My Brother the Senior!

One of the main reasons for my trip to Minnesota was to take my little brothers Senior pictures. Look who is all grown up and graduating!! See more here

Minnesota

The boys and I were able to spend 10 days in Minnesota this month. My sister and brother have both moved there to go to school so the whole family was there at the same time. Minus Riley who stayed home to work (lame)!! We had lots of fun in the cooler weather visiting relatives, playing at the park, and going to an apple orchard and fall festival.

I think Grandma Sherl had the most fun doing this . . .

I did a couple photo shoots while there so my limited computer time has been taken up with editing photos. I will continue updates from our fun trip as soon as I get done with those.

Two year pictures

See more here

First day of school! First day of school!

Somehow Haydn is old enough to go to preschool.  I honestly don't know how this happened.  He is growing up too fast!  I went to get him some school stuff and discovered he is no longer in the toddler section for clothes.  Too many changes all at once if you ask me.  We found a really nice preschool not very far from our house that came highly recommended.  It is run by the Methodist church so they even bless their snacks and talk about Jesus.  Riley gave him a fathers blessing last night and on the way to drop him off I was giving the typical mom talk about listening to your teacher and being nice to all the kids.  I told him when he sat down next to someone to tell them his name was Haydn and ask them what their name was.  When we arrived I was signing him in when a little boy came up behind us and Haydn said, "Hi, my name is Haydn.  What's your's?"  After he told him Haydn follows with, "It's nice to meet you." Since the tears have been close to the surface all day I about lost it right there.  We went to his class room and after he discovered where to put his backpack there was no looking back.  I did manage to get a few more pictures before I got the ok mom you can go now look.

After school we went to lunch at Chick-fil-a so he could tell me all about it.  Preschool is definitely a hit and he wants to go again and again and again!

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated our 8 year anniversary August 16th!  Colby and Jessica were kind enough to offer to watch the boys so Riley and I could enjoy a rare night out.  Being 6 months pregnant doesn't leave me with much energy for night life, but we decided on dinner at the Melting Pot and had a fabulous time.

Riley had called ahead and arranged a private booth with flowers.  They also took our picture and gave it to us in a frame and sent us home with do-it-yourself chocolate fondue.  Any place that gives you a giant bowl of melted cheese is high on my list, so of course the food was fabulous.  The 2-hour dinner flew by and it was nice to enjoy a meal with my sweetie without worrying about Taite catapulting out of the high chair or Haydn eating his food.

We think the boys had a pretty good time too considering a few of the pictures Jessica took.

No more boxes!!

That is it the last two boxes to leave our new house.  The trampoline and play house are put back together.  The garage is organized.  I even hung up all my clothes.

We are starting to feel more at home now that pictures are getting hung and rooms are being completed.  Seeing the list of projects get smaller is also a relief.  Now we will have more time to play!  

hoodie towels

While my mom was here she helped me make these cute hoodie towels for the boys.  The boys love to wrap up in them after a bath or give their best Obi-Wan Kenobi impression.  They were pretty easy to make, especially since I didn't attempt any of the sewing.  I used plain white towels, but the possibilities are endless and would make a super affordable gift.

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/11/29/hooded-towel-tutorial/

It's a . . .

BOY !!!

My new doctor here in Scottsdale sent me to a neonatologist for a complete and detailed ultrasound last week and we finally got the confirmation on the sex of the baby that we had been feeling all along.

This was my fourth ultrasound in three weeks and 4 previous people had said they thought this baby was a girl.   Now nothing against girls, but I have had the strongest feeling ever since I was pregnant with Taite that there was one more boy waiting to be added to our family.  I've had these thoughts and feelings with me for over 2 years now, so to have someone repeatedly tell you the opposite takes a minute for your head to wrap around the whole situation.  I was never able to accept what the doctor, nurse, or technician was telling me because it never felt right.  

The appointment with the neonatologist was pretty long and they were checking lots of other things, before she finally asked us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby.  We said yes, of course and she let us know that it was a boy.  Riley gasped and I thought she was joking, but after several repeat checks he was still a boy.  The one thing I noticed about this appointment that was different for me was how calm I was.  You would think having to be sent to a specialist in light of all the complications I had been having I would have been a little nervous, but I was completely calm the entire time.  I had Riley and the boys there with me and it was a wonderful experience to learn and know together the future of our family.

The other wonderful news it that everything looks great with the baby and me!  My placenta has moved and is now 2 cm away from my cervix.  Amazing!  The masses that they weren't sure what they were are either cysts or fibroids, both very common with repeat pregnancies.

* Warning: partial nudity ahead

Oh the birthday boy!!

Yesterday, August 4th, our little Taiter-D turned 2!!  I absolutely love celebrating birthdays and really try to make them special, so when August rolled around I had never felt more unprepared for a birthday.  I had no ideas for presents and no plan for celebrating.  We came up with the idea to have a bbq and let the boys play in the sprinklers out back.  Sounds like a fun, simple, summer party, but there were a few holes in our plan.  We had sold our old gas bbq before moving and had decided we were going to get a new charcoal one, but hadn't done that yet.  Ok so Riley is in charge of picking up the grill and I will order the cake.

The morning of August 4th - no grill had been bought and no cake had been ordered!  Panic started to set in.  After racing around all morning to clean the house and get the kids down for naps so they could party that evening, I was finally headed to the grocery store at 4:30.  Riley left to buy the grill at 5:30.  Colby and Jessica arrived at 6:00 expecting a birthday party.  What they got was a long wait to eat. 

Luckily the boys had a blast playing in the sprinkler ball on the trampoline while we all cooked.  The party ended up being a lot of fun.  We played, ate, opened presents, sang, and ate again!

Does anyone know why the candles made that reflection? 

 We got him a sand box for the back yard and this is what I woke up to the next morning.  I think he likes it.

A few things we love about our Taite

• He is the life of the party.  
• He is always going and doing.  
• He makes us laugh every day.
• He LoVeS animals.
• He has started to sing or mostly hum with a few words tossed in.  His favorites are ABC's, and wheels on the bus.  This week he started singing "Happy to you, Happy to you"   So cute!
• When it is time to say prayers at night he ALWAYS gets off his bed and kneels and folds his arms.  He is usually the first one 'in position' to pray waiting for the rest of us.

We love you little man!

Grandma Sherl came to visit!

My mom braved the hot Arizona July heat and came out to visit the boys and maybe Riley and I.  It was perfect timing because it was the week before Riley took the Arizona bar and he was MIA most of the time.  We were even able to talk her into extending her trip a few days once we found out Riley had to take the bar in Tuscon, 2 hours away, so I didn't have to be left all alone.  Thanks again Mom!!

Despite the heat we kept ourselves pretty busy going to the park, splash pad, feeding ducks, swimming, going to the temple, exploring a new city and hanging out at home.  We even took the boys to a Diamondbacks baseball game followed by a fireworks show!