So, I guess it's pretty obvious that updating my blog hasn't been #1 on my priority list. I think I've pretty much been in survival mode these last few months. Me and Mike have been taking turns having strep throat, cold's and allergies while the kids have been dealing with having to do breathing treatments and having ear infections. I really thought that our family was pretty healthy overall, but after this last month I'm beginning to wonder. Even as I sit here and type, I can hardly breathe out my nose, so I wonder what I'm going to het this time! I'm a little baffled by this because I usually never get sick. I guess I should just accept the fact that this is how the winter months are going to be. ANYWAY...

about the picture...This is me and my sister Rhonda after we finished running the Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving. I must say that I had no plans of running a a 10k just 2 months earlier right after I had Jacob. I actually did not have this plan until about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving when I was talking to Rhonda on the phone. She told me how she had just ran in a 10k the day before in Las Vegas (where she is living right now). I was very suprised because I had no idea she had been training for a race. Well it turns out she hadn't been training and had only gone out for a few runs before the race. She knew she wasn't even close to being in her best shape possible, but she did it anyway. Then that's when she said she was planning on running in the Turkey Trot when she came here for Thanksgivng and was totally convinced that I should run it with her. I shot that idea down right away. Now Rhonda was an awsome mid-distance runner in track and cross country in high school. I however, was a sprinter in track and had never even ran more than a mile at a time in my life. I always thought that I was never meant to be a distance runner. So I tried to give her every excuse I could, mostly how I was in the worst shape ever and hadn't moved faster than a catepillar in over a year. Well somehow after I got off the phone, those thoughts of doubt I was having turned into wanting to take on this challenge. I felt really curious to know how well I would do running 6 miles with only 2 weeks to train. I'll leave out alot of the details and just get to the race. I was so sure that I would'nt be able to keep up with her the whole time and that at some point she would take off without me and that I would end up walking half the time. Well to my suprise, we stayed together the whole race and we only stopped to walk at the 5 mile mark for about 2 minutes. I even ended up finishing about 15 minutes faster than I thought I would. I was so proud of myself! I learned a big lesson here, that is that I think alot of times we set limits for ourselves and don't even think we're capable of certain things. I'm just glad that I pushed myself to step out of my comfort zone (along with some pressure from Rhonda )and now have a great memory of me and my sister.

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.