baby bump

so, we're having a girl.



YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by burton

CHRISTMAS IS....

Christmas is family.

Christmas is decorations.

Christmas is presents.

Christmas is not about me only.

burton brought this little "poem" that he wrote at kindergarten home last week and it really warmed my heart. what a sweet little boy. i love his perspective on Christmas.

for pictures of what we have been doing to get ready for Christmas, click here.

update

it's about time i sat down and wrote about a few fun things that have happened. first, we finally got some snow! not a ton but enough to play in. the boys were all so excited to go and play in the snow and we had a lot of fun in the park by our house.

we are all getting excited for Christmas and the chance it brings to visit all of our family!!

funny evan story - i had a doctor's appointment a few days ago and evan came with me. before we went, he was talking about how we were going to hear the baby's heartbeat and he was fairly excited. my doctor let evan hold the sonogram and push the button as he found the heartbeat and we listened to it. pretty fun for evan. after i was all done and getting ready to leave, evan climbed up on the examining table, lifts up his shirt, and says, "my turn." so my doctor brought the sonogram back out and found evan's heartbeat. as soon as he heard his heartbeating, evan's face lit up and he said, "mom, that's my baby's heartbeat!!" it was futile to try and explain to him that what he was hearing was his heartbeat, not a baby in his tummy. but he was convinced otherwise. so, according to evan, both him and i have babies in our tummies.

i took this picture a few weeks ago of jensen and burton. burton has scary dreams often at night and one thing we told him to do was climb up top of their bunk beds and sleep with jensen instead of coming upstairs to sleep with us all the time. i always check on them before going to bed and this is what i found one night:
i hope they always love eachother so much.

just can't get enough

i just can't get enough of my little niece, grace.

really, can you blame me? look how adorable she is!!!!

i love her to pieces - and her mom, marion, too! i feel really blessed to have such wonderful women in my life. my mom, grandmothers, sisters, and yes, even the in laws....i really love them too:) and now, the next generation of little girls that will grow in to beautiful and admirable women before i know it.

i hope this little bun in my oven can join the girls club.

i would really like that.

that being said, i will be most grateful for a healthy and happy baby, whether boy or girl. although jensen may not be. he was telling my gran this last weekend that if we have a boy, i told brent that we would sell him and that brent was ok with that.

i'll have to watch jensen if we do have a boy - he is getting really good at spelling and writing and would have no problem whipping up some "brother for sale" signs.

where we live

i have always found that the beauty of nature makes me appreciate our Father in Heaven and the beautiful world He has created for us. i find that being out in the woods, walking on a beach, the smell after rain, sunsets, fall colors, spring colors, and so many other sights and sounds of nature fill me with a deep sense of gratitude that i can enjoy the world around me and a profound feeling of thanks for the beauty of the creation.

Heavenly Father must truly love us to bless us with such beauty in our surroundings.

looking at my family brings me the same feelings of gratitude.

i really am blessed.

no belly pictures from me!

so, jensen was telling his aunt briett the other day all about the babies in my tummy - yep, babies. jensen is convinced that we are having triplet girls. then we would be even, he says - 4 boys and 4 girls! and, according to his logic, he must be right. jensen was telling briett that we must be having twin girls because, "mommy's tummy is so big already and she's only been pregnant for a few days."

i'm 14 weeks.

wow, i must really be huge!

thanksgiving

what a wonderful time of year! i love all the changing colors and the chance to give some extra thought to the things i am grateful for. family always tops the list. friends, left behind and newly found. a warm home, food on the table, a husband who works hard to care for me and our boys. the blessing of being a mother to three wonderful boys and growing another (girl hopefully). and most thankful for a loving Savior who knows me and knows what I need to feel peace in my life.

and i am thankful for my camera! i love to take pictures. so, that being said, here are some good ones i took over our thanksgiving trip to good old sylvan lake. feel free to click here and here!

who needs a halloween costume?

so, funny story. about a week ago, after brent left for work, burton woke up and came in to our room. i was still in bed, savoring the last 20 minutes before the alarm went off, all wrapped up in the blankets. i heard burton come in and sat up to say hi. he screamed - literally screamed. not a high pitched fake scream, but a real, scared yell - and started to cry. i brought him in to bed to snuggle him and asked him why he was so scared. he wouldn't answer me for probably 10 minutes. once he settled down, he looked at me and said, "you scared me when i saw you. your nose looked really long and i was scared of your bed head."

geez - i already knew i looked pretty bad first thing in the morning. but is it really that bad?

friends

i love this picture.

not only are my boys brothers, but they are best friends too. and although they have their not so nice moments, for the most part they really get along. i love that they play with each other. i love that they are concerned for each other and sensitive to one another. it warms my heart to listen to my boys play and pretend with each other. and even though evan is not in this picture, he is just as much a part of the group.

my 3 amigos - i sure love them.

p.s. it was crazy hair day at school - i don't spray my kids' hair red regularly...especially since it ended up getting everywhere! oh well, the picture was worth it.

i love where we live

yesterday we went on a small hike with the kids and some friends, just outside of cranbrook. it was a beautiful day - warm, sunny, and so many different colors as the trees are starting to change. i love the fall. i love all the colors and the coolness mixed in with the warmth of the sun. we hiked to this amazing little water fall and had fun climbing the rocks, feeling the water, and exploring in such a wonderful place.

and to think it was just 20 minutes away from our front door. i love this new place we call home!

baby grace

so, we made our last trip of the summer to good old saskatoon this last weekend. brent went to play golf and the boys and i couldn't pass up the chance to tag along and visit the newest member of our family, grace leelynn allred. my sister marion and her husband, tyson, welcomed their little girl on august 26 and we were so happy and excited to meet her!! and she is adorable!! all i wanted to do was hold her and look at her. she has the most adorable feet i think i have ever seen - and her hair!! grace is fabulous and we all love her so much already. burton was especially enthralled with little grace. the first time he held her, he was so excited to see her every movement...."mom, her eyes are opening!! mom, she's yawning! mom, mom, mom......." burton sat on the couch for almost half an hour, holding her with this little smile on his face. it was precious. some time during our 2 day visit, burton said to marion and i, "i loved her before i even saw her!" he is such a sweetheart and so is little grace.

makes me hope this next one is a little girl.

oh yeah, we are expecting:)

first day of school

yesterday was the first day of school. jensen is now in grade one and burton started kindergarten. as excited as i am for my boys to go to school and learn, i find myself experiencing a mix of emotions as i drop them off at their classrooms - separation anxiety (on my part, not their's!), sadness that my babies are growing up, anxiety as i entrust their safekeeping to someone else, worry that they might get picked on and will be able to make friends, excitement for their learning opportunities, gratitude for the ability to send them to school to learn, proud of their intelligence, and extreme love for my little boys.

i am so grateful to be a mother to such wonderful little boys. i am glad that i can send them to school and trust that they will be examples to their friends and teachers, help out, be polite, listen and learn, and act appropriately. they are good boys! i feel somewhat humbled to have been entrusted with the care of such sweet little spirits and find so much joy in being with my boys. i am happy that they aren't too grown up to give me a hug and kiss when i drop them off at school - i hope they never outgrow that!!

starting a new school year has filled me with all of these thoughts and feelings. watching my boys walk from my arms in to the walls of the school has reminded me just how much i love jensen and burton and how proud i am of the little boys that they are!

oh, and i love evan too, of course!

beautiful british columbia

we are loving bc!!



enough said.

things we love: numerous lakes set in beautiful mountain backdrops, warm, sunny weather, hiking in the mountains, driving in the mountains, being in the mountains, living in the mountains.

seriously, we love it.

click here and here for a picture representation of our summer fun.

one thing i love

i really love the summer. a lot. one of my biggest summer loves is a good, sunset ski - glass like water, end of the day warmth, and the setting sun on the lake.

nice.

not much beats that in the summer time.

we love summer

who LOVES summer? we do!!! swimming in grammie's pool in spokane, boating at sylvan lake with gran and papa, discovering all that cranbrook has to offer (which is tons, by the way...we LOVE it there!!!), a quick camping trip, enjoying the sprinkler park right out our front door, making new friends, meeting new people, and just having a good time is what we have been doing. oh yeah, and brent has been working too - dr. davis has been busy in his new dental clinic and seems to be enjoying himself. which is good:).

for anyone interested in photo documentation of our summer fun, click here.

and i decided to trade my two oldest boys in for some girls. i was getting tired of being outnumbered.

hope everyone is having as much fun as we are!!

TTFN

through the eyes of a 6 year old

jensen has always been a curious and observative little boy. he remember everything (much to my chagrin at times!) and is eager to learn. our resident expert on all things living, jensen has decided to become a zookeeper when he grows up. just this morning, jensen and i had a conversation about snakes. said jensen, "boy snakes like to shake for girl snakes. they stop when they are attracked and then they get married." while on my mom and dad's boat at sylvan lake the other night, we drove through some reeds ("weets" according to burton) to find fish because, as jensen informed everyone, they like all the allergy in the lake.

like i said, he is our resident expert.

buzz

so, we played games with the boys the other night. they wanted to play mario party on our wii - fun game. after playing for about 20 minutes, burton looks at me and says, "watch this mom." he then sticks the tip of his tongue into the "outlet" on the main controller where the nunchuk attachment goes and says, "it gives you a little buzz. pretty cool."

only burton - i'll have to keep a close eye on that one!

my little rockstar

so, evan has found a new talent. he loves to "rock out" (evan's words) to any kind of music. he gets in to his power stance, curls his lips, and starts playing his stomach/guitar.

hilarious.

check it out. here he is jamming with his uncle tyson (who really could be a rock star if the whole dentist thing doesn't work out - he is that good).

the conquerors

my boys' new favorite thing to do is hiking. they are all over anything and everything that they can climb up or down. small hills, big rocks, steep inclines, whatever is around. and they love the sense of accomplishment that comes from conquering the hills that they climb.

yes, we did it!!

these pics are from our recent camping trip to spokane - and yes, they are still in their jammies.

family fun

so after who knows how many years of NOT getting together, we finally had a swainson family reunion at my mom and dad's house this last weekend. talk about FUN!! beautiful weather, great set up, TONS of kids, and good company made for a fabulous time. it was so great visiting with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles - reliving memories, telling goofy stories, and watching all the little ones running around.

as a second "generation-er," it warmed my heart to see my kids playing with all the other little kids - reminding me of all the great times i had roaring around with my cousins growing up. what great memories i have of being on "the farm," making forts, plaing kick the can in the dark, sleepovers at gramps and nana's house, weiner roasts, softball games, tile rummy with nana, gramps playing pool downstairs, and all the food it took to feed all those people!!!!!

what a wonderful weekend it was!! and i, for one, have decided that we HAVE to do it again next year!

for a picture representation of some of the fun we had at the reunion, click here, here, and here.

i think i managed to snap a picture of almost everyone....and that is saying a lot as there are a lot of people is this family!!!

and i really love this family.

validation

sitting on the back deck at mom and dad's house tonight, a beautiful evening, my dad told burton that burton is his hero....dad has a huge soft spot for burton. then he asked burton who his hero is. burton thought for a moment, then said, "my mom."

wow.

amazing how two little words in answer to a random question made me feel so appreciated, validated, and loved.

does it get much better than this?

favorite subjects

i love taking pictures of all kinds of things....flowers, trees, and other nature.

but i always find that my favorite pictures always include my favorite subjects....

evan

burton and

jensen.

always my favorites.

we have been enjoying the warmer weather here in the MOUNTAINS and just returned from a week spent in spokane with brent's family. the boys had fun with their cousins and we all enjoyed the visit, of course! i have posted pictures of our spokane trip for your viewing pleasure. just click here.

and for all those who are interested in brent's bike trip, click here.

TTFN!

my one and only

my brent - i only hope our boys grow up to be the kind of man, husband, and father you are. that would be their greatest achievement, to be like you.

happy father's day my love.

his very own

burton is his own person. only knows one speed - fast. go. go. go. up, down, right, left, in, out, forwards, backwards. big, blue eyes. scattered freckles. smiling dimples. all make my burty-burt. but there is another side to burton - morning snuggles, whispered "i love you's," self conscious moments, need for a quick hug, a word of encouragement, approval. as rough and tough and pure boy that he is, burton still needs his momma.

what a soft spot i have for that kid.

just like dad

look at this picture - those eyes! big, brown, and beautiful. like liquid amber. and they both have them. jensen looks so much like his dad....lucky boy!

things i love about my oldest son:

-his laugh when he is really laughing.

-how he shares his ideas and you can almost see the wheels turning in his mind.

-that he always loves me, even when i am rotten.

-his compassion and sensitivity to others.

-he looks out for his little brothers, especially evan.

-he likes to help me and will often help without being asked.

-he is kind and considerate.

-he is inquisitive and curious.

he is jensen - my jensen.

right here

just one more before i go to bed. evan is still my baby. i often ask him if he is a big boy and he always says, "no big boy. me evan." i ask him if he is my baby and he says, "yes. mommy's baby." he makes me feel good, so good. evan frequently will enter a room that i am in and come running with arms outstretched just for me, saying, "here i am mommy. i'm here." always so happy to see me.

and i am always here, evan, with arms outstretched just for you.

my baby boy.

home sweet home

brent is now home from his 2 week motorbike adventure - YIPEE!!! we all missed him so much and are very glad to have him back with us. now we can really settle in to our new home, new city, new job. of course he had a wonderful time cruising the US with his good friends. i don't know how many people told me what a great wife i am, letting my husband go for 2 weeks. well, to all you out there, this great wife is saying never again!!! i'm sure the kids were just as sick and bored of me as i was of them!

p.s. i must say that i find brent incredibly attractive on his sweet ride. good thing or it would have to go! i'm liking the biker look.

so you think YOU can dance?

i've been watching the show "so you think you can dance?" - definitely a fave summer series. there have been some very good dancers. but, really, i don't think they've seen anything yet.

burton knows he can dance.

the darndest things

kids really do say the "darndest things." for fhe tonight, we talked about eternal families. to start off, i asked jensen and burton what a family is. burton said that it is a group of people. i was impressed. then i asked who/what is in a family. this is how it went from there, pretty much word for word:

burton - ummmm, people from africa....

jensen - i know, babies and mommies and daddies and uncles and nephews.....

burton - and normal people....

jensen - and aunts, and grammas, and grampas.

burton - and some people who don't see....without glasses

jensen - or if they wear contacts.

to get back on track, i showed them some pictures of when brent and i got married and explained to them why we get married in the temple. since we were married almost 8 years ago, brent and i look different, and the boys noticed:

jensen - i don't like how dad looks...i mean he looks different.

burton - his hair looks like an elephant tail.

whereupon evan walks around me, lifts up the back of my shirt, and asks where my elephant tail went. then he lifts up his shirt, points to his tummy and proudly says, "here it is!"

did they get the point?

hi-yah!!

so, i took my boys to see kung-fu panda yesterday. maybe that was a mistake.

evan

also known as mr. attitude, "i can do anything you can do better," me too, not afraid of anything. as mentioned before, we caught all these frogs and a salamander. evan couldn't keep his hands off them. i tried telling him to be gentle and put the frog back in the water. i think he understands me - then evan turns around and throws the frog in and says, "okay mommy." poor frog - we let them go later that day.

on a side note....jensen was being a true big brother tonight. after repeated warnings and threats of bed with no snack/dessert if he didn't leave burton alone, i had to follow through. after letting him cry it out for a bit, i went to tuck him in. our conversation went something like this:

jb - why can't i have a snack? i'm really hungry.

me- bad things happen when you get in trouble. you do bad things, you get in trouble.

jb - how come you never get in trouble when you do bad things?

me - silence.......completely stonewalled. all i could think of was, good question!

kids - i love them!

New photos

i posted our most recent family pics on my facebook page. click here to see them. we have had a lot of fun this spring catching frogs and even salamanders at my mom and dad's farm. also, brent's dental school graduation pics are posted in this album. still can't believe it....DR. Brent Davis - my husband is a dentist. i am the wife of a dentist! how proud i am of brent and his accomplishments. i am also so grateful for all the sacrifices and HARD work and TIME he has put into his education. YOU MADE IT BRENT!!! thank you. thank you. thank you.

SO, I am finally sitting down to write my first blog entry. Never thought I would be much of a blogger but as we have left so many friends and family behind as life has progressed, I see the value in keeping in touch. That being said, this will be a short entry! Brent graduated (I will post pics later) and we have made the move from Saskatoon, SK to Cranbrook BC. We are in OUR first home and we love it!!! Brent left me for a 2 week "guys" trip - he is currently in California somewhere, motorbiking with his good friends and having a great time. The boys and I have been in Cranbrook since Monday and are glad to be settling in to our new home. I AM TIRED!!!! I hate moving and we have been SO busy - kind of wish Brent were around to lend an extra set of hands before he starts work in July. Jensen and Burton have been so helpful....and Evan just does what he can:) Hence, the short entry. I love my boys! My hands are full and I am off to make supper.

TTFN