Happy Birthday Katerbug!

Today our spunky, beautiful, determined, happy Kate is TWO! I can hardly believe it. Kate adds so much love and life to our home and family. We love to watch her dance and chat away about everything. Her favorite thing to talk about...the color pink! How our hearts melt when she blows kisses and how we laugh when she joins in on the wrestling. Happy Birthday Katerbug! We love you!

My 29th Birthday...for the fourth time!

Here is a quick recap on my birthday last week...above you see the face that woke me up in the morning. I love that face...
As soon as Davis woke up he came and gave me a big hug and said, "I Know it's your birthday!" Like he had discovered and remembered some deep dark secret. Then the kids went to work...
First they helped Jed fix breakfast before he left for work...cereal and toast...YUM! Owen even remembered to put out our special birthday cup. Too bad nobody told him that it was really dusty and should have been washed out before he poured the juice...of course I just smiled and drank dusty juice...Gotta love it!
Then the kids set up game after game because they just knew that I would love to play games with them all morning. My favorite was Twister! Look at the previous post for a reminder of why this is humorous. Needless to say, I was the official spinner.

Jed's office had a special lunch for me and showered me with gifts...we have the world's greatest staff! Thank you to Erika for watching my kids so that I could go and be pampered.

In the evening we took the boys to see "Up". One of my favorite things to do is watch my kids and their excitement at the movies. Is there anything better than hearing them laugh out loud???? Thank you to Loretta for spoiling Kate during this time and making her feel special too.

Finally the night ended with cake and presents. Thank you to all of you who thought of me with emails, phone calls, cards, gifts, etc. I felt very loved!!! I love being 29...again. :)

Today's Up-Date

Today I went to the doctor and I am now dilated to a 2, although the baby is still a bit posterior. I am hoping to hold out until after Kate's birthday on Saturday and my mom arrives on Monday. Looks like that is a good possibility. We'll keep you posted. Gotta love the belly shot, eh? I promised a friend in my ward that I would get a good belly shot in at the end.

In other news...the kids are in swim lessons this week. I think we have three fish on our hands. Davis is suddenly fearless, which scares me to death, but they are making great progress. Gotta love the summer!!!

Happy Father's Day!

I just got off the phone with my Dad and have been thinking about how lucky I am to have such a great father myself and now such a great father for my children.

As I am entering the final days/weeks of my pregnancy there are so many emotions running through me...I am excited for this little life to come into our home, terrified that I won't be able to handle four little ones very well, apprehensive that our baby or I may have complications that we aren't prepared to deal with, sore from carrying around this extra _ _ pounds, and on and on. So, yesterday Jed was manning the fort and the natives, while I went out and ran some errands. On the way home I was thinking about Father's Day and how lucky I am. I had a thought that I don't think I have ever written down before. One thing that I love about Jed is that I have NEVER felt that he isn't totally proud to say that he is with me. It doesn't matter how crazy I am or how big I am or how sloppy I look (what can I say...if it is not comfortable, I am not wearing it these days) he is always totally accepting and loving toward me. Now the poor guy has to watch me in labor soon. Honestly I feel bad for him (I feel worse for me of course!). It must be hard to be so helpless. I am pretty sure he is going to have a legal document in the delivery room for me to sign stating that this IS our last baby.

So, there you have it...the random thoughts of me at almost 38 weeks...dilated to a one and 50% effaced...we'll keep you posted!

China and Hi Kitty

Two quick stories...

Today Davis' nose was pretty raw around his nostrils (um, yea we are going on 4 weeks of colds/coughs, on and off fevers etc....ugh!), so I put some aquafor around the edges of his nose and he threw a fit. Then he told me if I ever do that again he "is going to run away". I just had to document that today was the first time one of my babies threatened to run away...I know it will not be the last. I asked him where he would go and he said, "probably China". Ha!

After we got home from Jed's soccer game tonight Kate told me, "my foot hurt". I washed off her feet and looked for a sore or something, but couldn't see anything. Then she changed the subject or so I thought. She suddenly started to say, "hi kitty...hi kitty". I thought, "Okay, she wants to go say 'hi' to a kitty." Our neighbors have a kitty...she has a stuffed kitty...nope neither of those was the answer she was looking for...."You want to read a book about kitties?"...no, not it either. Then she grabbed my hand and started to pull me into the hall. Then I understood she wanted a "Hello Kitty" band aid for her "owie". After she had gone through so much to explain to me what she wanted, I relented and opened a band aid. I went to put it on her foot and she stuck out her arm..."Here," she smiled. Too cute. So now she sleeps with "Hi Kitty" on her arm and she is happy as a lark. Funny, funny.

Last month's family reuion

Disclaimer: Many of our friends who we adore live in Utah and I apologize for not letting any of you know that we were in the area. If you have ever lived far from family your understand how this works...we have every intention of seeing all of the people that we love, but when days are so greatly limited our family wins out...the good news is we will always be back before too long. Hopefully you can forgive us before you send out this years Christmas cards! That being said...

We are having trouble with our computer today (*#@!), so I am posting from Jed's work laptop and this is the only picture that I have to share at the moment, but I wanted to note a few things from our family reunion last month in UT. Jed's brother, Ryan, graduated with his bachelor's degree, so we thought that was as good of an excuse as any for a party! We also celebrated all ofd the kids birthdays while we were together and took the family picture posted above.

Other highlights included:
The guys dedicated a day to "brotherly bonding" with paintball, target shooting and Paul's ATV. Then the girls enjoyed Cafe Rio, shopping at IKEA and a late afternoon movie on our own day out the following day. It was really comical, as we were pulling out of the driveway, leaving all of the men with the kids, half of the kids were bawling, a real confirmation to me that us gals need to get out more often. Don't you think? The reality is, however, that the kids thoroughly enjoyed their time with the dads/uncles. Uncle Paul came up the idea that they would have the kids pick all of the dandelions in Grandma's yard and as an incentive would pay them 1 cent per "flower". When we came home Kate and Davis had each earned $1 and Owen had earned $5! Holy cow! Then they gave the kids pizza for lunch and built a bottle rocket out of a 2 liter bottle. The kids were in HEAVEN...way to show us up guys.

We also enjoyed family time at the park (once for dinner and another day for lunch while the dads were golfing).

We were grateful to see Jed's step-mom, Julie. and Jordan and Lyndee (by the way Jordan graduated from high school last week....YEAH JORDAN!).

One afternoon was spent at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point. This was something that both boys were really looking forward to, but Davis woke up throwing up that morning. Poor boy. He is still talking about how he is going to go there next time. Luckily the small dinosaur Jed brought him home did take a bit of the disappointment away.

More than anything the kids just loved playing with their cousins, grandma, aunts and uncles, etc. They played for hours outside, with legos, etc.

On "our way" out of town we did buzz down to BYU to show the kids the stadium, the "Y" on the mountain, the bookstore, and to sample the creamery's ice cream...YUM! Believe it or not they loved seeing BYU...Owen liked seeing where his "team plays". We also went by the cemetery where Jed's sister, Christy, is buried. It was a peaceful experience and a good time to talk to our kids again about how we know that our family can be together after this life.

Overall, it was a great trip...my only complaint was that I was so dang pregnant and the trip made me a little more sore than I planned. I guess if that is the only complaint, that's not bad, eh?

Things we are loving today

Erica: Today I am loving Children's Motrin. Seriously. Kate has had a fever for a few days and let me tell you it is a night and day difference between when she has had a little Motrin and when she has not. I LOVE MOTRIN!!!!
Kate: Pink. This girl is now obsessed with the color pink (I guess we were wrong about her being a total tom-boy). Of course if you have little girls in your life then you probably can guess what her favorite book is currently...Pinkalicious

Owen and Davis: LEGOS...and can I interject that I love Legos too. I seriously think that this is the first thing that my boys have been into that they will play by themselves with for hours. Hallelujah! I don't even care that I find little pieces all over the house. Let's hear it for Legos!!!