Arizona--Baby it is hot!

 We are really enjoying the open kitchen/family room area.  Our little house in NY was pretty cramped and we are having fun being in the same room together without being on top of one another!  The view into the backyard and pool area is so refreshing.  The sun is always shinning and we just love it!

 The pool has been used almost daily since we arrived.  The kids love to invite friends over.  So far, no serious injuries have occurred to any of the little kids.  However, my 28 year old nephew tired to give himself a concussion and cut his calf up pretty good.  Going down the slide sideways is not recommended...at any age. 

Jacob loves to just float around enjoying the water.  He is such a pleasant little guy!

There is a spot in the pool for you, so please come play!

*PS--we do realize the pool looks  a little "cloudy", but please rest assured that Kris knows how to make the pool sparkly clean.  It had just been replastered and the grit floated around for several days.  You can see the drain clearly now!  Kris spends a lot of time babying the pool, we appreciate all his hard work:)

Back to School.....Again!

 We didn't get much of a break this summer.  Only 47 days to be exact.  Those 47 days included packing, moving to Arizona and unpacking.  Not much of a fun summer. Luckily, we have many hot days ahead of us and a fun pool in the backyard to enjoy them!

 
Joshua started 3rd grade this year.  He has a great teacher and even though he thinks that school "takes way too much of his day" he was excited to go back to school to meet new friends.

Mariah started 8th grade.  She has already made so many fun friends.  On the first day of school she got together at a friend's house for breakfast and then they all walked over to school together.  Lots of people have made her feel very welcome!

 Samantha is in 6th grade.  You should see the front row of her classroom.  It is filled with adorable girls who have quickly become her friends.  Lucky teacher:)

 Oh my little kindergartner!  I thought I was going to escape the tears this year, but I did not.  The kids were fine, in fact they were more fine.  It was just me that had the hard time letting them go.  Another school year only makes it that much closer to graduation, then leaving, then me being very sad that I have an empty house...ok, I am being a bit dramatic.  But it always a bitter-sweet moment for me.  I love to see them grow, but sad that they can't be my baby forever.

Gabriella loves school and wishes she could go everyday.  I am so glad that she is happy. 

 Jacob is 6 months old!  It was a strange day for Olivia, Jacob and I on the first day of school.  It was so quiet.  Livi and Jakie kept looking around for the kids.  I kept looking around for my baby-sitters:)  We have adjusted to the change and try to enjoy the quiet time before the big kids get home. 

Jacob 5 months!

 Time goes by really fast when you are a slothful blogger!  Jacob is already 5 months old.  I feel like I deserve a do-over for Jacobs first several months of life.  We have been so busy with trying to sell the house, getting ready to move, organizing, packing, end of school, church responsibilities, hectic life of 6 kids, graduation from residency and Kris studying for his last step of the boards.  I just want to sit and cuddle this little sweetie.  If it were not for the fact that I nurse him, I don't think I would ever get to sit down with him and snuggle.  That is just not right. Do-over!

Jacob 4 Months

 Since Jacob is already nearly 5 months old I thought I had better hurry and post him at 4 months.  I have been a little busy busy packing for our big move to Arizona, but I know these sweet mile stones come and go too quickly.  Jacob is one of the sweetest babies I have ever known.  He is happy, healthy and incredibly strong!  He loves to pull his sisters hair, already such the teasing little brother:)

Jacob 3 months cute

Love. Him.

Joshua

Happy Birthday to Joshua!!!!

This boy loves his birthday.  I am sure it is easy to tell by the smiles and excitement of these pictures.  I can't believe he is 8.  He will be baptized in a couple of weeks, he is becoming such a sweet little man.  At least when he is not making gross bodily function noises and annoying his sisters.....

 Because Joshua is 8 he is now in cub scouts at church.  His birthday came just in time for him to participate in the pinewood derby.  I do not have any brothers and have never been to a pinewood derby race before.  I had no idea some many grown men could be so excited about a car race.  Kris helped Josh prepare his car.  Kris' dad is an excellent pinewood derby car creator.  His cars were known to win many races over the years.  So Kris new all sorts of fun ways to build the optimal racing machine...I mean wooden car.  Joshua was so excited about scouts.  He loved his new uniform.  The first night that Kris suggested they work on his car, Joshua dropped everything and ran to his room.  We were not sure what he was doing.  He came back out dressed in his full scout gear.  Apparently he thought he needed to be properly outfitted to even work on his car.  It was adorable.

All that work attention to detail of creating the car paid off.  Joshua and his "Batmobile" were undefeated the whole night.  His prize was a ribbon and a BIG chocolate bar.  He was nearly bouncing off his chair trying to contain his excitement.  My favorite part of the whole night was that Joshua was such a good sport.  He complimented the other boys on their cool cars, told them "good job" when they finished their race, and tried to control himself each time he won so he wouldn't show off too much.  He is the best.  I am so happy his first scout experience was such a fun one!

March 2012

Oh Boy!!! Look who is 2 months old!!!! Isn't he delicious? We are just loving every moment with our little Jakie. Seriously, the dimples just kill me...
Samantha and Mariah had a dance recital in March. It was so much fun to watch. Sam did hip-hop and Bree did Ballet. Both did a great job on their individual dances as well as the combined number at the end. I was one proud Mama! Joshua asked if he could stand at the back of the auditorium so he could do his dance moves. The kid thinks he moves like Usher--although he has never actually seen Usher dance. Fun night!





A couple of years ago I was at the house of Estelle Richie. She was giving a bunch of us a tour of her beautifully decorated home as part of a Relief Society activity. I happened to notice this adorable dress hanging in her daughters room. I told her how much I LOVED the dress and just thought it was so cute. Well, imagine my delight when about 18 months later she told me her daughter had outgrown the dress and asked me if I wanted it. Uh, YES! Of course I was excited about putting Olivia in the dress, but even more than that I was surprised that she remembered how much I loved the dress. There were a lot of women there that night and it was a little chaotic, yet she remembered. Perhaps I gushed a little too much, but I think some people are just very perceptive and thoughtful. I really appreciated to gesture Estelle made and it has reminded me to be more aware of those around me and really listen to the things they say. Thanks Estelle for the cute dress, it is adorable--and if I might add--so is little Livi Grace in it!

February...we survived!

February has always been a month that we just tried to endure. The cold weather usually gets really annoying and we are anxious for spring to make an appearance. For years we have attended to local boat show in February. We used to go in Utah, then tried the one in DC, and attended the one here in NY a couple of times. In fact, the first time we went to the boat show together as a married couple we saw the beautiful Mariah boats and decided to name our first daughter Mariah. How is that for deep meaning in a name:) Anyway, my point is that with the birth of little Jacob we now have something more important to celebrate each February. His arrival certainly made this February fly by...and we have enjoyed every moment. Now if we could just get spring to show up....

Here are a few highlights from Jacob's first month.


Jacob is so sweet and squishy, especially when he is sleeping.

Happy Valentine's day! This shirt was on for about 30 seconds before he spit up all over it.


Olivia cannot get enough of her new brother. She is actually very kind and attentive to his needs. She loves to give him his binky. We do need to keep the bedroom door locked when he is sleeping in his cradle or she will try to wake him up.
His poor eyes were so red for the first couple of weeks. They continue to clear up everyday.
We all loved having Grandma here with us for a couple of weeks. We were so happy Jacob made an early appearance so we could have her help when he arrived. I still don't know how she kept up with the laundry so well. We hope we didn't take advantage of her too much because we would love for her to come back!


My friend Darice and I were due with our babies just a couple of weeks apart. I am not opposed to arranged marriages...she is a cutie.

Final Score: Girls-4, Boys-2

Jacob James has arrived!
Feb. 5, 2012
10 lbs. 3 oz.
21.5 in.
8:54am

We are thrilled to have this sweet little one as the caboose of our family. He has been a joy so far and we just adore his squishiness!

It was a good thing he decided to arrive 9 days early because those 10 pounds of baby were getting really hard to carry around. I went into labor during the early hours of the 5th. I woke Kris up at about 2am and warned him we needed to head to the hospital. We finally left at about 3:30am and arrived at the hospital at 4:00am. They put me in a room, gave me an exercise ball to sit on and let me do my thing. I wanted to have this last baby without an epidural so I just tried to relax as much as I could. Kris slept in the bed while I sat and played on the iPad:) Everything went pretty smoothly. I went from 6 to 8 to being ready to push super fast. I think he was pretty desperate to get out of his close quarters because that 10 pound baby was out in about 5 pushes. He was so black and purple from being born so quickly. His poor eyes were completely red because he burst every capillary being born. I took one look at him and thought--that was traumatic for both of us! Once his swelling went down and he gained a bit more color we both felt much better.

He is a bundle of joy and the kids just can't get enough of him. Joshua said to me tonight in a very whinny voice "why does Jacob have to be SOOOO cute?" His big brother even made him a paper airplane today during church. Olivia thinks he is the best new toy anyone could have and constantly wants to hold him and move him around to different places. However, when she is sad and needs Mommy she tells me "baby, bed". She had a bit of a hard time at the beginning, but we are all adjusting pretty well. However, we had Kris' mom here helping us for 2 weeks, then Kris was on vacation for the past week. Tomorrow everyone abandons me so we will see how it goes.

Wish me luck:)

It's a birthday for Samantha!!!

Because Samantha's birthday is so close to when the baby is due we decided to celebrate her birthday with her friends at the beginning of December. Instead of a regular birthday party Samantha wanted to have a Christmas party for all her friends. So she invited 17 girls to bring some cookies and a pair of fun Christmas socks to exchange. We made Christmas crafts, played some fun games and exchanged the socks and cookies. Everyone had a great time and I cannot believe that we had 17 girls in one room for 2 hours and we all survived!

I thought it was very sweet of Samantha to forgo getting a bunch of birthday gifts and have a party for all her friends instead. She is wonderful!

Samantha spent the year growing! She also kept herself busy with piano lessons, dance classes and lots of swimming this summer. She is a bubbly, happy, easy going person and we are blessed to have her in our family. I often find her making up fun games for her younger siblings and she even keeps a prize box for them to pick things from so she can bribe them to help me with things or behave in the car. Seriously, she is amazing!

I hope 11 is a great year for you, we love you!

Happy Birthday Sammie Bear!!!!

Olivia is 2!

I can't believe our little Livi is 2! She is such a sweet baby and I hope that she sails through the 2's with no problem. She has funny words such as:

YE=yes

YEEP=also means yes, depends on the level of excitement associated with the yes

Bee-Bee=Gabriella, who is the only family member she names besides Mom and Dad

Bone=phone, she thinks they all belong to her

Wah-Wee=sippy cup

She is such a joy to have in our home. She spends her time carrying baby dolls around, playing with Mommy's make-up, gathering things to obscure places (for ex. she will take all the clothes out of her dresser and put them in the hall closet), and chasing after Gabriella who she looks up to so much! She is a very quiet, self entertaining, disaster making, sweetheart.

I hope she enjoys being a big sister soon. Olivia also has eyelashes to die for--lucky girl:)

Happy Birthday Olivia Grace--you make us smile everyday!