More August Adventures

 August was a crazy, busy month for us (as it is for just about everyone I know). One incident that happened was just 2 days after we all got haircuts. It was Sunday morning and Lexie had been cutting paper with her scissors. I usually make sure the scissors get put up right when she is done, but I was getting ready for church and Hoyt ended up in her bedroom for literally 30 seconds by himself. He came out looking so proud of himself and saying "My hair", and when I looked I was horrified to see several almost bald spots he had cut into his nice-looking haircut. The picture doesn't even do justice to how bad it looked. I didn't want to take him in public because there was nothing I could do on a Sunday. I asked Lisa her advice and she said she would buzz his hair the next day. The other crazy thing that happened was that we finished getting ready and headed to church. Well, turns out it was Stake Conference, but our ward hadn't been announcing it weeks in advance like usual, and we had missed the week before due to all of us being sick. So we just went home and chalked it up to another crazy day with kids that we would later laugh about (although it was not funny at the time).

 

Here are the before and after pictures. He actually looks cute with a buzz cut and my Mom said she thought it made him look a lot older...I agree. I'm just glad he's a boy and his hair grows fast.

 With our family expanding, it finally became time for us to upgrade to a bigger vehicle. We have been saving to buy a minivan for about a year and had been seriously shopping for a few months. We really liked the newer Chryslers, but they were out of our cash price range. At first we were thinking of waiting longer, but then a great deal on a 2006 Town & Country came up, and it was right in our budget. Bryan headed up north to work for a day and went to check out several vans so we could decide what we wanted to do. After checking things out and test driving some vans, he decided we should go for the Chrysler. We paid a deposit so they would hold it for us and get it all ready (installing a DVD player and fixing a couple things). Two weeks later the van was finally finished so Bryan took a day off work and we headed to Lindon so we could purchase the van and bring it home. We got up and left home right after breakfast, then stopped for some lunch at Del Taco in Springville(only because it had a playplace for the kids to release some energy after a long drive). Then we headed to the dealership and looked around to decided for sure if this is the van we wanted, and it was! We did all the paperwork, and I wrote the biggest check of my life. But I'm glad we are in a position to pay cash and not have to have a car payment with interest! After a quick trip to Costco, and a stop at the other dealership location to get the DVD player working, we finally started the long drive home with Bryan & the kids in the new minivan, and me following behind in the Tribute. It was a long, hot, tiring day and my back was killing me after being in the car all day long, but it was well worth the trip!

 

Bryan & the kids with our new mode of transportation!

Bryan & the kids enjoying the new ride!

These are just random pictures Bryan took while we were all trying to get ready for church before we took pictures of the van. Hoyt was trying to hide behind the door and Lexie was getting her hair done.

And here I am at 30 weeks! It's not the best picture and kind of blurry, but you get the idea. Luckily, I haven't gotten huge yet and I'm feeling good for the most part. Can't wait to meet our sweet baby girl!

1st Day of Preschool!

Another big milestone for Lexie just 2 weeks after her birthday...her 1st Day of Preschool! The week before her school started, we attended an open house so she could meet her teacher and explore the classroom etc. All of the kids were way excited and couldn't wait for Monday morning. A few days before school started, Lexie had her 4-year-old well check and had to get her final immunizations before going to school. She was so brave and didn't even cry even though she said after it really hurt. For some reason these particular shots were really tough on me (maybe partly pregnancy hormones), but I was proud of our big girl! We took her out to eat at Arctic Circle and she had tears in her eyes a few times, but once she had a hamburger, chocolate milk, and an ice cream cone she started feeling better. Her leg was a bit sore for a few days and she got a slight fever, but other than that no major side effects.

 

The night before preschool started Lexie chose her outfit for the next day and we tried to get her to bed early. For a girl who sleeps in every morning between 9 and 10, she was up early, dressed and ready to go! Here is our excited preschooler!

 She was excited to wear her new princess backpack and head out. I walked her down to the classroom and took a picture at the door.

 Lexie with her teacher Ms. Kim. She had a fantastic 1st day and can't wait to have a fun year learning new things and making friends!

 Hoyt was really sad to see his big sister go to school without him. He thinks he should be allowed to do everything she does. He got ready to go and put on Lexie's butterfly backpack (I guess I need to get him a less girly one to wear). At least a cup of milk made him feel a little bit better when we got home, and we had fun together reading books and playing while Lexie was at school. It will be nice to have some one-on-one time with him for a couple months before we add a new little one in the mix.

Our Little Princess Turns 4!!

Our sweet little princess Lexie is now 4 years old! I can hardly believe how fast the last few years have gone, and my baby girl is now growing up into a sweet little girl. She was so excited about her birthday this year and had such a fun day! She chose waffles for her birthday breakfast, then we baked her cake and got ready for the day. At noon we headed out for some birthday lunch. I love this picture...she is all ready to go with her baby and baby's diaper bag.

 We headed to Wendy's for some yummy kids meals (Lexie loves their cheeseburgers and frosty's of course).

 The kids enjoying their lunch.

 Next we had to run a few errands. While I grabbed some groceries, the kids went to the park with Daddy to swing and slide. It was a hot day so they didn't stay long, but Lexie loves to play at the park! We also stopped at the SUU Bookstore for Lexie to choose some balloons, but I forgot to take pictures of that. The kids love getting balloons!

 Here is the beautiful birthday girl in her birthday outfit!

Lexie wanted a princess cake with a crown but I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do it, but I got a few ideas from a cake decorating book and just made it up as I went along. I was pretty happy with the finished product. Here is front and back of the cake. 

 Lexie liked the cake which was the most important thing!

 For her party we had a lot of family come over for pizza, presents, and cake...the 3 keys to a great birthday in our house! After eating some pizza (no pictures of that either), she opened her presents and was excited about all of them.

Then of course the traditional lighting of the candles and the "Happy Birthday" song (I usually get a video of that, but again the pregnant slacker mom missed that this year). She was beaming and so full of excitement the entire day!

  And of course she couldn't wait to dig in to her chocolate cake with pink frosting that she requested. I always know the day is a big success when the birthday girl is happy and the Mom is completely exhausted at the end of the day.

Hard to believe this little girl is now already 4 years old and getting ready to head to preschool. She has grown up so much in the past year both physically and in every other way.
Her current 4-year-old stats are:

Height: 3 ft 6 in (90%)

Weight: 37 lbs (66%)

Lexie is very tall for her age, but also skinny. She wears size 5/6 clothes for length, but they don't always fit around very good. People always think she is older than she is, and I've had several people ask if she is starting Kindergarten this year. But the funniest thing happened when we went swimming this summer at the aquatic center. We told them the ages of our kids (3 and under get in free) but the wristband lady took Lexie aside and asked how old she was (thinking we were lying about her age). Lexie just told her she was 3 and we went on our way, but it was kind of crazy. She is getting really close to reading and can spell lots of small words. She can write the names of our family: Dad, Mom, Lexie & Hoyt and is getting good at writing almost all of her letters. She loves to color and draw pictures, and I'm glad she got Bryan's artistic ability because her drawings are really good. Lexie loves to sing songs, and after some difficulties with our ward split and other primary issues, she is finally starting to love her Sunbeam class. She has already given the 8th Article of Faith in primary (perfectly memorized), and she gave her first talk and did a fantastic job! She is looking forward to the primary program next month so she can talk in the big microphone. Every night her favorite thing is reading stories together from The Friend. She has also learned she can pray for whatever she needs, and recently when she had a bad nightmare the next night she prayed to have good dreams and she did! Lexie is such a friendly girl and everywhere we go if she sees other kids she talks to them and always says "That's my new friend" so I'm sure she's going to do great in school and make lots of new friends. She loves animals, especially dogs and is still really into "Clifford the Big Red Dog". She likes to pretend to be a dog, and now Hoyt likes it too so there are times I feel like I have 2 dogs instead of kids. I have really enjoyed the past 4 years watching Lexie grow into a fun, sweet little girl and it will be fun to see her continue to grow in coming years.
We love you so much Lexie, our little princess!!!

6 years!

6 Years Ago...

Giddy newleyweds began a journey together for time and all eternity.

So much has happened in the past 6 years. This is how I described it on FB: "6 years = 2 kids + 1 on the way, 7 job changes, 4 moves, lots of love, laughter, stress, craziness, and excitement for the future as we head on to eternity". Even though our Anniversary was on a Saturday, we didn't make any plans because we had so much going on. We decided to go on a date the next week because Mickell was coming to stay with us for a few days to train at her job and she volunteered to watch the kids. The day of our Anniversary we stayed home and I made Bryan his favorite pepper steak, roasted squash, and he made me a yummy smoothy to drink. Nothing too fancy, but every bit as good as a restaurant meal!



Here we are enjoying our meal together!

 The kids were supposed to be watching a movie while we had dinner alone, but they just couldn't stay away and wanted to get their pictures taken too...this is our life 6 years later; and looking at those cute faces, we wouldn't have it any other way!

 We are so grateful we found one another and started our lives together 6 years ago. We are looking forward to the many years ahead as our little family keeps growing and our love also continues to grow. 6 years down, eternity to go!!