Showers come just in time!

Here I am with my sweet sister, sister-in-laws, and mother-in-law at the Cheesecake Factory, one week before baby Rowan was born . What a fun night out! The food was of course delish and I got some pretty dang cute things for baby Rowan! Thanks to my wonderful family for all they do for me, I will love dressing her up with all my new things! You guys really are the best ever. Ever.

The night before Rowan was born, I went out with my girls to Chilis for a late night appetizer and DC overdose. They SPOILED me rotten! To die for clothes, little bracelets, massage cert. for post baby relief, and the essentials...DIAPERS...LOTS OF DIAPERS! I almost cancelled the night and told everyone to just come over in PJ's and hang out because I just was not feeling good, but I stuck it out and was so glad we went, it was such a fun night. I don't think anyone believed me when I said I was pretty sure the baby was coming...little did we know a few hours later I would be admitted to the hospital! :)
Ok, Hailey. Wow. I mean I am willing to bet no one has a cuter car seat cover then I will have. You are amazing. You could be rich from selling these if you wanted to! Love love love this!!

Jess...you need to wear bows more often, it suites you wonderfully!

I wish you could see the little pink bracelet better tied at the of the diaper cake. It is to die for!

I just want to tell my girls that I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends surround me! I feel like I don't deserve you guys! I mean really, you are the best of the best and I don't know how I would live my day to day life with out you ladies! Thanks for spoiling me...I love you all!

EASTER TIME!!

I am excited to celebrate Easter with the kids and see the excitement in their eyes when you mention the Easter Bunny and what surprises he may bring, have talks about the Savior and why we celebrate Easter, and have SUNNY weathered Easter Egg hunts (hopefully!). Last night for FHE was the first celebration for the holiday. We talked about the Resurrection, colored Easter eggs, and ate bunny shaped sugar cookies. The kids loved it. It was a fun night.

Last week Paisley and Jaylynn just happened to be wearing matching outfits in different colors on the same day. They both looked so cute so I had to take a picture. I love how Jay's capris look like floods on her and Paisley looks like a giant next to her!

Welcome Home Grandpa!

It feels really nice to have the Patriarch of the family home again, and very comforting to know he got here safe and sound...for good! His flight came in really late on Wednesday night, so on Thursday morning we all met up at Grandma and Grandpa's for the big reunion. It was really great to all be together again. Later that day we went down to the Expo Center where they were having the outdoor show. The kids loved it, and we all got to hold a baby bear, which was the coolest thing EVER! Then that night the adults all went out to Steve's favorite Mexican restaurant, Mi Ranchito.

I'm not sure why I needed to stand in front and show off my big belly...oh my.

Do you love Paisley's hat that grandpa brought home from Iraq? It matched her outfit perfectly! hehe...

Us at the Expo Center holding the baby bear. Paisley wanted to call him "Carl the Cub"...I thought it was a pretty creative name!

We couldn't be happier to have Grandpa Hemming home again! We love him dearly and feel complete as a family once again!

Teasing us of Spring...

Oh March. Why do you have to be such a tease? We will take what good days we can get though, and take the opportunity to play outside when the sun makes it's presence. For the first time this year, the kids got some outside toys out and got to enjoy a bit of sunshine in the back yard, it was wonderful! Bubbles, jumping on the tramp, cars, baseball...it made me happy...it made the kids ecstatic! Then the next day, Justin and Bria came over for dinner, and they brought their kid...I mean dog Annie. My kids couldn't get enough of her! It was fun to have them over, and we took Annie for a Sunday walk down to the park and played on the swings for a bit. Paisley asks me every day now why we can not have a dog like Annie. I tell her because I have 2 kids and one on the way...and that is enough. But she still asks every day for a dog, and doesn't think my answer is any good. Maybe one day...in the FAAARRR future. I can't wait for warmer days that soon will be here!

Iron Man went for a ride in the Jeep. Man, that toy was the best thing Santa could have ever gotten Noah, who would have known? He holds him all day long, and runs around yelling, "I am Iron Man! Repulsive blast!" followed by shooting noises. Really, I am not exaggerating when I say he has him all day every day by his side. It is his best friend for sure. I am thankful for Iron Man for bringing my son such joy.

Annie really is such a sweet dog! It's giving Justin and Bria a little taste of what a child might be like! We all love her lots!

Paisley's Room Transformed...

I finally finished the last thing in my kids room with the "remodel". It was quite the process turning a complete "pinkalicious" room into a "shared gender" room. After much thought I finally decided on gray wall with lots of bright green, blue, orange, and pink to make for a fun kids room for Noah and Paisley to share. I'm not going to lie, Paisley had to have a lot of convincing for her to let us paint over her pink walls, but she was THRILLED when we brought in the bunk beds and learned that she got to sleep on the top! It has been a bit of an adjustment getting them to sleep together at night (they love it too much and won't settle down!) but I think after getting some used to it, it's all going to work out just fine. I've searched high and low and spent hours and hours on the Internet searching for everything, but it has all finally come together, and I really love it, so here it is, the finished product:

My blue solar lamp was a precious find at good ol' TJ Maxx Home Goods...LOOOVED IT! It puts off a soft green glow at night working perfectly for a night light for the kids!

Ok, this is probably my favorite thing in their room...their world ABC canvas. SOOO fun! And educational too, the kids are always asking about what city is on the "P" etc.

Oh and while we were at it, we decided to finally take down the ugly fly fishing wall paper in the kids bathroom that we have been meaning to take down since the second we moved in and just never have. So the bathroom got a remodel too...

I figured while I was at it I might as well get 3 towels, since eventually baby sister will need one too right? I guess the name is permanent now that it's been embroidered onto a towel!

This was so fun to do, if I had a million bucks I think I might just remodel my house all the time! It is just so much fun to search for things for a new room, and see it all put together! Now on to the next room...BABY ROWANS! Can't wait for her to come!

A Trip to Grandma and Papa Carey's...

My kids were looking forward to this visit to Grandma and Papa Carey's house for so long! We figured we better make the trek "over the river and through the woods" (literally) before I got too big and uncomfortable to drive that far. We stopped in Boise on Thursday night and spent some time with Ryan's grandma. It was so nice to visit with her, and the kids were obsessed with Midget her dog. Then we got up early Friday morning and made the drive the rest of the way to my parents house. They had SOOOO much snow still, but luckily we had great roads and got there safely. It was so much fun just to hang out with my parents, playing games, eating lots of good food, and watching my kids be in pure heaven playing with their grandma and grandpa. On Saturday we got to go to the Ski resort that is just a few minutes from their house and go down the tubing hill (well, everyone but me...I was the designated photographer waiting at the bottom). This was the only time I pulled out my camera on the whole trip, so I didn't get very many pics but it was a blast!

Paisley screamed in delight the whole way down and was so happy to go again and again and again! She felt so big that she got to go all by herself. She LOVED every minute of this thrilling hill!

Loading up to get up the hill...

Noah was excited to go down the hill the first time, but then they told us that he had to ride by himself, and it was a little too scary for his liking. So he hung out happily with me at the bottom of the hill for the rest of the time throwing snowballs.

Noah, Ryan, Paisley, Dad, and Mom on their way up up up...

My new favorite picture of my cute cute parents...

Lunch time!

Love you mom and dad! Thanks for the good times! Can't wait until May!

A Family Update...

This is just me blabbering and wanting to remember a few things with my little family right now, so just scroll down past this post if you want to see pics...

Next time I feel baby hungry, I need to remember this pregnancy! Wow has it been a tough one. Tougher then the first 2 anyway...maybe because I'm getting older? Maybe because it's baby number 3, and lots of people say 3 is the killer? Maybe because I run around after 2 other kids all day? Maybe it's everything combined, but it's been a crazy few months. The first 4 months were filled with sickness, from sun up to sun down (something I never had with my first 2). Then that went away in time for me to start having other weird things start happening, like aching body parts all over, seriously I feel like I need an old persons scooter to get around some days! I've had horrible migraines...a lot, my hips feel like they are going to break when I stand up to walk...really?? The heartburn is setting in (another thing I never experienced much), I am looking bigger and feeling MUCH bigger, nights are starting to get fun to try and sleep already, thank goodness for unisom! I have a herniated belly button, which I never knew there was such a thing, but it is pretty painful. Especially when a kiddo comes bouncing at your tummy...ooouch! There are other weird things going on that I won't mention, but it sucks. And then...I will lay in bed next to Ryan and all of the sudden we will see my tummy actually start moving! And there is nothing better then that feeling inside me of a little person moving around. And Paisley will walk up to me and kiss my tummy and say, "Hello Baby Rowan! I LOVE you! Kick for me Baby Rowan!" And it is all worth it. That was a long paragraph of complaining, but really...holy cow am I excited for her to get here and have another sweet little bundle of joy in my arms! I just need to get through these last few months...

I get to take Paisley to register for kindergarten tomorrow. WOW. That is a crazy thought...KINDERGARTEN!! She is so excited for it. She asks daddy if she can go to work with him all of the time so she can see the big school and the big playground. I keep thinking..."Maybe I'll have her wait another year and have her be the oldest rather then the youngest in her class?" But then I get back to reality and I come to terms that my little preemie 4 1/2 lb. baby is growing up and is SOOO ready for big girl school. She had to get her shots last week, and I was so proud at how brave she was! She started out smiling into my eyes, and by the 5th shot I could tell she was trying so hard not to cry, but just sadly said..."that last one really hurt mommy," as a single tear ran down her cheek. At the age of 4 1/2 Paisley loves preschool, loves playing with her best friends JayLynn and Devree (and asks for one of them to play every single day), has an imagination that runs wild. She has such a strong willed personality that some times drives me crazy, but I know will take her far in life and be a good thing. She loves her dance and tumbling classes so much, and it is fun to see her talent blooming. I sure love my little bundle of energy!

Noah is still all boy...and all potty trained too! What a relief to have that behind us! Now at first I thought, wow boys will be so easy, no wiping (most of the time), easy emergency pull overs in the car, etc. But what I didn't realize is that they really do need to AIM. Wow, learning to aim makes it sure fun for mommy! I feel like I am constantly wiping down my toilets..I mean daily. I know I am a little obsessively clean, but wow it's driving me nuts! Oh well, you take the good with the bad! Noah wants to play with airplanes, trains, cars, and action figures all day. And the other day we brought in a tennis racket and a bag of tennis balls randomly out of the garage to put back in the shed, and you would have thought he just received the best new toy in the world! Who would have thought a tennis ball would be a great potty training incentive? The funny thing is he hits that ball with the racket as though it's a golf club. He can growl and roar at you and run around like a mad man, but then he can also be the snuggliest, sweetest, most tender hearted little mama's boy (and I'm not gonna lie...I love it!).

Ryan just continues to be the best dad and husband ever. He always has to listen to me complain, and I thank him for being so understanding and cleaning my bath tubs and stairs a lot lately. Love you honey!

Those are my thoughts today...in a nutshell.

Happy Valentines Day!

Holidays sure are fun with little kiddos. Yesterday we gave the kids a little Valentines Day gift since Ryan had to leave early for work this morning and it would be a busy day. They couldn't have been more thrilled with their gifts! Paisley just keeps saying, "Oh Mommy I love Corduroy so much! Thank you thank you thank you!" Remember the book Corduroy, when he looses his button? Paisley got a big stuffed Corduroy bear, along with the book and a blanket that you can snuggle with that unzips from his backpack. Noah got the dog from the book, "Where's Spot" that turns into a pillow pet and unzips into a blanket as well. Very versatile and very fun. Both kids are obsessed with their new fun toys, and have asked me to read them their books while snuggling with their animals about 50 times today. Every time I get to the page where Corduroy realizes he is missing a button, Paisley always says, "Stop Mom, just a minute!" and pulls the Velcro off his shoulder strap, as if her own Corduroy just lost his button. Then at the end when he gets his button sewed on she pretends to be sewing her own button on her bear and fixes his strap. Its so cute!

Happy Valentines Day everyone and a very special Happy Valentines to my own special valentine...love you honey!

This is Cute...

I remember growing up on Saturday mornings I would awake to my mother singing loud and clear for us all the hear, "Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!". Well, that is one tradition that won't be carried into our home. Sorry mom, that's your son in laws fault. At the age of 2 Noah is already a "Utah Man". Ryan is probably going to kill me for posting this, but it's just too cute not to!