New Article published!

Just found out Power of Moms posted another one of my articles a few days ago!  This one is a bit more serious and close to my heart than the last.

http://powerofmoms.com/2013/07/8-tips-for-when-the-long-days-get-longer/

Beach Photo Shoot

Need to post these fun pictures before they are outdated!  I wasn't too excited to do family pics while hugely pregnant, but really wanted a beach shot and figured three months before delivery would be better than a week or two after!

My favorite beaches are the ones in Laguna Beach.  I love their "natural feel" with their tide pools, a little more space from homes and buildings and that the sand isn't trucked in! I would have liked to stay here all day long!

Ironman 2013

I hope I make it obvious in this blog that Elijah is a Super-man at home. He has also continued being an Ironman on the racecourse. In May we went to St. George so Elijah could do the half Ironman with his brother-in-law, Dan. As usual, he was amazing! Elijah always impresses me on the racecourse. He studies, plans, practices and always has fun while he is racing too! We have a little joke about some advice his friend gave him when he did his first full Ironman. The friend said he could keep himself going mentally by focusing on a different person or motivating factor for each leg of the race. One suggested was to think about “the joy of doing an Ironman.” How thinking about that could propel an exhausted body forward always made me laugh, but evidently it works for Elijah. He seriously has JOY while doing these races. He has an amazing ability to push himself to do hard things; a 2 miles swim, 50 mile bike ride and 13.2 mile run worth of hard things!

Cassie made these cute shirt for all of us to cheer on our Daddy Athletes

Baby Bump

My sister-in-law just did a number of posts about each member of her family and humbly saved herself for last. So in honor of narcissism I will begin with an update on me. :) My sister asked for pics of my “baby bump.” More accurately, it is a baby mountain. I am HUGE with baby boy number four and still have a month an half to go. Baby Daniel's due date is August 1, but none of my other boys waited until their due date, so we're hoping to have a July baby. Babies are miraculous and exciting, but let's cut right down to it – this pregnancy has been really hard for me. First few months I was super emotional and more sick than I had been with any of my other pregnancies. I have been SO tired, probably because I've been trying to keep up with three busy boys. With the first three we didn't have as much on our schedule and everyone was still taking naps, that is not the case this time around and I am sure feeling it. Second trimester was better, but I already felt big. As hard as I tried to simplify life and get it to slow down, the world kept spinning at the same speed. Now third trimester is here, I feel bigger than I ever was with the other babies and I'm not even to my last month yet. For months I've been getting comments like, “Looks like you're due any day now,” or “Can you get any bigger?” or “Are you sure there's not two or three in there?” Yes, dear strangers without filters who haven't been around pregnant women enough, I'm sure. I'm beginning to feel more compassion for others who always have hard pregnancies. Technically, this pregnancy is still a good pregnancy. There are not complications, I'm not really really sick. I'm just exhausted and have so much extra weight that my belling is putting a lot of pressure on my pelvic bones, making it hurt to walk or stand or ride a bike or sit too long. Basically I'm only comfortable when I'm laying on my side or in a swimming pool. Now I know how Barbies and Action Figures must feel when tormenting children pop their legs off. That is how I feel after being up and around for a few hours.

BUT I am really excited to have this sweet baby come. He is super active; he is constantly swimming, biking and working out with a speed bag. He will have no problem keeping up with his big brothers. I'm having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions and I think he is just as ready to be born as I am for him to come! The boys regularly hug and kiss my belly and talk to the baby. Elijah has been amazing at picking up the slack I've dropped. Almost every morning he stays to help get kids ready and most days takes the boys to school, even taking Hyrum along when he can to give me a few minutes to shower. All but a few evenings during the week he makes sure he is home to put boys to bed. He never complains when he comes home to a messy house, no dinner made and crazy kids, even when he has also had a challenging day at work and spending hours on the LA roads. Most of my days end with a foot massage from Elijah and he keeps working after I fall asleep. I'm a pretty lucky girl.

1st Publication!

Look who's article is on my favorite website today!

http://powerofmoms.com/2013/03/i-love-bedbugs/

Staying Busy

  Jacob and Joey made a Transmogrifier, so they can change themselves and each other into other things.  (Think Calvin and Hobbes).  I especially liked that they included both German and American power sources so they can use it wherever they live.  Way to be prepared boys!

 Hyrum learns a lot from his older brother's examples.  Some less than desirable.  But I am a big fan of the fact that he tells me he has to go potty and then runs and goes by himself.  (Those of you who remember my potty training woes from Jacob will especially understand why this is so wonderful).  He also tells me he needs to do a chore so he can watch a show.  Totally rocks to have my three-year-old unload all the silverware by himself.  And while each piece doesn't always end up perfectly organized, he does get the plastic and metal ones each in the right drawers.

The boys were bored and driving me crazy the other night while I was trying to get dinner ready.  I gave them the challenge to see who could make the best Lego creation of ME!  I think they both did pretty good! What do you think?  I was in fact wearing blue pants and a yellow apron, thought Jake did nice paying attention to those details.  And I think Joey did a pretty good job with my hair!  Not sure how I feel about the nose/mouth he gave me.

Happy Birthday Joey!

Little Joey, is not so little any more.  Last week he turned 6!  I can hardly believe it.  At school he insists that his teacher calls him Joseph, he rides a bike without training wheels and he was the star of the show at his last piano recital.  Even though he has so many of the twerpy traits of a five or six-year-old boy, luckily for me, he is still very sweet.  During a dinner conversation about the Love Languages, he self diagnosed as one who loves words of affirmation (he always writes me love notes and has asked why I don't write him many) and physical touch.  He then proceeded to run from seat to seat at the table and give everyone hugs.  His sweet example was catching and soon all the boys were hugging everyone, including one of Elijah's friends who was at dinner for that night.  Pretty funny.

Joey had a rockin' "Gold Ninja Party."  He was a delightful birthday boy. He helped plan and prepare for the party was thrilled with everything that we did, even if it didn't go exactly as planned.  He was very polite to all his friends, he shared will, said thank you to everyone and even walked each of them to the door when it was time to go.  I'm so proud of the way he conducted himself.

Ninja Training with Sensei Wu

Fighting the Serpent Pinata 

(if you know about Ninjago then this won't seem like such a weird pinata!)

Blowing out the Birthday Caterpillar on his real birthday.

Yea for Legos!

Hooray! More legos!

I brought cupcakes to school to celebrate.

I love you Joey!

Momma loves the Birthday Boy!