Still Here

Just thought I'd take a moment to let you know we're still around. It's been a while. I understand if you've totally given up on checking here for new posts. I've kind of given up on posting.
Yes, our baby was born (5 months ago!) and all is well. Life with 3 is crazy for me and obviously some things have fallen by the wayside. But we're all happy and well and loving life. I'm not making any promises about keeping this thing updated...but here's a picture of my three wonderful kiddos:

Happy 4th of July!

We Found Out

We had our ultrasound and found out that Baby #3 is a boy. I was so surprised because I was almost positive it would be a girl. But we are so excited. It will be nice for Will to have a little buddy close to him. I think Heavenly Father was trying to prepare me to be excited for a boy because Lydia was being a stinker all morning. It will be really nice to have another boy and hopefully fewer emotional breakdowns.
It will also be so nice to have another Fall baby boy because I have all clothes in the right season for him. The only hard part now is deciding on a name. We can't really agree on anything. Lydia wants to name him Woody. If Josh and I can't agree on something it just might end up being Woody.
Lydia came with us to our appointment and it was fun to have her there. She was a little disappointed because she was really hoping for a little sister. But she's warming up to the idea now. Last night in her prayers she said, "and please bless that mommy's next baby after this one will be a girl." I hope that prayer comes true too.
Now we can't wait to meet our new little son and see what he looks like and what his personality will be.

The Cat's out of the Bag!

We're very happy to announce that baby #3 is on the way. Due October, 14, 2011. Doesn't it seem like we just had October?? We've got a long way to go...but that's good. I still need some time to prepare myself for being a mother of three. I have a feeling it's going to be pure insanity.


We didn't tell Lydia until we had been to our first appointment because we thought she would spill the beans before we were ready to announce it to the world. At dinner after our appointment:

Me: Lydia, we have a big exciting surprise to tell you. I went to the doctor today and we want to tell you what we found out.

Lydia: (after thinking for a minute) Can you please just tell me what shape it is?

Me: Um...well, you'll just have to wait and find out.

A few minutes later

Lydia: (huge grin like she figured it out) Is it a whale?

Me: Is what a whale...the surprise? No, it's not a whale.

Lydia: I bet it's a dolphin.

Me: It's better than a dolphin, you'll just have wait and see.

I have no idea how going to the doctor could possibly result in a whale or dolphin surprise. When we finally told her she was pretty excited. Since then she's been asking most pregnant women, "Do you have a baby in your tummy like my mom has a baby in her tummy?" She even announced it to her whole primary class. I'm glad she's excited. At least one of us loves the idea that my tummy is growing. She never fails to mention how big it's getting. I love the honesty.

Quirks

This little boy really has a crazy personality. He keeps me laughing! We had strawberries for dinner and every time I looked at him he had a new strawberry on his head.

He loves to pull all the books out of the basket and get in to read.

Spring, Please!

We had one day this week that felt like spring. We played outside for a long time. Lydia's friend Emi has this stylin' jeep that she shared. Lydia is not a very good driver. But I don't worry about her safety as much as I do for the spectators. We had a lot of close calls! I had visions of Will walking around with tire marks across his forehead. Luckily no accidents. They had so much fun. We can't wait for spring so we can spend lots more time outside.

Poor Will. When he gets to be about 10 he's going to feel so bad that we have so many more pictures of Lydia. Maybe if he would just hold still for about 2 seconds I could get a decent shot. This was the only acceptable one from our Spring-Tease day.

Catch Up

Our Christmas break was so much fun. We felt so blessed to be able to spend it with our wonderful families. We flew straight from Virginia to Disneyland to meet the Gibbons. I am smiling right now thinking of all the fun times we had. LOVED IT!

Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen

Our kids were still on Virginia time. The first morning they woke up at 3:30!!! And no, they didn't go back to sleep. Needless to say they were exhausted! Will fell asleep riding on Josh's shoulders right after breakfast:

Lydia IS Jessie most days so this hat was perfect for her. I thought she'd love meeting the read Jessie but it was a little intimidating that she was so HUGE in real life. Lydia wore this hat everywhere!

Christian is the sweetest cousin in the world. He put up with her tagging along the whole time.

Fun with Daddy!

I think she was expecting the fairies to be a lot smaller. No smiles...

Back to Utah. We spent a couple weeks in Utah. It was awesome to have no responsibilities and just spend time with family.

Lydia loved being with all her cousins, especially Odie:

We got some good snow!

Gingerbread men with Odie, Jessie, and Maddie. Emmett was there too, but he was out helping Grandpa when we took this:

Christmas Eve with the Gibbons. New pajamas:

Will has become a big cheeser:

Lydia was Mary in the Slater Family Christmas Eve program. I was shocked that she actually did it because she doesn't really like attention. She was a sweet little mommy. I was so proud.

The cast: Zac, Sophie(top), Odin, Emmett, Nic, Colby, Lydia, Maddie, Laynie, Annie, Back: Ellie, Jessie Ami.

Christmas morning. Lydia is obsessed with Rudolph. On the Sunday before Christmas she told the nursery teachers that her name was Rudolph. She was so excited to open this one up.

Grandpa Bill and Will

Love these kids!

The kids got a train set and I got a new lens for my camera:

Steffan and Josh:

We rode the train to temple square. She really was having a good time but of course she didn't want to smile as Mommy suggested.

Love this place!

Leaving was so hard! I hate goodbyes. Our trip home is one we'll never forget. We took a red-eye flight thinking kids would just sleep-WRONG. We got 1.5 hours of sleep that night only to arrive in at JFK in New York and our connecting flight to Richmond was canceled. We really hoped to avoid having to sleep that night on the cots that were scattered all over the terminal. We rented a car and drove home. What should have been a 6.5 hour drive turned into 10 because of traffic. We were so relieved to be home and sleep in our own beds. A 24-hour travel day on 1.5 hours of sleep. No, we will never do a red-eye again, and never fly through JFK either.
The one good thing is we got to see NYC, well I did, Josh just drove.

It's there, I promise.

Fabulous Fall

F is for Fall and Frenzy! It's been a crazy little while, but Fun and Fantastic too! Here are some highlights:

Pumpkin Patch

All you can carry for $20. We definitely got our $ worth. Thanks to Doug!

White Coat Ceremony:

We were so lucky to have the Gibbons come and see Josh be White Coated and take the Dental Oath. It's official! He can now work on patients in the clinic.

Man I love this guy! So proud of him.

Fun at Monticello

DC

Josh & I stole away for a romantic weekend in DC. It was awesome! No kids allowed.

Burton and Janaya showed us a great time. So good to see them!

The Slaters also came to visit for a while. We had so much fun carving pumpkins with them.

We also went out to Carter Mountain Orchard to pick apples. We got some good ones!

Halloween

Princess Presto and Super Why
Super Readers to the rescue!

Playing in the leaves...

Lydia's caramel apple...yum!

And of course, F is for Food!