Summer is officially here!

Time has flown by so fast lately, yet the days seem long and lazy. I'm sure the 115 degrees help with that. My brother Matt is officially graduated from Westwood. He had his 18th birthday, was ordained a priest, went through the temple for his first time, and now is in Utah with my mom and sisters for 2 weeks. Can't believe in 3 weeks he will be gone on his mission.

According to matt, those shoes are the coolest. 

Swim lessons have started. I drive over to Kino so Shaela and I can be together. Jackson sure has picked swimming fast, and I don't worry about him in the pool as much. Tommie.... he just loves the one-on-one time with me and I'm sad to think he won't be my baby for very much longer. I really am. He's on the verge of walking, says dada, and finally cut his first 2 teeth. I know when this next boy comes he will just seem huge and it's weird for me to think about. It actually really does make me sad. Jackson was my baby for so long. 

 I have loved how tan my boys get. Poor James hasn't gotten out much lately, and they kind of look they aren't even his kids anymore. James hates this picture, but how can you not love it?

After swim, we all walk over to Kino's cafeteria for free lunch...thanks to Obama and taxes. The kids love it and I still sneak food off Tommie's tray and drink his chocolate milk. 

Jackson turned 4 on sunday! He started the day by saying "now that I'm 4, I can do whatever I want". Ha! Wouldn't that be nice. He had a pirate party on saturday with a few cousins. He has become obsessed with the tv show "Jake and the neverland pirates" and we had little headbands, eye patches, and swords. They played on the tramp, ran through sprinklers, ate hot dogs and popsicles, had a dance contest, and tried to catch little goldfish in a swimming pool.  We made a little poster to hang up about him with his stats for this year: He is 42 inches tall, weighs 36 pounds, and has 20 teeth. He loves wrestling, playing ipad, watching tv, watering things with the hose, painting, and playing with anyone besides me! :) He would rather be at orange patch, with Eliza, going to grandma's, or having snacks (not "real food" as he calls healthy things). He does love to eat spaghetti and meatballs, carrots, yogurt, ham, and crunchy tacos. He gets really mad whenever it is bed time, or someone tries to discipline him, or he has to go home from somewhere. Seriously, it is a major ordeal to leave and come home from something. He just loves whatever he is doing, and never wants to leave. So annoying, but hopefully it ends soon cause it is getting kind of embarrassing. I can't just pick him up and carry him away anymore.  Anyways, I couldn't ask for a better helper though and he is getting smarter and bigger every day. Happy birthday jackson!

matt gave this shirt to jax on HIS birthday...said he's supposed to wear it every night he's on his mission. 

He wanted to call everyone and tell them it was his birthday. 

Jimmer is naughty. That's all there is to it. He busted through the chicken fence...AGAIN. And, I just can't take him out for walks anymore. It is too hot and my legs swell really easy this pregnancy. After spending the day at Shaela's house, she decided something needs to be done. So, our newest idea...put him on the treadmill. This was his first morning and he ran for about 40 minutes straight. It took lots of cheese and ham in front of him to get him to keep going, but judging by his laps around the yard now, he will be back in soon. I hope this solves our puppy problem. If we can just make it till he's 2...I think we'll see some improved behavior. :) For now, I am just hoping the treadmill 3 times a day will do the trick. I'd love to be able to take out the garbage without getting tackled. Seriously. I'm too pregnant for that. 

What is this smooshed box that arrived in the mail??? Worms. 2,000 red wrigglers to be exact. James has a new business idea...thanks to the neighbor Brent Leavitt. Even if it doesn't work out for a business, we wanted some more composting for our garden. Is it normal to order worms online and do research on vermicomposting?

Tommie has gotten wild!

I don't know how it happened so fast, but I can't keep up with Tommie anymore. He still doesn't crawl normal....now it's more like a scoot on his bum while sitting up straight, but he is FAST. He climbs up on anything and everything and walks all across the furniture, and walls, and tables, and chairs, and toilets, and drawers.... he empties everything in sight SO fast and loves it. He is adorable now, and so happy to be more independent, but boy do I feel like I chase after him all day. Everyone comments on how tan he is and his huge smile. He finally just cut his first 2 bottom teeth and I was amazed that it didn't affect his sleeping through the night. He'd cry in his sleep, but never wake up fully.

Jackson has been so obedient lately, and has tried so hard to jsut be nice. For mother's day, they interviewed him in primary, and he told the primary teachers all about how I want him to say "I'll be happy too" when I ask him to clean his room, eat veggies, etc. His answer to every question about things I like, was all about him being obedient. Ha! They must think I'm obsessed, but lately, it's worked and he ahs been so sweet. I can get him to eat dinner now just by saying it'll make me happy, and he does. I hope he always wants to try so hard to make his mom happy! He started swimming on his own 2 weeks ago. He can't come up and take a breath, but he sure can go for wuite a while without breathing. We have spent every afternoon at my mom's pool and now swim lessons have started at kino. He is definitely way too advanced for his class, but he loves it.

It's really hard to be pregnant when it's so hot. Without swimming, I just can't get up energy to do anything else, and my veins in my leg just throb. But somehow, when I lay in the pool....all my problems go away! :) I had another doctor's appointment and guess everything looked perfectly normal in the ultrasound. What a blessing! I am starting to gain lots of weight, but still have sick days of lots of throwing up. So, who knows. I do what I can, but have given up daily exercise. I feel like chasing tommie around and vacuuming are pretty much my workouts! :) Lame huh?

James has been working so hard lately to not only get all his meetings done at work, but to get the house stuff caught up on. The summer lawns are coming in so green, and our tomatoes and squash are coming in from the garden all ready. The chickens have gotten so big and James calls them "his ladies". I guess he is starting to feel like his house is overrun with boys as well. Jimmer has sure been naughty lately, and both of us are back to wondering why we have a puppy. He is determine to get into the garden, and eat the tomatoes, and through the garden into the chickens. He doesn't eat the chickens, just scare them to death and still their food. Every morning at 5:30 he starts barking right by our bedroom window, because he's either stuck under the fence while trying to get in, or he has been in with the chickens and wants out. Talk about annoying because our boys sleep in till 7 still! I think we need to start breeding him. The websites say that may help the energy. HA! I love being surrounded by testosterone.

Sam is engaged to Julie Willis, and they just a took trip down from BYU to meet the family. They stayed here for 2 nights, and it was so fun to get to know her and see more of Sam. It sure made me glad i'm not in that stage of life anymore though! Made me realize how lucky I am to just be married and be past all that. It was exciting though. They will come back down in 3 weeks for the wedding, and spencer gets here in 2 weeks to stay. I'm not sure reality has set in that another boy will be in the house, but lately, I'm not really into planning or preparing for anything. I should be though since i do have lots to do!

James left for the cabin with the priests in the ward this morning. I'll miss having him around this weekend, but Becca's coming to spend the day tomorrow and have a swim and dinner party. Shaela will come back from Prescott this weekend too, so I'll have some friends next week! :)

It's may again!

May is always a fun month....it used to mean just my mom, grandma mish, and mansi's birthday and mother's day...and like my dad once wrote in the family journal, "the month of may is great...it's like being 2 bra sizes bigger than your best friend" (i always thought that was so random). Anyways, now it means James birthday and our anniversary in the same week. And to make it even better, I've only had a few really sick days the past few weeks, and they were monday and tuesday of this week. The rest of the time I haven't even thrown up and have been sleeping so much better. I hope it lasts.

We traded out the washing machine at the cabin to replace the broken washer in the house. It is so incredible to have this tim of life where I do all the research on washers, figure out the one I can afford, call Kathleen to double check she's ok with it going in her house, and she's already bought a new washer and dryer that were way nicer than anything I had in mind! We are so blessed right now, and James and I continually talk about how spoiled we are. To have his career just starting out, where we hardly make any money, yet month after month, everything works out and we live in such luxury, we really do.  And we have the best neighbors, all the kids are always playing, and I never worry about anything. I have LOVED spending so much time at my mom's and Julies.... I can't imagine ever living anywhere else. James can't imagine staying here for a long time...but that's an argument for another day.

So, James spent his 26th birthday driving to the cabin. We even took Jimmer (threw him in the back of the truck with the washer and dryer) and our new fishing poles and BB guns. We had so much fun. We stopped at Eddie's grocery store in pine top to pick up steaks. They gave us free steaks on our honeymoon and we haven't been back there since. but we had a BBQ and ate chocolate chip cookies while singing to James. It was nice to see him relax and to not have good cell service so he wasn't always on the phone! Jimmer was the best dog in the mountains. He has been so naughty here at home lately, and I've told James several time that maybe a dog wasn't the best idea. But, at the cabin, he never barked, followed us around everywhere, swam in the pond, and made me have a change in heart. He has turned out to be a really good dog, just gets serious pent up puppy energy.

We stayed until monday morning and woke up by 5 to drive home. He showered and went to work all day while i just crashed. Monday night, we needed to unload the washer and dryer from the truck. James good buddy Jeff came over for advice, we ran to Dairy Queen to meet Shaela and jared for family night, and by now it was pretty late... but we got it unloaded at like 10pm and I went to bed. James was out of clean garments so thought he'd stay up to wash some from work. It turns out the hot water valve on the wall broke off and water was spraying everywhere. James woke me up, but we had never known where the main water shut off valve was. So, by the time we found it, we had a pretty good flooded laundry room and cupboards.  My dad came over early the next morning and helped us fix it, and then the cold water one busted right after he left. So, James took the day off and it ended up taking all day to repair the valves, clean out the clogged drains, and fix the broken dryer vent from the cabin. I am so glad to have a washer back and have done LOADS of laundry!

Yesterday was our 5 year anniversary. 5 years and almost 3 kids later, we are even happier. I know the first few years of marriage did actually seem hard, trying to learn to get a long, but I really have felt like things have gone better lately than ever before. He really is my best friend and I can't imagine life without him. No matter how big and swollen I get, he tells me every day how good looking I am and cracks jokes to gets me laughing.  He is so supportive of everything I want to do, and he never gets mad at me. He loves his little boys and they just adore him. We just ate dinner at home and Jackson loved the ice cream cake.

I forced Jackson to keep taking pictures of us till we could come up with at least 2 good ones. James was so annoyed by the end, and I kept laughing at all the new poses we were trying. Nothing like trying to teach a 3 year old which angle you look best at! These are the best we came up with and they still make me laugh!

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Another brother!

That's right, baby #3 will be another boy! I used to joke around that I was going to only have boys, back when I was like 12, and guess for now, I was right! I really did feel it was a boy already, but the 18 week ultrasound confirmed it! I love that ultrasound where you just stare at this tiny baby on a screen for so long. I can never really tell what I am looking at, but it always amazes me that that "thing" is inside me, moving around, sucking thumbs, etc. Pregnancy is a real miracle. I am starting to have a little more energy, and although I need a nap every other day, I can get up earlier, stay up later, and feel like doing more throughout the day.  At least  it's almost half over! :)

Tommie's 9 month check up stats: 18 lbs, 29.25 inches long, with a head size of 44.75cm. Crazy how although my kids look like they have big heads, they are long, skinny, and small headed! :) He can officially sit up during crawling, and go back to crawling, and pull himself up on furniture. He loves to climb up in his crib and jump on bed. And, he's obsessed with opening doors. He pulls them up, crawls back around and kicks them closed. He cries if it closes all the way and he can't get it back open. And, he is now an amazing sleeper! The other night he slept 12 hours in a row and took a 2 hour nap, and a 3 hour nap. Who would ever thought I would have complained??? :) He goes to bed at 7:30 and I've almost quit nursing him. We're on to once a day, and my doctor says I have 2 more weeks to officially wean and then I need to stop.  It's crazy how that makes him seem so much older to me.

Jackson finished preschool this week. He had this little music ceremony and he stood in the back. He knew EVERY single word to every song. He was by far the loudest singer, but surprisingly not obnoxious. I was so impressed that he kept smiling at everyone, and was just so confident. I will really miss having him go to orange patch, but we are signed up for next years, and swim lessons start in one month.  I have been trying a lot harder to compliment Jackson and find positive things to focus on. He really does try hard to be obedient, eat good foods, and he is the best brother to Tommie. He was the most excited to have another brother. He thinks we should name him "Bob" or "Timmy". Ha! :) Too bad he doesn't get to pick.

We went to a lot of baseball games this past week. Mansi finished up WW softball, Matt finished up baseball and had his "senior night" at HoHoKam Stadium. The coach hasn't really put matt in to play much this year, which has made Matt mad. But, he was a good player and it was fun to go watch when he did play. He somehow found a way to have a positive attitude about it all, and he never complained that Jackson was his loudest fan. Even when Jackson yelled things like "Hey bubba, want to come to my house after the game? we can have macaroni and cheese!" Jackson really can yell loud!

 James also got diamondback tickets at work with valet parking. SO nice to just drive up, have someone park the car, and walk right out when we were done. We only stayed about 4 innings but had a good time, and took Matt along too. I think I'd go to more MLB games if we could sit up front, and not walk far like we did this time!

My cousin McKenna Anderson had her mission farewell, she is leaving to Spain. We combined her luncheon with Matt's since my Aunt donna was in town from colorado. It was weird to think of Matt leaving so soon. We will miss him.  Everyone kept commenting that Shaela and I looked exactly alike. I blamed it on the outfits, Shaela blamed it on the fact we weigh the same. That was making me mad since she is farther along. :) Brad joined in the photo to "make us look good".

James also took Jackson to father's and sons this weekend. The camped only about 20 minutes away, just past fountain hills. Jackson complained the whole way there saying camping was going to be "so boring" but cried again because he didn't want to come home. They just slept int he back of Wilford's truck on foam pads and had a good time eating hotdogs and pancakes. In two years, James will be taking 3 boys to fathers and sons! (assuming I can convince him to take the baby.... he sure wouldn't take Tommie!)  I had a good time shopping with Mansi, Brianna, and my mom and watching a movie.

 After writing all that down from what we did last week, no wonder I feel totally wiped out today! I had all these great goals of making freezer meals, doing dishes (dishwasher still broken), taking laundry to my mom's (washing machine still broken), etc. But, I haven't done anything so far besides dust, clean out file cabinets, eat, and blog! :)

Pretty boring week

Not too much to report on this week. I woke up at 6:30 with Jackson telling me breakfast was just about ready. James had gone to basketball and came home to make sausage and eggs. It was so incredible to not have to smell breakfast cooking, just eat it. I told James he could do that more often! The washing machine broke, finally. It's been dying for a long time so I'm kind of glad to get a new one that will have hot water! We finally finished the chicken fence completely, and then Jimmer busted through it to get at the chickens....boy was James mad. But, after a few hours of being banished to the side of the house (the gated dog run), he came out a much better dog. Jackson refused to eat a lot of the days this past week. I hate when he does that. It gets so frustrating to see how skinny he is, how active he is, and yet wonder why he won't eat. Yesterday, all day long, he only had a small bowl of cheerios, a banana, and who knows what treats his class fed him at church. So, we read the story of Daniel refusing the king's meat because he wanted to eat healthy. I told him that Daniel said after 10 days he was healthier, could run faster, etc. So, we are trying a challenge for Jackson this week. For family night we are recording his running times, jumping jacks, push ups, etc (and James' of course) and then he has to try hard to eat at least 3 times a day and to eat healthy foods (aka veggies) so he can see if he can run faster. So far he is really into it and had 3 eggs, 2 pieces of sausage, and orange juice. So, here's hoping something can finally get to him.... I don't think I'll have that problem with Tommie. He never stops eating, and will eat whatever I give him. Jackson was never like that. Even at 9 months. I have tried so many different creative ideas to get Jackson to eat. James worked 3 nights this week, we took an investigator to Gospel principles on Thursday, went out to the movies on Friday, and took Jackson to Pete's fish and chips on Saturday.  It was ward conference yesterday, and I picked up a lady and her 2 boys for church on sunday. She had a bishops interview so it took like another hour after church to just wait with her. But, Pres. Burnham reminded all of us that it is time to start doing what we need to do, especially in terms of missionary work and doing the little important things each days (prayers, scriptures, etc). Basically he said if we aren't doing it, we either don't know it's important, or we just don't want too. So, I'll do better this week!