Christmas Pictures

I couldn't wait for the annual Christmas card to share some of the Christmas pictures of the kids. I sure love this little crew!

Four Times

I had to be pregnant four times to figure out the following:
1. If I take Zofran in the day and Phenergan at night I get a full nights sleep and don’t get woken up (to throw up) at four or five when my stomach gets really empty. (You wouldn’t think this is rocket science because the major side affect of Phenergan, and the reason why I have always resisted using it for nausea, is drowsiness. It works awesome for me.)
2. If I go to the chiropractor on a regular basis back pain can be minimized. Why did I live with sciatica during my last pregnancy when I could have at least tried chiropractics. When I starting having a problem at about 17 weeks this pregnancy I thought “I can’t live with this” and I went straight to the chiropractor. I haven’t had to live with it, at least yet.
3. If I wait to have my ultrasound until the new-year I won’t have to pay the $400 out of pocket since my deductable hasn’t been reached for the current year. Our deductable is sure to be reached next year. Even if I was anxious to know the gender I could do that for $75. My doctor said that the ultrasound helps them to anticipate problems that may present themselves at birth, but it doesn’t really matter if I have it at 20 weeks or 30 weeks.
4. If I don’t wear make-up for twenty weeks or so my life is simplified and my friends still like me. I have never been confident enough to go without makeup, but when I was throwing up allot it really simplified my life to not deal with mascara. Now that I am feeling better the make-up is back on.

With all of these great discoveries I wonder what else I will discover in the next 16 weeks. (I really have 18 weeks, but 16 sounds so much better.) I am sure to discover yet another way to get labor induced, which is why I am planning on 16 weeks. Hopefully I can figure out a way to sleep at 36+ weeks. I guess this finally figuring a few things out is just one of the many benefits of having lots of babies.

BTW I am using the bead idea to help Caleb and Cara balance their “service.” (See the prior post.) When Cara does something nice for Caleb she gets to put a pink bead in the “service jar” when Caleb does something nice for Cara he gets to put a blue bead in the jar. The goal is to keep it almost even. They only get to put beads in if I tell them they can. Caleb is much more aware. It is really helping the problem from the prior entry.

Caleb's Personal Assistant

At the age of five Caleb has scored a personal assistant. He has been asking Cara for her services for years, but it is getting really out of control. Every time Caleb needs something done that is not "fun" for him he asks his assistant, Cara. The three kids shower together most nights, and Cara comes running out of the bathroom at least once and usually twice or more to get a toy or something for her brother. On Halloween every time Cara got a piece of candy that Caleb liked he would simply ask her if he could have it and her sweet reply is always "sure" as she would pass it over. (Every once in a while I tell him no way.) When he drops his pencil on the floor while doing homework he always asks Cara to pick it up for him. Yesterday he refused to clean out the dishwasher and asked Cara to do it for him. She got right to work. When I told him the only people that would get candy would be those who did their chores he asked Cara to get two pieces. She never refuses. They don't fight. If she ever resists his never ending demands he says, "fine, I wont let you in my room." She instantly complies. If I had a dollar for every time Cara has come to me to say "my brother needs help." I would be a millionaire. When he is in a pinch he just sends Cara for help.

If you have any ideas how I can deal with this please help me. I don't want to discourage Cara from serving her brother but really enough is enough! Maybe it is fine, but maybe they are getting ruined. Caleb is going to spend his life bossing people around fully expecting them to comply, and Cara is going to continue to serve the bossy and ungrateful. Help!

Halloween

I tend to be a "bah-humbug" when it comes to Halloween, but my kids have been SO SO SO excited. We had to make a calendar at the first of the month for Caleb to count down because otherwise he was asking me ten times a day "how many days until Halloween?" (Of course the calendar was good to help him with his numbers too which he is working hard on at school.)

The day finally arrived and the kids had a great time. There was a school carnival on Friday night. Caleb came home from school and told Cara that the principal had told them to bring their brothers and sisters. Cara sounded concerned as I heard her say "but my sister isn't here yet." I assured her that she could go even without a sister.

Caleb dressed up as Captan Jack Sparrow on Friday night and as a Storm Trooper on Saturday.


Cara was an adorable little witch. It was so fun to hear her say Trick-or-Treat and Happy Halloween to people. I may have been the only one that could understand Happy Halloween, but her speech is improving.


Andy was a bumble bee. He was so cute crawling around and scavenging the floor for dropped candy and begging for candy from Caleb and Cara. Without words, he sure knows how to beg.


I had to also post some pictures of carving pumpkins. Carving Pumpkins, like coloring Easter Eggs, is a tradition I could live without, although this year it really was quite painless. I just have to post pictures to prove to my family that I do it even though I don't like to.


Andy enjoyed snacking in Caleb's Jack-o-Lantern lid while the rest of us were carving.

When I grow up . . .

Caleb doesn’t just mention what he wants to be when he grows up, he obsesses over it and talks about it constantly. At the beginning of the school year he wanted to be “an army guy that flies in an airplane because the guys in the airplanes don’t die as much.” I was ready to send him to boot camp. For just a few days he changed his mind and decided he wanted to be a “secret agent” so that he could jump from airplanes. Then one day he came home from the library and had decided he wanted to be a racecar driver. He asked me if I would “stand up for him” if he died in the race. He dreamed about what car he will drive and asked his dad to make a car with him “out of all the junk in the world.” Today he had a fireman come and talk to him at school and now he wants to become a fireman. He is busy making our house fire safe and he promises “when our house starts on fire he will get it out.” I wonder what dangerous career he will want to take on next week.

The ironic part about all of these career ambitions is that Caleb is one of the most cautious kids I know. He is terrified of snow skiing although he talks like he is the best skier around. He was dying to be a hockey player so we took him skating and he cried the whole time although he insists that he loves skating too. Maybe by the time he really picks a career he will be as brave as he thinks he is.

My Pet

Cara was so appropriately named Sweet Caroline. I just can’t get over how caring and maternal she is. (Although she does like a good wrestling match and she hasn’t noticed that Caleb is bigger than her.) She and Caleb would both really like to have a pet. (Maybe I am depriving them of life experiences, but those of you who know me well know that I am a neat freak, maybe to a fault. I just can’t stand the idea of sharing my home with something hairy or stinky, besides Josh.) Anyway, back to Cara, today she brought me the blue cup in the picture with her “pet in it.” Her pet is an almost dead box elder bug. The bug was on its back and I told her it was almost dead. She said “it is just sleeping” and she put it on “this nice comfy pillow for a nap.” Luckily this time of year her pet can easily be replaced.



Cara is so excited to have “my baby sister.” I am only 18 weeks and we do not know what we are having, but she is excited. (We are going to wait to have our ultrasound until January so that it goes on next years deductable so we wont know what we are having for a while.) I am considering not finding out because I know she will love the baby either way, but she won’t like getting the news that it is a boy. She is adorable. She often loving pats and strokes my tummy and kisses it daily. When she hears my tummy growl she gets so excited. She says, “my baby sister is talking to me.” She doesn’t mind putting away the cloths that are too small for her because they are for her sister. (I am really trying not to egg her on. She doesn’t need any encouragement or ideas from me.) The only thing that upsets her about this experience is that she would really like to have her own baby.

Connie's Mission Call

My baby sister Connie got her mission call. I can’t believe she is old enough to go on a mission. She is going to the Ohio Cleveland Mission and the Historic Kirtland Visitors' Center. She will leave on January 6. We are excited for her! I hope it is hard enough to humble her! I have a hard time not being just a little jealous that it is such a seemingly easy call, but I guess she could be jealous that I went international. We love Connie! She is my children’s “other mother” and we will really miss her.

Pears and Cottage Cheese

Unless you really love me you may not be that interested in this post, but I feel compelled to write about my current, bazar obsession with pears and cottage cheese. Before September of 2009 I had probably only eaten pears and cottage cheese a hand full of times. I thought it was good, but not something that called to me. About a month ago I started eating pears and cottage cheese, and I haven't stopped. I eat it for at least two "meals" a day. When I am preggo I make my food selections based on how it will taste coming back up. Amazingly pears and cottage cheese treat my stomach well and stay down for the most part. I go to the fridge thinking I will eat this or that and it always comes back to "I guess I will just have some pears and cottage cheese." This morning I had one of my "favorite" foods from my other pregnancies, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, (cinnamon is supposed to be a natural remedy for settling the stomach.) I think I have thrown it up just a few to many times. I could barley choke it down. I just wished I was eating pears and cottage cheese.

There are lots of weird things that happen when one is pregnant, but food cravings, or in this case obsessions, has got to be somewhere in the top 10. When I was expecting Andy I was even more sick than this time. In my first 13 weeks I lost 10 pounds and could hold down almost nothing. One of the very few things I could eat was Macaroni and Cheese, a food I haven't eaten sense that time and before becoming pregnant with Andy I probably hadn't eaten it in 10 years. With Cara it was home canned peaches, but I had to pace myself on that one because there was a limited supply creating a natural end. With Caleb I didn't hold anything down until I learned about the miracle drug Zofran. I had lots of making up to do for the weight lost in the first 20 weeks and my food of choice was french fries, and every day after work I had a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Although I have experienced "craving" or food that I wanted to eat every day in my other pregnancies, I have never experienced wanting to eat the same food for every meal. So much for the balanced diet. That being said, I think I will go have some pears and cottage cheese.

The stats are in

Andy turned one on the 23rd. Once again I wonder how time could go so fast. Andy has been such a joy for our family. I think I have taken more time to enjoy him than my other kids. Being sick the past few months I have laid on the couch, and he has been my entertainment. I have watch him go from rolling to get where he wanted, to learning to sit himself up, and just two weeks before he turned one he finally began to crawl. He has such an easygoing personality. He is just happy waiting for his brother or sister to get him something to play with. Caleb and Cara love him so much. They would do anything for him.

Today was his one-year well child visit. He weighed in at 24 lb. 9 oz putting him in the 75% for weight. His height was 31 inches putting him in the 85%. He is healthy happy and strong.

My family stepped up to the plate to give him a happy birthday party. It is fun to watch him with his cousin Daniel who is four months younger than Andy.


Grandma Iva provided a really fun ball toy


and of course a chocolate zucchini cake.


This picture was just as he burned his finger on the candle. (Note to self, blow the candle out right away.)

Calm as a Cat

Tonight I went to get Primary Election results for city council at the city office building. I felt calm as a cat. I felt like I couldn't loose either way. The results came in very slowly, and I didn't feel nervous or excited. I just know that whatever happened would be for the best. Three of the seven candidates were eliminated and I came in fifth, making me the winningest looser. I received a respectable number of votes, but not enough to get past the primary elections. I am totally satisfied because I believe I put my best foot forward. There are two things that bug me a little, but I am sure I will get over them quickly. The first thing is that people gave me money to help me get past primaries. I believe that I spent the money wisely, but I don't like the feeling that I "owe" them. The second thing that bugs me is that I received only 35 votes in my home precinct. The number is very comparable to the other candidates, but I think it is unfortunate that more of my friends from the ward didn't get out and vote. I think that people don't think that primary elections are important. The fact that only 13% of the registered voters in Providence (which equals 604 voters) got out to vote proves that people don't find it that important. With such small numbers every vote really did count. Thanks to all of you who did get out and vote. I am not looking forward to condolences, so please no condolences necessary. It's all good.

Call Me Crazy . . .

I am running for Providence City Council. I am really quite excited about it. I am trying not to get too attached to the idea until after primaries next Tuesday where three of the seven candidates will be eliminated, but I think it is a position I would really enjoy. The most important thing for making it through primaries will be for the people who know me to make an extra effort to get out and vote and to help me spread the word that I would be a good choice. I am the only one of the seven that is not a retiree. I think that being in my 30's I represent a large portion of the population of Providence that is not often represented in City Politics. I was intimidated by the experience of the other candidates, but after meet the candidate night last week I really feel like I have a decent chance of getting on the council if I can get through primaries. It will be fun to give it a shot.

My family gives me a hard time for putting too much text on my blog so if you aren't into Providence politics go ahead and skip the rest, but I wanted to include the text from my flier from meet the candidate night just incase anyone is interested in my positions or qualifications.

MEET CARRIE KIRK
I AM A YOUNG, CLEAR THINKER. I see Providence as a thriving community. I love Providence. I would like to see Providence continue to be charming and beautiful. Providence is a great place to live. I believe in responsible, well-planned development.
I AM NON-BIASED. I will look at each issue as it arises and vote in a manner that I believe will meet the best interest of the common good. I am willing to listen to both sides of every issue. I am not running with a personal agenda.
I AM AVALIABLE. I am a full-time homemaker. Without a day job I am available to take calls, study issues and to be involved in the community.
I AM A CHRISTIAN. I live by a high set of moral standards. I will vote with integrity. I believe in following and keeping the law.
I AM A MOM. I have an invested interest in making Providence a safe, healthy environment for the children and for all of us. I will vote in the best interest of children and families.

Interesting Facts about CARRIE KIRK:
My husband, Josh, and I have made Providence our home for the past four years. We have been married for seven years, and I am the 32-year-old mother of three: Caleb, 5, is in kindergarten at Providence Elementary, Caroline, 3; and Andrew, 1.
I have a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology from Utah State University, and a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education also from USU.
Before becoming a mother I taught Junior High in Preston and also worked for USU training substitute teachers all over the country on classroom management and teaching strategies.
My husband and I are entrepreneurs at heart. Together we have started several businesses including a Mortgage Offi ce (Investment Lending), a Graphic Design Business (Evidence Media), among others.
I was born and raised on a Dairy Farm in Preston, Idaho, where I gained a strong work ethic.
I served a Russian-speaking, 18-month mission to the Baltics serving in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
I love tropical vacations, reading, eating out, and sleeping when occasion permits.

Officially announcing . . .

Number four is in his or her way. I am 11 weeks pregnant (well, I will be tomorrow) and it is time for me to let everyone know. Being pregnant is such a crazy thing for me. I look forward to it, I plan for it, and then when it happens I feel like I would rather be dead. It has taken three prior pregnancies for me to figure a few things out.

I have always thought that if I didn’t put make-up on, get dressed, and go on at least one outing every day I would get totally depressed. FINALLY I have learned that throwing up without make-up on makes the whole process much less frustrating. My friends don’t care if I am wearing make-up and I am more confident if I don’t have black all over my face. There is no point in getting dressed in anything that I would not wear as pajamas if I am going to spend all day on the couch anyway. And outings only make me sicker so why bother. So this pregnancy I have only put make-up on a handful of times, and I only get dressed and go out when I have to. I have found that I am throwing up much less as a result. Just as an example, I have had one full day in the last month. I went to Caleb’s Kindergarten orientation in the morning, met some friends for lunch in the afternoon, and went on a date that evening. After my big day I threw-up five times in the night and 6-8 times the next day. Even with medication it took me 4-5 days to recover. Why do that to myself!? So I have basically turned into a couch dwelling hermit, and the amazing thing is that I don’t mind. Of course I would like it if the house was clean, but oh well.

Like my other pregnancies I am taking Zofran and it really is the miracle drug for me. With my new lifestyle and steady Zofran I am really doing better this pregnancy than I have before with keeping food down. (This is the first pregnancy that I haven’t felt like I needed to go in to hydrate with and IV.) Even though I haven’t been as sick this pregnancy I have been really tired. (Is that because I am getting old?) I am so thankful to know that this feeling doesn’t last forever. I am really looking forward to getting some more energy in a month or two. I am thankful I can stay on Zofran through the end and that it is no longer the $45 a pill that it was with Caleb and Cara.

We are really looking forward to having this baby. It will not be our last, but I felt a great sense of urgency with this one. I know that this spirit is very anxious to come to earth and to our family. There will be about 18 months between this one and Andy, but the timing has been awesome. Andy is not yet mobile so I watch him roll around from the couch, and Caleb and Cara are great about taking care of themselves. I have to constantly remind myself this is what I want. It really is!

A New Phase

This week we officially entered the phase of having a child in school. Yes, my baby Caleb took the big plunge into Kindergarten last Thursday. It was a proud moment for his mom. I have heard that moms often struggle with their kids starting school, but I was so excited. Caleb is such a bold and independent child that I am not a bit worried about him. He will take care of himself.

On Thursday instead of regular class they took half of the class at a time and did a parent/child orientation for an hour. Most of the children were quit and nervous, but not Caleb. He had a comment about everything his teacher said. She has her work cut out for her, but he wants to be good so I am sure with some coaching he will get the hand raising and turn taking thing down.

We live far enough away from the school that Caleb gets to ride the bus. They only bus Kindergarten in the morning this year, so he has morning class. I thought it would kill him (us) because he has always been one to sleep in, but so far so good. He pops out of bed in the morning, gets dressed himself and can hardly stand to eat breakfast because he is so excited to get out to the bus stop. He has only been waking up at 7:45 for three days, and this morning he was up and dressed before Josh woke him. I hope this is the trend for the next 13 years of school.


Cara also has school every day this year. She still has two years before Kindergarten, but she will be going to Joy School on Tuesdays and Thursdays and she has speech class on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. She is going to be one busy three year old. She is so excited. Something she has started doing in the last month or two is making her bed every morning. It has a cute bed spread, but she refuses to get under it because she doesn’t want to mess it up. She does sleep with every other blanket she can find. And then she lays them all out flat on her bed in the mornings, and she also keeps her room really clean. If I can hope Caleb will jump out of bed for school for the next 13 years, here’s hoping that Cara will continue to make her bed and clean her room without being asked.


Andy is 11 months and still not crawling. He is just so content that he hasn’t really found a desire big enough to motivate him to get moving. He does roll from place to place, and he is quite good at the backwards scoot. Unfortunately it doesn’t get him where he wants and he sometimes finds himself in a bad spot. He is the sweetest baby I have ever, ever seen.

New Carpet – A story that must be told.

Now that the trauma of the new carpet has worn off I have to tell the story. The story need to be passed down from generation to generation so no man ever makes the same mistake of surprising his wife with new carpet.

Early in the summer I mentioned to Josh a few times that our carpet was bugging me. There were places that were bubbling and needed to be stretched and it needed to be cleaned. What I was saying is that I hoped we could come up with a few hundred dollars to get it cleaned (which we do regularly because the carpet was not family friendly and showed every little drip) and stretched.

Early in July Josh was visiting with his friend, the carpet sales man, who ironically sold us the beautiful top of the line carpet we had just three and a half years ago when we built our home. Josh told him the carpet was bubbling and dirty and asked him what he should do about it. Of course, the sales guy didn’t recommend stretching or cleaning it he recommended NEW CARPET. Yes, he know that our current carpet was only three years old and it was top of the line carpet. (Having nice carpet is important to me and we splurged on that portion of our building budget.) When the sales man mentioned that he would give Josh the very special deal “just because they were friends” of no interest and no payments for one year Josh was sold.

Josh was totally convinced that he was going to surprise me with the best gift ever. It was our 7th anniversary while we were in California for Christina’s wedding and so he decided to have the carpet laid as an anniversary gift while we were gone. The only person he told was his dad (who warned him that it was a bad idea), and the Kirks did a ton of work to move out all of our furniture (and move it back in after it was laid) to support us.

The carpet was laid at the beginning of the trip and Josh didn’t breath a word of it to me. He was just excited for me to see this wonderful gift when I got home. The thought didn’t occur to him until the night before we got home that the gift was non-returnable, non refundable, and I may not like it. (He had a nightmare the night before we got home.) The concept that you should never buy your wife a non refundable, non returnable gift on credit that she will have to live with for at least 10 probably 20 years should be up there in at least the top ten things never to do in marriage.

As we headed up the hill to our house Josh mentioned that he had a surprise for me and that he really hoped I liked it. We had been driving for the entire day and I WAS EXAUSTED. Quite honestly I was really scared because at this point we are not in a situation to be spending money on anything nonessential. I walked in the house and my heart dropped to my toes. I couldn’t breath. Josh was so excited. He said something like don’t think about it just hug me. Catching my breath I asked, “How much did you do” as my eyes welled up with tears. I was hoping he had just replaced the great room and left the bedrooms. He smiled and said the whole thing. I was in some state beyond shock. I tried to keep my composure as we put the kids to bed, but I couldn’t hold it in and cried and cried and cried – all night long. I couldn’t believe that he would pick out and install new carpet (that we couldn’t afford) without even consulting me.

Josh felt like the biggest idiot in the world. He thought that this was a total “slam dunk.” That he couldn’t miss because it was such a wonderful gift. I am lucky to be married to a man that wants to make me happy so badly, but I couldn’t pretend to be happy about such a spontaneous and expensive decision.

I grew up in a world that carpet was to be replaced every 20 years and only that if you are really lucky. Somehow it felt like a death or something dear to me was lost. People ask me, about the new carpet, “So do you like it?” My response is, “it’s okay.” It is probably the most popular carpet around because it is affordable and really family friendly. I do like that I don’t feel like I need to vacuum it every day like I did my old carpet, but I don’t feel like it matches the look and feel of my house like the old carpet did. It is not what I would have picked, and I certainly would have upgraded the pad. The thought of matching or more family friendly basement carpet that I did pick never crossed his mind. The bottom line is that I didn’t want new carpet I just wanted my old carpet. Somehow I feel like it is unrighteous and dishonest because we can’t afford it.

I refuse to hold a grudge about it or let it be a canker in our marriage, as I know Josh was just trying to do something nice for me. The night that we spent crying Josh said that he had a feeling that someday we would look back at this and laugh and we can already laugh about it, which is why I am sharing the story. I think that someday, when the carpet is paid for, and we are over this difficult economic time we will really be able to laugh about it, which is why I wanted to preserve the details. So next time you are at a wedding wondering what advice to give the groom you may want to share, “never replace the carpet without consulting your wife” or at least her mother or her best friend both of whom know Josh was in the dog house when they found out about it – too late to do anything.



New Carpet Above
Old Carpet Below

California Fun

By getting married in San Diego on July 11, Josh’s sister, Christina, gave us the excuse we needed to take our kids to Disney Land, something we have really been wanting to do. Josh and I both LOVE amusement parks, especially Disney. We have been to Disney Land twice and Disney World twice in our seven years of marriage. (We celebrated our 7th anniversary while at Disney Land on the 6th.) We have always left the kids at home with the mindset that Disney Land is not the happiest place on earth for a toddler who needs a nap. It was so much fun to see the magic from the eyes of Caleb and Cara. (Thankfully my mom took Andy for the Disney portion of the vacation and then he flew to the wedding and home again with the Kirks.)

The trip started on July 4th with a drive to Las Vegas. The best part of Vegas was the swimming pool. Everything else we did we could have skipped.


We spent Monday – Wednesday at Disney Land. I will let the pictures do the talking. It really was magical.

Cara’s favorite rides were the Tea Cups and Dumbo. We arrived before the park opened every morning so we hit those rides before there were any lines each day. Five minutes – done!


Caleb loved Pirates, Star Tours, Space Mountain and Autopia (the car driving one). We were concerned about Caleb being brave enough to go on the rides but he did awesome. He even went on Indiana Jones and the California Screamer. He was so scaird on the Tower of Terror that in the first room he wet his pants, but he did it. Here he is riding "no hands."


Caleb’s goal for the vacation was to do Jedi Training and to fight Darth Vader. He was so excited! He would really like to use the force now, but I have to remind him he is not yet a Jedi. His training has just begun. In fact, as he got up to fight Darth Vader, Vader said, "The force is strong with you, but you are not a Jedi yet."


Cara’s dream came true too. We had decided we would not wait the 1.5 hours required to meet the princesses. It was our last day and we happened upon a show in California Adventure that ended with Cinderella, Mickey, and Woody. Everyone was invited to follow them into the building. People hesitated, but Cara went running up to Cinderella. Cinderella took Cara by the hand and walked with her into the building. Cinderella knelled down and put Cara on her lap and continued to talk with her. It as so so so fun for me to watch. Who says that dreams don’t really come true.


We saw a lot of wonderful characters. With virtually no line for any of them. (Going early in the morning is the only way to have such a great experience.)












Cara was great about falling asleep in her stroller when she got tired. Here we sat her up to try to wake her for a parade. When the parade came she perked up, but she was dead to the world.


I can’t make this post without telling about the great deals that I got. I had never used Priceline for hotels before. We scored the Anaheim Crown Plaza for just $59 a night and in San Diego we stayed in the 4-star Hyatt Winchester down town for just $69 a night. I hooked up with another family using the KSL online classifieds and split a six-day flex pass for Disney. They took three days and we took three days and paid just $20 per person per day. We also went to Sea World. We got our tickets off of Craig’s List San Diego. They were 30-day pass, including parking, for just $35 per person. I know! AWESOME! I love getting a deal.

We spent Thursday afternoon and Friday morning at Sea World with the whole Kirk gang. We all really enjoyed the shows even though we were totally exhausted. I guess Andy was the exception. It was so scary to him any time the crowed cheered or a dolphin or whale jumped he shouted out in fear. I was especially impressed with the night shows. Unfortunately there were not many picture opportunities. We did get these of the kids riding a ride with Grandma and Grandpa Kirk.




We will be getting awesome pictures from the wedding from Christina's photographer, but here are a few from the beach front wedding dinner. Even after eight days of travel the kids were ready to party and dance all night.









A word to the wise, don't let your baby get an orio cookie while sitting on white sheets. He may love it, but it can be a huge mess for house keeping. At least it was for house keeping and not for me - the usual "house keeping".


The kids were so awesome! The were great on the drive and through every part of the trip. I really couldn't ask for better sports - even when they had to do a little waiting. The are best friends and I love them so much!

Summer Fun

I have some random pictures I have taken over the past few weeks that illustrate some of the things my kids have been up to already this summer. There have been a few minor injuries. Cara tripped and gave herself quite the scab. She was outside playing and didn't even come in to tell me that she was hurt. I didn't even see a single tear. That may be the result of having Caleb as her older brother.


Caleb has gotten very good on two wheels and has even advanced to his "big" two wheel bike. This particular injury happened when he was riding a neighbors bike with miniature wheels. I saw the whole thing, and I am just glad that he walked out of it. I swear I felt the concrete move below my feet as he fell and rolled. You may also notice the remains of a bruise on his cheek. At the time that the picture was taken the bruise was over two weeks old. I never got a straight story out of him about what happened. I wonder if he even knows, but it sure looked bad.


Caleb and Cara have spend almost every sunny moment this summer playing in the circle with the neighbor kids. They have had a great time. I am grateful to the kids who are a few years older for being nice to the little ones. Last week the older kids created an insect museum and the younger ones provided assistance. (They even gave me a free tour. They waved the 2 cent fee, but they still charge Caleb 5 cents for some rocks they had made faces on with our markers which are still missing.) The week before the older kids performed a comedy show and the little ones were the audience. They even had tickets to go to the show. They play games and even coach the little ones. The older kids must have left the less responsible little kids to the sidewalk chalk. At least my little ones decided to chalk their faces. Caleb and Cara love playing outside with the neighbors, and I feel fortunate to live in such a family friendly neighborhood.


I have already blogged about how I love "Summer Group" but here is another example of the projects the kids are doing. On Wednesday they made these cute cars out of boxes and had a parade and then a drive in movie.


Andy even got into the fun, quite literally. He loves to feel like a big kid.


Yesterday the kids played on the slip and slide with the neighbors. Cara came in freezing and got in a nice warm bath. She and Caleb can play in the tub forever, and I feel like they are old enough to be safe on their own. I came out to the computer and realized after about 10 minutes that it was REALLY quiet in the bathroom. Before I even got to my bedroom door I could hear the snoring. She was sound asleep in the tub. She didn't even wake up when I pulled her out and wrapped her up in a towel to finish her nap.


In other news, this happy little baby (9 months old this week) has cut three new teeth over the past four days. I notice one blister on the top, I believe it was Sunday, and yesterday, which was Thursday I took a peek and there were three pearly white upper teeth. The strange thing is that the one he is missing is one of the middle two. Hopefully it will follow shortly or he might start looking like a toothless jack-o-lantern.

Resources and Ideas for Moms

A few months ago at our American Mothers meeting we had the topic of “What’s Working.” I loved hearing the ideas of the other moms and taking some of my own little gems to share. I have been wanting to blog about some of the things that we talked about and hopefully it will be beneficial to some of you. Following are some tools that were mentioned at the meeting that I thought were worth sharing:

The book “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” by Engelmann. When I first saw this book I was reluctant to start it. Caleb is a resistant learner, but when I am consistent he has done awesome with this little reading program. I know a few other moms that have used it and they rave about it too. I don't know anyone that has used it that doesn't have great things to say. Better yet, you can get it on Amazon for about $20.

I have also been teaching Caleb piano from Nancy and Randall Fabers “My First Piano Adventure.” You can learn about the course at http://faberpiaon.com/myfirst/ I swear it is totally awesome for young beginners. Their other courses for older beginners are good too.

Some other fun ideas that moms at the group mentioned:
“Family Fun Night” on Friday nights in addition to Family Home Evening on Mondays.
Recording the voice of distant grandparents reading bedtime stories.
A “can do” list for weekdays and a different “can do” list for Sundays.
One child at a time has a night up with mom and dad once a week rotating children.
Have a section of your house that is your toy free zone.
Tell your kids something good that they did when you tuck them in and have them tell you their favorite part of the day.

Other Parenting Books I LOVE:

“On Becoming Baby Wise” by Ezzo and Bucknam. I give following the principals taught in this book all of the credit for my happy babies.

“The Power of Positive Parenting” and “Christlike Parenting” both by Glen Latham. (I would highly recommend any of his material.)

“Parenting with Love and Logic” (I don’t take this one to an extreme, but it has some great ideas.)

“The 5 Languages of Love for Children" by Gary D. Chapman

“Siblings Without Rivalry” by Faber and Mazlish

Isn't being a mom a wonderful adventure!

Summer Group

The week after Joy School ended (the neighborhood preschool coop) we started Summer Group. It is basically the same kids as Joy School, but we can’t call it school sense it is summer. It has been heaven sent. The kids get together on Monday and Wednesdays from 10-1 with different host moms. They play, they eat lunch and they do some kind of craft or organized activity. There are two main great things about it for me. First, it motivates me to come up with enriching activities and crafts for the kids when I am in charge. You know, the things you want to do with your kids that you never get around to doing. Second, my kids have a great time doing activities and playing at other peoples houses providing me with a little brake a couple times a week.



A few weeks ago, for my turn, I had my brother Cody come and fly rockets with the kids. It was a hit. Cody also made straw darts with them and paper helicopters.



This week we made sculptures out of play dough on Monday and painted them today. I am really looking forward to next week. We are going to make Fathers Day gifts. They will be rock paperweights. The kids will find the rocks and paint them and I will letter “Dad Rocks” on them. On Wednesday we are going to make Fathers Day cards. I love summer group. I love having the kids, and I love that I only have them six times the entire summer. And I love having my kids go knowing they are doing something enriching. Of course the kids love it too. It is a win, win, win deal all around. I am a huge advocate of the kid coop thing!

Holy Hail . . . Storm and other Spring Happenings

Monday it began to hail like crazy. The hailstones were bigger than I have ever seen before so I risked my life to get a picture just out the front porch.


The cool spring weather has stuck around this year, and honestly I am quite enjoying it. I keep thinking of how much we must be saving on Air Conditioning and Water bills. Unfortunately, Caleb only got to play four of ten soccer games. They were snowed or rained out of three of them (one they played in the poring rain) and he missed three of them while we were on our trip to Mexico. Even though the season was short it was one of the highlights of his life so far. He loved running and sliding, falling and rolling, and he even scored at least once at every game. He was so fun to watch. I am glad I enjoy watching him play ball (even in the rain) because I think I might be doing it for a few years.


He was on a team with his BFF Isaac. Isaac’s dad, Dave, was their coach.

“What a Good Baby!!”

Andy brings a whole new level to being a good baby. I thought Caleb was good until I had Cara and I thought Cara was good until I had Andy. If I keep this pattern up I better keep having babies. Just for example, yesterday I was getting ready to leave instead of laying him down for a nap. I thought, “he can have a car nap.” I rushed through the living room to find him asleep on the floor. Too tired to play he just tipped over and went to sleep without a fuss.


Connie tended him last week and tried to give him the “bad boy” look, but even with a mow hawk he was the best baby around. Always happy, sleeps long and hard, gives the best smiles and hugs and requires so little attention.


He is a cute little bunny.

Cabo

This week our family went to Cabo San Lucas on vacation. It was AWESOME! The wonderful thing about Cabo is that there is NO PRESSURE to do anything because there isn't much to do except soak up the sun and relax. This is the first time that Josh and I have traveled with our kids and it was great. They loved every moment and made the trip much more enjoyable for us. (Of course it was more work, but they were wonderful entertainment.) They were so good and willing to be obedient. They LOVED the beach and ocean and they spent countless hours in the pool.



This trip was the first trip in over ten years for my family, and we were all able to make it. My parents now have seven grandchildren. (Cathie, Keith and their three kids came from Alaska.) My parents are so fantastic with the kids.



The kids followed my mom around like a magnet. She had fun activities planned for them, and of course she had a candy drawer in her condo. Dad spent hours holding and taking care of the baby's.



Dad was willing to "sacrifice" and stay back in the shade and nap with the babies. I think he may have slept like a baby too.


The cousins had a wonderful time together. There is something really special about cousins!


Colter, Corbin, (Cathie's boy's) and Caleb (You may notice the C pattern, but is is not intentional. It does make things a little confusing.


Cara and Emi (Cathie's girl) couldn't get enough of each other. Emi is 15 months older than Cara, but when they are together they are best friends.


Andy and Daniel (Cody's boy. They are only four months apart in age. They will have fun growing up together.)

We adults had a fantastic time together too.

Cody (my only brother) and his wife Stephanie, Connie (the baby), Christie (who hooked us up with her condo's) and her boyfriend Jeff, Cathie and Keith, and Me and Josh. (Not pictured my parents and Aunt Merle who is also a part of our family.) It was amazing how well we all got along. It was wonderful!

Following are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip that show just a few of the things that we did. They are in no particular order so enjoy the randomness.

Andy was so good even though it was sometimes hot. He must like the taste of sand because he ate it every time we were on the beach.


We played cards at the condos, which by the way overlooked the pool and beach. This was an intense game of Old Maid.


We took a glass bottom boat to the famous Cabo Arch (notice over our shoulders).


This is the whole gang on the boat. In order to get onto the beach we had to bail off the front of the boat into the strong waves. I thought Merle and Stef were going to to be sick they were so nervous about it.


Josh took up rock balancing, and actually was quite good at it.


This was a tight van ride from the airport to the condo. We mostly took public transportation which was quite a scene with 19 gringos getting on the bus.


We went surfing and boogie boarding. The waves chewed up us amatures, but Keith and Jeff held their own. I would have ended up at the emergency room if we didn't have our own private RN with supplies to treat a foot full of rocks (sand).


We flew kites on the beach.


We searched for crabs.


We tried not to cook in the desert while we waited for the bus.


The kids waited for the waves to push them on their kick boards.


Cody barried the kids in the sand.


Connie served as "the other mother" and helped a ton with the kids. Sometimes she thinks she is their mother and I don't mind a bit.


Cody and the kids worked very hard at building a sand castle with sand that didn't really want to stick together.


We went to church. It reminded me of the first few months of my mission because I didn't understand much of it. I think that the Lord really blesses me with spiritual experiences when I go to church while on vacation. I highly recommend it. My most memorable church experiences have been from vacation.


The guys went deep sea fishing and caught us a mahi mahi dinner.


We took family pictures.


Thanks for all of the wonderful memories!

Caleb is Growing Up

We have struggled with Caleb's stage fright. It is hard for Josh and I to comprehend and frustrating when we want him to perform and he will not. Last week we had two great experiences that are giving me hope that he may be overcoming his fear of performing. First, last week was the Joy School Graduation program. The kids sang five songs, performed with bells, and recited a poem. We were so proud of Caleb, although he was resistant at first, he jumped in and did a great job. We had a crowd of about 30 people with parents, siblings and grandparents. Caleb did an excellent job. I can't believe that my little boy will be in Kindergarden next fall.



I have to put a plug in for Joy School. This was our second year for having a neighborhood coop preschool and I LOVE IT. Of course working with fantastic moms makes it a good experience for me, but I also really enjoy having the children in my home and teaching them. This year I taught the units of Joy of the Body and Joy of Family. I taught the first three weeks of the year, before I had Andy and the last three weeks of the year now that he is 6-7 months old. The kids are so cute and it was amazing to see how much they had learned this year. I believe that the preschoolers who will be going to kindergarden are really ready. It is such a privilege to watch children learn and grow.

The second impressive thing that Caleb did this week was to give his first primary talk. Our primary is so big that they meet in the chapel for opening exercises, so he spoke from the sacrament pulpit. He had his talk memorized, but he had asked me if I would come up by him and help with his pictures. Just before primary started he told me he wanted to do it all by himself. I let him and he did an awesome job. He spoke loud and clear and did it just as we had practiced.

I can't blog about Caleb without mentioning that he is playing soccer this Spring, and he lives and dies for it. Thank goodness for the neighborhood kids who have coached him. He is really pretty good too. He has played three games and scored four goals. I have also been impressed with his sportsmanship. Unfortunately the weather has caused three of the games to be canceled. We will be missing three games while we are in Mexico next week and so he only gets to play one more game. It has been a fun experience for the whole family though. I really like cheering for him and his team, and it is a good thing because I think I may be going to games of my children for the next couple of decades.

Mile Stones

Andy is so much fun! He has hit some milestones that I must mention if for no other reason than because I have mommy brain and I will have forgotten by next week. Two weeks ago, at six and a half months he got his first two teeth. They broke through two days apart. He has not been fussy about teething except the day that they came in. He started screaming at 11:30 PM (luckily I was still up.) I went and got him from his bed and felt in his gums. I could feel the little corner of one tooth. Since he was screaming anyway I used my finger to brake the tooth the rest of the way through. (I have always wanted to do that.) When the second tooth broke through he was lethargic and sad. Weird, I know, I have never known when my kids teeth have come in, but with Andy there was no mistaking the moment.

He is now officially out of his baby car seat. I hate giving up the portable bed, but he is over twenty pounds and breaking my back.



He is getting really good at eating solids and this week he began eating foods that are not pureed. He loves fishy crackers, but insists that someone besides himself put them in his mouth.

This weekend he also had his first hair cut. I like my little boys to have missionary cuts and his hair was growing over his ears. He didn't love the experience, but he sure is cute.



You may be wondering about the huge scab on his nose. Josh took the kids to the park this week and he learned why strollers have safety straps. Andy slipped right out of the stroller while going down a steep hill. It took the skin right off of his nose.

Baby Animal Days

I have never taken my kids to Baby Animal Days because I was afraid of the crowds, but this year we decided to brave it. It was AWESOME! Thankfully my sister Connie came and helped with the kids. We were there from 10 to 3:30 and without her help I may have only made it for an hour. She carried Andy on her back the entire time. He was quite content chewing on his back pack and even anchored his head with his jaws to take a nap.



There were so many awesome things to do, hold, and see. It was tough for me to narrow the pictures down to just these. I was totally impressed. I was grateful for the advice to start with the pony rides before the line got too long, and other than that the crowd wasn't a problem. We didn't even have to wait to see the Easter Bunny. (Getting there at 10:00 is the only way to do it.)



Of course it was fun for the kids to see, hold, and pet ducks,



chicks, bunnies,



calves, colts, donkeys,



piglets, kids, lambs,



puppies, and even snakes and turtles.



They participated in the little rodeo that was held each hour. Caleb and Cara both did the Goat Chase. They had to run across the arina and pull the ribbon off of the goats tail. It was fun to watch. Caleb didn't hesatate one bit which I was glad to see because he can be really shy about performing like that. The Goat quit running after the first few kids, but it would switch its tail really fast.



Notice the clown showing that Cara was almost through the gate.



The kids got to practice their roping skills,



and even throw a tomahawk. It made me nervous to watch, but the kids enjoyed it. (You can see Caleb's flying through the air.)



There were a couple of things that really impressed me. First, they had a running Model-T car that they let the kids get in and explore. It is not everyday that people get to "touch" history.



The other thing that blew me away is the size of Oxen. I always thought of them as being "really strong cows" I had no idea how HUGE they are. The picture doesn't do justice to their size, but it was fun for me to see the oxen sense they are so much a part of our pioneer history.



All in all, I think I will join the throngs of people who have the annual tradition of going to Baby Animal Days. I was totally impressed!

More Parenting Thoughts

Apparently what I included in my last post wasn’t controversial enough to spark comments so what do you think about this – no second chance consequences. I have been contemplating the way that Heavenly Father parents. (His children are not perfect, but he is.) One pattern in his parenting is that he clearly states the rule/commandment/expectation and gives a consequence that is naturally tied to the rule. When one of his children brake the rule he goes through with the consequence even if it will cause the child (or him) discomfort. He didn’t say, “Eve, you shouldn’t have eaten that fruit, next time you do you will be cast out of the garden. I mean it this time.” I think there is a really delicate balance we must find as parents. I don’t want to be too easy on my kids, but equally damaging is being too controlling. As a mom I don’t want to watch my children feel uncomfortable, guilty or upset. (Not to mention that enforcing consequences usually punishes me too.) I think that a pattern with my generation of parents is that we are too easy on our kids. Either we are training them or they are training us.

Let me throw another analogy out there. What if police officers ALWAYS gave a second chance? What if every time we were pulled over they said, “You didn’t make a complete stop at that stop sign. If you brake another law while I am watching you, you will get a ticket.” If they always gave a second chance there wouldn’t be incentive to keep the rule in the first place. What do you think?

A couple of nights ago I started rereading the book “Christlike Parenting” by Glenn Latham. I must have been inspired to pick it off the shelf where it has been gathering dust with our many other parenting books for the past couple of years because it is giving me really good ideas right along the lines of what I have been thinking. I want to share one of them that I am going to try. He recommends making a list of the virtues you want your child to develop. (I am going to take my list from D&C section 4.) Post the list where you see it often. Then make a point to recognize when your child is exhibiting one of those virtues. Point out the specific virtue and praise the child. Instead of just teaching your child compliance this strategy should help to reinforce the development of admirable virtues. I am excited to try it.

Finally, if you haven’t read the article in the March Ensign that gives ideas for watching conference with little children you may want to. I am excited about giving some of the ideas a try. I will let you know how it goes.

Parenting

For the past few weeks I have been preoccupied with thoughts about our huge responsibility to teach our children. I have been wanting to blog about some of these thoughts in hope of further discussion and to pass on some of the ideas that have come to my mind. I also want to organize my thoughts and goals in writing so I just as well share them on my blog.

We often discuss the topic of parenting with our dear friends the Lows. A few weeks ago Dave brought up something that I have really been thinking about. I think it would be worthwhile for us all to think about. Many of the following thoughts and ideas are his, but I think they are worth sharing and pondering.

As Latter Day Saints many of us have goals for our children, for example, we want our sons to serve missions and we want our children to be married in the temple. These might seem like fantastic goals, but when you really take a look at them they are the bare minimum. I don’t just want my boys to serve missions. I want them to be powerful missionaries, and to always be honorable priesthood holders and leaders. I don’t just want my children to be married in the temple (plenty of people get married in the temple, but go on to get divorced or to have unhappy marriages.) I want my children to have Celestial Marriages. I don’t just want my daughters to be mothers. I want them to find joy in motherhood and consider it their greatest blessings and responsibility. So what is my role as their parent to see that these goals become a reality?

President David O. McKay taught:
“The home is the first and most effective place for children to learn the lessons of life: truth, honor, virtue, self-control; the value of education, honest work, and the purpose and privilege of life. Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no other success can compensate for failure in the home.” (Family Home Evening Manual 1968–69, p. iii.)

In an awesome talk titled “Parental Leadership in the Family” Elder Oaks taught the following:

“There is no human relationship more suited to such teachings than a family where parents truly love and give their lives in service to their children. Parents should teach the principles of the restored gospel, including particularly the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Parents should also teach the smaller-scale sacrifices they are making for their own families. If done in the right spirit by example as well as by precept—this teaching should help children be more loving and honoring of their parents. It should also help prepare children to be parents themselves.
“Parents teach and families learn by doing things together.
“Families should pray together, kneeling night and morning to offer thanks for blessings and prayers for common concerns.
“Families should worship together, participating in church services and family devotionals.
“Families should study and learn together. This should include group reading and discussion of the scriptures, and group consideration of other valuable subjects, such as the practical knowledge necessary to function in a modern world.
“Families should work together, as suggested earlier. Families should also play together, so that happy recreational experiences are associated with the activities of the family.
“Families should counsel together, treating all matters of concern to the family and its members.
“Families should eat together. Mealtime is a natural time for the family to assemble and communicate: It is a shame for such an opportunity to be lost in family bickering or to be fragmented by family members seizing food and scattering to the four corners as if the family kitchen were a fast food outlet.
“Families should join in recording family traditions and sacred experiences. They should also come together to share such records to strengthen the family and its individual members. As President Kimball reminded us, “Stories of inspiration from our own lives and those of our forebears … are powerful teaching tools,” a source of inspiration for us and our posterity. (Ensign, Jan. 1982, p. 4.)
“It is a striking fact that the family home evening is the ideal time to accomplish almost every type of family togetherness. It is the ideal place for the family to pray together, learn together, counsel together, play together, and even work together. Most of us recognize this, but I wonder how many of us are really using the family home evening to its full potential.”

I will spare you more quotes, but the prophets and apostles have gone on and on about our responsibilities as parents. Our responsibility is not to be taken lightly. I really like this talk because Elder Oaks so plainly outlines what we should be doing to teach our children. I believe if I can dedicate myself as a mother to make sure that those things that he outlines are taking place in my home that my sons will be powerful missionaries, that my children will have celestial marriages, and that my daughters will be joyful mothers. It is going to take more than me living my temple covenants for my children to be exulted. I must be actively engaged in teaching them and directing them.

Another thing I have been thinking about concerning parenting is that of our priorities. What do I want most for my children? Is the way I am spending my time reflect what I want most? I have been taking a look at how I spend my time. For example, Caleb practices the piano at least 20 minutes every day. I sit by his side the entire time. We also work on reading most days. I have to ask myself, “am I as dedicated to teaching him the gospel as I am to teaching him piano.” (Sure the piano will teach him many skills and will be a service to others as he grows.) I guess my point is that if I am dedicated enough to practice the piano every day I should be dedicated enough to be sure that gospel learning is happening too.

Our 5th Sunday combined lesson yesterday was on the topic of parenting. The focus was on checking up on our teenagers, building strong relationships with them, having one-on-one time, being their parent not just their friend, and creating a balance between too strict and too easy. As an ER doctor and a Police Detective from the ward spoke my thought was, “isn’t prevention the best place to start.” Even with all of the prevention in the world I anticipate following up with my kids as teens, knowing their friends, checking their Face Book and text messages, and controlling the hours that they use their cell phones, etc. Even thought I will do that the time to start teaching The Book of Mormon, The Strength of Youth Handbook and Preach My Gospel is RIGHT NOW at ages 5, 3 and six months.

The church has awesome resources on building a strong family. There are all kinds of FHE ideas and ideas on teaching your children. I would start at http://www.lds.org/hf/display/0,16783,4209-1,00.html.

I know that this is a really long and wordy blog entry, but it is fun for me to think about and to talk about. I hope that I can also apply the principles that I believe so strongly. I think it would be fun to have a discussion on the things that are working as we teach our children the gospel.

Cara's Birthday

Cara turned 3 on Sunday. She was so excited for her birthday. In her very primitive English she has been telling me "my birthday is coming up" for weeks. We gave her a "big girl" bed. (We got it on Craigs list for $20) and a barbie with a car. She also scored some great Tinker Bell stuff from my mom. The Kirks gave her a darling dress and a stuffed bear. She couldn't have been more happy even though to me it seemed like quite an uneventful birthday.



Blowing out the candles on her "cake" was a problem. She kept blowing her bangs up. Finally the candles went out one at a time.



In preparation for her new bed I took her out of her night time pull-ups a few weeks ago. She was totally potty trained by 18 months, but sense she was in a crib I didn't want to deal with the night time wets. I figured she would have an accident or two with the change. The one accident she had illustrates perfectly the independent child that she is. She didn't even wake me. She got up, changed her cloths, and put a burp cloth over the wet spot in her bed and went back to sleep. She is an amazing little girl.

Now that she is three she will no longer be going to the Up to 3 speech therapy program. She will miss it, and especially her speech therapist Jen. When she began at about 18 months she was not even speaking at all. She is now attempting 3-4 word phrases. She has been tested by the school district and is still considered to have a severe phonological delay. Thankfully she will began the school district program this week. I am grateful for the early intervention programs, and for the service Up to 3 has provided.

Star War’s Party

Caleb turned 5 on Saturday, and he had his very first friend birthday party. The age of the internet has made planning parties so easy. I googled “boys birthday party” and had hundreds of ideas at my fingertips. Caleb wasn’t interested in any theme until we got to the “S’s” and found Star Wars. That was the perfect theme for him, and Josh and I had a blast planning it.

First came the pool noodle light sabers. The awesome thing about these is that you can hit as hard as you want and it doesn’t hurt. They were cheep and easy to make, and they were a fun favor.





The only thing that we put a lot of effort into was the cake. I had planned on making a “Death Star” cake by slapping some gray frosting onto a ball shaped cake and surrounding it with the star fleet stuck into cupcakes. When Josh’s sister April got wind of the idea she stepped in and turned the cake into a masterpiece. I learned so much from working with her on a cake. It turned out really cute and surprisingly delicious. (I am not a cake lover, but it was really good.









Caleb had seven boys from the ward come to the party. They were so cute and we had a great time with them. Following are some of the game ideas that we used. This is defiantly a party theme worth stealing. (We played the Star Wars Sound Track throughout the party, which really added.)

1. Asteroid Hunt: While children arrive decorate a bag with their name and a selection of space stickers. “The basement has been struck by asteroids and we need your help to find them.” Wrap little favors (piece of candy, bouncy ball, and balloon) with tin foil and color code. Each child can have one of each color of asteroid. Set aside in bags as favors.
2. Clone Wars: Skill games for young Padawans and relay races for two teams (The Droids and The Clones) Three Legged Race and Ball and Bucket Toss
3. Jedi Training Course: Obstacle course using ropes, 2X4 boards, etc.
4. Light Saber Training: Using Homemade Light Sabers try to keep balloons in the air. May play in teams, pairs, or as individuals.
5. Thermal Detonator present opening: Pass around the Thermal Detonator (aluminum foil covered ball) while music is playing. When the music stops open the present of whoever was holding the detonator.

I couldn’t resist posting a picture of the invitation. That was Josh’s job, and he is so awesome at details.



I can’t believe that we have a five year old. It was fun to celebrate his birthday in style. His friends gave him awesome gifts, and we got him a “big bike”. His knees almost touch his chest on the bike he has been riding the last couple of years. He is scared of the thought of riding without training wheels so that will take some work, but he was excited about the bike. (I was excited too because we got on Black Friday for only $35.)

Quirky Kids

I have always said how “quirky” Cara is, but I have come to the realization that all three of my kids have some really quirky habits.

Up until the past few weeks I thought Andy may have escaped from being too quirky, but he recently had an unusual habit emerge. He only giggles when he is really tired. You may expect this from a teenage girl, but babies usually cry when they are tired. Not Andy, which makes it difficult to lay him down for a nap or bed. Hard as I try, and I do try, I can only really get him to laugh right before he is lied down.

Cara has always been a gal of peculiar habits. For example, when she was a baby she hated being bundled, but would only sleep if a blanket was thrown over her head. She is the dare devil of the family, and the climber. The other day I walked into her room and she had emptied out the second to top drawer of her dresser and was laying in it. (I know this is extremely dangerous. We had a good talk about it.) This is just and example of the unusual things she does. Some parents may have a problem getting their children to change their underwear often enough. Not me. Cara changes her underwear every time she goes to the bathroom.

Caleb loves a good party, the family ski party being no exception. The problem is that he is afraid of skiing. He did three runs last Friday night. He threw a full-on tantrum at the lift all three times. I am sure that I looked like a raving lunatic trying to get this screaming, crying little boy onto the lift. The moment we got onto the lift it was as there had never even been a problem. He was happy is a jaybird in the morning. He chatted and pointed out the beautiful moon and starts. He even said, “isn’t this a great ski party mom.” I guess he know that once he was on the lift he was defeated. I am grateful his tantrums go as quickly as they come although I really wish they wouldn’t come at all. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of Caleb skiing this year, but I did take Cara on three runs as well. I carried her in the backpack and she was so happy to be on the slop. She cheered “wee” in my ear the entire time.



Josh has been out of commission for a few weeks and wasn’t able to ski this year because of a possible herniated disk in his back. He has been really trying to take it easy and let it recover. Unfortunately, the morning that it happened was the day that we had tickets to the Draper Temple open house. We still went to the open house, but poor Josh was in so much pain he couldn’t help being grumpy. The kids had a fantastic time though. Caleb and Cara held hands through much of the tour. When we asked Caleb his favorite part he said it was the cookies at the end. We asked his next favorite part and it was the “tent tunnels”. (The tents you walk through in the parking lot to get to the temple.) At least his next favorite thing was the baptismal font.

A few days after going to the temple Caleb said, “I can’t wait to get baptized” out of the blue. Of course we were beaming parents and agreed with him. The funny thing is that he finished the sentence after a long pause with, “because then I can get married!” We told him that after he is baptized then the next thing is to get the priesthood when he is 12. He replied, “then I can get married!” We hated to discourage him, but we reminded him that when he is 19 he will go on a mission. He replied, “then I can get married?!” I don’t know if this is quirky or normal for a four-year-old boy, but I have my suspicions that it may be out of the ordinary. I had no idea he was so sensitive about it. He has had a terrible ear infection that drained for almost two weeks. When I was trying to coax him into putting antibiotic drops in it I casually said, “no one will want to marry you if you have goop running out of your ears.” He burst into tears, and ran to me with a big hug. He clung to me while he cried and cried and said, “no one wants to marry me anyway.” My sister Connie was here and it seriously almost broke her heart. I guess I had better be more careful what I say. I know that sarcasm isn’t appropriate with children, but every once in a while I forget.

This picture really doesn't have anything to do with the post, but I wanted to put it up somewhere. I think Cara and her friend should plan on working for Disney when they grow up. They can be Cinderella and Snow White.



One final Cara story. I keep Caleb's pull-ups for night on the top shelf of the closet. I only bring a handful down at a time. Last week Caleb was whining that he couldn't get ready for bed because he couldn't get his pull-ups. Cara rolled her eyes at me, and then rolled her eyes at Caleb and said in her funny English, "I'll get 'em." She very loudly marched back to Caleb's room, climbed to the top of the closet, and threw down a single pull-up will all of the sass that a two-year-old girl can muster. She didn't say a word she just marched out of the room. I hope that Caleb and Cara will continue to take care of each other.

25 Random Things About Carrie

I created this list for my FaceBook.com profile, and sense I took the time to record these random facts I thought I might as well post them here on my blog.

1. This is the first time I have ever participated in an online “tag.” I have been tagged on my blog and other places before, but I have never taken the time to participate. The reason why I am participating this time is because I have enjoyed getting to know people better by reading their lists.

2. I was almost 25 when I got married. I had many serious boyfriends before Josh. I wouldn’t admit that Josh might be “the one” because my family had accused me of calling wolf too many times.

3. Josh and I are both the oldest of five with three sisters and one brother. We both have black-framed glasses, and when we met we both drove maroon Hondas.

4. I served a mission in the Baltic’s. I served in three countries, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. I spoke Russian, which is not the national language for any of the countries in which I served.

5. I have a master’s degree in Education, but I do a trade from home. I am a loan officer, originating mortgages when the opportunity arises.

6. I love working, and the transition into motherhood was extremely difficult for me.

7. It has taken me almost five years to figure out how to love being home with my kids. Now I am quite content being with them. They bring me so much joy.

8. I have spent many summers working at BYU youth conferences. I was a counselor for Academy for Girls for 3 years and for EFY for 2 years. I have been a speaker for EFY for the past 3 years although I think I am getting too many kids to continue.

9. I feel like I have two spiritual gifts. One is bearing my testimony. I love to testify and teach of Christ and His gospel, and the other is one I would like to trade if anyone is up for trading spiritual gifts. I am fantastic at “morning with those who mourn”. I feel people’s pain and easily cry with them when they suffer.

10. I love to travel. I have gone on some awesome trips in my married life. My favorites include beaches and nice warm weather. About three years ago we went to Polynesia (Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and of course Hawaii), and this past summer we sailed on a private catamaran in the Virgin Islands with some friends.

11. I love amusement parks, especially Disney. Josh and I have been to Disney Land or Disney World every year sense we got married (without our kids.) We now feel guilty leaving our kids at home, but feel like they are still too young to go so we are taking a brake until they are a little older.

12. I am probably the world’s worst speller. I am so grateful for spell check, but even that can’t always help me.

13. I love being a mom, and I would have a dozen kids if I didn’t hate being pregnant so badly. (And if I wasn’t getting old.) I am almost passionate about how badly I hate it. I am sick and throwing up the entire time, luckily I have my babies early. The only thing I can think of that would be worse than being pregnant is not being able to be pregnant!

14. For about the last four years I have been very, very slowly working on a book about transitioning into motherhood. I wish that I could uncover the balance between our expectations and reality for new moms and give them the keys to being a happy mommy.

15. I am teaching Caleb (my oldest, who is almost five) how to play the piano and how to read. I figure with my genetics he is going to need the best head start he can get.

16. I went to college on an oboe scholarship and have a music teaching minor. Consequently Josh volunteered me to teach some of the neighbor kids beginner piano. I am starting that tomorrow. I think I will actually really enjoy it even though I am not a pianist.

17. I am 5’ 10”, the height of the average American man, also the height of Cindy Crawford.

18. I had one summer of stardom when I was in the Days of 47 Royalty. As a royalty we spoke at 3-4 sacrament meetings every Sunday in the summer. We were treated as celebrities at all of the Days of 47 events including the rodeo, and we even got to have dinner with the prophet and the governor.

19. I have been married for over six years and we have never had a TV, by choice. We like TV, but we are afraid that if we had one we would watch it too much so we resist the temptation by not having one at all.

20. I love to teach. I have had the calling of Gospel Doctrine teacher in my last three wards. I had done it for over four years and just got released last month. I think teaching Gospel Doctrine is the best calling in the church.

21. I am not a procrastinator. As soon as I get a project I get it done as quickly as possible. The only way Josh gets things done is last minute and that drives me insane.

22. I love to be efficient. Sometimes I wonder if I am too efficient. My house is usually clean, and my kids are well cared for, and I get extremely bored. I feel like I have everything done much of the time. I am not bragging. I feel like this is a weakness. Who gets bored? Maybe that is why I should get a TV.

23. I am not easily offended so I often get in trouble for being too honest with others. I am only honest because I care.

24. I almost never read novels. (I avoid them because I am a bad mommy when I am into a good book.) I do read self help books. I have read a bookshelf full of books on money and investing, and I am currently into reading books about parenting. The great thing about self-help books is that you can set them down.

25. Apparently I am long winded and feel like I need to explain every random thing about myself. I do love company and try to trap anyone who comes into my home and coax them into visiting for a while.

Four Months

I think Andy is the greatest baby ever! I have so much fun with him. He is so happy. He coos and smiles when he is awake and sleeps well. I couldn't be more happy with him. Yesterday he had his four month well baby visit. He weighed in at 16 lbs. 2 oz. putting him in the 85th percentile. He is 26 inches putting him in the 90th percentile for height. If he is anything like his brother his hight will be off the charts soon. It is a little sad to see him growing out of his 3-6 month cloths at four months.



With his four month birthday he got to start "tongue training" aka solids today. He smiled and cooed, but did very little swallowing he just let the rice sit on his tongue. He didn't gag or scream like my other kids. The only person gagging was Cara. I thought she was going to loose it she was so discussed. She kept saying "Big kucky, Andy."



This month Andy also got his first "hair cut". I am not sure if it really counts because it was just the snipping of the long hairs leaving him with a cute little blonde flat top, but it does look much better.



He also went to an Aggie Basketball game and got to meet Big Blue. He wasn't that excited about it, but Caleb and Cara go nuts for Big Blue.

The Big One

My brother Cody and his wife Stephanie had their beautiful baby boy on the 10th. He was just 5 lbs 8 oz at birth. We took Caleb, Cara, and Andy over to meet him this week. Caleb seemed a little concerned that everyone was giving their attention to the new baby, Daniel, and paying no attention to his brother, Andy. With a sigh, Caleb plopped on the couch and said, “Okay, I will hold the big one” referring to Andy. I guess Andy will forever now be referred to as The Big One. With only 14 weeks in age difference here is a picture of “The Big One” holding “The Little One”.



Caleb also wanted to be sure that we weren't only taking pictures of Daniel so here is the picture he requested on him holding The Big One. Yes that is a 3-6 month outfit that Andy at the age of 3 months 2 weeks is growing out of.

Girl Crazy at Age Four

I didn’t know that four year olds could be girl crazy, but Caleb is great at surprising me. A couple of weeks ago on the way home from church he said, “Brielle said that she doesn’t kiss little boys.” Brielle is the six-year-old girl he has been “going to marry” sense early last summer. I didn’t think much of it sense the only time he really sees her is at church although he occasionally asked if she could come over and play. With Brielle having given him the cold shoulder on Sunday he asked Jillian if she would marry him at preschool on Monday. Jillian apparently agreed and he found himself on the track to marriage again. Their teacher told me that she found a lot of humor in watching him put his arm around her and her laying her head on his chest. She said that he also tried to plant a kiss on her a few times but luckily that was going a little too far for her. When I talked to him about it he tried to settle my fears by telling me that he is “not getting married until I am six.” I thought it was only girls that dreamed about getting married in preschool. I haven’t heard much about Jillian this week. They are no longer allowed to sit by each other in school or to play “the Princess Leia Game.” I think Caleb now has his eyes on another neighbor girl, another older girl, a kindergartener who is good at video games. He thinks she is “so cool”. Who knows she may get the big question this week.

While I was blogging . . .

After writing the comment about taking more pictures I looked around the room at what my kids were doing and decided there was no better time to start taking pictures than that moment. While I was writing my entry about December Caleb and his best friend Isaac were “sledding” down the stairs on a box, which they have been doing most of the afternoon. That is something I remember doing as a kid and so I showed them how to do it a few weeks ago. Caleb has been scared to do it until today. He tried it once and it hurt a little. When I would ask him if he wanted a turn he would say, “Cara can have my turns.” Isn’t he a nice brother? He so much enjoys pushing her down the stairs and doesn’t worry a bit if she gets hurt.



Cara was putting on all of her jewelry. She helped Connie clean out her jewelry when Connie moved out and now Cara has a seemingly endless supply. (PS don’t you love the curls? My mom would be so proud. I have been trying to figure out sponge rollers. My mom put them in my hair every Saturday night until I was probably 10.) I guess the curls made Cara think she should get all dolled up. She told me “Colby is coming”. Colby is Connie’s boyfriend who Cara has a not so secret crush on. It is funny how things change I remember Connie being in love with my boyfriends.



Andy got this darling exer-saucer from my mom when he was born. (Great baby gift!) Anyway, I put it together today. He can’t reach the floor and his head bobbles a little, but I think he likes it. It won’t be long before he can use his cute little hands and reach.

December Recap

We had a fantastic Christmas. I got a camera on Black Friday, but I am not a great at carrying it and actually taking pictures. (Maybe that should be my new years resolution.) I do want to take a moment to recap December though. Some of the highlights of the month include: Going to Temple Square to the “I am a Child of God” display and the lights, The Joy School Christmas Program, spending time with my sister Cathie’s family who was in from Alaska, playing in the snow, and of course the holidays.

Going to Temple Square –

Those of you who know me well know that being home more than a day without going out makes me crazy. I had read on a friend’s blog about the “I am a Child of God” display at the church history museum on Temple Square. I decided to hitch a ride with Josh and take the kids to Temple Square while he was at meetings in SLC. It was a great decision. We had a fantastic time. I had no idea how kid oriented the second floor of the Church History Museum could be. They had people stationed in each room doing crafts and telling stories for the kids. (This may have just been for the holidays.) We were the only ones there and received so much attention. The kids loved it. I think it is so worthwhile to have outings like that. The kids probably wont remember, but who they become is based on these formative years so even though the wont remember it will become a part of them.



The Joy School Christmas Program –



I am a huge fan of Joy School. My great experience is based in part on the fact that the moms I share the teaching responsibilities with are so awesome. We had a neat little Christmas Program and get together. The kids sang so well. Caleb has grown up so much sense last year. He participated, sang out, did the actions without a moments hesitation. I was very proud of him. The kids sang so well that Santa even came at the end of the program and made a group of preschoolers very happy.







Spending time with my sister Cathie’s family who was in from Alaska –

We all love spending time with the Coombs family. The kids have such a fantastic time together, and Josh and I have a great time with Cathie and Keith. I even stayed at my moms house while the Coombs family was in town so that we could all be together.


Emi used to say that she and Cara weren't cousins, but she now admits that they are, in fact, they get along great.


Colter and Caleb (if you can't tell) playing dress-up.

Playing in the snow –

I guess I live in the right place because I really like having a white Christmas. With the help of some serious adults the kids made an awesome snow fort and Cody even launched rockets in the snow for everyone. The kids loved riding on the sleds behind the four-wheeler and the horse (who wouldn’t). I think sledding behind something is the only way to go sense it requires no hiking.



Christmas –

I am so grateful that we are close to family and don’t have to spend our holidays traveling. We always spend Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas Morning at our home, and Christmas Day with Josh’s family. I love that we get to spend time with both families and Santa gets to come to our house.

Christmas Eve was awesome! The kids had a great time out side with the sleds and we even had a couple of snowmobiles to keep the big boys happy. As always mom prepared an incredible ham dinner, and she and Christie went crazy buying gifts for the kids. Josh and I gave Cathie some homemade jewelry (my hobby in December) and Cody a car emergency kit. Cody and Step gave me some darling, long, long sleeve shirts, just what I wanted, and Cathie and Keith gave Josh a helicopter, just what he wanted. The kids each got a couple of costumes from Mom and Christie. I can’t think of a better kid gift. Dressing up seems to be something the kids never tire of.





Santa did find us on Christmas morning. Caleb initially wanted transformers, but when he learned that Isaac was asking for a Clone Wars Storm Trooper Helmet he changed his order. Santa had to make some last minute switches, but Caleb got just what he asked for. Cara wanted my little ponies and Andy go a little thing to lay under and play with. Josh asked for a yoga mat, and I asked for hubcaps. (When I got my tires replaced this month in order to pass the state safety inspection they had to break of two of the hubcaps.) I was totally surprised when there was a full size shelf reliance shelf under the tree. (They are those rolling shelves to organize your food storage.) I have had my eye on them for years. Everyone got just what they had asked for.

For Christmas this year the Kirks had decided to not exchange gifts but instead to do Christmas for another family. Sara and Christina headed up gathering many of the things that the family was in need of. I was totally surprise at the wonderful gifts we received from Josh’s sisters even though “we weren’t exchanging.” April got us all nice name brand sweatshirts, and Christina went all out and got us a Wii. We were totally spoiled. My arm is currently stiff from playing the sports games over New Years.





The highlight of this Christmas for me has been enjoying my little ones. It has been especially fun to have Andy. He is such a sweet baby. I have thoroughly enjoyed sleeping him under the tree and using the tree lights as his night-light. I have loved holding him and talking to him. He is a fantastic smiler and always "sings along" when I sing to him. I have loved the excitement in the eyes of my kids and the cute way that Cara says Santa. She and Caleb are excited about absolutely everything. We got free Mickey Mouse snow globes on black Friday that we put in the kid’s stockings. When Caleb saw his he very cheerfully said, "Oh, it's beautiful! Cara do you want it." This year really was a very Merry Christmas!

Too Much Speech Therapy?

For the past year I have been taking Cara to Speech Therapy at least once a week. She loves to go and try’s so hard to talk. She says the word “doggy” – “goddy”. It drives me crazy so I often say to her “d - d - d doggy like daddy” and try to get her to repeat what I am saying. The other day she was sitting holding her toy dog. I heard her saying “t - t - t daddy, goddy.” She is so darn cute but I wonder if all of this speech therapy is going right over her head.

Cara has some funny ways that she says things that are simply bad habits, not that she can't say them right. For example, she says potty, "hotty". This has been confusing in nursery because they think she is trying to tell them that she is hungry or happy or something. It doesn't take long for them to figure out her body language.

Cara has NEVER said Caleb. For at least six month she called him "hunga" and then she moved to "wang" for about six months for the past three or four months she has been calling him "vuna". I think she is saying brother. I say, "say Ca." She says, "Ca". I say, "Say leb." She says, "leb." I say, "say Ca-leb." She says, "vuna." All of the correcting in the world will not get her to say Caleb.

Andy's Baby Pictures

I finally got professional pictures taken of Andy. He was eight weeks when I got them taken. He is such a sweet baby. He started smiling at six weeks and has become a real pro at it. He has been sleeping 6-7 hours at night sense he turned six weeks as well. He loves to eat and is getting some serious fat roles. His cheeks are especially kissable. He needs to be burped many times a feeding, and he makes his brother very proud as his burps are extremely impressive.

Chores

I have been stewing for the past couple of months about how to get Caleb to pitch in a little better and to restrict his computer and video game time as well as the time he spends watching movies. He can be such a stinker about helping around the house or even doing what he is told. I have come up with a system that we have been using for about three weeks now, and it is going awesome so I thought I would share. He can choose whatever "chores" or responsibilities he wants to do. For example, in the morning I ask if he wants to make his bed or if he wants me to. If he does it he gets a bead if I do it he does not. I divvy out beads once a day in the afternoon for the past 24 hours or so. I was going to use the system for Cara too, but she doesn't need the structure as much as Caleb does and she doesn't seem to get it. Following is the list of ways that he can earn beads:

Morning:
Dry Under-Ware
Dressed by Self (Happily)
Make Bed
Fix Hair without Crying (Cara)
Brush Teeth

Evening:
Set Table
Eat all food on Plate
Brush Teeth
Reverent during Scripture Study and Prayers
Stay in Bed

Any Time Chores:
Get mail
Pick up Toys
Vacuum Stairs
Clear the Table
Empty Dishwasher
Put folded cloths away (Monday)
Take out Garbage (Tuesday)

Enrichment:
Reading Lesson
Practice Writing (1 Page = 1 bead)
Practice Piano (ten minutes = 1 bead)

I especially encourage the enrichment activities. He is making great progress learning Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano. Of course I have to sit right by him and help him to practice, but I found a good Preschool Piano curricumim online called Piano for Preschoolers. For his reading lesson I am using the book Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It isn't so easy, but I would recommend the book if you are wondering where to get started teaching your preschooler to read.

In exchange for beads Caleb gets privileges. Following are a list of rewards he can earn:

15 minutes of TV = one bead
1 Movie = 5 beads
15 minutes of Video or Computer Games = one bead
Invite Friend Over/Go to Friends = 5 beads
$1 = 10 beads

This system is helping me to be a more accountable mom and him to be a more productive kid. It is great!

Andy's Blessing

Today Andy was blessed by his dad. It was a wonderful day filled with the spirit, family and food. Thanks to our families for their love and support.



Andy is such a fun happy baby. He is getting very close to smiling. He is not quite getting the curve of his lips, but he opens his mouth and smiles with his eyes. It is becoming easier for me to be a happy mommy too as he has slept seven hours each of the last two nights. He will be six weeks on Tuesday yet it feels like he has been a part of our family forever.



This is what happens when two year olds are left unattended. It was "the other event" of the day. Cara and her friend Dawson decided to clean out Caleb's closet. I didn't think it was a very full closet until I saw the entire contents laying on the floor. Cara even crawled across the very top shelf and pushed every last thing off. They were so thorough with the room that they even took off the mobil from Andy's crib. They left no item unturned.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from:

A Chilln' Cheetah



Cinderella



Robin



Thanks to my mom for all of her work on the kids costumes. Caleb was Batman for the past two weeks. Grandma Iva made his costume, and he practically had it warn out by Halloween. He went to the preschool parade in his Batman costume and then when Grandma came to try the robin costume on him he decided to switch it up and spend the rest of the day as Robin.



Thanks to Connie for coming to get Cinderella ready for the ball. Connie always does such a great job with Cara's hair, and it makes Cara feel so special.

We did carve pumpkins, go to the pumpkin walk and all of that other Halloween junk, but the pictures are all on our phones. I haven't become quite technical enough to know how to get them off, but it has been a great month with the beautiful weather!

Brothers

At only two weeks Caleb and Andy are dear brothers. We had only been home for a day when Andy was being fussy. Caleb insisted on holding him after Josh and I had tried our best to calm him. Caleb took him and Andy instantly calmed. I guess he just needed his brother.



Caleb does lots of bragging that he has a little brother. He spends time admiring him and wants to hold him whenever the chance arrises. The other day he told me that when Andy gets a little bigger he wont need to have friends over to play with any more because he will be able to play with his brother.



I was concerned that Caleb would be disappointed in having a "newborn" brother. He had such high expectations, but he seems to be totally satisfied with this little package he calls his brother.

FOOD!

This week I have rediscovered my love of food. For many pregnant women this happens after their first trimester, but having been sick most of my pregnancy and especially sick my first and third trimesters I am just now discovering how much I love food. This afternoon when I should have been taking a nap, my kids were gone to the Circus in SLC with Josh and Andy was napping, I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I have been reading that many people loose their appetite after giving birth, but yesterday I ate an entire 12 inch Subway Sandwich. I don't think I have ever done that in my life. I would like to think that Andy is sucking all of these calories off of me, but that would really be wishful thinking. Although he too must be a Kirk because he seems to be obsessed with food himself. Let's have three cheers for having an appetite. It feels so good to return to my good old friend, food.

Baby Andy is here!

Beautiful baby Andrew Owen Kirk (Andy) arrived to our family today (September 23, 2008) at 2:56 PM. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz. He has a little blonde hair (unlike Caleb and Cara who had tons of long black hair.) I was started at 8:30 this morning, at 37 and 1/2 weeks because of high blood pressure. I had to be treated with at least five hours of antibiotics so the nurses tried to keep things slow. When the five hours of antibiotics had passes we discovered that he was posterior so I was stuck at a six for over an hour. He flipped by himself and within a few minutes he was ready to be born. Delivery went smoothly and quickly. Unfortunately they had a few concerns, mostly his low glucose, so after we held him for an hour he was taken to nic-u for a couple of hours for observation. It almost drove me crazy waiting in my room not knowing what was going on. He is doing great now! It is fun to have a newborn.



The kids came and saw him as soon as he got to the room.



He does lots of grunting and talking. Caleb especially loved holding him.



I am sure that Cara will be a great little helper. She likes to be the mommy and will certainly make a good second mommy to Andy.



I will be out of the hospital on Thursday morning hopefully ready to be the mother of three. Thanks to my mom for taking the kids while I am recovering.

Montana Road Trips

This summer we have had the opportunity to go to weddings in Montana for cousins on both sides of Josh's family. Josh has just six cousins on the Kirk side and five cousins on the Lee side of his family so big events like weddings don't come around often. Even though I am extremely pregnant and uncomfortable we decided to make the long trip to Helena Montana in July and to Billings Montana in August. Annie and Jessica both had beautiful weddings, and it was wonderful to see family. The best part was for Great Grandma Alice and Great Grandpa Arnold and Grandma Betty to see the kids. They and Ethan, Josh's sister April's boy, are their only Great Grand Children on either side of the family.

This is Betty and Arnold (Josh's Mom's Parents) with the Great Grands. Sadly this is the first time they have met Cara. I think it was about time!



Here is a picture of the kids with Grandma Alice (Josh's Dad's Mom). It was her first time to see Cara too, and I don't think she had seen Caleb sense he was a new born. I guess there are no longer any questions why we couldn't miss the weddings this summer.



There was a beautiful pond at Jessica's wedding. Cara and Ethen, had a great time playing at the side of the pond. Caleb disappeared for the evening as he found some cute flower girl to play with.



The Kirks even got a family picture. We are pictured from left to right Carrie, Josh, Gabe, Christina, Sara, April and on the front, Caleb, Lonn, Sharon, Ethen, and Cara.



We made the trip to Billings a four day weekend over Labor Day. One highlight for Caleb was riding the horses at Doug and Kathy's (Josh's uncle). They have a therapeutic riding program for children with disabilities in Billings. My kids have never been so safe riding horses. They loved all of the attention.



On the way home we detoured through Bear Tooth Pass one of the top 10 most scenic drives in America and ended up on top of the world.



We spent a night in Yellowstone. The kids loved seeing the the wildlife.



Caleb was terrified of the geysers and bubbling pools and kept his distance from the water falls as well. Of course he talks like he was brave, but he sure gets scared.



The weather was chili, but we had a good time.



Of course we cut through Jackson on our senic drive home and had to stop for the classic picture at the elk horn arches.



It was nice to get my swolen ankles home, but it was also great to spend some quality time as a family. The kids were so cute and fun. Cara would cover her head with her blanket and sing herself to sleep when she was ready for a car nap. If she didn't have a big brother who tackles her I don't think she would ever cry. She is such a happy person and brings me more joy than I could imagine. Caleb almost talked our ears off for all of those hours in the car. He has so many questions and observations. He loves to talk to strangers and wont stop until I make him. It is wonderful to have Josh's help and suport. I am so grateful for my family!

How much longer?

Now that I am settled and getting back into the routine of life I am wondering if I can make it two more months before having this baby. Yesterday I hit the "I can't do this any more" wall. Josh just looks at me in bewilderment and questions what choice I have. Our dear friends gave us their crib and it is now set up in "the boys room." Caleb is looking forward to the new baby too. Lately, in anticipation of the baby's arrival Caleb has told me the following:

"When Andy is born he is going to have to run and go poop in the potty."

"When is Andy going to crawl out?"

Caleb: "When Andy is born I am going to teach him how to walk."
Me: "When he is born he will be really little so you will have to wait until he gets bigger to teach him."
Caleb: "Don't worry, I will teach him gently."

"My baby brother isn't going to cry because he is a boy."

I think we are in for an adventure if I can make it through these next few months.

The Trip of a Lifetime!

Of all of the things I should be doing to recover from being gone for a week blogging is not one of them, but I just can't resist posting a few pictures and journaling about the trip we just returned from. It was amazing! We hope to do it again someday and hope that our friends will be able to do it too so while I can still remember where we went, here is my best attempt to journal the experience.

On Thursday the 24th of July we took a redeye flight to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. We began the trip with our friends Shawn and Lisa and spent two nights in St. Thomas. Unfortunately we lost our camera after the first few days so our pictures in St. Thomas are currently limited, but we had a great time. We ate some of the best food we have ever tasted at Glady's Cafe, Cuzzin's Caribbean Restaurant, and Hook, Line, and Sinker. We stayed at a quant little bed and breakfast called the Green Iguana. I couldn't believe all of the Iguana's we saw all over the island. They were so big I would almost call them dragons.



The first night we enjoyed the sunset on Magen's Bay.



We toured the Island in our cute little Jeep Wrangler.



We saw some fantastic views of the Virgin Islands from the mountaintops. It is amazing how close together the islands are. At any given time on the trip you could see islands in every direction.



While in St. Thomas we snorkeled at Coki Beach, which is where Josh and I learned that 45 minutes in the sun without sunscreen is way too long. Needless to say I applied 50 sunscreen over every exposed part of my body at least twice a day for the rest of the trip. We sang Karaoke on Saturday night at Iggies Beach Bar.

We learned to appreciate the price of groceries here in the states as we shopped for provisions on the boat. For a gallon of milk it was $8 just to give you an idea. One thing we don't get here in Utah is fresh mango's and banana's growing on the wayside which we took occasion to pick and eat. It is ironic that Josh would work to get a banana sense he doesn't even like them, but I think it was the adventure he liked.



We also found coconuts off of a beach. Josh put his determination to work and got this one husked and amazingly it even tasted awesome.



We attended the small branch on Sunday morning and were total inspired by the faith of the saints on the island. Following church we loaded our catamaran, The Moon Shadow, for five nights of sailing. Just in case you don't know what a catamaran is following is a picture of ours. Ours is 42 feet sailboat (with two motors if you don't want to sail). Ours slept 10 and we had it almost maxed out with three other couples (our long time friends Dave and Erica, Shawn and Lisa, and Spencer and Amy) and our skipper, Daniel. Sunday afternoon we left St. Thomas for our first destination on St. John.



On our way to Leinster Bay, where we anchored the first night, our Skipper/Caption Daniel stopped at his favorite Lobster hole and caught us an all you can eat fresh lobster dinner. The size of these lobsters would put any Maine lobster I have ever seen to shame. They were unbelievably large. You can see in this picture that they spanned almost the entire dingy.



Having Daniel as our Caption proved to be a highlight of the trip. His expertise of the islands was impressive. He has been a skipper for nine years. Also, being the son of two scientist, having grown up in the Virgin Islands, exploring the islands with his parents on weekends, he knew the in's and out's of every stop. He also has a master’s degree in marine biology. Snorkeling with him was like entering an underwater petting zoo. We snorkeled almost every day and he would bring up creatures of the sea that we would have never seen. We saw sharks on occasion and he took the opportunity to pull on their tail so that we could see them swim away. He taught us the difference between "good" and "bad" jelly fish. We even gained the courage to pet the "good" ones, but always preferred not to run into them by surprise.



Unfortunately, none of us had an underwater camera to capture the snorkeling experience, but take my word for it - it was the best I have ever experienced.

Monday morning before leaving Leinster Bay we went on a hike and explored an old sugar mill. It was fascinating and beautiful. We picked fresh key lime's for the trip and some other local fruit that Dave called Gobstoppers and the rest of us referred to as snot covered balls, natives call them genips. (They don't taste bad, and they don't taste good, it is the texture that got most of us.)

Sugar Mill Picture to be added shortly.

We spent the afternoon at a beautiful white sand beach at Sandy Cay. Everyone, except me, enjoyed an intense game of ultimate Frisbee. I enjoyed bobbing weightlessly in the water while they ran their legs off on the beach. Then Daniel taught us a beach game of his childhood, NASCAR Racing. It is played by creating a track in the sand with obstacles. Then you use a round nut and flick it through the track. Dave was the winner by a landslide. You can see our well designed track in the picture below.



We spent that night at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands and headed off Tuesday morning for Guana Island where Josh and Shawn scuba dove and the rest of us snorkeled.



We ended that day at Spanish Town of Virgin Gorda where we filled our water storage and got a few provisions. Up to this point we had not even been around other people. We had been eating on the catamaran and sticking too secluded island gems.

Wednesday morning we were just a stones throw from The Baths, which was a highlight of the trip for some of us. Daniel was up making us a pancake breakfast before dawn and we were to the baths by about 6:30 in the morning. We left at about 10:00 just as people began to arrive. It was awesome to be there by ourselves. The baths are a geographical phenomenon where house size granite boulders come up to the sea creating beautiful pools. As always Daniel showed us things we would have never found on our own. He took us to a spot where we could jump from a bolder into the ocean and then swim under a tiny hole in the rocks. I was going to abstain from this activity as Daniel joked I may have plugged the small hole that you would swim though to get back onto the trail. I did prove him wrong by swimming through to see everyone jump, but I didn't feel a need to jump myself.



There were some tight squeezes for my big belly, but I was able to participate in everything at the baths except a hike that I understand was so scary jumping from bolder to bolder that I probably would not have liked it anyway. There is just no way for pictures to do justice to how big or how beautiful this place was.



It was worth the time spent sailing to see the Baths!



After leaving The Baths we set sail for Norman Island where we had one of our two meals off of the boat. We went to Willy T's a floating ship for burgers. It was a fun atmosphere, and a few of us jumped off the second floor of the ship into the bay. The awesome part of Norman Island and a highlight for me was snorkeling in and around the caves that inspired Robert Lewis Stevenson’s, Treasure Island. The snorkeling was unbelievable and the fish flocked to the bread and granola bars we brought with us.



Our final full day of sailing took us from Norman Island to Honeymoon Beach on St. John via the Indians and, against the council of Daniel, Trunk Bay. (Trunk Bay was beautiful but much more crowded than the other bays we had been too which is why Daniel advised against it.) We did capture some beautiful pictures at Trunk Bay. You can see our catamaran in the background.



The Indian's were the best snorkeling spot of all for some with breathtaking rock walls covered with coral and only accessible via boat. Staying at Honeymoon Beach we were a short dingy ride from Cruise Bay where we had dinner at the Lime Inn.



Nothing Like nine adults in a little overloaded dingy. The poor thing got us around.



Friday morning some of the group went for one last snorkel run while the rest of us took a last opportunity to sleep in. (We woke up early every other morning.) We returned our catamaran to CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure) Charters by 10:00 in the morning ate in St. Thomas and prepared for a very long trip home.

Each day we had time on the boat while we were sailing. Some people had to concentrate to avoid getting sick, but others of us found great ways to entertain ourselves.

The more adventursome found that they could get a huge lift from the waves as they jumpped on the tramp on the front of the boat.



Each night we mixed drinks (virgin of course) while we played cards and visited. We were surprised by how early it gets dark, but it was fun to socialize on the boat after dark. As you can see inside the boat was small for Josh, but he coped well.



What can I say; it was the trip of a lifetime! If you are interested in seeing a map of where we went and different pictures you can go to Erica's blog at http://ericalow.blogspot.com/. I love her perspective.

Kid Heaven

Caleb and Cara went to kid heaven this week while Josh and I enjoyed a piece of paradise in the Virgin Islands. The kids spent most of the week at my parents with their cousins (Cathie’s kids, Colter, Emi, and Corbin). They also spent a few days at Cathie’s house causing her all kinds of stress. She says that five kids five and under are to many!! Thanks so much to my mom, Cathie, and Connie for tending!

Last week was the Famous Preston Night Rodeo so the kids got to enjoy three nights of parade, carnival, and on Friday night Grandma and Grandpa even took them to the rodeo. Anticipating seeing the “bunking” bulls has been the highlight of July for Caleb. He loved it and has been playing “bunking” bulls ever sense. Unfortunately among the kids he is always the bull, but he sure knows how to buck people off.

Gratefully, Cathie is good about pulling out the camera and capturing the moment. Following are a few of my favorite photos from while we were gone.



My mom got a new truck, and Caleb thought it was the greatest thing ever to ride in the back. The kids all love it.



The kids got to ride the horses. I am certain that my dad would have never allowed us to go in sandles or bare foot, but I guess the grandkids can get away with anything.



Cara got decked out for the rodeo. I think she makes a fine cow girl especially when Aunt Connie curls her hair.



Of course you can't go to the farm during hay season without doing a little old fashion work!



When you are four and five hauling hay takes some super powers.



With all of that work and fun a cookout is always welcome!



A dirty kid is a kid who is having fun!

4th of July Weekend

We had a fantastic 4th of July weekend. We spent the 3rd and 4th with the Coombs family and had all kinds of adventures with them. You can see more of the adventures on Cathie's blog at: Cathie's Blog. Unfortunately I am really bad about carrying a camera. Of course the parade is a highlight of any July 4th. Caleb didn't eat anything but candy for a good 12 hours.



Last minute we decided to stay in Salt Lake with Josh's sister Christina. We went to the Sugar House fireworks with her and then spent Saturday doing a connect pass again. If you haven't read about the connect pass in my earlier posts you can check out a link to it here: Salt Lake City Connect Pass. I am a huge fan because it is such a fun family thing to do and it is only $20 for adults for all of the days activities including dinner.

We started out at the Zoo which I can only handle for about an hour, but going first thing in the morning the crowd was small and we made it through in no time at all.



The kids loved riding on the carousel. I thought the turkey was perfect for Cara as the picture depicts two silly turkeys.



Caleb was of course excited but frightened. He really wanted to ride on the bench, but he was a little less stressed if Josh was holding onto him.



Caleb was obsessed with the map and wanted to know where we were going next at every move so he could find it on the map.



This picture of Josh and the gorella had to be included as it really does help the argument of evolution.

From the Zoo we went to the This Is The Place Heritage Park. It is right by the zoo, and I was totally impressed. It was a fantastic place for the kids to learn about the pioneers. The cabins are all staffed with people dressed as pioneers teaching crafts and pioneer chores. I would encourage every single person to take their kids there this summer. You can learn more at their web site: This is the Place Heritage Park.



Of course a highlight for the kids was taking a wagon ride, the train ride, and the petting zoo. Personally I was a fan of all air conditioned buildings.

This time doing the connect pass we made it to both an iMax show and a star show at Clark Planatarium. This gave the kids a good nap and Josh and I enjoyed sitting down and being entertained. The connect pass includes dinner at the Lion House which gave us a chance to attempt a family picture in front of the SLC temple.



Josh says we should never ask people to take our pictures as that is when the kids decide to show their power.



The highlight of the day for Josh and I was taking a ride on the tram at Snow Bird. I have skied Snow Bird, but the tram ride seemed to be especially thrilling when there were only a few of us flying through the sky. The temperature dropped 15 degrees from the bottom of the mountain to the top. The view was breathtaking!! It was a great way to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary as a family.

Summer Happenings

Now that we have our new blog figured out it is about time for me to update you on the summer happenings. I am feeling much better as long as I stay on Zofran, my medication for throwing-up, I am hardly sick at all. There is nothing like feeling really sick to make you feel great once you’re are better. Time is going really fast for me in this pregnancy as I am doing my best to enjoy my cute kids through the summer. My motto for the summer is: “IF YOU MISS THE BOAT WITH YOUR KIDS, YOU MISS THE BOAT.” I am trying to take every moment to enjoy teaching my little ones and watching them learn and grow. I have even slept in a tent twice this summer in order to provide good experiences with them. (For me that is a huge stretch.) Sense pictures say a thousand words the following should give you a good idea of what we have been up to this summer.



We have spent a lot of time this summer with family. We love having Cathie and her kids only an hour away. There is something special about cousins. Cody makes a great horse, and all of the kids want to ride him at once. It is good practice sense he and Stephanie are expecting a baby in January. Connie took over Sami's room in the basement as Sami is no longer with us. We love having Connie. We only wish we saw her more often.



Caleb has his own special style. My mom couldn't believe that I let him go to the grocery store dressed like this. I figure there are far more important battles. He is mister social. To be home without a friend for even an hour is like torture to him. When he wakes up in the morning the first words out of his mouth are "who can come over and play today" and then he lists off all of his friends and neighbors while I make up silly excuses as to why it just wont work out, at least for a couple hours. He just can't get enough of friends.



Cara is such a joy. She brings me so much happiness as her personality is friendly and ambitious, yet easy going. She is so easy to get along with even for a two year old. The hardest thing about Cara is her independence. She insists on doing up her seat belt herself which can take a long time, and moving the car before she has finished her project is not acceptable. Her speech is improving, and although there are few words, she loves to sing primary songs. She gives Caleb a run for his money as she isn't afraid of anything!



Cara loves to wear her sun glasses. Grandpa Neil calls her Hollywood as she struts around in her glasses knowing how great she looks. The kids have gotten really comfortable with swimming this summer. I try to take them once a week. We went to Glendale Reservoir, near my parents home a few weeks ago. Caleb and Cara both had their life jackets on. Cara jumped off the dock over and over even without anyone to catch her. She would simply paddle and kick to someone to help her back on so that she could jump again. On the other hand Caleb sat right in the middle of the dock, sweating in the heat, wondering and talking about sharks or other unknown critters that may be in the water to get him. He finally showed his bravery and got in the water as we were all leaving.



I sure love my silly kids.

BOY!

Today we learned that we are having a BOY!  We are very excited.  We had no preference, but there are defiantly advantages.  One advantage to having a boy in the fall is that will make him one of the older kids in school, which should give him a good advantage (something girls don’t usually need as much).  I also think that it is great for boys to get on their missions before starting college.  Cara won’t notice or care much at this point, but Caleb is really excited about having a brother.  He measures in the 90^th percentile for his due date, but the doctor didn’t change the date.  Caleb has been totally off the charts for height most of his life so we just might have another big boy.

 

The main disadvantage of having a boy is that Josh and I don’t have a name we agree on.  (There are a couple of girl names we both like.)  I would like to name him Andrew (Andy) or Benjamin (Ben or Benji), Andrew being a family name and Benjamin being from the Book of Mormon.  I have also considered Paul from the Bible.  I guess I need to look at some family history and see what else I can come up with.  Josh thinks those names are too boring.  I remind him that he didn’t like the name Caleb until I had been calling him that for about a month.  It had to grow on him.  Any ideas?

A Cure for Spring Fever

Last Friday I sent a text to Josh in the afternoon threatening to make him do yard work all weekend if we didn’t get out of here.  (I am experiencing some cabin/spring fever to say the least.)  He sent me a text a 4:00, which I didn’t receive until he called and was headed home at 5:00.  His message was pack your bags.  Needless to say we had our bags packed, a hotel booked, and we were headed out of town by 5:45.  We had no idea what we were going to do, but we were getting out of here.  If you have never used hotwire to book discount hotel I recommend it. (www.hotwire.com) We stayed at the SLC downtown Hilton for $85.  It was a fun adventure for the kids and for us too.  On the way down we stopped and had dinner with the Coombs’ family and went to the donut factory, aka Crispy Cream.  While swimming at the pool Friday night we ran into one of Josh’s friends who introduced us to the Salt Lake City “Connect Pass” which was THE BEST PART. 

 

I had to get home and spread the word because it was such a great deal.  If you want more info go to http://www.visitsaltlake.com/what_to_do/connect.html.  The pass was only $18 for adults and $14 for children for a one-day pass.  I had no idea there were so many fun things to do with kids in SLC.  It included so much that I almost felt like I was cheating.  There are 14 SLC venues to choose from with the pass, and you can do as may as you can fit into the day.  We did the following in one day and all for $50 for the family.  We went to the Hogle Zoo. We had lunch at the Lion House Pantry. (Amazingly lunch was included with the pass.)  We got tickets to the Clark Planetarium IMAX show but missed the show because we were distracted at the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum.  We went to The Living Planet Aquarium.  (At this point Cara and I took a nap in the car, but Josh and Caleb were going strong.)  Finally, we went to the worlds largest dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  It was so fun!  We really felt like we were on vacation.  The only unfortunate part of the day is that I didn’t grab the camera.  We did have our phones and took a few phone pictures.  I guess we will have to do it again to get some more pictures.

 

Friday night we went to Orem to a Flash game.  Flash is a semi-pro team that feeds into the Jazz and another pro team that I don’t remember.  NAI, the company Josh works for, is a major sponsor and has box seats.  It was fun to see how that works.  We ended up extending our vacation one night and spending Saturday night with my cousin Tamie Bateman.  I had no idea that Josh and I would have so much fun with Tamie and her husband Nate.  We laughed and laughed.  It goes without saying that our kids had fun together too.  It was so fun to get away.  I loved spending the quality time with the kids, and of course I loved that I was getting a deal.

Take a look - Help me with my book.

Many of you know that I have had the intention of writing a book on transitioning into motherhood for a few years. The transition was rocky for me, and I still feel like I am figuring things out. I work on the book in phases and have found much joy in compiling information, mostly from questionnaires you have filled out for me. I have it compiled to a point that I am now requesting help. If you can ever spare a few moments to spend some time on my wiki found at http://mommyworld.pbwiki.com/FrontPage I would appreciate it. I would like to allow you to edit and add, but I have to send you access so if you are interested in helping please email me or reply to this blog entry. One word of warning, don't go to the wiki looking for a finished product. It is NOT EVEN CLOSE. I would like to spend another year editing and writing, but I just can't seem to make the time. The other day I was writing an email to my friend who recently had her first baby and I decided that there is no reason for me to keep the information I have pulled together to myself. What I have compiled is a reference guide, not a story, so click around and see if there is something that might help you on the crazy journey we call parenting.

"Mommy I fixed Cara's hair."

This morning Caleb came into my bathroom where I was getting ready for the day, scissors in hand, smiling ear to ear, and said, "mommy I fixed Cara's hair."  The phrase every mom dreads hearing from her four year old son.  My heart sunk to my toes.  "You didn't cut it did you???"  "Yep, I did."  I held my breath as I hurried into the living room to see the damage.   I have to admit it could be much worse he took a few sections out of the back that will not affect pulling it back.  Basically he gave it a serious thinning, but all in all didn't cause major damage.  Unfortunately their piggy bank puppy, Daisy, wasn't so lucky with her ears.  Daisy is one of Cara's favorite toys.  Just before the hair cut I took a picture of Cara feeding Daisy breakfast.  At least we can hold onto the memory of her cute long ears.  I am glad that Cara's hair is only partially redesigned, and I am hoping Caleb has learned that cutting hair is not acceptable.

 


 

Easter!

Our Easter celebration started on Saturday morning at the park next to Cathie's house with a big West Point, Easter Egg Hunt.  The kids have had a little practice with Grandma Iva and at the Lows so we thought they were good to go.  Well. . . we were wrong.  In the 0-3 category Cara couldn't wait until they said go.   She kept dashing out into the eggs upsetting the children around her.  When it was finally time to go she ran, and ran, and ran.  It took some coaching to help her remember that she needed to pick up eggs.  She and Emi did well. 


 



On the other hand Caleb was excited and ready to go right up to the point that they said go.  That is when he started to freak out.  He broke into tantrum mode which put him way behind the other kids.  When Josh saw that Caleb was about to have no success he took him to the "special needs section.  Josh's comment was, "it was obvious that he had special needs."  The poor kid buckled under pressure. 


 



The Easter Bunny made it to our house this year even though Josh didn't understand why the Easter Bunny needed to bring presents.  He thought hiding eggs would be sufficient.  He tried to tell me it wasn't Christmas, but I held out and the kids scored a $120 swing set from Walmart.  I say if the cheapest swing set worked for me (my family had an identical one to the one we have for 15+ years) it will work for my kids too.  The kids love it even with the snow still in the back yard.  Josh was not happy trying to put it together on Easter afternoon when ALL of the screws were just a little bit too short.  It is amazing what a hammer and a frustrated man can do.  Caleb informed Cara's speech therapist on Monday morning that his dad is a builder and "he can build anything."






Our eggs didn't get colored until the Monday after Easter, but I am quite proud of myself for even embracing the messy tradition.  Honestly, it was quite fun.  I think we came up with some egg-celent designs.

House is Leased!

One of our financial challenges this year has been making payments on a home we built as a spec in Star, Idaho (a suburb of Boise.)  When we started the investment in the winter of 2006 the market was hot and it seemed that there was no way to loose.  Unfortunately lots of other people had the same idea and the aria got overbuilt and then of course the mortgage market crashed leaving us with a beautiful empty home and large payments.  We have learned that there is no such thing as a "safe" investment because from all angles this appeared to be a great one. We feel so fortunate to finally have it leased out.  This last week Josh and I took a day trip to see the home and make sure everything was worked out with the woman leasing the home.  She is somewhat of a celebrity with a radio talk show she is running from the home.  You may want to check it out at www.daytona-n-friends.com.  "Positive talk around the clock."  We are excited about what she is doing with the place and hope that she will be able to buy it within the year.  Following are a few pictures. 


 

                       
 


We took a few minutes to stretch our legs in Twin Falls and to see the falls.  Being a native of Idaho I don't believe I have ever seen them.  It was awesome. 

We are Expecting!

The time has come to make the announcement official. We are expecting! Luckily it is something that we really wanted because I have been so sick. It has been a rough month or so. I guess I had it in my mind that sense I was better with Cara than with Caleb that this time I would be even better. Boy was I wrong. As rough as it has been I am really trying not to complain and to count my blessings that Josh and I are able to be parents again. The widget we have added to our blog is so that Josh can keep track of how far along I am. I am going to keep my eyes set on the weeks I have behind me not what lies ahead. I want to share with you some excerpts from my journal as I was trying to look past being sick and count my blessings.

1. I had two miscarriages in the last six months and I am grateful that this pregnancy is sticking. I really do want to have a family and I am grateful that I am capable of bearing my own children. When I think of the heartbreak of those who can't I am so sorry for them. I know that is much worse than this temporary discomfort that I have.

2. Zofran went generic after I had Cara. (The medication I take so that I can keep food down.) With my other pregnancies I (the insurance) payed $45 for each pill. I have almost quadrupled the dose I was taking with Cara and I am so grateful that they do not cost what they used to.

3. My discomfort is temporary. I know that my sickness will go away in seven months and I will get a prize at the end. I am so grateful for that!

4. I am grateful that I am not experiencing this alone. My husband loves and supports me. I am so thankful for a husband that is a team player and is a worthy priesthood holder. A few weeks ago Josh and I were laying in bed and it was just like you see in the movies. I felt like I was starving. I hadn't kept anything down all day and all I wanted was macaroni and cheese. (I haven't eaten that sense I was 10, but in the last couple of weeks I have had it everyday for lunch.) Unfortunately we were out and Josh was very tired, but he went to the grocery store and stocked up for me. I ate some before going back to bed and I slept better than I have for a long time. I wasn't even sick in the night.

5. Caleb and Cara have been so sweet and worried about me. For the first few weeks that I was sick Caleb would ask me each and every time I got up, "are you going to throw-up." He would ask with such concern, and Cara has taken it upon herself to be my nurse. Although Caleb doesn't hesitate to tell me how disgusting it is. He has done his share of gagging because it sicks him out, but he has to watch.

I do have one kind of funny story. On Saturday morning I was about to jump in Josh's car when I started to gag. (I don't go to the bathroom when I feel like I am going to throw-up or else I would be in the bathroom all of the time. I don't go until I start gagging.) Of course I wasn't thinking clearly, all I could think was that I didn't want to clean up puke in the the garage or the car. Instead of just running out to the yard I stupidly jumped in the car and backed out to the yard, all the time I was gagging and just trying not to loose anything in Josh's car. Once I got out of the garage I jumped out of the car to do my business, but the car was still in reverse. At that point my breakfast started coming out, but I was getting run over by the car door as the car continued backing out. I jumped back in the car keeping my head hanging out the door to put my foot on the brake while I finished what needed to be done. Needless to say I was really glad no one was looking as I closed the door and drove away, I am also pleased to announce that the car and garage were saved.

Birthday Princess

Cara turned TWO on Saturday. She was a cute little birthday princess.


We are looking forward to "the terrific twos." She really is a great kid.


She has been so cute with me sense I have been sick. She gets me her blankets when I am laying down. I can't decide if she thinks she is my nurse or my mommy. She tries to feed me and she is always sweetly touching my face or hair and affectionately saying "mommy". She is a sweet little girl, but she knows how to keep up and be tough like the boys. On Friday we had five boys at our house four and under. Cara had no clue that she was any different than them. At one point I saw her chasing after them with a helmet and a gun. As they were wrestling that day I also had to peal her off of a four year old boy who was crying because she wouldn't get off of him and later a three year old boy. Caleb has taught her to wrestle with the best of them. She has also added the word "chout" aka "watch out" to her vocabulary. She always throws an elbow at her brother as she says it.

Happy 4th Birthday Caleb!

Caleb had a great birthday! It was a party all day long. He was lucky enough to have his friends and cousins here all day and then loving visitors all evening. The day started with him yelling from his bed "mom come get me up." He couldn't stop talking and he just wanted to know when his birthday "starts." I tried to explain that it was all day, but he needed a starting point. Thanks to everyone who made it a great day!

Making the most of all this snow!

Last weekend we had a wonderful time snowmobiling with my family. The kids loved it! They didn't care how cold they got. They just loved bouncing around on the snow. It is hard to see who is who because they also insisted on wearing their goggles. Who can blame them?



The snow is now officially above the fence at my parent's house. I can't remember there ever being this much snow. I berried a snowmobile up the canyon while riding with Cara and Colter. Cathie was with me and she had Caleb. She took all three kids home and picked up some muscles, Cody, to come and rescue me. The pictures don't give justice to how much show there really is.



While I waited to be rescued I came across this beautiful tree. I am sure there are many object lessons that could be taken from the way that it has held onto its beautiful fall leaves. Mostly I was just awestruck with the beauty.



When the kids weren't on the snowmobile they were on the sled taking advantage of grandpa who would pull them up the hill to sled down.

A Moment to Reflect on President Hinckley

Life is crazy and busy and sometimes crazy busy, but with the passing of President Hinckley I thought it would be nice to post a couple of tributes that have touched me. I hope you can take a moment to consider the life, mission and example of President Hinckley too.

This first tribute is from FM100 in Salt Lake City. It is audio only. It is amazing to hear his voice, the testimony that he shares and the way he has influenced the life of others.

FM100 MP3

The second tribute comes from Glenn Beck. It is touching to see someone who is something of a national icon get choked up as he speaks of the Prophet of God President Hinckley.

Glen Beck

I am Chocolate . . .

Sense I am in the blogging mood today I thought I would post this fun quiz. By clicking on the following picture you will go to a little quiz that assesses what kind of ice cream you are most like. This really isn't usually my thing, but today is going slow. In fact, I thought it was an hour latter and I have been waiting for Sami to get home, but I still have an hour. I am grateful for the company she is to me in the late afternoon. Anyway, I would love to know what flavor you are too!




Here are the summaries of all the flavors:

Vanilla (32% of the people who took this quiz got the same evaluation):You're as popular and relaxing as vanilla ice cream. You go with the flow, and get along with all sorts of people. You appreciate peace and simplicity, so you sometimes find crowds and loud noises overwhelming. You are a chilled-out, calming influence on the people in your life, and your friends appreciate how supportive and flexible you are.

Chocolate (21%): You embody the perfect blend of sweetness and seduction. You personality is just as luscious and irresistible as chocolate ice cream. You have a flirty, melty attitude that's easygoing and delicious. You appreciate luxurious, extravagant things, like the way ultra-soft fabrics feel against your skin. Some people want to hog you all to themselves, but you find ways to make everyone feel special.

Mint Chocolate Chip (10%): Mint chocolate chip ice cream wakes up people's taste buds, and you do the same thing when you walk into a room. The chocolatey bits represent your sweet, flirtatious side, and the minty flavor represents your high energy level. You are smart, witty, and you make a great first impression. Your friends value your advice, because you tend to see things from a fresh new perspective.

Strawberry (9%): Your personality is as friendly and appealing as strawberry ice cream (especially the kind with chunky bits of real fruit). You've got a slightly sarcastic sense of humor, and you rarely stress out or take things too seriously. You are cute and sweet, but with a mischievous side. You are a bit of a troublemaker, but only because you're determined to avoid a plain vanilla life.

Rocky Road (8%): You're dramatic and unpredictable, like biting into a scoop of rocky road ice cream. Like rocky road, you can be a little bit nutty (or a little bit marshmallowy) depending on your mood. Your friends never know what they're going to get when they hang out with you €“ sometimes you're calm and sweet, and sometimes you're enthusiastic and flirty.

Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough (7%): You're as impulsive and impatient as a kid who can't wait for the cookies to come out of the oven. You treat life like a nonstop slumber party, and you like to keep things simple and silly. You scream at horror movies and laugh hysterically at comedies, but you probably can't sit still for a long, boring drama. To some people, you come across as immature, but so what? Your playful personality means you'll stay forever young.

Coffee (6%): Compared to other ice creams, coffee ice cream has a strong flavor, and it's packed with caffeinated sweetness. You're like that, too! You're always busy, and determined to stay focused as you move from one task to the next. You get frustrated when other people slow you down or hold you back, but when you're in control, you can find ways around any obstacle.

Black Raspberry (3%): You are passionate, creative, and inspired. Black raspberry ice cream is an unusual color and flavor, so some people might consider it strange, but your exciting personality is what makes you so delicious. You bring a juicy burst of flavor to everything you do, and your life is packed with one memorable experience after another.

I don't know what happened to the other 4%. Oh, well!

A fun filled weekend.

You know when you have one thing to do you have ten which was the case for us this weekend. We had two awesome events. First, it was the weekend of my all time favorite family tradition the Owen Family Ski Party. The night was amazing as always. My mom brought enough food to feed an army, which we all gladly devoured. The snow conditions were amazing and we were surrounded by our family and friends. Caleb skied a little last year, but this year he spent some more time on the mountain. He is scared out of his mind, but in his whiney voice he kept saying what a great time he was having. It is fun to see him introduced to a sport that Josh and I enjoy so much.














This weekend on Saturday night was the NAI Black tie Ball. NAI is the commercial real estate company that Josh works for. It was so fun to have an excuse to get dressed up and go on a nice date. It was also fun to hear the awards that were given at the party and be reassured that people are making great money in this business, and I know Josh will too.

Joy School

This school year I have become a huge fan of Joy School. Joy School is the curriculum we have used for Caleb€™s preschool. Basically it is a preschool coop in which the focus is teaching children Joy. For example my unit last semester was the Joy of the Earth and we explored the earth and fall using our five senses. I taught two mornings a week for three weeks (six times) and then I was done for the semester. So Caleb got 15 weeks of school and I only had to teach three of them. The curriculum is awesome and the other moms and kids in the group are fantastic. If you want to learn more about Joy School or find some fun resources go to valuesparenting.com.




Last week I subbed for a mom who is teaching The Joy of the Body. Our lesson was on loving yourself. We spent most of the lesson planning a celebration for €œsomeone they loved€. They made brownies and Noodle Necklaces (for the letter of the day €“ N) and wrapped them for €œsomeone they loved.€ At the end of the lesson they learned that the someone they loved was themselves. These pictures are the kids considering how they love themselves in front of a mirror.

Cara - For Better or Worse

Cara brings so much joy to our family. She is a little bundle of energy and excitement. She is beginning to say go gol because I call her a good girl so often. She has now been in underwear for a week and has had no pooping accidents and very few other accidents. (Oh so different from Caleb!) With that praise I had to include this picture of what she did to both pair of my glasses last week. One of her best skills is grabbing my glasses from my face and after two years of weakening the hinges she completed the task on both pair within a week. Having two pair I didn€™t think I would ever have to go back to my old mission glasses, but I am wearing them AGAIN.

Lucky Ducks

Today was our first American Mothers meeting for the year, and it was fantastic. The theme for the meeting was lucky ducks. The overall message to me was to remember how lucky we are no matter what our position is in life and to watch for "Open Doors" because as our lives change when one door closes another opens. Our speaker, Diane Weese, was speaking to our group of moms with young children and she said, "Enjoy this, these are the best years of your life" as the kids were all around causing chaos and distracting us. I have thought about it and everyone should think that they are in the best years of their life whatever phase they are in because there are wonderful things about them all. The following are my bullet point notes:
* Let the yucky stuff in life go and remember you are a Lucky Duck
* Put a smile on your face and keep on going
* Everyone struggles don't compare
* Don't try to be someone else
* We give up dreams like in the story "Fanny's Dream" but with each dream we give up we get to live a different dream that we maybe never even thought of
* With God all things are possible
* Take time to ready, to pray, to enjoy music, and to find ways to serve others
* Make your day Lucky by not being a Sitting Duck. Luck comes to those who get out and find it.

Family Update - All you wanted to know and more

It seems to be about time for a full update again. I am trying to keep a little gratitude journal, but other than that this is my journal. Even though a picture tells a thousand words there are some key elements of our life that are missing from the events that I have posted. The kids are the most fun to write about so I will start with them.




CARA is now 22 months. This week she gave away her bottles much to her displeasure. She loves her bottle, but I just couldn€™t rationalize her keeping it any longer. It has been a painful week without it, but I am certain it will get better. She has never really had a pacifier (as hard as I tried to get her to take one), which has made it harder to live without the bottle. To get rid of it we packed them all up in a bag and took them to €œbaby Henry because the baby needs the bottles and she is a big girl.€ Amazingly she did great the first day, but she has had a hard time the last couple of days. Mostly she struggles when she is going to sleep or waking up. There are three reasons for taking it away. The first reason is her ears. We are monitoring her ear infections very closely. The week before Christmas she was stinky. I washed her hair at least twice a day for three days. I washed her bed and all of her cloths. I just couldn€™t figure out what could possibly be so stinky. I finally figured out that the smell was coming from her ears. Even with her tubes she had gotten so much infection that when I took her to the specialist the next day they had to suck the infection out. With ear infection problems like that she shouldn€™t be laying down to drink a bottle nor should she be consuming so much milk. The second reason why she has to give up her bottle is because she needs to be potty trained desperately. She is already so close. Sometimes she tells me she needs to go €œca-ca€ and she will go in the potty, but usually she just takes off her dipper after she goes. If you can imagine this can be a huge mess and we are going through truckloads of dippers because she takes them off after she wets too. This week we are giving up the bottle, next week we will give up the dippers. The third reason is that her big brother loves the bottle too. It will be nice to not have him begging for a bottle. It is when he says, €œIf you give me a bottle I will go take a little nap€ that I get really tempted.




We are keeping a close eye on Cara€™s ears and speech. She is part of a government program called Up to 3 or Baby Watch. She has speech therapy once a week as well as many other classes we can optionally attend. She baffles her therapist, as she doesn€™t follow any of the early speaking rules. She doesn€™t throw tantrums if she wants something. Her self help skills are so strong that she just gets whatever it is she wants. The words that she does say are totally random. Some of her most random words are, bubble, Aggie, Connie, and Grandma. You can see what motivates her. We have quarterly hearing test and right now they say she can hear well enough to learn to talk, but they feel that her delay is due to not being able to hear before she had tubes. I just ache for her to be able to talk. She is so darn cute.




CALEB is all boy. I can€™t believe he turns four next month. He continues to live and die for ball (whatever sport) and now he is getting into video games. He loves nicjr.com where there are hundreds of simple, free video games. It is amazing how he can concentrate on video games but sitting in church or school is not an option. Even though he is all boy he still really likes me to hold him and he seems to be more needy now then when he was two. I think it is just to test my patience.




Caleb says really funny things. I always think I should record them, but I never do. Of course I can't remember anything now. The other day an older gentleman who we do not know well was at our home. Caleb approached him, put his hands on his hips and said, €œWould you like to buy a horse.€ Of course he was referring to one of the neighbors horses. He proceeded to tell this man that he is trying to get money to buy a motorbike and he needs to sell a horse. Where do kids get these ideas? Caleb is just like his dad. He is not scared of anyone and he is always trying to strike up a deal. He says to me many times a day €œis that a deal mom?€




SAMI has been a great addition to our family. It has been interesting to have our parenting skills tested over the past four months that she has been with us. I am hoping that we are to the bottom of the problems and that it is only up from here. We have a testimony of the power of the word of God so we have issued a challenge to her to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the school year. We have even started a blog for this challenge at The Book of Mormon Challenge. You are welcome to join us in the challenge. You can see the rules on the link. We have offered her a trip if she meets the challenge. She has never been on an airplane before, and if she does the challenge she also gets to pick the location (of course within a budget.) Sami has also started her own blog in order to link to the challenge. You can learn more about her by reading her story on her blog at Samantha.




The hardest person for me to write about is myself. I guess that is why I haven€™t been keeping a journal. I have had a discouraging fall/winter, and I like to keep my blog positive. I am sure that anyone who reads this would be interested in knowing about some of the sad things too. First, in the past five months I have had two miscarriages. They were both very early so I am grateful for that, but it is a test of my faith in the Lords timing and my willingness to be happy with the blessings I do have. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. The good thing is that I don€™t feel like I am in a huge hurry to have another baby, it is just hard to be patient when things aren€™t going as planned.




Another discouragement this fall has been the close of the Investment Lending branch that I opened here in Logan a year ago. With the crash of the secondary mortgage market and the end of sub-prime lending our branch was too new to withstand the blow. Luckily we were able to find someone to take over our lease, but the financial cost has been tremendous as we have liquidated furniture and covered other overhead expenses. 2007 was not a great year for investing for us in general. We built a spec home in a partnership and with the market shifts we are now hoping to sell it even at a huge loss. Unfortunately the cost of experience and learning can sometimes be huge. Even though we are loosing a small fortune on this spec home I have never felt like it was a mistake. We involved the Lord with the decision from the start. It has been a huge test of our integrity and our character, and I believe that we are passing. I wish we didn€™t have to loose money, but in the long run we know that we will recover. On a happier note we have found one investment that we think is fantastic. We have been investing with a loan servicing company that meets all of our investing requirements, security, liquidity, and rate of return. Having had some bad investments this year (even more than I have mentioned) it sure makes it easier to recognize good opportunities. If you are interested I would love to tell you more about the loan servicing. If you are new to investing we have lots of tips if you want to avoid learning some things the hard way. I can€™t wait to apply some of the things that we have been learning in 2008.




Josh seems to be doing fantastic. He loves his new carrier and the company he works with, NAI. Commercial real estate seems to be a perfect match for him. He loves working with business owners and investors. He loves to network with these interesting people. He was able to enter NAI in a sweet deal. Don Schroeder, a dear friend of his parents, took him under his wing and Josh is essentially apprenticing under Don. It has made the transition a little smoother for us because Josh is now a part of deals that Don has been working on for years. We feel very fortunate. I am so glad that Josh has found something that makes him so happy, and something that he doesn€™t have to track his billable hours in order to get paid. His broker told him a few weeks ago that you can make great money in his field working part time, his broker continued, €œyou can choose whatever twelve hours a day you want too work.€ Josh loves to work, but I have tried to tell him that his broker was joking. It is a treat for all of us when he is home which isn€™t enough between work, young men€™s, and his other projects. We just love to have him around.

Santa Came to Our House

Once again Santa made it to our house. I am slow to post because I didn't take very many pictures. We had a wonderful Christmas!




We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We always have a wonderful time there. The kids love playing with their cousins, and my mom goes to so much work serving us all. Christie has tagged herself as Santa's helper, and she makes Santa himself look bad with all of her gifts. It is so fun to watch the kids.




We are lucky to have both of our families in the valley so we get to spend time with both of them over Christmas. We were wondering if we would make it home on Christmas Eve night because of all of the snow, but we didn't get stuck until we were in the driveway at home.




We spent Christmas morning with our little family, and then went to the Kirks on Christmas afternoon. They prepared an amazing Christmas dinner of ham, turkey and ribs. We ate better then royalty. We are so blessed in every way!





I won't even begin to list all that the kids got for Christmas, but as you can see from this picture the biggest kid gets the biggest toy.





Cara loves her princess chair.





Sami got her long awaited and beloved iPod. I didn't know she would quit talking to me after she got it, but she really enjoys listening to her music.

Preggot

For all of you young mom's out there, you have got to check out my friend, Erica Low's, new blog. She is somewhat of an expert on pregnancy and baby's. The blog is new, but it is already full of great information including tips on getting pregnant, the magic formula for dealing with fussy babies and much more. The blog is a must see.Click on the following link or you can get to on my links. Preggot

Christmas Treats

This year I decided to make a neighbor gift that the kids could help with. We have had a lot of fun making them so I am posting the idea so that you can make them with your kids. They make a great FHE activity/treat. They are just pretzels with kisses melted on them and an M&M on top. To make them put the pretzels on a tray with the kiss. The best kisses are the candy cane, but you can use any kind. Put them in the oven on 180 for about 5-6 minutes. Place an M&M on the tip of the kiss after they are melted and let them cool. They are a great treat and fun for the kids.

Carrie Is 30!

I am happy to announce that I am now 30! I had a wonderful birthday on the 28th. Josh took part of the day off work, which made me very happy, and he and my friends threw a neighborhood/family birthday party for me. You all know that I love to be with people so having a party was a perfect gift. I had a wonderful day. Josh brought me breakfast in bed. (It was my favorite - McDonalds.) We went out to lunch at Hameltons while my sister Connie watched the kids and made cookies for the party. Then Erica and I went to the beauty college and had facials for just $5. (I loved the facial, but I also love a bargain.) Then we spent the evening partying. Thank you to my family and friends for all of your love and support. I am who I am because of you. I love you!

My Boys

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Josh and Caleb. Aren't they cute? I don't think most men like dressing in matching cloths with their kids, but Josh loves it. He an Caleb are two peas in a pod.

NAI Lagoon Day

The company that Josh is now doing commercial real estate with, NAI Utah, had a Lagoon day on Friday. Even though the kids still aren't 100% we had a wonderful time with them. Luckily my aunt Merle took them for the evening so that Josh and I could get some time to do rides too. It is hard for us to grow up!

Surgery

Caleb and Cara both had surgery on Monday August 13th. They both had their adenoids out and tubes put in their ears and Caleb had his tonsils out too. Needless to say it has been a rough week. Caleb knew that he was going to the hospital and he was going to have surgery, but he had no idea what that meant. He has been such a good sport about it all, but he hasn€™t wanted to do much this week. Cara has been a sport too. She has spent a lot of time sleeping this week, but has done well otherwise. I have some pictures I will add soon.

Ready for Church

Sometimes I think the kids are so cute when they are ready for church that I can't resist taking a picture.



Caleb wears a backpack with all of his chruch toys and snacks. Cara looks like a princess.



Getting a picture on Sunday morning is not an easy thing to do, but it is fun to see the kids in matching outfits.

Silly Cara

Our "Sweet Caroline" has become "Silly Caroline." She has always been a little silly, but she is becoming sillier all the time.

Wearing Caleb's pull-up is just one example of how silly she can be.

She would rather wear her bowl than eat from it.

She insists on carrying her blanket first thing in the morning.

She likes to push her doll around, but sometimes she just can't resist the temptation to sink her teeth into whatever is around.

She loves the water and doesn't even mind when Caleb tortures her.

All of this silliness in a day can wear a girl out!

Bear Lake

We had the fun opportunity to spend a couple of nights in Bear Lake this week. We all had a great time. Dawson and Cara had a dirtiest kid contest. We decided they both deserved top awards.

Caleb and Isaac call this fun. It may look like a fight to the rest of us, but they can not get enough wrestling. They are 110% boy!

We spent both mornings at the beach. Ethan and Cara found great joy in destroying Caleb's sand castle.
The kids loved the water, especially Cara. She would run in sit down, gasp for air, splash a few times, and run back out. She was so fun to watch.

Cara Loves to "Help"

Cara is my little helper. This was her third outfit in one day. I set her up to the bar to eat, and the next thing I knew she was sitting in the sink with the water on. What a girl.

Anniversary Trip

Josh and I had a wonderful fifth anniversary trip this weekend. We had been planning on going to Park City for the weekend, but a couple of weeks ago Josh got lucky at an NAI golf event and won a $500 gift certificate for the Blue Boar Inn in Midway. (It was a random drawing. It was not at all based on his golfing skills.) We were able to blow the entire $500 by staying at this very classy inn, enjoying some incredible fine dining, taking scooter rides around Midway and the nearby mountains, and we topped it off by taking a helicopter tour. We had a wonderful time. We feel so fortunate to be celebrating five wonderful years together! Thanks to our parents for taking the kids!

Update

With all of the pictures on the blog I thought I better also add a family update for those who are interested in knowing more. We are all doing very well. Josh is really getting into his new career doing commercial real estate with NAI. The transition has been a little rocky, but we are defiantly on the upswing. He loves what he is doing, and we feel so good about the change. Luckily we have had Investment Lending, which I very much enjoy, that has held us over while he was making the switch. I have also been working (at least a few hours a week) on my book. I figure it should be done sometime in this decade at the rate I am going. If you didn€™t know, I am working on a book for LDS women that will help to smooth the transition into motherhood. If anyone has suggestions or stories that might be helpful I would love to speak with you about them. Please let me know.

We have some exciting upcoming events. This weekend we will celebrate our fifth anniversary. A couple of weeks ago I was speaking at EFY and part of my bio was that I had been married for five years and I have two kids. I couldn't believe it! It felt like yesterday I was a counselor wondering if I would ever get married. Time sure does fly! We are looking forward to our big trip to France and Italy in September. Josh and I are clueless about what to do or see so if you have any insight we are certainly taking suggestions. All we have planned is that we fly into Paris and twelve days later we fly out of Rome. My mom is taking our kids (bless her heart!!) so it will be a celebration of our anniversary and both of our 30th birthdays this year.

The kids are just growing like crazy. We will be tied down for a while in August as they are both having surgery on the 13th. They are both getting tubes in their ears and their adenoids out, and Caleb is getting his tonsils out too. It should be interesting! But I am looking forward to having kids that don€™t always have ear infections, although they are both such a joy (most of the time) that you would hardly know.

Caleb continues to be obsessed with playing ball, any kind of ball. He was just introduced to golf this last week. Now he wants to go to the €œgolf-ball court€, the €œgolf-ball field€ or the €œgreen park€, of course he means the putting green, every day. He hasn€™t quite got the lingo down, but he is getting the sport. You name a sport that has a ball, and he can play it!

Cara went from crawling to running. She is such a busy girl. I don€™t remember Caleb being into things like she is, and he certainly wasn€™t as brave. We have a rock wall in our back yard that consists of about six big boulders at it highest spot. If I let her into the backyard alone or if I turn my back on her guaranteed she will be scaling the rock wall. For some reason she loves to climb down it. It gives me a heart attack, but she feels like she has got it all under control. She is fearless.

Having Fun!

We are having a great summer.

Our dear friends, the Low's, got a boat. We are really glad! We have tried to take as much advantage of that as possible.


This is our nanny Robyn. She is with the kids 10-15 hours a week so that I can work. They have a blast with her.



This was the first and last time Cara got to take a sink bath with her cousen Ethan. (Josh's sister, April's, boy.) They loved splashing. Needless to say my kitchen got a good wipedown after the bath.


Caleb and his best friend Isaac are just trying to "hang-loose" this summer.

First Hair Cut

I am proud of myself for giving Cara her first hair cut. It turned out so cute. Here she is checking it out.

Cody is Married

Cody got married to Stephanie on May 5th in the Bountiful Temple. This is the whole fam.


Cathie and Keith even made the trip out with their three little ones for the wedding.


Poor Steph now has to deal with the Owen girls!