Recently

Some cute pics of the kids:

He loves getting his hair done by dad these days. He's so grown up.

Our little Ruthie Bear gave her first talk a few weeks ago. She did a fabulous job, even though we only had it prepared two days in advance. The topic was "Jesus Christ teaches me to choose the right." We found pictures of Jesus' life and then she would say, "Jesus teaches me to choose the right and to get baptised" or whatever the picture was of. She had it all memorized so I just had to show her the picture, to remind her what came next, before holding it up for the rest of the primary to see.

 ultrasound pic at 35 weeks, lovin' the cheeks!

I've been having tons of contractions in the evenings, for three days now. I remember that being the case with Ruth. I was madly timing contractions and always disappointed they only lasted 30 seconds. So far these are lasting up to about 10 and only a few minutes apart, but once I go to bed they slow down. Also, baby dropped the other night. It was the first time I had actually experienced the baby dropping...like I literally felt her working her way down and out of my ribs, it was super uncomfortable but cool. I'm feeling like there's no way I'm making it to our due date of May 31st, but we'll see.

Easter

So the Easter Bunny is real, in case anyone out there was wondering. Brad's been working tons so we were going to do our Easter on Tuesday, but Sunday morning we woke up to find eggs all over our front lawn! We were all super surprised. Will couldn't wait to dig in!

While I'm Thinking About it

I wanted to record personality traits about Ruth and Will while I was thinking about it.

At 3 1/2 Ruth is more outgoing than ever. She loves to talk to people at the grocery store, at the pool, ANYWHERE. She loves to dance and comes up with little routines and tricks. She has an amazing memory. She can tell us the name of songs that come on after like 2 seconds of it turning on. She is daring and loves to try new things especially physical tasks like monkey bars or touching animals at the zoo. She is very uninhibited in her personality and physicality. People are often telling me how well she speaks and how intelligent she seems. I too am often blown away by things she says, like the other day she said, "What if I don't want to grow up to be a mommy. It might be scary!" I just told her that some times it is scary and gave her a hug. Today Brad told her that she and Will had to eat their breakfast at the table instead of at the TV because Will makes a mess with cereal. She came back a few minutes later and said that Will agreed to not make a mess so they could eat their breakfast while watching shows!

At one month shy of 2 years old, Will has become a funny man. He loves to point out things that are: silly, funny, and wacky. He loves making jokes and often laughs at himself. He is very capable physically and likes to practice kicking, throwing and climbing, although he is more reserved than Ruth. He is very cautious in new situations and likes to stay very close to parents and observe what normal behavior is before jumping into new tasks. (examples are at the pool, petting zoo and hop-to-it, he is very upset for several minutes unless being held, then slowly acclimates to his surroundings.) Through all the mimicking of Ruth that he does, he has learned to count most of the way to 10 and is working on his colors. One of his new favorites is coloring. His love for rhythm has also increased to the point that he now is making drum sticks out of anything he can find.

I know we're not supposed to compare our kids, but I love that they are different. Ruth is free-flowing and care-free and Will loves the preciseness of drums and is cautious about his surroundings. I love my kids and can't wait to see what kind of a personality #3 has.

Las Vegas Trip

We went back to Las Vegas so Brad could go to the Wyndham Global Conference, thanks to his company for paying for the hotel room and gas! Brad had a great time at all his meetings, received a Chairman's Award, and got to meet all the big-wigs associated with Wyndham hotels. He came away really motivated and with lots of ideas to better himself and his hotel. And he got to meet Captain America and Thor.

The kids and I had a fun time swimming in the Luxor pool, visiting the zoo, eating their first Happy Meals, playing at a park, eating lots of frozen yogurt (there was a self serve place right outside the elevators we used in our hotel) and relaxing in our hotel room.

One of the funniest things that happened on this trip was Ruth's reaction to palm trees. The first one she encountered she ran right up to, turned around and started bouncing up and down trying to scratch her back. Then she stepped away and said, "Ow that hurts!" Can you tell she was watching Jungle Book on the way down to LV?

One of the kids' favorite things was riding on escalators, elevators and the monorail that goes between Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur. Tuesday was a bit of a grumpy day for the me and the kids. I took them to see the sharks at Mandalay Bay which they hated and the only thing that made them happy until dad showed up were the escalators and monorail. Later that day we went to Circus Circus and watched a fun circus show and played lots of kid games.

As a family we had fun eating at the Rain Forest Cafe (service sucked, food was ok...the refillable ICEES was exciting...decor was AMAZING and we got to sit right by the gorillas),

seeing the M&M movie, seeing Tournament of the Kings and generally seeing the sights and lights of LV. Tournament of Kings was the last thing we did Wednesday night and it was the perfect way to wrap up the trip. We got to watch a fun show with knights, horses, fire, dancing princesses and dragons, all the while eating chicken and roasted potatoes with our hands and making as much noise as possible...it was the perfect kid event that Brad and I loved too. Also a great b-day present for me!

The Last Week or So

We played at the park and this happened. No it's not jelly from a snack at the park. He went down the slide on his belly (feet first) and bashed his face on the end of the slide. Unfortunately we had walked so I had to carry him, keep the dog under control and walk as fast as I could while encouraging Ruth to do the same so we could get home and clean up the poor guy.

Last night ladies at church had a baby shower for me and two other gals. It was so nice to be surrounded by friends and talk and laugh. I was amazed how generous everyone was. Lots of cute clothes, diapers and 900 wipes! And enough money to get a small swing, high chair and nursing accessories. Now all baby girl needs is a name!

Joy

We watched the Anderson kids the other night. Ruth got to practice her big sister hold. Both of the kids LOVE Hazel.

We've truly been very happy recently. There has been lots of laughter and happiness. I think a lot of that has to do with being a lot better at living the gospel. We love doing family home evening, prayers have become very important when we're sad, and I don't know HOW I would have explained death to Ruth without the knowledge of the resurrection. (This was one of the most touching mommy moments I have had to date.)

The other day Ruth was very concerned about death. So I explained that we'll all get to live together again, and that we'll be resurrected which means your spirit will be reunited with your body. She was SO relieved to know she wouldn't have to leave mommy and daddy. And was thrilled to realize that we would ALL (yes, including Aunt Tia) live with Heavenly Father if we made good choices. I really don't know I went from being totally overwhelmed with her as a newborn to answering profound gospel questions, when did she grow up?

In lighter subjects, we had a blast at Hop-2-It this week. Will surprised me at how much he has developed since we went last time. He's a regular climber just like Ruth. His language also continues to explode, he's working on more and more 2 word sentences. I'm so proud!

We've been looking for a dog for over a month. We've been visiting the animal shelter several times every week looking for the perfect pooch. We ended up going to a breeder in Boise to get our beautiful La Fille au Cheveau du'La (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair...a Debussy song). She's a 3 month old Golden Retriever, who we call La Fille. She's ADORABLE. And I mostly get all the positives and none of the negatives of owning a puppy since she's Brad's! Brad takes her out to pee, feeds her, walks her, takes her to work, etc. She's the perfect puppy too. She lays around when we're relaxing and is excited to play when we go out back. The timing this time around is impeccable, we're all happy to have her around, and not stressed out like we were with the first dog two years ago.

Mostly Brad

I love my hubby so much. And I am so grateful for his amazing talents. He plays the piano wonderfully and is getting better everyday. It's wonderful to have our home filled with beautiful music, not to mention that the kids love dancing to it.

This week I am especially grateful for his Mr. Fix-it talents. When we were first married I was VERY skeptical of these skills. When he offered to fix his dad's truck the first summer we were married I almost scoffed. The repair was suppose to cost over $700. Brad did it with random stuff he found in his grandpa Nelson's shed (we lived in their house that summer while they were in Oregon on a mission). I was pretty impressed. But I digress. I am now usually unimpressed when Brad fixes things, because in the end I know that he'll be able to do it. (Which has come in extremely handy since buying our house.)

This week he fixed the suburban. The light that showed which gear you were switching into and showed your mileage went out...like more than a month ago. Everywhere Brad looked it was going to cost at least $200 to get that fixed. So what did Brad do? He pulled the console behind the steering wheel out, took it to a mechanic/doo-hicky store, found the pieces he needed to re-solder, and fixed our car for $1.25! It's pretty ridiculous how just being willing to try, along with a natural talent for fixing stuff and having the internet to do research, can save you TONS of money.

In other news we've decided that Ruth is going to be an artist and gymnast, Will is going to be a baseball pitcher and drummer, and #3 is going to be a Tae Bo instructor/Kung Fu master. I have been feeling very run-down/tired again. I had about 3 weeks of feeling energetic and good this pregnancy, but it has also been the most mild as far as other symptoms go so I try not to complain. Luckily it's getting warm-ish already and the kids play great, so I can just sit and avoid doing dishes when I need to! Oh, and heart-burn is back.

Mostly Me

I've entered the 3rd trimester! I can't believe how fast the second flew by. And with the 3rd trimester came my craving for sandwiches stuffed with tons of veggies. (With Will I couldn't get enough sprouts on a sandwich.) Tonight we had BLT's and the whole time I was eating mine I was thinking, "Why did I put bacon on this?" I've also been downing PB&J's like none other.

Speaking of sandwiches stuffed with veggies, yesterday I made homemade pitas to go with our gyro sandwiches. Oh yum. Fresh pockety bread stuffed with roasted red pepper hummus, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, grilled red onion and feta. Again while I was eating I was thinking, "Why did I put this gyro meat on here?" I just ate another pita as a pre-bedtime snack minus the meat, SO good.

And in other baking news I also made a strawberry rhubarb pie, all from scratch! Ha! I was nervous about the crust but it tasted good. Brad is a serious pie man, so it's fun to finally be comfortable enough in the baking world to make stuff he actually likes...because no, he doesn't like cookies or cake.

Sunday was GORGEOUS and 60 degrees so we went on a walk through the park. Picture thanks to Ruth:

While out there we saw two owls sitting in a tree, it was very cool.

And here are some of the crafts Ruth has been working on these days. She loves to get her craft on!

And in Will news: we've been looking at drawings of what baby sister looks like in the womb that shows the woman's belly too. So last night Will pointed to my belly and said "baby!" Then he lifted my shirt and was digging around trying to find baby, it was pretty funny.

Now what

On Sunday Ruth was chosen to pick a song to sing in primary. The chorister said, 'What is your favorite song?' Ruth answered, 'Um, I think probably Star Wars!' I have no idea where she got that idea from. She settled for 'Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.'

In other Sunday approved activities, Will has gotten good at praying and sings the last word of phrases in the songs he knows. Very cute.

Pregnancy Blunders and Will

I've had two cooking blunders this pregnancy. The first ended in lots of tears. The second just made me laugh:

Several weeks ago I decided to make chicken and rice, the easy kind you just pour rice in the baking dish, covered in cream-of-chicken and topped with frozen chicken and then popped in the oven for a couple hours. EASY-PEASY. Except I put the chicken directly on top of the rice and THEN poured the cream-of-chicken on top. When my timer went off I was so happy that dinner was easy and ready. I went to dish up and realized all of the BROWN rice under the chicken (which was most of it) was nearly raw still and just started bawling. Luckily it was inexpensive and I later used the cooked chicken in really yummy pad thai.

This morning I was making French toast for breakfast-the kids' favorite breakfast. I wasn't paying much attention when I was grabbing spice out of the cupboard to add to the eggs. I realized my blunder once the first piece was cooking and suddenly the kitchen smelled like CUMIN! Ugh. Pregnancy + 8am + cumin = nauseous! I started over and this time made sure I used cinnamon in the eggs. Oh, and it was delicious.

I've realized recently that I haven't been very good at being excited about Will's milestones. Mostly because I'm not shocked by what he can do. With Ruth everything was amazing because I'd never experienced a child's growth and progress. But with Will I know what to expect and have thus been less enthusiastic...and feel bad. So here is some more stuff about Will that we love:

I love that he says, "so-so" for sorry.

I love the way he jumps around and grunts, he's so boyish.

His pouty face makes me laugh.

I love that he and Ruth are different. I have been a little confused because I've been trying to discipline and interact with him the same way I have with Ruth and he doesn't respond the same way. Then I realized it's great, he's his own person! I love that he takes his time when eating treats...he'll seriously take ten minutes to savor 5 fruit snacks.

I love how loving he is; he loves to give kisses.

I love that he loves his sister, he wants to be just like her. Some of the most recent thing he's picked up from her include pretending to be a cat, and saying "1, 2, 3" and naming any letter he sees as "E." Also he calls most colors either blue or green.

He is also amazing at throwing. I told Brad that he'd been throwing everything within sight and Brad said we should just tell him he's not allowed to throw things anymore. The next day Will threw a ball from across the room to Brad. Brad then changed his mind about not allowing throwing because he doesn't want to jeopardize Will's amazing pitching career.

I love that instead of saying "YEE-ha!" like a cowboy he says "hee-HA" like a donkey.

In Ruth news, she saw Sesame Street for the first time today. She has renamed everyone in the family: Brad is Grover, I am Big Bird, Ruth is Cookie Monster, Will is Count Dracula and baby sister is Sesame Street! She's actually called us these names all afternoon, we'll see how long this lasts.

Shadows and Baby Names

I asked Will what we should call baby Sister. He looked at me for a minute then put his hand up to his ear and said, "HI BABY!" like he was calling her on the phone. Made me laugh!

Our new ritual before bed is shadow dancing. Brad moves the arm chair out of the way, then turns the flash light or strobe light (on his phone) on and the kids have a blast dancing and watching their shadows walk across the wall and ceiling.

As of Today

Will found his pockets and is now strutting around like cool guy Jones.

Nesting

I have already had a few nesting spurts. The first one hit me as an organization bug just a few days after we found out baby 3 was a girl. I cleaned out all of our closets, reorganized the kids upcoming summer clothes, and gathered/sorted all of Ruth's old clothes for sister.

The second attack happened a few weeks ago when I got Brad to relocate our basement bedroom up to the main floor, buy new bedding, a dresser and a matching ceiling fan.

Ruth's new favorite game is to create a nest out of all the blankets and pillows from all over the house.

Valentines Day

This is the best Valentine's Day I can remember (except maybe for the one where my dad made a scavenger hunt through the house and at the end we all found Ande's mints, that was fun!).

We started the day with heart shaped (homemade) cinnamon pancakes with heart shaped strawberries and syrup YUUUUM. Ruth and Will were both great helpers getting breakfast on the table and gobbled up their food. This was a special breakfast for two reasons: 1) We never have pancakes, Ruth has had them maybe once (mostly because Brad doesn't really like them). 2) This was the first time we have celebrated a "holiday" with seasonal breakfast (this is the first time Ruth was really aware of the holiday).

In celebration of Valentine's Day we had a family home evening last night about the Savior's love. The kids really liked the activity; they took turns picking puzzle pieces that had scriptures or primary songs about love that then uncovered a picture about Jesus. We asked Ruth how she could show her love to her brother and she said, "By watching shows with him!" So maybe the lesson didn't really sink in, but it was fun and we ended the night with Baskin Robbins.

Recently and Pictures We Missed

Recently, people have been telling me that Ruth has such a huge, fun personality and that she makes them laugh. She has been very interested in dinosaurs ever since visiting Ben over Christmas. She has learned all of the alphabet, upper and lower case letters. We're working on tracing, writing her name, numbers and reading.

Recently, Will has been making tons of messes and jibbering up a storm. These days he LOVES bath time, has perfected his pouty face, and is very interested in dinosaurs and monsters! He knows lots of words, his favorites are "again, please, monsters, and butt (belly button)." He is learning patience, what it means to clean up toys properly and loves trying to count along with Ruth when she's counting.

Both kids are very excited for baby sister to arrive. Names Ruth has come up for sister include, Mario, Luigi, Fancy Nancy, Daisy and Jane.

Brad continues to work at the Days Inn, and we are all looking forward to the Days Inn conference at the beginning of April in Las Vegas. Brad's Hotel will receive a Chairman's award for quality and performance. We're staying at the Luxor so Ruth is constantly talking about the triangle hotel. I'm excited for the warm weather, spending time in the pool and taking kids to the children's museum there. We're also definitely looking forward to the yummy food that is there.

I am doing pretty well. Nausea has subsided. Heartburn has arrived. And the emotional roller-coaster has recommenced. The last week has been rough emotionally, I either cry or scream about everything so that's been fun for my family!

Eating snow with Grandma Paula

Playing in flour

Dad's picture on the merry-go-round during Christmas

lights in the south hills, and yeah there was a camel!

Will enjoying the new ride