Ultrasound!

Well, we found out yesterday what kind of a baby we are having - no, I do not mean the fat and sassy kind - we already knew we were having that! The results were a little surprising. We completely expected it to be a boy - I think because I had somehow convinced myself that it would be! But . . . it's a GIRL! And even though I had to quickly redo my image of how our family would look, we (with the exception of Matthew) are totally excited! Matthew was a little, how should I say it. . . devastated. I wish I could have filmed it when we told him! He really had his heart set on a boy. He was angry at me for a while because, as he said, "I told you I wanted a boy!" He doesn't understand that I couldn't help it! I think we might have him convinced to be happy about it now as we have talked a lot about how it will just be him and dad as the men of the house and they will need to protect us weak and helpless women. Nothing like a little ego stroke to get you to accept something you don't want to!

Now the only problem is we have absolutely no names up our sleeves! So if anyone has any ideas out there, PLEASE respond! For some reason we seem unable to think of hardly any!

Fun in the Sun

Ok for those of you not ready for a looooooong string of pictures, close this window now. Last week we took a quick jaunt to Hawaii with our friends Ben and Alyson. Since I am far too lazy to type out detailed descriptions of what we did, I am simply going to post a whole bunch of pictures and put small captions beneath them. Pictures say a thousand words, right? You'll get the idea. Us at the 7 Sacred Pools. Nice action shot. Thanks Ben! It's not that big of a jump but for some reason I was terrified! Good thing I've got that hand just about to my nose already. Heaven forbid I enter the water without my nose plugged!

Woodson found this cool "water slide" at the pools. Notice you can see the top AND the bottom of the "slide" in this picture. He is having a LOT of fun!

Our favorite place to eat on Maui: Brudda Hutt's. That really is its name. It is at this guy's house at the end of the road to Hana where he barbeques in his front yard. It takes a couple hours to get there but if you're driving it anyway, the chicken is EXCELLENT. Plus, he's the bishop of the Hana ward. Cool, huh?

Woodson and Ben heading out for a snorkel.

Alyson and Jenny pretending to build sand castles. . . at sunset. . .in our regular clothes. We found this green rake and it looked good in a quickly pushed together mound of sand for the photo op.

Us on the beach at sunset. I think I must have been a little surprised. I would have liked to close my mouth.

Totally posed but I still like our walking on the at beach sunset" picture.

One of my favorite pictures: Ben and Alison "frolicking" on the beach.

I always wanted to be buried in sand. Looks good on me, I think.

Us at the blowhole. We barely made it there before it got dark. Hence, the reason the picture is so dark. We had to run down this hill to get our photo op. It was actually pretty cool. This picture doesn't show how big it sometimes spewed out but we figured we'd better take it rather than chance it getting dark before another big one came. Only casualty: Ben's clothes. He went to take a "closer look."

Woodson boogie boarding. He really does have a swimsuit on. I promise.

Look at this crab. That's all I have to say about this one.

A stroll on the beach.

Us at the Banyan tree in Lahaina. This was the coolest tree ever. I wanted to pose like the roots were like a jail cell - hence the pretend scream - but then Woodson kissed me right at the last minute. So now I pretend it is a "scream of delight" and I totally meant to look like that.

I really didn't mean to have this one on right here but somehow it is so. . . here we are in the Costco parking lot right after we landed. At least I am wearing a lei so you know I'm not at the Lehi Costco! I think we kept Costco meat department in business while we were there!

Baby Time!

Ok, so as most of you have probably noticed from the baby counter on our blog (if not, scan to the right) we are pregnant! Sorry, I have no pictures to post with this, at least none I would willingly put on here. We are currently 18 weeks and will find out what the baby is on Feb. 2nd. Matthew wants a boy and said a prayer today asking Heavenly Father to "make the baby come out a boy." He also wants to name it "Zacky" after one of the dragons on Dragon Tales. Tempting. Nicole wants a girl. Matthew says girl babies aren't as cute as boy babies but we'll still love it. . . just not as much. We'll just have to wait and see!

Matthew's Birthday!!!!

Ok, so it's time for some major catch-up! But of all the things I could post, I am totally going to toot my own horn and document forever what I stayed up till midnight the night before Matthew's birthday doing, namely, making Matthew's alligator birthday cake! Matthew turned 4 on December 7th. Last year we had a friend party and I decided I didn't want to do that again so instead I would make him a SUPER cool cake. I let him choose what he wanted the cake to be - no surprises there. I was totally excited to make it for him and as much as I messed up I am actually pretty proud of how it turned out. However, I think I might go back to the friend party next year. . . Needless to say, Matthew LOVED LOVED LOVED his cake! Too bad he was pretty much the only one to eat it and I had to foist it off on single siblings who I convinced could get their roommates to eat it! (It didn't taste bad, just not as good as the other options that were available for adults at the time thanks to the fact that it was a joint birthday party with Grandma Dean!) Here's Matthew with Grandma Dean at the party. Grandma Dean wouldn't let us put candles in for her. Hmmmm.

As tradition dictates on birthdays (translation: as I force everyone to do), here is Matthew's breakfast in bed. Ya, I went all out as you can see. Notice the tootsie roll in between the spoon and the bowl. . . I'm an AWESOME mom!

Matthew woke up sooooooooo happy that day and we had such a great day! He is definitely turning into a big boy. He is such a big helper with Nicole and loves to help me clean the bathrooms and sweep the floor! He especially enjoys cleaning the toilet! I love it! His smile just makes me happy. He asked me the other day how he is going to know what to do when he grows up. He was really worried about this too and just wanted to express his worry that he wouldn't know what to do when he is a dad! It was so cute! Especially his relief when I told him he could always look in the scriptures and pray - it was like I just solved his life's problems! That's so typical of Matthew - always thinking of things I would never expect and making connections I always hoped he wouldn't! We sure love our big boy! Happy Birthday Matthew!

Gotta love the Babies!

For those of you who know her, you know that Nicole LOVES babies! She has a few of her own and will frequently carry around as many as her little arms will hold but her favorite is "Bambi." She named Bambi herself. She is also so protective of her that she frequently asks me to hold her if she has to do anything and instructs me to kiss her and pat her back. I have to watch out if I don't do it right - she is VERY particular! So the other night I decided to document what we sometimes find. . . Nicole asleep with Bambi on her chest! I think it is so cute how her last thought before she goes to bed is to make sure her baby is covered up and comfortable on her chest!

The First Snow

Of course, I had to document the first real playable snow of the year! We had to try out all the new snow gear to see if it worked! Here's Matthew all suited up and ready to go! Can you tell he was excited!

Whohoo! Let it snow!

The Big Race

Well, I definitely fell off the blogging wagon and now I am trying to catch up with a LOT of stuff that has happened! But most importantly, the BIG race, as Matthew and I call it (as we also call EVERY race) must be mentioned. Matthew loves to talk about "the big race" before I'm going to run anything and how he will cheer for me at the end and say, "Go Mommy!" and that will give me that last ounce of strength I need to pass somebody at the very last second and win! (Is it possible we've had stories about this very thing?) He especially liked trash talking Uncle Mike before this last race and telling him how his mommy was going to beat him!
A big thanks to Mike and Brandi for letting us stay with them and for Mom and Dad for driving up to watch us all. Also to Woodson for taking off work to support me and not make me sleep somewhere strange with the kids all by myself! :) It was definitely lots of fun. . . and a little bit painful! But mostly fun even though I think we all decided we would NEVER do this race again! Good job to Mike for getting us all to do it! It would never have happened without the CHALLENGE! I won't even mention how you lost to a pregnant lady! While Matthew, of course, loved this whole thing, Nicole was less than enthusiastic about hanging out in the cold for however long they were there after the donut run with Grandma and Grandpa!

Julie, Aimee, me, and Mike: the fearless four! Next year, Joe and Paul, next year. . . the whole fam! That is, of course, unless you're afraid. . . !

Running poses before the race. . .Aimee's gonna take down the pack! We looked much different after the race but fortunately I have no pictures of that!

Here's us taking off . . .about 3 minutes after the starting gun! We all had to go to the bathroom so bad and the porta-potty lines were so long we couldn't make it in time for the gun! Plus we had to get a few pictures before we started. . . etc etc etc! Luckily the race was chip timed!

Here's me just about to the finish line. Way to get the action shot, babe! And, even though I couldn't hear Matthew say, "Go Mommy!" I must have known he would be saying it because I think I passed this guy! Although by that point I WAS almost delirious so I could have imagined that!