Camping and Fishing in the Uinta's (June 2012)

We did a little camping and fishing in the Uinta's with Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin last June! We loved it up there and the lake was just about 100 yards away from our campsite with a nice trail that went all the way around the lake (I think it was called Mirror Lake)! The boys were catching fish like crazy! We did catch and release though because the fish we too small too eat. I was so grateful to Grandpa for bringing all the fishing gear and also teaching the boys how to fish. Fun little trip for our family!

I love this one! Three Generations of men fishing together.

Jonas' 9th Birthday (May 2012)

Jonas has been in love with Lego's for as long as I can remember! He has always enjoyed following instructions and making things. So when his 9th birthday rolled around, it was pretty easy to come up with a theme. I like themes, it makes each birthday stand out and it makes it exciting for me to see what I can come up with. We were also celebrating 2 of my brothers birthdays so my cute sister-in-law made the Lego head cake for her hubby who has also loved Lego's his whole life. This was a really fun theme for the boys! So we all gathered up at Grandma and Grandpa Brimley's house for a big B-day celebration!

 I loved how the sugar cookie Lego blocks turned out! They were easy and fun to make!

 Later we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin's for a little more b-day celebration and they gave Jonas this really cool rocket. It would go really high (I even got a kick out of doing it).

St. George, Utah (May 20, 2012)

 Yes, I am still playing catch-up on blogging. I should do nothing but blog today. What else is there to do on a Sunday when we have the 9:00 church?
This is a little family trip we took down to St. George last summer! It was a really fun trip and the kids absolutely loved it! They keep talking about St. George and how they want to go back. It's nice how easy kids can sometimes be to please. We don't have to put them all on a plane and pay thousands of dollars to take them some fancy place. They really do love all that Utah has to offer. They do want to go back to the California beach however and that Utah can't really compete with. Maybe someday soon.
 We stayed at a nice little condo with Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin. It was hot and that made for perfect swimming (which is all the kids wanted to do anyway).

  We tried to do a little photo shoot while we were down there because I love the red rock, but the kids just wanted to run and play. Oh well, we got a couple cute ones!

This is a picture we will always treasure, Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin with the grand kids :)

 And of coarse swimming! I LOVE this one of Trevor! He was pretty well set for the water.

 I just can't get enough of this little girl and her big eyes! When I saw this swim suit, I had to have it for her!

 We had to take the kids to the Jacob Hamblin house to see where there great-great-great-great-grandfather lived. We lucked out because we were the only ones there and so we had the house to ourselves.

 Jacob Hamblin's wagon.

 Trevor was tired and grumpy at the temple visitor center. I think this picture is hilarious! Here they are below Christ and Trevor looks like its the end of the world.

My Birthday (May 5) The Big 3-0

As I said in my last post, I am slowly catching up on old events and so after Trevor's birthday we had our 10th Anniversary, Todd's birthday and my 30th birthday all within 2 weeks. Sadly we didn't take any pictures of Todd's birthday or our 10th Anniversary. We actually celebrated our ann. a few weeks later anyways (I'll share about that later). I was pretty sick the whole week before my birthday and so we weren't really sure that we would be doing anything to celebrate. I don't really care if it's a 'me day', I just care that we at least do something and not just let the day go by because it is like a holiday and my whole thing with holidays is that we need them because if we didn't then the whole year would be plain and boring. We need things to look forward to, to be excited about and plan for. It makes all the regular days worth it. So the day before my big 30 was here and I started feeling quite a bit better. So I decided that the thing I wanted more then anything for my birthday was to be able to just have fun and relax with my family. For me, turning 30 wasn't depressing, it was more a realization about how blessed I am and how in love I am with my amazing husband and kids. I decided that I wanted to spend the night in a hotel even if it wasn't far and that I wanted to play with my kids. We remembered this hotel that we'd seen often as we've driven up to the airport, that's just off the freeway near West Valley. I know, what a dream place to celebrate a birthday. But the reason this hotel stood out was the fact that it had a water slide on the outside that was for an indoor pool. So we packed up and headed up. It was at a Holiday in and it was AWESOME!!! We wanted to swim right when we got there and it was a blast. They have an indoor pool with a playground in it, a hot tub, a basketball hoop, and a water slide that starts and ends indoors but winds outdoors. Then after the kids went to sleep, Todd gave me some scottchmellows from See's for a present. We always hide them from the kids because of course they want them but they don't appreciate them like we do. So we sat up watching a show and eating chocolates. Then that morning, the hotel had a yummy hot continental breakfast. It was seriously really good and since we have 4 boys to feed, it was a big money savor :) I loved the fact that I didn't have to make anything or clean up anything. Then we went back to the pool because we signed up for a late check-out and we didn't have to leave until 2:00. From there we went over to day break, did some wondering and shopping and bike ridding. Then headed home to finish of the celebrations with a pinata. Todd has traditionally been making me hit a pinata every year on my birthday since it's also Cinco de Mayo. This year I had the kids do most of the hitting though :) It was a PERFECT way to spend my birthday. We've decided to make this a tradition since it went so well.

 Perfect way to spend a birthday!

 I definitely slept better then these boys

 I'm officially the big 3-0!

A very cool hotel!

Trevor's 4th Birthday

I have decided to back up a little and do a couple posts from a few months ago because they are really the only somewhat exciting things going on in our lives right now. This is why I don't blog much. Well, that and I also tend to take on a million projects each day and of coarse only end up getting one or two done, so blogging has been put on the back burner too many times. In fact, the set up has all changed since I last did this, so I hope I know what I'm doing.
This post is Trevor's 4th birthday party from back in April. He is obsessed with playing Angry Birds. When we tell him that he can't play, he says (in his cute Trevor voice) "I've got to get the pigs!". He will even sneak into my room early in the morning before I have woken up and steals my phone to play. I don't love him playing it because he turns into an Angry Bird when he can't play. So this is why we went with the theme. It was a lot of fun coming up with the Angry Bird themed games and making the cupcakes. I, of coarse, got most of the ideas off Pinterest. We first talked about the theme 3 months before his birthday and so that is all I heard about everyday for 3 months. I think it all went well and most importantly, Trevor loved his birthday!

My cute 4 year old!

A happy big brother who also likes Angry Birds!

I had to put these together really fast and they took a lot longer to make then I was planning but I think they still turned out cute.

Trevor already had the stuffed Angry Birds, so I wanted to be able to use them in a game some how. So I'm proud to say that I made the board from scratch, all by myself. I actually really enjoyed painting it and the kids all seemed to enjoy playing it so it was worth the late night I had the night before his party.

I also made this game from scratch. These are cans and I painted them and then sprayed them with a finish. I also painted the face on the ball. I just looked off of some pictures online and did my best.

We love living close to most of there cousins. I hope they will always be friends.

I love my sweet little Pooh Bear (that's what I call my Trevor boy because I think he looks a little like Winnie the Pooh, soft and round :)) I can't believe he is already 4 years old. He has been my little buddy and my sweet heart and I love him so much!!!!

She's Finally Here and We Couldn't Love Her More!!!

 My last hour of pregnancy, yay! We had to be at the hospital by 5:30 a.m. and so of coarse I didn't sleep at all the night before. So I took a shower and did my make-up, why not, I always feel more awake and more like myself when I do. It's amazing to me that with a c-section, you show up and just with in a couple hours you're done. I don't love c-sections but they definitely have they pro's. It all went perfectly and I swear that each c-section gets easier and easier. The worst part was actually walking into the operating room alone (they don't allow the husband back until after the epidural) and it was 62 degrees in there. After a little while of prep work I looked up and there was my warmth, my husband. I felt so much better after he was aloud to come and be by my side. What a difference it makes to have someone next to you that you love. We just looked at each other through most of it until I heard that noise of relief. I love hearing that new born cry after they are out. And then of coarse I waited anxiously for the doctor to let me know if it was for sure a girl. Right after I breathed a sigh of relief from her first cry, I breathed a second sigh of relief as the doctor said "Well hello little lady!". I was then the happiest women in the world. Not only was she here healthy and strong but she was in fact a 'she'! I love my boys with all my heart and I wouldn't change them for the world but I have, of coarse, wanted to experience both. And lets face it, girls are more fun to dress. I spent my whole pregnancy holding myself back from full on excitement until I knew for sure that she was my girl! I aloud myself to cry a moment but then told myself to stop because I have (in the past) hyperventilated before when I'm stressed and start crying, so I really didn't want that to happen. I had to keep myself calm for the rest of the c-section. I couldn't stop staring at my little girl and then the morphine kicked in, so that's when they carted her off to be cleaned up and checked.

 PERFECT!!!

 I LOVE this picture! This little guy has been more excited then anyone, to have a baby sister. This picture melts my heart.

 First bath.

 Her first bow! Daddy got to pick it out all by himself, I think he did a good job!

 She is going to grow up so loved and protected. Her brothers have been fighting over her non-stop. They absolutely love and adore her.

 I think my mom was more emotional then I was that day. My mom is such a spiritually strong woman and I know that she definitely felt the spirit very strongly that day. I always love thinking about how these little babies came right from our Heavenly Fathers arms, to ours! They are so perfect, so clean, so pure! Nothing on this earth could be closer to Heaven. 

 Getting ready to go home! I had to put her in a lady bug outfit, it's only fitting. I have had this outfit for a few years now and it was so fun to be able to pull it out. The nurse took Lucy later and put a red and a black bow on her instead. That was right up my ally. You can kind of see it in the picture below.

The day we came home. I am, of coarse, tired and I sometimes sit and think about how life was easier without a new born and wonder if my life will ever be normal again and if I will ever get to sleep in the same bed as my husband again. But those are just fleeting thoughts and I really couldn't be any happier. She is the best baby ever. She already has such a sweet little spirit and I feel so incredibly blessed to be her mother. The spirit that she has brought with her and filled our home with is worth ever moment of lost sleep and crazy messed up schedules. I really feel that between my amazing husband, my 3 wonderful boys and my new baby girl, that I got the golden ticket.