (after dropping almost a full pound by our post partum appointment) and weighed in at 8 pounds 11 ounces. She's continued to grow since then. She's a good eater and some days wants to eat every 2 hours. She doesn't go back to the doctor until two months.
Kate's had a very busy first month of life. It's been a big adjustment for everyone! I've been glad that Scott has been home most mornings to walk Adam to school. I've also been grateful for the meals that have been brought to us! We had dinner brought in almost every night for two weeks after Tiff left. I'm so thankful for friends and ward members who have been so willing to serve us.
There have been a few days, I've walked around in a daze from lack of sleep - I thought your third baby was supposed to be the easiest one! Kate has definitely not been my best sleeper, and she demands (with a very insistent and LOUD cry) attention often. She likes to be held and snuggled, and I happily oblige when I can. I am trying very hard to enjoy snuggling with her, without worrying about what is not getting done. I know that sooner than I'd like, I'll be walking her to Kindergarten and she'll refuse to give me a kiss - just like Adam does.

Christmas Cards

2011-12-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

I usually like to get my Christmas cards done and ordered well in advance of December. Of course, I has a good reason to wait this year so that Kate could be included. We decided to venture out to church the second Sunday in December, so I thought it would be good to try and capture a picture of the kids all dressed up in front of the Christmas tree. A friend made Kate's cute dress, and then made matching ties for the boys. (Adam wasn't sure about the pink tie, luckily there were a couple of young men at church who had pink ties on, once he saw that, he decided it was ok...)

It's not so easy to get a picture where all three kids look decent. I think I ended up taking about 50 pictures with the camera. Here are a few of my favorite out-takes...

Favorite of Jackson...

See what I mean about Adam's smile - teeth clenched in every picture!

Kate's not even a month old and she's already done with this family!! I can just hear her saying "are we done yet?"

Not sure what Adam's doing here...

Here's the picture we decided on. Adam looks goofy, and Kate's all slumped over, but it's still pretty cute. I changed the color to sepia, because all the cards I liked were red, and all the pink clashed with the red of the cards...

Wishing you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Santa! I not cry...

2011-11-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

Jackson has been very interested in Santa Claus this year - which kind of surprised me. He's only two, so I figured he would be pretty freaked out by him. My mom has the pictures of my kids with Santa from the past couple of years up on her fridge. The last few times we were at her house, Jackson has enjoyed pulling a chair over to the fridge so he can climb up and look at the pictures. He always points out this picture from when Adam was 3 years old, and says "Adam crying - I not cry".

So, I thought maybe seeing Santa for Jackson wouldn't be quite as traumatic. We braved the mall on the afternoon of black Friday, like we've done for the past 5 years. The mall was more crowded this year, but once we made it to Santa, there was no line. There was a little girl sitting on Santa's lap, so we had to wait for a few minutes. Jackson stood there smiling and waving at Santa, and acting very excited about getting to see him. Then the little girl left... We tried to get Jackson to sit on Santa's lap, but he wouldn't go anywhere near him. As soon as we started walking towards him, he freaked out and started crying! Adam went and talked to Santa, and told him about school, and that he wanted a Beyblade Arena for Christmas. Still, Jackson stood there and cried! We decided to get everyone else ready for the picture, so I handed one-week old Kate to Santa, and Adam sat on his knee, but what to do with Jackson? He finally calmed down and stopped crying, but he still didn't want to get near the guy in the red suit. I'm not sure how we did it (good thing Grandma AND aunt Tiffy were with me this year), but we finally coaxed him to stand next to Santa's knee, near Adam. The picture takers were so nice, and they took a whole bunch of pictures (another benefit of going the day after Thanksgiving when no one else is there). We did get a smile out of Jackson, and a weird sort of smile out of Adam (this is his normal smile for pictures lately - head tilted up and clenched teeth).

Here is the best picture we could get...

Now, when Jackson looks at the pictures, he still talks about the picture of Adam crying, and then he says "I cry too." At least you can't tell from the picture. Maybe he'll do better next year...

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

Adam had two days of school during the week of Thanksgiving. On Tuesday, his class had a "Heritage Potluck". They had been learning about families and their heritage during the month of November, so to cap it all off, each child got to invite their parents to come have lunch at the school. Each family was to bring a food item to share from the country of their heritage. Needless to say, with a 4 day old baby, I wasn't being too creative, so Scott and I decided to bring Fish and Chips from England, because we both thought that we had relatives from England. It was nice that my sister was here. We left Kate with Tiff for an hour and brought Jackson with us. It was so fun to see Adam in the classroom. The kids made these darling turkey hats, and sang a couple of songs. Scott video taped the songs, but I haven't been able to get them to upload to the blog. I'll keep trying. Here's a picture of Adam in his hat singing with his class.

For Thanksgiving, we went to my parents house again this year. We, of course, went sporting our Dallas Cowboys gear! Here we are (we forgot the camera, so the pics are all from my iPhone, some are a little blurry)

I made sure Kate was well prepared for Thanksgiving with a cute pink Cowboys onsies, and even some hair bows that say Dallas Cowboys. Her dad was impressed!

We enjoyed spending time with family, and watching some football. I love this picture of Jackson and Scott bonding.

I have so much to be greatful for this year! Happy Thankgiving everyone!

Birth Story

2011-11-22T21:55:00.000-08:00

If you read the blog post I made back on November 16th, you'll know that I had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little girl. I'm not sure what it was about this pregnancy, but by the time I was 6 or 7 months along, I was ready to be done. It was much more difficult than either of the pregnancies with my boys. Scott's says it's a mother-daughter thing. Who knows. Regardless, I was ready to be done long before my due date. But, November 15th came and went, with no baby. I was scheduled for induction on November 23rd, and then it got moved up to November 21st. I went to see the acupuncturist twice - on Tuesday and Thursday. At my appointment on Thursday, she said she thought it would be soon - but if I didn't go into labor, to call her on Saturday and she would do a stronger treatment. I was ready to do anything!

Friday, Scott stayed home from work. He, Jackson and I ran several errands, did lots of walking around the mall, and basically kept ourselves busy. I was noticing that Kate wasn't moving around as much as she had the previous couple of days, and after laying down for a nap was feeling a little concerned. A nurse from the Maternity ward at the hospital called to do a pre-induction interview and so I asked her advise once we finished with her questions. She suggested I call my doctors office, which I did. It was close to 4:00, so they couldn't get me in for a non-stress test, but they called the hospital and told me to head in for the test. I went upstairs and while I was getting some clothes out of the dresser I started to notice that I was leaking fluid - a lot of fluid so I ran to the bathroom and realized that my water had broken. Scott and I quickly packed some clothes for the boys so we could drop them off at Grandma and Grandpa's and headed for Kirkland. By the time we dropped the boys off and got to the hospital, I was wet down to my knees. Everytime I moved I would leak more fluid. It was quite uncomfortable!

We checked in at the maternity desk, and they called the triage nurse, who took one look at me and called for a room. She said there was no reason for me to go to triage - it was pretty obvious that my water was broken! So, we headed back to a room to get settled.

By the time they had us settled in our room, it was about 6:30 or so. My water had broken around 4:15. By this point, I hadn't started having any contractions or anything, so the doctor suggested they start some pitocen to get my labor started. So, they hooked me up and started a slow pitocen drip, and nothing happened. They increased the pitocen every 15 minutes or so - Scott and I did laps around the hospital, but nothing happened until about 8:30 when I started feeling some cramping. They increased the pitocen again, and soon I was having stronger and stronger contractions. Scott and I continued doing laps and haeaded back to our room around 9:45. They hadn't check to see how dialated I was before this point because of the risk of infection since my water had broken on it's own. I was feeling like things were progressing, so the nurse checked and I was between 7 and 8 cm. Everything happened kind of fast from that point. My contractions quickly got stronger and stronger. The nurse checked again about 10:00 and I was almost 10 cm, so she called the doctor. By 10:15, I was feeling ready to push. Scott had mentioned to the nurse that my previous labors had gone very quickly, but I don't think she was too concerned about that. The doctor came in and I heard him tell the nurse to get everything ready, and we would try some practice pushes. My thought was that I didn't need any practice. Once he gave me the go ahead to push, I pushed and Kate was born. Scott said that the doctor only had one glove on. No one was quite ready - except for me and Kate. She was born at 10:23 pm

Here is one of the first pictures of our little girl. The minute I looked at her, I thought - she looks just like Jackson did! It was really amazing!

Being weighed!

Official birth weight

With mom and dad!

First visitor - Grandma!

First bath

The next day, Grandma brought. Adam and Jackons to visit

Aunt Tiffy's plane landed Saturday morning, and she came right from the airport to visit Kate and see the boys.

Cousin Robyn even held her for a few minutes.

It was an eventful couple of days, but we were ready to head home from the hospital by Saturday evening. They checked us out and we headed for home - so greatful to be bringing home a healthy little girl.

We are so blessed!

Introducing...

2011-11-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

Katherine Mae Wallis

Kate finally decided to join our family on Friday, November 18th. She was born at 10:23 pm. She is named for her Grandmothers - Katherine for my mom and Mae for Scott's mom. We will call her Kate. We are so happy to welcome her to our family!

Waiting...

2011-11-16T12:39:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday was officially the due date for the girly in my tummy. We are still (not so) patiently waiting for her to arrive. I tried to capture a picture of my now 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant belly (although most people still don't think I look pregnant enough to be 40 weeks - I promise, it's really true!)

I went to the doctor yesterday morning. Heartbeat is good, blood pressure is good, I measured right at 40 weeks, and I'm still 3cm dilated - like I have been for the past 4 weeks! The doctor stripped my membranes to see if that could help things along, and then I had an acupuncture appointment last night. And now, we are still waiting... I have an appointment to be induced on November 23rd. Anyone want to place bets on whether or not she'll come on her own before then? We are all ready - anytime now!!

Pink...

2011-11-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been a lot of pink stuff around our house until recently. It's been kind of fun to go through baby clothes and blankets that are girly! A few weeks back, my mom gave me a bunch of stuff that she had saved from when I was a baby - a couple of dressed, two blankets and the dress that I was blessed in (I'm excited to share that on here in a little bit)

This is one of the blankets that she passed on to me. I love the pink and orange and blue animals.

Adam wanted to help hold the blanket up too...

This blanket was sent to baby girl by my Grandma Couch. Isn't it beautiful!!

She has made a blanket for each of her grandchildren as they've gotten married or moved out of their parents home, and then for each of her great grandchildren as they've been born. And let me tell ya - this is no small feat. My mom is one of 8 kids. I am one of 37 grandchildren, and my best guess at great grandchildren would be at least 55.

Here's a close up of the HAND STITCHING that she did...

"Brush your teeth"

2011-11-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

Daddy makes reading bedtime stories so much fun for his boys!! Jackson picked out the book "How I Became a Pirate" the other night to read, and they had so much fun! He likes to tell the pirates to brush their teeth! It took me awhile to get the video camera working so I missed the best parts when he was really yelling it - but you kind of get the idea from this little video. Maybe this will motivate him to let us help him brush his own teeth....

Halloween

2011-10-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

We haven't been much into the Halloween spirit around here. In fact, Adam asked me several times why we didn't have any Halloween decorations ups. What can I say - we don't really HAVE any Halloween decorations. Maybe next year he can help me make some.

The boys (at least Adam) were excited to go trick or treating. We told Jackson he could choose between Mickey Mouse and the Purple Dragon for a costume. He said Mickey Mouse every time. So - here's our cute Mickey. His feet were too big for the shoes, but he was loving the gloves!!

Here they both are, ready to go. Adam is Ironhide from the Transformers. He was pretty excited about those muscles...

Xander and Maira joined us for trick or treating around the neighborhood. Here they are ready to head out.

That's all the pictures we took. They walked up and down the street, and Jackson got more and more excited at every door. He's very good at saying "Trick or treat" and he even started telling everyone "Happy Halloween" in his cute 2 year old voice. All in all it was a pretty uneventful Halloween!

Pumpkins!

2011-10-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

We ventured out to Bob's Corn Maze and Pumpkin Farm with our friends the Terry's and grandma and grandpa on Saturday. The weekend before had been sunny and beautiful. Saturday was rainy and gray, so we took a trip to Fred Meyer first to get some rain boots for the boys. It was our lucky day because they were having a sale, and we got free boot liners with the purchase of the boots. Woo Hoo, us!

Warning - there are lots of pictures in this post!

Making funny faced pumpkins!

It was muddy, but most of the time Jackson wanted to walk all by himself. We should have taken a picture of his bum before we got him undressed, he fell a few times and was by far the muddiest of all!

The hayride down to the pumpkin fields.

Jackson didn't seem to mind the ride down, but he was pretty upset when we had to get back on the trailer for the ride back up.

Grandpa being helpful and showing the boys what to do in a mud puddle.

Jackson helping dad carry his pumpkin.

The cute kiddos in the field.

Sharing snacks.

Making silly corn faces.

The cow train ride - Jackson waving.

You can't really tell from his face, but Jackson really did enjoy the ride! Scott said he kept saying "Yay, yay!"

Adam wasn't too sure about going on the cow train, but his buddy Xander convinced him it would be fun.

Sunday night, we cut those pumpkins up and did a little carving. We didn't take too many pictures of this part. Adam's class at school had gone to the pumpkin farm earlier in the week for a field trip. His teacher challenged all the kids to count all the seeds in their pumpkin. Adam really wanted to do it, so we did. There were 425 seeds in his little pumpkin. We were all surprised!

Here, dad is carving the face that Adam drew on his pumpkin.

And here's Jackson's carved pumpkin. He was so proud of it! Thanks Grandpa for carving it for him!

And here we all are with our carved pumpkins.

And the masterpieces!

I had to include this picture also. Adam took a picture of Grandma and Grandpa as they were leaving... He did a good job - don't you think?

Legos anyone?

2011-10-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

One thing about Jackson being in the same room as Adam, is that we can't close the bedroom door so that all of Adam's toys with little pieces are off limits. Jackson has been loving the access to Adam's legos. However, he doesn't quite understand what he's supposed to do with them. Yesterday morning, Scott came down the stairs and as he turned the corner, he saw this....

Jackson grinned and said "Play Legos with me??"

At least he likes to sing the clean up song and help pick up toys...

Bedtime - yeah!

2011-10-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

We bought some bunk beds several weeks ago for the boys. Jackson is moving in to share a room with Adam! Jackson's super excited about it - Adam goes back and forth. Anyway - the beds were delivered about 2 or 3 weeks ago, and Adam's been getting used to sleeping on the top bunk. He's done so well at being careful getting up in the middle of the night, and really transistioned quite easily. We didn't have a mattress for the bottom bunk, so Jackson has been waiting patiently. I finally ordered the mattress, and it was delivered yesterday during Jackson's nap. When Jackson saw it, he was so excited! He helped make the bed, and moved his pillow and stuffed animals from the crib to the big bed. He kept creeping up the stairs to look at his new bed all afternoon. He was so ready for bedtime last night! He crawled up into bed, we read a couple of books, sang "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam", and then he told me to leave.

Do you think he's happy to be sleeping in a big bed???

It took him awhile to fall asleep, and then he was awake at about 2am when I went in to check on him. But, he didn't crawl out of bed - not even in the morning when Adam got up. Scott went in to check on him, and he was laying there awake with his hands behind his head and a little grin on his face. I think he likes it!

Jackie

2011-10-09T18:57:00.001-07:00

I started going thru some baby girl stuff yesterday. Jackson was helping. Here's a sneak peak at what our little girl might look like...

Scott doesn't like this picture much...

Checkup

2011-10-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Both boys had their well child checkups at the doctor this past week. They both continue to grow so fast! It's fun to watch Adam interact with the doctor and nurses now. He answers all their questions (too bad I let him have Lucky Charms for breakfast, instead of making his something healthier like scrambled eggs, or french toast - oh well!)
Here are Adam's stats for his 6 year checkup
Height: 48.25 inches - just over 4 feet! (92%)
Weight: 52.5 pounds (80%)
BMI: 15.8 (60%)
He has obviously slimed down from his chuncky toddler and preschool years. He has gotten so tall - he has grown over 4 inches in the past year.
Jackson's stats for 2 years...
Height: 37.5 inches (off the charts)
Weight: 35.4 pounds (way off the charts)
I can't find Adam's 2 years stats, but I know Adam was never off the charts at any of his checkups. Jackson is such a big kid. The boys and I went to see my mom at her school carnival and as we were walking up, the Principal of the school who was sitting next to my mom, leaned over and said "He's gonna be a football player, isn't he?" He's definatly a bruiser!
I opted to have both boys get the flu shot while at the doctor this time. Last time, Adam had to have a shot, we talked about it before hand, and he handled it really well - didn't even cry when they gave him the shot. So, I decided to give him a heads up the day before again, and told him he would get a flu shot while at the doctor, and explained that he needed to get one because if he got the flu, it could be really dangerous for his little sister because she is going to be so small and won't have the stuff to protect herself. So, everyone in the family was getting a flu shot - mommy and daddy had both already had one, and now it was his and Jackson's turn. Well - big mistake on my part this time! He had a terrible time sleeping that night, and kept asking about the shot all morning. By the time the end of the appointment came around and it was time for the shots, he was a mess. He asked if Jackson could go first - so he did. Adam was crying even before Jackson got his shot! It was terrible! Jackson was crying and I tried to comfort him, and Adam was getting more and more out of control about the whole thing. I finally got Jackson calmed down and Adam was pretty much screaming. I picked him up (yes - all 52 pounds of him - don't tell my OB who told me not to pick up Jackson!), and tried to get him on the table. He kept putting his feet on the table and pushing agaisnt it. I finally got him on the table and the real fight began. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, doing all he could to get himself off the table. I threw all my weight up against him to try to hold him there and get his arm out of his sleeve (note to self - short sleeves next time!) He would not calm down, so I finally let him down off the table and we sat in the chairs for a few minutes to see if he would calm down. After a few minutes, I had him taking deep breaths, and he said he was ready, so I helped him slip his arm out of his sleeve, and of course, the screaming started again. He tried to get his arm back in his shirt sleeve, so I pinned it behind his back. We sat there like that for a few minutes and I coaxed him onto my lap. At that point, I was done - I looked at the nurse, wrapped my arms around his middle, and said "just do it!". She walked over, wiped his arm and gave him the shot while he screamed at the top his lungs. When it was over, I asked him if it was as bad as he thought it was going to be, and he said "no, but my arm really hurts!" He cradled that arm the rest of the day.
Next time - daddy gets to take them to get shots!

Family Pictures

2011-10-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

We had family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. I love having pictures of my family together as the boys (and soon to be girl) grow. It's so fun to look back at pictures of us with Adam at 1, 2, 3 and so on, and then adding Jackson into the mix.

Here's the fam (we did not strategically place Adam in front of me to hide the baby bump - it just turned out this way)

And here's my Adam. He is such a poser. The photographer didn't even have to tell him what to do...

And J-Man. We wanted to get a pic with his hands in his pockets. He is obsessed with pockets lately, and always walks around this way. This picture totally captures his personality for me!

These other pictures I printed from the photographers website (don't tell anyone). Here's another poser Adam shot. He has this goofy grin lately!

And a J-Man poser - look at those muscles!

The photographer wanted to do maternity pictures as well. She took a few shots, but I wasn't too happy with any of them. I printed this one, so I'd at least have one picture to show what I looked like pregnant with this little girl. I'm not sure what my deal is with maternity pictures. I'm always bugged with the hands under the belly thing, and then everyone is always telling me how small I look and that I can't possibly be 32 (or whatever) weeks pregnant. It was the same thing with the boys. I have a long torso people! I measure right on when I go to the doctor!! Anyway - I guess I don't think the pictures look very impressive for all the work I've been putting in to growing this baby over the past 7 and a half months. Pretty petty of me - huh? Anyway - here I am at 32 weeks with baby girl (we have picked out a name, I'm just not adding it to the blog yet)

We'll do family pictures again when baby girl is about 6 months old.

Daddy Singing!

2011-09-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

Scott and I have both had to give talks in Sacrament meeting in the past month. Jackson has had fun seeing us up on the stand and yelling "hi mommy" or "hi daddy" from the congregation. Today during sacrament meeting, we were sitting towards the back of the chapel. About half way through the meeting, our friends that we were sitting with had to get up to leave because they had to take their dad to the airport. They left as the ward choir was heading up to the stand to sing, so a lot of people were moving around at the same time. I guess Jackson got confused about where everyone was. As the choir started singing, Jackson yelled out "Hi Daddy!" and pointed up at the stand. Jackson and I had moved down the seat a little bit as people were moving around, and I guess he thought his dad had headed up to the stand with the choir. I said "Jackson, daddy's over there" and pointed over at Scott. Jackson glanced over, saw his dad and grinned really big and said "Heeeyyy, daddy singing!" and kept pointing up at the stand and then over at his dad laughing! He did that several more times! I didn't hear any of what the choir sang, we were laughing so hard!

Another Birthday Boy!

2011-09-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

Two birthdays 8 days apart is like constant celebrating! Scott had to work late on Jackson's actual birthday, so we celebrated the next night with Grandma and Grandpa Conrad, Uncle Daris and Aunt Rachael and cousin Robyn. Thanks everyone for joining us for the celebration! Jackson is such a fun kid! He has such a funny personality! He had lots of fun opening presents!

Daddy had to sit right next to him (He is a total daddy's boy lately!)

Then we brought out the cake. It was hilarious to watch him sing "Happy Birthday" to himself right along with the rest of us! Then he was so excited to blow out the candles, it took him awhile to actually get them out. He just kept blowing and blowing (we should have grabbed the video camera!)

Then he enjoyed some cake!

A few days later, his real birthday present finally arrived. I guess I should have ordered it sooner. He's been having lots of fun sitting in this and doing up the seat belt. This will be his new ride when we walk Adam to and from school.

A few notes about Jackson at 2 years old:
Jackson is such a talker! He is constantly talking! It's so fun to listen to him jabber away - and the really fun part is that most of the time you can understand him!
Jackson has decided he's ready for the potty. He can take his diaper off, and wants to sit on the toilet all the time. It would be awesome to have him potty trained before his sister is born, but he seems so young! He often asks to sit on the potty, but usually just sits there and doesn't do anything. I guess we'll let him do it when he asks. I'm not going to hold my breath that it will actually take, but we'll see!
One of Jackson's favorite things is to play with his dad! He LOVES to tease his dad. They have this cute little game where Scott will say - "Jackson - guess what" and as quickly as he can, Jackson will shout "I LOVE YOU!"
Jackson really loves music! Every night at bedtime, he wants to sing! His favorites are "Jesus wants me for a Sunday", "Follow the prophet", "Popcorn popping" and "I love to see the temple". He even sings "Sunbeam" right along with me, which is so cute!
I wish I could capature all of Jackson's personality here on this blog. He loves to tease everyone. He is just a happy kid! His grin just melts your heart! He is such a fun addition to our family! We love you Jackson! Happy 2nd Birthday!!

Bowling!

2011-09-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Adam really wanted to go bowling with his friends for his birthday party. I happened to have a coupon for two hours of free bowling for 6 people - so we invited some of his friends and headed for the bowling alley. I think this was the first time bowling for everyone, and they had a great time. Here's all the boys watching as we got the scoreboard set up.

And then the bowling began! Everyone liked to gather around the thingy that brings the bowling ball back. I'm surprised no fingers got smashed!

Here Adam is watching his friend Jake's ball as it rolls down the alley. These boys really got into it - throwing the ball and spinning around. It was fun to watch!

Jackson wanted in on the bowling action as well. I should have taken a picture of him carrying the bowling ball. He, of course, had to do it all by himself - just like the big boys. Scott tried to help the ball by giving it a little shove after Jackson plopped it to the ground. We only had to have the worker come over twice to rescue balls that didn't quite make it all the way down.

And then we found this cool thing you put the ball on and send it down the alley. That worked much better!

Jackson waiting impatiently for the ball to come back up...

We were at the bowling alley for a little over an hour, and didn't quite make it through a full game. The games take a bit longer when the ball only goes 2mph down the lane (there was a speed clock on the computer). But, by the time an hour was up, everyone was ready to go. It's hard to wait your turn for bowling when your 5 and 6 (or 2) years old. The boys all did very well taking their turns and watching as their friends played. It was a really fun afternoon!

After bowling, we headed back home for Adam to unwrap presents. It's fun to see how excited his friends were for him to unwrap the present they got for him...

Then we celebrated with some cake (after a bit of a fight over who got to sit by Adam at the table).

It ended up being a really fun birthday party. Happy Birthday Adam!

Girls!

2011-09-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

I have some posts to write about school and birthdays. Hopefully I can get to those this weekend, but I wanted to post this before I forgot. Scott told me this as we were making breakfast this morning.

Last night, Scott came running into the house very briefly from work, changed his clothes and ran out the door to scouts. The beehives were all in the kitchen (we were learning how to make some yummy scones), as were Adam and and Jackson. Jackson saw his dad go into the laundry room and ran in after him saying "look, daddy, look!" Scott turned around and asked "What?" Jackson grinned at him, pointed out the door and said "Girls!"

Having a little sister will be good for this house!

Birthday Boy!

2011-09-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Adam started Kindergarten and a week later, had a big birthday! He's growing up so fast! I'm surprised how quickly the years are going by! Scott had been plotting Adam's big birthday present for months! He was so excited to get Adam a new bike! Adam has become a pro at riding a two wheeler over the summer and it seemed like we had to raise the seat and handlebars every couple of weeks because he won't stop growing. So, Scott picked out a new 20inch bike that we hope will last for a couple of years.

On the big day, Scott came home from work early and Uncle Brian came over to help us celebrate. I walked over to pick up Adam from school while the guys waiting - so excited to give Adam his bike. We had a little debate going over what Adam would be more excited to see - Uncle Brian or the bike. We hid both back in the family room next to eachother to see what he would go for first....

And the winner was...

Uncle Brian - of course! Adam was so excited to see him that he didn't even notice the new bike sitting next to him until Brian pointed it out! It was very cute! They played and wrestled for a few minutes, and then Brian pointed out the bike, and Adam was even more excited! Dad, Adam and Brian all took off for a bike ride around the neighborhood. Unfortunatley, we haven't taken a picture of Adam on his new bike yet. It's a little big, and it's very different than his other bike - there are hand brakes instead of pedal breaks, and gears shifts on the handlebars - but Adam didn't have any problems getting it all figured out. He is now zooming around the neighborhood like a pro!

After the bike ride, Grandma Conrad came over for dinner, presents and cake. Adam choose hot dogs for his birthday dinner.

Then he opened presents...

Scott and I bought both boys a soccor goal because they both love to go outside and play soccor - so Jackson got a little practice at opening presents for his birthday... Adam didn't mind sharing a present with Jackson.

We also about them each a new socoor ball...

Cute brothers!

Then we sang happy birthday and had some yummy cake...

Here are a few fun things about Adam at 6 years old:
Some of his favorite things are; pokemon cards, bakugon, Star Wars, riding his bike, wrestling with dad and playing soccor.
Adam is a great big brother! He will play soccor or wrestle with Jackson. They love to chase eachother around the house!
Adam is so excited to have a baby sister. He is contantly rubbing my belly and giving her kisses. He is still insisting that Jackson can go to Grandma's house, and that he will go to the hospital with mom and dad so he'll be the first person to see his sister. We're working on it!
I am so proud of my Adam. He has grown up so much in just the short week he's started school. I am so excited to watch him grow and learn in the coming years!

School Days! School Days!!

2011-09-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

I'm finding it hard to believe that my Adam has started school! It doesn't seem like he's old enough! School actually started the Wednesday after Labor day this year. On Tuesday, they had "Meet the Teacher", so Adam and I walked over to the school with all his school supplies to meet his teacher. Prior to school starting there was a lot of juggling of Adam's schedule. When I originally registered him, we choose to do full time Kindergarten - so all day, every day. The part time program was being run full days Tuesday, Thursday and every other Friday - not an ideal schedule and the plan was that I would be working through out the school year. So even though we had to pay for it, it was still cheaper than day care for the part time program. Then, in March, we found out I was pregnant - and we found out the school district had changed the part time program from full day every other day, to half day every day (which we much preferred). I would be home for a good part of the school year, and we decided it would be better to save money and not pay for full time, so I pulled him out and registered him for the morning Kindergarten class. As August rolled around, we refined our schedules and figured out that it would be better for Adam to go in the afternoons, so when I got a call from the school secretary asking if we still wanted mornings, I said that we would rather have afternoons, so they moved him again. Then, just a few days before school was supposed to start, I got another call from the school secretary. She said that they were trying to move some kids out of the part time program because they were over-enrolled, and asked if we would go back to the full time program if they offered us a full scholorship. I was shocked! I think I asked her about 12 times if we would have to qualify for the scholorship (because I knew we wouldn't), and she told me repeatedly that we wouldn't. They were calling all the kids that pulled out of the full time program and offering them scholorships because the part time program had 11 extra kids in it. So, Adam was back to full day, every day Kindergarten. I was a little concerned about how he would handle it - he was having a hard time through out the summer with seperation anxiety again (I'm not sure if it's because of the baby or just a phase), but I was worreid that 7 hours of school every day would push him over the edge, but after talking about it, and praying about it, we went for it. It was a little weird to think that everything was settled and then have it change again and again! But, but meet the teacher day, everything was set - he was scheduled for full time Kindergarten!
Here's Adam sitting at his desk at Meet the Teacher. It was nice to be able to go into the classroom with him, find his desk and his cubby and meet his teacher. I love his big smile!

Here's his name on his desk...

And this is Adam with his teacher - Mrs. Dumo.

The next day was the big day! First day of school! Daddy went to work late, so we all got ready and walked Adam to school together.

First day of school picture!

They had all the kids go to the gym at the school to line up with their class. It was pretty chaotic! Here's Adam standing in line ready to go in. It seems like they stood there forever!

He started out pretty happy and ready to go!

But the longer they stood there waiting, the harder it got. The principal asked all the parents to leave their children and move to the front of the gym. As we stood there, I looked over at Adam and he was in tears. I felt so bad for him (I will admit that I was crying too, but I was trying really hard to not show him that!) I went back over and gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was of him. He did finally calm down, and was ready to go when the principal called for Mrs. Dumo's class to walk to their classroom. I got stuck in the crowd of parents with Jackson's stroller, so I didn't make it outside, but Scott did and got a few pictures of him walking to his class.

He walked right past Scott, gave him a high-five and right into his classroom with all the other kids. At the end of the day when I picked him up, he was all smiles! I asked him what he did, and he said "played outside at recess". I asked what his favorite part of the day was, and he said "recess". Oh well, maybe he'll enjoy something else besides recess some time. Can't believe my guy is in Kindergarten!!!

End of summer haircuts

2011-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

We've been buzzing the boys hair all summer (including Scotts!) to keep things easier. Jackson is so much better than Adam ever was at getting his haircut. He will sit in the bathroom and let Scott go at it with the clippers. Adam still has a bit of a hard time sometimes.
We decided to get some nice haircuts before school started - something more than just an all over buzz. So, Saturday afternoon we headed out. Scott usually just takes Adam for his haircuts, so I had actually never witnessed him being calm and climbing into the chair all by himself. I was amazed! I guess it really proves how grown up he is getting! At first, Jackson copied his brother and climbed into the chair and sat there all by himself - until the girl started to put the cover over him - then he started crying. So, Scott sat down held him. He didn't have to restrain him - I guess he just wanted to reassurance that it was all ok. He sat there on dad's lap and and let her cut his hair.

Here's Adam! Scott said this is pretty normal for him now. He'll sit by himself and let the gal cut his hair. He's growing up!

The lost, lost tooth...

2011-08-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

Adam lost another tooth - except he really lost it this time! It had been loose for at least a week, and Scott kept asking if he wanted it pulled out, but he kept saying no. They took a look Friday morning, and it was still there. Sunday afternoon at church I was talking to his primary teacher and noticed that it looked like his tooth was really loose, so I looked in his mouth and the tooth was gone. We have no idea what happened to it - it could have fallen out anytime between Friday morning and Sunday afternoon.

We weren't sure how the tooth fairy would feel about not getting a tooth, so we decided to write a note...

I guess he got lucky, because the next morning, he found a note from the tooth fairy and $2. I don't think he'll wait so long next time, and he'll let daddy pull it out. The tooth on the other side of his bottom middle teeth is loose now - so it could be anytime.

Jackson wanted in on the mouth picture action... No loose teeth in this mouth!

Please, oh PLEASE, can I have a time out???

2011-08-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Jackson loves to pick on his big brother. He pinches, hits, whatever he can think of to get a reaction from him. I find myself saying over and over "Jackson - don't hit your brother", or "Jackson - don't pinch your brother". He doesn't do it to be mean. It's usually when Adam is involved in something and Jackson wants his attention. The only thing he gets from it is Adam yelling "OW" and then returning to whatever had his attention in the first place. So he does it again, and again, and again - well, you get the picture...

I've decided to try time outs for Jackson whenever he starts doing this. I'm not so sure it's working though. This morning, Jackson was pinching Adam. After asking him to stop, I asked him if he needed to go to time out. Jackson's response... "Ya" and he sauntered over to the stairs, which is our time out spot. He had a big grin on his face and just sat there. (He wasn't happy I tried to take a picture, which is why he isn't grinning here...)

I left to set the timer for his timeout, and Jackson suddenly started wailing - not really crying, but a nice fake cry. I guess he figures if you're in time out you have to cry... He sat there for two minutes, keeping up the wailing the entire time, and once the timer went off, he jumped up, walked over to Adam, gave him a hug and said sorry and then turned around and walked away. I guess he knows the time out routine!!

(I do get my children dressed in the mornings - he's in just a diaper because we had just finished pouring the water out of the pool in the backyard and he had soaked his pajamas.)

Busy summer kitchen...

2011-08-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

I love all the fresh produce you can get in the summer! Unfortunately, our garden hasn't done very good this year, (except for the blueberries!) but I am blessed to be able to purchase some produce pretty inexpensively through a bulk buy group. I decided to try a couple of new things this summer, and I think they've turned out ok. I normally only do pressure canning, but found a great deal on a water bath canner, so I bought it and decided to give it a try. I haven't pulled the pressure canner out yet this summer, and it may just stay on it's shelf - we'll see. The first thing I did was some pickles. I found a great deal on pickling cucumbers at a farmers market in the area, so I snatched them up. I've never made pickles before, and we haven't opened them up to try them yet, but they look pretty!

Next - I got 75 pounds of peaches. My mom came over on Monday and was so nice to help me can 24 quarts of peaches, 10 pints of peach jam and 14 pints of peach pit jelly. Don't the peaches look lovely in this picture. I think I like water bathing them better than pressure canning. They don't turn as dark (at least they haven't yet), and I didn't lose as much of the liquid in the jars. They are all still this beautiful peachy color!

I learned a few things about jam and jelly as well. I've always made freezer jam, but I'm trying to empty out my freezer to get it ready for a 1/4 of a cow that we will be getting in October. So, I decided to give cooked jam a try. I've also never done peach jam. The jam is on the left and it is so good!! I have some peaches left that are still ripening and I will be making more of this yummy goodness!

The jar on the right is peach pit jelly. I wish you could see the color better. It's a really lovely dark color. I had heard some of the women in the bulk buy group talk about peach pit jelly and was curious about it. I looked in all my canning books, but didn't find anything about it, so I checked out the internet and found a recipe. You make it by boiling down the peach pits and peels. Mom and I figured we'd give it a try since we usually just throw those parts away anyway. I think it ended up being a success. The jelly is sweet with a little peachy flavor.

I'm not sure I'll get much more canning done this summer. I've got a little less than a full box of peaches to still do - probably jam and a peach BBQ sauce that I found that looks really yummy. I still have tomatoes and sauce from last summer (I think I went a little over board with those last year). I do have about 6 bean plants in my garden that are starting to produce some beans. Hopefully I'll get enough to can a few pints of beans. I'm also hoping to get my hands on some Ginger Gold Apples to dry, but that's probably it for this summer. I've got so much to do to get this house in order for the appearance of new baby! November sounds so far away - but it's almost September first. My how time flies!!

The lazy days of summer...

2011-08-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived here in Western Washington! August has been beautiful! It hasn't been too hot - mostly in the low 70's - most days I just open up the windows and let the breezes keep the house cool. It has been seriously lovely!!! We've had a few hots days - like this past weekend, temperatures soared in the mid to upper 80's. We spent a lot of time playing outside, Adam riding his bike, playing in the little pool in the backyard, and just enjoying the warmth. Monday morning, we woke up to clouds and the threat of rain. This is what the boys found to do in the house...

Silly guys! We just got the excersaucer back from Daris and Rachael, and it's like the perfect toy again! Jackson can't leave the thing alone, and keeps climbing into it. The only thing is, he can't get out. I guess it's one way to corral him if I need to get something done without his help! It worked a year ago, and now that it's new again - it works again!

Annual Jetty Island Trip

2011-08-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

We love our annual trip to Jetty Island each summer. We had so much fun this year, we are even talking about trying to go again before the summer is over. The past two years, the weather has been far from perfect, and we weren't really brave enough to venture into the water much. This year, the day started out cold and cloudy, but by lunch time, the sun was coming out, the tide was coming in and we had so much fun playingin the water until the very last minute when we had to clean up and head for the ferry. There are lots of pictures of all the fun!

Adam and Xander got right to work on building a castle....

I'm so glad these guys are buddies. I love this picture of them. They look like they are discussing something very seriously!

Adam is sort of putting his arm around Xander here. He was so sandy and dirty - I guess he didn't want to touch Xander and get him dirty.

Here's the J-man. Always eating this guy!

Or, his new thing is to put his fingers in his mouth... I couldn't find the dry clothes I had brought for him after a trip in the water, so he wore Adams t-shirt. He didn't really like the water the first time, so I didn't think he would be interested in going in again...

but, I was wrong. When the tide came in and all the other kids went in, Jackson followed them, and had a great time!

Jackson and Maira

Adam was such a little fish when the tide came in. Here he is floating on a log with Xander.

He wanted to go out with the big boys. Grandma was so nice and waded out there with him. She told him she would go out until the water got up to her waist - and she did. That spot in the middle of the picture is Adam. There were some other big boys from our ward at church that came with us this year. Adam wanted to be just like them!

Jackson was so tired by the time we headed home. He didn't want to ride in the stroller, but he was just dragging walking back to the ferry, so I forced him into the stroller, and he almost fell asleep on the ride through the sand. It was much easier to pull the stoller this way through the sand then try to push it...

Here's Adam with no shirt - since his brother got it all soaked. He asked Grandma to ride at the top of the boat with him.

We had such a fun day - and really enjoyed soaking in the sunshine! Hopefully we'll make it back for another afternoon before the summer is gone.

It's never too late for a SURPRISE!!

2011-08-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

Two months ago, Scott had a big birthday. About a month later, his friend Ryan had a big birthday. Heidi (Ryan's wife) and I had been plotting a surprise for the two of them. We started plotting back in May. We picked a date for the surprise, only to have the Father and Son campout scheduled for the same night. We picked another date, and an epicenter dance was planned for the same night, we picked another date and so on and so on. (It's been a busy summer!) Finally - August came around and we planned for the 4th. I realized it was exactly two months from Scott's birthday - which I thought was fitting! But then, my parents ended up going to Reno (my dad was going to smoke some ribs for the party), and a few other things happened, but Heidi and I decided to press on.

I told Scott we were having a party for Ryan and asked him to smoke some ribs (he had no idea he was smoking them for his own party). Heidi told Ryan we were having a party for Scott and asked him to help get Scott over to their house. Surprisingly enough - it all worked out pretty well! Scott smoked the ribs, Ryan came over to help him get it all put together and they walked in to the party together, both thinking that it was a surprise party for the other one. It was great!! Here they are walking in. Ryan turned around and yelled surprise to Scott and Scott said "What - it's a surprise for you!" It was great!

Here are the brithday boys. You'd never know they were a day over 30...

It was fun to have a combined party. Some good friends of ours got to mingle and meet some good friends of the Markowski's. Then we also had some friends from the ward that knew both of them.

Here Scott and I are with Jeff and Quyen - our ex-neighbors. But we still call them great friends! I was glad they came to help us celebrate!

Here I am talking with Scott and Amy Butterfield. We've known the Butterfield's for over 16 years. They only live about 20 minutes away, but we don't see them nearly as much as we would like. It was fun to have them come for the surprise. The funny thing is that Scott B. and Ryan both worked at Arther Anderson at the same time, and they also knew each other from playing basketball when we were all in the Kirkland Stake. Small world!

Here's the boys cuddling as we get ready to sing happy birthday. I think Ryan looks a little uncomfortable in this picture...

Here's a more comfortable picture!

It sure was fun to plan a surprise, and actually pull it off! (That means I pulled off two surprises for Scott's birthday this year - I'm good!!) We all got a good laugh over all the stories that were being told at both of our houses over the past couple of months, as dates were picked and then had to be changed. Scott helped think of ideas of how to get Ryan out of the house, and Ryan helped Heidi come up with ways to get Scott over to their house! We all had a good laugh! It was a great way to celebrate two great men - even if it was to celebrate them getting older! (And, yes - I'm really going to have to watch out when it's my turn to hit the big 4-0 in a couple of years!)

Silly Frog

2011-08-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went to an Everett Aquasox game - they are a AAA farm team for the Mariner's. Don't ask me what an Aquasock is, but their mascot it a frog. Jackson was so excited when he saw a huge frog walking around during the game, and was even more excited when he got to give that frog a high five. Later on when we wandered into the little store at the ballpark, Jackson caught site of a miniature frog, and immediately, he had to have it. So, we bought him one and he carried it around the rest of the game. On the way home, he started saying things about "silly frog" and making him jump around. We aren't sure where the name silly frog came from - but it stuck, and he is now a part of the family! Jackson carried that frog around with him for several days, and wouldn't got to bed without him! He talked about silly frog constantly! Here are some of the things that couldn't be done without silly frog...

Reading bedtime books

Silly frog really got into it!

Going to bed...

Eating a meal!

Scott took a video of silly frog eating breakfast with Jackson one morning. I can't seem to get it to download, but we'll add it if I can ever get it to work.

I guess Jackson has found a new life long friend - Silly Frog!

Dancing Fool

2011-08-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Young Women from our ward were over one night to learn a dance and lip sync for girls camp. Jackson was having so much fun dancing with us! Ignore the pregnant lady and just pay attention to the little guy! It was so funny!

100 Miles!

2011-08-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

Brian and I did our first 100 mile ride a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast doing it! It was our first time doing that distance so we didn't go as hard as we could have but we still were in the top 1/3 of the riders. At least until we had a flat tire. We were in too much of a hurry to change it out that we blew two more tires trying to fix the flat. So in the end we had to wait for people to catch up and see if they had what we needed. Every rider was great and willingly gave us help. It took nearly an hour to get what we needed and then we got back on the road. We finished in just over 6 hours ride time which we were very happy with! Here are a few pictures from the ride.

This is how my 20 month old travels...

2011-07-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

I admit - I was nervous about how Jackson would do on our long drive from Washington to Idaho. This kid does not like being in his car seat! He has mastered the art of the arched back when you try to put him in his car seat. I was dreading the drives - but even more, putting him back in the car after we stopped. It takes some serious muscle sometimes to wrestle him into the buckles and then you get to listen to him scream! So - how was the drive? He did so good! I was so happy!!!! Amazingly this is what he did for probably 70% of the drive....

He normally only gets a binky in his crib - but, I relented and let him have it in the car. He would play for a little bit, then ask for his blanket, pull it up over his head and go to sleep. It was so amazing! Every time we stopped he would run around like a wild indian, and then, happily get back into the car when we said it was time to go. I don't think he did the arched back trick once! It was a miracle!

Wallis Reunion 2012

2011-07-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

These are some teaser photos for Scott's family! We picked a place for the reunion for next summer after much debate! We have talked about so many places - The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Colorado and the list goes on. But after lots of talking, we decided it would be fun to find a place a little closer to us. We have driven through Coeur d'alene many times heading back and forth to Idaho, but have never stayed there. So, we scoped out a few places, and found a perfect location!

We'll be renting some cabins on Lake Pend Orielle, which is a huge lake (so big the Navy builds and tests submarines in it!) Here are some pictures of the view!

Doesn't it look beautiful! We're excited!!

Camping

2011-07-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

On the way home from Idaho Falls, we stopped to camp in Couer d'alene, Idaho. We are in charge of Scott's reunion next year and wanted to check out some places for that. We found a campsite on the internet that looked nice, so I called up and booked a site. The website said the campground was located 1 mile off the freeway - it didn't say that the 1-mile stretch of road ran parallel to the freeway, so that you end up camping right next to the freeway. The campsite was beautiful - the freeway was loud! We quickly ruled out this location for the reunion! But, we set up our tent and had a nice time camping anyway! Here's our little site! I loved that there was grass everywhere - probably the cleanest camping trip ever!

Adam was so funny - there was a nice older couple camped next to us and he kept asking if we could invite them to our camp fire. So, that first night, he and Scott went over and asked if they wanted to join us for S'mores. They came over and we made some nice friends. They were from Cananda and had come down to buy a lawnmower. We enjoyed talking with them.

Here are Adam and Jackson enjoying the camp fire.

The next day was COLD! We took a walk around the camp site, and even did a little canoeing in the river. Jackson collected rocks....

They had these fun three-wheeled bikes to rent. Adam and Scott had fun racing, and Jackson even got in on the action!

Jackson had fun climbing in and out of these huge tractor tires!

We had fun camping, but it was nice to head for home and know that we could get some good sleep without listening to semi trucks blow by on the freeway!

We've been home for two weeks now, and Jackson still claps his hands when he gets to go to sleep in his own bed! He was such a trooper for the whole trip. He slept on the floor for most of it, and did really good. When I go to put him to bed at night or down for a nap, he claps his hands and says "yay bed!!" Silly boy!

Couch Family Reunion

2011-07-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

We had a Couch Family Reunion back at the beginning of July down in Idaho Falls. It was great to see so many of my cousins and their kids and to see how everyone's families are growing and changing! We drove down, and decided to do it in two days. Uncle Hyrum was so lucky to drive with us (in all reality, we were lucky to have him with us! He sat in back with Adam and helped him keep everything together). We took the drive slow - several long stops to let the boys run around. Scott took this picture when we stopped for lunch the first day. Jackson had to do everything that Uncle Hyrum did!

After lunch on the first day, Scott and I surprised Adam with a Nintendo DS. He was beyond thrilled and played it the rest of the drive (another great reason that Hyrum was with us - he helped Adam get it all set up!!)

For some reason, we only brought our camera out to one family reunion event. Such slackers! We arrived in IF on July 4th and went straight to my Grandma Couch's house where the rest of my family was waiting for us. Adam was so thrilled to see his cousins! Then we headed over to check in to our htoel, and then to meet up with everyone at a park by the river. The plan was to have dinner and then stay for the famous Idaho Falls fireworks show. We all decided not to stay for the fireworks since half of our kids (Adam, and Aiden - (Nate's son), especially) are terrified by the noise of fireworks. So, we ate dinner and sat and chatted with extended family members while the little kids ran around and then headed back to the hotel. My dad and brothers had bought a bunch of roman candles, so we put the kids in their pajamas and headed to the parking lot next to the hotel and watched the roman candle line up. The big boys had fun!

The next day is the day we brought the camera out, so all of these pictures are from that day.

We spent most of the day at a park - Here is Jackson holding his newest cousin Eli. Everytime he saw him, Jackson wanted to hold him. It was very sweet. Eli cried each time, but Jackson was very patient!

My Uncle Cody, took some family pictures, since all of the Conrad clan was in attendance. I don't have any of those pictures yet, but he also took some of all the grandkids. I'm actually amazed that some of these are cute! I love little Robyn standing up in the back. The kids were really done with having pictures taken! (I have to point out that both of my boys HAD to have their hats on - turned backwards!)

Jackson kept getting up and running towards the picture takers.

I love Asher in this picture. He's the little guy at the right in the yellow shirt - do you think he's done?

After dinner, we played a fun human ladder game! It was very competitive!

But, after the competition, all the adults were nice and let the little kids give it a try. Miraculously - no one fell and got hurt! Here is Adam...

The tongue helps!

Then we had some classic stick pull!

And then the traditional baseball game. It was getting dark, and I'm not very good at using our camera, so these are the only two pictures that turned out from the game.

The next day was July 6th. Most of the grownups headed up for a rafting trip down the very full and very fast Snake River. Scott said it was lots of fun! Those that stayed behind took the kids to the zoo, and then back to Grandma's house where they had an epic water fight with my cousin Holly's husband. Then we headed back to the hotel for some swimming.

That night was the traditional family home evening. My cousin Joe blessed his new baby boy, and it was great to hear an update from my Aunts and Uncles about their families. I have cousins spread out all over the US, some who couldn't make it this year, so it was great to hear how they are all doing.

The next day, we packed up and headed out!
I had to include these two pictures of Jackson climbing on the rocks outside our hotel.

We had lots of fun at the reunion. It was fun to be back in Idaho Falls - brought back fun memories of my years Ricks and the time when Scott and I were dating. It was so great to see cousins and aunts and uncles that we only see every two years and to introduce my boys to them. Adam had so much fun being with Noah and Talia! He loves his cousins so much! Looking forward to another reunion in two years!

Baby Girl

2011-07-15T12:32:00.001-07:00

Yup - It's really true! We've got a baby girl here!! Gotta admit - I'm a little nervous, but super excited all at the same time!!

I had another ultrasound earlier this week. Back on July 1st, when I had my 20 week ultrasound, the technician heard something weird in the baby's heartbeat. I thought I heard it too, but she didn't say anything and just kept on going - although she did keep going back to measure the bumps in the heartbeat pictures. So, when I saw the doctor, he said that everything looked good, but that he wanted to take a listen to the heartbeat. He put the gel on my tummy, and I immediately knew that something was up. I could very disctinctly hear 3 strong clear beats, and then nothing - 3 beats and a space - 3 beats and a space. My doctor said "Do you hear that? It's bump, bump, bump, drop, - bump, bump, bump, drop". YES - of course I heard it - now what's wrong??? (I wanted to shout those words, but I held it together and calmly said something like "Yup - I do hear that")

My doctor called it a first degree heart block. He explained that sometimes the electrical pulses in the heart don't fire correctly in one of the chambers so it's like there's a beat missing. He also said he didn't think it was anything to worry about, but he would like to send me to Maternal Fetal Medicine so they could take a closer look and listen and see if they would recommend any treatment. Then he asked me if my stress level had sky-rocketed? Uhhhh - ya! I of course, said "no, I'm ok" and we went on with the rest of the appointment. The first thing I did when I got back to work that morning was call Maternal Fetal Medicine to make an appoinment. Unfortunately, it was Friday afternoon, and we were leaving Sunday morning to head to Idaho Falls for a family reunion (more about that later). So, I made an appointment for the Tuesday after we got home, and tried not to think about it.

One great thing about heading to a family reunion, is that all of my immediate family was together! All three of my brothers, their kids, my sister and my parents were all there. So, I took advantage of it and asked my dad, brothers and husband to give me a blessing. I am so greatful for the Priesthood! What a comfort that blessing was!

So, the reunion went by, and Tuesday, July 12th came, and I went in for my appointment feeling pretty calm, all things considered. The first thing they did was sit down with me to discuss my "advanced maternal age" (good grief - I'm only 37!!). The genetic counselor was very nice, and I re-learned some things that I remember learning in high school biology. We sat and talked for almost an hour. And then, finally - the ultrasound.... 2 hours of ultrasound. The tech. started out by doing all the measurements that had been done at my 20 week ultrasound, and by confirming that yes, we really do have a little girl growing in there! Then she got to work on the heart. She zoomed in and out, had me rolling all over the place to look from every single angle, measured everything going in and coming out of the heart, and listening to a perfect little heartbeat! Every time she turned the sound on, I was sure we would hear that beat drop out again - but it never did. The heartbeat was absolutely perfect!!

After 2 hours, the tech left and the doctor came in. She said that structurally, my baby is perfect! The heart is perfect! They were unable to reproduce the heartbeat that my doctor had heard. She said it could be many things - immaturity on the baby's part, stress during the initial ultrasound, a one time arrythmia... She suggested that I go back to my regular doctor and that he monitor the heartbeat more closely than they normally do, and if they hear it again to send me back. But from everything they could see and hear there was nothing wrong with my baby's heart. If something pops up again, she said that it would most likely be just a minor arrythmia and that she feels that there isn't anything to worry about. I admit that I did cry as she talked to me!

I am still a little nervous about upcoming doctors appointments, but I am feeling this little girl move around so much, and I still feel comforted by the blessing I received! So, of we go! Adam is thrilled to be having a little sister, and Jackson likes to give my tummy kisses for the baby. Scott went to the mall on Saturday, and a new store had just opened up! He said it was a zoo - they had people directing traffic and lots of valet parking. It's an American Girls store. I told him he'll get the chance to learn all about it....

Ultrasound day - What do you think???

2011-07-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning. Baby was quite stubborn and would not let us get a good peek at it's gender. The ultrasound tech gave us an 80% guess. Here's the picture - what do you think??

It didn't seem like we got any clear pictures at all. Here is the best profile pic they were able to get. Baby was laying face down and was doing quite a bit of hand moving, but didn't really want to cooperate when it came to anything else.

The tech actually had me laying on my left side, then my right side. She had me get up and emtpy my bladder and do some walking around to try and get the baby to move, to no avail. Baby stayed in the same position. I guess this one got a double dose of Wallis and Conrad stubborness!

So - give me your guesses - what do you think????

Father's Day

2011-06-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

We were all so happy to have daddy home for Father's Day. He had spent most of the week in Portland for work, and then had been at Mt. St. Helens on Friday and Saturday for the Tour de Blast bike ride. The boys were really great and helpful while daddy was gone, but we sure did miss him!!

Sunday morning, just happened to be Father's Day. Adam had it all planned out - what we should make him for breakfast, and how to get him to stay in bed. Adam's getting to be such a big kid! He was such a big help making breakfast! He cut up the ham, cracked the eggs, shredded cheese and buttered the toast! Jackson just stood there looking cute!

The boys enjoyed helping dad eat his breakfast in bed!

We love you dad! Thanks for being such a great Father!!!

The Dinosaurs are here!

2011-06-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Woodland Park Zoo has a dinosaur exhibit, so we went to check it out with our friends the Terry's. Traffic was crazy getting into Seattle because we choose to go the same day as UW graduation. We got to the zoo about 20 minutes before our friends, so we had some fun running around outside, and Adam found these cute hats they we just couldn't live without!

The first thing we did when we got into the zoo, was check out the dinosaurs. I will admit, I was a bit disappointed (I think I was expecting something more like the dinoaur park we went to in Ogden - this was a very small exhibit).

The dinosaurs moved, and some of them even spit out water. Jackson was terrified!

He would walk as far as he could on the other side of the sidewalk....

Adam and Xander thought it was cool!

This guy not so much...

We couldn't even get Jackson to sit on this guy with everyone else.

After viewing the dinosaurs, we checked out some of the other animals at the zoo. The boys had fun riding in the wagon.

Jackson thought the Penguins were much more fun than the dinosaurs.

And he LOVED the elephants. One was in the elephant barn and was eating some hay. The hay was hanging from a basket on the ceiling, so the elephant had to lift up his trunk to grab the food. Every time he did that Jackson would point and clap his hands. Then he'd should "more, more!"

By the time we were ready to head home the big boys were tired, so Jackson helped push them in the wagon.

We had some of our favorite pizza at Tutta Bella for dinner (Jackson threw a plate across the table where it shattered on the floor - great times). We had such a fun time hanging out at the zoo with our friends!

Daddy's Birthday

2011-06-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

June is almost over. I've mentioned Scott's birthday in previous posts, but should probably finish with all we did that day. Adam was so excited to make him a happy birthday banner. He spent quite a lot of time drawing birthday robots and robot presents.

We don't have a lot of wall space, so the only place we could find to hang the lovely banner was over the sliding glass door. As a matter of fact, it is still hanging up as I type this...

We had a fun BBQ for dinner and enjoyed being outside. Then Scott opened a few additional presents (including, of course, a new Dallas Cowboys jersey!)

Then the boys helped him blow out the candles on his ice cream cake. I let Adam pick out the candles at the store where we bought the cake. I should have paid more attention - I thought they spelled out "Happy Birthday" but when I opened them I realized they spelled out "Happy Retirement". Oh well! It was a Happy day regardless of what the candles said!

We sure love our Daddy! He works so hard for our family, and loves to play with his boys! No matter how tired or worn out he is from work (and from getting up at 4:00 every morning to workout), he will always go on a bike ride with Adam, and then spend hours chasing both boys around the house before bedtime. I am so greatful for the man I married, and adore him more and more every day!

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!

Ride to the top!

2011-06-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

My brother (Brian) and I have been training a lot on our bikes. (Thanks to Tammy for all her support!) We have been doing a lot of big rides looking for every hill we can find to ride up! Our longest ride has been 65 miles and we did that in just under 4 hours.

We signed up to ride the "Tour the Blast". It's an 82 mile ride up to the Johnston observatory overlooking Mt St Helens. You ride 41 miles one way and then back. On the ride up you have a 9 mile climb to do! That's why we were riding every hill we could find. We were in great shape and had no problem riding up the Mountain but this is the first time I ever got cold riding up a hill, especially 9 miles of it. The last mile I started to shiver! We got 30 miles in and tried to warm up but every layer I had was soaked. (Brian took his shoes off at one point and poured water out of them!) They had two warming tents with fires going and we couldn't warm up. Then we heard from support vehicals that it was down to 42 degrees 10 miles ahead at the top. So we started down. 30 miiles an hour on a bike, in the pouring rain, no visibility and unable to stop shaking from shivering so much was enough. We stopped about 4 miles down the 5 mile descent and went into the museum to warm up. We then got a ride down as the state patrol came and said no more bikes past the stop that we had just left because it was snowing above us. We ended up getting a ride down with all the other riders who got stuck in the bad conditions. A few wrecked other got hypothermia and a ride in the ambualnce.
For the first time Brian and I were smart and quit while we were ahead! At least our conditioning was great and the 9 mile climb was no problem.

By the way as we were walking to the starting line a group of guys were walking by with some very nice bikes stopped to look at my bike and said, "Wow, that is one mean looking bike!" Yes I puffed my chest out! So thanks to my awesome wife and brother for getting me such a great bike!

Here are a few photos of the ride the day before, Brian and I drove the route to see what we were in for and then a picture of me on the ride. That picture was only me about 5 miles in and you can see how wet it is already!

Here I am in the rain! Look close you can see al the rooster tail off of my back tire!

Is it summer yet?

2011-06-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone who doesn't live in Washington (and probably many that do) are tired of hearing those of us that do, complain about the fall/winter like temperatures we've been having around here. Seriously - today, the high 58 degrees. My furnace came on this morning - it's June 15th for crying out loud! We should hit at least 65 degrees everyday. I want to wear short sleeves and be warm, instead of sweatshirts and still be cold!

Ok - I'll stop complaining, and get to the real reason for this post. The weekend of June 4th was BEAUTIFUL! I ordered the sunshine special for Scott's birthday, and it worked! (I just have to figure out how to get it to work the rest of the time!). The weather on Saturday was up in mid to upper 70s. Talk about heaven!!! We decided to pull out the pools and let the water warm up so the boys could play outside after Jackson's nap. Can I say again how heavenly it felt sitting out on the grass watching them play?

Here's my studdly Jackson. He was given this cute swimsuit from our friend Xander. I figured out after it was already on him and he was outside playing that I put it on him backwards. He wasn't about to stop and let me fix it, so he wore it backwards. Doesn't he look so grown up?

Here's my darling neice Robyn. She is 10 months old and so cute! Daris and Rachael make cute kids - maybe they should try for another one?

Robyn and Jackson hanging together. Robyn thought that was ok until Jackson decided to start jumping in the water and splashing all over her....

...so, he moved to the big pool with Adam, and they jumped and splashed and had a gay-old time!

It was seriously a lovely afternoon! (Scott was at the bike shop having his bike fitting).

Jackson and Robyn even took a little bath together before Robyn headed for home that night. Cute kiddos!

Seiously summer - we are SOOOOO ready for your arrival!

Anyone want a bike?

2011-06-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

Scott is a hard man to surprise! In all the years we've been married, I've only managed it twice - the first time was when we went to Hawaii. I bought him a new wedding band (the band he had was a cheap one that was all we could afford when we got married). I gave it to him our first night on the island, and he was seriously surprised! The second time was at Christmas a couple years ago. I replaced a watch that he had left on the top of the car when we drove off after a Mariner's game. It was no easy feat to get the exact same watch, and he was so surprised when he opened it!

With his 40th birthday coming up, I really wanted to get him something fabulous! I thought about taking him to Las Vegas (he's never been), or taking him to Dallas to see a Cowboys game, in Cowboys stadium. I think he would have loved either of those things, but after talking with his brother, I thought it might be fun to get him a really fabulous bike. Scott and his brother have really gotten in to bike riding. They ride at least once a week and Scott also does a spinning class at the gym. They have signed up for several rides in the area and have been training really hard. Scott has worked so incredibly hard to lose weight so he can be active and participate in all the fun stuff to come with our boys. So, what better reward for all that, then a seriously nice bike?

It was so hard to keep it a secret. In fact, I think he knew - but Brian is a good partner in crime! Brian bought a new bike for himself back in March. Scott was so jealous, and we talked several times about when he could do the same thing. Then we found out I was pregnant, and it just didn't fit into our budget. So, Brian offered to loan him the money, but then decided he couldn't. Then they talked about Scott selling his motorcycle, but I told him I didn't want him too. After Brian told me that Scott was sure he was getting the bike for his birthday, I told Scott maybe he really should sell his motorcycle - I had changed my mind (I'm pregnant - I can do that kind of thing!) It was pretty fun to see how confused and crazy we could make him!

Brian worked it all out with the bike shop, that the boys and I could go in and surprise Scott the morning of his birthday. Brian came over that morning, and he and Scott left for a short ride. As soon as they left, I put the boys in the car, and headed down to the shop. Brian told Scott he needed to stop at the bike shop to get one of his shoes fixed. The guys at the shop were so nice, and they were super excited to be in on the big secret and reveal. Several of them came up to me while we were waiting, and told me what an awesome bike I had picked out (really - Brian did all the shopping and building of the bike - I had no idea what to get him!) I saw Scott and Brian walk into the shop, and quickly grabbed the boys and hid. Scott saw the bike leaning up against the wall, and later he told me that he was so jealous of who-ever the lucky bastard was that got that bike! Adam, Jackson and I jumped out of the room, yelled surprise and just laughed at how confused Scott was. I seriously think this was the best surprise ever!

Do you think he's excited?

Here we all are with the bike. Brian had arranged for the guys at the shop to give Scott a full fitting (I guess they measure you and get the seat and pedals and handlebars and everything set so you can ride at your best).

Just before we left.

Scott ended up going on a short ride that morning with Brian, and has since (it's been a week) logged well over a hundred miles on the bike. He did tell me that he figured he was getting a bike, but he was totally surprised to get it the way he did. I'm glad Brian was here to help me pull it off! Happy Birthday Babe!!!

April and May - up to date!

2011-06-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

I've been busily adding the goings on for April and May to our blog.
Don't miss reading about our Easter, Mother's Day, Adam's preschool graduation, or our anniversary.
Those were some busy months!

Coming soon - Scott's big birthday celebrations, and the arrival of the sun (even if it was short lived!)

The summer before us....

2011-06-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have a bunch of stuff to add to our blog all about the month of May. I finally downloaded pictures today, so I am one step closer!

One thing that happened in May - Adam graduated from preschool. Which means that our whole routine is up in the air - I was actually feeling pretty good about the way things were going, and now I've got to get my days re-organized! Today was his first official day without school. We did go in during the morning for an all-school clean up (it was a co-op program, so I'm kind of feeling like I graduated too!), but during the afternoon when Adam has normally been at school, he was home. I put Jackson down for a nap and settled Adam into some quiet time with paper and markers so he could draw, and went in the other room to get some work done. About 30 minutes later, I walked back into the room where Adam was, to find that he had done this to himself...

After the initial shock wore off, (he has never drawn all over himself before) I asked him what the heck he was doing and explained that we don't draw on our bodies. He told me that he wanted to be an awesome super hero! So, he drew blasters on the insides of his hands, and a cool disguise on his face and arms. I even found out later that he had colored in some of his toenails and drew on his belly as well. He went right into the shower after he promised that he would never draw on his body again. I guess it's time to get some projects and stuff for him to do while Jackson naps in the afternoons. Otherwise, it's gonna be a looooong summer!

Seventeen Years - and it just keeps getting better!

2011-05-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Scott and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on May 28th. It seems so weird to say 17 years! I don't feel old enough to have been married that long! I do feel very lucky to have spent the past 17 years with an amazing man!

We decided to do a little get-a-way. So, I found a bed and breakfast on Camano Island, which is about an hour north of where we live. It was a beautiful location - the food was great, the owners were great, and the view was awesome! We stayed at the Blue Moon Beachhouse, which is literaly located right on the beach! In the picture below, the middle window on the top floor of the house was our room. It was such a great place to stay, and someplace we would definitely go back too! The other pictures are of the view of the water from our room. Spectacular sunsets!

We took a stroll down the beach one morning. It was a little chilly, but the sun was shining, and we didn't get rained on!

We also took a tour of the island - which isn't much. There are a few state parks, but not many places too eat or shop. It was a perfect place for a get away!!

Saturday evening, we had dinner at a little inn where the chef prepares a 5 course meal for you. The food was pretty good, and the view was great! We watched several sailboats go by!

We headed home the next morning after going to the spa for an anniversary massage! Needless to say, we were both very refreshed and relaxed after our weekend away!
Happy Anniversary Babe! Here's to many, many more!!!

For Adam's yearbook

2011-05-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

It seems weird to me, but they did a yearbook for Adam's preschool graduation! I guess they are setting the bar high for his future graduation!

The picture below was done for decorations. I love the Dr. Seuss quote - and I LOVE the picture of Adam. He had to wear his orange hat and sunglasses to school almost every day during the winter. I think the mom who took the pictures captured my Adam perfectly!

For the yearbook, they asked each kid to answer a few questions about school and their future. Adam's is below.

And then we put together a collage of pictures showing Adam throughout the year. Adam helped me pick out the pictures and then he stamped his name.

They yearbook actually turned out super nice! It will be a nice momento for Adam to remember preschool.

In the audience at graduation!

2011-05-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

Uncle Brian and Grandma joined us for Adam's preschool graduation. Jackson kept a close eye on Uncle Brian, and made sure he kept his head resting on my shoulder through the entire first part of the ceremony.

The End of Preschool - Ready for Kindergarten!!

2011-05-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Adam graduated from Preschool on May 26th. Good bye Pre-K - hello Kindergarten! He had been talking about his graduation for about 3 weeks! I think he invited about 20 people to come! At school they had been practicing the songs they were going to sing, and walking across the bridge, and Adam was so darn excited! The week of graduation had finally arrived, and Monday afternoon, Adam came down with the flu! Jackson had been sick the week before - high fever, no energy! I was hoping that Adam had escaped, but apparently he didn't. He was sick Monday night, Tuesday, Wednesday (he missed his last day of preschool), and (just like Jackson the week before), woke up Thursday morning with no fever! We were so glad! I was worried he would have to miss graduation!

Each child was supposed to bring a flower for each of his teachers. Here's Adam with his flowers outside the school...

Here he is with Teacher Judy.

And Teacher Dorthy.

All the kids went to the other room to line up and get ready, then they had a little procession into the room where the ceremony was held. Adam was very serious, and wouldn't look at the camera for anything!!

Then they sang a couple of songs...

And acted out "The Very Hungry Catepillar"

Then it was time for the actual graduating part. They called up each child, who then got to bring up their "working" parent (meaning, the parent that was at school one day a week), and we walked across the stage together. While we walked, Teacher Judy had some very sweet words to say about Adam

"Adam-a quietly confident young man, he possesses a certain grown-up thoughtful outlook towards life, and is also so tender and connected to his mom and other people. I felt honored that I was the first person that he shared the good news of a new baby arriving. He loves vehicles, planes, and writing in his journal.

Tammy just joined this year and yet it felt like she had been with us for years. She was a huge help to all."

Adam received a cute certificate, and I got a flower. I didn't expect to be emotional, but I was - I blame it on the pregnancy! I'm amazed at how big my Adam has gotten! I am so proud of the boy he has become! He is so fun to be around, and is anxious to learn! He is so ready to start reading - he loves to sound out words, and is constantly asking me to spell words for him to write down. I'm excited for his next adventure into kindergarten!!

I've pasted below the comments from Teacher Judy to Adam's entire class. It's kind of long, but it really sums up his experience at Crystal Springs this past year. I am so glad we took the opportunity to join with that community for Adam's first taste of "public" school.

Are you feeling the magic in life? If not, you need to take lessons from this class. They’ll show you how to have fun. The parents and I got to see the world through their perspective; EVERYTHING was an adventure, everything was wondrous, miracles happen, baby dinosaurs and fairy princesses are real, super- heros can save you, when they sing monkeys on the bed or the fish song, they really ARE monkeys or fish! And we get to witness their discovery of the world. Every class has a different feel to it. To me, these kids were known for the delicacies of friendships, what it means to be a good friend and allowing those friends to make new friends, physical hugs and connections that ended up in football pile-ups, sometimes hugging so hard that I ended up at the bottom of the pile-up! The girls spontaneously formed circle dances and running and social interactions. They loved listening to stories and acting them out. CAPS FOR SALE was a hit. No one slowed down for one moment! They really knew how to seize the moment and just play and enjoy being kids. Most of them played with a variety of friends, but had a few good buddies at the same time. They did a LOT of learning about sharing and negotiation. You parents have been right there in the teachable moments to make sure that compassion and caring happened. We’ve talked about how sad we are to leave preschool, but also about how much we love and keep old friends. We accepted and honored them for who they are. We also challenged and guided them by setting the limits and rules. They had friendship rules that guided them to do the right thing. We accepted developmental issues, but challenged them academically. We feel very strongly about our play-based philosophy and these people all understood the concept of it. It is not just having toys out, it means engaged, higher level thinking while playing. Thank you for all that you have done and I know that you have learned right along with them. Things were never perfect but then we wouldn’t want it that way-we don’t raise perfect little kupie dolls-we raise real live, well-balanced kids who sometimes make noise, and sometimes quiet down, who sometimes get rough and sometimes know when to calm their bodies, who sometimes get curious, and sometimes know when to stop to listen to another’s curiosity. They learned their ABC’s as they brought sharing and snack and activities that started with the Letter of the Week. You parents had an amazing array of great activities-from arts and crafts to tents and snack shacks, they were all really cool. We kept them very busy! The beauty of a co-op is that there are so many people with a myriad of ideas! These parents were learning how to be better parents and teachers of young children. They even get credits from SCC for it!

Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day weekend was a little different for us this year. I left Saturday morning with my mom and flew to Boise to meet my sister. We had so much fun being together for just a couple of days - the highlight of which was going to see Wicked! It was such a great musical and we all had so much fun!

Adam was a little concerned that he wouldn't remember what I looked like, and that I would forget what my boys looked like after being gone for one night (I guess I need to get out a little bit more!!), so he decided we needed a photo shoot before I left. He took this picture of me:

And then Scott took this picture of Adam and I.

And then I finished packing up and got ready to get in the car to go. Jackson had been asleep during our photo shoot, so just as I was leaving Adam remembered that I didn't have a picture of all my boys together. I snapped this picture with my cell phone camera as I was walking out the door.

Aren't my boys cute!!! (Their dad's pretty darn good looking too!!)

I am so lucky to be their mom! It's what I always wanted to be - a mom! What a blessing to have these two amazing boys, and an even more amazing husband! I came home Sunday afternoon to flowers, handmade gifts, and a wonderful dinner (even though I promptly threw up what I had eaten - gotta love pregnancy "morning" sickness!) Scott even let me go to bed early, since I hadn't really gotten much sleep the night before. I did miss my breakfast in bed - but had a really great time with my mom and sister.

Thanks for letting me go boys! And I'm glad they didn't forget what I looked like while I was gone!

Parenting Advice

2011-05-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

I still need to add all our Easter festivities to the blog. I'll get to it eventually.

Saturday morning, Adam came and crawled into bed with Scott and I. I love lazy Saturday and Sunday mornings with our boys! Adam laid there for a few minutes and then asked "Why don't you ever say sweet dreams?" Scott and I both looked at each other and I finally said, "What do you mean buddy?"
Adam: "At night, when you put me to bed, you should always say sweet dreams, and then I won't have bad dreams. Here, I'll show you."
He then proceeded to give both Scott and I a kiss on the forhead and said "Sweet Dreams"!

It's good we have a 5-year old willing to share all his parenting secrets! Hopefully we can do better!

Listening in...

2011-04-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

This morning, I asked Adam to play with Jackson for a few minutes so I could fold some laundry without Jackson's "help". They went into Adam's room, and I listened to them playing together. This part melted my heart...
Adam: "Hey Jackson, I like being with you."
Jackson: "ok"
Adam: "Do you like being with me?"
Jackson: "Yesssshhhh!"

They played together for close to an hour! It was priceless!

A short story

2011-04-28T09:51:00.001-07:00

So here's my side of the story. I did give Tammy the deadline because as she points out so often I'm nearly 40 and getting really old! So we agreed to try and have kids until I was 40. As she stated that was extended which you can read about in the long story. So Tammy's breathing was getting worse over the weekend and when she came back from the going to the school district in tears I told her I would go in late and figure out the kids. I got them to a neighbor and went to work. I was pretty worried because she may not like to admit it but she is just as stubburn as me when it comes to the doctor. So I knew it must be hurting if she actually went. She gave me updates during her appointment as she had so many waits between steps. She finally called to tell me she had "Pluersy". I said "What is that?" She siad "It's very common in your first trimester!" I said "So how did you get it?" She said "think about it?"

That was a long pause then I said "So how did you ge...... NOOOOO" Not no as in I was mad but NOOOOOO as in I was totally shocked because we have never gotten pregnant without her getting medical help! Our entire family is very excited to welcome the next addition to our family.

The Lord has truly blessed us! It has been a roller coaster ride going form trying for 8 years with no luck, some experts in the field telliing us we would never have children of our own to wondering what both of our patriarcle blessings meant by family and kids (the life to come?)to now our 3rd little miracle! Tammy has gotten great medical help allowing her to get pregnant but I have no doubt that the Lord is the reason behind us having our children! Shortly before she got pregnant with Adam my dad called telling us that the cost for a mission had gone up and wanted to know if we could cover the added amount for my sisters mission. Tammy and I gladly said yes. That was late September early October. Tammy was pregnant in December with no medical help at the time (We were going to use fertility drugs starting in January). He has continued to bless in such ways!

A long story

2011-04-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've got a nice long story to share, so settle in and enjoy some reading (the ending is happy - I promise).
A few weeks ago - back in March, Scott and I went on a date with some friends. We had fun at dinner and saw a really good movie ("I am Number 4"). During the movie I started to feel kind of weird - I had a kind of tightness in my chest, but didn't think too much of it. The next morning was Sunday, and we don't have church until 1:00, so it was a lazy morning. I was still having this weird feeling when I would try to take a deep breath, but it wasn't really getting worse so I wasn't worried about it. We went about our normal Sunday business and went to bed. The next morning, I had to run up to the school district office. The deposit for full day kindergarten was supposed to be paid the previous Friday, and I had totally spaced it - so I made sure that I was at the district office as soon as it opened to drop off the deposit. While I was driving home I realized that I was really having a hard time breathing. Every time I would try to take more than just a shallow breath, pain would shoot up through my chest and into my right shoulder. It was definitly getting worse. When I got home, I told Scott I think I needed to go to the doctor, so he made arrangements for the kids and I called the doctor, and was luckily able to get in pretty quickly.
I had to wait, what seemed like forever to be called back to see the doctor. I hate going to the doctor on Monday's because it's always so crazy, and this Monday was no exception. After waiting for about 30 minutes, I was finally called back and went through all my symptoms with the nurse, and then with the doctor. Once finished, the doctor listened to my lungs, which were clear, and then said she'd like to run several tests, including an EKG and X-rays, and depending on what those showed, perhaps a CAT scan. So, the nurse hooked up the EKG, which turned out to be totally normal. Then the doctor asked if there was any chance I could be pregnant before they sent me down for x-rays. I shrugged her off and said there was like a 2% chance, but she insisted on a pregnancy test, just to be sure. So, I headed down to the lab and peed into a cup and left it in the little cubby in the bathroom and went back out to the waiting room to wait some more. About 20 minutes later, the technician called me back for x-rays. As I walked into the room and turned around, waiting for my instructions, the technician said "I'm sorry, but we can't perform x-rays today, your pregnancy test came back positive."

That's me being in total shock waiting for those words to sink in.... The first I said was "did you mix my urnine up with someone else's?" The technician didn't even crack a smile. She just handed me the test results and sent me back upstairs to see the doctor. So - that's how we found out that, yes, I am indeed pregnant. I was in such shock when I saw the doctor, that she offered to have a blood test done to confirm the urine results. (which also came back positive)
You see - ever since Jackson was born, I've had the impression that we would have one more child. Scott has not been on that same page, but he told me that I had until his 40th birthday (which is coming up in June) - after that he was done. So, last spring, I started going back to acupuncture and tracking my basal body temperature, and taking prenatal vitamins, and doing all those tricks that had helped in the past. Then December came and went, and I didn't get pregnant (both my boys have September birthdays...) I was a little disappointed, but Scott and I had been asked to be a Ma and Pa for our Stake's Youth Conference Trek at Martin's Cove this coming summer, so I was super excited about that and Scott extended my deadline until the end of 2011. So, I stopped going to acupunture, and I stopped tracking my temperature and I started working out harder on the treadmill so I would be in good enough shape for Trek. So, you can imagine my surprise...
We are so thrilled to welcome a new addition. My due date is November 15th and I am thrilled to soon be through the first trimester and very hopeful that I will start feeling better soon. We've had fun telling our families, and even bought a "Big Bro" shirt for Jackson (there is a picture on this blog with him wearing that shirt - and no one even commented on it!!)
By the way - the doctor diagnosed me as having Pleursy, which is when the sac lining your lungs swells and makes it hard to breathe. She said I must have caught a virus that caused it, and that if it didn't go away within a week to come back. Luckily, it did and I've been able to breathe just fine while I've been throwing up - so that's all good.
So - that's my long story. Kuddos, if you made it all the way through!

And - just for fun - here's a picture of the home pregnancy test that I bought on the way home from the doctor...

The new piggy-back ride

2011-04-27T16:24:00.001-07:00

This is how the boys get piggy-back rides around our house!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky that Easter weekend brought beautiful weather with it! The sunshine was heavenly, and we enjoyed the easter egg hunt, and coloring easter eggs outside!!

We started Saturday morning with the annual community easter egg hunt. It was great to have the Terry's come back and join us for this fun tradition!

Here are some pics of Adam and his hunt.

And here's Jackson! I love the first picture of him - all ready to go! It only took him about 5 seconds to figure out what he was supposed to do! He had fun walking around, picking up the eggs and putting them in his basket.

After all the eggs were opened, we headed back to our house with the Terry's for some egg coloring. Jackson quickly had blue fingers from dunking his entire hand in the cup of dye.

He had to show everyone his blue hand! (This picture was taken after we had tried washing the dye off!)

Eventually, Jackson was worn out, so he sat on the swing with Grandpa.

And then he decided to play in the dirt. His bath water was very dirty that night!!

The next morning, Adam was excited to see what the Easter Bunny had brought him. (He won that humongous bunny he's holding at the egg hunt the day before)

And here's Jackson going to check out what the bunny brought him as well (he also won that little bunny he's holding)

The boys both got a couple of Hex Bugs and a track for them to run on. Jackson got that cute green and orange bug chair, and Adam got a new two-wheeled scooter - along with a little bit of chocolate and a few jelly beans.

We had a fun easter celebrations with family and friends.

Jackson at 18 months

2011-04-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

I have been a blogging slacker lately. I may have a good excuse - I just have to think of it! Jackson did have his 18 month checkup this past week. It was only about 3 weeks late, but at least I got it done, right?

He was off the charts for both height and weight. He is 35&1/4 inches tall and weighs 31&1/4 pounds. Adam didn't have an 18 month checkup, so I have nothing to compare him too. I'm guessing Jackson is bigger, because I don't remember Adam being totally off the charts on anything.

Here's my Jackson. He wants to be a big boy so bad! Adam is (sort of) learning to ride his bike without training wheels. Jackson wanted a turn on the big bike too! He loved it!

Here he is at the zoo a couple weeks ago. This is my typical Jackson. He is a happy guy, and is usually talking, talking, talking!

I am really amazed at how fast he is growing up! It seems so much faster than Adam. He says so many words, and can obey simple requests like, "go get your shoes", or "put that in the garbage". His favorite thing to do is wrestle with daddy and Adam. Although, Adam has to be careful, because Jackson is a wild man!! We are so happy to have this kiddo in our family! He makes us laugh every day!!

More Great Wolf Lodge Pics

2011-04-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

My mom got some great pictures at Great Wolf Lodge - here are a few...

Jackson loved to sit at this window in the lobby. Everytime we would head down to the lobby, he would make a beeline for the window and beg to be lifted up onto the ledge. The water park is on the other side.

Adam LOVED sleeping on the top bunk in the "kids cabin"

Cute Jackson peeking through the window.

Much better picture of the boys climbing on the ice cream bear.

Do you think Jackson enjoyed the ice cream?

Adam had the ice cream with confetti in it. It tasted just like a vanilla cake mix before you bake it...

Jackson was fascinated with this guy. He was so nice to let him strum on his guitar. I think we stood there for a good 10 minutes!

Great Wolf Lodge

2011-03-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Great Wolf Lodge which is located a couple of hours south of us. Adam has wanted to go for quite awhile, so when a friend sent me a good coupon code, we decided to make a trip of it. Grandma and Grandpa Conrad joined us (we are SOOOO glad that they did), and we had a fun couple of days.

Adam enjoyed the bedtime stories (except for the wolf cheer - see him covering his ears in the bottom right picture)

We had some fun in the water....

Jackson took a little bit of warming up. The first day we were there the kiddie pool was closed, and the rest of the pools were just too big for him. He spent a lot of time sitting on the edge of the pool working up his courage to go in...

He did finally warm up and spent lots of time climbing up and down these stairs...

They did have a Magicquest game for the kids as well. Adam had so much fun being "Dragonman" and doing with quest with Dad and Grandpa. He did finish the quest and got to fight a dragon, save a bear and some pixies. His favorite part was fighting the dragon.

A few other things we did on our trip - the boys colored t-shirts.

We climbed on fun stuff...

and enjoyed some ice cream.

We had a fun couple of days.

The Zoo

2011-03-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Adam's preschool took a trip to the zoo. Scott took the day off and Adam's friend Gabe joined us and we headed out to Woodland Park Zoo. The weather co-operated and it didn't rain until we were getting in the car to come home.

Lots of animals came out to say hi!

I had to include this picture of our two navigators. They had fun deciding which animals we were going to see next. They did a good job!

It was a long day! Fun was enjoyed by all!

The Best Sunday!

2011-03-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

Today was an awesome Sunday! Scott and I sat through Sunday School together and enjoyed a great lesson on our Savior. We haven't enjoyed Sunday School together - well pretty much ever! I'm usually in Primary, or one of us is wrestling a boy. Today, Jackson started nursery! He is officially 18 months old tomorrow, but we celebrated today!

Isn't he just the cutest kid?

March goings on...

2011-03-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

I know my little blog has been pretty quiet the first couple weeks of March. There are a few reasons - first, my laptop had to go into the shop, but luckily just needed a good cleaning and lubrication - I also found out that the model of my laptop has a known motherboard issue although mine hasn't shown any signs of said problem (yet). And second, we were struck with the dreaded yuckiness that has been going around - Adam had some sort of stomach bug and couldn't eat for a good 4 days without having to run to the bathroom within about 4 minutes of said food entering his mouth. It was a pretty unpleasant few days - although, I was once again reminded of how grown up he is becoming. He made it to the toilet every time he had to throw up! No puke on the carpet - it was amazing! We were, however, very happy when he was able to hold food down. Since that time, we can't seem to stuff enough food into the kid. Yesterday, he had two lunches! He is constantly hungry, and several people have commented about how tall he's gotten. But, back to the sickness - Jackson didn't get the stomach bug (which we were all grateful for!), but he has been nursing a cold since about the middle of February, and then he started getting really clingy and moody - which is not how this little guy normally acts. I finally took him to the doctor and found he has a sinus infection. So, he's now on antibiotics. One good thing about antibiotics and Jackson - he can eat as many bananas as he wants. He always has a much easier time pooping...

So - that's been our March so far. We are looking forward to a fun get away with Grandma and Grandpa Conrad to Great Wolf Lodge in a little over a week. Adam has been looking forward to that for over a month. We are all excited that it's almost here!

Here are a few pictures of our life this month!

Jackson has taken up cooking just like his brother did! If Adam is helping in the kitchen, Jackson has to be helping in the kitchen! Here they are helping daddy make pancakes.

Jackson's been practicing his eating skills. His most favorite thing to eat is yogurt. It's pretty good if he gets it in his hair - right?

The light at the top of stairs has a light bulb go out. Scott tried to get the glass piece off and it was stuck good! The whole light fixture came off, and then the two of us spent a good 45 minutes trying to get the two pieces apart so Scott could get the fixture back on the ceiling. It wouldn't budge. Nothing a little duct tape won't fix. You might be a red-neck if...

(this is now fixed - so there is no longer duct tape holding up the light fixture!)

Adam loves to paint - and apparently Jackson loves to climb into the middle of the easel. He got caught several times like this one day...

As you can see - life at our house has been moving on as normal.

When did that happen?

2011-02-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago, we decided to put the high chair away and move Jackson into a booster seat at the table. He LOVES to sit at the table and will often go over to his chair and say "Sit, sit, sit" until you pick him up and sit him at the table.

Scott snapped this picture the other morning of Jackson sitting at the table eating some cold cereal. When did he get this big?

Tooth #2

2011-02-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

Adam lost tooth #2 last night. It's a good thing because those permanent teeth are almost all the way in! He told Scott that he was going to sleep with one eye open so he could see the tooth fairy.... I don't think that worked out the way he had hoped...

Brush your teeth!

2011-02-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

We don't have to ask this kids twice!

Every chance he gets (which means any time the bathroom door is left open), Jackson is up on that stool pulling out his toothbrush and toothpaste and going through the motions of brushing his teeth.

He loves to brush his teeth! Gotta be just like big brother!

Conversation

2011-02-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

Adam is growing up so quickly - right before our eyes. I'm not sure where he's learning it - probably just picking it up from observing other people - but he has become quite a good conversationalist. Here are a few examples.
Friday night, my mom called, and Adam wanted to talk to her so I handed him the phone. He starts talking and walking into the other room. I hear the following:
Adam: "What's that noise Grandma?" (Grandma must have told him that it was Robyn - she was at Daris and Rachael's house to babysit for them)
Adam: "How's Robyn doing?" (Response from Grandma)
Adam: "Is she growing big?" (Response from Grandma)
He is always polite and interested in what's going on with other people!
Sunday morning, Scott was sleeping down on the couch (apparently, I had been snoring - I was tired!). Adam came downstairs and sat down next to him and they had the following conversation:
Adam: "How was the temple, dad?" (Scott and I had been to the temple Saturday night)
Scott: "It was good. There were a lot of people there."
Adam: "What did you learn?"
It's so funny to hear him talk like that. He always listens politely to the other persons answers! He asks Scott "How was work?" every night when he gets home from work. He just seems so grown up when he participates in a conversation in this way. It's happened so fast!

Enough Already

2011-02-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

Jackson has had a heck of a week. I'm hoping things get better - SOON! It all really started Sunday, as we were walking into church. Jackson was standing between the wall and the big glass door. He started to walk around the door, and Scott thought he had made it past the door, so he opened it all the way and Jackson walked right into it. He screamed and screamed, and has a nice bruise on the side of his forehead. And then Monday night - the infamous faceplant. Then Tuesday with the cuts on his hands. Wednesday, he was trying to climb onto one of the chairs at the table, slipped off and smacked his cheek, he's got a nice long bruise across one cheek. And yesterday (Thursday), he fell down two stairs and somehow scrapped the middle of his forehead, so he's got a nice red spot/bruise on the middle of his forehead. And finally - to top it all off - Scott, Jackson and I walked over to get the mail last night after Adam went to play at Xander's house. We had so much fun jumping and running! When we came back in the house, Scott and I were hanging up coats and taking off shoes. Jackson walked over to his Buzz ride on toy, and was trying to sit down for a ride. It was up against the wall, so he couldn't get his leg over it. He got both knees on top of the seat, and put his hands on the wall and the darn thing started rolling. Jackson, once again faceplanted onto the floor. Much screaming ensued and the blood started flowing - again. He had a bloody nose, a fat lip, and a mouth full of blood. This little guy just can't win lately!
Oh - and I almost forgot - yesterday as I was washing dishes, Jackson wedged himself behind the couch and knocked over our tall floor lamp. The glass shade shattered and there was glass everywhere! It scared the poor kid to death, and I was so mad - until I saw his little face and held his shaking body. I'm just not sure what to do with him - maybe I should wrap him in bubble wrap for the next couple of weeks...

Bloody 24 hours!

2011-02-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

This blog entry is not about making a horror show. The blood is real, and there was so much more than it shows in this picture. This is the sweater I was wearing last night when Jackson fell and cut open his lip.

He was so excited to get in the shower and his little legs just couldn't keep up with his body. He tripped and fell - like he's done at least a hundred times before, but this time was different. He hit his mouth on the metal divider that runs between the carpet and linoleum floors, and then he started screaming! I ran to pick him up and there was already a pool of blood on the floor. I grabbed the closest towel to try to contain the blood. It's amazing how mouth wounds can bleed and bleed! He had a mouth full of blood as well as a bloody nose. Poor kid! This is what he looked like once we finally got him calmed down. Luckily, he didn't knock out any teeth - he just sliced open the inside of his upper lip (on the right side in the picture), and cut the skin that connects the upper lip to the upper gums. When I finally looked inside his mouth, I was surprised that those were the only real injuries. You would have thought he had cut a major artery or vein!

The poor guy was a trooper, and was soon his happy self. He took a quick shower and kept sucking his fat lip in, and every once in awhile he would let out a little sob to remind us that he was hurt. But, he slept pretty good - only waking up twice for a little cuddle, and then going right back to sleep.

Here is a picture from this morning. The swelling was mostly gone from the upper lip - just a couple of sores.

And here he is tonight. Yes, he is once again sad and crying. Want to know why?

See those two bandaids on his fingers? He was playing in the toy closet tonight, and just started screaming again. I went to see what was going on and he had blood running down his hand. He had found a piece of a broken candle holder (I thought I had cleaned it all up), and cut two of his fingers.

They were both like little paper cuts, but they were bleeding pretty good, so I put some bandaids on them. You would think I had tried to cut those fingers off. He kept pulling at the bandaids trying to get them off, and screaming at me when they wouldn't come off. I just had to laugh thinking that in another 6 months or so, he'll be begging me for a bandaid for the tiniest little thing!

So - here's my little beat up guy right before going to bed tonight. He did finally calm down and played for a little bit before taking a bath and going to bed. Hopefully there will be no blood tomorrow!

Cool Dude!

2011-02-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

This is Adam's typical outfit for playing outside at school. He's very cool!