Catching Up..

So this past week was filled with family fun; we celebrated Jared's Grandma's 90th birthday last weekend; what an amazing woman. We heard some stories about her that I've never heard before and she's just a neat lady. We started decorating for Christmas (YEAH!! you'd never guess that I love Christmas this much!). Jordan has been asking to make cookies for days now so here's my kitchen helper stirring up the dough.
This Saturday I started the day by taking the kids to the Nest, then to Dane's birthday at the Kid Barn, then Jordan went to Dane's house to play for a few hours while I met my very cute cousins, Tiffany and Sommer, and their cute mamma for the chicky-flick vampire movie, twighlight (so fun to just be with the girls), then to Tiff's mom-in-laws house to watch the BYU/Utah game (ouch, so sad!) But we had fun just being with them, as always.
The kids were crashed by the time we got out of the driveway to head back home.. busy, busy day.

And the Dr. said....

We're officially going to be a family of 5!!! And we are SO excited about our baby news! We went to the Dr. last week and we got to see our newest little addition on the way... I'm 8+ weeks along so we'll be having another summer baby. We're just so excited and can’t wait for the months to go on by so we can welcome this new little life into our family.
And we’ll just have to see if Margie’s little voodoo ring trick works (once I’m far enough along and I know the gender I’ll know!). Can’t wait to find out!
Merry Christmas to me!! It's going to be a great 2009 :-)

Jordan's 1st Preschool Picture

I wanted to post this picture and write some of my thoughts down about this cute little boy. Since this blog is sort of my journal, I want to make a record of some of my memories of Jordan right now, at this stage of his life. Jordan is a very outgoing kid. He loves to see friends, and tells me almost every day who all of his "best-buddies" are; he's very happy to play with other kids and for the most part, he's very good about sharing and taking turns. He has a sparkly smile and a very curious, almost mischievous look in his eyes, and I love it. You can always tell he's up to something and I love to watch his eyes wonder. Whenever he hears an airplane, a truck, a train.. or anything that interests him, he'll cup his ear and say, Mom! You hear that??" and I just think it's so funny to watch his excitement for even the smallest things.
Jordan loves his Daddy. He wants to be like his dad in every way; they are truly best buds. Jordan tells me, "mommy, when I'm so big I'm going to play golf with my daddy", or "when I'm so bigger I'm going to go on daddy's chopper". He was watching basketball the other night, cuddled up next to Jared and he told me that when he's so bigger, he's going to play basketball, and football, and baseball. Whenever he sees a group of big kids he jumps right in and tries to be a part of the group. It broke my heart one time when we were all swimming and he befriended a group of boys, maybe 7-8 year olds. He shouted out, "mommy, look, my friends!" and then proceeded to tell these kids all about his mom, his dad, and his baby brother. One of the boys didn't seem to care about being a part of Jordan's conversation and told Jordan that he wasn't his friend. That just made me so sad... and I remember thinking how I wish he could stay this sweet and innocent forever, and not be tainted or hurt by other kids as he gets a little older.
Jordan absolutely loves his little blue puppy that his Grandma Burton gave to him a few years ago. He carries that ragged little puppy everywhere (to church, to school, really -everywhere). His favorite two things are his blue puppy and his white blanky. Heaven help me if I ever lose either of those!
I love how sweet he is and how quick he is to forgive us when we've scolded him for acting up or doing something that we don't approve of; yes, we've had to scold him... once, or twice.. ok, so maybe it's ongoing :-) Usually he'll hide his face in his blanky for a minute and then quickly bounce back and talk about something else. And he'll usually say, "Mom,I'm happy now". How quick these little kids are to love and forgive.
Jordan loves to read books. He can't really "read" but the books I've read to him over and over again, he's memorized so he's a pretty convincing reader; he knows every story on the page and really loves to get in those books and "read".
One thing I really love about Jordan is how easy he is. We've never had to argue with him about going to bed; he willingly gets those jammies out, asks for his blue puppy and a story, and hops up into bed. One night he fell asleep while I was reading to him (or so I thought) and I was just having a moment with him. I started tickling his face, running my fingers through his soft hair, and I just remember thinking I wish the moment could last forever. He looked like a little angel, so peaceful and sweet. Just then he opened his eyes and said, "Mommy, you need to go to your bed now". AHHH!! I got busted by my 3-year old and he told me to go to bed! It made me laugh because I know he's always had an independent spirit about him, and it comes out in little ways.
Jordan loves going to school and seeing his friends. The preschool teacher told me the rules on the first day: parents, you have to drop your child off and drive away, you can't hug and kiss because even though the first day is hard, you can't encourage the child to overreact and become upset. Jordan hopped out of the car and didn't look back. I was at Cafe Rio with Tiffany and Corbin last week and Jordan decided to join another family for lunch. He sat with them for most of the lunch and I felt bad because they all made room for him, but he really just became part of their family and sat with them for lunch. Silly kid!!
Jordan loves to call Dad on the phone and he's practiced so many times he can dial his number on his own. He always talks about Aunt Wee and Uncle T (Todd and Wendy), and his G&G Burton, and G&G Larson. Whenever I say we're going to Aunt Wee's house, he gets really excited, and sometimes he'll ask to call her and talk to her. Same with his grandparents. He'll ask me, "Mom, where Grandma is?" and ask to call her.
He loves his little brother and even though he's a little rough on him, they're always laughing when they're together. Austin seems to like it when Jordan lays on top of him, smothering him (not good, I know!) or when Jordan grabs his leg and drags him around the room (again, not good), but Austin just cackles. And even though I'm telling Jordan, "NO", I'm really laughing inside because I know they're having so much fun together. For Jordan's 2nd birthday I bought him a little fish and he really loved that fish. One day, I was bathing Austin and it got quiet in the laundry room - never a good sign. I asked Jordan what he was doing in there since the door was shut, and I guess he tried petting the fish and accidently poured the fish onto the floor, and it died. We had our first lesson on life and death right there. He knows his little fishy is with Heavenly Father, and we had the same life lesson when our neighbor's dog got ran over in the street. Jordan, so calmly told me that Jody's dog was with Heavenly Father, with his fishy.
Now he tells me that baby Jackson is with Heavenly Father, with his fishy and they're all in Heaven. Sometimes I wonder how much they really know and understand. But I know they understand a lot more than we give them credit for.
Those are my thoughts for the day. I just wanted to write down all of my most recent memories of my little boy so I don't forget how much I love him today.

Sunny St. George

We thought we'd stretch the warm weather out just a little bit longer so we took a trip down to St. George to soak up the sun one last time! The kids got to play at the park, go on a few walks and bike-ride with us, and we just had fun spending time as a family. We also got to see our good friends, the Udy's, who used to live by us and moved to St. George a few months ago.

Jordan's little blue puppy; this little puppy travels with us everywhere we go. Jordan will tell me, "my little blue puppy is hungry", or "he wants to go with us to the store", so we've officially adopted Little Blue Puppy into our family and he is just one of us :-)
Ahhh... we got to escape, just the two of us and play some golf.
Jared and Jordan strolling down the Las Vegas Strip; notice our Little Blue Puppy - he really does go everywhere with us!

Jordan couldn't wait to go to St. George because he knew we'd take him swimming. That's all he talked about while we were on the road so he was a happy little boy when he got to put on that swimsuit and head off to the pool.

And there's me and my little cheeser; Austin loves to smile and show off his bottom chompers. I love my little cuddle bug! So now I need to really let it sink in that winter is here; I am excited about the change of seasons, the cool weather, the snow, and the holidays that are right around the corner. I really do love this time of year and all of the magic that is in the air.

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween... finally here! Jordan has been so excited about Halloween this year. We've tried to fill the past few weeks up with Halloween activities and so every day he'll ask me, "Is it a Halloween Day today?" Jared and Jordan were cowboys, me - a cowgirl, and baby Austin was the Cow (yes, I recycled one of Jordan's Halloween costumes). We had some surprise visitors; Jared's mom and sister, Brenda, stopped by to see us right before the mad rush of kids came through. I'm usually the one passing out the candy and this was the first year I took the kids out! I loved seeing Jordan and his little buddy, Dane run up to each house nearly shouting because they were just so excited to be out trick-or-treating. Even though it rained a little, it was a fun night and Jordan had a blast.

This beautiful weather!

We're soaking up every minute of this gorgeous weather!
Jordan and Austin have so much fun playing outside; Jordan loves those Tonka Trucks and Austin is usually just following him around, hoping to be included in the fun. Austin's latest fetish is picking up the rocks in the fire pit and chucking them in the water fall. And of course.. he learned this from his big brother.

Halloween Mystery Dinner Theater

Aunt Diane and Uncle Layne and a bunch of their friends went to the Mystery Dinner Theater downtown. It was a theatrical murder-mystery / dinner show and we had a great time. We had some interesting guests at our table: a guy wearing a little school girl dress (wow!) and I think his wife was a red-neck golfer, and the bumble bees with "BOO" signs around their necks... "boo-bees" Very cute. It was fun :-)

Gardner Village

I love Gardner Village, especially at this time of year. There are so many fun shops and every corner is decorated with pumpkins and haystacks... and it just feels like the Fall everywhere you turn. I love the bright colors of the leaves right now and the air just feels cool and crisp. We're SO enjoying this season and I just can't get enough of the outdoors.

More Halloween...

SLC Fire Station Trip

Tiff had a friend who really hooked us up; she knows a fireman at the SLC Fire Dept. and she arranged for us to have a group tour of the station. After we took a tour of the station we all got to go on a ride in the fire truck. For a kid who LOVES fire trucks, ambulances, helicopters, police cars, etc. etc. this was a real treat.
Thanks again, Tiff!!!

Barnyard Boo

Tiffany, Camille, and some other friends took the kids to Thanksgiving Point (Barnyard Boo); I'm really going to buy a membership next year! We just love this place.
The kids had a great time riding the pony's, "bowling", getting their faces painted, etc. etc. Fun stuff. And thanks so much Tiffany, I love that you always include me in the fun!! Love you so much! We had a great time.

Brandon's Birthday Party

Jordan has a friend in the neighborhood who just turned 4 (and they're just a few months apart so I know I'll be celebrating B-day #4 in just a few months) Ahhh!! The kids decorated cupcakes at the Crow's home and then we headed to the Kid Barn and had some fun bouncing around.