February Fun

We had a busy month! Sam turned 6 and we had a fun party complete with a race car cake and games. His main present was a new bike. I can't believe he is so big! He has really grown the past few months....I need to get him all new pants. He is loving school and at his parent-teacher conference, his teacher suggested he start reading the Magic Treehouse chapter books. He is also doing really well with his piano lessons. He is one smart kid! He also beat the whole game (passed all the levels) of his new Super Mario Bros. game on the Wii that he got for Christmas. His favorite thing to do is play Wii with his dad. He is also getting to be more help each day with his sisters and doing things for Mom around the house.

At the end of the month, we decided on a Thursday to leave the next day for a quick trip to California and Disneyland. We spent a few days with Dann's family and visiting friends, then did one whole day of Disneyland and then drove back that night to Las Vegas. I don't think we'll do that again.....we were so tired it was hard to stay awake. The next morning we drove back home. We had originally planned a California trip for March, but I'm glad we went when we did. I'm having a hard enough time walking now as it is, and any later would've been worse. I just walked to and from rides and then sat down. Overall, we had a great time! The weather wasn't really warm, but warmer than we have had in Roosevelt for awhile, so it was a nice change.

It's hard to tell, but this is on Main Street with the castle in the background

The Dumbo ride!

Two happy kids

Our Newest Bundle of Joy

I'm so far behind blogging that I don't even know where to start, so I'll just forget going back the past few months and start from today!

I had a fun visit at the doctor's office this morning. I am officially into my 3rd trimester with baby #4 (a girl) with only 12 weeks to go! I am feeling great and am really excited for this baby's arrival. I did my glucose challenge today to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes, and also got to do a 3-D ultrasound. This baby girl looks a lot like her sisters to me! It was really fun to see all the different images. My mom and sister Kiana sat in on the fun.

Here are a few of the best pictures:

I love this one with her foot up by her head!

My doctor is going to let me try for a VBAC, since I had a c-section with my breech Bella. I am going to try to make it as long as possible without an epidural, so I am looking into hypnobirthing. If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Celebrating Halloween

It seems like October was full of everything Halloween! Here are a few of the things we did throughout the month:

I am the Activity Day leader in our ward for the 10 and 11-year-old girls in our ward, so for one of our activities, we started the Halloween "Phantom." We made sugar cookies and decorated them, then attached a picture of a ghost and a poem with instructions for the them to pass it on to others. The girls LOVED it because we went out later that night to deliver them and then they got to ring the doorbell and run! We got the phantom back here at the house a few days later, so we had to deliver more treats. This time my brothers did the running for me!

Sam did a few really cute art projects at school, and my favorite is this tree he made:

He and Lily also drew and cut out a few things and taped them to our front door:

The Friday before Halloween, Sam had a costume parade at school along with their Halloween party. He told me it was the "funnest" day of class so far because it was just a big party the whole time!

Carving pumpkins was pretty funny. We let the kids draw their own faces on the pumpkins. When we tried to get them to clean out the insides, they kept saying, "EEEWWHH! Gross!" They turned out cute.

This year, Sam wanted to be a Nascar driver, and Lily wanted to be a princess, just like she has been the last few years, but I talked her into being a "beautiful" witch. The weather was nice all day, then turned rainy and cold just in time to trick-or-treat. It seems like that always happens! Still, the kids had a good time, and we ended up with close to 300 trick-or-treaters at our door!

I also celebrated my birthday a few days before Halloween, and Dann and I were able to take an evening and stay overnight in Salt Lake. We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory (one of my favorites!) saw a movie, and did a little shopping. It was great. We also celebrated my sister Emily's 16th birthday on Halloween, and I got to make her a birthday dinner and dessert. She chose cinnamon rolls for that, and they turned out really yummy!

Lagoon!

I've been looking forward to the time when the kids would be old enough to have fun at Lagoon. I haven't been there myself for close to 10 years, and Dann had been only once when he was really young. My parents and brothers and sister joined us, too, and we had a great time!

When my dad asked Sam if he was having a good time, he said, "It's only the best day of my whole life!" However, that statement was made before he found out he was too short to ride the big bumper cars, which changed his mood for a short time. His favorite rides were the ones involving water, until he got cold later on.

Lily loved everything. She had no fear and was in good spirits all day. Bella only went on the carousel and the train ride, which she liked, until she saw the animals and started crying. I was so surprised! She loves animals, but maybe not ones in cages. Perhaps she isn't quite ready for the zoo...

We left before dark and went to In-N-Out, which was crazy busy. Rather than drive the 3 hours home, we stayed at a hotel in Bountiful, which went better than the last time we tried a hotel overnight.

I would say the trip turned out a success! We may even try Disneyland in December....

And this picture has nothing to do with the trip, but I took it a few days ago of Bella, and it was the first time that when I told her to say cheese, she did!! So cute...

First Day of School

We have been looking forward to this week for a long time at our house! And, now that we are a few days into this school adventure, it's really going well. When I took Sam to meet his teacher last week, she said that of all the kids she had tested, Sam and one other little girl were way beyond all the other children's current abilities, and suggested we put Sam and this girl together so she could work with them and challenge them a little more. The problem was, at the time, Sam was signed up for morning kindergarten, and the little girl was in the afternoon, and she still had to okay it with the principal. That first day Sam went in the morning, and then his teacher called after school and said the principal gave the go-ahead, so since then he has been going in the afternoon. He didn't seem to mind the switch.

I am so happy about the afternoon schedule! I hadn't even thought about it before, but Lily and Bella both take naps in the afternoon, so now I can too! We also are not great at getting to bed on time, and Sam sleeps in (if you can call 8:00 sleeping in), so I think we ended up with the best thing for us for this year.

I take Sam and drop him off just after noon, and the first few days I walked with him to his class. Yesterday I had Dann take him and let him "lead" him to his classroom, and he found it just fine, so today I just dropped him off in front of the school! He is also riding the bus home now, and loves it.

Bella loves to go wait at the bus stop with me and pick him up. "Bus" is her new favorite word!

Lily tells me everyday how excited she is to go to school now....it could be a long year!

Lily's Birthday

Our full-of-life Lily is finally four!

She started off her birthday by going to the dentist for the first time and did great! She was thrilled with her new princess toothbrush, her own toothpaste and floss.

We had a party with some family in the evening. She loved all her presents and the cake and was sad to go to bed because then it wouldn't be her birthday anymore.

We sure love having Lily in our home! She is so funny and creative and loving. We love the songs she makes up and the pictures she draws for us. What a joy she has been for the last 4 years!!

Lily wanted a butterfly cake this year

Her present from Dad and Mom. Don't worry...she does have a helmet!

Thanks Nana and Papa for this one! She loves it!!

Summer, We Will Miss You!

I'll be the first to tell you that winters in Roosevelt are not enjoyable, but it makes all of us who live here so much more grateful when we do have sunshine and warm weather!

A few things we checked off our summer to-do-list: put in a backyard, go to the lake, visit family and friends, swimming lessons, play at the park, eat lots of popsicles and ice cream, ride bikes, get dirty, put on a tennis tournament, barbecues, UBIC, SLC Days of '47 Parade, go camping, grow a vegetable garden, and HAVE FUN!

I just downloaded pictures of some of the above-mentioned activities, but rather than go back and write a separate post for each one, I'll just post the pictures and write a few lines.

Bella and Lily enjoying some strawberry ice cream cones!

Dann took Sam and Lily to meet Jeremy Evans (a new Jazz player) when he came to the local junior high. They thought that was pretty cool!

Sam and some friends at swimming lessons

Bella at the park. She loves walking these days!!

Lily, obviously not happy that she and the bear both got wet at the bottom of the slide!

Pres. and Sis. Uchtdorf at the Days of '47 Parade

Lily and Sam took part in a Children's Theater that my Aunt put on with several of the kids in the neighborhood. They performed "Three Wacky Tales." It was darling!

This is at Flaming Gorge, where we go almost every year for a family reunion.

Sam and Dann, looking for lizards and climbing rocks!