New Year, New Resolutions - 2021

 

Here are some highlights from this year thus far.

We used our stimulus money to buy a new fridge. Our old one was having problems. 

We also got a new set of couches while were at it. The ones in the middle are the old ones we sold.

Jackson turned 9 at the end of January. I guess Court got all of the pictures. He invited some friends over and they had a movie night with popcorn and their choice of candy. He had a great time.

Xander also had a birthday at the end of February. He did the same thing for his party. He loved it as well. Below is a picture of a gift he got. He fell asleep holding it. I thought it was a fun picture.

Court had a conference for Optavia in Dallas. My parents came up to watch the kids so she and I could go together. It was a lot of fun. One day I found the headquarters for Meat Church. This guy sells BBQ seasonings and other BBQ stuff. He also makes YouTube videos for smoking meats and other things. I like to watch his videos to get ideas of things I can do on my Traeger.

We tried some Tex Mex. 

We even had some close friends drive over from Houston to hang out with us. It was so good seeing them again. 

Here is Court looking gorgeous and confident!

 

This is Livie all dressed up for church! She is such a cutie. She also has her sass. We love her.

This must be Sunday night game night. Playing some Jenga. We love to try do games every Sunday night as a family. We like games like, Jenga, Uno Attack, Exploding Kittens, Dominoes and Throw Burrito Throw.

Here is Xander and I twinning. This is his favorite shirt. He was so excited when he realized I had the same one. Just hadn't worn it in a while.

Xander had a field trip to the local pizza place. We were all lucky to go too. We all got to make our own pizzas. So delicious. 

Sometimes, I wear clothes or do my hair in such a way to see if I can make Courtney squirm. Tucking in button-up shirts and parting my hair is one such way.

We got to attend the birthday of friend of ours at Nicklemania. The kids loved that.

It is funny, when I look at Courtney's photos I realize we have done lots of fun things this year. She does a lot better job of catching it all. Here is everyone when we went to clean the church one Saturday morning.

Here the kids are looking great all dressed up for church.

A big milestone this year, this little cutie potty trained! We officially do not have diapers in the house anymore. She was such a rock star and picked it up faster than her brothers. We are so proud of her.

As to resolutions, I am not big on making resolutions. For some reason, this year I made a ton. I started a journal. I want to blog regularly again. I'm trying to read scriptures every day. I want to read the whole Doctrine and Covenants this year along with the Come Follow Me curriculum. With temples being closed I made it a goal to index (take images of documents with important information and digitize them) 1000 records this year. So far it has been going well. 

Part of me wonders if this was to prepare me for a new calling in church. I was called to serve as the ward executive secretary. This means I keep the bishoprics schedules for them. I set up all appointments and participate in bishopric meetings and ward council meetings. This calling will stretch me for sure.

Five Year Review - Part 3

     There are two more things I can think of that happened over the past 5 years that were big. The first was that we finished the basement! The second was Courtney and I decided to get healthy and we lost a lot of weight.

    We have been trying to finish the basement for a while after moving into our new house. We were able to frame the whole basement in almost one day 2 or 3 years ago. I invited a ton of people over had everything ready and we went to work. I bought doughnuts and pizza etc to keep people motivated. The funny thing was I had no idea what I was doing. My buddy Brandon, would ask things like "how big are your doors?" or "how big is your tub ?" I had no idea that mattered. that was the only reason we didn't finish everything that day. I had to figure those things out. Plus we had to break out the concrete to move the drain for the tub anyways. It was nice having him and Orey, who knew what they were doing and had the tools., to help. They made it a success.

    Every time after that we attempted to work on the basement more something big would come up and suck all of our money away. Cars would need repairing. Surgeries happened. Finally, at the end of 2019 we just decided to take out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to just suck it up and get it all done. Brandon helped me move the tub drain. Courtney and I finished the framing. My neighbor who is a retired plumber gave me some pointers and I was able to get that whipped out. I did learn, do not cut into the main water line when the hardware stores are closed. I miscalculated something and spent extra time reworking things so I could turn the water back on before morning. Luckily, I managed to work it out. My dad set aside 3 days to come help get the rough electrical done. Unfortunately, on day 2 he got really sick and spent the next 2 days in bed. Just before he left, he came to the basement and sat and explained to me what needed to happen. I was able to get the rough electrical done, with many calls to him to answer the things I forgot or that we didn't go over together. It was fun to learn about circuits and wiring. 

    Around this time the pandemic hit. While for many the pandemic was terrible and a huge burden. Some lost jobs, others lost lives or family or friends. For us it was a blessing. I got to work from home. I spent more time with my family. We saved money on gas. I took less vacation and sick leave, because I could keep an eye on kids when Courtney ran errands etc. It was a great blessing for us. On top of all of this, when it was slow at work I could sneak down to the basement and work on it. We paid for insulation to be installed. Had our 4-way inspection. Paid to have drywall installed, inspected, mudded, taped and textured. That may have been the most expensive part but it was worth having it all done in 10 days. Courtney and I painted everything, including trim and doors. That was fun but also required a lot of late nights. We paid to have the trim, closet shelving and doors installed. Then I went through and finished electrical. We paid to have carpets and flooring installed. At this point it felt done. It was usable! It was amazing. On the down side I had lost all motivation to keep working on it, so I paid someone to finish the bathroom. 

    It is done now! we love having the extra space. The front room on the main level became an office and all of the toys went downstairs, out of sight. I spent some money and got a home theater set up with surround sound downstairs and I love it. I sneak down there when I can just to enjoy it. It has been a blessing to have the extra space during this pandemic.

    Around the same time as the basement all started, end of 2019, Courtney decided she wanted to get healthy and lose weight. We lost about 30 lbs each once before, after Xander was born, but had since gained it back. Courtney had some friends who were getting into this thing called Optavia. She asked about it and decided to give it a try. I, being supportive of her, decided to do it with her. Well, it worked! She, ultimately, lost about 70 lbs and I lost about 60 lbs! She enjoyed it so much she decided to coach others with Optavia and has been doing that since. She has helped many others lose lots of weight and she loves it. Our goal is to maintain the weight loss and stay healthy for us and the kids! Pretty exciting.

This is probably the past part for the 5 year in review. Posts going forward should present time. See you next time!

Five Year Review - Part 2

     Another big event that happened over the past 5 years was Jackson turning 8 years old. Anyone familiar with our church knows that 8 is a big age. Jackson made the decision to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

    It was such a neat experience for all of us. He is our oldest. That means he is the first of our kids that I was able to baptize. He was super excited leading up to it. He got to watch some of his other friends be baptized which only added to the excitement for his special day. He got to choose the program for his big day like who said the prayers, who spoke, which songs we sang and who would be the witnesses.

    He asked that his Grandpa speak about baptism and his Papa to speak about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Lots of friends and family came. We were super lucky that this happened when it did. Shortly after his baptism, the pandemic broke out. For some getting baptized, no one could come to their baptism except those performing the ordinance and immediate family. After the ordinance was performed I, along with other family members who hold the priesthood, laid our hands on his head and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost.

    Jackson is and has always been a sweet kid. He is everyone's friend. He is kind. He is a great older brother. It makes me happy to see the young man he is becoming. His mom likes to point out that soon he will be taller than her. 

Five Year Review - Part 1

     I decided to do a review of some of the major highlights from the past 5 years that I haven't blogged. The biggest thing that occurred was us welcoming this cute girl into our family!!

Olivia Marie born March 13th 2018

    We had some struggles with her pregnancy. She was breach and the doctors had to perform an external cephalic version to turn her so she could be birthed naturally. It worked; however, Livie was born with one foot by her head. The nurses commented about her going to be a dancer. She always wanted her feet by her head after she was born. to this day we tell everyone she is our happy dancer and that she just dances through life!

    Livie has been a wonderful blessing in our home! The boys love her. Sometimes they love on her a little too much or too hard but they love her a lot. She is definitely spoiled being the youngest and the only girl. It has changed the family dynamics a lot after having three boys. She loves to cuddle more. She is always giving hugs. She loves her unicorns, ponies, dolls, doing hair and all the other girl things. We are loving every bit of it. It will be interesting to see how things progress as the kids get older.

    From the beginning she has had her dad wrapped around her finger. She is my Livie Lou. I was always the tough one for sleep training. I would be the one to help Court not go in all the time. With Livie, I always went in whenever she cried out or wouldn't go to sleep. Even with me not being strong we got lucky in that she has always been a great sleeper. She even puts herself to bed at times. Now she has a big girl bed and is loving that. At first, even with the freedom to get up whenever she wanted, she still would wait in bed for us to come get her. She was definitely the best of our kids when it comes to sleeping. We lucked out.

    Right now almost three years later she is potty training. Livie is a rock star and has gone 3+ days without any accidents. She sleeps through the night dry. It has been awesome. No more kids in diapers. It is crazy to think that she starts preschool this Fall. She has grown up so fast.

    Livie loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Frozen and Frozen 2 (she watches these everyday). She loves to smell everything. She can be found happy dancing all over the place. She likes to help cook. She loves to clobber you with hugs. We love our Livie!

Olivia Fall 2020 Picture

We're back!!

 Wow! Almost 5 years since our last post. 

I stumbled upon this randomly today and I am making it a goal to post something once a month. 

Today I have update our cover photo. In the future I may update the look and feel some more as I figure things out again. 

Until next time. Here is a picture of me with a beard I grew out earlier this year. Enjoy!

Baseball fun!

Now that we have three boys we are seeing more and more that our boys want and need more one on one time with Courtney and I. Having a new baby, the older boys get less attention. This is normal when you have a baby who depends on others wholly in order to survive. In an effort to help the older boys to not feel forgotten Court and I have talked about things we could do give them the individualized attention they crave. I thought it would be fun to take one or both older boys to a baseball game.

Saturday was the last game of the regular season for BYU baseball. We decided to take the whole family. It was a lot of fun. The boys didn't care too much about the game. They were more interested in the mascot, Cosmo Cougar. Here are some of the highlights.

Here is everyone with Cosmo. Parker was not too sure about Cosmo.

Xander lost it multiple times whenever the crowd cheered loudly.

Parker was really interested in the folding seats and cup holders for his sippy cup.

Jackson would repeat every cheer or shout I would shout. It was pretty cute.

Throughout the game I would try to explain different things to Jackson who would express interests occasionally.

I told him our team was in white and blue. The rest of the game he would yell out stuff about the "white guys". It was funny.

At one point Jackson cheered for the other team. I told him that we don't cheer for the other team. We want them to get out. He matter of factly told me, "but he wants to be in!" Court, the people in front of us and I couldn't keep from laughing out loud. I said stifling a laugh, "Yes, Jackson. That is true."

He also cheered multiple time while we were on defense. "Nice catch. Good serve!"

Overall, it was a lot of fun and the boys had a great time. Hopefully, we'll continue to find fun things to do with the boys and as a whole family in the future.

New blog cover photo

It has been a while since either one of us has posted anything on this blog.

I logged in recently and noticed our cover photo was from long before Xander had joined us. I decided it needing updating.

Maybe I will post some other photos from this same family/newborn photo shoot in the near future. Enjoy!

Parker is 10 months!

Parker turned 10 months on April 23!  He had a big month for his gross motor skills, and is really starting to get around and explore.  This month, Parker ... 

- became an army crawling machine -- he is super fast, gets around everywhere, and loves to explore new places that he couldn't get to before (like the laundry room, the pantry, and the bathroom); 

- started learning how to pull himself up onto furniture -- he is really proud of himself when he can stand up and he loves the view; 

- learned how to get to a sitting position from laying on the floor; 

- gets into a bridge position (hands and toes on the floor, bum in the air) -- I think he is trying to stand up.  

Here are some other fun things about our little man.  At 10 months, Parker, ... 

- has 4 teeth; 

- takes 2 naps per day that are still inconsistent, and drive me a little crazy at times ;)

- loves to eat -- if we keep giving him food, he will typically keep eating; rather than waiting for him to be done eating we usually just have to stop feeding him; 

- he has liked almost all table food I have given him (even taco meat), with the exception of pasta, but he especially likes string cheese, strawberries, and chicken nuggets;  

- is a little obsessed with opening and closing doors, as is Jackson, which has ended up with fingers closed in the door more than once; 

- claps his hands, and gets a big smile on his face when you clap back; 

- is starting to wave, usually at himself in the mirror, but sometimes at other people too :)

- loves cars, trucks, trains, balls and anything with wheels/that rolls that he can push around the floor; 

- likes to make silly noises, his favorite of which right now is blowing raspberries; 

- enjoys when we sing songs to him;

- LOVES baths and is now taking a bath in the big boy tub with Jackson -- the two of them have a blast splashing in the water, and he loves that he now gets toys; Parker gets so excited when we tell him that it is "tub tub" time; 

- never keeps his socks on!!  He loves to pull them off and chew on them, so I've pretty much stopped putting them on his feet so I don't have to keep track of them ;)

- is quite the little flirt, and actually enjoys sitting and playing with new people (for at least a few minutes); 

- really enjoys watching the big boys run around, and can't wait until he can run around with them; 

- is such a happy boy!  He smiles all the time!

Here are some fun pictures of Parker from last month!

Parker still loves shoes, and crawling under things :)

Parker loves my computer, and one day I let him go to town typing in Microsoft Word.
He proceeded to save and print his document, without my knowledge.
We found it on the printer later that night and had a good laugh :)

Loves checking himself out in the mirror

Even though he eats a lot, he is still pretty skinny and tends to lose his pants
when he is crawling, unless they fit REALLY well :)

LOVE that smile!

And these two goofballs :)

Zooming around the basement

Saturday morning cuddles :)

Blowing raspberries 

Jackson helping Parker learn how to clap

My monthly photo shoots haven't been going very well ever since Parker became mobile.  This month, however, he seemed to love the camera and I got some super cute pictures!  

Happy 10 months, Parker!  We love you!!