End of March

We've had a lot going on this past week. We have been participating in the missionary discussions with  Samantha Lumsden, and her 2 boys (King and Cash). She really is so sweet and has the cutest boys. We've enjoyed getting to know her and share our testimonies. She was baptized last saturday and asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. James confirmed her the following sunday and it was neat ot see the happiness in her eyes. Already she had invited friends to church this week, and her friends are meeting with the Elders now.  Jackson has really impressed me with how friendly he is. He will be a good missionary because he seems to have no fear of people (unless it's older ladies who want to hug him. Then he kind of goes quiet! :) ) I helped in primary last week, and was amazed at how social he is for a little sunbeam. He is so reverent and calm.... and he's never like that EVER at home!

James has started building the chicken coop and fence. He gets real excited about it, sketching blue prints, and just putting everything into the project.  It's good to see him so excited about something again. BYU always had something he could throw all his energy into, but not so much now that his life is a little more stressful, work hours longer, etc. He spent the entire day with Jackson following him around thinking he was the coolest dad ever. And he is. So patient yet, still has so much energy. Lately, I have no energy (worse than I've ever had any other pregnancy) and I am just so glad he comes home wanting to play with the kids, roll on the ground, etc. Whether it's 5:30, or 8:00, he is always ready to get them riled up. I made sure that the family easter basket this morning, had a letter from the easter bunny thanking James for taking care of the chickens. ha ha. I really have no interest whatsoever in chickens.

Weston had his 4th birthday party at none other than...McDonalds. Coolest party ever for a 4 year old and I helped Shaela with like 12 little kids going nuts on the play place. There were lots of happy meals, lots of hot fudge sundaes, and lots of fun. Weston kept informing jackson that he "didn't invite him" or "Want him there". Shaela just kept laughing, but I know it was true. Poor boys, some day they will be friends. See that cute kid right to the right of jackson, he's a "Tommy" with a dimple... so we had a connection.

My mom and dad spoke in church today, along with Jackson Ward. So, when my mom started her talk with "thank you Jackson", jackson yells out "you're welcome grandma". But they talked about being in the easter pageant and how they have testimonies of the Savior. They did a good job and it was fun to have RJ Fuzzy and Gram Cracker there. (grandma and grandpa Anderson). We are headed over there for easter dinner in a few hours.

I had another doctor's appointment and ultrasound. The baby is definitely growing and moving all around. I am 75% sure it's a boy. The doctor didn't zoom in on the legs too close, just watched the heart beat, but I was pretty positive even before the ultra sound it's another boy. I will be really suprised if it's a girl cause I feel pretty strong it's another boy. We'll see though. I tried to explain my fatigue to Dr. Layton, but guess all my bloodwork came back perfect, blood pressure is great, etc. He laughed it off reminding me I have a baby and a 3 year old. Maybe 25 is getting old too...

James went to the missionary dinners for Elizabeth Porter and Jessica Fuller, cousins who are leaving on missions this week. We couldn't get a babysitter so I stayed home with the boys, sick of course. Then saturday we worked all day, cleaning, yards, chickens, shopping, etc. Janie Dale watched the boys for a few hours and James and I headed to Cheescake Factory. First time ever he was ok with sharing at the restaurant, including dessert. In fact, he even said he wished that restaurant plates wouldn't be so big so he wouldn't get so full! :) That is not the same man I married, so maybe he's a little more serious about his weight loss this time!

Matt's mission call, chickens, and life at home

Well, James has started working a lot which means a LOT of time for me just at home with the kids. I can honestly say I can't remember the last time I've been so "free". With no car, no real schedule, and nothing I HAVE to do, except take care of kids.... I actually really feel like I am finally just able to do whatever I want. Although most of my time really is spent with these crazies,  it's been nice to just kick back a lot. I really haven't been feeling the best, but I've tried so hard to stay positive and not complain. 

For 2 weeks, I worked so hard to get Tommie on some sort of sleep schedule....and I succeeded! For the most part, he takes a 2 hour nap in the morning, 2 hour nap in the afternoon, and sleeps from 9-7! Success!!! Ok, so he still wakes up a bit every 3 nights or so, but the fact that I have slept 7 hours in a row for a few nights has a week, is so incredible for me. I wake up so much happier to see the world! :) Tommie is like a new boy, and is so happy and content all the time. He gets irritated real fast when Jackson wants to wrestle, but Jackson has helped him learned to get around. I wouldn't say he crawls, it's more like Jackson's half-army scoot he used to do. But, Tommie goes room to room all day long and can't get into too much cause he can't pull himself up. He's way more content that Jackson ever was, and seriously, has just such a strong sense of happiness and peace. So really, it's actually been such a nice past 3 weeks. The weather has been incredible and we eat lunch outside most days. The neighbor kids have been coming over to play, and I have taken a nap every single day, almost! James has worked a few nights until 9 and Jax thinks it is so cool to "Stay up late" with me, watching movies until dad gets home. 

I'm still not totally thrilled about our new chickens and the garage smells really bad. But, we still have the 5 chicks in the box, growing bigger every day. It's hard to believe they have grown up so fast and we now need to get ready for keeping them outside. James and I finally did some serious garden work, getting out all the weeds, rototilling up the dirt, etc. We decided we definitely didn't need so much space for gardening, we can't keep up on it anyways. So, 3/4ths of that dirt will now be the space for the chicken coop we are building. By me, I mean James. We did get tomatoes and squash planted. Not a lot, but at least something. I'm not too into gardening this phase of pregnancy.

My mom, dad, matt, mansi, brianna, brad, julie, kate, and eliza, have all been in the easter pagenat this year. They sure have dedicated a lot of time to it, and it was fun to go and watch them all on tuesday night. I still have good memories of being in the Easter pageant, and still have a lot of the script memorized! James and I haven't been in years and it was fun to take the boys. We sat way up front, and were able to pick out my family really well. Jackson was so into it, and kept yelling at Mansi and Brianna.

Matt also opened his mission call and is going to Bogota, Columbia. He leaves July 3rd. It seems so crazy that he'll leave so soon and who would have ever guessed he would go to Columbia...one of the biggest drug cartels in the world! :) He'll be a good missionary. It will be sad to see him go though. Jackson just idolizes him and always wants to go spend the night over there. 

Can't get enough of these 2 boys...

Other New things! :)

James has now worked his first week at Snow property, he is a new man. What a better opportunity for him. He is gone a lot more and it seems weird not to have him home for lunch anymore, but he sure has had a good week of training from "Wanda" (a 57 year old lady he spent most of the week with). He leaves around 8 and gets home around 7 so dinner has been really late for us! But, James bought me a grill of craigslist and I love it! Keeping all the smells outside is really helping. I've had a really hard week and don't know why it is that pregnancy is so hard sometimes. If I could somehow convince Tommie to sleep through the night I really think I could start having a little more energy! But, had my first appointment awhile ago with Dr. Layton. Official due date is Sept. 29 so I'm 11 weeks along. Still so early and weight gain has already began! :) But, I was so excited to hear a strong heartbeat, and see the little fluttering. And, nobody in the Dr.'s office commented on how close they'll be! Thank goodness cause I've heard it all! 

We went to Lehi Day's and Jackson caught a chick in the chicken race. I wanted to get rid of it, and was pretty adamant about not wanting another animal, but i have been outvoted, and we now have 5 baby chicks in our garage. James promises I don't have to do anything for them and I guess it will be nice to have eggs someday. Jackson is pretty excited about our chickens, and all the neighborhood kids come over to see them and hold them each day. Lisa Crossley brought over some feeder things and James got a good heat lamp for them. Which is good, because it hailed really hard yesterday and is still pretty cold.

California trip

2 weeks ago, we tagged along with Brad and Julie on their trip to California. We stayed in Dana Point, CA in a little 2 bedroom beach condo. Just across the street was a very pretty beach that you rode a "funicular" down too. (Never seen one of those before, aka slow moving tram). It was such a pretty place and Jackson still talks about the beach. The weather was perfect, you could wear your swim suit and not get too cold. I didn't get in the water but the boys did and Jackson never complained he was cold. We spent about a day and a half just laying there and watching the waves. Tommie could care less about the water and ate a lot of sand.  Finished our beach day with a fun seafood restaurant in San Clemente on a pier over the ocean. James ordered a burger, of course, but the kids were way into Brad's crab cocktail, oysters, etc. I stuck with salmon and Jackson was sad mine didn't have eyeballs. 

I love this picture, totally captures Tommie's personality. 

Jax was really into making "cool" hand signs this trip. Who know what they were! :) 

Sunset on the beach was perfect and so pretty. 

 We also went to Knott's Berry Farm. I had actually never been there and totally loved it. There were no lines for any of the rides, and if you wanted to ride it again, you did, right then. It was so nice! The day we left on the trip Julie announced she was pregnant too so we didn't ride too many rides. A few kid rides, the train, and the carousel at least 5 times! :) Perfect for getting Tommie to take a nap! I love disneyland and all, but this place was perfect for our little family and I can't imagine waiting in long lines with little kids! Jackson was a little afraid of Charlie Brown and snoopy, but he thought he was the coolest kid on any ride he went on. I was proud of him for never getting cranky even though it was a lot of walking and a really long day. Both boys were actually pretty sick with fevers, ear infections, throwing up, etc. Jackson felt better the day after we got there, but poor Tommie was a trooper. He didn't sleep at all nights so I was pretty tired by the end of the trip, but I still had lots of fun. Knott's closes at like 6 so we headed to the famous chicken dinner where "Debbie" was our server. We were pretty sure she wasn't all there, but she seriously just kept bringing out things. She brought me so many drink cups, and mine weren't even out. When the kids meals came out, there were at least 3 extra plates. We just kept laughing and laughing. She was replaced towards the end, but sure made for a crowded table and serious leftovers.  I think it took over 3 hours to eat there and the kids were so tired by the time we left. And maybe James was too...he never admits it.

James and Brad had to pay to compete in the basketball shootout. If you made a certain number, you earned a basketball. If not you ended up with bears. 1st round = basketball for Brad, bear for James. Well, that didn't sit well so 2nd round = basketball for James, bear for brad. Needless to say, Jackson and Eliza hung on to their prizes the whole trip.  

 Sunday, we went to a church there, flew kites on "kite hill" and laid around on the beach again. Brad made us all spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner while James and I went to the condo jacuzzi.  Monday morning, we headed to downtown disney for a few hours before making the drive home.  Jackson loved LEGOland, we ate delicious wetzel's pretzels, everyone got new sanuks (the only shoes i LOVE to wear when pregnant) and of course, spent the rest of the time in the ESPN shop. A lot of money spent on arcade games and basketball shoot outs, and our vacation felt complete!
 

It was the perfect time to get away. James came back and finished up only a few days with COBE before quitting. Kids are just now finally starting to feel better and I hardly even threw up on the trip! All great things if you ask me!