Our extra-jord-n-ari Life

This just in...new family pics

2011-11-28T21:26:00.001-07:00

We needed new family pictures with Gemma in them so when we saw that Amber Halversen was doing mini sessions we signed up immediately. The kids were so great that day and just happy. We are very happy with how they turned out.

Boys' Weekend. . . and Girls' Retreat Oct. 6-10

2011-10-16T13:39:00.013-07:00

I missed my family, Jordan had a Friday off for Fair weekend so Gemma and I flew to Salt Lake and Jordan had the boys for 5 days. Sounds wonderful right? The week before Jaxon had a stomach bug for a day - we thought nothing of it. The Wednesday after, I left for the Phoenix airport just in time for my 9 pm flight. I started feeling pretty icky while waiting at the gate. Ignored it. Made it on the plane. Go towards the back, check. Don't sit by anyone, check. Start feeling very nauseous. Start thinking the Wendy's I had earlier might be giving me food poisoning. As the plane starts lifting in the air I'm simultaneously feeding Gemma and puking in those weird white bags they have in your front seat pocket. So not ideal. The only great thing ideal about the flight was 30 people aboard. I had my own row and the back of the plane. The lady in front of me did look behind probably because she smelled something. I just smiled at her at looked out the window. Five minutes later I'm handing Gemma to a flight attendant (who did not know how to hold babies) so I could go throw up some more in the lavatory. I do it as fast as possible because I hear the baby screaming. Coming out green I take the baby and endure the rest of the flight.
Kim was happy to see me, I was happy to see a bed. After a weird night I woke up to the first snow!
Yikes! I forgot my coat and I only had capris. I slept the majority of my first vacation day on my parents couch. Jordan called me in the afternoon to say he and Kodee also had the stomach bug. Aw man! We all got the bug from Jaxon. A highlight to the sick day was seeing my brother and his family who I haven't seen for over a year. They have two boys very close in age to mine so I enjoyed watching them play and I didn't miss mine as much.
Samuel and Kevincito

Benjamin and Samuel, Kevincito's on the floor
This is on BYU's campus before the Spectacular
That night we drove down to Provo to go see the Homecoming Spectacular. The show did not disappoint. It was Spectacular!! Brian Stokes Mitchell was the star of the night and he sure has a great voice with a lot of charisma. He also sang with the Men's Chorus and it was so fun.
Friday we went shopping at Kid to Kid. I got some great clothes for Gemma and shirts for the boys for our family picture. Dad joined us at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. We had a family dinner that night and then mom, Kim, Gemma and me went out clothes shopping again. I was trying to find a purple sweater and Kim wanted shoes. She found shoes I did not find a purple sweater.
Saturday was BYU's Homecoming so we drove back down to Provo to make the pancake breakfast. Dad mentioned they started making the pancakes blue, but when I saw how blue they were I was shocked. It was like they used a whole box of blue food coloring to make the brightest blue batter ever! While eating we got in our spots to wait for the parade to start. It was pretty cold but Gemma had plenty of girls to hold her and keep her warm. Dad is so funny, he would jump out for the candy as fast as the little kids would.
All decked out in BYU attire The group (dad, Kim, cousin Kristen, Dave's sister Amy and Cooper, Dave)
Kim and Gemma

Benjamin getting a balloon
The parade was great-there were even two marching bands which shocked dad! Mom and dad had to go back to work so I stayed with Kim and Dave so we could do more shopping at the Wilk. I got a delicious pecan, caramel apple that we devoured that night. We also went to the mall and CPK. Kim found me a purple scarf with some blue and green to match the boys shirts.
Once again we had a family dinner and then Kim and I went shopping to Kohl's afterwards. Do you see a pattern here?
Jordan and the boys and Nee Nee went to the fair Friday morning to ride rides and see the animals. Jaxon only wanted to ride the train ride despite Jordan's begging to ride other rides. He did walk up the stairs to the big slide and rode it all by himself though. That's impressive. Jordan slid down with Kodee and their picture was put on the front page of the newspaper.

Jordan judged the singing competition Saturday morning and his group Taste of Sound performed that night. Jordan said the performance went swimmingly. In between the fair activities he came home and had to clean up all the throw up. Poor guy! The one time I leave and everyone's sick. But, we all say this was good for Jordan to go through so he really knows what I go through everyday. The house was SPOTLESS when I came home Monday night.
Gemma didn't sleep very well Saturday night which meant I didn't either so we only made it to Relief Society Sunday morning. We had a nice walk home from church. It was still a little chilly, but the sun was shining, flowers were in bloom, the trees were changing colors and the grass was so green-everywhere! I have forgotten how pretty is it up there.
My good friend Megan came over with her baby Lilly who is 2 days older than Gemma. Poor Lilly had a fever and Megan figured out later she had a UTI. The babies had fun seeing each other

Everyone loved holding Gemma. She loved that!

After Megan left we took some family pictures.

Sunday night I stayed at Kim's and Monday morning we took it easy. Good thing we didn't make plans because Benjamin was playing on the piano and he reached for something at the end and he ended up falling and hitting the piano twice while doing this double flip. He got up screaming and Kim grabbed him to take him to the couch and I saw the blood. Kim put a wash cloth on it and I told her it looked Jaxon's gash that he had a couple weeks ago. Except it took longer to stop bleeding and the gash wasn't closing. We ended up taking him to an Instacare to see a doctor. Two stitches later Benjamin came bouncing out the back and Kim looked white as a ghost. She stopped breathing while they put in the second stitch because Ben could feel it going in. Poor guy! But, he was a trooper and all he wanted was some ice cream. It was lunch time anyway so I (Kim was still recovering from not feeling too hot) drove to Cracker Barrel and we got him some ice cream.

Kim and I played a game when we got home while mom spent her last few minutes with Ms. Gem. Then it was good-bye.
I have a picture like this with Jaxon and Kodee both at 9 months old
I'm so glad I got to go. This trip was exactly what I needed.
Now- Jordan. . . .
We were so ready to have Ari back. The boys were waiting on pins and needles. They were so ready to have the queen and princess of the house home!
Next was getting ready for the boys' birthday. They said they wanted another Toy Story theme. Kodee wanted "Bulls-eye" the horse, and Jaxon wanted "Buzz" on the cake so Ari figured out a way to make them both happy.
The cake was delish! The boys wanted confetti cake and Ari made an awesome butter cream frosting. The party was also glow in the dark themed. Neenee, Ariel and Shaylin came. Along with Richard and his kids. Also the Tregaskes' and Cheyenne Iske (Fun-Shine) to the boys. She babysits for them sometimes.
Jaxon was dead set on getting the Toy Story 3 train, and Neenee did not disappoint. When he opened it up he exclaimed "OH MY GOSH!!!!"

Kodee received a fisher price garage, car tube thing, a firetruck (he calls it "Firework") a fireman's hat, and a book about fire trucks (all from Neenee).
Cheyenne got them cool remote control Mater truck and Lightning McQueen.

The Keiths got him a puzzle. The Tregaskes' gave them mini Lightning McQueen and Mater cars and mom and dad got them a cool tool box with play tools and the fisher price garage thing.
SUCCESS!! They loved it all. Jaxon was SO excited for his birthday. He's been asking about it for weeks. They stopped by my class room on his birthday to say hi, and I had the girls' choir Bel Canto sing happy birthday to him. He was so shy, but beamed away! Can't believe we have a 5 year old!

Kodee is taking it into his own hands to potty train himself which we are loving. We'll randomly find him doing his business. 3 is definitely the magic age. You can't force it when they're not ready we're finding out.

Now we're getting ready for concert week. It's gonna be a good one. Whew, can't believe we're already approaching November! Time flies!

Brooke White/ All State Auditions/ Conference Weekend. . . There's not enough going on

2011-10-01T21:33:00.007-07:00

What a few weeks this has been.

First Brooke White came to the school and spent a day with the middle school and high school students. It was so awesome for them to meet a real celebrity/singer/songwriter who is making it in the business! They had a ton of questions for her, and she was so sweet. The best part is what an example of integrity and honesty she was to them. Her light shines and the kids noticed.

Brooke and Gemma

My two favorite girls with Brooke

oh, and me:)

Shelby and Becca Peck

The middle schoolers wanted a big group shot with her after her Q and A session

Ryan Innes was the opening act for her! He was so good, in fact he's coming back in April to do a full show with his band. You can bet we'll be there!

Gemma falling asleep at Salsa Festival. So cute!

The car/train at Salsa Fest. The boys loved it, and their red balloon.

Nee Nee supporting Jax at a Soccer Game!

Love her new binky holder. Matches the outfit perfectly!

Sweetest baby girl ever!

We were invited to a special meet and greet the night before and Miss Gem got to meet her! (or should we say she got to meet Miss Gem!)

The following day, I had to be up in Anthem, AZ for All State Show Choir auditions. I'm the State Chairperson this year and had to organize the entire event along with a friend of mine who directs up in Anthem. I can't even begin to tell you all that was involved in organizing such a HUGE state event, not to mention all the t's and i's and that all had to be crossed and dotted. Needless to say it went well, we were proud of the results, and there were no major issues! I had some trustee students both current and who had graduated (thanks Cassie) who made it all go smooth.

I even had one make alternate again! Marty was 5th alternate last year, and surprisingly moved into 10th chair. This year he's second alternate and all he's moved up is into 1st chair. We sure hope he moves one more spot so he can perform.

I finally had a Saturday home today. The first really since school has started. We were able to watch conference, and decorate the house for halloween! I love when the holidays start- Jaxon and Kodee are SO EXCITED about them. They wanted to look at pictures of witches and ghosts on google images, now Kodee has been screaming and crying for the past few hours in bed. Poor guy, I only showed him "friendly" looking ghouls. We also stretched out a big spider web and he keeps saying the spider web and spiders are coming into his room. Oh the fun imagination of an almost 3 year old.

Jax is ready for Halloween!

Kodee loves the door!

He wanted his hands to look just like the witch. His personality is sure coming out!

Our spooky porch along with our spooky flower bed. . .:)

Now the flower bed is clean! Much better!

Tonight we made a pumpkin roll and the house is smelling like fall! We always get inspired by the latest Josi Kilpack Murder/Mystery/Culinary novel. The recipes are in the book. It looks pretty good! Can't wait to eat it.

I'm hoping I mowed my last lawn too. . . we'll see:) Maybe not, that grass in the back is like a jungle. SO THICK!

Can't wait for more conference tomorrow!

Loved how Pres. Monson said that we holders of the priesthood can face any obstacle or challenge that comes our way because we have the priesthood. Very comforting!

Weighty issues

2011-09-21T13:00:00.004-07:00

Ms. Gem had her 4 month check-up yesterday (even though she is 5 months in a few days) which means weight check and SHOTS!
Everyone we run into comments how big she is, but this cutey came in at:
15 lbs. 2 oz. and 25 3/4 inches long. Sounds normal to me.

Where has the last month gone? I'm feeling like time is speeding up.I don't want my baby to grow up. So I just hold her and cherish everything about her. She is entering a very fun stage though. Jordan loves it when he can play with the babies more than just laying there sleeping. She loves to grab everything within range and it goes straight to the mouth. Tummy time is still a struggle and she doesn't roll over yet which explains the flat head. Uncle Richard says she's got a slight bump on the left side of her head and I figured she favors turning to the right because I always hold her in my right arm.

We kicked her out of our room for one night before she got a cold and now she's back in so I can make sure she doesn't choke on anything. Poor girl- her cry is pretty wimpy right now from her cold. She sounds like she's lost her voice. So when she got some pokes yesterday she tried to cry hard, but it just sounded pathetic. This made Gemma extra sensitive yesterday and we had to be extra careful when holding her.

She loves pulling her blankets over her face when she sleeps.
She tends to cry whilst we drive in the car.
She's figured out how to pull down her headband and then slobbers all over her bows.She smiles big for mommy, cracks-up at Jaxon, and tolerates Kodee. Daddy thinks she always cries with him, but I think the whole "Daddy's girl" attachment is beginning to take place.
I just love my Gemma girl!!

Labor Day weekend 2011

2011-09-06T11:14:00.013-07:00

Camping on Mt. Graham for 4 days with our favorite people? Yes, please!! Packing the day before. What do ya think of my new hat?
Putting up the tent

Janeen brought bug boxes for the kids to paint. The older boys got grasshoppers, bees, and a blue bellied lizard! Jaxon's grasshopper was named Charlie.
Nee-nee's famous banana pudding parfait. Jordan got some this year. He was a happy camper!

The boys loved these three girls. Kodee was called the ladies man this trip.

Macey, Zara, and Ashlynn

The bell of the ball. She did really well the whole time-probably because she was always being held

Jaxon carried these three items around all weekend. Flashlight-check, robot-check, bug box with Charlie-check!

Ariel and Zane came up for a day!

Zane and Jaxon

Plenty to do outside makes for happy boys!

Jaxon built houses out of the rocks. Right after this we had a primary lesson on the creation. Jordan asked Jaxon what his favorite creation was and he answered, "Gemma." Awe!

Plenty of time for a good nap! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Getting ready for steak and corn on the cob!

What a good daddy!

Jordan was so good and played several games with the kids

Jax and Hayden in front of the "Billy" sized fire

Kodee was in a daze and kept putting his finger up his nose and holding there

Three person tug of war

The boys playing together nicely

Plenty of girls to hold Gemma the whole weekend- Ashlynn
Macey

Brooklyn

Karen

The kids love their Nee-Nee

After we got home-poor Kodee got so carsick on the way

Ariel gave Gemma a bath and she was happy as can be

The only downer to the weekend was early monday morning a skunk came into camp and he was sick or had rabies. We're pretty sure it sprayed around because the smell was the worst thing I've ever smelled!!!! The smell kept waking me up, but it was still dark so I forced myself back to sleep. Around 6am one of the men shot the skunk and woke us all up. He said the skunk was having crazy seizures and had to get rid of it. They buried it right there which ended up being about 15 feet from our pop-up. No wonder it smelled so awful! I'm sure we have all smelled a skunk driving on the highway, but this was so much worse. I describe it as a very chemical smell first and then it turns rancid like rotten potatoes. Yuck! So when we got home all of our stuff smelled like campfire and skunk. Not my favorite combo.

It was hard to come back to reality, but alas, here we are plunking out our everyday duties and responsibilities. Thanks for the good times Nee-Nee and Billy and everybody else!

Jax and Kodee

2011-08-28T15:33:00.005-07:00

jaxon is helping me type this post and this is what he wanted as the title.
Jaxon's been in preschool two weeks now. He goes to Dorothy Stinson on Mondays for 2 hours and Head Start Tuesday to Friday for 4 hours. Head Start is great because they serve breakfast and lunch family style and the kids take turns setting the table. They help them brush his teeth and wash hands. They have the same schedule every day and there is structure. They play inside and have story time, play outside, play inside again and have music time. We as parents have to sign him in and out every day so Jaxon can't ride the bus. That makes for a lot of back and forth with all three kids. Kodee wants to stay so badly it takes a few minutes to get out of there. Sorry, no first day of school pictures.

Jordan's loving school. All of his students love choir and the classes are doing really well. He had a few attitude problems but he straight up told them to go to another class if they didn't want to be there. They are now gone.
This he starts 2nd hour at the middle school and has 80 kids in there. Wowza! 4th, 5th, and 6th hours are at the high school. He ends back at the middle school for musical theater. He comes home to teach private lessons from 3:30 to 6.
Now that the lessons are in the living room I can hear all the music and it's been nice to listen to. I have 4 piano students that I teach at 3.

My friend Janeen started Zumba (the new rage) and wanted me to go with her so I started last week. I'm so coordinated that the very first grapevine we did about 2 minutes in I tripped over my own foot. It's an interesting and intense hour of dance, but I'm actually enjoying it. My legs have never been so sore . I could barely sit for three days. I love that this will help with getting some more baby weight off because honestly it's not coming off as fast as I want it to.

Kodee has been right on track for being in the terrible twos. He gets into everything, but when we ask him to clean it up he just walks away like he didn't hear us. He always asks what things are and when I tell him he says, "Oooohhh!" He's just soaking in everything. He and Jaxon tell me they love each other and me several times a day. So cute. About the last week when I leave their rooms at night I tell them I love them. They love me back. No, I love you! We get louder each time we say it. It just tickles my heart.

They both still adore sister Gemma. Jaxon will hold her several times a day and he makes her laugh (probably more than I do) He's got a special bond with her. Kodee loves her too. He loves to squeeze her hands and feet. A little too hard sometimes. I still have so much fun dressing her up every day. She is growing so fast. (Literally-She's just 4 months and she is wearing some of her 9 month clothing) As long as she's healthy. Her hair is terribly flat in back so we're just waiting for some more reddish hair to come. Jordan constantly tells her head to grow hair, grow! She's been sitting in the bumbo lately and it's a pretty cool thing. Kinda funny looking sometimes because she tries to suck on the seat. She recently found her toes and this week started eating them. I love this stage because it's cute and reminds me how limber I'm not. We've seen some differences from the boys this week. She is definitely more sensitive. We took her to the first Safford football game (Jordan helped with concessions) Friday night. She cried the whole 2nd quarter and half time. I guess the crowd screaming, air horns blaring and band trumpeting was too loud. The next day was Jaxon's first soccer game. She cried the whole game. But, I don't blame her. It was 107 degrees outside! She was just plain miserable. It helped a little when I started putting cold water on her head, but then I would yell for Jax and she started up again. Jaxon loved the water breaks!

Now the game-Jaxon stands around looking clueless more than I thought he would. He was always the last one after the ball. Good thing there are 2 aggressive boys on his team that scored for them. Even the other team scored for them too. I think it's because they were too darn hot to care. We all came home and ate popsicles to cool down. Hopefully the weather will cool down in 2 weeks.

One of Jaxon's creations

Whirlwind July!

2011-08-02T22:37:00.022-07:00

Where have we been? Whew- it's been an exhausting month, let me tell you. . . .

Most of July was spent preparing for our move to the old homestead. I can't believe how much stuff we've accumulated over our 6 years of marriage- and why is it so hard to whittle down to what you really need?

Here's all the awesome hair bows Ariel Jones made Gemma. She worked really hard on those- thanks Ariel. They make Gemma SO cute!

Could we just love this little sweetheart any more?? This is one of our favorite outfits she wears- we definitely think purple is her color.

On the morning of the 4th of July we woke up at 5:30 and took the kids down to EAC to get on the fire trucks that ride through town and wake everybody up.

Jaxon and Kodee LOVED it- Kodee does a great impression of a fire engine siren.

Of course Gemma came along for the ride and we dolled her up in a cute Old Navy 4th of July number.

Good morning Sunshine! Ari was a trooper and took camera footage of the whole sunrise event. :)

There we are on top of the truck.

Jax was so excited to tell mom all about it.

Gemma didn't know what to think of all this early morning nonsense. She wanted her beddy bidy booski.

Of course: The classic watermelon 4th pictures. . .

After the "way- too- long" morning presentation, the firetrucks sprayed the kids off, I jumped in there with them and we got soaked and muddy. Best day ever for the boys. You can see way behind us in the field that they're still spraying everyone off.

Our best friend/adopted family the Jones' went on a cruise to Mexico and Beliz and brought us back some awesome souvenirs. Here is my great Mexico (I call it chlorine green) and a real live taxi-dermied- Louisiana gator.

They got Gemma this wonderful authentic Mexican gown- now where to wear it to???

Ari made a Bee-utiful 4th of July fruit pizza. . .yum yum

The boys just can't get enough of this girl. Jaxon especially is so good with her, and sometimes can be the only one to get her to laugh or stop crying.

When everyone else was settling down for a great 4th of July nap- I thought it would be a great day to go get Gemma's ears pierced. She was such a brave little trooper. If it werent for the gun jamming on her left ear and not being able to be pulled off she would have been just fine.

This is probably how one would feel after having sharp metal poked through your skin. . .

But the ending result is oh so cute! We love the little gems in Gemma's ears. :)

Cutest little girl EVER!

She looked so cute dolled up on Sunday. Love this dress Nancy let us have. Thanks Nance.

In mid July we had the 2nd Annual Camp Glee WannaBe- it was a great time had by all:) The kids did an outstanding job of putting together a great one hour performance in just two days. This year we upgraded to providing lunch (Little Caesars and subs from Bashas) and we also had shirts provided by one of the parents.

Felt kind of funny rehearsing this in the old relief society room, but rest assured this building is no longer a functioning LDS church.

Painting of the Banners. . . The Careers, Dazzling Divas, and the Shining Stars

Another one of Gemma in her cute octopus outfit, with a matching bow by Ariel.

Best buddies. . .

Moving time has begun. . .sheesh, this was a doozy! This is the longest we've lived in one place since we've been married. We've been here for 3 years. We were counting up that we've moved 7 times in our short family's lifetime so far. Wow- and only more moves to come. Can't wait till we can settle down somewhere.

Don't I look thrilled to move? Gemma was loving the baby carrier, this is what we had to do with her while we were bustling around.

The boys LOVED making things out of all the moving boxes.

Mom was there too!

Gemma looking a lot like Jaxon used to, on our sad ripped up couch cushion. . . decided to call it good with this cushion and send it on to it's next life.

One of my favorite pictures of her to date! Smiley Gemmers!!!!!

The day after settling into our new place- we were all exhausted and ALL the kids wanted to nap with their mama. Best mom in the world that's for sure.

Kodee ENTRANCED in watching Alice and Wonderland (the Tim Burton version) their favorite movie as of late.

Things are starting to come together. . . our favorite IKEA shelf

Gemma propping up her head with her little fist. So cute. . .wonder how many pics we'll have of her in this little baby rocker. :)

Janeen came over to assess our progress. Popsicle anyone??

Jaxon doesn't miss a beat in his Mario Bros. game but he takes Gemma along for the ride.

Kodee is definitely our little challenge as of late. Can we say middle child syndrome? He's doing everything he can to get noticed.

Our new living room! Ahh- so much space and room!

This is where I'll now be teaching lessons.

We took Jaxon swimming yesterday. He loves jumping off the high dive, but yesterday this 4 year old decided to do a front flip! WHAT!???

He's so brave! Took me till I was 16 to try that. When he was done I had to go up and do it just to say I could, but I slapped me bum hard. Didn't quite rotate enough. Probably not the best idea to do while I'm still recovering from strep. That's right. I got hit HARD with strep on Friday- right before school starts. Was a bad bout too. Knocked me on my back for 3 days, and I'm having a hard time recuperating from it. When I tried the back flip on the high dive my sense of balance was so off, Ari said I turned around up there ridiculously slow.

But back to our daredevil four year old! How bout that fearlessness?

Since I'm on a little break from teaching this week I decided it would be a great time to follow around Doctor Lunt and learn the art of tuning pianos. Hopefully this will be a profession I can sink my teeth into on the side of teaching. Boy is it hard and mentally draining- but strangely satisfying. I find myself already starting to crave tuning. . . huh???
Here comes school!!!! We'll see how it goes wish me luck in starting my 5th year of teaching- 4th at Safford. 80 kids in the Middle School choir- yikes!

Summer Staycation- resorting it up!

2011-06-30T16:47:00.025-07:00

Just got back from our summer "staycation" and we had a blast. We opted to go to the Arizona Grand Resort in Chandler/Tempe/Phoenix, rather than go on a big road trip somewhere. Didn't sound like too much fun driving extreme distances with a two month old.

As we were packing, Jaxon had to have a picture with his sister.

I also was able to finish Gemma's stocking before we left- like I said, it was in record time: about 2 weeks! I am very proud, especially those stitches that look like ringlets on the princess' head. Those were tough!

Ari let me open a birthday present the night before we left! I'm in HEAVEN- a waterproof ipod holder! Now I can jam with my tunes, while I'm swimming my laps. This is an invention I've been waiting my whole life for. LOVE technology! The earphones act as earplugs too! So cool, it's ok. . .be jealous! I'm on an exercising weight loss kick right now and am LOVING it! 20 pounds gone so far! This is me getting ready to take on Michael Phelps, ha ha!

Not that this is going to help- but I figure as long as I'm burning those calories. . . .:)

Here's my annual Texas Mint Chocolate Sheet Cake- Ari has perfected it!

The kids were so cute when we sang happy birthday! Kodee kept saying "want happy birthday cake!" BTW, Jaxon's in a hat phase right now:)

Miss Gem all ruffled up with my favorite orange flower of hers- now this flower is the perfect size for her little head and body! She was wearing the boys old baby jeans and we thought she needs some girl baby jeans, so we went on an Old Navy run in Mesa.

Joanna got to meet Gemma for the first time! We were so glad we finally were able to get up to the valley to visit Jim and Joanna- seems like it's been forever!

For my birthday dinner we went to Kabuki- it's a sushi joint in the Tempe Fashion District. One of my favorite restaurants. I love their seared tuna sushi and beef teriyaki. The boys LOVED the edamame/tofu soup that is their house soup. Jaxon was drinking up everybody's. WHAT??? :) They loved the chop sticks too and their noodles!

Mmmm MMM good. Now if I can just remember to take the tag off the shirt right after I buy it next time:) Ariel made sure to make fun of me for it! She came along with us for the fun. My Karate Sucker Punch juice was awesome too! Dont worry- very non alcoholic.

So of course we leave town for the first time as a family since. . . Christmas?? Oh wait, Tucson in spring, so - well we RARELY leave so you get the point. Well Ryan calls me up and says he's in T Town, of course we're gone! He was down for Lamar's baby's blessing, so he met up with us at Cafe Rio on his way to the airport! The kids loved his beard and kept petting his face like he was a puppy. Kodee and he especially have a unique bond:) Gemma was all watermeloned out (outfit I mean).

We are your cool Thatcher kids grown up. . .ha ha.
Boys got matching hats at Old Navy- they LOVE them!

We also got them matching suits at Old Navy. They had such a blast at the resort- with the wave pool, baby pool, lazy river, slides, pool upon other pools, sprinkler fountains- it was the perfect place for them. We avoided the hottest/sunniest parts of the day and went and saw Cars 2. I can't believe how ghetto the Safford movie theater is compared to the AMC in Mesa. Sad that it was way cheaper to go their too. A little ColdStone afterward was the literally the "Icing" on the cake. Bless you Oreo Creme Filling Ice Cream!!! MMMMMM

As I mentioned before- Ariel was able to come up with us for a day and help us with Gemma and the boys. They so loved having her around! It was nice to be able to play with them and not worry about the baby. Thanks Ariel.

Jaxon is such a great swimmer now that we didn't even worry about him in the pools. He's a champ!

This was the part of the lazy river Gemma didn't like so much- so we went and got an umbrella at walmart to shield her from the streams of water. Worked like a charm!

Our little Diva catching some ZZZZZ's poolside. She loved it, and we love the suit Ariel bought her with the "built in" diaper! So brilliant!

Daddy/Daughter lazy rivering away! It was funny because when we got there we realized we forgot Kodee's swim diapers. The first night he was ok and didn't do a doodie. But the next morning when we went out- oh man! He got on my lap on the lazy river, and then he hugged me and laid on my chest while we went around. I was thinking- awww such a cute boy, then I felt this growing lump in my left hand where I was holding his bum. That's right- he was poopin' away. I felt like I had to hold it in my hand through the suit so it wouldn't get everywhere. Needless to say my hand smelled like Kodee poop for the rest of the day no matter how often I washed them. Such a dad am I. If you listen closely to the video down below where Jaxon is running from the wave pool he's screaming "I gotta poo!!!" Something about the water triggers their poo reflex. Sorry, TMI, but WHAT'S THE DEAL!!!?? Even as I write this Gemma just let about 10 big squirt successions right in a row. Feel better sis?

Jaxon loved the "Bath tub" by the pool outside of our hotel room. We let him go down and swim all by himself while Kodee was getting to sleep. So grown up he is!

This brother is one protector of his sister! He knows where she is and what she's doing every second of the day. You can often find him sitting with her or playing with her.

A miracle happened! As I was getting Sonic for breakfast one morning, two bracelets magically appeared on my side mirror on the car. I immediately called Emily, and she and Izzy came on over to the resort for a day of fun in the sun. It was so much fun to hang out with her and visit! I love how she and Ari our best friends! Lucky for me to have a friend from my single days that has bonded so much with my wife!!

Ari- sweetest, most beautifullest, lovely and of good reportest wife of all time. That's right, I'll quote the thirteenth- watch out!

Em and Iz with Gem. That's a lot of abreeving.

French Fry anyone!? The resort food was not bad at all.

Sprinklers by the fountain! Sub zero - but perfect for cooling off in the heat. Might have been the boys favorite part. Kodee would run straight from the sprinklers and then dead fall into the pool.

Gem was so cute- and not hard to deal with at all! She would go from face like this. . .

to this in seconds. But if you picked her up, she was fine.

Mom and the boys on the way out of the park.

Our family! Summer 2011- are we really this big of a family now? I can't believe it!

Stopped by to see Kim and Jim on the way out.

Can you believe how grown up Kayla is!!!?

Jim had a special bond with Gemma- she couldn't stop laughing while he was holding her.

Such a little cutie pa-tooty! I think we'll keep her!

Gemma had her two month check up yesterday. She is 12 lbs. 10 oz. and 24 1/4 in. long. Uncle Richard says she's very healthy and a perfect baby. She had to get her shots, and has been out ever since. She's literally been sleeping for 48 hours with nary a cry.

All in all it was a mighty fine vacation! (Even if it was for just three days). Here are some of the video high lights at the park. I can't believe I talked Ari into going down the "black hole/bonzai slide" it was so scary and SO HIGH! I went down it first and swear my body left the slide for a couple of seconds and was free falling. When you get up there it seems like your just as high as all the sky scrapers over in downtown.

Summertime. . .and the livin' is l.a.z.y.

2011-06-24T19:56:00.014-07:00

Well we are in full blown summer here in the good ole AZ. It feels like a furnace and like it will never rain again. The mountain is closed, the fires are raging- and still no rain in sight.

We've been keeping busy though. Gemma is a little darling and keeps us all entertained daily. Our days pretty much go like this:

Wake up, (sometimes) exercise, cereal for boys, teach lessons (while Ari tries to keep her sanity), swim lessons for Jax, go over and visit NeeNee, swim at the Daley Estates pool, eat dinner with the Jones' at one of our houses, put boys down, Ariel comes over and craft night begins (whilst we watch The Voice, SYTYCD, etc.). Kinda lovin' these summer days!!

Lessons have been especially fun this summer and I have some wonderful, new, talented students that I really enjoy working with. I have about 33 students right now. . .phew. . .getting ready for the 2nd Show Choir Camp. Shouldst be amazing.

Jaxon has really been cracking us up lately. He is saying whatever is on his mind (something we thought would never happen.) Mostly he likes to say "Daddy- you the bad boy." Then the next second he'll say "I love you daddy, you make me happy." He got on this kick for a while where he would say "you're breaking my heart" with the most pathetic tone. He loves his "friend" Kodee. And his "baby" Gemma. He would hold her all the time if he could. Tonight at dinner he exclaimed in true Keith dramatic fashion "Oh... My....Gosh....Kodee is freaking me out!"

Kodee- where do we begin. Picture the tornadoes that are plaguing the midwest, put them all together in a little cute two year old body- you have Kodee. He is into EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME! If we turn our backs for a split second- we are sorry. At the same time though- he's got the biggest heart, and will randomly say "I love you. . ." or "NO- DON'T WAN IT!" Kinda bipolar. If we let him go outside, he immediately finds water and dirt, and is dirty from head to toe, in seconds. He doesn't understand the concept of "no" or "stop" or "wait." But, we have faith he'll get there. His cute little smiles can melt anyone and instantly undo his damage.

Gemma- Sassy Sister Suzy. (I don't know why, but this is her nickname for me. . .Sister Suzy.) She's also known as: GemmaRoo, GemmaRooski, Gem, Gemmers, Princess, Sunshine, and Pretty Girl. The boys have picked up on Princess and Gemma Roo, it's very cute. She has the most beautiful smile, but makes you work up a sweat to get it from her, they are few and far between. They are usually first thing in the morning when she's getting going, and late at night when she's fading away. Generally she's a well behaved baby and sleeps like a champ! She's already averaging 11pm-8am-ish every night. Ari's loving that!

Swimming has been the summer activity so far. Jaxon has amazed us with his abilities. He's swimming easily the full length of the Daley Estates pool and did awesome in his Minnows swimming class. I've even taught him how to do a swimmer's dive. We aren't worried about him around the water at all now. Kodee on the other hand, thinks he's superman in the pool, but has no skills whatsoever. We have to keep a constant eye on him because he's such a daredevil and jumps in everywhere, when we're not looking. Every time we take him swimming her must swallow gallons and gallons.

Ariel bought Gemma her first swimming suit and a little sun hat to go with it- WE LOVE IT! It's exactly what we would have chosen- she must know us well. Gemma went for her first dip today and seemed to really like it. She got a little cold after a while, but it was so fun to hear her cooing and splashing away.

Ariana is Super Mom! As we try to get this house all packed up and ready for the move in a few weeks- she's handling it all. She does a great job trucking around the kids (all 3) while I'm busy teaching, and is adjusting to a mother of 3 very well. I have definitely noticed she's tired at night though. We've recently got into the show, Castle, and I love watching it with her because it combines her love of witty comedy, chick-flick-ishness, and my love of murder/mystery, intensity, thrillingness. It's the perfect show for us. . but she can barely stay awake through one episode.

I've been sewing away this summer and finished Kelly's Christmas stocking, and set an all new record with Gemma's, finishing it in just 2 weeks.

Father's day was great. Ariana made it very special for me- even got me a few cards for itunes to feed my addiction for the next few months.
And that's our life in a nutshell!

Our precious Gem of an angel.

Gemma chilling at the pool while we are swimming.

First time Jaxon went swimming for the summer. . .didn't miss a beat. LOVES the water.

Kodee is crazy. Thinks he's ready to be on his own in the pool. . .

A "sort of" smile from Gemma Roo.

This is one adoring brother. Can't get enough of his little sister. So helpful too. Many times he'll clean up the house with out us even asking.

Gemma's heat rash- there were litterally hundreds of tiny, pimply, white heads.

Ouch. . .

Um. . . interesting choice of attire Kodee. He's our naked child. Can't keep clothes on him. He's also semi- potty training right now. Some days he's really into it, some days he's not.

Cutest little baby toenails painted ever! Love girling her up!
Ari high lighted her hair. She decided she wanted to see if blondes had more fun like us boys!

Ariel did a great job.

Gemma- with a RIDICULOUSLY huge flower- also showing off her really bad heat rash. It was pretty sad looking.

One of her first smiles. Boy does she make you work for them.
A daily morning occurance- the source of many a scream of frustration from Ari.

We LOVE this rocker from Fisher Price. Gemma loves it too. Her outfits pretty cute too. Thanks Kim!

Gemma with one of her favorite people, Auntie Ariel.

Me and my kids. How awesomely blessed am I?

Always wanting a picture with the baby.

Mom's new highlights, and Gemma looking cute as ever.

Seriously. . could you eat her up?

One of our favorite outfits. Holly Brown made these cute socks that are in tons of different colors. We love them.

The boys and their new favorite toy.

Kelly's stocking- Done! Was a tough one.

This is Ari pretty much every night after 8:30 ish these days

Emily and Yasser came for a visit! Love these besties of ours.

Daddy's little princess. My most prized Gem in life!

Our cutie patooty. We love this outfit on her too.
This is the face that she makes mostly when you try to get her to smile.

FATHER'S DAY!!

Jaxon wanted to take this of us after mom took a pic with me and everyone on fathers day. Turning into quite the photographer. He's very proud of his work.

Me and my sunday school buddy.

My little Kodester- love this guy.

Jaxon and I are best buds!

A smile that can stop time forever!

Jaxon's all-time MOST FAVORITE person in the world. Pretty much the first person he thinks about and last person he thinks about every day
Jaxon caught this rare "perfect" moment in Destructors life. Notice the packed boxes happening in the background- oh how we'll miss El Paso Drive and the Jones'. We never really could keep up with them:) ha ha

Apple of our eye- with a HUGE flower on her head. Kind of love it though.

Smiles and giggles for Nee Nee.

Yet again, Auntie Ariel spoils. We love it Ariel. She'll learn too. :)

Cutest frowny face ever. . .

Love the suit and hat. It even has a built in diaper!

Gemma in the pool- for the first time. Wouldya look at that- I kinda got a farmer's tan. Ha ha.

This is the day I wait for- my children's FIRST pool experience. She was a champ!

Mom and her boys. Most definitely the greatest mom in the world!

Precious!

Jaxon forced Kodee to take this. Love it- but if you look closely Kodee is pushing him away with all his might!

Gemma's Amber Halversen Photo Shoot

2011-05-27T21:09:00.015-07:00

We've always wanted to do this. . .and are SO excited with the results. We have our own little Anne Geddey's model! Have no idea how they kept her asleep. All I can say is "cute, cute, cute!" Here are some of our favorites!

Senior Recital and Spring Shenanigans

2011-05-27T20:46:00.012-07:00

A few weeks ago I had a senior recital for two of my most all time favorite Seniors ever! Cassie Scott and Alyson Jensen. They rocked it, I had so much fun working with them!

The next day was the big Spring Shenanigans concert. Wow- what a production this one was. I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew and was ready for.

A few of the highlights included:

The middle school doing a Princess and the Frog Medley

8th Graders singing Billionaire Glee style

7th Graders singing Loser from Glee and 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

Bel Canto performing an Abba Medley, awesome costumes!!!

They also performed Joyful Joyful from Sister Act II, I was the featured rapper. Pretty hilarious.

The Singers class performed an awesome mini-musical of the new broadway show: Addams Family

Taste of Sound's big moment was their "In The Heights" set. They loved getting to dress inner-city/hood style for the show. . .and I have to say, I think this is the most professional set I've directed yet! They absolutely rocked it!

We even had FOG for the first time! This is a beautifuel duet ballad called "Sunrise" kinda cute because the two who sang it are actually dating in real life:)

Each group also did a "concert" set on the risers to show our festival pieces. Very well rounded kids!

One huge surprise was that I invited my good friend Cindy Anaya (who subsequently is auditioning for the TV show The Voice next year, so watch for that) to come and sing Glee's/Queen's Somebody to Love. We soloed on it. . .and kinda rocked it actually! I think the pictures give you a good idea of our intense belting! So much fun.

We ended with a HUGE Middle School/High School collaboration of We Are The World 25th anniversary version for Haiti, complete with the rap by LL Cool J (lots of rapping in this concert:))

There were about 175 kids singing for the last two numbers. Our alumni closer song is "The Blessing" from Celtic Women, love it!

The kids were awesome! They surprised me with a huge bouquet of flowers- the thank you's lasted about 20 minutes it seemed. So much help went into this production- so many people that helped that this couldn't have happened without!

Love Spring Shenanigans!!

Father's and Son's Outing

2011-05-27T19:44:00.009-07:00

This post is a little late. . .we had a blast 2 weeks ago when I took the boys to Treasure Park for their first outing! They were so excited to go camping with dad. We sang songs all the way up the mountain road. . .their favorites are "What's My Name" by Rihanna and "Hey Soul Sister" by Train.

When we got there it was pretty much dark so we put up the tent pretty quick. Thankfully Billy Jones was there to help us. We ate a dinner of hot dogs and beans (there was a no fire sign up because of our drought) so it was a fire free camping trip :( Jax was pretty bummed about that.

We had a wonderful spiritual thought by Brother Buckley in our ward. The boys were fascinated by the lantern. Across from them is Kodee's friend and fellow nursery buddy, Marshall Mortensen. It's very sad because these pictures were the last that were taken of him. On Saturday there was a terrible accident at their house where he fell in the pool and wasn't discovered for a little while. They waited through the weekend to find out the extent of the damage that occurred and learned that he was beyond help, so they laid him to rest the following Monday. We were so sad and shocked for them. Our whole ward was completely humbled and reminded what truly mattered in life. This was of course all during my prep for the huge Spring Shenanigans concert, and it really didn't seem to be all that important compared to this. The Mortensen family is such an example of faith and courage.

After this event I was reminded how much my boys mean to me, and how lucky we are to have such wonderful, healthy, two rambunctious little monsters. We love them to pieces.

Jaxon loved the zip line they set up.

We went on a hike to a "dried out" water fall, that was about 2 miles, and Jaxon hiked the whole way there, but had to be dragged and held the whole way back. His skills amazed me as the hike was pretty vigorous. I definitely felt it!

These two are definitely best buds!

One funny thing that happened was Kodee ripped into the bag of Fritos right before bed, I kind of left them scattered around the tent because I was too tired to clean it up. We went to bed. I let the boys watch some cartoons on my phone, and I passed out. Then we bundled up and set in for the night. Well, it was FREEZING! Below 32 and Jaxon woke up a few times whimpering. Kodee was just fine though. We were sleeping sideways on a big air mattress so my feet were always against the door of the tent. Well at about 4 in the morning or so I heard some rustling at my feet and then A ZIPPER was being pulled open. My first thought "serial killer or kidnapper!" So dramatic. I kicked at whatever was unzipping our tent and in a very high pitched, panicked voice said "NO! No! Get away! Go away!" remember I was sleepy and in a delusional state. Well, whatever it was scurried off. People suspected raccoons or even a skunk. Hope it wasn't a bear. What was I thinking leaving all those chips all over the tent floor???? I've seen "Over the Hedge" I know how those animals work!!! ha ha

Had to prove I was there too!

It was a great weekend!!

The next Sunday was the first Sunday Ari took Gemma to church. She looked so cute in her blue dress! Ari didn't look bad either. . .hubba hubba. . .:)

Papa Bob came down for a few days that week to see her as well!

I kinda love this little gal. . .

Kodee loves getting dirty! Papa caught this adorable moment!

And another cute one of our Gem!

Fun With Utah Family!

2011-05-27T19:32:00.005-07:00

We had so much fun with Ari's family when they came down for Gemma's blessing! Here are some of the highlights!

Celebrating Papa's birthday. Yummy chocolate pound cake, North Carolina recipe!

Lovin' their momma!

The Bouquet of flowers I got from my students at the Spring Shenanigans concert.

My most grateful, "you shouldn't-a-dun-it" face

Look at Jax catch that air!

The boys shared a bed while family was here. . . needless to say Kodee fell off numerous times!

3 Peas in a Pod! They just love their cousin Benjamin!

Kim meeting Gemma for the first time!

Kindred spirits!

Gemma's Blessing Day

2011-05-22T20:40:00.006-07:00

Little Ms. three weeks old

2011-05-16T10:43:00.005-07:00

The past two weeks have been wonderful. More visitors, meals brought in, papa came to visit for a day and a half, and watching the cutest girl get bigger!
The Farar's
Becca Peck

Papa (Ariana's dad)

Gemma fits her name perfectly-she is still such a gem! She's calm, sleeps 3-4 hours (4 at night), content most of the time except when she's hungry and is a good baby. She loves to be up against my shoulder to see, burp and sleep. She also likes her bottom to be patted instead of being bounced. She loved daddy's voice and always turns her head toward it. She has the best smiles when she's sleeping; I believe it does not come from gas. It is so fun to dress her up. She doesn't always like it when I grab her arms to put clothes on, but she calms right down. It's okay if she spits on or dirties her outfit because we can see another new outfit.

The boys love her. Jaxon likes to hold her (sometimes picking her up without us knowing) and always tries to give her a pacifier, and gives her lots of kisses. Kodee will give her kisses and notices when she cries.

We went to church yesterday for the first time. Gemma looked adorable in her dress and sweater.

Janeen and Jordan loved holding her during sacrament meeting. Next week is her blessing. I ordered her gown from the internet and I love it! I'm excited because my dad, sister and her family are coming down this Thursday. It's gonna be fun.

2011-04-30T00:26:00.005-07:00

We got a little creative today and did our first art project for Gemma. Unfortunately the whole town is out of "G"s, so we have to wait till Wallyworld gets them in stock again.

Here's the first few days of Emma's life! Lot's of friends visiting!

Kodee had to get in on the art project action and LOVED painting this toy car. He took so much pride in it!

Gemma Rose Keith

2011-04-24T20:21:00.009-07:00

Words cannot express how grateful we are for such an angel in our home! We feel so blessed this Easter season. I've put together a "high lights" video of the hospital events- and some pictures. Enjoy!

If you double click on the video it will go to full screen (fyi)

11:06 am

2011-04-24T12:15:00.003-07:00

11:06 am, April 24th 2011, our family will never be the same. Gemma Rose Keith has joined our crazy little Keith clan here in Safford, AZ. I can't believe what a beautiful and easy birth it was. Once everyone was here and ready to go, Ari had to only push for 8 minutes! She pushed 11 times. Richard was funny because he said "ok everyone, what time signature is Jordan counting in?" And I thought about it, I was counting in 3/4 time. Kind of like a slow waltz:) She came out, and looked so beautfiul. She was 7 pounds 9 ounces, 19 inches long. Ariel was there along with Richard, waiting behind the curtain, and Dr. Harrison and Cassandra. She cried for just a second then opened those big beautiful eyes and started drinking in her new world. She's just so precious. She latched on and ate like a champ- within seconds. Now Ariel ran home to watch the boys so Roseann can come and see her first baby granddaughter. We are so blessed! We got ourselves a little gem on Easter Sunday! What better a day to celebrate love, life, and birth. We love you Gemma.

10:20 am

2011-04-24T10:21:00.002-07:00

Doctor came and broke her water at 8:15. Everything has looked great. The baby has been responding so well to these contractions. Ari's been very comfortable since the epidural. At 10:15 Cassandra came in and said Ari is almost at an 8 and the baby is very low. She joked and said she's going to have to push once. We'll see. This is great because Ari's really only been in active labor for about 12 hours which is glorious compared to Jaxon's 24 and Kodee's 16. Baby girl is an angel!

7:15 am

2011-04-24T07:40:00.002-07:00

Epidural is in! Ari started getting pretty uncomfortable and it took about an hour for the anesthesiologist to get here, but she's funny- to her inserting the epidural is cake. She hates getting the IV much more. Cassandra Gardners- a friend from EAC days- is now our nurse. She's so much fun and very friendly! The baby's been doing great with these contractions- Ari's now floating on cloud 9 with the medicine, so all in all, we are doing good here in delivery room B.

Soon the doctor will be here to officially break her water and get this party started.

5:50 am, 5 cm

2011-04-24T05:53:00.043-07:00

What a roller coaster. I think we remember why induction can be so hard, a little after the process has started. Around 1:00 am our nurse, Erica, came in and told us that the baby was not reacting well at all to her contractions and there were many low variables that were a cause for concern. She called Dr. Harrison, he came and checked and said she was still at a solid 3 and he thought we needed to stop the contractions. Erica gave her a shot of Terbutalini to stop everything, and we were to wait and see if her body would kick into good solid labor all on its own. Well, it did. We got some good sleep till about 3:30 or so, then Ari started having strong contractions. We walked around for about 45 minutes, then she was checked again- is almost at a 5 now, 60% effaced, and baby's head is at 0 station. Ari is getting pretty darn uncomfortable, but still wants to hold off a bit on the epidural.

Oh yeah, about the water breaking- we think it wasn't the water breaking because it wasn't a large amount of water, so either there was a small leak in the bag or it was some of the lubricant melting. :( tmi?? Ha ha.

After Ari got the news about slowing down the contractions she was pretty overwhelmed. . .so we found another priesthood holder here, Tyrell Ajeman, and gave her a blessing. What an amazing thing the power of the priesthood is. Very calming and reassuring for her!

9:30 pm

2011-04-23T21:40:00.002-07:00

Water broke! We went on a really long walk twice around the hospital and bam, when we got back- water broke. Contractions are getting more painful and taking her breath away. I guess that's a good sign- oh how we will love this little angel. We're anxious!

Baby #3 Here We Go

2011-04-23T19:35:00.004-07:00

Well here we are sitting in hospital room B at the birthing unit in Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center. Ari is actually due on Wednesday April 27th, but with this being a huge 4 day weekend, we thought it would be the perfect time to have the baby. So we opted to be induced today. She's had to be induced with the other babies as well, her uterus must be just so hospitable. We think if we were to actually go till her water broke on its own, or active labor began, she'd probably go 2 weeks past the due date.

So far it's been slow going. The nurse gave her a sydotec to get her going, and then we walked around for awhile. She was craving Dairy Queen so I went and got her a blizzard while Ariel kept her company. Now our good friend, Erica Johnson, is here as her head nurse. She's still "almost at a three" but contractions are definitely picking up with intensity. We started at about 1:00, and then Erica gave her another sidateck at 7:00. We still wouldn't say she's in active labor. My guess is that the baby will be born somewhere around 11:00 am tomorrow. We shall see. . . stay posted!!

Fun with NeeNee

2011-04-17T13:50:00.004-07:00

This weekend I went to All-State. It was AMAZING! The high school choral kids of AZ are stellar. I felt bad leaving Ari about to pop, with two crazy boys who are INSANE at the moment. We are so grateful for our NeeNee. She came over and would give the boys much needed attention. They made a tunnel, and Jaxon was in Heaven.

When I got home tonight this is how I found the boys, then again today right before church, this was Jaxon reading a book.

We're so excited that Grandma Roseann is here now. Oh what fun we shall have.

P.S. Our nephew J.D. just got his mission call on Thursday night and he's been called to serve in the SCOTLAND/IRELAND mission! Exact same as mom and dad (his grandma and grandpa!) We couldn't believe it- so exciting! He'll report on our anniversary, August 5 in the MTC in England.

38 weeks and counting..

2011-04-12T12:13:00.005-07:00

These pictures are from a few days ago which is still week 37, but you get the idea. The new development is: the baby has dropped and yesterday I had some really big contractions. I go to the doc tomorrow so we'll see how far I'm dilated. I was sleeping pretty good until about a week ago and now my belly falls asleep and I can't get comfortable. Even though I go to bed fairly early I am waking up feeling exhausted. The poor boys- get really bored. But, my mom flies in Saturday night so in just a couple of days we'll have some help!! Yea!!!

Right now Jordan is in his least busy time since the start of school so he's really been helping with the boys which helps me even more! Last Tuesday he didn't have to teach at the high school so we took some sandwiches up to the mountain. You should have seen Jaxon when we told him we were going the night before. He smiled and turned around to the laundry room. He came back in with the tent and a sleeping bag and said we were all ready! He seriously would live up there if he could! He didn't like the idea of us only staying a few hours. We had a grand ole' time though.Jaxon just climbed and climbed and walked through the creek and threw rocks into the water.
While coming down I slipped just a little bit and Jordan wanted this picture. I'm proud of myself for climbing big rocks and keeping up with the boys.
I love this picture of the boys.Jaxon asked for Jordan to take this picture and he posed all by himself. We couldn't have asked for a happier camper. Which is good because the next day was picture day at school so he was all ready. Jordan took the day off and took the boys to pictures. He said he was amazed at how well behaved Jaxon was; he went straight to his chair and sat down and listened to the instructions. Kodee was so excited to be there that he grabbed a chair and sat right behind Jaxon acting like he was part of the class. He would love preschool, but I know he wouldn't qualify for it like Jaxon did.
The past two weeks we've taken a family walk on Monday nights through some fields and up by the hospital. It's probably around 4 miles. Last week Jaxon probably ran for half the walk. That kid just loves to run!! This is what happened after we got home- just kidding, this is when Jaxon had a fever two weekends ago. He asked me to make mac and cheese so I put it on and did some laundry. He fell asleep while it was cooking.

Where've you been??

2011-04-05T14:58:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone! If you haven't left a comment in a while, but you come and read our blog, give us a shout out. Just say hi! We feel like we haven't talk to many of you for years and we miss you, so we want to know who is still reading us:) We'll try and do better leaving comments too! Ari is especially on your blogs a lot catching up!

The Wild Wild West

2011-04-04T08:57:00.009-07:00

We had a blast on Spring Break. After all the traveling of the past two months- all I wanted to do was STAY HOME. The first few days were spent purely on recovering from the concerts and All-State, and tour, and everything else that seemed to suck every ounce of energy out of my old 28 year old body:) I know some of you are cringing right now- but I'm definitely feeling every year lately. Can't believe only a little more then a year till I'm in my third decade of life. Yikes. We got a lot of spring cleaning done, spruced up the boys' rooms and got ready for the little one. Rearranged our room. Finally on Friday we decided we needed to get out of the house and add a little culture to our lives. We invited NeeNee and Ariel and Zane to go with us and we went to Old Tucson!
I was excited about this idea because Jaxon has been obsessed with guns for the past few weeks and loves to pretend to be a cowboy. We arrived at the park in the middle of one of their live, role-playing cowboy gunfights. It was towards the end and that was just fine because I'm sure the whole thing would have been too much for the boys. Jaxon immediately shut down, closed his eyes as tight as he could, and put his hands over his ears.
Kodee was loving it! It was pretty neat, I've never seen anything like it.
Afterward, the cowboys offered to take pictures. Jaxon was not happy about posing with them at all.I think the whole park was a bit too much, too soon for Jaxon. He was being pretty whiney and didn't want to do anything. But then he saw the train!

This train, Reno, is one of the oldest engines in America, and the most filmed in all of the westerns. He LOVED it, that's when he started to perk up a bit.

They also had a mini train on tracks that went around the whole park that gave you a tour of everything. The boys loved that and had to ride it twice.
There was a go cart track, with old fashioned looking cars that Jaxon got to drive all by himself! They both rode a real horse,and then a carousel. They got electric blue cotton candy ice cream that stained their mouths. They LOVED it!

One of my high lights was finally being able to take an "old west" photo with the family. We took one of these back when I was about 9 or 10 in Nauvoo and I loved looking at it. It's always fun to dress up in old fashioned garb and put on a smug face!I've never laughed so hard as when we watched NeeNee and Ariel take their photo. NeeNee was concentrating so hard on being serious and not smiling, and also keeping her eyes open. . oh my. . .the photo is CLASSIC! We laughed about it all the way home! Ariel dressed up like a bar/floozy girl, and little Zane looked as cute as ever.

There was a tour of a haunted mine that had little robot skeletons pop up and smoke and fog stuff that the boys went through. Kodee cracks me up. Still, to this day he'll comment on "Scary monsters. . ." he must have said it over 50 times while we were walking through that tour. There was one part where a tunnel was spinning, but we were standing on a catwalk grate, and there was black lights and florescent paint. Jaxon clung to the railing on that catwalk like he was going to spin out of the stratosphere. It was hilarious! His little legs were so wobbly.

NeeNee bought Kodee and Jaxon fake guns, and Kodee proceeded to shoot every cowboy he'd see on the side of the street in the park. They were so fun and would act like they were dead or dying. He LOVED it!

This really showed me how overwhelming big parks are to Jaxon. I'm not even sure he would like Disneyland or anything like that right now. He gets really freaked out by too much going on. Kodee couldn't be more opposite.
(Within minutes of leaving the parking lot.)

They still talk about some of the things they saw there everyday, especially Kodee. I think he goes through that memory every night before he goes to sleep because he always says things about that day. He's so funny. His favorite colors are purple, green, and blue. But he's not sure which is which. So he'll try to say green, when it's purple. . .makes us laugh.

Jaxon is loving pushing Kodee's buttons right now. If they play together usually within minutes or seconds we hear Kodee scream or cry. I really hope that he will be a big helper when baby sister comes. We can tell they're both really excited about it.

Ari's hanging in there! I know she's excited to have her body back. For the most part she's been feeling great this pregnancy with the help of her miracle pill that helps her not be nauseated, but the past few days even that hasn't been stopping her from feeling icky.

We loved watching conference. . .although it is a little hard to feel the spirit and truly soak up the message when you're yelling at two rambunctious boys to quiet down and be reverent. It seemed like every time I would scream at them to be quiet the speaker would say something about parenting your children with gentleness and love. I felt so guilty that it was hard to listen to:) We're trying, that's all I can say. I just pray that these boys don't grow up to be menaces to society and that they serve others with love and kindness. I guess in order for that to happen, I have to be the example, huh? Any tips from anybody?

We're in full blown spring over here. The boys are turning on the faucet outside everyday and getting very muddy,
or sometimes don't even want to go outside because it's too hot. They had a little bout with a fever/flu bug on Thursday and Friday, but it passed very quickly. Got to get this house healthy and bug free for baby! Think we're close to pinning down a name and finally deciding on it, but part of me thinks we truly won't know until we see her.

36 weeks!

2011-03-31T15:10:00.004-07:00

Next week I'm full term and the baby can come anytime after that. I've been having many mixed emotions this whole pregnancy- will she be healthy? will she be cute? will she be a good baby? I could go on and on....one thing's for sure- I won't miss being pregnant!!! Now for your viewing pleasure..

The boys LOVE bathtime especially when there are BUBBLES!!!

Spring Break post coming up. Can we just say we love having daddy around?!

Whirlwind!

2011-03-14T20:03:00.014-07:00

Wow- these past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Seems like I've barely had time to take a breath. I've been gone almost every single weekend in February and so far in March. There has been choir trip after choir trip. First we took the quartets to a festival in NAU and I had Ari and the boys come along with me because we had to take two vans, since we couldn't get the big one. Ari was a trooper and holed up with the boys in the hotel room while we were participating in the festival. One of my students was really sick and we worried a lot about her the whole weekend. In fact, that night I gave her a blessing, and some friends up in Flagstaff brought her some medicine and food that they thought would help her condition. They were so nice to help us out like that.

Kodee loved to use Jaxon as a pillow in the hotel.

They did a great job, but because of the music I chose (more vocal point style then true jazz) the jazz clinician marked us down, or I believe we would have gotten a superior. I definitely learned a lot from this first year going. The kids bonded and are now all best friends, so if anything- it was true success for that very reason.

Ari had heard about a restaurant that was just featured on the food network in Flag, so we had to try it and it was amazing!! They had the best pineapple/jabenero salsa, and stuffed sopapillas. Everyone LOVED it!

The boys had such a blast with the students. Especially Tyler. He ran them up and down the hallway at the hotel, and they were LOVING it! I'm glad they got to know them better.

Following that weekend, we had regionals. I took the students to Tucson and it just so happens I was sick as a dog. I had a really bad flu bug, and couldn't keep anything down. I also had a fever, and that night I spent in the hotel was one of the worst. It really stinks to be all by yourself when you are sick like that. I feel so bad because during the rehearsals on Friday I just stayed in an adjoining room off of the side of the choir and slept, pretty much the whole day. On Saturday it got much worse, to the point where I had to call Ariana to come to Tucson and pick me up. We had taken a bus there, so I had no mode of transportation. Being the sweetheart she is, she jumped right in the van and came and got me. I honestly don't remember much about that weekend, the music, or the instruction from the director. It really stunk, because I wanted to learn a lot from her as I had my own all-state weekend to direct on the horizon. . . . The kids told me it was an amazing performance and one of the best regionals ever.

The next few days were miserable. Luckily we had a Monday off for Presidents' day, but this is when Ariana's cold to end all colds happened. She got the worst sinus infection I've ever seen that last almost 3 weeks. The poor girl couldn't taste or smell for over 2 weeks, during that time the boys got bad colds and coughs, and I just couldn't shake this fever/flu bug. It really was not a good time at our house. I tried to keep going and tough through it, but man was it hard. Thankfully that's all behind us.

While we were dealing with that, I was getting Taste of Sound ready for their big Hollywood/Disneyland trip. They had so much work to do. I took them to a Fame Show Choir Competition in Hollywood on March 4-7th. I had to leave Ari still a little sick. Thank heaven's for our neighbors the Jones'. They have become family to us, and we do not know what we would do without them! We love you guys! That was the only way I felt ok leaving Ari so sick with the boys. Luckily she had started taking antibiotics.

We left on a Thursday around 5:30 am. Karen Scott, Jody Peck, and Ellen Iske all chaperoned with me. I owe them big time! They were wonderful. We arrived in Cali around 3 or so (because we lost an hour) and we had some downtime to unwind, and get ready for the night. We had a nice dinner at Buca di Beppo, family style, and it was really fun. The kids even sang some of their songs in the restaurant, that's always fun on choir trips! Then we went to Downtown Disney and window shopped for a few hours.

Raring to go see Cali!

I really liked this cookie!

The Lego store was a big hit! Amazing!

The next morning we were up bright and early ready for California Adventure! It didn't open for a few hours so we decided to go take a tour of a non-denomintation christian church called the Crystal Cathedral. We were even able to sing some songs inside, it was pretty darn cool.

The whole crew and our awesome bus driver, Don!

When we got to California Adventure, we split up with our buddies and dispersed all over the park. We had a fun group- the Pecks, Scotts, and some of their friends. We rode the Tower of Terror first, it was fun to get a rise out of my student Summer. . .she was so scared. To be honest, so was I, but I loved it. I feel like I've been waiting forEVER to ride that ride! It did not disappoint. We loved the Califrornia Screamer roller coaster as well. The Bug's Life land was awesome, and Soaring Over California was INCREDIBLE. It's a virtual reality ride, and you can smell the scents of where they fly you over.

The kids performed in the park and did a great job. There's nothing like performing on a Disney stage in Disneyland. We had a nice crowd too.

We then rode the Grizzly Rapids, and I don't think I've ever laughed harder in my life (at least in a long time.) It felt so good. The whole time, Summer and I were trying to stay out of the water and the splashes, but by doing so, ended up wetter then everyone else!

I loved seeing the production of Aladdin. It was AMAZING- definitely Broadway worthy, and the Genie was so darn funny. I love how all of his jokes were so relevant with today's pop culture.

My favorite part of the park was Disney's World of Color, the ending show over Ariel's Grotto/harbor. The music, the lights, the colors, the fountains, the fire, the projection, the ferris wheel- all was SO AMAZING! It's incredible what they are able to think of and DO!

Practicing their screaming faces with no sound so they wouldn't lose their voices.

we rode the California Screamer trying to make Model Faces the whole time. . . made you kinda not enjoy the ride cause I was concentrating on my face too much.

We were so tired that night, but had a big, early morning ahead of us the next day. We woke up around 5:30, 6, so we could be ready and over to Hollywood for our competition. I had to exude SO MUCH energy to get the kids raring to go. I literally had to fight with them to put on makeup, and do their hair. But once we were at the Orpheum theater they were amped and ready. We were the 3rd choir to compete, and everyone told me that we were their favorite up until that point. But after us . . .the competition really begin. I've never seen such incredible show choir sets in my whole life. They literally must have spent thousand and thousands to be able to do what they do. I was so proud of us for carrying through with what we did. The kids literally gave the best performance of their life, and that's all that I asked for. I was SO proud!

Though we didn't win any awards, we definitely learned and became a tighter, better group.

Biggest pizza slices ever, on Hollywood Blvd. (with Summer and Shaylin)

We came home on Sunday and I was so excited to see the boys and Ari. They were so fun to watch open their Disneyland gifts!

Jaxon got a "bubble gun" and Kodee got a Buzz light year laser gun

Ari got a Minnie Mouse snuggie!

Kodee modeling the baby's disneyland gift. . .so cute

The next weekend was All-state! My high school kids tried out on Friday night, then I was in charge of directing the Jr. High All-State all day on Saturday. I didn't realize how much I was building up the pressure for this event. But Friday night I tossed and turned because I was so nervous. A friend let me stay at their house so I'd have peace and quiet to collect my thoughts. (they were out of town! Thanks Emily and Yasser!)

I arrived at Higley ready to do my thing- and I turned on the energy 120% I don't think I relaxed until after the closing note of the concert. When I first heard the students sing at 8:30 in the morning I was worried. They didn't appear to know their music too well, or confidently, and I felt I had some major results to produce. The students rehearsed like a dream and responded so well to me. I'd tell them to do something once, and they'd remember it for the rest of the rehearsal process. And they all sang like they wanted to be there, and were giving their best. I LOVED it! I shared many touchy feely stories (Dr. Lunt style:) and the messages I hoped to get across to them definitely took root. I definitely think this is one of my greatest professional accomplishments up to this point. The concert was AMAZING! The students performed their hearts out and all the parents were so pleased with the results. I felt like I was mobbed with compliments after the concert. (A good problem to have.)

Ari was able to come and watch after her awesome baby shower that Jenny put on for her. NeeNee helped her, but wasn't able to attend because of a family event! She got some very cute baby items. A student's parents picked her up to take her to the All State concert so she could travel home with me. Joanna, Jim, and Kim were also able to come and ate at the Olive Garden with all of us and my Safford students following the concert. It was so much fun. We also got the baby a new pink car seat before heading home!! We're getting pretty excited!

Bring on the baby gifts. Neenee stopped by before the big all state weekend to give Ari some of her gifts. She was pretty excited as you can see!

Jenny's refreshments at the shower

The gal of the hour

Cute dresses from Amber Halversen

Sunday I was DEAD! Ari said Jaxon was pretty excited to see me sleeping in my bed and said, "Mommy!!!! Daddy' here!" How sad is that?? I've been gone way to much for that to be the highlight of his day. Luckily we had 3-6 church, so I was able to get some of my battery recharged. But I literally felt like I had been through a battle- of directing. I'm sore in places I didn't think possible, all from flailing my arms about!:)

I can't believe how much the boys are talking after missing a few weekends with them. Jaxon is non stop chatter- why did we ever want this?:) Kodee's not far behind. He's so cute- he loves "toaster" (i.e. toast). Jaxon was eating some banana bread in sacrament meeting yesterday and Kodee started saying "want toaster. . . want toaster!!!" getting louder and louder. Finally he found the bag of bread and made it happen- he's getting good at that. Also at making our house look like a disaster area!

One of Jaxon's many creations he makes on a regular basis- he's so particular about the symmetry.

Now we have two concerts to get through- Middle school on Tuesday, and then High School on Thursday. . .then it's SPRING BREAK BABY!! So excited!

Thanks for taking part in this journey/saga/epic month of our lives!!

31 weeks

2011-02-23T14:03:00.003-07:00

9 weeks to go! The Dr. says baby girl is measuring at 29 weeks so we scheduled another ultrasound for next week to make sure she is okay. We've had a lousy past week due to illness by all the boys; then I got it. It's a nasty head cold. I can't taste food for the life of me. Too bad I have to eat or else I would say forget it!

Here's Jordan finally getting over the flu! He hasn't been so sick in a long time. It's good to get it over with before his huge tour next weekend. And look-we're both in purple!

Look at me!

2011-02-08T15:47:00.009-07:00

After we got our new camera the boys would ask me to take pictures for days. "Mom! Look at me! Look at me!" These are some of those times:

Right before we left Utah we picked out some fabric for new blankets-the boys' old ones are just that; old and gross. My mom sewed them up later and it was like Christmas again when the box came.

I find it interesting that I have the boys all day long so when Jordan's home they will go to him, but.. this still happens: they smother me!

We've managed to stay fairly healthy despite Jordan's students and all of the town being deathly ill. Kodee did get a runny nose and Jaxon got a fever for two days last week. No biggy because Jaxon is easier when he's sick and it was the coldest of colds outside so we just laid around inside for a few days. It was so cold that people's pipes froze and burst including the bank and our church building. The entire ceiling in the RS room fell on the floor and flooded half the building. We get to visit other wards until they fix the building.

Other than that the boys are crazy-especially Kodee- he is definitely 2! They wear me out! Jaxon is talking really well lately. His latest progress report was the best he's ever gotten. He's actually mastered one of his goals on his IEP plan.

Kodee has decided it's time to climb out of his crib. All. through. the. night. We have tried the big bed for three days with Jaxon as well. If they fall asleep they sleep better, but until they do night's aren't fun.
Here I am at 28 weeks (last week) I feel great! Best out of all pregnancies. Bending over is becoming increasingly difficult now. Oh boy! If I do stand too long my shins hurt for hours, but I'll take that over any other problems that I could have.

Whoops! There are no pictures of Jordan this time. That's how busy he is, poor guy. I think he's handling it quite well. We'll see if that's still true in a few weeks. Hopefully he'll get some of this soon.

January

2011-01-30T22:24:00.004-07:00

On the way home from UT I finally had that skin appointment with a dermatologist that Mom, Dad, and Joanna see. She told me so far my skins ok, but I have a few spots that show "pre-cancerous" conditions, and am going to have to use a cream to kill those cells. Joy. Hey, but for all those years swimming and life guarding in the sun, at least I don't have any cancer yet.

School started off with a bang- and I had a ton of new middle school choir students signed up. I'm up to about 80 students in the middle school. (Wish more of them were boys. . .but that's always the middle school struggle.) I do have enough boys to do our first all-boy song by the middle school. They're pretty excited about that. A lot of the songs we're working on right now are pretty popular, radio friendly tunes because I felt after Christmas they needed a big pick me up. For some reason a lot of the Christmas numbers this year were very slow and serious. I must have been in a very serious mood when I chose them:) So I seem to be trying to make up for that now. The kids appreciate it.

Yesterday I took my high schoolers to U of A for Regional Auditions. I have about 45 go. I've been feeling like their focus lately and their sight reading abilities have been lacking, so I was very surprised when 16 of my students made it! I feel like that's quite an accomplishment. To me this is kind of like my bench marks, and I don't want to see my numbers go down. I was a little worried about three of the girls behavior on the trip, but as far as I know, everything was peechy keen, and nobody got into any trouble. These trips are tough because they're pretty much on their own all day. I'm weird and I like to accompany all my students in the audition. (Other directors think I'm crazy). The bad part about the day was I had to leave on the early bus at 6, and didn't come home on the late bus till 7:00. We had to work transportation around orchestra and band as well. My day was pretty much shot. When the choir kids met up with me at U of A about 10 of them were extremely sick, coughing, sneezing, running temperatures, and they all looked like they wanted to kill me. (I make this trip mandatory and it's VERY hard for them to get out of going without major consequences.) I also caught some kind of fever, achy stuff by the end of the day. I seriously need to make Emergen-C and Air Born a permanent part of my day! I tell you, when someone gets something in our choir, it runs through everybody like wildfire. Kodee's also been pretty sick at home too. Nancy said it seems like someone's always sick at our house. . .wish that weren't so.

Forgot to mention every single one of the 9 orchestra kids made it and 10 of the 12 Safford band kids made it. Id' definitely say things are looking up in the Safford music department. Now I just have to get this tour to Hollywood underway and over with, along with a NAU Jazz/Madrigal festival, Regional's Festival, All-State Audition, directing the Arizona Jr. High All-State Choir, EAC Large Group festival, All-State Music Festival, a late winter and late spring concert for both Jr. High and High School, then Ariana having her baby- can you see why these next few months are a bit daunting? Not to mention daily voice lessons I teach after school from 3:30 to 6:00. I'm a CRAZY man! But I love it. . .sometimes! Oh yeah, I also had 7 other voice students not from Safford that made Regionals too. Glad I could prepare them for it.

Ari of course is at home chasing these boys around. They really seem to be feeding off of each other lately. One on one they are definitely manageable, but together- pure havoc. They love swords, and will turn anything into them- especially Ari's butter knifes. The other day they were running around with plastic hangers pretending to shoot arrows at people. They're other favorite thing to do is to run from one end of the house to the other as fast as they can go (Kodee almost always runs into something). Jaxon discovered crawling up my legs and doing a backflip while holding my hands this week. He wants to do it all the time. Kodee tried, but is not quite there yet. Kodee will not stay in his crib any more, and is averaging climbing out of it about 9 times a night. . .joy! Sounds a lot like me when i was little, eh dad? Probably time to think about bunk beds.

A weight has been lifted this week. I finally told our landlord our plans to move in the summer to mom and dad's when Jenny and Richard get into their house. He seemed pretty sad to be losing us. I don't blame him :) We're definitely excited to get out of this house though.

Ari was overjoyed when she had her ultra-sound this Friday and could see female body parts clear as day! Now she KNOWS and is ready for sugar and spice in the house. Up until now they've always just told us. . ."well, we don't see anything to indicate the baby's a boy." Now she's ready for a girly baby shower. Pregnancy looks beautiful on her and everyone says she has such a cute prego belly. Our neighbor, Janine, has been a guardian angel for her and I'm SO grateful for all she's been doing. Ari's also been walking a lot, and it's done wonders for her mentally and physically!

We are family!

2011-01-20T10:59:00.011-07:00

Ariana's family except brother Kevin, Sitlally and two boys. This is who we hung out with for two weeks. The boys loved having Benjamin around.

We ate:

We played games:

z boys played, (I think Jordan and I got more sleep than the kiddos):

Jaxon and Kodee's Christmas Soo-prise!

One freezing and oh so crowded trip to Temple Square

The boys LOVED the train

Other adventures:
Shopping at Kid to Kid- We got girl stuff, yes! Here's a few of our favorites:

2 trips to a very cute and tasty bakery, the chocolate cake truffles are TOO DIE for. ..Jordan says
1 trip to gelato place-fabulous!
Carl Bloch exhibit- very nice
Cafe Rio- no explanation needed
Draper temple session
Tangled and Despicable Me

This is how the boys were found the majority of the time. Jordan found a way for them to watch Tangled on his laptop, and Jaxon has a HUGE crush on Rapunzel. So cute, he knows all the words to the songs and wants to listen to the soundtrack every night. He also got a Tangled book for Christmas that he insists mom reads to him every night. The other day we were in church and Jaxon was playing with two cars- a green semi truck and a red corvette. He said "Dad, look green Flynn Ryder and red Rapunzel" then he made the cars kiss. SO CUTE!

Laughing and being silly

Trying to stay inside- 8 degrees was plenty cold!

Good times- then we get home and our back door is wide open! Who knows how long we were heating the world? The heater was acting wacky for a few days. Cest la vie.

Don't Worry

2011-01-18T22:07:00.001-07:00

We're still here! Mucho Blogging-o come your way-o.

We haven't had a camera for the past three months, but thanks to a dear dear friend, we are hooked up and ready to snap away. Stay tuned!:)

What's new Scooby-Doo?

2010-12-05T18:03:00.012-07:00

Jaxon has gotten into Scooby-Doo lately. Let me just say that the old animation is soooo much better than the newer stuff. I know we haven't been blogging lately, mainly because we lost our camera and I don't like just word posts. We really don't want to buy a new one because than the other will magically reappear, but we are missing some key moments in life. It's a pickle I tell ya. Last post was about my birthday. These shots are from Jordan's phone
Glasses courtesy of Jaxon, dream catcher courtesy of Kodee (They couldn't be cuter)

New walking shoes courtesy from Jordan. I was very excited because I haven't gotten new running/walking shoes in about 5 years. It was high time. On my birthday night I put them on to see how they fit while we watched some TV; Jordan thought I was going to wear them to bed.
The shoes are great! Lately I've been going walking with some friends three times a week while jaxon is in preschool. I push Kodee in the stroller and he loves it. We walk 3.8 miles each day so we are bound to get in shape!
For my b-day dinner I made calzones and fruit pizza for my cake and invited our aforementioned friends for din din and games. It was sooo fun! Amber and Josh (friends) have three girls; they are way older than the boys, but they loved them just the same. By the end of the night they all laid on our bed and watched a movie. They never fell asleep and they didn't leave til after 11pm. I had a blast!
Jordan was gone two weekends in November, but we did manage to get our inside Christmas decorations up Veteran's Day weekend. Having those two days off and then Thanksgiving break is so nice. The boys loved having their daddy around!
In the middle of all of Jordan's madness he took me up to the city on a Wednesday for the So You Think You Can Dance Tour-the very last show. Thanks to Ariel for taking the boys all day! We were able to make a day of it. I was able to get some new Sunday shoes and a larger jacket with my birthday money. Then we mostly window shopped in a really nice mall in Gilbert. Our friends were kind enough to spoil us with dinner at home before we went to the show. We got there just as it was starting and we didn't have tickets. We had to look a bit for those guys who get rid of tickets for cheap and we found a guy who had $40 tickets and he only wanted $25. Awesome! The show was so fun! We were at the back of the arena and we could still see all the energy the dancers put into each move. We all screamed ourselves silly. We didn't get back until 2am and poor Jordan had to get up at 6:30 to teach a half day before driving back up to the same place for one of his students' All-State Show choir weekend. It's Jordan's favorite event of the year. The president asked him if he would be a chairman under him. Jordan pretty much said yes! That means he has to get the clinician, choreographer, facility, audition times and materials, etc.... It would be a lot of work, but it does get his foot in the door for other show choir importants to get to know him.
I did mention in a post many moons ago that I was pregnant with #3, but the post was very long so I guess no one got to the bottom to read the news. Anyway, the due date is April 27th. That puts me about 20 weeks. Yay! I'm getting somewhere. We're thrilled for a spring baby. It's been nice because I was not as sick with this one as I was with the boys. It's amazing to feel better during the 2nd trimester-I've never known that before. We've been thinking it could be a girl because of the difference, but we've also heard that the % of having a girl after 2 boys is about 20%. So we didn't get our hopes up. Wednesday of Thanksgiving week I had an appt. Out of the blue the Dr. gave me an ultrasound and before I could say anything he asked if I wanted to know the sex. I just sat there with my mouth wide open because I did want to know, but I was sad because Jordan wasn't there. He asked again and I just blurted, "Yes!" Well, he's pretty sure it's one of these..... A GIRL!!!!!!!
To be honest I was in shock! I went and bought this outfit right after and put it in a blue bag and took it to Jordan at school. I told him Happy Thanksgiving as I handed him the bag. As he was pulling out the blue tissue paper he looked very confused that he could see something pink. He unfolded the outfit and it took about 30 seconds to register to him that we were having a girl. And then he screamed! It's been fun telling people. We get very exciting reactions! We still have an anatomy ultrasound on the 15th which will really tell us for sure if the baby is a girl, but we really feel it is! I am also scared for having 3 children-I've heard it's the toughest transition. And I have a feeling this baby is not going to be as easy as Jax and Kodee were, but we are excited for something new and pink and purple! We can't wait to see what she'll look like. I've felt her since my birthday and now Jordan is starting to feel her move. This is the reason I mentioned I needed a bigger jacket. All my maternity clothes are for the hottest part of summer and now it's getting cold; let's just say we're having a difficult time finding something to wear.

Thanksgiving break was great! We went to our brother-in-laws' cabin in Payson, about a 3 hour drive, Wednesday evening. Poor Kodee he is our carsick child. Grandma was very impressed how I got around the van while trying to help Kodee and the spew. The cabin was more like a mansion-three levels, 5 bathrooms attached to big rooms with big beds, a nice kitchen and basement. There was plenty of room for the three families. Jaxon had the best time with his cousins or as he would call it, his kids. They went hiking and exploring and found a bunch of frozen creek water that they stored in the freezer. The older kids found a nice size tarantula and scared about everyone of us with Bryce letting it crawl on his face. With 19 people we were able to get everyone at the big table. Jordan's sister kept calling it a small group. To me that will always be huge! We had an emotional beginning by having us all give a sour and a sweet to our year. I'd say the sweets far out weighed the sours. We could truly feel God's goodness in our lives. After clean-up (which didn't take long with us 3 sisters and grandma) we all lazed about the rest of the day. The boys went down to bed like a dream that night, but did not stay that way for too long. Jordan and I were up probably every hour in between both boys that night. Kodee didn't like the crib and Jaxon got a stomach bug. Jaxon sure was a champion because after every time he got up he would ask for more music and a prayer and go right to sleep, until the next episode. It ended up being okay that we had to leave the next day so we could get Jaxon home. I haven't seen him so sick in a really long time. He laid on the couch all weekend; definitely not the same boy. He was so uncomfortable on Saturday that Jordan gave him a blessing with the help of our friend. Even before Bro. T. left the house Jaxon had completely calmed down and fallen asleep. If I was grateful for anything that weekend it was for Jaxon's faith in the comforting power of the Savior. It's so wonderful to see him grow up and know that prayer is comforting, and that they will always be answered.
It's so great when he prays, go to mountain, go in car, go to Walmart, and bless the food. Kodee is always right behind him saying many of the words. We really can't get over how well Kodee talks. Lately he's been saying little 3 word sentences. It's very cute! We're getting over how much he's using NO! now though. Not so cute anymore.
Now that I feel better I'm really trying to enjoy the boys and all their craziness. Jaxon builds very creative block/buildings and forts. Lately he's been stacking everything in the room all in one pile and he calls it his castle. Very creative-not so fun to clean up.
We really can't wait for Christmas break to see my family in Utah, but before that Jordan has 4 concerts in two weeks. I have a solo in the Messiah next week. That was kind of unexpected.

Oh, I made whole wheat bread for the first time yesterday. It tastes great, it just doesn't have the round top like regular bread. There's always next time. I believe this will be a regular in our household now.

New family pics!!

2010-12-04T19:06:00.006-07:00

HAAAAAA

2010-11-06T13:51:00.003-07:00

PPPPPYYYYYY Birthday to ME!! Bring on the big 2-8! I'm ready! Although I don't feel older yet.

My good friend Amber Halversen (of Halversenphotography.blogspot.com) took this picture of me Labor Day weekend. Thanks, I appreciate it!

Can't wait for my fruit pizza tonight!

Halloween!

2010-10-30T20:21:00.002-07:00

Here we are- the Super Mario Family. Ari: Princess Peach, Kodee: Luigi, Jaxon: Mario, Jordan: King Bowser (the bad guy- fits me about right!) We were a hit:)

Party time! Excellent!

2010-10-23T22:22:00.005-07:00

We celebrated the boys' party this year on the night of the 14th so grandma and grandpa Keith could come. This was their last night in the Gila Valley for a while.. It was fun and crazy

And their new PJs! Thanks Janeen! And thank you to the Greens, JOnes', Grandma, Grandpa, and great Grandma and the other Keith's for coming! We had lots of fun!