The Ramirez Family!

11 Questions with Josh

2012-02-16T14:12:00.002-07:00

1. Favorite Family Activity: Playing board games
2. Favorite Movie: Cars
3. Favorite Color: Blue and Red
4. What do you want to be when you grow up: A police man
5. Favorite Sport: Golf
6. Favorite Food: Pancakes
7. Favorite Cartoon: Wild Kratts
8. Favorite Holiday: Christmas
9. Favorite thing at School: Class Parties
10. If you were rich what would you buy: 100 hot wheel cars
11. Favorite Scripture Story: When Nephi get the plates

11 Questions with Mason

2012-02-13T14:30:00.001-07:00

1. Favorite Family Activity: Sing songs
2. Favorite Movie: Go Diego GO
3. Favorite Color: Yellow
4. What do you want to be when you grow up: A policeman
5. Favorite Sport: Basketball
6. Favorite Food: Chicken Pillows
7. Favorite Cartoon: Wild Kratts
8. Favorite Holiday: Christmas
9. Favorite thing to do at school: Make Crafts
10. If you were rich what would you buy: A House
11. Favorite Scripture Story: When Nephi gets the plates.

7 Question with Sara

2012-02-13T14:20:00.001-07:00

1.What is your favorite family activity: Snuggle
2. What is your favorite movie: Strawberry Shortcake
3. What is your favorite color: Blue
4. What is your favorite food: Corn Dogs
5. What is your favorite cartoon: Super Why
6. What is your favorite song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
7. What is your favorite toy: Leap Frog Puppy I got for Christmas

Matt had a birthday

2012-02-07T16:39:00.002-07:00

We celebrated Matt's birthday at the end of last month. He turned 31. We had Matt's parents and sister over for cake and ice cream.

Later Melissa and Logan stopped by to say hi. I am not sure what his favorite present was. His very own candy mountain courtesy of Melissa and Logan. OR...

His new old car. We finally parted ways with Matt's Subaru. It was starting to slowly fall apart on us and we just didn't want to have to deal with a car that was going to nickel and dime us. We were sad to see it go (kind of) but are glad to have something a nicer.

Pinewood Derby

2012-01-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

This year Noah got to participate in the Pinewood Derby for the first time. He had so much fun though he did admit that he was nervous that he was going to loose. He did all the work on his car with just a little help from Matt and I. He did a great job! He won the award for best workmanship.

He raced 6 different races and took first or second place in each of them. He took second place in his age group. It was definitely a learning experience since it was our first time. Now we'll know what to do different next year.

Christmas

2012-01-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

We had a good Christmas this year. Our tradition is that we don't do anything all day and sit around in our jammies playing with all the new toys. This year of course we went to church. This year on Christmas Eve we had Matt's parents over for Christmas dinner. After they left we got the kids ready for bed in their new pjs that our elf Freddie brought them. When they got in bed they all found that they had tickets of some sort in their beds. The tickets were for the Mini Van Express. After they got their tickets punched they came to the kitchen to get some snacks for the ride. Hot chocolate, popcorn and marshmallows. Then we piled in the mini van and went in search of Christmas lights. Our area doesn't really do anything exciting with lights, but we still had fun driving around looking at them.

Christmas morning the kids slept until around 7 and were really excited to see what Santa had brought them. Of course they never get everything they want but we always hear, "This is the best Christmas ever!", come from them several times.

I'm horrible at taking pictures so this is all I took. I want to work on that this year. The kids are already talking about next year. Christmas with little kids is just so much more fun!

Freddie the Elf

2012-01-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

This year we were lucky and we got to have one of Santa's elves come and stay with us to check on the boys. He was quite mischievous and got into a little bit of trouble now and then.

One day the boys were a little naughty so he got out all their clean underwear and decorated the front room with it. They thought this was great.

He must have been cold when he got back from the North Pole.

Playing board games one night.

He strung string all over the front room. The boys loved that the hard to crawl and maneuver around the front room.

There was the great toy war that took place in our kitchen.

Reading Christmas stories to the stuffed animals.

He made several sugar angels in the kitchen one night after it had snowed.

This one freaked the kids out the most. He turned a new gallon of milk green. Mason wouldn't even eat his cereal because the milk was green. The boys couldn't figure out how he had done this.

The kids loved having him here and they were sad to see him go. We didn't get pictures of everything he did, but the kids loved getting up each morning to see what he had gotten into.

Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson

2012-01-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

Matt and I got to go see Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson in concert just before Christmas.

That's not a very good picture, but it will have to do. Anyway I love them both separately but together they are amazing! They put on the best show. We had a great time. I hope they come back here soon. Here's a few of my favorite videos. This one is Jon.

This is one of my favorites of Steve.

And both of them.

If you ever have a chance to see either of them you should go. Search for the piano guys on youtube to see all of their videos.

Wood Badge Beads...

2011-12-14T14:00:00.001-07:00

Last night Matt was able to receive his wood badge beads for finishing his ticket. He went to wood badge last summer and at the end each participant is encouraged to make 5 goals and will help the scouting program in their home troop. Once they have finished all their goals they can receive their beads. It's a big honor. It's one of the highest award a leader can earn for training.

This is Matt and Cheryl. She was Matt's patrol leader at wood badge.

After he had been beaded he received a plaque for his work too.

Darrell, Cheryl, Matt and I. Darrell was the course leader at wood badge.

I am super proud of Matt for all the hard work he put into this. One of his goals was to get the Venturing Crew in our ward up and running. He got it running and now several of his boys are close to earning awards.

Noah's First Dance Recital...

2011-12-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

We signed Noah up for dance class a few months ago. He is taking a hip hop class. He likes it but he doesn't like the performance part of it. The dance studio had it's winter benefit concert last weekend. I think he did really well. They were supposed to be dressed up like minions from Despicable Me. The day of the performance they couldn't find the goggles or the gloves for the boys costumes. I think those would have made it even better. Anyway we think he did really well for only a few months of practice. We are super proud of him for working so hard. If you can't tell Noah is the one closest to the camera at the beginning.

Halloween...

2011-11-13T16:06:00.001-07:00

Halloween was fun this year. The kids were excited to dress up and go trick or treating. I have decided that I am never going to get a decent picture of all the kids at once.

It was so cold out this year that Sara and I just walked up and down the street and then came home. And really she is two it's not like I am going to sit and let her eat a bunch of candy anyway. Here is the boys loot after they came home with Matt.

I tried to get some pictures of the boys going door to door, but none of the pictures turned out. They are already talking about next year and what they are going to be.

Sara is 2.....

2011-11-12T10:44:00.001-07:00

Sara turned 2 on Oct. 30th. We had a small birthday party for her at our house.

I tried to get a picture of her blowing out her candles but she blew them out before I could.

Sara is obsessed with babies. She has several babies and she carries them around all day. I have several friends that have new babies and Sara is in heaven every time she sees them. She will just sit and stare at them and she loves taking care of them. The best present for her was the cabbage patch doll and stroller we got her. Of course her brothers fight over the stroller too so maybe Santa will have to get them one for Christmas.

Here she is in all her 2 year old glory...

Sara is so much fun to have in our family. She is such a sweet little girl and a good helper. When I took her in for her 2 year check up she only weighed 25lbs. She is in the 25th percentile for her height and weight. She also still wears her 6-9 month onesies. It's different having such a petite little thing. We just love her so much!

Over heard at our house...

2011-11-09T16:39:00.002-07:00

Mason and I are driving home from the library today. From the back seat I hear Mason say, "Hey mom do you want to hear a story?" I told him yes and this is what he told me.

Mason: Once upon a time there was a girl named Mom and a boy named Dad. They went for a walk in the woods and got lost. Then they died. Then they came back to life and then they died again.

Me: Wow Mason that was an interesting story.

Mason: Yeah wasn't it funny?

Well at least we know how he feels about us!

Pumpkin Carving...

2011-10-31T15:09:00.000-06:00

We carved our pumpkins last week for FHE. Every year Matt and I end up doing all the work while the kids just watch. So this year I told the kids that they were going to do all the work.

Sara has been the bravest of all the kids. When the boys were her age they thought the pumpkin guts were gross and they wouldn't touch them. I always ended up cleaning them out. Sara loved it she cleaned out her own pumpkin.

Well if you are wondering why the pictures end here it's because Matt and I ended up carving all the pumpkins. Again! I was busy helping Josh and didn't get any pictures of the carving. Next year all we are going to do is scary faces in all the pumpkins. Nice and simple.

The Pumpkin Patch...

2011-10-16T20:10:00.000-06:00

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. Aunt Melissa came down for part of the weekend so she got to come with us. They had tons of pumpkins so we had a lot to choose from.

Mason had so much fun his head even turned into a pumpkin for a time.

Even Melissa found a pumpkin she liked.

They had a straw maze. The kids had fun in that. Here's Matt and Sara in the straw maze.

A picture of all the kids. Look not even one silly face.!

Since Melissa was with us we had her take a family photo.

The best part for this kids was the train ride. Melissa was really scared.

We had lots of fun. Now we have to decide what to carve in our pumpkins.

Sara...

2011-10-07T14:19:00.001-06:00

Can you believe this little girl will be 2 in three weeks? I can't either!!

A Photo Shoot...

2011-10-05T13:23:00.001-06:00

I was taking some pictures of Sara the other day and this is what it turned into.

I love my little kiddos!

First days of School....

2011-10-03T09:01:00.001-06:00

Noah and Josh started school at the end of August and Mason started after Labor day.
Noah started 3rd grade. I asked him if he wanted me to walk him to his class room to make sure he found it and he replied,"Mom I know where my classroom is."

Josh was a little nervous for his first day of Kindergarten. I got to stay with him for the first day and the next day he was fine. He LOVES Kindergarten!

As excited as Mason was for his first day of Preschool once we got there he was really nervous. It took him a few days to adjust, but now he loves it and is excited to go.

I am glad to be back in the routine of school and I won't complain about the couple hours a day that I only have 1 child with me. It's so nice to run errands with only 1 child!

Fun with the Perry's...

2011-09-28T09:29:00.001-06:00

On our way home we stopped at Dan's house for Chelsea's baptism. Of course we had to get in all the family fun we could while we were there. Chelsea had her birthday party when we got there, but I didn't get any pictures of that. That night we played Just Dance. Everyone had a turn.

The next morning Chelsea got baptized. We were glad that we got to be there for that.

The they took us down to the Columbia River. We played at the park and had a BBQ. The kids thought they funnest was playing in the water.

Brinly and Sara thought that playing with the dogs was fun.

The Childrens Museum...

2011-09-27T10:49:00.000-06:00

On free day at the Children's Museum we thought it would be fun to take the kids. It started off fun, but we had to leave early because the kids were beating each other. But I guess they had fun for a little while.

This would be fun to build on our basement wall. It's just PVC pipe that would can move around and make different paths for your ball to travel down. It's just stuck on with magnets.

Painting with Grandma...

Digging for dinosaur bones....

In the Grocery Store...

The Duck Pond...

2011-09-27T09:06:00.000-06:00

The kids were going crazy one afternoon so we took them over to the Duck Pond to run out their energy. It sure has changed in the years that I have been gone. I have lots of memories of this place. We used to take walks there as a family and feeding the ducks when I was growing up. I got hit by a guy on a bike there. After Matt and I were married I remember walking around there to try a get my labor going when I was pregnant with Noah. It's fun to take the kids there and create new memories with them.

The boys and another random boy watching a mama duck and her babies.

Showing off their muscles...

The Zoo...

2011-09-27T08:55:00.001-06:00

We took the kids to the zoo one day. They always love going to the zoo, but they were especially excited to go see the sharks.

Not quite as tall as a polar bear...

The walrus..

Watching the sharks...

The Fire Pit..

2011-09-25T19:14:00.002-06:00

While we were in Washington we had to have a wienie roast. The boys loved the fire pit and roasting their own hot dogs.

Melissa celebrated by burning last semesters notes.

The Beach...

2011-09-24T16:08:00.002-06:00

One of the nice things about where my parents live is that they are just a few minutes away from two beaches. We took the kids down to them twice. Once to look for crabs and another time at low tide to see what else we could find. This bridge goes over some train tracks you have to cross it to get down to the beach. The boys are on the stairs and that is a train going under it.
I was really surprised that Sara got in the water. She has hated swimming all summer.

Of course we had to take some sister pictures.
This was a low tide the kids were digging in the sand.
We found a starfish.
And some big old crabs.

The kids loved it. I think they could have gone there everyday.

Overheard at our House....

2011-08-22T14:51:00.003-06:00

Setting: While in Washington we sat down one afternoon to watch the movie 8 below. We had never seen it, but my mom thought my boys would like it. So near the end of the movie it gets a little emotional.

Josh is sitting next to me on the couch.
I feel a tapping on my shoulder.
I look over and Josh has tears in his eyes.

Josh:"Mom, this movie is making my eyes water."

So I thought it was super cute and I totally forgot about it. Until just the other day the boys were watching Mickey's Christmas Carol. The movie also has a few short movies on it too. One of the movies is called "Small One", it's about the donkey that got to carry Mary when she was pregnant with Jesus. I walked downstairs to check on them and Josh looked at me with tears in his eyes again and said, "Mom, this movie is making my eyes water too."

Looks like we have a sensitive boy on our hands.

A Ferry Boat Ride...

2011-08-18T08:36:00.002-06:00

While in Washington we took the kids to ride on a ferry.

Mt. Rainier...

Mason turns 4...

2011-08-12T12:58:00.002-06:00

Mason turned 4 on July 18th. His birthday fell on the first day of our Clark family reunion, so we didn't really have a party for him. We let him open his presents the night before we went up so they wouldn't get lost at the cabin. We also took up some cupcakes to share with everyone.

All Mason would tell me that he wanted for his birthday was a hat, a Diego shirt, and all kinds of dinosaurs. So that is what he got.
It seems like just yesterday Mason was born. These last 4 years have flown by. Mason gets to start preschool in the fall and he is really excited about that. He is so fun to have in our family. He can be the sweetest little boy, however if he is upset he let you know with a very high pitched whine/cry. It's really great let me tell you. We love you Mason. Happy Birthday!

Noah's Baptism..

2011-08-07T17:10:00.006-06:00

Noah got baptized a month ago. It was a very special day. He was excited to be baptized and I can't believe I am old enough to have a child old enough to be baptized.

Here is his invitation.
Matt and Noah

I love this family picture. Whenever we take one we never know what we are going to get. I love Josh and Mason' s faces in this picture.
My Mom and Dad and sister Melissa came.
Noah and his Great Grandma Clark.
My brother Dan and his family came for Noah's baptism, but I never got a picture of them with Noah. Trisa, if you have one could you email it to me? We had lots of other family and friends come and support Noah on his day. It turned out great and we are happy for the decision Noah made to be baptized.

The Cubanapolis 400...

2011-06-14T12:53:00.003-06:00

Noah got invited to his first ever cub scout pack meeting last month. For the months meeting they were having the Cubanapolis 400. Each boy had to make a car out of cardboard to race.

Each boy also had a family member serve as the pit crew. At the pit stop they had to do several tasks. They had to change the tires by taking off their shoes and turning their socks inside out then putting their shoes on again. They also had to drink some water through a straw for fuel, wipe their windshield which was their goggles or sun glasses. And they had to do a few other things.

Noah won the award for the most colorful car.
He took first in his first race and second in the next one. He had a lot of fun and is really excited to be an official cub scout.

Random Pictures...

2011-06-13T14:06:00.002-06:00

Here's just a few random pictures that I have taken. Sara started scowling at us when she is mad. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I was trying to catch it on camera. Usually she puckers up when she does it.

Noah drew this picture for me on Mother's day. I thought it was cute.
I made these bad boys for teacher appreciation week. That's right I was crafty. I filled them with M&Ms.
We also went to visit Matt's parents over the Memorial day weekend. I love this picture of Sara reading with Grandma.

Father and Son's Campout...

2011-06-12T16:54:00.004-06:00

Last month Matt took the boys to our ward's annual Father and Son's outing. They had lots of fun. The boys love to go camping and to go with alone with Dad makes it even better. I think Josh could play in the dirt all day long and not get bored.
This is my favorite picture. Our friend got this one of Mason. As you can see he had a great time.

Josh found this broken squirt gun and he thought it was the best part of all.

Noah's Award...

2011-05-07T19:59:00.004-06:00

Noah was chosen out of his class the receive an award for Academic Achievement. His was for improvement and excellence in reading. If you know of Noah's struggles with reading you will know what a big deal this is.

This was a surprise award so Noah didn't know he was getting the award and he didn't know we were invited to see him receive it. We are so proud of him and all the hard work he puts into his reading time. He has made such great improvements. Good job Noah!! We love you!!

Easter...

2011-05-06T15:35:00.004-06:00

Our Easter was good this year. We took the kids to an Egg Hunt at one of the high schools, but some kids started before they said go and so our kids didn't get hardly anything. So we went over to some friends house and colored Easter eggs and had our own Egg Hunt.

On Easter morning the kids were quite surprised to wake up and find that the Easter Bunny was sneaky this year. He hid everyone's basket except for Sara.
They had a fun time looking for their baskets and were warned that every year it would get harder to find them.

Sara was just happy to sit in a corner with some M&Ms and eat them.
Here they are reading the note from the Easter Bunny saying that he hid their baskets.

Swimming Lessons...

2011-05-05T10:05:00.003-06:00

The boys started swimming lessons a few weeks ago. They were all a little nervous. They have made such great improvements from last time. They are really sad that it's over soon.

Here's Josh...
Noah...
Mason...
Noah again...

10 Questions with Mason...

2011-04-09T11:10:00.002-06:00

1. Favorite Food...Candy
2. Favorite Cartoon...Go Diego Go
3. Favorite Family Activity...Watch Scooby Doo
4. Favorite Movie... How to Train your Dragon
5. What do you want to be when you grow up...A mom and dad, and marry Jenn
6. Favorite Sport...Basketball
7. Favorite part of Church...Saying Prayers
8. Favorite Book of Mormon story...The Lamenites because they have swords!
9. Best Friend...Smith
10. If you were rich what would you buy... More money

10 Questions with Josh...

2011-04-01T12:48:00.003-06:00

5 1/2 years old
1. Favorite food...Pizza
2. Favorite color...Blue
3. Favorite cartoon...Wild Kratts (PBS Kids)
4. Favorite family activity...Wrestling
5. Favorite thing at school...Playing
6. Favorite Movie...Cars
7. What do you want to be when you grow up...A cop
8. Favorite Book of Mormon story... Nephi anything with Nephi
9. Favorite sport...Baseball
10 If you were rich, what would you buy... A motorcycle

10 Questions with Noah...

2011-03-31T11:37:00.004-06:00

So I really thought that I had interviewed each of the kids last year, but I guess I didn't. We had a 2 month old baby that never slept, so I don't think we did much of anything. So here's this years interview.
7 1/2 years old
1. Favorite color...Red
2. Favorite food...Waffles
3. Favorite Cartoon...Star Wars the Clone Wars
4. Favorite family activity...Going to Blast Off
5. Favorite thing at school...Playing with friends
6. Favorite Movie...Despicable Me
7. What do you want to be when you grow up...A cop
8. Favorite Book of Mormon story...Abinadi
9. Favorite Sport...Baseball
10. If you were rich what would you buy...All the Halo games

It surprise me that a lot of his answers were the same as when I asked him 2 years ago.

An update...

2011-03-29T17:03:00.004-06:00

I would like to say that I have an amazing excuse as to why I have been slacking on blogging. The truth is that I don't. I have just been plain lazy and really we have been the most boring family on the face of the planet this last month or so. But here is an update of what we have done.

Our most exciting news is that Matt go a new job about a month ago.

To make a long story short we heard about a company that was hiring so Matt sent in his resume. Within two weeks he got the job and started. After several months of knowing that something needed to change, praying, fasting, and hoping this just fell in our laps and everything worked out so smoothly. We know that this is where he is supposed to be. And we didn't have to move which is what we wanted.

Matt got the job with DeNuke. He is subcontracted to the site (INL) and working with a company named CWI in town. He is working on the site clean up project. He is starting to get into the thick of it and says that he uses more of his engineering degree than he ever did at his old job. He is really enjoying it. We are happy with the change and for a little more stability in his job.

The boys...well they are boys and they keep me on my toes. Noah is still doing really well in school. We had parent teacher conferences and his teacher told us he is really smart and very social. Like that was a surprise.

Josh is loving Preschool. He is reading simple books and can count to 100 with a little prompting when he get to the higher numbers. His teacher tells me that she just loves him and that he is constantly making her laugh and making jokes. I see a class clown in the future. He also is really smart. I registered him for Kindergarten recently and he tells me everyday that he is not going. His first day of school is going to be really fun I can already tell.

Mason is trying his hardest to keep up with his brothers. I registered him for preschool and he asks all the time when it's his turn to go. I keep telling him to stop growing up so fast. It's fun to have Mason time in the afternoons when his brothers are at school. I will miss that next year when he goes to preschool. I can't believe he will be 4 this summer.

Our sweet baby girl is growing faster than ever. She is almost 18 months. She goes to nursery in a month. I can't believe it. She is totally a daddy's girl. He favorite thing to say is Da Da. She is starting to talk more, but she is not a performer. Sometimes she will say something and I try to get her to repeat it and she looks at me like I am crazy. She just started to say bye-bye when she waves. Her most favorite thing to do is to point at her nose and then my nose or anyone else and then clap for herself. She also carries the bathroom stool with her around the house and uses it as her perch to reach or see things that she couldn't before.

As for me the most new thing is that they called me to be a teacher in RS. It is soooo hard. I have taught a few times and it is getting easier, but it is so out of my comfort zone. I would much rather sit in the audience and make a comment every now and then. I can really feel myself stretching and growing in this calling. Luckily our ward is amazing and so they make it easier to stand up there. Other than that I am just running around after our kids.

Hopefully I will have more things to blog about in the coming weeks, like swimming lessons and other fun springtime activities. And hopefully the sun will start shining and it will make me more motivated. Maybe......

Missoula and Matt's Birthday...

2011-02-01T14:07:00.006-07:00

Matt turned 30 on the 28th and as you can see he is really excited about it. We had Matt's family over on Friday night to celebrate. We had pizza and cake and ice cream.
We got up early on Saturday morning and took off to Missoula to see Matt's Grandpa and his family there. We haven't seen Matt's Grandpa since Josh was little.
Mason with Aunt Jen doing the finger play 5 little monkeys.
Sara and Kai. Matt's cousin Myka and her family just moved to Missoula from Belize for the semester. We haven't seen her since our wedding almost 10 years ago. Her youngest is a few weeks younger than Sara. They were really cute together.

Matt's Aunts made a wonderful dinner and surprised Matt with another birthday cake.
Sara playing with Aunt Lynn.
Of course when we got back to the hotel we had to go swimming. The pool was really cold and the hot tub we really hot, but we still managed to have fun.

Before we came home the next day we stopped by one more time to see Grandpa Mark. Here are the four generations.
We had a great time. Hopefully it won't be so long before we see them again!!

Another Great Giveaway!

2011-01-26T13:21:00.004-07:00

Be Well is giving away 12 of Lindsay Brin's workout videos. Click HERE to enter. I really want this DVD! Like I have said I love Linday's videos. They are quick and easily fit into my schedule. Not to mention they are hard! I wish I was rich and could just buy all her DVDs. Until then wish me luck!!

Fashion Model...

2011-01-25T13:11:00.005-07:00

Oh Noah, this is one picture I can't wait for you to see when you're older. It cracks me up every time.

New Kitchen Paint...

2011-01-23T21:41:00.003-07:00

We painted our kitchen on Saturday. It used to be a cream color. It was very boring. I tried to take pictures as best I could, but our kitchen is hard to take pictures of. Here's a few of the before.

Here is the after. We chose kind of a sky blue color. We love it. It makes the kitchen much more bright. We still don't have everything put back together and we have a little touch up to do. My kitchen rugs and curtains don't match anymore so I guess I will have to go shopping sometime.
Just picture it with new granite or stone counter tops and brand new sparkly appliances. Of course that is my dream one day.

These aren't the best picture I forgot to take them in the day light. Oh well maybe tomorrow I will and post them.

Overheard at our house....

2011-01-15T10:58:00.003-07:00

I debated posting this or not, but I thought it was just too funny. I don't want to forget.

Setting: Josh and I are sitting on the couch talking. We have never had "the talk" with our boys we have just answered their questions as they have come. I thought when I was pregnant with Sara it would bring more questions, but they are boys and I guess they just don't care.

Josh: Mom, How does the baby get in your belly?
Me: Well, Dad's have a sperm and Moms have an egg and when they get together they make a baby.
Josh: (deep in thought and looks a little confused) Oh, you just can't poop out an egg?

I guess my answer sounded too complicated. I also forgot that we had watched a show earlier that was talking about how animals lay eggs to have babies. Sometimes our boys logic cracks me up.

A Girl and her Tupperware...

2011-01-10T12:19:00.002-07:00

Of all the toys that we have bought for her, and even the toys Santa brought her. Sara chooses this to play with. In fact she loves any tupperware that she can climb into. She loves to sit in them and read her books and play with her toys. She gets mad when we put all her toys in them. She just turns around and dumps them all back out and climbs in. The boys even drag her around the house in it. She giggles the whole time. It's pretty stinkin cute!
And well because you don't get much cuter than this. Here is this picture.

Awesome Give Away!!!

2011-01-09T16:04:00.005-07:00

I just have to mention this give away here. After I had Sara my body was not in the best shape. I was looking for some way to get a good work out with out having to spend money on a gym membership. My friend Val told me about these work out Videos by Lindsay Brin.

This is a picture of Lindsay and her two adorable kids!

I was a little skeptical about trying a video. I have done videos in the past and was not impressed. Anyway I decided what the heck and I bought her postnatal bootcamps 1 and 2. I love them! They kick my butt everytime. I am in the best shape I have been in in a long time. I would probably be in better shape if I cut off the sweets! Anyway if you are looking for a good work out check out Lindsays website HERE.

I also saw this awesome give away on the blog Find Your Best Self. You can find it HERE. They are giving away 4 of Linday Brin's 60 day slim down system. You don't want to miss this give away!!

Christmas...

2011-01-08T15:22:00.004-07:00

On Christmas eve we went over to some friends house and had our Christmas program. It was a lot of fun. I forgot my camera so I guess you'll have to wait until next year to see our cute nativity puppets we used. We had a good Christmas day this year. We always know its good when we hear Noah yell out, "This is the HAPPIEST Christmas ever!!!". It only took about 15 minutes before we heard that.

I really didn't take many pictures. I thought we would have a fun lazy day playing with the kids and their new toys, but as soon as they were done opening presents they hauled all their new toys into their beds so no one could touch them. Oh well it made for easier clean up. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Sara walking....

2010-12-22T20:41:00.003-07:00

Here is a video of Sara walking. I was finally able to get her. She has been walking for a few weeks but she has been so funny about it. For the longest time she would only walk when no one was watching her. As soon as she saw us look at her she would plop her self over. Then she would only walk in front of Matt and I. If we had friends over she wouldn't walk at all. Now she will walk in front of any one.

This is just a cute video of her. The best news is that she is making progress in the stranger department. She has let a few people hold her that she didn't know very well and she didn't even cry. Now I feel less nervous to leave her with a babysitter.

A post for Grandparents....

2010-12-22T20:24:00.004-07:00

I told my mom since we had nothing else to post that I would just post some pictures of the kids that we have taken lately. Josh went to a friends birthday party a few days ago and came home with a nice shiner. You can't tell in the picture but it was a good one. It was swollen and now is a really nice bruise color. We were told they weren't exactly sure how it happened. He either jumped off the couch and hit his head on the floor, his friend said he kicked him in the face or he tried to jump on the couch and missed it hitting the corner of it. Anyway here he is being tough.
Sara does this really cheesy smile. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. She usually does it the most when she is eating, she really likes to eat.
Believe it or not Mason is asleep in this picture. It's really creepy to go in his room to check on him and find him like this. I don't know how he sleeps with his eyes open.
Sara loves this Elmo book. She carries it around the house with her and wants us to look at it with her about 100 times a day.

Dear Santa...

2010-12-04T22:16:00.003-07:00

We took the boys to drop off their letters to Santa. They were excited to tell Santa everything that they want this year.
We have lived here for two years now and I can't believe that we have never taken them to drop off letters before.
Mason...
Josh...
Noah...

Sara's new trick...

2010-12-02T11:53:00.002-07:00

Sara has learned a new trick over the last couple of days. I am convinced that she knows how to walk, but it's just much funner for her to treat it as a game. She loves to stand and then plop herself over and giggle. She also thinks it's funny to lean as far forward as she can to reach you before she will take steps. The other night I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I heard her giggling. She entertained herself like this for at least 10 minutes maybe longer. I have caught her doing this several more times. It's hilarious to watch her.

Overheard at our house....

2010-11-30T16:46:00.002-07:00

Setting: Noah and Mason were talking about when Harry Potter 4 came out and we watched it.

Noah: I remember when we watched Harry Potter and we had pop corn.
Mason: Yeah that movie scared me.
Noah: Mason you weren't alive when that movie came out!
Mason: Who killed me?

Josh turns 5...

2010-11-30T16:26:00.004-07:00

Yesterday Josh celebrated his 5th birthday. He has been talking about this day for several months. He was so excited when he woke up in the morning and kept asking me when we got to celebrate his birthday. Here he is just hours old.
Here he is a few days old...
Josh couldn't wait to have his party so he opted to have it on his birthday with just our family. He got a lot of cars and we had cake and ice cream.

Josh we are so glad we have you in our family. You are such a sweet boy and you crack us up on a daily basis. We can't wait to watch you grow up and see all you accomplish! We love you little bear!!

Time Out For Women..

2010-11-28T15:46:00.005-07:00

I had the chance to go to Time out for Women with some good friends of mine last weekend. It was in Salt Lake so it was fun to have a whole weekend to myself. We left and headed down to SLC on Friday morning and filled the afternoon with shopping. And then went to the first half of the event of Friday night.

Surprisingly we found leather pants at every store we went to. Kiri tried them on in every store.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed back. They had the best speakers and Hilary Weeks was the musical performer. It was a blast.
After it was over on Saturday afternoon we had planned to go a walk around temple square and see the sights. The weather however was not cooperating. It was so cold, windy, and was starting to snow that we cut it short.

Sunday morning we planned to go to church, but we woke up to a foot of snow. A big storm system was coming through and was supposed to dump in SLC and Idaho so we decided to pack up a go home during a break in the storm.
Once we got out of Salt Lake the roads were fine, and there was hardly any snow. The worst roads were where we live. The storm came and dumped about a foot of snow on us over a few days. So we were glad we came home when we did.
It was such a fun weekend we are already making plans to go again next year. It was nice to get away and recharge my batteries. If you ever have a chance to go when Time out for Women is near you, you should go!

Overheard at our house....

2010-11-28T15:36:00.002-07:00

Setting: I was talking to Josh about taking cupcakes to preschool for his birthday tomorrow.

Me: Josh, what kind of cupcakes do you want to make for school tomorrow?
Josh: WOW! You're a mom machine! You just make everything for this guy!

Halloween...

2010-11-07T15:51:00.003-07:00

We had a good Halloween this year. We went to our wards Trunk or Treat on Friday and then took the kids out on Saturday. This year the kids went as Jango Fett, Darth Vader, a chicken and a cat. Noah and Josh both had parties at school and Matt's work had their annual party, so of course we ended up with a ton of candy. This was the best picture I got of them. They wouldn't hold still.

Here is Sara in her costume. She is in an anti smile phase and she won't smile for me in any picture. I love how picky the boys are about what Sara wears. A month or so ago I found this really cute lady bug costume that I wanted to get for her. When I went to buy it the boys were with me. They saw this cat costume and insisted that I buy it instead. They are like that when I buy her clothes too. If they don't like it they tell me I can't buy it. Oh well she was a pretty cute cat.
We have been so busy these last couple of weeks that we still have not carved our pumpkins. At this point they may become our Thanksgiving pumpkins.

Sara turns one...

2010-11-02T14:46:00.005-06:00

I can't believe it, but our sweet baby girl turned one on Saturday. This past year has gone by way too fast. Here Sara is just hours old.

Now she looks a little more like this.
Matt's sister and her family came over on Sara's birthday and we had a little party. Sara got some new toys and some clothes.
Then we had cake and ice cream. I wasn't expecting much. The boys all cried on their first birthdays and wouldn't even eat their cake. I got to thinking and thought maybe they didn't like the frosting since buttercream is so sweet. So I frosted Sara's little cake with whip cream.
At first she wasn't so sure about it, but then she devoured it. She ate half of her cake. I am sure she would have polished it off, but we took it from her since I didn't want her to get a tummy ache. She was very neat about it and didn't even need a bath. Now that's a girl after my own heart.
Here's a few things about Sara:
*She loves her brothers. There is nothing sweeter than watching them play with her and hearing her giggle at them.
*She still hates anyone besides mom or dad to hold her. There are a few people at church that she will let hold her for a few minutes and sometimes that is pushing it. She likes Grandma and Grandpa too, but only after she warms up to them.
*She hates to wear socks. If I put them on she takes them right back off. We have lost several socks in the store because she takes them off and then throws them.
*She loves her baby doll. She sits and gives her kisses and hugs. So precious!
*She only weighs 19 pounds. At her 1 year check-up she dropped from the 50th percentile to the 20th. Our boys never dropped below the 90th percentile. It's fun to have a petite little girl.

We love you Sara!! Even though I am sad that you're getting bigger I am excited to watch you grow up. Besides you're a lot funner now then you were when you were little.

Glasses...

2010-10-30T10:19:00.003-06:00

Noah has really been struggling with reading in school. Even though we work really hard at it, it was just not clicking. It was really very frustrating. At the begining of the school year he tested at a .8 reading level. That's below a first grade level. I after trying everything I could think of it finally dawned on me that maybe he just can't see what he is reading. So Noah and I went in to have our eyes checked. It turns out that Noah's eyes are fine. He is a little nearsighted. The Dr. said he is a good candidate for bifocals though. He told me that there is a muscle right behind the pupil that helps your eyes focus. He said Noah could have tired eye muscles and he also said that his eyes were over correcting themselves. Anyway he said these should help.

And they have tremendously. He only has to wear them in class and at home when he is doing his homework. His reading level in the last few weeks has gone from .8 to now a 2.5. Which means he is caught up. And I thought he couldn't get any cuter until he put on these. He was pretty disappointed that they didn't have any Star Wars frames.
See look how smart it makes him look!
He said my eyes were in a gray area. He said they weren't really bad enough that I needed contacts, but that I could get a pair of glasses to try out and wear them when I drive at night or are in dimly lit places like movies or in the chapel.

The pumpkin patch....

2010-10-19T16:53:00.007-06:00

We took the kids for our annual trip to pick out our pumpkins. The boys had lots of fun this year. Here they are riding in the cart.
They had the straw maze with the slide again.

Even Sara liked it.
They also had these little tractors the kids could ride on.

We always take the boys picture in this every year. The first year we went Mason was only a few months old. He wasn't even in the picture.

2007...

2010...
Next we'll have to try and get all 4 kids in there somehow.

A Valuable Lesson....

2010-10-12T18:27:00.002-06:00

So today when I was cooking dinner Noah came up to me and said his lips were burning. I thought the meant that he had licked them too much and they were chapped. A few minutes later Josh came up to me and said that his tongue was burning. I asked him what he had eaten and he said pepper. My first thought was where in the world did he find some black pepper. Then is pointed outside and it all became clear.

Enter Exhibit A: The Thai Chile Pepper. One of the hottest pepper known to man.
Our neighbors son is growing them in the yard. Noah and Josh thought it would be fun to pick some and try them out. They had NO idea what they were. We never found out the whole story. At first they bit them, then the just squirted the juice in their mouths, then they just were pulling them open and pulling out the seeds. Needless to say as the burn increased so did their tears.

Here they are with cups of milk. I love Josh's face in this picture.
They cried for about an hour and would have drank a whole gallon of milk if we had let them.
I am pretty sure they learned their lesson. It was so hard not to laugh. You know what they say...Boys will be boys!!!

A trip to the Fire Station...

2010-10-06T12:06:00.005-06:00

It's fire prevention week here, and the fire stations were having an open house. We took the kids down so they could see the fire trucks and the station.
They each got a turn trying to put a pretend fire out.
They had a hazmat truck filled with smoke. Noah was the only one brave enough to go in it. They had to crawl and try and find their way out.
The Fire Station just got a new truck so they got to look in it. I was bummed that they wouldn't let the kids sit in it.
This fire fighter was showing the kids all this gear.

And here's our baby girl. She will be one in 3 weeks!!!

Happy Birthday Michelle!

2010-10-05T09:27:00.008-06:00

Hey y'all, Matt here, just wanted to create a post for my wonderful wife. "Why" you might be asking? Well I just thought it would be better if I made a Happy Birthday Michelle post for my wonderful wife, then her make it for herself. So Here goes another shot at posting...

Happy Birthday to a beautiful little girl!

And to our sometime crazy mom!

To a playful and fun loving gal!

To a superstar!

To a Hard worker!To a beautiful smile!
And most of all...the one who helped me get to where I am today!
We love you Michelle, even when I can't keep a straight face!
Happy happy happy Birthday to you! We love you very much!

Corn maze...

2010-09-28T16:22:00.005-06:00

Last night we did our first official act of Fall. We took the kids to the corn maze. It surely didn't feel like Fall since it was 80 some degrees out. We had a blast. The maze was themed around the Boy Scouts since they are celebrating 100 years this year. The maze itself was made up of 4 different mazes each one taking a different amount of time.

The maze we did took about an hour. They had different check points along the way, that had coupons for different businesses. Also the had a game to play called F.S.I. (farm scene investigation). It was basically it was like clue, you had to figure out the who, what, and where. The kids loved it and raced around to find the different check points. I thought we might loose a child, but we never did.
They really where having a blast, I don't know why they all look so sad.

They also had free barrel wagon rides. This was by far the favorite.

If you live in the area check it out.

Evil Kenevil...

2010-09-13T21:09:00.006-06:00

The boys love to ride their bikes. For the last little while they have thought that they need a ramp to ride off. So Matt found some wood and built them a little ramp. They loved it for a few hours and then it snapped. So we had to find some better wood. The boys are fearless and rode right off it. Granted that it's not that high.

Here is Mason attempting a wheelie....
Noah....
Josh....
Here are a few cute pictures of Sara. She is going to be 1 in a month and a half. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!!
Can I just say that I hate our camera. It takes the worst pictures indoors. If the lighting is not perfect they are always blurry or weird looking. However Sara makes it cute.
And well here's Mason. He makes this face a lot. It's really hard to get after him when he's naughty because he makes this face and I can't help but laugh.
I had a video of Mason doing his wheelies, but blogger won't upload it so maybe tomorrow.

Josh's first day of school....

2010-09-09T15:15:00.004-06:00

So Josh has been really excited to go back to school. He LOVES school. Tuesday morning came and he asked all morning if it was time. His school starts at 1:30 so at about 1:00 I asked him if I could do his hair. I told him it's your first day don't you want to look nice? He said no. So then I insisted. I really thought we were going to have a repeat of swimming lessons after that.
He was so mad at me for doing his hair. He wouldn't even look at me. So here is his official first day of school picture.
His preschool moved to a different building this year so on the first day they were having an open house so the parents could look around. This was on the way in. He still wouldn't look at me. I think at this point he was getting nervous too. He didn't want to go in.
Once inside they had sandwiches for everyone. Josh refused to sit down. The two boys sitting at the table are Josh's best friends from church Isaac and Wesley.
He did warm up after a few minutes, but he still refused to smile for me. So this is the best I got.
This morning was his second day, and the first thing he told me was, Mom you are NOT doing my hair today. I didn't and he went happily to school. This child is the most stubborn and strong willed child I have ever met. The lord must have known I needed a lesson or two in patience. Again I really hope that one day I am not going to have to drag him kicking and screaming into his college dorm, or the MTC. Despite his strong will we love our Little Bear!!!

Some Firsts...

2010-08-31T10:11:00.003-06:00

Noah started 2nd grade yesterday. Here is his official first day of school picture. He was mad at me because it was pouring down rain and I told him he needed to wear his coat. So it's not a very good picture.
Sara's hair is now long enough for pigtails!!!! She looks so different with them in and she also got her top two teeth in so she just looks so grown up. I might be a little biased when I say this, but I think she is the cutest thing ever!!!!

Overheard at our house....

2010-08-19T12:27:00.003-06:00

Setting: We were on our way to picnic in the park, but had to stop at the bank on the way to deposit a check. The drive thru line was taking forever, and there was no one inside. I decided to go inside, but I didn't want to take all the kids in.

Me: Noah lock the doors and don't open them for ANYONE!!!
Noah: Okay mom
Me:I'll be right back.

I go inside and I must mention that I never leave my kids alone in the car it makes me way too nervous. I think this is only the second time I have done it, and I only do it if I can see the car while I am inside. I was only gone like 2 minutes if that. I get back in the car.

Me: Thank you Noah.
Noah: Don't I get anything???

I pause for a moment to think because I think he is thinking like a toy or a treat.
The he proceeds to say "LIKE A THANK YOU!"
Say that last part with a 7 year olds attitude.

Swimming Lessons...

2010-08-10T11:23:00.003-06:00

Have you ever caught yourself reading someone's blog and thinking that their life seemed so perfect and you can't help but compare yourself to that? Why is it that people only post the good things on their blogs? I really hope that people don't think that when they read my blog. I keep this mostly as a family journal and so that my mom in WA can see her grandkids. I try to post the good, the bad and the ugly. I am grateful that we have more good than ugly. Let's face it I think as moms we all secretly like it when other moms have "moments" with their children. It's nice reassurance that we are not alone and that it happens to everyone. No one is perfect and kids will be kids. I know I am not perfect and I don't try to pretend to be. So to illustrate my point here is some ugly.

Swimming lessons...lots of fun right??? WRONG!!!!!!!!!! I really wanted to sign the bigger boys up for swimming lessons this summer. Everyone at some point has to learn how to swim. The boys always talk about going to scouts with Matt and going on the high adventure. Well to do that you have to know how to swim. So we went to the Aquatic Center and signed them up for the last session this summer. I put them in the very basic class since they really do have very little experience in the water. Yesterday was the very first day. Noah and Josh were both nervous and I tried to explain to them that they would mostly sit on the edge and when it was your turn the teacher would be right there with them. Since Noah is older they told him that he would have to go through the men's locker room alone and that Josh could go through the women's with me. I sent Noah off and told him to shower and I would meet him on the other side and show him where to go. This is when it went down hill. Now keep in mind that I have the diaper bag over one shoulder, Sara in my arms, I am holding the towels, shoes, shirts, and Mason with the other hand.

I turn to Josh and say let's go in the locker room and get you ready. He doesn't budge. I thought he didn't hear me. So I say it louder. Let's go Josh! He looks at me and says that he is not getting in the water. Remember everything that I am carrying. So I get behind him and start nudging him forward with my legs. He starts squealing. Now we are in the locker room. It's a straight shot to the showers, so I start to nudge him forward again. He starts screaming NO MOMMY!!!!! I get him to the shower and he screams louder. Keep in mind that the class before him just ended and there are people everywhere. He gets away from me and wedges himself in between the sink and the wall. So I think if I can put some of this stuff in the diaper bag then I will have my hand available to help. So I turn to the bench and set Sara down and turn to Josh to make sure he hasn't bolted. Right when I turn Sara tips over and hits her head. She starts screaming. Now she has a nice goose egg and it's bright red. I wanted to get a locker, but didn't want to take time to find a quarter to use it and I am nervous that Noah is standing out there looking for me all while I am trying to make sure that Josh doesn't run for the exit. And where is Mason in all this commotion? Anyway I get Sara calmed down and everything in the diaper bag. So now that I have a free hand I grab Josh and get him in the shower. He starts screaming again. NO MOMMY I DON'T WANT TO GET WET!!!!!!!! over and over again. I keep nudging him in the shower with my legs and finally get him a little wet and that is good enough for me.

So we exit the dressing room and Noah was waiting there. I took him to where his class meets dragging Josh behind me. Then we go to walk over where Josh's class meets. He has calmed down a little and I think it might be okay. Then his teacher comes over and he loosed it again and hides behind my leg. I tried to pull him off and he starts to scream. Then a nice lady came over and said, "Do you want me to hold your baby?" I hesitated for a minute because if you know Sara you know she doesn't like people she doesn't know. But at that point my stress level was at 11 out of 10 and I said yes. Sara must have known that I needed her to behave because she didn't even make a peep. In fact she was happy. So I was able to pry Josh off my leg and we followed his class. He growled at his teacher when she asked if he wanted to get in the water and again wedged himself. They were able to find a teacher that didn't have a class and she came over to take him 1 on 1. She tried to talk to him and he growled at her. Then she asked me if I cared if she just took him. And of course I said not at all. So she picked him up and headed to the pool. All the while Josh is screaming NO MOMMY!!!!!!!!! She told me to go in the bleachers and if he didn't calm down in 5 minutes they would come get me. He eventually calmed down, but wouldn't go with is class, so she stayed with him. He kept and firm grip around her neck as she took him out in the water.

Noah had a great lesson and now he is very excited for the rest of his lessons. My friend volunteered to take Mason and Sara today just in case Josh had another melt down. And I have to say that he did so much better today. He still didn't want to get in the shower, but that was the only fit he threw. He did ask me to walk him down to his class and watch him get in the water. And now he says that swimming lessons are fun.

Here is Noah practicing his strokes...

And Josh with the green noodle....
practicing floating...
I think it will be smooth sailing from here on out. Looking back on yesterday I can't help but laugh. I was talking to one of my friends yesterday and she said that that is one of those moments that you don't mind watching, but that you don't want to happen to you. I totally agree. Minus Sara bonking her head which she just has a small bruise today it was all very comical. I am sure we made quite a scene. I knew going into it that something like that might happen, because that is just Josh's personality he is very stubborn and he does not like to try new things. I do hope he grows out of it eventually. It will look very silly to have Matt and I dragging him into his college apartment one day with him screaming NO MOMMY!!!!!!!

9 months...

2010-08-10T10:56:00.004-06:00

Our baby turned 9 months last week. *sniff, sniff I can't believe she is already that old. I took her to her 9 months check-up last week and she came in at 18lbs 7oz and 27 1/4 inches. The Dr. said she is only in the 40th-50th percentile. He said she is growing well. When he checked her ears he found that both of them were red and bulging. She picked up a cold at a family reunion a month ago and hasn't been able to shake it, and she is teething. He said that is probably what caused it. I had no idea. She hasn't had a fever, and she never messes with her ears. Oh well a weeks worth of amoxicillin and she is much better. She's even a little less cranky than usual.
Here's a few other things Sara is up too these days:
*She knows how to clap and is starting to wave bye bye
*She finally started to crawl on her hands and knees. She has been army crawling for a few months and all of her clothes have dirty spots on the front of them.
*She is starting to jabber a lot more. Her favorite things to say are mamamama and dadadada
*She has started to pull herself up on things. Mostly she pulls up to her knees, but she is working on getting to her feet.
* And MOST important her hair is almost long enough that I can put an elastic in it or just a bow. YEAH!!! (can you tell I am a little excited?) Pigtails here we come!!

Splash Park...

2010-08-10T10:43:00.003-06:00

Last week we went with a group of friends to the Splash Park up in Rexburg. We haven't taken the boys for a while, and last time we went the were scared of everything. We had a picnic when we first got there.
The boys had a lot of fun this time. Here's Josh coming down the slide.

Sara came too, but she is NOT a water baby. She does not like it unless the water is warm like bath water. I tried to get her in the fountains and she squealed and cried.
This was Mason's favorite. The shower that you are supposed to use before you get wet. He spent most of his time playing in that.
We had a lot of fun and the boys keep asking to go back. Hopefully we can go back one more time before summer is over.

Overheard at our house....

2010-08-06T08:47:00.002-06:00

I thought this was too cute to pass up.

Setting: Yesterday we were all eating crackers. I told the boys they had to sing me a song for a cracker. I asked Mason if he could sing me the ABCs. Here is his version of that song.

Mason: ABC next time won't you sing with me PQRS and Jesus loves me.

A Saturday Outing...

2010-07-31T21:46:00.005-06:00

We went today with some friends to see if we could find any huckleberries. They weren't ready yet so we had a fun hike instead. It was so pretty up there. Everything was so green.

Mason got tired on the way down, so Matt had to give him a lift.
After our hike we stopped for a picnic. Of course Josh wouldn't look at me.
Ryker came too and was totally worn out when we were done and so were all the kids.
We had lots of fun. I asked Josh what his favorite part was and he told me he really liked it all. They already want to go back. I think we need to do more fun stuff like this with our kids.

Blue Angels....

2010-07-31T21:17:00.004-06:00

The Blue Angels came to town for an air show last weekend. We wanted to take the boys, but didn't want to pay that much to get in and then have the boys be bored after 10 minutes. Well we lucked out and for 2 days before the show and during the show they flew over our house several times. Sometimes they were only like 100-200 feet above our house. We got our fill of the Blue Angels without having to pay all the money.

While we were watching them Josh was enjoying himself on the trampoline. Doesn't it look like fun?
Now here's a close up of that same picture and the real reason for this post. It makes me laugh every time I see it. Silly boy!

Baseball....

2010-07-29T15:22:00.002-06:00

Noah played baseball again this summer. Last year he played T-ball and this year they moved up to the pitching machine. I was a little worried that it would be to hard for him, but he quickly proved that it wasn't a problem. Noah when he focused was one of the better players on the team. His team's name this year was the Dirty Sox.

Noah's favorite position to play is 1st base. He likes it because the ball goes there the most. He says that 3rd base is the most boring.
Here is a short video of a hit that Noah got during his last game. Too bad they got him out at first.

Our new addition.....

2010-07-22T21:12:00.003-06:00

Here is the newest member of our family. Ryker is a Miniature Australian Shepard. He is 14 weeks old. He has one blue eye and one green eye. At full grown he will only be 18-23 inches tall.

He has been such a good dog for being a puppy. He is not very hyper which is nice and he is already very obedient. The best part is that he rarely barks and when he does it's usually at our cat because he won't play with him. This breed of dog doesn't bark a lot. He will be a guard dog so he will bark when a stranger approaches. He is also wonderful with the boys. His breed is usually used to herd animals so we are going to train him to herd our children. If you are looking into getting a dog I would highly recommend looking into this breed. These pictures don't do him justice he really is much cuter in person. The best news is that he hasn't been nearly as much work as I originally thought a puppy might be.

Happy Birthday Mason!!

2010-07-19T17:30:00.005-06:00

Yesterday this little boy turned 3. He was such a sweet baby and so so so mellow.

He has now turned into this......He can still be sweet and is still pretty mellow.
Yesterday we had cupcakes and ice cream to celebrate. He got a lot of fun toys.

It was really windy out so we had to blow the candles out in the doorway.
This is Mason and Jennifer. If I could arrange a marriage for him it would be with her. She is the cutest little girl ever and they are so cute together.

Celebrate.....

2010-06-28T14:39:00.004-06:00

I have been wanting to post this for about a week now, but I just haven't had a chance. I feel like we should all take a moment to celebrate that this guy is now fully POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!
It took him about 2 days to master day and night. He has potty trained the fastest so far. We now officially only have one child in diapers. If that's not a reason to celebrate then I don't know what is.

Prison.....

2010-06-17T20:23:00.004-06:00

We started putting Sara to bed in her own crib a few weeks ago and letting her cry herself to sleep. Usually she does really well and at most will cry for 10 minutes and then she goes to sleep. Rarely does she cry that long. A few nights ago I walked by her room to get something and saw this sad face. Now how can you say no to that face?
Oh and I just need to jot this down before I forget.
Setting: At Noah's baseball game this morning the boys were playing in the back of the van and had taken their shoes off.

Me: Mason you need to get your shoes on it's almost time to go and you don't want to have to walk in the house barefoot do you?
Mason: No
Josh: (very matter of factly) MOM, Mason does not have bear feet he has moose feet!

Mason's nickname is moose or moosen. It comes from one of Brian Regan's (don't know who Brian Regan is?? Youtube him!) jokes about being in school and making things plural. Anyway Mason sounds kind of like Moosen so we have always called him Moose or Moosen. And if you didn't know Josh's nickname has always been Bear. Because he is so large and growly.

Happy Anniversary...

2010-06-16T12:50:00.005-06:00

Today is Matt and I's 9th anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been 9 years. It's gone by really quick. We have a great marriage, awesome kids, overall an amazing life together. I would say here's to another 9 years, but I want a lot more than that so here's to an eternity together Matt! I love you more today than on the day I married you!

Happy Birthday Noah...

2010-06-10T14:40:00.005-06:00

7 years ago Matt and I welcomed our first baby 9 days late. 8lbs and 20 inches. I have no idea where these last 7 years have gone.

Today he looks more like this. He is so grown up or at least he thinks he is. For his birthday this year we told him he couldn't have a big party because he had one last year. Instead he could invite one friend over for an almost sleep over. He chose his friend from school McKeon.
We made pizza,
played Star Wars, (this is them trying to act tough)
played video games, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream.Some of us really enjoyed the cake and ice cream...
Happy Birthday Noah!! We are so glad that you are in our family. We love you!!

Sara crawling...

2010-06-09T16:56:00.003-06:00

So if you know us and see us often then you know that Sara is a complete momma's girl (I love this most of the time). She won't let anyone hold her and if she is not in the right mood she won't let Matt hold her long without crying especially if she sees me. She has been really clingy the last few weeks because she is teething. She has been our worst teether. You wouldn't know the boys were teething until you looked in their mouths and there were teeth. Sara has every symptom of teething there is. Fever, runny nose, cranky, clingy, not sleeping well, the list goes on.

Anyway a few days ago I had to put her down so I could go make the boys lunch. She was NOT happy. I put her in the middle of the front room and surrounded her with toys and went and made lunch while she screamed. When I came out to get her she was all the way on the hard wood floors on her way into the kitchen. She was determined to chase me down. Anyway here is a cute video of her crawling. It's so cute to watch, but it makes me so sad that my baby is growing up so fast.

PS. I have several new posts coming up so keep your eye out for them. If Sara will let me put her down long enough to post them. :D

Spring Concert...

2010-06-04T13:29:00.004-06:00

Earlier this week Noah's grade had their spring concert. They sang a patriotic song and then his grade learned songs about rivers this semester. Noah looked really cute up there singing.

This video is for the grandparents, but it might give you motion sickness. I tried to hold the camera really still, but Mason kept bumping into me. So watch it at your own risk. Okay it's really not that bad.

Today was also the last day of school. We now officially have a second grader. Weird huh?

Memorial Day...

2010-06-02T11:39:00.004-06:00

We had a good Memorial Day this year. We took flowers to my Grandpa, Matt's Grandparents and our niece Hailey's grave. The boys were quite interested this year. Josh kept asking when we were going to the centerpieces (cemeteries). They wanted to walk around and look at every grave there was. Sara was asleep when we got to Grandpa Clark so she stayed in the car.

Our niece Hailey...
Grandpa and Grandma Ramirez...
Later that night we went out to Grandma Clark's house to help plant her flowers and have a BBQ. We had fun visiting and the kids always have so much fun playing with cousins.

A Sara video...

2010-05-28T13:43:00.002-06:00

Matt took this video of Sara last night. It's a lot like the last video I posted of her. She only laughs like that for Matt.

Life Lately....

2010-05-28T13:30:00.004-06:00

The weather here has been very tempermental. One day it will be nice and the next it rains all day. We have been trying to come up with ways to entertain ourselves. When it's nice we play with chalk. Josh drew this picture the other day. I asked him who it was and he looked at me and said, "It me mom!" I thought it was so cute.

When it's rainy we build forts. It's so nice and it entertains the kids for hours.

Notice the picture below Noah is now missing both of his front teeth and this is the best picture I got of Mason. He acts silly in EVERY picture I try to take of him.

Overheard at our house....

2010-05-08T11:55:00.002-06:00

I just had to jot this down because I thought it was pretty funny.

Setting: the kids and I were pretending to be sea animals or creatures.

Josh: I am a crab!
Me: I am a dolphin!
Mason: I am a snake!
Noah: I am a BIG WIDE SHARK!!!!

He was trying to be a great white shark.

Another one bites the dust.....

2010-05-05T18:05:00.003-06:00

Today I forced Noah to pull out his loose tooth. This particular tooth has been loose for several months. In the last couple weeks it has been really loose and I mean REALLY loose. It was only hanging in there by one little piece in the corner. Noah could bend it back and forth all the way. It was really quite gross to watch him play with it with his tongue. He refused to let Matt or I near it and would squeal if we even tried to wiggle it. Today he came home from school and I noticed that the tooth was starting to turn a brownish color and the end was turning translucent. His gums around the tooth were also really red and irritated. I finally told him enough was enough and that tooth had to go. He could do it or I would. After several brave attempts by Noah out it came. He is pretty pleased with himself. I am just glad I don't have to see the ugly thing anymore.

Sara also had her check-up yesterday. She weighs 16lbs 6oz. (60th percentile) and is 25 inches (50th percentile) and her head was in the 60th percentile. He said that she is growing well. She also got all her shots. She did really well and only squealed for a second until I picked her up and then she gave the nurse a dirty look.

Because she is soooo cute...

2010-05-03T15:45:00.003-06:00

So here are a few new pics of Sara. She goes in tomorrow for her 6 month check-up. I am excited to see how much she has grown. Here she is showing off her latest trick. I can't believe she is sitting up all by herself. I couldn't pick which one I liked best so you get several.

Overheard at our house....

2010-04-09T14:03:00.002-06:00

Setting: A police man drove by our house and Josh and Mason are watching him out the window.

Me: Hey look there is a police man. (the boys really like police)
Josh: Oh, I really don't want to go to jail.
Me: Why not?
Josh: Because they would make me eat really yucky stuff for dinner......like gelatin.

Rice Cereal...

2010-04-09T13:09:00.005-06:00

We started Sara on rice cereal a few weeks ago in an attempt to get her to sleep through the night. I know it's a month early, but I have been desperate to try anything. I am normally a very by the book kind of parent. Anyway the first night I gave it to her I only gave her 1 TBSP. It made no difference she still got up a few times during the night. I have slowly been upping how much I give her a we have found success. She has been sleeping from about 10pm to 7 am. It's magical!!! I am amazed at how much better I feel just by getting more than 5 hours of sleep. I feel so much more patient as a mother which I am sure my children appreciate.

Anyway Sara loves it and she oinks it down every night. I am sure she will love trying all the new foods that she will get to try in a few weeks when she is 6 months old. I can't believe it already 6 MONTHS!!!

Easter...

2010-04-09T12:52:00.006-06:00

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning. It killed our plans to take the kids to the Easter egg hunt since we didn't want Sara out in the cold.
So we filled up some eggs and had our own egg hunt indoors.
Then it was time to dye the eggs. The boys were pretty excited.

Sara was happy to sit back and watch. Next year I am sure she will be right in the middle of it.
The Easter bunny found us and Noah ran into our room and yelled the Easter bunny went crazy!!

We had a really good Easter this year.

Monkey See Monkey do.....

2010-04-02T19:43:00.003-06:00

Josh decided to get himself dressed yesterday morning.
Mason decided to join in the fun...
So of course Noah had to join in the fun too....

Sara Laughing....

2010-03-26T11:42:00.003-06:00

Matt got this really cute video of Sara laughing last night while I was gone. I haven't ever seen her laugh so hard. And no worries she was not harmed during the dropping of the fabric blocks.

Family Pictures...

2010-03-15T09:17:00.004-06:00

So I have had several people tell me over and over again that I need to get new family pictures done. I usually try and do it once a year. Well I spent most of last year pregnant, and who really wants a picture of me fat and pregnant? Needless to say it didn't get done. I have been wanting to get them done in the last couple months but life has been so busy. On top of that taking family pictures is very stressful to me. I can never decide what to wear. Do we wear church clothes, polos, sweaters, do we wear matching colors? Now that we have Sara should the boys wear one color and Sara and I another? Or do we just plain wear whatever we can find that is clean. Maybe I just over think this too much. Anyway we were goofing around yesterday and took a few family pictures. What do you think would go good on our Christmas card this year (which I really want to do this year)?

Okay everyone smile..... Ughh silly boys.....
Better, however we cut off Mason....that's no good.......(Josh cracks me up)
Look at the camera and Mason don't make Sara cry....
Okay fine everyone make a silly face....
That may be a keeper except part of Sara's face is cut off...(notice Noah's newly missing tooth on the bottom)....
Okay well that is just going to have to do for now....
Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for some real family pictures....or maybe not......

4 months.....

2010-03-11T12:27:00.002-07:00

Sara turned 4 months last week. I can hardly believe it's already been 4 months. Next time I turn around she is going to be walking. It makes me very sad that she is growing up so fast. I wish I could freeze her in time just for a little while. Here's just a few pictures I have taken lately. I have been horrible about taking pictures and blogging. I kind of feel like we are in a rut lately. The kids have serious cabin fever as do I. The weather has been slowly warming up and we can see most of our grass now. That is always a good sign. Anyway here is Josh and Sara. Sara loves all her brothers, but she especially lights up around Josh and he loves her just as much.
I took her in for her 4 month check-up last week and she is 14lbs. 13.5 oz. and 24.5 inches. The Dr. said growth wise she is perfect.

In some ways Sara has been our hardest baby, but even then she is an easy baby. She still doesn't sleep through the night. She does a pretty good stretch most nights from like 1030pm to about 5am, but some nights she gets up earlier. She always goes right back to sleep so sometimes I can get back in bed other times I just get my work out done. The Dr. told me that she is plenty big enough to be sleeping longer so I could go ahead and be the mean mom and try and stretch out her feeding longer. But lets face it she needs to feed those thighs of hers. Probably the most frustrating thing is that she refuses to take a pacifier. You would think I was trying to give her poison. The boys loved their pacifiers and if they were fussy you just popped in their binky and they were good to go. It's been hard to adjust to a baby that won't take one.

She also learned how to roll over last week. She can roll from her back to her stomach in both directions. She also still loves her hands. She really likes to hook her sleeve around her thumb and chew and suck on it. Her sleeve is always wet. She is still a really happy little girl and has the cutest smile and giggle. It can melt your heart. We absolutely love having her in our family.

No cavities!!!

2010-02-23T12:58:00.003-07:00

I took Noah and Josh to the Dentist last week. They both did very well and had no cavities.
Noah is ready to get sealants done on his new molars. I take him back this week to get it done. He really takes after his dad. Every time I tell Matt to smile for a picture he makes funny faces. Well so does Noah. I asked him to smile and this is what I got.
I always worry about taking Josh to the Dr. or Dentist because he is so ornery. He is our child that almost kicked the pediatrician in the groin because he didn't was him to check his ears. He did very well and even let them take x-rays.

Ashton....

2010-02-16T12:46:00.005-07:00

Matt's boss rented this cabin last weekend and invited everyone in the mechanical department to come up and spend the night. I was told it used to be a barn that had been turned into a cabin. It has 7 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It's huge. I took this picture off the internet so of course just picture it with a ton of snow everywhere.
In addition to the bedrooms it had this loft with 16 bunkbeds for the kids to sleep on.

It has 3 floors. Sorry it's not a very good picture. If you know me you know I am terrified of heights. I went up to the 3rd floor once almost had a heart attack and didn't go up there again.
This was the stair case.
They had a huge movie room with a pool table. They also have a ping pong table.

While the women sat around and talked the men played capture the flag with nerf guns. Matt's boss Justin invited Noah to play and he was thrilled.
Of course to play with nerf guns you need proper eye protection.
We had lots of fun. I know I have said it before and I will say it again. Matt's works with best people!

Sara, Sara, Sara...

2010-02-15T19:23:00.005-07:00

A certain Grandpa who shall not be named (GRANDPA CHANO) complained that I didn't have enough pictures of Sara on our blog. I told him that I would make a whole post of pictures of Sara. So here is me and Sara keeping my promise...

And here is one of her crazy brothers...

Noah's Favorite....

2010-02-14T18:08:00.003-07:00

This is Noah's favorite library book. He has checked it out at least 4 times this year. When he brought it home a few weeks ago I asked him why he kept checking out this book. He looked at me got a huge smile on his face, giggled, and said, "It's just so cute!". If you know Noah at all then you know he LOVES cats.

Extra Miler Award...

2010-02-05T12:42:00.002-07:00

Last night Matt and I got to go to the Eagle Rock District Recognition Banquet for the Boy Scouts of America. Matt was nominated and chosen to receive the Extra Miler Award. We had nice dinner and then they did the awards. I even won a door prize. I got a $5 gift card to Reed's Dairy. I was pretty excited because I never win anything.

Here's Matt accepting his award...

This is a horrible picture. Sorry Matt!
Congratulations Matt!! I am proud of all you do for the young men in our ward!

Happy Birthday Matt!!

2010-01-29T20:40:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was Matt's 29th Birthday. We didn't do much to celebrate (we've got a sick baby). The kids and I took him cupcakes at work and we're going out to dinner tomorrow with some friends. My friend and I threw our husbands a surprise guys night since their birthdays are a few days apart. They hung out and played the wii and did whatever else it is that guys do when they are together. Happy Birthday Matt!!! We love you!