A trip down Memory Lane

Okay, so I'm a very sentimental person and I couldn't let this day go by without reminiscing on the events of last year. With little Michael's birthday quickly approaching, my heart has been filled with gratitude, not only for the last year of his life, but for the months preceding his birth! These pictures were taken one year ago today. (These are just a few of my favs, to see the whole post, click here.) I consider being pregnant one of my greatest blessings and some of the greatest months of my life! These pictures are a treasure to me! And there are no words to describe the love that I have for my sweet son! I am in absolute denial that he is almost 1, but can't wait for the many years ahead of joy that he will bring to our home!


P.S. I will just apologize ahead of time for taking everyone that actually reads my blog for a trip down memory lane, but this is our family journal, so I have to do it! :)

A family of five!

We've added another member to our family! Meet Miley! She's our new 11 week old black lab! My sister brought her to us from Idaho and she is the sweetest puppy! She has her moments of craziness, but she's really such a wonderful puppy! Matthew loves having her and does everything he can to take care of her! I have always wanted a dog and although we weren't planning to get one this quick, it seems to be working out really well! Scott didn't really grow up with dogs, but he's really good with her! We are hoping that she will be great buddies with our boys (and future kiddos) and hopefully be somewhat protective! I will update more pictures of Miley with the boys later, but here's an updated family picture (with neither of our boys looking)! Isn't my parents backyard beautiful? We are loving the East Coast fall!!!

My wonderful family!

My sisters and their hubbies were here visiting a couple weeks ago, so we took the opportunity to snap a picture of our whole family in normal clothes. It's really our first picture with everyone (besides all the grandchildren to come...)! It wasn't totally planned, but I think the picture turned out great! I absolutely love every single person in this picture! My parents are the absolute best...the made us an eternal family! They are such a wonderful support to all of us and gave us such a wonderful life! I feel so blessed that I was given such wonderful parents! My sisters are two of my best friends...I don't know what my life would be like without them! I am so proud of both of them and the lives they lead! Which brings me to my brothers...they are awesome! I love them both so much and I'm so grateful for them taking care of my sisters! My nephew (who you can't really see because he's still inside his mommy), but oh my goodness, I love this kid so much already! I can't wait to see him and snuggle him! My boys are going to love him so much! And of course my boys...they bring me such incredible joy and bless my life so much! They make me want to be a better person! I am humbled to be their mommy! And my best friend...Scott! Words could never describe how much I love him! He's my everything and my inspiration!

Families are forever...there's nothing better than that!

Silly Michael!

Michael is such a sweet, silly boy! He's so curious, he just wants to touch and explore everything! The kid has absolutely no fear which terrifies me! Here are a few pictures of our silly boy!



He sneezed right after I put a spoonful of food in his mouth. I couldn't pass up the picture because normally, he doesn't waste a drop of food on his face! (That face looks just like my dad!)

He loves the swing! Normally he's all giggles, but I guess his giggled himself right out! :)

The following pictures are just a glimpse into his curiosity! One day, he was walking around with my mom and discovered a stool in the bathroom downstairs. Despite my mom trying to distract him, he just had to climb it, so my mom helped him up. When he got to the top he discovered a sink! Wow, coolest thing! He just had to get in! We let him get in, but kept trying to distract him from playing with the faucet, but he just had to turn it on! So I just let him! When he discovered what happened, he immediately wanted it off. Then right back on! So I took all his clothes off and he had a ball! It was actually really fun...and super cute! I love my curious boy!

Toy Story 3 again!

Matthew has a great buddy in our ward here that we get together with as often as we can. There was a discount theater that was showing Toy Story 3, so we all went and saw it together. The boys did great and had so much fun! Michael didn't share in the joy, but did actually pretty good for a 10 month old!

We love our Granan!

Our boys love my mom who Matthew named "Granan". I love watching them together! I feel so blessed to live near her now! Thanks for all you do mom!

Going to the Orchard Day 2-Family Pumpkin Picking

On our family trip to the Orchard, we took a hayride out to a big field full of pumpkins. For some

reason, the only picture I got of us on the hayride is this one (which actually turned out kind of
cool, even though Scott and I are the only looking):


When we got out there, we attempted a picture of the boys in all the pumpkins.

All the pumpkins were huge, but we found a small patch off the the side that had smaller pumpkins that Matthew could actually carry, so we let him pick one of those.



Michael found the pumpkins very interesting, but we did actually get a picture of him smiling.

And the boys LOVED playing on the tractor. Michael couldn't wait to get on there
with Matthew. It was so cute!




What a fun day together!

Going to the Orchard Day 1-Apple Picking!

I took the boys one day earlier this month to go apple picking at an Orchard that I use to go to
when I was little! Matthew had so much fun picking apples and running around all the trees. It
was so much fun! We missed Daddy that day, but brought him back another day.


Michael wasn't so sure about the apples!

One year ago today...

Tonight my heart is so full of gratitude! I wish that one year ago, I could have seen this picture! It was one year ago tonight, that I went into active labor with my sweet Michael! Everyday, I am grateful that I have this little boy because there were many days that I worried that I wouldn't get to hold him and cuddle him and watch him grow! The next 6 weeks were a roller coaster, but oh my goodness, I would do it all over again a million times because the sacrifice never would come close to the blessing that he is in my life and in our family! Words could never express how much I love this angel! Just looking at him brings me unexplainable joy! I think that going through all of that with him, created such an amazing bond! His life has not been free of challenges, but you would never know it by looking at him. Just about everyone is amazed by his happiness. Michael has such a love of life! He just loves everything around him...he just soaks everything in and is happy doing just about anything! He adores his brother! Watching them together brings me so much joy! I cannot imagine our lives without him and will be grateful everyday for the joy this little man brings to our home! Robert Michael, I love you so much!

Watch out world...here he comes!

Michael started doing the same army crawl that Matthew did on Friday. He's not quite as fast as Matthew was yet and Michael actually uses his arms more, but it's so funny that it's basically the same! They even use the same foot! :) It was exciting because Scott was actually working from home that day, so he got to see him doing it! It will definitely change our lives a lot, but I'm so excited because he's so excited! He's been watching his big brother go and wants to bad to keep up with him! I didn't want him to start moving, but now that he is a little, it's so fun! I love my boys so much and I know they will just have that much more fun together when Michael can keep up with Matthew! You can hear Matthew at the end cheering Michael on...I love them SO MUCH!

Check it out:

Standing Man!

Michael has been a little slow in some development milestones. For example, he just started really sitting up about a month and a half ago. I think he could have done it sooner, he was just being lazy, but in the last week, he's really started moving! He started army crawling on Saturday and then today I put him down for a nap and I thought he was asleep, but decided just to check. And this is what I found....

It totally shocked me because I was not expecting to see him standing! He (as you can clearly see in the picture) was totally thrilled! I guess it's time to lower the mattress all the way! Scott, now you know what you are doing when you get home tonight! :)

Where did my baby go?!?! He's just getting way too big, way too fast! But absolutely LOVE watching him grow and learn new things! Being a mom is the best job in the whole world!

Please pray for my sweet Ben

Those of you that know me really well, know that I use to babysit for a family that has 6 boys. Before I had my boys, I loved them more than anything! Their mom was my young women leader and is now one of my best friends and we keep in close contact. One of their sons, Ben, is in the pediatric intensive care unit in Colorado. The doctors are still a little unsure of exactly what's going on, but believe he has kawasaki disease. Kawasaki disease is a rare condition in children that involves inflammation of the blood vessels. He has been through a lot this week, test after test and started to do better, but is still struggling. My heart is breaking for him and for his family!
I know that many of you don't know him at all, but please keep him in your prayers. He is 9 years old and is in desperate need of your prayers.

Matthew's first day of preschool!

Today was Matthew's first day of preschool and he was SO excited! This morning, before preschool, he was playing school with his cars. He kept reassuring them that he would be back and they would have fun at school! It was so cute! He's been a little nervous, but last week, we went and met his teacher and saw his classroom and today, he was just ready to go! He's usually such a mama's boy, so I figured that he would have some separation problem, but he marched in there, put his backpack on his hook, came and gave me a quick hug, took his name off the board and he was off! I blew him a kiss and he blew me one back (thank goodness...I'm not looking forward to the day when he doesn't want to kiss me or blow me kisses!) I was a very proud mommy walking out! Michael was very confused! Either he couldn't figure out why his buddy wasn't coming with us or because he was confused why he didn't get to go play too!

Gotta love the choke hold! :) Can you tell how excited Matthew is?

He had a great day! He told me about everything! I was amazed at all the little details he remembered! Even though he's growing too fast, I'm so proud of who he is and who he's becoming! I am a very blessed mommy!

I love this boy!

I love this picture! It's one of those pictures that when I look at it, I can actually feel his sweet arms around me! Matthew is the sweetest son a mom could ask for! He likes to tease me by saying, "Mom, I'm getting bigger!" and then I beg him not to! He thinks it hilarious, but it's true! I wish he could stay this small forever...you know, small enough where he wants to hug and kiss me, snuggle with him in bed, read books to him and sing to him! It's already going to quickly! He's definitely already a little too smart for his own good! But watching him grow is amazing...he gets sweeter and cuter everyday!

Our cute boys!

This video is so cute! When we went grocery shopping, Michael wanted to be a big boy like his brother and sit in the car of the shopping cart! I really hate those cars because they are so nasty, but I wiped it down and let him sit with Matthew! It was so adorable! You can see in the video, Michael is looking at Matthew every once and awhile to make sure he doing it right! It's so cute! That's pretty much like everyday...he constantly watching Matthew! I love these boys so, so, so much! They are awesome!

What our little/big Matty has been up to!

I can't believe what a little man our Matty is! He has been up to a lot of fun things this summer, so I thought I would share! (This goes back a while since I have been awful at updating lately!)


What a stud muffin! He is just as sweet as ever!


Of course, we went to see Toy Story 3 opening weekend! We got more use out of Matthew's Buzz Lightyear costume and let him wear it to the movie! My dad came with us and Michael got a day with Granan! Although, Matthew was not so thrilled about Michael not coming!



Matthew was in baseball for a few weeks this spring! He had so much fun! The coaches kept calling him "Matt" which he wasn't so sure about. He told me on the way home one day, "Those coaches keep calling me Matt!" I asked him if that was okay, and he said, "I guess." At least he knew who they were talking to, usually if someone calls him that, he just assumes they are talking to someone else! :) He's quite the little baseball star! He'll probably do baseball this fall, but has decided he also wants to play basketball! I'm a busy mom and I love it!

We are now pursing Matthew's dream to play hockey. As soon as we moved here, I started looking for ice skating lessons, but he had to be 3 and a half. So the Wednesday after he turned 3 and a half, he was in lessons! He fell a lot the first week! I was worried he wasn't going to want to go back, but he's a determined little kid! He had a blast even when he fell a lot! He struggled the most with standing up after he fell, but on the 2nd lesson, he was really getting it! He's starting to get quick on the ice too! He has to take ice skating for 8 weeks and then they will put him in hockey, but I'm not allowed to call it ice skating, I have to call it hockey! He's very excited! Check out these videos:



So this first video is so funny because his teacher asked them to skate around the animal. She meant for them to spread their legs and go around it, but didn't clarify, so you can see Matthew skate around it! Then she shows him how to do it right! It was so funny! But in Matthew's defense, she did tell him to skate around it! :)



Here is one of Matthew standing up! It made me so sad the first class when he tried and tried and couldn't do it! Michael and I did a little dance when he did it! Matthew was very proud for himself!

More updates later...and I have a good excuse for not blogging! (I'll leave you in suspense!)

Meet my new brother!!!

I can't believe it, but my baby sister is getting married! (That makes me feel old!) But the upside of that is that our family is complete (beside nieces and nephews...hint hint to both my sisters!) I always wanted to have a brother and now I have 2 and I love them both! They both add so much to our family and I'm so grateful that they take care of my sisters! Miles is absolutely perfect for Chelsey! He really compliments her and is willing to do anything for her! Every picture shoot (which is a lot) he is right by her side, ready and willing to help! I was worried that he would think our family was weird when he first met us, but he fits right in! hehe :) I haven't been able to spend as much time with Miles as I would like to, but I love him and appreciate everything he does for my sister! Robby just completed Nikki from the moment they met! It was like a piece of her that was missing was there! I could feel that from the first time she told me about him! He loves her goofiness and even makes her laugh! I can see how much he loves Nikki and I love him for that! I can't wait to get to know him better! My sisters and I are best friends and it makes me SO sad that I can't see them whenever I want to! I absolutely love my sisters! I always felt a great responsibility to take care of them and to be there for them, so I am so, so grateful that both of them chose such great guys to spend eternity with!

WARNING: Too cute for words!!!!!

I took Michael to get his 6 month pictures taken yesterday (I know...6 months already!) and oh my gosh...they turned out so cute! This age is the easiest to take pictures because he doesn't move and will smile at anyone! He really looks like he's sitting up, but I had to keep catching him because he kept falling over! :) It was really hard for him to concentrate on sitting up and smiling at the same time! It was cute though! Check them out:

My favorite! (It was really hard to pick a favorite!)




This is the very special bear that Matthew made for Michael!



He's SO fun! And such a sweetheart...he melts my heart!
I really can't believe he's my son...oh my gosh I love him so much!