"my daughter"

I know that you all are thinking that the ultrasound has already been done, but no such luck. I wanted to post a few pics of a gorgeous young lady that has been part of my life for about 3 years now... Meet Adrianna, she's 15 and lives here in Franklin. Isn't she cute?? She was one of my Young Women and we managed to really hit it off from the start. Her mom and her sister joke that I'm her other mom because she tells me just about anything. Anyways, she is having her Quinceañera (15 year old celebration) in June and she asked me to help her with the invitations. This is no small task. We're making 125 invites, but it has been a lot of fun. I got to go out and take some pics of her for the invitation and we had lots of laughs. Katie met us up the canyon about an hour into our photographing and she got some great photos herself. She showed me some of her "secret photo spots" and I will be going there a lot more often, thanks Katie!! I'm not as good as Katie is with editing photos, I need to have a crash course with her on that one too. I love to show off my photos, and get a little input of what everyone likes and doesn't like. So here are a few pics of "my daughter". I'm so grateful that she's part of my life, we have lots of fun!

In a nutshell....

This is what's been up with us-in a nutshell....

Nic is playing baseball and is still doing gymnastics. He's also started Scouts due to the fact that he will be 8 in one week. He loves all of it! He had a little meeting with the Bishop tonight to talk to him about baptism and I was very impressed with Nic. After he was done with the Bishop and we were walking out to the car he said, "Mom, I feel different". I said, "what do you mean?" He said, "now that I'm getting baptized, I feel like I'm going to have to try really hard to be good. I'm really excited to get baptized". I was proud of him. He got up in Sacrament and bore his testimony about 5 months ago for the first time and that in itself is huge. I think he'll be a good Missionary some day. He's a fun, talented, coordinated, and sometimes stubborn, hard-headed little boy. But I love him :)

Ty started T-ball this year. He loves it too, of course. He will be done with Preschool next Thursday and he's so excited because that means he'll be going to Kindergarten. I can't believe I'm sending my second little one to school. Crazy! He loves to ride his bike and sing. He's constantly singing, love it, love it, love it!!

Josh is potty trained!!!! Yeah! He's totally done. What is it with little toddlers in underwear? It's so stinkin' cute. He's had a little cough and the other morning, he woke up and came up stairs all upset telling me he had a "dinosaur" in his mouth. He's talking better and better each day. He's still doing speech up at the Elementary twice a week, which he thinks is school. So he thinks he's one of the big boys.

As for Tim and I, we are just trying to keep up with life and these little boys. We have something for at least one of them every night, except Monday (thank goodness). Tim has been able to get some golfing in, which keeps him happy. We've been doing a lot of work in the yard lately, I hope that all of our hard work now, will mean less work when I'm huge and miserable. I have been extremely busy with my calling, but I love it and have definately seen the blessings that come from serving those in our ward. I am also getting excited about preschool being done. As much as I love it, I am looking forward to being a little less busy during the day. It will be nice to just let the kids play. Our family is also looking forward to June 3rd. We will find out if our baby will be wearing pink or blue. Everyone is hoping for a girl, but I'm trying way hard to not get too hopeful. I love my boys and I'm sure that one more would just add to our chaos, I mean fun....I'll keep you all updated on our findings.

My mom...

So since Mother's day is close at hand, I have been thinking a lot about my Mom...

My mom's name is Janice, she is the most kind, generous, caring, concerned, giving person I know. She's the Young Women's President in her Ward and give so much time and love to those girls. She also volunteers for Richmond City Youth Council and has overseen many things such as the 'Lil Miss pageant for Black and White Days and many other Youth Council activities. She's known as the world's best boss by all of the employees that work for my parents because she cooks meals for them quite often. One employee in particular (who happens to be Becky & Brad Wood's son) is an extremely talented singer and is in a band and my mom goes to his performances and supports him when he's in musicals quite often. Now how many bosses do you know that will do that???

Her quiet acts of kindness to other people are things that I see and know about and want to shout to the world what wonderful thing she's doing. But to her, it's just part of her and it's what the Lord wants. She wants nothing in return. My mom taught me and instilled in me a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so greatful for that.

My mom has been so willing to help me with anything I need. She takes Nic to gymnastics every week, she comes and sits with the daycare kids so I can take Josh to speech (sometimes twice a week). She comes to any game, performance, competition or event that any of my kids have and cheers sometimes louder than I do. She isn't afraid to be firm with my kids when they're naughty-which I think is great!! Sometimes she's even a little stern with me, telling me to get over my bad additude and she helps me with life's little problems. I honestly don't know what I would do without her. I rely on her so much and learn something new from her each day. She's so much fun to be around and always makes me smile. She gives so much of her time to make others feel good and rarely do you ever hear a complaint. I love my mom and hope that someday I can be as wonderful as she is.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!

Gymnastics State Championship & lots of family fun

Nic had another gymnastics competition in Heber City this weekend which gave us the opportunity for a much needed (but short) break. Sorry this is a little long, but I really didn't want to leave anything out...We started out on Friday morning and headed to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. This was pretty fun, kind of pricey and extremely crowded but the kids liked it. We saw sharks, jellyfish, octopus, spiders, frogs and even got to touch a sting ray. Here are a few pics of the aquarium...

On Saturday, Nic had his competition and he did awesome!! We were so proud of him. He got 1st again on the Tramp, 3rd on the Double-Mini and 7th on the Floor. Tramp is definately his strong event. He was so excited. Grandma Swendsen came to support Nic too. She's always so awesome to come and support my kids in anything they do. She stayed one night with us too-thanks dad, for letting her :) Ty and Josh were so good. Considering that we sat in bleecher chairs for almost 6 1/2 hours, they were absolute angels. They were cheering on their brother too. Here are some pics of him getting awards-the one I took of his 7th place award was blury so I'm not posting that one. If I can manage, I may even throw in a video of his winning Tramp routine.

1st place on Trampoline

3rd place on Double-Mini

After the competition we went and saw a crater called the Homestead Crater that is right across the road from where we were staying. It's a HUGE crater that is filled with water. The water is a toasty 97 degrees year-round and it's 65 feet deep. You can go inside the crater and scuba dive, snorkle, swim or just take a quick tour. The boys were way nervous inside, so it's probably good that we didn't go there to swim. We climbed to the top too. It was way cool, there were actually craters all over the place up there but this was the biggest one we saw.

We then went back to the condo and swam. The boys had a ball, swimming is always the highlight of any trip we take. Josh is absolutely fearless! When we very first got there, we were standing by the side of the pool getting our towels and things put away and we turned our back for 1 second. Josh immediately jumped right into the deep end of the pool. He went under the water but luckily already had his lifejacket on so he popped right up. Tim fished him out, gave him a hug and he was off. His legs didn't stop kicking for the entire time. He's a little fish.

Our next stop, the Utah Summer Games in June. I can hardly wait!! This has given our family the opportunity to have mini vacations it isn't something that we can really afford, but the memories that we're making are priceless!!

SMILE!!??

So we kind of toned down Easter Saturday this year...we didn't hit the Franklin Egg hunt. Instead, I took the boys to the lame, but extremely easy bunny trail of Lee's Marketplace. Yeah I know, kind of a cop out. But the boys were happy with their goodies and it was a lot easier on me since Tim was working.
Then we went to McDonald's with my two sister-in-laws and their families so the boys had a blast playing with their cousins. It was great to just relax and chat with my cute sisters-in-law. Love them both!
We then ventured up to Mack Park in Smithfield, just to let the boys play. I happened to have my camera and figured since I hadn't taken any pics all day, I had better try to get some there. They weren't dressed for pics, and Ty's hair was a mess and he still had ketchup on his face from McDonald's, but I figured it was worth a try.
So here's a riddle....how many pictures does it take to make three little busy boys smile all at the same time???? 10, 20, 30? No try 50 pictures before I even had any that I was happy with. It got to the point were Ty would grab Josh's cheeks and MAKE HIM SMILE. Which of course, he didn't like. Anyways, here a few pics that I took of the boys.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter!!

I'm 25....again ;)

I had my first appointment yesterday...I love the first appointment, it makes everything finally seem real. Tim and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat and I also got to have an ultrasound. I'm almost 12 weeks and so the ultrasound pictures actually look like a baby and not a little blob(sorry, no scanner or else I would post a pic). Anyways, everything looks great so far. As mentioned in my post before, I feel great!
It was also my birthday yesterday. I turned 25. Isn't that great!! I think I'll be 25 for the next 10 years. It was a great day. The Dr. Appt., lunch with my hubby, new haircut and highlights, a movie, and home early enough to spend some time with my fam.
Even though I usually say birthdays stink when you get older and don't really seem like a big deal, it was a great day. My husband spoiled me and I have great parents and friends who made me feel special too. Thanks to my cute friends who called to wish me happy b-day!

Fathers & Babies - I mean Fathers are such babies :)

This is so stinkin' funny!! I had to add this to my blog because it made me laugh so hard. Looking for a good laugh? Watch this!