Happy 3rd Birthday Josh!!

Josh turned 3 years old on the 13th and we had a little get together with all his Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts & Cousins. He had such a fun time opening his presents (yes he was a little spoiled). And he loved his ABC cake (made by one of my preschool student's moms).

The highlights:

*He was all smiles when everyone was singing the birthday song to him.

*Josh is having a struggle showing that he is 3 with his fingers. He strains to get those fingers up, and we get a good laugh :)

*He also apparently doesn't know what a 5 dollar bill is. When he opened the card up from his Great-Grandma and pulled out the money, he threw it in the wrapping paper pile and was ready to open something else. I finally got him to let me take a picture of him with the "paper".

Happy birthday Josh, we love you and are so grateful that you're in our family!

What a fun little guy!

Fun Facts! Tag!

So Heidi tagged me, thanks Heidi!! I have had so much fun reading everyone else's tag info, I thought I would fill mine out even though it's after Valentine's Day-which is why this all started right???

1. Where did you meet your husband? Big J's in Richmond (the old Big J's)- I was 15 and working there and he had just gotten hired. He walked in and litterally, I melted. I went home that night and told my mom that I had met the guy I was going to marry. Corny, I know...but it really happened :)

2. How long did you date before you got married? 3 1/2 years

3. How long have you been married? 10 years :)

4. What does he do to surprise me? He will clean the house for me when I'm gone, or clean out the durango and fill it with a full tank of gas with a nice note to have a good time when I'm going out with the girls.

5. My favorite feature of his? His eyes, I melted the first time I saw his eyes. I also like his smile, he's got a great smile :)

6. What is his best quality? He's such a great dad! He keeps me in check when I'm about to explode.

7. Nickname he has for me? Dear??? Maybe that's just when he's saying "Yes Dear". ;)

8. What is his favorite food? Homemade Lasagne (with garlic bread)

9. What is his favorite sport? Fishing, that's a sport right?

10. Where and when did you first kiss? On the front doorstep of my parents home. I was so nervous, I gave him a little peck was all. I got a little more daring after that :)

11. What is our favorite thing to do as a couple? Spending time in the outdoors with our boys - camping mostly.

12. Do you have any children? 3 crazy, busy boys...Nic (almost 8), Ty (almost 5) and Josh just turned 3.

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He can actually sing really well. My favorite thing is when he and the boys break out in song. He can also juggle really well (he was on the front page of the Herald Journal when he was about 11 years old.

14. How old is he? 29 1/2 :)

15. Who said I love you first? I think I did

16. What is his favorite music? He likes all kinds of music, mostly country though

17. What do I admire most about him? How he holds it together when the going gets rough. He honors his priesthood and is a great dad, and husband!

18. What is his favorite color? Blue??

19. Will he read this? Probably

20. I tag. Stephanie Dyet http://www.dyets.blogspot.com/ maybe this will get her going on her blog again :)

Our busy life...

Life has been pretty busy lately. Lot of things going on and when there isn't something going on, all I want to do is relax on the couch and try to clear my brain. It doesn't work, life can be so overwhelming. Especially with 3 busy boys. Here's our news from the past couple weeks...

1/27/2009 It's a (another) boy!!
Meet Jet. The newest addition to our family. We had to keep with the trend and get another boy, I'm outnumbered, I know. Jet is a Rat Terrier, he won't get too big which is one stipulation I had when we were looking. Tim found him on KSL and had to drive down past Salt Lake City to get him. I joke that this little guy is almost as bad as having a baby. Getting up in the night because he needs some attention, potty training, and trying to keep him from eating things off the floor...I'm not kidding it's like having a baby. The boys love him and I won't lie, I actually enjoy him too. (If only I could get a decent nights sleep). He poses for pictures and prances like a deer when playing fetch. He's so cute!!

1/29/2009 No nerves
Nic was invited to perform his tramp routine at the half-time show at the USU Basketball game. At first he said he didn't want to because he was too scared, which I totally didn't push him and said it was his choice. He had practice the Monday before and after practice, I asked him if he had told his coach that he wasn't going to do it. His reply was, "no, I'm going to do it." The whole way home, he kept saying "I can't believe I'm going to do this mom." I don't know what changed his mind but he was set that he was going to do it. So on Thursday, the 29th, my little guy got up in front of an almost full Spectrum (10,023 fans) and performed his routine!! I was so proud of him, I almost started crying. He was the very first to perform and did such an awesome job. The coach wanted members of the team to perform and to show how they progress. Nic being the first, all the way up to the coach who did some amazing tricks. I will post his performance and the rest of the team doing their performances. On the way home I asked him if he was nervous and he said that he was a little nervous but when he got on the tramp and started he wasn't nervous at all. I think that I carried all the nerves for him. I was a nervous mess!!

Nic's routine

The rest of the teams routines

2/4/2009 My little ABC All-Star
Most of you know that I teach a little preschool 3 times a week. It has proved challenging, but extremely rewarding. I have so much fun teaching the kids and enjoy seeing them progress and learn new things. I have 9 boys and 3 girls that attend. Due to the fact that I have so many boys to teach this year, I've had to change my curriculum and lesson plans up so that they stay interested. One thing that I've started is some clubs called the blue star club, red star club, yellow star club and the all-star club. Each club requires the kids to identify one of the following- uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and their sounds. I'm also teaching them how to sign the alphabet but this isn't part of the clubs, just something fun to learn. If they pass off all of these requirements they will be part of the All-star club. Well, my Tyler passed his final requirement off yesterday!! He's the first All-Star for our class. He got a t-shirt, a prize out of the prize box, a certificate and will be getting a king sized candybar. He was so excited! He had to call Tim and work and tell him. Here's a picture of his new shirt on his special day. He's such a smart kid!

"Life is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away."

...I'm thankful for those moments.

Our gymnast...

Nic had a gymnastics competition today and he did such a great job!! He placed 2nd on the Trampoline, 3rd on the Double-mini and 5th on the floor. It was his first competition and we all learned a lot about what happens at a gymnastics competition...I learned that it is hours and hours of organized chaos!! We stayed in a hotel last night (and swam in the pool) and then went to the competition this morning. Josh especially loved the pool, he kicked his legs so hard and so fast and had a smile on his face the entire time. The hightlights-Nic did such a great job at his first meet and won 3 medals and swimming at the hotel was a blast!! We had such a great time :)

Nic in his own bed at the hotel

Don't let this sweet pic fool you...they bugged each other the whole night

2nd place Trampoline

3rd place Double-mini

Our gymnast

Nic's tramp routine

We're so blessed...

Wow, what a weekend! We've spent our last 4 days taking Josh to so many Dr.'s and having so many procedures that it's all becoming a bit of a blur (probably because I'm so tired). Josh hadn't had wet diapers since Thursday and on Saturday, I became a bit worried. We spent Saturday with Dr. Huff who did a cath, and just checked him out sending us home with the answer "call us in the morning if there isn't a wet diaper". So, Sunday morning there still was no wet surprises so we called and they sent us to the Primary Childrens Hospital Emergency Room. I was scared, and didn't know what to think. After nearly 6 hours of sitting in a hospital room with Josh having another cath, blood test, x-ray and other tests I'd rather not describe, they sent us home with yet another "I don't know". So this morning we woke up and Josh still hadn't gone. He started showing signs of discomfort and pain and within about 1 hour he was crying histerically saying ouchy and pointing to his tummy and those not so fun diaper areas. So we loaded him up and went down to the Specialty Hospital to see Dr. Huff again. Josh had an ultrasound, another x-ray and unfortunately had to endure yet another cath. He was such trooper. After 3 hours of crying he was totally exhausted and was finally able to fall asleep. So the Dr. reviewed all the tests and said he still didn't know. He wondered about his extremely full bowels and wondered if they were causing a "kink" somewhere making it so that he couldn't urinate. But, he sent us home with a laxative and another order of "call me in the morning if nothing changes".
We were so frustrated. We didn't know what to think about it. Then, the big moment happened, we got out to the Durango, buckled Josh in, and he said mommy, pee pee! I don't think we've ever been so excited to see a soggy diaper! He went twice in 45 minutes and has done so much better since then. So we're crossing our fingers that it was some fluke thing and he's going to be fine. All I know is that we are so blessed. I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and that he's there for us when we need him the most. The Bishop and Tim game Josh a blessing this morning and in the blessing we were told that he would be restored to full health. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood. We've always said that Josh is an angel, he's so happy and content with life. Considering all that he's been through, he's been so wonderful and is such a good boy.
Sorry about all of the yucky details but I had to share this one, I just am so grateful and realize that we're so blessed...

Snow many memories...

On New Years Day 2009, we decided to go outside and play..

We had so much fun!

Mommy

Daddy

Nic

Ty Ty

Joshy

Somebody stayed up too late...

Nic's sledding experience

And so our blog begins...

Yeah, I gave in...Everyone else has a blog, so why not us?? I'm actually really excited! I've enjoyed checking out everyone else's blogs so I hope that everyone else will enjoy ours :)