April's Post!

Well spring is here and we couldn't be happier! We have loved spending hours outside riding bikes and scooters, picking weeds and watering flowers, and just enjoying fresh air. I love living where we get all four seasons and seeing the living things wake up after a long, cold winter. Just seeing some color in our landscape other than white or brown is so wonderful!

Our little family has had a lot of exciting things to do lately so I have lots to share. I'm glad to report that everyone is healthy and happy. Tyler seems extra busy lately, he has taken on some extra scouting things and is looking forward to running Ragnar in June with some friends. He also has begun a large project here at home, building bunk beds for the kids, that is taking up spare time and garage space. He gives so much and I appreciate him so much!

I'm now 31 weeks along and still doing great. Starting to get uncomfortably big, and trying to get comfy at nights and get enough sleep is tough. But happy that little one seems healthy and is growing well. Both Cole and Kate have been able to feel him move several times now which is fun to share it with them. They like talking to my belly and asking him questions like, "Do you have lots of hair? Are your eyes brown like mine? I'll give you all my baby clothes when you get out of there!" It's adorable. I'm not worried at all about them accepting this little guy, they can't wait for him to get here.

Cole has started his second year of Tball and is really passionate about it. He is more mature this year and can handle the waiting (in the dugout to bat, in the outfield for the other team to bat, etc) better. He is really serious when he plays and tries so hard. I love seeing him enjoy sports and have a positive experience.

Kate will be two in one month! And has been amazing us with her vocabulary and comprehension of things going on around her. She is such a sweet girl but also has just as much spice, she's always testing her boundaries and can be very fiesty. We love her personality and my favorite thing is watching her and Cole interact.

Here's the little sweetie at Easter. I had high hopes of a beautiful spring picture outside by the blossoming pear tree, but we had to settle for the couch. It was a chore to just get them to sit for the camera before they took their church clothes off, sooo glad Tyler was there to get them to laugh so we at least got some smiles :)

She somehow bonked her head during the "photo shoot" and I thought we were going to lose her. Once again, daddy saved the day! So funny.

Kate loves playing the piano and leading herself at the same time. This girl gots skills. It's so cute how she balances the hymn book first, then takes her seat and raises her hand so seriously. It's such an important thing she's doing.

She loves wearing play dresses and always picks her boots with them. She likes to be girly!

Cole ate a scorpion!! I brought him back this sucker with a real (dead) scorpion inside from our trip to Texas, just thinking it was something cool for him to see and maybe he might lick it or something. Oh no, he wanted to crunch up the whole thing! It almost made me sick. He felt very brave and couldn't wait to tell his preschool class the next day.

This year Cole is on the Texas Rangers. This was before their first game, look how ready he is! He was running back and forth along the fence line to get warmed up. His neighbor friend Ellie is on his team again.

Here he is running from second to third. The tongue definitely helps with speed.

He kept pointing at me like this from the pitcher's mound when he was on defense. It was cracking me up! Later on in the game, he became interested in the little pebbles around his feet and would collect a bunch and bring them to me to keep for later.

We were so excited to have mom and Tegan surprise us and come all the way out just to watch the game! This is after the game.

Must be April...or October...we always re-stock our food supply every six months at conference time :) Here's one trip we took from the store.

Tyler's first two headboard and footboard for the kids' bunk beds. They are going to be beautiful! He is so talented.

While we watched general conference on TV, Kate loved getting up on the chair and leading along with Mr. Wilberg. It was a hoot.

Best buds!

Just thought this was adorable, Cole's friend Connor came over and we made lemon cookies.

Can you guess what the white substance is? I was holding one of our RS presidency meetings at our house and I realized it was much too quiet from Kate. I walk in the bathroom to toothpaste all over her cheeks and the sink. She is always into everything!

This was a fun morning, we woke up to a surprise snowstorm! Three inches had fallen at night and we were so excited. The kids (I mean, Ironman and Kate :) watched out the window for awhile before getting dressed up to go out and play.

Enjoying what could be the last snow of the season. We also grabbed the sled and walked to a nearby bunny hill to go down a few (hundred) times. Such a fun day!

Welcome to Utah springs, little bulbs! 70 degrees one day, covered in snow the next.

Easter baskets. Pure joy.

Dying Easter eggs! Also a joyful occasion.

We went for a hike one nice evening and had a blast. Kate hated riding in the backpack and much more preferred meandering around. We REALLY took our time on this one. Even Cole kept saying "Let's GO!".

I had a great opportunity to go with mom and Tegan to visit Christine in Texas and Parker and Jenn in DC for a week - a whole week away from my little family! I've never spent more than 2-3 days away from Cole/Kate. But I was really looking forward to seeing and being with my sisters/brother and nephews and just getting a break. It was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute. 

Tegan was a great airplane buddy. Mom too, she taught me to crochet on the way from Texas to DC! I 

While I was gone, Tyler ran the household perfectly and then had some reinforcements come halfway through the week - Lisa and Rod drove down to spend some time with everyone. I was so glad they got to spend time with the kids especially and do some fun things.

One of my highlights - getting pedicures in TX. Lovely!

We took a whole Saturday to get up early and see some great sights, Parker was a terrific tour guide. It's so nice having someone who knows their way around.

It was cherry blossom time! They were beautiful!

The Korean War Memorial, I learned that my grandpa Morrill fought in this war and was one of the wounded. This was actually one of my favorite memorials, it was so cool how it looked like the soldiers were walking through the bushes.

Lincoln Memorial. Look at our coordinating stripes!! We got style.

The most beautiful building (I think), the Library of Congress. I just wanted to see the books!

A rally at the Supreme Court. Democracy in action!

This is where Parker works, the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is right next to Union Station. I'm so proud of him and think it's awesome he works in this amazing city.

We rode the metro a lot this day. Another cool thing is that Jessica (Tyler's sister) and her fiance Chad live only 5 hours away and drove down to spend the day with us. It was great to see her, she gets married in July! We had such a great trip overall and made lots of memories.

Just love this girls' attempt to smile for the camera.

Cole actually took the next two.

Talked with the dr. this week about setting an induction date (both kids have had to be induced, I just don't go into labor on my own) and we're thinking about June 18th now. Which is sooner! I can't believe this sweet lil baby will be here so soon. I can't wait to hold him and see Cole and Kate love him. Life can't get much better :)

The Big 3-0h!

We celebrated a big birthday last week, Tyler turned 30! We decided the fun couldn't be contained to just a single day, so we did something fun for him each day the week leading up to it. I love his birthday and always try to make it a big deal, it's the only day of the year that is just for him (unlike other holidays when we all get something out of it) and I really want him to feel loved.

We counted down the days till his bday, starting with 7, and found little ways to surprise him each day - like a present to open from one of the kids, washing and cleaning out his truck, surprising him at work, or letting him take a nap :) It was a wonderful week.

I'm 6 months along now and still feeling super. I'm so grateful I am still able to run and walk in the mornings and just continue on with my normal life pretty much. He's moving around a lot at nights now, Cole has felt him kick a couple times and the look on his face is just priceless. It reminds me what a miracle it really is. Still haven't got a name picked out, boys are so much harder than girls! Another thing I'm looking forward to is a week-long trip with my mom and Tegan, we're flying to Texas to visit Christine, Walt, and Kai, then to DC to see Parker, Jenn, and the boys. I've never done a trip like this without Tyler or the kids for so long, I know I'll miss them lots but am really excited about some girl/me time.

Update on some of my 30 goals: I am moving right along with most, and need to get going on some. I have given away 2 Book of Mormons, made a new pie consistently each month, started memorizing "The Living Christ", completed 2.5 literature classics (reading Great Expectations now, it's large), and done several house projects. Another thing I started doing was indexing names for familysearch.org. It's amazing! Very very easy to get started on and then do as you can, go here to find out how to get started. It honestly takes minutes, is easy to figure out, and feels really rewarding to me to make names and information more accessible for people researching their family lines. I think everyone should do it.

Tyler has been busier with DJing lately and of course tons of scout things going on, as always. He is working on lots of projects around the house, I think the warmer weather has got us both motivated to get some things done. He works so hard to provide for us and he does an amazing job of balancing work and his responsibilities at home and church. I am so blessed to have him!

Although it's been warmer this past week, we have a huge storm coming in this weekend and we had another one the weekend before, in typical spring fashion. We got out and played a lot in the last one, not sure of when it will really be the last of the season. Cole loves to brush off the car, and Kate loves using the snow shovel to push the snow from the lawn onto the sidewalks. What helpers!

We were having baked potatoes and salad for dinner one night, and I had bought a head of lettuce from the store for salad which I usually don't do. Cole thought it was so cool, he loves lettuce, and he begged and begged to be able to eat the whole thing. He didn't finish it all, but had a great time taking huge bites out of it. It's so funny to me because I remember wanting the same thing at my grandma's when I was little, I'd ask for huge chunks of iceberg lettuce and walk around eating and loving it. Weird.
Here's the countdown for TP's bday.
Mom and Tegan came out for some shopping and we hit up Lagoon Trail the night before because the weather was so great. I love my little sister and how fun and full of personality she is, she is so silly! Can't wait to spend a week with her.
For lunch on Tyler's bday, I made BLT's and he had a chocolate milk (from Dari-Mart in Oregon, his absolute favorite) that he saved in the freezer for his special day. It was a yummy meal.
The birthday boy! Cole picked out a hat for him to wear while we sang to him, it was quite girly but looked great :) He requested a marionberry pie and that was yummy too. It was a really good eating day at our house. Doesn't 30 with 3 kids sound so old??! My turn in a couple months.
Kate obviously loved the pie as well :) Cole ate two slices, but he is a clean eater and that's boring.
Cole was dying to get out and throw water balloons this week, so we put sweats on under/over swimsuits (it wasn't a really warm day) and played outside with water balloons. It was a blast! We can't wait for summer.
Kate's balloon sprung a small leak and she was trying to drink it like a water fountain but kept squirting herself in the face. Cole and I were cracking up!
Another adorable cheesy face. I love that face.
Next post will have pictures of our trip!

An extra day

It being a leap year, having an "extra day" today made me feel motivated and when I feel motivated I usually get a blog done! A couple other things I accomplished today were: vacuumed and dusted downstairs, played lions with Kate, let Cole change into his jammies at 1 pm, laundry put away, had scripture study, chased kids around pretending to be a bear, and let kate and cole make the pancakes for dinner. Just a few of the super important things today. Tyler took the car to work which is fine, we usually just walk to where we need to go when he does (park or grocery store being the main places we "need" to go to) but when it's blizzardy snowing outside that also means homebound. Which I really didn't mind today, it was nice to have a stay inside and play day. Some days being stuck inside makes me go crazy and I think of an errand to run just to get out of the house, but today was fun. I feel blessed we are all healthy and that my kids have such great imaginations and easy going personalities. They make every situation better!

Other things that have been happening lately...Cole is still completely loving preschool. He's had a lot of fun things going on lately, like this day last week - Beach Day. They could wear swim attire to school and they did lots of fun water related indoors things. Yes he was quite cold walking to school, it was probably about 30 out. And check out my tulips coming up behind him! At least a couple inches tall. Tonight they are covered in 4 inches of snow, poor things.

Last weekend was a huge treat, Tyler and I cashed in on a present I gave him for Christmas, a getaway to our family cabin. We left the kids at mom and dads and headed up for a very fun couple of days. It was so beautiful and peaceful, exactly what we needed.
Can I just say how wonderful this guy is?? I could absolutely not have chosen a better husband, father, provider, etc. to be with forever. I found my high school journal while we were home and a list that I had made when I was 16 of what I wanted in a husband. It's so amazing to me that he fits every single quality I listed, some of them very specific, and I remember back then putting some things down that were "would be nice if he does this, but not a deal-breaker" type of things. He even had all of those! I am such a lucky girl to have the exact right guy for me. I love him so much!
Keeping with my goal/tradition of making a pie each month, this month I tried a custard pie called the "Tyler Pie". It was our 10th President John Tyler's favorite pie, so I made it in honor of him (President's Day this month) and my own Tyler, who loves custard pies. I spent forever on the crust, what with the pre-baking, etc., and it came out a little overdone but the custard part was perfect which was what I was most worried about. However, it was SUPER sweet, it tasted like a pecan pie without nuts. Not really my favorite, but glad I tried it!
I took the kiddos on a 3 mile walk the other day when the weather was nice and we ended up at Farmington Pond, which can usually be counted on for fowl to see and feed. These were NOT nice geese, I was actually taking this picture while heading towards Kate to stop the vicious birds from attacking my fearless daughter (Cole is behind my legs sort of whimpering). They were making this mean honking sound, like they were so hungry they wanted to take a bite of us, which they did shortly after this shot. I went to take Kate's hand and lead my children to safety, and one of them pecked at my foot and then bit my pants leg and was holding on! I was so mad at it for being so aggressive around my kids I kicked it off and we left the pond straightaway. I like the little ducks that just quack at you from the water so much better.

Just loved this face she was making at the bar the other day, I was getting her snack ready and turned around to see this. Cracked me up! She usually doesn't wait so patiently.
Here are my kids doing P90X! Tyler does it once in a while, and this morning Cole just asked if he could so then Kate had to de-shirt and join in as well. I was actually suprised with his attention span, he lasted for about 20 minutes, just adjusting the workout to how he wanted to do it, then when he was finished he ran and took a shower all by himself which he's never done before! He's so proud of his big muscles now.
We had a super fun family day in Salt Lake, one of the things we did was go to the new Natural History Museum. Cole's been talking about going to a dinosaur museum and this was so much fun. They had several spots on the floor like this where you could see through to an exhibit below that you could also walk over. It threw Kate off at first, she was walking so cautiously like she would fall through :) Yes, Cole is wearing sunglasses.

They also had this fun dress-up/play area for younger kids that we stayed at for a good half hour. Kate dressed up like a hummingbird and Cole was a wolf.
She was crosseyed for awhile trying to figure out what this long orange thing is on her head.
This was a fun water/river where they could put things in at the top and they would float down and then catch them with their nets.
Valentine's Day was so fun this year, I had 13 kids over at our place! Tyler had to work sort of late so I invited some kids from the neighborhood over for dinner and then hanging out so their parents could go on a date. I'm definitely doing it again next year, we had a blast. This was later in the night when a couple kids had left and everyone started to get a little crazy, we finally put a disney show on :)
Every Valentine's morning I love doing a little treasure hunt with clues for Cole (and now Kate) to find his bag of treats, this year it ended up in the tub. It was fun.
Heart shaped pancakes for Valentine's Dinner!!
Playing at the park.

My Valentine's Day present this year - a new piano!!! I walked upstairs after being gone for a few hours and there was a piano in my front room! I was totally surprised, I had no idea. I had wanted one for years since we moved in, but just hadn't happened. I love it and am excited to have music in our home as the kids grow up. Cole can play EIEIO while I play the rest of the Old McDonald song, and also the Jaws music which when he does Kate says "shark!" and they both go running to hide.

Here I am at 20 weeks. Feeling wonderful - not sick anymore, and not too large and uncomfortable. He's kicking around so much more, just starting this week. I love it!
Another fun preschool day was pajama day! You can't beat that. He has his knee pads on because he loves rollerblading to school.
Coming up in March, we have a HUGE birthday on the 11th with my sweetie turning 30, and then I'm taking off for a week towards the end of the month with mom and Tegan to visit Christine in Dallas and Park and Jenn in DC!! It's going to be a great month!