The Grants

Baby Alex is 9 months old!

2012-01-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe my baby is already this old. Where has the time gone? He is a healthy boy weighing in at 18.2 pounds and he is tall at 27 3/4 inches. He is in the 15th percentile for weight and the 30th for height. He loves to sit and play with toys and loves to be held. He is my snuggle bug. He still is nowhere near crawling or pulling himself to stand. But I haven't minded not having to chase him and Owen around the house so I am really in no hurry for him to be mobile. He loves to eat! He is eating solids 3 times a day and just scarfs it down! He also likes Fruit Puffs and is trying to figure out how to pick it up and put it in his mouth. He can't get those fists open. :) And my little guy has 2 new sharp teeth in his mouth.

And I know they are sharp because I have been bitten by them a few times! Youch! But the sad news is that I think he is finished nursing. He used to eat on both sides at all feedings. But for the past week he has only been eating on one side and either biting me on the other side or completely turning away. And this morning, he wouldn't have anything to do with it. I have been crying all morning. He is my last baby and I am so sad for him to be done. I am going to try again after his nap but it looks as if I will be pumping for the next 3 months and he will have a bottle. I really don't want to do formula. It really makes me sad.

I love this baby so much and I am so grateful to be his mommy. My heart just bursts with love at the thought of him. Thanks Alex for coming to our family and for being my little snuggle bug. I love you!

Owen is so BIG!

2012-01-28T09:38:00.001-08:00

My sweet little Owen is not so little anymore. For the past couple of weeks he has been doing this:

Yep! He uses the toilet! He kept wanting to sit on the big potty but would never do anything but we got tired of holding him on it. So we pulled down the little one and he got so excited. He knew it was just for him. He sat on it for 30 minutes that first day. The next day he woke up and his diaper was dry so I told Dave to put him on the potty and within a few minutes he peed! He was so excited! He threw his little fists into the air, jumped up and down, and yelled, "yay, O-O" (Which is what he calls himself.) It was adorable. That day we went and bought him some Cars 2 undies and some M&M's. And he has been using the potty since. :) He has had accidents and he still doesn't like to poop in the potty even though he did do it once. But it's amazing to me! I hadn't planned on even attempting potty training until he was 3 but I guess he was ready. What is really funny was that I was at the store 2 days before buying 2 boxes of diapers and I thought to myself, "It'll be so nice when I only have to buy one box." So, there you go. The power of thought and a very independent little boy. Good Job Owen!

New Year's Theme

2012-01-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

I don't like new year's resolutions. They fizzle out too quickly. So, we decided to have a theme this year instead. It is "DO BETTER". As a family we are going to try to do better in our lives. This is something I know that we can achieve and we remind each other of it every day. Instead of saying, "don't be mean" we say "do better" and the kids know exactly what it means. We hung it up on our wall in our kitchen too so we are reminded every day. This is going to be a great year!

Happy 2012

Birthday Fun

2012-01-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

I had a great celebration for my birthday in December. It was Disneyland! So, on my actual day, we ordered in some dinner, drove through the Festival of Lights, and ate some cake and ice cream. It was a nice relaxing day. The day after Christmas we celebrated with my niece who I share a birthday with. We had good food, cupcakes and ice cream, and presents! Who could ask for more fun than that. Thanks everyone for an awesome birthday!

Owen blew out my candles before the song was even over. He made me laugh as you can see.

My brother in law asked me what was the best thing about my 33rd year of life. Here are my top 6:
1. Alex- He has been such a fun blessing in our lives this year. Unexpected blessings I think are the best ones.
2. Dave and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. I love him so much more than I ever thought I could. And aside from the 5 kids, we still feel like newlyweds.
3. The triplets and Owen- They just make my life richer. They make me laugh, they make me cry, sometimes yell, but they are the greatest kids ever.
4. Disneyland trip - I truly love this place! It is so much fun! I want to take my kids all the time. Maybe because I never went as a kid, I don't know, but I love it.
5. Old Faithful- After all these years reading about this geyser, learning about it in school, and even hearing jokes about it, I finally got to see it for myself.
6. Dave's sabbatical! I loved having him home for a month! It was so great to have him around all the time!

Connor Business

2012-01-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

Our Connor man finally lost his first tooth on December 26th! We are so proud of him! Both of the girls lost their first tooth in Kindergarten so I was nervous that Connor was missing permanent teeth like me. His dentist reassured us that his big teeth were there they were just taking their time. And so they did. Yay Connor. He is so pleased with himself for getting a visit from the tooth fairy.

He also got his tonsils and adenoids removed on December 29th. He has been a trooper and a really good patient. No problems, no complaining. He is just really quiet. Which is very different from his usual loudness. He also gets to miss school all week long. We have been playing Sorry lots with him and he has been watching lots of movies and tv. Now he gets to do homework too. :)

For our New Year's Eve we stayed home due to Con's surgery but we (not him) had lots of good food and again we played Sorry all night long. Everyone fell asleep for a while except Dave. But we all got up and watched our neighbor's spectacular fireworks. It should be a good new year for us all. Especially Connor since he will lose more teeth and sleep better!

Owen

2012-01-04T09:44:00.000-08:00

Owen is so funny these days with his talking. He has a such a cute way of talking. He doubles up the first syllable of long words. He is O-O instead of Owen. Alex is Al- Al Connor is Co-Co Brooke is Boo-Boo hammer is ham-ham. It is so funny. One of our favorite words he says now is "bubutt" which is Owen for button! Oh it cracks us up. Another funny one is "Nana" for monster. He is even starting to put words together for sentences. His latest is "Dadda nose boobers out." Dad helped him blow his nose. He also pauses in between each word. When he wants us to get up and help him or get him something, he'll say, "Up you." Man he is funny. And I just adore his blond head of curls. So sweet. We love him so much even though he beats up on the kids quite frequently. Our little Noni is quite a character.

He also loves his little brother. Even though he pushes him over and steals his binky, he always wants to kiss him, hug him, and share his couch with him. Which is a big deal.

Christmas

2012-01-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

We kicked off the Christmas weeks with a concert provided by the 2nd graders at Riverview. The triplets were so cute singing their songs. (I have all the songs memorized by the way. They have been singing them for the past month.)

Then we were privileged to watch the girls and the Hupp girls dance at their Christmas recital. They danced to songs from Tangled which we love here in our house. It was really fun.

For Christmas Eve we had the Souths over to join us in our fun! Our dinner was delicious with lots of yummy snack foods which combined together was just delicious. So good in fact we had the same foods for New Year's Eve! Anyway, after we ate, we acted out the Nativity. This is the kids favorite thing to do on Christmas Eve. We acted out the story 3 times with each person getting to be a different character each time. It was great and truly reminds us of the reason we celebrate Christmas. Jesus is the hope and light in our lives and He is the reason we have Christmas. After the Nativity we sat around the tree and sang Christmas carols. Then the kids got to open up a special gift. Disney jammys to remind us of our trip to Dland for Christmas. Dave is so sweet. He put on Mickey jammys just for me. :) Then we put out fudge and milk for Santa, carrots for his reindeer, and stockings for the kiddos. We had a family prayer and then off to bed. Aspen couldn't wait all day to go to bed. Unfortunately the kids only slept for about 3 hours and then were up for about 4! They finally fell back asleep when it was time to wake up! Silly kids.

(Yes - Owen is a wise man in a tutu. with a magic wand. Aspen is an angel. Brooke and Connor are also wisemen and sweet Alex is baby Jesus.)

We had to wake the kids up Christmas morning so we could open presents, eat breakfast, and get ready for Church at 11. They were so excited and could hardly wait a minute to get down the stairs to open presents. After all the gifts were opened, we had some yummy breakfast of sticky buns, sausages, and orange juice. Then we got ready for church and enjoyed a wonderful meeting of music and messages about our Savior. It really was wonderful to go to church on Christmas day. After church, the kids played with their toys while Dave and I got ready to go up to Centerville. At my parents house, we opened more presents, ate more yummy food, and talked to my little brother who is on his mission in El Salvador. It was so great to hear his voice. That was probably one of my favorite things of the day. Then we went to see the Grants and sleep over there.

Christmas Surprise

2011-12-21T07:58:00.000-08:00

On December 5, Christmas came early to our house. We went downstairs to read scriptures and under the tree there were presents for the kids! We let them open them and inside they each found a Color Wonder book, a bag of treats, and a Disney gift card! We took them to Disneyland for Christmas! (It was also for my birthday.) We left on Monday and we were going to go to the park on Tues, Wed,and Thurs, but Monday night poor Connor woke up puking. Not a fun way to start vacation. While one of us took care of him, the other one took the other kids to Downtown Disney and swimming. Our good friends Brian and Bekah South joined us so B helped give Connor a blessing and by Wednesday morning he was as good as new! So we went to Disneyland Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! Holy cow though! Friday was so busy! I have honestly never seen so many people in all of my life. But we got to do all the rides, see the shows, and the characters we wanted to see in our time there. So we spent most of Friday afternoon shopping. And the girls got to do the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique! Which was a little expensive but so worth it! They really make your girls feel like princesses. It was really a priceless experience as a mom to watch your daughters glow like that and see themselves as a Princess. We got to ride Pirates and do the Tiki Room which Owen loved! He has been watching those on Youtube so much so it was fun to see him enjoy it for real! The only disappointing thing was that Connor was like a millimeter too short to ride Indiana Jones. Poor boy was heartbroken and they should have just let him ride. Oh well, we'll just have to go again! :) It was awesome and I loved being there at Christmas. Even more magical than usual!

Surprise!

Downtown Disney

Bibbity Bobbity Boutique

Pirates!

Dumbo

Buddies

Small World Holiday

Tiki Room

Blue Bayou - My birthday dinner

Parade (The girls got to keep their makeup kit and Aspen's makeup got darker and darker as the day went on.)

The Main Street Tree

Sleeping Princesses

Fun Times

Main Street Lights With Castle and Tree

Rapunzel and Flynn

"The Smolder"

And finally, my favorite picture from this trip:

Christmas Time

2011-12-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

After 5 years of living here in Spanish Fork, we finally made it to the Light Parade! We had so much fun! Drinking hot chocolate and snuggling in blankets. It was a great time. Thanks for joining us Hupps! It was a great way to kick off the season!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we put up the tree. The kids have so much fun putting it together and decorating. They take after their mom. The tree was always my favorite part as a kid too. I was my Dad's little helper setting up the tree and putting lights on. Oh, I miss those days. But I love watching my kids enjoy it so much. It makes this season so magical!

Funny Stuff

2011-12-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

For the triplets birthday this year, Brooke got some window markers. The kids have had so much fun drawing pictures all over every window in the house. (It is also a pain to clean up!) One day I was getting laundry out of the girls' room and I found this on the window:

If you can't see what it says, it says, "Please let me out Mom. Please!" Haha!!!!!!
I almost died laughing when I read it. The girls told me that Aspen wrote it when she was up in her room for a time out! Cracks me up! I promise she wasn't in there more than 10 minutes! :)

Jumping Jacks

2011-12-20T13:36:00.000-08:00

As a reward to our kids for finishing 1st Nephi, we took them to Jumping Jacks to play! They had a great time! Dave and I even took turns playing with them. They are so excited to read the scriptures to get their rewards. I hope this will get them in the habit of reading scriptures everyday and then learning to love reading the scriptures for the pure joy it gives.

As a side note, I didn't think Jumping Jacks was worth the money. There is one really cool slide and one obstacle course and the rest are basically the same thing- small slides. Oh well, the kids had fun!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-20T13:28:00.001-08:00

We had a really yummy Thanksgiving with the Grants this year! Watching the parade, searching through ads, making crafts with the kids, cooking food, eating food, playing games, and all the other wonderful things we do on Thanksgiving Day! It is so nice to have a day to be thankful all day! I know we should do this every day, but we don't. So it is nice to be mindful of our blessings all day on Thanksgiving.

(Don't you love the kids in their turkey hats?)

Dave and I also went to the store at midnight looking for one particular thing. It was crazy and I don't think we will ever do that again! Especially since we ended up getting what we wanted online! But it was nice to spend some time alone with hubby. We don't get to do that too often.

Snow

2011-12-20T13:24:00.000-08:00

This is the most snow we have had this year and it's only a few inches! We aren't even going to have a white Christmas. :( But the kids had a good time in it!

My Blessings

2011-11-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here are five of my greatest blessings:

Aren't they so stinking cute? They keep me extremely busy and drive me crazy sometimes but I wouldn't trade them for anything!

Thankful

2011-11-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

Our family has been so blessed this year. Our biggest blessing being baby Alex. For FHE we made our list of things that we are thankful for and hung it up in our kitchen for us to see all the time. We also challenged our kids to thank Heavenly Father in their prayers for at least 3 things from that list. It has been a good way to remind the kids that everything we have comes from Him.

(Do you see the number 2? That is Owen's contribution. I asked him for one and he would say "one". So I'd say, "What are you thankful for?" And he would say "two". So we are thankful for the number 2. Hehe.)

Excited and Not Excited!

2011-11-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

I am really excited for Christmas this year! We have a new child in our family! It's always fun to add one more stocking to the mix. I am listening to music and watching movies, but I am not excited to put up my decorations this year. Usually I want to put up the tree as soon as Halloween is over. I think it is because I am terrified of what Owen will do to it this year. I can see him pulling the tree right over on top of him. I guess we'll see.

The kids are way excited. They couldn't wait until next week to make their Christmas chains.

Faucet Troubles

2011-11-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

As those of you who live in Fieldstone know, EVERYTHING is an upgrade in our homes. So we opted out of many things we would have liked for the most important things like AC and gutters. :) Anyway, we had a cheapo, crappy kitchen sink faucet that just served its purpose. Nothing pretty about it. Well, it was leaking from every spot possible! So, we replaced it with a nice Kohler. No leaking, serves its purpose, and it is pretty! Dave worked at it for a couple days (5 kids make it difficult to get anything finished in a timely manner.)

and here is the finished beauty:

Fall Craft

2011-11-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

So a couple Saturdays ago it was supposed to snow. It didn't. At least here in Spanish Fork. But I had a fun craft planned for us anyway so we did it! We painted pinecones, tied ribbons on them, and hung them together. I think it turned out pretty good. And anytime the kids can paint, it's a hit of a craft. Thanks for your help kids.

Halloween 2011 - Pirates - ARRRR!

2011-11-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

This year for Halloween we decided to all be Pirates because Owen loves them so much! He really is our pirate boy. He watches Pirates of the Caribbean 1 at least once a week. He also loves Jake and the Never Land Pirates. (He can even tell you the Pirate Password!) So we all jumped on the Pirate bandwagon! We had lots of fun at Spooky Movie Night, Adobe's Halloween party (where Owen lost his hat :( Seriously my heart was broken.), the Burrahm family party, the Grant family party, the school parties, and finally Trick or Treating! We had a great time! Here is the proof!

Dress Up Days

2011-11-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

I always loved these days when I was in school. It was like Halloween for a week! My favorite day was pajama day so I could be comfy all day. My kids are the same way. They would wear pj's all day every day if they could. Here is crazy hair day and Mis matched day.

My new FAVORITE TV show!

2011-11-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this show yet? It is awesome! It is unlike anything else on tv! It combines plot lines for adults and the fairy tales from when we were kids! It's great. I just can't wait until the next episode. I highly recommend it.

Alex is 6 months old!

2011-10-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my last baby is already 6 months old! Time just goes way too fast especially when you are trying to make every second count! So, he weighs 16lbs. 3oz. and is in the 30th percentile for weight. He is 25 1/4 inches tall and in the 5th percentile for height. His head circumference is in the 20th percentile. He is growing and learning all the time. He is finally rolling over and is starting to sit up. He laughs so cute and loves to laugh and giggle at his big brothers and sisters. It is so darling. He loves to be held and snuggled so he does cry more than necessary. :) (That was a nice way of saying he can be quite fussy.) But I don't mind most of the time because I love snuggling him! And he's my last! I have to snuggle as much as I can! We call him our little owl because when he talks he says, "whoooo, whoooo" in a low voice. It is so cute. Here's a picture of him doing it.

We have also tried giving him rice cereal:

He doesn't like it. :)

We love this little baby. He is the BEST surprise we have ever and will ever have!

Picture Overload

2011-10-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from this year! Finally! There's only 2 months left in 2011!

Happy New Year 2011!

Funny Owen

Valentine's Day 2011

Sleepover on the NEW FURNITURE

Happy 7th Birthday Triplets

Bowling with the Hupps

Easter 2011

Alex John Grant

Alex with his Grandpa Grant. The is who he was named after.

Full Car!

Girlies Dance Recital

Happy Birthday Dave! 32!

July 4th

Owen burned his finger on some hot tar. Poor thing cried for hours. We finally got him feeling better with Tylenol with codeine and the water running over his finger.

Alex's Baby Blessing - July 3rd

Our Little Boys: Owen and Alex

Hyrum Lake

My Little Brother David's Mission Farewell and Setting Apart

Dave's Backpacking Trip

Hogle Zoo

Yellowstone - GFACT - Grant Family Annual Camping Trip

First Day of 2nd Grade for the Triplets! (We almost missed it because I thought school started on Wednesday and not Monday. It's a good thing we go to church and I found out the day before!)

Owen is 2!

Fall Campout

My Crazy Life

2011-09-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

I know I need to post pictures and once I figure out how to download them from my new camera I promise to post some. I have tons of pictures to post! From my new sweet baby, to summer fun, to back to school, to Owen's 2 year birthday party! But, my life is crazy!!!! I am so relieved that I am not doing preschool this year. There is absolutely no way I could get it done. It is 5:30 pm right now and I am still in my pj's! Between these 2 little boys I haven't even had a chance to get dressed! I got the dishes done and the carpool done and that is it! Then, it's on to homework with the triplets! Can I just say how much I hate doing homework with them? There is so much to do and a couple of my kids can't focus for more than 5 minutes. So even with the homework spread out over 4 days, it takes about 2 hours every day! And dinner? It's a good thing we are having leftovers because that has not been thought about. OH- and don't even get me started on trying to get the kids to pick up their rooms! It's like I am asking them to cut off their hands! It is days like this, that I am so glad Alex is my last child! I seriously couldn't handle another one!

Ok- that is my rant. It feels so good to get it out! I just can't wait for zumba tonight to get a break and work out my frustrations! I adore my kids and love my family tons and most days are great. It has just been a long one! And the baby is crying once again. Here I go.......

Alex John Grant

2011-05-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

Our little boy is here! He was born on April 25th at 7:43 am. He weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches long. He had to go to the NICU after he was born and was put on a ventilator. He wasn't breathing so good on his own. His lungs weren't fully inflated. But he came off that night, I was able to start nursing him the next day, and Wednesday morning he was released to the regular nursery. What a sweet baby he is. I think he looks alot like Aspen. He has the same nose and mouth as her. I can't tell whose eyes he has, but they look more Burrahm to me. We are all enjoying him! Even Owen. He loves him and gives him kisses all the time. They are going to be great little buddies and I am so excited to see their relationship develop. And the triplets really love to hold him. As for me, I am trying to soak up every second of my last baby. (I will post pictures later. I am on my husband's laptop because our PC is slow as puck lately!)

BABY IS COMING!

2011-04-24T20:12:00.001-07:00

Baby #5 is coming tomorrow between 7:30 and 8:00 am. I am going in for my c-section. I can't wait to find out what I am having. And if it's a boy, what the heck we will name him. I'll let you all know soon!

December Catch Up

2011-03-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

We celebrated my 32nd birthday, watched the girlies at their dance recital, played in the massive snowfall that cancelled school, and had a great Christmas day. Such a fun month. It went by way too fast though!

November Catch up

2011-03-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of pics from this month. We had the first snow and two Thanksgivivg dinners. Yum! It also got really cold! We put up our tree which was fun to do with a one year old! (Brooke took the pic of me when we were putting up the tree.)

October Catch Up

2011-03-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

I am so behind! I nap now while Owen is asleep instead of doing other things. Growing a baby makes you tired. :) Anyway, here are a few Halloween pictures from Connor's school party (the girls missed theirs due to a tummy bug!), to Dave's work party, to finally trick or treating in the rain!

Disneyland Surprise!

2010-12-14T12:34:00.000-08:00

Yep. We went to Disneyland again this year! We decided to do it because we were sick the last time, there was a great deal going on, and Dave got a raise. And because I can sweet talk Dave into anything. :) We went with the Hupps again which made it even more fun. The fun thing was that the triplets had no idea we were going until we were in the car heading out. And they didn't know the Hupps were going to be there until we saw them at the hotel! Great surprises for them. We spent a whole week there and had a great time.

Owen's 1!

2010-12-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

Owen turned the big number 1 on September 11. We were going to have a big party for him, but I ended up being sick all week and even going to the hospital so we cancelled it. We had a little one though with a few friends. He got to open some presents and eat cake and that is the best part anyway. He was in the 45th percentile for height but less than the third for weight. He only gained about a pound between his 9 month and 12 month appointments. Bu we took him back today for a 15 month check up and he is 20 pounds now. He is finally taking a cup of milk. It was really hard to wean him. And so sad too. My heart broke every time he cried to nurse. He runs now and is even saying some words. He says "momma", "go", "no", "dada" (occasionally), "nana" (banana), and "Wow". He says wow when he sees the Christmas lights! It's adorable. He also pushes us, pulls us, and points to show us what he wants. He copies his big sisters and brother so much. The other day Aspen stomped her foot, and now Owen does it. He seriously does everything they do. He is such a cutie. Oh, and he likes to hit his siblings too. And scratch them. Poor triplets. He's made them cry more than once. In spite of that, we all still love and adore him. He is so fun.

Dressing up Dad!

2010-11-04T15:24:00.003-07:00

Our silly kids pulled out the works dressing up Dave. He was bathing Owen and came out of the bathroom looking like this. He is so patient and such a wonderful Dad.

Triplets first day of 1st grade!

2010-11-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official! My kids are growing up! All day school! They are all in different classes this year and I think it is really good for them. They are making new friends and having fun in separate classes, but they still play together at recesses. It's great. I cried a lot the first day and kept watching the clock, but now, I absolutely love the time to get some stuff done!
Here are my cuties on their first day of school!

Owen's First Haircut

2010-11-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Talk about making a Momma cry! My sweet little boy looked like a girl and he needed a haircut so bad! So, I broke down and did it. And he hated every second of it! He wanted to keep his hair too! But he sure looked cute with short hair. Kind of like a little Connor!

Grant Family Camping

2010-08-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

The first week of August we went camping with the Grant family. I was there this year with Owen, no one got a fish hook in their eye, but we did have lots of rain! We got there on Wednesday, ate lunch, and then it rained all day long! We played games inside the trailer, but we all got a little stir crazy. Especially Owen. He had only started walking a week earlier and he wanted to move! Luckily, there was a break for dinner and Thursday was beautiful! We fished, canoed, had campfires, ate lots of fire roasted treats (smores, twinkies, banana boats, peeps, mallows), sang camp songs, and even performed some skits. The next day was pack up and go day.
We had a great time. Thanks again everyone for the fun!

Camping

2010-08-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

We had a free night on July 5 with no play practice and Dave had his summer break, so we went camping at Payson Lakes. It was good time. Owen slept really good snuggled between me and Dave, but not me. I was awake too often making sure he was warm. It was quite cold! We had hot dogs for dinner, went down to the lake, fished a little, and had smores before bed. The next day we ate a yummy breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and grapes. Then we packed up and headed home. Owen was pretty good. He played in his pack and play and in the tent, but we still had to hold him quite a bit. It was still really fun. His first camping trip!

Dave took the kids fishing the next day and Aspen caught a fish. As you can tell, she didn't like to hold it. Not even on the stringer. She's "scary" of it.

July 4th

2010-08-16T14:51:00.001-07:00

We spent the fourth up in Centerville with our families. We love all the fun stuff they have to do. We watched the fireworks on the 2nd from up on the hill by the Grants house. Aspen got scared. She is pretty much "scary" of everything. Funny girl. On Saturday, Dave got up early and went to help out with the parade. His parents were in charge of it. So me and the kids went to the parade with his sisters. After the parade we went to my parents house where we ate yummy German Pancakes! Then we went to the park so the kids could get a shave ice and jump on the bouncy toys. We had a cookout that evening with the Grants and let off some fireworks! It was a good time for Owen's first fourth of July~!

Preschool 2010-2011

2010-07-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

I will be sending out my beginning of the year letters for preschool next week. I know there are a few people who I've talked to about preschool, but hadn't decided for sure. If you would like your child to be in my preschool this year, please let me know before next Wednesday! If there are not enough kids for 2 classes, then there will be 1 class held on Mon/Wed from 9-11:30am. The cost is $60 a month, but if that is an issue, please talk to me. One of the reasons I am doing this preschool is to help out my neighbors and friends. I know times are tough so please talk to me if you are interested but can't swing $60.

Thanks everyone! I am so excited for another year of preschool! I love teaching and seeing your children learn and grow!

Dave's Day

2010-07-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

June 20th was not only Father's Day, but Dave's birthday as well. We were going to have a party for him on Saturday, but stuff came up and we ended up cancelling. For his birthday, he got to take Connor to Instacare to get his broken arm x-rayed. Then we gave him some presents and cards. The kids gave him licorice and I gave him the Wii World Cup game. His life was all about the World Cup at this time! He also gets his yearly backpacking trip. We headed up to Centerville and ate dinner with my family and celebrated Dave and my sisters birthday and my Daddy. Then we headed to the Grants to celebrated Dave and his Dad again. I made him a groovy fish cake that I found off the internet. I thought it turned out pretty cute!It was a good day.

Dave, we love you so much. You are the greatest husband and father! We appreciate all you do for us. Thanks for being so awesome!

Aspen Lost a Tooth!

2010-07-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Aspen finally joined the Lost Tooth Club in June. It had been quite wiggly for a while and I kept asking her if she wanted me to pull it out. And her answer was always no. One day she came down stairs and said, "Mom, will you pull out my tooth?" So I grabbed a washcloth, squeezed the tooth, she moved her head slightly, and out it came! After the tooth came out and she saw it, she started crying! Not sure why still. The blood, seeing the tooth out, it hurt (I don't believe this was the case).... After a couple of minutes she calmed down and was really excited for the tooth fairy to come! She woke up the next morning with $2 in her tooth pillow.

My Lil' Bro!

2010-07-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

My baby brother David just graduated from High School. We got to go to his last Madrigal concert and to his graduation. I can't believe my baby brother is this old! I'm very proud of you. I love you David!

He also got his mission call! He is going to San Salvador, El Salvador! He leaves Sept. 3. Congratulations Dude. You will be an awesome missionary.

Summer Fun and Not so Fun

2010-07-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

The kids started playing in the pool as soon as possible. They love to swim and they love to lay out in the sun! They are so funny. They have also been making forts in the living room and falling asleep in them too! We have had play practice quite a bit this summer too. The triplets and I are all in the play The Music Man. It is going on right now so we are tired a lot! But you should all come see it. The triplets are so fun. The kids have also had sleepovers at the Grandma's house twice! They didn't want to come home. Our neighbor took some beautiful family pictures for us. I'll have to post some of my favorites later. That has all been fun!
So for the not so fun. The night we took family pictures, poor Connor fell off a fence and broke his arm! So swimming has been out for him the past month. He does get it off on Monday though! Yay! And I'm going to take the kids swimming next week at least twice!

Owen

2010-07-17T09:17:00.001-07:00

Owen had his 9 month appointment on the 10th of June. He is doing really well developmentally and hitting all the milestones. He weighed in at 17.1 pounds and he was 27.5 inches long. He loves to eat, especially what mom, dad, brother, and sisters are eating. He even had spaghetti for the first time and loved it! He is jabbering all the time now with "dadadada" and "babababa" and occasionally "mama". (Sigh) He loves to walk now, but is not brave enough to do it on his own. He has to be holding a finger or he sits right down and crawls. He is also having baths in the big tub now. He loves to crawl around in there and splash like crazy. He has also played out in the little pool with the triplets. He loves the water. Just a week ago on July 9, he got his first tooth on the bottom left. His right one should pop through any day. I knew his tooth was coming because I could see it. No crankiness at all. He is such a good, easy, lovely baby. We love him and are so glad that he is part of our family!

Kindergarten Graduation

2010-07-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

The triplets graduated from kindergarten! They put on a really cute program and the kids knew their parts really good. We had great seats but unfortunately their class was on the opposite side where we were sitting. So none of the pictures turned out very good. After graduation, we went to Cold Stone to celebrate with the Hupps and the Hacketts. We had a good time.

I'm so proud of each of my kids. They all know how to read and write so well. They have learned so much this year in Kindergarten. Their teacher, Miss Miles, was wonderful. They had such a great year!

Soccer!

2010-07-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

This spring all of the kids played soccer. Even Aspen. They had so much fun! Aspen was the little girl spinning in circles on the field. Brooke was chasing the ball and trying to kick it, but still didn't want to be in the middle of the bunch. Connor did not cry this time, but still didn't go anywhere near the ball. Most of the time he ran away from it. Cute, cute kids! They love it though and can't wait to do it again!

Writer's Workshop

2010-07-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

I am playing catch up so here is the first of quite a few posts.

Back in early May, the kids had a Writing Celebration in their class. They each sat on the author's chair and read a story they wrote and illustrated to everyone there. The triplets did such a great job. Connor and Aspen wrote about Disneyland and Brooke wrote about a rain storm. I am so proud of my kids and their writing.

Cutie Patootie Owen

2010-06-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

Wow! In the last month or so, little Ownen has learned SO MUCH! He crawls everywhere, including up the stairs! He eats food all by himself. In fact he likes to feed himself so much that he won't let us spoon feed him. With no teeth, this limits his food intake a bit. He also needs a bath after every meal! He pulls himself to stand and has even started moving along the edge of the tub and couches. He will be walking very soon! He is such a precious little thing and we love him so much. We are so happy to have him in our family!

Working with Daddy.

Easter 2010

2010-06-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

Easter preparations looked like this:

Connor slept in these bunny ears every night a week before Easter.

We had an Easter egg hunt and told the Easter story from the scriptures for FHE. The pictures from the Easter story were in some of the eggs. After the egg hunt, we put the story together and the kids got to eat their candy. It was a fun way to remember Jesus.

We had the annual Grant egg hunt and egg roll. Maddy was the winner of the raw egg award!

Aspen was on someone's shoulders the entire time because there was a cat outside! Silly girl.
On Sunday, we read the Easter story again and then the kids found their baskets. We ate Easter dinner with the Grants too. My mom ended up being really sick. Bummer! It was a fun weekend for us though. We love Easter!

Triplets Birthday

2010-06-01T08:38:00.002-07:00

The triplets turned 6 on March 22. We celebrated their birthday at Disneyland and gave them birthday money to spend there. On their actual birthday we went to Pirate Island. IT was fun but don't ever buy the pizza! Yuck! Then we had cake and ice cream at home with our friends.
We also had a small party with the grandparents. It was nice not to have to plan a ton of parties! I also only got one picture from the various events. I used my video camera instead! Oh well.
I just can't believe that my precious triplets are 6! It feels like just yesterday my 2 pound babies were born! The first year is just a blur, but I loved being a mom and having these three babies to care for. They have brought so much joy into our lives! We love you Aspen, Connor, and Brooke! Love, Mom and Dad

Catch up

2010-06-01T08:38:00.001-07:00

I will be posting catch up pictures over the next couple days. Are you ready for a Grant overload?

The Reasons I Became a Mom.....

2010-05-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

Connor, Owen, Aspen, Brooke. The 4 sweetest kids ever. Love em like crazy!

Guess Who's Crawling?

2010-04-29T15:35:00.001-07:00

Yep. This cute guy.

Happy Anniversary!

2010-04-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

9 years and 4 kids later, I am more in love with my husband than I ever thought I could be. I am so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man. He has made almost all my dreams come true (just waiting on my trip to Hawaii!) :)

Here's to many more wonderful years together!

Owen - 6 months

2010-04-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

On the 11th of March, Owen turned 6 months old! I really can't believe he's already that old. It has gone by so fast. At his appointment, he weighed in at 15.4 lbs. and he is 25 1/2 inches tall. He is in the 15th percentile for both.

He is learning so many new things. He is eating cereal, veggies, and fruit. He LOVES to eat. He gets so excited when it's time to eat that his hands shake and he kicks his feet. It's so cute. Owen adores his big brother and sisters. They make him smile and laugh all the time. He makes them smile and laugh too. He is also sitting up on his own. He likes to empty out his toy basket and play with his ball train and ball toy. He likes to look at and play with himself in the mirror. When he is sitting, he grabs onto things and lifts his bum off the floor. He is going to be pulling himself to stand very soon. He also loves his binky. He can put it in his mouth all by himself, even at night when he wakes up. He sleeps through the night which we love.

Owen is such a wonderful baby and such a blessing in our lives. I can't imagine my life without him.

Show and Teach

2010-03-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

Instead of Show and Tell, the kids had a Show and Teach. They got to each pick something to teach the class.

Aspen taught the class how to bow and curtsy like princes and princesses.

Brooke taught them how to make cookies using the Easy Bake Oven.

Connor taught them how to fight like a Jedi using Light Sabers. Darth Vader (aka Dave) made a surprise visit and the kids defeated him!

Way to go kids! You did a great job.

Disneyland!

2010-03-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time at Disneyland with the Hupps! The only bad thing was that our whole family came down with a cold. We ended up staying an extra day because we felt too yucky to go to Disneyland one day. We already can't wait to go back! (How about September Dave?) Now that the kids are bigger they got to ride more rides. They loved Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and Soarin Over California. Brooke rode and loved Splash Mountain too. We also got to ride Haunted Mansion and Small World for the first time. They were closed the last time we went. We also treated ourselves to eating at the Blue Bayou. It was really cool and the food was delicious. $100 later...... it better be good! Dave got the Monte Cristo. We also got to see the Aladdin Musical spectacular. It was really good and so funny! Here are some pictures from our wonderful Vacation!

Huntington Beach and Rainforest Cafe

Disneyland and California Adventure

100's Day!

2010-02-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

The triplets celebrated their 100th day of school last Friday. They had to make a shirt with 100 things on it. It took me 3 days to get them done. The kids helped though and I think they turned out pretty cute. I especially liked Connor's shirt. Totally my genius idea. I drew roads on his shirt, glued on about 9 toy cars, then glued on 91 sticker cars, and wrote "Speed Limit 100" on the front. They were very excited to wear them.

All my hard work went out the window when I walked in on Connor and Aspen ripping off their cars and hearts not 30 minutes after school was over! Oh well. At least I got pictures first!

Beinstein

2010-02-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Owen watched his first Baby Einstein video. (Well some of it.) He was so adorable sitting in his Bumbo watching tv. How bad of a mom am I that Owen is watching tv already? The girls liked watching it too.

Proof That Coupons Work

2010-02-10T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is what I bought at Smith's a couple of weeks ago. There is so much! My original total for all of this goodness was about $220. After my Fresh Values Savings it dropped to $130. After my coupons I paid.........$66.27!!! How awesome is that? Most of this stuff I paid less than $1 for!

I made a return trip to Smith's the following week and picked up 5 tubes of Colgate toothpaste, 5 packages of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter sticks, 2 packages Goldfish crackers, 1 package Tyson chicken tenders, and 2 cartons Dreyer's ice cream. The original total on this was $45, after Fresh Values it was 28, and after coupons it came to.......$11.28!

This is such a great way to save money! I've never been so excited to grocery shop!

Disneyland, Here We Come!

2010-01-29T09:03:00.001-08:00

We are headed to Disneyland in a month! We leave on February 28 and we will spend the next week at Disneyland for the kids birthdays. The hotels were pretty booked up the week of their actual birthday so we are celebrating a few weeks early. We are just so excited we can hardly stand it. We are going with our friends the Hupps which is going to make it even more fun! This time we will get to take the kids on so many more rides because they are taller! And Dave and I will get to go on some rides together because we are going with friends and we can take turns watching each others kids. Wahoo! Hurry up and pass February. We want to go on vacation!

Dave and the Triplets

2010-01-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

We can't believe how big they are. We used to hold all three when they were little and they fit just perfectly on our laps. Dave won't be able to do this for very much longer. We love our sweet triplets! How did we get so blessed?

Owen Update

2010-01-19T13:04:00.000-08:00

My baby turned 4 months old last week. I can hardly believe it. The time goes by so fast! We took him to the doctor for his checkup last Monday and he weighed in at a whopping 14.3 lbs and he measured 23 3/4" long. He's in the 15th percentile for height and the 30th for weight. So, he is still small, but nothing compared to my tiny triplets. They maybe weighed 10 pounds at 4 months. And Owen also rolled over January 3! I have been trying to catch it on video every since but he won't perform. Hopefully soon I'll have a video of it to post.

Owen was completely healthy last Monday and then the cold started on Wednesday. Dave and I have not slept a full night now for 6 nights. And my poor baby. He is finally starting to get better, but that cough is so sad. Well, I guess he had to build up antibodies sometime huh? This picture of him shows his little red nose from being wiped and suctioned so much. Poor thing.

Last Playdate

2010-01-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

Connor made a really great friend last year named Porter. Porter just moved to Florida, but he and Connor got to have one last fun playdate. They played trains, cars, star wars, Mickey Mouse, and everything else little boys play. THey had a great time and Connor sure will miss him.

(Connor ate a cupcake with purple frosting.)

Happy Birthday Cade!

2010-01-19T12:49:00.000-08:00

My cute, sweet, preemie nephew Cade turned 1! He is so adorable and we all just love him to pieces. He was the first of 4 grandsons born into our family this past year. What a fun year it has been.

New Year's 2010

2010-01-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

We did not have a party this year because we have a new baby this year. But we did end up partying with our friends the Hupps. We played games, ate, and chatted. We all had a good time! The triplets even stayed up past midnight. They wanted to read books when we got home! Silly kids.

Happy New Year Everyone. Hope that it is a great one!

Lost Tooth

2010-01-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

Brooke lost her first tooth on December 29, 2009! Literally. After it fell out, she carried it around in a little pillow with a bag on it and kept pulling her tooth out to look at it. I told her she would lose it and she did! So, she wrote a note to the tooth fairy instead. It was so cute. The tooth fairy must have had sympathy for her because she got $2! Way to go Brooke.

This is how the tooth fairy found her when she went to get the note. I don't know how she didn't wake up! (The kids were having a sleepover on the futon mattress.)

Christmas

2010-01-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year! It was so fun to have Owen here this year and the kids are at the perfect age for the MAGIC! We spent Christmas Eve at our house where we ate finger foods, sprinkled reindeer food on the front yard, put out cookies and a letter for Santa, sang Christmas carols, and acted out the Nativity. Owen got to be Baby Jesus which is really special. The kids and Dave and I took turns being all the other figures in the Nativity. It is so important to us that the kids remember what Christmas is all about.

On Christmas morning, the kids came and got us up at about 7:00. Not too bad. We can handle that time. Santa brought the kids the toys they asked for and a few other things too. We went to Grandma Burrahm's house for Christmas dinner and opened more presents. Later that night we went toGrandma Grant's house to open even more presents. The kids are spoiled.

We had a great lazy week doing nothing and enjoying the spoils of Christmas. I hope all of yours was a good one too!

The Big Guy

2009-12-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

At our church Christmas Party, there was a special visit from Santa. The kids were so excited to see him and tell him exactly what they want for Christmas. And there was a special bonus - Mrs. Claus came too! Unfortunately, I cut her out of all the pictures. Sorry! When they finally got to Santa, their shyness kicked in. They did talk this year, but it was really quiet. I had to tell Santa what they said. Funny kids. Here are some pics from the event. (oh, the party was "Polar Express" themed which is why we are all in our pajamas. And check out my cute, fat baby in his Christmas jammys and hat!)

Thanksgiving

2009-12-10T15:36:00.000-08:00

Oh, the goodness of Thanksgiving. I eat all day long that day! We had a great Thanksgiving day at the Grants house this year. Turkey, layer jello, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls with honey butter, glazed carrots, deviled eggs, fudge, pie..... It was great food. The kids played pin the hat on the turkey and did 3 Christmas crafts. I made three cute bows for the girlies hair. So cute. Later that night we popped over to the Burrahms to see the whole family. Good times. Good Thanksgiving. The next day, did a little shopping, got some good deals, and crafted with the Burrahm girls. I made the cute garland below. Dave took a good long hike with his sisters Megan and Madeline. He loves the mountains and was itching to get up there. Still looking for a new car. We hoped to get one over Thanksgiving weekend but it didn't happen. We really did have a fun Thanksgiving week.

What did you think?

2009-11-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

Saw it. Loved it. I loved the acting, the cg, the story line (followed the book fabulously), the new actors (Voluturi), the new directing, and of course the love story. It was just great. MUCH better than the first. Go see it. Tell me what you thought of it.

Disney On Ice

2009-11-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

Two Saturdays we went with the Hupps to go see Disney on Ice. It was kind of a reward for the triplets for being so good the last couple months with Owen. We were on the 5th row and it was awesome! The kids loved it so much and now pretend to not only be princesses and Mickey but to ice skate too! It got me really excited to go to Disneyland in March!

Because we were on the 5th row, it was too cold to unbundle little Owen. We all kept on our coats in fact. And I only took one picture of Tinker Bell at the beginning of the show. I decided I wanted to enjoy it rather than watch it through the camera lens. It was worth it.

I haven't posted much about the triplets lately, but they are doing so good. I never mentioned before that Brooke and Connor played soccer in the fall. Brooke is a pretty good little player and loved it. Connor is still a little shy, and even though he loves playing soccer with Dave, he hated playing with the other kids. He cried pretty much every game. So he didn't even go to his last 4 games. Poor kid. Maybe next year. Aspen was perfectly content to sit back and cheer them on.
Also the kids are doing really great in school. They love it! They all tell me it is the best part of their day. (I must say that I enjoy it a lot too!:) They are all reading and learning so much! I still can't believe they are in school though. Time goes by too fast.

2 Months Old

2009-11-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

Owen is 2 months old already. I can hardly believe it! Where does the time go? He had his appointment this week and here are his stats. He weighs in at a hefty 11lbs. 14 oz. and he is 22 3/4 inches long. Again, it is so weird to have a baby be the weight and height they are supposed to be. He is also smiling so much now. It makes all of our days to see him smile at us and show us how happy and content he is. We love it! He is also jabbering up a storm. The kids just laugh at him when he does it. We bought him a Bumbo and I think he is so cute sitting in it, although he doesn't always like it. He HATES riding in the car and lately his bath! Weird I know! Here are a few pictures of our cutie pie.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace!

2009-11-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

Last week Owen surprised us with three nights of a 6 hour sleeping block and one 8 hour! Yes, I said 8! We thought that was just a fluke because of a few rough tiring nights that followed. Well, two nights ago, Owen again slept 8 hours and last night he slept for 9! From 9:30-6:30! It was awesome!

This is where Owen sleeps during the day. He refuses to sleep in his bed during the day! Unfortunately, he sleeps really crappy during the day. No nap more than an hour and that is rare! Usually it's between 15 and 45 minutes. Which is probably the reason for the great sleeping at night. So, which would I rather have. A good night's sleep or time during the day to actually get things done? If you come to my house in the next week or so, you'll see that I (or should I say Owen) prefer the night's sleep. My house is a wreck!

Owen's Blessing

2009-11-09T09:46:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, November 1, we blessed our dear, sweet baby Owen in church. He is just the sweetest little thing. We all adore him. Especially the smiles he's giving to us all now. Owen was named after my Grandpa McAdams who was a sailor in the navy. Along with his name, Owen's little blessing outfit is also in honor of his great grandpa. My grandpa was a great man and I know that Owen will live up to his namesake. Owen also shares a birthday with his Great Grandma Chapple. She was a wonderful grandma for Dave and I adored her too.

We love you Owen! You are a special little boy and we are so happy and blessed to have you in our family!

Halloween Time

2009-11-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

We have celebrated Halloween this year more than any other. We have had parties and trick or treating like crazy! I think I've put the triplets in their outfits a total of 4 times! Crazy! But the kids have had so much fun and Connor even asked me this morning when it will be Halloween again!

First we had trunk or treating and a chili cook off.

If you can't tell, Connor is Mickey Mouse and the girls are Minnie.

Next, the kids had their party and parade at school.

The kids teacher must have told them to wave at everyone watching the parade because as Aspen came around the corner, she was waving like crazy! Sweet girl.

Next was the Halloween party at Omniture. It was really good this year. Not very long lines and the crowd control was better. We had a fun time. Our favorite area was Peter Pan. The kids loved it. There was even a swing/zipline for the kids at the end. Brooke was the only one brave enough to go on it. There was also a Vegas and a Flintstones area. The kids walked away with lots of candy again.

Finally we carved pumpkins and went trick or treating on Halloween. The spider sandwiches are what we had for our Halloween dinner! Isn't Owen just the cutest pumpkin ever? He was so good at all the fun Halloween events.

More Owen

2009-10-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Owen is growing and getting chubbier every day! We are having lots of fun with him. Especially since he is awake more and started to smile a bit. (Usually only Mommy gets the smiles!) His umbilical cord FINALLY fell off when he was 4 weeks old so we got to put him in the tub! He loves his bath time as I'm sure most babies do.

He is also having a fun time playing with his animal friends on his toy mat. It's cute to watch him stare at them and bat at them too.

We are really loving him! The kids can't get enough of him. Especially Connor. He wants to be near him and see him all the time.

Payson Lakes

2009-10-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was such a beautiful day, that we decided to take the kids up to Payson Lakes for a walk. We had a great time. Owen slept the whole time and the kids had a wonderful time walking around the lake. It was really nice for me too to get out and walk around.

The kids said these were castles and where the princesses and princes go to bow. So here is our prince and princesses.

Throwing rocks into the lake. Fun times for the kids.

This deer was right on the side of the road and didn't move as we pulled up right next to it. We saw lots of deer coming out of the canyon.

Now what will we do tomorrow?

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

Owen now weighs in at 8 1/2 pounds! still 20 inches long. his head is good in the 25th percentile along with height and weight. I make cream apparently. It's weird to have a baby that is actually on the normal scale. The triplets never made it above the 5th percentile on anything. I take that back. Connor's head was always way up there.

Newborn Pictures

2009-09-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

I had my good friend Kirsten come over and take pictures of Owen for me. She takes amazing pictures and I was so excited to get these done by her. Here is a sampling of some of the pictures she took.

I had my good friend Kirsten come over and take pictures of Owen for me. She takes amazing pictures and I was so excited to get these done by her. Here is a sampling of some of the pictures she took.

2 Weeks Old

2009-09-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Owen is now 2 weeks old and we couldn't love him more. Even Aspen, who was pushing him off of her at the hospital, can't wait to hold him. He is such a good, calm, baby. When he is awake, he is so alert and looking around at everything. And when he sleeps, he sleeps great! He sleeps for one stretch at night from 4-5 hours. And I usually have to wake him up to eat! He hardly ever cries either. Oh, how we love this little boy! Here are some pictures from leaving the hospital to now.

Owen McAdams Grant

2009-09-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

He's here! His birthday was Friday, September 11, 2009 at 12:29 pm. He weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20" long. He has a ton of hair and is so stinking cute! We love him like crazy!

Long story short, I ended up getting a c-section. Which I was totally fine with. I wanted my natural birth, but nothing was going the way I wanted anyway, so c-section was the way to go. There was meconium in the water and my abdominal muscles were adhered to my previous c-section scar. This is why I was having so much abdominal pain and why the contractions were killers! Even at a 3 1/2! But my baby is here safe and that is the most important thing! Here are a few pictures of the happy day!

TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I LOVE YA TOMORROW

2009-09-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

No baby yet. This child refuses to come out of me on its own. So tomorrow is the day! The doctor doesn't want me going much over 41 weeks because of my previous c-section. The baby is putting tons of pressure on my scar and it is seriously hurting. We are going to try just braking the water and see if that gets things moving on its own. If not, then I am going to have a c-section. This seems a little drastic but I've had the feeling for a while that the reason this baby hasn't come on its own is because a c-section is the safest thing for both of us. We'll see what happens! I'll change the color of my blog to pink or blue tomorrow evening or Saturday to let you all know if we have an Owen or Luci!

Puppets and Rafts

2009-09-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

The kids have really been into "projects" lately. So here are a couple that we have done in the last month.

Paper Bag Puppets (I showed them how to make these and made one with them. Before long we had tons of puppets! Most of them had the mouth glued shut so they just turned into fancy bags. This seriously kept them busy for HOURS!)

Rafts (Dave helped them build these and they were so excited to float them in the tub. Unfortunately the fun only lasted about 10 minutes because the Elmer's glue got wet and the rafts started falling apart.)

Patience?

2009-09-03T12:34:00.001-07:00

Impatient women should NOT get pregnant. This sucks!~

Nope!

2009-09-02T09:17:00.001-07:00

No, no baby yet. STILL waiting. Here is what I have learned from this experience:

What DOESN'T work to induce labor: walking, stairs, spicy food, rubbing pressure points (I have bruises people!), bedroom fun :), walking the curb (I tripped last night doing that), relaxing, cleaning and scrubbing, taking care of three 5 year olds all day long, the trots, getting my membranes stripped, losing the plug, etc. etc. You get the point. The only thing I have NOT tried and I WON'T try is castor oil. Sorry folks. That sounds worse than being pregnant another week!

What DOES work: No stinking clue. Still waiting to figure that one out. I have EVERY labor symptom except the most important. Consistent contractions. I'll keep you updated on what does work when it works!

Harry Potter

2009-08-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was really sad that this baby STILL has not come. I can't even begin to tell you how frustrated, uncomfortable, and impatient I am. It seriously has me a little depressed. Anyway, Dave and I decided to get out and go do something fun together. We went to see Harry Potter 6 which I loved! The only thing about it that bothers me, is that it never tells you what other Horcruxes Harry needs to look for. If you haven't read the books you have no idea either! So, that's a little annoying, but I thought it was great! What did you think of this movie?
After the movie, we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. Their salad is so delicious! I have leftovers waiting for me in the fridge.
So, that fun date got me through another day of waiting! Any more ideas of how to make it through?

First Day of Kindergarten!

2009-08-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my kids are in kindergarten! I just dropped them off and they were so excited! I miss them already though. I've shed a couple of tears. Not nearly as many as I thought though. I have a very quiet house right now and it's not usually that way. What am I going to do today? Probably organize and clean more, think about the triplets, do jumping jacks, worry about Aspen talking, walk around the block, worry about Connor's cough, go up and down the stairs a few times, think about Brooke raising her hand with all the answers, try and get this baby out, and miss my kids terribly. I don't know how I will do it next year when they are gone all day! Here are pics of the cute kids on their first day of school!

Please Tell Me!

2009-08-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Someone please tell me how to get this baby out! I'm going on 39 weeks and I'm ready to have this kid! I tried everything I know of! So, if you've had something that worked wonders for you, let me in on the secret! (Aspen took the picture. Isn't she a great photographer? :) )

Backpacking to Naturalist Basin

2009-08-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

This year's backpacking trip was to Naturalist Basin in the Uintas. What an awesome trip this was. Sometimes you have to brave the crowds to go see beautiful places like this. My original plan was to do a 4 day 20+ mile loop starting at the Highline Trailhead going to Naturalist Basin, Four Lakes Basin, the north end of Granddaddy Basin, and back to Highline, but nobody could go for that long. Fortunately my neighbor was able to do 3 days, so we decided to do just Naturalist Basin from the Highline on Thurs Jul 30 - Sat Aug 1. It turned out perfect because we were able to do the grand tour of the basin, whereas if we'd done that 4 day loop we wouldn't have been able to. We hiked the 6.5 miles in on Thursday and camped at Jordan Lake. It was a bit busy, but it had the most campsites below treeline. The next day we did the grand tour going up to Shaler first, then to LeConte and on over to Blue Lake, then down to the Morat Lakes and on down and back over to Jordan. We saw and fished 10 lakes, saw some beautiful country and scenery, and had most of it to ourselves. Blue Lake was also quite busy, but the rest we had to ourselves. I'm glad we went that way instead of up to the Morats and Blue Lake first because the trail up to those is steep and looked like a bear to hike up. Much better going down. The alpine terrain above tree line is beautiful with the soft grass and low vegetation, all the views all around are awesome, and the brook trout are vibrant, colorful fighters. We caught around 20 brooks and cutts on spinners and flies. LeConte Lake was my favorite due to the beauty of the lake and surrounding alpine terrain and the fish we caught out of it. All together it was about 17.5 miles, 6.5 in and out, and 4.5 on the grand tour. No fatigue or blisters (like last year), beautiful weather, saw 2 deer, got a checkmark on my list of places to go, and can't wait to go backpacking again.

Wes and I at Shaler Lake, the first on the grand tour
The alpine terrain above Shaler Lake
The approach to LeConte Lake, my favorite lake
View of the Morat Lakes and the valley from Blue Lake
One of the brookies caught on a fly and bubble. I love the colors.
There's beautiful sights like this all over up there. This is a stream coming down into Jordan Lake, near where we camped.

Bye Bye Rodeo, Hello Sienna

2009-08-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

It's official! We are now minivan owners. It's nice to have a big car, but it is weird that it's a minivan. I'm only 30! But with 4 kids, what can you do? We really love the Toyota Sienna though. It's a good, reliable, car.

Yep, Triplet Bath Time is Over!

2009-08-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

I knew today that the triplets should no longer bathe together when Aspen says to me, "Mommy, Connor's pee pee is long!"

What We've Been Up To

2009-08-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but we've been busy! Here's what we've been up to.

In July, Dave, the kids, and his family went camping up in the Uintahs. I obviously opted out this year due to being 8 months pregnant. When they left on the 21st, Dave and Brooke were still sporting colds, but went anyway. So, when I get a call the next day from Dave, I assumed they were coming home. Turns out, they were in Evanston leaving the ER. Aspen was fishing and ended up with a fish hook in her eyelid! It went in through the inside of her eyelid. She rode all the way to Evanston (1 hour) with a hook in her eye. And she fell asleep! I am so glad I wasn't there. I would have been freaking out. She is fine now and you can hardly tell there was a hook there. It was a miracle that her eye was not damaged in any way. Other than that experience they had a good time fishing, canoeing, and being in the mountains.

While they were away, my neighbor and painting buddy Merri came over and we painted the baby's room a cute green. I am so excited and ready for this baby to come.

On the 25th, we had the annual Chapple family swimming party. The kids loved it! They are really learning to swim, thanks to their awesome swim teacher Tynelle. Unfortunately, it was cloudy which made for some chilly kids. And I didn't go down the slide! Next year!

The next weekend in July, Dave and our neigbhor Wes headed back to the Uintahs for a backpacking trip. They hiked and did lots of fishing. Dave absolutely loved it. He'll have to write more details himself later.

I have also finally finished my Pooh cross stitch to go in the baby's room! It only took 6 years! But I love it!

The other exciting news is that we bought a recliner for me! I am so excited to have it! I think it will make taking care of a baby in the middle of the night much easier. I wish that I would have had it with the triplets!

You Know You Want to Go See It!

2009-07-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

The Spanish Fork Community theater is putting on the production of Singin' in the Rain. It runs the 16, 17, 18, 23, and 25 at 7:30pm and the 24 at 4:00pm at the High School! I am on the board and have seen how much work has gone into this play and I've caught lots of rehearsals. It is so GREAT! If you like the movie, you'll love the play even more. There is REAL RAIN! You've gotta check it out. Adult tickets are $8, kids $6 and family passes $35. You can buy them at Boothe Brothers on Main or at the door.

Anybody Know Someone.....

2009-07-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

Do any of you know someone who is looking for a car to buy? Specifically, a white, 2000 Isuzu Rodeo 4x4? We really need to sell it soon! We need a bigger car! If you know someone looking, send them our way!

It's Time!

2009-07-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, July 18th, we will be having a garage sale with the Hupps at their home. There will be tons of NICE stuff there between the two of us. No junk. Baby stuff which includes a car seat, bedding, some girl clothes, boppies, my triple stroller, and lots more. There will also be home decor, cds, books, a large computer desk, a new set of gold rimmed dishes, and lots more. Come check it out and tell anyone that you know who are looking for any of these things at a good price. 8:00am and FREE POPSICLES!!!

Happy 4th!

2009-07-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July holiday. We started it off on the 3rd with a little fishing trip for the kids. Unfortunately they didn't catch anything.
Then we headed up to Logan for the fireworks show. The kids were so excited to see the fireworks. Aspen covered her ears the entire time, but she did watch them.
On the 4th, we watched the Centerville parade where the kids chowed down on candy they caught. After the parade, we headed to the Burrahms for a brunch. We went over to the park where the kids bounced in bounce houses, went "fishing", and we ate snowcones. We had dinner with the Burrahms and then went over to the Grants where we cooked Smores and let off fireworks. It was such a great weekend. Very busy though. I think I'm still recovering. I love summer!

Really? Pregnancy is more than 30 weeks?

2009-06-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with the triplets, they were born by this time! It's weird still being pregnant. It's also weird not being on bedrest. One baby is definitely easier than 3!

Here's a picture of me with the triplets when they were about 5 weeks old. They weighed almost 4 pounds each here.

Also, this baby is now a little bigger than Connor when he was born. Connor was the biggest of the triplets weighing in at 2lb. 11 oz. and 14in. long. This baby is now a little over 3 pounds and about 14.8 in. long. Wow! Here's a pic of Connor when he was just a few days old. Notice how he compares to Dave's hand.

All About Dave

2009-06-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

Hiking up to the Grotto on his birthday.

Dave's 30th birthday was on the 20th and Father's Day was the next day, so here is a post dedicated to him. 30 things about my man:
1. Dave was a late talker. All he said was, "Eee" and then would point to things. His Grandma Grant thought he should get checked out. She thought he was "mentally challenged."
2. Dave walked before he crawled.
3. One time as a kid, Dave spent too long outside on his big wheel. He got such a bad sunburn that his eyes were swollen almost shut!
4. He has always been a happy person.
5. He lived in Magna until he was in 5th grade when he moved to Centerville.
6. He is the 2nd of 7 kids.
7. Because of his wonderful Dad, Dave LOVES anything outdoors. Camping, fishing, hiking, backpacking. You name it, he's done it all. And he's good at it too.
8. Last year, Dave's backpacking trip was to King's Peak. It is the highest point in Utah. Yes, he hiked it and ended up with some wicked blisters, but he loved it!
9. He has never broken a bone.
10. Dave had his first and only cavities (small ones) at the age of 22.
11. Dave likes to collect spoons just like little old ladies.
12. He plays piano wonderfully! Now we just need a piano!
13. He HATES haunted houses and movies that make him jump.
14. He is a packrat. He can't get ride of anything. This drives his wife crazy!
15. Dave is most definitely a computer nerd. Yes it's his job, which is great, but sometimes he programs at home for fun!
16. The smell of skunk doesn't bother him. In fact, when I say, "Ew.. skunk." and try to plug my nose, he inhales as deeply as he can. Weird.
17. He is a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy. Nothing fancy for him.
18. He does the dishes for me all the time.
19. Dave served a mission in Porto, Portugal. He is now teaching the kids some Portuguese. They love it.
20. Every 6 months, Dave has to go see the Dermatologist to get his moles checked. He has at least 1 removed every time.
21. Believe it or not, Dave is a shy guy when you first meet him. When you get to know him that's when his great personality comes through.
22. If you ever go to a movie with us, you'll notice that Dave laughs the loudest out of anyone else at the theater.
23. He likes to read.
24. He only snores when he is on his back. I wake him up and tell him to roll over.
25. He used to listen to and love classic rock. I'm glad he's out of that faze.
26. Everyone comments on how much Dave looks like Owen Wilson. Dave's hotter though. No broken nose.
27. He also looks like Shaggy with long hair.
28. He loves to play and watch soccer. Definitely his sport of choice. Although he loves all Sports.
29. Dave is the best husband ever. He is so good to me. He made me the happiest girl April 28, 2001.
30. Dave is also the best dad ever! His kids adore him. They want their Daddy to do things with them all the time. I have to fight for his attention!

We love you Dave. Thanks for being the wonderful person that you are!

Talking

2009-06-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

I wonder if all of us girls started out this talkative? Ha ha. I laughed so hard at this video. Enjoy.

Hypnobirthing

2009-06-17T09:53:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, I can't have an epidural or spinal block due to the rods in my back. Therefore, this labor and delivery will be all natural! To help deal with the pain, I am taking a hypnobirthing class. I've talked to many people who have done this and it has helped them tremendously. I'm really excited to start! My first class is tonight. Hopefully I'll have a very quick, and easy labor and delivery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!