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!