A Hailey "Scare"

So the kids were in the backyard and I was inside reading a magazine. Suddenly Hailey starts SCREAMING and CRYING!! I ran outside- couldn't initially see anything wrong. But that's when I saw it!!

A grasshopper landed on her shirt.

It took her a good 10 minutes to recover while I held her. ;)

SUCH A GIRL!!!

Happy Pioneer Day!!

I say Happy Pioneer Day, but really...we did very little "traditional" celebrating- which usually includes parades, fireworks, etc. Instead, we took advantage of Adrian's 4-day weekend and had some fun. On Thursday we went to the SLC Aquarium. It's small, when compared to the aquariums in CA that we grew up on, but the kids loved it.

Here's Thomas next to the octopus and star fish.Hailey and I pose by the coral reef tank. She loved all the "Nemos."

Hailey and Daddy looking at some trout! They had a large section on "fish in Utah."


Daddy thought it was fun to see if Hailey could balance on her tummy by the large pool of water holding sting rays...hmmm.... fun??

On Friday, we went on an adventure and drove to East Canyon State Park. It's up near Morgan, UT. It was a sunny, hot day, but thankfully, up in the mountains, it was a bit cooler! There were some great sandy beaches and we had a fun time swimming in the lake. We didn't stay as long as wanted to as Hailey decided it was time for a nap...and apparently the lake is not her ideal location for a nap! Poor girl. We had a fun time though!

Adrian and Thomas swam out to the end of the dock. The water felt sooooo nice! Hailey gets a snack in the shade. Adrian & I rarely get pics of the two of us anymore. We were all set up to take a pic and a nice man offered to take a pic for us. Sweet! Unfortunately, he took the world's WORST picture- all shadow...so we took one of our own.

Only 12 weeks left!

Until my due date that is- who knows when I'll actually have this baby! I've never made it past 38 weeks, so that would be towards the end of September. We'll see! I would REALLY like to make it as far past Thomas' birthday as possible.

For whatever reason, this pregnancy has been really tiring. Third time's a charm?? With the other two, I had a lot more energy- and I can't just blame it on having 2 kids because when I was pregnant with Hailey, I had Thomas AND worked full time! This one is just doing me in. Nevertheless, I am doing my best to enjoy it. This baby moves around all the time, but it's not the super strong movements and kicks I felt with Hailey. Oh- and he gets the hiccups at least 3 times a day! It's kind of funny.

I'm doing my best to keep up with my "belly documentation" like I did with the other two, so here I am at 28 weeks. I'm even brave enough to do a bare belly shot. No stretch marks...yet! Crossing my fingers SUPER hard!

BTW- we just painted our bedroom! We'll add a chair rail eventually, but even for now, we really like it!

My Garden...

Is overtaking the yard!! Well, not really, we have a pretty big yard, but still- it's getting big! I love it! We're really starting to reap the rewards too- just this week I've pulled off a handfull of cherry tomatoes, 3 other tomatoes, 2 zuchinni and 3 yellow squash! My peppers are all coming in nicely as well- I've got 2-3 on each plant so far with several more in the making. It's a good thing we love vegetables! All the neighbors have their eyes on my leftovers, but it's going to take a while for me to get sick of all this!

Here's a view from the front-

My zuchinni plants are bailing out the side!

Here are my bell peppers- all different colors, but the kids have moved around the markers so much, I can't remember which one is which! Oh well, it will be a fun surprise...

Check out this cherry tomato plant. It's HUGE. Cherry tomatoes anyone?? You might have to figh Thomas for them- he sees a red one and wants to eat it right off the vine- LOL!!

Hahaha- not exactly one of the garden, but I couldn't resist. Hailey LOVES cuddling with blankets. Always has- even from a very young age! I found her like this the other day and had to snap a pic. Doesn't she look so cozy? I hope she can breathe!

Happy Birthday Adrian!!

It's the big 2-8 this year! Only two more years until the BIG ONE. Tee hee! Despite having to work a lot on your birthday, we wanted you to know that we LOVE you and hope you have a GREAT day!

My Hailey girl

I wanted to just post a cute pic of our little Hailey. She's growing up so fast- I know that sounds cliche, but it's so true! I can't believe she'll be 18 months old soon- and a big sister! Well, an older sister at least! She's is talking like crazy! She'll try and repeat everything you want her to say...and has even picked up a few things we would rather her not! She is such a great helper and just has a darling personality. Each morning when I go get her out of her crib, she starts asking for cereal and bananas...and treats of course! This girl LOVES treats! She really is a cutie- I just love her to pieces!!

Look, Ma, NO TRAINING WHEELS!!

So today Thomas decided he wanted to be like the big kids that ride their bikes all around the neighborhood...which meant- no more training wheels! He actually did really well! He's still a bit wobbly with turns, but he really picked it up easily. GO THOMAS!!

Swinging in the Sun

Raz & I met up at the park today for a picnic lunch. It's so nice living so close! It was cool out, but it's perfect weather for 2 pregnant women! We had a fun time!

Here's Hailey and all her teethies! She just got tooth #8 today!

Thomas' BIG smile. Such a goof ball. This is Elise, Kory & Raz's daughter. She just celebrated her 1st birthday on Monday! And come December, she's going to be a BIG sister! Well, an older sister at least!

Going down the STEEP slide! You'd think with it being smaller it'd be great for little kids, but nope! It's more like a luge than a slide...Playing on the monkey bars. He's still not quite sure about them. He can get up, but then once he's hanging there...he gets a bit nervous! Finally he yelled for me and said, "Mom, I'm really stuck!!"

Baby Stuff and the Belly

I couldn't resist. Saw this cute little outfit today at Walmart. Had to get it. Each baby deserves some new stuff, right?! Matching shoes and all. Awwweeeee....

And here is the belly at just over 22 weeks. Nice. It's all for a good cause though! I seem to carry each one a bit lower. No wonder I go to the bathroom 37 times a day.

Mowing the Lawn & more Zoo pics

So I think Adrian feels left out. He gets mentioned on here occasionally but rarely gets a spotlight, so here it is. We bought a lawn mower. Finally. Never needed one before now and really could have used one a few weeks ago. Adrian mowed the lawn and trimmed it and everything and well, this is what he looked like afterwards. Tee hee. He looks so proud.

The kids and I went and picked up Raz & Elise and met Nellie and kids at the zoo last week. It was the week our membership expired, so we wanted to go one last time. Boy my kids love the zoo! It's been fun going so much this last year, we'll certainly have to do it again. Although the weather was nice, the zoo really was a zoo this time around as it was also the last week of school and "field trip" day for it seemed like every elementary school in Utah! It was pretty crowded. We still had a great time though. Thomas just adores Savannah it I think he really enjoyed having other kids there, besides Hailey and Elise!

Here's one of the 5 kids. No one is smiling. At least some are looking. :)

Hailey and the giraffe. She was so good all day. Last time we went it wasn't crowded at all, so I let her walk around a ton. Thankfully, I think this time she was a bit nervous with the crowds too, so she was really content to stay in her stroller. Well, most the time anyways!

Thomas & Savannah on the "plastic tigers" as Thomas called them. right after we got to the Zoo he started asking if we could go see the "plastic tigers." I had NO CLUE what he was talking about until about 1.5 hours later when we rounded the corner and saw these...it's all making sense now. Funny kid.

Here's most of our group eating lunch. I'm taking the pic and Hailey's at my feet. Hahahaha- no surprise there. The kids all shared food except for Paris and her poptarts. No one was getting within 5 ft of those babies!! ;) Hailey even shared some food with the birds I'm sure as half her lunch was strewn all over the lawn. Ahh, what can you do?

Our gang on the Zoofari Express. We always seem to end the day with a train ride. It's short, but oh my, the kids just love it. Thomas & Savannah rode the caboose. Notice Hailey sitting on the seat all by herself. Talk about little Miss Independant!

It was a really fun day. I think we'll take a year off from the Zoo, but we'll get another pass again I'm sure. Maybe we can have this playdate again next year...only there will be 2 more kids in tow! And we thought taking a pic with 5 kids was hard enough! Try 7!! YIKES!

Baby Williams is a....

BOY!!!

We are thrilled. Actually, Adrian was beyond thrilled. First just because I told him the decision was his whether we found out or not...and second because it's another boy. The ultrasound itself was really a lot of fun. Our tech was wonderful and it also helped that the baby was very lively! It would have been VERY hard to keep the gender a secret- his little boy parts were all over the screen!!! Everything looks great though- baby boy is measuring perfectly and looks very healthy. Don't ask us about a name yet- we have NO CLUE!!

Here are a few pics with explanations, for those who are sonogramily- challenged...

Here little boy is playing with his boy parts. Oh we're so proud...

More boy parts...notice the tiny little arrow pointing to his not-so-tiny little thang...


Profile shot- see his little mouth is slightly open! Cute!!


Leg & foot...


Another shot of his long legs!


And one of my favorites- he's waving to us! See his little hand? All 5 fingers are accounted for!

The Question of the Day....

Boy...or... Girl???


or...Surprise???


Come 3:45pm MST, we will know for sure!!

I've been tagged...

Answer these fifteen questions about yourself and tag three other people at the end of your post by leaving them a comment on their blog.

3 Joys

1. My family.
2. A quiet moment.
3. A bubble bath!

3 Fears

1. That something awful is going to happen to one of my kids, my husband, or myself.
2. Bad storms. Especially strong wind, thunder & lightening. Call it childish, but it makes my blood pressure increase every time!
3. Spiders. Or really, icky bugs of any kind.

3 Goals

1. Devote more time to my husband and marriage. We need a date. Anyone wanna babysit??
2. To teach my kids the gospel. I hope everything will fall into place, parenting wise after that.
3. To have a natural, medication-free childbirth in about 4 months!

3 Obsessions/Collections

1. Cooking magazines. Oh how I love them.
2. September Sweethearts- a group of online girlfriends. We all 'met' online in January, 2003, when we all found out we were pregnant with our first babies and due September, 2003. We've been chatting since and I've even been priveledged to meet several of them!
3. Having a clean house. I'm pretty picky about this. I really like my house to be clean and orderly. It's difficult with 2 kids (and being pregnant!) but it's still a priority.

3 Random Facts About Me

1. I love to garden. I'm still in the learning stage of it all, but really do love it!
2. I'm a stay-at-home mom and I adore it. Do I really have to go back to work someday?? Maybe I'll go to cooking school and be a Chef...
3. One of the biggest side effects of pregnancy for me is an awful memory. I forget EVERYTHING. Even if I write it down. Twice. So frustrating!!

I tag...Cassy, Amy and Autumn!

Two Peas in a Pod...

Even despite the 3 1/2 year age difference, Thomas & Hailey just love to hang out together. Last week, Hailey suddenly decided she was a big girl and wanted to sit with Thomas at the table to eat breakfast. She sat up there with her Elmo spoon and just ate away! My heart melted- how old is she again?! She's sat at the table with us for every meal since and I have to say, she does really well! She uses utensils...even if she just holds on to her fork while she eats with her other hand- LOL!! But really, for 16 months old, she's doing quite well.



Here's a quick shot- both are a bit destracted by the cartoons on in the other room...

Our yard is DONE!

Well, as done as it's going to get for a while that is! We do still want to plant some flowers in the front, but that's not work, it's fun!! wow- what a huge project that was. We are still tired. Thankfully the weather hasn't been cooperating, so we've gotten a brief break from the last few things needing to be completed. But here are some pics of the progress!

Here are a couple "before" pics. these were taken while the trenching was being done.

Then we brought in 40 yards of top soil...

Then we found a couple COOL rocks while trenching the neighbors yard. So we had to haul them both over to our yard. Thank heavens we didn't have to convince Keoki they were cool- he KNEW it. He and Kory and Kory's little VW helped Adrian haul our rocks into place in our flower bed. Whew!!

Pretend you don't see the sod there...LOL. Then we spread the top soil and laid the sod! Beofre we laid the sod out, we also had the fence guys come and install our fence!

And here are a few pics of the finished product! Complete with this morning's weather...gotta love Utah!! The first pic is of the backyard from Monday- about 76 degrees and GORGEOUS. The rest are from this morning...30-something degrees and well, snowy.

Despite the snow, doesn't it look GREAT?! We are so appreciate of all the help we got too- we worked so hard!! It does look great though, and in another few weeks when the sod is more established and **hopefully** it's not snowing, the kids will really enjoy it!