Here's the rest

I hate getting pictures taken. With all the boys, it's always super stressful. I have to figure out outfits that will coordinate, find a time to schedule so that we won't be interupting someone's nap, get everyone dressed, get to the picture place before everyone gets dirty, and then getting everyone to sit, and smile at the same time. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it. Luckily after all that effort, we got some great pictures this time around! Here are some of my favorites.

Multiply and replenish the earth!

Before your eyes pop out of their sockets, No we are not pregnant. The title of this post is to acknowledge that we have in the past 8 years made three perfect little boys. We got this picture taken the other day and I am surprised that DeAnne has not posted it yet.

The past two days DeAnne and the boys have been meeting me for lunch. It's been really fun being able to spend an hour with them in the middle of the day.

This past week I have made a conscious effort to put my wife’s needs first and my efforts have paid many dividends! I went to the Midgley’s sealing last week and although I’m sure they don’t remember what was said, I remember the sealer gavethem(all of us) some great and wise counsel. He said that just as you only see one of you and a never ending number of your spouse when you look into the mirror, we should treat our spouses like there are a million of them and one of us. Selflessness is the key to a great marriage!

Life is great right now! I have been enjoying every minute!

DeJa Vu?

Do these pictures seem familiar to anyone else? Because this whole experience felt very familiar to one I had just last year with a different child. In case you can't remember check it out here. (I'm so proud of myself for finally learning how to do that!!) Anyway, splitting open your forhead while we're out in public places seems to be the cool thing to do around here. I guess Justin wasn't about to let Dawson outdo him in the manly scar on the head department.

Since Justin has been off track this month, we've been hanging around the house more than the boys like to, so Thursday morning, we decided to go to the Corona library for story time. It was a huge success. Justin went to his story time by himself and had fun, and Dawson and Chase came with me to the toddler story, and actually made it through the whole thing, (huge accomplishment!) After story time, we picked out a few books to check out and while I was checking them out Justin and Dawson threw pennies in the water fountain they have there (they do this everythime we go and always look forward to this) Well just as I finish checking out and start heading towards the door, Justin comes running towards me crying. I look down and his whole face is completely covered in blood. Apparently he had tripped and hit his head on the very angular ledge of the fountain. Those of you who know me, know that I am extremely squeamish where blood is concerned, but I held it together and put my hand over the gash to stop the bleeding, (as far as sanitation is concerned, it probably wasn't the smartest move, but after a brief glance around I realized that I had nothing with me that I could use, so my hand it was. Where oh where were my trusty baby wipes when I needed them?) By then we'd attracted a fair amount of attention, possibly due to the fact the my son was standing directly in the entrance of the library pouring blood all over the floor. Finally some library workers come to the rescue with paper towels and plenty of questions for me to answer because apparently they have to file reports about this and they think I have nothing better to do than answer questions while I try to calm down my bleeding 5 years old, keep Dawson from running out of the library, and bounce Chase in my free arm while he is fussing his little head off. During this interogation, they inform me that I am not allowed to leave with Justin. He will have to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. City policy. At this time I call Nazar and tell him to get over there because there is no way I am sending my 5 year old alone in an ambulance since I'm pretty sure they won't let Dawson and Chase come along for the ride. Finally the ambulance showed up, along with a fire truck full of firefighters. After they came, everything got a lot better. They were all so nice, and so helpful. One of the firefighters immediately made friends with Dawson and took him out to see the fire truck. Another arranged for Chase to be held by one of the oh so useful library workers. The paramedics took great care of Justin and after about 15 minutes they told me that he was going to be fine and that I could take him to the hospital on my own if I would prefer that. Nazar got there just as they were finishing up, and so he was able to take Justin to the hospital and I took the little boys home for naps. I was so thankful that Nazar was there to take him because although I held it together while we were there, as soon as Justin left with Nazar, I lost it. Even though I just did this same thing with Dawson last year, it still felt so traumatizing and overwhelming to see my little boy go through all of that.

Luckily kids are resilient.

When Justin came home from the hospital, he walked inside and said, "hey Mom, look at my stitches!" in such a proud little voice. Since then, the only times he talks about his injury is when he is trying to get something. For example, "Mom, can I have a treat since I have stitches?"

I'm so thankful that he's okay, and that there were such wonderful people to help me through this, and that Nazar was close enough to come to the rescue, and that Justin was wearing a red shirt that day so that it didn't look quite as gruesome, and that hydrogen peroxide takes blood right out of clothes because wouldn't you know it that I was wearing white that day! Hopefully it will be years before Chase decides he needs a manly scar like his brothers! By the way, the blue lips and teeth in the picture above were not caused by the accident. Those came from the blue ring pop that I gave him after he conned me into it with the above mentioned manipulation tactics!

30 is the new 20!

I have never felt so alive and excited as I continue on this journey we call life. As DeAnne mentioned, I've been waiting for what seems like forever to finally be out of my 20's. I wanted to share a couple of my thoughts today about what I have been feeling and thinking.

One thing that continues to astound me is how much love and patience our Heavenly Father has for me. You're going to be shocked but, after 30 long years, I still make mistakes. You'd think that after all these years, I would have perfected this earthly state. But the great news is that I can still wake up everyday and start over. He knows who I am and that I want to be like Him. When I fall, he picks me up and tells me to try again.

I have been trying to be more grounded lately. I feel like the last couple of years, I've been drifting back and forth. I have been trying to read more self-help books and learn from people that are a lot wiser than I am.

The underlining message that I have been able to pick up on is that we need to control our minds. We need to have a positive mindset. Now simply what this means to me is that I need to continuously foster good thoughts. What I mean by "good" is being able to look at the glass as being half full all the time.

A quote that I think is so true is "we become what are are thinking about 95% of the time"
I believe this quote to be true, because if we are constantly thinking of negative things, we become negative and depressed.

I seemed to have gone on a tangent. I guess What I am trying to say is that I am grateful for the opportunity to be alive and healthy. I hope that I can better understand how to continually better myself.

They say that you are in our prime in your 20's. I think that my prime has just started:)

Guess who turned 30?!

I'll give you a hint, it's not me! I've got years before that milestone! Yep it's Nazar. Although he will not legally be recognized as being 30 until November 9,(it's a long story) in reality he turned 30 years old on Sunday. Now while some people have a hard time with this age, Nazar has been looking forward to leaving his twenties behind for some time now, he's also thrilled about the gray hair that he is steadily aquiering, so obviously he does not follow the norm in this area! To celebrate the occasion Nazar and I (just him and I, no kids) spent the weekend in Costa Mesa. We stayed at a great hotel right across from South Coast Plaza and had an amazing time shopping, eating, and just hanging out. Some of the highlights were going to the temple, eating sushi (did you know that not all sushi has raw fish?!), shopping until I was literally about to drop, touring the Queen Mary, and going to a murder mystery dinner show. We had so much fun, I especially liked the murder mystery dinner. I laughed so hard I cried which I wasn't expecting to do at such an event, but I highly recommend it. It's called the dinner detective, and I would put a link to it, but I still don't know how, so you can google it if you're interested. Overall it was fabulous weekend, and I want to give a big huge thank you to my mom for taking my busy busy kids so that we could do it, (and also my dad and Andrea I know you guys helped too), I know they are a LOT of work and I really appreciate you being willing to take on the challenge. And thank you Nazar for spending your 30th birthday with me. I had an amazing time and I'm glad that it doesn't bother you that you are soooooooo much older than me now! (sorry, silly private joke between us.)

I appreciate you!

I have been a big dork lately.
I have been married for almost eight years now and I still can't seem to get it right!
My biggest downfall has been not knowing how to
follow the wise counsel given in Abr. 5: 18
I guess I am beginning to understand that part of
becoming one is to fully understand your better half.
DeAnne has to continually remind me that I need to appreciate her more.
You would think that this would be extremely easy to do, but I still fall short.

This post is going to be my attempt to appreciate some of the things about DeAnne.
Let's see.....

Waking up in the middle of the night to take are of Chase/Dawson/Justin and letting me sleep in.
Waking up at the crack of dawn and getting all the kids ready for the day.
Feeding three hungry boys.
Walking/Driving Justin to Kinder.
Going to the gym.
Doing at least 3 loads of laundry and folding all the clothes.
Cleaning the house constantly.
Playing with Dawson to keep him entertained.
Picking up Justin from school.
Making lunch for everyone.
Fighting to put the boys down for naps.
Helping Justin with his homework.
Being a constant referee and making sure the kids don't kill themselves.
Comforting someone on the phone.
Preparing and making dinner.
Teaching all the boys how to be kind and give plenty of compliments to mommy.
Giving the boys their baths.
Reading bed time stories.
Tucking the kids in bed and saying prayers with them.
Spending the next hour reprimanding Dawson/Justin for getting out of bed.
Spending time with me and making me feel like the best thing since sliced bread.
Having a million and one talents that are still being discovered daily.
Being able to melt my heart with just a smile.
Keeping our family moving in the right direction.
Being spiritually in-tune.
Having legs that go on forever.
Helping me understand my true potential.
Always challenging me to be better in every way.
Making me laugh until both our faces get stuck.
Kicking my bottom at any board game we play.
Reading a book a week(sometimes two).
Making yummy deserts for us to share and eat.
Keeping me accountable.
Willing to stay home with our kids and being an amazing example for them.
Making life fun.

I know that this list is not complete, but I just wanted to take a minute and publicly appreciate you.

I love you,

Your hubby!

5 Years

Justin turned 5 years old on Sunday. I can't believe how fast the time is going. I remember so clearly being pregnant with him, and holding him as a newborn. When I look at him now, it's hard to believe that he's the same person from those memories. He has grown into an incredibly sweet, loving, sensitive little boy. For the past 6 months I kept telling him that I wanted him to stay 4 years old forever. He told me that he couldn't, but the he would stop at 6 years old! If only he could. Well enough of my sentiments, I thought I would take you through Sunday morning. In true Justin fashion, the story is sure to amuse!

So I hear him wake up in his room and exclaim "It's my birthday today!" He then runs into my room and after my birthday wishes to him, he immediately says "look at how tall I am!" (He is under the impression that you only grow on your birthday, and that he was suddenly 6 inches taller from the day before!) He spent the rest of the morning measuring himself against things. Like he would walk by the table and say, "yesterday I only came up to here, and now I come up to here!(raising his hand a foot higher) Now for the next part of our day you need a littl backround info. Maybe about 2 years ago, Nazar made me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. Justin thought that was the coolest thing, and has since insisted that for every Mother's Day and Father's Day we make breakfast in bed for the parent we're honoring. Well months ago he requested that for his birthday I make him breakfast in bed. I tried to tell him that I would, but he would have to stay in bed long enough for me to do that. He assured me that he would just go back and get into bed when breakfast was ready! He even had the menu planned out, french toast. So after presents (he insisted that that was the first event of the morning), he went and got into my bed (his bed just wounldn't cut it for him) and waited paitiently for breakfast. I do my thing and bring him up his french toast and a smoothie on a tray. He looks at it and says,

"Um Mom you forgot something."
Me "What did I forget Justin?"
J "you forgot to put whipped cream on my french toast, and it's my birthday, so I get whipped cream"
Me "okay Justin I'll be right back"

So I come back with whipped cream and put some on his french toast. Then he says,

"you forgot something else mom"
me "what else did I forget?"
J "well you know how daddy put a flower in a cup for you when he made you breakfast in bed? You forgot my flower"
Me: "How about I give you a flower next time?"
J: "no, I need a flower right now"
Me: "Okay I'll get you a flower."

I run outside and fine a flower, and then I stick it in an empty baby food jar and bring it up to him.

J: "Mom that's not a cup, that's a baby food jar"
Me: "It's fine Justin"
J: "okay"
half a second later

J "I'm done, take it away servant!"

He even did a dismissive arm wave when he said it! I almost died laughing! Where does he come up with these things?! The rest of the day was fun (not as funny as the morning, but still fun) After church we celebrated with Nazar's family, and tonight we will celebrate with my family. Overall, a great birthday! I look forward to what the next year will bring from my spunky little 5 year old.