It's Worm Outside

Today as the girls and I were driving home from Kim's house we noticed a cyclist stopped at the same light where we were stopped.  We brought him up a few times as we were driving because we kept getting stopped at the lights at every mile block and the cyclist would catch back up with us before the light turned green again.  So every time we got stopped we would wait and see if the cyclist would catch up again.  This went on for about 5 miles.  One time I mentioned that he was pretty tough to be riding outside in the cold and rain. Alex then responded, "its not cold when it rains, it is worm, that's why all the worms come out".  I had to explain to her that they are different words, warm and worm.  I love these little glimpses into your child's mind. 

Alex turns 6!

 Alex had a nice birthday last week.  She woke up and had breakfast in bed (as requested).  She then got to go to school and liked being wished a happy birthday over the loud speaker by her principal.  After school she requested McDonalds for lunch. Her best friend, Elsie, joined us with her mom and they had a great time at lunch (I wish i got a picture!).  She requested that Brad bring home Cafe Rio for dinner and an angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  Alex was so generous as she was opening her presents.  She let Ayden and Laela each open one for her and then she didn't mind having helpers the entire time.  She has also been amazing at sharing all her things.  

Alex is certainly a super sweet little girl.  She is very loving and thoughtful.  She is patient and good at entertaining herself.  She is cuddly and so good at playing with her sisters.  She is growing up so quickly and I can't believe she is 6!  Happy Birthday Alex. 

I also just love this little picture of Laela.  She got herself all ready to go play outside.  It is finally getting a little nice around here!

March 2012- Jump Creek Falls

We had a fun little family day to Jump Creek Falls.  We got a little lost and had fun driving on dirt roads with a ton of cows before we found our way to the falls.  We enjoyed the short little hike to the falls and then had a great picnic.  The girls loved it and we can't wait for the weather to cooperate a little more so we can enjoy many more days like this. 

February 2012

It appears we didn't do very well in February taking pictures also.  It is the last thing you think about when you are in survival mode I suppose. We did have a better month though.  By the middle of february I started at least getting to a place where I could function and we enjoyed a weekend in McCall with 6 other families.  We rented a house and had a great time.  The kids (and many adults) spend most of their time sledding down the long driveway.  Brad and another dad spend hours building up the side where the driveway turned so that they could ride the whole length without risk of getting lofted off the edge of a cliff and onto the frozen lake. It was like a luge track and it was really great.  We had so much fun with all the great families and it was so nice to get out and do something.  We enjoyed eating, playing games, talking and relaxing.  We also went back to gold fork hot springs.  Which is where my girls found out I was pregnant.  I was almost 12 weeks at that point and we wanted to wait and tell them after my next appointment which was only a few days away to make sure everything was still going well.  I decided I was not going to get in the water because of the heat and I didn't feel like risking it with the baby.  So as I was paying and I told the lady, one adult, three kids.  She asked me if it included me, I told her no because I was not going to swim.  She asked me why and I said "I can't, I'm pregnant".  She then responded that I had to pay anyway.  So I did and then went into the changing area with the girls and Ayden very seriously in kind of a whisper says "mom, mom, why did you tell that lady you are pregnant?"  I was so taken by surprise and at first I was thinking of a way out because of course that isn't how I wanted her to find out and I wanted to be able to tell her when we had time to talk about it but I just said "surprise, because I am".  Ayden was super excited and has been really sweet and fun about it.  She kept saying over and over, "I can't believe I am going to have another sister or brother".  She was also very sweet and thoughtful to me for the next couple of days, asking if she can help me or get me anything.  Asking if I am feeling ok, etc.  Super sweet.  

 *post edit* added pictures a friend emailed

Brad and I also had our birthdays.  We opened presents and had cake on Brads birthday with the girls and then the next day on my birthday my friend, Kim, watched our girls so we could go out together.  We went to Barbacoa and had an amazing dinner.  Brad of course requested tres leches cake and his favorite enchilada pie for dinner.  

January 2012

If I had my way, I would just delete January.  Brad was out of town the first two weeks of the month and then the rest of time time the girls and I were all sick.    It was a month of surviving for sure.  I only took two pictures the whole month of January.  I put Laela to bed for a nap but she was in the habit of getting out of her crib and playing for an hour or so and then getting back in her crib to sleep.  One day I went into her room to wake her up and couldn't find her.  Then I noticed her little foot sticking out of the curtains of her shelves.  How she slept in that uncomfortable position I do not know!  

On top of colds I was also extremely nauseous because I am pregnant.  We are expecting another baby due the end of August.  So the only other pictures from January are from an early ultrasound of our little one.  This ultrasound was at 8 weeks (I am 15 weeks now as I am writing this).  We are very excited for another little Terry.  I am finally feeling better, just tired and a little nauseous now.  Now that I am feeling a bit better it is a little more real to me that we are having another baby.  I am sure it will be even more real when we find out the gender in a month!  Since it is everyones favorite question... no we are not purposely going for a boy.  :)  We just want a healthy baby.  And to be completely honest, we would be happy either way.  We already have girls and love our girls and would love to see what another one would be like.  They are all so different and all so much fun.  It would be cheaper and there is something about a family of all girls that I think is so great.  On the other hand, of course, we would love to see what a little boy would be like.  It would shake things up and we would definitely enjoy a little less drama! I would also love an excuse to buy new clothes and such because the ones we have are a little worn out after going through three kids but it would be hard to justify new stuff if it is girl.  I am just excited to find out what it is because I love knowing and it really makes things more real to me.  

You can even see the little butt cheeks. (I have never noticed such a prominent yolk sak and umbilical cord in other ultrasounds before, kind of interesting)

Ayden's letter

As I am catching up my blog Brad received this letter from Ayden and per her instructions he handed it for me to read.  Too funny, I just had to post.  She was really just being silly and came in happily. 

December 2011

 The girls getting their pictures with santa at our ward Christmas breakfast.  Laela is still scared of santa so she would not do it.

 As we have a couple of previous years we decided to go chop our own Christmas tree in the woods.  We drove to Idaho City and purchased a permit and then parked on a road and took off for a tree.  It was very hard even finding a tree that would work let along one that wasn't totally terrible.  We hiked a good mile or two in and really had a hard time finding anything.  We felt like we probably didn't pick the best place but didn't want to hike out and drive somewhere else only to hike in somewhere again.  We ended up just continuing and took whatever we could find.  Our limit was 15 ft but the spot where we wanted to put the tree in our house was only 8 feet so we were not looking for something too big.  We eventually came upon a tree that would do after we cut the bottom 4 feet off and decided to go with it. It was a fun family activity and we all had a good time and created good memories getting the tree so it was all worth it!  

My parents came to our house for Christams this year.  It was the very first year we spend actual Christmas day in our own home.  We had a really great time and loved having my parents here.  Three days of their time here we drove up to Tamarack and stayed in a little condo. We had fun hanging out together, going to Gold Fork hot springs and spending some time in McCall.  

 We asked a local where he would eat in McCall and he told us about a mexican restaurant that was really good.  Just look at Brads meal!

 The living room before the kiddos came out Christmas morning. 

After Christmas we went to Park City to spend some time with my brother and his family and my sister and her husband.  

 Brad, Taylor and Grandpa took some of the kiddos geocaching one afternoon and it seems those are pretty much the only pictures we took the whole trip.  Can you believe there is no snow!!

 We also celebrated my brothers birthday on the 31st. This is the portion with the kiddos.  After we put them to bed we enjoyed a really great meal with the adults.  I can't believe we didn't take pictures!  Each couple was in charge of a different course of the meal with the theme being Mediterranean.  It was such an amazing dinner and we had a lot of fun.  I will have to see if someone got some pictures.