Brazil pictures

Warning: There are a lot of pictures in this post.

These are some of the pictures from D's Brazil trip. we missed him so much while he was gone and we are soooo glad he is back. It looks soooo pretty there and he had a great time. It makes me want to go on a vacation!! :)


Brazil Ticona employees.

The convention that Darin was a part of.

Cool birds that walk on the lily pads

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Beautiful flower and butterfly.

Some sort of fish farm.

The city buildings from D's hotel room window.

mothers day

We headed to my sisters house for Mother's day. It was GREAT. It was so cute to see all the kids doing things for the mom's--pictures, hugs, kisses (the chocolate kind and the juicy kind), We got chocolates at church. . YEAH. And a dinner that neither mom had to cook or clean up from. . . ahhh, the joys of motherhood. ;)

while there, Z-man decided to practice the piano with cousin K!! So cute!

baby M update

Well, I had a dr. appt. today and everything is going well. We listened to the heart beat which is always fun. It seems so real to me right now that I just want her here and in my arms. I still have 10-11 weeks to wait though. My gestational diabetes test went well and I'm in the clear there, so that is good. I'm measuring right at 30 weeks and I have a herniated belly button. I already knew this. I've had it since being pregnant with L. It hurt for about a couple of weeks when I was pregnant with him, and since then, it hasn't bothered me. It just looks funny. All my kids think it's halarious to poke my belly button and watch it pop back at them. :) I'm such a fun toy. But if it hurts or gets black and blue I'm suppose to let them know. I'm pretty sure it will be o.k. for another couple of months. :)

Well, the kids and I are off to go swimming this afternoon, so happy may everyone. :)

Z's one year old check up

My sweet z-man went in for his 1 year dr. appt. today. He is doing well. He had his shots (poor guy). He is in the 90% for his height (28.5"), the 75-80% for weigh (25 lb) , and 75% for head circ (19").

He's such a cutie and jabbered to all the nurses and dr. :)

We love you, Z!!!

walk-a-thon

These are pictures of the walk-a-thon at J's school. Of course they had to have distractions at every corner so it took us twice as long to get it done. . . ha ha. oh well. the kids had fun.

Off to the RACES!!

This was a GREAT weekend. D and I don't often get nights out alone, but my sister gave me a b-day present of a night away. . . YEAH. I saved it until I felt good (I had yucky morning sickness over my b-day, so wasn't up for going anywhere.) This weekend was the Kentucky Derby and D and I wanted to at least experience it once since we live here and all. It was so fun to experience--especially together. There were TONS of food providers and booths selling souvenirs. It was great to see all the fancy ladies in their sun dresses and HUGE hats. I realized that I didn't ever get a picture of any of them, but it was still so fun to see. I felt like I was in "My fair lady" when she goes to the races. . . only I didn't yell, "move your bloomin' A**" :) phew huh? On the flip side, there were lots dressed up with silly hats, some just normally dressed, and some in hula skirts (ya, because that's exactly what you wear to a horse race!!)

It was amazing to see the horses warm up, load, and shoot out of the starting gates. They are super fast and although we didn't have the best view, it was still incredible to see how fast they go, the adrenaline that is in the air and the excitement. :) The track was SOOO sloppy because it had been raining, but the horses just tromped through it like champions. The horses really were majestic. :)

Isn't my D so handsome. This was right after we dropped the kids off at my sister's house and we felt like kids again. CRAZY!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being with D. He is my best friend and he is amazing. We laughed sooo much over the 2 days and enjoyed all of it. We dropped the kids off and loaded a few things my sister had for us and we were off. We went to the temple that night and out to eat afterwards. We got to our hotel around 11. . . it was kinda fun to be out that late because usually if we are out that late, someone in the family is having a massive melt-down. I'm proud to say that both D and I held it together even at 11 p.m. ;) Hooray for NO meltdowns. :)

this is chruchill downs. It was fun walking around here because a couple of years ago, D, myself and some of D's family ran a half marathon that went through the track. :) We both remembered how tired we were. . . HA Why do we do things that torture ourselves??? LOL

This was an early race. Here are the horses coming out the gate.

and making their way past us. D and I would try to guess which horse would win, but we didn't bet on anything. Good thing, too, because we were NEVER right--not once!

I thought this guy was picturesque--smoking his pipe while studying the horse stats in the program. Making his gambling move.

these pictures were taken of the big TV, but they still turned out o.k.

This was D's favorite hat he saw. This guy doesn't know we were taking his picture. . . HA HA HA.

After we were done at the races, we shopped a bit and headed back to my sister's house. The kids had prepared a concert for us. I told you it was a great weekend--the races AND a rock concert!!!

Z LOVED exploring a new home and loved on everyone.

L LOVES playing with his cousins. He LOVES playing the computer--especially with Ty. :)

We stayed at my sister's house Sat. night and had so much fun talking with them being there. they have such a great family and I always feel at home when we are there. They are awesome. THANKS, Val. I LOVE you. We had such a GREAT time. :) :)

28 weeks

I've officially made it to 28 weeks. Does that mean I'm really in my 3rd trimester???!!! WAHOO!!

zinnias popping up

o.k. I know this is kind of a stupid thing to be excited about, but I saw a few little zinnia flowers that have popped up through the ground today. :) WAHOOO!!! I love watching them grow. :) I can't wait to see how many more pop through tomorrow! :)

summer days. . . oops, It's still spring!

Today was a beautiful day. well, it was a bit hot for my liking while pregnant, but I better get use to it. :) J and L had soccer games this morning, and after that, it was play, play, play. :) D mowed the lawn and L's new thing these days is to help mow the lawn. He's such a manly man. :)

Z-man LOVES being outside and if anyone goes out the door and doesn't let him out, he isn't a happy camper. :) It's amazing how little he is and yet how much he understands.

Overall, it was a hot, sweaty, busy day of projects. :)

J loves being on the balance beam D made her. She's starting to do some tricks on it. ZOIKS!

ummm, genie in a bottle??? not sure--just the pose she wanted. :) This girl cracks me up. she's GREAT!

Oh, the love of digging!! :)

my manly men mowing the green!

One of my favorites--tulip trees. D had one in his back yard growing up and they get soo big and beautiful. I absolutely LOVE the shape of the leaves!! :) Unfortunately, this tree is about 12 inches high right now, but hopefully it will grow fast!! :) We cleared out space below the new trees and put mulch today. I also planted my zinnia flowers yesterday, so hopefully they will start popping up in the next few days. :) I just hope I survive the heat. :) I think I'm sleeping in the unfinished basement tonight!! :) LOL.

Spring pictures

We finally had a nice enough day to take spring pictures. :)

There are more pics of J simply because she is more tolerant of picture taking. :) the boys aren't too into it. :) LOL But for 3 little kids, I think they turned out o.k. :)


J: 5 yrs 10 mo. old
L: 3 yrs 9 mo. old
Z: 1 yr old.

First steps

Today Z-man officially took his first steps by himself. :) You should have seen the smile on his face as well as his daddy's. :) He had a much happier day today. I did give him soy milk today, but I'm not sure it would work that fast. Sooo, not quite sure, but I'm glad he was happy today. :)

Good job, z-man. we love you!

update

So we haven't really been doing anything that is picture worthy, but here's a bit of an update on our fam.

J and L had their first soccer games of the season last Saturday. All other games and practices have been rained out--note to self. NO MORE SPRING SOCCER. It rains too much here in the spring. They both did awesome and really had a lot of fun. D plays soccer with them a lot because it's something he enjoys.

We have been working a little bit on mudding/taping the basement. We have about 2-3 walls done and ready for sanding. It's coming along.. slowly. Hopefully we will have everything done by the time baby M comes.

In a few more days I will be officially in my 3rd trimester. :) wahoo. Things have been CRAZY around here with 3 kids lately, so I'm a bit nervous with throwing a fourth into the picture, but I'm sure it will all work out... ..eventually :) I'm excited to meet baby M and find out what she looks like, acts like, etc.

J is still loving school and is happy that she can now wear shorts to school again. Her school recently had a walk-athon that we all participated in--Some of us more willing than others. :) I had to bribe L with ice cream if he would walk and not cry. :) Nice, huh? a walk-athon to promote healthiness and we hit wendy's for some frosty's afterward. . :) J loved seeing her friends and teachers and showing me her school. She is growing up sooooo fast. It's crazy.

L loves preschool as well. He always tells me how much fun he has. L is starting to get the concept of reading. He can say the sounds of the letters, but has a hard time meshing them enough to hear the word, but he is getting so close. It's pretty cool. His recent love is to dig in the dirt and ride his toy 4-wheeler. He's such a little man.

Z-man has been a bit grumpy lately, and we're not quite sure. We wonder sometimes if he is lactose intolerant because it runs in both families, but we don't know if that's even possible in a baby. He just got teeth in and we thought that would cure the problem, but it didn't. He is normally such a happy little guy, so we're not quite sure what's going on--he just acts uncomfortable. He just got over a cold, so maybe he had some fluid in his ears.. hmm? Not sure, but we are trying some soy milk and different things to see if it helps. He is soooo close to walking. He will stand on his own now, and will walk if he holds onto someone's hand (even if it's just ONE hand), but he won't totally let go. I'm sure he could do it if he wanted. He is a speed crawler though and probably gets to where he wants faster by crawling. :)

D and I are just pluggin' along. It seems like the days all run together. Mostly we are trying to get the basement done. There are so many other things that need done too, but they have been put on the back burner until the basement is done. I can't wait to have it finished, it will be so nice to have a play room and an extra bedroom, etc. ;)

Well, that's really it for us for now.