We have arrived...

We did it... we are now the proud owners of a minivan. I never thought that would be exciting for me... I even vowed that I would never own one, but after our last camping trip with two kids and trying to pack all the essentials... well it was either leave the sleeping bags or the kids. Now I think it's great to own something that you can fit everyone and everything in to at the same time... I told Jer that the only thing we're missing now are the little stickers of people that you put on your back window... then we'll truly be a utah minivan driving family.

Interactive baby

So Ada thinks it's great when any kind of sound comes from little Sammy. If he coos, she giggles... but if I'm burping him she says, "Baby says 'urp'". She also makes a little farting sound with her mouth anytime he farts... At least she's not ignoring him!

We're not!

Cousins Mariah and Adam were playing together all weekend during our family reunion. We caught a picture of them playing in the crate that the pinewood derby track is stored in. Grandpa saw them and told them to stop playing in the crate. Adam innocently looks up at him and says, "But we're not!"

Pictures of the last 2 weeks

Roger and Moana.

Aubrey, Sophie, McKay and Devin.

McKay and Devin, Moana and Ada, Roger and Aubrey.

Samuel and Roger.

Samuel during the reunion.

Jim and Jon during the pinewood derby.

Ada , Jer, and I at the zoo.

Aubrey, Devin, Ada at the zoo.

Sharon, Ada, McKay and Aubrey at the aquarium

Janelle and Aubrey at the aquarium

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Devin, Ada, and Aubrey

Pictures of Bear Lake

Camping at Bear Lake, Ada and Jer

Ada sleeping is one of the best sights... when I'm tired at least!

Napping with Grandpa Wilcox

Samuel and Jer napping

funny story for the week

One thing that happened that wasn't funny at the time was one of the times that I tried to go jogging during the reunion. I started to get ready to run on the treadmill so that I could be there for the kids while Jer went on his run. I got dressed and got my shoes on, then I found that Ada and Grace had unloaded all of Jim and Judy's nice books out of their bookcase... So Becca and I got them put away and I took the kids to where they could play. I went to stretch and then the baby got hungry, so I got him a bottle and Becca fed him while I finished stretching. I went to check on the girls and found a puddle of something wet and sticky on the play table with all the books and puzzles and the girls were jumping on the bed holding markers and crayons...(the markers were all missing their caps). By the time I got all that straightened out the baby was crying again and didn't want me to put him down... When Jer got home from his run I handed him the kids and said, "See ya later." It was a little ironic that it took me a hour and a half to get started on a run that lasted me just under an hour. Oh well...

Latest update...

Wow... I'm so glad that the last weeks are over now. They were a lot of fun but they were so busy that the kids were grumpy half the time and I was tired the rest of the time. My brother McKay and his family came out to visit from Georgia for the week. They got here Monday two weeks ago... we had a barbeque and let the kids play. The next day we hung out at Mom and Dads for most the day... from then on was where it got crazy... it was our wedding anniversary so my parents took the kids while we went to do some stuff. We went to see the movie Up and I absolutely loved it! I think it's the best Pixar yet, we went to Cold Stone for ice cream and went to the bookstore to read and we bought a couple of new books, and we went out to eat at the Macaroni Grill. Wed we went to the Oquirrh Temple openhouse. It was very beautiful, and the kids thought that the baptismal font was pretty neat. Then we went from there to the Draper aquarium. That was so fun! Ada started showing me how fish swim and my favorite was the octopus... it kept going up and down the tank... it was neat. Ada liked the frogs and the stingray petting area. Thursday we went to the Hogle Zoo. That was fun too. It was perfect weather... not too hot and sunny and it started raining right as we got in the car to go home. Ada's favorites were the cheetah and the giraffes. She kind of liked the camels too. It was funny too... as soon as we pulled out of the parking lot, she was out like a light! Then we went to a coupon class at Amy's house. That night was the beginning of Jer's weekend family reunion. From Thursday til Monday we ate food galore, made and raced pinewood derby cars, played games, watched movies, had a chocolate tasting party, a talent show, etc... as well as trying to keep up with our work, callings, adn Jer even finished the slide for our stairs. We watched the fireworks from Jim and Judy's roof and set off a few of our own. Ada thought they were pretty cool, especially the sparklers. We had Tuesday to rest and clean the house, then Wed we went out to visit Ada's best friend that moved not to long ago... I started teaching piano lessons again... Thursday I went shoe shopping and did some catch up on stuff while my parents took Ada up to Bear Lake. Then Jer and I followed them up on Friday so that we could be there for my family reunion on Saturday. Jer, Ada and Samuel all caught a cold, but Ada had fun digging in the dirt and Jer had a good run, even though he said that it was one of the hardest ones that he's done. I jogged 2 miles with him before he went 14 more. It was fun to catch up with aunts and cousins. Then we drove home with a grumpy toddler and a sunburned husband. It was funny though... because Ada kept asking to see trains on the way home... usually we see maybe one... but this time we saw 5.

All in all it was a ball!

Another picture post...

I just needed to put up a couple of my new favorite pictures from the last month... here they are.

We've lucked out... so far

This one is of Ada playing with Samuel's toes... she thinks it's just fabulous that they both have toes...

This is our sweet baby Samuel at three weeks old...

I was so scared that after having Ada... who slept through the night from 3 months on and only woke up once a night before that... who's not a picky eater and was generally a happy and curious baby as long as we didn't try to make her breastfeed... that we'd have a hellion for our next child. Imagine my relief that he's a sweet boy that likes to cuddle and sleeps from 12:30am til 7:30am on most nights... at only 3 weeks old. The only thing that I've been frustrated about that has to do with him... is that he has gas every couple of hours... he fusses and cries until all the gas is gone... then he's fine again. I'm so glad that the Lord knew that I wouldn't be able to handle a very challenging newborn right now. When he's two I might wish to send him back... but as it is now... we're happy to have him as part of our family!

Water

Samuel likes warm water... every time I shower with him or bathe him in a warm tub he just relaxes and almost falls asleep... not to mention that he pees anytime I first put him in the tub... (just means that I need to make sure that he's pointing in the right direction... otherwise we're in trouble.)

"Good Girl"

I think Ada likes our dog, Lucy. When we give the dog a treat or go play with her we always tell her, "Good girl!" when she does what we say. Ada has starting telling people what to do and then calling them a good girl if they do it... two examples... Grandma was sharing a bowl of ice cream with Ada. When Ada asked for more and Grandma gave it to her Ada looked at Grandma and said,"Good girl!" The other example is that for dinner time Ada wanted to sit in Jeremy's chair at the table. I told her not to and she turned to daddy and told him to sit there instead... when he finally did sit there a couple minutes later she looked at him and said, "Good girl!"