Brian, Amber, Kalen, Brady, and Trace

It's aliiiiiiiive!!!

2010-07-17T23:38:00.004-04:00

So, when Kalen was almost two, grandpa Tom bought him this battery operated, electric John Deere truck. I always wanted a cool electric car growing up, but did he ever get one for his daughter? Nope. Alas, I had a baby, almost two years old, and another one one the way and here before me was this electric truck that my baby couldn't even drive yet!

That was over three years ago. Since then, the boys have had so much fun with this car. When we lived in Florida, neighbors throughout the neighborhood knew us from our daily "drives" through the neighborhood, and they would wave and smile as the boys drove past. Right before we moved, the truck died. We tried a couple of things, but we thought it was D-E-A-D. It had been so much fun, we couldn't quite give up hope, and we loaded it (although dead) into our moving truck as we headed to Colorado. When we got to Colorado, it set under the gazebo in our backyard, still dead, and Trace (who doesn't even remember it ever alive) would "pretend" to drive in it all the time. It never moved...until one day last week. The boys were "pretending" to drive in it, and it lunged forward for a half a second--almost hitting Brian who was under the gazebo, grilling dinner. It shocked everyone, but got Brian thinking, and a few days later--here we are!! Check out the fun pictures. Brian messed with some wires and it started working again! It's Aliiiiiiiiiive!!!! The boys LOVE IT!

On another note, I haven't posted in a while, and we have had so much fun this summer. Just today we went to a Kids Festival the city of Aurora puts on annually for kids (where everything is free), and it seems that we are always doing something. I LOVE how many fun, and inexpensive things there are to do out here in Colorado! It's so family oriented.

For the fourth of July we went with grandparents and cousins (Jared, Dallin, Shane, and Liam) to Steamboat Springs and camped out the entire weekend. We also saw the most amazing fireworks show and a great July 4th parade! The kids really enjoyed it.

For Memorial Day we visited some best buds--Megan, Oliver, Evan, and Ryan, in Provo, UT. I don't have any good pictures really (I was planning on taking a lot more than I actually took), but it made us realize how much we miss them and how much we wish they were closer. At one point, we played in the "Tingey Hall" yard on the grass hill and the boys just had a blast rolling down that big hill. Kalen thought it was pretty cool because that house was where we lived when he was born. Here are some pictures Brian took in the grass in front of Tingey Hall. Good memories.

I love these pics because I don't have too many of me and the boys--

normally I'm the one taking the pictures!

First family spring outing in Colorado

2010-05-23T23:09:00.010-04:00

Brian decided we should go on a family camp out Friday night. It was sort of last minute, but we were so excited to make smores and sleep in tents! As we pulled up to a campsite, we found out that it and the other three camps in the area were sold out. Because we wanted to go to "Tiny Town" the next day, and because it was getting late, we didn't want to go very far from where we were. We decided to find a place in the camp to build a fire, roast marshmellows and make s'mores, and then we would just find a hotel for the night.

We soon discovered we couldn't find a fire pit to build a fire, so Brian built us a beautiful S'more roasting fire on a grill at a picnic part of the park. It was all about improvising--and we loved "roughing it" in the hotel (after we found one--the first two we went to were sold out as well...you would have thought it was a holiday weekend or something) :-)

Here's Kalen and daddy displaying our fire on a grill

And here's Trace and mommy sharing a s'more

And, I probably don't need to explain this one--it's Brady.

The next day we went to "Tiny Town," an adorable and fun tourist spot. They have a lot of small and playhouse sized houses, composing a town, and they are best known for their miniature train rides. We had soooo much fun!

Here are the boys with the conductors in front of the steam train.

This is Trace and Brady in front of the town's church with stained glass windows.

And Kalen in the lighthouse

All my boys in the Opera House

And Brady said his favorite part was the "jail"

Just some more fun pics--it was soooo windy...my hair doesn't

normally always look like that, I promise.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Colorado--there is so much for families to do! I can't wait to discover it all this summer.

2010-05-10T00:06:00.004-04:00

It's mothers day today--Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there! As I sat reflecting on being a mom today I thought of each of my babies and what I love so much about them right now.

I love how big Trace is getting...he's talking so much now...quite early in comparison to his brothers, at only 19 months.

He also LOVES reading books--and he enjoys falling to sleep in his crib reading books each night--it's so cute when I say goodnight, hand him a book, and he plops down in his bed, pulls his blanket up over his lap, and opens the book. Each night, he passes out without a fuss, sometime during his book. I love it!

Brady is getting so smart as well. He is still hard to understand sometimes, but he's trying hard to work on his words--the hard ones are the ones that start with "tr" or "dr." What's amazing though is that he LOVES to cook and create in the kitchen, like his daddy. For those of you who read my last post, this is what I was talking about Brady did that I wanted to post about: I walked into the kitchen and saw this sight:

I said very calmly, after a deep breath, "Brady...what are you doing?" To which he replied, "I'm making A LOT of chocolate milk!" He had gotten the entire gallon of milk out of the fridge (luckily it was only half full) and squeezed half the chocolate syrup into it. He was so proud of himself, and didn't even make a mess until I distracted him. What 3 year old figures out he can do that with the entire gallon???

And Kalen is so loving with his little brothers. He really watches over them, and lets them "help" him in everything he does. He rarely minds their company, and he loves teaching them. I couldn't have asked for a better older brother for my other boys. We went bowling as a family the other night, and although Trace couldn't play, Kalen let Trace "help" roll the ball down each time. It was adorable.

And this is a regular for Kalen as well--and part of the reason I'm sure Trace is talking so much right now--Kalen loves sitting and practicing words and "reading" with Trace.

I love them all so much, and I am so grateful for the love and joy the bring to me in my life. Each beautiful little guy...they're just perfect, for me.

Catch up time--and Easter Eggs!

2010-04-21T21:11:00.005-04:00

Well, here I am...thanks much to Emily...whose "Come baaaack" message was always in the back of my mind. I feel so bad having not updated my blog since Christmas. Just a quick update, though, and you will totally understand.

Since we moved to CO, I've been working full-time at Blue Cross and Blue Shield, doing something I love. I am also the Relief Society secretary in my ward, so that keeps me busy as well, sending out weekly emails and updating our Notebooks weekly. On top of that and being a mom (which is my MOST favorite part of my life), I am also pursuing my Masters Degree--but doing it online, so I can do it when the boys are asleep. Even though it's online, I'm going full-time, and it's pretty exciting--I'm getting my Masters in Psychology with an emphasis in Career Counseling and Coaching.

And, if that wasn't enough, Kalen is playing soccer, so every Tuesday and Friday night we have soccer games and practice. We also participate in a babysitting/date night exchange every Friday night (after soccer) and we have successfully kept our goal of going to the Temple at least once each month. So, if you were wondering what happened to me, let's just say, I've been busy. BUT, I missed blogging, so I will try to keep it up some more.

I've posted some updated pics of the boys.

Trace is now 18 months old--yay for nursery at church!

Brady turned 3 in March!!

And Kalen is the BIG 5!!

So, something fun we recently did was die Easter Eggs--but this year, we "Tie-died" them, literally--we died them with Ties!! The pics below are pictures of the finished products, and they are on top of the pieces of ties we used to die them--IT WAS SO EASY, and it was fun seeing how each tie turned out as we unwrapped it...

We had a lot more, but didn't want to bore you with all the egg pics--but here are the ties we used, pre-cutting them for the eggs!

Brady did the funniest thing tonight, he's getting so smart...stay tuned for my next post.

New Guinea anyone?

2009-12-30T23:38:00.005-05:00

So, this year Santa brought my boys two Guinea Pigs! That's right--despite Brian's "No rodents" rule, we are now the proud parents of a boy and a girl guinea pig (don't worry, the boy is fixed). Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. The boys were excited, and we were surprised at how big Guinea Pigs really are! They're like little rabbits, and they're great with the boys as you will soon see:

Brady with his Guinea Pig named "Hamster"

(he named him himself)

Kalen with "Leafy" who evidently loves to eat
leaves (Kalen named her)

Here's Kalen posing with Leafy the next day--like I mentioned,

they let the boys handle them in all kinds of ways.

Here's another one with Hamster and Brady--I like this one

because it really shows Brady's excitement.

And to not forget about Trace, tonight he was feeding

Hamster and when I turned my back...

He stole the carrot!

We hope you all had a fun-filled and loving holiday.

We're grateful for each of you in so many ways.

It's not candy mom!

2009-12-12T00:34:00.009-05:00

I feel so bad, I haven't updated my blog in a MONTH!! But here it is, and I hope to get back into the swing of things. What can I say, I'm a busy busy lady right now.

So, this past week we had a FUN family activity with Grandma and Grandpa Graham and Uncle Chris. We each were able to make our own Gingerbread House and show off our individual creativity. If you want, you can vote for your favorite in the comment section! (ps--I didn't make one--I helped my boys of course)!

Here's Kalen's lil' house--sooo cute. You'll notice others with snowmen on the sides, but Kalen was the original to place a snowman outside his gingerbread house. He also did all the "gluing" of decoration all by himself!

Brady was so proud when he was done. You'll notice that behind the snowman on the right there are three little gingerbread boys. Brady was adamant that one of the lil' boys have red hair, thus the licorice stick on top of the head of the boy farthest to the right

:-)

Here's daddy's beautiful masterpiece. I love how Brian always takes such pride and joy in his edible creations, this Gingerbread House being no different. Brian was also the one to create the icing everyone used, which was perfect for decorating. It dried fast!

Uncle Chris had high hopes to make a giant house, but we ran out of crackers before he got to his roof. He had fun decorating none-the-less.

Grandma stole ALL the mini-marshmallows!! You'll notice no one else has any on their houses...

And last, but not least, Grandpa took great care cutting all of crackers into pieces to create a log cabin Gingerbread house. It was pretty creative, I think, although all that cutting made him pretty stingy with his knife. By the end, we knew not to ask him to borrow it :-)

AND A FUNNY FUNNY STORY:
So, throughout all of this, the boys were eating lots and lots of candy. About half-way through, I made a firm rule that they were not allowed to eat any more candy---they had had enough, we all had. After Brady got done with his house, and while I was helping Kalen, I noticed Brady trying to get my attention. "It's not candy mom...MOM, look, it's not candy." Without thinking about the earlier rule, I said, "You're right buddy, it's not candy, it's a marshmallow." At that announcement, Brady grinned and promptly shoved a whole large marshmallow into his little 2 yr old mouth! (I grabbed the camera)

Halloween stuff, lots of it!

2009-11-09T00:54:00.006-05:00

So, in this blog my pics are all mixed up, but there are too many to try to arrange on this in a timely manner. Here is a fun craft/yummy treat Kalen, Brady and I made a few days before Halloween--Ghostly cupcakes.

We went trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood on Halloween night--and our cousins came with us--here's a group shot! My boys are the ones in front of me.

Our Halloween sort of lasted for a week!! My boys collected candy three times!! (don't worry, we mailed half of it to Uncle Thomas, in the MTC preparing for a Lithuanian mission).

The night before Halloween we went to our cousins Trunk-or-treat in Loveland, CO. The boys were the same costumes as above:

------------

Kalen was "Snake Eyes," the black ninja from GIJOE

Brady was spiderman, and soooo excited about it

And Trace was superman--it was much easier to carry than the rubix cube (see below)

And here are our ward Trunk-or-treat costumes--we did this the week before Halloween--and Trace won the costume contest (I made it myself).

Kalen stayed the black ninja, so no new pic for him.

It's been so fun, and now we get to start preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas--so exciting!

Sometimes we should listen to the jibber-jabber of a 2 yr old

2009-11-02T22:41:00.004-05:00

So this past Sunday, Brian and I had to meet early before church to get our temple recommends renewed. That meant Grandpa was left to get the boys ready for church. (Grandma would have helped, but she was sick that morning).

Before we left, I laid all the boys clothes out in nice neat piles--everything from shirts and ties, to the socks and shoes. As I was walking out the door I told dad the diaper bag was ready to go and to make sure and spike Kalen and Brady's hair with the hair gel I was putting next to the diaper bag (I am currently spiking their hair all the time to hide the fact that they need hair cuts. I'll get around to cutting it eventually, right?)

So a few minutes before church starts, in walk my handsome boys. And grandpa did a pretty good job...but Brady's hair was a mess. It kind of looked like a "cool" mess, if you know what I mean, so I sort of liked it.

Grandpa noticed me looking at Brady's hair and said, "So, about Brady's hair..." Then he proceeded to tell that when he was getting Brady ready and putting the gel in his hair, he told Brady he didn't know much about using gel for hair (my dad is bald). Well, Brady just kept jibber-jabbering away, but dad wasn't really listening to him until Kalen came upstairs and said, 'Grandpa, that's diaper rash cream!' My dad had grabbed the cream OUT of the diaper bag instead of the gel NEXT to the diaper bag.

When I questioned Brady later, he said, "Grandpa no listen me," with a little pout. It's true--Brady was trying to tell him all along. Here is a quick pic I snapped before church started:

Home Sweet Home...we love it here already

2009-10-28T12:40:00.005-04:00

We made it!!

And today we're enjoying the snow storm :-)
I had so many fun pictures, I decided to try putting a collage on my blog--you can see the pictures better if you click on the collage below though. These were from this morning. Even Kaya loves the snow!

Moving on out

2009-10-09T22:14:00.004-04:00

For those who don't know yet, we are moving to Aurora, CO--right outside of Denver. Our lease begins on Tuesday the 20th, and we are officially loading the moving truck and headed out of FL on the evening of the 13th. Brian is driving the moving truck, I will be driving our van with my Kalen and Brady, and baby Trace is flying on an airplane out to CO with his Aunt Ashley (thank goodness for smart aunts--it was her idea)!

We'll miss FL a lot, and we've had tons of fun here, but more than ever before, we know this is what Heavenly Father wants us to do. We don't know what is in store out there in CO, but we do know it's where we need to be right now. Thanks to everyone for loving and supporting us, and I'll be back online in a 10 days or so :-)

In the meantime, I wanted to include some recent pics I took of Brian and the boys .

Things you don't really want to hear...

2009-09-18T22:04:00.005-04:00

Yep, things you don't want to hear...yet I heard all three of them tonight:

"Moooommm, I pulled Trace off the bed and now his head is bleeding!"

"Moooommm, I dropped my chocolate ice cream on the carpet...oh never mind, Kaya is licking it up." (Kaya is the dog).

"Moooommm, Brady peed in the closet!" "What?!" was my reaction, to which Kalen replied, "But it didn't get on the carpet...I think he peed on the shoes."

Now I finally understand why you hear about the moms who lock themselves in the bathroom for a little peace. The good news was that Trace was fine, it was only a scratch-- I got the chocolate out of the carpet, before Kaya smooshed it all in-- and Brady didn't pee on the shoes...it was on the carpet, and that is MUCH easier to clean.

On another note, we had a fun family date to Epcot last week, and I wanted to post some pictures. It was nice to just spend time together, the five of us. :-)

We were so mean!! An M&M story

2009-09-15T14:30:00.003-04:00

So, about a year ago we started trying to teach Brady his colors. He wasn't interested in learning them at all--some of you may remember an earlier post about Kalen saying he didn't know his colors just to get some m&m's. We used m&m's to teach Brady his colors, and we gave them to him if he got the color right. However, if he got it wrong, we ate them, right in front of him! We thought that would motivate him to try harder since he never really wanted to learn and since he LOVES candy.

I guess it was about two months or so ago when I realized he NEVER got red and green right. He was actually doing pretty well with the other colors. My friend Megan suggested we try teaching him other things to see if he picks up on them, aside from colors, so we taught him his shapes. I was super surprised with how fast he learned his shapes, especially because the color thing had been on-going for a year and he still couldn't learn them.

I was reading in a parenting magazine in the doctor's office one day and read that up to 10% of males (closer to 8%) are red/green colorblind and sometimes parents don't realize it until their boys are well into school and accused of being "careless" too many times. It hit me-- that could be the case with Brady, but when I went home and took his lego blocks and mixed the red ones and green ones, he was able to seperate them, so I ruled that out.

Until two nights ago. We realized that he is super enthusiastic to tell us his colors, but when it comes to red and green he is almost embarrassed to say it, and 9 times out of 10 he'll say red things are green, but he says it really quietly, expecting us to correct him. So we found these tests:

And, the results were, Brady couldn't see the red shapes at all. I know they are a litte hard to see, even for me, but Kalen could see them just fine. Maybe he just didn't know what to look for, but for now, I think he really is red/green colorblind. We can't really test for it officially until he's closer to four, but I think it's something to be aware of. And it turns out, I'm probably a carrier of the recessive colorblind trait--both of my uncles on my dad's side are colorblind.

So, the question is--weren't we so mean? ..."Brady, what color m&m is this?" and when he said the red one was green we would say, "No! It's red." and eat it in front of him...poor boy!

First day of school pics, finally

2009-09-11T10:18:00.004-04:00

So, I know this is late, but I just wouldn't be a good mom if I didn't post about Kalen's first day of school (we finally put the pictures on the computer). He did soooo well!! I was so impressed with how excited he was, and more than anything I was super surprised--NO TEARS AT ALL!!

This is one in front of school--first day!

And here he is, starting the day--the girl behind him doesn't seem as happy...

Brady wasn't as happy--the entire three hours he kept talking about "Bubba" (that's what he calls Kalen, and we think it came from him trying to say "Brother"). The saddest thing was on the way home he looked at Kalen's booster and said (slowly because he's just starting to form words), "Bubba's seat...I miss bubbaaaaa." It was adorable.

Truly Southern

2009-09-02T21:40:00.003-04:00

So, as often happens in my household, we were watching the food network. This time some show was talking about the "Southern Tradition" of eating Fried Chicken with Waffles. I told Brian I grew up in the south and never heard of that, but he assured me it was a very southern thing to do.

Thus, to help me enrich my true 'southern' intellect, we had fried chicken and waffles for dinner. Crazy, huh? Has anyone ever had it before, because if you have NOT, then I highly recommend it--really! We fried the chicken tenders and put them right on top of the waffles, then poured syrup over it all and it was really good! Needless to say, I was impressed--but I always am with Brian's cooking. :-)

Try it out and let me know what you think.

P.S--I did the "plating" and photography all by myself--Brian says I'm getting pretty good at plating. I should have ripped that extra corner of that waffle off though...

Three of a kind (not my boys this time)

2009-08-22T23:54:00.009-04:00

I was recently able to see and spend time with some of the most important people to me (of which I don't get to see much of). And here's a little tribute to us...it means so much to me that we're still so close.

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born- Anais Nin

The most beautiful discovery that true friends can make is that they can grow separately without growing apart -Elizabeth Foley

I don't remember how we happened to meet each other. I don't remember who got along with whom first. All I can remember is all of us together...always- Anonymous

End of 2001

(all of the following pictures were taken very recently)

I married my Brian in 2003

Megan married her Ollie in 2004
And Laura married her Scott in 2007

And then came the kids:

My Kalen

Megan's Evan (sorry it's a smaller pic, but I borrowed it from meg's site)

My Brady

Megan's Ryan

My Trace

Laura's Will

And Laura's Lizzy

And here we are--together again two weeks ago.

disclaimer: no make-up was used in the making of this photo

I love these girls.

Hide and Seek

2009-08-04T14:15:00.003-04:00

Lately, Hide-and-Seek has been the game of choice for my oldest two. And sometimes, it really does take me a while to find them. Last week I was playing with them and was very impressed with their choices to hide, Brady's in particular, so I took some pictures.

Could you have guessed Kalen was in there?

Here he is!!

And Brady picked this spot all by himself :-) Isn't he cute!

The Man in Charge

2009-07-21T20:56:00.004-04:00

I like putting pictures on my blog, and this doesn't have to do with the following story, but it's cute, nonetheless. My boys--brothers forever!

This week has been really rough for us...I was the sickest I think I've ever been in my life, going to the ER twice--once with a real swine flu scare (it was detected at my workplace)--but I didn't have it, and another time with my first major adult ear infection...and it was awful!!

One particular morning it was really bad and I couldn't move; the boys were playing so well (they were so good the entire time, I have just great boys, I really do), but I was so worried because I couldn't keep chasing Trace around the house to watch him at all times like I normally do. The boys were in the playroom so I called Kalen over. He knew I was sick, and I asked him if he could be the biggest brother ever, and keep a close eye on Trace and help me watch him, since I couldn't see him always. Kalen agreed, then I heard him a minute later announcing to Brady and Trace that mommy as sick, so he's in charge now. Since Brady didn't complain, I let it go.

About half an hour later I was talking to my dad on the phone and I saw Brady stomping by me with a pout on his face, followed by Kalen. I said, "Why's Brady so mad?" as I watched him go to his bedroom. Kalen said, "I sent Brady to his room because he hit Trace." I was dumbfounded... Brady actually went. What's even better is that when Brady wondered out of the room, as he so often does after a minute or two, Kalen said, "Okay Brady, you need to stay in your room until I come in there to talk to you." A minute later, he was 'talking' to Brady saying, "Brady, Why did you have to go to your room? What could you have done better?"

It sounded so familiar... :-)

Guess who's standing?

2009-07-17T09:28:00.015-04:00

Trace is!! All by himself, without holding on to anything!! Even long enough for me to snap a few pictures of it! And he's so proud of himself, but who wouldn't be with two older brothers and a momma yelling "yay!!" and clapping for him. He's so cute!

He turns 9 months old tomorrow~so big!

Growing boys-fun fun fun!

2009-07-07T22:18:00.006-04:00

I was talking to my friend Megan the other day--just our usual bi-weekly/tri-weekly update about family, kids, etc., and had a realization sort of, maybe a re-realization of just how amazing my boys are individually. Each one is so different in so many ways, and each one is growing so fast. Even at their young ages, it's amazing how I can tell what kind of men they are going to be. Kalen is so smart--book smart. He hears things and immediately it's put to memory. He's a thinker and loves having deep conversations. Brady is mechanically inclined. He has always been able to scale the tallest thing in the house (like since he was 7 months old), but more and more each day I'm realizing how he knows processes and understands how things work...and picks up on functions so well. Then there's Trace, the peacemaker in the family. He's quiet, always smiling and watching his brothers--and now that he's a crawling machine, he's started exploring and following his older brothers everywhere. He doesn't mind being toted around by his arms with Kalen, and he's starting to even deal with Brady's smothering pretty well. He rolls off the couch, cuddle bag, and anything else with ease, hardly ever a fuss. He's just content being with others and brings joy to those around him.

I just wanted to post some updated pictures I took tonight in the tub (Brian thinks I'm silly for taking so many pics of them in the tub, but it's just so cute!):

Also, I've been reading my friend's blogs, about how much fun they had on the fourth and I wanted to share some "borrowed" pictures from Destiny's blog. Also, if you have a moment, she and her hubby put together a video of our water sliding that day (put to music), and it's awesome...some of you may recognize others in the video, so feel free to click on Destiny and Tyler's link from my page and watch it--it's really fun (hope you don't mind Des). One of the first clips is of the kids all going down together, and yes, that is Brady in front, getting twisted around and going down on his back, head first. The boys just loved it!!

Three, Four, or Five??

2009-06-14T17:02:00.003-04:00

So, we spent Tuesday and Wednesday visiting my dear college-friend Nicole, who was visiting her mom in Bonita Springs, FL. We went to the beach both days and the boys loved it. What Kalen loved the most was Nicole's little 6 month old baby girl, Taylor. The whole time we were there, he kept saying how much he wished he had a "cute little baby sister." Then, on the way home he professed that he thought Heavenly Father wants us to have FOUR kids in our family. I laughed, because as most of you know, Brian and I have agreed that three sounds just about perfect and we think we're done reproducing :-)

When we got home, I told Brian what Kalen had claimed. In an attempt to sway his thoughts, we asked Kalen, "What if mommy has a fourth baby, and Heavenly Father decides He wants it to be another boy AGAIN--we can't just choose to have a sister." Kalen looked so sweet as he thought for about 3 seconds, then he said, "Well, if that happened, I'd be happy, but then I think Heavenly Father would want us to have FIVE kids!"

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting

2009-06-05T15:59:00.004-04:00

My brother Thomas is going on a mission...meaning he'll be gone for two years. So, before he leaves, he came to visit us in FL for three weeks and has been helping to watch the boys when Brian and I are both at work. Today when I got home, the boys were so excited because they were making a music video with Uncle Thomas. I thought it was awesome---so I wanted to put it on my blog. Enjoy!!

One big umbrella

2009-05-21T22:02:00.004-04:00

Normally my blogging is dedicated to my boys...but at our family reunion last week my cousin snapped this picture because it was funny--however, I think it's really symbolic. Below you'll see my little brother, who actually isn't that little anymore. He's home from his first year of college and awaiting a mission call any week now. Behind him is my dad. On this particular day, it had been quite rainy, so there were many umbrellas around--Thomas thought it would be funny to use Kalen's little miniature umbrella since he stands at 6'9" tall. And it was funny, then dad covered him with my mom's gigantic umbrella (no normal sized umbrella's in my family, no).

Anyways, that's when I thought about this:

Isn't it funny that when we are little we think we know it all, we think we can fend for ourselves, and we think we can do just fine without any help from mom or dad. As we grow older, we become more independent, and I'm not sure when it happens, but there comes a time when we know we can do it ourself. Depending on the person, maybe it's when they move out, go away to college, get married, begin a career, or whatever...but how often do we stop to realize how much of an impact our parents still have on us--how we're not really ever alone--how dad is always there "holding the umbrella over us", just in case ours doesn't work.

I know this is just all a bunch of mumbo-jumbo coming out, but basically, I wanted to write to say that I am so grateful to know my dad's always watching out for me (and my family). He was when I was little, he was when I was a teen-ager, and he still is--he's got that umbrella, that I may not notice because it's not physically touching me at all, but he's got it right over my little family, just in case we need some help--so that if I dare put mine down, he'll still be there. How often do we realize how much our parents love us? I know sometimes I take it for granted...and I have an amazing father--one who is each of his children's best friend. --How did he do that? I don't even know...but I want to be my little boys' best friend as they grow. I do know he was always there to listen, to give advice, to give discipline when needed, and to be an example of charity for anyone less fortunate. My siblings and I all recognize and agree on that.

I know you read this on occasion dad, so I just wanted to say thanks, for having your gigantic umbrella, right from the start.

Isn't it funny how a simple picture can strike up so many thoughts and feelings?

And, here's a picture of my dad's family taken at the Reunion (none of us were super duper groomed for pictures--we were camping in the middle of woods).

Left to right: Brandon and Ashley (my sister and her new husband), 19 yr old Brother Thomas, Mom, 18 yr old brother Chris (in an awfully filthy shirt), Dad, and then us: Kalen-Me-Trace (top to bottom), Brady, and Brian.

Wedding day and funny story

2009-05-11T19:20:00.007-04:00

First, a quick funny story: My friend Kacy watched the boys the other day and told me that during lunch Kalen was sitting at the table and announced that his dad speaks "Pork-a-cheese." She knew he meant "Portuguese," but it was so cute she smiled and asked him to repeat it. He was a little embarrassed and said, "I don't really know how to say it, but it ends in cheese." Isn't that cute?

Then the wedding things: I have some pictures from Ashley's wedding last month. My little guys were the ring bearer's and they were the cutest little ring bearer's I've ever seen. It was hilarious because they really had no idea why they were walking down the isle, but they made it to the end, and we even got a few laughs after Brady ran into the banister at the front.

This is a family photo taken after the reception

Here's the happy couple leaving after the wedding--they didn't let the rain ruin their day at all!

Me (the matron of honor) and my lil' sis. (not the best pic of me...)

Bride and ring boys--didn't Ash look beautiful?

Walking down the isle...

Brady, right before he ran into the banister at the end of the isle

This is a cute candid of Brady at the reception

I love this shot of Brian and Brady--getting the bubbles ready for the big exit

An amazing shot of Kalen, blowing bubbles for the bride and groom's exit

Just another picture I liked of Brady outside the church

Sorry, this one is out of order, but it's Kalen showing off the Bride's ring

Despite the rain, it was truly an amazing and beautiful day--and thank you Sarah for these pics!

Yay! Family Pictures

2009-04-28T21:27:00.005-04:00

We got together with some great friends Sunday evening and had family photos taken. I wanted to show them off--I think they are just so fun and awesome--casual and not all "stuffy." We were there with 5 couples, and everyone got some great great shots...I think we had the least amount of good ones, but we were the only ones with three kids...have you ever tried a family photo with three kids aged 4 and under? ENJOY!! (ps, these were taken by Jon Oliver, for those of you who know him).

This was actually the last one taken--after trying for 30-45 minutes to get these guys to pose and smile in the others

This was our favority family picture out of all of them

Here's the winner out of the Kalen photos

This was an attempt to get mom and boys, and I ended up liking it a lot because it reminded me of my daily activities

Here's the best of Brady

And this was a great one of dad and boys

This would have been my favorite family photo, but Brady decided to act like a monkey and pick 'bugs' out of Kalen's hair as the flash went off

Aren't they adorable? Our only regret is that we somehow missed getting one of just me and Brian...that's so sad, but Sarah says there will be many more opportunities (she and Jon need to practice on someone) :-)

Rain Puddles and Brothers

2009-04-26T01:29:00.005-04:00

Let's just say I've been inspired by my sisters-in-law. They are photography experts-in-training, and they make beautiful pictures. I wish I had an eye for it, really, and one day I hope to learn from them, but it's not a huge-priority right now. However, on this particular day I said to myself (as I was sitting on an upside down bucket watching my boys play in the puddles), "That would probably be a pretty cool picture." I ran inside, grabbed my camera and came up with these two shots, and I'm pretty proud of them...taken by me...the first one un-edited. The second one came out brighter than I had hoped, so on my dad's recommendation, we turned it black and white, but highlighted Brady's beautiful red hair.

I think they bring out the simplicity of life: children, with no worries or cares, doing what they do best--playing. Kalen and Brady love splashing in puddles...and sometimes, despite my inward mom-ness wanting to say, "No, guys, don't get dirty/don't get wet," sometimes I feel that I should just let them be boys and get dirty. You know? Those are the simple, sweet times that always turn out to be the ones I enjoy the most.

Yay for Brian

2009-04-20T22:30:00.002-04:00

See the letter we got in the mail...

For those of you who may not be able to read it, it is a letter congratulating Brian for getting higher than a 3.5 GPA his first semester! He loves his schooling, and it makes me so happy that he's found a passion; he knows what he wants to do in the future, and it's going to be a job he'll really enjoy waking up for. He needs that, otherwise he'd be too tempted to stay home with his amazing and beautiful wife :-) I'm so proud of him.

A Pinocchio Tale

2009-04-17T01:55:00.004-04:00

Tonight at dinner I told Kalen I wanted to start doing more individual "learning time" with him and Brady during the day. I told him I wanted to teach him his lowercase letters and I wanted to teach Brady his colors. When I mentioned I was going to use M&M's to teach Brady colors, Kalen said he needed to learn his colors as well. I said, "Kalen, you've known your colors for over 2 years now...you don't need to practice colors." He said he's forgotten them, so I asked him what color the tablecloth was. He said, "Www. See...I only know the first part of the color." Teasingly, I said, "Kalen, your nose is growing right now because you're lying...just like Pinocchio." He smiled too and that was that--for the moment anyways.

We started talking about other things, but about 15 minutes later he looked up from his food and said, "Mom, I'm not going to lie anymore. The tablecloth is white." I was surprised and said, "Thanks Kalen, I know you won't." Then, a minute later and completely serious, he asked "Did my nose go back to normal?"

First Nosebleed Ever

2009-04-15T22:02:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to document that Trace got his first nosebleed ...and it was given to him by...(drumroll please)...BRADY! (Did you think it would be anyone else?)

I wasn't home. Brian called me laughing because none of our boys have ever had a nosebleed and it had to have happened to the little one. Brian isn't sure exactly what happened, except that he was in the living room with the boys, heard Trace start crying, looked over at him, Brady was next to him, and there was blood. Needless to say, Brady was very apologetic...he just tries to love on him a bit too much I think.

Sorry I don't have pictures. Boys!

Love Wall

2009-04-13T22:54:00.006-04:00

For Valentine's, my sister-in-law made a "LOVE" banner with her family--and they hung it to remind them to show Love one to another. Since then, I have been meaning to do something like that for us, especially since Kalen and Brady are at the point where they seem to get on each other's nerves a lot lately. Here's what we came up with--it started with just hearts saying LOVE. We put it on the wall, then we decided to add hearts with our little family names on them, then it expanded to the extended family...and we still have more to do. We got done with first cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Next comes great grandparents, and even more extended family, but I just wanted to post a picture. (P.S--Kalia's name is wrong in this picture...I had it right, but thought it was wrong and changed it--took a picture, and then found out it was right in the first place...oh well!)

I've really enjoyed having a reminder of our family--the people we love, and the people who love us--right up on our wall in the room where we kneel together at night to say our thanks to Heavenly Father. It just makes us happy.

Cousin Devin

2009-04-05T00:18:00.003-04:00

We were able to have two FUN days with Devin this week. He's the boys' cousin and is only 5 months older than Kalen. They had so much fun I wanted to put up some pictures of them playing together. I'm so happy we live close.

I came into the bathroom (after turning off the water at a normal deepness in the tub) to find that they had turned it back on and each time the boys moved the wather sloshed over the side of the tub--it was so high, but they had so much fun.

This picture displays the reason they had to take a bath: Devin wanted to be a blue power ranger, Kalen wanted to be a Tiger Transformer--hence the TF on this forehead, and Brady wanted to be a power ranger like Devin, but once he saw Kalen running around growling, he decided to be a growler as well--so I turned him into a "tiger/cheetah power ranger"...if there is such a thing.

Devin is AWESOME with baby Trace--always wanting to hold him and carry him around, and Trace just loves Devin. He smiles all the time at him--a lot like he smiles at Kalen...nothing like how he screams when he sees Brady ;-)

Pals 4-EVER

And to not leave out Brady

2009-03-24T12:59:00.003-04:00

In my post last night I had comparison pics of Kalen and Trace--both at 5 mo's old, then I thought, I should have put Brady in there too--just for another comparison--so here are some of Brady at 5 months old. (yes, he was crawling at 5 mo's old--he's crazy).

I love my boys!

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

2009-03-23T22:07:00.007-04:00

So, this past weekend I went to Time Out for Women, which was amazing--but during the conference I got to spend time with 4 amazing mothers as well. We talked a lot about kids of course, and I've never been able to tell which parent or sibling kids look like, and especially not with my own kids--but they all swore up and down that Trace looks just like Kalen. So, I pulled out some old photos to compare (keep in mind that back in the "old" days...3 years ago...we didn't have digital camera's like we do now, so I had to scan the Kalen photos into the computer--please ignore the pixelation). What do you think?--these are all when Kalen and Trace were 5 mo's old.

Kalen

Trace

Kalen

Trace

Kalen in bath

Trace in bath

The funny thing is that when I got out Kalen's baby pictures, I asked Kalen if he knew who that baby was, and he said, "It's Trace!"

Primary is making an impact

2009-03-18T21:22:00.006-04:00

Kalen started as a sunbeam in primary this year and although he didn't like going into a class by himself, not with Brady, he's starting to really enjoy it. I've noticed through a few things he says that it has had its impact on him, in a good way of course.

Yesterday he told me he wanted me to read some primary rhymes and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about until he pulled out a book of nursery rhymes, and I realized he had converted it in his head because he's not in "nursery" at church anymore. Isn't that funny? I've always just called them nursery rhymes. What a smart kid!

Then today we were talking while I was cleaning the kitchen and I was teasing/bragging about how smart I am. I told him, "You know I'm a very smart mommy. I know all kinds of things." Then I asked, "How do you think you got to be such a smart boy?" I was expecting him to say, "Because of you!", but he quickly said, without a second thought, "Because I learn stuff at church." I laughed, and told him he was probably right.
----------------------------------------
On a different note--I wanted to post these pictures--the day I went to see Twilight, the movie, (which despite what critics, media, etc. say, I really enjoyed) I was with some girlfriends and our husbands kept the kids. Jon Oliver got some amazing photos of Brian playing with the boys--these two are my most favorite of Brady. Aren't they awesome?

Girls Already!

2009-03-10T22:43:00.003-04:00

Well, I had to have a talk with Kalen on Friday night, about girls. As we got into the van after visiting friends, he told me he was upset because the little girl there wouldn't hold his hand. I asked why he wanted to hold her hand and he said because that's what boys and girls do. He said he asked her very nicely, but she said "No." His little heart was broken (really, he was so sad). We had a sweet talk about how sometimes our friends, for whatever reason, may not want to do what we want to do and that's okay. We talked about how he really shouldn't hold a girls hand until he's a teenager anyways. I was amazed that I was trying to mend a broken heart already--but I thought everything went pretty well--as well as it could for an almost 4 year old. I figured we could wait another few years before anymore girl-talks, but then on Sunday night we were visiting different friends, and on the way home Kalen proudly exclaimed that their little girl kissed him on his cheek three times!

Blamed it on my sweet honey

2009-02-26T23:51:00.005-05:00

First of all, I'm writing this because Brian is making me. That's my disclaimer.

Yesterday morning we had an appointment we couldn't miss at 8:15am. We were in the van and ready to go, except we couldn't find the keys. We looked EVERYWHERE!! Then I realized Brian had driven us home from GA two days before, so he must have put them somewhere--I went out to the van and told him he needed to help because he put them somewhere. After 10 minutes, we ended up taking boys and carseats out of the van and squishing them into the car--just leaving the van in the driveway--hoping the keys would turn up since those are the only set we have...

Later on that evening, we still had not found the keys. Brian was laying in bed, and I was straightening up the room when I noticed my tennis shoes, and a funny little memory came back to me from the day before--I had put my keys inside my tennis shoes, but then removed them and put them under the couch, then removed them and put them in Kaya's bed (she is our German Shepherd)!! I ran into the kitchen and found them laying on the side of Kaya's bed. I felt so silly. Brian asked why they were in Kaya's bed, and I had to admit that I was trying to teach her to sniff out and find lost keys.

Brady loves his cookies

2009-02-25T01:03:00.003-05:00

So, I woke up from an afternoon nap to a small crash in the kitchen and realized Brady wasn't on the couch anymore. As I rounded the corner I saw him with handfuls of oreos, sitting on the kitchen counter, surrounded by lots and lots of oreos. I also noticed that the crash had been an almost empty oreo package hitting the floor. Brady (keep in mind, not even two yet) had pulled a chair from the dining room, into the kitchen, climbed up onto the counter, opened the cabinet and found the oreo package. He then opened the package and pulled out all of the oreos, but that's not the best of it. After I got onto him and took him off the counter, I started picking up all of the oreos, and low-and-behold, they were missing their cream filling! Brady had licked all of the oreos clean, and not exaggerating, he did this to about 30 oreos! He then put some of them back together! I could not believe it!

I'm offically BACK with Usborne again

2009-02-19T13:40:00.003-05:00

When I was in UT I was an Usborne Children's Books consultant, and I loved it--mainly because of all the free and discounted books I got (we built a great children's library), but also because it was a very real and enjoyable way to make a little extra money (average about $75-$100/show). Anyways, since then our lives were nowhere close to normal, so it was put on a backburner. I am now officially announcing that I'm BACK! And I'm so excited--I just got my new package of 10 books, all of which the boys are really enjoying. Usborne books are so kid-friendly--very colorful, educational, and interactive--even Trace watches the pages as I read them. If you want to check out my site--it's www.ubah.com/a3241. Let me know if you see anything you like! Also, if you want to earn free books by hosting a show, either at your home or electronically, let me know and I'll get you the details. I'm so excited to be back!

Valentine love, families, and an urgent care visit

2009-02-15T23:23:00.008-05:00

I love my boys...I told a lady today at church that I purposely surround myself with good-looking men, and it's so true!

Yesterday was Valentine's day and we woke up early, gave the boys the little stuffies we got them for Valentines, and then spent the afternoon together (before Brian and I went out). We were supposed to make Valentine's cupcakes with the boys as part of the celebration. Brian mixed it all together with Kalen and Brady and they helped him put them in the oven, but then, about an hour later I saw Brian bent over the cupcakes icing them and practicing his "Piping skills." I called from the bedroom, "Brian, aren't the boys supposed to be doing that with you?!! And he smiled and said, "They can do the sprinkles." He takes a lot of pride now in the presentation of his foods and it's a lot of fun. They did do the sprinkles, and let me tell you, they were pretty amazing cupcakes. Here's a pic of Brian's new piping skills.

It's nice to have a day devoted to showing your love for your family and others --I mean, I know we should do it everyday, and I try my hardest, but when the day is all about that, it's amazing how much more patient we become. Hmmm...I think everyday is going to be valentine's day at our house...maybe we'll make some decorations tomorrow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week we had a family date at Fun Spot, USA here in Kissimmee. I've attached some pictures, and it really was fun to go out with just our family. I belive that's when some of the best memories are made. With Brian's schedule for the next year or so, we don't get a lot of time to be together, so we've decided to devote at least one night a month to all of us going out on a family date. The other weekend nights are going to be for Daddy/Son dates, and then one at least each month for a Mommy/Daddy date. That fills Brian's whole schedule, but he's happy about it.

There's a slash across Brady's cheek in these pictures (when they're little like this, you may not be able to see it), and that's because he's always getting hurt! He fell sideways against a corner wall the day before. I'm lucky most people who see me often with this injured boy, know me, and know I'm not an abusive mother--he's just an accident waiting to happen. Heather told me that she had to take Brian to the Emergency Room growing up more than any of her other kids...so at least we know who's footsteps Brady is following in. :-)

Oh, and on Thursday this week Brady was trying to be a ghost with a blanket over his head and fell, banging his upper gum into the coffee table. It scraped the gum up, showing twice the amount of tooth that should be showing, and caused a gash in his gum that was pretty gross and wouldn't stop bleeding. I ran him to the closest Urgent care, thinking he may need stitches, but they said I just need to feed him lots of popsicles...a prescription Brady really enjoyed--supposedly there won't be any permanent damage. At least he's tough.

Motivation for Moms

2009-02-13T13:55:00.002-05:00

I've been watching Lisa's "Motivation for Mom's" on her blog for a bit now and I LOVE IT--so I just added it to mine. Thank you Lisa (I hope you don't mind)--you're motivational yourself in so many ways.

Compliments to the Chef

2009-02-02T22:05:00.003-05:00

Several people have asked about a pic of Brian in uniform--so before he dashed out to school today, I made him pose for this candid. His uniform also has an apron, but you couldn't see most of the uniform if he had the apron on.

He's so handsome...

This was the first "real professional" dinner he cooked for me--Chicken Chasseur--and it was the most amazing thing I HAVE EVER EATEN!! IT WAS SO GOOD!

And here are Brian's homemade yeast doughnuts--we were so proud--(I did the decorating)

Lots more to come--isn't that exciting? (well, for me it is!)

The mysterious Trace

2009-02-01T23:08:00.004-05:00

Okay okay, here he is...the pictures everyone has been waiting for--in no particular order...

VOILA!! This was yesterday

Also yesterday

When he turned 3 months old (born 10-18-08)

About 2 months old

About a couple of days old

About 30 minutes old

About 2 months old (Kalen is 3.5 and Brady is 21 mo's at this time)

It doesn't matter, because this happens every day

Another one from yesterday

About 1 day old

Now, if I can get a fourth slide show going...it's giving me problems, but Christy told me I can just put pics in my blog...I don't know why I didn't think about that :-)

The real troublemaker

2009-02-01T22:45:00.003-05:00

Anyone who knows us or talks to me regularly knows Brady is our special, all-boy, "troublemaker" in the family...

Kalen always goes to bed very easily, (it's been a blessing) but Brady normally gets regular visits by the parents before he finally settles down. The other night Brady decided to start climbing out of his crib and up the bunk bed to bother Kalen (we tried Brady in the bottom bunk for a while, but I might as well put him in the playroom and let him play himself to sleep if we were to try to keep him in the bunk bed). Anyway, every 5-6 minutes I would hear Kalen scream, "Mooooooommm!!!! Brady is in my bed again!" and I would very sternly take Brady out of Kalen's bed and put him back in the crib and tell him to leave his brother alone. After four times, I just couldn't believe he WAS STILL NOT listening. What was possessing him to climb out?

So, as I was leaving their room, I thought I would just stand at the door and listen to catch Brady in the act...and that's when I heard it...

Kalen was saying very quietly, "Brady, come on over. Get up and climb out Brady. Come on." Then, right as I noticed my shadow on their door frame, Kalen noticed it too, and said, "Stop Brady, lay down, she's right outside the door. Lay back down like your not getting out." Brady wasn't prepared for the game taking an unexpected turn, because he began to climb out anyways, and Kalen, knowing I was right outside the door, screamed, "Mooooommmmmm, Brady's climbing out of his bed again!"

I WAS SHOCKED--KALEN? REALLY?

I guess I should have known better...I was the older sibling once too.

Miscellaneous

2009-01-15T00:27:00.004-05:00

I (Amber) am up in GA for two weeks with my little ones. I am working my "two weeks notice" at Blue Cross so that I don't get a negative mark on my record. I thought it would be quite a fun trip up to GA with the three boys, and was a little nervous about doing it alone (although I acted like I was a pro and didn't let on), but luckily they slept most of the way. Brian stayed in FL to work on our moving into the house and because his school has started.

Anyway--because I'm in GA, I have no access to our pictures, so I still cannot post pics of Trace...and a few people have mentioned my slide show pictures and how neat it is to have them, and it's actually quite tricky to do (simple, but tricky, if that makes sense)...so I will work on that when I get home to FL. It's fun to say FL is our home now--it just feels right. And, since Brian's in school every weekday from 5:30pm-midnight, I have plenty of time to "blog" after boys go to bed.

Brian is excelling at culinary school. Several times the professors have used him as an example, and last night the teacher told the entire class to come over and watch how she makes a certain cut again because no one was doing it right, "Except Brian." I'm so proud of him. He looks fantastic in his chef uniform as well :-)

We have decided that I will be the one staying home with the boys and Brian will be working. Along with driving luxury cars, Brian needs to get a job in a kitchen for the experience so that he can get a good job in 15 months when he graduates. Therefore, I get to stay with my boys, and I'm very excited. I finally can just be a mom. It'll be another tight year financially, but we've done a great job of cutting out all un-needed expenses, and we can do it on a lot less than what we thought. And after 15 months, Brian will be a chef and be able to get a real job!! (the school has 97% placement after graduation).

Kalen is doing great--he is using his imagination like CRAZY...I'm always asking him who he is this time (always some superhero), and I often catch him running through the house saying, "You can't see me, I run so fast!"

Brady is picking up words very quickly all of a sudden--he started saying "eat", "bubba" (for brother, which he calls both Kalen and Trace), "love you," "hold baby," and lots of others this week. OH!! And he woke up three days ago and decided he wanted to use the big boy potty. I never even tried to train him, he just decided he was ready. I think it may be short-lived, but I'm loving it while it's happening. It's so cute because he looks at me and says, "pee-pee" pointing to his diaper, then when I say "Okay, go!" he pulls off the diaper and runs to the bathroom yelling "Bubba!" for Kalen to come and encourage him. Kalen is doing a great job and gets rewarded with Brady for each successful bathroom trip.

Trace is a smiling machine! He smiles anytime someone makes eye contact with him for any period of time--I love it! He has almost laughed on several occassions. Tonight Brady bit his toe, which caused him to cry ALOT, but he was okay once I started feeding him--food makes it all better.

We sold all of our German Shepherd puppies, with the exception of two--one we gave away because he was injured and one we gave to a dear friend of mine who helped me TONS when Brian was in FL and I and the boys were in GA. It was fun having those 10 little monsters, and are VERY thankful for Sarah and Brandon for letting us house them in their garage and backyard, but we won't be doing that again for a while. Living in Lee and Heather's house, it would be impossible to keep a litter of pups, so we may actually look at getting our Kaya fixed :-( It's sad to think about because she made beautiful pups, but alas, must be done. I would recommend a German Shepherd to anyone--they're just amazing dogs. Very loyal, family oriented, and protective--we think Kaya scared away a thief on Christmas eve at my mom's house. We came home from last minute shopping and a side window was open, the blinds were messed up, and a TV and DVD player were knocked to the floor--Kaya was in the house, and nothing was missing--but they could have gotten all of the presents under the tree and everything. We were grateful for having Kaya at that time.

Anyway, that's our update. Thanks for all the comments--I have to figure out how to follow you guys' blogs now :-) Love you all!

Trace's pics

2008-12-19T12:59:00.002-05:00

I cannot figure out right now how to get another web album made for Trace's pictures, and we are heading up to GA in an hour, so I can't do it right now. I promise to get some more pics uploaded soon! Thanks for being patient.

Finally updating blog :-)

2008-12-19T12:17:00.002-05:00

I was on the phone with my old college roommate, Laura, today and she reminded me gently that my baby isn't even mentioned in my blog yet and he's 2 months old!! Everyone has been sort of reminding me of that...so here it is!

The day after my last blog note I was supposed to be having a baby shower (well a dinner with friends to celebrate my new baby coming) and I woke up with real contractions. I could tell they were the real ones. I tried holding out until the dinner party, but Brian made me go to the hospital--and it's a good thing we got there when we did. To make a long story short, the Dr barely had time to get her scrubs on, and I progressed so fast I could not even get an epidural--Trace was coming! At one point, the Dr had to tell me not to push when my body was begging to push because they had to remove the bottom of the bed in order for her to catch him. It was all very fast and went by in a blur...I remember how scared I was that I was going to have to do it natural, but I did it!! Brian said he was so impressed. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't get an epidural for this one because the labor part wasn't so bad---it was the contractions that the epidural really helps for, and I had already been handling those monsters!

Anyway, Trace Alexander Rieman was 8 lbs 2 oz--born on October 18th. He's just adorable. He's now 2 months old and is a great baby--hardly ever cries, which is a blessing. I think he just gets a kick out of watching his brothers. He started smiling at me and Brian yesterday, and kept doing it today, so that's really really fun. I just love the gummy grin. Brady smothers him all the time--I have to constantly remind him to be soft, and Kalen is a proud older brother, always introducing visitors to his new little brother.

As for Brian and I, we're doing well. Brian's mom and dad are moving to Hawaii to finish school at BYU-H, and they'll be gone a couple of years, so we are moving into their home. Brian received an amazing scholarship from Orlando Culinary Academy, and he starts classes January 5th to become a chef. He thinks he's going to go the Baking and Patisserie route. I have been interviewing for a few jobs and if I get one, then Brian will stay home with the boys during the day and go to school at night. If I don't get one, then I'll stay home with the boys while Brian works as a chauffeur, driving luxury cars around Orlando during the day. If I stay home, I'll probably try to babysit one or two other kids to make a little extra money for us.

So, that's the story--we are getting ready to go to GA for Christmas--we wish you all the very merriest holiday. If you know anyone looking to buy a German Shepherd puppy, send them our way :-)

(That didn't take that long...I really need to do this more often)

What's up now?

2008-10-17T20:53:00.002-04:00

I'm officially starting this blog thing--everyone's doing it, why not us? And it's the perfect time to start...we're starting a new life very soon. For those of you who we haven't kept posted as perfectly as we should have, Brian has been a real-estate appraiser in GA, and I've been working at Blue Cross and Blue Shield...however, with the economic downfall, Brian's job has suffered significantly, leading him to seek a new career. We've been feeling as if we wanted to move closer to his family in FL, so he went down there at the end of July to see about meeting with appraisers there. He was hoping he wouldn't find the same sort of conditions as we have here, but it turned out that FL is probably in worse real-estate condition than we are in GA. However, at that time, something sparked our interest in the Janitorial service industry--perhaps it was the freedom of owning our own company with little overhead costs, or maybe it was just because we were ready for a dramatic change, but either way, Brian stayed in FL to get the business started, while I took care of the boys here in GA and kept working at my job. We missed daddy terribly, and with little Trace on the way, I hated being away from him. So, after two months, with the cleaning business not taking off like we had hoped it would...Brian came home and we were left wondering what was in store for us, and ultimately, leading us to prayers, blessings, and family counsel.

Our house is now almost completely packed up, and soon after Trace comes, we're going to move down to FL--to temporarily stay with Sarah and Brandon (Brian's sister's family). They have been gracious enough to allow us to live with them while Brian and I will search for jobs. I have six weeks of paid maternity leave that we can live on while we look, but more importantly, we've found a career right along the path of one of Brian's true loves--something he's always said he'd love to do, but never actually thought he would! He will soon begin school at Orlando Culinary Academy, and in one to two years, become an executive chef! I know it sounds really fun, or crazy, or both, but if you know Brian, you know he's going to love it. It's perfect for him, and the school provides help with career placement after graduation as well...however, we'll be living outside of Orlando, and so I really don't think he'd have a problem finding a resort to work in.

So, that's what's happening with us--we're keeping our GA house, and renting it to one of my very best friends here in GA and her two little girls, and perhaps when the market is better we'll try selling it, but until then, it will be nice owning it longer.

As for the boys, Kalen is 3 and a half, very smart, loves to read and use his imagination, and can't wait for Trace to get here! His favorite food is chicken broccoli alfredo, and his favorite things to do are to go to fun places with the family, such as Chuck-e-Cheese's and Hollywood Connections (a fun-place for kids--has a merry-go-round, little train, Ferris wheel, etc). Lately, we haven't really been able to find Kalen, but mysteriously Spiderman has been living in our house (thus he'll have a spiderman costume for Halloween).

Brady is 19 months old and a true mess--he's been a mess from the point he started crawling at 5 months old! He's constantly scaling the tallest things in the house, trying to eat anything within reach, and lately he's been biting anyone that makes him mad--we're working on that. His favorite food by far is anything sweet...especially cookies and candies, and his favorite thing to do is to play outside in the dirt and pick up rocks. Brady will be superman this Halloween.

Trace is already causing trouble. At 32 weeks along, I starting having contractions that ended me up in labor-and-delivery at the hospital, where fortunately the staff was able to stop the contractions and send me home. Then, last night, I found myself again at the hospital with contractions, but this time, they actually admitted me to a delivery room, thinking he was coming. Sometime during the night though, everything stopped, so this morning they released me again, to come home with no baby. I know he'll come soon, but I just hate those hospital beds and don't look forward to another long night or two on one :-) If he comes on time, he'll be a little tiger for Halloween. (He's due on Halloween).