Oh boy!

Last weekend we went in for an early gender reveal ultrasound!  

Joey was not going to do a picture.  No way.

We're having a boy!!!!

I was so excited to find out because this pregnancy is flying by and I often forget I'm pregnant at all.  As soon as I found out it was another boy, I felt this rush of love come over me.  There is a baby in there after all!

I'm imagining all the boy craziness we're going to have in the future.  I'm stoked about camping, backpacking trips and hiking.  I've been searching for all the variations of bikes families with kids can have. I'm dreaming of biking trips and canoeing... I'm not dreaming of scouting and eagle projects, but we will do it and do it well!

3 boys within 4 years!  Life is going to get a little more rowdy, but I think we can handle it ;)

Family Update

I haven't done a full family update for a while so I guess it's time!

Tony took Charlie on the ward camp out last month! 

 They are "camping buddies" as Charlie says.

Tony is working so hard right now.  His company is new and exciting.  Being able to wear shorts & flip flops everyday is a definite bonus too.  He is newly working in the Elder's quorum.  It will be a great way to get to know the men in our ward so I'm excited for him.  I'm proud of everything Tony does for our family.

In Park City for my birthday-still need to post about this!

I'm now serving on the RS board and am loving this area.  I think it's a good sign to love where you are within two months!  There are 5 new homes on our street that have young families in them. We all moved in within two months of each other so we're all in the same boat--learning the area, husband's starting new jobs, etc.   All of us moms stay at home so we get the kids together for playdates and are starting up weekly lunches so us moms can get a little more adult interaction :)  Having good girl friends is such a blessing!
As far as baby news goes, I'm 15 weeks along so we'll find out what we're having in a month!

This is Charlie's Hulk and Captain America costume.  

Charlie is loving preschool.  He comes home with songs and phrases he learned that day.  

"I can spell red!  I can spell red!  R-E-D red!  R-E-D red!"

He has a few boys his age that he loves to play with.  I'm always trying to set up new play dates so we can meet more boys his age.  He is becoming quite social.  It seems like almost everyday we have some play date going on.  It's a good thing.

Charlie still loves to pretend.  His imagination is wild and sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with his games when we play!  I'm always stepping on some imaginary dragon or don't see the bad guys coming ;) Right now his favorite people to play are Iron Man, Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, a cowboy, firefighter, father (he started saying this after he had a girl friend come over and she had him play house. Boys and girls play so differently!) and a puppy.  I'm always being corrected as to what name he is currently going by. Charlie is affectionate and kind.  My favorite thing he says is, "mom, I love you.  Mom, I like you."  This phrase melts my heart!

Watching his favorite movie: Cars.  He is completely glued.

Joey is talking so much now!  His words still sound like a minion, but I can understand a lot of what he is saying and it makes life a lot easier.  He is very head strong and knows exactly what he wants!  He loves cars, trains, pretending his hands are guns, playing doctor and fighting with lightsabers.  He loves to sing and has incredible pitch.  I can always tell what song he is singing, not by the words I hear, but because I know the tune.  He is always asking to "help."  He wants to help with the dishes, making dinner, laundry, etc.  He is a fantastic cleaner!   After cleaning each category of toy he pumps his fist in the air and yells, "I did it!"

Joey wants to do everything Charlie does, including potty training.  

We aren't there yet, but maybe soon?

Charlie says he and Joey are "best buddies."  They play so well together at home. I'm glad they have each other.  I have a friend with a 6 month old.  Watching them with her makes me excited to have another baby in the family!  These two will be great big brothers.

Always a Wrestling Match

I love these rowdy boys!

Labor Day Weekend

 

We had big plans to go camping in the canyon over Labor Day weekend.  Last minute we decided to stay home and do some much needed yard (still lots more to do) and sleep train Joey.  This mama was about to lose her marbles from him coming in our room and waking me up 4-5 times a night.  It's a good thing we stayed home because our friends went camping there the day before we planned on going.  All the campsites were full for the whole weekend!

Saturday we worked all morning and afternoon in the yard.  That night we had a babysitter come and put the boys to bed while Tony and I went out.  It was a much needed break!

On Sunday we went to my parents to celebrate Chloe's 17th birthday!  Happy birthday Chloe!

Monday we had some fun by going to Thanksgiving Point.  The boys and I go often, but daddy hasn't been with us yet.  We first went to Farm Country to see the animals before it got too hot outside.  The boys loved showing Tony around!

We left for lunch and afterwards Tony took us for a little tour of his office since it was Labor day and empty.

 

In each room Joey would say, "oooh!  This is nice!" They loved exploring around the office!  Charlie says he is going to work in an office like daddy when he gets big.

We came back to Thanksgiving Point for the dinosaur museum.  Charlie loves to tell first timers, "the dinosaurs are scary, but they aren't real.  They're just pretend!"  Good thing he is around to keep us all from being scared :)  We went to the little candy shop and let each boy pick out a candy.  They both picked airheads-Charlie picked blue & Joey picked green.  Surprise, surprise.

It was a good weekend!

Bell Canyon Hike

My favorite memories, from last summer, are of the hikes we went on.  I really love hiking and the boys love it too.  It's just fun to get outside and do something active.  Utah has so many hiking spots.  I felt a little overwhelmed trying to pick a place to go.

 Bell Canyon has a reservoir and waterfalls.  We decided to just hike to the reservoir--just under a mile away.  The trail there was mostly uphill with a lot of rocks.  The boys loved climbing over the rocks.  Joey had an exaggerated grunt with the majority of rocks he climbed over :)  It was totally do-able for little kids.  It was work and mom and dad had to help a bit, but it was a fun trail.

 starting out

It has rained the night before so temperatures were nice and cool when we started.  It even sprinkled a bit and that felt great.

 

We made it to the reservoir!  I'm still in awe of the mountains after living away from them.  They are so beautiful.

"I'm king of the waterfall!!!"

We took a long break and snacked on trail mix up at this point.  Charlie was "King of the Waterfall" (not sure where he got that from) and Joey dug in the sandy dirt with a stick.  

On our way back, Charlie asked if we could buy one of the homes close to the trailhead, "so we can go hiking every day!"  

First Day of Preschool

Well, it finally happened... Charlie started preschool today!  When we first moved here, I was frantically trying to find a class for him.  Every home run preschool was full and I was at least number 4 on multiple waiting lists.  Miraculously a preschool down the street opened a new 3 year old class!  We took a quick tour and hurried to get his name on the list.

A letter from his teacher came a couple weeks ago.  He was very excited to get some mail!  We met his teacher and took a tour of his classroom the following week.  It was a very exciting day.

The night before school we had a special dinner picked by Charlie: scrambled eggs, sausage, tater tots and fruit.  Breakfast foods are a favorite around here.  After dinner we had a little FHE and decorated Charlie's new school bag.  We talked about listening to the teacher, being a friend, what to do if you have to go potty...the basics.

Charlie: "mom, tomorrow you can play with Joey so you won't be sad.  I have to grow up now.  I have to go to school." 

Just before bed Charlie got a special priesthood blessing from his dad.  As we were getting ready daddy asked Charlie,"do you know your full name?"  Charlie's response?  "Charlie preschool kid." We tried so hard not to bust up laughing.  He is starting to say the funniest things lately!

I asked Charlie what he wanted for his special breakfast and "panpakes" were requested.  His all time favorite.  We all walked Charlie to preschool this morning.  I'm excited to live close enough so we can walk if we want to!

I'm so proud of Charlie!  He had a great day learning about the letter "M" and "Marvin the Monkey."  Of course his clothes came off within two minutes of being home.  I can't keep clothes on this kid!

Charlie is imaginative, creative and wants to be good.  We're lucky to have him in our family.

Thanksgiving Point Fun

A few weeks ago we bought a family season pass to Thanksgiving Point.  We have had so much fun using our passes!  I think we've been going twice a week?  I love that the boys and I can be sitting around and spontaneously decide to pack lunches and head out for the day.  I love knowing we have a place to go when we're bored.

Our passes get us into 3 different areas: Farm Country, Gardens & the Dinosaur Museum. We're trying to go to the children's garden center as often as possible.  The splash park inside is great and will only be open through the hot summer months.

 Last week Johnny & Brittany joined us at the Dinosaur Museum. 

 Happy they are back in Utah so we can have play dates!

These boys are getting so big.  Tony and I have commented on how weird it is to go to restaurants and not need a high chair (Joey is OVER those baby seats-no way!) or that we can all go to a movie together.  I think the biggest thing is we can go somewhere and leave the stroller at home.  All of us can walk.  It's so fun wearing a backpack and heading out with the boys on each hand.

The ice cream shop gives free kiddie cones to children 3 and under.  Yep, we take advantage of that every time!