Almost Done!

Only 10 more days until Clara is here!

37 weeks 5 days

Birthday Letter to Bryce

Happy birthday, Brycie Bryce! You are a whole year old today! I am so glad you are in our family, sweet heart. You have reached so many milestones this year: first smiles, first giggles, sitting up, crawling, walking and now you aren't content with anything slower than a run. You are adored, son. Your older brother loves to make you laugh and you seek him out at any opportunity. Your father sometimes squeezes you a little too tight when he gets home from work just to hear your happy squeals. Your mother cuddles you a little too often for your liking sometimes, but she's just getting them in while you still fit on her lap. You're growing so fast, you'll soon outgrow her lap, son! You're already wearing 18 month old shirts and even then, some of them are too short. Your sweet little legs are still in 9-12 month shorts, though. We love to see you dink dink dink around the house chasing your brother or pulling the books off the shelves. You love to look at books, though you are too impatient to hear the words read to you. I've never seen your beat for love of stuffed animals and blankets. You get so excited when you find a soft blanket and you have to have one when you go to bed. Stuffed animals are usually preferred to cars, unless Derek gives you one of his cars. Bryce, I hope you always remember that you a son of God. He loves you, we love you and we're so grateful that He sent you to us. Happy birthday, sweet heart!

Birthday burgers for the birthday boy! Cake will be this weekend. :)

Derek Conducts the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

 

Derek enjoyed conducting the MoTab today. :)

Weekend At Nana's

We hung out with Val and Rob at Mom's house this weekend. We had a great time just hanging out and watching Derek play on the blow up slide. Bryce had fun being passed from person to person. He was most content while being held and would walk around til he found someone willing to hold him, haha! Funny little kid.

Happy-Go-Lucky



He didn't like these little shoe/socks I had for him. He kept picking his feet up one at a time and trying to shake it off.



Bryce liked kicking back with Aunt Val on the porch swing



Derek enjoyed kicking the soccer ball off the slide and going after it face first down the slide.

Beautiful Saturday

We went to Nana's house this weekend! It was so nice to relax, especially with Mitchell there to help entertain the kids. He had a blast helping Derek learn to ride a big boy bike. I can't believe it! My three-year-old is riding a bike WITHOUT training wheels! He basically jumped on and took right off. Mitchell has to help him on and give him a push, but then Derek takes over from there. He's more comfortable making a left turn than a right, but he gets the job done. He even had quite the bump that jolted his groin and all he did was jump up and hop around til he walked it off. What a tough kid! Nana has her house pretty much all set up for Halloween and it looks AWESOME! Derek had fun helping Nana hang up spider webs on the dining room chandelier and check some of the decorations for old batteries. Even Bryce got into the spirit of Halloween! My mom has a sound-activated witch hanging in the dining room and every time Bryce would screech for attention, he set off the witch's cackle and sassy comments which would, in turn, make him be quiet and look around for the source of the sounds. I'm so glad we live so close to my mom! The boys sure love Nana. :)

 

 Hopping on the bike

 

 Bryce found these fun star sunglasses in the bottom of the wagon. This kid loves sunglasses!

 

 Nana pulled Bryce in the wagon while Mitchell helped Derek and I took pictures. :)

 

 Working on the right turn

 

 No matter how many falls, Derek hopped right back up and took off again

 

 Check out the cool mowhawk helmet!

 

 Groin check! :S

 

 Bryce and Nana!

 

 Bryce, Nana and Derek - they're so cute!

 

Enjoying the beautiful September afternoon

 

 
 
 

 Nana helped Bryce go down the inflatable slide on the bouncy house

 Bryce didn't like his bare feet touching the damp grass, haha!

 

 Yep, still not a fan.

 

 Bryce loves being lifted up though!

 

 Derek got creative with the bouncy house, haha! Nice little hammock.

 

 We even broke out the soccer ball to kick around!

 

 Derek found a big grasshopper but wouldn't be persuaded (or bribed, lol) to catch it.

 

 Halloween bat glasses!

 

 Derek loves this spider. Also noise-activated, it plunges about two feet down a string and then noisily works its way back up. Bryce was quietly observant as he watched this little show.

 

 Here is the noise-activated witch. Derek took this picture all by himself! He's so good with the camera now.

 

The "broken house." Derek was extremely concerned that this house was broken. The house was hit by lightning in a storm last month. My mom and Amy happened to be driving down a street parallel to this when the lightning bolt hit, though they weren't close enough to be hurt. Thankfully, the family was wasn't home at the time, but their house was basically destroyed. Derek was really scared tonight as I tucked him in bed and kept asking if our house would break. Poor kid.

Happy Birthday, Liz!

Happy birthday Liz! I'm glad you get to try on 26 before I do. ;) So crazy to think we met a little over 7 years ago. It's been wonderful to have you as my sister-in-law the past five years. We always have fun taking all the kids out on play dates and doing frozen yogurt for girls' night. I look forward to celebrating 30 with you! :D I know you're not too thrilled about 30, but everyone says 30 is the new 20. Either way, you've got quite a ways before then, so enjoy still being "in your twenties." Love you bunches!

 

 

 Tammy made a gorgeous chocolate cake for Liz's birthday party!

 

 We had friends Mallory, Kevin and Bauer over from the ward to celebrate with us

 

 Liz had adorable help to blow out her candles

 

 Happy birthday, Liz!

 

 Happy boy with happy birthday cake

 

Bryce, Mallory and Bauer! The boys are about three months apart.

Painting Pumpkins

We painted pumpkins to celebrate Autumn today! Derek was so excited when we saw a bag of mini pumpkins in the store, so we brought some home and had a party! Isaac and Andrew joined in the paint fun while Emeri and Bryce watched happily from the sidelines. Nana is going to visit Amy this week and we thought it would be a fun surprise to send a couple painted pumpkins from her favorite nephew to cheer her up. ;)

 

The set up

 

Derek took some cues from Isaac.

 

 Isaac insisted on keeping his cool ninja sword nearby.

 

 He had a blast mixing colors!

 

 Andrew gives such cheesy grins! Love it!

 

 Sweet Emeri! Bryce decided not to cooperate, so I didn't get a good solo shot of him. :(

 

 

 Scarfing down the snacks. Bryce loves food.
 

They were nice enough to "share" with each other, too. Emeri would drop a handful of cheerios on Bryce's tray and he'd try to put some in her mouth. Yay cousins!

Hot Air Ballon in the Backyard

Derek and I were watching some hot air balloons floating out behind our house today. They aren't uncommon, so I lost interest pretty quickly. Suddenly, Derek dashed outside yelling about a balloon and, sure enough, when I looked out the window we saw a balloon closer than we ever have before. Even Mitchell and Colton came out to watch the drama. Though my camera was dying, I managed to take a few pictures of the close call the balloon had with a nearby house.

 

 Running out to see the balloon

 

 So excited and trying to make sure I didn't miss the massive balloon

 

 Near miss!

 

The balloonists finally landed in the pasture behind our house

Mowing the Lawn with Dad

Mitchell made Derek's day today. He went out to mow the backyard and popped Derek up on his lap the whole time. Derek was singing songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Old Macdonald Had a Farm," and "The Farmer in the Dell." He was thrilled to help turn the wheel to steer the mower and point out patches that needed to be cut. He threw all his strength into helping Mitchell move the jungle gym and trampoline. I was content to sit and watch, but Bryce was bouncing up and down and yelling for a turn. He was so cute! Maybe when you get a little older, kid.

 

Beyond thrilled

 

 Watching Dad line the mower up

 

 Trapped on the trampoline - safe from debris

 Sweet boy!

 

 Two opposites

 

 Helping Dad move the jungle gym

 

 Sitting in the biggest patch of grass on the lawn - it was under the trampoline

 

 "Don't miss that spot, Dad!"

 

 Chainsaws are a little more effective, Colton. ;)

 

Making the last round with Dad.