Surprise Ash!

Spring break was spent on a fun trip to Arizona. We left Friday the 12th, and made good time on the drive - yes, I am 8.5 months pregnant, no the doctor probably wouldn't exactly suggest that I take a 12 hour drive this close to my due date, but I didn't ask and he didn't say so... Here's how the fun trip went!

Poor Drewby teethed the first few days of the break. On the way over he cried hard as we changed altitudes; even Motrin couldn't completely soothe the pain of two big molars cutting through his top gums. After Monday he showed signs of his playful self returning (thankfully) and brightened up as the week wore on.

Once we got into town and had a good night's sleep I headed out to my sister's to meet everyone preparing for Ashleigh's surprise party. I had schemed for a month and a half with Anthon and my other family members to pull this off (arrive in AZ and surprise her with a 26th birthday party), and it WORKED! Here's the video of the big "Surprise!" moment :)

Sydney cracks me up - she knew something was up when we all went quiet and waited for the front door to open. She hid in the bathroom closet until the big "Surprise!" was over :) has always been afraid of Happy Birthday songs, since we first sang it to her! Anyway, that part of the video cracked me up, Pace you did a good job in catching all the fun, memorable moments!

Crazy eyes Anthon :) helped us pull off the surprise!

After the party was over, we played with family all week. Pace worked with his Dad and crammed studies in over a few nights... Believe it or not, this was a pretty chill vacation compared to our normal visits (mostly for the kids' sakes, they needed a schedule similar to real life).

Some of the highlights
Disclaimer: I'm 8.5 months pregnant, not the most flattering pose :)

Temple session with some of my favorite women :) L->R: Ash, Alishia, Mom, Me and Michele, we all made it to a morning session together. I totally forgot my recommend at home, but thankfully they have back-up plans in place for people like me :) They got me approved for a day pass, yay! We ate Cafe Rio afterward for lunch - what a great day!! So fun!! The Pyles watched Syd and Drew for me - thank you again, Kim and Lindsay!! You are wonderful!!

And... those are the only pictures, sadly, that I took :( Shame on me!! (Check Ash's blog, she got a sweet camera for her birthday, there's bound to be pictures there) But we swam and swam in my cousin's pool (Michele above) - they heated it!! Wow, so NICE! Drew just smiled the entire time, which was a feat since he had been so sad in pain for so long. Syd loved playing with all her cousins, so did Drew - got to see the Rawlins grandkids almost every day, and spent a lot of time with my family as well. They were all in heaven! And the adults managed to get out one evening for a date night at Macaroni Grill (my favorite). Bummer Ash and Anthon had to skip - she works now part-time, started the VERY week I planned to come see her :( But we still got to hang out, and hooray!! She'll be here in 6 weeks anyway when this baby comes and Paces is up to his eyeballs in yet another semester of finals straddled around the birth of one of his kids :) Poor guy...

So, there it is :) a special trip in my eyes.

Before we left AZ I had Pace give each of us blessings, just in case I went into labor early, so we'd all be prepared for the adjustments that lie ahead, and that we'd have a good time, be healthy, etc. I felt strongly that this would be an edifying, uplifting week. After the first couple days with Drew's teething (bad, he's never been like that before, ever) I thought, "This isn't edifying or uplifting", wondered why then. Sunday's lesson hit me though, about Joseph being sold into Egypt. The teacher added a theme of, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade", talked about how hard it must've been for him... Anyway, it made me think about when we are promised great blessings, especially when/if we are expecting spiritual good things to happen, be prepared for adversity. To somewhat quote Brian Regan... "If the Lord tells you you're in for a spiritual experience, buckle up!" Ha :)

...Reminded me of when I gave birth to Drew, I had prayed for weeks that it would be a spiritual experience (don't ever do that :) jk) and it was, but not until after a TREMENDOUS (for me) storm of physical pain and suffering, which really allowed for the spiritual growth?? Anyway, there's my week :) It was wonderful to see you all! The trip back was great, but we're glad to be home safe and sound :) Now on with the semester!

8 Months Pregnant!

Can't believe it... And the semester is hard at times, so that's probably why I feel like the time has gone by quicker. Still have energy (thankfully, whew!), still not incredibly uncomfortable yet - just enough to know there's something growing in there :) He moves a lot more now, kicks quite a bit, thankfully is not breech, though (seems like they kick you where it hurts more, being upside down). Just counting the weeks left before this little addition pokes his head out (OUCH!) and make his debut! :)

Pace is taking his MPRE exam today, the ethics portion of the bar. Still has a year and a half before he graduates, but now is the time for this piece of his testing. Wish him luck! Feels confident (it is pass or fail). He'll do fine :)

Drew is actually starting to learn to walk! Hallelujah! He is 16 months old almost, takes just a step or so on his own, but we're getting there. He's definitely thinned out. Now is just below 30 pounds, woo-hoo! Tubby getting tall, still solid though. Anyway, he is a such a JOY! I love little BOYS!!

And girls!! Sydney will turn 4 next month, I'm already getting her guest list together and her party planned out :) Gotta have things in order, it's just a couple weeks before this baby's due date. I'm telling you, we are running here, trying to keep up with everything! But the kids are happy, have lots of time to be at home together, playing etc. There's our update :) Now back to Finance and Accounting homework :( ....

Snow Day

Here I am again! Posting, wow huh! It hasn't even been a month :)

I love Lubbock weather. One day it's 70 degrees outside and the next you have this winter wonderland.

I couldn't get over how gorgeous all the trees around town were, all encapsulated in ice! The sunlight would catch them just right and I realized why we put clear glass ornaments on our Christmas trees - mesmerizing! :) (Too bad my point and click couldn't really capture the beauty)

Of course, since Lubbock doesn't get a ton of snow the citizens aren't used to the hazardous conditions... Schools shut down because of icy roadways. Pace and I had classes cancel on both Thursday and Friday, which made for a wonderful, unexpected break and an extra long weekend.

We had a ball!!

Drew's first experience with snow:

Used all his 5 senses to explore the intriguing white fluffy stuff everywhere...

Pace loved playing with them, and the kids had a great time too!

A New Year

I can't believe I'm all caught up!! I skimmed over everything, but those are the highlights of the past two months. Now our blog is updated, and I'm ready to begin a New Year and a new semester at Tech. I have 5 classes to finish by April 30th (when this baby is due) so wish me luck! Two of them are online, so I hope life will be manageable as I get big and fat. Here are some hopes I have for the upcoming months:

1. I hope Drew will learn to walk soon :) The kid weighs 30 pounds and my aching pregnant belly is tired to lifting him. But he is so cute and so fun!
2. I want a rocker recliner!! I hope by tomorrow I can say that we found one and Pace bought it for me :( I'm such a brat, the dude has been wanting a flat screen for months... But the chair outweighs the TV literally, ha. One day you'll get your TV babe! For now, enjoy the 3 we have that work just fine :)
3. That's it really - I just hope life is manageable, like I said, over the next several months! Cause we have a lot going on! Oh! And..
4. I hope you all take time to skim through my posts - I spent HOURS on here getting this stupid thing up to speed :) It's all for the posterity huh? See you on the blog again soon!

Crazy, but two true stories...

I locked Drew in the car with my keys last week! I was parked outside Pace's parents' house, ready to leave - I never do that! Luckily it wasn't too warm out (could you imagine if it were summer in AZ?)! Pace's dad called the Captain in the Fire Department (a friend of his) and a truck with 4 firemen came and jimmied Drew out. Sad, crazy huh? Here are some pictures, Pace had me take them, thought Drew would enjoy the story later in life

THE NEXT DAY, I was showering and had Drew playing in the bathroom with me. Some guy insulating my in-laws' attic fell through the ceiling right by Drew! I was out drying off and saw first his foot, then his leg come down, so I (naked) shriek, "Wait! Let me get my baby!" I jerked Drew out of the way but he still was covered in insulation. Anyway, no one was hurt, thank heavens and I was laughing within minutes - crazy! No pictures of that incident :) Sorry!!

Christmas: Arizona

We had FIVE Christmases total. No complaints from our children of course :) My Mom was thrilled to see us, surprised her for sure. That made my day - after the long, hard trek her joy made it more worth while!

Surprise Mom!

Sydney had a blast seeing her cousins again

My sister-in-law's camera took a much better photo, but here's what I captured. All the Rawlins grand-kids :)

Christmas Eve party with Rawlins and Kalafs:





The kids sang a couple songs for Great Gma & Gpa Kalaf :)

What a memorable night! Everyone was there!

I've decided I really didn't take enough pictures. I have a lot of videos but they take so long to upload! Christmas morning we slept in at my mom's, opened gifts with her and Peter, then headed to the Rawlins' for more gift giving and breakfast

Rawlins grand kids had on matching pajamas Christmas morning :)

Drew's signature pucker :) This baby loves his eggs!

Once Ashleigh & Anthon's came home from Show Low (where they spent Christmas with Anthon's family) we met at their place to exchange more gifts

Drew and Roman played and wrestled together :)

Ash made Syd a dress up chest filled with various character dresses - her favorite of course was the Cinderella look-alike dress

She kept changing dresses every 5 minutes - her Aunt taught her that, ha thanks again for that Nash!

Another lamentation - we shared Christmas dinner with my cousins the Sorensons - delicious, and FUN time, love those guys!! But no pictures! At least we could hang out a lot while we were in Arizona. Feels like I'm on vacation when I travel back home now, I love it! But it has been great to get back home, especially after the 12 hour drive back. Luckily there were no delays this time, stopped only twice for potty/gas/food breaks. Kids did great!
See you all next summer!

Christmas: Lubbock

Originally Pace and I wanted to stay in Lubbock for Christmas, then head to Arizona the day after to visit family for a couple weeks. Once we realized that we'd be silly to not go spend it with them while we could (who knows what next year will be like), we determined to head over the 23rd, surprise my Mom, and spend Christmas Eve at her house.

First, our card:

My friend Natalie Mitchell took our pictures - she does great work!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We opened our gifts here early :)

Sydney helped Drew open his, they were excited with new toys! Then we packed and prepared for our journey to Arizona.

On the way to Arizona....

We left early (5 AM Arizona time), and it was smooth sailing the first 9-10 hours of the trip. We stopped only twice for potty/gas breaks - amazing when you have a potty trained three year old and a one year old stuck in a car seat for that long! The kids were happy, we were happy...

Then we got into Overguard and the snow storm hit. People at the gas station warned us, "Fill your tank, bring water, cause it's a mess down there. Cars off the road everywhere, some upside down; rigs jack-knifed..." We thought,"Oh, we'll be careful, no big deal, we're almost home!" SEVEN HOURS we sat in our car outside Forest Lakes. Should've been down off the mountain and at my sister's by 5PM, nope, we rolled in at 2AM! I have never been so nauseous in my life as I was driving down that icy mountain! My stomach was in KNOTS, and I seriously thought I'd throw up behind the wheel there a time or two. It was CRAZY (this was 10:30 at night when we finally were able to follow the snow plow and begin our decent). The kids were amazingly fine for the first 5 hours or so of sitting there. We had no DVD player, no IPOD, NOTHING to entertain the poor things, and it was freezing outside so we all just sat in our seats. Here are some pictures we took while we still had the energy to make it fun. :)

Lots of cars in front of us

Lots more behind us

Pace jumped out to see what the deal was... We were stuck behind a jack knifed rig, and between road closures - not good.

The kids were excited to see all the snow at first

We invited a freezing FedEx driver to sit with us (bummer, no pic). He was nearly out of gas and couldn't leave the truck and heat running. We had a full tank so were nice and toasty. At 7:30 we had to bring the kids up front and rock them to sleep, both were crying hard. We all fell asleep around 9:00, woke once we could follow the plow down the mountain. Holy cow what a night! So glad we made it, but pray we never have too do that again!

Baby #3 - It's a boy!

The Wednesday before Christmas Pace & I found out our third baby is growing fine, everything looks good, and yes, we have another boy joining the ranks! Hooray!!

Catch up Part 1: Drew's 1st Birthday

So, finally I am updating our blog! So much has happened... Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Drew's 1st Birthday

Our little guy turned 1 on November 15th!
Yeah, I know, it's about time I blogged, but hey better late than never :)

Didn't put on quite the theatrics Sydney did at that age, but that's our little Drew! He is one super chill, sweet, but fun little dude!

Lots of friends came to play and celebrate with us...

Hanna, Christopher, Eli, Kayden, and of course Sydney and Drew had a blast breaking out some fun new toys :)

Happy 1st Birthday Drewby!! We love you!

First Moments

Drew's First Halloween

Our Little Frog Prince: I think he'll forgive me when he's older, but doesn't he look cute! It was half off at Babies R Us the week before Halloween. It really was exactly what I wanted, I was so thrilled!

Although he looks a little sad here, he was totally mellow in the outfit. Didn't mind wearing the suit or the hat one bit!
And it kept him warm

What a change from last year's screaming and tugging fit Sydney threw in her Tinkerbell costume - "Get off get off!" :) Now she loves to play dress up while she watches Tinkerbell... I love this girl :)

Speaking of Sydney and her fairytale make believe....
She bit into 8 apples

then fell asleep in her Cinderella dress :)

Her fun & imagination is never ending!

The Princess & The Frog Prince

This year Sydney was the most "beau'ful, wonderful - Gorilla!" in her cinderella dress. Gorilla is how she pronounces any double-L word :) Hilarious.

I bought the dress a little early, and after three days of wear and tear it really was worn and torn. My friend Cherisse altered it for me, salvaged it really, and made it what it is today - thank you Cherisse!!

Sydney actually got into trick or treating this year - so cute!! She was timid at first but once she saw they were giving out candy she exclaimed, "Oh! OH!! Okay!" and stuck out her silver Cinderella bag (compliments of Cherisse); she was as friendly as could be. At the third house she tried to walk in once they opened the door! Cracked us up. We trick or treated 7 houses or so before going to our friends', the Stebbings, Halloween party. We had a wonderful evening!

Drew's First Haircut
Before:

He was super chill during it, barely whined...

That's our Drewby :)

After: Handsome little boy!

(Mom got her hair trimmed too)

Here he is in action, at bedtime the other night :)


He is growing up so fast! We can't wait for his first birthday - in just a week and a half. Lots of photos and a video clip or two of the party to come! :) Happy Belated Halloween everyone!