Races

I was going to have this with the spring break post but I forgot about it. Joel showed the kids how to race their cars down this lid and they have a great time doing it! I don't know all the rules they follow, but I know they match up the cars, and then I think they race the winners together, etc. 

I know they were having some ties, so Jenna and Will were trying to get a good view of the finish line. And Adam's really good at saying, "On your marks... get set... GO!!!!!"

I think racing the cars is fun for them, but spending time with Dad is the real treat. :)

Spring Break

I'll be honest, our spring break was not terribly eventful. We didn't get out and do all that much, but it was still nice to have a week for the kids to take a break from school (and chores, for the most part). 

On Thursday we had a lovely bbq at the Fabiano's house. I went over a little early with my new-to-me sewing machine and my first ever attempt at sewing a piece of clothing (not counting a Halloween costume). Even though the pattern had a big "Easy" on the front, I needed help! Laura gave me a lot of direction, instruction, and help. Thanks to her I made this adorable little jumper for our new addition. I'll just say it wasn't as easy as it looks! It really wasn't hard, but it took a lot more steps than I thought it would. I'm very happy with how it turned out, and I look forward to continuing to learn how to sew.

The bbq was also delicious, with wonderful food and great company! We didn't even have to worry about bedtime because of the vacation. :)

 On Friday Joel didn't have work, so the kids got to go do something fun! He took them hiking; they were going to do Camelback, but apparently it was absolutely packed. Joel said the trail looked like a trail of ants and people were having to park really far away. So instead they headed to Squaw Peak and climbed that.

According to Joel the kids were champs and did a great job! They do enjoy hiking, so I wasn't surprised. Joel snapped some pictures for me.

This morning it was back to school and back to work. I think the kids were sad to have to go back, but happy at least to get to see their friends. Adam was sad that they had to go to school today. Every day last week he would ask me, "Are Will and Jenna going to school today?"  When I would reply, "No," he would jump up and say "Yes!!!!!", very happy! He was pretty bummed this morning. But, alas, it's back to the regular schedule of life.

22 weeks

I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. :)

Jenna's concert

Jenna had a concert Tuesday evening that was all about Arizona! It was scheduled to be on Valentine's Day (the day that AZ became a state), but it was postponed. When the kids came out Jenna looks like she was scared out of her whits. I thought that was strange because it was only a fourth grade concert so it's not like there was a huge audience. And she's had school concerts every year, so you'd think she'd be used to it. When we asked her after the concert if she was nervous when they came out she said she was and that "sometimes I just get stage fright for some reason." 

I was able to snap a few pictures after the concert, but I had to use my ipod because the camera died while I was taking videos of some of the songs. Jenna did a great job on her speaking part and it was a fun concert! :)

Lots of Random Stuff

  

Even though it's been awhile since I've posted, I don't feel like there's a whole lot to post about. However, there's some random pictures that I want to put up from the last month or two. 

These first pictures are from the sing-a-long we had at Laura's house before Christmas. They didn't make it into the 2011 blog book, so they can be first in 2012. We had to get a picture of the sisters that were there; unfortunately we were missing Cindy.

As I mentioned before, we are expecting baby number four! I had an ultrasound on January 5th just to double check my due date (July 8th). It was so fun to get a glimpse of our baby!

Here's my first baby bump picture. Obviously, I was fourteen weeks.

Probably about a month ago Will was playing on my ipod and Adam was watching. It was adorable how he was resting his head on Will's shoulder. These boys really do love each other.

One Sunday Joel decided that he wanted some pictures with his boys. They were all looking so handsome!!

A few weeks after that Jenna and I accidentally matched our outfits for church. I thought we'd better snap a picture.

Then on to the next baby bump pic. I was 18 weeks in this photo.

On February 13th I had my second ultrasound when they did all of the measuring.  We were also lucky enough to find out that our baby is going to be a GIRL! Everything also looked very normal and healthy. All of the measurements were right on, and they estimated her weight at 9 oz.

I'm now 20 weeks along and feeling pretty good. The kids (except for Adam, though I'm sure he'll come around) are really excited that we're having a girl. Jenna finally gets her sister. We have gotten rid of most of our baby things over the years, so we will have to re-accumulate everything.

Joel is doing rotations right now so his schedule is changing all the time. He's also been busy studying and working on his capstone. He is pretty good at balancing everything, so we still get to enjoy our time with him.

Life is just going along like normal: busy and fun but not particularly eventful. I'm trying to enjoy this relative calm before the storm of the summer comes when we have the baby and Joel graduates and gets a job. I'll try to find things to blog about so hopefully I won't go so long again without a post. :)

Christmas

We started out our Christmas celebrations the Thursday before Christmas with a sing-a-long at the Fabiano's house. There were some pictures taken of the six sisters that were here for Christmas, but I don't have any of them! But we had a nice time singing Christmas carols at the tops of our voices, and eating some delicious goodies. It was also the first chance we had to see Adrienne since she'd flown in the evening before. 

On Friday evening we went to the Gunnell's house for dinner and some Christmas activities for the kids. Dinner was delicious, of course. The kids then got to decorate their own gingerbread houses.

 

After gingerbread houses we did a gift exchange for the kiddos, and I think everyone got some fun stuff. Adam ended up with silly putty, Will had a noisemaker toy, and Jenna got a travel size Battleship. I was pretty excited about that one! :)

Saturday morning was very busy with cleaning the house and getting the food ready for the progressive dinner for Christmas Eve! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time. We had a common food theme again this year (last year it was citrus) and it was BACON! Yum! We started out at Fabiano's with some delicious bacon-y appetizers.

After that we proceeded to the Blau's where we combined the second course and main dish. We were supposed to do main dish at the Turley's, but they had a sick one at home that was being quarantined. The lettuce bacon cups, funeral potatoes, and bacon wrapped meatloaf was delicious and very filling.

And last but not least we came to our house for dessert. How do you incorporate bacon into dessert, you might ask? Well, as it turns out there are countless recipes out there for desserts with bacon. However, I wasn't feeling particularly creative in the weeks leading up to the dinner, so the only bacon dessert we had was good old chocolate covered bacon. I think everyone was a little skeptical in the trying of the chocolatey bacon, but I think the consensus on it was "it's not so bad". We also had two kinds of chocolate covered popcorn and three kinds of chocolate covered pretzels.

Right before we had dessert I had the fun opportunity to share the news that Joel and I are having another baby! The reaction from my sisters was great, and I think I surprised them all with the news. My due date is July 8th, and we are so excited about it!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun, as always! We were up a little before 6 and digging through stockings and opening presents. We all got a lot of fun things. Unfortunately our camera was out of battery, so the few pictures I got were on Joel's phone. 

I love how sleepy-eyed everyone looks in Christmas morning shots. :)

Adam got his own sleeping bag, so now each child has their own.

Adrienne had us for Christmas this year, and she surprised us all by getting Joel a set of golf clubs! She was even super sneaky and with some help she hid them in our garage the night before during the progressive dinner. I think his smile says it all!!

After we finished opening presents we had time to play with things for an hour or two, and then we got cleaned up for church. Joel thought the boys were looking particularly handsome (and I must agree) so he snapped this picture of them in front of the tree. I think he used the new camera that I got him for Christmas!

After church we got back in our jammies and played some more. Will got some Kinex, and everyone had a fun time making things out of them. We also got to Skype with both Grandma R and Grandma K!

In the later afternoon we headed over to Laura's house to hang out, eat dinner, play games, and generally enjoy ourselves.

Since Christmas there has been a lot of building Kinex, watching "24" (for Joel and I), and playing Uno Attack, battleship, and the game Authors which Joel's Mom gave us. Joel played the game as a child so it's extra special. We're happy that our kids have taken to it so well. Thanks again, Brenda! Jenna's also been drawing us lots of pictures on her new easel, and all the kids have enjoyed Will's new remote control truck.

The Christmas vacation has been so much fun, and it's been so great to have Joel home so much. He had an orientation for his third rotation today, and he will start the actual rotation tomorrow. The kids head back to school on Thursday, so it will be back to the routine. It's sad that the Christmas season is over, but it will be nice to get things back on a schedule. :)

Small p.s. Our New Year's Eve was wild and crazy here at home, watching "24" and drinking some sparkling cider. It was absolutely perfect! Welcome, 2012!

Dane's visit

I'm a little behind on my blogging, so before I can post about Christmas I need to cover the week of Dane's visit! Joel's brother got home from his mission in New Jersey in November. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it up to WY when he got home, so he very kindly came down to Mesa to visit us. Joel finished his second rotation on Dec. 7th, then had testing the 8th and 9th. Dane flew in on the 11th and the fun began. :)

The weather wasn't very cooperative; it rained more in the week that Dane was here than it has the entire time we've lived here. Or at least it felt that way. It wasn't easy to really get outside and do a lot, but we did show Dane Joel's school, eat at Giant Hamburger, drive by the building site of the new Gilbert temple, visit the temple lights at the Mesa temple, and eat at The Cheesecake factory. Joel and Dane also went golfing and hiked Camelback. We watched a lot of movies, and towards the end of the trip we watched a lot of the show 24 on Netflix. I didn't take many pictures at all, which I always intend to do but never do. Blast! 

It was so great seeing Dane again and spending time with him. Adam wasn't so sure about Dane at first; he didn't remember him at all. But by the end of the trip they were pretty good buds. We were sad to see Dane go and we hope we get to see him again soon.

Dane also got to enjoy Will's school concert with us. They had a Christmas themed concert with everybody in pajamas. I didn't bring the real camera so I had to use Joel's phone to snap a few. This was the best that I got. Will did a great job singing the songs and doing the actions!