Here is one of our first pics of the New Baby

Within one week, Loren finished the purchase of his new Practice, I was called as Young Women's President, and we found out we were pregnant with our Third. It was a crazy week, but I'm counting on many more of those in the weeks ahead . . .

Due in May

It's kind of cold outside!!!!

The weather is finally cooling down and the kids still love to play outside. They even got to wear winter hats (which they loved). Fisher is beginning to walk like a pro after three weeks of being very wobbly. He is also getting very fast much quicker than I remember with Gavry. He's just trying to keep up, I guess. I love that the boys are starting to play well with each other and Gavry even occasionally will let Fisher play with a toy . . . ;) But Gavry better watch out because Fisher is an excellent eater, and we don't think it will be too long before Fisher weighs more that Gav does!! Here are the best pics I could get yesterday (the rest were blurry 'cause those kids wouldn't hold still!)

The Inspiration

Our SpongeBob Halloween

After a few weeks of Gavry wanting to be a Blue Fish for Halloween, (and I, still not having made his costume), he decided he really wanted to be SpongeBob Squarepants. So at about 3:00 p.m. I ran and spent a whole $4.00 on 1 yard of yellow flannel and some felt . . . and voila . . . introducing SpongeBob Gavry!!!!!! Thanks to Loren for buiding the frame for the shoulders and squarepants! We had a great time and Gavry was surprisingly so happy to be walking around in that costume. By the end of our trick-or-treating, Gavry was a pro and would go up to the doors all by himself and proudly say, "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank you!" It was a lot of fun and Fisher was a trooper for staying up well past his bedtime in a very warm puppy costume . . .

The very quick making of the costume . . .

Notice all of the felt, scraps, glue guns and other materials all over our floor! I'm still picking up this morning!

Our Halloween Surprise

As soon as Gavry got his costume on, kids starting coming to our door. Gavry handed out Krabby Patties Candy and Dum Dum Suckers (very fitting) and then we decided to head out ourselves to Trick-or-Treat. We left our bowl of candy behind a pumpkin on our porch so kids would see the candy only if they came all the way up to our door. After we spent some time going door to door, we came back to our house and this is what we found:

Yes, our candy bowl filled with Barbecue Sauce!!!! Only in Texas, right? I guess that was the trick for there being no candy left! We laughed pretty hard and thought it was a great trick! Good job, Scary Goblings!

BYU vs. Texas Volleyball

So we decided to take a trip to Austin and see some good volleyball in person. After about a 4 hour trip with Fisher upset about half of the time, we arrived at the University of Texas. WOW!!! Can I just say, "Holy Crap! What would it have been like to go to a school with money!!!!!" First of all, the football stadium was gigantic, all of the buildings were beautiful and even the building which held the volleyball gymnasium looked more like you were entering a wonderful artsy library. So anyway, a dear friend and someone I admire much, Shay Goulding, is now the Head Women's Volleyball coach for BYU - (way to go Shay!). She has an excellent team and now coaches a player, Christina Measom, who I once coached back when she was just 13 (or 14). It was so fun to watch, although I'd much rather be playing. Gavry had a great time while the game was going on, and shortly after play ended (Texas victorious), Gav broke down and fake cried all the way until we shoveled some food down him. I miss volleyball a ton, but I am excited to think that we just might raise some athletes of our own . . .

p.s. yes, I've cut ALL of my hair off . . . reminds me of some old college days haircuts - but better, I hope!

The Homestead in Idaho

Here we are at Loren's Grandparents house in Idaho. This was the last leg of our trip and the kids had so much fun wondering around the Homestead. (Gavry could have stayed there forever). Here Gavry is with Great Grandpa Pond picking (just kidding, I learned my lesson, you say, "digging" when talking about potatoes) some veggies from the garden. And these are some of our favorites by the creek, feeding the llamas, Fisher eating his first apple fresh from a tree, and Fisher and Great-Grandmom. Thanks to Aunt Nola and Vallie and the rest of the fam for spending the evening with us!

Guess who had a Birthday??

Loren is 28! We had a great day, we went out to eat in the morning, then packed all of the kids to the movies in the evening, (Loren watched Ironman, finally, and Gav and I watched Kung Fu Panda, and Fisher slept). Hey, at least we were all in the same building, right? Then we came home and had a quadruple chocolate cake . . . yeah, it was pretty good. Gavry sang, "Happy Birthday Daddy", all day long, we even got it on video. He sang it the next day too . . . and the next day to Greta. Cute boy.

My husband, the Doctor!!!!!!

Loren graduated on August 16th and is currently going through all of the final processes to receive his license. It will be so great to finally have his Open House at his New Office!!!!!! Meanwhile, here are some pics of our celebrations . . . Thanks to Chuck, Andrea, and Ruby for joing us!

So I guess it is kind of big news . . .

After two weeks of being excited about our big news, I figured that it was time to tell everyone. No, we're not pregnant again. We have decided that the blessings that have come since we've been here in Texas are just too great to leave behind. Well, especially since two of those blessings are our sons. The other one is our house!!!!!!!! So, Loren is under contract to purchase a practice the first of October. He will then be the proud new owner of Community Chiropractic. Pretty cool, right? So if you haven't caught on, we're staying here in our beloved Lewisville, Texas. You know, I'm forgetting the things that I didn't like about Texas. In fact, let me tell you what I LOVE about our lives here.
*Our pool which we take the kids to is AMAZING! (I need to post some pics later) And, can I tell you? 90 degrees just doesn't feel as hot to me as it used to. Last summer I was pregnant . . . it seemed hotter then.
*We have also made some great friends, and have found our niche in the Ward Family, (I LOVE the women in our ward, some of my favorites are twice my age!)
*I love my church calling!! Being a R. S. Teacher is wonderful. I love to teach, and I love that I can call on people, by name, to make comments, because I KNOW them.
*I also love owning a home, (which may not have happened anywhere else!). I love that I have a sewing room. (Loren laughs when I call it that, because he says, "Isn't every room in the house your sewing room?") Sometimes.
*And, well, I have all the best fabric stores and factories here to succeed in my little business.

Thanks, Texas, for treating us well.

Fourth of July

A friend of mine took these pictures of Gavry at our Church on the Fourth. We had a big breakfast and then all of the kids decorated their bikes and paraded around the parking lot. It was pretty fun. Gavry walked (he wasn't feeling well), but he managed to pop two balloons and thought it was hilarious. We heard about it the whole rest of the day . . .

Some pictures channeling 1990's photography . . .

Seriously, don't these pictures look like they were from a film camera. You know, when you weren't sure what kind of picture you were going to get when you developed it. I don't know, for the life of me, how families get their kids to not only smile for the camera at the same time but just to LOOK at the camera at the same time. Here's, once again, the best I could get. These were taken to have some pics to send our Fathers for Father's Day.

And here are some of our rejects. That came out wrong. I'm not calling our sons "rejects", just simply saying these were some of the rejected pictures . . . meaning not for print, only for laughs.

This one's my favorite. I think he's mocking me.

Camping in the Backyard

Loren once again missed the father-son campout due to his Boards in May. But this was nothing that some s'mores and a gas stove couldn't fix. We ate s'mores until we felt sick, and when it got dark Gavry said "I see the moon. It's dark, have to go inside now." So we did. No one but the bugs slept in the tent.

I almost adopted another dog!!!

So we went to IKEA this morning and a dog adoption crew was there with a few dogs and I fell in LooooVE with one of them! He was a shepherd and hound mix and was only four months old and huge!! Loren told me NO, but I wanted to take him home with us soooooo bad. What's my deal? Half the time we want to get rid of Greta (our minnie pinnie) but the thought of this huge dog with her just put a smile on my face. Loren said AFTER we close on our next house we can adopt a dog. Why does he always have to be so practical? I know it was the right decision, but the dog was just so freaking cute!!!!!!!! It had the softest fur I think I've ever felt on a dog. Loren laughed at me because I want another puppy, he says, "we just had another baby, can't you just play with him - he's like a puppy, except he poops in a diaper not on the floor." He's right, I've got enough poops to clean up. Speaking of . . . .

p.s. this is actually the picture of the dog from Operation Kindness. Wouldn't you want him too?

Favorite photo this week

I was using Fisher as a prop for some photos of items I've made for my website, and I just had to zoom in on this photo. Doesn't he look soooooo cute? He was staring out the window and I just love his big eyes! I'm NOT a photographer, obviously, but it's fun to play with the editing tools on even the most simplest of programs. Why are babies sooooooo cute?!!!!

Going on safari

Gavry just assumes there is going to be a flash with all pictures. I just can't seem to get him to open his eyes!

This one is Loren's favorite.