Happy Birthday NATE!!!

Happy 33rd Birthday Nate!

33 reasons why we love Nate:
1. He entertains the kids by making no-bake cookies or caramel popcorn with them
2. He never forgets to put salt in the pasta and never cooks it too long
3. He always eats the treats I make even if they aren't very good
4. "I love Daddy because I just love him" - Saxon
5. He always does the dishes on Sunday
6. He doesn't mind doing the "dirty jobs" like when Bridger poops in his underwear
7. He's a super-fast grocery shopper and always gets only whats on the list
8. He randomly brings home prizes for us from Walgreens that he thinks we would like to try
9. He can fix anything
10. He likes running errands with me :)

11. He's the best Dad I've ever seen
12. He enjoys spending his free time with me and the kids
13. He sets his alarm for 2 a.m. to take the kids to the bathroom when they're potty training
14. As a special treat, he'll drive the boys around the block in "Daddy's blue and green" car
15. He works every Saturday night so that he can go to all of Saxon's morning soccer games
16. He LOVES See's Candy, but lets the boys sneak some of his stash
17. He likes to take the boys camping and boating with me teaching them to rock climb
18. He takes the boys with him to the garden and catches bugs for them
19. He likes to go on walks with us
20. He doesn't get mad very easily

21. He is the best husband in the world!
22. He is willing to go see Twilight with me in the theaters
23. He does his homework in the middle of the night so he doesn't miss out on time with us
24. He works SO HARD and a job that he doesn't love, just to support us
25. He is always trying to better himself
26. He rubs my back every night when I'm pregnant
27. He always backs me up
28. He never hesitates to use the priesthood and give blessings when needed
29. He tries to go to the temple every week that he can't go to church because of work
30. He always tries to make us happy

31. He's my best friend
32. He's a good example
33. He has the best smile ever (and a dimple...that's a bonus!)

We love you so much Nate! Hope you have a great birthday!!! We're so lucky to have you!

B-day Dinner

Mike took us out to dinner for Saxon's 4th B-day on Friday, August 20th.
He let Saxon pick wherever he wanted to go, and Saxon picked Olive Garden because he wanted breadsticks and salad.
After dinner, Mike let him pick a dessert too.
He picked a yummy dark chocolate cake so we could sing "Happy Birthday" to him.

Thanks Mike!!!

Pregnancy #3

I wanted to write down a few thoughts on pregnancy while I am still pregnant:

First of all, I need to thank Brittany who spent the day with us taking maternity pictures for me. She did such an amazing job that I had a hard time picking which ones to post. I'll probably post more of them on another post. Check out some others on her photo blog here.

I love being pregnant.
Not everything about it. In fact, some things I forget how much I dislike until they start happening again, but I don't want to make a list of the hard parts of pregnancy. Overall, I love it more than I hate it, and this is why...

I found a quote once that talked about spending more time enjoying the miracle of being able to create life, rather than wishing away 9 months of pregnancy. I try to enjoy each pregnancy. I am so grateful that I get to experience pregnancy. Not everyone does. It is something that only gets to be experienced a limited number of times, and I want to remember and appreciate each time.

I love it when I first find out that I am pregnant.
My world is instantly filled with hope, love, gratitude, anticipation, excitement, and a little fear. It starts as a special secret that only Nate and I share. No one else knows, and no one can tell. I can't even tell for a while, but I love knowing that we created life. It is amazing to me, when I look at my boys, to remember that they started as a little egg in the first stages of pregnancy, and became the amazing little people that they are.

I love hearing the heartbeat for the first time.
On all 3 of my boys, I have had an ultrasound on the first visit. It is such a miracle so see my baby for the first time and listen to his heartbeat, even if it is long before I can feel him. It eases some of the fear to see and hear that he is growing and thriving.

I love feeling the first movement.
Even if it is small and not yet often, I love the reminder to stop and think about the baby that is coming. With each pregnancy, my life gets busier. Those little kicks are good reminders to stop and be grateful. Each pregnancy has gone faster than the last. With Saxon I felt like all I could think about was being pregnant and wanting to meet my new baby. With Bridger, I had Saxon to take care of and worry about, so I felt like it was over before I knew it. This time has also gone fast. I'm down to about 2 weeks and I can't believe it. I love laying down to sleep at night and feeling him move all around. It is my mommy-baby time.

I love the 20 week ultrasound.
I love seeing my baby again watching him move. I love finding out the gender. It finally becomes concrete. The "it" becomes a "he" and I can start planning my life and envisioning what it will be like with 3 boys. I can think of names, decorate the bedroom, and really start planning. I also love being in the second half of the 9 months. The second half is a lot more fun. It is fun when I finally start looking pregnant and not just fat. It is exciting to have less time in front of me than behind me. This is when time starts speeding up...

I love that the baby is all mine.
That may sound selfish, but I love it. I get to experience him and connect with him in a way that no one else can. I can take him everywhere, always feel him, protect him, love him... My experience with him started 9 months ago, while everyone else has their first experience with him only after he is born.

I love being in labor.
I think it's my favorite part. I love staying up all night before in anticipation. I love getting ready that morning knowing that I'm about to be the mother of (now 3). I love that the waiting is finally over and the big day is here. I can't wait to see what he will look like and what he will be like. Will he have crazy, dark hair like my other 2? Will he look like Saxon or Bridger, or have his own little look? I love holding my baby for the first time and marveling at the miracle of the whole thing. I love spending a few days in the hospital full of time with just my baby. Once I'm home, real life starts again. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, chasing the other kids (all while trying to recover), etc. I love the initial one-on-one time with the new baby. After it's over, all I can think is that it was such an amazing experience that I can't wait to do it again. All of the hardships seem to fade a little as you hold your new baby.

Here's a quote I found online about pregnant women:

"Pregnant women! They had that weird frisson, an aura of magic that combined awkwardly with an earthy sense of duty. Mundane, because they were nothing unique on the suburban streets; ethereal because their attention was ever somewhere else. Whatever you said was trivial. And they had that preciousness which they imposed wherever they went, compelling attention, constantly reminding you that they carried the future inside, its contours already drawn, but veiled, private, an inner secret". -- Ruth Morgan

Here a a couple of quotes I found from Ensign articles on having children:

"Into this happy home and pleasant atmosphere will eventually come the children for which the marriage was consummated, and who will add immeasurably to the joy and fulfillment which God the Father intended when he instructed Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth. When parents understand the purpose of their existence, that they are literally the spiritual offspring of their Father in Heaven and that they have a responsibility to provide mortal bodies for others, then they rejoice in the miracle of birth as they realize they are copartners with God in the creation of each child who comes into that home.

In keeping with the revelations on this subject, one of our early leaders, the late Melvin J. Ballard, said this: “There is a passage in our Scriptures which the Latter-day Saints accept as divine: ‘This is the glory of God—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ [see Moses 1:39]. Likewise we could say that this is the glory of men and women—to bring to pass the mortality of the sons and daughters of God, to give earth-life to the waiting children of our Father. … The greatest mission of woman is to give life, earth-life, through honorable marriage, to the waiting spirits, our Father’s spirit children who anxiously desire to come to dwell here in this mortal state. All the honor and glory that can come to men or women by the development of their talents, the homage and the praise they may receive from an applauding world, worshiping at their shrine of genius, is but a dim thing whose luster shall fade in comparison to the high honor, the eternal glory, the ever-enduring happiness that shall come to the woman who fulfills the first great duty and mission that devolves upon her to become the mother of the sons and daughters of God” (Sermons and Missionary Services, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1949, pp. 203–4, italics added)."
-President N. Eldon Tanner, May 1980, Celestial Marriages and Eternal Families.

"...you have been born at this time for a sacred and glorious purpose. It is not by chance that you have been reserved to come to earth in this last dispensation of the fullness of times. Your birth at this particular time was foreordained in the eternities. You are to be the royal army of the Lord in the last days. You are “youth of the noble birthright.” (Hymns, 1985, no. 255.) -President Ezra Taft Benson, May 1986, To the 'Youth of the Noble Birthright'.

I love being a mother.
I'm so grateful that I'm able to. I'm lucky to have a great husband by my side also.

I love my children.
They are so wonderful. They have such amazing little personalities and I'm sure that they will accomplish amazing things. I can't wait to meet Baby #3 (Humpty Dumpty) in just a couple weeks.

Game 4

Saxon had GAME 4 of soccer this week (we missed Game 3 for Gregor's wedding).
This is what he thought of soccer this week:

He was not into it this time. He kept coming over to me and asking if he was done yet.
He did a couple of really good kicks, and a few times the ball would bounce right off of him while he was daydreaming about being done. We told him that if he would play the whole game, we would let him go practice with Caden one day (Caden is doing soccer this season too in an older group). I keep having to remind myself that he is the youngest one out there. Most of the other kids on his team are 5, and he just barely turned 4. He does a really good job when he tries, but this week, he was just not interested. Oh well, we'll see how next week goes :)

The Harvest

We planted a garden again this year,
and once again, it is one of the highlight of my kids' summer!
We had a late frost (the very end of May) that ruined a lot of our plants, so they got a slow start.
But, it's finally time to harvest.
We planted corn, tomatoes, sweet basil, lemon basil, cilantro, pumpkin, sweet peas, green beans, radishes, carrots, squash, zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapenos, serrano chilies, onions, sunflowers, and marigolds.

I needed to make a pizza sauce today, so I ran down to the garden to get some tomatoes and basil to make sauce. When our garden is ready to harvest, I love cooking with everything from the garden. When we got there, there was more than Saxon and I could carry, so we had to go home and get a basket. Me and the boys loaded up the basket and Saxon still had to carrot all the carry and some tomatoes in his arms. Bridger doesn't know all of his colors yet, so when I say "only the RED tomatoes", it doesn't mean much to him. So, we have a bunch of green tomatoes on our counter waiting to ripen too. We have so many hot peppers that I am sending a big bag to Gregor and Joy so she can make him salsa :)

I love the garden!
I love getting to harvest all of the veggies after all of the hard work in the spring. I'm so glad that it is growing so well. I was worried after so many of our plants froze this spring. My kids love it too. Now I just need to come up with a few more recipes to use all of these veggies :)

My Busy Boys...

Along with planning weddings and birthday parties and family gatherings, we still have had to find time to get ready for baby 3. One of the things on my "to do before the baby" list was to re-finish our kitchen table again. Nate worked a couple of nights in a row (which meant he had the mornings off) and decided to take care of the table for me. I was so happy! I've been meaning to get it done (I don't mind re-finishing furniture myself) but the thought of taking on such a big project 8 1/2 months pregnant was exhausting just to think about. So, Nate took care of it, and Saxon helped:

While Saxon was helping Nate, and I was scrubbing the floors (taking advantage of the table being gone), Bridger was being busy.
I walked around the corner and found him going face first into his left-over birthday cake.
He was so proud of himself. He thought he was being so smart!

My boys are so funny!
They keep me laughing all of the time.
I can't wait to have another :)
My friend Holly found a quote online for me once that said,
"Little boys are so much fun, we thought we'd have another one!"
I guess that fits us.
Our boys are so much fun that Heavenly Father must think that we would love to have lots of them.

Saxon turns 4!

Today my Saxon turns 4!

I can't believe he is getting so big!
I love him SO MUCH!

Four years ago, today, I became a mom for the first time.
I remember how long the last few weeks of being pregnant seemed.
I was so ready to meet my new baby and had had enough waiting.
I worked until almost midnight the night before Saxon was born, then I came home and cleaned and packed for the rest of the night.
There was no way I could sleep the night before I was going to become a mom.

I couldn't believe it when my baby was born with tons of dark, curly, hair.
It's amazing how you can love someone so absolutely and completely before you even meet them.
I remember coming home from the hospital and thinking that I would have a dozen kids because that was the most amazing experience of my life.
I loved being pregnant, I loved being in the hospital, and I loved holding my sweet new baby for the first time, and bringing him home and knowing that he was ours forever.

When I was a teenager, we used to go camping with my mom on the beach in California.
Brookie was the little social butterfly and used to make friends with everyone camping by us.
One year she made friends with a cute surfer family who had two kids, Destiny and Saxon.
My mom and I joked that I should remember that name, Saxon, if I ever had a baby because it was so cool and different and the little boy we met was darling. I always kept it in the back of my mind, and when I was pregnant with Saxon, I mentioned it to Nate. He loved it too, and when we held him in the hospital, we decided that he would be Saxon.

I love watching Saxon grow and learn ( although it is all happening way too fast).
He is so funny!
Not in the way that every toddler is funny and cute...it's a talent...he is really funny!
My mom told me once that I was going to create a little monster by thinking that everything he did was funny. It's not just that I thought that he was funny...he really is.
He is creative, outgoing, loving, and wants to be friends with everyone he meets.

Saxon is such a good big brother too (most of the time).
Last night Bridger was crying in his bed because he wanted to get out.
I was ignoring him because I wanted him to go to sleep.
After a while Saxon came out and said,
"Mom, Bridger needs you. He's crying for you because he wants you to protect him. You need to hold him."
He also tells me all the time how much he is going to help with Humpty Dumpty and how Humpty Dumpty can sleep in his bed and share his things.
Today Brittany called to wish him a Happy Birthday and while he was on the phone with her he said,
"Oh no BB! I forgot! I need to make you sprinkley cupcakes for your birthday!"
(Brittany's birthday was on Tuesday).
On Joy's birthday, he started crying because the waiter forgot to bring out her cake.
He can't stand the thought of anyone being hurt or left out.

Saxon is so smart too! For family home evening a few weeks ago, Saxon wanted to teach the lesson. So, he taught about scripture study, and used his sword and shield to tell the story of David and Goliath, and the story of Captain Moroni. A week or so later, Gregor was over and he got out his sword and shield and started explaining all of the scripture stories to Gregor too. He made Nate act out David and throw marshmallows at him so he could be Goliath and fall over when the marshmallow hit him in the head. Then he showed Gregor the picture of Captain Moroni and shouted, "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children..."

So...Happy Birthday sweet guy!
I love you more that I can describe. You keep me laughing and in awe all the time. You are so smart and funny and happy. You have so much personality and I can't wait to see all of the amazing things you are going to accomplish. I love you and I am so proud of you!!! I just wish you would stop growing up so fast...I'm not ready for you to be so big.

Summer Afternoons...

Brittany came over a little while ago to take some 4 year old pictures of Saxon for me
(which I will post tomorrow).
She brought the boys and they were wonderful with Bridger while we got some pictures of Saxon. Bridger tripped and fell running over to the playground, and the boys made him feel better by swinging with him.
What a perfect way to spend a summer afternoon...
(the sunflowers are from my garden)