Can you believe he is 7 months??!!

Baseball FUN! I was their coach... fun! With side note, question.... why is it that your own kids turn so needy when mommy is their coach?? Arghhh....

First swim of the season :)

All in all it has been a great Spring. Did I mention that 4 kids is kicking my butt? Living the good life and grateful to be going to bed wiped out and happy every night!

Baby #4 has arrived!!

He is here!! He came like a freight train...

Delivered By Daddy.....

In Daddy's Baby.. I mean truck.....

At the local CVS Pharmacy Parking Lot......

And as you can see this little stinker #4 is well LOVED by all of us!

Here he is at one week old... can't believe how fast the time goes!!

So I guess many of you are curious to hear the "story" behind this little guy's entry into the world. I have 2 concerns in my pregnancies. First, that they stay in the oven long enough. Second, that they do not come too fast and with that one concern comes many other concerns... will my husband be home? Who will take me to the hospital? What will I do with my kids? On and on and on...

I made it to 38 weeks with this little guy. At 37 weeks, I was dialated to a 5 and 80% effaced and as usual I was having absolutely no labor pains. My doctor did nothing for me.... there were a couple of time where I actually had some contractions that I was noticing and they started to pattern so I would have to go to triage, but I would get sent home. So I was a bit frustrated to say the least.... Who cares that I barely made it to the hospital with my other son that came in 15 minutes. My daughter who came in less than an hour... My third daughter, my doc induced me at 37 weeks, bc of my history and I was dialated to a 4 and 80 % effaced. Nevermind all that.... So yes frustrated I was and still am, and currently looking for a new OBGYN Practice. But I guess this Practice knew more than me and all my other past OBGYN's. Needless to say, I was I right. Little guy came in less than 10 minutes... from my first and only, never ending contraction.

August 17th was a normal day. I went to the doctor. They checked me nothing changed. That evening I picked up the kitchen while Matt brushed the kids' teeth. We had family prayer, I put the kiddos down for bed, signed off on their homework, finished loading the dishwasher, counted fetal movements, and hopped in the shower. As I was finishing my shower I had a horrible pain in my lower back and pelvis. I could not walk, talk, or do much of anything. Somehow I managed to crawl, finally found the strength to stand up, fell down again in the bedroom where luckily my hubby was. He saw me go down rushed to me, put clothes on me, and we managed to get down the stairs, get in the truck and head to the hospital. We were a couple of minutes from the house when my water broke, instantly after my water broke I let my husband know that the baby's head was out as well. He dialed 911 and pulled over in the nearest parking lot and finished delivering our son. Our little guy did not give the initial scream, but eventually did. The firemen, ambulance, and police officer were there withing 3 to 5 minutes. Put the baby on oxygen, bundled him up real tight, and took us both to the hospital.

Truly, my husband tells this story much, much better than I do. Each time I deliver I go into a different world and mind set. So focused on a task as hand and the baby really nothing else. However, with this labor and delivery there was a point of horror when I realized that I had 5 or maybe 6 firemen and ambulance workers all right there, surrounding me and helping me pull up my pants... I was mortified. Still thankful for what they did for me and my baby, but wow modesty is important to me!

There's the scoop folks. What an adventure and what a blessing. Looking back on the situation and how it all took place, there is no doubt we had Heavenly Father's hand in it all and we have a healthy, beautiful baby boy to show for it. We are absolutely in love with him and his little faces, noises, and even the kids are fascinated by his yellow pooh. What a blessing! Welcome to our family little guy! We love you more than you will ever know!

On the road again...

Here we are in Arizona and it is great to be here, slowly, but surely settling in. Our ward is great. We love our new home. I am really looking forward to staying in a place longer than 2 or 3 years! :) So here we are the Arizona chapter of our life and we are so excited for it. Now for the picture fun that will depict this crazy family's adventure in coming to this new found home!

Obviously, I am not blogger saavy, so it will be a backward journey. Our first weekend in our new found home we went for a hike and checked out some Indian Petroglyphs. We love being back in mountains. Different mountain than what we are used too, beautiful just the same.

Here is stinker #3 after the hike. She was relieved to be back in the car. She did not enjoy the hike. However, she worked very hard getting up and down the trail and is proud to sport the baby, sweaty hair look. We actually arrived in Arizona just to leave again for a cousin's sealing in Utah. We were able to manage to lighten the car load and pack into smaller suitcases leaving the rest behind in out temporary living arrangements. On our way up to Utah, we went through Vegas. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of Vegas. We drove the strip and saw all the lights and fountains. We went to the temple. Beautiful. That was Vegas for us in a nutshell.

We toured Southern Utah. This was my favorite natural bridge. Driving through parts of this country brought back a lot of memories for me when I fought fire for the United States Forest Service. Southern Utah is truly unique. It was a treat being able to drive through this amazing country with the family. Now if I can keep my husband of what used to be roads, but no longer fit for family vehicles.... I don't care if we have 4 wheel drive. I am pregnant, three kids in the back, and don't want to be stuck in the middle of no where.... :) Boys will be boys!
I have never seen the Manti Temple in person.... Gorgeous! I can honestly say this is my 2nd favorite right after the Logan Temple. :)
Arcade pit stop.... Mom taking stinker #1 on her first Go Kart ride. She loved it and so did I! It is so much funnier going with your kid. She was laughing and screaming the whole time. She would have rode the whole night. Stinker #2 and #3 would not leave the game where you hit a gopher with a mallet. Love that game. Jeans, you grow out of...arcade games (especially the gopher game, NEVER!
We visited Temple Square. I love this picture. Isn't my baby just a miniature of her daddy??
So this is not the best picture, but it has a funny story to go with it... Stinker #2 is looking at the Christus in the Visitor's Center and he was amazed at how tall the statue is. He now has it ingrained in his little mind that is truly His height. For about a week afterward, he would say mom "Jesus should teach me how to play basketball". LOL I love kids and the things that they say, notice, imagine.
Stinker #1 and her ever-so-patient cousin! Thanks for letting her be your shadow the time that we were in Utah for the wedding!
Here is prego mom with the three best kids on top of the Conference Center. The kids loved being able to be at the top of a building. Stinker #1 fell in love with the Salt Lake Temple and this is where she is now planning to marry a little boy named Owen there. Who knows if little Owen has any clue of her future plans. LOL

Here are my three little monkeys at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This here is my favorite place. I love the feeling, the beauty, and having an amazing husband, awesome kids of my own make it even more special. I will miss living within driving distance, but so grateful we were able to make it before the move.

Nauvoo is another place I will miss that was within driving distance. What a fun place to take your family and learn about the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ. We did not have the time to go and do and see all that there is to see. So we hit up the faves... throwing rocks in the Mississippi.

Checking out the handcarts.

Trail of Tears and looking back at the beloved Nauvoo Temple.
We will miss you Illinois! We will miss the corn, the apples, our neighbors, our ward, the green surroundings, the Rock River, among many, many more things. Thank you for an awesome, almost three years!

Catch Up Time!!

So as many of you know we have been BUSY the last couple of months.... but before I update each of you on the move, Arizona, and the traveling adventures between... I have more important matters to cover... BIRTHDAYS! Long over due, but precious and awesome and SOMEONE PLEASE STOP MY KIDS FROM GROWING SO QUICKLY!!!

My little stinker #2 turned 4 his birthday requests were quite simple. He wanted a spiderman cake and a pizza picnic on the floor. So that is just what we did. Here is our picnic with his favorite pizza on an old sleeping bag. We watched spiderman while enjoying the cheesy delight! He was too busy stuffing his face to give me any kind of a smile.

I LOVE this picture. My hubby's face cracks me up. For those of you who know my little boy this sums him up.... LOVE! He is always the one who knows when mommy needs a hug, kiss, and he tells me multiple times a day how pretty I am and how much he loves me. This kid is good to have around for the self esteem. He is our little peacemaker in our home. Don't get me wrong, he gets into his fair share of trouble especially with his swords and guns. Oh little stinker #2 you are amazing.
Here he is super excited to dive into his Spiderman cup cakes! This kid LOVES Spiderman. I think I am going to be doing Spiderman birthdays for him until his mission... who knows!! Little fun facts about my BIG Stinker who in now the BIG 4...

1. He LOVES swords and guns... really any weapon that he can wildly chase and torment his sisters with.

2. He is a dare devil. He falls, he gets back up. Too many times have I found myself freaking out over a bunch of dried blood all over some body part that he recently got a scratch or scrape.

3. Daddy is his buddy and mommy is who he wants to marry. :)
4. He wants to be a missionary when he grows up, because they are super heroes. LOL

5. He LOVES babies. He has already named the baby in my tummy. For the past couple of months when he addresses me he includes his baby name too. He gives the baby love every days and sings him songs. He is looking forward to having another brother.

There is so much more about this little boy that just makes me melt. I love my little guy and count it one of my greatest blessing to call him son. The happiness and complete joy he brings into our family is indescribable. I love being your mommy. You may only be 4, but you are still my baby!

NOW for my little Stinker #3.... She is 2 years old!! She is absolutely wonderful, comical, fiesty, and she too LOVES spiderman. However, she did not get a spiderman birthday. She had a rainbow birthday. Solely because of her deep love for rainbow chip icing. She could eat a whole tub on her own and believe me it would go straight to her adorable chubby thighs... the ones that mom and dad LOVE to tickle!

As you can see from the picture, we all were able to enjoy some rainbow chip slobber cake. :) After we sang "Happy Birthday" she would blow out her candles and shriek with joy and say "again, again". So since it was her birthday.... The kids and I would sing to her again and dad would re light the candles. We did this.... oh near 20 times! LOL It made her so happy, we could not help but do it for her.
Stinker #3 is just that a stinker. Being the third kiddo in the family, she has no other choice, but to be resourceful. She is quite cute as long as she is not using biting or pinching as her resourceful methods. :) She loves to sing and dance. Saturday mornings, the hubby likes to watch country music videos. This has become a favorite thing to do for Claire too. She cracks us all up with her killer moves. The other kiddos will join in and yes even the hubby and I too. It's contagious. :)

Some fun facts about this beautiful baby girl of mine.....

1. She LOVES spiderman. She has to eat from the spiderman plate at meals. She demands to watch spiderman on demand... she will even bring you the remote saying "spire man, spire man".

2. She thinks she is bigger than what she is. She does her best to keep up with big sister and big brother. Most of the time she is successful. Her brother is her hero. She always wants him around to play with, to sit by, or to cuddle her.

3. She is sassy. If you are being naughty, her little finger will pop out and point right at you, quickly calling you on the carpet... "naughty,. naughty."

4. Do not mess with her Tangled movie or her baby dolls. She has named herself sole protector of both.

5. She loves to play with hair and it will put her right to sleep. Hair and some cuddles is all this little girl needs. So in other words... daddy does not have the magic to put her to bed! LOL

How I love this little girl! She makes us laugh. She has brought another element of bliss into our family. What a lucky mom I am and I am so grateful to have this little angel.

Triumph!!

There were nights where we got scolded.....There were even nights where we were down right silly....
There were the sassy nights
But most of all we are just ecstatic!!!

With the report that we finished reading the whole Book of Mormon as a family..... and it only took us two years!!! Wonder why it would take so long.... refer to pictures above! We let the kiddos pick what set of scriptures they would like to read next..... Their response, the OLD TESTAMENT! Watch for our next scriptural accomplishment in 20 years!! :)

Really and truly, the kids did great and I cannot say how awesome it has been to have completed this goal as a family. It was not always easy and we did miss some nights here and there, but I can honestly say that we did it! Some night we only made it through a few verses, other nights we would make it through a chapter (WHOA, I KNOW!).

I will cherish reading scriptures while the kids are young. They may not understand all the vocabulary or even be reverent and good listeners for too long of a time, but we started when stinker #3 was a itty bitty baby and now she is the one that goes and gets the scriptures to read immediately after Family Prayer. Stinker #1 and #2 take their turns and just make up words to their "scriptures" and they almost always begin with "And it came to pass". LOL LOVE IT!!

Then there are the moments when you know that they are catching what this evening time habit is all about. The time that Stinker #1 tells me that when we read the Book of Mormon it feels like someone is kissing her heart. Or when Stinker #1 and #2 create a fort by the hubby and my bed for a place where they can go think and pray like Enos. Or when Stinker #2 tells me while reading the chapter in 3rd Nephi (Jesus blesses the little children) that that will be him someday with a big smile on his face. It humbles me and makes me think how I need to be more like them. The scriptures are not just stories or historical documentary. They are meant to be felt in our hearts.

Now I guess I need to find it within myself to get a sincere excitement about tackling the Old Testament. I was truly hoping that the monkeys were to choose the New Testament.... Guess not! Old Testament starts tonight!!

Baby #4 is......... & Arizona Home Sweet Home

Think blue, think blue, blue, blue, blue! Lakko Baby el numeral 4 is a boy!! As Stinker #2 put it today while she sat in the ultrasound room looking at the screen... "We are forming a pattern, mom!" Girl, boy, girl, and now a boy! I guess it is a pattern and Stinker #2 is oh so happy to have a brother on the way! The best part is that my hubby was able to be in town to witness the discovery of the... well you know what it is! :) I am sorry about the missing ultrasound pictures, but I hate my scanner so the picture of the blue will have to do for now.

Some of the other funny things that happened.... well stinker #1 went with us to the ultrasound. She claims it looks like a dinosaur because of its skeleton and that we should name the baby Long Neckie. Well I do not think that is going to happen. Unfortunately, won't even make the list! My personal favorite, close behind her comments about every piece of ugly art work on the doctor's office walls, is when she says "Mom, you don't cough up your babies do you?" I reply, "No, sweetie that is not how it happens." She then thoughtfully says "Yeah, thats pretty gross how it happens, but all babies are lucky to get out of there to breathe." So I ask, "How do you think the baby comes out?" Her response with her head roll, eye roll combination.... "you poop them out. Don't worry I won't tell anyone." Hahaha never ever a dull moment. I did tell her a very edited version of how it happens.

Onward and forward to another topic.... Arizona house hunting. What an adventure. I must admit how incredible it was to spend some alone time with just the hubby. Seriously, we went hot tubbing every night, walked around stores that we never get to walk around, and of course saw sooooo many houses and finally found one to make an offer on at the very end of the trip. Here are a couple of pictures of the joint.....
Swimming pool. Seriously, just come and float. There is a BBQ at the one end of the pool. I am envisioning the perfect vision, the hubby grilling me my favorite brats and pineapple burgers. While I put a potato salad that I purchased earlier at the grocery store in a pretty bowl and set in the fridge like it has been there all day after my long hours of slaving over it. (shush now, I know there are more of you who do the same thing....) The best part of this vision, it is quite possible that this can happen 365 days a year!! Woohoo for Arizona!

Here is picture of the house from the outside. Lovely is it not? Now for the part that is not so perfect... it is a short sale. The seller accepted our offer and now we have to wait to hear back from the bank. I am really hoping and praying that it goes quickly and in our favor. I am trying not to make plans for this house until we know for sure, for sure, but it is hard.... well, because I am a planner.... It is ending up as an ongoing conversation with myself "Brain, please stop. We don't know if this our home yet. Stop. Brain. Stop."

All will be well, no matter what. I truly feel like I have everything that I really need with my awesome husband and incredible kids and I have to admit that THAT is the best feeling in the world!