Long break

It has been a long while since I have posted. My main excuse is that I have been having migraines with this pregnancy and do not enjoy looking at a computer screen. I am starting to feel better and hope I am going to see some light. :)

We are in Utah right now visiting our families. We head home tomorrow so I will write more updates and post some pictures when I return home. Just to answer Maren's question, no, we are not having twins (:)) and yes, I finally went to the doctor. We find out the sex of the baby in 3-4 weeks and we don't care if it is boy or girl...we are just excited! (By the way Maren, I will call you back when I get home...it has been crazy here!)

Another thing, some of you close to me might remember my Aunt Abbi (my Mom's youngest sister). She is 10 months older than me and we grew up close like sisters. 9 days ago she was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. She struggled to breathe for 3 days in ICU then they finally intubated her (put a tube down her throat to make her breathe). She actually got a string of Strep A that attacked her lungs. It has been a roller coaster of emotions and she is still not out of ICU. It looks like it will be a long road. She has a wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter. Please pray for their little family! She is one of the most thoughtful people I know and I just can't believe she is dealing with this. Thanks a lot!

We went to this great park (thanks to Trisha) near our house and it was amazing! They have ducks, a path around the lake, amazing play equipment. We have already been there 3 times. It is a lot of fun for our family! Colorado keeps giving us glimpses of spring and then it snows. The snow never stays long around here though.

Jeb swinging Blake in the air!

I don't know what is up with Blake's goofy face. Landen looks really thrilled. It was getting a little cold because the sun was going down for the evening.

Savannah was begging for more bread to feed the ducks. Of course, I am wearing a hat. It seems those are the only pictures I have of me (it was Saturday and we love to stay relaxed on Saturdays!). Blake's lower face is bright red from skiing earlier that day.

Savannah and the geese. She loves to say the word "cheese" with her smile so we get a cute "cheesy" smile

Blake kept running back and forth along these rocks trying to make sure every duck (and goose) got a piece. He was so concerned one would get left out.

Okay, I can still post about Valentine's Day because it is still February. These are my beautiful orchids and "purple flowers" my husband got for me. He is a very good at flower-giving throughout the year so I like it when he gets a little creative and colorful. These kept blooming throughout the week. Very pretty!

Blake, Savannah and I got to attend Landen's Valentine party at school.

Landen decorating a cookie for each of us. (He put on a lot of frosting!)

The kids showing love!

Landen and his friend. He decided since it was Valentine's day he would be a gentleman. He helped a couple of girls carry their heavy backpacks and he gave his teacher a special hug and "Happy Valentine's Day" wish. This is huge for him because he has always been very shy. He is really coming out of his shell this year (getting a little too confident!)

Savannah thinks her bros. are so funny!

Playing in the snow.

Landen has been learning about the moon in school. If you can't tell, I love it when my kids read to each other! Such a precious moment. Landen was reading a book about the moon and solar system to Blake, teaching him all the stuff he knows. We got the kids out of bed and watched the Lunar eclipse last week Landen was so excited!

Landen and his crazy friends (and Blake)! They were out playing in the cold and came in for some hot chocolate. They are really fun to listen to as they interpret and talk about life!

Well, my dear friend, Maren lovingly informed me I needed to update my blog (thanks Mare!:)) . I guess it is definitely time. I will probably spend most of my time adding some recent pictures, but I did want to share some news with you. We are expecting Baby Number Four in September! We are very excited and a little scared. 4 seems like a lot but we are so grateful to be able to add another child to our family. I have been a little more sick this time and my clothes are getting tighter faster! Jeb thinks it is twins...Ha! I haven't been to the doctor yet. I figure I've done this a few times before and I can wait a little (I'm only 10 weeks along). Anyway, just wanted to share our exciting news with our friends. Take care!

Blake is now reading simple books and is so excited to finally be able to read to his sister. Landen has been doing it for a long time now and Blake loves that he gets his turn.
As you can see, she didn't mind that he was willing to spend the time with her. They are such good little buddies.

She had to be like big brother (that is a sticker on her shirt from the doctor...she loves to Raaaarrrr like a lion)

The kids are enjoying Friday night movie night together. I think they are watching Babe or something exciting like that. This is before we broke out the popcorn and snacks!



Last Saturday I finally got the chance to go skiing with Jeb and the boys.

Blake told me I should come every Saturday with them. I told him I didn't have a season pass like he did. He then said, "Mom, it's easy! All you have to do is go to the ski shop and get your picture taken!" I realized that was all HE had to do...Mom and Dad have to pay for it. :)

Landen and I got to ride more intense Blue hills this time. I think I am finally getting better. I had a blast!

I know we post a lot of ski pictures but that is the majority of what we are doing and taking pictures of this winter. I should have gone to Jeb's indoor soccer game last night and taken pictures, but I stayed behind to put Savannah to bed. He took the boys with him and his team won the final game and took first place! He loves playing so much. He always comes home in the best mood!:)

Landen has 2 friends over from school today. I was giving them their afterschool snack and they were being typical 7 year old boys. They were talking about a lot of "funny" potty stuff, trying to impress each other (this age is really interesting to watch as they learn to interact with their peers). They were being really loud and goofy and then all of a sudden Landen said, "Did you hear that President Hinckley died?" They all got quiet and started talking about how sad they were and that they were really going to miss him. I thought it was so sweet and couldn't believe the reverence and respect that came over them. We really are going to miss such a wonderful prophet. I told them they will come to know and love the next prophet too.

Like I mentioned before, Blake is reading now and does a really great job. He doesn't have the interest to sit down and do it as often as Landen did (he is much more into being active) but he seems really pleased to have caught on to it.

Savannah is finally in nursery. It has been nice to have her in there with little friends. She is our youngest so she seems way too small to be old enough to go to her "own class" but she loves it. She is talking a lot too (not in sentences yet). My favorite is when she says "cookie" and "baby". We recently went to the pediatric neurologist and he said she is doing so well we don't have to come back for regular visits anymore! Yeah! Not unless we notice something unusual.

For those of you who don't know, when I was 20 weeks pregnant with her, we found out she had a rare cyst in her brain called Dandy-walker. The possibilities of what we could deal with were on a wide spectrum. Anywhere from severe mental retardation or dying at birth, to showing no signs unless you look at an MRI and see a picture of her brain. If you google Dandy-walker and see other children who suffer from this you will realize how blessed we are to have her develop so well. Anyway, we are so grateful to put it somewhat behind us!

I was going to include a post that Jeb wrote on his family's site about our ski day, but this ended up getting super long! Maybe I will post it another time. To summarize the day could not have been more perfect. It was sunny, 45 degrees and absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to go with them all again! We felt bad leaving Savannah, but she didn't seem to mind.

Winter!!

Seeing this picture really freaked me out! I have a hard time letting my kids grow up. I would rather be oblivious than see them here, riding by themselves with no bar or anything (Yikes!). Jeb had them recite the important chair lift safety rules for me and I felt a little better. At least their Dad cares also...he is a lot more daring than I am though (which can be good for the kids!)

Enjoying the ride! Landen is just in his sweatshirt here. As they were leaving the house, Jeb called out, "grab your coats and get in the car". (Jeb had all the skis, helmets, pants, gloves, hats, goggles and snacks) Of course, Landen did not grab his coat. Luckily, it was quite warm but then it started to snow on them and he got really wet!

Dad and his boys (not much of Blake)



The two rascals!


Jeb and I skiing at Snowbird. It was so cold that day...in the negatives. Jeb lent me his mask (can you even tell that is me?). I don't even know how he was able to smile...the wind was so bad!

Jeb, Adam M., Adam B., Lane and my cousin Spencer all went snowboarding/skiing the day after Christmas

We made it home from Utah less than a week ago. We had a wonderful Christmas with the Buffington family. I added some ski pictures on here because that is all I have from Christmas so far. We only had our video camera with us during Christmas Eve and day, but everyone snapped lots of cute pics for us and promised to send them. So I will probably post Christmas pictures in the middle of March or something. :)

We left for Utah on December 21st around noon. We had planned on leaving earlier but Landen was having his Christmas party at school. All of the families were invited and the first graders got dressed up and read stories they had written. We told Landen we could go but would have to leave early. Of course we didn't get out of there as early as we would have liked, but he had a great time so that is all that mattered. We knew a storm was coming so we were trying to get out of there. We were about 40 minutes into the drive when Jeb realized he had forgotten his laptop (he needed it a little for work). I was very annoyed :) but kept smiling and saying (through clenched teeth, "it's okay honey, no big deal...we can drive 40 minutes back and then start all over again". We were determined to have a fun trip so I let it go without the lecture. Then our friends, the Conovers called. They were on their way to Utah also and were about an hour ahead of us. They said it was snowing and visibility was getting really bad. We pressed on and made it 2 hours out of Denver to Laramie, Wyoming where they closed I-80. Luckily, the Conovers were stranded with us so we just made a fun day of it! They have four boys, 2 of which are my kids ages. It ended up being a good time...the kids thought it was great! Luckily on the way home from Utah, we had perfect roads. The Conovers went home earlier than we did and ended up getting stranded again! I don't think they want to do Christmas away from home again for a long time!

The Christmas festivities were so nice. I felt really busy through the holiday season (good busy :)) so it was nice to be around family and relax and enjoy everything the way I wanted to. Landen's favorite present was a K'nex roller coaster and rollerblades. Blake loves his skateboard and Transformer helmet. A couple of days ago we cleaned out our unfinished basement so the kids have a ton of room. They have been rollerblading everyday down there(Blake got some for his b-day in October) and love it so much! Savannah follows them all over pushing her little stroller. It is very nice to see them have such a great time. Savannah got little twin babies she likes to take care of and a few other things.

On Christmas Eve Landen had a fever and was complaining his throat hurt. He was able to push through Christmas day, but after that he was pretty sick. Then of course, it went down the line...Blake had a turn and then Savannah got it bad. We finally got healthy and Landen was excited to go back school on Tuesday (the 8th). All day Monday he said his head and throat hurt again. I was not excited because Jeb had just left town that morning to go to the Electronics show in Vegas. I took him to the doctor and sure enough, it was strep! I am just waiting for the other kids to get it. I called Jeb this morning before his meetings and he had the chills all day yesterday and he felt like "he was swallowing needles". He and Landen spent a lot of time together on the slopes on Saturday so I'm sure he has strep throat too. We love to share in our family! :)

The day after Christmas Jeb went snowboarding with 2 of his bros, 2 of mine and my cousin. The day after that Jeb and I went skiing together for the first time since we have been married! We had such a great time. I am planning on joining him and the kids at the end of January to see their progress (and to have them help me get better!) Like I said, they went skiing again on Saturday and I loved listening to them share all of their adventures with me. All 3 of them (Jeb, Landen and Blake) had huge smiles on their faces. It has been such a great experience for them all to enjoy. Not to mention I get a lot done while they are gone. :) They only go until 1 or 2pm so we still get to spend a lot of time together.

Well, I guess I'll sign off for now! I hope all of our friends had a wonderful holiday!

Holiday Fun

I love this picture because she was being so cute the other day. Grandma gave her this baby and she wanted it to watch Teletubbies with her. She had to get her pacifier so she could be like her baby (although I have to say I don't usually let her have it unless she is in bed :)). She is so much fun!
She was pointing out the baby sun to her baby. I just love her!

I love my boys too of course. Landen turned 7 in November and had a great party with his friends.


We took 6 boys (plus my 2 boys) to this awesome place called JumpStreet for Landen's party. These are all trampolines hooked together. When we got there, Jeb said, "Don't we need someone in there with the kids to make sure they are all right?" Of course he wanted me to buy him a ticket too. The kids thought he had some pretty awesome tricks. They had a blast!

More of JumpStreet


We went to Utah for Thanksgiving to spend it with my family. We went and saw the lights at Temple Square. This is my sister Lauren and brother Lane with the boys.


This is my brother Brandon (and his son Ben on the left) with the kids after a big Turkeybowl game. Landen and Blake got to go too but I quickly got them cleaned up to take pictures. The guys (and Lauren) had a blast playing football. My dad said it was the best game so far.

My kids are so great (and growing too fast!)

Well, my trend seems to be that I get my blog updated only monthly (at least I do it right?) I am hoping once the holiday rush slows down I will have more time. I love keeping up with family and friends and want to do it more. I told Jeb he is welcome to post on here whenever he wants. We have a site with his family that he keeps up on regularly, but he is excited to help keep this one going.

Jeb has taken the boys skiing the last 3 weekends. They have season passes so he wants to get them up as much as possible. On the first Saturday he took Landen up for the morning and then I met him for lunch in Boulder and we switched kids. He took Blake up for the afternoon while Landen came home with me. The next Saturday Blake was really sick so Landen went and this last Saturday Landen had a birthday party so just Blake went. It has worked out great because Jeb has had some good one on one time with each of them and now they are all ready to go together. Of course, I will join them occasionally....I would love to get better! Jeb mostly snowboards but he thought he would start the boys out on skis.

Landen has caught on very well. His second day he was keeping up with Jeb on some harder "blue" runs (intermediate) and he landed his first jump. Blake has also done well but isn't quite caught up to Landen yet. Landen is 2 years older though so Jeb thinks Blake will be there in no time. They both love spending that time with their dad (and skiing with his kids is one of Jeb's lifetime dreams :)).

Savannah is doing well also. She is starting to talk and it is so fun to see her learn new things everyday. She is loving Christmas trees, Christmas lights and snow. She points them all out everytime she sees them and loves having a tree in our house. For a long time she was bringing me all of the ornaments from the tree to show me how "petty" (pretty) they were. Luckily, she realized Mommy wants them to stay on the tree.

I have been enjoying getting ready for the holidays. I have made some good friends here in Colorado and they have included me in some of their fun Christmas things (like a Cookie Exchange). I have felt busy but not so much that I can't love the season. The other day I had a number of things I wanted to get done in the afternoon after Landen's school and the kids were begging to go sledding. I realized I hadn't taken full advantage of the fun snow yet so we packed up (it is a lot to get 3 kids out the door with all of the gear) and drove over to Landen's school. We had so much fun sledding together, the kids all had huge smiles on their faces. I felt like a kid again! What a great feeling to sled down a hill. I feel like we don't have a lot of time for simple pleasures like that anymore now that we are fully in school. I look forward to summer where I have more time to spend with the kids.

Well, I have rambled far longer than I wanted to. I hope all who read this are having a great holiday. We are off to Utah to spend Christmas with Jeb's family (they are from Ohio but most are going to school in Utah). Have a Merry Christmas!

Lots of October Pictures to share!

Our life this fall has been extremely full (and fun!) Jeb has been coaching both of the boys in soccer so we feel like we live at the soccer fields.

Landen liked to help Jeb "instruct" Blake's team. He felt pretty cool being an older player they could look up to.

Jeb practicing drills with Landen and Blake

Savannah staying warm and doing her favorite thing, "the stroller push" while we are enjoying the soccer fun.

Blake turned 5 on October 17th. He won't start kindergarten until next year but he got to take donuts to his preschool class.

I let Blake help me with the entire cake process this year (usually I like to make it all pretty by myself). The kids had a great time . I can't believe how big they are all getting. Where does the time go?

This present was "air hogs". The kids (and Jeb) played outside with them forever. They still keep them entertained....great present!

Blake had his birthday party at the fire station. That was a lot of fun and it didn't cost anything. The fire fighters were great with the kids.

We had our first snowfall (besides the mountains of course) a couple of weeks ago. It was on a Sunday and we don't have church until one...we had a great time! Of course it was gone the next day but we fully enjoyed it!

I haven't bought a coat for Savannah yet...Jeb reminded me we have plenty of snow gear from the boys. I still want a pretty pink coat for her, but this will do for now :)

My kids' pediatrician was recently telling me to throw away our trampoline because they are so dangerous. I can't imagine what she would say if she saw them jumping on it with the slippery snow. I don't know what to do because my kids spend hours out there playing nicely together and not watching TV. I guess it is something I should think about since my brother did break his neck and Blake broke his leg. Such a shame! Any thoughts?

The boys would not take the time to put on their snow pants. They were soaking wet and I thought it was freezing....of course they didn't care at all.

My parents (and my sister) came to visit us the weekend before Halloween. It was so nice to have them. Aren't they cute together? We watched the World Series with them and had to suffer through the Rockies loss. At least they made it that far!

Savannah wanted to show Grandma and Grandpa that she can do it all too.

So intense! I'm so glad Jeb takes the initiative with pumpkin carving. I don't have the patience to do the inticate work of the designs the kids choose. I like to do the good old fashioned triangle eyes and nose. I should have taken pictures of the final creation but I never did get them taken. They were really cool.

Blake concentrating so hard.

Savannah, the witch! I loved seeing her costume from behind as she would run. So cute!

Landen showing us his Ninja moves

Blake was so sick that night. After school I told him maybe he should go lay down before Trick-or-Treating so he would have more energy (thinking in my head "yeah right"). He said "okay" trudged up the stairs, laid down and fell sound asleep. Poor guy...you could hear him coughing his lungs out running down the street to keep up with his brother and his friends. He lost his voice really bad so we called him "Squeaky" all night.

My 3 adorable kids. They are so great!

The pictures explain what we have been up to lately. We feel close to being settled into our house. The kids have made great friends here. Landen loves his school and likes 1st grade a lot. He is super bright and loves to read any chance he can get. The last few nights I have caught him sneak-reading Superfudge by the night-light. I can't get too mad at him because I used to do the same thing as a kid. He really enjoyed soccer this last season and Jeb was excited with the improvement he has shown. He is always working on his moves and has gotten really skilled with his footwork.

Blake also really enjoyed soccer. He was playing a year up but we are hoping to get him on Landen's team next season. Then Jeb won't have to coach 2 different teams. It is definitely a huge time commitment on both of our parts. I'm always hauling everyone to and fro in the mini-van and chasing Savannah around the fields. It has been really fun for our family though. Blake has been going to preschool and loves feeling like he has his own thing. He has found this new little best friend that he always plays with...they both love to be Superheroes and play Star Wars.

Savannah continues to grow and I love spending time with her. She is into dolls and strollers and looking pretty, yet she can hold her own while playing with cars and power rangers. It is very cute. Her favorite thing to do right now is dance to the High School Musical 2 CD. She really doesn't like any other music at the moment, it is hilarious.

Jeb just bought season passes to the ski resort closest to us for him and the boys (I will be joining them on occasion). They are all very excited to hit the slopes on November 16th. I will try to update my blog more often so it isn't such a huge event every time I do it. More updates to come!