Trey is 3!

I know I'm kinda behind on blogging, but I'm working on catching up!
Trey had his 3rd birthday this last weekend! It was really fun! It was the first birthday that he KNEW it was his birthday. He kept saying he wanted, backhoe, bike and sunglasses.
When he said he wanted a backhoe, he meant on his cake, because I was showing him cakes on pinterest and he really liked that one.
He got a big wheel bike and sunglasses of course. It was so fun!
We had a little photo shoot just me and him. It was fun! I will upload pictures from the party soon!

Here are a few things about Trey:
His favorite drink: Chocolate Milk
His favorite food: spaghetti, and yogurt (not at the same time! haha)
His favorite toy: anything tractors
He loves to sleep with mom and dad, loves to go out to the flat, loves to play with cousin Jason.

Super Catch Up!!!

Wowza! I haven't blogged in FOREVER!!! So now a little catch up.
Most important things first:
A lot of you probably know (or don't know) that my brother Austen accidentally got shot this past week. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and well wishes. He's doing fine and is home now, trying to think how he's going to run for exec council with his walker :) haha
Here's the story:
We were all out at my family's ranch. Some of us were at the ranch house, some were out riding, and Austen, Larson and my bro-in-law Josh were out hunting jackrabbits. From what I heard from Austen, he had his .22 pistol cocked and was just in the process of holstering it when a rabbit startled him and he accidentally shot himself. Josh stayed really cool while Larson went and got the vehicle. Josh called my mom to have my Dad and Presten head out with the truck and then called 911.
They started toward the ranch house in the rhino and then met up with the truck. They zoomed out to where the met the ambulance. The paramedics looked him over, found an exit wound and they rushed him to the hospital. He got into surgery where they put a scope in to see what was damaged. They soon found out that the bullet went through his liver with little damage, but completely destroyed one kidney so they had to remove it. They had to cut his abdomen and now he's got staples straight down his stomach.
He's home now and doing good. He's walking with the help of a walker but his core muscles are really sore. It hurts to laugh, it hurts to cough, but we know he will recover. He gets his staples out Monday.
We can see God's hand blessing us throughout this trial. -He was with someone. -They had cell service. -It was only a .22 -We only need 1 kidney to live. -It missed his spinal cord by 3 inches. -etc. etc.
We are so thankful for EVERYONE that has reached out and given us well wishes, and offered to help. Thank you so much!

Onto more happier things:
Trey is talking A TON! He is starting to make lots more sense. We're still working a few consonants because right now everything starts with the 'd' sound. "dandma" (grandma), "dammy" (sammy our dog), etc. Anyway it's funny, but so cute.
Travis is just weeks away from walking! So close! He is just my little cuddle bug. And just wants mama to hold him all the time! And (cue Angels singing) he's finally only waking up maybe 2 times a night! Now if I just get to bed earlier then I might feel rested when I wake up!
My brother Presten is engaged to the cutest girl! And they are getting married in June!
My sister Naomi got her mission call to Nicaragua! She's leaving June 25th! :)

Most of you know that Ben and I have an offer on a house. It's a short sale and we've been waiting since OCTOBER to hear about 3rd party approval. We're still waiting but have put a plan in place that we feel is awesome whether we get the house or not. So.....YAY!!!


SO....... I'll just leave you with some family pictures we took in WAY back in October. I don't know what was wrong with me for not sharing earlier!

fisrt visit with Santa

Up until this year, I really didn't care if Trey saw Santa or not. I knew that when he was 4 months old (his first Christmas) that he wouldn't have ANY idea what's going on so I didn't trouble myself in getting him to see Santa. His second Christmas he was 16 months old. And I still didn't think that he understood what Santa really was and I didn't want to be scared of Santa in the future just because I made him sit with a weird guy with a crazy white beard.
So this year I sat down with him and told him about Santa. I showed him pictures, and explained that if he told Santa what he wanted for Christmas, and then he was a really good boy, Santa would get him that for Christmas. This year, it's Tractors. And he is the one that says that.
So I now needed to find a Santa to take him to. Just so happened that the Library was having a Santa this last week so we went. I really enjoyed it. They sang songs, decorated cookies, colored, and a bunch of stuff while waiting to take a turn with Santa.
Trey did okay with Santa. He didn't cry but at the same time, he didn't look entirely comfortable. I know after Christmas and he sees his presents, he might be a little more keen on the idea next year. :)

My very blessed life!

I am SOOO blessed! I know this is the season of Thanksgiving but that is not the reason I'm writing this post.
I just look at my life and I'm SO HAPPY! I have an AMAZING husband who works SO hard so that I can stay home with my kids! And still comes home to spend time and play with his boys. I'm so thankful that he is a good daddy. Recently, I've seen Trey do some things to his little doll that he's seen Ben do with Travis and it makes me so happy! Because they have such an amazing daddy they are going to be good daddies too!
My kids are seriously the cutest! Trey is just getting more and more personality by the second! He just makes Ben and I laugh all the time! He talks and is such a good helper for his little brother! Nobody can make Travis laugh like Trey can! Trey will make Travis have laughing fits where most everyone else can only get a giggle. They are going to be such good friends!
Travis is just soooo cute I could eat him! He is 5 months. He is a happy baby as long as he's fed, well rested, and entertained. haha He can roll over both ways and is super super close to crawling! He thinks he's such a big boy and tries to sit up by himself and then starts slowly tilting and falling over. He has been chewing up a storm and anything he can get his hands on because he's trying to break in some teeth. But we're done with kids for a little while (hopefully no surprises) and we're excited to grow closer with these two little boys! And maybe......buy a house before the year is over! :)
One other thing that I'm thankful for is wishes and dreams and goals. The other day I was watching one of my photography dvds and saw something that I just want someday! It made me hopeful. And that made me happy. I know Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and even if I never achieve this dream/goal, it still brings a smile to my face.
And with that I will leave you with some SUPER cute pictures of my boys!

Catch up!

Wow, I'm a slacker.
This past month seems to have gone by so fast!
Trey has slept in his big boy bed every night since his birthday. Well actually, let me rephrase that: He started sleeping in his big boy bed every night but ends up in our bed. It doesn't really bother us right now, and I really don't want to deal with it right now. As soon as Ben's work slows down we're going to work on getting him to stay in there all night. But for right now we're just both too tired to fight it. I kind of (sometimes) like it because we all end up in bed together in the morning. I even co-sleep with the baby and it bring a little smile to my face sometimes when I wake up and we're all cozy in bed together.
Travis is just chunkin up and I love it! He is so smiley all the time and seriously I love him. He is a good baby.
Ben was gone this past week to SLC and we really missed him. It's nice living here with my mom so I have someone to tag for a sec.
I made some backdrops for my brother's homecoming pictures (They were picking up their dates after the priesthood session so it was dark outside so we just did it inside) and we had some fun with them while they were up :)


Grandma and her grandsons

Aunt Naomi and Travis

Mom, Trey and Larson! It was fun and I think we just might break these out again just for fun! :)

I'll post Travis's 4 month photos after I take them! haha :)

Trey's Birthday

Wow I can't believe my little guy is 2! It seriously blows my mind!
We had a small birthday party for him and he loved the toy cars we got him. He's been playing with them since he got them!
At 2 years:
-He's pretty good at speaking but definitely not sentences yet! You have to listen carefully to pick out actual words.
-Weighs about 30lbs and is almost 3 ft.
-loves to go with daddy in the truck
-won't let me take very many picture for his 2nd bday
this is all I've got (and some were taken at the cabin)


the cake I made. I'm pretty proud :)

Trav- 3 months

Wow, this kid is just so cute I could eat him up!
At 3 months:
-weighs about 13 lbs.
-smiles a lot
-loves to be swaddled
-found his fist/thumb (always sucking on that)
-loves to bring blanket/burp rag/my shirt up to his face
-is getting used to big brother being overly "loving"

Picture overload!

Wow, sometimes I am really a slacker.
 well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks it seems.
 Travis is 2 months old! I can't believe it! He is getting pretty big. It's so funny because people will see him and say "oh! He's so tiny!" but to me he seems big! but that's just because I gave birth to him and have seen him change from a tiny tiny baby to what he is now. He has his 2 month check up next week. :)
 Here are a few pictures of him at 1 month:

Here are some of him at 2 months!

We also blessed Travis 3 weeks ago. Here are a few pictures.

And if you are friends with me on facebook you probably found out that Ben and I got new phones! We love them! It's been so fun so I have actually taken a lot of pictures on there. Most of them are just everyday pictures but maybe sometime I'll get them up. 


I realized that I didn't put up Travis's pictures of when he met Trey so here are some of those.

Catch up!

Wow! I haven't posted in quite a while! It's been quite difficult to do with 2 little boys taking turns wanting my attention.
Trey usually does really well with Travis and the fact that I hold Travis quite a bit. I usually try to make time for Trey when the little babe is sleeping. But sometimes Trey is just really not happy with the fact that I have to hold/feed/change his little brother because he wants my attention or wants me to do something for him. I usually explain to him that I have to do something for brother and then I'll get him whatever he is needing. I say, "Can  you wait?" and he usually says "Da." (That's russian for "yes" don't ya know haha)
Travis is doing super great. When we went in for his 2 week appointment he was 1 ounce away from his birth weight. 2 weeks after that, I was having him weighed at the Health Department and he was 9 lbs 5 ounces. Breastfeeding is going a lot smoother than with Trey. Recently though, Travis has been such a stinker when it comes to sleeping. I'll hold him and get him to sleep, and then when I lay him down he wakes up! And then sometimes he'll be asleep in the little bassinet we have for him, and then his ever helpful older brother will wake him up. ugh. But there are worse things in life.
We had a reunion/party with Ben's siblings to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his parents. It was quite a gathering! The only one missing was Ben's little brother Jared who is on a mission. 50 years is a long time! Ben and I have almost been married 4 years. It doesn't seem that long, but at the same time, it seems like we've been married quite a while.
Speaking of my wonderful spouse, he brought me flowers and chocolate the other day. Just because. And I cried. haha! I'm such a softie! And he was particularly awesome because he brought me 3 king sized of my favorite chocolate. He said, "one from each of your boys". Gosh, I am so blessed to have him!
We're living with my grandma right now, and have been for just over 2 months. We're keeping our eyes open for a house, but we're pretty paticular and if we don't find what we want, we're just going to keep saving our butts off for a big down payment. But this the first time since we were newlyweds that we haven't had our own house. I REALLY miss having a place of our own. I love my grandma and she has been so generous and really great about us staying here, but there is just something about having my own house that I desperatly miss! I'm kinda hoping we find a house soon, but it's not looking so great because we're looking for something pretty specific and just can't find it, or we find it too late! :(
But all things are in the hands of the Lord and I know that we will be guided to where we need to be if we stay faithful and follow his ways!
That's all for this quick update and I'll try to get back with some pictures soon!

Baby Boy is Here! (And here is his long birth story)

Ah! It is so great to finally have this baby boy here! Although there are a lot of pains associated with postpartum, I know that they won't last too long and that I'll be back to normal soon.
Now for the story of this little guy's birth:
Wednesday June 5th 5am:
The labor and delivery nurse calls me and asks if I can be there around 6 to be induced. I had previously decided that waiting for this little guy to come on his own just might drive me crazy, so I went ahead and scheduled this induction. I hadn't slept well because I was nervous and my brain was going a million miles an hour. As we were driving over Ben was cracking jokes right and left, and being just annoying. As we pulled into the parking lot, I told him that I needed him to be a little more serious and stop joking around. (I can't remember but I think he answered me with some funny comment, and then said, "Okay, I'll be serious." or something like that.)
The nurse took us to a labor and delivery room and gave me a gown to change into. When I came out she was getting my IV ready and I told here that I want to try and do this naturally. You should have seen the look on her face. She looked at me like I was crazy. (Maybe I was) She said, "I'm glad you told me. We'll take you over to the other room with the tub." So we went into the other room and it had this huge tub! Yay! They hooked me up to monitors, checked my cervix and told me I was at a 4. And before I even had the IV in they said that I'd had a contraction. I hadn't even felt it. My mom then arrived and she was SO excited that I would be able to labor in the tub.
They got everything going in the IV around 6:30ish (maybe even after that). It wasn't long until I started feeling things pretty strong. I had to go sit on the toilet for awhile and then after that I told them I was done being in the bed. So they got me some wireless monitors and I was able to labor anyway I wanted. I knelt on the floor and leaned on the couch for a short while and then asked them to start filling up the tub. Now here is where it gets going!
According to my camera, I had just gotten into the tub at 8:30 when my mom took this picture.

 (still smiling)

Things really started moving and really started hurting too. My mom was such a great coach and I'm SO GLAD she was there! Because my husband just couldn't handle it. (Ya know how they say that some people have a disorder where they laugh when they really want to cry? I think Ben has that.) I could hear Ben laughing/smiling. I told him that if he couldn't be serious then he had to get out. And after that I didn't say anything else because I was too focused. Later my mom told me that she just about slapped him with the rag she was using to cool me down with because he was laughing as I was going through contractions. (Men will never understand I guess)
But anyway, they started getting really bad and I told my mom I wanted the epidural. The nurse tried to check me while I was in the tub and said I was at least an 8, but she couldn't quite feel the other side of the cervix. I told her to go call the epidural guy so that by the time I was out of the tub, I could get some relief. (I had to wait for some of the water to drain so they could get the door off. Stupid.) I then started feeling the urge to push and then it was all just a whirlwind!
They tried to coach me with my breathing so I could get to the bed. (I was yelling like a crazy woman.) I got to the bed and basically with 3 pushes he was out. Born at 9:26am.

 The umbilical cord was too short to put him directly skin-to-skin so we waited a very short time, dad cut it, and I got to hold me little guy.

Still nameless when this picture was taken, but still so beautiful! 8lbs even and 20in long.

Daddy and his son

Aunt Naomi was trying to make it for delivery but just missed it by 5ish minutes. (so did my doctor)

My wonderful mother and her 2nd grandchild. I seriously couldn't have gone all natural without her!

 
I will post more about this later. My wee one is calling me. But up next is meeting his brother, and deciding on a name.