Back from California

Scott had a great time in California. He got to play golf at Torrey Pines, which is a really big deal to him. We survived here at home fairly well.


Scott got home Wednesday afternoon in time for the kids' piano recital. Savannah has taken piano lessons for two years now, and this summer Josh and Sara started lessons. Josh was really not wanting to play anything in front of anyone, so I told him that if he really didn't want to, he wouldn't have to. Then, the night before the recital, one of Josh's friends called and invited him to go to Roaring Springs with him all day Wednesday. It was a really great opportunity for Josh, so I told him he could go (and conveniently miss the recital). He had an amazing time at Roaring Springs (his sisters were extremely jealous).

Sara and Savannah did awesome at the recital. I forgot to bring the video camera, so I don't have it recorded (I'm so sad I forgot the camera). I was very proud of how well they did. Sara is a natural and has picked up the piano so quickly. And Savannah has just really taken off with her playing. Josh hasn't loved the piano like his sisters, so it's going to take quite a few more lessons before he starts to pick it up. The kids' piano teacher, Spencer, is headed off to BYU this fall, so I'm going to have to find them a new teacher. Having all three in lessons equals a small car payment every month, so I'm actually hoping to start teaching them myself and see how that goes. I tried teaching Savannah when she was first starting, and it didn't go so well. I'm hoping, though, now that they have had lessons, I'll be able to step in and continue and have it go well. We'll see.

Wednesday morning the 11 year old achievement day girls in our ward did a babysitting activity. They (along with their leaders) volunteered to babysit kids ages 5 and under while moms took their older kids to get some back to school shopping done. With Scott being out of town, I decided to take advantage and get a little break. Josh was at Roaring Springs, so after I dropped my three little boys off at the church, it was just me and my girls. We went shoe shopping and had a fabulous time. We walked out of the shoe store with 12 pairs of shoes--5 for Savannah, 2 for me, 4 for Sara, and 1 for Aaron. When we got back, Nate was quite upset that he didn't get any new shoes. So, after the recital that night, Nate and I went shopping to get him a new pair of shoes. It was really fun having some alone time with my little guy.

On Thursday, I got on a cleaning/organizing kick. I decided I needed to come up with a better shoe storage solution for all the new shoes we bought. So I loaded up all 6 kids and took them to Home Depot. I bought some new shelves to put in the bottom of our coat closet, and I love how organized our coat closet looks now. After Home Depot, we went on to Walmart to get a few more organizing things. I love the looks I get from people when I walk around with all my kids. I think I heard "Are they all yours?" about 7 times during our time shopping.

Today Josh got to go fishing. On Wednesday morning, before he went to Roaring Springs, he had his first scouting activity--a fishing trip. He didn't catch a fish, but he had fun anyway. His scout leader called today and said she was going to take her boys back (her son didn't catch a fish, either) and asked if Josh wanted to come along. So, he spent the whole afternoon out fishing. Just before it was time to leave, he caught a fish! It's been a good week for Josh.

Tonight Scott took the older three kids golfing (driving range). Aaron and Nate had fallen asleep at dinner time, and Owen really needed to go to sleep, so I stayed home with the three little boys and tried to get some cleaning done. Owen didn't go to sleep, but I did get the upstairs clean despite him crawling around and getting things back out. Now I have two little boys who are wide awake and going to be up late because they napped late. Hopefully they won't be up too late, because I'm exhausted and need sleep.

Nine Months

Owen turned 9 months last week. He is one busy little boy. He just has so many siblings to keep up with. A week ago, he learned to pull himself up to the kneeling position. And just days later he figured out how to go all the way up to standing. He loves to stand.


When Owen wakes up, he immediately pulls himself up to standing in his crib and cries till I come rescue him (he's not so great at letting go and sitting back down gracefully).


Owen has almost mastered crawling. He can do the up on the knees crawl, but prefers to drop down on his belly and scoot himself with his arms (he's much faster that way).


Owen loves to play with toys. We keep a basket full of them in the living room. Twenty times a day, I ask one of the kids to gather Owen's toys back up into the basket. Then as soon as I put him down, he crawls over and tips over the basket, and scatters the toys all over the living room.



Sara still LOVES her baby brother. She is always scooping him up and carrying him around. He's getting to the age that he's not so sure he likes that.

His check up this week confirmed my suspicions--this kid is all Head! He was 90% weight, 95% height, and completely off the charts for his head size. Good thing it's such a cute head. Everybody always comments on his irresistibly kissable cheeks.




Owen is just a joy to have. I tell him every day to stop growing up, but he doesn't listen to me. I'm having HUGE issues about this being my last baby--I've tried to tell Scott that I just can't deal with it and will just have to have more. Usually around that time, a fight will break out somewhere in the house, and Scott will remind me that babies grow up and turn into kids--then I'm not quite as desperate to have another one. I guess I'll just have to enjoy every minute with this kid while he's still a baby.

Fun Times

On Wednesday, Scott spent the whole day in Seattle. I decided I didn't want to cook dinner, so I took the kids to the park instead. We stopped at Wendy's and got food, then went to a new park in Meridian (Settler's Park). I'd heard good things about it and was really wanting to go check it out. I let the kids wear their swimsuits and play in the splash pad at the park. The kids loved the park--it's huge! There is a big water area, tons of swings, a sound garden with different instruments to play (drums, pipes/chimes, and more), and a huge play area (with climbing equipment and slides). We spent several hours there. It was a lot of fun.

On Friday Scott took the day off and we took the older 4 kids to Roaring Springs (we left Owen and Nate home with a babysitter). We spent the entire day there and had a great time. It was so nice having just the older kids because I didn't have to worry about anyone drowning. All the kids were old enough to go on the rides, and we even had an even number to split up for the rides. It was a really fun day, and no one even got sunburned (thank you sunscreen).

Saturday the older two kids went with Scott early in the morning to clean the church. It was our family's turn. I stayed home with the younger kids, since neither them nor I would be any help if we all went. After cleaning the church, we loaded up everyone and went to Scott's parent's house. They needed some bushes removed from their front yard (they had outgrown their space). Marc was there to help us. He and Scott did most of the heavy digging, but all the kids pitched in and helped in their own way. Nate and Aaron brought their plastic shovels and dump trucks from the sandbox to help dig. As we were in the middle of the project, Aaron proclaimed, "I've got a talent for digging!". He and Nate loved digging around in the holes that were left when the bushes were removed.

After finishing with the bushes, we headed home. Scott trimmed our lawn and I mowed it. Then we got cleaned up. This weekend was Stake Conference for us. We had a babysitter come over last night and Scott and I went to the adult session. I love going to that session of Stake Conference. No kids, heavy topics--I always come away feeling inspired to be better. Last night there was a lot of focus on raising good missionary sons. With 4 boys, I was quite emotional as I thought of sending each of them away for two years.

Today was Stake Conference. They split our stake and created the Star Stake. The kids were really not into sitting still and listening, so I spent quite a bit of time out in the foyer with the little boys. The last 20 minutes, I took the three little boys out to the suburban and made them sit in their seats because Nate and Aaron were being so loud and naughty inside the church. I really look forward to the day when I can enjoy an entire block of church without wanting to strangle any little necks.

Tomorrow morning Scott leaves on a three day trip to San Diego, California. It's a "business" trip (aka golfing at Torrey Pines). Fun for him, not so fun for me. This last week when I told Josh that Scott was going to take the day off to take us to Roaring Springs, Josh's eyes got big and he asked, "He can do that?". Scott has a great job, and I really try hard not to complain, but it's very demanding of his time. He spends a lot of time away from us for work. And I know I have it very easy compared to others, and I know that we are compensated very generously for his time, but it's still hard to have him gone so much. I think I'm just feeling stressed because I know that October is coming all too quickly.

Doctor Check-Ups

On Wednesday Owen had his 9 month check and Nate had his 3 year check. Scott had to be in Seattle that day, so he couldn't watch the other kids, so I took all 6 of them with me. They didn't behave so great. But, I'm happy to report that both boys are very healthy and growing great.

Owen weighs 24 pounds 2 ounces and is 30 3/4 inches long. He is the 90th percentile weight, 95th percentile for length, and completely off the charts with his head. He is our biggest baby yet. In comparison, Savannah (who was our smallest at that age) was only 17 pounds at 9 months and didn't reach 24 pounds till she was 18 months--twice his age. He's a big kid, but oh so cute!

Nathan weighs 38 pounds and is 39 inches tall. He is 85th percentile height and 95th percentile for weight. I think that he didn't stand as tall as he could have when they measured him, because I'm pretty sure he should be higher than 85% on his height.

The boys' pediatrician told me to take advantage of their height, enroll them in basketball, and hope they get their college paid for. I think that's a great plan.

Swimming with Cousins

After family left after our baptism lunch on Saturday, Aaron got to go to The Little Gym for a friend's birthday party. It was his friend Kara-Elise from his gymnastics class. Aaron really loves her, and they are convinced they are going to get married. It was so cute, when we walked into the party and Kara saw Aaron, she came running over, yelling "Aaron!" and gave him a great big hug. Aaron loved getting to go to her party. When it was time to go pick him up, Scott and I took Savannah and my niece Abigail to do some clothes shopping at Old Navy. They were having a $10 jeans sale, and I wanted to stock up for the kids to go back to school. After we got home from shopping, we took everyone swimming.







Still trying to get that perfect Nate smile. This is what he did every time I asked him to smile.



The kids loved getting to swim with each other. Cousins are the best!




We let Owen get in the pool, but he wasn't a fan (the water was a bit cold this time). He preferred to get some sleep on Grandma's lap.



I love these candid shots I got of Nate playing in the kiddie pool. I still can't believe he's three.

More Nate Presents

While Grandma Jo and Grandpa Mike were here for Josh's baptism on Saturday, they let Nate open birthday presents from them. Nate was so cute. He tore the paper off the first present and exclaimed, "It's a tractor!!!". He LOVES tractors.



As he opened the next present, he exclaimed, "It's a tractor book!!!!"

As he opened the next present, he exclaimed (with the same excitement as he had with the others), "It's a box!!!!" It was so cute!


He got his own coloring things, and got some great new clothes.

But, he was most excited about his new tractor. Uncle Travis helped him get it all set up. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for making a three year old VERY happy!


One more try at that perfect three-year-old smile.

Josh's Baptism

Last Saturday Joshua was baptized. It was a wonderful day. Both sets of grandparents were there, as well as Aunt Jamie and Uncle Travis and kids, Uncle Marc and Aunt Kenna, Linda's four kids, and my cousin Travis,his wife Emily and their daughter. We were really worried about whether Scott's dad would be well enough to come, and were so happy that he was able to make it. Aunt Jamie gave the talk on baptism and did a wonderful job. The kids behaved the whole time. It really was the perfect morning.



The men who helped confirm Josh (Uncle Travis had already snuck away before the picture).

Outside the church after the baptism.





After the baptism, we came back home and had a big family lunch. We let Josh pick what to eat, and he picked walking tacos. We also had brownies with chocolate cream cheese frosting (they were to die for). It was wonderful having so much family around.

I am so proud of Josh. He is turning into such an amazing young man. He's smart, talented, and kind. He is a great example to his younger brothers. I am so happy Josh is a part of our family.