And you are?

(Madeline in her blessing dress)

She won't take a binky, but she loves to chew on her fingers.

Her hair is starting to get longer, so it isn't as crazy :)

( I love her crazy hair though!)

Um...yep; I am still here. Our lives have been crazy since October. I think we might have even skipped Christmas. (Kind of like last year.) I hope we don't make it a tradition :) I was just getting the hang of three kids when Haiti was rocked by that huge quake. Ryan was deployed there at the end of January to help with the relief efforts. Life is even crazier now...3 kids + 1 mom = not enough hands (or sleep), but we know that Haiti is where Ryan needs to be right now. They have spent the last few days helping at the orphanage in Port-au-Prince, and Ryan feels right at home holding the preemie babies and helping to feed them. We just sent a bunch of toys and it was hard for Elliot to grasp the fact that the kids didn't have mommies or daddies and that they probably had never had a toy to play with.

Elliot is doing well in preschool. I can't believe he will be headed off to Kindergarten this fall. Where does the time go? He just really wants to ride the school bus. Go figure! We signed him up to play soccer this spring...somewhere to use all that energy :)

Gabe is growing too. I think he is going to be our football player. I keep telling Elliot that he needs to be nicer to him because one day Gabe will be bigger.

Madeline seems to be growing the fastest of them all. I saw someone with a brand new baby at Walmart today and was kind of sad when I realized how big my baby is getting. She is so much fun though. She definitely has her own little personality. She LOVES it when we tell her she is pretty. Church is the best because everyone holds her. Spoiled.

We just got done playing church volleyball. I love it, but each year I am reminded that I am a little bit older. In my mind, I will always be a Laurel, but my body says otherwise.

I promise more pictures soon, but right now I get to go find my keys. Gabe had them today and he is good at hiding things that I actually need. Wish me luck!

Daddy's Little Girl

Here is our newest addition...Madeline Keona. She was born October 1st at 11:53 AM.

8 lb 14 oz, 22 1/4 inches. And so much hair! Of course she already has daddy wrapped

around her little finger and her brothers adore her. Gabe is still trying to figure it all out,

but it is so cute when he gives her hugs and kisses.

Oh, there you are, Peter!

So...I've been thinking that maybe I should update this so everyone knows that we are still here. It has been a busy five months since I last posted even though we haven't gone anywhere.

Where to start? Here is the quick version of our lives since March:

The boys and I survived Ryan being gone to Texas for his five month tech school. It was a two year course in five months. It was intense, but he graduated with a 97% and now has more useful skills that he can put to use here as well as at Guard.

Ryan and I celebrated our seven year anniversary. Has it really been that long?

My mom got remarried a few weeks ago. It was a crazy couple of days, but turned out great. It was the same weekend as Ryan's ten year high school reunion and the Cassia County Fair and Rodeo. We opted out of the reunion, but hit the fair on the way to Filer. I go for the corn on the cob (they put it on a stick and dip in into a crockpot filled with butter :)) and Ryan's favorite is the maple bars.

Elliot starts preschool tomorrow. Can you see me smiling? This will be his second year with the same teacher. He is really excited to see his friends again and do projects. Gabe will probably be lonely for the first few days without his big brother, but I'm sure it won't take him long to enjoy the few hours he doesn't have to worry about Elliot taking everything from him.

Ryan just received a calling as a Primary teacher. Now our whole family is in Primary. He teaches the 10 & 11 year old boys. They are definitely an active class, but he will be good for them.

I canned like crazy the first few weeks of August. I did apricots, apricot jam, raspberry jam, salsa, pickles, tomatoes and chocolate raspberry sundae topping. My mom called today and said they are picking peaches this weekend, so those will be next. Elliot has pretty much cleaned me out of last year's stash. We haven't tried anything yet, so hopefully they turned out. Especially since I have given a few things away.

The only other thing I can think of is that we are expecting a baby girl around the 27th of this month. It has gone so quickly this time. We are still working on her room, so hopefully she won't decide to come early. Thanks to Colleen and Brittney, we won't have to buy her clothes for at least six months. Yay for hand-me-downs and sisters!!

Pictures will come soon. We have been cleaning out the office to turn it into the nursery, so I need to find them. Promise it won't be five more months!

The Real Housewives of Ordinary County

Confession: Sometimes I watch those reality shows..."The Real Housewives of______ County." Mostly because I can't believe that people actually live like that. And I wonder if that were my life, would I really act like that? My mom would probably come find me and ground me if I did.



My life is pretty ordinary. I make my kid's birthday cakes (I guess you could say I am the bakery and the party planner all in one.)

I get excited when the temperature reaches sixty degrees. Time to pull out the flip flops, or in this case, purchase the first pair for my kiddo who is now cruising and thinks all waking hours should be spent exploring outside.

I am also my own handy (wo)man. With Ryan gone for awile, I am learning many new skills. Like how to take apart my toilet when my baby flushes a bottle of shower gel down it and then holds the handle down until it overflows. Several times.

Who knew a three ounce bottle of shower gel could be so much fun? And that it would require stringing a garden hose through the window and into the tub to get it out?

But, at the end of the day, I have gained a new skill and new insight. The next day we purchased a toilet lock and Gabe isn't allowed in the bathroom when Elliot is in there.

My life is far from dull. I might live in ordinary county, but there's something to be said for the life of the "Regular Mom."

And Then...

(Gabe at Britt & Kody's)

No. I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I am just a lazy blogger. With all the time I spend reading other people's blogs, I really could update mine more often. However, that requires effort. And as previously mentioned, I am lazy. Well, not all the time. I promise to try and do better.

We hope everyone had a great holiday season. Don't feel badly if you didn't hear from us this year. We didn't send out a single card. Not even to our mothers. In fact, I still have my mom's presents at my house. That darn snow. It was awesome, but Mom had to spend Christmas at home for the first time in forever. Honestly, I think our street and Howard and Colleen's were the worst. They are the streets that the city plows every two to three years. This wasn't our year :) Of course the snow didn't stop us from eating way too much and the boys got so many new toys their room resembles a Toys 'R Us. I have yet to downlaod any new pictures to my laptop, so for now this is all you get. (They are still cute.)

"Umm... a little help, Mom?"


Elliot--he always seems to have a cord of some sort in his hand.

They grow too quickly!!

As soon as I get my pictures downloaded, I will post more updates.

Viking Pride!!

This post is for my nephew, Thad-man. He plays football (youth league) for the Vikings. They played the Raiders for the championship Thursday in the Dome. He told his mom that he was going to "go out there and tear it up." He was on FIRE!! He had some great catches (including interceptions), ran his heart out for TDs, and played defense like nobody's business, which resulted in some great tackles. The rest of the team played well and they won 32-12. It was a late game, but so worth dragging my kids to. I love watching my nephews play; it seems like just yesterday we were at flag football games watching in disbelief as Jordie tossed the football to the ref five yards from the goal so he could put his shoe back on. LOL :) It was great to see the previous generation of Vikings (DW's team) working the field as the chain crew and waterboy(ha ha DW!!) Congrats Thad-man...you were AWESOME!!

Highlights

Okay, so I have been such a slacker. Sorry, Britt. I will make a few postings in the next couple of days, but all you get for now is the highlights from the last two months (in no particular order.)

1. I canned 21 pints of peaches, 13 half-pints of peach jam, made two peach pies (with homemade crusts), froze four quart bags of sliced peaches, helped my friend can 14 quarts of her peaches, and ate a lot of fresh ones. I discovered Gabe likes fresh peaches. He sat on my mom's lawn with one in his hand and two under his leg while we were picking them off the tree. He went straight to the tub!
2. I had my 10 year high school reunion! So much fun; loved seeing everyone. I especially enjoyed when Ryan mentioned to John Melling's wife, Marielle, that John was my first kiss. Thanks, hon. What a great way to make a first impression. At least we were only six (1st grade at Southwest.)
3. Gabe has two teeth, is crawling, waving bye-bye, pulling himself up on everything, and has learned how to flush the toilet, which he did four times while I was in the shower this morning. What a pill! At least it just affects the water pressure and not the temperature :)
4. Elliot started preschool!! Yay for me...I mean for Elliot. He loves it and they definitely stay busy. Next week they are going on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. I'm not sure who's more excited, Elliot or me.
5. I got highlights in my hair and cut off three inches in the process. Ryan always laments it when I cut my hair; he wants me to grow it long like I had it in high school. When he will get up every morning to do my hair like my mom did, I will think about it.
6. I watched the Olympics. I am glad they are over so that I can go to bed before 1 AM. Those two weeks were killer on my sleep :) I am addicted to gymnastics and swimming, so I was pretty much glued to the TV. Totally worth the loss of sleep. Go USA!
7. I was put in as the 2nd counselor in our Primary, so most of my free time has been dedicated to that. I love working with the kids and I think I finally know all their names.
8. My nephews have been playing football. I love football, but haven't been able to catch many games this year. I promise to do better next season, although Colleen (their mom) assured me that most of the time they don't notice that she is there.
9. Ryan totally finished our roof. Woohoo!! Next year will be knocking out a wall, building a deck, and if I am really lucky, new carpet. I'm glad Ryan is ambitious, because when it comes to the actual work of home improvement, I am a little lazy;)
10. For the second time this year, Ryan had a nasty case of strep and a double kidney infection. They caught this one before it got really bad and gave him a shot that resulted in him swearing up a storm. He has been obssessing about a better way to give the shot if he ever has to have it again. Good thing that he is usually on the other end of the needle!

Well, that is all for now. I promise to post pictures soon. We took some really cute ones of the boys when we were at Brit & Kody's. However, I am taking advantage of the fact the Ryan is in Boise and I can actually go to bed before midnight. BTW--five new temples! And how cool is the one in Rome?