New Couch

After about 13 years or more we have finally gotten a new couch, YEAH. We have been looking at sectionals for a while now. Our house is kind of small so we have had a hard time finding one that we thought would fit. We finally found one, but after they delivered it we realized that we were going to have rearrange our furniture to get it to fit, that includes two pianos. It is huge, but we love it. Steve has made all kinds of new rules for the couch: no eating, drinking, no shoes, no climbing over the back (which the kids love to do) and stay out of his spot. Yes, if he is home he thinks he has a designated spot, and will kick anyone out that is in it out. Men!!??!!

Carter thinks if the camera is out he has to be in the picture.

This is Steve's spot. The kids were lucky, I think he let them sit there for a couple of minutes before he threw them off.

District Spelling Bee

This is Reagan just before the Bee started. She was really nervous, actually I think I may have been more nervous than her (I couldn't sleep last night). It was all I could do to get her to smile for this picture.
This is what the boys did during the Bee. I have Star Wars on my IPOD so they watched it. At least it kept them mostly quiet through it.

She can breath now, it's over. She did really good. She got out on the third round. She will never forget how to spell fluoride now. We had to come home and look on our toothpaste because we couldn't agree on how to spell it. Her principal told her the boy that won, won last year too, and maybe even the year before. For those of you that have read Twilight, the boy that won would have made a perfect Jacob. Yes, Steve thinks I am a nerd.
(Reagan didn't get her spelling skills from me, I had to use spell check when I was done with this post to make sure I am not a moron.)

Helping Reagan with this spelling bee we keep thinking of this Brian Regan comedy bit. We keep telling Reagan "Cat, K-A-T, I'm outta here." We gotta keep the mood light for her so she doesn't stress out too much.

Reagan and the Bee

Reagan was chosen as her class representative in the school spelling bee. She studied like crazy for weeks. It was kids from 4th to 8th grade and she won from the entire school. This is video of her winning words. She seemed so confident the entire time, I even had the principal tell me that. Although Reagan said that she was very nervous. The boy who was in second place won last year. Reagan said she heard when he got back to his class he said that he lost to a girl and she was even a blond. She will now go on to the district spelling bee next week. We are so proud of her and all of her hard work. Yes, she is "The smartest girl in the world", as she use to tell everyone when she was 5.

WALKER TURNS 8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Walker got a fishing pole, tackle box, bait, a tool box, and some tools. I think he was hoping for some toys because a little while after he opened his presents he asked if that was all he was getting. He is really excited to go fishing with his dad though.

We took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate. Walker actually ate two pieces of pizza, those of you that know his eating habits know this is quite an accomplishment.

LION KING

I have been DYING to see Lion King the broadway show ever since it came out, I don't know how many years ago. It happened to be here in town while my family was here so my sisters, mom and I decided to have a girls night and leave the guys with the kids (sorry dad and Reagan, who ended up doing most of the babysitting) and go see it. It was SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!

I am now trying to see if I can get tickets to take the kids to see it before it leaves. I definitely recommend going to see this.

Jill, Me, Mom, Jemece, and Janessa.

Family in Town

We were lucky enough to have most of Jennifer's Mom's family (the Beals) come to Arizona for the holiday's. It was so much fun to be able to see Aunts, Uncles, and cousins that we don't see very often. We had a blast visiting with everyone. We hope they all come back soon.

We missed those of you that couldn't make it.

This is a trip to Costco one day. We went with Jennifer's family to get more supplies for the crowd. We found in the middle of the store some comfortable seating, so the kids opted to sit and wait for us to finish the shopping.

This is Carter, Triston, and Grandma.


Taking a break to visit a little.
Does Costco make everyone this tired?


Janessa, Jemece, Reagan, Steve and Brad hanging out on the couches.

Walker, Tanner, and Konner reading a Guinness Book of World Records.

Lunch at IN-N-OUT.

YUM!!!!!

Carter and Reagan hanging out on the farm.

Fire out in the cow pasture. We all had fun throwing in sticks and watching the flames.

Chef Carter making some more food for everyone.

He loves his footy jammies.

Konner and Reagan the spy's. Konner got a spy book for Christmas and these two had so much fun reading it and making up codes and doing other spy things.

Boys and video games. They spent a lot the the vacation doing this.

Tanner, Jaron, Walker, and Konner.

Tanner, Walker, and Konner at Ridemakerz. Grandma and Grandpa decided this was their Christmas present to the kids (except Reagan who decided she didn't really want another one). They all had a blast picking out and building their own car. I heard a few times, "This is the coolest store ever!"

Making plans to go to the "Heart Attack Grill". One of my cousins had heard of this place in the Phoenix area where they serve HUGE burgers, they call a bypass double or triple or quad for how many patties, and flat liner fries, they serve NO diet soda and the waitresses dress like nurses. The guys were all so excited to go. Then they drove all the way there and the place was closed for renovations. They were so bummed, or should I say steaming MAD!! They ended up at Red Robin. Not quite the same thing. Steve still wants to try sometime, if any of you are up for it next time you come to visit.

Reagan, Konner, and Jeremy having a snowball fight. Yes, you heard that right, here in AZ. My family drove through A LOT of snow to get here, and for days there was still snow on top of their van. One day my dad made a bunch of snowballs and started throwing them at the kids, then it got a little crazy. These three really got into it.

Reagan did tell them she wanted them to bring her snow for Christmas, and they delivered although not on purpose.

Emmaline, Triston, and Carter getting a wagon ride.

CHRISTMAS

I know I am slow at posting. I have a lot of things I can blame it on, pregnancy, family in town, or just pure laziness (my favorite).

This is Christmas morning.

Steve spent the last month or so building this treasure box for Walker. He even made a treasure map and sent him on a hunt to find it. It was filled with a pirate costume and some other pirate stuff.

Reagan got a digital camera. Boy does she love it. She is a picture taking fool now.


Carter got a kitchen. He LOVES it. He spent all morning cooking for us. Now anytime he is acting bored, we just ask him to cook us something and he runs off to make us a treat.

These are some spoiled kids. This is before the kids came out to see what Santa brought.

Ultasound Pictures

We had our ultrasound the day after Christmas. I know I am slow posting, but we had a lot of family visiting so we didn't get much accomplished for a week or so. According to the ultrasound everything is looking great.

Yes, poor Reagan is going to be the only girl in our family. We were all hoping it would be a girl, but I guess we will be blessed with another boy.

Also, for those who haven't heard we have run into some complications, I guess you could call it that. They found an abnormal lab from 3 years ago after I had Carter in my chart from my last Dr., not sure why it wasn't noticed until now. I guess they think I have clotting problems, which could explain what happened with both Grace and Carter. Anyway they started me on blood thinners as soon as they found this out. Unfortunately, the only medication ok'd for use during pregnancy is an injection. So for the rest of my pregnancy I have to give myself injections two times a day. For a while they were actually having me do three injections a day. Because it is a blood thinner my belly, where I give the injections, is all bruised. But if this helps get the baby here safely I can do it. Everything else seems to be looking really good. My blood pressure has been low, which I had issues with Carter. I am feeling really good right now too. Luckily my Dr's are taking good care of me.