Hamblin Family

Preschool

2011-08-31T14:20:00.000-06:00

Ashley gets to go to Preschool and she LOVES it! This was at the open house. They met their teacher and got to play with the dress ups and other toys.

For the first day of school Ashley and Allie were twiners, thanks to Grandma McCuistion. Actually, funny thing was the next day Kristin and I put them in the same shirt not knowing.

I think Parker might like being the only one at home for a few hours.

Her teacher made them each a bag that they got to pick out at the open house. She couldn't wait to get to school to get her sparkly pink bag.

I'm so excited for my little Ash. She came home yesterday so happy she got to use scissors and she didn't cut herself with them :)

My 1st Grader

2011-08-31T14:12:00.001-06:00

Taylor started first grade last week. He was a little nervous but also excited. Luckily his Kindergarten teacher moved up to 1st grade and he was put in her class. That made the transition a little easier.

Just before heading to the school

Lining up at the door for Mrs Heaps to come get them

In the classroom

The first day went well except for the bus ride home. He was supposed to ride the tigger bus home. When he got on the bus he didn't recognize anyone. He got off the bus and told Mrs Heaps but I had told her that he was supposed to ride the tigger bus so she made him ride the bus. She asked the bus driver if it was the tigger bus and she said it was so she told and teary Taylor to get on. Well, when the bus came by my house Taylor did not get off. Great, last year all over again. We've had some issues with him and buses unfortunately. I ask some of the boys around the neighborhood if they saw Taylor on the bus and they didn't. I asked what bus they rode and they said the snail bus. WHAT! so I run to the school, Mrs Heaps comes out and tells me she put him on the tigger bus. We call on the radio to find him. I can hear a bunch of names being called out but not Taylor's. I start to panic a little thinking, what if he got off the bus and is just wandering somewhere around Orem! We called the bus dispatch and found out that he was still on the bus and the bus driver was taking him to our bus stop. It was a little freaky for awhile. Apparently that morning the bus was changed from the tigger bus to the snail but. I guess he should have rode the bus that morning. SHEESH!

2011-08-17T14:49:00.000-06:00

I haven't been able to take pictures on my camera because I have too many stored on them. So I've been going through them and found these. We took these on Taylors 6th birthday this year. I thought they were kind of cute.

After Doug and I took a picture with Taylor each kid wanted one with their dad

Easter Outfits

2011-04-27T21:19:00.000-06:00

I decided this year I would get all the kids outfits for Easter

Ashley

Parker

Taylor

My cute kiddies

I'm not quite sure where Taylor ended up but we were in a hurry for church so he got left out. I hope to get a picture of all of us together some time :)

Karate - White Belt test

2011-04-27T21:12:00.000-06:00

Last month Taylor finished up Karate with his white belt test

Chicken Kick

Chicken kicks

Punches

Maneuvering

Right before he broke the board

After breaking his board

Receiving his white belt

He really loved doing Karate. He's just too busy to keep doing it right now. He's taught both Ashely and Parker some of his moves. We get a kick out of hearing them say their hi-yahs

My kids and their beds

2011-03-31T15:12:00.000-06:00

My kids have fun making their beds...sometimes. One day last week they told me to close my eyes, brought me in to their room and I found their beds looking like this. I love the stacking of their animals. Clever.

Then a few days later Taylor did it again on his bed. I needed to take another picture to remember this. Sometimes they'll put their animals down for naps with their blankets. Its kind of cute

One night they decided they were going to build storage sheds, like dad, and sleep in them. Taylor slept with his feet inside his shed instead of his head.

Ashley on the other hand did it right

I love their creativity

Things we like to do

2011-03-24T13:34:00.002-06:00

Put stickers on our face

Play in boxes

Have our picture taken

Sleeping

2011-03-24T13:23:00.003-06:00

The other night Ashley woke up and needed a drink. I then remembered that I wanted to capture of picture of how she sleeps and luckily the camera was in my room. I love the way she hunkers down in her covers and places the bedspread around her ears.

Uh - Oh

2011-03-22T20:48:00.002-06:00

Ashley had too much fun at Jenny's house. I just hope it didn't get anywhere else but their faces

Parkers new hair do

2011-03-22T20:45:00.003-06:00

Before

After

Isn't he a cutie! I didn't want to cut it as short as I did but I still thinks he looks adorable. He thought the clippers were funny especially when I did the back of his neck. He kept giggling.

Karate

2011-03-09T13:14:00.005-07:00

Taylor's school is doing a fundraiser with Bobby Lawrence Karate. They get 1 month of Karate, 2 times a week. Taylor begged and begged to be a part of it and I couldn't say no. Yesterday was his first day. He was excited all day about it.

He was in heaven. He soaked up everything he was taught. He recently watched the Karate Kid and has wanted to do it ever since. Now was his chance.

On the way home and up until he went to bed he kept saying, "I love Karate, it was so much fun!" He kept talking about his Sensei and all the things he was supposed to do. How he had to do his chores and homework before he could play video games. He kept doing the moves. He just loved it.

Doug wasn't able to be there or see Taylor before bed but when Doug got home Taylor woke up and had to tell his dad all about Karate and how he had to do his chores and homework without being asked.
So this morning, at 6:15, he woke up, also waking up Ashley, went to the bathroom and then I told them to get back to bed. I'm not sure if they did but I heard him again at 6:45 and then about 7 he came in to my room and said, "I've made my bed, I'm dressed, said my prayers, brushed my teeth, can I play my video games now?" How cute is that. I wonder if he slept at all he was so excited to get up and do these things.
Here's a little video -

He's At That Age

2011-03-09T13:08:00.002-07:00

My adorable little monkey is 18 months old! He's an active kid, running and climbing on things. He sure keeps me busy, especially at dinner time it seems. He loves to chase his brother and sister or make them laugh. In Ashley's case, he likes to make her cry, thinks its funny.

Just yesterday he discovered he likes to do this:

Oh to be 18 months!

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-16T20:31:00.002-07:00

We had a good valentines day complete with pink pancakes, couldn't quite get the heart shape down, candy, sugar cookies and a yummy steak dinner. We also "heart attacked" grandparents homes.

While I was trying to get dinner ready, I kept Ashley and Parker busy in my laundry basket with treats and drinks. Parker makes dinner time quite frustrating some times. Good thing he has a sister to keep him busy.

Catch up

2011-01-05T20:53:00.004-07:00

Here are some pictures to catch up on what we've been doing the last few months:

My cute little man

Learning to walk. The slipper in his mouth must help him concentrate.

Parker loves to crawl up on Daddy when he's laying down and lay down with him. He loves to have his Daddy hold him

Wrestling daddy. Parker on his head and he was bouncing up and down. I made Doug stay there so I could get this picture. I love it!

Doughnut night. Taylor had to get a Texas doughnut. Look how huge it is. No, he did not eat it all. Not even close

Eating Crickets. My mom picked these up in Dallas I believe. Thought all the guys would eat them. Turns out, Taylor was the only one

Hmm, tastes good

Kenzie tried to give one to Parker. I would only let her put it to his lips. I'm sure he would have spit it out though

Bunco Night - a tradition around Thanksgiving.
The kids get fun gifts and us adults get to play for restaurant gift certificates. We won Magelby's Fresh and PF Changs! Thanks Mom and Dad

Parker and Ashley got Zu Zu pets

Taylor got a whistling football

They loved the Zu Zu pets

Pumpkinland

2010-11-15T21:28:00.003-07:00

We love going to the pumpkin patch. Its a favorite tradition of ours. When the pumpkin patch first went up my kids were constantly asking me, "When are we going to the pumpkin patch!" Its really fun to have it in our backyard and watch all the stages from planting, to growing, to becoming the corn maze.

Parker wanted to touch the tiki pole (I think that's what you call them?)

Ashley and Allie running out of the corn maze

Of course we have to do the pictures

Ashley and lyncoln

The blow up toys are the funnest

And the babies loved crawling back and forth through the tube

Halloween

2010-11-14T19:27:00.003-07:00

This year for Halloween we had a:

BYU fan / football player (if he'd wear the helmet)

Sleeping Beauty

and Bumblebee

They had a good Halloween. We started off Friday with the trunk or treat and then trick or treating to Grandparents Saturday

Parker would NOT cooperate for a picture. This is the best I could get. The little stinker

Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Best Friends

Three Beautiful princesses

Doug, unfortunately got strep throat right before Halloween. He wasn't able to do the trunk or treat with us :( We also didn't get our pumpkins carved until Sunday. Decided it was an ok activity to do....right?

I was the cleaner, Doug was the carver

The finished product

Taylor's is on the left and is a pirate. The middle is Ashley's. She wanted a princess but not sure how to do that one, he carved this and it turned out awesome. The last was ours. Basic and boring. Parkers was too small to carve. The kids didn't even mind that they were carved after Halloween.

2010-11-10T14:55:00.003-07:00

Taylor got invited to go watch Celine run a mile at BYU. Taylor had wanted to do it but you had to be a first grader. When they arrived at BYU, Celine decided she didn't want to do it. Pat asked Taylor and signed him up to run instead. I was completely surprised when he came home and told me this. Apparently he did really well. Look at his standings. I wish I would have been there to watch him. He amazes me the things he does. I was so proud of him. I guess we'll be doing this next year too.

2010-09-30T20:21:00.005-06:00

We had some family pictures taken in August by Nicole C Photography. She did an amazing job! Here's a few, well quite a few of the ones we liked

There were deer in the orchard we took some pictures in. I love this, father and son checking out the deer

Ashley on the other hand was terrified. She screamed and ran out of the orchard. I told her if she would stop crying and sit still for a picture we would get ice cream after. She really tried. I love this picture, it has a good story

Mom and Daughter

Daddy and his boys

Parker

Ashley

Taylor

My little Angels

Parker Turns 1

2010-09-29T20:26:00.006-06:00

Parker turned 1 on Sept 11th

It was a very fun day for him

My attempt at a birthday cake. I ran out of time, but the cupcakes I was supposed to make in to a train. It could have been cuter, but he doesn't know the difference

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candles, no help from Parker at all

Time to eat cupcakes

My little 1 year old. Don't his legs and feet look huge in this picture

Present time

Some things about Parker:
He still can't walk but stands and walks around everything
He loves steering wheels
Loves music, he bounces his hands to the beat
Weighs 21 lbs and is 30 in tall
Teething, won't they ever break through!
Easy to make smile

A little bit about Taylor

2010-09-19T16:28:00.008-06:00

Taylor has accomplished and done so much this summer that I need to show him off a little

He graduated from Preschool!

He liked playing soccer with his friend Ammon

The cool slide they got to play on at recess

And their neat swing set

And his amazing teachers who he loved. Thanks for teaching him and getting him ready for Kindergarten!

Then, in the summer Taylor got to play T Ball

He made his own Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich

And he got to be the ring bearer for Jennifer and Colin's wedding

When we got home, I kept yelling for him to come upstairs and get his jammies on but he would never respond. I finally went downstairs and found him like this. He was tuckered out

Then, my little boy got to start Kindergarten!

He was really excited that he got to ride a bus to school. We were going to take him the first day but he wouldn't hear of it, he wanted to ride the bus. Here he is with Liam and Hunter

And here he goes boarding the bus

Finally arriving at school. Apparently they have quite the bus route. We waited for like 20 minutes for them to show up

This is where he sits at school. He had no problems when we left him and neither did I. He loves kindergarten and he loves his teacher Mrs Heaps

And last but not least, Soccer season has started again

This year he has a lot of his friends on his team and his dad gets to coach him. Its been really fun watching him play.

We love Taylor

At the Beach

2010-09-19T15:59:00.010-06:00

Our family loves the beach. You should have watched us as we unloaded all our stuff to haul to our spot. Three strollers, the easy up and then coolers and towels, beach toys, ect. It was quite a site. But it was well worth it. We had such a blast. We spent time at Huntington and Newport beaches.

We love to be buried deep in the sand

Ashley tells me she was a mermaid

We love to build sand castles and make images of mermaids in the sand :)

Grandma had fun making a mermaid in the sand

And the boys had fun enhancing her

Parker loved being in the holes that were dug

One of our favorite things is throwing the Frisbee or playing ultimate Frisbee

Taylor liked gathering the seaweed and putting it in a pile on the sand

Ashley and Allie love playing together all day long

Grandma loved catching sand crabs, which I learned go in the sand backwards

And having quality time with her grandchildren

We love the beach and all the dirtiness that come with it :)

Disneyland

2010-08-27T14:42:00.007-06:00

We decided that since we were going to be in California that we should take the kids to Disneyland. Best decision we ever made. We had the best time. The kids were so happy and loved everything about it. Parker even enjoyed seeing all the fun things on the rides. We got there right as it opened, smartest thing we ever did because we got on a bunch of rides and didn't have to wait. Most people didn't seem to show up until around 10.

Love this picture. The lady who took it didn't even tell us she was taking the picture. Oh well, at least you know where we are

Walking down Main street. The kids are watching the street car that's about to pass us

Taylor's favorite ride was Splash Mnt.

Cool Balloons

Ashley was excited to see Tiana. We got to see her perform a couple of times actually

Big Thunder Mountain

It was nice that Taylor was big enough this year to ride all the big rides. He LOVED all of them!

By the time we got around to Small World, the line was long and the heat was awful but we stuck it out and waited to ride. It was well worth the wait, the air was cool inside and the kids loved all the different dolls. Parker fell asleep so fast, you can kind of see him in the picture. They've added new things from the last time I was there.

Tarzan's Tree House

Ashley could have stayed forever to play in the sand

Taylor really wanted to ride Splash Mnt again, the wait was an hour long. So, while they were waiting Ashley, Parker and I did a few things ourselves. We rode on Dumbo

Me attempting to get a picture of us all

And we waited for probably a half hour so Ashley could see Tinkerbell. She was so excited. It was well worth the wait.

We also watched the parade from a distance. I was able to get some video of it but no pictures. Ashley loved seeing all the characters.

They finally caught up to us at Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

It was a wild ride but the kids enjoyed it

A very fun, exhausting day. The kids did great, right up until the end. Taylor started complaining about his legs hurting, Ashley was tired and Parker had fallen asleep only to wake up and start screaming! We were going to stay for the fireworks but at that point, it was time to leave. We saw them as we were walking to the car.

I can't wait to do another Disney trip with the family. If you want cheap tickets, go to lafuntickets.net and they have some sweet deals.

Parker

2010-08-25T15:13:00.009-06:00

Here's a much needed update on Parker

He is 11 months old now

Weighs 21 lbs - I can't remember the weight

He loves to crawl under anything. The kitchen table being his favorite

I once found him in a little back corner of my desk. He finds tiny little hiding places

He loves to play with his strollers. He loves to stand and let go to see how long he can stand

He loves, loves the piano. I'll often just keep the lid up so anytime during the day he can play

Sometimes he'll even sing while he's playing

Parker loves water. He loves swimming and apparently loves the slip n slide

I put it out for Taylor and his friends and Parker wanted to join right in.

He loved it

Parker also loves to point his finger. Much of the time he's trying to shove it in your mouth

He loves to makes us laugh and laughs while trying

He thinks its fun to bite - must be a teething thing

Says Uh-oh, dadda, momma

Loves the choo, choo

Nicknames: JJ, Jr, Squishy, Dale (because of his front teeth)

Recently he's had a bout with ear infections. I was so tired getting up with him that he started sleeping in bed with us. He's gotten so used to it that he doesn't want to sleep alone. I need to retrain him to sleep in his bed. He used to be my best sleeper

Too Cool Taylor

2010-08-04T21:33:00.003-06:00

Taylor was outside grabbing his things for T Ball practice when he came running in and said," I need to look cool!"
He went upstairs and came back with his hat and sunglasses. Doug and I thought it was hilarious so we had to get pictures

Definitely cool :)

Am I really having to deal with this now?

Taylor turns 5!

2010-08-04T20:50:00.004-06:00

Taylor turned 5 a few weeks ago. He had a great day. We celebrated by having pancakes for breakfast and we let him open one present. We went to In N Out for lunch and then saw Toy Story 3. Afterwards we went to his favorite place of all, Chuck E Cheese where all his uncles, aunts, Grandpas and Grandmas earned many tickets, like 2000 or something so he could choose more toys to bring home. He had a really fun day

His amazing cake - so about the color, it started out he wanted red but no matter how much red food coloring I put in the icing it was still pink. Doug would not let him have a pink cake so he said to put blue in it and this is how it ended up. Oh well, it tasted good. He didn't even care

All who attended the party

Opening all his fun presents

He was especially excited about the new wallet and money that was in it.

Since Jen and Colin will be moving after they get married (sad, sad), they gave Parker his present early

Cousin Allie

2010-07-27T21:17:00.004-06:00

We got to have cousin Allie stay with us for a whole week and my kids were so excited to have her stay.

They had a lot of fun. I came outside and found they were stripped down to their underwear. One time I came out and the girls had taken their clothes off and were throwing them up on to the top of the net. It was pretty funny. For some reason, these kids love to be naked.

Getting ready for bed was always a challenge. They were hyper but they loved night time, sleeping together in the same room. Allie got to wear Taylor's PJ's and she thought that was pretty cool.

Ashley has on my socks and shoes. I love the outfit

Taylor wanted me to capture him drumming. He loves to play drums on anything he can find. Maybe someday we'll get him some play ones.

Sunglasses

2010-07-27T21:09:00.002-06:00

I love kids in sunglasses

Ashley's Birthday

2010-07-23T15:30:00.005-06:00

My little Ashley had her 3rd birthday on May 29th. We celebrated her birthday at lunch with all the family coming over. Later on, we celebrated Grandpa Mccuistions birthday.

She was so excited to finally get a princess dress

New shoes from Colin and Jennifer

Her very first back pack. It has Dora on it

Magnet dolls

Grandpa McCuistion way too excited about the gifts

She couldn't wait to show everyone her rainbow cake

It was so hot but Ashley and Allie insisted that they eat outside

Ashley was so tired, I had to capture how tired she looked

Updates on Parker

2010-07-23T14:57:00.008-06:00

7 months

Our happy child

Showing off his chubbiness

Why is it that the laundry basket is so fun?

8 Months

He would fall asleep anywhere, without any work. It was new to me and I loved it!

One time I checked on his while he was napping to find him sleeping like this. I had to snap a picture

I came home from a meeting to find dad and son taking a nap together

9 months

He did it, he learned to crawl. Now he's all over but I love it. His favorite place is the toy closet

His first sucker, wore him out

Soccer Season

2010-06-10T20:29:00.005-06:00

Soccer season has come and gone. It started up in April and finished in May. Taylor could not wait for the new season. He really loves playing soccer and I really love watching him play. These are pictures from the last game.

It was sooo cold. The wind was blowing and the air was freezing! Ashley bundled up with Colin and Jennifer, or really Colin. She loves Colin

Taylor tried to get warmed up while he sat out for a bit.

We started noticing the last few games that Taylor would stand out away from the ball, not being very aggressive at attacking the ball. We asked him why and he said he didn't want the other team to score a goal. He was playing defense. We told him to go after the ball.

Here he is scoring a goal

We are so proud of our boy. He is pretty good like his daddy at playing.

Even though it was absolutely freezing, Ashley took her coat and shoes off. She's crazy.

My Cabbage Patch Baby

2010-06-10T20:24:00.003-06:00

What do you think?

My brother in law wants to name him patches

I think he vaguely resembles a cabbage patch doll. These aren't the best pictures but the one on my phone, he totally looks like one. The hair is sitting better on his head in that picture. Doug, of course, did not like the hair. He's a boy for heavens sake :)

The Little Gym

2010-06-10T20:17:00.004-06:00

Ashley's cousin had "bring a friend" day at the Little Gym. She was so excited to go. I didn't really try to find a sitter for Taylor, thinking he could possibly just jump in and have fun but little did I know they are really strict on their rules. It about broke my heart to see how unhappy he was that he couldn't participate. I almost started crying to see how hurt he was. He was also excited to be going and I kept telling him to not get too excited because they may not let him do anything. He didn't listen though. It was awful watching him sit on the side and have this sad look on his face. It made me really mad at them but they have rules they have to follow too and I should have just gotten a babysitter. All that aside, Ashley loved it!

She was in heaven. Her and Allie were screaming and laughing. It was really fun to watch. If this place wasn't so expensive I might have her do it. I think we will try gymnastics somewhere else.

Taylor took this picture. I tried to give him a job he might like to do

They really loved this blow up tramp.

A BYU football player and cheerleader

2010-05-02T21:35:00.006-06:00

A few weeks back we got to take the kids to the BYU stadium so they could run some drills with the football players. Taylor was especially excited. He wore his BYU outfit and Ashley wore her cheerleading outfit they both got from Grandpa and Grandma McCuistion. All the grandkids, minus the babies got outfits.

Our little cheerleaders

Here's a video of Taylor and Ashley running the drills

Here's another video of Taylor catching a pass

We sat and watched the team practice for a bit. Parker was intrigued by the helmet so we let him try it on. He liked it as you can see. (not my favorite picture of me)

I love Taylor's poses. It makes me laugh

A mean trick

2010-04-30T21:14:00.002-06:00

A few weeks back Doug played the most awful trick on me. We were laying in bed at night and I had just reached for my lamp to turn it off when I heard this noise, It was like a grinding noise. Doug was on his computer, I asked him if he heard it and he said he did but it was probably nothing. I just thought maybe it was the computer or something. I fell asleep and then awoke to another noise, it sounded like and eraser on paper. I sat there, listening intently to see if I could hear anything else. There wasn't anything so i just figured maybe it was one of the kids toys going out of battery or something fell, maybe it was just my ears playing tricks on me. I fell back asleep and the awoke to this low, awful sounding voice saying,"Hey, can you hear me?" I jumped up, looked at Doug and knew we were dead. There was a man in our house, he knows where we are and we are history. It was like in those horror movies where there's a man in the house and he's watching your every move. Doug gets out of bed and he walks out of our bedroom and glances around the wall down the stairs, all the while acting nervous and then he says, "I can't do it anymore" and he shows me this tiny little device that he hid right by my lamp that plays all these different noises. I was shaking so bad, I could not stop shaking for quite a long time. He said I was pale. Of course I was. He thought it was hilarious! I never, ever want to hear that voice again, just thinking about it makes me cringe

Aprons and Blankets

2010-04-29T21:15:00.008-06:00

Grams McCuistion decided she wanted to have an apron for each of her grandkids, that were old enough at least. All the grandkids went with grams to her neighbors house where they got to pick out their own material. Sharon surprised them by adding their name to each apron. The kids loved them and didn't want to take them off.

These were the best pictures I could get. They weren't cooperating very well, especially Jaxen. Like Father like Son right Jake? Especially the nose picking :) They will love to look back on these pictures some day

Then they got to help put the treat together for our picnic at the park

Helping measure the ingredients

Each got a turn to stir

The end product. It was pretty good. I think the adults ate more than the kids though

Grama also took them to the store and let the kids pick out the fabric they would like for a blanket that is kept at her house for when they come over. Their very own special blanket. I know Ashley and Allie for sure love their blankets and play with them all the time making forts or just laying on them.

Allie, Aubrey, Jaxen, Ashley, Parker, Taylor, Brady

My three darling children

A Surprise

2010-04-29T21:06:00.002-06:00

I was surprised yesterday when Ashley walked up the stairs and brought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers. Doug had gone to Costco for me and came home with them. I love the colors and they smell so nice. It brightened my day. I want my husband to know how much I appreciate him and lean on him. We've been through a lot together these past 3 years. Many know Doug was layed off again at Symantec just two weeks ago. It was a huge shock to us. We felt like this job was going to be around for years, not 7 months. It was depressing the first day to think of going through this all again but we've risen above it and have learned so much. The Lord has been so mindful of us and our family and has taught us both in these last few weeks that he loves us and is watching out for us. My testimony has been strengthened so much. Doug was offered a job at @task on Monday and will be starting this coming Monday. What a miracle to only be out of work for 3 weeks. We know the Lord hears and answers prayers and that he has us go through these trials and afflictions so we can grow.

Taylor's ABC's

2010-04-29T21:00:00.002-06:00

Tonight for homework we worked on writing the ABC's. I've never done this with him before. We have some work to do on certain letters like M, and he needs to work on remembering what the letters look like. He knows what they are if he can see them but some are hard to remember. I'm mostly proud that he knows how to hold his marker correctly. I know that can be a hard thing for kids to learn. We are going to try and work on writing the letters a little each day so he can be ready for Kindergarten this year. He's such a smart boy

2010-03-30T22:35:00.002-06:00

I know its been forever and I'm actually surprised I stayed up to do this but I know there's some out there that are wondering what's been going on in our lives and to see my baby Parker growing up. Parker is now almost 7 months old. He is the first one that I'm actually sad to see growing up. He is my snuggler. He is happy most of the time. He's learning to make new sounds, sit up, roll, and he laughs. We love when he grabs our faces and pulls us in to his wide open mouth. My kids adore their brother and we do to. Taylor is loving preschool, the tramp, soccer, friends, computer games, Xbox and wii (thanks to G&G Mcc), Ashley loves barbies, her cousin Allie, saying I love you both, having tantrums, blowing her hair dry, the tramp and learning to sleep without a binky. Its been busy but its been fun.

My Children

2010-01-02T16:48:00.006-07:00

Here's a bunch of random photos I had on my camera of my children. This one was last monday. For Family night we had a lesson about Samuel the Lamanite and then after watched Mary Poppins. Both Children fell asleep on me. It looks like I'm asleep too but really, I'm looking at Taylor.

Taylor or should I say Quazimodo...however you spell that name

Our precious Ashley with gorgeous hair :)

The first time Taylor fed Parker. He was so excited I let him do it and he did great. I love what a big helper he is to me.

Our precious little boy who is growing up so fast.

Parker used to sleep on me all the time like this but not so much anymore. This used to be all he wanted in the beginning of his days, to sleep on me. Thank goodness he likes being in his crib now. I love how babies hold on to your clothes.

Taylor made a spooky house at his Halloween party. I could not get him to smile. He like to be goofy in his pictures

My mother in law found Ashley like this and grabbed the camera. She made a bed in Parkers bouncer, turned on a movie and fell asleep.

Thanksgiving

2010-01-02T16:31:00.003-07:00

This year we spent thanksgiving with the Hamblin family. I wish i had some pictures of the day. I only got a few and didn't even get the Thanksgiving feast. It was really fun seeing all the family again.

Here's Parker sittin' with Grandpa Hamblin

This is Parker with his 2nd cousin, I believe that's what its considered, Reagan. She was born a month before Parker.

Aren't they Cute

Parker got to take a little nap while we were eating. So peaceful

The next night we had another Thanksgiving dinner with my family. My Grandpa McCuistion was up for the infamous BYU vs Utah game. It was great to see him.

He played with the girls and their horses, which they thought was so fun.

He asked Taylor what his favorite thing at school is and he replied, "recess!" of course he did.

Grandpa cutting the Turkey

It was a great Thanksgiving this year. Its so fun to get together with all the family.

Bowling

2009-12-29T16:01:00.006-07:00

Yes, I know I am wayyyyy behind but I'm going to try and catch up, i know, I say that all the time too. Thanksgiving started out for us with a new tradition with my family, bowling.

We went to Jack and Jill bowling in AF. Its a really nice facility, I'd highly recommend it if you have small children. Its clean, they have a stand for the children to bowl with and the bumpers automatically come up when its one of the kids turn to bowl. We had so much fun.

The kids had such a good time. They beat me bowling. I used to be good when I was a kid but I think I try to hard now or something.

Ashley found a new seat.

Here's the rack the kids bowl with. Its makes it really fun for the kids cause they can do it themselves and the ball actually rolls fast, not just a slow crawl down the lane.

Parker was great during the whole outing. He had many friends that wanted to hold him and keep him happy.

Doug was the winner. I don't remember his score but it was over 100...which is amazing to me.

We had so much fun bowling we did it again on Christmas Eve. I think this is one thing we might start doing more of.

Here is cousin Brady. He slept pretty much the whole time. What a good baby

Parkers new toy

2009-12-03T21:21:00.002-07:00

Parker got Christmas early this year. We were going to wait to give him the bumbo but yesterday he kept wanting to sit up so we gave it to him early.

I think he likes it. He does ok with it for a little bit and then he's done but then again, I think he's got an ear infection and that's why he's not as happy right now.

We love out little Parker

Ashley the fashion designer

2009-12-03T21:03:00.004-07:00

So today Ashley decided she wanted to dress herself. Can't say that I'm not a fan of her dressing herself, but I think I should pick out the clothes.

Brown shoes, pink socks, blue Capri's and a red top, very nice.

I tried to get her to change but that didn't make her very happy so I decided, what's the big deal if my daughter looks silly. She's only 2 right?

She did have on bottoms that go under a dress but I asked her if she was going to go potty on the toilet and she said no. I told her she can't wear those bottoms if she's not going to potty on the toilet so I asked her again and she said no. We put a diaper on. Dang it, I was hoping she would want to go on the potty.

Also, I got brave and decided to try braiding her hair. I've never done it before so I thought I would give it a try. Its not the best braid in the world but I did it and I'm very proud of myself. Hopefully it will get better as time goes on.

Dougs new look

2009-12-03T20:57:00.003-07:00

What do you think?

Should he keep it?

Its already gone. He just wanted to be funny

Thank Goodness

I want to be just like Grandpa

2009-11-11T15:42:00.004-07:00

One Saturday we were at my parents home

And Taylor decided he wanted to work out with grandpa

Ashley did a few exercises

Extreme, Extreme..........P90X

Ouch

Hogle Zoo

2009-11-11T15:25:00.003-07:00

Last Friday Kristin, my mom and I packed up the kids and went to Hogle Zoo. Since it was supposed to be a nice day we thought this would be a fun activity for the kids. Taylor and Ashley were so excited. We've been talking about the zoo forever and we finally decided to go. The first thing we did was ride the train. Taylor was sooooo excited. I didn't get any other pictures than these two. I should have taken pictures of the buffalo but with Parker in arms I didn't make too much of an effort. Next time.....

We saw a lot of animals but not all. The kids especially loved the elephants. And, we got to see the new baby elephant

My son loves to pose for pictures. Its hard to see but there are elephants in these pictures.

We didn't get to see all the animals. It was a little difficult without dad's there to help with the kids. We only stayed a few hours unfortunately. The kids did get to ride the carousel and play at the playground.

It was a great day. We looked forward to going back and seeing all the other animals.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-10T19:29:00.003-07:00

Our Halloween festivities began on Thursday with our ward Trunk or Treat. It was sooo cold! But that didn't dampen my kids spirit. They had so much fun walking from car to car. Taylor was a hunter and Ashley a cow girl.

Parker wasn't so happy to be out in the cold but I bundled him up good and eventually he fell asleep. It was a bit of a challenge giving candy out but we managed ok. My hands were frozen!

Our next Halloween party was Friday at Doug's work. Taylor and Ashley were dressed the same but this time we dressed Parker up as a baseball player. Isn't he cute?
The kids got so much candy. Ashley couldn't carry her bag after awhile it was so full of candy. It was fun seeing where Doug worked and meeting some of his co workers.

That night we had Katelyn and Matt over for dinner. Here's the newest addition to the McCuistion family, Brady Risenmay. We had to get a picture of the two newest boys of the fam. Both sleeping of course.

Last but not least is Halloween day. We carved our pumpkins that afternoon. The kids liked cleaning out the seeds. Ashley got a hold of the knife at one point and tried carving a pumpkin. Luckily Doug came downstairs and stopped her before anything bad happened. What was I doing, oh yeah, making dinner :)

Parker was our cute little baseball player again

Doug didn't like that Taylor was a hunter so we went looking for a new costume and came back with Spider man. Taylor loved his costume so much he wore it for a couple of days. Ashley loved being a cow girl because we put freckles on her face.

Happy Halloween!

EKG and Activity Monitor

2009-11-01T19:40:00.002-07:00

Last week Parker had been kind of fussy at night and wasn't wanting to take his bottle. The next day I had the thought to look in his mouth. I saw a little white patch that looked cottage cheesy, so I called the doctor to inquire about it. She told me that it was probably thrush and that's why he was fussy and not wanting his bottle. We went to the doctors office to check it out and make sure that's what it was.

The doctor looked at his mouth and said that it was a cyst and not thrush. That its common for one of their ducts to get clogged and cyst but that it would go away and usually doesn't make them fussy. She checked him over and then asked if she could do some tests. She came back in with a heart monitor and watched his heart for a minute then said she needed to ask Dr. Cornish something. I was getting alittle nervous at this point. She came back in and said that I needed to go to the hospital and have an EKG done. That she was listening to his heart and it was clipping along pretty fast and that could be sign of SVT, an irregular or fast heart beat. She also said that we would need to have an activity monitor over the weekend and then, depending on the results, see a cardiologist. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Immediately I was sick to my stomach. I was trying to be strong and not let my anxiety get the better of me but it was impossible. I took him to Timp hospital where he was hooked up to all kinds of electrodes and the EKG was done. Parker did very well, he sat very still and it took literally 2 secs. The doctor who did the EKG said it was probably nothing and that the test was normal but still needed to be read by a doctor. As comforting as those words should have been they weren't for me. The next day Doug drove to Primary children's to pick up the activity monitor. Here is parker all hooked up.

He wasn't too fond of all the wires. He would often gets his hands caught and would even suck on the wires since they were near his face. He had to wear this for 24 hours. When we took the electrodes off it left little red circles on his chest. It was probably really uncomfortable. I hated seeing him wear this stuff.

This week was just terrible for me. As much as I tried to calm myself I just couldn't stop the worry and anxiety. I couldn't eat or sleep. I felt nauseous and light headed. My mother in law ended up taking me to insta care where the doctor said I was experiencing post partum depression. I had no idea post partum took such a toll on your body. I felt so sick. I couldn't even take care of my children. My inlaws were absolutely amazing. My mother in law took care of me and the kids as well as my sister in law. My mother was out of town visiting her sister who ended up dying of cancer on Monday. I was glad my mom was there to see her sister before she passed away but it was really hard to not have her there. My mother in law did a great job of stepping in and helping me out. I couldn't have done it without her.

We got the results back on Wednesday, was supposed to be Monday...I was so mad, and the tests were all normal. I was so relieved to finally hear those words. I did see my OB earlier that morning for my 6 week check up and told him the situation and he told me that Parker did not have SVT, that I would be able to tell if he did but that Parker looked healthy was growing and that I shouldn't' worry. He made me feel so much better about it but it was so nice to actually here the results were normal. Parker is just a colicky baby. We are now trying Levison drops to see if this helps with the stomach cramping. Poor kids been through a lot.

Parkers Blessing

2009-10-28T20:09:00.004-06:00

We blessed Parker on October 18th. He wore the same blessing outfit as Taylor did. Look how much these two look alike, its crazy. Parker is definitely bigger than Taylor was at this age.

We attempted a family picture but Ashley really didn't want to cooperate and Taylor, he's just a goof. I just laughed when I saw how our picture turned out. Now that I look at Taylor's face in the one below, it reminds me of a family picture we took and my brother Jake was making that same face....it became our Christmas card that year.

Parker loves to do this with his mouth as most babies do.

Proud Parents

I love that he is smiling now. I captured this picture and when I looked back at it I couldn't believe how much he looked like his uncle Dave.

Then with this smile he looks just like his daddy.

It was a beautiful day. Parker was happy and he was given a beautiful blessing.

2009-10-14T20:59:00.006-06:00

I can't believe that Parker is 1 month old. It has really gone fast and he is changing so quickly. At his two week appointment he weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 in long. I was quite proud because all that weight came from me nursing him with only a few supplemental bottles. I did give up nursing though the day before his two week appointment. It was just to hard for me. I tried pumping but that just took too long. 4 days later Parker was weighed again and he weighed 8 lbs 7 oz! I could not believe he put on 6 oz in 4 days. He loves to eat and sometimes can't wait for 3 hours.

Parker is a pretty good baby. He sleeps a lot which gets frustrating when we try to feed him. He falls asleep all the time and it takes 30 minutes to feed him. I thought that bottle feeding was going to help with the long feedings but with Parker it doesn't. I'm happy if I'm back in bed 20 minutes after I started feeding him. With Ashley I remember it only being like 10 minutes.

He's been a little colic but not horrible. His tummy does bother him and he is quite gassy. I've tried different formula and gripe water to help but nothing seemed to work. Now I'm taking him to the chiropractor. He was out right at his bowel. He actually seems to be a little better. He doesn't scream out in pain as much as he used to.

He smiled at me last week. I was totally shocked when I looked down at him and smiled and cooed and he smiled back. I ran downstairs to show Doug but he wouldn't do it again. He's not smiling all the time but every now and then he lets out this big grin. I love this stage where they start to respond to you.

We still aren't getting much sleep at night. Sometimes he only sleeps 2 hours and other times he will sleep 4- but only if he's asleep on my chest or right next to me. I hope this changes soon. I can't seem to get over my sickness and its probably due to the lack of sleep. He's starting to be awake more during the day so I hope at night he'll start sleeping more.

Isn't he a cutie!

We wanted to take this picture because of his little hands. He looks so content

Taylor and Ashley love to have Parker laying on the floor so they can lay next to him and talk to him. Parker loves to watch his brother and sister. It helps me because it keeps him entertained while I try to get something accomplished.

This is his favorite sleeping position. For the first few weeks he and I ended up on the couch and I would have him sleep on my chest. I actually love that he cuddles up like this. I love to look down and his cute, peaceful face and watch him sleep. He's a very active sleeper. He makes lots of noises and grunts a lot! He reminds us a lot of how Taylor was as a baby.

Parker's 1st week home

2009-10-04T12:49:00.003-06:00

The first week home from the hospital didn't start out so well for me. I was still trying to get over my cough. Whenever I would try to "catch up" on sleep i would end up coughing the whole time. Then, I woke up Monday feeling horrible. I had no appetite, in fact I felt like throwing up when I thought of food. I laid in bed that morning, Doug off to work (only because I told him to, having just started his new job the week before) and thought, how am I going to take care of my children. I called my mom to come take my kids and my mother in law to help with Parker. The whole day was yucky. I had hot flashes all day, couldn't eat, shaky and tingly because of no food. Later that night I called the doctor thinking something was wrong but he told me my hormones went from really high with pregnancy to really low and this is how my body was reacting. I needed to drink instead of eat. I was going to send Doug to Walmart but changed my mind and sent my mom. All day I told myself I was never doing this again. I felt horrible. I had Doug and his dad give me a blessing that night.

Things did get better as the week went on. After a few days I was able to eat some food, the hot flashes went away and my cough...well, it was still keeping me up. I finally got a prescription that helped. Despite how my body was feeling I was surprised at how easy a transition to three kids was for me. My kids absolutely love Parker and want to help all the time. Taylor will hold Parker while I make dinner or clean up. Its still an adjustment trying to figure out how to get ready and accomplish what needs to be done but it hasn't been as difficult as i thought. I really haven't experienced the baby blues as I thought I would. I've had a few days but nothing lingering.

Taylor's Soccer

2009-10-04T12:09:00.004-06:00

Taylor was so excited that he could play on a soccer team this year. He's been looking forward to this day since he was two. He put his jersey on way before his game even started. All day he would ask, "is it my soccer game now?" Now he ask, "is my soccer game in the next morning time?" He can't wait for his games or practice. This Tuesday is his last game until spring. He's going to be so sad. Luckily he has a goal in the backyard so he and his daddy can play

Here are some pictures of him playing

I don't have one of him scoring any goals but he scores at least one goal each game, usually he gets 2-3. Its so fun to watch him play and when he does score a goal he turns and looks at us with this little grin on his face, kind of shy like, and then he'll run over and give us 5.

Sometimes when his teams scores goals they do somersaults. Its really fun to watch these little kids play. Some get really in to it, others cry because they don't get the ball and others don't even know they are playing soccer.

Oh yeah, they named their team Bees.

Ashley loves to watch her brother play and even likes to give him a good luck kiss

Here's a little video of him playing

Parker Douglas Hamblin

2009-09-20T13:06:00.006-06:00

Parker Douglas Hamblin
Born: Sept 11,2009 (shares a b-day with Uncle Jake)
Time: 8:35am
Weight: 7 lbs 7 oz
Length: 19.5 in

I went in to labor on Friday morning about 12:30am. I woke to semi hard contractions about 10 minutes apart. I finally told Doug I was feeling contractions and he got right up and wanted to start packing the bag. I wasn't so sure yet if we should go since they were so far apart but after chatting and remember what happened with Ashley we decided to get going. I was so nervous. We called my parents and my dad came down to watch the kids. Thanks Dad. Why do I go in to labor always in the middle of the night?
At the hospital they put me in a room and measured me at only a 3, barely. They gave me 1 hour to see if I changed at all. This is at 2am. I kept praying the whole time that there would be enough change to keep me. I did not want to go home and have things change so fast that I would have another natural child birth. My contractions were so sporadic I wasn't sure they were going to keep me. I had a few right close together and then after that it was like every 10-15 minutes. When the nurse came in and checked me she said I was barely a 4 but she was going to call the doc because his heart rate kept dropping with each contraction. I was admitted, thank goodness. We immediately had an epidural, heaven! For the next few hours things went really slow. I was dilated only to a 5 a 85% effaced. I couldn't believe how slow things were going. So different than with Ashley. at 7am they decided to give me pitocin, I don't know why they waited so long. At 7:45am my mother in law came to visit before heading off to school. Not 5 minutes after she left I felt my water break and a ton of pressure. I told the nurses and sure enough, Parker was ready to be born. They called the doctor and told me not to push. That's kind of an uncomfortable feeling. About 15 minutes later Dr Young showed up and then we were ready to go. After a few pushes Parker was out. The biggest surprise to us all was that not only did he have the cord around his neck, which we already knew and which was why they decided to keep me, he also had a knot in his cord. Dr. Young said he must have been meant to be here because that could have killed him. Through out the whole labor his heart beat was really slow and it worried me a ton but the nurses kept assuring me it was normal. When my water broke I couldn't hear his heart anymore and i started freaking out. I am so glad he is here and safe and that we had no real complications.

We are all happy to have Parker finally in our home. Look how big our family is getting.

Taylor loves his baby brother and wants to hold him all the time

Ashley loves him just as much.

Here are some pictures of the first day at the hospital.

Doug loves this pictures. Says it reminds him of Rocky Balboa

Our precious Parker. One thing we've learned early on is he's already a momma's boy. He just wants me to hold him. One time he was screaming and would not stop until I was holding him.

The two cousins. Aubrie Robins was born on July 21st. I can't believe what a difference 2 months makes.

Taylor and Ashley got to go to a birthday party for Callie Fairbanks. There was a clown there and they got their faces painted.

First day of Preschool

2009-09-09T21:39:00.002-06:00

Taylor has started preschool again at Little Learners Place. He was so excited to start school again. He didn't even put up a fuss when his ride came to take him to school. I wanted a picture of him on his first day and this is how he posed. I love it.

Ashley insisted I take another picture of them together and then a picture with just her. She loves to do just what Taylor does.

Taylor had such a fun day at school. He didn't cry at all and hasn't cried at all about going. This year he can't wait until its school day. I wanted to get a picture of him after school but I keep forgetting to take my camera.

Time Out

2009-09-09T21:32:00.003-06:00

When we put Ashley to bed we often find her coming out of her room. She'll say, " I need to tell you something" or "I'm scared" or she'll just look at you and smile. After putting her back in her room a dozen times we then put her on time out. This particular night we told her if she came out of her room again she was going to sleep on time out. She must have thought that was a cool idea because she went downstairs, laid on the mat, asked for her blanket and stayed there for probably 10 minutes. We were laughing so hard. It was actually dark downstairs but with the flash it makes it look light. Doug and I were in our room so we were surprised she actually stayed there as long as she did. She did end up going to her bed and staying there.

A sleepover with Allie

2009-09-09T21:20:00.003-06:00

After Kristin had Aubrie we decided to help them out by having Allie sleep over. Taylor and Ashley were so excited to have their cousin sleep over. Allie was excited too. She didn't even notice that mom and dad were gone. They had so much fun together. It was hard getting them all to calm down for bed that night, it was just too exciting to all get to sleep together in the same room.
The next morning Allie and Ashley sat on the couch together and watched cartoons. They were both still tired, I think it was before 7 they woke up, but neither one would go back to sleep.

After breakfast I put both of them in the bath. They loved playing in the bath together. I have a picture of me with my cousin in the bath so I had to take a picture of these too.

Ashley decided she wanted to help dad mow the lawn.

Father and Son Outing

2009-09-09T21:08:00.003-06:00

Doug and Taylor went to a Real SL soccer game. They are both huge fans of soccer. Taylor was so excited to go out with his daddy.
side note, I have no idea why this is doing underline. I can't get it off and its driving me crazy

Here are a few pictures from the night. He loved the game but Doug said he kept covering his ears because they kept cheering so loud. He's not a huge fan of loud noises. Something he inherited from his mom.

MOVIE time......

2009-09-01T16:26:00.003-06:00

Nothing like going somewhere in the car and the first thing the kids say when we get in is, "MOVIE!!" When we eventually turn it on for them they scream and clap their hands. The best is when the headphones are working and they can watch their movie and Doug and I can listen to our music or talk.

Fathers and Sons

2009-09-01T16:15:00.005-06:00

Taylor was so excited to go camping with daddy for the fathers and sons outing. They packed up their dinner of hot dogs and chips, lots of candy (not to my liking) and set off to Springville Rotary Park, up Hobble Creek canyon, for the over nighter.

See the excited look on his face. He loves to camp and unfortunately we haven't gone enough this year, or even last. Something we would like to incorporate in our family outings.

Doug said Taylor played and played with all the boys. He never tires when he's having fun. When they got up the next morning Taylor said he didn't want to go home but wanted to camp for another day. He wasn't happy when they got in the car to come home.

A visit to the Dentist

2009-08-31T21:02:00.004-06:00

I normally wouldn't bring a camera to the dentist but since Kasey did all their cleanings I thought it would be fun for them to remember when their Aunt would take care of their teeth.

We had Taylor go first to be the example to the younger kids. The first time we came to the dentist he wanted nothing to do with it even though Kasey and Katelyn were there to take care of him. This time though he was a champ. He got to watch a movie while Kasey took care of him.

Next came Allie. She wasn't so sure she liked the dentist.

Afterwards it was Ashley's turn.

She started out ok, even liked the taste of the fluoride.

But once Kasey started the actual cleaning she was done. We had to hold her down to finish but we did get to finish and I think she was ok with it. Maybe next time she will be better.

While Taylor was waiting for Dr. Jensen to come check his teeth Ashley wanted to climb up and lay with him.

We left the dentist with a good report of no cavities. Thank goodness. I don't know how I'd get them to sit through their teeth being drilled. They might have to knock them out.

Taylor's birthday party

2009-08-31T20:36:00.006-06:00

This year my mom talked me in to giving Taylor a birthday party with his friends. I am so glad I did. We decided to make it a water party, the perks of a summer birthday. We got out his slip n slide, the sprinkler and his pool. The kids had such a fun time playing and it was really fun to watch them getting a long and having fun. We invited; Seth, Liam, Celine, Rob, Conner F and Conner W, Christiaan and then his cousins Allie and Jaxen. It was quite the party.

The slip n slide was a hit once they got the hang of sliding. They would start back on the concrete and then make a run for the slide.

Conner was probably having the most fun. Even though he had a cast on his arm it didn't stop him from playing.

Celine making a run for it.

Kenzie helped Jaxen slide down.

Opening presents, the part everyone likes. He got a lot of cool gifts. They all pitched in helping Taylor open his gifts and play with the toys.

Grandma McCuistion made really cute cupcakes. She used blue frosting and then put a gummy life savor on top with a teddy graham in the middle, like the teddy bear was swimming. What a cute idea. That's what mom's are for, to help me be creative...not my expertise. Thanks mom for doing it! The kids loved them.

After a little more playing we ended Tay's party with a Pinata. He did this at his school and asked if we could do it for his birthday party. I couldn't resist a pinata. They loved it. I thought I got a picture of everyone taking a shot but I guess I didn't.

It took a long time to get this "kung fu panda" to break down. They probably each got 3 turns. Taylor ended up killing it at the end but I filming and didn't get any pictures of it.

Look at Conner's baseball swing. He has the stance down. This kid is going to be a good athlete with all those brothers of his.

Celine and Liam taking at swing at it. Inside was a bag of candy for each person and then they also got a bag of bubbles to take home.

It was such a fun memorable day for Taylor. He has a lot of good friends in the neighborhood.

Taylor turned 4

2009-08-24T15:20:00.005-06:00

Taylor turned 4 this year, I can't believe it. His birthday happened to land on Sunday and after having dinner at my parents house we came back to our house for his birthday party with the family. On the way home he fell asleep. We had a little bit of time before people started showing up so we let him sleep. Apparently he was exhausted.

Once people started arriving we tried to get him to wake up. No matter what we did he was not waking up. Ashley kept kissing him. I would lift up his arm and drop it and it still would not wake him up. With everyone there laughing and yelling his name he would not wake up. It took us a good little bit before he finally opened his eyes. Once he woke up he was surprised to see everyone there but was then ready to get opening his presents.

He got lots of fun gifts this year. He got a transformer from Uncle Dave

New boxer briefs from Grandpa and Grandma McCuistion and a few outfits.

He got a Green Bay Packer football, baseball bat and baseball from Grandpa and Grandma Hamblin

And a razor scooter from Grandpa and Grandma McCuistion. He was really excited to get outside and try it out. He always borrowed Celine's so he was happy for his own. He also got some water toys from the Risenmays, a head flashlight from the Robins...and I can't remember what else...oh, a slip and slide and video game from us. He had a great birthday and loved all his gifts.

He even got a golf birthday cake. It was sure yummy too!

My handsome little boy is growing up too fast.

4th of July

2009-08-18T19:14:00.005-06:00

I know I am way behind but I'm trying to catch up here. I've got to before out little boy comes or else I'll never get caught up.

For the 4th we had a BBQ at my parents house and swam. We followed all that up with our "Parking lot of fire!" as we call it. It used to be just us and the Bishop family, maybe a few others, that would gather in the parking lot to light off our fireworks but it has grown to be a neighborhood thing and its kind of fun. Tons of people come, set up their chairs and light off their fireworks.

I'm not sure what Ashley was doing but I thought it was cute. She lined up the kiddie chairs and then placed a diaper on each chair except for the one she sat on.

After the kids swim in the pool they get a little cold and want to warm up in the jacuzzi. I love the picture of Allie kicking her feet up. It cracked me up when I saw her do that.

Ashley and Allie watching the fireworks together. Allie kept calling to her to sit by her. Ashley was a little nervous of the fireworks and would only sit with her for a little bit.

Taylor sat by her too. Allie absolutely loves Taylor. Its fun to watch them together.

Doug's trying to help her not be so scared of the fireworks

She was ok with the sparkler though

Taylor wanted in on all the action with the fireworks. There's our amazing fireworks show. Huge huh? The guys tried to make it more fun by doing all the bigger ones together. They were big enough for the kids but not so much for the adults. It was still fun though.

One exhausted little girl. She played hard all day. She would not take a nap, no matter what I tried, so she finally crashed at the firework show.

Kenzie and Taylor

35 Weeks and Counting

2009-08-13T20:35:00.003-06:00

As much as I hate pictures of myself I thought our little boy might want to see what I looked like when I was pregnant with him. I am now 35 weeks. I would say that for the most part, this pregnancy hasn't been too bad but now that I have reached the end, maybe since about 30 weeks, its been a lot more uncomfortable. Lately my lower abdomen and back have been so sore that I have to waddle sometimes just to walk....which I absolutely hate. This little guy is very active, I think more than Taylor and Ashley. I always have a little foot kicking me on my right side, luckily not so much in my ribs. I love to feel his little body move around and to try and guess what it might be that I'm feeling. I had an ultrasound two weeks ago and he weighed 5 lbs 4 oz. She mentioned that he had hair....maybe he'll have more than my other kids. I was surprised she could see that. Everything looked really good with him. There are no more concerns about his ecogenic bowel. When I went back at 20 something weeks, I can't remember when it was, the doctor I saw said that he was a pretty healthy fetus and that the ecogenic bowel was pretty weak. I was greatly relieved. I asked the nurse at this last ultrasound if she saw any evidence of an ecogenic (bright) bowel and she said no. The only concern I have now is that the cord is around his neck. Its not around twice and not knotted but it still worries me a little. Although I think its pretty common. I just found out a neighbor of mine learned her little boy had the cord around his neck too. I had a feeling this little guy did because he moved around so much. So, things are going great except for being uncomfortable. I cannot wait to have this little guy here. We are still thinking Parker Douglas for his name. I'm not completely sold on the name but we can't really think of anything else right now and Doug really likes it and the kids are starting to like it so that might be it. I guess we'll see.

Newport Beach Part 1

2009-08-13T14:13:00.006-06:00

Back in June, yes that long ago, our family went to Newport Beach. We stayed at the Marriot Newport Coast Villas. Its such a nice resort but I think it jinx's my family. I'll tell you why. Three years ago we came to the same resort and I believe we stayed in the exact same condos as we did this year. Doug, Taylor and Paris got sick either with the stomach flu or food poisoning. The day we arrived, that night I had the stomach flu and Taylor had it the next night. Is that weird or what? I couldn't believe it was happening. Coincidence? I don't know. I haven't thrown up since I was like 12.....then it happens the first day on my vacation....hmm. Luckily no one else got sick and we were able to enjoy the rest of the week.

Our kids loved the sand. They never wanted to leave the beach even if we had been there all day long. Taylor still asks when we are going back. Its really such a great vacation to go on because you don't have to keep them entertained. They play in the water, play in the sand, back in the water, ect.

Dusty, Ashley, Kristin and Dad.

One of the things my kids loved to do was go out in the water and when a wave came up they would hurry and run so the wave wouldn't get them.

Ashley then started picking up handfuls of sand and throwing them at the wave as it came on shore

Doug was trying to convince Ashley to get on the boogie board so he could take her for a ride. I guess she did it the day I was sick but I never saw her get on again.

Doug and Taylor getting slashed.

The other thing the kids liked to do was run after the sea gulls. The other little boy is a friend Ashley made. They played together for hours. Running away from the waves and throwing sand at them. It was fun to watch them play.

One of the only naps I got Ashley to take while we were at the beach.

The only picture of me. I realize I probably don't take enough pictures of me with the kids. I hate the camera and seeing pictures of me but I don't want to deprive my children of pictures with their mom so I am going to try and be better. I spent most of the time under the canopy to stay cool. The water was freezing, way to cold for me to want to get in. I just enjoyed sitting in my chair, watching the kids play.

This is what our set up looked like. It was so nice that we brought the EZ up. With three of us pregnant it helped a ton.

The McCuistion Family

Towards the end of the week Taylor discovered he could try "wakeboarding" (that's what he called it) with the boogie board. It was so fun to watch him try to figure out how to balance himself on the board and stay on when the water hit him. He spent hours doing this. He had such a fun time. He is so remarkable to me. When he wants to learn something he just works at it until he gets it. He doesn't give up. A lot like his dad. Its really fun to watch him.

This kid has natural talent with just about anything. He is so lucky. I hope his brother is good at sports so they don't have any hard feelings towards each other.

Three exhausted little kids. They really played hard the whole week. Too bad they didn't sleep longer. Their naps seemed to only consist of a hour here or there.

Newport Beach Part 2

2009-08-08T16:05:00.006-06:00

While we were at Newport Beach we decided to do something other than the beach. My sister found out there was a zoo close by in Irvine, I think it was called the Orange County Zoo. It wasn't as spectacular as it sounds, but we had a good time. Its kind of like Thanksgiving Point but nor horses and cows. They had coyotes, bears, goats, snakes, animals more known to that region. It was really hot, I tried to stay in the shade, but we had a good time. I'm not so sure I liked Taylor kissing this goat, germs you know, but he didn't get sick so we're ok.
They got to brush the animals. Ashley wasn't so sure that she wanted to do it but Taylor loved it.

If daddy helped her she was ok. She eventually did brush the goats

On Friday we packed up to leave. We stopped by Grandpa McCuistions house in Redlands before we went to the other McCuistions for a BBQ. We just hung out in my grandpa's backyard where it was nice and cool.
The kids love Jake as you can see. They love to tackle him and wrestle. Especially my son. Taylor loves to play with Jake. He's just so good with kids.
No matter what bind Jake gets Taylor in to and no matter how mad Taylor gets at Jake he still goes back for more.
Here's some of us just waiting around to go to the McCuistions. I love the look on kristin's face. Of all us pregnant ones, she had it the roughest being only one month away from delivery.
The kids also tackled Grandma. Taylor has his head under her shirt! They love Grandma too.

My Joy

2009-07-25T14:37:00.002-06:00

I looked out the back window one day to see Taylor, Ashley and Doug picking peas and eating them. It makes me happy to know I can grow healthy things in my garden for my family to enjoy.

After Bath Routine

2009-07-25T14:23:00.003-06:00

I had to snap this shot one morning. After my kids get out of the bath tub they say over and over, "I'm cold, I'm cold!" So once they are wrapped up in their towel they walk in to my room and crouch down on the floor. They look like this. I love it!

Payson Lakes

2009-07-25T14:01:00.005-06:00

Last month we decided to go fishing with the Gunthers at Payson Lakes. We brought dinner up with us since we went in the evening. We should have brought our stroller to help carry stuff because we brought way too much and walked to the other side of the lake to set up our camp. It was windy and cold which added to my irritation of having to carry so much stuff and at times Ashley. Being pregnant didn't help either. We ended up having a good time, at least the kids did and Doug. I was just cold and tired of watching Ashley run all over the place, fall and get way too close to the water.

Ashley was having fun watching Daddy and Taylor fish

The only problem was the area they were fishing was really small and easy for a kid to fall in so it made me really nervous and on edge. Luckily we had no accidents. They were quite successful fishing as well. Taylor loved reeling in the fish.

Celine, Taylor and Ashley

Ashley got bored and thought it would be fun to slide down the mountain. I wasn't too happy about how dirty she was getting but I was trying to push that aside.

Catching more fish. We didn't bring any fish home. We ended up giving them to some people who were fishing next to us. I'm not much of a fish eater and new they would just sit in our freezer and not get eaten. Well, maybe they would have, Doug and Taylor like fish.

The kids

Here's a video of Taylor reeling in a fish

Our First Swm

2009-07-25T13:47:00.003-06:00

Our first swim of the season. The water was probably only in the low 70's here. It was way too cold for me but for kids, they don't ever seemed to be phased by the cold. Taylor, Ashley, Allie Doug and Matt were the only brave ones. I can't remember if Katelyn eventually got in or if she just hung out on the ladder. We were all definitely excited to have the pool finally opened up. Too bad June turned out to be cold more than it was hot but now the water temp is in the 80's and its perfect!

These are our bubble but girls. You have to love the regular diapers that fill up with so much water.

Ashley wanted to get in and she eventually let Matt get her in but it was a little too cold for her. She would get in and out over and over again.

Taylor is my no fear boy right now. He got right in and stayed in for quite awhile. He's a fish. He could swim all day long. He has learned to swim without floaties and is very proud of himself.

Matt decided to try and get Katelyn in the pool but ended up being nice and placing her back on the ladder. Cute pregnant Katelyn

Hawaii

2009-07-11T21:12:00.002-06:00

I'm finally blogging about Hawaii. Doug and I got to go to Maui with Doug's family the first part of May. We were gone for 10 days. I was a mess leaving my kids. I cried the whole way to the airport, at the airport and on the plane when I saw a whole family with their kids. I missed them so much but once the vacation started I was over it. I started feeling homesick again by the end. I would only start crying when they would call me crying, which only happened a few times. We really had the best time. We saw the whole island practically. We traveled the Road to Hana. I'm glad we did it to say we did it but the road is so sickening. It has around 600 curves and 54 bridges that are one car only. It was such a beautiful drive with lots of waterfalls to stop and see. Once we were back at the hotel though I was sick and went to bed. We spent a lot of time at the beach. Doug loves snorkeling. He could spend all day doing it. We went to the Old Lahiana Luau. Have to go to a luau when your in Hawaii. I love the show they put on. Doug and I even got to dance at it, with all the other couples. I was kind of embarrassed. The only two things we didn't see was Haleakal, the volcano, we were tired of being in the car and The seven sacred pools. The road was washed out a few years back and hadn't been fixed yet. We found a restaurant that became our favorite and ate there quite a bit. It was called "Da Kitchen" Our Condo was right on the beach practically. It was nice to be within walking distance. It was such a good vacation for Doug and I. Thanks Dad and Mom Hamblin for taking us.

Taylor's Preschool Graduation

2009-07-02T21:00:00.003-06:00

Taylor loved his preschool this year. He had great teachers, Mrs. Margo and Mrs. Mauri. He learned so much. At first I wasn't sure he was catching on to anything but soon he was recognizing his letters, writing his name, learning his phone number and counting to 20! He learned many new songs which he passed on to his little sister. His teachers loved to hear him sing and kept telling me if I ever wanted to get rid of him they would love to take him. For graduation they got to have a water party. Luckily the day was warm enough for the party. Taylor and Ashley had such a fun time. It was a really fun afternoon.
The water balloons were a hit. It took all of 2 minutes for the whole cooler of balloons to be gone but at least they were laughing and having fun.

Here's Taylor and Pat throwing the balloons at each other

They have the best backyard for parties like this. They had a big hill they put this black plastic on then ran soap down it. This was by far the kids favorite thing. Ashley liked the slide but she never went really fast down it. Probably why she kept doing it.

Taylor on the other hand would always get a running start and go flying down the slide. It was a riot.

We look forward to the fall when preschool starts again at Little Learners Place.

Taylor's crash

2009-06-23T21:28:00.003-06:00

Since Taylor has learned to ride a two wheel he's had a few falls but nothing too major. Today though, I heard him crying outside and Celine comes in saying Taylor hurt his eye. I was just praying it wasn't a huge cut and bleeding all over the place and not something damaging to his eye. What I found was a huge goose egg above his left eye. He was hysterical. He was crying so hard he couldn't speak. He wanted his daddy to come home right now. I let him call Doug but he could hardly get a word out. I'm not sure exactly what happened other than he fell on the side walk in front Rob Easton's house. I tried to get him to put ice on it but he refused. While I was attempting to have him hold ice to his eye he fell asleep. Then I was worried about him having a concussion and not waking up. He was completely out. I lifted his arm and dropped it, played with his fingers, opened his eye and nothing. He just slept on. I felt though that he was ok and there was nothing I needed to worry about. He had been up for 15 minutes before he fell asleep, pupils the same size and no throwing up so i figured he was fine. He just has a nice bruise around his eye, it comes down in like a c shape around the outside of his eye, hard to see with the picture. I wonder if it will make his eye black. I guess we'll see. Maybe I should invest in a helmet?

Doug's big catch

2009-06-23T21:17:00.003-06:00

Doug's been able to do a lot of fishing lately. The company he works for, his boss and co worker love to fish. When he was working in Duschene, building a pavilion, every night after work they fished on starvation reservoir. Doug had a couple big catches but this was his biggest. It's a walleye (I think that's how you spell it). It was 8lbs and 27 1/2 inches long. Needless to say, he was very proud of himself. His boss said it was the biggest catch ever in his boat.

Taylor was very proud of his daddy. He thought the fish was so cool and wanted to eat it. Doug was thinking of stuffing it but it cost too much. Darn it

Taylor and Ashley

2009-06-06T12:59:00.007-06:00

I'm trying to play catch up here. I have so many pictures I haven't posted about its sad. Doug took these cute pictures of the kids one afternoon.

My parents came over one night to visit and brought up some yummy sugar cookies to eat. Ashley wasn't feeling all that well, in fact she had strep stomach! Ashley wanted Grandpa to hold her. I even heard him singing her some songs.

One afternoon Jake, Paris and Jaxen came to visit us. Taylor gave Jaxen rides on his bike

I like this pictures of Jaxen laying his head on Taylor. Its so cute.

It was such a hot afternoon that the kids ended up climbing in to the back of the trunk to get out of the sun.

Doug bought a work out ball to do some exercises for his back. The kids love the ball and decided they wanted to do exercises just like him.

Taylor learns to ride a two wheel!

2009-06-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

On Monday, Doug brought home a surprise for Taylor. Doug's boss lent us his son's bike so we could teach Taylor how to ride without training wheels. Taylor has a BYU bike but its a little too big for him right now. We should have just bought the smaller bike but thought he would grow out of it quickly and the one we got him would last longer. I think we'll get Ashley a smaller bike and use that for all the kids.
So, Doug took Taylor out to the street, held on to the back for a few seconds and off he went. That was it and Taylor was riding a two wheel. He never ceases to amaze me at how quickly he picks things up. We are so proud of him. He is really proud of himself and he loves it! He rides the "motorcycle" bike every day and gets better all the time.
Here is a video of Taylor riding the bike.

Dad hits the big 50!

2009-06-03T13:39:00.008-06:00

Last Friday my father turned the big 50! For his birthday, and Ashley's actually, we all met at the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Their food is ok but what makes the place fantastic is their sourdough bread. It was fresh out of the oven. I think I ate a whole loaf by myself.

Here we are waiting in the lobby for everyone to show up.

Everyone was able to make it including Grandpa McCuistion and Uncle Mike. The only people missing were Dusty and Kasey who is now in Africa doing humanitarian service.

Afterwards we came back to our house to celebrate their birthdays. All of us kids surprised my dad with concert tickets to REO Speedwagon and Stix. My dad is a huge fan of these bands and he was so excited to go.

My dad had no idea that we were planning a surprise party for him on Saturday. That morning we sent him off with all the guys to go golfing while us girls frantically got everything ready. We invited a bunch of his friends to come and surprise him. It was so fun to see how surprised he was.

We put together a memorabilia table that had alot of his accomplishments on it for people to see. We also made him a movie with pictures of him growing up. It was awesome!

The last thing we did was put up a fact sheet about him and show everyone what he used to wear and his Scotland attire from his mission.

We love you dad and hope you loved our surprise!

Ashley turns 2!!!

2009-06-01T21:20:00.004-06:00

Ashley turned two on Friday. She was so excited it was her birthday. We had Minnie mouse pancakes for breakfast. A favorite of hers and Taylor. We didn't do much during the day but at night we went to dinner to celebrate Grandpa McCuistions birthday and then had her birthday party afterwards at our home.

Aunt Paris made Ashley's birthday cake. She did such an amazing job too as you can see. Ashley loved the princess cake and cupcakes. Thanks Paris for volunteering to make the cake.

Singing Happy Birthday to Grandpa and Ashley

Ashley ended up sharing her cupcake with her cousin Jaxen. I'm not sure she chose to do that or not but I should have taken a picture of Jaxen's face. He loves Cake! Ashley of course just ate the frosting.

She got a lot of fun gifts from everyone. She got a cabbage patch newborn baby that came with a bottle and car seat. A sprinkler to play with outside, books, clothes, a purse (which Taylor actually enjoyed, much to Doug's dismay), a dress and an Elmo restaurant. She loved everything. Thanks everyone for making her birthday so fun!

IT'S A..........

2009-05-27T19:07:00.004-06:00

We've known what we are having for about a month now but I just haven't had the time to blog about it yet. We found out that we are having another baby boy! We are way excited about it. When Taylor heard he said, " I was right mom!" He is really excited to have a little brother around. Ashley and Taylor both love to feel the baby move and he's pretty active. I've had a few ultrasounds. One because the DVD recorder didn't work so they had me do another one at my next appointment. That ended up not working as well but I haven't been to my next appointment to let them know. Doug was not able to go to the ultrasound so I had it recorded and when we sat down to watch it there was only 17 sec recorded of a blank ultrasound screen. I had another ultrasound done with a specialist because at the second ultrasound they noticed that his bowel was a little bright, called bright bowel. Really I am still confused about it. It could be a number of things and it could be nothing. I have to have another ultrasound in 4 weeks to see if its getting worse. I haven't heard back from my doctor yet to talk about what was found at this ultrasound so i feel like it can't be that serious. I guess we'll find out soon but I seem to feel that I shouldn't worry. The last ultrasound of him was so fun to see because he was so much bigger. Everything about him is healthy except for the minor bowel issue. He loves to cross his legs and he had both his hands up by the sides of his head. He's already cute to me! We can't wait to have him in our home.

The Trampoline

2009-04-28T20:44:00.002-06:00

One of the favorite places at Grandma's house, besides the playroom were the Wii is, is outside on the trampoline. Taylor has recently learned how to do a flip on the tramp. I was totally shocked to find out he can do flips already. Who is this kid? I think I'm going to try and get him in gymnastics. He is really proud of himself that he can do flips. Here are some shots of him doing it.

The cousins all love to jump but Jaxen is the only one that's not afraid to be on the tramp when Taylor is on. He loves taylor and is not afraid to get tossed around.

The only thing that worries us about the tramp is the little ones like to walk underneath while someone is jumping. Ashley thinks its such a fun game to walk underneath and have me chase her out. Yeah, real fun for me.

Easter Part 2

2009-04-28T20:23:00.005-06:00

We had Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt at my parents house. Before the hunt, while we were cleaning up, Doug took the kids outside to fly their kites. Ashley loved it and Taylor liked it at first until it got too windy. He handed his kite off to me and ran in to the house. Still doesn't like wind.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the Easter Egg hunt. Grandma had lined up their Easter bags on the swing and in each bag was a new outfit for them.

Then off they went looking for their eggs. Us adults even got some too. It was a lot of fun. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa. My dad loves to hide the eggs, luckily this year there weren't any eggs up the car exhaust pipe :)

One of the fun presents they got were bubble sticks. My kids are totally in love with bubbles right now.

For dessert Grandma made us homemade cupcakes. They were really yummy.

We did color Easter eggs at the Hamblin's but I totally forgot my camera so I need to get some pictures from them and then I can post about it.

Easter Part 1

2009-04-28T20:03:00.005-06:00

Since I have way too many pictures of Easter I need to do them in two parts. This is our Easter festivities at our home that morning. For some reason my camera did not focus very well. That morning I could hear Taylor jump out of his bed and come running in to our room, "Did the Easter bunny come, did the Easter bunny come!!" He was so excited and wanted to go right down stairs.

Here they are waiting for the go ahead. They had to bear through a picture first though.

The Easter bunny brought them two new movies. Mickey's Three Musketeers and Mickey's Sports. Taylor was so excited because we erased the musketeers movie from our DVR and he was not happy about that.

Here's some of their finds. They got new kites and bubbles and just a little bit of candy. We tried to make bunny pancakes but that was kind of impossible but we made them blue so it had some Easter feel to it. Then we watched the animated film, He is Risen and talked about what Easter is really all about. It was a great morning.

Unfortunately Ashley was not able to join us Easter at church. Doug and I were singing and knew she would not like us being up there and would scream with whomever we left her with so my sister and brother in law were kind enough to pick her up for us and watch her. Thanks Kate and Matt!
Tay and Ash got their Easter picture the week after. I love Ashley's dress. Unfortunately the outfit I got for Taylor didn't work out but he still looks handsome.

Fishing at Starvation

2009-04-21T20:39:00.003-06:00

Last month Doug took Taylor with him to Starvation fishing. Doug went with his boss Cory and co worker Cameron. They are huge into fishing so needless to say, Doug has been a lot more than usual. In fact, right now they are working in Fruitland so they are camping right on Starvation and every day after work they end up on the lake fishing. Life must be hard huh? But, on this occasion Doug took Taylor with him and he had the time of his life. He got to reel in all the fish and even got to kiss one. He loves to fish and to be with his daddy. He even taught the guys his pre school song "Tuna fish" He is such a sweet boy and its fun to watch him enjoy and love all the things his dad loves. Since I wasn't actually fishing with them I can't give anymore details. I'm just posting a slide show to show off their day and catches.

Another Owie for Ashley

2009-04-09T21:06:00.003-06:00

I was at enrichment last month when I called home to find out that Taylor had pushed Ashley down and she hit her head on the tile and had a huge bruise on her forehead. Thankfully she was ok. No throwing up and no weirdness but she did have a huge goose egg. Taylor felt really bad about it and wouldn't even look at her. Ashley was ok though. At my dad's basketball game she made sure everyone knew she had an owie. Her head looked awful. I should have taken a side view because it protruded out kind of far. The bruise did eventually seep down in to her eyes and gave her a black eyes, but it was just around the nose, not the whole eye. I took her to the doctor because one of her eyes was all goopey and the doctor said, "Didn't she have a big bruise like that the last time I saw her?" Yeah, she gets them a lot!! She even hit her bruise at the doctors office making another bruise within her bruise. My clumsy little Ash. She did have a hard few weeks though. First her fall, then pink eye (not contagious thankfully), a cold, stomach flu and then her eye tooth coming in and its been very painful. She's sure been through and awful lot but she is such a happy, fun loving little girl.

Conference

2009-04-09T20:49:00.004-06:00

I love conference weekend. Not only do we get to hear the most amazing, uplifting talks, its also the greatest night of the year.....pie night. For as long as I can remember, my mom has made tons of pies for all of us to eat after priesthood. Its the greatest tradition. This year, before priesthood, we made Chinese food for dinner. We had teriyaki beef, egg rolls, fried rice and broccoli and cauliflower. It was such a yummy dinner. Kasey and I were the last ones at the table eating the egg rolls. I would split one in half and she would eat the other and then she would split one in half and I would eat the other. They were so yummy. Thanks Kristin!
Here is a picture of our pies. My mom made cherry cheesecake, banana, strawberry, chocolate candy bar, coconut, pecan and apple pie. They were so yummy. Good job mom!! We love pie night.

If only I had a picture of everyone eating the pies. It was definitely a feast for all.

My two little buddies.....at least most of the time. They found the bowl of Carmel popcorn and were chowing it down.

Then it became each grand kids turn to be the horsey, except for Taylor. I wonder how he got out of that when he's the biggest.

This year Doug and I got to go to the Sunday morning session of conference. It was absolutely fabulous to be able to watch conference and learn from the speakers. I could actually pay attention. Each talk was amazing but I remember how powerful the spirit was during Elder Holland's talk. I love each of these men and am so grateful for their counsel and words of wisdom.

A Warm Sunny Day

2009-03-13T14:51:00.002-06:00

This of course was a few weeks ago when the weather was absolutely beautiful. We took full advantage of the sunshine and played outside a lot of the days and went to the park a few times that week. This is Taylor and Celine's new fun thing to do and they even let Ashley in on the fun. They scream and laugh the whole way down the driveway. Luckily no ones feet have been run over, yet.

I love this picture

Family Pictures

2009-03-04T15:07:00.004-07:00

Back in December we took family pictures at Portrait Innovations. I forgot all about putting some up until I came across my CD. I thought they turned out pretty good. Ashley was being a stinker that night. She did not want to smile. I did get a few out of her if I tickeled her side but for the most part it was stone face or crying. It didn't help that she pooped her pants as soon as we got there and I didn't bring the diaper bag....I had just changed her and didn't think I needed it. Big mistake. Oh well, I like them anyways.