Visiting Santa

We had our ward christmas breakfast last Saturday and had a surprise visit from Santa! So here is our cute picture of our 3 boys and for once, our baby isn't crying, but maybe it has something to do with his weapon, the fork in his hand, and of course he was protected by his 2 great big brothers!

Wow, Riley's only 7, but looks too big to be visiting Santa! Wonder what he's telling him.

Tyler's not shy at all and was excited to go see Santa...gotta love the 3 year old picking his nose!
And we can't forget to add that Santa had a very southern accent, so this was our first encounter with a Santa from the South Pole! Hmmm...maybe that's where Santa vacations during the "off" season. Let's hope the boys were good this year and get what they want from Santa!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we ventured down to St. George to visit Ryan's family. We were hoping to leave Tuesday after school and work, but weren't able to because of the weather. So Ryan worked a little on Wednesday and then we left at 3:30 on the long drive. We actually only had to stop once in Fillmore to eat and gas up and it was 5 degrees! The boys were amazing and it's nice to bottle feed Brock now so it was easier to feed him in his car seat. We got to our condo at 9:30 but didn't get to sleep until midnight! Thursday was pretty much spent in Hurricane at April and Brent's house and we had a nice quiet Thanksgiving there. Then Friday we went to Marci, Darren and Cassidi while watching Cassidi's soccer game. It was fun to see them.
Here are some fun pictures.





Brock sure is growing up. He is still crawling everywhere and mostly using the army crawl. Just this past week he has started to get up on his knees and crawl, but always seems to go back to army crawling. He loves to pull himself up but doesn't really take many steps, but that's okay, cause I'm not ready to have him walking!
Riley is off track and got to spend some days with just Grandma April that he loved. Then he spent a couple days working with mom and was kind of bored at her school. He loves reading and does a really good job entertaining himself. He's excited to start basketball this coming Friday! He also did a fabulous job at his school choir concert this past Thursday night. It was way fun to watch and even Tyler stayed still and watched the entire concert!
Tyler is still Mr. wild child but he is slowly learning to mind better and play softer. I think he just needs attention and we're trying to give him that one on one time. He loves to sing and that's his favorite part of daycare each day and he knows most of the songs for his christmas program. He's had an ear infection the past week and had a hard time hearing for a couple days but now he is back to normal!
Only 2 more weeks until our 2 week christmas vacation. We feel really blessed to have all of our needs met and numerous wants as well. Despite the occasional cold, cough and runny nose, we are pretty healthy, have plenty of food to eat, have a nice warm house with nice warm beds to sleep in at night, etc. We are grateful for everything and need to try to focus our attention on what we do have and not on what we don't have. AND on what our kids do well and not on what they don't do or all the fighting. Maybe if we try to focus more on the positives, they'll outweigh the negatives and hopefully some of the negatives will somehow go away! Easier said than done and I can always hope! :)

Random videos

So most of our families live far away so I figured it would be fun to post a video of Tyler singing the ABCs and Brock being funny at dinner time!

Disneyland!!!

We decided to take a much needed family vacation and venture off to Disneyland. So after everyone got home from work/school on Wednesday afternoon, we headed off on the wonderful drive. We left our house at 5pm and finally made it to Vegas at 1am. Then Thursday drove the rest of the way. Since this was a last minute trip, we weren't able to get in our timeshare and had to settle for a hotel. We did get a kids suite and had a king bed and bunkbeds for the boys and had a great view of the fireworks at night! It was a nice space for the limited amount of time that we spent at Disneyland. We went Thursday-Sunday and it just kept getting busier each day. We didn't get to ride everything and felt like we hung around but the boys loved it and behaved well for the most part. We love Disneyland at Halloween time, especially the Haunted Mansion. Tyler was just barly 40 inches and got to ride the Tower of Terror, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, Thunder Mountain Railroad and loved them all! Below are some fun pictures of our time there. We bought season passes and are planning on going again in April, which we can't wait for, and maybe another trip or two throughout the year!

2nd Grade

Here is Riley's 2nd grade picture! He has a great smile...not sure what is up with his hair though! He has really enjoyed school and is now back on track. We are leaving over UEA to go on a much needed vacation and Riley is worried cause he is going to miss school and he doesn't want to! He has enjoyed learning about the constellations and can't wait to go on his field trip to the Clarke Planetarium in November.

Blessings

I should have updated this several weeks ago, but once we are all back to school, life gets super busy!

So Ryan has his job back! The story is pretty interesting...On Monday August 23 Ryan stayed home with Tyler and had a great time with him and was getting a taste of how things were going to be. Then on Tuesday as he was going in to work the boss called him and said we fired the new guy and we need to talk so he went down to North Salt Lake to start the first of many discussions. He called me and we were in shock! The night before we were finally at peace with having him stay home and were liking the idea of collecting unemployment, not paying daycare and having a lot of extra time to hang out as a family. (I know that Ryan was secretly looking forward to afternoon rides when Sheree got home from work!) So the roller coaster emotional ride was starting all over again...our biggest worry:what do we do with the kids since they can no longer go to my schools daycare. On Friday of that week Ryan and his boss came to terms on a new salary, work hours (which still allowed Ryan to take Riley to school!), and all of that good stuff. Ryan now has to commute to North Salt Lake instead of Fruit Heights, and he doesn't get home until 6:30 or so, so we are trying to adjust. We feel blessed and have wondered why all this happened. We did learn to scale back our spending and save more and realize that we are really close to living on just one income. This is the last year that Sheree has to work for the state paying for her Masters degree, so maybe when the next baby comes she can stay home...that won't be for a few more years though! :)

Riley has been off track for the past 2 weeks and has had an okay time. I know that he was looking forward to staying home with Dad and for once he can't wait to go back on track! He loves to read and is reading all the time and loves to play Wizards 101 on the computer and Webkinz. He hasn't been playing regular video games very much anymore which is surprising but good. He is looking forward to playing Basketball for the first time in November.

Tyler is adjusting to his new daycare. He goes to the same place Riley and Brock go to, but he misses his 2 really good friends from moms school. He is really talking and learning to play better with the neighborhood boys. He'd be outside all the time if he could. He just got a new little razor scooter that he loves and still wants to do everything that Riley does! His potty training is coming along nicely...not too many accidents anymore and we're hoping to transition to underwear full time soon.

Brock is crawling all over the place now and he loves it! He loves to go in his room and Riley's room and just see what toys he can find and there are plenty to choose from! He and Sheree have a nasty cold right now that they are hoping goes away soon. He sure is a happy baby! He loves the kitty and being outside. We're hoping he crawls for awhile and doesn't want to walk at 10 months like his brothers! No teeth yet and still not sleeping through the night. He's now 8 months and weighs 20 pounds!

Ryan is off riding his mountain bike as I write this...something he looks forward to every weekend if he gets the chance. Work has kept him busy and all the things to do around the house. We're thinking about finally pouring the cement next to our driveway in front of the fence to have more parking and more room for Riley to play basketball. Our neighbors keep telling us that they'll have their boys help prep it and help us get it ready, so I think they're sick of looking at dirt the whole time, but hey it was once grass! If we can get a good deal, we might as well just do it. We're also hoping to start framing a room in the basement for Riley so that all 3 boys can have their own rooms. We have no idea where to begin, so not sure when that project will actually get started.

Sheree is back to teaching and now has that added stress. Midterms are Monday and parent teacher conferences the following week, which she dreads every year. Her class sizes are huge...36 in each of her 4 Geometry classes but her Algebra are around 25 each. Teaching is still fun but it's a lot harder with 3 boys at home. She also applied to help re-write the Algebra online curriculum and got that job to do at nights. She only applied because Ryan had lost his job and knew that this would help, but now it's too much stress and time! Is life ever not stressful though? She's also been playing ward volleyball on Thursdays and the boys enjoy playing with other kids at the church too.

We do feel blessed as a family and are glad we get to venture through this life with each other!

Life Sucks!

I know many people don't like that word, but I don't care and when life is really crappy, that is the word that I chose to use! Besides I would rather have my kids use that word than a swear word which thankfully they have yet to use!

So just when things are going good again...Riley has not had one issue in 2nd grade which is a miracle...Tyler was finally going poop in the potty and almost fully potty trained...Brock had some full nights of sleep...Sheree was getting ready to head back to work again, which she wasn't looking forward to...Ryan had a meeting with his boss that didn't go well.

Monday we found out that Ryan had a job until Aug. 31 and that if he could stick it out until the end of the month and train the new guy who's a CPA then he could have 2weeks severance. So that is what Ryan is doing. Monday was a tough day...cancelled daycare for all 3 boys which was okay (our only worry is whether we can get them back in when Ryan finds another job, but I will worry about that when it happens!), went through our budget and got rid of the nonessentials (it's amazing what you can give up when you have to!), looked into what we do for unemployment and realized that not paying for daycare and getting unemployment for 6 months, we're going to be okay! So we were at peace with things. However, it's been a roller coaster ride. We are thankful that Sheree has her teaching job with the benefits and it's been amazing at the connections we have with people who are connected in the Accounting business. Ryan has been on the computer every night applying for jobs, putting his resume on Monster.com and really trying to make things work. I kind of like the idea of having him stay at home for a little while but would love for a job to come through sooner than later! We also have to decide if maybe now is the time for him to go get his Masters in Accounting or an MBA. Lots of decisions to make.

Things will be okay. Yesterday I made a list of some of the things that could be worse. Yes, this sucks big time but there could be worse things. For example, when I had a crying fit on Monday, Tyler goes, "Did my dad die?" Where did that come from!? S0 yes there could be worse things! I was really nervous putting Tyler back in my schools daycare and maybe this is an answer to my prayers to keep him home. If mom can't stay home, then I guess dad can! And thank goodness we're not pregnant!

We have amazing people in the Ward that have offered to watch the kids until Ryan is done. Both of us have amazing parents who have offered help financially if we need it. My mom even said she'd help with daycare when Ryan found another job! So many people who are being selfless and willing to help us in our time of need. I just have to be thankful for the blessings that we do have...a healthy family, one job with benefits, a wonderful house, 2 good working cars, money to cover our needs, a 7-year old who is doing wonderfully in school, etc.

Why boys need parents!

I found this on a friends blog and thought I would repost here, since I am the mother of only boys and so are all my siblings! Yep, between me and my 2 brothers and 2 sisters, we have 11 boys and no girls! The oldest is 8 and the youngest 3 months...pretty crazy! Hope it gives you a laugh anyway!

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36- year old man says he can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.

11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15.) VCR's do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV
commercials show they do.

16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on;
plastic toys do not like ovens.

20.) The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.

21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make
earthworms dizzy.

22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24.) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends,
with or without kids.

25.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox
and brake fluid.

Happy Bithday Tyler!!!

So on Monday August 2, Tyler will be 3. We are uploading a fun video from when he was 1.

End of July update

So it is the last day of July and I just realized that it is my brother's 33rd birthday so I thought I would wish him a Happy Birthday! I doubt he'll read this, but hopefully his wife will tell him! :) And I think Ryan's brother reads the blog so I will wish him a belated birthday! It's probably a good thing that I don't know his age cause he probably wouldn't want me posting it cause he is pretty old...somewhere in the 40's, 45?

Anywho...Ryan had an endoscopy scope a week ago, where they put him to sleep and checked his esophagus. We have pictures somewhere that I was going to scan in but I can't find them at the moment. Things looked great! He has been on prescription prilosec for the past month which has done wonders! No more nasty attacks and no more reminding him to take the over the counter medicine and getting mad when he has these attacks because he wasn't taking it. This new stuff has been great and the doctor told him he should stay on it for awhile, at least a good year and then we can see about cutting back. He took a biopsy to check for allergies and was wondering if that was causing his esophagus spasms but we haven't heard back those results. He also thought he'd have to stretch his esophagus out to help his food go down better but he said it looked fine and the prilosec should take care of all his problems. So that was really good news and so glad that he had this done!

Sheree finished teaching summer school! This year it was 7 weeks instead of 6 but it was still just 3 days of week. It was harder this year and it's probably cause there are now 3 kids at home and the youngest still isn't on a schedule and didn't exactly sleep through the night. She is now looking forward to 2 weeks and 2 days off before she heads back for the new school year. She is thankful to have a job still and is hoping to not get too burned out this year. This will be her 11th year of teaching! Yep, she is getting pretty old too!

Brock is growing up fast. We bought him a bumbo which he loves! Well for the first hour he is in it and then he's done with it for the day. Here are some pictures of that fun toy. He loves cell phones...maybe it has something to do with Sheree always FBing while nursing! Now she can't do that cause it distracts him.



Then we got out the door jumping thing figuring he'd like to jump while mom tried to organize a room but he didn't seem to care for it too much. We'll have to keep trying it out! Just look at that cute face!

Tyler is doing better at potty training. Now that Sheree is home full time, she'll put him in underwear and hope that this does the trick. He does pretty good going potty but not poop. We ask him all the time to go and help him sit there but it's just not the same as disappearing outside or sitting in a corner...we have until Aug 26 to get this mastered in order to save $50 a month on daycare costs because he is now a non-diapered child instead of diapered.
Riley has had so much fun at school and still wants to go which has been a huge relief and blessing!

Back to School!?

So Riley started 2nd grade this past week and LOVED it! Can you believe it!? He was excited to go, went for 3 days and not ONE problem! It's a miracle!!! He got a letter from his teacher, Ms. Wilson, before school started that said they would be doing gummy bear math (btw, math is favorite subject!) and so all he'd talk about was being excited to go and do that. Ryan took him in the morning and walked him in and Riley was on cloud 9. Ms. Wilson greeted him and asked him why Ms. Caldwell (the principal) and Ms. Fredericks (the asst principal) said that she would love having Riley in class and he was just beaming! So glad that we got off to a good start and that he couldn't wait for school the next day! He said that Ms. Wilson said they aren't allowed to have any fun in the 2nd grade but they all are! He's excited about pencil points and earning AR points. We read a lot, so he should get a lot of points!This is definitely a change from last year and one that we hope keeps happening. I am sure that there will be bumps in the school year, but for now we are enjoying the good days! Here are some fun pictures from his first day.


p.s. Ryan was excited to take him and said that he did a good job taking pictures of Riley that day too and couldn't wait for me to see and of course I approve! :)

6 months!!!!

I cannot believe that Brock is 6 months! He had his 6-month check-up on Friday and weighs in at 18 pounds 1 ounce and is 28 inches long. He is still in the 75th percentile for weight and 95th for height, so he is following in Riley's footsteps! It's crazy how the whole pregnancy and first 6 months has mirrored how things were wiht Riley and how similar these 2 boys look. I just hope that Brock doesn't have the same behavior, anxiety and sensory issues that Riley has had...only time will tell. Here is todays picture of Brock taken with the cat. Brock was laying on the floor and the cat just came up right next to him and laid down...guess he is super desperate for attention if he's trying to get it from Brock!

Brock is also really enjoying eating baby food. So far we have tried pears, carrots, bananas and squash. He eats them all really well and won't even touch a bottle during the day with the babysitter but will eat a lot of food. He is also rolling around a lot, both ways and getting all over the place. I am sure that he will be crawling before we know it!
Things at our house have been good....we went to Richfield for the 4th of July and hung out with Grandma April, Darren, Marci, Carsen and Cassidi. We've been going to Cherry Hill quite a bit and have enjoyed that. Sheree has 2 more weeks of teaching summer school and is looking forward to a 2 week break before next school year starts. Riley starts 2nd grade on Tuesday, but believe it or not he says he's ready to go! We hear he's got the best teacher and are praying we have a smooth start, or at least a better start than last year where he was in the principal's office on the 3rd day! Tyler is doing well with the potty training. He'll pee just fine if he can pee on froot loops in the toilet but won't poop in the potty. Ryan goes in for his GI scope Wednesday afternoon. He's been taking prescription acid reflux medicine for the past month to get rid of that problem and now they'll go in and see what else, if anything, is happening. Summer is definitely going by way too fast!

Fun pictures

So when we were in Washington, my sister-in-law took our family pictures and I am stealing them off her blog to post here! :) We love the ones of the kids, but aren't fond of the ones of Ryan and I...isn't that usually the case though! The first 2 are of Brock and his cousin who was born in September. It was pretty cute watching them cause Bennett just wanted to give Brock "loves" but Brock didn't really care for it. However, Brock loved watching Bennett crawl around and now all he wants to do is be more mobile...he is now rolling all over the floor, both from his back to belly and belly to back! Enjoy the pictures! :)

The Zoo

Last Friday we went to the zoo with Grandma April and cousin Sloan. It has been a long time since Riley has been and I think that it was Tylers first time to the Utah Hogle Zoo and of course it was Brocks first time going. Our favorite activity was the bird show. Seriously, it was amazing and so entertaining! Several times birds flew over our heads or right in front of us. Tylers attention was captivated the whole time which is amazing for an almost 3 year old who wants to run away and cause whatever problems he can! It was a lot of fun to see the baby elephant too. I think that the monkeys were a favorite too. Below are some pictures of our fun outing!

Our Vacation

We were able to go back to Sheree's hometown, Vancouver, WA, for our vacation this summer. The last time we went was for Amber's wedding which was in November 2008, so this trip was long overdue! We left Friday at 2:30 and drove to Kennewick, WA to stay with Sheree's sister Alisa and finally meet her 16-month old son for the first time! He is such a cutie and it was so fun to finally meet him! Then we visited Sheree's grandparents and had a good time, despite Riley and Tyler fighting way too much and embarrassing us, but I guess that is going to be the story of our lives for a long time! It was weird saying good-bye wondering if this is the last time to see them here on Earth. Grandma has had some health issues recently and we were glad that she was doing really good the day we visited and it is harder for Grandpa to get around. Here is a picture of us with them that day.

That same day we visited Sheree's brother's family and met their new baby boy Maddox who was born in September. Riley and Tyler loved playing with their cousin Cole that day while Sheree enjoyed visiting with Lacey. We left about 4 to drive on to Vancouver. It was fun to visit with family that we don't get to see much at all, usually only during our annual visit!
It was fun to go back to Sheree's ward that her dad is now Bishop of, but since the boundaries just changed, there weren't many people left that Sheree knows, so it doesn't seem like her "ward" anymore. That's what happens when you've been away for 10 years! On Monday we had a picnic with Sheree's parents and Sheree's older brother's family and their 4 boys. Tara took family pictures for us that we anxiously waiting to see (hint-hint Tara!) It was a nice day with little rain. Then we had rain most of the rest of the week, so the next 2 days we pretty much stuck in the grandparents house. We did venture out to visit Grandpa's hobby stores and bought each of the boys a fun lego and we ran into tara at Toys R Us in Portland...what are the chances of that happening!? Here a few pictures of the boys haning at and Grandma and Grandpas! Brock was my parents 10th grandson...they have 11 grandsons and now granddaughters...that is so crazy!



Thursday June 10th, we headed over to Seaside. It was Ryan's and my 10th anniversary! We celebrated by going over to our time share for 2 nights, but we took the boys as well for our annual beach trip. We stayed in a 3 bedroom penthouse unit overlooking the beach...definitely the nicest condo we have ever stayed in! Unfortunately the weather outside was rainy on Thursday and Friday but super nice on Saturday when we had to leave! My parents stayed with us Friday night so Ryan and I got up and walked on the beach Saturday morning and then Ryan and Tyler went out just before we left, so here is a picture of those two, taken from the balcony of our condo! I also included our first date picture, engagement picture and favorite wedding picture from 10 years ago! Sure wished that I looked that cute now!







Finally, Brock is now 5 months old! He is getting so big and so fun! So glad he is part of our family, even though he was another boy!

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memeorial Day weekend, we made a quick trip down to Salina and Richfield to visit my (Ryan) Dad's grave. He passed away in Aug of 2003 after a battle with Melanoma. It had been a while since I had been to the grave. There are always mixed emotions going there. Riley understands it all but Tyler just thought it was a different place to play. My Dad and I were always pretty close but the older I got the more I appreciated him and all that he did. Even the Sunday drive with no radio was great and for a teenager I think that is something. When he was sick, it was a unique opportunity to try and help and serve him. Sheree and i would go see him when he would come up to Provo for dialysis and then later through different stays in the hospital. He said he would be here until Riley was born, and he was but not long after. He was doing great at the time Riley was born and was able to stand in the circle at Riley's blessing, but it was all downhill from that point. In fact Riley's middle name is Bruce, named after my dad. We were going to go down and see him the next weekend when mom called. I miss him. He would love my boys. I like to think that he met Tyler and Brock before I did. In fact we joke that he was the one cursing us with boys. When Sheree was pregnant with Riley she really wanted a girl and was somewhat disappointed that she was having a boy and my dad told her that there was nothing wrong with having boys, especially since he came from a family of 4 boys!

Thomas the Train

On Saturday we drove to Heber to ride Thomas. Tyler has been waiting for this for a long time. Riley went twice when he was little and loved it too. This was Tyler's and Brock's first ride. The weather was okay, had little bits of rain off and on, but the activities were all under tents so that was nice. It was fun to be able to take the boys up there.

Happy 7th Birthday Riley!

Seven years ago, we became parents! It was the day after Mother's Day and Sheree awoke at 4am with major pain! She waited until the contractions were 5 minutes apart, and at 7 am we left for American Fork Hospital. Riley was born at 11:30am. He was a super good baby but hardly slept! He has always been really tall for his age and has played better with older kids. He is super smart, loves to read and play videogames and put together his Star Wars legos. He is a joy to have in our family!

It was fun to go back and look at all his baby pictures cause there is definitely a resemblance between Riley and Brock!