Valentine's Day Surprise!

For Valentine's Day my sweet husband surprised me with a trip home to see my family. I have been wanting to see them, but we usually take our vacation in June or July, and since the baby will be coming then, we won't be traveling. My sweetie actually wanted to take me on a getaway with just him and I (and Seth), to the beach or somewhere really warm, cause I am cold all the time, but then he realized that all I have really been wanting was to go home to see the family. So he planned a getaway vacation to Utah without the two oldest kiddos. He even planned babysitters for our kids. He truly went all out to make this such a special gift for me. Before I move on, one must remember that I am pregnant, and very emotional at the drop of a hat. As I looked at his gift, I was so excited, but on the other hand, feeling very bad to be visiting my family without all my kids. I wanted Mckayla and Isaiah to see grandma & grandpa, and all their cousins. So the thought of not having them with me became a very emotional roller coaster. Which I feel really bad about, because I am so appreciative that Matt would go out of his way to do something so special for me, and for me to seem like I didn't appreciate that, made me even more emotional. I am sure Matt never thought this gift, would spur on such an emotional mess. That is what I was a big fat mess. SO to make the story short, we decided to take the whole family with us. We found some tickets on line that seemed pretty reasonable, considering the short notice. Matt gave me the gift on Sat., and we were flying out on Thurs. So Matt calls up the airlines to change the tickets, and of course, they do not see the same flights we saw, and everything was outrageous on the prices. So we scrapped that idea, and went back to the original idea, that Matt had planned out in the first place. Is he not the best guy ever, to have to put up with me and my emotional state. What a big run around for him, all in the name to please me with a special gift.

Needless to say, the kids were fine without me (go figure), and Matt and I had a really fun trip. I don't think we could of planned the trip better. As it worked out, I actually got to spend one on one with each one of my brothers, sisters and parents. We also had the opportunity to see all of our friends and Matt's sister in Logan. Our friends gave us an awesome barbeque again. It was so nice (thanks again Danielle & Jeff). Here are some shots of the family.

While on our trip Seth had celebrated his 2nd birthday. This shot is on his actual b-day, and we were going to buy him some b-day balloons.

Thank you sweetie for such an awesome Valentine's suprise. I sure hope you do not stop doing thoughtful things for me, even though I put you through the ringer. I Love YOU!!

FOUR is at the door!

For those of you who have not heard the news, number four is on the way. We are so excited! Last week we got the ultrasound and found out that we are having a girl. Mckayla is very glad she will be getting a little sister. I am due June 27th, however I am usually induced a week early, so somewhere around June 22nd we are looking forward to meeting her.
Some names we have been discussing are 1) Hope Rebecca, or 2) Abigale Hope. Isaiah has made it very clear that he does not like Hope Rebecca, and that if we choose that name, he will still call her Abigale. So why don't you give me your feedback on what name you like best!

A night of dance, and a day of Karate!!!

Mckayla and Isaiah attend the Little Gym. At the end of each semester they put on a little show for the parents.
Mckayla's class consists of the 1st 30min. doing gymnastics, then for 15min., she does tap dance, and the last 15min. she does ballet. She absolutely loves it, and has excelled in all three categories. I really like it because it allows her to try three new things, and doesn't focus on just one. At this point, I just want Mckayla to experience all she can, and then if she really likes something specific we can then put our focus towards that. These are pictures from her tap & ballet class.

At the end of class, the all received a ribbon, and had a class photo.

Isaiah has been begging to take Karate. As you may know he loves Knights, and I think in his mind by taking Karate he will learn to fight like a knight. I had him take a trial class to see if he would really like it, and he was so excited about all of it. There were only 2 more classes till the end of the semester, so he participated in the show, but really didn't have the same practice as the other kids. The teacher said he was picking things up quick. I was amazed at how intent he was at listening and watching the teacher. He is so small, I hope that he does excel in this, and boost's his self confidence. Here he is showing off his new skills.

Great job Mckayla & Isaiah, we are so proud of you!

Frostbitten!

Poor Isaiah! Just for the record I was not around when this happened, but for Matt's sake this could have easily happened while on my watch. I was gone getting my hair done, Matt let the kids play outside in the snow while he was shoveling and clearing the drive. Isaiah was bundled up in his snow pants and winter coat, along with gloves, hat and all the works, but a big ball of snow got stuck in the lip of his boot, and sat on his bare skin on the shin for who knows how long. Long enough to get frost bite. For the record Isaiah has not complained once, that it hurt, or that his leg was cold. We had no clue. I took his snow pants off, and removed the snow, and saw his leg was red, but I just assumed that as he warmed up, that the redness would go away. This was Saturday, and on Sunday while bathing him we discovered this bubbled over look or severe burn on his leg. Still Isaiah never complained or said it hurt. I am horrified, and was not quite sure at this point what I was suppose to do. Our bishop is a doctor, so we had him to look at it, and he said we just needed to watch for infection, and not to let it get frozen again, but other than that, it should get better on it's own. I am happy to report that it is almost healed!!!

Family Christmas Party!

On Dec. 26th we had a chance to get together with Matt's side of the family( well all of his step brothers & sisters). It was a ton of fun. It is nice to live so close to family, and to have our kids to get to know their cousins. It was day filled with food, fun & games. Every year they also do the story of the birth of Jesus. The kids were so excited to participate, and bring to the story to life. Mckayla got to be an angel, and Isaiah was one of the sheep.

Here is a group shot of the whole nativity gang.

Thanks everyone who made this event so much fun!!

Country Lights!

This holiday season we took the kids to Country Lights. What a fun place!! It was an evening filled with lots of holiday fun. This place is amazing. We enjoyed a horse drawn wagon ride through a winter wonderland of a quarter of a million christmas lights. Here we are after our wagon ride.

They also had an assortment of model train exhibits. The highlight of this whole place was Santa's workshop. Santa's workshop was awesome. This place is decked out with the cutest decorations. They truly made it look like what you imagine the North pole to look like. Here is Mckayla & Isaiah standing in front of one of the many ginger bread houses.

Here we waiting in line to get into Santa's workshop. It was a little bit of a wait, but it was sure worth it.

The kids get to choose from about 30 different wood toys to make. Mckayla chose a princess castle, Isaiah chose a helicopter, and Seth we picked out a race car. As you enter in, you are greeted by one of santa's elves, who take you personally to a table and help you assemble or build your wooden toy. Here is Mckay and Isaiah putting there toys together.

Here is Seth with his toy before it gets painted.

So when you enter into the workshop you go to the building area first, and once it is put all together, you go to the painting area, where the kids can paint their toy any way they like. Here is Mckay and Isaiah with an almost painted project.

Here is mom working intently on Seth's race car.

After painting, you can go to the glitter station, and glitter your toy all up, and then next is the drying station. While you are going through this whole process, the elves stop and sing and make the atmosphere so much fun. While the toys were drying the kids wanted to go and see Santa. So for a second time the kids got to make sure Santa knew what they wanted for christmas!! Hopefully he will pull through with all of their expectations.

After our visit with Santa we picked up our handmade wooden toys, and headed for home. The kids absolutely loved the evening. Hopefully we will be able to do this next year.

Breakfast with Santa!

Every year Matt's company has breakfast with Santa. The kids love it, and I love it, because I don't have to fix breakfast in the morning. They cater the breakfast with eggs, pancakes, sausage, doughnuts, and orange juice. It is pretty tastey. Then they have pictures with Santa, and a ton of games for the kids, where they win one big prize, and lots of little ones. They also had decorating paper christmas trees with stickers, and christmas tattoos. The kids were really excited to tell Santa what they wanted, and Isaiah was excited to give Santa a big Santa HUG!!!