Nascar

The boys love Nascar, just like their daddy. Sterling has been to a few races, but this was the first race for our two big boys, Sterling and Dellin. They went down with our friend Matt and Jack. To say they loved it would be an understatement.

Before the race started and the boys were going nuts just looking at all the cool cars.

They had really great seats close down to the track. The boys loved the noise and all the excitement going on around them. It about blew their minds with the race started.

If you don't pass our on the way home with your earplugs on, then you probably didn't have as much fun as Dellin did.

I love that Sterling loves to take the boys to do fun things. I hope these boys know just how good they've got it!

FIRST E.R. TRIP (AND HOPEFULLY HIS LAST!)

Up until today, we had only ever been to the ER once with our boys, which is pretty good, considering that we have four, wild boys. We took Sterling Henry in over a year ago thinking that he had a broken arm. It took three hours, and luckily it was fine.

Today, we were playing outside and Gouverneur was crawling around on the grass. Somehow he chewed on a stick, choked, and threw up blood. It wasn't a ton of blood, but it was enough to make me nervous. After talking with our pediatrician, I decided that we needed to take him to the E.R. I called Sterling and told him to head home. Our cute neighbor Val came over and sat with the big boys so that I could take Israel to the E.R.

We got there, and he was happy and fine. I almost turned around and left, but decided that I better get him checked out just in case. They did x-rays and lots of check-ups and found nothing. We hung around there for a good three and hours. The whole process was long, but I'm so happy that he is alright. He was in good spirits the whole time.

He puts everything in his mouth and this was a good reminder to be more diligent in cleaning up and not leaving any small toys out. And not putting him down on the grass yet.

We sure love this boy and love that he is so happy and healthy. He is growing up way too fast!

BYU FOOTBALL WITH UNCLE PARLEY

 We were really excited when BYU announced that they'd be playing their season opener in Charlotteville, VA, just two hours from our house. Sterling decided right away that he'd go and take the boys. We all wanted to go, but knew it would be a long day with all the boys. So we decided to send the two older boys Sterling Henry, and Dellin, and leave the Gouverneur and Israel home with me. Sterling's older brother Parley decided to come out and join them. He stayed for the weekend. It was a lot of fun.

The boys left early in the morning to give them enough time. Gouverneur cried at the door for a good 20 minutes after they left, poor baby. 

They stopped in the Shenandoah on the way down. Here's Parley with the boys.

Sterling and Parley are practically twins, so this picture makes me laugh.

 All seated and ready for the game to start with uncle Parley. It was super hot, but the boys were pumped.

 A HUGE storm blew in and there ended up being a 2-hour time delay. The boys waiting it out.

Even with the time delay, the boys had a great time. This was their first of many BYU football games.

Gouverneur was really sad not to go. It's a good thing we're moving to Utah and can hopefully get him to a game in Provo this season. I'd like to go myself. I haven't been to a game in years. Raising boys sure is fun!

NATS GAME WITH DAD

Sterling took Dellin and Sterling Henry to a National baseball game. They went with Matt, Theo, and Ida. The boys had been looking forward to this all weekend and were so excited to go. They got ice cream and new hats at the game. I think Little Man's face in the picture sums it up.

I stayed home with the two babies. Gouverneur was pretty sad when he realized that he wasn't going, so we went and got frozen yogurt. He was pretty happy with that arrangement. The babies went to bed early, and I spent the night sewing. Everyone had a great time.

ISRAEL AT 8 MONTHS

Israel has grown up so much in these last two months. It's fun to watch him grow up, but it always make me sad that he is growing up so fast. He is such a darling boy.

He now has 6 teeth. 4 of them have popped up in the last 6 weeks. It has been pretty rough on everybody. 

He can sort of wave, although I'm not sure if he know that he's waving. It's cute either way.

He is sitting up really well now and loves to sit and play with toys. He also sat up in the front of the shopping cart for the first time. Gouv loved having him next to him, despite the look on his face. 

His brothers love him so much. They all want to help feed him and give him small bites of whatever their eating. He gets millions of hugs and kisses. He is very loved.

He is eating like a champ these days. He is our chubby-bubby. He is my only baby that I've been able to nurse this long. He is also eating all sorts of table food and seems to love everything but avocados. The one time he did eat them, he threw up after.

He has not been sleeping very well. He has been waking up more times at night then he did as a newborn. We had him cry in out a bit for the last two night and he's back on track. We're all happy about it!

He is very alert. He loved to make eye contact and smile. I love walking into the room and seeing this sweet face looking up at me.

By this time I have already been pregnant after each baby I've had. Sort of crazy to thing about since he still seems so little to me. (I'm not making any announcements by the way.)

We sure love you, Israel. Thanks for bringing so much happiness and joy into our family!

Father's Day 2013

We sure love our daddy around here. Father's Day is about one of our favorite days, because we get to celebrate him all day long.

We wanted to make him breakfast in bed, but he got up early to smoke some ribs for dinner. So the boys had breakfast with dad on the patio while he smoked the ribs.

The boys after church with dad. What a handsome bunch of boys.

After church we had our Father's Day dinner. Sterling smoked the ribs and I made mac n' cheese, baked beans, fruit salad, and summer squash. All the delicious flavors of BBQ in one meal.

After dinner, we gave dad our gift. It was a photo book with pictures of all the fun things he did with the boys over the last year. The boys helped me pick out the pictures.

The rest of the day was spent playing rugby with dad. This might have been his favorite part of the day. It's pretty cute to watch these boys play together.

Right before bed, the boys did a bit of wrestling. 

The next morning, the boys all ended up in our bed, by their dad. I think it's safe to say that all of our boys are daddy's boys. I sure love these boys.

I'm so grateful to be married to such a great husband and father. He is such a great example to our boys. He is hard-working, faithful, funny, and the list goes on and on. I hope they all grow up to be just like him. 

THERE'S A NEW BIG BOY IN TOWN.

Dellin is officially potty trained and we are all happy about it. I tried to potty train him after his third birthday back in January, but he was not ready. Or maybe I wasn't ready, but either way, it didn't happen. Occasionally we'd ask him when he wanted to start wearing big boy underwear and he'd respond with, "maybe when I get baptized!" So I sort of pushed the whole thing out of my mind and figured we'd deal with it after summer.
Then on Monday morning, I looked at the week and we had NOTHING at all on the calender, except rain. So I asked Dellin if he wanted to put on big boy underwear and go potty and he said, "yes". He already had a stash of cute undies from back in January, so we pulled them out and started potty training.

He spent most of the week in his undies with a shirt on. He was rewarded with M&Ms and suckers for each time he successfully went. Sterling Henry and Gouverneur were rewarded too, so they were cheering him on just as much as I was. We didn't go outside too much since undies aren't exactly modest. But, wh did sneak out one morning with dad and I snapped this picture. Pretty cute.

We started filling up his Big Boy Chart on Tuesday morning and he did even better after that. He put on his last sticker last night, and we headed to Target this morning. He picked out a Jake and The Neverland spyglass set.

The whole week has gone much smoother than I'd anticipated. I love watching the confidence that comes with being potty trained. It's pretty darn cute.
My favorite line of the whole week was on Monday (Day 1) after he'd gone a few times. I told him that he was an official big boy now. He responded by saying, "now I can do all the thing that Sterling Henry can do, like summersaults...and..." I'm not sure what else came after that because I was laughing at how darling he is that he just wanted to be like his older brother and do summersaults. I love these boy so much! Way to go Dellin!

CUTEST BOYS

I took some cute pictures of Gouverneur and Israel the other day when I was getting Gouverneur up from his nap. I asked him if I could put baby Israel in his crib and he loved the idea. They were both really smiley and happy to be laying by each other. It wasn't until after I moved the pictures onto the computer that I remembered that I'd taken similar picture with Sterling Henry and Dellin at similar ages. Looking at these pictures just makes me happy. Four cute boys.

After looking at the other one, I couldn't resist staging this one. Dellin and Israel sure do look a lot alike. I think that Sterling Henry and Gouverneur would look more alike if I hadn't cut Gouv's hair. 

We sure are lucky!

GARDEN TIME

 I dream of the day when I can have a huge garden. My mom has one that runs her life, and I can't wait till that's me. Gardening is therapeutic and really fun. I loved watching all my things grow last year. We didn't get much in the way of tomatoes or squash, but we got lots of pepper and herbs. We are trying tomatoes, pepper, and herbs again this year. We are also trying corn and pumpkins. Go big or go home right?!?

I started my seeds about 2 weeks later than I'd hoped this year, but it shouldn't be a problem. This part is always my favorite. After about three days, plants start popping up like crazy. The boys absolutely love it. I do too.

 The boys got to plant corn with their dad on Saturday. These boys are pretty into whatever their dad wants to do and I love it. It's hard to know who enjoyed this more.

 Here are the tomatoes, peppers, and herb in their pots. They start growing really fast at this point and it's fun to watch.

I'm hoping to be eating a whole lot of tomatoes in August, carving pumpkins in October, and having corn coming out our ears by the fall. Either way, it's fun to watch things grow.

Mt. Vernon with Josh and Laura

The last thing we did with Josh and Laura was visit Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. This is our number one favorite thing to so in the DC area. The house itself is beautiful and the grounds are amazing and there is lots to do and see. We spent the day here with Josh and Laura and had a great time.

They have lots of animals to see. The sheep are usually the favorite. Sterling Henry, Dellin and Bryn had a lot of fun trying to feed and pet them.

We sat here and ate lunch and relaxed for a bit. The Potomac river is behind us.

Dad showing the boys grain and making big plans for the future.

All the kids took turns in the stroller.

Israel and Mya. Sterling Henry and Bryn

Uncle Josh is a lot of fun.

We had such a great trip with Josh and Laura. My boys were in heaven to be with family and have cousins staying at our house.We all were in a a bit of a funk for a few days after they left.

 Thank you for coming to see us.  We love you and miss you!

ZOO TO SPACE, ALL IN ONE DAY.

The National Zoo is always one of my favorite things to do with my kids. It's free, fun and super educational. We love it when our visitors want to go there with us. We had a great time with Josh, Laura, Bryn, and Mya.

The big kids.

It gets pretty hot walking around and my boys love the water misters. They ran through this one with Bryn and got pretty drenched. They also got to touch a zebra skull. Pretty cool.

The sea otters and seals.

After a long, hot day at the zoo, we headed home to cool off and let the babies nap a bit. After naps, we headed out to the Dulles Air and Space Museum. We never get tired of seeing the space shuttle.

 

Josh and I being matchy-matchy again. I think my boys were in both of the strollers half of the time.

Another great day.

Great Falls.

After an afternoon in the pool, we stopped by the EQ social for dinner and then headed to Great Falls in Maryland. This is probably one of my most favorite places to take visitors. It's close and really beautiful. Josh and Laura had heard about it from a friend so we were all excited to go. The weather had cooled off a bit and the sun was going down. Perfect evening.

The falls are part of the Potomac river. They have a nice board walk out to the falls, with one bridge that always freaks me out with kids. Bryn and Sterling Henry held hands which was really cute.

 

Josh, Laura, Bryn, and Mya. It's hard to believe my baby brother is this grown up. Cutest family. 

After looking at the falls, we walk along the canal. Josh and I with our matchy-matchy strollers. And Sterling and Little Man. 

The sunset was perfect on the way back to the cars.

 

Perfect ending to a perfect day!