Children's Discovery Gardens

We took advantage of the nice weather last week and went to the Children's Discovery Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. It was kind of chilly early on - but warmed up nice enough to give us all sun burns.

Noah is basically me as a child. He doesn't run with the pack or care what the other kids are doing. He is such a loner, doddler, and wanderer. I feel bad for him because on these activities all her really hears is "come on Noah", "hurry up Noah". I love just watching him wander around while he is in his own little world. He gets so mesmerized by his surroundings - he could do something simple (like put a stick in a river) for hours with out getting bored.

This seemed to be Megan's first "big girl" activity. She spent more time out of the stroller than in it. She figured out how to throw rocks in a river and pull grass out of the ground.

I am grateful everyday for Brock. He is just so obedient and mild mannered. I never have to worry about him. He is very curious and loves to learn everything he can.


We had our friends, Holly, Gunnar, and Emery, with us for a little while. They used to live across the street - which was wonderful. They were our "everyday friends" - having one of those really makes my life a lot more... perfect. Megan and Emery are just 6 weeks apart and Gunnar is right in between my boys. They moved to Riverton a few weeks ago - very sad.

We also had the Curren's.

babies do grow up

This little girl turned one last week. I can't believe how big she is. I still think she is my little baby - she was little for sooo long, I loved every minute of it. But she is swiftly becoming one of the big kids. At least that is what she thinks anyways. I turned her around in her car seat yesterday. She was so excited to be forward facing with her brothers. Anytime she gets to do anything the same as her brothers she gets so happy. Today I looked in my rear view mirror to see three toddlers, forward facing in their car seats, smiling back at me. I felt so old.


She is so happy almost all of the time. A few things about Megan.

• We call her Megan-bug or bug, still.



• She has great, and unique, relationships with both her brothers. Her and Brock adore each other. Brock just loves to play with her, they chase each other around the house, Brock reads her books, tickles her, and even play wrestles with her. He is so gentle and so loving and caring. Noah and her are kind of at odds. Noah loves her and is so nice with her - I don't think I have ever seen him be rude to her... first. She likes to tease him. When he is playing with his train tracks she loves to come over and destroy them, she likes to take his car and crawl away, and she gets mad when I am cuddling Noah - but doesn't get mad when I cuddle Brock or other babies. But she actually loves to cuddle Noah. She will crawl into his lap and lay her head on his shoulder. She won't do this with Brock - and it often hurts Brock's feelings.



• She is starting to be a girl. The only toys we have had in our house are boy toys, and she doesn't care much for them. Blocks, balls, trains, cars, tools, she just doesn't have an interest in any of them. We just got some baby dolls and girl stuff - and she is so cute with them. She drags her baby dolls around the house and tries to give them bottles. She is getting into dressing up and accessorising a little bit. And she LOVES to be told she is pretty.



• She has a favorite Blanket. This is a first for me - neither of my boys had a favorite anything for bed. But she LOVES LOVES her blanket.
  


• She took two steps on Monday and four steps yesterday. She will be walking soon.



• She is busy. She just loves to go from toy to toy and play with everything. She is really my first curious baby. She loves to open cupboards and empty them and get into stuff. It is not excessive but she is the first one of my kids so do it - so I find it adorable and am enjoying the change.



• Still loves her daddy. She has had a very hard time with him back at work. We have decided that she likes her dad the way most babies like their mom and she likes me how most babies like their dad. If dad is in the room she wants to be with him. A few weeks ago Jason had to sneak around at a family party because if Megan saw him or heard his voice she would cry until he took her. I was sitting right there the whole time - and she didn't care that I didn't have her. Sometime I have to try not to get offended. But she does love me too - so don't feel bad for me. I love that she loves him.

One, Two, Three

What am I counting?

The ages of my children. For one week a year my older three children will be right in a row age wise. (My younger three children will be - but the duration depends on when this next one shows up.)

Megan came 6 weeks early - so they were not supposed to ever be right in a row. When she did come before Brock was 3 - I was a little upset. I thought this one week a year would be embarrassing - and I would just tell people Brock was 4 or Megan was not 1 yet. But I now love it and I am sad for Brock to turn four. I guess in the last year I have embraced my life a little more.

For now I am going to enjoy my kids at 1, 2, and 3; because I hear the years of 16, 17, and 18 are going to be a killer! I think we should start saving for our car insurance right now!

Full Week

Last week was a busy week. I have about a million things to post. I will start with Tuesday. We went to Monkey Island in Lehi with our friends - Jess, Rachel, Andrew, and Cara. I love bounce houses. They are probably my favorite things to take my kids too. I wish that we had one close by that was not a million dollars. I have to drive into Utah County to go to one.

I digress, Brock spent almost the whole time jumping onto this tree.

Megan in fearless. I think she thinks she is the same age as her brothers. She did not want to be held - or even crawl around on the ground. She wanted to be IN the bounce houses.

Noah loves the slides. The first place he went was the biggest slides there. He went down about 20 times.

I tried to get a picture of the four of us. Let's see how that turned out

Last one it the best. But hardly good. Maybe one day.

It's a...

Girl!

We are a little shocked. We, again, thought it was going to be a boy. Two boys and two girls - sounds like the perfect mix to me. It will be great. Noah and Brock are 15 months apart and Megan and this girl will be 15 months apart. (Noah and Megan are 19 months apart)

Brock knew it was a girl all along. From the begining he has said, "this one is a girl, and the next one is a boy."

Decoration and Decisions

Here is the story of my house decorating: or lack there of. When we moved in I was 8 months pregnant. I learned not to make any crucial decorating decision while I was pregnant, I find my taste always changes. I knew I wanted to paint - so I decided not to decorate or paint until the summer - giving me a few months of adjustment phase after Megan was born. Well... if you have been following my life for the last year or so, you know we haven't had the best luck. Jason was laid off mid-summer, he got a job sometime late fall, and was laid off again in February. So through all the lay-offs and recovery from times of unemployment, painting our house got pretty much pushed off the priority list. Since I hadn't painted, I never got around to decorating.

So, one year after we moved in our walls were still completely bare. I had not hung one picture, or put one nail hole, in the whole house. It was pretty depressing. So I decided I was just going to go for it. I was going to hang pictures, shelves, and other sorts of prettiness - seeing as I was sure painting wasn't going to get put back on the list for a few years. So one night I made cut outs for the size of all my frames and shelves and started deciding where I was going to put things.

The very next day my sister called with an amazing offer... to make a long story short... she has a friend with a painting business that is going to paint our house for FREE! That is right free. I was elated. I really feel like it is just a tender mercy from the Lord. Although it is so silly and there are several other things that we are tying to make fit in our tiny budget right now that would serve us much better for free than a painted house (need a new car [tends to happen with number 4], our back yard needs serious help, summer clothes for the boys, etc), but painting is just this pure want that will make me happy. I am thrilled to have it. So for the last two weeks I have been collecting painting samples trying to decide what I liked. I narrowed it down to 3.

I put them on my wall tonight... and I hate all of them! I am so bugged. I don't even kind of like any of them. I feel like I need to throw out my whole color palate and start over - but I don't know where to go from here. And we are supposed to start painting this week. I am trying to go off the same color scheme of a woman in my ward who has the same house design as mine (Mindy) - but I just can't get it right. I obviously have no idea what I am doing.


Then I saw this ladder shelf on Craig's List for $20. I have wanted a black ladder shelf since we moved into this house - but knew I would never buy one (that is how I role) - but through some extra baby sitting money (thanks neighbors) Jason gave me the green light. This was a HUGE deal because I have not bought one thing like this since we have been married. I haven't bought one thing really for the house, me, or the kids that wasn't basically a need - or right on the border line. So to have something so frivolous as a shelf - especially at a time of unemployment - was crazy. I think I smiled for 3 days straight.

Then I got it home - and I don't like it. I actually knew I didn't like it 3 minutes after I bought it. I am so sad. This is my first Craig's List purchase that I have regretted (and I buy EVERYTHING off of Craig's List). So I guess there is always a first. So I am just going to have to resell it.

We are also in the market for a mini-van. My mom watched the kids all day Wednesday so Jason and I could go make the rounds. So depressing - I didn't love any of them. We won't be making any decisions or purchases until summer - so hopefully we will get some clarity soon. If I had to pick one now I guess it would be the Honda Odyssey - but that one has its list of cons as well.

Now I realize I think I just spent the last 5-10 minutes complaining - which is weird because that is not how I feel. I am actually really thrilled with the things happening in our life - but I just don't really like making decisions - and changes all include decisions.

Conference Weekend

Every year since I have had children I always think that I am not going to be able to watch conference. And as we add a child every year I think, 'well that is the end of being able to get something out of conference - we definitely can't watch it with 3." But every year (well every 6 months) the children are wonderful and it all works out. I can honestly say that I have been able to watch, and focus, on all 4 sessions of conference since Brock was born. This year Megan slept from 10-12 and the boys just played by themselves and then all 3 slept from 2 - 4.

On Saturday in between sessions we had a picnic at a park and flew our first kite. It was one of those wonderful conference days. (Especially since, while Jason was at priesthood, I got to go out to dinner with my mom and sisters - so fun!) The boys had been asking to fly a kite everyday for about 3 weeks. We never really had enough wind - so they were so excited to finally do it!

Brock was very serious about the whole thing. He figured out how to maneuver the string and move the kite around in the air. When it came close to hitting the ground he knew how to bring it back up.

Noah is still a little young to think it is really cool for more than a minute or two. But the smile on his face for the sheer excitement is worth a million dollars. I love my Noah because he gets so excited about the little things. He jumps up and down, does dances, and smiles so big you think it is going to come off his face.

Megan just sat on the blanket the whole time watching the boys and sipping her sippy cup.

Oh - and conference was great too. We loved all the talks about marriage. Obviously we believe in getting married "early in life" (I think is how they stated it) and "not putting off children". I love the way we did things.

Living it up

Jason got a job at Fidelity and will be starting on the 11. That is in 1 week! We are so excited and thrilled - but definitely bitter sweet. In his previous times of unemployment I have hated having him home (I'll explain in a later post) - but this time I have loved it and taken full advantage of having him here. So I am not looking foreword to next Monday. We will ALL miss him so so much.

So after we did the pigtails - I put her in this little pony tail. Much cleaner and better. She is standing almost all the time now. Such a big girl!


So we are going to live it up this last week with Jason home. We went to Gym Cats in Lehi last week for some open gym fun. Every one had a blast. Jason climbed the rock wall - which was a big deal - because he is very afraid of heights. But he did it (I think to impress his boys)

I didn't think Megan would have a good time - but boy was I wrong. She loved the foam pit. She would climb in and out of it and throw the foam around. She crawled all around the gym and up onto anything that was her height. She had a blast.

Noah is fearless. He will jump off of anything with out even thinking about it. He is pretty responsible about it. He knows his limits. He just jumped and jumped the whole time.

Brock is a little more cautious. It took him a while before he jumped off. Jason actually had to jump with him the first few times. He enjoyed the ropes, balancing beams, bars, and the floor for running more than the jumping.

Our friends the Curren's met us there for a while. Cara and Megan are almost to the stage where they can play together. Yea!

Swinging on the ropes.

The boys jumping together.

Brock did eventually jump. He didn't get the 1, 2, 3 thing.

Mom and Megan.

This gym is in Lehi. Quite a drive for only an hour. If anyone knows of a gymnastics place that has open gym for the general public in the Salt Lake area - please let me know - I have been trying to find one.