CA trip Day 1

Our trip to California was absolutely awesome and perfect!

We had SO much fun with my parents and LOVED spending all the time together as a family.

We really enjoyed having Nonny Kare & Grandpa all to ourselves and we definitely felt a little spoiled.

Thanks, mom & dad for taking off so much time for us and making the trip so great. We love and miss you terribley!

On to the details of the trip:

Welllll....the car-ride wasn't great. Tave started the trip with a fever and complaining about his mouth hurting. He was miserable and very fussy. On the up-side. West was an angel. Seriously SO good. But we made it safe and sound and were ready to have fun for the next 10 days!

May 28th

We were pretty exhausted from driving the day before so we just had a relaxing day at the house. My cousin, Curtis, and his wife, Stefanie, were in town also so we enjoyed a visit from them. It was so fun to meet their darling little girl and get to catch up on life. Tave LOVES babies and was completely fascinated with Arianna.

College Roomies!

Annie stayed the night with her three cute kiddos on her way to a family vacation. We had so much fun hanging out and catching up. Her kids are each born in the same years as mine, so it's always fun to see them together.

Em, Shar & the girls came to play on Friday night. It was quite the adventure with 7 kids 3 and under!!!

(Weston really had a great time, he loves Joshie...so I'm not sure why the sad face!)

Tave looooved baby Claire.

We had to make sure and watch him because he always wanted to be touching her or sitting by her. We'll see how he does with our little one soon!

West, Joshie, Tave, & Aloria (in age order). They had so much fun hanging out!


College Roomies:

All of us girls met our freshman year at Ricks and then we met Greg our sophmore year.

Annie is always our excuse to get together and I'm so glad we did. Thanks, Lea for the awesome party and

Thanks for the fun visit, Annie, we love you!

Family Photos- May 2010

I wanted one last family photo shoot before our family grows from 4 to 5.

Our friends, the Gublers, were so nice to do a shoot with us and I must say, they did fantastic! We love how they turned out.

Now I need your help, which family one should I frame?!

I love this one because it is what it is:

This is my all-time favorite shot of the night. I love seeing my boys love their dad:

Oh cute boys, look at that face!

Can't wait to meet you, baby, and see how you change our family!

29 & 30 Weeks

It's about time I post some belly shots, since the last time was around 21 weeks!!

I am in my last trimester now and feeling great. B3 is quite the mover and does all sorts of crazy tricks in there. (I'm a little bit worried about the amount of sugar I've consumed lately, seriously, this is one hyper kid already!)

I'm getting a little squished and the third trimester fatigue has hit, but overall I can't complain. I am so blessed to have healthy pregnancies and am still able to be active with my boys. That's really all I could ask for!

29 weeks

30 weeks

As the time gets closer, I am getting more anxious to meet our little guy. He already has his own place in our home and in our hearts. Weston asks questions about him all the time (the dreaded "how does the baby come out" question was a pretty funny one...right now West thinks he'll come from my belly button, hmmm...maybe we'll leave it at that for awhile!) and we are getting excited to see how 3 little boys will spice up our lives! Oh the fun we will have!!

In the name department, we are officially accepting any and ALL suggestions. Griffin and Ryder are still in the running, but we really just can't decide. So please, comment away.

And just for the sake of journaling, I'll give you a list of what we have been discussing, but Jeff has already veto-ed some. (which is probably a good thing, my prego mind isn't always thinking right) Feel free to comment on the names, I won't get offended- we are pretty good about naming our kids what we want no matter who likes it. ;)

Our name list this time around:

Griffin, Ryder, Canon, Ender, River, Rainer, Ronan, Rowan, Ridge, Maddox, Madsen, Teague, Cruise, Jett, Gage, Hunter, & Tallan.
We've added a few to the last list (with Tave) and taken some off.  If it was up to me this little guy would just be Ryder right now since I've loved it since I was, oh, 14 or so. We'll see if I can get Jeff to agree, maybe three times a charm. ;)  We're still open for ideas!!

Tave's Birthday Celebration!!

We started the tradition of taking each child on a date with us for their birthday. That's when they pick their birthday gift and they get to choose something special and fun to do with us.

We brought Tave to Toys R Us to pick out a tricycle!! He was SO excited and loved sitting on each and every one. (The one we bought had to be assembled so there aren't pics yet...)

After the toy store, we let him choose if he wanted to get an ice cream cone or pretzel bites. My kiddos LOVE pretzel bites, so of course, that's where he wanted to go. He was adorable and kept dancing and running around while we all snacked on our treat. Everyone at the mall kept stopping to watch him perform. What a ham!

We had tons of fun and loved spending one on one time with our 2 year old!

After our date, we headed back to Shar & Trav's for a little celebration. We are doing a Ninja Turtle birthday party for both boys (which they are beyond excited for) but Tave also insisted on frogs. So we whipped up these cute and simple cupcakes for his birthday shindig. He got to open one gift (because Aunt Shar really wanted him to get something on his actual birthday!)

It was a perfect wrap up to a special day.

We LOVE our Tave-man!

ps. these cupcakes were a hit : the frogs are little stickers that I taped to a toothpick. Simple, easy, and each kiddo got to wear it the rest of the day. Perfect.

Happy Happy Birthday Tave!!

This little guy has stolen our hearts and filled us with so much love and happiness.

Our family is even better because he is a part of it.

Brand New:

6 months:


1 year old:


2 years old!!!!

Tave's Highlights from his 2nd year:

Started talking! and talking and talking and talking!

Finally hit 20 lbs!

Faces forward in his carseat now! He loves it and loves chatting with brother now while we drive!

Learned how to run and jump.

He is a daredevil- he tries anything he sees big brother West doing.

Has also received many bumps and bruises as a result of the above!

ADORES his big brother.

Being outside is his very very favorite place.

He absolutely must have his little snuggle blankies & still sucks on his first two fingers.

Has grown all of his teeth (except molars)

Enjoys singing and dancing.

Loves watching Diego and Dora.

Started drinking milk just in the past month. YAY!

Still can cry louder than anyone I have ever heard (and can throw some great tantrums as a result)

Is sweet, sweet, sweet and is a fabulous cuddler and snuggler. He LOVES to snuggle.

He makes us laugh all the time and does things just to be silly.

Can count to 5 and say most of the ABC's. (with some help)

Loves making animal sounds.

LOOOVES hide and seek.

Tells us "I love you" all the time. (Always the best moments)

Favorites: cereal, cantelope, muffins, cereal, chocolate milk, pizza, popsicles, apples, sometimes yogurt (yes, he's still a picky eater), Dora & Diego, anything outside, baths and water, anything his brother has or is doing, mom & dad, balls, etc.

Happy Birthday to our sweet Tave.

The past 2 years have been our best ever, because you are here. You are such a fun, sweet boy and we love watching you learn and grow.

We love you,

Mom, Dad, & Weston

Mother's Day

I am so blessed to be a Mom.

Jeff and the boys were so sweet to me this Mother's Day. We combined our Mother's Day/Father's Day/Graduation gifts and here is what we came up with:

Yup, a Bosch and Wheat grinder! We are SO thrilled. Seriously, we are. And believe it or not, Jeff is the one who really really wanted this for Graduation!

So, homemade bread, here we come!!!

Preschool Field Trip/Graduation

This past year I've participated in joyschool with Weston. I love all of these awesome moms and Weston LOVES his little friends. We had a fabulous school year together and ended it with a fun field trip to the park. Sharla gave each kiddo their graduation certificate and then a fun cape.

We had tons of fun and can't believe summer is already here!

Girls Weekend in Texas!!

I LOVED my little weekend getaway. It was such a wonderful break from life and reality and yes, being a mom. (even though we all talked about our kiddos non-stop!) I sure missed my guys but this weekend was just what I needed to feel renewed and ready for the summer ahead. A huge THANK YOU to my hubby for giving me an entire weekend to myself.

I don't even know how to say just how much I love these women.

I truly feel blessed to have married into such an incredible family.

My mother in law is absolutely fantastic and my sister in laws have become two of my very best friends. I will just leave it at that so I don't cry from missing them.

Best parts of the weekend:

DeLiCiOuS food. Mmmmm...my mouth is watering thinking about it.

Adorable little shops.

Exchanging gifts.

Walking and talking and laughing and talking some more.

Learning more about each other.

Texas wild flowers.

Road trip fun.

and did I mention the food?!

All of us ladies:

Mom (Jeanne), Gramma Hillegass, Aunt Betsy and Aunt Pat,

Cynthia, Erin, Amy, Amanda, and Me.

Perfect trip.

(I am so sad I didn't get any pictures with the Drysdale guys or Guy & Sharon at our Sunday dinner. But we had a delicious dinner that Dad prepared for us when we got home. It was tons of fun!)

My last day was SO fun. I got to soak up as much of these smiling, adorable, and sweet little kiddos as I could. It was a little weird not having my own guys with me to keep an eye on, but I loved every minute of loving on these cuties. I can't wait to see all the cousins together!! (sooner than later!)

April's Favorite Faces!

Weston:

This kid cracks me up in so many ways! We just can't get enough of his sense of humor and his story telling. He doesn't love pictures, so we usually get this silly grin. We sure love you, West!

Tave:

OH man, can he make us laugh. He does love hamming it up for the camera, so we'll usually get this cheesy smile. And ps. the overalls were him. ALL him!

Best Brothers:

I just can't say enough how much we love watching these boys together. They truly are becoming best little buds. They have so much fun (amidst the fighting) together and really do love each other. My favorite favorite thing to hear is these two saying they love each other. These are the sweetest, best moments of my day.

Happy Birthday Syanne!

Our cute niece, Syanne, turned 4!

We got to watch her that day, so we had a little party at our house and then went up to Shar's to celebrate again. The boys just love hanging out with her, she is such a hoot!

We love you Syanne!

Graduation Weekend Finale

Once graduation was done, we were able to relax and just enjoy the time together.

Some highlights were:

Graduation (of course)

Celebrating with the family (mine & Jeff's)

Watching the boys absolutely bask in Grandma & Grandpa's attention. They LOVED it!!

Having no set schedule, just relaxing

Watching the guys enjoy the new grad. gift

Talking, talking, talking with mom and enjoying a few hours of girl time

Walks outside when it wasn't raining

Eating at Brick Oven & Cafe Rio. Mmmm....I love food

Our traditional BYU bookstore trip

Time with all of the Grandparents who came to visit

A date with Mom, Dad, Grandpa Joe, Grandma Dean, & Jonathan

The entire weekend was just perfect-

We couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate Jeff's graduation!

(unless of course ALL of the family could have been here!)

Uncle Johnny is always good for some wrestling and play-time. We are really missing him this summer now that he is back in Texas, but we had a great weekend with him before he left and got to play with him a ton:

Thank, Jonathan for always entertaining the kiddos!

Graduation!!!!!

- Congratulations Jeff -

Thank you for all the hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and love that you put into these past two years.

Not only did you earn your Master's Degree, you also earned (many times over) even more respect and admiration from your wife. You continually put our family first and made our happiness your priority. We couldn't be more proud of you and we LOVE you more than we can say!

We feel like it was all four of us graduating-

to more learning together, more laughs together, and more quality family time!

YAY, we're done!!! (for now)

The graduation ceremony was so wonderful. We loved all of the speakers and the boys did FABULOUS!! It was so great to see Jeff walk across the stage, I just love that moment!

Afterwards we had a graduation celebration with all of our family in town. We had delicious sandwhiches and just enjoyed being together.

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support over the last 2 years. We couldn't have made it without all of your shoulders to lean on. :)

GO BYU!

ZOO Time!

Jeff's parents came in town for his graduation and we had an AWESOME time!!

It really was one of the most calm, laid back, and fun little vacations we've ever had with them. Jeff was able to take off Thursday and Friday, so we had an entire four days to play and enjoy. The boys were absolutely wonderful and LOVED spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.
Thanks, mom & dad for such a fantastic time together, we are SO glad you came!! We miss you!!!

The first thing we did was head to Utah's Hogle Zoo. It's always a favorite of the boys and we thought it would be nice to spend some time outside:

The playground was the boy's favorite part of the entire day. They were SO sad we had to leave (because all of the adults were freezing!) Next time we'll remember to come here first: