Camping & Bear Lake

Our friends the Davis's invited us up camping with them where they have some property in Sourdough, past Huntsville.  They have a nice big trailer, a paddle boat & 4 wheelers we got to play on.  I forgot our tent poles so we had to stay in their little 4 man tent, but it was nice and warm. Saturday morning we woke up to 2 moose right outside of our tent.  The bull looked in the window and circled the tent.  I should have been more afraid but I was just trying to find my camera. 

Kire has become quite the fisherman and caught 8 fish.  Jack even helped Erik catch one too.

We are not really into camping, and don't know jack, so it's fun to go with people who do.

2 Days later we went to Bear Lake for a couple of days.  We'd heard about a hike up to Bloomington Lake we decided to do.  No one told us how cold it was up there so we were unprepared with our flip flops and shorts.  We covered up with towels and blankets we had in the car.  The boys did great, but Erik ended up carrying them both on his shoulders and I got to snuggle Kael.  The lake was beautiful and worth the hike.

Most of our time was spent at the pools at our condo, but we went to the park and Bear Lake too.  I love going there, it's as close as you'll get to the beach in Utah.

Thompson Reunion

 Last weekend we had the Thompson reunion.  The festivities begin at the gravesite of Erik's grandparents in West Warren, UT.  From there each family member carries an olympic torch for a section of the road that leads to a park.

There are over 200 members of this family, and we each wear shirts with the number in which we joined the family.  Erik's grandparents are 1 & 2, then their 6 kids and in order.  Erik is #30, I'm 139, & I think Kael was #195.

 Once at the park each family (6 brothers and sisters) presented their family flag.

 Then the games begin.  Here is Jack & Kire doing the tug of war, boys against girls.

 Kire and Jack with their medals (canning lids).  Kire won several events in his age group: sprint, hurdles, and riding a tarp sled with 3 other kids while Erik & 2 other men pulled.

 The following day was filled with volleyball, water fights, carnival games, crafts, and more contests.

 Kire & Kael lounging on the porch.

 Hey Kael, are you the cutest little bug I ever saw?

All of this craziness was a little overwhelming when I first joined the family, now it's wonderful.  Who else can say they ran the olympic torch down the road, or leg wrestled, or cooked white mush for breakfast during their family reunion?

St. George 4th

We spent the week with my mom and sister Julia's family in St. George. My mom drove down with us and kept Kael fed and the boys busy.  I gave in and let Jack sit in the back for a little while. FYI:  Did you know babies are supposed to sit rear-facing until 2 now !?  That'll be fun.

Here are the boys hiking the slot canyon.  This is their very favorite place to hike.  They can fit through these tiny cracks and love to go off the trails and explore. 

Kire caught his first fish (outside of a trout farm).  They were so excited.  It was on his first cast into this little pond and he reeled in a blue gill.  Erik cut his hand on the spiky fins and they didn't catch anything the rest of the trip, but Kire was so thrilled.

Kire is a funny little kid.  He's pretty mellow and easy going.  He's going to be quit the outdoors man.  He'd rather sit and fish for hours or hike & camp than play sports.  Erik & I didn't grow up doing much camping or fishing, so we are learning together now.

Jack is crazy.  He has no fear.  He started doing flips off of the rocks into the pool.  We're in trouble with him.

I freakin love Kaels shark body suit.

Here's the boys at the splash pad.  It was so funny to see the boys personalities shine through while we were there.  Jack will run through the fountains and get drenched, while Kire just kind of tiptoes around the water.  And Kael's already climbing over rocks and trying to follow his brothers.

 Julia & Trevor had to take us to their favorite place Irmitas.  The owner started talking to me in Spanish, I'm pretty sure she thought Jack was Mexican.

Short little trip but it was great to have Erik around and spend all day at the pool together.

NYC

Erik's brother Bryant just graduated with his PHD from South Carolina and got a job as a professor at West Point Military Academy in New York.  He asked Erik to fly out and help them move across the country, so we decided to make a trip of it.

West Point Academy campus

I flew out Wednesday with Kael.  They live North of the city in a beautiful little town near Cornwall, west of the Hudson.  Kael was awesome, I was worried how he'd do on the plane.
Thursday we left Kael and went into the city and saw a Yankee's game.  Erik's dad has connections and got us $300 a seat tickets for FREE!  We were 16 rows behind the Yankee's dugout.  We could see faces and hear the players, it was the highlight of the trip for me, and I don't even care about baseball.

Erik & Bry

Friday Erik & I took Kael into the city and did some tours.  We went to the Top of the Rock, a beautiful look out ontop of the Rockefeller building.  I would have loved to take a tour of NBC studios and see where 30 Rock & SNL are filmed, and see Jimmy Fallon live, but we couldn't take Kael.

Time Square

Top of the Rock

Saturday we took the train back out to the city & took a boat tour out to see the city & the statue of Liberty.  That was well worth it.  We went through Central Park & China town and all of the famous areas.

       

Sunday we took a drive upstate towards Cold Spring.  We went hiking and stopped by some beautiful old churches.

This is one of the churches we stopped by.  It was so cool and looked straight out of a movie with all of the tilted gravestones, some of which were from the 1700's.

 This is the veiw off of his brother's back porch.  I never thought of New York as being so green and beautiful, but once you get out of the city it is gorgeous.

I had been to New York about 15 years ago with my dad, but Erik had never been, so it was fun to go again.  Everything is really interesting, but I decided I would rather sit on a beach than spend time in a busy city.  It was so good for Erik & I to spend time together and to spend time with  Bry & Teresa and their 3 boys.

Being mom

Yesterday I scrubbed the kitchen floor, counters, cabinets, everything.  Today it looks like a shit hole again, excuse my language.  I am so exhausted, sick of cleaning, only to find my work to be undone in one afternoon.  I'm sure most moms feel the same.  I love my little butt faces, and my life would be a bore without them, but I feel like I am not even enjoying them right now because my work load is so large.

I try to keep in mind the poem about how cobwebs can wait because children grow up fast.  I'm not setting unrealistic expectations.  I am trying to just keep up with the necessary things, like laundry, the kitchen and just toys cluttering my floor.  If I even think about all of the things that I need to get to sometime (like cleaning the storage, sorting the boys clothes, dusting the tops of my counters, cleaning the garage, painting my dresser, cleaning out the cupboards) I get overwhelmed thinking of the thousand things I'd like to do.

But I am grateful to have a home to clean, and a yard to mow, and kids to drag all their crap through my hard work.

Happy mother's day.

Summer toys

We've gotten some fun new toys to play with while we enjoy this beautiful weather.

First, a month ago I found this sweet ride on ksl for $40.  It is seriously like brand new and the boys, love it.  Jack's freaking crazy, I really should make him wear a helmet.

With our tax return this year we (I) decided we needed a swing set.  Erik didn't agree at first, but now that the kids have been playing on it everyday for the last month, he's admitted I was right.  We thought about going to California, but I decided we would get years worth of fun out of a swing set.

So we got the swing set (with monkey bars which was Kire's requirement), & this airplane teeter totter. Then we already had the tramp and a sandbox, so our house is the place to be.  I think I may start charging admission.

We got some new neighbors behind us and they have a little girl Jack's age & a son Kael's age.  They have a tramp too and Jayde & Jack both jump at the same time and talk to each other while in the air.  I just put up this ladder so they could have easier conversations.

The boys favorite place to go, besides our backyard, is the Castle Park in Fruit Heights.  It is the best park ever.

 We are trying to have family scriptures so I bought this family Book of Mormon to use.  We are trying to get better at it.

 Jack doesn't like clothes or shoes.  I really don't mind him peeing outside, it keeps him from peeing his pants, but for the neighbor kids sake I think he should put his pants back on.

9 months

My sweetest little Kael is 9 months old.
He is seriously the cutest, chubbiest, happy little thing.
He got his first tooth a couple of weeks ago and is getting another.
He started crawling this week.  He's been scooting around but not going forward.  Kire took his toy and put it a few feet in front of him and he went for it.  And he's been going crazy ever since.
He loves his brothers and dad, but still a momma's boy for sure.
He babbles and sticks out his tongue over and over like a lizard.
He's eating everything, and just stopped nursing last month.
His eyes are brown in the middle then go out to a greyish-blue, they are supper big and beautiful and he has Erik's dark long lashes.
He goes down awesome for naps and bedtime with a binky and a swaddling blanket that he holds up to his face.

 Baby legs are especially cute on chubby thighs.

 He has one dimple on his right cheek when he smiles big.

He's my favorite.

And a couple of weeks ago I cut my hair short again.  I like it.  It's super easy and fun for summer.

Done??

I've been getting rid of my baby things when Kael is done with them. This weekend I gave away my swing & bouncer and Erik is like, "Well I guess we're done?" We kind of joke about the kid situation.

I've always thought I'd have 3 kids. I came from a family of 5 kids and thought that was too many, so 3 seemed good. Erik came from 4 and thinks 4 sounds good, but he is understanding and knows I do 90 percent of the work, so he is ok with 3.

I know it's too early to say for sure, but I really want to be done. I've broken down a few times lately because I feel like I'm spread so thin that I can't give my kids what they need. Kire is so easy and good that I don't hardly pay him attention because he does everything himself. Jack gets to hang out with me all day, but Kael needs so much attention now that I feel like Jack never gets my full attention. And he's such a stinker and is trying my patience constantly that I lose my temper with him. I feel guilty that none of my kids is really getting what they need, how do families with more kids do it?

Then part of it is selfish, I know. I want to have time for myself. My kids are so fun right now, but I want there to be an end insight. Maybe if Erik made more, or was home more, I would maybe think I could handle it. But I know myself and know I cannot. 3 kids is a lot!

Jack's 3!

My sweet buddy Jack turned 3 yesterday. Jack is such a special kid. He's hilarious and cracks us up everyday with his expressions and with what he says. He has this crazy awesome vocabulary and we have conversations like he's 7 years old.
A few funny stories about Jack:
Jack has been carrying around squeekers (the purple bird) since before he was one. He carries it by one arm. About 6 months ago the arm fell off, but instead of holding onto the other arm, he holds this nub of a string on the arm he liked. Soon after that he set squeekers on the stove and he burned off half of the other arm. Recently he lost both eyes. About 2 weeks ago I was putting Jack to bed and he didn't have squeekers, so I asked if he needed me to get him. He told me that squeekers was mean to him and he didn't want him anymore. He still holds him now and then but is not nearly as attached.Another story. I was talking to the boys about strangers and what to do if a stranger approached them. I was telling them to run, go to a house, kick and scream. I asked Jack what he should do if a stranger came up to him. He told me he would grab a stick and stab him in the neck or get a knife and cut off both his legs. Let's just hope he is not ever approached.

Jack is obsessed with Darth Vader. He has 2 pairs of Darth vader pj's and 1 shirt, and that is all he will ever wear. So he wanted a blue Darth Vader cake. I am no pro, but it at least looks like darth vader.
Our family knows him too well. He got a darth vader helmet, flash light, light saber, and toy. I got him one of those swivel cars you wiggle and they propel forward and some puzzles.
I think Jack is a mini-me.

29

Today I'm 29. WT Freak! I'm getting old. And birthdays aren't very fun anymore, not because I'm getting old, but because I don't get to celebrate it, not really. Today I ran some errands, then finished painting my table, all while taking care of 3 kids. And errands are not fun with kids. Tonight I have to go to a fund raiser my boss is doing. I told Erik that all I want for my birthday is to sleep all night tonight. Kael still wakes up a couple times a night, so tonight I'm going to get some earplugs and sleep downstairs on the couch. Is that sad? We are going to dinner tomorrow night, and I did buy myself an ipod shuffle to wear working out.

And I am excited about my new table.

I had a bar heighth table in my kitchen, which looked good in our small space, but wasn't very kid friendly. I'd been looking for a used table and found one on ksl a couple of weeks ago. It's perfect.

Before:

this is not the table, but it was the same color

After:

So I sold our table and bought this one. I already had the green paint, just had to buy some black spray paint. So the project, including the table, cost me about $70.

Now I'm going to share a tip with you women.

This is for sexually active women only.

Seriously, if you are a guy, stop reading.

Ok.

My friends from work, the are both 50 and so fun, decided to share this advice with me. Out of the blue. So you know after S.E.X. you kind of leak afterwards...you know. Well, they told me to put a tampon in afterwards, leave it in for a little while and then you won't leak! Brilliant! You're welcome. Sorry if that was TMI, I warned you.

February

January-March are pretty dull for us here in Utah. We're not big fans of the snow, or the cold. We have taken the boys sledding, but we haven't had much snow this year. We're hoping winter is over soon because we are sick of being stuck inside with runny noses playing Zombies vs plants and Where's the Water on my kindle.

I am working Tuesdays and Thursdays now. I have 2 friends that have been so awesome to help me with the boys. They get to play with their friends Austin & Carson on Tuesdays, and Thursdays they go over to "the girls" house where Jack gets to play with his "best friend" Josie. I watch the girls sometimes on wednesdays & Fridays while their mom works from home. SO at least we have some friends to play with when we are trapped inside.
Kael is growing up too fast. He's a chubby little thing and doesn't move much yet, but he's started playing in the walker/bouncer and sits up by himself.

6 months

My sweetest little Kael is 6 months. He is still such a joy. Everyone who is around him just loves him. He has the best temperament and will go to anyone. He's found his voice and loves to babble, especially early in the morning. His brothers love to find new ways to make him giggle.

Jack is usually really good with him, but he does try to wrestle him.

Kael's been making the funniest faces lately. He likes to suck on his top lip and pout out his bottom one and he looks like a frog.

I love his chubby body.

Kire is the sweetest brother. He is always snuggling and kissing him.

I started feeding him food about a month ago and he loves it. Last year I bought a Blendtek blender and it has been awesome. I haven't had to buy any baby food, I just blend him up some fresh fruit, or steam some veggies and blend them up. I put the extra in an ice cube tray and freeze it and use it for the week. I wish I had done that with my other kids; it's so much healthier and cheaper.

I gave up nursing my other 2 babies at about this age, but I'm still nursing. My milk just doesn't seem to increase at this stage, so I have to supplement a little. So when I had to start giving my other boys bottles, they just weened naturally and seemed to prefer it. But Kael is still nursing great and prefers it to a bottle so I'm going to keep going as long as I can. I am getting anxious to be done because I have such a hard time losing weight while I'm nursing, but he is probably my last so I am going to enjoy him and the snuggling I get when I nurse.