37 Weeks!

We are on the last few weeks before our family welcomes a new angel.  Not only do we have Christmas in a couple days, we have a new baby to be excited for.  Before we know it our world will be turned upside down for the best reason. I just can't wait to meet him.  The whole anticipation is just so exciting, wondering when he will come and how things will go and getting him here safe and sound.  Jet understands pretty well he is getting another brother, he is so cute when he tells random people that I am going to have a baby. On a couple of occasions he tells people to say congratulations to me because I am going to have a baby.  I think he will be good with baby, but he doesn't always get along or behave well with the brother he already has. Dash doesn't really know what is going on, he just knows I have a baby in my tummy and that he does too.
I have to say this pregnancy has been the hardest.  Everything that comes with pregnancy came on sooner and more intense than I have had before.  I am already over my highest weight I was with Dash, I had more morning sickness, more heartburn, and I even have swollen feet sometimes which I never had. I don't ever want to seem like I am complaining, but being pregnant is not my favorite thing.  Tonight I dropped something on the floor, and I just kinda looked at it like 'oh man that is so far away right now', and picked it up. My least favorite thing is gaining weight. It makes it difficult to get around, hard on my bones, and just so uncomfortable.  My favorite part is feeling the baby move, but even sometimes that doesn't feel good either.
It is also interesting the comments I get from people.  It ranges from "Are there two in there?" to "I could hardly tell you were pregnant".  I still go to the gym and a couple of people have told me they admire me getting out and still exercising.  Going to the gym was my way of taking a break from my kids and trying not to gain every ounce possible of weight this time around.  I never take offense to what people say, because they aren't trying to hurt anyone's feelings and they don't know that I make big babies.
Baby is doing great, the last few appointments he has measure 2 weeks larger than the calendar, so he is going to be a big baby.  I plan on doing it natural again unless something crazy comes up.  In my mind and physically I just can't wait for him to be out and have my body back to myself, but I also know that when he comes all heck will break loose with 3 kids ages 4 and under.  I have prepared myself for the worst, but hopefully it turns out better.  The 2 I have already can drive me crazy, so I know another will magnify that. 
The weekend following New Years we will be doing baby preparations and after that, I would love to see him come sooner than later.  I am thankful for the blessing of being a mom and hope this new little one feels of our love.

Our Growing Boys

Jet and Dash are getting bigger by the minute, especially Dash, he will be as tall as Jet soon enough.  I took them both to the doctor for their well-check visits and they did alright. Jet always acts kinda funny in new situations, so it made it kinda stressful.  Plus they both had shots and I had two boys to console. The good news is that they are healthy and growing.

All about Jet:

Jet is an energetic, strong-willed, big brother.  He loves his brother Dash even though sometimes he says he doesn't.  It takes a while for him to listen and obey.  I think he understands, he is just determined to have his way.  He can be very loving towards his brother and others.  He loves to play with other kids.  The other day he was trying to play football with a group of boys probably ages 9-12 and he just loved being with older kids.  He is a natural leader. He loves to tell Dash what to do and gets mad at him if he doesn't do it.  He is totally fascinated with transformers and is always asking for a transformer this or that. He is very smart and can read up to 5 letter basic words.  He has learned to write his name. I think he is a handsome kid with so much potential and I love seeing him learn and develop. As far as his physical growth he is 40 lbs (80th percentile) and 41 inches tall (63rd percentile).

Dash is an awesome 2 year old and he just couldn't be any cuter.  He has this underbite that shows when you ask him to show his teeth that I think is just adorable.  He loves to play and climb on things. He follows his big brother around and for the most part stays out of trouble.  He loves airplanes, trucks, playing any sport, being chased, and giving hugs and kisses.  The first thing I hear in the morning nearly everyday is when he comes into our room and says "I want cereal mommy." He is quick to say sorry and I think he can understand others' feelings well even at his young age.  When he gets mad or needs to defend himself, he bites, so watch out! When he pretends to sleep it is the cutest, he even does a fake snore.  He brings so much joy and energy to our home, so happy he is here. For his physical growth, Dash is 37in tall (97th percentile), and weighs 28lbs (53rd percentile). I think he may be a basketball player someday :)

Angels when they sleep!

Birthdays!

October was birthday month here for our family. By the time it came to my birthday, I think we were all partied out. Since we have been celebrating both boys' birthdays with one party, I debate how much to do on their actual birthday. I can't just not do anything on their actual birthday, so we end up having a cake on their actual birthdays and at their party, so that is like 3 cakes not including my own.  Another year has gone by and we now have a 2 and 4 year old on our hands.  For their big birthday party, we took them again to Jungle Jim's.  They loved it there last year so we went again.  Grandma and Grandpa came into town and had a blast with their grandsons.

For my birthday, James and I got to go out to dinner without children and he gave me the awesome gift of a day of PTO :). I have yet to use it, but I am sure I will need one when this new baby arrives.

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to have a house full of BOYS! Oh my goodness, Heavenly Father surely has a great sense of humor.  I would love to have a girl someday, but I am going to have to wait a little longer.  People have asked me how I feel about having another boy and honestly I am excited. I was so nervous and anxious for the ultrasound I was just dying to know. When I found out it was a boy, I admit I was a little dissapointed, but I know God has greater things for me than what I want. I feel like Heavenly Father needs good men in the world and if He trusts me with raising a few of them I am up for the challenge. We make pretty cute boys too! I feel like moms of all boys (not that I am done having kids) are a special kind of woman. They give up on sharing girly things and delve into a world of trucks, wrestling, dirt and play fighting. If we don't end up having a girl we made ourselves, I would surely consider adopting one. Not that I am a totally amazing person, but I feel like I have a lot to offer a girl (or boy for that matter). I would love to help make my daughter's prom dress or hold her hand during labor.  For now I look forward to holding this new baby boy and loving him so much that he never doubts it.  If I am going to have three boys, having them together is great so they can be close in age and be good buds. Someday I imagine myself surrounded by my tall handsome men and look forward to seeing what amazing men they will be.  
From our ultrasound, the baby looked amazing, 9 days ahead in size for his gestational age. All his parts are there and in good shape.  The size of baby gets me a little nervous and just because he is ahead in size doesn't mean he will come early, just means he will be a big baby. Dash measured big also, but he didn't come early, just came big! Maybe a different story this time, who knows. Anyway, we are still working on a name, loving his baby kicks and just so excited for him to join us!

July Adventures

In July my parents were able to come out and see us for a week and we had a great time. They love spending time with their grand kids and it is fun for me to watch them enjoy Jet and Dash so much.  We went on a bike ride with grandma one of the days and then all of us went camping in Zions over the weekend. James hiked the narrows with some of his friends and I spent the day with the boys. We went on a hike to Emerald Pools and ate lunch at the Zion's Lodge.  We had a great time aside from the heat (I think Zion's would be awesome in the fall or even winter). One of our favorite things was swimming in the river that ran along the campground. The water was shallow enough I didn't have to worry about any little boys drowning. When we got back from Zions, that Monday we all went to Lagoon which was a blast. Jet talks about Lagoon all year long and he loves going on the rides and even Dash was big enough to go on some of the rides. 

 Riding the bus to the trailhead in Zion's

 We made it to the Emerald Pools!

 Beating the heat under a huge Cottonwood and eating Pizza

 Lagoon time!

 Boys in the green boat

Riding with Grandma and Grandpa

Baby 3 in January!

Yay! I have been so excited and happy since the minute I found out and now I can shout it to the world. Such a hard thing to keep to myself for the first couple months. We are all so excited to welcome another one of God's spirits into our family come this January.  I will be 17 weeks this Tuesday and am feeling pretty good. From week 5 to week 10 or 11 I was pretty nauseous  most of the time, more so in the evenings for some reason. It helps to not have an empty stomach. For my boys, I was not really ever sick, so maybe it's a sign baby is a girl. Well I am not getting my hopes up on that one. I just tell myself that babies only come in boy, so I will be ready and not dissapointed. Really I just want a happy healthy baby and another boy would fit right in, they would have a brotherhood and hopefully be each other's best friends. I may be one of those women destined to have all of one gender. To be honest I am so glad that I had two boys together because they actually wrestle and play soccer and cars together and I don't know how well a girl would handle being roughhoused by a brother. I am staying up with all the usual activities and still get to the gym about 3 times a week. I put my workout clothes on the other day and my baby bump just came out of nowhere. Here is a post-workout pic after taking baby to Zumba.

Sizzling Summer

So happy summer is here, we love every minute. So far we have been swimming, to the splash pads, to the air show, to Wheeler Farm, to countless parks, and have had water balloon fights and are getting Jet ready for his first season of soccer.

Grandma and Grandpa Richard are coming in a couple weeks and Jet is very excited, he especially can't wait to go to Lagoon! We are also going camping down in Zions for a couple nights and James and some of his friends are hiking the narrows. I did that hike a couple years ago, over nighted it and it was a challenge. By the end I just kept falling down because I was so tired and the fact that you are walking through a river with large rocks at the bottom doesn't help either. Anyway, it will be a fun trip and I will have to post more later.

James is still working his 9-5 and the window business is keeping really busy these summer months.  I stay busy watching the kids and keeping up with house stuff like cleaning and cooking. I make sure I get to the gym about 3 times a week, it is a break from my rowdy boys.  The boys are doing great; they are starting to learn to play with each other more. The other day I caught them wresting on our bed, it was nice to see them play pretty nicely and hopefully learning that it isn't much fun when someone gets hurt.
Dash is doing well and talking a lot, he is so very cute, I can't stand it. He also is very compassionate. He says sorry if you say ouch if he hurt you and if you are crying he will hug you.  Don't get me wrong this little angel can give attitude too and tell you 'no' pretty much to anything. He asks for candy a lot which unfortunately for him I don't usually give him, but who knows a 20 month old that asks for candy all the time.
Jet is actually learning to read. He knows pretty much all the sounds each letter makes and can read short 3 or 4 letter words.  It is nice to see the work we have put into teaching him bring fruit. He starts his first season of soccer next week which will be very entertaining. He is very active and good with a ball, so it will be fun to see how he does in a formal game.
I am sure there will be more to post as the summer goes on. Here's to endless adventures!

Dash is 18 months!

From this.......

To this in 18 months!

 It is so crazy how much a child changes in the first 2 years. Dash is his own little person now and is as cute as ever.  I have to say from when they can walk to about 2.5 is my favorite stage. They are still innocent and can't really do anything wrong and I can't get mad at them either. I sure love this little boy, he brings me a lot of joy. I love holding him, smooching him, just about anything with him. I realize the baby stage goes quickly and they turn into 3.5 year olds that bring havoc and chaos, but we will leave this post about Dash :) .

Here are Dash's stats at 18 months

         24.13 lbs 26 %tile
         33.5 inches 83%tile
         19.1 inches head circ. 71%tile

Some things we love about Dash:

He can run and walk everywhere, doesn't like to hold your hand
Loves going up and down stairs (preferably by himself)
Can talk! (words like mama, daddy, doggy, ball, water, milk, snack, suckie, uh-oh, pee-pee, a form of motorcycle, baby, car)
Goes to nursery now, yay!
Is harassed by his older brother Jet ALL day long!
Loves dogs, any kind!
Can't get enough of the ipad
Likes to read books
Sleeps 11 hours at night and one nap of 2 hours in the day
Loves to eat
Gives the best hugs and kisses
Shows compassion with a hug or kiss if someone is crying
Loves cars, airplanes, motorcycles, bikes, anything that moves pretty much
Shakes his head 'yes' or 'no' if you ask him a question.
Loves bath time and being naked (tries to take his clothes off himself when you tell him it's bath time)
He has 6 teeth up top including 2 molars and 4 on bottom with a molar coming in.
Can climb out of his crib!


We love our boy Dash and hope he stays sweet and innocent for a long time to come.

Happy Holidays!

A little late, but things have been busy around here. The boys give me a run for my money. So for Thanksgiving, we went to Oklahoma to see my family and had a great time. We got to meet my sister's fiancee and spend some good time with them.  We went to the zoo and slid down the stairs in a sleeping bag (something I did at my grandparents' house when I was little), and one of the highlights for me was going to an OKC Thunder game. Not only a Thunder game, but a very exciting one. Overtime, buzzer beater for the win kind of game. We had a great time and Jet always asks when we will go to Grandma's house again. I don't have pics as of right now for Thanksgiving, I left the photography up to my dad.

For Christmas, we decided to drive to Oregon and see James' family. We were able to see some of my extended family along the way which was a big highlight.  We traveled from SLC to Baker City, OR the first day and spent the night with my Aunt Sue. She is such a great hostess and was so generous to let us stay with her. My Uncle Vince and his wife were also passing through, so we were able to see them also along with my cousins. Nothing like family and I sure wish I could be around them more!
The next morning we drove to Hubbard to stay with James' brother Nate and his family. They were so so so kind to let us stay with them for most of the week.  Jet had such a fun time playing with his cousins, he talks about going to their house again. He was in heaven having so many playmates and kids to wrestle with. We watched movies, made gingerbread houses, played games, and ate some good food. We loved staying with their family and are looking forward to their visit to us here this summer.
Christmas Eve we spent down in Dallas with the rest of James' family. We exchanged gifts and had dinner. It was a lot of fun, though we missed out on Annette, James' mom being there. Later in the week we were able to spend some time with her and do one of our shared pastimes, thrift store shopping!
On the way back to Utah we were able to visit with my brother Ted and he took us to an awesome frozen yogurt place. He is doing well and is really talented with music, creating and recording it. 
Our time seemed to go by so fast and I just can't get enough of spending time with my family. I was so nervous about driving out to Oregon with 2 toddlers and prepared myself for a torturous drive. The boys, however did SO well. Honestly, they hardly were any trouble or complained about being in their carseats for hours at a time. They are good travelers. Next we are looking forward to my sister's wedding March 2nd in Dallas. I will be going with the boys to Oklahoma on the 20th of this month and down to Dallas to help out with the wedding preparations. Hope you all had a great holiday. We made a lot of memories and had a great trip.

 My Aunt Sue, Uncle Vince, and Annie

 Hurst men and their mustaches

 James, his nephews and our boys

 Building gingerbread house

 Christmas morning (sorry kinda blurry)

Me and my new scarf from my sister-in-law, Hannah

 Stopped by to see my Grandma's grave, sure miss her.

Special access to the Nike employee store in Beaverton, this is the line to get in.

Pic of my boys and my cousin Jacque's boys.