Just a few things....

Here are just some of the many things that have gone on in our lives since I last blogged....

*Paige turned 7 in August and her and I spent her Birthday in Vegas. It was a lot of fun. To start her birthday off right the fire alarm went off at the timeshare and we had to evacuate. She thought this was a little scary but we assured her that everything was ok. Paige is our little worrier. I wonder where she gets that from?

*In October Coen had his birthday and we celebrated it in Yellowstone. It was a lot of fun too. Too bad dad was not able to come. He had to work but the kids and my mom and I had a fun time.

*Also in October we had Halloween. Paige was Snow White, Johnny was a pirate, and Coen was Blues Clues. I think the kids most favorite part of Halloween was sitting on the porch and handing candy to all the Trick or Treaters.

*In November we celebrated Johnny's 5th birthday on the 22nd. I can't believe it has been 5 years. We had a family party for him and he had a blast. I never knew a kid could get so many presents. It seemed like Christmas at our house.

*And last but not least the biggest thing that has happened during the past few months is I am PREGNANT! I am 20 weeks and am having a baby boy in April. Paige was really disappointed that it was not a baby girl but we told her that it is awesome that she is the big sister to so many little brothers and that she is my little helper. This made her excited and she is already talking about waking up with the baby and walking with him at night. We will see how long that lasts! This pregnancy has been very different from the rest. I have been very sick and very tired. When I went into the Dr.'s for the first time he asked how I was feeling and I told him that this was by far my sickest pregnancy he laughed and said well let's see how the babies are. We all laughed and then a few minutes later he got really serious and said well I am not laughing now but you were having twins. John and I just about fell over. One of the babies had died. He called it a Vanishing Twin. He told me that if I had come in to his office at 8 weeks or so he would have heard two heartbeats and told me I was having twins. I had never heard of Vanishing Twins before so when I got home I looked it up. Apparently it is very common it's just that most of the time no one knows they were having twins. Usually by the time you go to the Dr either you have miscarried the baby and expelled it our it has been absorbed. In my case the sac was empty but had not been completely dissolved. So my Dr. told me that I might have some bleeding and that if I did that I should come into his office to make sure the other baby was still ok. Of course this freaked me out but it was for nothing because I never had any bleeding and my body just absorbed it. When I went to the Dr. the other day to have my 20 week ultrasound there was not trace of the other baby so everything was ok. But this explained all my sickness. The Dr. told me that even though the baby had passed away my body was still producing hormones like I has having twins. I finally started to feel better around 17 weeks and what a relief it was. I think we ate out in the last few months more then we have our entire married life. Now everything is good, the baby looks healthy and we all can't wait to meet our new little addition in April!

Gift of Tongues

Lately Johnny has been finding Toy Story clips on you tube and watching them. He recently found one that was in Spanish. He has memorized the song and can sing it without the song playing now. His fascination with Toy Story clips in Spanish has now moved over to watching movies in Spanish. He wants to watch any movie in Spanish. He now knows the Toy Story song completely in Spanish. He is so funny. I am sure his Uncle Andrew would be proud since he is serving a mission in Mexico right now. If this fascination with Spanish keeps up he might actually be able to converse with his Uncle some when he returns in little over a year. Johnny is so awesome and he keeps us young that is for sure. Here is a video of him singing to the video.Enjoy!

(I'm aware that Buzz is smoking in the video. Don't worry we had a word of wisdom talk after this)

Cookie Monster

Coen is a funny guy. He really doesn't like to eat. Of course there are times this kid will eat just a small bit of something but normally he has no interest that is unless it is a cookie. There is a running joke in our family about how my grandmother will tell you she is not hungry and then when you leave the room she will go and get a cookie or some sort of sweets. I think Coen takes after her. He absolutely loves cookies and not just any cookie he definitely prefers Oreos. Today I gave him some animal crackers and he took the package and looked at the package and pointed to the picture of Oreos on the package and said "cookies". He asks for cookies everyday and when I give him something other then Oreos he yells "No!". It is pretty funny. We obviously have to limit the cookies for him because we don't want his diet to only consist of Oreos but for now we let him sneak a few here and there and maybe just maybe the next time we go to the Dr. he might move up the growth chart and make it past 10%.

King George

(King George himself)

This past weekend John and I were able to go see the George Strait concert. We went with John's brother Ethan and we had a blast. Probably not as much as a blast as the 20 something year olds in front of us who were plastered but we had fun. The past few years we have gotten George Strait tickets in Vegas (he had not been to Utah since 1998 and I was at that concert too at BYU) and I have not been able to attend with John either time so Ethan has gone with John. It seems like those two have started some tradition with King George. It looked like at one point I might not be able to go to this concert either since my babysitter (My mother) left town that weekend. But lucky for us John's brother Devon and his wife Annette watched our kids for us:) Thanks Guys!! It was a lot of fun. John and I don't get out much without the kids so it was really nice to be able to enjoy each other company and listen to our fav. country music. And King George did not disappoint. He is AWESOME!!!!

(Before the concert)

(Ethan looking so dashing in his cowboy hat)

A family vacation, a wedding, 2 receptions, a temple open house and a husbandless weekend.

The past few weeks have been crazy. It all started on Memorial day weekend when we went to St. George. The next weekend we headed to Long Beach California for John's brothers wedding. We only took Coen so that was nice. I still remember when I only had Paige and I thought it was hard and now I have three and wonder what in the heck was I thinking when I thought one was hard. One is paradise. Anyway it was really nice to to be able to go to the Newport Beach temple and see Devon and Annette get married. After the wedding we went to a dinner in their honor and the food was great. Her mom had a few of her friends make some pasta dishes and they were awesome. The next day we headed back home to our other children and life was normal for a week or so. The next weekend they had a reception in Orem that was really cool. They decided to have ice cream machines and toppings for the guests. They were so good. After the wedding and receptions we thought our weekends would be a little calmer. Well that wasn't so, we both volunteered at the temple open house for our new temple the Oquirrh Mountain temple. I may be biased but it is one of the most beautiful temples. I was positioned in one of the tents where the guests come and watch a video on temples. After a few hours a huge storm came and they had to shut down the tents because they didn't feel they were safe anymore so we ran from the tents into the temple. I had an umbrella when I left the then when I reached the temple it was mangled and I was soaking wet. The Angel Moroni also was not so lucky. He got hit by lightening during the storm. It was so crazy. After my shift I came home to John and the kids and he got ready to do his shift at the temple that night. He was doing parking. His shift was definitely not as eventful as mine. He said he was positioned in a cul-de sac by the temple and didn't have to get up out of his seat the entire time. I am so grateful for this new temple in our area. South Jordan is where the temple is located and it is the ONLY city in the world that has two temples in it. I think that is so awesome. And not only that but the temple sits on a bluff and if you stand in the front of the temple and look out on a clear day you can see three other temples. That is so amazing. I can see three temples from my upstairs bedroom. We were told in training that there are many people who only see the steeple of a temple once and that is when they go to do their own work. I am so grateful that I live so close to a temple and I hope that I do not take it for granted. They are the house of the Lord and I am truly blessed to be able to live so close to one. And if I thought this weekend was going to be slower its not. John is going to be leaving bright and early Saturday morning to Long Beach again to help his sister Julie move back to Utah for the summer. I think after this weekend we should be able to get some of our projects done. Namely my mother's day present from John which was to paint our house. I am so excited for this! Even if we haven't been able to get much done on the weekends at least I can say that we were doing very important things. Attending a temple wedding, spending time with family, volunteering our time for the church and helping out family. We are truly blessed.

(Devon and Annette outside of the Newport Beach Temple)

Devon and Annette cutting their cake at the reception in Cali)

John and Coey at a park in Long Beach where we feed the ducks with Meredith, Jake, Ethan and Julie)

(Our beautiful new temple)

(The Angel Moroni after the storm hit)

St. George

Over Memorial Weekend we went down to St. George. It was a lot of fun. We spent most of our time at the swimming pool which was a lot of fun. We did a little shopping and went to the cemetery where both of our paternal grandparents are buried. We were not able to find John's grandparents but we found mine. When Paige saw that my grandpa had a picture of Mickey on it she asked shy and I told her that her grandfather use to work for Walt Disney and she was so excited about this fact that as soon as she got home she called her friend and bragged. It was pretty funny. It was nice and warm while we were there and we had a lot of fun barbecuing and relaxing.

(Paige and Johnny in front of my grandparents graves)

(Paige and Johnny at a park in St. George)

(Coen just toddling around like usual)

The thoughtful sister

Paige is such a thoughtful person at times. She likes to do little things that she thinks you will like. She always gets the Saturday and Sunday paper for John on those mornings. She helps me get Coen out of the high chair when he is done. She will help Johnny when he gets frustrated with a computer game. John always tells her when she does these little things that one day she will be a great mom and she just says " I know dad" and grins. Well, the other day Paige came into my room telling me that she had seen an advertisement on the T.V. for something she thought Johnny would love. I just said OK and didn't think much about it after that. Then the other day I was putting something away in Paige's room and found this on her desk.

She had written down all the information that I would have needed to order this bank for Johnny. I thought it was so cute. What a thoughtful sister.