The Bleaks

Trick or Treating!

2011-11-05T20:36:00.000-06:00

We got to go trick or treating 3 times. First at the ward party, then at Fishbowl, and finally on Halloween night. They boys loved it! I was surprised at how much Henry understood the concept. He loved to carry his bucket around. He was really good at choosing a piece of candy and putting it in his bucket. On Halloween night he didn't want anyone else to carry his bucket for him. It got pretty heavy for him, so he was dragging it but he really, really wanted to do it by himself. So cute!

Halloween night was so much fun!! I really loved it and I think the boys did too. We decided to go to Grandma and Grandpa Bleak's since our neighborhood is pretty quiet and empty on Halloween. It's just so neat to see the excitement in William and Henry's face as they experience something new and exciting.

Emma, Henry, and William at Fishbowl.

Emma was Nemo and it was so cute! She LOVES Nemo and was so happy to be dressed up as him. I just love it when kids are excited about their costumes because they are so animated. She was wiggling her fin and just so adorable.

Ward Halloween Party

2011-11-04T11:33:00.000-06:00

The week before Halloween we had a really fun ward party. We got dressed up, had a chili cook off, did a little trick or treating, and played some games. There were so many amazing costumes this year!!

I've been excited for William and Henry to be Batman and Robin for over a year now. It just makes me so happy to think of them as superheros fighting crime together. Haha! And, I just really enjoy dressing them in matching or coordinating outfits. I think they were the perfect age, too. William has a Batcave toy that he absolutely loves so he was thrilled to be Batman. Henry is happy to do whatever William is doing, but he doesn't care about the specifics so he was fine being Robin. I don't know any kid that asks to be Robin. We saw lots of other Batmans during Halloween, but no Robins. It was so perfect that Henry is young enough not to care. He knew he had a cape and mask like William and that was fun!

Now for the shocker... For some reason Nathan decided to go along with my idea to dress up as a family!!! Since I've known him, the most he's ever "dressed up" was putting on a baseball or football jersey. I think he felt like since he was the Bishop he should participate fully in the ward activity. So fun!!! He was the most recent version of Batman. He looked very handsome. All of my boys did! I was Catwoman. It really was so fun and I don't know when we will ever dress up as a family again. I definitely tried to enjoy the moment as much as possible despite a few complaints the "Big Batman" about being uncomfortable. A memorable experience for sure!

Henry kissing the kitty (It's rare that his is gentle with her.)

Catwoman with her cat :-)

This post just makes me laugh...

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-03T20:14:00.006-06:00

Celebrating Halloween lasted the whole month of October for us and it was really fun! William really got into the spirit of the holiday. He loved all the decorations- monsters, pumpkins, spiders, etc. Here are a few of the things we did:

The boys got some really exciting packages from Grammy and Grandma and Grandpa Monk! Grammy sent some really cool Halloween lights to put up in the boys' rooms and some yummy marshmellows. Grandma and Grandpa sent some fun books, pictures, and candy.

We carved a family pumpkin. William picked out a cat stencil for the pumpkin. Diaw decided to sit as a live model to help Nathan as he carved the pumpkin. This year we also decided to roast the pumpkin seeds. They tasted pretty good.

And, we made spooky sugar cookies. We all enjoyed them! They were delicious and very cute.

Football

2011-11-03T20:04:00.000-06:00

William and his friend Brooks did a football camp together in October. It took William a few weeks to warm up to the kids and the idea of 6+ little boys all running at him trying to pull his flag. I'm proud of him for playing even though he was a bit apprehensive!

His favorite part was kicking the ball through the goal post and throwing the ball through specific holes they had set up. William learned a lot about football and still uses some of the new terms he learned. He really enjoyed the last day. They got a balloon and a certificate. William and Brooks are going to play basketball together in January and William is very excited about that!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-26T11:32:00.000-06:00

This was our first year going to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and we had a blast! We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and William and Henry each got to pick out a small pumpkin. We got to see some real farm animals. They had goats, chickens, cows, and pigs who had just had baby piglets! We went down a big slide, played on a playground, took a trick or treat hay ride, and William got to play in a sandbox full of corn. It was a really fun night!

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-10-25T11:25:00.000-06:00

Nathan planned such a fun birthday weekend for me! He took Friday off of work and we went down to St. George. We ate at some fun restaurants and I got a pedicure during the day and then we went to see the Little Mermaid that night. It was such an amazing show!! We spend the night and they headed home Saturday morning. On Sunday Garret and Karli came over for dinner and cake. Karli made a delicious cake! We are so grateful to Grandma Bleak and Bryan and Jennie for watching the boys so that we could have such a great time in St. George!

Nathan's Birthday

2011-10-24T10:10:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday, Nathan! We had a low key celebration this year. We opened presents and had cake. A week later Nathan and I went to Jimmer's All Stars basketball game. It was fun to see Jimmer play one last time before he plays in the NBA.

Our Annual Durango Trip

2011-10-23T11:30:00.000-06:00

We had so much fun in Durango this year! We decided to try a few things that we haven't done before. We visited the Fish Hatchery in downtown Durango. It was so cool! They have a small museum with lots of animals and a video about how they raise fish to put into the Colorado rivers. Outside they have ponds with the fish they are raising. There are so many fish! We had lots of fun feeding them.

Feeding the fish

The Durango Rec Center has become a favorite spot to visit. They have a really neat pool and slide for kids. Henry fell in love with the frog slide. Grandma is such a good sport to sit and watch us play.

The next day we went to a children's museum. It was also very fun. William's favorite part was digging to find fossils with Grandpa.

At the children's museum they had this 4 person bike that you could rent. I somehow convinced everyone to rent it. I can't even look at these pictures without laughing! It was hilarious! It was really hard to pedal and we got a few funny looks as we pedaled around the museum. At one point we were going up a hill and I didn't know if we would make it to the top. So fun! Grandma and Grandpa are so good to indulge us in our funny ideas.

And of course we spent a lot of time relaxing, enjoying the amazing scenery, chatting, and playing hand and foot!

Thanks for such a great vacation! Visiting Grandpa and Grandma in Colorado is something we look forward to every year. I'm so happy that our boys are old enough to have some great memories of our Colorado trips too!

Friends

2011-10-23T09:48:00.000-06:00

Mylie, William, Etta

These are some pictures of William with some his best friends. They happen to be all girls in these pictures. He has a few friends that are boys that we need to get some pictures of.

I absolutely LOVE these pictures. My friend Amy has three adorable little girls that we love to spend time with. It was so hard to get a picture of 5 kids age 3 and under. We love these girls and I really hope that one of my boys will marry one of them :-)

Bella, William, Abby, Henry, and Hayley

Bella and William

We had fun playing with Candace and Adam at Toys R Us before they left for the east coast.

Candace and William in the mini version of her Mini

Fun memories!

Summer 2011

2011-10-22T11:02:00.000-06:00

We had a fun summer! We grew tomatoes, cucumbers, and strawberries this year in our pots. William did 2 sessions of swimming lessons and loved it! He is a little fish and really enjoys getting wet. He also did a gymnastics class for a few weeks. Here are a few funny William moments:

*He loves to sing! He sings "DJ Got us fallin' in love again" but on Sundays sometimes he sings "Jesus got us fallin in love."

*We had fun playing with Emma while Kellie was at some of her young women functions. William loves to play with her. He has a hard time understanding her babbling. He would say to her "Emma. I can't understand what you are saying!" When Nathan asked him later why he couldn't understand her William replied that it was because she was speaking "Panish" (Spanish).

*One night during prayers Nathan prayed that we could be like Jesus. William was very upset and said "No! I don't want to be Jesus! I want to be Batman!"

Henry is such a sweet little boy. He loves to cuddle. He thinks his brother, William is the funniest person he's ever met. He is constantly busting up laughing at some of the things that William does. He has a fascination with toothbrushes, spoons, brooms, and anything electronic. He started walking at 14 months. He started eating with utensils on his own around 15 months. They are fun boys!

Night, Night

2011-10-22T10:58:00.002-06:00

Little Henry loves bedtime! He loves to go to his bed and pull out his blanket and paci and tote them around with him. I really enjoy his sweet personality!

Giving hugs to Doggy

Happy Birthday William!

2011-08-23T10:48:00.000-06:00

On August 11 we celebrated William's actual birthday. What a big boy he is! I'm always thrilled to celebrate his birthday because it means we are one year further away from his traumatic birth experience. It kind of surprises me how much anxiety I still have about his health even though he is completely healthy now. To celebrate we opened presents, had more cake, and went to Chuck E. Cheese.

The boys playing with William's new aircraft carrier.

Even though it looks like Henry is having a good time in this picture he is actually screaming at the top of his lungs and holding on for his life. Henry thought Chuck E. Cheese was the worst place he has ever been. He was scared to death the entire time. Poor guy! William, on the other hand, had a blast!

Here are his 3 year old stats:

Height: 95.25 cm 53rd percentile

Weight: 30.5 lbs. 39th percentile

We sure love you William!

William's Birthday Party

2011-08-22T10:42:00.000-06:00

We decided to have a little birthday party for William on July 25th. Mark and Cami were in town for a family reunion and Kristen and Andrew were in town for a wedding, so we decided to have a party while the whole family could be together. Candace and Adam also got to come since they hadn't moved yet.

We met at a nearby park and had cupcakes and treats. We opened gifts and then hit the pinata. After that it got really windy and started to rain, so we packed up quickly and came home. It was fun to see everyone and spend time together.

Cute cousins!

It was quite the accomplishment to get them all to sit still for a picture.

Grandma and Grandpa gave William a scooter and he LOVES to ride it!

When William woke up that morning he kept asking me if Loui (the family dog) could come to his birthday party. William called Grandma and asked her and she brought him all the way down! What nice grandparents! William was so distracted by everything else that he didn't even notice much that Loui was there. Oh well.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-08-21T10:35:00.000-06:00

We have come to LOVE the 4th of July. About 3 years ago we started some traditions that have created a lot of fun memories for our family.

We start the holiday by going to the parade. This year I got up at 4:30 am to go save us a spot. I intended on sleeping for a few hours until everyone got there at 9 but I was just too excited. We got a really good spot this year and the weather was perfect. It was overcast and not too hot. (still hot enough to enjoy some popsicles though) We got to sit on the grass right under a big tree. Grandma, Grandpa, Katelyn, Jordan, Bryan, and Jennie came with us this year. Part of our tradition is to have a fast food breakfast. This year it was McDonald's. William was old enough to really enjoy the parade. He loved the motorcyles and the fire trucks. All of the little towns have their town royalty on their floats. William called them "princesses" and his favorite thing to do was to run and tell Grandma that more princesses were coming. It was really cute. I guess he thought that she would really like them. William also tried cotton candy for the first time.

After the parade we went to walk around the Freedom Festival and ate lunch. Kately waited in the longest line to take William on a ferris wheel. She is such a nice aunt! He was happy to go with her. After lunch we went home and took a nap. Then we had a picnic lunch on the living room floor while we watched "Never Say Never" (the Justin Beiber movie) which the whole family really enjoyed :-).

We met up with Bryan and Jennie and Jennie's family for fireworks later that night. It was such a fun holiday!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-08-20T10:34:00.000-06:00

Aren't they so cute in their Cubs' shirts? On June 19th we celebrated Father's Day and Nathan's one year mark as the Bishop of our ward. What a year it has been! It's been super busy and very challenging. We are still trying to figure out how to balance our priorities and juggle all of our different activities and commitments. I hope things will start to get a little easier since we have one year under our belts, but I'm not holding my breath. The whole experience has been a huge leap of faith. I'm reading a book right now that talks about how God makes everything work together for our good. I look forward to the time when we can look back at this point in our lives and see how things came together. One year down and ? to go!

Henry's 1 Year Old Pictures

2011-08-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

Henry's Birthday Party

2011-08-18T12:52:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful party for Henry's first birthday on June 18th. We had lots of good food and even better company! Henry was a good sport and seemed to have fun. He really liked his lion cake. He ate quite a bit of it. We played a game where we had a picture of Henry from every month of his life and everyone had to put them in order. Jennie won!

I made William and Henry coordinating shirts for the party, but I never got a picture of them together showing the shirts. They were cute brothers!

Grandma Monk thought that Henry's cake looked good so she decided to sample it after Henry was done :-).

It was so much fun! We are so grateful to everyone who came to celebrate with us- especially my family who travelled from Arizona. Happy Birthday, Henry! We sure love you!

Here are Henry's 1 year old stats:

Weight: 23.9 pounds 67th percentile

Height: 30 inches 54th percentile

Head: 19.7 inches 99.7 percentile

Farewell to Oprah

2011-08-18T12:51:00.000-06:00

On May 25, 2011 after 4,561 shows the Oprah Winfrey Show aired its final show. I really miss the show. She had a lot of uplifting topics that I really enjoyed over the years. It's a little bit cheesy, but these are some of Oprah's words of wisdom that have inspired me and I want to remember. These are my "A ha moments" from Oprah.

*Do what makes you happy. You are important and you have a purpose in life. You, alone, are enough. Everyone has a calling. The key to life is to find out what it is and to go to work on it. Use your callling to server the world. Everyone has a platform whether it be your family, friends, or a bigger one like Oprah.

*You have the light in you!

*Nobody but you is responsible for your own life.

*We block our own blessings if we don't feel worthy.

*Everyone wants validation. -Do you see me? -Do you hear me? -Does what I'm saying matter to you?

*"Be still and know that I am God." Listen and wait for what God has to tell you.

*Your life/God is speaking to you right now. What is He saying?

*When a child walks in the room does your face light up? What does your face reflect back to the child? What message are you sending to them?

*If someone is kidnapping you, never let them take you to the second location. If they take you somewhere else it will be more isolated and they will probably kill you and the chances of you escaping or someone finding you are slim. You are better off to fight with them where you are if you want to survive.

* When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. -Mya Angelou

*When you know better, do better. -Mya Angelou

*When you can say thank you to God during the trial, you know your faith is strong. -Mya Angelou

*People CAN change.

*There are no coincidences, only acts of God.

*"You always had the power." -Glenda the Good Witch

In the words of Oprah, "until we meet again."

Henry turns 1!

2011-06-21T13:20:00.000-06:00

June 10, 2011

Henry had his first birthday! I truly can't believe that an entire year has gone by. It seems that it has gone by quickly, but it's hard to remember our famiy without him. He continues to be a sweetheart! He is very cuddly and I LOVE that about him! We opened a few presents with him on the day of his birthday. We are gearing up for a big party in a week!

Kitty was feeling generous that day and actually gave Henry a little kiss on his forehead. He was so happy!

He is really close to walking on his own. Right now he likes to use this car as a walker, or he'll just push a chair around.

The presents were a hit! William picked out a Little People airplane for Henry. Mommy and Daddy gave him a kitchen and a puppy pillow pet and blanket.

Happy Birthday, Henry! We love you so much and we're so glad you are a part of our family!

Henry's 1st Haircut

2011-06-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

June 4, 2011

My baby Henry is growing up! I decided it's time to give him a haircut. He could have used one a few months ago, but I just couldn't bear to cut off the baby curls in the back. Now it's so long that there are no more curls and he's almost 1 year old! So, we cut it off! Before

During
You can kind of see the curls in the back.

His hair for his baby book.

After

Kristen and Jaxon's Baby Shower

2011-06-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

June 2, 2011

Kristen and Andrew are moving to California. We are so sad!! Before Kristen left, we had a baby shower to celebrate baby Jaxon. It was so much fun and turned out really cute! We decided on a jungle animal theme.

Gayle made these adorable jungle cupcakes! She spent a lot of time on them and they looked and tasted so good! Kellie made some cool tissue paper balls and an amazing jungle diaper cake. It all came together really well.

Kately, Jennie, Gayle, Kellie, and me

Kristen opening her gifts

Amber, Katelyn, and Jennie

Even though it was June it was pretty cold outside! Most of us were huddled under blankets the whole night.

Special Sisters- Kellie & Kristen

Kellie is also pregnant! She is due at the end of November. We are so excited for 2 new cousins!! I'm glad we could have such a great baby shower/going away party for Kristen before she left. We will miss them!

Bryan and Jennie's Wedding!!!

2011-06-18T09:00:00.001-06:00

What an exciting occasion! On May 6, 2011 Bryan married Jennie Showalter in the Bountiful temple. It was so cool to be there for their special day. Nathan and I were so emotional for the ceremony because we are so happy for Bryan!

They had their reception the night before the wedding. Their colors were black and white and it looked really cool. I especially loved all of the black suits with black ties. They almost looked like tuxedos. At the reception they served ice cream sundaes with tons of different toppings. It was really fun. Emma and William (with his "cheeks" face)

The boys with Jennie

Jennie with all of the cute kids

William and Henry with Uncle Bryan

What handsome boys!

I just love this picture! William and Bryan have such a special relationship. They are so cute together!

Jennie's Family

Everyone looks so good in black and white!

William had a blast playing with Jennie's niece Campbell during the reception. She even gave him a different name. It was so funny! He would only answer to that name. I wish I could remember what it was!

The happy couple enjoying some ice cream with Henry at the end of the night.

Us with Lynn and Michelle, and Cory and Tara

Nathan and I were the first to get married out of the college group of guy friends. Dan married Amber about a month after us and then there was a drought of weddings for a few years. Paul got married a few years ago and Lynn, Cory, and Bryan all got married within the last 15 months. Bryan's wedding was so much fun for us because we got to spend time with some of our really good friends that we haven't seen for awhile. It was too bad that Bryan and Jennie didn't have more time to hang out with all of us!

The next morning we went to the wedding!

Henry and Jordan outside of the temple

Cute cousins!

Yay!! I just love this picture. So happy!

Amber and me outside of the temple

We just love Dan and Amber and we wish we could spend more time with them! We were so glad that they could come all the way from Texas for Bryan's wedding. We got to spend some quality time together.

Cade, Lynn, Bryan, Cory, Nathan, and Lynn

The Bleak Family

Cade and Nathan speaking at the luncheon

Nathan, Lynn, Bryan, Dan, and Cory

I have lost track of how many years these guys have been friends, but it's been a long time. We were sad that Paul couldn't make it at the last minute.

The send off

It was really one of the most wonderful weddings that I've been to. The sealing was so neat and we were just so thrilled for them. We love Jennie so much and we are so grateful for the joy and happiness that she has brought into Bryan's life. Yay! Congrats to Bryan and Jennie!

Whew. 3 weddings in 6 months. Time for a break!

Cousin Photo Shoot

2011-06-17T11:34:00.002-06:00

May 1, 2011
After church we had a mini photo shoot with the cousins. We didn't plan their outfits, but they ended up matching and looking pretty cute! I put my pearl necklace on Lexi and she fell in love with it. It's so hard to get 3 little kids to all look at the camera and smile. These pictures just make me laugh. My boys were cracking up the whole time and did not want to sit still. Lexi was unsure of all the craziness.

Whenever someone says "Say cheese." William makes this face. He thinks the saying is "cheeks" instead of "cheese." Oh dear. You can just see how wild they were by the look in their eyes.

Brunch with Daddy Monk

2011-06-16T11:32:00.001-06:00

April 30, 2011

About a year ago my dad moved to Arizona. While we were there for Candace's wedding we squeezed in some time with him on Saturday morning. The grandbabies at brunch

Henry had the time of his life eating whatever anybody gave him! We just kept feeding him and afterwards he was whiny. I think he had an upset stomach from all of the food! The poor guy. We definitely need to monitor him better next time.

We got to go swimming at Daddy Monk's place.

I'm glad we got to get together! We all had a good time!

Sunday Dinner with Bunny & Didn

2011-06-15T11:28:00.001-06:00

May 1, 2011
One of the things I miss the most about not living by my family is the Sunday dinners. Growing up we would get together almost every Sunday with Bunny and Didn. Whenever possible we try to stay over a Sunday during our Phoenix trips so we have dinner together. It's still surreal to be home with 2 children of my own.

Didn sharing his ice cream with HG

I love those smiles!!

Bunny playing with Lexi

After dinner with Bunny and Didn, Nathan and I packed up the boys and went to Mark and Cami's house. Our boys always have so much fun with their girls! Here is William playing pirates with Anna and Robyn.

Mark is the bishop in their ward so we always like to swap experiences, stories, and advice while the children play.

The Bottle Thief

2011-06-14T11:24:00.001-06:00

May 1, 2011
At Candace's wedding Lexi became very interested in Henry's paci. We were just hanging out on my mom's bed on Sunday afternoon while Henry was drinking his bottle. Lexi sat next to him and found his paci again. She was very curious about the bottle. She has refused to take a bottle. She kept looking at Henry and you could just see the wheels turning in her head. Here's what happened:

Back to the paci and everyone's happy.

Yes, that is me laughing in the background. So cruel. I know. But, I did restore order after I was done laughing.

Candace & Adam's Wedding

2011-06-13T15:15:00.000-06:00

April 29, 2011

Candace married Adam Dyal in the Mesa, Arizona temple on April 29th. We are so happy for them! They had a beautiful wedding. I even got to be a bridesmaid! Candace and Adam outside of the temple

Nathan and Lexi

Lexi trying to steal Henry's pacifier
She doesn't like pacifiers and she has never ever taken one, but for some reason on this trip she thought it was pretty cool and kept trying to steal Henry's.

Grammy with the twins

William playing with Anna outside of the temple.

My mom with her sister Karin and her brother Mark

After the wedding we went to a luncheon. Amanda, Tara, and I got to give a small presentation during lunch. Adam's family has a tradition where the family prepares a basket of things that represent the bride and groom. During the luncheon they share how the items represent the bride and groom. We got to do Candace's basket and we had so much fun sharing some of our favorite childhood memories!

Best picture of the weddding!!!

Ok, well definitely one of the best pictures... This was so funny! I was so happy to spend some time with Stanton's girlfriend Jenni at the wedding. I have heard so much about her and I had never really had the opportunity to get to know her as well as the rest of the family does. She helped watch the children while we were in the temple and then we got to sit with her at the luncheon. So fun! Her dad made a cardboard cutout of Stanton. We made Jeni take a picture of her kissing the cutout on the cheek. Haha! I think she was a little embarassed, but we had so much fun hanging out with her!

I absolutely loved our bridesmaid outfits! It was a group effort to pull them off. Amanda found the dresses at the Rack. Bunny added sleeves and length to them. I made the flowers with some very helpful input from Bunny. It's the first bridesmaid dress that I will wear again. (I actually already have!)

Me with Tara, Heidi, and Amanda

A quick note about Heidi's dress- She looked so beautiful! Her dress was the same designer as our bridesmaid dresses. Guess where she got it. Goodwill! How cool is that? She is SO good at finding bargains and looking amazing! I still have a lot to learn from her :-) She also did almost everyone's hair for the event, too. Thanks for all of your help!

A few pictures of the reception venue:

It was so beautiful!

The orange candy buffet

Candace's favorite color is orange.

Me with the twins

The bridal party

Candace found orange parasols for all of us. The flowers were amazing. Each bridesmaid had a different type of flower in the color orange. I had that for my wedding and it looks so cool.

The Shields Family

Special Cousins!

It was bittersweet for me to think that we are all married now! It's a new chapter in life. I really love weddings and it was so neat to see each of us get married in the temple. I told Garret that I wanted to make a collage of the 4 of us at each other's weddings. He kindly replied that that might be difficult. I said that it won't be because I have all of the pictures. He then reminded me that he was on his mission for Amanda's wedding and that picture is with Stanton instead of him. Whoops! I forgot about that. Maybe Amanda can do a head swap!

The happy newlyweds!

I just love this picture with the leg pop, the orange shoes, the parasol, etc... By the end of the night I think the photographer was pretty tired of us. We all kept suggesting shots he should get. He was a good sport and I think they got some amazing pictures.

Cute Garret and Karli

Special Sisters

We had fun taking a few "modeling" pictures. Haha! :-)

Amanda is a much better model than I am. I still need lots of direction.

Auntie Goo-goo with the babies

Lexi and Henry enjoying each other

And we ended the night with a family dance party! It was such a special day and I'm so glad we got to be there for it!

Henry Laughing

2011-05-18T11:42:00.002-06:00

Cute brothers laughing in April

Are you smarter than a 2 year old?

2011-05-18T10:52:00.002-06:00

William was coughing last night as he was going to bed so he asked Nathan for some medicine. I said that he would probably be fine without any since he slept fine during nap time. William continued to ask for some. Nathan went into the bathroom and filled up a syringe with water and took it to William.

W: Is this water or medicine?

N: It will make you feel better.

W: Is it water? It tastes like water.

N: What do you want it to be?

W: Strawberry medicine.

N: Ok.

W: Mmm. Strawberry water medicine.

Hahahaha! The answer is no. We are not smarter than our 2 year old. Bummer.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

Easter was so much fun this year! William actually understood who the Easter Bunny is and that he was going to bring candy. Grandpa and Grandma Monk sent the boys an Easter package with some notes and shirts. They really loved opening them! William really loved his monkey basketball shirt. He wore it the next day.

William saying "cheeks" instead of "cheese" on Easter morning with his Easter basket

Searching for Easter eggs

My boys :-)

Henry walking to his Easter basket

After we had our family Easter morning, we met with some of the children in the neighborhood for an egg hunt outside. It was lots of fun! William didn't want to be in this picture, but he really enjoyed seeing all of his friends.

Finding more eggs!

Cute brothers

Mylie and William

Grammy asked William if Mylie was his girlfriend and he said "Umm... I guess so!" They are too cute together.

Happy Easter!

I had such high hopes of getting an adorable picture of the boys in their Easter outfits. I absolutely love their shirts and Henry's argyle socks. They looked so cute! As you can see, my many attempts were unsuccessful. Sigh. Maybe another day... At least we got a good family picture.

William and Emma looking so cute together!

After church we went to Bountiful and had a great family dinner. A long day, but lots of fun.

Grammy, Bunny & Didn

2011-04-28T15:20:00.000-06:00

Near the end of April Grammy, Bunny, and Didn came to visit us for Candace's graduation. We had a really fun time with them. William and Henry loved playing with them. William made a cave with Didn in the basement. William spent most of his time following Didn around talking to him, asking him questions, and helping him with whatever he was doing/fixing.

Didn is a big ice cream lover. Henry loves food, especially ice cream. Henry discovered that Didn had a bowl of ice cream one night and they quickly became best friends. Henry ate half of Didn's ice cream! He just kept eating and whining for more. Didn tried to put him down and Henry kept following him wherever he went! It was so funny! I've never seen Henry so excited about a certain food. Apparently they have more in common than just a name and initials.

The boys also loved to follow Bunny around and beg her to hold them.

On Friday, we had a graduation party for Candace and Adam. Henry was having a rough time so I finally put him on the buffet counter and let him eat whatever he could hold. He was so happy! He's doing a really coy smile in this picture. He's so funny!

Big Boy!

Kauai!

2011-04-26T21:10:00.001-06:00

I've always loved to travel. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of family vacations. When I was a teenager Grandma and Grandpa Monk took me and Amanda to Kauai Hawaii. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been! I remember while we were there that Grandpa would tell us to enjoy it because it may be a once in a lifetime experience. I really, really didn't want that to be my only visit to Kauai in my life. So, when we got married Nathan and I talked about going to Hawaii for our 5th anniversary. Well on our 5th anniversary I was 7 months pregnant, so we postponed our trip for our 6th anniversary. We started planning the trip in the fall and although there were a few kinks in our plans we headed to Kauai in the middle of April! It was Nathan's first time to Hawaii and he loved it. We were there for about a week and had a wonderful time! Some of the highlights:

*Besides sitting on the beach, my favorite thing to do in Hawaii is to snorkel. Some friends lent us their snorkel equipment which was so great because we could go whenever we wanted. We found 2 really fantastic spots- one of them I remembered from the last time I was there. We saw so many incredible fish, coral, sea urchins, some really fat sea cucumbers, and even some crabs.

*Nathan and I agree that one thing we love about vacations is going out to dinner every day. We definitely include restaurants we want to visit when we're planning our activities for the trip. We ordered a lobster tail for the first time while we were there. It was pretty good but it's a splurge!

*We went to a farmer's market and bought some of the local fruit and vegetables. Some of our favorites were apple bananas (small bananas that are sweeter and never get mushy) and dragon eyeballs (kind of like grapes with a hard peel on the outside). We also got to drink the milk and then eat a fresh coconut.

*We took a short drive up Waimea canyon on Sunday afternoon. We ran out of time so we couldn't get too deep into it, but we'll put it on the list for next time!

*Sunday was such a neat experience. About half of the people that attend the ward in Lihue are visitors/tourists. After Sacrament meeting the locals stood at the front of the chapel and sang a Hawaiian welcome song while sisters passed out yarn leis. It just happened that Elder Nelson and his wife were on the island that day and giving a fireside that night so we got to see them, too. It was so cool so get to hear them speak.

*We went to a luau and had the traditional kalua pig and poi. After dinner we saw a spectacular show about all of the traditional island dances.

*There are tons of roosters and chickens running around wild on the island. During the hurricane in 1992 (I think?) all of the roosters got out of their cages. The state of Hawaii now protects them so they just run wild wherever they want to! Nathan really didn't like the roosters, so I took his picture with one. I thought they were kind of cool and very pretty. Plus, they eat a lot of the bugs!

A peacock at the luau

Nathan trying out the hula dance

*We took a boat ride to see the Na Pali coast. During the excursion we saw sea turtles, dolphins, and even a whale! The Na Pali coast is absolutely amazing!!! It's so gorgeous. It's full of cliffs that end at the ocean. There are many movies filmed there. Last summer they filmed the new Pirates of the Carribean there. After we saw the coast we snorkeled for an hour, ate lunch and headed back to the port. The sea on the way back was pretty choppy. Nathan got sea sick and it didn't help when he started to see other passengers throwing up. It wasn't his favorite day, but he survived and I LOVED it! The Na Pali Coast

I wish my pictures showed off the scenery more, but it was kind of foggy.

Nathan being a good sport :-)

Nathan having a drink from one of the many waterfalls in Hawaii.

*We had some time to explore the island. We loved to see all of the different waterfalls. They are so beautiful!

The view from our hotel room

The tree tunnel-

On the way to Poipu there is this tunnel of trees that you drive through. It was one of our favorite sites on the island. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's really long and pretty dense.

*On Thursday we took a kayak tour. We kayaked a mile up the Wailua River and then hiked to a waterfall where we swam. On the hike we saw another beautiful waterfall and some menehune ruins (the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands). This excursion was so cool! It was Nathan's favorite part of the trip. We had the best guide. She told us some really neat stories about the menehunes and the rain forest we hiked through. She walked barefoot so her feet would absorb the minerals in the dirt, left food for the animals, and fed us only organic snacks. :-) She was very knowledgeable and very cool to talk to. We were really lucky that there were only 2 other people in the tour with us, too.

Nathan under the waterfall we hiked to

Our guide took this picture for us and was so excited when she saw the spots in it. She says that they are "fairy orbs" and that each one is a different spirit around us. She said she has never seen this many in one picture. She's a very spiritual person and said that she would remember us forever because of this picture. I thought it was neat. She had different names for things than we do, but we have many similar beliefs. Also, we have never had so many people ask us if we were from Utah as we did on this trip. So funny! It wasn't always when they saw my one piece swimming suit, too.

*On Friday we had about 11 hours to kill from the time we checked out of our hotel until our flight left. We drove to the north side of the island to the Kilauea lighthouse. It is the northern most point of Hawaii. It was so beautiful!

*After the lighthouse we went to a movie. We saw the movie "Soul Surfer." It was such a good movie and the perfect way to end our trip! It's about the teenage pro surfer girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark. Before we saw it I had no idea that it happened in Kauai!!! I was sure glad we learned about the shark attack after being in the water for an entire week. Most of the movie was filmed in Kauai so it was so cool to have know where everything actually took place. We had driven by the hospital a few times. We just thought is was so serendipitous to see it while we were there without planning anything!! It was great and we highly recommend the movie.

All in all, it was a fantastic vacation! We felt like it was a second honeymoon. We saw many beautiful things and met some really great people. It was so, so nice to sleep as much as we wanted to! Mostly, it was just great to spend some time together as a couple. A HUGE thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, Katelyn, Jordan, Kristen and Andrew for watching our children. We could not have done it without your help!!

Henry is 9 months old!

2011-03-21T09:24:00.003-06:00

Henry had his 9 month check up last week. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. A friend picked him up on Sunday and said "Wow. He's really solid." Haha!
Here are his stats:

Height: 28.5 inches 58th percentile

Weight: 21 lb. 5 oz. 62nd percentile

He is crawling and getting into everything! At 7 months he started army crawling and then by 8 he was into full blown crawling. Now at 9 months he is pretty fast. He is extremely busy! He loves to kneel (like this) and pull everything down that he can reach. He crawls up stairs and pulls himself up on the couches, the ottoman, William's bed, the dishwasher, my legs, etc.
He LOVES the kitty and she is so good to him. He follows her around a lot. He really enjoys splashing in her water and making a huge mess with her food. Sometimes William will say "It's ok, Mommy. I'll clean it up and then it will be your turn."

He has hair and we love it! It's getting long and I know he needs a hair cut, but I can't bear to cut it before he's 1 year old so it's just going to be shaggy. It's getting so long that it's starting to curl at the end and it's just so cute! We do this comb-over everyday to manage it. I told Nathan that he has Donald Trump hair and he agreed. :)

This is our favorite thing that he does right now! He does a really big squinty smile. He intentionally squishes his face and squints his eyes when he's really happy. He has 2 teeth on the bottom and his top 2 teeth are almost poking through.

William and Henry are really starting to play well together. Henry just adores William and wants to do whatever William is doing. William has been growling/roaring at Henry. It used to scare Henry, but last month he learned how to do it back! It's pretty funny to hear such a menacing growl out of such a tiny baby.

Henry loves to smile and laugh. William makes him laugh almost every day. He has a very sweet personality. He is still very much a Momma's boy. He really doesn't do well with big, loud crowds. He follows me around for a lot of the day. He is the happiest on my hip. What a joy to have him in our family!

Another Cousin!

2011-03-20T11:22:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago Kristen and Andrew told us that they are having a baby!! We're thrilled for them!! Kristen is due the first week in October. This will be William and Henry's 3rd cousin. They're such a cute couple and we think they will be great parents!

Candace's Shower

2011-03-20T10:58:00.003-06:00

Candace is getting married!!! She is marrying Adam Dyal on April 29th. We are just thrilled for her! She is so happy with him and we are excited for another wedding. I got to throw her a shower with Grandma Cookie, Karli, and 2 of her best friends from high school. The theme was "A Few of Candace's Favorite Things." Amanda made all these little signs naming the things she loves. There was a lot of orange, too! :-)

Candace with her mom and sisters

Candace was so embarrassed to open the lingerie that she got. It was so funny! She just opened the gift and said "Oh. Thanks." without taking it out of the box and moved on to the next present. Everyone made her go back and show us what she got. We had a great time embarrassing her!

Me with Candace, Tara, and Corinne

Grammy's New Knee and Coral & Tan 5.0!

2011-03-20T10:23:00.003-06:00

At the end of February my mom had her knee replaced. I flew down with William and Henry to help her for a week. We had a really good time and it was fun to spend time with her. William was very attentive and concerned about her "big bandaid" and her "Ouwie." I'm pretty sure William had the time of his life: tons of new toys, snacks whenever he wanted, and endless movies on Grammy's bed.

While we were there we decided to celebrate my mom's birthday, even though it isn't until the end of March. My mom's favorite color is coral, so the party theme was "Coral and Tan 5.0". We had hoped that Amanda and Lexi would be there too, but it didn't work out so they joined us on Skype. It was so hilarious to have them on Skype the whole time! Amanda was so excited and I was just overwhelmed trying to cook enchiladas for 20 people, bake a delicious coconut cake (from scratch), care for my mom and the boys, and decorate the entire house. Thank goodness for Bunny and Didn to help me set up!

Amanda had this elaborate plan of how to reveal to my mom that this was her bday party. (We didn't tell her when it was coming because she kept saying she wouldn't come, so it was a surprise party at her own house. Not a complete surprise obviously...) Amanda downloaded some app with sirens on it. She and Lexi wore coral colored clothes and then put jackets/sweaters over them. My mom kept asking why they were so overdressed and Amanda just said it was really cold in their house. They talked to my mom for a while and then when the rest of the fam got there she sounded the sirens, ripped off their outer clothes to reveal the coral outfits, and put on the party hats she made. I could not stop laughing!!! My mom was saying "Wait! What's that noise?!? Why are there sirens going off? What's wrong?" and Lexi was just staring at Amanda. It was a priceless look. All in all, it was a great reveal. Good job Amada!

The Big Skype reveal!

William absolutely loves playing with my cousins. He called the glider his motorcyle and loved riding it with Robyn. I did not see him during the entire party because he was off running with the girls the whole time. It's so fun for me too because he loves it and they take such good care of him! They fed him, took him to the potty, etc. About 5 minutes after Mark and Cami said goodbye and left with their girls, the front door opened again and Claire pushed William into the house and said "Ok. Bye!" It was really cute! He asked about them the rest of the time we were there. "Where's Claire?" "Is Robyn coming to play today?"

Poor Henry continues to be overwhelmed by crowds, new people, and new places. He didn't enjoy the party as much as everyone else did. So sad!

My mom was such a good sport! She even admitted that she had fun. Amanda made this incredible book for her with pictures of her growing up and quotes from everyone in the family. I only helped a little bit.

My tired little boys after church!

On Monday, Kim, Tara, Carson, and Corinne drove over to go mini golfing with us. William loves mini golfing and almost everytime he sees Kim and Corinne they take him! It has become a great tradition that we look forward to!

Chillin in Grammy's bed! William's favorite spot.

Yay for trips to Phoenix! I'm glad we went, although it was probably more exhausting than restful for my mom to have us there... We wish Grammy a speedy and full recovery!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-28T12:53:00.001-07:00

I always enjoy Valentine's Day. When we were little, my mom used to have someone doorbell ditch presents for us and it was always exciting. Nathan and I celebrated a week early. Kristen and Andrew watched the boys for us while we went out for an entire day! It was so much fun! We got a couple's massage, went shopping, went to a movie, and ate lots of good food. Nathan planned it and he did such a great job!

On the actual day, we opened our socks and treats from Bunny and Didn and exchanged some small gifts. We did attempt to start a new tradition this year. I sewed little felt mailboxes that hang from our kitchen chairs. Through the month of February we wrote love notes to each other and put them in the mailboxes. At dinner we would read what people wrote to us. It was fun. Hopefully, William will get into it a little more next year.

OPRAH!!!!!

2011-02-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

"We're going to ChiCaGoooo!!" (To be read in Oprah's voice) I have been trying to get tickets to the Oprah show for about a year and a half. I finally enlisted the help of my sister, Amanda, a few months ago. She diligently checked their website every day to see when the ticket window was open. We registered ourselves, my grandma, my mom, and my aunt to increase our chances of obtaining tickets. We submitted requests a couple of different times. About a month ago, Amanda called again and told me the ticket window was open. We registered, as always, and then called each other the next day to inform each other that we didn't get tickets. It was my turn to call my Grandma to have her check her email from Harpo studios. I literally started to jump up and down and scream when my grandma told me her request for tickets had been accepted!!! We did a 5-way call with me, my grandma Bunny, Amanda, my mom, and my aunt Karin. We booked our tickets and headed to Chicago about 3 weeks later to see OPRAH!!!

There was a LOT of prepartion that went into the trip. Sylvia (Brian's mom) flew in from California to watch Lexi. I emailed Harpo and asked if we could have two extra tickets for Amanda's best friend, Ashley, and Nathan's mom, Gayle (who were also huge Oprah fans). Luckily, I got the extra tickets! Amanda and Ashley spent hours online researching how to get good seats once at the Oprah show. We all had to have our outfits ok'd by Amanda and Ashley. Through their research they determined we should wear bright, solid color tops. And then we had to book our flights and hotel. We ended up in an amazing hotel right on the Magnificient Mile.

Don't we all look so beautiful! Amanda and Ashley said we had to wear cute outwear too because there are cameras outside watching our every move... It was so cold!!! When we left the hotel at around 6:20 or so it was -7 degrees outside! I have never felt such cold weather and I hope to never experience it again.

After all of our hard work, we ended up sitting in the back row and the second to last row. Amanda was really bummed, but the studio is actually quite small so we could still see everything pretty well. Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were the guests on the show that day. It was interesting to hear about the hard lives they have led due to show business. Near the end of the show, Debbie brought out some of her movie prop collection. She brought outfits from the Sound of Music, Cleopatra, and the famous white dress that Marilyn Monroe wore. It was really neat to see those things in person.

The best part, of course, was getting to see Oprah! She was so kind to the audience and very sincere. It was pretty clear that she is burned out from doing the show every day. She makes it look so easy though! After they finished shooting the show she took a few minutes to speak to us. She expressed how grateful she was that we had taken the time to come to the show. She said that we honor her by being there. She said she knows that this is on our bucket list and we called our mothers, sisters, husbands, aunts, etc. to watch our kids, take off work, etc. and that we have flown in from all across the country. She said thanks for the new outfits and new hairdos, and manicures and pedicures. It was really nice of her to take the time to recognize us. Everything she said I just kept thinking "Yep. That's me!" and I'm sure everyone else there felt the same way. I know I'm gushing, but I truly loved every minute of it. I still think about what a once in a lifetime opportunity this was. It's her 25th and last season!

This sign says "Oprah The Farewell Season"

After the show we went to lunch and then we went to the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears' Tower). They have this poster of how tall Oprah is and we took our picture next to it. We're about the same height, if you're wondering.

At the top of the Sears' Tower they have these glass boxes that you can stand in. Amanda is bracing herself in case it gives way. It really is so scary to stand in them because you can see all the way to the ground. Gayle was not scared at all, though!

I'm glad that Lexi could come to our Chicago adventure! It's so fun to get to spend some time with her. She looked very cute all bundled up for the freezing temperatures. She was such a trooper! I also got to share some yummy treats with her.

Lexi and Grammy

On Friday we did a bus tour around the city. I really wanted to go to the Chicago Art Institute. Gayle was so kind to say that she would go with me. Gayle, Sylvia, Bunny, and I ended up getting off and going to the art museum and we loved it! We saw several very famous paintings and then we met up with Amanda, Grammy, and Ashley at the next stop on the bus tour. It worked out really well, but we wish we could have spent more time looking at art! They have so much to look at!

Monet's Water Lilies

Picasso

Ice cream at Ghiradelli's

Saturday we all flew home. As if our trip wasn't exciting enough, on our flight from Chicago to Albuquerque one of the passengers had a medical emergency. I reached for the call light at the same time the lady sitting next to me did when the flight attendant asked for any doctors or nurses. There were 3 nurses (including myself) and 2 doctors aboard. She was complaining of an upset stomach and then passed out. I still don't know what was wrong with her. We laid her down on the floor, hooked up the AED, gave her oxygen and orange juice, and monitored her pulses. We made an emergency landing in Kansas City for about 20 minutes and then continued on to Albuquerque. There were 15 to 20 of us making a connection in Albuquerque and the flight attendant told us they would hold the plane for us. When we arrived, the plane was gone and we were all re-routed to Las Vegas and then home. So, after 12 hours, 5 airports, 3 time zones, 3 different flights, and a lot of motion sickness, we finally made it home! I did get a voucher for $100 from Southwest for helping the sick passenger. Not too bad, although I'm not sure that's worth the extra time to get home.

Overall, it was an AMAZING experience! I'm so grateful to Nathan and Kellie for watching William and Henry!! I could not have done it without them!

Henry's 6 Month Old Photos

2011-02-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

January 2011

In early January we had Henry's 6 month photo shoot. We also took a few of William and the two boys together. We just got the pictures back. Here's a look at some of my favorites:

My favorite!!! I just love how William has his arm around Henry and how they are holding hands!

Monk Family Pictures

2011-02-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

December 2010

This year for our Christmas gift to the Monk side of the family, Amanda and I decided to hire a professional photographer to take some family pictures. It went really well! We are thrilled with the pictures. Unfortunately, most of the files are too big to load onto our blog. So, here are just a few that were small enough files.

Bryan's Engaged!!!!!

2011-02-19T11:54:00.005-07:00

Bryan asked Jennie to marry him on January 28th and she said yes!!! We are so thrilled!!

Nathan and I got to help Bryan with the proposal and it was so much fun! Jennie knew that Bryan was going to propose soon, so it was difficult to find a way to surprise her. Bryan had me call Jennie and have her help me plan a surprise birthday party for him. We spent about 2 weeks planning the birthday party. We bought decorations, called family members, sent out invitations, set up for the party, etc. Jennie even made cute sports cupcakes for the party.

While Jennie went to pick up Bryan from work, Nathan, Gayle, and I took all the birthday decorations down and set up for the proposal! It was difficult to keep track of the intricate made-up party plans! The hardest part was when Jennie called me a few minutes before she got to Bryan's house to ask if all of her family members had arrived! I just had to lie through my teeth and say that everyone was there and we were already to yell "Surprise" when they got here! Jennie was totally surprised when they opened the door and didn't hear anyone yelling. After he proposed, they ate dinner and came over to the clubhouse to join all of our family members for an engagement party. We are excited for the wedding on May 6th!

How Bryan's house looked when Jennie left

How the house looked when she came back!

The ring in a chocolate box from Jennie's favorite chocolate store

As we were finishing setting up, Henry ate a rose petal and threw up on the rug!

I almost forgot to mention... Just as I was getting ready to go help Jennie decorate for the bday party, William fell down and split his chin open. It was a deep cut and as soon as I saw it I knew he needed stitches. Bummer! So, Jennie was kind enough to watch Henry while I took William to the pediatrician to get 4 stitches. Of course, our regular pediatrician was out of the office, so his partner helped us. I had to explain to William that Dr. Freestone was gone, so his friend Dr. Wynn, would make him feel better. He was a little confused and kept calling the doctor by the wrong name. Oh well!

William was amazing!!! He didn't cry at all during the stitches!!! I really couldn't believe it. They strapped him in the papoose board and the assistant held his head still. He talked to the doctor and his assistant the entire time. They talked about Disneyland, Pirates of the Carribean, BYU basketball, Jimmer-fever, etc. The only thing he got upset about was when the assistant told him he could close his eyes and take a nap if he wanted to while the doctor stitched him up. He was adamant that he did not want to take a nap! He just kept saying "Oh thank you doctor." And the doctor would explain what he was going to do next and Wills would say "Ohhh, ok. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor Freestone."

We went back 5 days later to get the stitches out. It has healed nicely. And, William called the doctor his correct name, Dr. Wynn. What a great kid!

Bath Time!

2011-02-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

Snow Day!

2011-02-19T11:41:00.002-07:00

Here is proof that I have taken my boys to play in the snow at least once in their lives! :-) I'm not a fan of snow or cold weather. So, my boys don't get to play outside during the winter very often. We had a few inches of snow on the ground and a really warm day, so I decided to take them out to play before the snow melted. We actually had a really fun time! We don't have a sled so I brought a cookie sheet out for William to go down the little hill on. It worked really well. It was perfect weather! the sun was shining and it was so warm that all the snow was gone by the afternoon. I might attempt this again sometime...

William loved every second of it! He doesn't look like it in this picture because he wanted me to push him down the hill instead of take his picture.

Special Brothers

2011-02-19T11:25:00.003-07:00

January 2011

William is in a really great stage right now where he loves to help Henry. He loves to put his pacifier in, help feed him, give him toys, rub his head, and say "it's ok little buddy" when he cries.

When we hear Henry wake up he will often say "Huhh! Hemi's awake!" and run into his room to say hi. If Henry is crying he will talk to him and comfort him. One day I left William alone with Henry for a few minutes while I was finishing up something. Henry calmed right down when he saw William and I figured Henry was safe in the pack and play. When I finally came into the room I discovered that William had put everything he could find into the play pen for Hemi to play with. What a nice brother! I did remove the metal license plates and lightbulbs from Henry's bed before I took the pictures.

One other funny story...

Henry got a set of 3 little pigs and a wolf for Christmas. He loves to suck on them! Henry was holding one of the pigs and William came and took it away from him. Naturally, Henry started to cry. I told William to give the piggy back to Henry. He pretended like he didn't hear me. I told him a few more times to "give the piggy back!" Finally, William looked at me and said "piggy back?" And I replied "yes." So, being the clever little boy that he is William got up and sat on Henry's back and said "Piggy back, Mommy!" Oh dear... He wasn't even 2 1/2! What are we in for?

The Top 10 Memorable Moments in 2010

2011-01-13T17:31:00.010-07:00

As we reflect on the year 2010 these are some of our most memorable moments. Here's a snapshot of what happened in 2010:

1. June 10, 2010- Henry Gordon Thomas Bleak was born!

2. August 9, 2010 - Lexi Rose Phillippi was born to Brian and Amanda. We're so happy to have another niece/cousin!

3. December 11, 2010 - Kristen married Andrew Van Noy. We're so happy to have Andrew in our family!

3. June 1, 2010 - Garret Shields married Karli! What a sweet couple!

4. October 2010- Huge Family trip to Disneyland!!

5. December 2010- Nathan hit $1,000,000 in sales for 2010!! Wait to go! He is the first person to do that at Fishbowl and it secured his place as #1 in sales for the year (4 years in a row).

5. August 2010- The Bleak family visited Grandpa & Grandma Monk in Durango, Colorado.

7. September 13, 2010- Nathan turned 30!!

9. April 2010 - The Phillippi family moved. First to California and then on to Texas to start a new job!

10. June 2010- Our branch was made into a ward and Nathan was called to be the Bishop.

It was quite an eventful year! We feel very blessed to have welcomed so many new members to the family. I'm looking forward to what 2011 holds.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2011!

2011-01-13T17:23:00.004-07:00

Everyone was sick after our trip to Arizona, so we had a low key New Year's Eve celebration. We stayed home and had a picnic in the basement. We ate lots of good food and watched Pixar Short Films. After we put the boys to bed, Nathan and I watched a movie. We totally missed the ball dropping!! Nathan fell asleep and I got distracted with the movie. Oh well! We had a good time. We really enjoy quiet nights at home these days. It was the perfect way for us to ring in the new year.

Christmas in AZ!

2011-01-13T16:25:00.008-07:00

We enjoyed our Christmas vacation to the Valley of the Sun! It was a busy trip. I'm glad we got to see so many people.

The first night there we went to my friend Natalie's house and had dinner with some of my friends from high school. It was so fun to see them! Our children had fun playing together and we had a blast catching up. It was just like the old days. Rachael and Emily are due to have babies soon and we are all so excited for them!

The next day we got together with the Monk side of the family for family pictures, dinner, and presents. The children looked so cute for their pictures! I can't wait to see how they turn out! I asked Nathan to take some pictures while the kids were opening presents because I was busy cleaning up after Henry. So, unfortunately all I have are pictures of William with people's legs, arms or torsos in them. It's so funny to me!! There seriously isn't anyone else's face in any of the pictures. I know I give Nathan a hard time about his picture taking skills.... I think he still needs some practice, though. Oh well! I guess he can't be good at everything. I stole some pics from Amanda, but she didn't have a ton of great ones either.

Henry getting his first taste of carbonation at lunch.

The Nativity on Christmas Eve is one of my favorite traditions!! I look forward to it every year. My family is pretty lacking in numbers when it comes to males. (I'm glad I can help out with that.) So, this year Joseph was played by Heidi. Henry got to be baby Jesus.

And little Lexi was literally the "star."

Her outfit was pretty great. I'm just sorry you can't see her gold shoes in this picture.

Baby Jesus admiring his gifts.

William was a shepherd.

Candace and Robyn as angels. So fitting for their personalities!

Christmas morning!

Christmas morning was so much fun this year with 3 little children! I made a really yummy breakfast casserole and some "Santa Bread" and apparently it was really good because after a few minutes of opening presents, people slowly disappeared to the kitchen to eat! We took a break from presents and ate breakfast and then finished up the gifts.

Amanda was really excited about the outfit we got Lexi.

Lexi was so cute in her pjs!

She decided to accessorize with her new sunglasses and pearl bracelet.

Henry and Lexi enjoying Henry's play mat from Santa.

Santa brought William some popcorn in his stocking. Grammy cooked it for him and had a similar experience to William's a few weeks ago.

We got to Skype with the Myers in Texas.

Outfit #2 for Lexi on Christmas Day

Nathan and Lexi hanging out

I just love Christmas! It was sad to say goodbye to Brian and Amanda again as they head to Texas. We're glad we got to see them one last time. We wish them luck!

The Target Ad

2011-01-13T16:22:00.002-07:00

Henry is following the lead of his big brother. He loves the Target ad too! Look how excited he is with those big eyes :).

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-01-13T12:18:00.004-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving this year with the Bleaks. We had lots of fun playing with everyone!

Henry in his super sweater (as Uncle Cade calls it)

Emma turned 1 in November!

We got to give her her birthday present over Thanksgiving weekend.

I love this picture!

This is the "Are you still hungry?" picture at 10pm on Thanksgiving night.

We went to the coolest chocolate cafe in downtown. It's run by little people who even had their own TLC reality show. Their hot chocolate was to die for!

William loves to play with Jordan.

There were lots of people sleeping over so Grandma made some closets into extra bedrooms. It was so cool! Everyone had their own space. It was a great mini vacation!

The Boys

2011-01-13T11:40:00.002-07:00

November
Here is a little update on what the boys have been up to.

William:

I was upstairs one morning when William wandered down to the basement. I kept hearing a beeping noise. I didn't think much of it. A few minutes later I went downstairs to see what he was up to. William had decided to cook some popcorn, so he put the bag in the microwave, with the plastic still on, and just started pushing buttons until the popcorn burned! Our house smelled so bad for days! The inside of the microwave is still nasty and I don't know if I will ever be able to get the residue off. I asked him how the popcorn tasted and he said "it's too hot."

William is enjoying playing with Henry more. Henry is not enjoying it as much, yet. William loves to play with his tractors and trucks. One of his favorite things to do is to line his trucks up around Henry. Unfortunately, Wills gets very upset if Henry moves any of his trucks. As you can see from the picture, the trucks are parked so closely that if Henry wiggles an inch, a truck gets moved...

Henry:

Henry is such a happy, easy going baby! We really enjoy his personality. He is very sweet and loves to cuddle.

We have had some issues lately with Henry's feedings. He had all of the symptoms of food allergies. I eliminated some foods from my diet and that helped for a little bit, but then his symptoms got worse. I took him to the pediatrician several times and I didn't feel like I was getting any answers or making any progress. He was waking up almost every hour at night with very painful gas for many months. I really didn't know what to do. It was frustrating to not know how to help him and to not get any sleep for so long. We felt like we were in survival mode.

At the beginning of December I finally took him to a Pediatric Allergist. After doing a scratch test on Henry's back he determined that he was not truly allergic to anything. The doctor was very kind and said that while he doesn't have the immune response of allergies, he still has all of the other symptoms of having trouble digesting foods. He said we didn't need to withold anything from his diet. He recommended trying Good Start formula because it has smaller proteins that are easier to digest. Withing 24 to 48 hours of putting Henry on that formula he started sleeping through the night and his symptoms subsided! It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that formula is better for him than my milk. It was tough to stop nursing so early, but we are so happy he is feeling better! It was a rough 6 months! I was so happy to finally get some answers. It's worth it to pay the more expensive co-pay and just see a specialist. I'm glad that we persevered and found the doctor that could help our Henry.

This is Henry's favorite toy. He fell asleep with it in his hand. So cute!

I love these little boys so much! I am happy that they are becoming friends. It's fun to have 2 same gender children so close together. I hope they will continue to be close to each other through life.

Sundays...

2011-01-13T10:36:00.003-07:00

Sundays continue to be a challenging part of our life. I debated about whether or not to write about this. But, from a memory/journal standpoint Nathan's calling is a big part of our life right now. My intent is not to complain. It's just to remember our Sundays. Hopefully, I will be able to look back and either laugh at this post and/or be grateful that I don't have to re-live these moments.

*We are forever grateful for Uncle Bryan! For the past 6 months he has come over at 8:30 in the morning to help William get ready for church and to help us get to church on time. He sits with us and helps me wrestle the boys. I would not survive without his help on Sundays!

With that being said, my worst Sunday was when Bryan was out of town. It started off with William scratching Henry's face in the morning while I was getting ready. William climbed on to the bed and drew a fair amount of blood from his brother's face. (This was an awful phase!!)
William had been struggling with this for a while and the only solution I could think of (that I hadn't already tried) was to duck tape socks onto his hands. So that's what I decided to do. After I cleaned up the blood from Henry and the sheets we managed to make it to church on time. As we walked into the foyer and Nathan saw the socks on William's hands, he knew it had not been a good morning. But, he wouldn't let William go to Sacrament with the socks on. He talked to William and then took the socks off. Sacrament went ok. Henry had a blow out. I left William alone on the bench to go change Hemi. When I came back the bench was empty. I looked at Nathan and he just shrugged. I found him sitting with another family. Thank goodness! Wills went to Nursery and I took Henry to Sunday School. Henry had another blowout, but this time I didn't have anything else to change him into. The same woman (whom I had never met) who took Wills during Sacrament was in the bathroom at the same time and found me a garbage bag to put Henry's soiled clothes in. I just left his shirt on and wrapped a blanket around him. After Relief Society, I went to get William from Nursery. He took off running in the opposite direction up some stairs. I could not chase him up stairs in heels while carrying the car seat and Henry. So, I left Henry with Doug, the ward clerk, and started up the stairs. On my way to Wills I walked by a man passed out on the floor! Apparently he had had a seizure. His elderly mother was sitting by him waiting for him to wake up. I went back down stairs to get some help for them. Just as I came down the stairs I saw somebody bringing William back. Nathan was walking down the hall with the entire ward council. I explained what happened to him, got Henry, and went home! Whew!

I learned my lessons: 1. Heavenly Father will send angels to help us! 2. I always ask someone to sit with me when Bryan's gone. :-)

*I'm also grateful for the Stake leaders who have encouraged me and Nathan to have children up on the stand with the Bishopric. William goes to sit with Nathan for a few minutes most weeks. It's a really great bribe! We sit in the second row every week so we can have easy access to the stand if we need it.

*I'm grateful for Nathan's service. He is a wonderful Bishop. I know that many people have been helped through him. I have had some incredible Bishops in my life and I try to remember them and how much they have blessed my life when I miss Nathan. We have wonderful ward members, friends, and family members that support us. We could not do it without all of the help! I also realize that there are many others in similar situations that sacrifice just as much, like the 1st and 2nd Councilors and their families. We are grateful for their sacrifice as well.

Sundays are getting easier. The children are getting older and in 2011 our church goes to 1:00. We will keep going forward!

Happy Halloween!

2011-01-13T10:18:00.003-07:00

Grandpa and Grandma Monk sent William and Henry a fun package for Halloween with some treats and coordinating shirts for them. William was a monkey again this year and Henry was a tiger. I love the animal costumes for little boys because they're cute, but most importantly they're warm. We had a great time carving a pumpkin and going trick or treating a few times. Nathan and I even got to go to a Halloween party with some good friends. It was one of the funnest nights ever! The costume theme was "decades." We chose the 60-70's. People were teasing Nathan because he wore a suit even to a Halloween party.

William with his darling friend Mylie

At Daddy's work party

Disneyland!!!

2011-01-12T16:13:00.009-07:00

October 12, 2010

We had an amazing trip to Disneyland in October! It started out to be our family meeting Mark and Cami with their girls for a few days. It ended up being Mark and Cami and girls, Bunny and Didn, Grammy, Kim and Scott and family, and Amanda and Brian and Baby Lexi! We had so much fun with the gang. I have so many happy childhood memories from Disneyland trips and I am excited for my boys to have the same experience. We flew in Tuesday night and went to Disneyland and California Adventure on Wednesday. Since we had a huge group we moved very slowly, so we didn't do a lot. On Thursday we took a break and played at the beach. We also celebrated my birthday and Cami's birthday. We went back to Disneyland on Friday with just our family. Grammy met us for a few hours before driving home. We flew out Saturday morning!

William's favorite part was meeting all of the characters.

Pluto saying "hi" to Henry

Baby Lexi in outfit #1

I'm sad I didn't get a picture of her smiling. Lexi had approximately 4-5 differnt outfits during her 8 hours at Disneyland. It's a continual fashion show with her. It's pretty entertaining to see what outfit she's going to wear next. I was so excited to hear that Amanda was having a girl because I knew she would dress her up in so many cute outfits and that has definitely come true!

Buzz Lightyear was another highlight for William! He's probably William's favorite character and I'm so glad we got to see him!

One of the most memorable moments of his life thus far :-)

The gang on Pirates of the Carribean

We all got to ride together on 1 boat! It was so fun. Pirates was William's favorite ride. Go figure! He wasn't scared at all and he still sings the pirate song "Yo ho!"

The whole group at lunch

William and Robyn

They had so much fun playing together during the week.

Henry was a little angel during the trip!

We watched the Wonderful World of Color show and it was fantastic!

William enjoyed our birthday pies very much.

Day 2 at Disney

We really enjoyed Toon Town together.

For my birthday dinner we ate at the Blue Bayou (the restaurant in Pirate's). It was really fun. It just has such a neat atmosphere. We're glad Grammy came to join us for lunch.

This trip was such a wonderful experience! It was a lot of work to travel so much with 2 young children, but it was worth it! I hope we make this an annual tradition, although Nathan says we won't.

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Van Noy

2010-12-21T14:56:00.008-07:00

On December 11, 2o10 (12/11/10) Kristen married Andrew!! It was such a beautiful day! Kristen looked absolutely amazing! They were married in the Draper temple. It was so neat for them to be married there because Kristen's dad designed that temple. How cool is that? It was a really busy day for everyone since we had to decorate the reception site the day of the wedding. Kellie and a crew went early in the morning to do the ceiling and the arch. After the wedding, I went over with some friends and family to do the eating tables, food tables, signing tables, etc. It looked really good when we were done! I'm really happy with how it turned out. I even got to get my hair done for the event!

Nathan and I never know what to do for these "funny face" pictures. We just stand there and smile and laugh at everybody else...

It was pretty cold, but not as bad as it could have been!

Kellie made these really cool picture frame things to display some of their engagement photos.

Bryan and Jennie

Everyone looked so beautiful! What a happy day. I'm so happy for Kristen! Andrew is an amazing guy- the kind of guy Kristen deserves!

Special Brothers!

2010-10-12T12:19:00.005-06:00

William is finally adjusting to having a little brother. He is starting to like him a lot. I am very, very happy that he is doing better. It was/still is a big adjustment to have a new baby and to have Nathan called as the Bishop at the same time. We have all been pretty stressed and overwhelmed lately. Things are starting to settle down a bit.

William has slept through the last 2-3 nights and Henry has been going 7-10 hours without waking up. Since Henry was born we have had many nights with both boys up 3-4 times, so this is a huge blessing to get some sleep finally!

We have discovered that cow's milk and soy milk make Henry a very unhappy baby. He is all smiles since I don't drink those now.

William has not scratched Henry in over a month now! He went through a rough stage where he would draw blood from scratching Henry. There was never a clear trigger. I assume he was just adjusting to everything. We finally decided to duck tape socks on his hands as punishment. After a few times of that, he got the message. One day he was playing with his toys and he told me that "Batman had socks on his hands for scratching."

William reading a book to Henry

My big helper after he fed the kitty. He also likes to help set the table.

This just makes me smile every time I watch it!

Nathan Turns 30!

2010-10-12T12:10:00.004-06:00

On September 13th Nathan turned 30! I just can't believe how time has flown. I wanted to throw a big party for him, but he wasn't excited about that so we just had his family over for dinner and a celebration. For dinner we had a nacho cheese fountain with all of the frozen things Nathan loves like soft pretzels, wings, poppers, potato skins, etc. For his birthday my mom gave him a snow cone machine, so we had snow cones for dessert.

William and Emma playing

I couldn't resist doing a pinata! A few days before the party William helped me fill it with candy and then hide it in the garage. After we hid it he told Nathan he wanted to go get the candy out of the birthday cake in the garage. I just pretended like I didn't know what he was talking about and luckily Nathan didn't get it either. Nathan let William have the first swing at it, which was good because Nathan beat it to shreds pretty quickly!

And William was the first to get to the candy when it exploded!

The Bleak Brothers

I also painted Nathan's car and guess how many people honked at him? ZERO! I couldn't believe it! I left it up for a few days and absolutely nothing.

The Birthday Boy!
(I'm pretty sure Nathan asked me not to put this picture on the blog... but I just think it's cute.)

On the day of his birthday we opened presents and had rainbow chip cake.

Happy Birthday!

Lexi's Blessing

2010-10-12T11:40:00.005-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend (September 2nd - 6th) Henry and I got to travel to Vacaville, California for Lexi's blessing. It was Henry's first airplane ride and he did pretty well.

My mom usually asks around 3 people to pick her up from the airport. We tried to confuse her by not telling who would be there to pick her up. This time we told her we got her a driver and to look for a sign with her name on it. Bunny and Didn were kind enough to play along and held this sign for her at the airport. Amanda and I got a pretty good laugh out of it...

The 2 babies!

It was quite a challenge to go places with 2 tiny babies. Lexi was a few weeks old and Henry was 2 months old. People kept asking us if they were twins.

The first day there Amanda and I took the babies to the Jelly Belly factory. It was quite an adventure. They took turns crying on the tour, but it was so loud you couldn't hear them.

By the way, don't Amanda's bangs look so cute? She asked me to cut them and I cut them shorter than she wanted, but I think they look so good ;).

In Vacaville there is this really great ice cream parlor called Fenton's. (It was in the Disney movie "Up" too.) Saturday night we all went out for ice cream after a delicious dinner at Tom and Sylvia's.

And Sunday was the big day! We really missed Grandpa and Grandma Monk. Grandma was sick so she couldn't make it.

Grammy with her daughters and 2 newest grandbabies

Henry and Lexi

Lexi looked so beautiful in her dress. Grammy made her a beautiful bracelet for the occasion.

Lexi changes outfits a lot... Somebody likes to play dress up. This was her next outfit that day.

And this is my favorite picture of the weekend! We wanted to get a picture of both of them dressed up, but Lexi was hungry and tired. Henry did not know what to think of her.

Aunt Karin sent matching onesies to William, Henry and Lexi that say "My Auntie is the Best." We wanted to get some pictures of the babies in them. Unfortunately, it was the end of a very long day and the babies were having a hard time.

Grammy with the 2 babies. I just love her smile in this!

Bunny and Didn with the great-grandbabies

I wanted to make something special for Lexi. I have been learning how to quilt, so I made her this quilt. I think she liked it.

And then it was time to come home! Nathan and William were very happy for their souvenirs.

Another Cousin! Baby Lexi

2010-10-12T11:32:00.003-06:00

On August 9th, Amanda had her little girl! We are so thrilled to welcome our second cousin! She is just adorable. She has the coolest birthday, 8/9/10. We are so happy for Brian and Amanda and can't wait to meet her in person!

Do They Look Alike?

2010-08-27T14:04:00.002-06:00

Henry

William

2 Year Old and 2 Month Check Up

2010-08-27T13:11:00.002-06:00

I took William and Henry to the doctor on August 12th for their well-baby checkups. They are both healthy and doing well! William's Stats
Weight: 25.6 lbs. 20th percentile
Height: 35 inches 68th percentile
Head: 19 inches 39th percentile
Two years old is a big milestone for William. His chance for a reoccurence of his hernia are significantly decreased after 2 years. Yay! At 2 years old he can: count to 10, walk up and down stairs by himself, speak in full sentences, sing a few Primary songs on his own (Popcorn, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wise Man and the Foolish Man), recite a few nursery rhymes (Pussycat Pussycat and Simple Simon), and express himself pretty well. He is learning to ride his tricycle. He loves swimming and reading books.

Henry's Stats
Weight: 12.9 lbs 76th percentile
Height: 23 1/4 inches 62nd percentile
Head: 16 inches 66th percentile

At 2 months old Henry smiles and coo's most of the day. He slept through the night for a few days in a row and then his reflux started bothering him a lot. We've made some adjustments and things have improved so we hope he goes back to being a good sleeper! Overall, he's a pretty happy baby.

William Turns 2!

2010-08-19T11:18:00.005-06:00

We had William's birthday party in Colorado (a week before his actual birthday). Since his burthday is only a few days away from Jordan's they had a joint party. This year William decided to wear a party hat and he looked adorable. He has changed so much in a year.

Blowing out his candles

The Birthday Boys!

Emma loved the party hat. It was so cute to see her crawling around with it on!

Opening presents

On his actual birthday we went to a ward party and came home to open more presents and eat ice cream from Sonic.

They were great celebrations and he got lots of really fun new toys that have kept him very busy! If you listen closely you can hear him singing along to Happy Birthday.

Durango Colorado Annual Trip

2010-08-19T10:46:00.004-06:00

This summer we spent a full week at Grandpa and Grandma Monk's Colorado home. They were kind enough to invite the Bleak family to come, too. We did a ton of fun things. On Sunday we celebrated William's and Jordan's birthdays. We ate dinner outside and it was just beautiful. We also went to the Durango Recreational Center and went swimming, played basketball, played racquetball, climbed a rock wall, and ate lunch. We also took day trips to Silverton and Ouray, went horseback riding, roasted marshmellows, and found some time to sneak in a game of hand and foot. Bryan asked if William needed a jacket to go outside. I told him where to find one and he came down dressed in Henry's jacket. Silly Bryan and William!

William looked so funny in it.

Henry loved getting passed around until he passed out!

William had so much fun playing with Grandma Monk. They played Play-Dough together and made snakes, rocks, pancakes, cookies, and on and on.

William and Nathan on a bench in Silverton

One of my favorite things we did was to visit the town of Ouray. It is called the Switzerland of America because of the mountains that surround it. It is an amazing town. We had ice cream there and then swam in the hot springs in the rain until we saw lightning.

Aunt Amanda loved to make Jello Gigglers with Grandma when she was young. So, I thought the tradition should continue. Grandma taught William how to make them and he loved it! He thinks Jello is one of the most delicious foods ever, so he was very excited. (As I was posting this picture he said "Jello Digglers!!" and kept pointing at it.)

A fun picture at Durango Mountain Ski Resort

Nathan and I rode the Alpine Slide while everyone else took the scenic chair lift to the top of the mountain. Nathan flew down the slide faster than anyone else. I enjoyed the view at a leisurely pace. As I was coming around a corner a huge beaver popped it's head over the edge of the slide and scared me to death! It was crazy.

William on a pony

Kristen, Andrew, Katelyn and I went horseback riding one afternoon. It is my most favorite way to see the mountains.

Time to say goodbye

It was such a fun trip! We look forward to visiting Colorado every year. Until next year!

Fun with Grandparents

2010-08-19T10:23:00.002-06:00

These are very special pictures to me and I hope William and Henry will feel the same way when they are older. I love my grandparents so much! I feel very close to all of them and have so many wonderful memories with them. That is the reason I wanted to name Henry after my Grandpas. I hope that both he and William feel connected to their grandparents and great grandparents. I am so happy that my children have so many wonderful grandparents that love them so much! They have already made some great memories together. William knows them all and loves to talk to them on the phone and on skype. I just can't believe that my grandparents have 3 great grandchildren already! Grandma Monk and Henry

Great Grandma and Grandpa Monk with Henry

Grammy and Henry

Didn and Bunny with the boys

Grammy and the boys

Grandpa and Grandma Monk and the boys

The 2 "H.G.'s" (Herman Gordon and Henry Gordon) smiling at each other

I didn't realize until recently that Henry shares the same initials as Didn does. I think it's so cool that they can have the same nickname, too. Isn't this the sweetest picture?

Grandma and Grandpa Bleak with Henry

(I still need to get a picture of you guys with both of them)

Henry's Blessing

2010-08-19T09:51:00.004-06:00

We blessed Henry on July 18, 2010. It was a wonderful day. It just happened that some of my aunts and uncles and cousins were in town that week for camps, family reunions, etc. We were thrilled to have so many family members to share it with us.

Henry with his two Grandmas

Grandma Bleak and Grandma Monk

Grammy with Aunt Cami

Cousin Anna and Henry

William playing with Kristen and Andrew
William had so much fun playing with all the family. He went golfing with Aunt Kim and Corinne and played with Mark and Cami's girls the next night. He loves to soak up the attention. He was so worn out the next week!

Our little family

(Henry is making such a funny face at William)

Henry Gordon Thomas with his two great grandpas

H. Gordon Shields and Coulam Thomas Monk

I have been looking forward to taking this picture since Henry was born! It was so special that both of his great grandpas could be there to bless him. I think they enjoyed it, too.

Most of the gang

Our family with the Monks

Henry with his Daddy

Nathan gave him a beautiful blessing.

Little Henry

Camping

2010-07-16T09:26:00.002-06:00

You might be shocked to see this post after my comments about the kitty's camping experience. We did not camp, but we did join the fam for dinner and smores on their camping trip. Then, we went home. We had a fun time and I got a few cute pictures. (We left Diaw at home, in case you were wondering.)

Cute Boys

2010-07-16T09:18:00.002-06:00

Henry is growing so fast! He is now 5 weeks old and over 10 lbs. He loves to eat and takes it very seriously. He is chunking up! William and Henry have a few really cute matching outfits. I love to dress them up! I tried really hard to get a good picture of them in their big brother and little brother shirts, but I wasn't very successful.

3 weeks old

5 weeks old

Smiling as he's dosing off to sleep

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-16T08:59:00.002-06:00

We had a really fun 4th of July weekend! Nathan took an extra day of so we had 4 days together. On Friday we took William to the zoo. He loved all the animals and riding the carosel. When we got in the car to come home he said "zoo again," which means he loved it. On Saturday we got up early to go to the parade. When we got to Center St. we realized that the parade was scheduled for Monday, not Saturday. We should have checked it out, but we just assumed that since all the other festivities were on Saturday that the parade would be too. It worked out ok because the weather was so nice that morning. We got to enjoy the booths and the kids activities without a crowd and with cool weather.

They had a huge snake that you could pet! William thought it was pretty cool.

Later that afternoon we had a barbeque with the Bleak family and then we all went to watch fireworks.

Nathan teaching William how to play with fire

On Monday we just hung out. We went to lunch and walked around the mall. At the mall Nathan asked me if I had any quarters. I said yes and gave him some. He said he really wanted a giant gumball from a vending machine. It was giant and it was pretty funny to watch him eat it! It's the little things that make him happy...

Happy Father's Day, Bishop Bleak!

2010-07-01T20:40:00.002-06:00

On Father's Day our branch became a ward and Nathan was put in as the new bishop. It was pretty overwhelming! We received the call 2 weeks prior to that when I was still pregnant. I had Henry 4 days later and Nathan was sustained 10 days later. It was a lot to take in over a very short period.

The next week he had a very full Sunday and this is how we all felt by the end of the day!

Baby Henry

2010-07-01T20:33:00.002-06:00

We are still enjoying our baby Henry very much!

William loves being a big brother. He has moments of jealousy and frustration, but overall he does pretty well.

Nathan passed out Oh Henry! candy bars to his colleagues at work to spread the news.

William and Henry in cute matching outfits from my Aunt Karin. Henry is growing so quickly! At his 2 week check up he was already 8 lbs. The hope/expectation is that by 2 weeks old a newborn is back up to their birth weight. It's quite a feat to weigh 1 lb. over his birth weight in such a short time period!

William really likes Henry to do whatever he is doing. After we took their picture together William wanted to go bye-bye with Henry. So, he decided to put him in his car seat (with Daddy's help).

Next, he put a blanket on him.

And then they were ready to go! What cute brothers!

Silly William

2010-07-01T19:51:00.002-06:00

William and his "football helmet"

William takes everything in that he see or hears. Today I was walking down the stairs and he said "Hey Babe" to me.

On Sunday we were reading in the Friend about priesthood blessings. The next day he put both of his hand on Henry's head and said "Please bless the food."

Kittly Goes Camping

2010-07-01T19:35:00.005-06:00

Yesterday afternoon I was outside saying goodbye to a friend when Diaw (our cat) wandered out of the bushes. She's an indoor only cat and I didn't know how she had gotten outside. I concluded that Nathan must have gone outside to water the tomatoes that morning and she must have snuck out. I took her inside and called Nathan to ask if he went outside that morning. He said no. I asked him how Diaw could have gotten outside if he didn't let her out. We thought about it and remembered that the day before Nathan had taken the boys outside and left the front door open for a long time. Then, we started to put the pieces together. She must have wandered outside around 5:30 that evening and we didn't see her. I had noticed that her food and water bowl were still full that night, but I didn't think much of it. When we were going to bed I heard a cat crying outside. I felt bad for the cat and wished someone would help it, but I didn't go outside to look for it. The next morning I missed her jumping up on the bed, but again I just thought she was sleeping somewhere. Our declawed, indoor only cat had been outside for about 18 hours without us knowing! I felt like such a bad kitty mom! (even though Nathan admits it was his fault for letting her out) I really love our cat and sometimes joke that she is one of our children. I told Nathan I can't believe we lost one of our kids for that long. His response was "She probably had a blast. Just think of it as a camping trip for her." Poor kittly. I hate camping.

*By the way, William calls her "kittly" instead of kitty. It's not a type-o.

Henry's Birth Announcement

2010-07-01T19:33:00.000-06:00

Hospital Pictures

2010-06-11T20:06:00.004-06:00

This morning they asked us if we were interested in having a photographer take some baby pictures. I was imagining the traditional hospital baby mug shots. We got a lot more than that! The photographer came and shot the whole family. I was a little skeptical. We were not in a studio, just a hospital room. And, we'll just say William and Henry were the only ones that had taken a bath...

We are just so in love with this little boy!! The last 24 hours have been complete bliss. It's such a tremedous blessing to have a healthy baby. He is so sweet and all 3 of us are enjoying him!