Fun Halloween banner

I made this cute little Halloween banner the other night. It was so simple.

Cut some tags from my cricut, used some paper fan things left over from Hudson's b-day party, cut out letters from my cricut on the super cute glitter paper from Target. Hung over my "spooky" fireplace. (The thing really is spooky in more ways than one…) That's it.

15 months already?

Buster is 15 months old today! He is turning into a little stinker too. A dang cute stinker with his big 'ol dimples and gorgeous blue eyes. He is really moving. He looks pretty funny walking on those twiggy legs of his, but he is getting more and more comfortable doing it everyday. But being in no hurry to walk has not stopped him from climbing on things. He climbs on everything. Most are dangerous, the rocks, the "lunchroom" table, chairs in nursery, etc. He thinks it is especially funny to climb on things, look for my and wave his finger up at down (like he is saying, naughty, naughty, naughty.)

In the last couple of days he has taken to chucking things as hard as he can. Tonight it was water bottles. Earlier at the library, it was books. Sure hope he is going to use his amazing skills as a baseball player or something:)

He loves balls. I mean seriously, the kid would be happy with a room filled with balls. I have found him a several times laying under the changing table surrounded by his bouncy balls. Do I have a picture of it, no.

He loves the bath, he loves to eat and he is finally starting to become a good sleeper. He loves his brother and sister. He waves to everyone and says something that sounds like bye-bye to me. He is such a sweetheart.

And with his continued love of food, he is chunkin' up and and just might grow into that dome of his;) Love. This. Kid.

Today's edition of gratitude

Two posts in a row: WORLD RECORD!

Today I was grateful for naps. (Although I wish I could count myself as one of the nappies…)

Jade was having a rough day. She had a meltdown at my friend Janine's, she had a poo and pee accident resulting in two cold showers. She was basically a mess. So after the second cold shower, to bed she went. Nestled in her crib with her "pacifier blanket" and pillow sweet sleep brought peace to the house and peace to my little girl having a rough day. She woke up refreshed and in a much better mood. I was too.

General Conference

I was inspired by the talks given today and yesterday by our great church leaders. I look forward to rereading them in the Ensign online so I can fill in the gaps I missed taking Jade to the potty, making sippy cups, cleaning up, etc.

In a world with so much turmoil and sadness, immorality and filth, political opposition, greed, pride and selfishness, how comforting it is to listen to men and women who radiate and preach such hope, love and comfort. It gives me hope that there are good people all over who want a good world for their children to grow up in, and that makes me happy.

It's like the most t.v. I've watched in a long time:)

I was especially happy to see Dominic listen to a few talks while filling out his little word bingo card from primary. He carefully listened and check marked gospel words during a few talks. (Hey, he's 4…a three-talk attention span is nothing short of a miracle in my book!)

Well I want to be more grateful. Too many times I catch myself wishing, wanting and aspiring for more. That is okay sometimes. but I also recognized that I need to be grateful for the present. So I am going to strive to be grateful. And unlike my normal ADD self that has a tendency to do a million things at once…that's it. I am going to be more grateful. I think that alone will help many more things fall into place. And since everyone has basically left blogging for facebook…I'm pretty sure I can post my gratefulness as I please:)

And I'm going to list, because that's how I roll:

1. I am grateful for the gospel. It's a scary thing in life to not have a foundation. One that answers all the important questions. I have that. I know who I am, where I came from and where I am going.

2. I am grateful for my family. With every rear I wipe, and cry I quiet, I know I am needed and loved. I have a loving, compassionate, funny-as-heck husband that treats me well and loves and provides for our children. I know that he is working towards our eternal marriage just as much as I am. And that feels good.

Okay…those are the big ones for tonight. The two that are always mentioned in my prayers. There are many more, obvious ones. And some not so obvious. But here's to being grateful! I hope if you are reading this…you will find some things to be more grateful for…

It's getting hot in here…

So we took a trip to Utah to attend Sawyer's baptism and hang with our cousins. We had as much fun as could be packed into a few days with 7 children and two adults… (two adults who happen to be sisters that have no qualms about spending 5 hours at various TJ Maxx stores)We went to this super fun children's museum in Salt Lake. It was perfectly geared toward my children. If I lived in Utah, I would have a season pass! There was this cute little "town" that the kids could have stayed at all day long. This is Stockton and Jade reporting the weather on a green screen. Jade kept mimicking Stockton…it was cute.
They had a real life "Flight for Life" helicopter and heli-pad on the roof. Dominic was in Heaven. He waited patiently to be able to "fly" the chopper. I think at one point he really thought it was going to take off!
Even Hudders was enjoying the play kitchen with all the food. He was so cute standing up and grabbing everything in the little playhouse!
Annika and Hudson - Annika was quite the Miss Helpful babysitter during our stay. She was quick to help me watch the kids…especially Hudson!
These two girls had so much fun rocking out to "California Gurls" and playing dress up!

Hudder wudder turns one

One year ago I was recovering from my third c-section in three years…and our family was blessed with Hudson. (Although we didn't have a definite name for him just yet…)

Hudson Boyd was born at 7:54 a.m. and weighed 7 lbs 10 oz. He was a really good baby. He has been the smallest of my three kids…he only weighed 16 lbs last week at the doctor. He army crawls all over the place (just like Dominic.) Only he uses both arms, not just one. He has the most amazing smile and little dimples that light up his whole face.

Dominic and Jade can really get this kid giggling.

He loves to eat… and although he is small, he shovels food in like a pro. He can eat two packets of instant oatmeal, bananas, chocolate milk, nurse, and like candy too. If he doesn't want something, he pulls it right out of his mouth and throws it on the floor!

He is a mama's boy, and a daddy's too. He loves to be held, but recently loves to crawl everywhere. He even wants to stand, but his little legs are seriously…little! They look like twigs trying to support all 16 pounds of him.

Hudson loves balls! He will furiously crawl to one and say what sounds like "ba, ba ba!" It is by far his favorite thing to play with. He will wrap his little body around the whole ball and then slap it with his hands. So dang cute.

We seriously can't get enough of this guy. Happy birthday to him!

Happy Birthday America!

I love the 4th of July. It's my favorite holiday. I have a thing for red, white and blue decorations. I love patriotic music and I love to sit and watch fireworks. I don't know if this ever actually happened, but I have this vision of me as a kid watching fireworks in Boulder City and the fireworks exploding over my head and thinking that it was going to land on me! Aw…such sweet memories:) I was reminded of that memory and wonder tonight when Dominic exclaimed, "The fireworks are landing in my mouth and I can taste them!" He was pretty jazzed about the whole thing…and that makes me happy!

Tonight we celebrated at Brad's sister's house. We had perfect seats for the Henderson festivities! The kids had a great time waving their little American flags and playing with their sparklers. As with every get together we had waaay too much food, all good.

I am so grateful for this wonderful country we live in. I am grateful that I get to see and appreciate my kids' little faces in their happy moments.

I am going to throw some pics up here and attempt to update…

Jaders got her ears pierced back in May. She has been asking for quite some time. Brad returned from a week in Laughlin and decided to take her. She was brave and only cried for a minute. Then she went around telling everyone it was "just a little pinch!" We love this girl and her determined little personality. In fact, I wish I had a video camera so I could capture her latest "moves." She's been dancing around singing this song she made up that says, "I'm a rock and roll girrrrl!" TOO. DANG. CUTE!

It's dang hot here. Hotter and hotter every year it seems, even though I've lived here for almost 27 years… We have to find ways to beat the heat and not just stay home and rack up a $400 power bill. So water parks are usually our good cheap fun. This particular park is nice because my kids are the only ones there, like ever. (Everyone else probably has their own swimming pool!) Most of the time it's pretty hard to juggle three kids and my camera, but I am getting better at it.
We also did a session of swimming lessons. These two are attached at the hip. Swimming lessons were so much better with Lukey by Dominic's side! Although I'm ready for a little bit of a challenge. Ring around the rosies is great and all, but I think Dominic would benefit from actually learning how to swim…we will work on that:)
And recently, Brad's parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! We all chipped in got them tickets to the Lion King and a room at Mandalay Bay. Then the next evening, all the kids and their spouses went to dinner at the Wynn buffet. Brad's brothers and their families drove up from Bakersfield to kind of "surprise" Wendy and Glade, but no secret is safe when Wendy is concerned! It was a fun weekend with family… and what a great accomplishment to have seven children married in the temple and 22 grandkids sealed together!

Birthday Boy

So I'm a little late, but on Monday Dominic turned 4. Seriously, threw me for a little loop. We sang to him on Sunday in primary, and I ain't gonna lie, choked me up a bit. I mean, not to sound sappy, but this guy made me a mother. He is smart, handsome, funny and we love him to pieces. He keeps me on my toes…my tip toes!

He has always been my little OC-D BIG. TIME. He remembers EVERYTHING. I can't get ANYTHING past him. And he is constantly confirming things. It's enough to drive me nuts on a daily basis! He is sweet and watches out for his little brother and sister and cousins. Just tonight he was playing and one of his toys fell out of his pocket and onto Hudson's head. He immediately burst into tears because he felt so bad for Hudders. Today he went to the doctor for his well check and ended up getting 4 shots. The nurse gave him two suckers for being so brave. He put the extra sucker in his pocket and told me he was saving it for Lukey. (Sidenote: He later was caught licking the sucker and told me he was just tasting it for Lukey and he would wrap it back up…I told him to go ahead and finish it off…)

We celebrated by having a Diego party for him. His wonderful mother took zero pictures at the party, so when Grandma Sheila gives me hers, I will post some. He received lots of Diego toys, Buzz toys, clothes, DVDs, etc. that he has been playing with nonstop since yesterday.

He is just slightly obsessed with all things Diego…He recently told me that he wasn't going to wear this shirt I bought him with a monkey on it because "monkeys get humans dirty." He wanted the Easter bunny to bring him stilts so he could climb through tall grass. He wishes his rescue pack turned into a hang-glider. He wishes that his stuffed baby jaguar could really talk and his Diego Halloween costume has to sometimes "disappear" for a few days to get washed. Heck he even has Jade convinced that she wants to be Alicia. Master manipulator.

We love this kid. I love his imagination, quirks and funny little D-isms. I can't remember what it was like to not have him in our life. It certainly wasn't as entertaining!

Dominic's real birth day!

Coming home from the hospital.

First smiles:)

Cute kid with the big head!

Easter bunny

Love you DD!