Halloween Cousin Party

About a week before Halloween the Ashley's and I decided to throw the little cousins a Halloween party. We also invited some of the Hermann's cousins, because we love them too. 

We found lots of cute ideas for the snacks like witch's broomsticks and banana ghosts. Ashley Thay made yummy pumpkin rice crispies and I brought the monster mouth peanut butter apples. And to drink we had mummified juice boxes. It was pretty cute :) We also let the kiddies decorate sugar cookies at the end, which basically turned into a sprinkle fest. (I don't have pictures, but just imagine Ashley's house being destroyed by sugar! Sorry, Ash!!)

The kids ran around like crazies for a good two hours and snacked on way too much sugar. We didn't play any organized games, which is probably a good thing. They were entertained enough just wearing costumes. We had Tinkerbell and Peter Pan, an Iron Man and Zebra, Dorothy and Glinda, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Everyone looked adorable. While the kids played, the moms chowed down on some guac and chips. Ashley Kay also brought an amazing tea drink call "Wassail" -- it was a m a z i n g! Reminded me of Germany's Kinder Gluehwein.

Before we headed home I snapped a couple pictures of Tinkerbell and Dorothy. They were definitely hyped on sugar and I'm so happy I caught their crazy two year selves on camera. I love how crazy those two can be together.

^^^Probably my all-time favorite picture of them. They are seriously so crazy together!!

It's a BOY!

I've always loved a cute gender reveal. I initially wanted a cute photoshoot with blue cotton candy on a stick. Adorable, right? Well do you know where to buy blue cotton candy on a stick, besides at the fair? Yeah, me neither. So that didn't happen. Then I saw this cute bubblegum idea and was sold. 
Fun & easy: check! 
Jake found the blue bubblegum balls and we took these right before a datenight. We had about 15 minutes of good light left, and it was gonna be sooo easy. Race against light/time photoshoots always are. //NOT.//
Bubblegum balls are SO hard to chew. And I couldn't get a decent bubble, actually I couldn't get a bubble at all.
So you wanna know what really went down? Jake had to chew that gum for me. And he had to blow that bubble too. Haha. True love.
It's all staged. 90% of these pictures are of me scowling at him while telling him my jaw isn't strong enough to chew that gum. The other 8% are of me wanting to give up (I am such a baby!!) and then there's these two. Pretend you don't know that that gum was impossible, and it's so cute. Right?
So, it's a BOY! He was so fun see at 20 weeks. During our first ultrasound around 3 weeks the tech couldn't even find him, and by our second one (11 weeks) he'd grown cute little gummy arms and legs. But the 20 week one was definitely the most fun. He had his hands up by his face and his little profile reminded us so much of Henry's. I keep imagining him looking like Henry's little twin //Just five more weeks and we'll know!! Yay!!//
I can't believe it's happening so soon and I am so excited to cuddle my sweet baby Sawyer.

Cornbelly's

Thanksgiving Point has a really cute Halloween/Fall display in October. There are hayrides, cornmazes, jumping houses, duck racing, rock climbing, ... basically everything. And of course lots of yummy food. We took the kids there for an evening last October and they loved it. Once the sun went down it got chilly pretty fast, but they both didn't seem to mind. The place was packed and full of loud music and people. Kind of like a carnival really. Annabelle tried just about every activity and Henry so wished he could have joined her. He had to stay in my arms or the stroller for most of it since he was only about 10 months old, but he sure thought he was big enough to be doing everything she was doing. 
Once we'd had enough of the cold we headed to a cafe to grab some hot chocolate. Annabelle instead chose an ice cream cone. Of course. :) 
It was a really fun family outting and I'm excited for this year when Henry can join in on the fun.

Gardner Village

Back in September we spent an FHE at Gardner Village with the Quinn's. It had a fun display of witches and the little village itself was really cute. I only had about 30 minutes of light and all of it was spent taking pictures of Annabelle. So, sadly I have no real pictures of the village itself. Or the cute candy shop we went into with the kids. But trust me, it's worth visiting and we'll definitely go back.

On the way there the little miss had an accident and I had no spare clothes or panties for her. Luckily the place is like a mini shopping village too, so we were able to find that cute dress she's wearing and Henry was sweet enough to lend her a diaper. She looked so darling in that dress and really loved twirling it. //May have sent the wrong message about having accidents!!// 

Over the summer she wore that baseball cap that Jake got her everywhere. And I really love it on her! I have no idea what the "B" stands for, but it sure is cute on her.

And her and Gus are pretty cute together too. 

We ended the night having dinner and being, by far, the loudest guests in the restaurant. Whoops. :)

Four Year Anniversary -- The Sleepy Edition

Jake came home early to take me on a nice anniversary date, and when he got there I was in bed sobbing. Haha. Are you loving all my emotional days that are getting documented? I was just really really tired and couldn't function. I remember telling him I felt like I couldn't do anything: take care of the kids, make dinner, sit up. I was about 12 weeks pregnant and nursing Henry, which I later learned will suck every bit of life out of you. //That first trimester was a little miserable.//

Anyways, he sweetly suggested we just stay home and have a date-night in, but that just made me feel even more dysfunctional. So I pulled it together (aren't I so tough!!) and got ready. I'm telling you all this because I look so exhausted in these photos. Haha! I get sleepy just looking at them, and really -- I had to make Lissie take about 100 in an effort to make my eyes look more open. It didn't work, but that's ok. This baby #3 is worth being/looking tired. All the time. (Haha!)

So Lissie stayed home with our babies while we went out. (Thank you!) Jake let me choose Olive Garden for dinner (he hates Olive Garden), so that was extra sweet of him. He also got our waitress to give us a free dessert. Yum. I think we went to a movie after that and I probably fell asleep. I really have no idea what we did after dinner, so that most likely means I was sleeping. (Poor guy!)

Happy 4 years, Jake -- you truly are my everything!

Here's to a million more anniversaries together -- sleepy or not! I love you...

Beautiful.

This Sunday while sitting in church both Annabelle and Henry were crawling all over Jake (he's had to work the last two Sundays, so it was amazing for me to not have to single-mom them! I think they were sick of me anyways, cause they had very little to do with me all through sacrament meeting. Juuust fine with me.)
Anyways, I sat there and watched Henry lay his head on Jake's chest for minutes at a time. And Annabelle lay in his lap while he tickled her face. //I really wanted to pull my phone out and start a full-on photoshoot. I didn't. But I really wanted to.//
All three of them looked so cute together.
I kept thinking to myself: I am so blessed. Those cute babies and handsome hairy man are mine. They are my life, forever.
This pregnancy being a surprise has led me to have some complainy thoughts, ones that I'm ashamed of now. I didn't know how I would handle two babies so close together, and I still don't.
But I have two little beauties and am being blessed with another - and they are all I've ever dreamed of. I can remember telling my friends in grade school that all I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a mom. And that's come true: I will soon be the mother to three! 
This life isn't perfect, but it really is beautiful!

Independence Day 2013

I ran my first 5K the morning of July 4th //with my SIL's and MIL// and it was seriously so fun. 

Sidenote: Right before the race I remember feeling a little crampy and thinking I might start my period, which would've been really bad timing. Found out later that week that what I thought was minor cramping was in fact a tiny little surprise baby in my belly. (Ahh!) 

Back to that day: Jake had been out of town and flew in a couple hours after my race, so picking him up was definitely our biggest highlight. We miss him so much when he's gone.

After grabbing Jake we decided we deserved some serious carbs for lunch (three miles is FAR!!) and ate at Brickoven. Again, I just felt sick through the whole thing, but it was still really good.

A couple naps later and we set up camp on our front lawn to watched the firework show. It was wonderful.

Except when our rowdy bachelor neighbors across the street thought it'd be fun to shoot a firework right near my baby girl. I remember seeing it get really close to her, jumping up and grabbing her and running. I was SO angry with those boys. I don't yell often, but I really wanted to yell then. I didn't. But I should have. Idiots.

I then went inside and bawled my eyes out. Haha. It really freaked me out. I actually get choked up thinking about it now... Moving on. 

Had I known I was pregnant with our 3rd that day, I'm sure all of my emotions/feeling sick would have made more sense. Now I'm 35 weeks pregnant and very excited to welcome this new baby!! And really, we had a great Independence Day with Jake's family. 

I haven't run a mile since that 5K (eek!), but I am very excited to get back to it this spring!

Memorial Day 2013

I just made a list of all the blog posts I'd like to get through before Sawyer is born. And twenty. There are twenty(!!!) 

And I'll start with Memorial Day 2013:

We spent it with the Hermann/Van Wagoner clan and it was lovely. //Seeing these pictures on this cold winter day makes me really anxious to get some sun!!//

We met up at a lake in Ogden for some boating and to celebrate both Kaylee and Ashley Kay's birthdays. Some of us set up tents, and we made a pack'n'play train for the trio of babes (Henry, Hayley, and Jarom) to take naps in. The boys brought balls to play catch with and there was of course lots of yummy food. 

All the girls went out on the boat first and made our little toddler girls tube with us. I think Kaylee is the only one that wasn't kicking and screaming when we told them our plan. Haha. I know it sounds mean, but I think it built character for Maddy and Annabelle... Right?? They did end up enjoying it in the end. It was just getting them onto the tube that was torture.

We went out for a couple hours and returned with happy, sleepy babes. 

Then we sang to the birthday girls and watched them open presents. It was a great day.

Boating always exhausts the littles, so the car ride home was nice and peaceful.

It was a wonderful Memorial Day.