Today we are 4!!!

Four years comes so fast! I can't believe that next year they will go to kindergarten. Happy Birthday to our crazy little boys that keep us on our toes...at all times :)

A few things

Our trip to Hawaii in April. With friends, Nichole and Kendall Skinner
Greg and I on the beach in Honolulu
Greg shaved the twins curls off in April. They keep asking when they are going to get their big hair back.
Hunter thought this would be the funniest picture, so he made greg shave only the top off.
This past Saturday we did the women's run for breast cancer. It's a five mile run. We are missing Anne Reed in this picture. But it was so fun to run with these girls. (Me, LouAnne (Erin's mom), Erin Nisonger, Kandace Clove (Greg's niece), Brooke Cook)
In April the key was left on the treadmill and Ryder decided to go for a run. He fell and sliced his face open. Greg usually stitches the boys up, but he wouldn't touch this one, either would the ER doctors. They brought in a plastic surgeon. He's healing really well, but it was so sad to see his poor face!
Friday night we hiked the Winners Creek trail in Girdwood. It was such a beautiful hike. Towards the end you had to pulley yourself across this river. Kandace, Austin and Peyton took the first turn.
Kandace (Greg's niece is living with us for the summer) and myself on hike.
Twins "baring" their bums on hike.
One night we saw two porcupines on our front porch. Greg opened the door to look at them and it acted like it was just going to come right in our house.

Bear Spray

So, I've carried bear spray in my car (to use for hiking) for the past five years and never had anyone bother it. I just moved the twins carseats to the back seat and I forgot that the spray is in a pocket back there. Tonight we (me, my niece Kandace, Aust, Peyton and Ryder) went for a drive to look for wildlife. On the way back from the Eagle River Nature Center we hear this pop and then a spraying noise. Then we hear Aust just screaming "Poison! Poison!" And he's coughing and then the twins are crying. Kandace turned around to see what was happening and it hit her right in the face. I luckily was driving and didn't turn around. I had just enough time to find a driveway (which was lucky coming back from ER Nature Center) and pull over and we all dive out of the car. No one could see for like 15 minutes and poor Aust was screaming because he was affected the most because he was sitting right in front of Peyton. It was a bad deal all around. While we were getting our vision back, I noticed we were all getting eaten alive by mosquito's. So I told everyone to get back in the car and we would drive down the road with windows down to get the rest of spray out of car. By the time we got home everyone was pretty calm...until the showers! I looked on-line and it said that the best thing to do was wash it off with water. So we all took showers. Ouch!!! That was almost just as bad as the spray itself! Everyone was in tears again. So I read on-line again and I see a different explanation of what to do if you get sprayed with bear spray and have no water around. You wipe it off with alcohol or bleach and rinse your eyes out with milk. I used some alcohol wipes on Aust since he was hurting the worst, but the rest of us just had to wait out the pain (about 15-30 minutes). I tell you what...I feel sorry for the bear that is going to dare show it's face while we are out hiking!!!

Think Blue!

So I know most of you know...but last week we found out that we are expecting a boy! Number five boy!! We are actually very excited to have all boys. Lot's of advantages...they can all share rooms, share clothes, beat up on each other, break all my valuables, keep me on my toes, but mostly I love little boys...it seems I have no other choice ;) I'm thinking that someone is paying me back for how much I thought my brother's were annoying. I doubt my brother's are reading this, but if you are for some strange reason, I meant mostly when you sang opera in the shower very, very loud. Or when you put pee in a cup of ice and told me it was lemonade and of course I took a sip. Or when you put chocolate covered dog biscuits on a plate with a sign that read "Take one, please". Or when you used your knuckle to frog me. Oh the list goes on. But the good thing is I get to relive these memories with my little guys!! In all reality we are super excited for September to get here and have another precious baby in our home.

What's been keeping us busy...

These are just a few picture of what has been keeping us busy the past few months. Happy to be done with soccer :)

All the girls at the church sledding party. Who knows where the men are!
Austy raced his car in Pinewood Derby for cubscouts and he took 2nd place out of four packs!! Go Aust!
Hunter introducing song he will play during school talent show.
He played The Entertainer and did a great job. Austin informed me on the way home (hunter wasn't in the car with me) that Hunter messed up a little. I told Aust that he better not say anything mean to Hunter because Austin didn't even try out to do a talent. Aust says I'll tell him "you did good, but you could've done better!" Now that's brotherly love :)
Austy playing soccer. He loved every minute of it and I'm sure I've never seen him run that fast before!
Hunter made honor roll this semester, he and Austy have made it each semester this year. We are very proud of these boys!!
Austy getting his award for honor roll. Way to go!
This is what happens when your team is NOT winning the super bowl.
Hunter playing soccer. He played really hard...he told me he would because it would get him ready for padded football, where his heart really is. Like father, like son ;)
Ryder is always being silly...it keeps us very busy!!

What will IT Be?

So if it isn't obvious WE (yes, I say we because it was all Greg's idea!! And we because all the boys are going to help raise this baby!) are expecting a new little one on September 23rd. I had an ultrasound at 8 weeks and sure enough there was a heartbeat and there was only ONE baby...good news. So I feel semi-safe putting this out there, (still chance of miscarriage, but seeing and listening to heartbeat is a good thing, right?). According to all the wives tales I'm having a girl...and a boy...all in one!

Here are all my families responses to this new surprise:

Greg: Oh, that's during hunting season...I guess you're on your own!

Me: I think I'm not ready for this. I mean the twins are potty trained and life is flowing just nicely. I guess it's a little late now? (we tried for six months)

Hunter: Super excited!! Jumping up and down. Now he understands why I've been so moody lately.

Austin: Super excited...but still really, really wants to get that dog we promised them!

Ryder: He said he also has a little, tiny baby in his tummy.

Peyton: He says with a very mean face "I hate sisters! I don't want a sister!!" He doesn't even know what he's talking about. I don't even think he knows what a sister is, since he doesn't even have any!!

Valentine's Day

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. It must be the stress of buying the perfect gift when I was dating Greg. Anyway, Greg had knee surgery on this past Friday so I thought Valentine's was going to be just another day. A few days before surgery Greg had told me that he was planning dinner for that night. He had the kids go over to a neighbors and said we were just going to have some "alone" time. So we went and got a chick flick and when we got home there were two of his YM (he's YM's president) cooking us dinner. They had spread a trail of roses on the floor and the table. They had made a menu and they were all dressed up. They had a 4-course meal that they were preparing right then. It was the bast meal ever and it was so cute that these boys were so excited to prepare it for us! I guess I could start to like Valentine's Day if it's like that :)

Just a thought...

Can you take away one of your child's favorite things as punishment if THEY bought it? Hunter just bought a MP3 player and he loves it so much. I haven't had any reason to take it away...I'm just wondering if that is fair play or not, when the time comes.

3-year old advice....please!

Dear Abby,

So one of my 3-year olds is forming some habits that I'd like to break...quickly! He hoards everything. It first started out a year or so ago when we would leave people's houses we all knew to check his pockets. Now it's escalated to taking things around the house and hoarding them in piles under the bed, in cupboards and closets. If you leave it out, then most likely he's taken it and hidden it. When I ask him why he does it he says because he loves to.

He is also peeing everywhere! The other night both twins were peeing on top of the airhockey table santa brought! Then at the church, he was peeing in the container that holds the cars. At a friend's he's peed all over her wall and some toys. At home he's peed all over his plastic basketball stand!! What do I do??? He's just likes to do it. Please help!!

From, A very desperate mother who is going to go in-sane...oh wait, I'm already there!

What?

The picture below is of my cute sister, Lisa, and her husband, Tyler, and their four boys. Lisa is just a few years younger than me. The reason I'm posting about her is because we almost lost her a few weeks ago. She doesn't like a lot of attention, so she might be mad at me for this post, but I wanted to document her last trial.

Lisa's husband came home from work early and saw Lisa lying in the driveway. He thought she was just joking with him, so he honked a few times. She wasn't joking, she was unconscious. They rushed her to her local hospital and because of a snow storm the power was out and had to rush her to Provo hospital (which normally is only a short drive, but took them three hours that day). She was unconscious for a while and so I got on an airplane and headed to UT. My parents (who have only been out on their mission for a few months) were also on an airplane and heading for UT, along with my youngest sister, Jess. Two other siblings drove in from St. George and my five other siblings live closer and were already at the hospital. We rushed to the hospital and she was finally waking up. But she couldn't remember anything that happened and she kept repeating herself. Each day got better with her memory, but they couldn't find out what happened to her. Her brain is fine, her heart is healthy, but she does have a lot of palpitations with her heart. So after five days of being in ICU they moved her to general and the heart dr did an mri on her heart and couldn't pinpoint the problem. So he said that she needed to get a defibrillator to track her heart and to help the heart beat if it goes below a certain heartrate. He said it was a 1% chance that she made it through this last episode and they odds were lower than that if it happened again, hence the defibrillator.

Now Lisa is home and recovering well. She knows what a blessing it is for her to be home and she has so much support from her friend and ward members. I know that so many people were fasting and praying for her. I was fasting for the dr's, so they would know what needed to be done to help her. All nine brother's and sister's were at the hospital for Lisa. We told her that if she wanted us all together she didn't have to go unconscious for 24 hours! Tyler's family was also at the hospital and they love Lisa just as much as we do. We are so happy she is home and recovering well!! We love you Lisa :)


Hunter earned a few awards at school, including high honor roll (the only one in his class). Do you notice anything different about Hunter? NO GLASSES!! The day before he asked the eye dr if he could finally have contacts (he's been asking for the past few years). He was now old enough and I've never seen him so happy. It's strange to see him without his glasses, they have been a part of him since kindergarten. See his big smile :)


Austin also made high honor roll. He tried hard last semester and came close, but he did it this semester. If you notice Austin's glasses, you'll see he went the totally different direction is his glasses. He lost a lens while he was sledding and so he's been wearing his sport's goggles for the past few weeks. His new ones will be here soon...I think! His eye's look so big in them ;)