My sweet niece Anna recently came to visit and made Drew this cute little hat, in Utah colors, of course.

Thanksgiving!

I didn't realize that CJ had made some sweet signs that he taped on our front door to greet our Thanksgiving guests.

Trey is addicted to Just Dance 2
My niece is the cutest girl in the world and my boys LOVE her. I mean, LOVE her. When she comes to visit the boys are in heaven and they both cry when she leaves. Literally, heartbroken cries. It's terrible.
This one is spoiled and won't sleep during the day unless he's being held. So it's awesome when all the relatives leave after snuggling him all weekend and I can't get anything done because he's screaming to be held.
We had so much fun hosting Thanksgiving in the new house. It was a lot of work getting everything ready, but we loved it. So mom, thanks for all the work you put into all of the holidays - I have a new appreciation!

Lucky

Halloween 2010
A pumpkin who hated his hat, a sweet little trash can and an army guy who wouldn't let me camouflage paint his face. But they had a great time in our new neighborhood where there were tons of kids and decorated houses. I didn't get the yearly picture of Lucy in her hot dog costume, but as usual, she was a hit.

Drew Harrison - 8 pounds, 2 ounces, 21" long

Today was my due date. I was supposed to be moved into my new house and all settled in before having Mr. Drew. Rewind to 22 days ago when my mom was up here helping me pack my house. I was feeling miserably pregnant and was totally worthless, while my mom did her turbo-charged thing and literally packed almost my whole house.

And in return, she had a heart attack. Literally. So I take her to the emergency room and while they're yadaydaing about all the horrible scary stuff she's got to go through to figure out what caused the heart attack, I go into labor.

So as soon as they put my mom out to do an angiogram, I headed upstairs to labor and delivery and sure enough, I was at a five and ready to go! Besides my mom suffering downstairs, the problem was that my doctor only delivers at the downtown hospital and we were at the closer hospital to my house. And hilariously, the cardiologist told me they could transfer my mom once she was stable enough - like we were going to be bedded up next to each other. Wouldn't that have been awesome - her heart could have started firing on all pistons just watching me have contractions!

So, I went home, had a miserable night while we waited for my dad and brother and sister-in-law to arrive and headed to the downtown hospital the next day. I checked in already measuring at a seven and because he was posterior, the sent me walking around the halls. I have no shame - I headed down to the main gift shop (gown and all) to make Chad buy me some penny candy. He told me to do lunges in the hallway and I tried one and about died. Then we laughed, and then we had a baby. And he is beautiful. I wished for a dark-haired baby and I got one - finally! And then my mom and I cried a lot on the phone - she in one hospital bed, I in another, across town. And then we discussed what was good on the room service menu (the peanut butter cookies and that was it).

And, because that wasn't exciting enough, our movers showed up the next day and my poor husband moved us in the midst of TOTAL chaos. I didn't see him again until it was time for me to go home and he had to come pick us up at the hospital. But, because I couldn't do anything else, I thoroughly enjoyed those two days with Drew. There's something I love about being in the hospital because it's the only time it's just me and my baby and no craziness around. I just held him and loved on him the entire time while watching general conference. It was lovely.

And then I came home - to a new (although very lovely) home, it was crazy. We had family here helping with the move, I was totally emotional, couldn't even find the diapers or baby blankets in all the boxes and so I cried. And then my awesome brother Ryan who I know without a doubt was inspired, called me and I was crying and he got on a flight the next day to help us. This is the same brother who had already driven up with my dad and spent the weekend watching our boys and packing the rest of my house. He literally went home from our house and turned around and came back up. I knew he was worn out, but he was so helpful. Isn't family the best?

So, to recap: Mom - heart attack. Me - early labor. Chad - moves our entire house WHILE taking his MBA finals. I leave one night to take my mom to the ER and come home to a new house with a new baby. All within three days.

I had prayed this whole pregnancy that I would be blessed to go into labor when family was here to take care of my boys because when I had Trey, the opposite happened and it was so stressful. So my prayer was definitely answered - we had plenty of family around and going between hospitals! Thankfully, everyone is doing great and my mom is on the mend. They're not sure what caused the heart attack (all tests showed a "pristine" heart and arteries), they suspect a virus attacked the heart.

I'm in love with my three boys and enjoying every minute of the newborn phase. I look at him today and think I'm lucky that I got three extra weeks of him here on this earth (and that he didn't wait until today because the doctor said he would have easily weighed 1o pounds).

My little home body started preschool and was convinced that school was going to be "stupid and dumb" and he just wanted to "stay home with mommy." You could take him to Disneyland and after an hour he'd ask how long it was going to be before he and I could go home and hang out together. I love that he wants to be with me all the time because he's such an easy-going child but I knew he needed to get out and get socialized so preschool was a must! And here's how excited he was on the first day...

I am happy to report that two weeks later, he has decided he likes it and doesn't cry at all when I drop him off anymore. He just asks me if I'm going to wait on the preschool porch for him the entire time he's in there.

On Sunday I set the camera on the BBQ to get a self-timed picture of our family -  the last one as a family of four!

Le Nursery
Again, just documenting what's got to be taken down and moved in the next few weeks. I wanted bright, fun colors and pretty much repurposed stuff I already had, except for buying a new crib and painting the walls.

The white dresser was mine when I was a little girl and the old scooter belonged to my mom. I gave the dresser a fresh coat of white paint and replaced the old wooden knobs.



Even though this will be baby boy #3, I wanted to do new crib bedding. I bought inexpensive, plain white bumper pads from Ikea and covered them in the scooter fabric and then made a new crib skirt.

Our house has been for sale with the listing set to expire at the end of the month which was fine since we didn't think it would sale in this market and who wants to move at 8-1/2 months pregnant? I joked that as soon as we combined the two boys into a new room and did the nursery, that we would get an offer. And then that exact thing happened. We are super excited about the new house we found, but all the work I put into these two rooms over the last two months makes me want to cry.

Two weeks ago we had returned from another trip to Utah which, as usual, was super fun and super busy. I always come home exhausted from all the going and doing and driving. So I declared that I needed a beach vacation. School was starting the next week and the baby will be here soon. I needed a diversion. We considered California for about five seconds before I became exhausted again just thinking of the travel and the packing and the rental car and my swollen feet...

So two days later we packed up and drove 80 miles away to McCall.  It was so lovely. Our room had a walk-out patio that was five steps from our private little beach, the water trampoline, and the boat dock. I loved not having to pack a cooler or go anywhere if we needed drinks or bathrooms because our room and the hotel's outdoor restaurant were literally six feet away from me. One of the days we rented a wave runner which the boys loved, but other than that we played on the beach all day and then went to dinner and to Ice Cream Alley every night.

In the 6-1/2 years we've been parents, this was the FIRST trip we've taken solo with our kids. We've been on lots of trips but have always had grandparents and/or cousins with us (which is always a good time, of course) but for a few days we totally loved just being together as a family and relaxing.

This is now the second summer vacation we've taken to McCall and we will be making it a tradition. I even called and reserved the same room for next year.







Love this picture of them in the hotel bed one night. I always thought hotels were so fun as a kid and so do mine!

First Day of First Grade
Mixed feelings on today... CJ was so ready to be back with friends but it's so, so weird to have my oldest gone for most of the day. I cried, Trey cried and then I laughed thinking about how when his class was all lined up he was at least four inches taller than everyone else, and then when they went to sit in their own desks, he didn't fit in his. It's too short, he's too tall so a new one will have to be procured for him. And how he looked like a third grader mixed in with all the other kids (two moms tried to introduce CJ's classmates to Trey, thinking he was the first-grader), and despite being the tallest and oldest looking, CJ was the only one who got teary telling his mom goodbye this morning. Being a mom is HEART WRENCHING sometimes!


So excited about the Star Wars lunch box...

And the Star Wars backpack.

Trey kept hugging him goodbye all morning, even though we hadn't left yet.

The boys and I love going downtown and walking around through all the little streets and alleys. They check out all the dumpsters and garbage cans and CJ finds bottle caps to add to his massive collection. I grabbed a few photos to capture these two before another brother is thrown into the mix. They have such a funny relationship and love each other (most of the time) a lot. They both look so different it makes me even more excited to see what this third one will bring to mix.