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.

Dash is 1 !!!

Dash Hurst at a year old!

This little boy is such a joy! He is usually in a good happy mood unless he is hungry or teething.  This year has gone by really fast and I can't believe that we are at the year mark.  I remember holding him for the first time and feeling so happy, but also feeling it hard to believe he was really here, almost like a dream.  I love this baby so much and am so happy he is mine.  In a way, I kinda relate to him being the second child as I was in my own family.  I have to protect him a lot from his older brother, but sometimes he defends himself by going at Jet with his mouth open wide and trying to bite him with the few teeth he has. For the most part he is a good sport, but he can be whiny when brother is playing with him and he just wants to be left alone.  Here are his growth stats! The doctor was surprised to see how his growth came up so much from our last visits.  I switched Dash to formula and I think that helped him with his growth which makes me torn because they say breast is best, but in this case Dash wasn't growing well on just breast milk.  Anyway, he is off the charts with cuteness for sure!

        

               Height: 31 inches  83%tile

               Weight: 21.6 lbs   29%tile

               Head circ: 18.6 in   73%tile

Here are some things we love about Dash:

Has started to walk everywhere, still falls quite a bit, but gets up and keeps trying

Loves his dog Cody. 

Sleeps 10-11 hrs a night and naps twice for at least an hour each nap

can give high fives!

Waves bye bye and claps his hands

loves to blow raspberries

shakes his head 'no'

picky eater, he makes funny faces and spits it out when he doesn't like the food or is full

Whenever someone else has food, he makes a b-line and gets excited to eat it!

Loves drinking milk!

Enjoys headbutting the couch

Can throw a ball

He has two bottom teeth and his two teeth next to the middle teeth have come in on top. The right middle front  tooth is about to poke through any day now!

Loves to ride in the swing at the playground

Likes a pacifier (helpful when he is kinda fussy or being too loud especially in church)

He can be really loud!

Loves to give open mouth kisses

I love Dash's innocence and I hope I never forget what a sweet boy he has been at this age and never forget his little baby face. He is so much fun to have around and I feel so blessed to have him in our family!

Jet at 3 years old

All about Jet

Jet is doing so wonderful for a three year old I think.  We have our moments and sometimes it seems like all day that he is getting into trouble, but I think that is pretty normal for someone his age.  He is a very outgoing loving boy.  He loves having Dash to play with.  Part of the reason for having Dash was so that Jet would have a playmate.  He has been dying to play with him since he was born pretty much.  I think they will be good friends.  Jet loves to chase Dash and is always trying to be like his brother. Like when I put a BYU shirt on Dash, Jet wants to wear his BYU shirt. Here are some random things we love about Jet.

Loves playing sports
Likes to be mad (furrow his brow and talk mad)
Loves his dog Cody
Favorite foods are 'nola' (granola) bars and yogurt (how I know is that he asks for them all the time)
Wants to be a superhero
Loves to watch Daniel Tiger, Curious George and The Cat in the Hat
Sleeps 11 hours a night and most of the time still naps at least an hour a day (he does not do well without a nap)
Can say prayers (keeps his eyes open looking for things to be thankful for and says he is thankful for Dash or Cody at least 3 times. James like to point to himself multiple times during prayer :) )
Very inquisitive (what is that? What does ____ do?  why? why? why?)
Best place for him to be is outside at the playground
Knows most of his letters and numbers.
LOVES Lightening McQueen and Despicable Me (minions)
Has his own opinions about what he wants to wear everyday
Loves birthdays
Loves to sing (can sing 'I love to see the Temple', 'Twinkle, Twinkle', ABC song)
Requests from me to sing 'Roar' by Katy Perry and says 'Here we go' when it comes on the radio.
For the most part is potty trained during the day (an accident here and there, but knows what to do)
Loves the BYU cougars (no influence from mom and dad on that one ;)
Still sucks his thumb when tired or bored (working on weaning off this)
Can remember things like the park where we watched fireworks at 4th of July
Gives hugs and kisses randomly

Side note on potty training:
Potty training started out great, then seemed like we hit a plateau with me still taking him potty every couple hours.  I did pullups with him and I think he figured out that he could pee in the pullup like a diaper and wouldn't go pee on his own. Going #2 was easier for him to stop and recognize and he was good at going on the toilet.  I finally reached the decision of just going to underwear and he picked up real fast on what happens if he goes in his pants.  So next time I do potty training, I think I will just go straight to underwear after the first couple weeks. Potty training was/is definitely not my favorite part of this stage.

Jet is a good kid, he surprises me sometimes with how he can care for others. We are so happy he is growing and developing. I am excited to watch him and his brother play and become good friends. 

Jet and Dash birthday bash!

We celebrated Jet and Dash's birthdays together this weekend and had a great time.  We held the party at a local place that had some amusement rides, indoor playground and some arcade type games.  It was so much fun.  The boys were lucky to have their grandparents here to celebrate too.  Jet loves the movie 'Despicable Me' so we decorated the party table with that theme.  I also decided to make a minion pinata.  I had never made a pinata, but I had flashbacks of elementary school and doing paper mache while making it.  It was a labor of love and overall I think it turned out pretty well. We ate pizza, rode some rides, bashed the pinata, opened presents and sang to both our boys.  They are so fun and we are so happy to celebrate them.  Here are some pictures of our party!