September

I really don't know where the time has gone. We have been so busy around here and I just haven't taken pictures much. September was full of school for West & Jeff, preschool for Tave, play time outside, and just getting used to our new schedule.  The boys all LOVE being outside so that is where we spend a LOT of time.  

Weston & Tave had a few weeks of 'horse' play. They loved riding these horses and pretending to be horses. It was pretty funny, especially when Tave would talk to us in neighs...hahaha. I love these boys:

Ryder absolutely LOVES outside. And he has claimed Tave's trike as his own. We spent many many hours on this:

Ryder has also started thinking dress up stuff is cool. It's fun to see him put stuff on and actually leave it there:

Sep 13th

We went up to Salt Lake to visit Chelsea & the kiddos.
Our boys sure love their cousins:

I didn't get a lot of pictures of the bigger kids because they were too busy running around together to stop for a photo. But the littles sure were cute together, they had so much fun getting into mischief:

Cute Aydrien:

And me & Chels:

 We had so much fun.
Weston asked me afterwards why we don't get to live close to our cousins. He was so sad and it made me sad, too. I will have to be better about driving the hour to get up there since they are the only cousins we have close by. We sure miss our far-away family!

Sep 15th

We found out we were expecting Baby #4!!  Jeff and I have always taken the tests together, but this time I took it by myself in the morning. I wanted to tell him in a fun, creative way...however, I didn't make it to the store that day and couldn't keep it in. So dinner became an easy way to get the message across. It was pretty funny when he looked down at the plate to find this:

Chelsea had her own Baby #4 on September 18th. We got to watch Reverie for 2 days while they were in the hospital. We really had so much fun with her. The boys absolutely adored her and she didn't cry the ENTIRE two days until I set her down to take a picture with the boys the morning we were taking her home. Seriously, this was NOT indicative of the time she spent with us: 

The boys LOVED having a little girl in the house. It was a lot of fun but SUPER busy, too. Since she and Ryder are only 10 days apart in age, they sure kept me on my toes!

And here is our newest, sweet little niece:  

Tanneah Wyanet

Born September 18, 2011

7 lbs 15 oz

21.5 inches long

Ryder came with me to visit them in the hospital and he loved the new playground. He was so fun!

Whew, there is September in a nutshell!

August Moments

We had a whirlwind of a summer. It was just so FULL.  Because of that, I kind of chilled on the picture taking come August.   We really tried to enjoy our relaxing time with Jeff before he began the doctorate program in the fall.  And we had some really fun, everyday moments with the kids.

I just love each stage that the boys are in. 

Weston is my sensitive soul. He is constantly making sure everyone is okay and that his brothers are well taken care of. He sure is a great older brother and such a big help to me.

Tave has discovered his funny side. He used to not like being funny, now it is goal to make everyone laugh. (or so it would seem) He is my little snuggle bug and is so sweet.  And he absolutely LOVES pretend play and roleplay.

Ryder is our adventurous guy.  He wants to do what everyone else is doing and is SO curious about life. His laugh brings so much joy into our home, we all live to make him smile!!

I feel so incredibly lucky to be a mom to three sweet and wonderful boys. 

They make my life perfect.

Here's what our August looked like:

I taught the boys how to make their own beds.  Weston has been doing this for awhile but Tave has not. So we got him in on the action. He LOVES it and is so proud of himself.  

This was the first time he made his bed without ANY help from me. He wanted to make sure I got a picture of it:

And cute Weston has been so good at this chore:

Weston has been my stuffed animal guy from the beginning. He just loves snuggling with soft things and he adores each of his special stuffed animals:

 I thought this was too cute... since learning how to make his bed, Tave has really gotten into putting each of his animals in it's right spot:

and Weston just throws them all on wherever they land:

We called Grandpa one day to talk. They sure love their Grandpa:

West came running in the room one morning to show me how he got dressed:

Ryder's birthday was fun this year, every few weeks he'd get a little something in the mail from someone else. This gift was from my parents. All the boys love it and it's a huge hit when neighbors come to play:

Ryder's top four teeth started coming through:

Our little guy absolutely LOVES the bathroom (gross I KNOW!) It is his favorite place to sneak to when he thinks no one is looking:

And this is why - he pulls off ALL the toilet paper in the 10 seconds it takes for us to run in and grab him:

We spent a LOT of time outside playing, riding bikes, going on walks.  One night the boys thought it would be great to give Ryder a ride, despite his face, he LOVED it:

We've gotten in on a babysitting swap with some other families. It's AWESOME to go on dates regularly. Because of how busy the summer is, we've only had all the kids one time. This night was a fun night with Cooper & Noah. The boys all crashed in the lovesak to watch a movie. (Tave wasn't being left out, he insisted on the brown chair!) Oh these boys are so fun together!

It was an awesome August!!

Ryder's Quilt!

My mom makes each of the grandkids a quilt. I had picked out the fabric, found a couple patterns that I thought were cool and with that as a guide, my mom and I came up with a quilt that is just perfect for our little guy.  When I picked the Michael Miller guitar fabric back before Ryder was born, I had no idea how much he would love music. But love it, he does. And it is oh so perfect for him now!!  

My mom sent the completed quilt and it was such a fun package to have him open. He immediately snuggled up with it, it is SO soft.  We have it in his room now and he loves laying on the minky side.

Thanks mom, it is an incredible quilt and we LOVE it!!

September & Ryder's big day!

Shawn & Abby came over for dinner and to hang out. It was a lot of fun to see them since things have been so busy with school.  

After dinner we headed outside

Ryder LOVES getting rides the wagon:

Uncle Shawn is always a blast:

Playing frisbee with dad, a favorite:

And we had to do some 'duck,duck, goose':

The boys just got their Halloween costumes and insisted on showing them off:

And Ryder's big news:

He FINALLY decided that walking by himself was cool. He falls down quite a bit, but thinks he is the best thing ever. We pretty much agree! Yay, Ryder for walking!!

(ps, I was here that night, I took all the photos!)

Seven Peaks

Back in February we bought the Pass of all Passes. It got us into Trafalga and a bunch of other stuff that we never did. And Seven Peaks in the summer.

We've done a good job of going to Trafalga and had grand plans to go to Seven Peaks once a week during the entire summer. But you see all these posts I've been catching up on...so you see how CrAzY our summer was!  We did manage to go about 5 or 6 times. 

And we had a blast. The boys LOVED it!!  We went as a family, one or two times with Jonathan &  Rachel, one or two times with Shawn & Abby, met friends from out of town there, and then on our last day there we met up with our good friends, the Crossleys.
It was a blast!  We took Ryder most of the times we went, but one time Jeff took the boys and was able to take them on the slides. And they LOVED the slides. So Jeff made sure we got a sitter for our last time so that we could both enjoy the slides with the boys.  And we DID!  If you go right when it opens there is no wait, so we rode them about 8-10 times. I lost count. It was awesome.  

In all of our seven peaks trips, we never took a single picture. So we had to get one this last time:

 I'm not sure why Tave was crying, but he really truly loved going!

Our good friends. 

We had so much fun! 

Until next summer, Seven Peaks!

Tave's First Day of Preschool!

This kid loves to be just like his big brother. Last year was tough for him, watching Weston go to preschool and not being able to join in.  

This year, he was SO. EXCITED for his preschool to start. 

My sweet little Tave all ready for school. 

He insisted on this huge back pack, he loves it and I couldn't say no!

They were being SO silly, but I love these crazy guys and the laughter they bring into our home ever single day:

Showing off their Transformer backpacks (they had to match, after all!)

Tave was so ready to go to preschool. He said goodbye and didn't look back once.  He LOVED it and had a blast. Now he has to wait another day before getting to go again. Oh I love this kid!

Back to School!

Jeff and I decided to start a few back to school traditions.  The first was a back to school feast the night before school starts.  We thought we'd do something completely unexpected and different:  Banana Splits!

The boys thought this was super cool. We did have to make sure to have a healthier snack before bed, but it was so fun to do something out of the norm.  We also picked a theme for our school year, one that we will work on as a family and incorporate into FHE's and other goals we are working on:

The boys were so adorable with their yummy banana splits:

And then the whole reason for our celebrating:

He LOVED his first day of kindergarten. No tears from either of us!  I gave him his pocket heart full of mom's love, he held my hand into the classroom, and gave me a hug and said goodbye.
He was so thrilled and happy to be there, I couldn't possibly be sad.  

I love this boy and how much we are learning together. I am so excited for this new adventure of his!!

Tave starts preschool tomorrow, we'll see how he does!