What A Difference A Year Makes

Yesterday Ian hit his 3-month mark. It got me thinking about what a different place I am at now versus a year ago. Last year at this time I was in the midst of my injections and preparing for my egg retrieval. It was such a tense, stressful time. Now a year later I have a 3-month old baby that has brought such joy to my life and to our family. Ian is such a sweet, easy baby. He eats and sleeps well and shares his huge smile all the time. He is so fun and I wish I could keep him small just a little longer.


Ian has beautiful blue eyes. He is always opening them up huge like he's surprised.

He smiles all the time and does such a cute baby laugh until he gives himself hiccups.

I just love those little feet. Everyone who sees him says how much he looks like his dad. I agree. He even does the same thing with his big toe.

So sweet. He gets so much attention from his big brothers (90% of it good). They love him a lot and are both pretty good helpers with him. If I'm busy, Luke can usually give Ian his binky and get him calmed down. I think it is so cute to listen to them talk to him using the same kind of high-pitched voice adults use when talking to babies. They think Mr. E is the best baby ever. I am a lucky mom.

4th of July Fun and Then Some

Last week was a busy but fun week. We had tinfoil dinners with neighbors on Monday, a get together with my old college roomies and friends (post about that to come) on Tuesday, and late night fireworks in the neighborhood on Wednesday...and that was all before we left for camping on Thursday morning! By Sunday afternoon we were all so tired that a miracle happened and for a while the entire family was napping. We traditionally go to Bear Lake for the 4th of July, but this year Jer's family's camping trip was the same week so we did both. The kids had a blast both places.

Seth and his cute cousin Addison. She is actually 7 months older than him, and they are starting to play together great.

They spent a lot of time in this "treehouse." Seth must have dragged his little camp chair in and out of there a hundred times. At this point, Seth was so tired he looked like he could fall asleep sitting up.

The smores were a big hit. K'Lee is 9 months older than Luke, but they will both be starting kindergarten in the fall and they are great friends. My boys sure have cute cousins.

Seth loved the smores. He ate two and savored every bite. Long after the other kids were up and running around again, he was sitting in a semi-comatose state steadily eating! He carried that jacket around like Linus from Peanuts the entire trip. He didn't really want it on, but he had to have it with him.

Ian spent a lot of time in the carrier. He had lots of smiles for everyone and even took a few snoozes there. My other kids used it only for hiking and weren't big fans, but he likes it. Little does Ian know that a huge ash popped out of the fire and started his jacket on fire...I guess that was just to keep me on my toes!

Car camping just isn't the same without lots of food. Since we are the only tent campers in the bunch, grandma shared her freezer goods with us. Yum! Jer and the big boys spent the night in the tent while I slept in the trailer with Ian. He slept like a champ as usual. Our only wake-up was when TJ came in to get his mom at 2:30 am. He was taking Amy to the hospital to have her baby! Nothing like camping when you're 9 months pregnant. She was scheduled for a c-section on the 13th but ended up having Tucker early in the morning on the 3rd...what a trooper. I have only seen pics, but he looks darling and I can't wait to meet him...a cousin for Ian.

Jer's uncle's dog Oz is so good with kids. The kids ran him ragged giving him walks and playing fetch. There were actually 4 dogs along on the trip. Luke really wants his own. I told him maybe when he's older...or maybe never. They also did crafts and nature walks with grandma and went on 4-wheel rides with dad or grandpa. Good times.

We left camp on Friday and headed home to do some laundry and get ready to leave the next morning for a day at Bear Lake. Jer fit the Freedom Run in that morning and then we headed. That's a fun event... maybe next year. I've started running again myself but that's also a story for another post. The boys were super grouchy (me too) and not getting along well, but we all regrouped on the way up and had a fun day.

Fun at the pool.

After lunch we hit the beach...both of my boys were zoned out for a while and then got their second winds. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and the adults had a great time just sitting around relaxing.

Ian took a good nap under the canopy. I know a swim suit for a 2-month old is a little silly. It has been around since Seth and still had the tags on, so we put it on just for the cute factor.

Seth spent a lot of time in this trench. He also spent a lot of time playing with the kids in the group next to us. He is such an easygoing, lovable kid.

Does that face look like trouble? The first second we got to the beach he went out into the water and fired up a jet ski that was parked there. That sent a bunch of adults running!

Ian chilled with dad and the rest of the kids played in the sand and water for hours.

After the beach we cooked out at the condo. The boys had 4th of July duds courtesy of Grandma Carolyn.

Jer was a little alarmed but Seth loved this little scooter that Kim had there. He doesn't care if it is pink...he loves anything with wheels on it.

Kim's kids, Tonia's boys, and my boys there somewhere. After a trip to the park for playtime with cousins we decided to head home before the fireworks. Phew...having fun can be exhausting.

Mini Van Mama

Jer and I took a big step this week...we bought a mini van! I have never really wanted a van, but once we had three kids the reality of having them all sit right next to each other set in. Not that I wasn't getting a great bicep workout lifting Ian into the middle seat and all but enough was enough. Poor Ian was being mauled everywhere we went! I have only had this since Friday, and I think it is going to be the best purchase ever. There's lots of room, no one can touch anyone else, and it is much better on gas than our Jeep. (If anyone wants a totally sweet Jeep Commander we have one for sale!) We have been searching for almost 2 months for a reasonable deal on a used Honda, and Jer's friend finally found this beauty for us. I'm all about practical, so I'm going to embrace my inner mini van mom and enjoy!



We broke the van in with a trip to Tony Grove on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, and we had so much fun. I took the camera but in was in Jer's backpack and between the baby, rocks, dropoffs, water, and two rowdy boys I was too busy to get it out. I love taking pictures, but it was actually nice to just enjoy instead of having a million photo ops. (You can see how much Seth did enjoy the only photos we took!) We had a great time, and I took some fabulous pics in my mind's eye:
**Seth running his 2-year-old run along the trail trying to keep up with Luke (and taking a few eggbeaters along the way).
**Luke wanting to (and doing it) climb every big rock in sight and Jer being the Nervous Nellie instead of me.
**Luke and Jer having some serious pine cone and snowball fights.
**Watching the boys eat their PB & J's perched on a big rock.
**The boys having fun playing in snow in the summertime.
**Ian sleeping peacefully in the Baby Bjorn the whole time (have I mentioned he is world's best baby)!
**Seth chasing after all manner of chipmunks with his hands out saying "hold." (He apparently has not heard Grandpa Steve's chipmunk story that ends with a finger nearly bitten off!)
**Cruising home in the mini van with dirty, happy, tired kids!

Here's to many more memories in the new wheels.

Buzz Boys

The summer is flying by. I can't believe June is almost over. Despite the rain, we've managed to have lots of fun playing outside. About the only nice day we had last week we had practically the whole neighborhood over here slip 'n sliding with us and the kids had a blast. The boys and their friends are plowing through the Otter Pops at light speed. Luke and Seth are becoming such good little buddies, and it is so fun to watch them playing together. Amost anytime Seth gets hurt (even sometimes if Luke was the cause) he wants Luke to give him a "hu" (hug) and kiss it better. He is such a little copycat of everything his brother does, and he's picked up words like "cool" and "hey dude". We've been talking to Luke about being a good example because he sure has a little follower!


Since my boys always look like they have bedhead, we decided to buzz their hair off for the summer. I was a little nervous about it, but Jer was totally stoked. He hates when he has gel duty on Sunday morning. Luke doesn't look too much different, but it changed Seth a lot. His hair looks a lot lighter, and he somehow looks older and bigger (not something he exactly struggles with anyway)! I was doing double takes the first few days, but I'm used to it now and think they look so cute. Jer also has very short hair and Ian hasn't grown any yet, so I live with a whole family of bald men! I need to get a shot of Jer with all his buzz boys soon...maybe when I get around to that Father's Day post!


P.S. Don't worry--Luke does not have a horrible eye injury or anything, he is just patching again this summer. It went less than smooth the first week, but he has resigned himself to the fact that he has to do it now and even reminds me in the morning. It is only for 3-4 hours a day and hopefully by August his eyes will be equally strong.

Guy Smiley

I still haven't taken a great smiley picture of Ian even though he is cheesing it all the time. I thought I should post anyway since he turned 2 months on Sunday. He had his check up Monday and weighed in at 12 lbs. 14 oz. He is a healthy boy! He has the cutest little soft hair growing in on top. It is really blond, so I think he might have the white blond hair. We'll see. He is cooing and saying "ah-goo" now and his brothers love him. He gets lots of attention...way too much when sandwiched in between them riding in the car. He has brought lots of joy to our family, and we love him so much.




Funny/Gross side note: On Monday after we had been outside all afternoon Luke started telling me a story. It was basically that he really needed to poop and while rushing inside to take care of business, he had a bit come out and roll out of his short leg. He described it as a "ball" of poop. I thought he was kidding but after questioning him he said it really happened. So we went outside to look for the deposit. He couldn't seem to remember where it might be and we couldn't find it, so he suggested that it "melted." I assured him that poop would not melt--at least not under those conditions. I pretty much gave up on it and then I overheard him talking to Jer after he got home. I know he must have got the same story because I heard Jer say, "it wouldn't just dissolve." I dissolved into laughter and have since urged Luke to head to the bathroom just a little sooner. I may never know the truth behind this fecal matter incident. I wouldn't suggest walking outside our house in bare feet right now. Kids!!

Steeplechaser

On Saturday Jer ran the Wahsatch Steeplechase again. He did awesome and beat last year's time by about 15 minutes. This race is so hard. It's almost 18 miles and is basically straight up a mountain, across the "crags" at the top, and then straight down. I'll admit I was a little worried because he hasn't trained as hard as he would have liked with the new baby and all! Anyway, he was crazy enough to do it a second time because he's tough and does something once he's committed. Ian and I went to the finish line to cheer him on. His friend Brian brought a few friends to run and one of them was Jer's good friend from his mission, so it was a fun little reunion for him. You may notice Jer is back to his fighting weight again. He was kind of like a bear and hibernated over the winter and then had to reshed the pounds. A woman would never get away with that strategy. I have suggested to him that it would be a better plan to just keep it off in the first place. Anyway...go Jer.

Baby Blessing

Sunday was a great day for our family. Jer blessed Ian, and we had a little shindig after with lots of family. Jer did a great job on the blessing and although it was pouring rain we had a fun get together. Ian was just his cute, sweet self all day. I set up the tripod the night before and made everyone pose for some pictures before church. I was pretty happy with how they turned out. I was a total slacker after and did not take any pictures at the lunch. We are so grateful though to all the family that came to support us and for all the food and help with the party. Special thanks to my mom who has been such a great help with all the parties I've been hosting lately! Sometimes I still can't believe I have three boys but here's the proof. They are a handsome bunch if I do say so myself.