A Care in the World

Sundays

2012-01-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday:

My dirndl girls in vintage dresses all ready for church

(vintage meaning my sisters and I wore them when we were little)

with pretty braided hair

And from today:

napping with my babies

FHE Goals

2012-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

We finally got around to making these this week:

**since Bentley is getting baptized this summer he and Joseph are planning to read ahead in the Book of Mormon after family scripture time so he can finish it before his big day.

**Cares is most proud of that pointing picture and thinks it's so funny. I am truly eager for anything that will get her to just obey instead of having a hundred excuses and questions and reasons why she can't do what I need her to.

**I am most excited about eliminating the binky. I told Livs she could have her 3 year old birthday first but then "bye bye binky"—the wise words of Elmo...

Luke will mostly aim for sleeping through the night and all else will just be an added bonus!

New

2012-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

New around here:

The kids' scripture bags made by Nanny

The guest/girls' bathroom

(used to look like this)

A Pinterest find to add some order and color to the kitchen

1 Month

2012-01-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

The tiny is now one month old and looking like it too. His little thighs are starting to develop soft, full folds and his sweet face is rounding out. He also has small tufts of hair on the back of his head that get all fuzzy after laying on his back—all of it makes him such a snuggly little man. Oh, he is at such a delicious stage!

Luke is a sweetheart baby and usually quite content. He is a champion napper sleeping for 90 minutes to 2 hours almost every time he naps. The only things that cause him much grief are gas in his belly and going poo—both of which are quite lively and explosive when they happen (and delight the rest of the kids to no end). We have found that pressure on Luke's tummy when he is squirmy and uncomfortable gives him a lot of relief. This has also turned him into a rock star belly sleeper (I do try to keep swaddled back sleeping in the mix too but he doesn't seem to sleep as long that way...)

We love our newborn babe. And even though the hubby and I are running on very little sleep, we adore our Luke.

2011 In Review

2012-01-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's just fun to remember the past year—even if it's well past New Year's...

January: Sickest I've ever been (awesome way to start out the year...)

February: Livs turned 2 and I worked on a felt quiet book

March: Phoenix trip and my birthday

April: Easter in St George—a fun tradition for our family

May: Found out I was pregnant just before Beans and Cares turned 5 and 7

June: Sick sick sick (kept thinking "why did I want to be pregnant?") and new car!

July: Lake Powell and girl's camp

August: Found out babe #4 was a BOY on Joseph's birthday

September: Sent my sweet Caroline to Kindergarten and potty trained Livs

October: Soaked up fall and cooler days and worked on nesting/organization projects

November: Moved the girls into the same room and prepped for Christmas

December: Anticipated Luke's arrival and welcomed him here on 12/21.

Best Christmas present ever (and reminded me why pregnancy is sooo worth it!)

Life of Late

2012-01-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

—Since returning to school after Christmas, Bentley and Caroline have become walkers on the way home each day. Hurray! There is a new street that just went in which directly connects the school to our neighborhood. Perfect timing on that—I was not wanting to wait in the carpool line with an unpredictable newborn and wiggly toddler.

Over the break Bob and Brooke joined the kids on a "test" walk to and from the school. And on their first official day walking home some exploring in the rocky hills was in order:

—Bentley is our little basketball man playing in Jr. Jazz this winter. He is still figuring out the logistics of playing on the court but he sure works hard and comes home very sweaty after his games :)

—Caroline is in love with her baby brother and holds him at least once every day. Poor girl has red, dry hands from all the washing so she can hold and touch and snuggle with Luke.

—Olivia is as darling as ever but her moods are sure shifty. She wants to be so independent and cries over silly things like me putting a sock on when she was wanting to do it herself (we end up taking the sock off and starting all over of course). Then often times she can be super attached to me and likes me to baby her and hold her a lot and let her sit on my lap. I never know which Livs to expect but I am trying to be loving and patient with her. She did just have her littlest princess status interrupted with Luke's arrival so I can understand how she must feel.

—I have watched so many (probably too many) movies and shows lately (breastfeeding time is always great TV time!) I have recorded about a hundred Friends episodes and watch those when I feed Luke in the middle of the night. Love them. Some of the lines are so classic and things Joseph and I say all the time—yes, I have already seen every episode but they are fun to revisit. Joseph and I also redboxed Moneyball the other night and it was so slow that I could not stay awake to see it through. I adore Brad Pitt like no other actor but I think I needed some action to keep my eyes open.

—We are so lucky and have continued to be spoiled! My mom came over every day last week to do all carpooling, cooking, cleaning-up and errand running. She totally saved us and allowed me more time to rest and nap and finally feel all healed up. I am not looking forward to grocery runs and Costco outings with the new babe so I am very grateful my mom could do all that for me and postpone my need to return to "real life" just yet! Thank you Mom—we loved all the help you gave us and having you here with us!

3 Weeks

2012-01-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

The babe is 3 weeks old today. We are still in the sea of seemingly endless feedings and diaper changes, day and night. But babies do seem to adjust to longer sleep stretches at night right around 4 weeks old so I think we are getting close to feeling more rested and more normal around here (I hope!)

Luke had a notable week starting with standing on my mom's lap and suddenly giving a little jump up and off her legs. What a funny (and strong) little baby! He may be walking before we know it. He also saw his doctor on Monday for a circumcision—long story about the hospital but basically the peds doc who first saw him there didn't do it so our family's pediatrician did. Poor Luke—from what I saw of it, which wasn't much because I chose to just calm my babe and keep my eyes off of the procedure, it looked pretty painful. But my tiny guy has been such a sweetheart in the days since. Only diaper changes really upset him and by today he is mostly fine with those again.

Some stats to record: at Luke's 2 week well visit he weighed 8 lbs 9 oz. Five days later, at his circumcision, he weighed 9 lbs 1 oz—love that he gained half a pound in less than a week. At 2 weeks he also measured in at 21.1 inches so he's grown a bit taller in the past few weeks too. We love our cuddly baby and try to soak up lots of snuggle time with his mushy little body.

1 week old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

Luke's Birth

2012-01-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

With our brand new baby, Luke Fielding LeBaron

December 21st, 10:30 pm (2 hours old)

**It's taken me almost 2 weeks to gather up my thoughts (and the time) to write this entry. Nothing fancy or dramatic about Luke's birthday but I want to remember it forever all the same. The births of all my babies have been smooth and swift and rather amazing to me—I know I am a lucky mama.

My 4 darlings, December 22nd, 2011

Wednesday December 21st started out calm enough—the kids were on their first day of holiday break and we enjoyed a lazy morning hanging out in our PJs. Once it was time to clean up breakfast and get everyone dressed for the day, the contractions began to hit pretty regularly. But then again, they had been doing that for about 10 days whenever I was active so I didn't think too much about it. Until they just kept coming, but still weren't quite close enough to signal impending labor. So I kept moving—I wanted to have a baby before the holiday weekend!

After talking to Joseph (and making him come home from work around noon) and wondering and worrying I finally called my OB (as he had told me to do at my appointment 2 days earlier if I thought things may be happening). He said to head on over to the hospital and reassured me that if my contractions were only 10 minutes apart they would still admit me.

From there on out everything happened so smoothly. My parents met us at the hospital right around 2:30 pm and gathered up our kids and their overnight bags. Then Joseph and I walked into the L&D wing and within 15 minutes we knew we were having a baby that day. It was so exciting—I was so ready to have baby Luke (I truly need to gear myself up mentally when I arrive at the hospital. Did you know birthing children is actually really hard work and quite painful—for like days and days after too? Hence--mental prep needed.) The nurses met us as we walked in as they were ready and waiting for us—my dr. had called and told them to be expecting us. When they hooked me up to the monitors my contractions were close enough, even if not exactly regular, and I was dilated to a 5 so everything pointed to being ready to deliver. By 3:30 I had my epidural in, Dr. Watts broke my water shortly thereafter, and then the contractions really kicked in. I could definitely feel a lot of tightening and most certainly the pressure building with each one but thank goodness for that epidural.

After laying on my left side for a while Luke quickly came down right into birthing position. This was round 7 pm and by then I was completely dilated and feeling really ready to push BUT my doctor had to be called in and was about 30 mins away AND Luke was in brow presentation meaning that his forehead was wanting to come out first instead of the tip top of his head. Good thing the nurses assured me that since he was my 4th baby they'd have plenty of room to shift him around before birth and he'd come out perfectly (lucky me?)

And so, when Dr. Watts arrived right around 8, he checked me, jumped into some scrubs, rearranged Luke somehow, and we had a new baby in exactly 3 pushes (weighing in at 8 lbs and 8 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches in length) Before I knew it Luke was resting on my chest all fresh and new and perfect. It was certainly my smoothest and quickest labor—and has subsequently been a fairly quick recovery so that has been especially nice when I have 3 other kiddos to look after. I am actually dying to get back on my bike for a good long ride—seems to prove that things are feeling back to normal in my lady parts...

Some of Luke's hospital visitors:

Grandma Bobbi

Aunt Cecily

(who rescued my hospital bag from my house for me before coming to see us—classic that we brought everything else with us like cameras and computers and even Joseph's early Christmas gift—the iPad— but forgot my clothes and essentials...oops!)

Grandpa Sherm—(fighting a cold)

Aunt Luci

Nanny, Grandpa Neil, Aunt Mary, Aunt Maggie and Uncle Seth also came to see us but I didn't have my camera when they came. If anyone has pics, send them my way!

And of course Luke's most adoring fans:

loving big brother

smitten big sis

curious (but tender) big sis

Luke at exactly 1 day old

I feel totally blessed and eternally grateful for Luke's healthy and seamless arrival. I do have an amazing OB who is a very skilled doctor and really good guy who has now delivered 3 of my 4 children. He is also my parents' next door neighbor and in the bishopric in their ward. I also love having babies at St. Marks because my dad has worked there for years and years now and everyone seems to know him. Every anesthesiologist knows all about my family and siblings after working in the operating room with my dad. I think I may get really well taken care of because of my dad but I will take it! And I just love the nurses in the maternity wing—they are the best and make my life so easy while I am there.

All ready to come home to the chaos that life is!

Welcome to the world and to our family baby Luke.

We are so happy you are here and are ours forever.

Grateful Heart

2012-01-06T11:03:00.001-08:00

Doesn't every post need a cuddly picture of Luke?

I am surrounded by the most amazing people. During the past 10 days or so I have received so much help and service and love from friends and family—it overwhelms my heart.

When Luke was a week old my little sister, in town from Minnesota, left her tiny kids with her hubby and spent the morning at my house. She basically put all of our Christmas decorations away, sweetly listened to Bentley as he described his every move in an iPad zoo game, and started a crockpot dinner for us. Then she loaded up Bentley and Cares and took them to my nephew's birthday celebration at the movie theater. At one week out I was feeling pretty good but there is no way I could have done what she did for us that day.

The next day my mom came over, loaded up my 3 big kids and whisked them away for a fun day and sleepover at her house. I had such a clean and quiet house and worked on catching up on my sleep. It felt so good to just take care of my baby and me—healing days for us for sure. After their sleepover with grandma and grandpa my kids spent the next day playing at my big sister's house with much loved cousins. My sis had 8 kids at her house that day and when I stopped by to pick up my crew she sent us home with a complete dinner!

For the past 3 days we have had the pleasure of having my mother-in-law come and stay at our house. She showered her gourmet skills on us making delicious meals and filling my freezer with 7 ready to bake dinners...7! Of our family's favorites (BBQ pork ribs, chicken cordon blue, lasagna, chicken enchiladas...) She also did a thousand dishes, took Cares to ballet and kindergarten, walked the kids home from school, vacuumed my whole house and cleaned all 3 bathrooms, snuggled Luke while I showered, and babysat so Joseph and I could take Luke for his photo shoot and then see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Oh, and she also found time to make dresses for the girls' dolls! I felt totally spoiled and yet she kept telling me she felt like she didn't do enough for us! Oh Ruth Ann, I for sure married the right boy :) Thank you a hundred times over!

There have also been sweet friends and neighbors and darling YW who have dropped by with gifts and meals and all kinds of love and support for our little family. I truly feel so blessed and humbled and grateful for all of it. I honestly forgot how taxing it is to be awake so often during the night and then try to run a household of busy, needy children all through the day (especially while my own body is trying to heal up and get back to normal). All of the help we've received has been wonderful and restorative. I am the luckiest and I know it. Thanks to all of you!

2 Weeks Old

2012-01-04T09:18:00.001-08:00

From Luke's photoshoot yesterday:

Luke's first week came and went without mention on this blog—but those first days were so full of holiday celebrations and family events that all I could do was feed my babe, sleep with him and make it out the door when needed.

Now that we are 2 weeks in I feel like life is settling down. We are nowhere near a schedule with Luke—just feeding him every 2 or 3 hours around the clock. But I am hoping we'll find some longer stretches during the night soon and find more of a routine as we make it through the next 2 weeks. Luke has been a very good baby though—he rarely cries but just grunts and wiggles to let me know he is hungry. He naps like a champ, loves to stare at the bold pattern on my duvet cover, and snuggles up for nursing and cuddling happily. But in the middle of the night he doesn't always love going right back to sleep after I nurse him and often extends our awake time by about 30 minutes. Those have been the hardest times for me so far—I just feel so sleepy and yet can't let myself fall asleep until Luke is settled. And thank goodness for my hubby's help during the night—he may be rather hard to wake up when he is settled into sleep but he is always a good sport to take Luke into another room so I can doze off quickly after too many night feedings have made me desperate for sleep.

Luckily I am in love with my newborn baby. Joseph and I felt like we just had to capture Luke as a tiny before his folds of skin fill out with fat and his skinny little legs chub up. Love that we have these pictures (and many more from the shoot that turned out so well).

2012

2012-01-01T14:27:00.001-08:00

And suddenly it's a new year. I feel unprepared and yet eagerly optimistic about it. All of 2011 seemed to be consumed with hoping to be pregnant, then being pregnant and then welcoming baby Luke to the world. 2012 will be filled with all his milestones and they'll most likely be the last time I experience them with a newborn. Such a weird feeling for me, but I am excited for them all the same. I think Luke may have more pictures during his first few years than any of our other kids. I am determined to savor him.

Anyway, goals seem way too overwhelming for me right now with a 10 day old babe. All I really hope to do is rejoice in small successes: changing a diaper without Luke peeing everywhere, getting at least one 3 hour stretch of solid sleep during the night, finding time for a shower every day, and keeping on top of the abundant laundry a newborn creates. Nothing too exciting but all I can handle at present.

Our New Year celebrating was very low key last night. We did manage to go out to dinner without any fuss from our sleeping babe. And then we came home for some poppers, snaps and horn blowing all before 9:00 pm. Short and simple, and then Joseph and I were off to bed at 10:30 ourselves—gotta sleep when our baby does!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T12:55:00.001-08:00

I think this picture pretty much sums up our Christmas Eve. How lucky we felt to have our 3 day old Christmas baby in the nativity this year. Cute cousin Connor, dressed up as a cow, kept coming up to Luke, stroking his head and saying "Ooohhh, it's okay baby Jesus."It was so sweet and one of my favorite things about the night. My other favorite: not being in the hospital but gathered together with my wonderful family.

And then there were some very fun gifts from Grandma and Grandpa for all the grandchildren. Livs and Cares got a new Playmobile grand mansion (and it has been well used everyday since!)

Family of 6

2011-12-26T20:57:00.000-08:00

There is so much to catch up on—Luke's birth story, our whirlwind Christmas, life at home with 4 kids...I am just too tired each night to edit pictures and type coherent thoughts. I have to remind myself that I am still in recovery mode and there will be plenty of time down the line.

**As I look through hospital pictures I am so grateful for my 2 nights there. Yes I missed my family, a lot. But there is nothing more healing than calm and quiet and incredible nurses who did whatever I needed and took great care of me and my baby. And those nights of sending sweet Luke to the nursery so I could sleep as long as I wanted—priceless. I woke to see the sunrise both mornings but felt more rested than I have in months.

Christmas Baby

2011-12-23T06:40:00.000-08:00

Carrie and Luke are both doing well and I leave in just a few hours to bring them both home from the hospital. It will be a crazy and busy time of year for a new baby, but it will be just what we need to help us slow down, quiet down and focus on the right things this season. For those of you who have been waiting for a better view of baby Luke, feast your eyes on this!

Unto us a son is given from Joseph LeBaron on Vimeo.

Good Baby

2011-12-22T09:59:00.001-08:00

This precious little man joined our family at 8:10 pm last night weighing in at 8 lbs 8 oz—my biggest baby yet. For arriving a few weeks early he's quite the mushy beefcake and we are all in love with him.

More details to come but for now we must sleep and nurse, and sleep and nurse some more. I rather adore these calm, quiet days in the hospital cuddling my beautiful boy. I still cannot believe my body made him. He'll forever be my best Christmas miracle :)

and we're pretty certain his name is Luke but we're still deciding on his middle name...

Weekend Without a Baby

2011-12-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

What lovely timing it would have been for baby boy to come this weekend—and he did not. I may have even "dropped by" the hospital just to see if I had progressed at all and if they would want to admit me because I was sooo dilated. Turns out I hadn't changed since my appointment last week even with all the contractions I've had and a good, long outing to IKEA. Now, I think baby's destined to arrive Christmas Eve (absolute worst timing) but I really just hope he'll hold off for a good 10 days (and then I'll deliver a 9 lb baby!) Oh it's not at all about what I want though is it?

We did get some fun family time in this weekend indulging in cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy and getting letters sent off to Santa at IKEA. I love that Olivia told me to write that she wants a new Barbie and a fancy outfit—just like her cool big sis. So cute how much Livs wants to be just like Cares :) And Bentley wants Legos and Hot Wheels—plain and simple and the same wishes he's had for like 3 years now. Love that too.

Ballerina Girl

2011-12-15T20:27:00.000-08:00

Caroline showed off her newly learned ballet skills in a sweet little performance at the studio today. She was beaming with joy to dance for all her admirers (Joseph, my mom and me) and has fallen in love with her Christmas gift from Miss Kaylynn—her polka dot scarf. Along with several videos of our girl we ended up with quite a few pics—and just from an informal little showing. We kind of totally adore her:

Lucky girl even got some pretty flowers from her daddy

And she may have made her grandma just a little bit teary reminding her of the days she used to come and see me performing :) Very sweet morning for all of us!

More in December

2011-12-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

We're all cuddled up watching The Polar Express as I type—a classic advent activity. The last few days we've put up festive window gels, attended our ward party where Bentley was a wise man in the nativity, made foam ornaments for our tree, checked out the lights on Christmas Tree Street over in Sugarhouse, watched Elf, and cut out tons of snowflakes. We've also read some scriptures from Luke 2 each night before bed—some of the best to be found in the Bible (and a huge reason we are thinking about the name Luke for our newest little guy—seems perfectly fitting for a Christmas baby.)

Speaking of baby boy, he is giving me a run for my money lately. Yesterday, in the early afternoon, my mucus plug came out as it has with all my other babies several days before they've arrived. And then the rest of the afternoon and early evening I was contracting quite regularly for about 6 hours—but the contractions generally came every 10 mins during most of that time, a few closer, a few farther apart, and I knew not to get too worked up about them unless they started coming much closer. Around 10 pm they slowed way down and I went to bed shortly after that. For a while I was getting nervous that the babe may indeed come but I just didn't feel like it was time yet. And so we are still here :) Contractions are nothing new for me but they generally stay pretty random and scattered throughout the day. Another continual episode like that and we may be having a baby!

Another sweet shot of Livs napping away at dinner the other night. In the car on our way to The Dodo she said "mom I'm feeling pretty hungry." I told her I would peel her a clementine and by the time I handed it back to her she was snoozing in her carseat. This is the result of dark, early nights mixed with naps only here and there. She is still my baby :)

Letter at 36 Weeks

2011-12-12T18:41:00.000-08:00

Dearest little baby in my womb (who doesn't actually feel very little anymore),

You are getting so close to arriving and I am thrilled about it! Now, do you think that you could decide to be born near the 18th of December (give or take a few days?) If you come too soon we will miss Caroline's little ballet performance this week and she would be so sad. But if you wait too long we could end up in the hospital over the very best holiday of the year—and we'd miss our family terribly. I just want you to know what would work best for everyone and then decide from there. Thank you wiggly baby—I know you will do your very best to make your mama happy :)

All my love,
Mommy

**After another appointment with the dr today I am now at a 4 (still 80% effaced). Oh what does it mean?! This kind of thing is my hubby's favorite—anticipating a big surprise coming at any time. It is, however, not exactly my favorite...

Projects

2011-12-08T20:15:00.001-08:00

We have had a crazy week with 3 busy and fairly late nights in a row. But tonight Joseph had to work late so the kids and I were on our own, early bird schedule—dinner at 5:00 pm, in the tub/shower by 6:00, scriptures and reading done by 7:00 and then a little replay of the Home Alone "traps" portion of the movie before the girls' bedtime (I think my kids have the order of all the pranks down pat by now...) Bentley stayed up later so we could work on spelling homework and then he helped me wrap a gift for Caroline. It is always a lot of work to wrangle my kids all by myself but I do love it when we can have an early and productive evening.

Getting essential projects done is my goal every day lately but I like to have just 2 or 3 things I will accomplish and then that's all I hold myself accountable to. Today it was getting our advent activity done (dyed pasta garlands which really just turned into making necklaces with a jingle bell on them), getting the kids' teacher gifts all ready to be delivered tomorrow, and wrapping the last of my kids' gifts to put under the tree. Beans and Cares have been super wrapping helpers for cousin gifts, grandparent gifts, and things for each other so we have gotten a few wrapped and ready each day. I love to see the tree fill up with lovely packages for all our family.

Holiday handsoap from Bath and Body Works for the teachers.

Can you see how Cares wrote "We "wash" you a Merry Christmas" on the card she made her teacher? Totally cheesy, yes. But such a practical gift that should get a lot of use

(and smell very cheery and bright)

Tomorrow I need to figure out the whole infant carseat thing: mine is in great condition after 3 kids but it is now more than 7 years old and sadly past its expiration date. I hate to spend money on something I already have and keep asking myself if I really need to get a new one. Articles like these seem to convince me that I do. Hmmmm, major debate going on in my head...do I need to get a new one?

And I am going to finish up this cute project I have been working on the past few days (directions and photo from this blog):

PJs and Centimeters

2011-12-05T20:07:00.001-08:00

I'm writing this post so much later than I anticipated tonight as we had the kids' elementary singing program this evening. It was kind of a total nightmare to be honest—started 20 minutes late, was way too overcrowded and deathly hot, the acoustics were pretty bad and the kids sang for all of 15 minutes (2 songs by each grade K-2). Last year it seemed to run smoothly and was quick and easy so I don't know why they decided to change things up. Oh well—my kids were darling when they sang and even cuter whenever they waved to us from their little seats in the stands. As a parent I could never miss something like that simply because my children just get soooo excited to see Joseph and me there, cheering them on. Makes me heart happy to know they care so much.

And now, the debut of the kiddos' Christmas PJs:

I love the idea of special Christmas pajamas but can never make myself wait until Christmas Eve to give them to my kids—it's too fun to see them in their PJs as part of the anticipation of Christmas. Plus, we definitely needed some more non-summer jammies that actually fit my long, long kids. (I sewed the pants but the t's are from Target—cheap and easy).

And of course a silly-faced shot—wouldn't be my kids if we didn't fit in the crazy,

"do whatever you want" pic...

Now, in centimeter news, I seem to have already dilated to 3 of them (and am 80% effaced). Baby's head is also down and he's in prime position to come when he pleases. At 35 weeks the 3 cm do surprise me—but then again, I slowly and surely dilated with both Cares and Livs so I can't be too stunned. This baby really could arrive any day...hopefully he'll cook for at least another week but I realize I am not in charge of such things and my body will just do what it's going to do. Exciting though! Although pelvic exams really are not fun...ouch.

Advent Begins

2011-12-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Day 1: Making paper chains

Day 2: Watching Home Alone

Day 3: Hunting for elves at Gardner Village

We had a lovely mish-mash of family join us including my parents and Maddie (after they'd had Cares and MJ for a sleepover last night) and Mary and her 2 kiddos. It was pretty cold there this morning but I love anything that gets my kids outdoors and running around!

Coming up this week:
Day 4: Making sugar cookies
Day 5: Elementary school Music Program (Beans and Cares are singing)
Day 6: Swimming at the rec center
Day 7: Journey to Bethlehem (at my parents' ward)
Day 8: Making dyed pasta garlands

I haven't planned out the whole month like I usually do because 1) things always end up shifting around as unplanned events come up and 2) there could be a baby mixed in this time around and I'll definitely need to rework things if so. For now, we are taking things a week (or even a few days) at a time.

Festival of Trees

2011-11-30T19:35:00.001-08:00

I think we got a head start on advent activities this year by heading to the Festival of Trees this evening. I am usually hangin' with the YW on Wednesday nights but 2 of them were performing at the festival tonight—made sense to me to go support them and see them dance. I figured my kids would get bored after a few numbers and want to go look at more trees with Joseph while I stayed and watched more dancing. Oh no, my kids loved watching the dancers—the music was all very cheesy and Christmasy, the costumes bright and showy and the girls all dolled up—what's not to love, right? Plus, my cute YW are both cloggers and their pieces were really fun and upbeat.

Loving the belly at 34 weeks (or at least that's what I tell myself as a daily mantra...)

After almost 30 minutes, I dragged my kids away and onto some fun activities before heading home. There was nail painting, fishing for treats, and ornament making.

And of course the sharing of lollipops between sisters.

Sweet Sleeper

2011-11-29T07:29:00.001-08:00

Transitioning out of a daily nap is not easy:

I think she's just too cute when she's out like that. Luckily Livs thrives on a 15 minute snooze and wakes up happy and bright. I think we are quite alike in that way :)

Decorating Weekend

2011-11-27T19:42:00.001-08:00

All is decorated and ready for our beloved Christmas holiday! Each year I am more and more grateful for my darling little helpers. They get so excited over every new thing we pull out and then get right to work finding a home for each ornament or stocking or Nutcracker. We worked most of the day Friday once we were home from the cabin and got so much done. Cares happily (and carefully) set up our lovely pewter nativity set and Bentley helped carry tupperwares full of decor up from the storage room for me—hooray!

Sweet Livs helped a lot with the tree after reading each and every Christmas book (hair in her eyes and all :)

Yesterday Joseph worked on yard/garden/lawn furniture clean-up while I sewed Christmas PJ's for the kids. We also met up with Ruth Ann and Neil for dinner, and then made a family run to Target. Once the kids were snuggled up in bed, I hit the movie theater with my mom, big sis and 2 sisters-in-law to see the new Twilight movie. Afterwards we realized that low expectations are the key to a great movie! But just getting out for a bit and hanging with the girls was quite refreshing too.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T20:09:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving at the cabin with my family this year and had an amazing day. Our feast was perfect in every way and the company was too. I managed to grab some pics here and there but not always on my own camera--oops! My mom and sis and I have the same camera so it makes sense that I grabbed the wrong one...no?

Stacey, Livs and Mason watching Cars 2 before our big meal

The day was so mild yesterday, even up the canyon. We didn't pack "real" snow clothes for the kids knowing there wasn't much up at the cabin yet, but of course the big boys wanted to play with the snowball maker and get outside for a bit after our feast, so all the little kids wanted to join in on their fun.

Bentley, Ethan and Will stayed outside with Joseph long after the littler ones had gotten too wet or too cold or fallen on the slippery ice. They found some hammers and shovels and went to work removing the icy layer that had formed on the driveway. 2 hours later they came inside feeling so proud of their work and worn out from all the manual labor.

I have to say that I am so grateful for these boys in my Bentley's life. They are the closest thing he will ever have to big brothers and they love him and play with him so well. He is in boy heaven when we get to hang with Horsley cousins!

We all spent the night at the cabin last night eating pie and more pie, playing some very tricky Trivial Pursuit (for Joseph and me anyway—Japan no Tonga, Italy no Greece...) and messing around with Tye's new iPhone. We made the silly choice of introducing him to the Talking Carl app at like 11:00 pm last night. Let me just say that Carl is absolutely hilarious at that time of night—we were laughing so hard at all his responses that I thought I might go into labor and pee my pants all at the same time! Oh it was good fun—crazy hard to laugh that hard with like 1% of my ab strength left—but such fun...the tears were just streaming down my face. Good times :)

I am grateful for so many things in my life, one of them being this blog where I aim to regularly capture my most beloved people, memories and places. I do feel extremely grateful to have so very much, but truly feel most blessed because of my husband and gorgeous, snuggly children, my parents and siblings and their darling growing families, all of my amazing in-laws, and my faith, my Savior and the peace His Gospel brings to my life. These are my richest blessings and I will forever be indebted to the Lord for them.

Boring

2011-11-22T18:46:00.001-08:00

I have been a boring blogger of late. No new pictures to share, nothing too fancy going on to document, just life carrying on as always. I did see my OB today and guess who is getting a pelvic exam in 2 weeks? Lucky (?) me, but I do look forward to knowing if this baby is getting ready to arrive or wanting to stay put—I love knowing that kind of thing and whether I should really be getting ready or relaxing about it all for now.

The kids are off of school for the next 3 days which will be a nice change in routine and break from rushed mornings. I am always up by 7:45 am to make Bentley's lunch and send him out the door with Joseph by 8:00. I get all sorts of things done before 9:00 (today I peeled and chopped veggies to start with a crock pot beef roast) but after that I feel so sleepy again. That's when it's time for a "Dora nap" while the girls are enamored by a show. Needless to say we usually start the day quite slowly around here.

In other news Olivia is mostly done with afternoon naps. It's not that she won't take them, but that when she does, her bedtime gets thrown way off. I cannot get her to sleep before 9:00 pm and then I feel like my evening is cut so short. I like my kids in bed early. So, many days of the week we are now skipping out on naps and hanging out together. Olivia is the sweetest of companions when the 2 of us are alone together—we have lovely outings to the mall, Costco, the grocery store, the dr's office and the school. I suddenly feel like I have a lot of freedom when we can head out during the afternoon—and often times a moody toddler come 5:00 pm too :) But I love it when Livs goes to sleep easily and sleeps for 12 straight hours at night. It makes me think that the change is worth it.

Night Swimming

2011-11-18T07:41:00.001-08:00

This is an activity we have to schedule more regularly these days. My kids come home from school literally bouncing off the walls. I have sent them out for bike rides, and playing on the slide in the backyard, and even make them walk a portion of the way home from school after carpool pick-up, but they are still crazy!

Love our local pool and that swimming can get millions of wiggles out in less than an hour. And then Joseph and I help the kiddos shower, wash their hair and get all dressed for bed before heading home.

Thankful Turkeys

2011-11-15T07:18:00.001-08:00

These are becoming one of my favorite family home evenings for November. My children love to color and all sat around the table for a good 30 minutes working away on their turkeys. I loved just sitting with them and helping Cares spell, watching Livs work so intently, and listening to Bentley brainstorm unique ideas for his feathers. He came up with cousins, the temple, colors, waterfalls and planets (and then refused to make anything but this overdone face for pics):

Cares wrote the names of each of our family members on her feathers and Olivia chose family, gray kitty, nursery, cousins and prayers.

Joseph whipped up a little art of his own (not to mention he drew the turkey outline in the first place):

The "Linus" illustration of Livs kills me—I love it. My hubby is so fun to have around :)

Girls' Room

2011-11-13T14:53:00.001-08:00

The girls are now sharing a room. Livs got so excited to sleep in a big girl bed last night so we went ahead and made the swap. My little ladies may have stayed awake for almost an hour past bedtime giggling and chatting, but I think the excitement of it all made them extra giddy...but we shall see, no?

the finished closet thanks to IKEA, Target and The Home Depot.

Now the girls' clothes are split between the closet and big white dresser in the top pic. And we even have a few leftover drawers for linens and out of season clothing.

Now the nursery needs some organization. And then a fresh, new baby.

11-11-11

2011-11-11T07:21:00.001-08:00

Today deserves a post simply for the date! I have always been a fan of numeric order in everyday life—my favorite time on the clock is 12:34. How I wish I could have had a baby today—but it just wasn't in the stars for me to get pregnant any sooner than I did so I will happily take my little winter baby instead.

1) I just ordered 2 of the 3 year-end books I make for my kids. Digital photo books are truly the only way to go these days. And my kids love them so it's definitely worth the effort.

2) We took the kids to the rec center for a swim last night but our fun was short-lived. After about 40 mins they shut it down due to poop in the pool. Boo (and gross).

3) The girls' closet is in full reorganization mode. We started working on it last Saturday and if we can get Joseph to install the new, lower hanging bar tomorrow, it will be complete.

4) I bought Dreft at Target yesterday so I can start washing up baby clothes and getting them organized in Olivia's now empty dresser. Love projects like that!

5) I am teaching the YW about preparing for change on Sunday and how to handle it, for good or bad, when it inevitably comes. I think this comes with age and growing up but I used to dread change. Now, I feel like I need it in my life, as complicated and hard as it can be, so that I can grow and stretch in new ways and change into the person I am supposed to become.

Leaf Peeps

2011-11-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Olivia's Leaf Girl

Bentley's colorful Leaf Man

Caroline's Leaf Lady

Yes, we were over at my parents' house this evening. My doctor's appointment was just before 4:00 pm today—now that I see him every 2 weeks it's getting so hard to schedule more convenient appointment times...Anyway, my sweet mom met me at the hospital, loaded the kids into her car and took them to her house. The kids informed her that we were making Leaf Men for FHE tonight so she happily stopped along the way home and helped them gather up beautiful "supplies" for our night. This may be the last week of the year to squeeze this kind of project in so we were glad to make it work (and to have grandma's help and creativity!)

Snow

2011-11-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

First snow of the season

and these 3 enjoyed it all morning yesterday.

My baby girl had a ball out there learning to build mountains and make snow angels and eat freshly fallen snow bites. She is getting to be such a fun playmate (and not so much a baby at all anymore).

Care enjoying a blissful moment

A Few Things

2011-11-04T19:52:00.001-07:00

Baked 125 cookies for Young Women in excellence on Wednesday night

Parent teacher conferences=no school today and lots of fun playtime and creativity

(also means Joseph and I got to hear a lot of great things about our kiddos from their teachers during conferences, and that certainly makes us happy parents)

We hit IKEA this evening and look who we found? Yes, cozy sharks, but also cousin Tillie there with her family. Sadly, the kids' playplace was too full for the little ones to get in...I swear we have horrible luck with our timing on that but we will keep trying. Joseph opted for pushing these guys around on the flat, furniture carts in the deserted warehouse aisles at full speed and they were laughing and squealing like crazy.

30 Weeks

2011-11-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

30 Weeks

love this little graphic from similac

At the beginning of this pregnancy I felt like these last weeks were an eternity away. And yet, the days kept passing, one by one, family vacations came and went, big events kept occurring and suddenly, I find myself in my 3rd trimester. Blessedly, in my 3rd trimester I might add. While I am in no way prepared for an actual baby in my house just yet, I am feeling really pregnant and really ready for this long, long process to come to an end.

This is the first pregnancy where I haven't signed up for regular emails about baby's growth and health while inside of me. So if I am feeling curious, I check-out baby websites to see where things are. It's funny to me how focused I was on any and all information I could get while pregnant with Bentley and now, I think I am just too involved and too immersed in actually being a mom and taking care of my family to even think about how the new fingernails or brain folds are forming in my womb. But it is all still quite miraculous. I find myself catching my breath when I truly think about all I am doing for this tiny one each day.

I just sang Whenever I Hear the Song of a Bird to Livs before her nap today. She was snuggled up on my shoulder and I was playing with her hair (as I always do) as I sang to her. My heart felt so happy singing about the Lord's creations while beholding His most beautiful creation of all. I am honored and so grateful to be a part of His plan as a mother. And I wonder how many more weeks will pass before I meet my newest creation...

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2011—my trio of costumed cuties

The LeBaron family held a party at Nanny and Grandpa's last night. I wasn't feeling too festive and opted out of the costume part of things--but then I could take lots of group pictures!

These LeBaron cousins are all very close in age and totally hyper together, but they truly have tons of fun. At one point last night they were all outside on Nanny's swingset, playing in their costumes and cute Porter, swinging on his belly as the super hero he was, slid right off his swing and face-planted on the hard ground. He was rather swollen and bloody for the rest of the night but pulled it together for some donut-on-a-string fun:

We also spent the night creating a bunch of delicious homemade pizzas while Joseph helped the kids decorate caramel apples. He also worked hard on both Saturday and Sunday to bring these beauties to the party:

Jell-O worms

my hubby is a sucker for these kind of gross treats

Today the kids wore costumes to school and had parades through all the classrooms. Bentley's parade (with the whole elementary) was really early this morning, before Cares had even woken up, so I had to miss out on seeing him. I feel bad about not being there, but I don't think he cared much about it (I hope). I did make Livs skip naptime so we could at least be at the school for Caroline's PM Kindergarten parade. It was over in all of 2 seconds but then we grabbed the kids a bit early and avoided the end of school rush.

And then it was a crazy afternoon with 3 wild kids who were dying to just get out and trick-or-treat already. It's always nice to kill some time with an evening photo shoot before they let loose. Joseph took all 3 kids for about 30 mins and then Olivia was chilled and happy to come inside and help me hand out treats.

sweet Tiana and her frog prince

daring, darling Hermione

Bentley the bat caught in flight

All are now slumbering away and I'm certain I will follow shortly. Goodbye October!

Carving

2011-10-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

We spent our Saturday carving pumpkins and watching The Princess Bride with Beans and Cares (who have never seen it). They adored it, although Cares told me she almost peed her pants when the Count set the machine to 50 to torture poor Wesley :)

Caroline's Ariel jack-o-lantern

Bentley's classic scary-faced jack.

Joseph helped him trace and then Beans carved the whole thing by himself--how did he get so old?

And a picture from our snuggly Friday night watching a little BYU football before bed

Back to Gardner

2011-10-29T08:01:00.001-07:00

We took the day off from school on Thursday so we could play at Gardner Village. My kids hadn't missed any days of school yet so it was fun to take a break and just enjoy a day with cousins (who are off-track) and Grandma Bobbi.

Have I mentioned that this cool, fall weather feels absolutely amazing? I loved being outside at Gardner and definitely needing a sweater but still feeling warmed by the sunshine. So pleasant and beautiful...

Writing the Everyday

2011-10-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
― Sylvia Plath

I borrowed this quote from a CJane post the other day. It spoke to me right when I read it and made me feel like my blog may have more merit than I think, even if it is simply a record of my day to day. It also gave me the desire to take a little more time on the things I write--to add that spark of creativity when I post actual writing (and not just an onslaught of photos). One of the reasons I read CJane's blog is because she captures the everyday so well with her unique yet natural writing style. Nothing is trite, overdone or too colloquial and I appreciate how she weaves a brief yet interesting story. I am sure I haven't honed my own style quite yet (or at least one that I am keen on) but it is a goal for sometime in this life of mine.

And with that, images of our everyday around here--not that we make caramel apples everyday...but we should! They are so much tastier that way. I have only ever had one truly divine caramel apple and it was from V Chocolates.

the little lady we lovingly refer to as "Justice Beaver" in pics like this

(random joke from an episode of The Office last season--basically her swooped over hair just makes us laugh. And she really won't let me do anything else. Hopefully one day she'll decide she likes it in clips and ponies and braids, and I will be a very pleased Mommy).

Pumpkins

2011-10-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

Some years the pumpkin patch sounds so inviting. And some years it just sounds like a big ordeal (that would be this year). So, last night we popped down the road to a little pumpkin stand to choose out some favorites. Funny thing, my kids hardly noticed the difference, and we were home again within 20 minutes.

Our raggity family pic makes me laugh--

poor stand owner could not get a non-blurry pic after 7 tries...

Last Year

2011-10-25T07:31:00.001-07:00

A year ago we were enjoying a crisp fall day in Chicago (at the Brookfield Zoo) with some of our favorite people. Family vacations are the best...

And Now We're Home

2011-10-24T08:16:00.001-07:00

Our weekend flew by too quickly. It's suddenly Monday morning and I'm back to making Bean's lunch and rushing him out the door. And sadly, my only 2 pics from SG consist of kids on golf cart rides--I was not a very good photographer. But then again, when I had all 6 kids at the pool I was the only adult with them--doesn't make for any picture taking but lots of careful watching!

Our break was such fun. The kids swam every day and played with all the SG toys (and each other) for hours on end, Joseph and my parents fit in some biking, I fit in a mani/pedi all by myself (ahhh), and we all went for a quick Target trip on Saturday evening. Somehow, I managed to never put on a swimsuit the whole weekend even though the weather was amazing. In my pregnant state I am not too sad about it although it would have been nice to sneak in some end of season sun :)

Now it's back to schedules and school events and church callings. And I don't think I'll be heading anywhere besides the cabin until the new babe arrives--that's a crazy thought!

Afternoon in Zion

2011-10-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

We are in St George for fall break (with most of Salt Lake valley :) and enjoying lazy mornings and lots of sunshine and outdoor play. We even stole the older Horsley cousins away and brought them with us. Makes for a lot of laughter and busy cousin time which my kids are enjoying immensely.

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, we drove over to Zion for a fun hike and dinner in Springdale. It was still surprisingly busy at the park (for October) but as gorgeous as ever.

Despite being less than prepared on our actual hike (battery was dead in my camera, we ditched the sweatshirts as we dashed to catch the shuttle up the canyon, I stuffed way too much in my pockets--made me look so odd on every picture...) we had a lovely time walking along the river and enjoying the beautiful scenery. While playing along the riverbed we happened upon a huge tarantula. Freakiest thing ever. Joseph asked me later how I didn't fall apart screaming and crying (which I really wanted to do) and I told him I was a mom and couldn't risk being a mess so the kids would feel safe. I am one tough mama, no? :) And we do have pics of the spider but they gross me out and I don't know if I can post them...

My hubby flew down to join us yesterday
which I am thrilled about. I think the ratio of 4 parents to 6 kids feels just about right :)

Bentley thoroughly enjoying his BBQ rib dinner at Oscar's (he split a full-rack with me--yummy). BTW--what are your thoughts on the name Oscar for baby boy? I most likely won't use it since I already have an Olivia, but I am thinking it's a cute little name.

To Be a Disciple

2011-10-18T19:25:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out the Sunday bag and found some notes from Joseph's sunday school lesson a few weeks back. He brought in some great quotes from both Elder Oaks and Elder Bednar about being truly converted and not just going through the motions as a latter-day saint. Just wanted to remember these fine words from Elder Bednar—I think they truly capture what it means to be a disciple of Christ:

"In our customary Church vocabulary we often speak of going to church, going to the temple, and going on a mission. Let me be so bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going misses the mark.

The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit , the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord's house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all our heart, might, mind and strength..."

Spooky Smiths

2011-10-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

Costumes, cookie decorating, a pinata and a haywagon ride, mummy hotdogs and spider jell-o, a pumpkin cake, skeleton cupcakes, Cougar football on TV, and happy playing kids all made for a spooktacular party yesterday!

I opted for a Kimono rather a muumuu. But either way, a perfectly comfy costume for this pregnant body of mine

Olivia as Tiana and Connor as Buzz Lightyear

(the little lady was not ready to change into costume until she decided so--meant that her pictures came a little later last night...)

Bentley the bat (Livs hated Beans in his costume--thought he was too scary :)

Cares as Hermione

Maddie the beautiful leopard

Brigg as a spider and Cec as his web--loved their cute costumes!

All ready for a haywagon (trailer filled with haybales) ride

Ethan came to the party once his basketball game was done...

Bentley chose out Joseph's costume--no surprise there

Organized Olivia

2011-10-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

My tiny girl has decided that she likes things very orderly and usually all lined up in certain ways. Lately it has been her stash of puzzles and Russian stacking dolls she likes to work on aligning just so. I think it's very sweet and tidy but my family certainly has some compulsive blood in it...must have found its way to Livs:

Cares couldn't resist popping in for a pose with little sis...

Slow Week

2011-10-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

I feel like it has been a slow week but then again, a slow week in our busy lives is a rather relative word. Maybe it has been slow because I fit in an afternoon nap on both Monday and Tuesday--napping in a house that is perfectly quiet is such an indulgence in my life and it's hard to pass up when the big kids are schooling and Livs is snoozing too...

But we are full to the brim with daily homework, swimming lessons 3 days this week, a special Kindergarten night up at the school tonight, party-planning, carpooling, YW, costume making and meal prep. Not really so slow after all.

Yesterday I decided not to nap and instead did research on some Christmas gifts I am hoping to make and give this year. I found myself completely sucked into the worlds of Pinterest and Etsy for over an hour. My head was spinning with ideas and plans and images at the end of it all but it was great fun and so motivating. I didn't realize I would feel so inspired to better meal plan, organize my house one space at a time, AND create some darling homemade gifts. Who knows if this will really happen but get me to IKEA already--I have closets to arrange and projects to get working on!

Our weekend is shaping up to be a whirlwind--which I actually kind of love this time of year. Today my sister and I were stuffing a pinata for our Smith Halloween party coming up on Saturday (remember here and here). Should be a great event except that I haven't made any costume plans for myself. Could I just wear a muumuu and call it a day?

Love this photo from Gardner the other night...

Gardner Village

2011-10-10T19:49:00.001-07:00

A fall classic for family home evening:

Football Date

2011-10-09T15:06:00.001-07:00

Last night the hubby and I met my parents first at Los Hermanos for a delicious dinner, and then at the BYU football game--perfect date night plans in my book (especially with the delicious fall weather we've been having). Funny how me and my big, round belly ended up in every pic--I should have been taking some!

Randoms

2011-10-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

--I am down to double digits left in this pregnancy--hallelujah!

--Both of my big kids loaded on buses today for fun field trips: Cares to Discovery Gateway and Bentley to This is the Place Heritage Park.

--My sweet mother-in-law called Joseph last Thursday and offered to babysit for an anniversary date that night since she was busy later in the weekend but wanted us to have a special night out anyway. It's easy to take up an offer like that so we celebrated by eating pizza benders at Italian Village and finally seeing the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie at the dollar movies. Any date night away from normal life is a good one.

--Christmas shopping is in full force around here as we may be distracted with other things come December...and I like to be on top of stuff anyway (although this is still pretty early for me). Luckily, I still have 3 little children who are easy to please and love very budget friendly gifts. Another year without a Wii or Xbox Kinect is a happy thing in my world--don't know how long we'll last though.

--My hubby made his very own "to do list" for October and asked me what I needed to add to it...I am still a little speechless over that...but thrilled!

--We have been eating pears from a local orchard and we are cruising through them (actually, how local is that orchard Cec?) Anyway, they are juicy and soft and delicious. How many can I eat in one day without, shall we say "digestive" side-effects?

--Cold weather is finally coming--yes, please. Today another pregnant mom and I walked into the cold dairy room at Costco to grab some milk. Livs shuddered, I sighed with relief and the other mom said to me "doesn't it feel so good in here?" Too true!

October

2011-10-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

I adore this month: celebrating my marriage, enjoying the gorgeous fall colors all around, and settling in for so many words of hope, of love and truth during General Conference. We had an amazing weekend enjoying it all.

We started our Saturday in Park City for an Apline Slide adventure. Some views from the lift:

My tiny girl--not quite sure what she was in for, but happy to snuggle her daddy

Big kids riding up with Grandma and Grandpa

All ready to ride. I am still amazed that Bentley ended up going all by himself, while Joseph hopped on behind Cares. See that smile/look of concern on her face? She honestly thought we might just push her down all on her own. But of course she ended up loving the ride with all her heart.

The whole crew back at the bottom. Livs and I rode together and she clung to my arms for dear life. When we got to the last stretch and we saw the kids she finally spoke and said "we made it!" She is such a good sport.

Then it was on to the cabin...so glorious up there!

An afternoon stroll between sessions yesterday:

I finally feel like I got to watch and listen to all 4 sessions of conference this year without much interruption from my kiddos. They have arrived at such lovely ages :) But being at the cabin helped immensely. They played beautifully with all the fun puzzles, colored and did art with fun Halloween stickers, ran upstairs and disappeared playing with little critters and on the bunk beds, ran downstairs and played Playmobile, bounced on the old rodeo horse and enjoyed the novelty of the massage chair.

I am so grateful for the messages shared this weekend, for Elder Anderson reminding me how precious and powerful my role as a mother is, for President Monson and his endearing personality and timeless stories, for Elder Packer reminding the youth how to be safe and pure and to heed the warnings they've been promised, for Sister Dalton and her loving instructions for fathers of daughters (I felt especially lucky to reach over and find my own dad and hug him tightly after such a tender talk). It was, as always, filling to my soul.

12 Years

2011-10-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about marriage so much lately with my own anniversary looming, 2 back to back lessons I taught the YW about dating and marriage decisions, a wedding to attend last weekend, and talking with my darling brother-in-law who has been in town and pondering marriage himself.

And all of these experiences, lessons, and discussions have only made me feel so lucky, so content and so very grateful that I married my Joseph. It truly came down to fasting and praying together and feeling so much peace and joy that I thought my heart might overflow. I felt so young and like we had all the time in the world to figure things out--why rush into marriage? But I knew I loved him; loved him for his genuine goodness, his solid testimony and the ways he faithfully honored his priesthood, his love for his family, his creativity, his work ethic and career goals, his unbelievable singing voice and the songs he wrote and sang for me, his long tall frame and darling curls, and the love he showed me.

And on top of all that he made me incredibly happy. We laughed together all the time (as our wedding pictures document well :) and just got each other so well. I was always smiling when I was with him and that kind of joy seems like a rare find. How could I not marry this man?

Joseph continues to be all that I ever needed and now that we have our sweet children in our family I have realized even more so how perfect of a partner he is for me. After 12 years we are still completely in love. Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

Swimmer

2011-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Bentley began a session of swim lessons this evening (never mind that we were supposed to do those over the summer...) I am hoping to sign him up for swim team but he has to pass off certain skills before he can join this coming summer. Tonight--working on his dive...he may have some practicing ahead...

Kids are so cool and totally resilient. His "dive" didn't even phase him..phew!

Sundance FHE

2011-09-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

How we love the mountains this time of year! Tonight was the perfect night for a LeBaron gathering at the Sundance cabin. It was gorgeous and crisp and wonderful up there. Thank you fall.

The Past Few

2011-09-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Life has seemed to run away from me the past few days. And when I settle down in the evening after all are in bed I am too tired to do much more than just sit on the couch with my feet up, and maybe catch a show or 2. Who knew such a simple thing could feel like such a luxury?

Joseph was filming his cousin's wedding both Thursday and Friday nights so I was on my own with the kids. We had fun, eating dinner super early, dropping by the library, reading all together before helping each kid find their way to bed. I did join Joseph at the wedding reception on Friday from about 4 until 7 and it was fun to steal a behind the scenes peek at everything. Catherine (the newlywed cousin) and Preston had the most gorgeous reception basically down the street from my parents' house--I never even knew the lovely yard and home existed there. I thought the whole event could have been straight out of an Anthropologie catalog with all the vintage details accompanied by both classic and quirky aspects. I would have taken some great pics but Joseph was filming with our Nikon and we only ended up with a few still shots:

A still shot from video at the temple--had to capture Catherine's gorgeous dress...

On Saturday Joseph took Beans and Cares to fulfill a cleaning assignment at the church and then we hit some stores looking for Halloween costumes and inspiration for the kids. Bentley's plan is the trickiest because he wants to be a bat--not Batman, just a straight-up bat with wings that attach from his arms to his waist (I know this because he has specifically described what the wings should look like to me many times). We ended up with a black hoodie from Wal-Mart and the idea to create his costume from an old umbrella. I am pretty sure I am leaving that job up to Joseph who has an incredible eye for making such things.

Today the big kids had their Primary Program at church and were thrilled to share their memorized parts and sing with gusto. They love those sweet songs and I do too. While the hubby and I were making lunch right after church today the kids were upstairs playing and cute Bentley, in his high little boy voice, was singing "and if I listen with my heart I hear the Savior's voice." Happy music in my home :)

Livs allowed me to french braid her hair last night to match Caroline's...and she left the braids in for all of 10 minutes. She looked so grown-up with her hair all done (minus the binkie :)

Cares thought this giant zucchini from the Horsley's was hilarious, and also quite cuddly.

Mini-golf

2011-09-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight we simply needed to play. Plus, the kids came home from school, found the basket of Halloween books I'd just gotten out of storage, and read together for a solid 20 minutes. No easier way to get reading minutes done for the day!

I just adore these two kiddos. They walk out of school holding hands every day and come find me in the carpool line so we can head home. One day Bentley will be too cool for that but I am not about to mention anything because I think it is just so sweet. They love each other. Makes me smile to see them hand in hand every single day. Simple pleasures for this mommy for sure.

Service Day

2011-09-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our stake participated in a big day of service on Saturday working along the Jordan River Walkway. Joseph and Bentley headed out early in the morning to go weed and reseed in their designated area (right near Raging Waters). And they worked hard for nearly 3 hours. I was so proud of Bentley for being totally willing to go serve even though the stake requested volunteers ages 8 and up. He knew he was right on the cusp and could handle weeding with his dad since he's done it many times before in our own yard.

Joseph told me that a bunch of kids living in apartments overlooking the walkway saw all the volunteers working and ran out to see if they could come help and work too. I loved that--what cool kids! Luckily, Joseph just happened to have a package of a dozen extra sets of gloves and he gave those to the local kids so they could join in (a big part of the project was pulling up goat head weeds and they tend to be quite prickly).

My boys also happened to stop at the gas station on their way to the site to grab some treats and snacks. When Bentley needed a break from weeding Joseph sent him down the walkway with a big bag of Jolly Ranchers to share with all the other workers. Our neighbor told us that Bentley came up to him with his bag of candy and said "Russ, I have 2 questions for you. 1st, do you want a Jolly Rancher? And 2nd, have you ever been to Raging Waters? It is the coolest place!" Oh my social little boy, love him.

The girls and I stayed home and cleaned the toy room, washed bedding, and made peanut butter kiss cookies to share with neighbors who had been participating in the day of service. It was a busy morning but we were glad to get so much accomplished.

Thoughts Today and Last Year

2011-09-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

--The air tonight is intoxicating. An incredible rainstorm brought along crispy cool temps and we are safely below 60 degrees. Love, love.

--Joseph is at a wedding shower for a darling young cousin of his and since we have wedding festivities for her next week, I opted to stay home with the kids and save ourselves a babysitter. But now that everyone is finally in bed I am worn right out. That bedtime gig with 3 kids who all need me at once is a killer. I am so lucky those kidlets have a great father who shares that task with me every night. Somedays I think that's all I ever needed in the man of my dreams...

--I picked up a few new things at Old Navy today for myself. I am determined not to invest in anymore maternity clothes but still needed some basics that will fit nicely over this belly of mine. I even needed a plain white t-shirt of all things because the lone maternity one I put on today just does not work anymore. It is 7 years old though--it's paid its due.

--I was honestly unprepared for how hard a 4th pregnancy would be (and maybe it's just me). The first 3 were awful in the beginning and then actually quite awesome right until the end. That is simply not the case this time around. I felt sick for waaaay longer, feel huge already, have so little energy, feel pains and throbbing where a girl should never hurt, and take on too much for my exhausted body. My state has mostly convinced me to never, ever do this to myself again. That and the fact that 3 kids already push my limits--I hope I am ready for 4!

Some pictures from September 2010. I love Caroline's short hair and the pics she took of me. I do miss the version of me I see sitting there, but take great satisfaction in the cycles of change and adjustment and growth that are happening and will continue to happen in my life--physically and in other areas too. A huge reason why I blog is to capture my life and my family in all our different modes and ages so that as we grow and change we have plenty of pieces to look back on and cherish.

FHE

2011-09-14T07:40:00.000-07:00

This week we opted for a lively game of Halloween memory during Family Home Evening:

I made the game from an idea I recently saw in a magazine (can't remember which one it was: Better Homes and Gardens? Redbook? Something like that.)The picture isn't great but there are 8 matching images all on 8x8 squares. It was a big hit and the kids have been playing it after school the past few days. I think we are all getting excited that fall is right on our heels.

A few weeks ago we used The Friend to help us learn about keeping our bodies clean and pure and then we followed a little maze/game to test what we had learned. Another FHE success.

Last year I started planning out 4 weeks worth of FHEs and adding them to our family's Cozi calendar. It took about 10 minutes of planning each month to save us any worry about what we'd do on Monday night. During the summer I hardly calendared at all but now I am getting back in the groove and so enjoy the order it brings to our lives. I am kind of a scheduling nerd like that :)

Uniform 101

2011-09-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

My little sis was wondering about Caroline's girl uniform options so we have been documenting a few of them. Even though the dress code at school is pretty basic, it has been fun to buy some dresses and skirts rather than just shorts and pants:

Cares has become the recent star of this blog! Where are my other kids? Here's a modeling shot of my sweet Olivia.

She has gone just over a week now without any accidents in her undies. And she has even run into the bathroom all on her own a few times and gone potty all by herself. I think she must be an answer to this pregnant mama's prayers! Her pull-up has been wet in the morning about 3 times since we started training but I think she will figure out the whole night thing as a little more time passes.

Ballerina Girl

2011-09-08T18:53:00.001-07:00

Caroline started ballet today! She is so cute in her full class uniform and we found a cool hair accessory to help us create a great bun.

hanging out at Cec's house after dance today

She is dancing over at UDA and she really loved her first class. I have been so hesitant to sign her up for classes because I just haven't seemed to find a place that fits all my studio requirements (yeah I am one of those parents). I blame it all on my experiences both as a dancer and a teacher. I grew up dancing in a strict and intense ballet studio over in Sugarhouse which had a lovely pre-ballet program for young dancers and a hardcore regimen for ages 8 and up which I have a lot of respect for--I think I learned invaluable technique dancing in that studio. And I loved that it was a ballet studio. Not a "jack of all trades" or competition studio but a place to become a ballerina and a skilled dancer. Those are almost impossible to find these days (and if I could drive forever for classes each week I would have Cares in the Ballet West Conservatory program in a heartbeat).

I have also been teaching for the University of Utah's Virginia Tanner classes the past 6 years and truly value their deliciously creative and very welcoming, encouraging dance environment. Of course Cares has danced with Tanner Dance before but she has been eager to wear ballet shoes and become a ballerina so I had to look outside that studio for a solid fit. I hope this little Kindergarten class will be a good place for Cares and will invite creative exploration, teach her some key ballet vocabulary without forcing any serious technique/turn-out on such a young body, and give her a good foundation for dancing again next year and adding on to what she has already learned. Maybe these are high expectations but they seem simple enough to me :) I know I should just be happy to have my girl dancing and using her beautiful little body to do something fun and healthy. But deep down I would love for her to embrace ballet the way I did in my youth and experience all the beauty of pointe shoes and tutus, recitals and performing, and working hard in the studio for strength and grace.

On another note, I made this ballet shoe bag for Caroline over the weekend:

Kindergarten Cares

2011-09-06T15:02:00.001-07:00

Does this darling girl look excited or what? She was awake and dressed by 9:00 am today and just counting down the hours until she could finally go to school.

Littlest sis truly loves these photo shoots (and copying Caroline's every move)

Livs loves her sister but she was all too happy to have me to herself this afternoon for stories and potty time. And then a completely quiet house during nap time. You better believe that I succumbed too and slept for almost an hour in my bed with no interruptions. Ahhh kindergarten, I knew I loved you.

And Caroline had an excellent day today, coming home with tons to share and friends to tell us about. She said kindergarten is the best and can't wait to go back tomorrow. Love my brave little lady and her enthusiasm--should be a great year.

In Other News

2011-09-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

While I seem to be focused solely on my babe and her toilet skills, life outside that bubble has really been so lovely this week.

On Monday, while Bentley was at school, the girls and I met up with Joseph for a little lunch date over in Draper. It felt so nice to just have two kids with us and the girlies thought it was so cool for Joseph to be out with all his girls at once.

Later in the week Joseph planned an evening outing at 7 Peaks. He took Cares and Bentley and cousins Maddie and Will shortly after school ended and they stayed until closing. The kids had a blast and loved the empty water park but more so the time they spent with cousins.

Cousin Tiago and his family met up with Joseph that night too. I love this little crew of kids finding their way to the next fun thing...

Today we decided to keep Livs home from church and perfect the potty thing for one more day (Joseph attended sacrament meeting with big kids and then he came home to take over while I went). Livs did so well today with no accidents and about 5 pees in the toilet. We decided to get out of the house all together for a bit after dinner and go for a family walk. We walked over to the church where Bentley could ride his bike far and free and the girls could explore all around. Joseph and I sat on the shady grass and watched the children play. I truly love times like that when all my kids are active and curious and can take great care of themselves and each other--it feels like such easy parenting :)

3 Days In

2011-09-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

How did I forget how exhausting this potty training process is? Patiently waiting, happily encouraging and praising, constantly playing/hanging out with my toddler and keeping a close watch, sitting on the bathroom floor or tub or makeshift chair; did I mention the patiently waiting?

Yesterday was a bummer--mostly because Livs just wasn't feeling the urge for most of the day. She had a little pee accident right when I finished my shower and so we went straight to the potty (excitedly of course) to finish up with a few drops in the toilet (in all my naked glory...I knew that shower was risky!) We rejoiced, earned a sticker and plugged ahead. And then she didn't go again for hours--even dry through her afternoon nap. Finally, after dinner, I knew she had to go pee and so I drew her a bath. As soon as she sat in that warm water she let it release and I popped her out and onto the toilet to finish. Another sticker, lots of love and praise. And that was it yesterday. No poop and no other pee--felt a little disheartening.

And then today came along, day 3, and the morning started out super slowly (beginning with a wet pull-up when she woke up but nothing after that). Finally, during lunch, Livs told me "I have some." I scooped her up and we went to the toilet for...nothing but a gas. We came back to eat and she told me again "I have some." So we went back to the toilet, waited for about 5 minutes and low and behold the lovely little thing pooped in the potty. Hurray! We came back to finish lunch when she told me once again she had some. And this time she really unloaded while we read about Tinkerbell and the other mini fairies she is earning with each poop. It was really exciting and in all honesty I was so relieved I didn't have to wash out poopie undies.

Finally, late in the afternoon she also figured out how to feel if she has pee-pee coming and she has gotten all her "stuff" in the toilet since lunchtime. Even this evening, after she was in bed for almost an hour she called out to me and told me she had peeps. We went to the bathroom and had to wait about 15 minutes before she peed. I even tried to put her back in bed after trying for a bit since she had such tired eyes and was rubbing her blankie under her nose. But she wanted to stay on the potty and keep at it until she did it.

I am just happy we are figuring this all out, but oh boy do we still have a long road ahead of us...

the bathroom in potty training mode--Livs is so funny and likes to trade between her tiny potty and the big one, so by all means we acquiesce.

Tiny panda is Livs' encouraging and snuggly potty pet. Right now panda hangs out solely in the bathroom to "help" when Olivia is sitting on the toilet. Once she has the potty thing down panda will be hers whenever and wherever she wants.

The Potty Training Begins

2011-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Today we're diving in. And just about 10 minutes ago Livs told me she had some poops, we dashed to the potty and sure enough, she pushed it right out and into the toilet. It could be a fluke thing but it has boosted my confidence in this treacherous process so we are plugging ahead. Plus, toddlers in underwear are about the cutest things ever:

**Day one's successes were minimal but at least we had some go in the potty. Here we go again...

2nd Grade

2011-08-29T14:59:00.001-07:00

He's getting so big! This year's first day was more routine for him than ever before and that made it pretty seamless. School starts at 8:05 this year which is rather early for all of us these days. Bentley's internal alarm clock adjusted to closer to 8 am this summer rather than 7 am on the dime (as it has been for the past 7 years). It will take some adjusting waking earlier these first few weeks, but we are certainly ready for school and schedules and friends and learning!

Littlest sis was awake and ready to bid Bentley farewell this morning. Now she can give hugs and kisses to her 2 favorite guys before they leave together.

Raging Waters

2011-08-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

The name has recently changed to Seven Peaks SLC but it's still the old Raging Waters it's always been. My little family had such a great time playing in the cold, cold water on this blazing hot day. Cute Bentley was even brave enough to try some big slides with Joseph. Livs and I took a quick break from the ever entertaining kiddie pool so we could watch Beans zoom down a steep slide on a yellow sled and race across the water--he was for sure the littlest kid trying it and he loved it (after a very nervous but daring first round :) Water parks are so fun! (and we used Groupon passes with Livs being free...loved that too).

Love our little "orphan baby" drying off in the warm, bright sunshine.

We had a lot planned for our Saturday:

And I'm pleased to say we got all of it done. I even added in cleaning the girls' carseats and covers (which dry beautifully in the hot summer air) and Joseph added in weeding and bush/plant trimming in the front yard after he mowed. Busy, perfect summer day.

Pool Day Fail

2011-08-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Last week of summer and finally a calm day to just play at the pool...but not so. We drove over to Draper to meet Joseph so we could lunch and swim with him when we discovered the pool is no longer open all afternoon but just in the evening. Boring. We drove to a park and played a bit instead (in swimsuits) but it was brutally hot out and my kids just wanted to get soaking wet. Solved that problem by driving all the way home and playing with the garden hose in the backyard. Even I needed a good head to toe soak with the freezing hose water and it felt so good.

Then the dark clouds rolled in with tons of thunder and lightning and eventually quite a rainstorm. Typical August weather around here.

We did however, succeed at making it to back to school night up at the elementary. It's fun to feel like we now run into many friendly faces and we know a lot of kids and parents from our ward, stake and now Bentley's 2 years of school. My kids were so funny and shy when they met their new teachers. I think it's cute, the mix of nerves and excitement surrounding the first few days of school. I am thrilled Beans' has a bestie, named Bruce, from both Kindergarten and 1st grade in his class again. And then he gets to make so many new friends! Cares doesn't know a soul in her class but she is amazing at meeting new kids and I am certain she will make a lovely transition when she finally starts Kindergarten (after Labor Day...)

Just a random note: I pulled some old books out of Cares' bookshelves the other day that I had as a kid and thought Bentley would like. He and Joseph just read Trouble for Trumpets and I had to steal some peeks at the wonderfully detailed illustrations in it. Such an odd story but I loved it as a kid.

20 Weeks

2011-08-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

Half-way done with this pregnancy and feeling like it. I feel large in the belly, a little more awkward as I sleep at night, and have even had some contractions when I've pushed myself too much in a day. I do, however, have much more energy for sorting, organizing and cleaning projects and even went for a morning walk with all my kiddos today--Bentley rode his bike alongside the double stroller with both my girls in it (Cares was feeling under the weather today--turns out she has a full-blown ear infection and was rightfully feeling quite awful).

Here's to 20 more weeks...although I suspect it will be more like 17 or 18 but we'll see :)

Park City Weekend

2011-08-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

To prolong birthday celebrations Joseph and I left our kids with his parents Friday evening, drove up to Park City and checked-in to a hotel right on the mountain, spoiled ourselves with an amazing dinner at Ruth's Chris steakhouse, shopped a little at the outlets, and came back to our room to watch The Tourist.

We slept in until 9 in the morning (heavenly), took our time eating breakfast and heading out (again to the outlets--this time armed with coupons we'd forgotten the night before) and ate a late brunch at Red Rock. Soon after, Nanny and Grandpa Neil met us at Kimball Junction where we gathered our kids back up and went back to our hotel. Our "hotel room" was really more of a big condo unit with 2 floors and 3 bedrooms which the kids immediately fell in love with. It was so nice to spread out and have plenty of room for all of us. We spent the afternoon at the hotel pool (Joe's sis and her fam joined us for a few hours of water playtime) and ate a yummy dinner at a lesser known Mexican joint in the Prospector Square area.

The kids were beat by 7 pm which was fine by us--we had ventured a whole 2 minute walk from our place to the Alpine Slides just as some random drops started falling and dark ominous clouds rolled in. They had shut down the lifts before we could even buy tickets so we promised the kids we'd ride the slides sometime this fall. Then it was early to bed and another movie night for Joseph and me (although I felt as beat as the kids!) Our girls suddenly came down with yucky coughs which picked up once they were sleeping and both of them woke up distressed several times during the night...made for quite a restless night but that seems to happen when we're away from home regardless.

We got home this afternoon after attending church at my sister's ward, put Livs in her crib for a nap, and then the rest of us snuggled up in our king bed and had a solid 90 minute snooze. With such big kids we barely fit but we were all asleep so quickly we hardly noticed. I love any chance we get to do that though (and they are sparse to say the least and who knows how many more we'll get)...felt so safe and snug with the whole house slumbering away and 4 of us sharing one bed...dreamy.

Thoughts Today

2011-08-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

--Baking zucchini bread with produce from my mom's garden. It smells heavenly (and is making me so hungry.) Thanks Mom!

--Baby boy is kicking like crazy as I type. I think the heat of my laptop excites his lively little soul.

--Fighting (bickering, teasing, disagreeing) between Bentley and Cares is at an all time high this week. We (I) am anxious for school to start back up--those 2 need time apart and some new adventures.

--Planning on swimming tomorrow with the kids even though the pool basically opens right at Livs' naptime. We will push that nap back for the sake of wearing out my kids' hyper summer bodies--for hours on end if needs be!

--Getting so excited to sort through baby boy things. Tricky timing between my 2 boys in that Bentley was born in May in Phoenix while our new one will most likely arrive on a snowy, cold winter day. At least those cuddly newborn nightgowns work in any season...love those.

Birthdays and Boys

2011-08-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

To my tiny baby boy,

Today your daddy and I discovered, quite clearly thanks to the shot above, that you are another sweet son ready to join our family this winter. Hooray! To be honest, I have thought you were a boy for quite some time but just figured it was wishful thinking. After 2 darling daughters I truly wanted another son and really wanted Bentley to have a brother. I am so thrilled for you to meet him and adopt him as a best friend and hero in your life.

Today is your amazing daddy's 34th birthday and I hoped an ultrasound on his special day would be a fun thing to look forward to. That daddy of yours was beaming with pride as we discovered so much about you today, even over your long legs, wiggling fingers and solid "boyness." If there is ever a man you can look to for love, advice, for laughter or an example of righteousness it's your daddy. He is so excited to be a father this 4th time over and he will love and adore you just as he does your siblings. I think you are so lucky to have him as your father and hope you'll become like him as you grow-up.

Keep growing and kicking and enjoying life inside me. I was so relieved to hear that all is well with you today and that the doctor had absolutely no concerns. I love knowing you are perfect and content inside me for now, but we are all getting excited to meet you down the road. I love you already even though I have yet to snuggle you in my arms. Be good and grow big!

I love you,
Your Mommy

A quick pic from our night out with Nanny and Grandpa.
I hope my hubby felt truly adored and spoiled today!

Our Weekend

2011-08-13T20:07:00.001-07:00

On Friday we babysat my nephew Connor while his mama was out of town. And by we I do mean all 3 of my kids and me--they each entertained him in his/her own way and it was very helpful. Here Livs and Connor explored Cares' Pet Vet kit:

This evening we met up with my parents and Heidi for dinner at Cafe Rio and a short hike in Little Cottonwood up to Lisa Falls:

I hate that my flash went off for this shot but the kids smiles were all pretty cute...

My big kids and Joseph ventured off way up the craggy side of the falls, leaving Livs and me to hang out down below

My baby showed me the art of tossing rocks into the river
My family finally returned to us, got soaked in the waterfall one last time and snuggled up next to their dry mommy:

Liberty Park

2011-08-10T14:07:00.001-07:00

More playtime before Heid and her kids head back home to MN. We met up at Liberty Park, first at the splash pad. Livs and Max weren't too interested in the water but loved the playground. Cares and Bentley jumped right in the water and then came to check out the little kids' snacks:

Then over to the seven canyons and rivers play area which was just too much fun--and all the kiddos loved it:

Max and Bentley were the boat masters, sending them downstream from different spots

and Cares was a great little boat catcher. I love how many times these guys played that game--up and down again and again.

Even tiny Sadie loved it in the cool water and climbed in and out of the small streams.

We planned on meeting Heidi at 10 this morning but we had another late night with LeBaron cousins and didn't get children to bed until well after 9:00 last night. Somehow, this morning, all 3 of my kids managed to sleep in past 9:00 am, which has never happened before! It felt amazing, but meant we were running much later than we had planned. By the time we got over to the canyons and streams today it was well-packed with moms and kids. We still found our own zone to play in but I'd love to get there with more room to float toys around.

Maybe we'll have to head back if we get bored before school starts...

Still No School

2011-08-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

...but this morning we finalized registration for Caroline's ballet class and bought her first official pair of canvas ballet shoes. I get to sew the elastics down for her and everything (only my mom may appreciate the reverence I have for such a ritual...)

...this afternoon we ordered new backpacks for my 2 grade school kids from Lands End and final uniform pieces for Cares (Beans is still outfitted from last year, thank goodness).

...and we enjoyed a final lunch date with all 5 Horsley cousins as they begin school next week (of course my sister and I will be having more of these year-round :)

Summer is officially nearing its end, but we hope to make the most of our last weeks of freedom.

Silver Lake

2011-08-07T20:51:00.001-07:00

Trying to soak up family time with John and Krista before they move to California.
Silver Lake was as lovely as ever, the temps amazingly cool for an August evening, and the little "hike" perfect for small kids and pregnant mamas.

If you head up that way, just be sure to bring shoes that can get muddy (the trail was still quite wet with run-off) and lots of bug spray. The mosquitoes were rampant--thank you Cutter for saving us last night.

Busy Again

2011-08-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

I must be feeling better because we have had a whirlwind week.

Monday: Dentist appointment for Caroline and her first cavity (first cavity for any of my kids actually). She was super nervous for any shots but she sailed through. We lunched at my sister's house, I put Livs down for her nap, left my big kids playing with cousins and went to see my OB. Routine stuff but I now have an ultrasound scheduled in less than 2 weeks—very exciting.

Tuesday: BYU day with both of my sisters, my mom and all our kids. This outing has become an August tradition including a little art at the museum, shopping for blue and white gear at the bookstore, and lunch in Provo—usually Los Hermanos. We are such a huge group but have a lot of fun together.

Wednesday: My own dentist appointment in the morning followed by a trip to Costco with all 3 kiddos (I am eager for school and my time there with just my Livs). We came home and got to work on our house--organizing, cleaning and finally facing piles of papers and cluttered messes that I simply couldn't deal with the past few months.

Thursday: A day to stay home and get some laundry and more projects done around our house.

Friday: Water play date—again with both sisters and all our kiddos. The children had a blast together in the wading pool and on the slip'n'slide and with the good old fashioned garden hose. Classic summer fun.

(pics from Cec...it's true I felt too lazy watching everyone from the shady grass to take any myself :)

LP in Pictures

2011-08-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Heading out from the marina to Gunsight Canyon early in the morning

a shaded cousin Max and Bentley on the speed boat

One of many sea-doo rides

and one of many post-swim snuggles

family style tube ride (which Livs did not like)

curly-haired girl on the way to Rainbow Bridge

Hangin' on the houseboat...

literally at times

Olivia adored the water and jumped and swam and played in it as much as we'd let her

the whole crew getting ready to head out for a cliff jumping adventure

Family jump!

the ever entertaining sandbar near our houseboat, just a short swim away

cousin time on the couch

our whole LP crew

Riding the houseboat back in to the dock after a week of play.
Our trip seemed to fly right by! Everything about Lake Powell makes it such a great escape--the stunning landscape, the balmy water, the swimming and cliff jumping and tubing, the delicious food and yummy snacks, grown-up game time, cousins playing all around and hours on end to nap, read, and lay in the sun... we love it there.

Home Again Home Again

2011-07-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

LP 2011

Our week at the lake has come and gone again. It feels amazing to be home and in our own beds but we love our sunny, carefree days on the water each year. We had so much fun and way too many pics to deal with right now :)

cousin time on the speed boat

We hurried home a day sooner than normal so Joseph could race in today's Blackridge triathlon:

He did so well even after hurting his back at the lake (was it the cliff jumping? sea-dooing? endless wrestling with the kids?)

He had some great race buddies to start the early morning with:

Today

2011-07-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

--My AC is finally fixed as of 6:00 pm. Phew.

--I am packing for a short girl's camp adventure. I leave tomorrow afternoon and will be home late Thursday night. I am mostly super excited to go and be there even for a short time, but I am a little nervous about feeling sick. I've had better days the past 5 days or so but not perfect ones. I guess I better pack great snacks to keep my tummy feeling settled.

--I made a packing list for our annual LP trip. We leave just this coming weekend and all 5 of us are getting so anxious--we love that trip!

--I made it through 1/4 of my newest Blurb book. I have a Groupon deadline looming and need to get it finished in about 2 weeks. Guess that's what I'll be working on at the lake!

And just a random question: what do you leave your thermostat set to when you leave out of town in the summer?

Lately

2011-07-16T08:26:00.001-07:00

Olivia and Grandpa Neil at the park last night. We met up with John and Krista too and our kids played on the playground for nearly 3 hours. I heart summer evenings!

Livs and Grandma Bobbi after last week's bike ride

A wild water fight with Evie and Elijah before they moved back with their mom in CO.

A golf date with out of town brothers earlier this week.

In other news, the fan on our AC's motor started making crazy loud sounds Thursday night and the repairman told us yesterday we definitely needed a new one but that we shouldn't run our AC until he could get the replacement part in on Monday. Hmmm, no AC for 3 days in the middle of July?

So we are braving it. Last night, when we got home from the park, the house was warm (78) but not too bad. We put Cares and Beans to bed together in his basement bedroom and Livs in her crib and then opened every window and turned on our ceiling fans. Everything cooled down so nicely that we even slept in our own bed rather than in basement--so there's hope for us still! Love these Utah summer nights which drop down into the 60s after a hot 90 degree day.

Red Butte Gardens

2011-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

Our day in pictures:

Smelling the heavenly lavender

Notice how the sun vanished behind some clouds?
Right after the cloud cover arrived we found ourselves in a downpour.
So we hid in this lovely, dry, willow tree "fort" complete with wooden chairs:

Much better shot of my Caresie than the one above.

We loved staying totally dry as the rain fell.
We were the only ones around and felt like we were in our own secret garden.

The sun returned a few minutes later

and Bentley took a turn with the camera.

Our last stop was in the thriving wildflower garden.

All 4 of us snuggled on this swing and just rocked for a bit. The air was perfect, my kids still and calm and the view stunning. I think it was my favorite part of the day and the girlies didn't want to leave the lovely swing.

Little flower girl
(who left a ponytail in her hair the whole morning! I was so proud of her :)

Biking Crew

2011-07-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Joseph rallied the troops on Saturday--between his family and mine we had quite a turnout, ready to ride the old Herriman hills.

Saturdays this summer almost always begin with one of Joseph's long bike rides. I am really so sad I don't feel good enough to join him yet. Soon?

Had to post the silly shot...

and Joseph's sweet helmet hair (this shot from his 4th of July ride up in Park City)

Cinderella

2011-07-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

Joseph sent me this pic today and called it "Cinderella." My sweet Cares, she truly loves to work and do special jobs (which her daddy has been making up for her lately--nice role reversal in all honesty :) She was removing the hard water stains with a pumice stone. Works like a charm if anyone needs a tip getting that lingering ring off.

She also helped wash the car the other night after all our driving along the dusty cabin roads. Such a helper. I love how her siblings like to join her--she's just too much fun to leave alone.

2 Girls, 1 Dress

2011-07-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

Olivia 2011, Caroline 2008

I could compare these 2 at the same age all day. Sometimes they look so much like sisters and other times they barely look related. But the same could be said of my sisters and me.

I feel so lucky to have these girlies in my life and wonder every day if Joseph and I have created yet another little girl to join her sissies. It is tremendous fun to see how our genes combine and make such unique little people every time.

Long Weekend

2011-07-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday night fireworks before heading to the cabin (none allowed up there)

Livs adored this brownie and then cried after the first firework so we put her right to bed and she slept through all the fun :)

On Sunday we packed ourselves up after church and drove up to the cabin. It had been way too long since we were up there and the kids spent hours roaming the outdoors and the indoors too, rediscovering everything.

On Monday morning the Horsleys joined us for a huge peach french toast brunch and non-stop cousin playtime:

Love these patriotic kiddos

Bob and Brooke came up for a quick visit that morning (both in town from Chicago)
the girls cruising along on a jigsaw puzzle

the boys out on a hike

a few sparklers that evening (on the very flame resistant concrete)

Around 9 pm we took the big kids in to Park City for their fireworks show. We arrived just as they started and jumped out of the car in the Albertson's parking lot to watch. It started raining just as we got settled but the show was still vibrant and fun. The rich boom of big fireworks will just never get old for me. Love it every year.

On Tuesday morning we sent our husbands off to work and stayed in the mountains to play. The air up there was absolute heaven for me--nothing like crisp cool breezes and scattered rainstorms to ease any nausea. Plus, I hardly even saw my kids unless they needed lunch or breakfast--and even then they could hardly be pulled away from playtime to make themselves eat. They made forts and bases, jumped off the bunk beds into huge pillow piles, enjoyed a dip in the hot tub, ran around on the trails outside, played skee-ball and air hockey and mini Hot Wheels and created and performed skits and plays for all the grown-ups to see.

Cares and Maddie snacking on red, white and blue cupcakes out on the deck

Livs and Connor loved roaming the cabin calling after each other over and over again. Livs would call "Connor, where are you?" to which he replied "I right here!" And then Livs would say "OK. I coming!" and head happily out to find him. They held hands many times coming down the stairs and loved making each other laugh with silly faces or pretending to fall over. They also loved fighting over toys and claiming everything as "mine," so theirs is still a rocky, 2-year-old friendship :)

And what did I do at the cabin? Sit on the couch and snuggle Brigg or nap a couple times a day. I felt so useless and drained and still quite sickly. My mom and sister took care of everything from meals to kids to crafts and snacks and I was so grateful. Next year I will be more helpful! My caring hubby also came back up to the cabin on Tuesday after work to help look after the kids, make sure everyone got to bed, and (the critical part to me) wake up with Livs in the early morning to entertain and feed her while everyone else in the cabin snoozed on. He is my ultimate lifesaver. He also schooled us in "9's" so he got his due. And he can hardly resist spending an evening away from this blonde bather (luckily we have very cute kids that he misses terribly while he's at work :)

Pajama Party

2011-07-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

Green and white polka-dotted PJs in assorted sizes:

Perfect for eating cereal out on the patio, snuggling each other on my big bed, and of course, breakfast at Wimbledon.

Hello July!

12 Weeks

2011-06-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

After the pool the other night

I feel and look more pregnant at this stage than ever before...something to do with having 4 kids I guess :)

Now that I am fully showing I hope I start feeling good. After 7 weeks of yucky I am so over it...

How to Play

2011-06-28T13:35:00.001-07:00

Our summer days usually include some water time at the outdoor pool or in our own backyard

a little art in one way or another,

and some creative play while Livs is napping:

We've had tons of LeBaron cousin playtime the past week too and it has been a fun part of the summer for these 2. Nanny's house has never been more exciting! Just today there were 20 grandkids crafting and jumping on the tramp and lunching together. Wish I'd snatched a pic of all of them together...but here's a great group shot from Lagoon the other day:

Snowy Stewart

2011-06-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

The LeBaron crew setting out for Stewart Falls
(all documented by Joseph as I, once again, sat this one out)

Cares and Bea holding hands in the foreground

Tommy and Jack

Glorious view of Timp and first sign of snow near the falls

And voila--the trail turned to snowpack!
Such a foreign sight when we have hiked that trail many times in June (see here) and never seen anything like it

Some randoms made it into this picture of Joseph and the kids but look at that snow cave carved out by the river. The kids all had a blast exploring inside it.

I was waiting for the hikers back at the cabin (with Livs and Nanny) where I found a snuggly Anders to cuddle

Lunching after the hike

My cute Livs--Joseph looks rather grubby in this pic but I had to post my happy girl.

We got home from the cabin around 3:30, rested for an hour, and then popped our swimsuits on and went to the pool for an evening swim. Livs has a new life jacket that she is now totally rockin' in the water. It's so cute to see her swim all by herself and stay afloat (a huge relief for our Lake Powell trip coming up in a few weeks too).

Lagoon

2011-06-24T19:11:00.001-07:00

What a big adventure for my kiddos yesterday! They wore themselves out and had so much fun. All their older LeBaron cousins were there with them which, I think, made them both super brave, trying lots of "grown-up" rides like the White Roller Coaster and The Bat. Joseph was in heaven taking his big kids on exciting attractions. And no one got lost, no one got sun-burned and all had a fabulous time.

Thank you Grandpa Neil and Nanny for treating my family to such classic summer fun!

Beans and cousin Porter taking it easy

Cares and Tillie on the kids' dino-drop ride

A little bit soaked after the Log Flume

Totally soaked kids after Rattlesnake Rapids--Joseph told me Cares, Tillie and Sisi huddled close together and then got completely drenched by the waterfall at the end. Love that image.

Cares and Joseph on The Bat

My cute girl after playing at Lagoon-A-Beach

Just Us

2011-06-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Right now Joseph and my big kids are on their way to Lagoon. I truly thought I was going to join them but realized it would be so much easier on my pregnant, easily queasy body to just stay home with my Olivia and nap and cuddle and play with her as needed. We may hit the pool later this afternoon, big plans for sure.

For now, enjoying some photo booth fun...

Zoo Day

2011-06-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness for Joseph or my kids would not be enjoying many big adventures this month. On Saturday I had to run a rehearsal up at the U of U so my hubby and I decided I should drop the family off at the zoo while I was at the studio.

Props to Joseph for wrangling all 3 kids (and mostly a stubborn toddler who can never make up her mind about riding in the wagon or walking or being carried. And then throws a fit when she doesn't have it just her way.) I heard that my little family didn't get around to seeing everything but that the Zoorassic Dinosaur stuff was pretty cool.

We ran a few errands after the zoo and totally blew off Livs' nap. The picture below was the result around 5 that night while we grabbed dinner at Rubio's. I have to admit I kind of loved it. I never get to snuggle my baby girl like that anymore and it was so cuddly to have her sleeping so soundly and koala-like on me.

As a Father

2011-06-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

My father taught me to listen
To wild birds’ morning song,
To laughter of the rippling brook,
To gladness all day long.

My father taught me courage.
When I would walk away
And leave unpleasant work undone,
He gave me strength to stay.

At evening when dark shadows
Were waiting everywhere,
He helped me find a special Friend.
My father taught me prayer.

(song found here)

The children in our ward sang this lovely song today along with beautiful sign language actions. The lyrics are so sweet and simple--they had Joseph and me undone before the first verse was even over.

I think one of the happiest things in my life as I've grown older is to see the love my children have for their daddy and the love he has for them in return. It is so raw, so pure, so full of life and joy. It's beautiful.

Joseph is an amazing dad. He loves to truly play with our kids and that makes him so fun. He is the king of tickle-wars and wrestling, telling fantastic made-up tales about "Bentley the Brave" and "Caroline the Courageous" (and "Olivia the Almost Brave"), drawing anything and everything the kids can think of, and singing all sorts of songs. He also makes sure scriptures are read with the kids each night, that we pray as a family, that we work together and play together, and that our children learn what is right and wrong.

During General Conference this past April, Beans and Cares were getting super restless and just wanted to play in the freshly fallen snow. So we dressed them up and sent them out thinking we'd have so much calm and quiet to listen to the afternoon session. But again and again they came to back door and begged their daddy to come play—mostly to help them roll some huge snowballs they'd started making. Joseph was sweet to agree and headed outside to play for a bit. While he was out there Elder Scott spoke and gave the most tender talk on marriage on family. He spoke specifically of taking time out to play with his children and roll around with them in the fall leaves. He described what happened after:

The next morning about 4:00 a.m., I was awakened as I felt two little arms around my neck, a kiss on the cheek, and these words whispered in my ear, which I will never forget: “Dad, I love you. You are my best friend.”

If you are having that kind of experience in your family, you are having one of the supernal joys of life.

My husband has most certainly discovered this truth.

And I love that some of my favorite, early memories of my own dad include leg-rides, bull-rides, tickling games and the family log roll. I love that my dad now loves to play with my kids and tell nonsense secrets, throw them around in the pool, and be their loving grandpa.

I feel so blessed to have good fathers in my life and wish them a truly happy father's day.

4th Time Pregnant

2011-06-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

*Almost 11 weeks pregnant
*Due January 9th
*Felt like throwing up since just after Mother's Day. Lucky me.

It's hard to write about feeling nauseated when I feel so submerged in it. But during the past 2 days I've started to feel a few spells of "normal" here and there--I am so grateful for small breaks. And this past week I haven't felt nearly as exhausted which has been amazing for my laundry piles and "to do" lists.

Feeling crappy is typical for me with each pregnancy but I certainly feel more helpless with more little children around who are surely feeling neglected. I have never seen my kids more thrilled to see their dad come home from work in the evening--"Finally! Someone who can actually play with us and pay attention to us!" Those are truly happy times for me too :)

Honestly, somedays it seems like a miracle that I figure out lunch and dinner for 3 children and me especially when the mere idea of food makes me queasy--and yet it is the only thing that calms my tummy. Getting kids dressed (really just Livs--the others are pros on their own) and everyone fed may be all I chalk up to the day. And if I fit in a morning and afternoon nap it is a huge bonus. It's quite a risk to have 3 playful children roaming about the house and playing together while I take 20 minutes to snooze on the couch. But they are good kids--just awesome at making huge messes while I close my eyes. I really am lucky that they play happily together and that Bentley and Cares are willing to help Livs fill a sippy cup with water or refill her bowl with cereal. I love to hear her call out "Bent! You help me?"

Here's to bolstering my energy and surviving the remaining weeks of nausea. I have averaged about 14 weeks of off and on sickness with each kid so I planning on more of the same. And then I plan on an action packed 2nd trimester for sure.

One more thing, I am bracing myself for a Christmas baby because that is just so something that would happen me. I never wanted to have a baby in December so of course I will :) Cares and Livs arrived right at 37 weeks so 3 weeks early is no longer a surprise around here...but we'll see...

Goodbye Acura

2011-06-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

Our fabulous Acura hit the 150,000 mile mark and along with it came a few repair issues. Expensive repair issues. And so, we felt ready to try something new and invest our money in a new car rather than our old one.

Beans in the Acura as we cleared out our stuff

Last night we became the proud owners of a Toyota Highlander. Ever since Joseph brought home the 2011 Consumer Reports all about cars, I have been hoping for a Highlander (top ranks in all categories). Actually, I have been wanting one since about 2002 (when we opted for a more affordable Xterra instead) but our time finally came. I love it and feel like it's the perfect car for our family. I am such an SUV girl--especially because my parents' cabin requires 4 wheel drive to get to it most months of the year. Oh, and not to mention I live in snowy Utah.

the new Highlander

It was sad to let our Acura go. My parents owned it before we did and it was such a reliable, comfortable, good car. We all really loved it.

Goodbye Acura!

Now, any tips on keeping a new car clean and nice when 3 kiddos will be riding in it with me? Do I truly need to enforce the no food rule?

New Christmas Plans

2011-06-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

From Monday, June 6th, 2011

iPhone Pics

2011-06-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

80's Bentley

Helpful Caroline

Fun little lunch date at my sister's house today. We had dinner there too on Tuesday night after an afternoon filled with cousin time. Our first week of summer has pretty much been highlighted by playing with the Horsleys. We love it.

Best Treat

2011-06-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

I am dying over these gingersnaps lately.
They truly are super soft and chewy (from food.com )

2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup sugar, on plate for later

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves well and set aside.
2. In another bowl mix with a beater 1 to 2 minutes the sugar, margarine, egg and molasses.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix by hand.
4. Take one good size tablespoons of dough (or more to make a bigger cookie) and roll into a ball.
5. On a plate put at least a 1/4 cup of sugar.
6. Then roll the balls into the sugar.
7. Bake at 350 on an ungreased cookie sheet (air-insulated type is the best) for 10 to 12 minutes.

Delish. These remind me exactly of the gingersnaps my neighbor across the street used to make whenever she had a lemonade stand. Even if I ran the stand with her my family and I ended up spending good money on those cookies!