And we're having...

2 more boys! (Jesse has been right every single time...)

I am getting so outnumbered here. 5 boys and 1 girl. I guess we have ourselves a basketball team, right? I'll be the coach cheerleader.

Some of you are wondering... did I cry? Nope. I would have been shocked if we were having a girl. Even though I guessed one of each... I expected 2 boys.

Things to expect/look forward to:

• dents in the walls
• lots of punching
• lots of future missionaries
• extra help with yard work
• purchasing an extra fridge/freezer (boys eat a lot, right?)
• messes
• little boy hugs & kisses... lots of them!  :)

I'm pretty happy. I love my boys! They are so cute and I can't wait (actually... I can! No need to rush them here!) to enjoy me some more!

Fieldtrip with Mimi to visit the new Piglets

Mimi watches Lincoln & Parker on Tuesdays. That gives me a full day to do: yard work, house work, nap, visit new babies in the hospital, go to lunch with Jesse, & even blog!  It is SUCH a nice break to not have the children around from after breakfast to dinner time. Thank you, Mimi!!! THANK YOU!!!

Here are some week-old piglets out in Gunlock (small town 30 minutes outside St. George). After a nap, Mimi took Lincoln & Parker out to see them. She said Lincoln wanted nothing to do with the piggies... he just wanted to watch. Here are the pictures she sent:

Feeding the little pig a bottle

Parker liked to hold the pigs, but always made this face:

Gargantuan bunny

Parker wanted to get in the wagon

Lincoln pulled Parker around in the wagon all over while the dogs followed them.

They always come home so worn out because they have so much fun with Mimi. They (and I!) are so blessed to live close by! Thank you for lots of fun, Mimi!

Thanksgiving 2011

Yes, I know. So very late. I stole the first 2 pictures from Jackie's blog (thanks!) and am adding one of very few I took while hosting our 2nd Thanksgiving. Both sisters, brother, cousin, & parents with their families all came to St. George to celebrate Thanksgiving with us again this year. I just used 2010's "plan" and it went pretty smoothly. As far as I can remember, anyway...

Dinner is ready... time for toasts!

Hanging out in the basement... playing Wii

 

Rose & Parker (Parker is 1 month older)

Now I just need to find our Christmas pictures... haha

What do I have in common with...

 Mary-Kate & Ashley

& a minivan?

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

If you guessed I'm pregnant with twins, you'd be right!

We find out boy/boy/girl/girl May 1st. SO.... if you want to take a guess at what we're having... make a comment! (Jesse thinks boy, boy. Mindy think boy, girl. Lincoln thinks 2 dinosaurs.)

I'm 14 weeks today, and they are due October 20th (full-term twins is 37 weeks, though... so maybe they'll arrive September?).

...

And yes. We are crazy. We will have Lincoln (3) Parker (18 mo) & 2 newborns come this fall.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had an Easter Egg Hunt in Mimi's backyard on Saturday the 7th. Their new backyard is pretty awesome - trampoline, slide/swing toy, pool, lots of room to run around... 

Amelia (Ashley & Kurt's) joined Lincoln & Parker. It's a good thing she did because they needed all the help they could get! After finding 4 or 5 eggs, Lincoln lost a lot of interest, but was chowing down on some jelly beans.

Lincoln & Amelia

Lincoln & Amelia running for more eggs, but missing tons along the way...

Parker found an egg, and since he loves balls, he was more interested in playing with the egg (until he discovered the goods inside).

Parker (with the same egg as above) & Lincoln

Amelia

Parker just carrying around the same egg...

Parker & Ashley (left), Jesse (back middle), & McKay (back right)

Lincoln (front)

Lincoln had to open each egg as he gathered it. There were many jelly bean trees planted that day.

Since we arrived, Parker kept heading for the pool.
So we got them in their swimsuits.

Amelia wasn't a fan... but warmed up to the water after awhile.

Lazy Susan

We have 3 of this type of cabinets in the kitchen. I have found Lincoln in there multiple times now, and sometimes Parker tries to follow. Lincoln was so pleased with himself - especially the laughs he got from Mom.  :)

If you have kids, they will love to play with these cabinets...

So I would suggest you designate one for them and some kitchen "toys"

(Lincoln has claimed all of my pink silicone bakeware).

Garden 2012

Our garden was planted March 3rd. I love planting the garden, but I am most excited to plant my tomatoes, which are not planted yet. I hope to do that this week!

March 3rd, right after planting

(The parsley & chives actually survived the winter.)

April 7th, after placing the trellis for the peas

(hard to see the trellis from the angle the picture was taken)

(I labeled one wrong - the 7th row is actually 3 beans, 1 radish.)

It looks like I need to figure out how to grow spinach. This is my 2nd attempt. I knew it struggled before, so that's why I planted 7 squares of it. You know, to give it better odds. I thought March 3rd was plenty early to plant... but obviously something is not happening. There ARE a few plants peeking through, but I doubt I will get anything from them. The weather is warming up now. Plus, I think I will just plant my tomatoes in a few of their spots. Maybe the seeds aren't good?

Excavators!

Lincoln loves pointing out different construction vehicles. They always seem to be on or near dirt, so Lincoln thinks they are all "...stuck in the mud. We help them out?" There was an excavator down the street from where we were, so Jesse thought it would be fun to take Lincoln to go see one up close. I insisted he sit in the seat! 

If you click on the picture and zoom in... you can see how scared he is!

 

Lincoln definitely preferred to be on the ground and liked to touch the excavator.

"Excavator needs a car wash, Mom."

Parker's Birthday

Back in February, we celebrated Parker's 1st birthday. Mimi & Papa came by and we ate some cake. We got him a little wooden train that Lincoln claimed quite quickly. Had Parker received more than the train set, Lincoln would have been pretty upset.  

Here's Mimi with Parker

Lincoln (behind my hair) is helping Parker blow out his [Glade] candle.

Parker is such a sweet little boy. He's in the 60-something percentile, and today he weighed 22.1 pounds. He is beginning to say a few words, including "daw" for dog, "hi, da" plus a wave when Jesse gets home from work, "don't!", "ba" for ball, "woof, woof" in answer to "what does a dog say?"  He gives me kisses when I ask for them, plus sometimes when I don't. He usually doesn't try to fight back when Lincoln pushes him or takes his toys. He gets over it, finds a new toy, or comes crying to me. I'm pretty sure he knows not to get on Lincoln's bad side. He loves his minky blanket from Mimi. He loves his little black bear from Grandma. He "drives" cars around while making car sounds. He LOVES balls and loves to use a shovel to dig in the dirt at the park. He will laugh and laugh if you push him in the swing. He is such a happy boy, as long as Mommy is close by (getting better... gradually). He loves the water and could swim in the pool for hours every day. He'll try most foods, but definitely prefers the sweeter ones (especially candy... I think he was born liking candy). We love you, Parker-Man!

Hello again, Friends!

Post #300. 

Whoa. 

Yeah... so you haven't really heard much of us lately. I guess you could say it's because of a number of things. Such as... I'm tired. I'm chasing 2 rowdy boys. They are both RUNNING! I'm so far behind... it feels overwhelming to catch up again. Enough, enough, enough with the excuses. On to the pictures. Right? (I've also been horrible at taking pictures lately... yikes.)

I'm not going to attempt to catch up right now. So these are recent pictures (last couple weeks)

Before Parker's 1st Haircut

(I was tired of doing his hair multiple times a day... he's a boy!)

Oblivious to what's to come...

Say "cheese"... that didn't work... say "me"...

Haircut "after" 

(he was totally trying to get my camera... 

with one of Lincoln's shoes on his hand)

Driving His Cars

(Dec. 6th, 2011)

You thought this post was going to be about Lincoln, right?
If you know Lincoln at all, you would definitely be thinking that.

Parker at 9 months, driving his cars (okay, they are Lincoln's cars) across the book.

 

He even makes sounds... "brooooommmmm..."

Playing by the fireplace.

I guess Parker is going to like cars just like his brother. That is... if Lincoln will ever learn to share them! (These pictures were during Lincoln's nap... and Lincoln will reluctantly share if I make him.)

Aquarium

In Las Vegas, at Caesar's Palace, there is a lot of shopping, but when you bring two children, you better find some entertainment!  We stopped at the statues that come to life and do a little show, but Lincoln said, "Scared. Go bye bye, Mom." So just around the corner (across from Express & Cheesecake Factory) is this wall aquarium. Lincoln was fascinated, but disappointed he couldn't find a shark. He started calling some random fish a shark. When he saw the sting rays, he was pretty excited and didn't care about finding any more sharks.

Parker is always posing for me. What a cutie. He liked the fish tank, too.

A long day of shopping (maybe 2 hours) and they were done.

This boy loves sharks. When we draw with sidewalk chalk, first Lincoln wants me to draw a pink shark, then a blue shark, then a purple shark, etc... I had to look up a cartoon picture of a shark so they actually looked like shark and not fish. In fact, there is a picture of a shark on our driveway right now!

Happy Birthday

As we were driving in the car, I told Jesse I needed to document my 27th birthday.

So here you go. This is how I looked at exactly 27 years of age.

Happy Birthday, Jesse (tomorrow)!!

Vegas

So back in August, I made a goal to lose my "baby weight" (about 15 pounds). I'll spare you the details... but as of November I met my goal!  My "prize" was getting new clothes on a shopping trip to Vegas. Lindsay & Cody came, and Leah lives there. Losing weight is not fun, but is very rewarding.

Here we are enjoying dinner at Johnny Rockets.

Me, Leah, Cody, Lindsay

Thanks to all of you who supported me through those (LONG) few months! I couldn't have done it without you (especially you, Lindsay!!).  :)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

I have a pretty good idea that I will not be getting to posting on my blog until the new year (who knows.. I may) so I thought I'd wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

We had my entire family over for Thanksgiving (not all at once) and it was wonderful seeing everyone.

We also went to Tuacahn's Live Nativity with Rachel & Darrin, which has sort of become a family tradition for us.

Sitting with Santa (Tuacahn)

That Sunday, we went to Jesse's parents' ward and saw all 4 new grandsons that were born in the last few months. Two (Isaac & Ezra) were blessed that day.

2011 brought 5 new grandsons for Mimi & Papa

(left to right; oldest to youngest)

Parker (Feb); Isaac (Oct); Crew (Oct); Ezra (Nov); Jet (Nov)

 

 

I had my 27th birthday in December. We went to dinner & a movie, which was nice.

We also got family pictures. They turned out nice.

Nothing else... So I will try to post pictures of Thanksgiving later. They are all on my camera still. (The pictures from this post were all emailed to me. Thanks!)

So Merry Christmas, everyone! Travel safely and have some hot cocoa! We love you! And if you haven't received a Christmas card from us soon, email me and tell me your address (if you want one). 

Halloween Party

Here are a few pictures from the Halloween Party. We had a giant bounce house rented, pinata, costumes, homemade root beer, potluck food, spooky decorations.. it actually turned out really well. Almost everyone we invited showed up! I didn't get many pictures, but here are the ones we got.

Jesse & I as Mr & Mrs Potato Head

Thanks for the pictures, Parker! (Audrey's brother)

This sums up how Lincoln was the whole night. 

A little too crazy, not happy, not too sad, just right in the middle.

Evie is the ladybug.