Family Pictures

Not long ago we had a woman/photographer in our ward take some family photos for us. They turned out so beautiful! We have a whole disc full but I thought I would share some of our favorites.

Meeting Santa!

At the Christmas party they had a professional photographer, which was really neat! Michael was SO excited to see Santa! We waited in a long line and he just couldn't wait!!! Then of course, as expected, once it came time to actually sit on Santa's lap he totally freaked out (as seen in the last photo). Emma however was in heaven. She was thrilled with Santa and loved him even more when she got a candy cane! :-)

It's a .........

Technically we are not supposed to find out the sex of our newest baby until first week of January, but my doctor is really awesome and since we found out that Michael was a boy at 12 weeks and Emma was a girl at 14 weeks, I figured we would be able to see the sex of this baby at my last 14 weeks appointment. I begged my doctor and she of course said "yes"! So she snuck us into an open ultrasound room and took a look. The baby was not being very helpful. It took awhile and two people to see that we are expecting a......



BABY GIRL!

Heartbroken.....

The other day I sat down to do the blog and update all the pictures I had taken since Thanksgiving. My camera was filled with photo's from the very first Thanksgiving I had done. I had tons of help from family! It was great to have my family and Adam's family there in one place. 16 of us all together! We were even blessed enough to have Paul's sister Jan and her husband Kevin join us from New Mexico. On the camera was also pictures from our family trip to the zoo. Michael and Adam had so much fun feeding the sting rays and playing at the petting zoo. The other night my mom came over and we made sugar cookies for Christmas. This was Michael's first time doing the sugar cookies. He stayed up late and sat on the counter. He was in charge of covering the counter with flour and pressing the cookie cutters into the dough. He was having so much fun! The pictures of him and my mom doing the cookies together were priceless. I have never seen a smile that big on his face. He was so proud of himself, all covered in flour! :-) Then he got tired and pushed the cookie cutters aside and laid right down in the flour on the counter top to go to sleep. It was precious. The last pictures I had on there were pictures of Michael at his little photo shoot. A couple of children his age were asked to be a part of a photo shoot for the little gym that he goes to. They had a professional photographer come in and photograph them doing their favorite little gym activities. They got some great pictures of Michael hanging from the rings. Huge joyful smiles! My most heartbreaking video that I lost was of Emma crawling for the first time. She has been crawling for so long now that it's not something I can recreate. Yes, that's right.....I did something to my camera while trying to figure out how to turn the flash off and I ended up deleting every single photo. I am so heartbroken! Sadly...that is life and I will just have to do my best to recreate the memories in the stories I write down in each of the kids little journals that I keep for them of their growing up years. I'm sorry there are no new pictures to show. :-(

We're Pregnant.....again! :-)

The night before Michael's birthday party I had a strange dream. I had taken a pregnancy test and for some reason couldn't figure out what the result said. So I woke up and I had a left over pregnancy test from when I got pregnant with Emma. I figured it was a long shot cause I had no symptoms but I wanted to go get birth control that coming Monday so I thought I might as well make sure.
It was still early...like 5am. Everyone was sleeping and it was still dark. I went down stairs and took the test. Then while letting it wait it's 3 minutes, I went up stairs and got ready for the day. As an after thought I remembered the test was downstairs and thought I better throw it away before I forgot and people use the guest bathroom at Michael's party....no one wants to go the bathroom with a pee test sitting next to them. haha. I knew it was negative and felt silly for even taking it. I picked up the test and threw it away and then thought to myself "was that two lines?" I picked it back up and sure enough, two lines. Then I dug through the trash for the test box so I could verify what two lines meant. I couldn't believe it. I was literally in shock. I ran upstairs and frantically woke Adam up telling him he needed to go to the store and get me another test...or maybe a few cause it was going to take a lot to convince me I was pregnant.
I took about 3 tests all together...even the expensive tests that actually say "pregnant" or "not pregnant" and yes...they all came out saying that I am pregnant!......again..... haha.
We are very excited but also scared to death. We were not expecting our third child nearly this quickly. I guess it's time for the mini van! :-)
I had my first check up and everything looks great! Baby is due June 10th. Michael will be 2 1/2 years old and Emma will be 13 months. I am desperately trying to get Michael potty trained! He is doing great so far! As long as his diaper is off he will go in his potty every time. Now I just have to get him to tell me when he needs to go. It's a work in progress but so far so good! :-)
This baby is giving me the worst morning sickness I have had yet. It's been a struggle taking care of the little ones and being so sick but I have been given a lot of help from friends and family and I'm very grateful!

Michael 2 yr old birthday!

This year for Michael's birthday he decided he wanted a Madagascar theme! He has been obsessed with part one and two of that movie for months now! His dad and I can recite pretty much the entire movie line for line of both part one and part two of the Madagascar movies. We are grateful he chose such funny and entertaining movies to be his favorites though. :-)
Michael had so many people come to his birthday. It was so great! Lots of friends and family and plenty of kids for Michael to play with! He had such a great time and we had a great time visiting with everyone.
I can't believe my little boy is already 2!!! It's crazy to think how time goes by so quickly. I didn't' get as many pictures as I would have liked but I was so busy trying to keep everything moving and being hostess that I didn't get as many photo's as I would have liked. However, family and friends brought their cameras and took lots of pictures that I haven't gotten onto my computer yet, so for now here are a few and there will be more to come! Oh...and the reason he has no shirt on is because he spilled his punch down his front and it was sticky and he took it off. :-) Plus....I think he was just trying to show off for the girls. haha :-) Just like his daddy. :-)

Passing Gym!

Michael had another big accomplishment! A few weeks ago we went to his gym class and his teacher was so proud of him for doing everything she asked him! He does pull ups on the Olympic rings, he hangs on the bars, he walks on his tip toes across the balance beam, he jumps through hoops, he does somersaults, he does bear crawls and army crawls and butt scoots and he finally did a sit up all on his own! That means that he got to pass his gym level and move up to some harder stuff! When his teacher went out to tell the manager, so that Michael could get his ceremony and his medal, they were all shocked because Michael was not even 2 years old yet and the next level up is a class for 3 and 4 year olds! But his teacher said that he needed more challenging stuff cause he did everything in the lower level like a pro and she felt he was mature enough to move up to the older class and said he follows directions better than most of her 3 and 4 year olds. We are SO proud of him!!!!

Romantic Getaway!

For my birthday earlier this month Adam surprised me with a weekend getaway to Sedona! He planned everything! I didn't have to stress at all..... except it was my first time being away from my kids overnight. I left WAY to many typed up directions for my very capable mother in law but she was great about it and everything was just fine at home. :-)
We had such an amazing time! Sedona could not have been more beautiful! We stayed at a resort and spa right up against the red rock mountains. The views from our hotel and the restaurants we ate at were incredible! We took amazing walks down by the creek running through our hotel, and hiked up through the red rocks. I was SO excited to sleep in for the first time in 2 years but sadly my internal clock had other ideas. I woke up on my own during the night when I usually get up to feed Emma and I woke up at the same time I wake up every morning. I guess even when you get away you're still mom. :-)
Adam was so incredible! He isn't one for walking through shops. He prefers the action sport stuff, but he was great about making sure we walked through all the little shops in uptown Sedona, looked through the art galleries and even stopped to listen to the bands that were set up along the street. The pictures don't do the place justice but we had a GREAT time! Thanks Honey!!!

Zoo Trip!

Yesterday I took the kids to the zoo with some friends and their kids. We had a great time! Emma couldn't lay down, she was pulling herself to sit up so she could take it all in. It was so cute! Michael got to ride the carousal and even got to get up close and personal with a giraffe! He got to hold his little hand out and feed it. He was beyond excited because he is so obsessed with Madagascar movie right now and there is a giraffe in the movie. He thought it was the character Melman. We had to do it twice! :-)

Michael the dare devil!

The other day Adam and I took Michael and Emma to a play area at the mall. Emma just rolled around on a blanket but Michael had a blast climbing and jumping. Adam got the funniest thing on camera and I had to share it! Michael climbed to the top of one of the play things, jumped off, and didn't quite make it so he ended up doing a summersalt. It was so cute! He was so proud of himself! He kept trying to do it over and over again. :-)

Emma's new hiding spot.

There is a corner in our family room that is between the speaker and the couch. It's a small corner but it holds some of Michael's down stairs toys and teddy bears. The other day I laid Emma down on her juggle gym for tummy time while I went to put Michael down for a nap. When I came back I couldn't find her. I knew she couldn't have gotten far but I was shocked to see her hiding in the corner with the toys. She was perfectly content and happy to stay there. The look on her face, like I had caught her, cracked me up. She is so beautiful! She is also turning out to be every bit mischievous as her big brother. :-)

Emma Eating Corn!

This past Sunday we were having dinner at my in-laws house and since they like to spoil me rotten, they had my favorite on the table...Corn on the Cob! We learned when Michael was just a little guy how much he loved corn and it looks like another one of my kids has taken on my love of corn! It was so adorable! She could hardly let go. At first she needed her Grandma Weeden's help to hold it up to her mouth but once she got the hang of it she held that corn all by herself and kept chewing away. :-) That's my girl! :-)

Visit with Cousin Ryan!

While we were in California earlier this year Michael made a new best friend with his cousin Ryan. They are about 2 years apart in age but they play great together! They chased each other around the living room for a good 15 minutes without stopping, they played in my mom's backyard in the pool together, taking turns running and jumping in and going down the slide. Adam, not to be left out lifted both kids up and would spin round and round while both kids laughed and screamed their heads off! So fun! Ryan was even nice enough to let Michael ride his bike for a couple minutes. Before we left my mom's house I had taken Michael outside to the car and Ryan came running out saying that he wanted to say goodbye to Michael. When they caught sight of each other they ran straight at each other and had a big hug and waved "bye bye". I wish we lived closer but I'm so glad they had so much fun!

Riding Ryan's bike

Playing in the pool
Getting ready to spin

The running splash!

Getting ready to jump back out and do it again!

Uncle Brandon

Brandon got home from his mission last November and it didn't take long for him to become best buds with Michael. After Emma was born Brandon clearly fell in love with her (who wouldn't!?!) and he has been just wonderful with them both. He is heading out of State to college soon and we will miss him terribly and look forward to visits! We are very proud of him and wish him luck on his new adventure! Love ya bro!

Splash Pad Fun: Part 2

The other day Michael and I were telling Adam how much fun the splash pad is! Adam decided he wanted to come and spend a family afternoon at the splash pad after work one day. Michael was so excited to show his daddy how everything worked and all the fun stuff! Adam and I didn't plan on getting wet but we both ended up getting involved in a little water fight fun between the three of us while Emma looked on and laughed at us. So we both got soaked to the bone right before we all went grocery shopping. We were quite the sight! haha!

Michael swimming!

Michael made another accomplishment during swim lessons on Monday. The teacher puts these pool rings on the steps under water and has the kids dive to pick them up off the steps. Well on Monday his teacher put the ring all the way at the bottom of the pool and Michael dove down, grabbed the ring, and pushed his feet back up! I couldn't believe how great he did! He swallowed a little water but did great. He normally does great with his "airplane", where he lays on his back and floats for 10 seconds by himself. He is a pro at it really, but whenever he figures out he is being filmed he won't do it right. So anyways, check out the video! We were so excited! Also at the end of each lesson he gets time to float on a noodle. He loves it! He just grabs onto the noodle and floats all on his own. He thinks its great and of course can't stop talking about it all the way home. :-)

Emma Standing!

If anyone has been around Emma for any period of time they know that she is not a fan of laying down. She wants to be sitting up, or standing up. She has incredibly strong legs and can get herself pretty much whereever she wants to go during tummy time. I can never keep her in the same place. Today I was standing her up next to her jungle gym so she could play with the leafs like she enjoys and she grabbed onto a bar on either side of herself and was holding herself there all on her own! It was incredible! We were so proud of her and blown away! She was obviously very proud of herself as well. Michael also clapped cause I'm sure at some point or another he is the one who taught her to do it. He seems to teach her everything these days. :-) They are two peas in a pod!

Backyard Buddies!

For the past few weeks Adam has been getting our backyard prepared to plant grass. His goal is to have it done before Michael's birthday party, and so far he is right on track! He has been working so hard digging ditches, putting in sprinkler lines, getting electricians out to run lines to the backyard, and putting everything back together again to put the grass on top. We have had help from Adam's dad and brother, which we are very grateful for! However, I think Adam would agree that his biggest helper is little Michael. Michael so looks forward to his daddy coming home so they can head out to the backyard, just the two of them, with Michael's little yellow shovel and help daddy dig. He follows his daddy around and tries to do everything exactly the way his daddy does. It's so adorable to watch!!! I had to capture a few photos.

Splash Pad Fun!

Every Tuesday we have a play group that meets at the community splash pad. This past Tuesday had been really windy so Michael and Emma were the only two there. We didn't let that stop us from having fun! Emma rolled around on her blanket with some toys and watched her brother. Michael ran around through the water and then went exploring! He took his shovel and a large stick he found and he would go to one side of the splash pad, dig up the biggest rock he could find and run it back over to me. Each time we did a big show "Oh wow! That's the best rock I've ever seen! You're incredible!!! You must have worked so hard on that! Great job!" So he kept going back and would run back over to me with the biggest smile on his face to show me the next rock he had found. It was a fun morning! We all had trouble leaving. But lucky for us....we can do it again next week! :-)

Checking out the lay of the land

Getting wet

Searching for rocks

Smiling watching her brother

Running to me with the next rock he has found Smiling as he sets the newest rock down into his pile.

The rock stash and the stick used for digging