Jeff, Jane, and Ryan go skiing!

Jeff took the kids skiing today up at Sundance. This was Ryan's first time. Jeff just took him up the tow rope a few times. Jane went once or twice last year, but this was her first time going down a real ski run. Don't worry, she didn't fall off the lift! They had a ton of fun and want to go back now!

Little Gym

Ryan has been going to Little Gym this past semester and had his last class last week. He likes using the gym equipment, but his favorite part was always when it was time for balls. Then he would spend the rest of the time playing basketball . . . and making me guard him. I'll be honest, by the end of the semester I was ready for a break! Maybe that's just the 8 month pregnant part of me talking, but we won't be doing it next semester. Maybe in the summer . . .

Pictures with Santa

We took the kids to see Santa. Now I know you might think that we do this to torture our kids, but one of these years they will not be scared . . . maybe. Jane started crying about an hour before we left to go to the mall and didn't stop till after the picture was taken. After it was all done, Ryan gave Santa a high five and Jane said she loves Santa and will be brave next year when she's 5 (that's what we heard last year). Oh, and Jeff didn't get the memo about us trying to stay out of the picture this year. Merry Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Jane dressed like an Indian today for preschool. She had her Thanksgiving Feast and loved it (who wouldn't?)! She liked the corn and rolls the best. It is so fun to see her grow up and enjoy school. She is really looking forward to kindergarten. Ryan can't wait to go to preschool! He tells me all the time that he is 3, so he can go to preschool now.

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving! Being pregnant during the holidays has helped it to go by quickly for me. I have 8 weeks to go! So basically that's just getting ready for Christmas, Christmas, and putting Christmas away, and then baby will be here! We are all excited, but Jane is the most excited! She is just planning and planning all the ways she will help the baby. She is still a little mad that the baby will not be in her room, but once she hears all the crying, she'll probably get over that one.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Big Boy

We have a big boy now! Ryan is potty trained (pretty much I mean). He even wears clothes now with his underwear and basketball shoes. I am very proud of him and excited to start leaving the house for more than an hour at a time!

Hilarious

I look hilarious in this picture! I don't know if it's my lack of torso or my gimpy arm, but I just wanted others to get a good chuckle too! Oh and Jeff thinks I resemble a T Rex . . . and I agree!

Pictures

I got the kids pictures taken a couple days ago. I wanted to get some "school pictures" but of course I had to wait because they needed to get over their snot noses! I was going to take them about a month ago, but Ryan kept getting bruises on his face! So finally I got them done and I love them. The photographer did a good job even with Ryan running away after every picture. At the end when he asked if there was anything else I wanted him to take, Jane whispered "I want more pictures of me!" She loved it!

It's a . . .

BOY!!!!!

I'm seriously surprised! I guess I really thought it was a girl, go figure! Jeff and I are very excited. It will be nice for Ryan to have a little basketball buddy. Jane is also excited because she saw some baby clothes in Ryan's closet and thinks they will look so cute on a baby boy! I thought she might have cried since she was positive it was a girl! Can't wait to see what the little guy is going to look like! Guess we'll wait till January to find out!

Yellowstone

Jeff and I wanted to go on a vacation with just our little family (before we have another kid), so we decided to do a last minute trip to Yellowstone. It was a very fun vacation where we could be on our own schedule and do whatever we wanted. We saw lots of geysers:

We saw buffalo (bison, whatever) a few times that were close enough to touch. That kinda scared Jane and Ryan just kept saying "BIG!"

We stopped at a few of the view points. Jane was mad at us for waking her up to stop at this one, but it was a beautiful waterfall.

We stayed at Olf Faithful Inn. It was old and kinda ghetto, but a fun atmosphere of being so close to Old Faithful. This is us chilling on a balcony lounge area watching Old Faithful erupt.

We rented a boat for about an hour and toured Yellowstone Lake. They gave us these funny small life jackets. Jane kept saying they were for babies. Ryan remembered how he likes to take naps on a boat.

This is us at Old Faithful, up close to it.

We took the scenic route home and stopped to see the Tetons.

We stopped at Jackson Hole to grab a bite. We were headed for Pizza Hut before this little spot caught our eye! You know any place named Bubba's Bar B Que is going to be good, and it did not dissapoint! That was the best brisket I've had since I left Texas!

Last stop of the weekend was at Bear Lake. We tried to make frequent stops to let the kids run around. They liked this one because Ryan got to throw rocks in the water. Also, 2 of the 4 of us went skinnydipping. I won't say who, just that it was not me or Ryan :) This is Jane and I with Bear Lake in the background.

Birthday Fun

Happy Birthday to my Jane today! She is really 4 now! I can see why she's been confused with all the parties she's had, but today's the real day and she is really 4. We started off the partying with a birthday/24th of July party at my Grandma's house.

This is a new outfit from my mom that she LOVED! It always amazes me when a 4 yr old is excited about clothes.

Jane requested cupcakes for this party. Ryan is always willing to help blow out candles.

Jane had fun playing with my cousin Jenny. She's 11, but the closest in age to Jane, so she is always a good sport about being Jane's "best friend."

Jane's next party was at Little gym on Saturday. She loved it! And I loved how they do everything for you!! They played lots of games and played on the gymnastics equipment.

Ryan had so much fun being part of the party!

How many kids can you fit in a donut?

If you can see Jane's face here, you can see how much fun she was having!

For this party, Jane requested a pink cake that said Jane.

Party #3 was yesterday at Jeff's parents' house. We had fun seeing her cousins and going for a walk to the park.

This is Jane amidst her cousins and Grandpa, while we were singing Happy Birthday. The treat this time was sugar cookies.

Jane, Grandpa, and Emily

Jane took 1,000,000 pictures of Claire, this one was a keeper - cutest smile ever!

Party #what number are we even on? How many parties does this girl get? Oh yea, she's my daughter, so this birthday will probably last a while! Today Jane got to go on a breakfast date with Daddy to McDonald's. Then she opened presents when she came home.

On her new bike!!

She is so excited to be 4 and have a big bike!

This is how Ryan feels about Jane getting a new bike and not him.

And this is how happy Ryan is when Jane shares her new bike!

So you would think that we are all partied out, but later we are going to Chuck E Cheese for lunch and then going swimming at the Scera pool later this evening. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANE! We love you!!!!

#3

I just realized I haven't posted yet that I'm pregnant! Baby #3 is due Jan. 20th. I'm about 13 weeks along right now, so we will find out in about 7 weeks if ti is a boy or girl. Jane is positive it's a girl bc the baby told her "i'm a girl". She might be right bc I haven't thrown up at all with this pregnancy and that's how my pregnancy with jane was, but not with Ryan, so we'll see. I'm happy with either. Jane will be happy with either as long as it's a teeny baby that she can hold, feed, take care of, sleep right next to her, the list goes on and on. She's got it all figured out! Ryan likes to point to my belly and say "baby" and then he says "see it?" Not for a long while little buddy!

3 kids is a little scary bc it means we're outnumbered! It also means we will have to figure out room situations and buy a new car. Can't fit 3 car seats in the jeep! I have no idea what kind we are getting. We need to actually go look, but it feels like there's plenty of time for all that even though I know it will go by fast. Any suggestions of what to start looking at?

So far, I've felt pretty good. I get a little nauseous if I haven't eaten for awhile, so I just make sure my belly is full :) O ther than that I've just been a little tired, but I can still get away with a daily nap with the kids bc jane and Ryan both still nap. Hate me now! It's what I do! Speaking of naps, why am I wasting my naptime blogging?

Lake Powell

Ahhh lake powell! We went at the end of June with jeff's family. We had a lot of fun of course and nobody drowned, so it was success! Lake Powell used to be the most relaxing vacation - read, swim, water ski, eat, 3 naps a day. But the new Lake Powell with kids - not so relaxing. Eating is about the only thing that is the same. But even though it isn't the same relaxing vacation, it was still fun and Jane and Ryan loved it. They had fun playing with their cousins, swimming, tubing, going on wave runners, and drinking soda (that might have been Ryan's favorite part)! Here's us at the end of the trip- haven't really showered for a week so don't judge.

Ryan had a turn on the wave runner with Jeff

Jane loved collecting sea shells

Ryan loved throwing rocks into the water

This is cousin Lucy, loving the lizard Jeff found

Lucy and Ryan would hug one minute and then hit the next

Jane learned to swim in the water with her life jacket on. She thought she was pretty big.

Jane and cousins Ben annd Jake eating ice cream at Dangling Rope

Jeff and Jane at Rainbow Bridge

Jane and jeff on the wave runner