Where the camera sits

One thing I am proud of that I am pretty diligent about is keeping the camera ready to go and easily accessible for any moment that calls for remembering. As I looked through the pictures for this post from our last couple weeks, I noticed a common thread (and I have noticed this before, but really): probably 80% of the pictures I take (in the winter time especially when we are inside more) are taken in the living room area, and usually include one of the couches in the shot. I realized anyone who reads this blog probably assumes we live in a 50 sq. foot space and never leave home :) I keep the camera right in the kitchen, easy to grab, and then I put it right back after I take the picture. I have been using my phone for pics when we are out and about, so I need to start adding those to the blogs. So...we really do leave the house and living room, but I'm not so great about capturing those trips to the store and library because my camera is not sitting there.

A couple of things we've been up to or I've been thinking about lately:

• We house/child sat for a family last week. The parents left for vacation and left us with their home and 4 children, we just moved in for 6 days and kept things running. They are a really great family and fun kids, we had a super week. But I am so glad I only have 3 kids and not 7!
• Have you read Cheaper by the Dozen? It's what the movie is based on, but so different and realllly a great book. Just recommending.
• Tyler has had new responsibilities at work this past month and has been having crazy hours - 5 am - 1:30 pm every day except days off, Weds. and Sun. That ends this week, but it's been different to have him going to bed the same time the kids do and having the evenings all quiet and lonely :( But it's been good for him at work to do what he's been doing!
• We cut out Luke's night feeding (wow that was easier than I expected) and he sleeps clear through the night now. Which doesn't mean I do, Cole usually is up to go the bathroom and is going through a scared of the dark thing right now so I get up to and walk him. But yay for Luke! :)
• Found a race for us to do: a midnight half-marathon on the Legacy trail on my birthday! Excited to have something to look forward to and train for, and although I do love my treadmill and watching the Biggest Loser, I can't wait for some warmer mornings so I can get running outside again. I've been quite the nancy this winter, it's just way too cold for me this year. Must be getting older.
• Missing my family lately, wanting a trip to Neola or Oregon like, tomorrow. 
• So grateful for: warm, cozy bed, libraries, a husband that can change oil and take care of my car, healthy kids, clementines, opportunities to serve, and a life full of love.

Here's the latest. I dare you to find a picture not taken by one of the couches. :)

Funny faces.

 Just waking up.

I still make a pie every 23rd in honor of my darling and our anniversary date, this month's was Caramel Apple-Pecan and it was super yummy. I am definitely not a great food photographer.

We have still been getting pounded by the snow, this last storm brought a fresh 8-10 inches to our already high level of snow. I took a picture of our backyard before bed one night because the trees looked so beautiful.

Here's the morning after. I went outside to shovel our driveway before Tyler got home from work and put Luke in the bouncer so he could be a part of the fun. He loved it and stayed cozy warm!

Sorry it's sideways, I had to add it. Cole threw a baby snowball at Luke right before I took it.

 Cole recently had a PJ Party at school, he couldn't have been more excited to go.

 More brother love.

I mentioned this last post but we were so stoked for Kate to be done with diapers we threw her a potty party (with the motivation being a whole day with not one accident). We turned the music super loud and had a dance party which in our house is the kids running around dancing in their undies and us shaking it fully clothed with Luke laughing at everyone. Then we had her favorite dinner which this night was stroganoff. I had made her a cake that said Way to go Kate with frosting undies and lots of sprinkles. It was a fun way to show her how proud of her we are.

This was a funny day, I came out of our room from putting Luke down for a nap and Kate had conked out while Cole was on Tyler's phone, it was just so unusual because my kids neve just fall asleep, it's always in their beds at the right time with things in the right place. I love how sweet she is with her baby.

 Can't kiss those cheeks enough. Kate was taking pictures and said, "Mommy, give Luke some sugar!" haha.

Look at that hair flip! :)

And for the last living room picture...this was fort day and we put up the little tent and created a fort. Hours of entertainment I tell you. And I discovered Tyler's clamps that he uses for his wood projects are super handy for holding down blankets.

Ok there were a few of the kitchen or yard area! This week my plan is to take not one single shot in the living room! Wish me luck.

New year, new post!

So my new goal is one blog a year! YES! 2013 is DONE! I have long since given up feeling guilty about not blogging as often as I wish I had time for, but hopefully this year I can make more time to share our life with those we love, especially those far away. I am always thinking about you and wishing you were a bigger part of our daily lives so it is a worthy goal. But when the choice is between blogging and something of more "value" (like playing with my kids or me getting some exercise), I'm going to choose the other every time. I just haven't felt like I could make the time. Even now, Luke is waking up from his nap in the other room and Cole is restlessly wanting to look at something else on the screen. ANYWAY, confession is over, let's just hope I can do more this year!

I'm not even going to try to account for the past several months... so here's some recent things we've been doing.

The kids are huge into taking pictures around the house of everyday things, our phones and cameras are full of shots like the following...

 Usually a blurry close up of some random object. It's kind of fun to flip through and see what caught their eye. One day I found one of me sleeping on the couch, I don't ever even remember falling asleep on the couch in the past 3 years.

Lots of this has been going on, wrestling and being goofy especially when daddy's home. The other night at dinner I was asking the kids questions to see what their first response would be, I said "Who is funnier, mommy or daddy?" They both quickly said "DaDDY!" Then Tyler, not wanting me to feel left out, said "Who is cuter, mommy or daddy?" And Kate without hesitation said "ME!". Haha, we couldn't stop laughing.

Can't stop looking at this cute little face either, although his little-ness is slipping away each week. Luke is 7 months and such a joy. He is calm and mellow, content and playful. He loves it when Cole and Kate talk and laugh with him, and he can keep himself busy and content when there is times the other kids need me or I have to do house things. We have moved him into his crib in the big kids room and it's been great! First week rocked, and now we're going through a little phase where he wants to wake up early and that gets the other kids up too, but we're hopeful that will soon pass. We love having our room back though.

This bouncer has supplied all three of our kiddos with hours of entertainment. He loves to kick and bounce himself and watch everything from this view.

My three boys after taking a wonderful Sunday nap, could you tell?

Maybe the BIGGEST most exciting thing that's happened at our place in the past several months is Kate is now POTTY TRAINED!! Woohoo! We've brought out the potty and talked about it and tried it all before, but she's always not been too interested until a few weeks ago she said Mom, where is my potty? And I got it out and she went and has been awesome ever since. Here she is with her big girl undies on, feeling so proud :)

We had the biggest snowstorm of my life last week, a good 17 inches over two days. They even cancelled school that first day which I have never seen. It was super dry and powdery which is great for the resorts but we couldn't even pack it to make snowballs/snowmen. Bummer.

The view down our street.

The kids had a blast being pulled around on the sled - that's our good friend Ellie in the back.

Tyler then hooked up the sled to the truck and we pulled them around the church parking lot till their toes froze off. Cole still wanted to keep going, even after a couple face plants.

Gotta go potty!

It seriously was surreal.

Love him.

 Tyler and I loved running the Beat the New Year 5K in SL on New Year's Eve this year. Rod and Lisa were in town so they babysat while we went down and froze. It started at 11:30 and the point was to finish the 3 miles before midnight, and we did it! It was 16 degrees but not too bad once you got warmed up. We got our game faces on pre-race.

 Here's just two of my faves from Christmas, I couldn't resist. Look how grown up Kate looks baking with grandma! So cute.

These two are such good buds, I love hearing them laughing and growing up together. It's so great to have a built in friend all the time at home.

I'm excited for this new year and all the opportunities to grow I know it will bring. I'm looking forward to a couple half marathons, hopefully one mid-March to get me motivated through the winter and then one after summer. Also excited for a couple trips to Oregon, one for a wedding!

Meet LUKE

I have a million things to share, but one experience trumps them all... Luke! So I will dedicate this whole post to our little guy and catch up on the rest next time.

My (okay, Our, I have to share) sweet baby boy came Saturday, June 23, at 7:08 am on the WAY TO THE HOSPITAL! What an amazing entrance this little one made, looking back now it was an incredible experience but at the time, incredible was not the adjective coming to mind. Unbelievable in the true sense of the word is more like it. I could not believe that I was going to have my precious baby in a TRUCK on the side of the freeway. These kind of things do not happen to us! So many things were in place that made it be a wonderful, miraculous experience instead of a scary, dangerous one.

It all started the morning of the 23rd (Luke's due date), we were going to be heading into the hospital at 7 am to be induced. I woke up at 4 am with a big contraction, but it didn't last long and I fell back asleep. Same thing at 5 am, but this time I felt so uncomfortable I got up and walked around and just hung out on the couch for awhile. They settled down and I went back to bed and fell asleep again for a bit. Woke up at 545 with contractions again, decided to shower and get ready. Had contractions through it all, but was timing them and they were really inconsistent and I was able to breathe through them. Then all of a sudden, they went from being all over the place and just painful to every 2 minutes and super super painful. Woke up Tyler, got in the truck and took off.

Tyler was speeding down the freeway when we pull up behind a police car, so he calls 911 to see if we could let the policeman know our situation and maybe he could escort us to the hospital or at least not pull us over. They say they can't help with that, but we stay on the line anyway because now things have progressed from just having strong, minute apart contractions to realizing that he's not going to wait 15 more minutes for us to get to the hospital. I tell (ok scream) Tyler to pull over, I just wanted his help and I knew he was minutes away from coming. He pulled over, ran around to my side of the truck, my water broke, I pushed twice and Luke was born (8 lbs 21.5 in.). He was pink and crying and so beautiful, with so much hair, and I knew he was fine. Tyler luckily thought about bringing a couple of towels and a blanket *just in case* so we wrapped him up and I held him while we looked at this infant that had been entrusted to us. At that point, there was no more pain or fear and just so much love and happiness, it was the most amazing feeling and I knew we were being taken care of. Anyway, I'm getting emotional just thinking about it :) A lot of things happened after that but basically the ambulance came (911 was on speaker phone the whole time) within a few minutes and they took us to the hospital. I still feel sometimes like I'm telling someone else's story, it's so surreal.

This is me the night before he came, getting ready for bed. Little did I know what the next 12 hours held in store :)

 Tyler was incredible through the whole thing, staying so calm and thinking so clearly. I'm so glad he was with me. He even thought about taking pictures with his phone when the paramedics got there. Here they are giving him oxygen.

 Tyler tied off the cord (he is the scoutmaster, always be prepared) with paracord while we waited for the ambulance, then he got to cut it with a scalpel they had once they got there.

I had never been moved onto a stretcher before, and I was holding Luke so I couldn't help at all. It took 4 men to do it, quite fun! Lucky we were in the truck which was already high up.

Got a fireman to take a shot of us before we took off. 

What a perfect little one, welcome Luke Jorgen!

 Thank goodness mom and dad came out the night before so we could just take off like we did that morning. If they weren't there he might have come at home while we got the kids off to the sitters and all that that entails. Here's the moment wen they get to see their new brother. Kate looks wary but was really excited about it. Cole could not have been more proud.

 Going home! I remember this moment with Cole, it felt so weird he was mine to take home with us, like do they really understand that I'm not sure about what to do? Now with Luke I couldn't wait to take him with us.

Just thought this was a cute smooshed face.

 At home, such a tender, protective brother. Luke looks like he's not caucasion in this picture :)

 My view for the first week as I walked around the house. So hard to put this sweet little package down.

He is now 8 weeks old, smiling and trying to talk, kicking legs and waving arms and getting his fist in his mouth now and then. Already growing up :( Such a GOOD baby, easy going and calm just like his sister and brother were. We feel so blessed! More new pics to come later.