Life Is What You Wake Of It

Birthday Girl

2011-01-31T13:41:00.001-08:00

Ava turned 1 last week ("say what???"...I know.)

Do you know what she got for her birthday?

Lots of things.

A fever. A runny/stuffy nose. A cough.

She is finally starting to act like her old self again thank goodness.

You know, it's not until she is sick and then not sick that I really realize what a happy, sweet baby she is. I have just been spoiled. I am grateful that she is healthy. I am grateful for her snuggles (she is the only one of my kids who will snuggle when she is not sick.) I am grateful for her giggles. I am grateful that I am not paying for formula anymore.

But most of all, I am so grateful to be her Mom.

Seriously.

December to Remember

2010-12-31T23:40:00.000-08:00

Here is our Christmas card.

We had 3 different shoots to get it done.

I think it was worth it.

The day after Thanksgiving, we (all 5 of us) woke up sick. Flu sick.

We were a NyQuil commercial.

We were sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, suffy headed and fevered.

We were miserable.

By Sunday, we were feeling a little bit better but not enough to go to church. We decided to get out some crafts to pass the time and to get our halls decked for Christmas.

I found these simple, cute craft kits at Target and they were perfect for Chloe and Beckham. We made garland and ornaments for the kid's tree and door hangers for their bedrooms.

It is so fun watching how different they are when they get creative.

Chloe is messy but efficient.

Beckham is tidy and slow.

It was a fun afternoon.

I think that Mr. Poort has a little bit of OCD.

Everything has to be categorized and in its place in every aspect of life.

Miss Chloe would do crafts all day every day if she could.

She loves to create.

Miss Ava's new trick:

No, not eating off of the floor (she has been doing that for a while now)...

She is now a stander!

See...he had to put everything in a row before he could even think about starting to create anything...

The benefit of having a backyard with mature trees is the leaves that fall to the ground. Chloe spent hours and hours raking leaves into piles this Autumn. Because of all of the wind, her piles would get destroyed daily and so everyday she would grab the rake and start making piles again.

(I should say that the wind AND Beckham were the destroyers of those piles.)

While we were at my parent's house one day, I left the room for a few minutes and came back to this.

Hmmm...I wonder who gave her that.

Busted.

She almost finished the whole thing by herself.

You can tell that she is child #3.

I would have probably freaked out if Chloe had sugar at this age.

(not to mention...eating food off of the floor??? Gasp.)

The kids (and I) were SO EXCITED to decorate the house for Christmas.

We decorated the tree together (with a little adjustment by me so that the tree wasn't bottom heavy)...

We cranked the Christmas music up and drank hot chocolate.

Beckham's favorite Christmas song this year? "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"

Chloe's? "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town"

Jasper, our Elf on the Shelf, made his appearance on December 1st. Chloe was so cute with him. Every day (and I mean EVERY day), Chloe would talk to him, leave him notes/lists and even made him a green hat. She was so happy to find him wearing her hat everyday of his stay.

The kid's threatened each other all month with telling Jasper about the other's bad behavior.

It worked...which meant that I didn't have to do much reminding.

Genius invention.

Miss Ava in her "Baby's 1st Christmas hat." She wouldn't keep it on so I had to distract her with food.

Beckham turns everything into a vehicle of some sort. Here, he is using a snowflake ornament to drive his motorcycle.

I love boys.

Me and Jonny P at his company party.

I love this boy the most.

Christmas Morning

2010-12-31T23:26:00.002-08:00

The kids were up by 7 a.m..

I love the commotion of Christmas morning.

The laughing and giddiness is contagious.

I told Chloe and Beckham that if they made bad choices that Jasper, our Elf on the Shelf, would take away 1 of their presents...their favorite present. After she was done opening her gifts, Chloe came and whispered in my ear that she had tricked Jasper. She said that she had purposely told him that her favorite gift on her list was a coloring book (when in fact it was a doll house) and that she didn't get one for Christmas.

She fooled him.

Probably the worst gift ever. Beckham L.O.V.E.S. Transformers. He watches the old 80's cartoons on Netflix all of the time. Santa thought that Beck's big gift should be the biggest Bumblebee Transformer made. What Santa failed to think about was the fact that Transformers need to transform. I love this picture because Beckham was confused as to why his Dad couldn't figure out how to put Bumblebee back together again.

This toy is now totally assembled but sits quietly on a shelf until Beckham turns 10 and can transform it himself.

Aunt Amber and Uncle Kyle gave these to Chloe. They had no idea that Santa was bringing an empty doll house that needed some tenants. It was perfect.

Santa probably could have just given her a bag of these and called it good.

Buying anything for my parents is kind of hard. If they want something, they usually just go and get it for themselves. This year, we decided to transfer all of their VHS tapes to DVD.

There were tears.

Mission accomplished.

The rest of the day was spent eating and playing and going to the movies and eating.

ALL done in our jammies...yes, even the movie theater (we looked awesome in all of our "matchiness" if you were wondering...)

The Night Before Christmas

2010-12-31T23:26:00.001-08:00

When we arrived home from our train ride, we showered, washed jammies and cooked.

My family met at our house for our traditional chili dinner and gifts.

After we ate, we gathered around my brother, Jason, as he read the biblical account of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We read this every year on Christmas Eve. It breaks up the scriptures with hymns.

After we finished the "We Three Kings" song, we went to the front room for gifts. We finished up the night by making Oreo truffles for Santa (I heard this is his new favorite).

It was simple and fun.

After we cleaned up, everyone but me, Jon and Ava went to my parent's home.

Jon and I stayed up until 3:30 assembling stuff. I already had everything wrapped weeks before Christmas, but didn't assemble anything until that night.

We loaded everything into the car and traveled to my parent's house and went to bed at 4 a.m.

Why do I do this to myself every year???

Mark my word, next year will be different.

(probably not).

"But That Can Only Happen..."

2010-12-31T23:25:00.001-08:00

...on the Polar Express!"

My parents are awesome (and I don't use that word lightly...and not just because of this...)

For Christmas, my Mom wanted to do something different for us as a gift. Back in July she booked us tickets to ride the Polar Express train in Arizona (which, of course, has a non-stop trip to the North Pole...)

We were told when it was and that we needed to keep the ride a secret from all of the kids.

On the morning of December 23rd, we drove to my parent's house and loaded into 2 cars. The kids had no idea what was going on.

We arrived at the hotel, and because my kids L.O.V.E. hotels, they thought that was the whole surprise.

My mom passed out wrapped gifts to everyone.

Jammies. Matching jammies.

Then my Mom told the kids that they needed to hurry and change into their jammies because we were going on the Polar Express!

The kids freaked out. It was adorable.

Everyone scrambled to get changed and we headed to the train station.

We settled into our seats.

The train left the station and the chef-dressed staffers passed out hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies.

The conductor came with his special punch and punched each of our tickets.

The chefs walked up and down the aisles reading the Polar Express book.

We sang Christmas songs and before we knew it, we arrived at the North Pole.

Santa Claus stood next to his huge bag of gifts and his elves.

The kids waved and went crazy.

The train turned around to head back to the station and Santa was missing.

The kids were confused.

A few minutes passed and then the door opened and in walked Santa!

It was magical!

He passed out bells to each of the kids and then we spent the remainder of the ride singing Christmas songs at the top of our lungs.

When the ride was over, we headed back to the hotel for dinner.

The next morning, we went to breakfast and then visited the reindeer farm.

Magical memories.

Perfect Christmas Eve Eve.

The Announcement.

The Jammies.

The Snuggles.

The Family.

The Girls.

The Boys.

The Smiles.

The Eyes.

The Kids.

The Big Girls.

The Snow Drippings.

The Left Side.

The Right Side.

The Parents.

The Ticket.

The Wonder.

The Passengers.

The Excitement.

The Story.

The Nana.

The Cousins.

The North Pole.

The Santa.

The Bells.

The Songs.

The Grandpa.

The Momma's Boy.

The Daddy's Girl.

The Snowball Fight.

The Reindeer Farm.

THE END.

Sinterklaas

2010-12-31T23:24:00.005-08:00

This is everyone.

All of the Poorts.

Every year we celebrate Sinterklaas

(Dutch Christmas...you know...because Jon is from there and all...).

This year we hosted it at our home.

It was so much fun.

We ate chicken enchiladas (VERY Dutch...not really).

We read our poems to one another and opened gifts.

We changed into jammies and played games.

We made gingerbread houses and filled our shoes with carrots (for Sinterklaas' horses) and placed them on the front porch.

We stayed up until 3:30 (yes...in the a.m.).

Slept for a few hours.

Woke up to candy-filled shoes and breakfast made by Jon.

Lunch by Uncle Oscar.

Spent the day in jammies and laziness.

It was bliss.

Auntie Tee gets the kids matching pjs every year.

This year was Phineas and Ferb for the boys and Tangled for the girls.

Chloe wants hers washed every day so that she can wear them every night.

Our Uncle Weston Fix

2010-12-31T23:24:00.003-08:00

My brother, Weston, is an Air Force man.

We are proud but we miss him.

He came home in the middle of December to celebrate Christmas early.

My sister, Amber, typed up an itinerary in late November to ensure that we got the most of our time with him.

We stayed busy!

We started out by having a family dinner together and then going to the Celebration of Lights.

There is something about lights and kids.

It makes them instantly happy and excited.

This year it was held at the race track and it was twice as long as last year's display.

All of us (illegally) piled into my parent's Yukon and turned up the Christmas carols.

Ava taking her turn in the front seat.

dAmber and Kyle run in the Santa Run Race every year and get free tickets to the Magical Forest at Opportunity Village. The kids played a round of golf, ate funnel cakes and hot chocolate and rode the carousel.

We spent Wednesday night of that week at Elizabeth's first band concert (she plays the flute!) and Thursday night we went to Naomi's first dance/voice recital.

Both of these events were must sees, but I think next time I will leave the kids at home.

Nightmare.

Santa Claus Came To Town

2010-12-31T23:24:00.001-08:00

Auntie Meghan held her annual shoots with Santa Claus.

It is never a disappointment.

The kid's were thrilled.

Giving Thanks

2010-11-30T08:26:00.001-08:00

I am sort of a control freak.

There.

I said it.

I like planning things and having things work out just how I planned them.

There is something to be said for getting what you want, when you want it.

It's nice, right?

This past year has been a year of learning that I am not always in control.

One of my favorite quotes is from the writer Maya Angelou:

"When you encounter a trial in your life, before you do anything, drop to your knees and thank God for what you are about to learn."

Trials are inevitable but how we react is our choice. I have been guilty this year of doing my share of complaining for things not always going as I planned them and in doing so missed so many learning experiences.

I am crazy blessed. Beyond what I ever planned for myself.

But, I think everyone is.

I just think that I am guilty of forgetting that some blessings come in the form of trials.

This Thanksgiving I am grateful that I didn't get exactly everything that I wanted this year, because I know that God, instead, has given me exactly everything that He knows that I need.

Day 1 - Washington D.C.

2010-10-30T15:31:00.003-07:00

You know how there are some experiences in your life that you romanticize? You look back and what actually happened gets mixed in with a little bit more fluff from your memory so that the memory is better than what you really experienced?

Well...I do that sometimes.

In September, we took a VACATION (Yes, a vacation. NOT a trip. No children).

Our brother-in-law is living in Washington D.C. for a short time and so it gave us a place to stay. We planned the trip within a few weeks. We are so spontaneous.

I used to fly to Washington D.C. all of the time when I was a flight attendant.

One of my most memorable trips was a 72 hour layover to D.C. and my Dad decided to come along with me. It had all of the ingredients to a perfect trip. 3 days with my Dad. Free hotel. Money for food and spending. What could go wrong?

Well...

the trip occurred at the same time that the Virginia sniper shootings were happening.

Remember when that was happening?

Well...

as we were deplaning, the pilot gathered our flight crew together and told us that because the shooter(s) had not yet been caught, we needed to take extra precaution. If we planned to do any sight seeing, we needed to walk in a brisk walk and in a zig zag pattern...

you know...to throw off the shooter.

Genius.

I told my Dad...sort of in passing...but he pretty much took it to mean that our lives depended on our vigilance to this advice.

Oh...and it was poring rain outside.

My Dad was intent on seeing EVERY.SINGLE.MONUMENT/MUSEUM that D.C. had to offer within the 3 day period. This ended up not being as impossible as you would think.

The 2 of us ran, zig zag, throughout the whole downtown D.C. area for 3 days.

Did we see everything?

I think so.

Every time we would get to our destination, my dad would yell for me to take a picture, we would touch whatever it was and then we would be running to our next destination.

This was almost 9 years ago.

That story was probably romanticized a bit. It was probably more miserable than what I described, but over time it has become really funny.

But I digress.

This vacation was perfect in every way. Even while we were experiencing it, I knew that I was living what would become some of my fondest memories. Over the course of 6 days, we traveled throughout Washington D.C., Virginia, Philadelphia and New York City.

It was amazing.

This vacation has become my new "happy place" and now when I am folding laundry or the kids are screaming at me to referee a dispute, this is where I go.

My happy place.

Do you have one of those?

Get one.

Even if you have to romanticize a memory to get one.

The White House

Washington Monument

National World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Day 2 - Washington D.C.

2010-10-30T15:31:00.001-07:00

U.S. Capitol

We spent the second day on a tour of the U.S. Capitol. It really was amazing. We had a representative from Senator Harry Reid's office give us a detailed tour of the whole building.

Jon is standing on the star that is inlaid in the floor that marks the point where Washington D.C.'s streets are numbered. It used to mark the center of Washington D.C. It is found in the crypt of the Capitol (it is called the Crypt because it was built to house the body of President Washington...but he ended up being laid to rest at Mt. Vernon).

Original Supreme Court Chambers

Rotunda

Okay...so this is awesome. There is a statue that is made for each of the Presidents of the United States. President Reagan's statue has little pieces of the Berlin Wall in it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Entrance to Nancy Pelosi's office

Brigham Young???

Each state was asked to choose 2 notable people from their state's history and have statues made of them to be added to the Capitol's Statuary Hall.

This one is from Utah.

This is us standing on the balcony outside of Senator Reid's office. The view is amazing!

After we left Senator Reid's office, a security guard asked us if we wanted to go to the President's Room. This is the room where all of the President's go after they are inaugurated. Our tour guide had never been in this room before and so we all learned about it together. There were no cameras allowed. There was, however, a picture of President Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the room after the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The table that is in the room is the table that President Lincoln used when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Ummm...pretty amazing.

Her name is the Statue of Freedom and she is what tops the roof of the Capitol Building and she (and what she represents) is beautiful.

After we finished up our 4 hour tour of the Capitol, we whipped out our very touristy tour book to find where we could go before everything closed. We must have looked totally lost and a random man came up and asked if we needed help finding something. Since we didn't know where we should go, he suggested that we follow him. There were 4 of us and 1 of him so we totally followed.

So...

We found out that he was the head of the secret service for the Capitol and he ended up being the perfect tour guide. He whisked us off to see the Library of Congress. I had heard of it (and probably touched the building with my Dad!), but I didn't really know what went on inside.

It was breathtaking. The art. The books. Everything.

Did you know that you have to get permission to even do research there?

I didn't.

After a quick dinner, we ventured to the Thomas Jefferson Monument. It was awesome to see D.C. at night. All of the monuments are lit up and the weather was so calm. It was peaceful to sit on the steps of the monument and just think.

I feel blessed to live in America.

Day 3 - Philadelphia/NYC

2010-10-30T15:30:00.001-07:00

Since we were already making a trip across the country, we had decided that we wanted to visit New York City. Instead of taking the bus, we decided to rent a car and drive. We stopped off in Philadelphia for a potty break.

Amazing place for a potty break.

We visited the Liberty Bell and picked up some Philly Cheese steak sandwiches for the road.

We rolled in to NYC (listening to Alicia Keys, of course) just in time for the guys to drop Melissa and me off to our Broadway play. We decided to see Promises, Promises mostly because Kristin Chenoweth was in it. It was a fun play. Great music. Oh, and Kristin was excellent.

Sean Hayes signing playbills after the show.

While the girls were at Promises, Promises, the guys went to New Jersey to see a pro soccer game. After the game and play, we met up to see Jersey Boys.
The soundtrack can now be heard playing at our house all of the time. I had no idea that I knew so many Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons songs. Loved It.

After the play, we had a wonderful, 4 star (thanks to Vance) dinner and even dined with Tyne Daly (you know...Lacey from Cagney and Lacey???)...

So, when I say "dined with" I mean that she sat a few tables away from us, but I am counting it.

After dinner, we caught a cab and headed to our hotel room...

Day 4 - NYC

2010-10-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

We arrived in NYC on September 11. It was kind of eerie. We went downtown to look at Ground Zero on September 12. There were make shift memorials everywhere. People were solemn. It was hard to believe that just 9 years ago the spot where we were standing was covered in massive piles of debris. There was an old church, St. Paul's Church, across the street from where the towers once stood. The church was a piece of history in and of itself. It was the church that President George Washington would go to worship for the 2 years that New York was the nation's capitol. It is also the place of worship for other Presidents who followed. But history had also given this church a new role. For 9 months following the attacks, the church became a safe haven for victims, families and rescue workers. As we walked inside, the church had been transformed with tokens and memorabilia from those who had come to this church seeking help. Although the "old" history of this church was significant, the "new" history of this church was too. I realized that I was alive when the new history was written and that the world would never be the same.

We had lunch on the pier. The weather was cloudy but calm. We bought an umbrella and visited Central Park, shopped and visited the Manhattan Temple/meeting house. It was a laid back day filled with reverence and great conversation.

Manhattan Temple

Central Park

Day 5 - Washington D.C.

2010-10-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

The last day of our trip began by visiting Arlington Cemetery and watching the changing of the guard.

President John and Jacqueline Kennedy's grave with the eternal flame.

US Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Monument)

Holocaust Memorial Museum

Smithsonian: American History Museum

Dorothy's Red Slippers!

Abraham Lincoln's hat that was worn when he was assassinated

Jacqueline Kennedy's Inaugural ball gown

(She is my favorite)

Melissa with the Obama's

We finished the day by walking through Georgetown. It is a beautiful, quaint town with so much charm (and cupcakes). It was the perfect end to a perfect get away.

9 Months

2010-10-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ava turned 9 months old yesterday.

Why is it that THIS 9 months went by

so.much.faster

than the 9 months that I was pregnant with her???

She has 4 teeth. She crawls and pulls herself up onto everything. She hooos like an owl. She loves to scream when she is happy (does that make sense? It's a cute scream)...She still sucks her thumb. She L.O.V.E.S. to snuggle. We love her.

A Little Cousin Time

2010-10-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

I love cousins. My kids love cousins. We had such a fun time with cousins last weekend.

A little beach. A zoo. An aquarium. Legoland.

Who could ask for anything more?

Oh...dressing up in Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating together.

Yep.

That topped off the trip perfectly.

Smashing Pumpkins

2010-10-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

It is Halloween time and so we started off the month with our Halloween PJ's. This year's jammies glow in the dark...not that that feature gets used very often because I have passed along my fear of the dark to my children. Soooo...we tried it out once and that was enough for them. This is the first year that the kids helped me dig out the Halloween decorations from the garage and designed our house the way that they wanted. Chloe couldn't stop and actually went into the Easter box and decided that we should combine Easter and Halloween together. (We still have a few bunny wreaths hanging here and there...)

We picked up some pumpkins and decided this was the year we would attempt to actually carve them. It was funny. It took about .32 seconds after Jon cut open the pumpkins for the kids to be completely grossed out with the idea of scooping out the guts and seeds. They insisted on gloves. Pansies.

After the scooping, the kids drew the faces that they wanted and Jon obliged.

We added some candles and placed them on the porch. They lasted for about 10 days and then they were so rotten that they had to be thrown away.

We were disappointed. It's like when a fresh Christmas tree is all decked out and then dies and is so dry that you have to take it down even before Christmas has come.

I think next year I may just have to find artificial pumpkins.

I love Halloween.

Beck wondering if he really has to dig out the insides

Chloe surveying the guts. Gotta be honest...there was a little bit of dry heaving involved.

Chloe has figured out that every face looks better with eyelashes

Practicing for Thanksgiving

Ava was sad that her pumpkin didn't get carved.

She changed her mind when she realized her pumpkin was the only one that didn't rot.

Teeth

2010-09-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Ava turned 8 months old last week. Do you know what she got?

Her first tooth!

So cute.

That same day, her Aunt Elizabeth spent the night at our house and just before bed, she lost a tooth.

So gross.

My parents were out of town and so I tried to nonchalantly ask her how much the tooth fairy left her for her last tooth...not that I really needed to know...I was just curious, of course.

She told me that the fairy left her $8 for her last tooth.

Ummmm...$8???

Is that really the going rate?

When she woke up in the morning, she did not find $8 under her pillow. Much less.

I may need to have a talk with this said fairy before my kids start loosing their teeth.

Paying for their education? Yes.

Dance lessons? Yes.

Sports? Yes.

A mouth full of $8 teeth?

No.

First Day of Preschool

2010-09-03T09:21:00.001-07:00

Chloe and Beckham started preschool yesterday.

Chloe spent the morning giving Beckham advice...because, you know, she is a veteran at this whole preschool thing.

She reminded him:

Not to cry

Tell the teacher if he needed to go to the bathroom

Say please and thank you

Be nice to the other kids

She even tried to teach him the pledge of allegiance.

I dropped Beckham off first, and when I picked him up, I saw this:

Then it was Chloe's turn. She walked in like she owned the place.

When I picked Chloe up, this is what I saw:

Smiles all around.

It was a fun day and we are all excited for the year ahead!

Miss Julene made all of the students one of these cute tote bags. Yes, she is awesome.

Summer 2010 Wrap Up in Pictures

2010-09-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Chloe and Beckham start school tomorrow and so I feel like our summer is officially over.

So...

Here are some random pictures from our summer that I wanted to make sure I had captured on the family blog.

A Day at Spring Mountain Ranch...

Dinner on the patio

We spent many nights eating dinner on the back patio. The kids love sitting and eating dinner together as a family. Chloe usually sets the table and rehearses which jokes she is going to tell.

Every One Loves An Ava

No one can resist Miss Ava. She is a staple to our diet. We eat her up every day...

how could we not??? Look at those cheeks!!!

More Fireworks

We went to St. George for a cousin's mission farewell the weekend of Pioneer Day. The kids went up early and spent the day with Aunt Amber and Uncles Kyle and Weston and went to a fair. We met up for dinner and a movie and then finished the night with more fireworks. Beckham now includes in his prayers, "Please bless we can do more fireworks..." almost every night. Should I be worried?

Like Father, Like Son.

These two are alike in so many aspects. Sometimes when I watch Beckham, I feel like I am watching Jon as a kid. If Beckham grows up to be like Jon, I will be a happy woman.

Cousin Time

Some of my most fond memories from childhood were times that I spent with my cousins. I feel blessed that my children have been blessed to have such sweet, fun cousins. They are some of their best friends.

This is from Oma's birthday party. Oma sent out invitations to each of the grandkids to invite them to her birthday party. They played games, swam and had happy meals. What a fun grandma!

The kids and Jon spent alot of time on the lake. Because it was so hot, Miss Ava and I stayed home and enjoyed the air conditioning. The kids tubed, surfed and watched Daddy wakeboard. We love the lake.

Weston came home for 3 weeks and we ate up our time with him. He was able to meet Ava for the first time. We had lots of family dinners, played games and watched movies. Good times.

My niece, Sadie, came to visit for a few days in July. We had a girls day filled with swimming, making cupcakes, makeovers and a fashion show.

Dog Days of Summer

I love this picture of Beckham. It represents a big part of the summer: Exhaustion. The pool provided so much physical activity that the kids would literally be in the middle of doing simple activities and would collapse from being so tired.

Chloe loves reading and writing. She and Beckham watch The Letter and Word Factory videos all of the time. The videos have really helped with their phonetics and the other day, Chloe showed me one of her masterpieces. Can you sound it out???

Old Navy. A little free entertainment.

Goodbye summer. It was fun.

Look Who's Sitting!!!

2010-08-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

Miss Ava turned 7 months yesterday.

She is now a bionafied sitter.

She doesn't love it. She would rather be on all fours rocking back and forth.

It won't be long before she is cruising the halls.

She had an eventful 6th month.

She had a short stint at the hospital ER for a small case of pneumonia.

She spent long hours in the pool and chewing on everything in sight.

She is as snugly as ever and is starting to prefer her momma (I don't mind!).

Chloe and Beckham are her biggest fans and can make her laugh like no one else can.

They are starting to think that she is actually really fun to play with.

Yay for her. Yay for them. But seriously...Yay for me!!!

Preschool Babies

2010-08-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

Chloe and Beckham would probably freak out if they knew that I was calling them babies, BUT...they are my babies.

Chloe and Beck went to their preschool open house last week to check out the school and the new kids. It is the same preschool that Chloe went to last year and I am happy to say (for Beckham's sake!), that Beckham is finally old enough to go this year!

They are going to be in different classes, but now when I drop Chloe off to school, I can happily tell him that he gets to go too!

Preschool makes me happy. The thought of kindergarten for Chloe next year does not.

SOOOO...

I will just enjoy the fun year they are going to have together.

Experiencing the same things but experiencing those things differently.

At the end of their scavenger hunt, they made school buses out of twinkies and lifesavers.

Needless to say, neither of them were anxious to leave

Is She The Cutest Baby Girl???

2010-08-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

I will give you a clue:

Yes.

Rainy Days and Sundays...

2010-08-08T23:26:00.001-07:00

...never get them down.

1/2 Year Birthday

2010-07-23T10:25:00.001-07:00

Miss Ava is 6 months old today.

She's a roller and has no interest in sitting up.

The Bumbo works just fine for her.

No teeth.

Her gums get all the work done just fine.

She is happy and healthy and we are in love.

Words To Live By

2010-07-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

At the bottom of my computer screen is an open text document. I like to always keep it open and whenever I am on the computer and come across quotes, I copy them onto the open document. I was just reading over all of the quotes this morning and wanted to post them here so that I would always have them.

I am not great with words and so I love when I find words that others have said that either inspire me or cause me to think. I hope to live by all of these...

“Love yourself, accept yourself,

forgive yourself, and be good to yourself,

because without you the rest of us are without

a source of many wonderful things.” -Leo F. Buscaglia

“The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life”
Einstein

"Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable." -Joseph B. Wirthlin

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain"

"Sin... brings sameness; it shrinks us to addictive appetites and insubordinate impulses. For a brief surging, selfish moment, sin may create the illusion of individuality, but only as in the grunting, galloping Gadarene swine!" (See Matt. 8:28–32.)

Neil A. Maxwell

"Be a woman of Christ. Cherish your esteemed place in the sight of God. He needs you. A woman's abiding trust in God and unfailing devotion to things of the Spirit have always been an anchor when the wind and the waves of life were fiercest" - Jeffrey R. Holland; Ensign Nov. 2005

"Home is the definition of God; a place of infinite power"

Emily Dickinson

"In 3 words I can sum up everything I've learned in life--it goes on." -Robert Frost

"Opportunities are never lost; Someone will take the ones you miss."

"Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not that one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk- and to act" - Andre Malraux

Make sure the fortune that you seek is the fortune that you need.

- Ben Harper

Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." -Margaret D. Nadauld

Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!" - Robert Browning

‎"The years teach us much the days never knew." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"to do a common thing, in an uncommon way, brings success." henry heinz

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power,and magic in it." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

‎"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt." William Shakespeare

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

C. S. Lewis

Curly Sue

2010-07-20T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is a little piece of the damage

I thought we were past this stage. Chloe is 4 and has NEVER cut her own hair...until last week. She dressed up as a gymnast and asked me to put her hair in a bun. After a few somersaults, she walked in to my bathroom. I was feeding Ava. Beckham emerged from the bathroom saying that Chloe was using my scissors. I assumed it was for paper. I yelled to her to put them away and didn't think more of it. It wasn't until later that day that I found a pile of curls. I asked her where she cut her hair and she pointed. She said that the curls kept coming out of the pony and getting into her eyes, ruining her performance, so she cut them off.

Gotta do what you gotta do, I guess.

I didn't yell. Maybe it's because with all of the curls, I honestly didn't notice where the clump came from. It is still hard to tell.

I love curly hair.

I Don't Like Camping

2010-07-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

...but they do.

So, we went.

Don't get me wrong, I love nature...I just don't like to sleep in it. My Mom assured me that we wouldn't really be "camping" per say. She rented a cabin so I agreed to go.

My Grandpa's side of the family has a family reunion every year. This year it was at Moon Lake. Sounds pretty, huh? It was. Here was the view from our cabin:

It is nice to catch up with relatives and also get away. This get away was so far up into the mountains that I didn't get cell phone coverage...which meant no phone or internet (gasp!). I was really roughing it.

Jon was not able to come because of work and because of a certain game (which we don't like to mention around our home these days) that would be on t.v. And, well, with the no reception thing, that also included t.v., so he was out.

So, the kids and I set out with my parents and the girls for the 10 hour car drive.

Me and Beck going crazy in the car

It was not pleasant. The kids (and I) were a little bit too close for too long. And I had mistakenly told the kids that we were going camping at the very beginning of the trip. Pretty much for 9 1/2 hours the kids took turns asking if we were there yet. We let them all loose as soon as we arrived.

We checked in to our cabin...oh...that was built in the 1930's. One quick look at the place and I actually considered pitching a tent. I sprayed our room down with bug spray.

We settled in and met with everyone for a hoe down.

We had dutch oven for dinner and listened to a live blue grass band. I left early to feed Miss Ava, but they passed out little flashlights to everyone and when the sun went down, the band sang "Little Joe the Wrangler" and "You Are My Sunshine" which were my great-grandparent's favorite songs.

Naomi and Chloe telling ghost stories with their new flashlights

The morning was filled with BINGO, pony races, a pinata and an auction.

Chloe and her game face

Beckham was the only kid who actually "galloped" for the race. Everyone else just ran with a stick between their legs.

My Dad. He's hardcore.

So is my Mom.

4 Generations apart

We had a really good time and the "camping" part wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I started to think that we should camp more with the kids because they love it so much. As we were packing up to leave, my Grandma reminded me to check the kid's heads for ticks when we got home.

Then I remembered why I don't like camping.

Red, White and Boom!!!

2010-07-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

4th of July was awesome this year. It was one of those weekends that I will remember with very fond memories for a long time. We celebrated on July 3rd with swimming and a BBQ with friends and then on the 4th with our family and neighbors.

Hopefully not a picture of the future

Not too sure about the noise

Me with my American (green card holding) husband...

Sweet little beautiful, wonderful, perfect All-American Girl

(with spit up on her dress)

Super easy recipe here

Chloe's new favorite boots. Hand-me-downs from Naomi. They go with everything...

World Cup 2010

2010-07-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

I think Jon wants to make a canvas of this family picture

I admit it. I am a fair weather fan. I like sports, but it usually isn't until the big games (i.e. World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Finals...) that I really take a big interest.

It is World Cup season. It is down to 4 teams. I am excited.

Jon, however, has a hard time sleeping at night. Seriously. Not just because of his obsession with soccer (aka futbol), but his native homeland of Holland is in the semifinals.

We are so excited. Even the kids. The last time the World Cup was going on, Chloe was Ava's age. It has been so fun watching Jon with the kids now that they are a little bit older. He has been in a permanent good mood for the past month.

For Mother's Day, Jon surprised me (yes, surprised me) and got me...

a Dutch soccer shirt.

...oh, and he didn't forget to get himself a matching one!

We are ready to go for the game today.

Set your clocks.

11:30 a.m.

You know what we will be doing.

Hup Holland!

God Bless the U.S.A...

2010-07-04T17:42:00.001-07:00

...and my brother.

I am the oldest of 6 kids. I spent most of my childhood telling people that I was the oldest of 4 kids. My little sisters, Elizabeth and Naomi, didn't join our family until I was 19 and then when I was 24.

For 19 years, Weston was the baby of our 4 kids...the youngest of the "first batch" as we call it.

I was 7 when Weston was born. I remember the day my Dad told us that Weston was born and how weird Jason and I thought the name Weston was. I remember getting to dress up in a hospital gown and mask when I met my little brother for the first time. Weston had a lung that collapsed shortly after he was born and had to spend his first days in the NICU. I remember seeing him hooked up to needles and IVs, laying in an incubator. He was a big baby...9 pounds, 1 ounces. He looked out of place amongst all of the other premature babies in the NICU. I remember running all the way home from school the day my Dad said Weston was coming home from the hospital. I remember my Dad lifting me up above the side of Weston's crib and how happy I was that he was home and safe.

My baby brother decided last year to join the Air Force. Not that he asked for our votes in the matter, but I don't know that we really wanted our baby brother joining the military. Not that I don't LOVE our military. I do. But I also love that I am not directly emotionally vested.

Weston entered Basic Training last October. After 3 months of training, my parents traveled to Texas to attend his graduation. Not only did he graduate, but he earned countless awards for his stellar performance.

Yes, I am bragging.

He got to come home for a short leave for Christmas. We ate up all of our time with him. But just when we were getting used to him being around, he was off again for further training in his specialty.

It has been over 6 months. We miss him. I miss him.

But guess what?

I get to see him soon. A couple of weeks in fact.

I can't wait.

I just want my brother to be home and safe.

4th of July has new meaning to me this year. I am so grateful for this country. It has been blessed and we as a people have been blessed.

I want to thank my brother and all who have served in the armed forces for this country. They work everyday to preserve my freedoms and my way of life and sometimes I forget that while I am safe in my home, they are off fighting. For me.

Thank you.

Weston's Farewell Dinner

Saying goodbye

Christmas In July

2010-07-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

We did have Christmas in December 2009. You wouldn't know it from reading our blog.

So...

I decided to celebrate Christmas in July on our blog so that I will have it documented before I forget too much more of it!

This is my favorite picture from Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at our home. We made Christmas chili with my side of the family. After dinner, we did what we always do...read the Christmas story from the Bible and sang Christmas hymns. For as long as I remember, my family has always done this. My Mom has a binder that she must have made at some Homemaking activity back in the day that has the Bible story along with pictures and songs.

After the last song was sung, we had the kids open their 1 Christmas Eve gift...

yes, pajamas.

After everyone left, Jon and I put the kids to bed and the real work began!

We stayed up until the early hours of the morning putting bikes together, wrapping gifts and stuffing stockings.

Christmas morning was so much fun. This year was the first year that we had Christmas with just our little family.

The kids were kind to us and slept in until 8.

Jon and I ran downstairs ahead of the kids so that we could record their faces.

I L.O.V.E. Christmas morning faces.

They were so cute. They seemed to be more excited about what the other had gotten.

Beckham yelled, "Chloe! Look! A new stroller for your baby!"

Chloe yelled, "Look, Beck! An orange bike for you! Orange is your color!"

After all of that work, it took them about 12 1/2 minutes to open everything.

I now realize why my parents seemed kind of sad after all of the gifts were opened when I was growing up.

(When we were older, my Mom even tried dragging Christmas morning present opening by: color coding gifts OR each kid opening 1 gift at a time OR forcing each kid to not only acknowledge a sibling's new gift but also forcing each kid to make a comment about the new gift...although these strategies worked, it also put a damper on the whole ripping into your stash idea...)

Where's Jasper???

Uncle Oscar and Auntie Meghan gave us the Elf on the Shelf book and doll. We named our elf Jasper. He was hiding in a new place every morning of December and watched over us and took note of who was naughty and who was nice. The kid's were so aware of Jasper all month. They would look right at him as they passed by and would put the biggest smiles on their faces. They didn't want to risk Jasper telling Santa Claus that they were bad! They were so well behaved with him around that I considered inviting Jasper to stick around all year...

The kids gathered their favorite gifts and we went over to my parent's house for breakfast.

We played Rock Band, watched movies, called all of our long-distance relatives and ate.

New Years Eve

With a big family, conflicts of scheduling happen regularly. My brother, Weston, entered Basic Training for the Air Force in October. He was able to come home for a couple of weeks and New Years Eve was the only time that all of my siblings could get together...and we only had a 3-hour window. So, we decided to meet up to go bowling.

We brought all of our secret Santa gifts and did the exchange while we bowled, ate and talked. It was so much fun.

After bowling, my Mom went to work and everyone else came to our home for some more Rock Band and food. We had some friends come over and we just hung out until midnight.

Family pictures

When I was about 33 weeks pregnant with Ava, I asked my sister-in-law, Meghan, to do a maternity/family shoot before I got much bigger.

She was sweet enough to agree and I love how they turned out.

Once again...I am so grateful for the gift of photography and that our family of 4 1/2 was captured before Miss Ava decided to show up a month early!

Thank you so much Meghan!

Here are a few of my favorites...

Here Comes Santa Claus

Our Christmas season would not be complete without a visit with Santa Claus. Chloe was a little bit nervous of him this year. Beckham was so excited to meet him. As soon as they approached him, Santa called them both by their names. They were both so impressed that he knew their names!

Whew!

I feel much better!

Now I have less than 6 months before I do this all over again!

Happy New Year!

5 - 4 - 3!!!

2010-06-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

Ava just turned 5 months old.

Chloe is 4 years old.

Beckham is 3 years old.

I thought it was fun enough to blog about.

I know. Corny.

Here is what we have been up to...

Miss Ava

She is the sweetest little baby and even though she is just 5 months old, she makes me baby hungry to have another one. She LOVES her thumb...

Here's the proof:

She is so laid back and sweet...or bi-polar...I'm not sure yet...because when she is hungry, she goes from 0 to 60 in about .3 seconds. So...we try to avoid hunger when at all possible.

Speaking of food...

She is now eating solids!!! (If you consider runny rice cereal and pureed veggis "solids"...)

Here's the proof:

She has discovered her toes. She grabs and sucks on any object in sight. She laughs straight from the gut. She loves the water (tub or pool). She still has the bluest eyes I have ever seen. She will sit and tell me the longest, most dramatic stories I have ever heard. I wish I could understand them.

Here are some more of my recent favorites of her...

Oh...

And I found one of my most favorite outfits of Chloe's and it finally fits Ava...

chloe at 4 months

ava at 4 months

I tried to get Ava to grab her hat like Chloe did...apparently that was asking too much...

They are sisters, but not twins...

Mr. Beckham

He reminds us daily that he is "big boy 3"...

He doesn't even cave when I pretend to cry that he isn't my baby boy anymore. He basically tells me to get over it because he isn't a baby anymore.

He had a fun birthday week. Nana took him out on his special birthday date. They skipped going to Build a Bear like Chloe and Sadie did for their birthdays because, quite frankly, it would have been a big waste of time and money. He is so easy to please and so Nana took him to Target to get whatever he wanted and they lunched at the Target Cafe...blue Icee and all.

We had a little family get together the night of his birthday, took him to Toy Story 3 the day after his birthday and then had some family and friends over for a water party the next day.

Life is good at 3.

Beck was mad that the wind blew out the candles...oh, and that his Mom dropped the cake on one of his friends...

Beck just finished his first soccer season. He had such a fun time. I think with the 24/7 World Cup coverage at our house, his excitement has grown even more. He is also convinced that when Jon goes to soccer on Wednesdays, that he is playing in the soccer games on t.v.

Jon wishes. Beckham also finished his first session of swimming lessons of the season. He can totally swim on his own. Thank goodness. When he runs out of breath, he rolls over onto his back and then rolls back onto his tummy to finish. It is really cute...AND safe.

Oh, and his favorite colors are orange and green.

That's all.

Naomi's Kindergarten Graduation

Miss Chloe

Chloe has had an eventful couple of months. She graduated from her 3 year old preschool class. She has LOVED her preschool and loves her teacher, Miss Julene, even more. Summer may be a little bit rough because she asks all of the time when preschool is going to start again. The graduation was so cute. The kids all held hands and walked into the room singing "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story. They said the pledge of allegiance, recited a poem, had an awards ceremony and then we watched a cute video of pictures from the year. Chloe looked so much younger just a few months ago. We ate cake and then went to McDonalds to celebrate.

Chloe also started swim lessons again. She is jumping in from the side of the pool and swimming to the wall all by herself. She also just discovered that swimming in the shallow end is the same as swimming in the deep end. Exciting stuff.

I also asked her if she wanted to play soccer or take dance class in the fall. She asked me if she took dance class, if she could dance on the big stage while lots of people watched. I said yes and she said, "well then dance, of course!"

I feel like my laundry only consists of towels and swimming suits lately. We all love it and I am spending so much play time with them. Jon has required that they swim in the pool at least once a day...he thinks its abusive otherwise. He brought home a news article that talked about kids being obese because they didn't have enough physical activity. Oh brother.

Chicago

At the beginning of May, my Mom, Ava and I went to Chicago! I had a workshop that I was attending and so we decided to go a few days beforehand to hang out and shop. We were kind of celebrating.

I turned 30 this year and my Mom turned 40 this year...don't try to do the math...

We had so much fun! I can't even remember the last time I was able to pick out clothes and actually try them on in a dressing room. My shopping usually consists of me grabbing a bunch of stuff in various sizes, trying them on at home and then returning the ones that don't fit. We laughed and stayed up late and ordered room service. It was awesome. Thank you to my amazing inlaws for watching Chloe and Beckham while I was gone. I knew that my kids were being well taken care of and that is why I could relax and have a good time. You are the best!

We were so busy relaxing that we didn't take many pictures...

My good friend, Heather, took some pictures of me and Ava while at the workshop. I am so grateful for the gift of photography. Thank you, Heather!

We Love Daddy Yes Sirree

2010-06-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day