35 Weeks

I haven't been so great with documenting  this pregnancy. But I have taken one photo of each trimester...so here is the 3rd Trimester! We're in the home stretch, wahoo!!!

I can't believe this little guy will be here in 5 weeks. CraZy I tell you!

I am feeling okay.  This trimester has been a bit harder, I am not trying to complain, just documenting what it really was like. I am tired. ALL of the time. And I have some weird leg pains and stomach pains. But all of that is 'normal' especially with your 4th pregnancy I guess!  I have been having braxton hicks contractions since about week 20, so by now I'm pretty tired of them. Literally. They exhaust me!  But then again, it could just be chasing around 3 very active boys!

Other than the constant fatigue and aches and pains, it truly has been a great pregnancy. I am so blessed to have a strong and healthy body that really does well while I'm expecting. I love feeling this little guy move and kick, it is a great reminder of the life that is growing inside of me.  I know that all of this will be worth having him in my arms and I can't wait!  

We have been pretty busy lately, so the last few weeks have flown by. I haven't done too much to prepare for his arrival yet. I still have to unpack the baby clothes/items, wash everything, clean the entire house, get the infant carseat out of storage and cleaned, vacuum the car, pack hospital bags, make some freezer meals,  type out a schedule for whoever watches the boys, throw Tave his 4th birthday party, get a pedicure, get my hair done, and finally choose his name (we're pretty close, but just can't decide for sure)! 

And oh yeah, all that other daily stuff that has to happen in a home.

Whew, I guess I better get going!

I did finish a couple things for baby boy.

First, I finally picked a layout and fabrics for his quilt (that my mom is making)

I am so in love with this color scheme, it's what we'll be doing for his nursery:

And I crocheted him this lovely baby blanket. I fell in love with the pattern and had to try it out. It was so fun crocheting it each night and knowing I would be snuggling my sweet little man in it:

If anyone wants to give it a go, I definitely learned a few things along the way and tweaked the pattern a teeny bit. So I can post the info if you want! It's so soft!!!

So baby boy, we are thrilled for you to get here, but have a few more things to get done, so hold off on coming too early, k.  Love, mommy.

Uncle Mckenon's Visit!!

My little bro. came out for a quick visit. He was able to stay with Shawn & Abby for one night, us for one night, and then Chels & the kids for one night. It was fun to hang out and spend some one on one time with him. The boys LOVE their uncles and aunts.  

Building animals with the trios:

We had a picnic at the duck pond park. The boys loved it, even though the ducks were too full to eat any of our bread!

Thanks for visiting Mckenon, we can't wait to hang out again!!

Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter. 

It was so good to spend time together.

Since we were going up to Roy, UT to spend time with Jeff's grandparents who were in town

 we woke up early to go to a 9 am Sacrament Meeting before we left. 

We talked to the boys before Church about what Easter really is about: our Savior, resurrection, and new life. We gave them some New Testament finger puppets and their own picture book about Jesus that Jeff and I had put together the night before.  They really loved it and it was great to start Easter off in the right spirit.

The sacrament we attended was a beautiful meeting full of music and the spirit. I love how music can lift and heal us. It was perfect way to celebrate the Savior.  (afterwards we had a hard time getting out because so many people thought we were new to the ward!  They were so friendly, what a great example of how we all should welcome newcomers.)

We tried to get a few pics of the boys in their Easter best...Ryder would have none of it, he kept trying to run away. Tave &  West were such good sports and helped as much as they could!

I sure love these boys:

After the craziness of trying to take one all together (I have about 20 more failed pics) I decided to take individuals on the stairs. That's when Ryder decided to go stand right next to the boys...so we grabbed an adorable group one. So much for planned pictures!

Our wild little Ryder:

Hilarious Tave:

Sweet, sweet West:

We had lunch and then went upstairs for quiet time. While we were there the Easter Bunny decided to visit. (He usually comes on Sat. to our house, but Jeff was gone all day so he came on Sun)

He left fun buckets and had hidden eggs all over. 

It was tons of fun:

We had a fantastic afternoon with Grandpa & Grandma Dean (who were visiting from Texas for the weekend).  We went to Bob & Susie's first and got to visit and hang out. Then we all headed over to the Butcher's for a fun bbq with the cousins.  I didn't take any pics, but it was so fun to see family that we haven't visited in way too long!  Grandpa & Dean always give us a good excuse to see everyone up north!!  

The kids had an absolute BLAST in Randy & Linda's incredible backyard. There were bikes to ride, treats to eat, an Easter egg hunt, and the best of all:  a trampoline!!  We had so much fun!

Grandpa spoiling the boys with treats!

It truly was a beautiful day that made us so thankful for our family.

We love our Savior and are incredibly grateful to have Him in our lives, and to know that because of Him, we can be a family forever. 

Conference Weekend

We love Conference Weekend. We look forward to it the entire 6 months until it comes again.  

Jeff and I have a pretty good rotating system so we each get to listen/watch while one is in charge of kids and then we swap. It's so nice to hear our modern day Prophet & Apostles speak to us. We always come away uplifted and enlightened and determined to be better. 

This year was fun because the boys got really excited for it too. The older ones did really well, Ryder, well, he's Ryder. :)  busy busy boy! 

We did our traditional tent and fort set up.

And lots of coloring, drawing, puzzles, and quiet activities. 

Yummy breakfasts both days (muffins & fruit on Sat. monkey bread & fruit on Sun) always help to pass the time for the kids.

And of course, it all comes down to wrestling time with dad. (not the most reverent, but that's how it goes down at our house!)

The best part of the weekend was Jeff taking a break to have a family/conference filled weekend.

It was awesome!

March's Everyday Moments

March is usually one of the longest months for me. There are no holidays off and the winter is usually draaaaaggging it's feet in going away. 

But this March was pretty fun! We got out a lot due to the lack of snow and I just love my crazy guys!

This is what they look like when Jeff gets home, since he doesn't come home every night before they are asleep, they get super excited when he is here:

My little gq men, trying on my glasses:

Ryder has recently discovered the boys underwear drawers. He loves to wear them over his diaper and insists on it almost every day:

This month marked a new routine that Ryder came up with on his own...

One morning I went to get him out of his bed when he woke up. However, he would have none of it! He wanted to stay in his bed and he wanted something to do. So I stuck a huge pile of books in there with him and left the room. I didn't hear from him for another 30 minutes. AWESOME!!  

It has since evolved into Tave (our earliest riser) running into Ryder's room the minute he hears a peep. He throws books, toys, games, in the crib with Ryder and they hang out and play together for anywhere from 15-45 minutes. It is so cute and adorable. 

I walked in one morning to find Tave reading Ryder his favorite book:

Ryder loves doing what we do. So naturally, when he saw my hair in a towel, he had to have it too:

LOVE this boy:

Excuse ALL the Ryder pics, the older boys just don't like posing for me anymore and usually run away!!

Ryder loves his batman shirt and can actually say batman!!  He also loves the boys underwear. He wore this for an entire day...classy I know:

My three sweet boys all snuggled up with popcorn and a show. This is how we get through evenings without daddy:

Yay for March, April coming soon!!!

Superhero Week!

Tave has been requesting a super hero week at school. Typically we try to stick to educational themes...but I couldn't say no, he was just too excited. Aaaand, he's only three, so no biggie.

It was a hit (since there are 3 boys and 1 girl in the class, Hailey was a trooper and played along)!!

Each child got to pick the super hero they wanted to create and then I drew them on our rolls and the kiddos colored them.  Tave still has his batman!

I might have had to help a little...these kids LOVE their play time together. Spiderman is completely colored by Noah, though. Impressive, huh!

During part of our super hero training we had to save the good guys from Mr. Freeze:

It was definitely the favorite activity of the week!

Then we had to knock over the villians with a ball (like bowling):

We also did some super hero packets and talked about being super heroes every day by serving others and doing something kind.  

The kiddos earned their masks at the end of the week:

It was a SUPER week!!!