October

I know I'm a little late with all the October fun considering Christmas is next week. Oh well, better late than never. I guess I've been focusing more on this transition time with baby #3. There have been alot of fun and happy times these last few months, however we have had our share of challenges and frustrations. Most importantly, little Jacob is doing great. He'll be 3 months old on Christmas day. The kids always have fun at the pumpkin patch.
This year instead of carving a pumpkin we just let the kids paint their own pumpkin. I think it was just as much fun for them, maybe even more.

This year Laura was Princess Jasmine and David was Scooby Doo. He was actually only Scooby Doo for about 5 minutes. When it was time to head out the door for trick-or-treating he was ready to take it off. He was so cute, he would say "snooby doo".

Laura at preschool.

We can't forget Jacob! He decided to sleep most of the night.

Welcome Baby Jacob!

We're so excited that little Jacob is finally here! Jacob was born Sept. 25 at 2:15pm. He weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. He's a healthy little boy and doing great. We feel very blessed.

He's about 10 days old in all of these

woops, turned a little sideways

I think he's looking more and more like Mike everyday.

Laura absolutely adores Jacob. She wants to hold him and give him kisses all day long. It's so cute.

There will be lot's more pictures to come...

Back to school!

I know most everyone has already been back in school for a month, but Laura had to wait until Sept. for preschool to start. It seemed like an eternity for her, especially since she knew everyone else was back in school. She was very excited when the first day finally arrived.

At the beginning of the summer we had a big repair done on Mike's truck and thought everything was going to be fine. I think it was only a week or two later that something else really big came up which was going to cost even more to repair. So we decided we didn't want to put anymore money into repairing this truck since it seems to be one thing after another. So we were down to one car while Mike was deciding what to do about this truck. Luckily Mike's parents just so happened to have this lovely 1978 Lincoln available for Mike to drive. So the first morning Mike went out to get in the car and drive to work, he found a piece of paper on the windshield that said, "I always knew you were a pimp". He looked up just in time to see our neighbor walking back inside his house. We're always joking around with them. We all had a good laugh.

I only have a little over 2 weeks to go! However, I don't think I'm going to make it all the way to my due date (Sept. 27). When I went to the doctor on Friday he said I could go into labor any time! I wasnt' quite ready for him to say "anytime". I guess he'll come when he's ready. I am definitely excited, but at the same time a little nervous about baby #3. I've heard some mom's say their 3rd was the hardest or the biggest adjustment. I'm hoping for an angel baby!

End of summer update

Well, swim lessons have come and gone and the kids both did great! Laura took lessons last year, but this was David's first summer. He was a little hesitant at first, but it didn't take long for him to really love it. Even though there were many hot and sweaty days for me sitting and watching, I really enjoyed watching them every day. It was fun to see them get better and better every week. I was so proud them!

A few Saturday's ago we went up to Payson for the day with my brother Dave and his family. There's a great place up there we like to go with a playground and big open grassy area where the kids love to just run and play. First we went and got some lunch then took it to the park for a little picnic and then let the kids run around and play for a while. Me and Jilynn enjoyed watching Mike, Dave and the kids get alot of exercise having races and kicking the ball around.

Laura and her cousin Robyn.

We even found some ducks and geese to feed across the street.

David didn't want to leave. He was quite fascinated by the big geese.

I finally got some pictures taken of Laura and her hampster (Snowball). Laura really loves her hampster. She gets so excited every time we take her out to play. It's fun to see Laura be so excited about taking care of her little pet.

Me and Mike are so excited! David is oficially a "big boy." He's potty trained AND sleeping in a toddler bed. David was so excited to go buy his big boy bed and help daddy put it together. We weren't sure if he was going to want to sleep in it that first night, so we gave him a choice and he picked the toddler bed. He hasn't talked about the crib since! The part I'm loving is that he's taking naps in it too. I hope he'll keep that up once the new baby comes. We're getting closer. I'm 36 weeks now, so about 4 weeks to go!

My First Memory Lane Ever!

Ok I'm stealing this from several of my good friends. (Now I realize that I am not the most frequent blogger, so I may not get any responses for quite some time, but that's ok I'll be patient).

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

Summer Fun!

My sister Rhonda has been in town visiting the past few weeks over the 4th of July. Since she was here on her birthday which is the 3rd of July, me, my mom and sister all went out for the evening. We had a great time going to dinner, shopping and frozen yogurt.

For 4th of July evening we went out to my brothers for dinner and hanging out.

Laura actually took this picture. I thought she did a really good job.

We decided instead of fighting the crowds, we would see what kind of fireworks we could see from Dave's house. So we set up chairs on the drive way and could actually see several different firework shows. Of course none of them were very close, but I think the kids still had a fun time. It felt nice just sitting outside since it was so much cooler that night.

4th of July day we finally got the kid pool set up in the back yard and had Rhonda, Joe and their kids over.

The water felt so good that me and Rhonda decided to join the kids. It was actually nice and relaxing. Who knew that a kid pool could be so much for the mommys too.

I couldn't get over how cute Owen looked in his hat and glasses.

Mike and Joe decided they were too cool for the pool and opted for sitting in the shade. That probably would have looked a little funny if the daddy's got in too.

A few weeks ago we finally went camping with Mike's friend Mike Sherwood and his family. They just moved here to Arizona and don't have any family here, so we thought we'd show them a little bit of Arizona.

We camped up by the fish hatchery and found a good spot by the creek. The kids loved playing down there by the water. Here is Mike and his wife Tia and their daughter AnnaBell along with my Mike and kids.

The kids just wanted to sit and throw rocks forever.

I think David wanted to see just how dirty he could get. We literally saw him lay down in the dirt and roll back and forth just for the heck of it I guess.

We bought the kids their first sleeping bags for the trip which they were very excited about sleeping in. This was also David's first time to not sleep in a crib. It took him about an hour of wondering around inside the tent before he could finally relax and lay down. We thought he would never go to sleep.

About a month ago Mike rented an airator (or however you spell it) to help the lawn. David was so fascinated with it. I think it scared him at first because it was so loud. I think it was definitely louder than the lawn mower. He always loves helping daddy out in the yard.

I walked outside to bring Mike a drink and this is what I saw. It looked so funny seeing David who wanted to be out their with Mike so much, but still being a little scared of the noise and having to cover his ears

About a month ago we got our first pet. Yes, we got a hamster. This was the night we got it. I don't think the hamster is actually in this picture. We must have just gotten the cage set up here. The kids were super excited. The kids love getting her out and playing with her. That's right it's a girl and her name is Snowball. Maybe I'll actually get a picture of her one of these days.

Ok, since I heard that Krispy Kreme reopened I decided we needed to introduce the kids to the yummy krispy kreme donuts. Actually, I think it's really that I'm pregnant and I think I can eat whatever the heck I want and donuts have been sounding really good to me. So, needless to say we've made a few trips to get donuts this summer. Well maybe more than a few.

Memorial Day...

At the fish hatchery

David liked the fish but...

The construction truck sitting right there was much more interesting to him.

The kids found a great tree while we were eating lunch. You can't tell from this picture, but they were probably 5 or 6 feet off the ground sitting on this branch.

Me and mom at the cabin (story below).

Now I know it hasn't quite been a month yet, but I thought what the heck I'm going to update my blog anyway. So starting with Memorial day, we took a day trip up past Payson to the fish hatchery and Christopher Creek. We went with my brother Dave and his family and my mom came too. The kids had a lot of fun watching the fish and feeding them too. Afterward we went and found a nice spot for a picnic. It was such a beautiful day up there, sitting in pines by the creek, kids running around playing with their cousins. We had a great time. But before we left to come home, we drove up the road to Christopher Creek which is a place that's very sentimental to me and my family. We have a lot of memories there. Here's the story: My mom is an only child and her parents (my grandma and grandpa Walker) built a cabin in Christopher Creek when I was very small. That's one of things that my grandpa did was build houses, so he and my grandma literally built this cabin just the two of them. So me and my brother and sisters have so many great memories of going up to the cabin, especially in the summer time for weeks at a time. I know that me and my siblings all felt very close to grandma and grandpa Walker for all the time we got to spend with them at the cabin over the years and especially because the 4 of us were their only grandchildren. Eventually when my grandparents both passed away the cabin was then left to my parents. Unfortunately, by this time me and my siblings were all older teenagers and had jobs and were very much into dating and our social lives. So obviously we weren't visiting the cabin nearly as much and therefore the cabin wasn't being maintained as it needed to be. To make a long story short, my mom had to make a decision which was the hardest decision she had ever made and that was to sell the cabin. (ok I'm getting teary just typing this) Anyway, within a few years of selling the cabin me and my siblings were all married and starting families of our own and wishing so desperately that we still had the cabin (Mike said if he had come into the picture just a few years earlier, there's no way he would have let my parents sell the cabin. Of course at the time it seemed like the thing we had to do). Ok, where was I? So it's been about 10 years since we sold the cabin and me and Mike had driven through and seen the Cabin when we first got married and of course I just started crying because all the memories came rushing back (ok I'm getting teary again). However my mom hadn't been back to Christopher Creek since she left the cabin for the last time. So when we got their, we decided to park the car and walk up the road to the cabin. When we got their we noticed that whoever owned the cabin now was their, so my mom decided she wanted to go up to the door. My mom told them that her parents built the cabin and so we began visiting with this couple who were so nice and invited us in. It was the wierdest thing to be there again after all these years. They told us that they had really enjoyed the cabin, but that it was really too big for them and that they would probably be selling it in the near future. And the cool thing is that they asked for my mom's name and number and said they would let her be the first to know! Ok the thought of having the cabin back in the family is so awsome. So we'll see what happens. It was quite a day.