Autumn and Matt's Family Blog

A Pick Me Up For All Moms!

2010-07-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

I watched this on a friends blog a few minutes ago and am still wiping away the tears. I haven't had time to blog much, well at all, because I AM a mom of four busy boys. Hopefully this week I will find time to share our adventures. But, I had to take a minute to post this incredibly uplifting video with words by Elder Holland. I hope it will touch you and give you a boost to your summer mothering! (Click here)

Still in Rewind - Easter and a Dog for a Week

2010-06-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This post is pretty much just for the family history record books, so feel free to skim = ).

All while waiting for baby Graham to make his arrival, we kept busy with the Easter holiday and with a well-timed trip from Aunt Aubrey. The funny part was she even came later versus earlier to ensure she was here to meet the baby. She made it by one day (she had to go home the day after he was born)! But, though the pre-birth may not be as exciting as post-birth, we were so glad to have her to distract us while we waited 5 days past the due date for little Graham.

One of the most exciting parts of Aunt Aubrey's visit was that she brought the smaller of her two dogs for a road trip companion. The boys are DYING for a dog. I told them we couldn't have one until we have a backyard (i.e. the next house, which should be bigger and we should be done with crawling babies). So, they were ecstatic to have a dog for a week. I felt bad for Aubrey - her dog Sam was definitely the star of every day. To this day every dog is "Sammy" to Luke and Nathan is convinced that Sam is the perfect dog. These three boys definitely wore Sam out with all their loving!

These PJs Nana had gotten Luke for his birthday and now they are "sammy" pjs because the doggie on them looks just like Sam...well, not entirely, but in Lukie's world it does.

I love the happy look Carter has in this picture, though it makes him look so old. It gives me a glipse of him as a goofy teenager.

Then came Easter. Saturday morning the boys got to go on an easter basket hunt with clues. After 15 minutes of clue following (I purposely put one clue's answer downstairs and then the next answer upstairs to take more time and wear them out. It works great, though Nathan caught on this time to my ways!), they found their baskets in the van.

The boy's loot was minimal, but exciting for them - a new transformer and some candy. Yum!

Then, after listening to the first session of Conference, we headed on over to the city easter egg hunt at a local park. I made the boys sit on the strangely large Easter Bunny's lap (only so many more years that I can do this for!), including Luke, who was understandably terrified. I mean, when was the last time you saw a bunny this large with a pasted on smile?

Then on to the bean bag tosses and egg roll races. I laughed at the form difference between Nathan and Carter in these pictures. Guess we will see if early inclinations for sports ability pans out...

Nathan going for the "shove it" granny shot approach...

Carter with beautiful form in his swing, even with follow through. Who knew there was a technique to this game?!

Finally the egg hunt! The boys were lucky and actually had two egg hunts, the city one (which these pictures are from) and then a family one that we did amongst friends. Needless to say, they had plenty of candy until the next candy holiday! Though Carter is funny - once he has candy, he just sits down and eats it. All of it. In one setting. Then he spends the next week hounding Nathan to share the candy that Nathan carefully is only one piece a day of.

Here they are chomping at the bit, waiting for the starting whistle...

Then when it finally blew, Carter got so anxious that he had about 10 eggs in his bucket and then he tripped and fell and dumped everything back onto the ground. Poor guy!

Oh, and we braved easter egg decoration, which always goes so quickly. I think I had three dozen eggs and they knocked them out in like 15-20 minutes. And we definitely had to do it when Luke was asleep, that would have been a colorful disaster! But, the coolest thing we found was this roll on paint egg dye - no dipping, you just roll on the dye with little mini rollers. We got such bright awesome colors and it was much less of a pain we are doing that again next year!

Thanks Aunt Aubrey for helping us stay busy and celebrating the holiday with us!

Back from the land of the Uncommitted

2010-05-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

I have been out of the blogging world for almost two months now. Of course, I have checked out of most things for the last two months. It's been fabulous. If I had my way, I would just spend all day snuggling with Graham. Since that's not realistic with four children, at minimum we have just lived life uncommitted - I don't commit to being places or doing most things (minus school and church) and we just take life as it comes. I haven't committed to having more than one room of my house clean at any given time (so if I won't let you go upstairs, you know why!). But, we are slowly getting into a new life rhythm and though we are still minimal on commitments, I am ready to start documenting our family's life again. So, of course that involves a rewind and review, as April was a very eventful month for us!

Three days after Graham was born my husband renewed his super dad/husband certification, taking the boys of for a great weekend of planned fun, leaving me and Graham to recover, sleep, and relax. We did this with Luke and it was such a win-win, the boys getting to do fun things and have daddy time while I get a break from doing anything but taking care of and bonding with the new baby.

Friday morning Matt and Nathan, Carter, and Luke headed off for some costal camping, first stoping in Banden, a costal town three hours west of here. They were lucky enough to score a yert for the night. Never heard of a yert? Neither had we, but they are these great little huts available to rent for the night on the coast. You get all the fun of camping (campfire, outdoors) with the comforts of home (bunkbeds, walls and a roof to protect from cold and rain, and electricity). It's a great way to go with young kids! The boys called them "ewok huts".

Here's what the outside of the yert looks like:

And an inside view with the boys looking comfy:
The boys being boys - getting their energy out with a boy wrestle!

In Banden, they went to a great little animal park that included tigers, camels, bears, goats, sheep, llamas, ostriches, even a peacock or two. Nathan loved looking at and touching them all. Carter and Luke liked looking, but really wished the animals would stick to looking and stay far away from them!

Peacocks happen to be one of Nathan's current favorite animals, so he was pretty excited to stand next to this real one!

Also, they hit the beach. Of course, this was like most Oregon beaches - cold, windy, and rocky. But, they are also gorgeous and fun places to explore.

Though it's a pain to clean up, I love how little boys will dive right into sand, mud, or other fun messy materials. Here they are laying and rolling around in it, making sure they could bring home some of this fun trips in every crevice and pocket.

After spending the night in Banden, they headed up to Florence, about an hour north, to check out the dunes. Now you might wonder what you do at the dunes when you don't have any of the fun toys to do with it...no worries, you can rent them! Or, in the boy's case, pay to ride on a giant dune buggy. The boys to this day still sing a song they made up on their dune buggy ride, it was so much fun. They even took them over a few hills, which was super fun on this giant dune buggy. While they waited to take their buggy ride, they played a litlte golf...minature of course.

I love the look on Nathan's face - can you say "cocky"?

A view from inside the dune buggy:

The last day of the trip ended up in Eugene. Dad of course had researched fun parks they could play at and get energy out at until the grand finale - watching "How to Train a Dragon" at the theater. The boys don't get to see movies in the theater often (come on - 3 kids ages 6 and under? Not the best use of money - we do better at home!), so this was a treat and it was especially great to have such a good "boy" movie out after the baby was born. They loved it!

Here's a picture holding up their movie tickets, anxiously awaiting:

I can't thank Matt enough for all his hard work in planning and executing this amazing boys weekend. I hope the boys will remember in some small way how much their dad loves being with them, wants to be around them, and wants to make memories for them. It's never easy, but always worth it.

And, I will end with a picture of another little guy who is worth every sleepless moment and hour tied down nursing - precious Graham:

More to come, hopefully sooner, versus later!

Baby Graham is here!

2010-04-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our newest bundle of joy, Graham Hinckley Michaelis. The short of it is he was born on April 6 (5 days overdue) at 2:11 a.m. (*we have yet to EVER have had a child during the daylight hours!). He tied Nathan for our smallest baby yet at 8 lbs. 10 oz and 20 3/4" long. He is healthy and beautiful and both mom and baby are doing great.

You now have the choice to just scoll down to the photos of Graham or read on for details of the birth story. Kinda like one of those chose your own ending books. So exciting!

Monday morning at 3ish a.m. Matt and I headed into the hospital with contractions 6 minutes apart. I was crushed when they checked me and I was still only at a 1! They offered to let us walk around for an hour and then recheck before sending us packing. We did so, but it was obviously by the end of the hour the contractions weren't increasing so, as we thought, we were sent home around 6 (it amazed us how long it took them to send us home!).

Monday was a rough day, as the contractions were still strong but only 10 minutes apart...all...stinkin'...day...long! The same thing actually happened with Luke, so it shouldn't have surprised me. But, finally an hour after we went to bed, I decided it was real enough to wake my sleep deprived husband and have him take me to the hospital. Again.

This time I checked in dilated to a 7 and they told me I was definitely staying. Two and a half hours after arrival, out came baby Graham! Matt and I actually laughed looking back on the end of my delivery in that they gave me the go ahead to push, and then left the room! I am sure they were getting things ready, but Matt was motified to see a head and only the floor beneath it to catch it's fall! Luckily, everyone finally got their act together and things turned out fine.

We were so blessed to have my sister here to help with the kids (more details on her visit to come) and have had so many friends pitch in as well to help with the transition. Thank you! Also, my superhero husband took the kids away on a trip as I recovered, which was just amazing and I will gush about that in another post. But, for now, no more delaying - on to the pictures!!

Graham minutes after arrival! Yes, Nathan and Luke were also born with that dark hair...it sadly falls out and then after the awkward half-bald stage they turn out blondies.

The proud (though incredibly sleep deprived) dad of four boys!

A family of 6 - wow, it's crazy to think we have FOUR kids.

Each boy wanted to take their turn holding Graham and everyone seemed excited about his arrival. Carter is singing head, shoulders, knees, and toes, making sure we didn't get gyped any important parts!

Some close up views...

The boys can't keep their hands off him, in a loving way, and I love how this picture captures that as Carter couldn't resist reaching in and touching him while I was taking pictures.

Of all the kids, Carter is probably the most captivated with his new baby. He can't wait to touch him, hold him, and see him every morning. Carter, I am finding, has a soft spot for babies and animals, which is a very sweet side to my little firecracker kiddo.

Finally, to answer the question I know you all have: who does he look like? Well, to me he just looks like "his brothers", but I will let you determine yourself. In order, here are two pictures of each boy, ending with Graham. What do you think?

Spring oh how we love thee!

2010-03-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Of course I started this post on a gorgeous spring Saturday and now as I write we have had rain all day mixed with occasional snow flakes...so a sunny spring isn't fully upon us. But rain is part of spring and we have been so happy for the tastes of sunshine we have had the last few weeks.

We were very excited to have a family Saturday this past weekend. Matt has been busy with his stake sports obligations every Saturday for the last 2 1/2 months, and it's finally done so we happily headed out without time constraint or obligation on Saturday as a family to a gorgeous wooded park in Ashland called Lithia Park. Any of you who have visited us have been there because it's just such a beautiful way to spend a day.

We had a picnic and then whipped out a classic and favorite ball game of ours - track ball. Our set is literally from decades ago, but you can actually now get this outdoor game at Target as it has been re-released. It's definitely worth the $10. We have a lot of fun with it and Matt loves having anyone to play catch with.

Boys ready for some picnic goodness! (And Luke just trying to find the cookies...)

Carter, like a lot of kids, can be Jekyl and Hyde when it comes to picture taking. Here is what I call his "anti-paparazzi" face:

Then, minutes later, the goofy smile we love him for!

The track ball action begins!

After our picnic and sports, we headed off down the trail into the woods to enjoy the nature. The boys had a fun time trying out the simple pleasures such as stick races and Nathan got a kick out of this natural seat.

In the midst of the woods is a pretty (though probably manmade) duck pond, with the occasional otter spotting. No otters were seen this trip, but we loved this duck that looked like someone painted it.

The boys looking handsome in front of the beautiful spring blossoms!

The boys were determined to wade in the water. So, we let them try and then laughed at their squeals that somehow this snow run-off wasn't very warm!

Nathan's GQ pose infront of the duck pond

It was a perfect family day. Beyond that I guess you could say I am "nesting", though in my mind it's totally practical to be cleaning and organizing - I don't want someone coming over to my house in the middle of the night if I make a mid-night run to the hospital and be met with a dirty house! Plus, the more that is clean now, the more I know I will be able to relax and enjoy our baby.

These pictures are what happens when mom is in a cleaning mode and is in charge of the FHE lesson. We had a lesson on WORK! We read a bunch of scriptures about the eternal nature of work and cleanliness and then our activity was...(drumroll please) bathroom cleaning. You had better hope there was a good treat after that one! Actually, the boys love cleaning and "wiping", and will clean a whole bathroom for me (decently well) for only a nickel each. I love cheap labor.

2 Weeks and you bet I am counting!

2010-03-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

I have decided the hardest thing about the end of the pregnancy is you have to accept that this is really happening (I tend to ignore reality sometimes...), at least enough to have general plans - visited the hospital, family coming to help, plans on where to send the kids, pack (or thought about packing) a bag. But, then once you accept that this is happening, it seems like every day is taking FOR-EV-ER to pass and your due date that seemed just around the corner is so far away. I can't complain physically, I feel great, but man, emotionally I have hit THAT point. And obviously, I understand by now that a due date is not an exact thing - I have had one baby a week late, one a week early, and one just about on time. Though it does make me laugh when my mom asks me every week, "So do you know yet when that baby is going to be born?" Nope, not yet mom!

I was excited to break up the waiting game with a baby shower that some sweet friends in the ward planned and hosted for me. Obviously, clothes aren't really the biggest need for boy no. 4, but man did we score on diapers. The kids insisted on making a tower of them and then totaling how many diapers we had. The number is currently up to 942. Hooray! Depending on how much this little guy poops, this could hold us for 3-4 months! Thanks to all who helped make my shower happen, it was a wonderful relaxing morning and we are so grateful for all the gifts.

Here is my latest belly shot, put next my first two. The doctor actually did an ultrasound last week to make sure the baby won't break the 10 lb. barrior, as Luke almost did. Ultrasounds aren't exact as far as size goes, but even give or take a pound, this baby stands to be even smaller than Luke.

The "loot"! There are a lot of talented women in the ward, so it included beautiful hand made booties, hats, afgans, and even a quilt (the Primary President makes a quilt for every baby born in the ward - and that is no small number!). I was super excited to see the quilt was in the colors I picked out for the baby's room - green and brown.

Oh the wonderful sight of abundant diapers!

One gal in our ward is talented with vinyl lettering and made these shirts for the boys. I thought they were just SO incredibly creative and cute and the boys LOVED them and insisted on wearing them on Saturday.

Besides waiting, life is just same old same old. In the words of Nathan, "I am so tired of waiting for April! Everything happens in April!" Of course, he is just thinking of Easter, Carter's birthday party, and then his birthday and could care less about the baby being born, but it does stand to be a much more exciting month. But, here are some day to day snippets and smiles.

We asked the boys to get dressed on Sunday and this is as far as Luke got. No pants, no shirt, just his sweater, toga style. This is how new trends get started you know...

If you are what you eat, my boys are most definitely a large bowl of cereal. Even my best attempts to not get Luke to go the ways of his brothers (P-I-C-K-Y) don't always pan out when this is what the big boys are doing.

I loved the day that Nathan realized he could read most of Luke's books and started reading to his brothers. Luke LOVES to read and it's such a great help to have Nathan read to Luke.

Matt is always an avid exerciser and sometimes the boys like to help make sure dad is in tip top shape. Maybe I should try this in one of my classes - father son weight lifting!

A few weekends ago we made a quick trip to Utah for a family sealing. It was awesome to see family, even for only a day and a half, and a surprisingly refreshing trip for being so short. Matt's brother Tim just bought this scooter to save money for around town trips and the kids had a blast even just sitting on it.

Vroom vroom!

I have never seen this type of smile on Nathan before. The power of the machine must have overcome him.

Of course, the big kid had to try it too. He took it for a couple of loops around the block. Too bad we just couldn't figure out how this would be practical for us to get for our home t0wn.

Hopefully my next post will be a baby announcement!!!

Luke's 2nd birthday and 1st haircut!

2010-02-18T22:22:00.000-08:00

On Monday our sweet little Luke turned a whopping 2 years old (in the words of Nathan "Man, he has been 1 forever! Finally, he's 2!"). Growing up, we always woke up to decorations and often one of our presents already at the table. I cheated and just left the decorations up from Valentines day, but we did give Luke one of his presents to start the day. We followed that up with our traditional birthday breakfast of homemade waffles and strawberries. Nathan had waffles with just strawberries, Carter ate only coolwhip, and Luke ate heartily until he realized his brothers had already come and gone and he was missing out on potential fun (the early end to most his meals, sadly).

Presents, what are presents?

Don't worry Luke, your brothers are at hand with step by step instructions.

Boy, how do I get this posed picture all the time? Notice whose hands are on the present...not the birthday boy's!

Whee, bowling fun. Luke definitely had a hard time sharing with his eager brothers. I can see why my parents had the rule that you didn't have to share the first day you had something new.

Matt got the day off work, well mostly - he had to do a midday budget presentation that I went to (and learned all kinds of things about what my husband really does all day. Man, he is getting to be a smart cookie!). After that, we came home and bravely ventured off to the sledding slopes at two in the afternoon. Sledding is far from news on this blog lately, but here are some cute family pics, that just happen to be in the snow!

Nathan's king of the mountain pose.

Daddy talked Luke into the sled. After the run, Lukie said, "Scary!" Guess he joins the weenie club with Carter and Mommy!

We found these glasses sitting on a bench and I had to try them on Luke. I thought he looked just adorable! Don't look too closely, the girly flowers will kill the cool factor of his new look...

You know those pictures of your kid that you see and think, "THAT is my kid." It just captures the essence of your kid as you know them. This is that kid of picture for my goofy fun loving Carter.

They climbed into the tube together and just giggled for a few minutes head to head. Brother love!

If you have wondered why so many sledding trips lately, two main reasons: 1. Sledding is the main outdoor family activity to do right now and we love family outdoor fun. and 2. The look on his face says it all...guess who LOVES sledding?

After sledding, we hit McDonalds for the rare treat of not just a dollar menu item, but birthday happy meals for all. We got home and I hadn't gotten around, in our busy day, to putting Luke's cake together. So, Matt tried to distract the boys as I slapped together a construction truck cake in literally 15 minutes. Of course, its so quickly dismanteled as each boy claimed different candied parts, you wonder why I ever spend more time than that?!

We didn't get around to the special event of the evening that night, but did it two days later: Luke's first full haircut. We have trimmed the baby mullet in the back several times, evened out bangs, but never really given the guy a haircut. We let Carter's hair grow long at this age (see Carter's long hair below) and loved it, so we did so again. We had really grown attached to Luke's shaggy beach boy look, but realized it was probably time to make the cut and change from baby to boy.

Here is Luke the day before his haircut styling his cute long hair with a classic, "How can you say no to ME?" adorable Lukie look. *Note: if you want to get a real smile from your 2 year old, how about letting him do something he knows he's not supposed to (climb up onto Nathan's top bunk) and see if you can't get some of those smiles!

We couldn't resist one night trying out the capabilities of Luke's long hair. Note, he is NOT complaining and actually was begging us to put it back in after we took it out. Sorry buddy, this one's going in the blackmail folder!

Matt held Luke upside down and you can see just how long his hair really got in two years. Just by finger measurement, his hair from root to tip is almost as long as his face is.
The unsuspecting victim...
Not so sure about this. (Though to my credit his haircut was done in 5 minutes flat so the pain was short...that's about all the time you get to cut a 2 year old's hair!)

All done! Now officially a boy and not a baby. I was really sad and still miss the long hair and not so sure about the change, but what do you think?

Either way, we couldn't love our Luke more than we do. Seems like every day we have a "Man, I love that kid!" moment. He just loves life, loves people, and loves to make you laugh. He is such a joy, though definitely still a curious into-everything energetic 2 year old! Happy birthday our sweet Lukie!

January Wrap-Up

2010-02-07T20:35:00.001-08:00

Well, despite my negativity about January in my last post, looking back on pictures we still had some great family fun. Nathan started Mighty Mights Basketball, a co-ed city basketball league for K-2 grade, which Matt was asked to help coach. Sadly, this is probably the first time Nathan has ever tried to dribble or shoot a ball, unlike some of his 5/6 year old friends who are suprisingly good at ball handling and shooting. But, Nathan is a hard worker and has fun learning the game. It's hillarious to watch these little kiddos play games, some kids just hold onto the ball for dear life and run down the court (forget dribbling!). I love that Matt loves coaching Nathan's teams and the time Matt and Nathan get to do this together.

I laughed at this last weeks game when Nathan decided that since it was so important to always have your hands up when you are on the defense, that he started having his hands up when he was on offense. Maybe in the hopes of getting passed the ball? But sometimes he would actually get in the way off a pass with those obedient little hands up!
Luke has a hard time resisting all the balls and occasionally gets the chance to chase after and play with them too.

Despite a very busy month, we were able to sneak away for our second sledding trip of the season on a Monday holiday. I won't bore you with as many pictures as last time, but here are a few of the highlights.

Best buds Nathan and Carter. Actually, the best news is that that doesn't just apply to a quick picture - they really have become the best of friends. We have stopped watching TV in the mornings and they have just started to play for up to an hour straight without any arguments having such great adventures. Yes - this is why the craziness of having kids close in age is worth it!!

The kids were so impatient to get the snowman done, I couldn't talk them into letting me make it bigger than this. Oh well, he's a cute little guy nonetheless.

Matt's parents sent us this great tube sled. Though there wasn't enough snow to use it much on the hill, it was a great place for the kids to hang out or to get rides from daddy in. Carter loved riding in it with Luke, but Luke wasn't so impressed.

On the way home from sledding all the kids passed out. I took this picture because you can very easily see how much Nathan and Luke look like each other!

Nathan's picture he drew in class when they were studying ocean animals was chosen by his teacher to go on display in an art show at the mall. Nathan was pretty unimpressed with it all, but I was excited for him. Not that he is set to follow in his mom's footsteps as an artist, but it's fun to think about your kid possibly taking after you in some way. I did laugh that Nathan is a very realistic artist- he always wants to do things EXACTLY like the example and prefers to draw or color things he can see a picture of. I was sadly the same way, even as an art major at BYU - I was only good at drawing things I saw, never very good at just drawing "off the top of my head".

Heres a close up - it has a orca, jellyfish, squid, crab, starfish, and long orange thing is a shark egg (they are often called "mermaid pouches" they look like long pouches - Nathan has read about them in books and seen one in FL)

Finally, it's hard to miss my belly these days. I have gotten used to the comments about how I carry my baby so "out" over the years, but I laughed at myself tonight as we were at a friends house and I kept knocking things down or running into people, forgetting the "out"ness of my belly! Seven weeks and counting!

January Hangover

2010-01-17T20:42:00.001-08:00

Have you ever felt like that - that January is the hangover from the Christmas fun? No more holidays (at least till Valentines Day), no more anticipation, and, in my case, 10 1/2 weeks and counting until baby boy #4 comes. But, here are some of the things we have been keeping busy with.

The day after Christmas we were excited to have Matt's parents and sisters come for a visit. Mostly we were just happy to be together, but we did venture out for a day of sledding. Of course, in all the anticipation and after an hour and a half drive I realized I had forgotten my carefully packed bag of gloves and hats for our family. Ah! I was so frustrated - little kids think snow is so fun until their hands freeze (which takes all of two minutes) and then they are done. Luckily, my dear in-laws had brought enough to share some so we put adult sized gloves and hats on the kids and were able to make do. Whew! After that, everyone had a great time.

Aunt Megan holding Luke - he spend most of his time in someone's arms. Megan brought this adorable hat with her - Luke looked so cute!

Aunt Melanie and Lukie (good thing he had lots of family willing to hold him!)
One of Nathan's favorite snow activities: eating it.

Carter's favorite snow activity: throwing it.
Nathan looking oh-so sly with this snowball. At least his snowballs were all aimed at one place: daddy's head.
Lukie just being stinkin cute.

Nathan's attempt at a snowman. This is as far as it got, the snow was too packed and not fresh.

Matt always loves sledding and will do hills of any size. Nathan was braver this year and even did a solo run. Luke did some small hills with dad and grandpa until he decided that wasn't his thing. Carter wouldn't touch the sled, he just walked around trying to make snowballs to throw at people, mainly his mom!

Grandpa and Nathan

Matt on one of his solo runs down the big hill.

Nathan daring the sled for the first time by himself! He ended it with "That was awesome!"

We got our first (and only) snow this year the day before Matt's family left. The kids of course wanted to run outside and build a snowman. They settled for trying to catch the flakes.

Also, Matt's parents generously bought Luke his very own toddler bed, as well as a new set of bunk beds for the bigger boys (the ones they had were getting old). So, Matt and his dad assembled them and Luke was excited to sleep in his big bed. Or maybe he was excited about the not sleeping part, because that is what he does best every night - partying with his brothers. It's gotten to the point we have had to take the bookcase out of the room, as well as the dresser. Every night Luke would empty the contents of the bookcase, and then one night we found him jumping on the top shelf of the bookcase. They still party, but a little more safely. For a week straight they were so excited about their new beds all they wanted to do was play "sleep". Fine by me - what a nice quiet game!

For New Years we went and visited my oldest brother, Jonathan, and his wife Jenelle, and three daughters (Annika - 2, and twin baby sisters Clara and Nicolyn) in Portland. It was quite the bunch of kids for one house, but the boys were excited to visit their cousins with "two babies". Jenelle said Annika seemed the most excited about Luke coming to visit, probably because they are only 8 months apart and he is the calmest of the group. Except of course when he got bored and stopped loving on the babies (which he did a lot) and started picking on them. Sorry Clara and Nicolyn!

Annika just looking pretty. You can tell she will be quite the looker in ten years!

My boys in front of the Portland temple, where Jonathan and Jenelle got married.

Jonathan, Annika, Matt and our boys on the temple grounds.

Luke found this Santa hat at Jonathan's house and couldn't resist walking around shouting, "Ho, ho, ho!" It was so adorable!

Finally, Carter wanted an upclose shot of "my eyeballs". This picture is proof of the minimal evidence that these adorable children are not just Michaelis'. It sums up the only Vance resemblance in my kids - Carter's freckles, white skin, and gray-blue eyes. Sorry buddy, no tan skin or brown eyes for you!

Christmas Joy!

2009-12-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the more meaningful Christmas Eve lesson, but a plethora of the more superficial present opening on Christmas morning! But, Christmas Eve mom and dad were doing a very energetic song and dance to try to keep the troops on the same page and the mood spiritual and Christ-centered.

During a pre-Christmas FHE we had played a giving game, where you put anything into a gift bag and then the giver has to remember to do three things - 1. Say thank you, 2. Say something they like about the present (even if it is dog food or something you really don't want!), and 3. Give them a hug. We reminded them of this on Christmas morning and execution was far from complete, but it helped.

Christmas morning, as always Luke woke up first a little before 7, then we all sat around waiting for Nathan and Carter to wake up. They finally came down and we made them wait a little until everything was all ready.

Here are the boys in present anticipation, enduring a picture in front of the tree:

We had them exchange gifts to each other first, since they were only from the Dollar Store and knew they would be overshadowed by the bigger gifts. One of the sweetest moments was this brotherly "thank you" hug. It may not happen much in later years, but I sure love it now!

Carter was adorable when he not only helped Luke open his gift from him, but then proceeded to try to sell him on how great it really was. Maybe a future salesman in that one...!

The presents were purposely minimal, but the boys had a great time. I loved it when the boys got their last presents and wondered how Santa "knew" what they wanted for Christmas, when they had changed their minds since they told him on his lap. Christmas magic!

Here the boys are "helping" Luke open his presents. Luke really wasn't too interested in opening them himself, so this worked out just fine.

Luke trying to figure out how all this works:

Hello? Oh, not only does this phone talk, but in three languages. Nathan was very excited it talked in spanish - as he just learned how to count to 10 in Spanish. Matt was excited it speaks French. Luke just liked that it barked like a dog!

Nathan's world - building (legos and k'nex), projects (art), and books.

The joy of Carter's morning - a microphone "that works". He had one that died, the battery connections rusted. So, I searched high and low for this microphone and it was well worth it! He got such joy out of it. His favorite feature? A voice recorder that he could record and then play back his own voice.

The rest of the day was probably the most relaxing day Matt and I had have had all year long. We literally stayed in our PJs all day long, and put aside all the computer stuff, projects, cleaning, everything and just sat in the same room and played and enjoyed being a family. We had bought a used Wii from Matt's sister earlier in the year and it has been a really fun source of family play time. Here is Carter just jumping and punching his little heart out in the boxing game:

It was really wonderful. Dinner was simple, but very appreciated - Nathan said, "Mom this is the best dinner ever!", followed by, "Mom, this is the best day ever!"

So well put. Hope yours was filled with smiles and simple joys!

December - The Cliff Notes Version

2009-12-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

I finally loaded my new camera's software onto the computer to be able to FINALLY blog about the last month. But, since it's the holidays and I also had a new camera to play with I had over a hundred pictures to sort through and try to minimize into one blog. So, I am going to keep it conscise and make this the "cliff notes" or "readers digest" version of the last couple of weeks, before Christmas hits tomorrow and I have tons more to blog about!

First, the non Christmas, funny life happenings. Luke is turning into such a little ham. He keeps us laughing, even in our most frustrating moments and we love him for that. We were having leftover birthday cake for FHE one night and he didn't even wait for the fork I was getting - he just dived right in! I miss the youthful lack of inhibitions!

However, he also keeps us hopping as he has been our best climber yet. His latest trick is to use props to help him climb to new heights. He loves finding any kind of box, turning it over and putting it next to the sink to be able to play with our spraying water faucet. Or, to climb up to the top bunkbed in his brothers room - defeating the whole purpose of Matt and I chosing not to use a ladder (to discourage little ones from climbing up high). Crazy kid!

We recently adopted two new pets - two guinea pigs. Matt and I both agree that we wouldn't have bought this type of pet on our own, but his boss was getting rid of them, complete with all the cages and food/supplies. So, within hours we said, "Why not?" and now own two guniea pigs. Boys, of course, because we don't seem to do girls in this household. I like them because they live in a cage and don't smell too much and the boys like them because they are a lot more interactive than fish. But, I would have to say Luke wins hands down for absolute fascination with them.

The boys and I have had to change our daily dynamic as winter has settled in and playing outside isn't as much as an option. I treasure the mornings when the boys (Nathan and Carter) play great by themselves. One such morning, I found them like this, reading to their stuffed animal "pets". I will miss this sweet innocence!

Carter has taken a big liking to helping in the kitchen, picking his favorite counter spot to help add ingredients.

Carter is also apparently preparing for a life of fame, already practicing on creative ways to dodge the papparazzi. Lately, when I try to take a picture of him, I often get this:

Finally, Christmas. We set up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. And since ours is an oh-so-natural tree from a box, the boys got to have fun helping dad "assemble" the tree. Of course, then they just had fun with the box (I do have lots of boxes in my garage - can I just use those for Christmas presents?)!

We had a great ward Christmas party, with everything from a full nice dinner to a play/program, to wandering carolers, to a kids craft, and a gingerbread contest. Everyone did well with Santa this year, though Carter started crying as we left - apparently he had gotten so excited about his upcoming treat bag he forgot to tell santa what he wanted. We had to excuse ourselves as he ran back to make sure he got that in.

The boys one morning pulled out the sleigh and Carter was "Santa" and Nathan was the reindeer. You can't see it in the pictures, but Nathan even made Carter take his belt off to use as a "whip" to make Nathan "go". After we had fun making one of many Christmas projects - a fun one that uses the child's foot for the reindeer face and hands for the horns. It will be fun to keep these for when their hands are much much bigger!

We have other undocumented Christmas activities that have added to the holiday season. We did our annual Christmas caroling and treat drop off early in the month. Two of the three kids even sang this year! Then we made a great gingerbread house in a box while dad was out of town, but I pulled a trick my mom used and hid it in the oven the next morning when candy was all Luke wanted for breakfast...and, you guessed it, forgot it was in there and later melted it onto the bottom of my oven. Fire alarm number 2 for the holiday season! Not improving my reputation any time soon...

Finally, here are just some plain old, "Aren't my kids so cute?" pictures.

Hope your holidays are merry and bright!

Our Own Turkey Day

2009-11-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

For the first time since Matt and I started dating in 2001, we had a Thanksgiving in our own home, without traveling to family. Though we love seeing our families and enjoy spending the holidays with them, we were also excited to try out some of our own family traditions this year in our first ever at-home Thanksgiving.

The morning started out with the fire alarm blaring. Not an auspicious start, but not totally my fault! I had a friend recommend a turkey recipe and then they also told me they always cooked their turkey in an oven bag. So, I prepped the turkey, bagged it, and put it in the oven. Didn't realize that the oven bag wasn't supposed to be under temperatures over 400 degrees, which my recipe called for. It started burning and smoked up the whole downstairs. I really hoped that no neighbors would walk by and stare as we aired out our thanksgiving cooking mistake! I almost cried, so anxious to have a successful dinner, but we made it though okay once I ditched the oven bag.

Despite the rocky start, we had a good morning. As good Americans, we introduced our kids to the Macy's parade and this was probably the first time they had any interest in it, recognizing characters in the parade. Then they had fun with a variety of Thanksgiving crafts ("projects" are definitely Nathan's current fetish!), including these fun little toilet paper roll pilgram and indians. Gotta love familyfun.com for continual supply of craft ideas!

Then dad took the kids outside to get some energy out on bikes while we had a special guest come over for a visit. After a little "preparation" I rushed outside and told the kids they had just missed a special guest - Terry the turkey! He had brought surprises for them but got so scared when he saw the turkey in the oven that I had to chase him all over the house for them before he disappeared. Good thing he left a trail of feathers for us to follow to find where he left their surprises (wink wink ; ). So, we went on a turkey treasure hunt. Matt laughed when he realized that I purposely alternated hiding the clues between upstairs and downstairs. Hey got to get their energy out somehow! They loved it and I think it will be a tradition for years to come.

The boys played the Wii while I put the finishing touches on dinner and then we had our feast! It consisted of our scrumptious turkey, mom's amazing crescent rolls, stuffing (stovetop - nothing but the box stuff for my honey), mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. We couldn't wait and everything couldn't have turned out more tasty! I was very nervous about cooking my first large piece of meat EVER, but thanks to a great brine recipe from local friends it was the most amazing turkey I have ever had. It even pulled a "wow" out of Matt, who is not a turkey eater.

We followed stuffing ourselves with a family movie (Spiderwick Chronicles - if your kids aren't scared by realistic goblins and mythical types, it's very well done!) and then called it a successful family day. Hope you all had great turkey days!

Are you due any day now?

2009-11-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true. I, at week 21 of my 40 week pregnancy, was asked by my first unsuspecting person if my due date was on the near horizon. The funny thing is they always ask with such confidence, as if I just have to be at my size of belly. I didn't even feel like shaming the poor guy with the knowledge that this is only half way through! So, no, not any day now. People have been asking for a belly shot, which I have forgotten to take for a lot of my pregnancies, so I will try to do one a month for this guy. Here is me at month five:

Now, come on folks, do I really look like I am due any day now? I do get pretty big (sticking out like a watermelon shape wise) towards the end, but don't have any pictures to know if this is as big as normal. My YW told me I look like I have an alien belly sometimes (from the mouth of babes, right?), which I just attribute to my lovely umbillical hernia that came with baby no. 1. No, not dangerous or painful (and no aliens either!), just gives my belly a strange pointed shape.

Among other random Michaelis happenings - Matt was volunteering at a recycling roundup the other weekend and came home with a slide. No, we don't have a back yard. No, we don't even have the wooden or plastic steps leading up the the slide. Just the 6+ feet of plastic slide. I of course was not excited, but Matt saw the potential and the boys love using it to get their energy out in the house when the weather is bad. Here is a video clip of Lukie doing a more ambitious stunt on it:

The boys love to dress up, as I said before. One day Carter wore this hat all day long. I thought he just looked handsome in it and made him pose for some pictures.

Thanks Grandma Heidi for the fun hat additions to our dress-up collection!

Lost and Found

2009-11-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough week, to say the least. I have lost some things that were emotionally very hard for me to lose, though in an effort to not be ungrateful or selfish, I am going to counter balance my whining with a does of gratitude. A spoonful of sugar right?

LOST: We will start backwards. Two days ago, I lost my wedding ring diamond. Yup, my solitare is totally gone. Three of the prongs totally broke off in an unknown event and at one point I was playing with my ring (which I do throughout the day subconsciously) and noticed it felt very different. That's because there was a big HOLE where the diamond should be. Now any of you who have seen my ring will know that this is not the size of diamond that would be easily noticed on the ground, it's definitely modest, possibly mistaken for a large piece of lint. I have been looking on the carpet and in the car, but no luck. I never wanted to ever change my wedding ring, never wanted to "upgrade" in my older years - I always wanted it to be the exact ring that we started out with in our humble beginnings. Not quite sure what we will do with this one...For now I am ringless, but I am sure the three kids and big belly are enough to assure anyone I am "taken"!

FOUND: My love for my husband is unmeasureable by any ring or token. He always teases me about movie stars or guys that pass by, asking if I think they are cute. I can honestly say I am not even tempted. Ever. Never had a crush on a movie star. I have the hottest, greatest man already. My looking is done!

LOST: In October we were very excited to take our first family professional pictures out in a gorgeous nearby park. The kids were a handful, but the photographer was great and the fall leaves were stunning. I adore pictures, decorate my house with them and could not WAIT until I got my pictures. Finally, 5 weeks after the shoot I got my package from the photographer only to find out that her harddrive crashed and she lost all but three of my pictures. I cried (granted I am hormonal with pregnancy, but it was sad nonetheless). She did everything right to make amends, but this is one lost thing that will not be coming back.

FOUND: Three heathly handsome boys that are just too cute for words, and apparently someone's harddrive!

LOST: My dreams of having this baby finally be a girl baby. Yup, we had our ultrasound on Tuesday and we are now expecting boy number four. I sulked for slightly longer than the last time and am still occasionally trying to get over myself. My mom asked if they were "sure" about it being a boy. Well, I didn't think it appropriate to post the "flagpole" (as the technician called it) picture, but, yes, we are pretty darn sure.

FOUND: A wiggly, healthy wonderful little spirit whose body is growing inside of me. Babies are still amazing miracles and we are grateful for this little guy. We might have to think a little harder for another great boy name, but we are still thankful, especially for his apparent health. He was actually the wiggliest baby the technician had ever seen - she was chasing him all over the place and we even have to go back again to try to get a few things he wouldn't hold still for. Sounds like he will give his brothers a run for their money!

Hope you are all finding joy and things to be thankful for in this holiday season as well!

The Missing Link

2009-11-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

So my brother questioned Matt's choice as a ewok (who are traditionally the size of my children) for halloween, versus a wookie (who are at least 6 feet, which Matt is). That thought had occured to us too. Truthfully, he started out as a wookie, then we just had the hillarious thought (or funny to us at least) that it would be funny to have Matt be an obviously oversized ewok. I guess not everyone got the joke.

However, one of Matt's friends posted this comment on his facebook page that makes the connection for us all:

"That's freakin hilarious, you're like the missing link between ewoks and wookies: ewooks or something."

So, really, Matt was a ewook for halloween.

Halloween Madness!

2009-11-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

WARNING: It's been a busy week - long post to ensue!

I am always just tingling with excitement when October finally hits and I can start putting some of my creative and mom energy into holiday celebration. We picked our costumes at the beginning of the month and figured I had plenty of time to put them all together.

Well, lets just say a week before Halloween, those store bought costumes (though seemingly outrageously overpriced in my book) were looking very appealing. I LOVE doing family themes, and will continue to do so as long as my kids let me (which will probably only be a few more years). Nathan was all set early, I had religiously hit craigslist and we had scored a great $5 darth vador costume. Check. Carter we started out with me making a jedi costume, but I had a hard time finding a good pattern, ended up winging it on making the costume, patternless (which I do often), but only ending up frustrated. So, we both happily settled on the less impressive, but less complicated storm trooper costume from the DI. Downloaded, printed, and laminated a mask for him and he was done.

That left Luke, Matt and myself. Luke was the one I was tempted to buy - a yoda costume. But, I finally dove in the morning of a good friend's kid halloween party (realizing at 8 a.m. that this was probably a COSTUME party! Ha!), and had that done in a few hours. It needed some adjustments between the party and Halloween, but in the end I was glad I put my scraps to work and didn't buy the store bought. I thought mine was cuter!

Here are some pictures from the fun party our local party queen Kari put on for the kiddos:

Nathan, his friend Spencer (aka Indiana Jones), and Luke doing a craft

We've all probably done the "use toilet paper to turn someone into a mummy" game, but I have never seen kids do it, and it was so great! Here is my cute little mummy. Plus, as a bonus, the kids loved playing in the toilet paper afterwards, dancing with it to halloween music.

I finally figured out how to do video clips! Yay! Here is the mummy game in live action:

On with the Halloween madness! Thursday I took Carter and Luke to meet up with Nathan at his first field trip - to the pumpkin patch! It was our local one, just up the street, which we hadn't been to yet, so it was fun. The kids loved the hayride, getting to pick out not just a pumpkin but a gourd, feeding the animals (who definitely had Luke captivated), and playing in the playground and haunted maze.

Nathan proudly showing off his "perfect" pumpkin:

Nathan on the hayride with two of his best buds, Mia and Aiden.

Carter loved this horse-shaped tire swing!

Nathan bravely feeding the goats

I thought this pumpkin snowman was awesome. No, Carter doesn't too...he just got a piece of candy and is doing a happy candy dance = ).

Friday I helped out at Nathan's classroom Halloween party and then watched the kids do their little Halloween parade. I had to laugh as at least half of all the boys were star wars themed - I had no idea it was the "thing" to be! Nathan just wanted to be Darth since last year, and we followed suit as a family.

The rest of Friday was spent madly getting Matt and I's costumes ready. I made both of them that day. Maybe procrastination exasterbated the halloween "madness" just a little! Let's just say I used my sewing machine more this week than the whole rest of the year...and am very happy to put it away, maybe until next halloween!

Here's our couple pic and let's see if you can guess who we are (again, think Star Wars):

Here is who we are modeled after (Queen Amidala - Luke and Leahs mother, and an ewok)

In the end, I had a lot of fun with my costume. I think all the girliness in my combined and enjoyed this princess costume. And, man, was I the envy of the 8 year old girls out trick or treating = ). They seemed to appreciate the costume the most, complete with "ooh"'s and "wow!"s. Though, I did have a man tell me that I was the best adult costume he had seen that year, which I appreciated. So, in the end the creative process was fun and worth it (though my husband might still be recovering...).

Finally, here are some pictures from our ward trunk or treat and the whole star wars gang together. Hope you had just as happy of a halloween as we did!

I love my little Yoda! Of course, he was the only one without a mask...masks sure do hide cute kiddos faces!

Manna From Heaven!

2009-10-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Amazing but true, just when I was threatening to buy a new camera this week, the video camera turned on and gave me back my pumpkin patch pictures. Again, the quality isn't the best, hence still probably the need for a new photo camera soon, but I will take what I can get and am glad I get to share these with you!

One thing I LOVE about the holiday season that it's so easy to do fun family activities (and hence take cute family photos!)

Two weeks ago we headed to the pumpkin patch, one in the nearby city of Talent. They have the pumpkins, a huge giant hay pile to play in, a big and small corn maze, a kids craft, and then some things you can pay to do (pony rides, pumkin launching, etc.). We went last year and loved it and had to hit it again.

We started by hitting the pumkin patch and picking out our jack-o-laterns to be. (Last year we tried to save this for an end climax to the pumpkin patch and only met with anxious "Is it time to get our pumkins yet?" the whole time. So we learned and hit that first!). Each kid got to pick out their own, though Carter and Nathan helped Luke, as Luke was only interested in driving the wheelbarrow. Here are the boys with their selections (and Lukie with the wheelbarrow...):

Then they had fun doing the kids craft. I love how, no matter how simple, kids love a "project". This one was just a piece of paper with eyes and a mouth, white streamers and a few stickers = voila! a ghost wind sock. These ghosts are proudly hanging on our front porch now.

Next it was time to play with the hay. This is always a highlight for the kids, though we have to police them from throwing hay at each other too much (or, worse, unsuspecting unknown kids who want nothing to do with this hay fight). Luke especially got the giggles out of this hay mess, though he always seems to crack himself up. The little boy with our boys in these pictures is a friend Isaac, whom Nathan and Carter boy love to play with and whom we met up with at the pumpkin patch.

There are times in life when you realize how sadly sheltered your suburbia children are, and this Saturday was one of those when Luke would not be pulled from the chickens (they were the first live ones he had ever seen) and then the boys were just amazed by a REAL sunflower that was as big as their heads!

Finally the boys played in the little photo area where I snapped this cute shot of the two brothers (well, the two brothers that will hold still for a picture!) and then the boys got to play on the real tractor, which we had to DRAG Carter away from! But, of course, my camera had died by then...

Got a camera you would recommend?

2009-10-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, no post lately to do several serious cases of camera swine flu. The first was a fatality - the canon camera that my parents so generously had given us when they upgraded theirs died a few months ago. So we switched to the not so great, but it got us by, video camera camera function. However, the video camera is temperamental too so the great pictures I took at the pumpkin patch yesterday cannot be downloaded and shared as it won't turn on. Argh!

I am ready to buy a new digital camera. I can't stand family moments not being captured and documented. I am mostly interested in the small point and shoot digital cameras, something I can slip into my purse easily to take pictures of the kids. Also, if there is a camera you have gotten and DIDN'T like, I would want to know that too so I can avoid those.

Thanks for the tips! Hopefully you can all benefit from great pictures to come!

Peacocks and Salamanders

2009-10-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

I asked Carter for tips on a title for this blog, as it's just kinda a hodgepog happenings blog. He suggested, "Peacocks and salamanders." If nothing else, it made you curious, though it be potentially misleading...= ).

We love the weather where we live. For the most part, it's a mild version of all four seasons - just enough to get a taste without being fed up with the sweltering heat or feet of snow. One other great thing is we are in a valley and there is a decent amount of wind on a regular basis. Not enough that you get blown away, but just the right every now and again for flying kites! More than anything I love how kite flying captures everyone's attention, even my spirited (I am told that is the PC word...) energetic little Carter.

We were all impressed when Nathan got his new kite THIS high!

Carter was very focused and attentive to his kite flying, taking it very seriously.

What you do when your legs are pooped but you just aren't done flying your kite. New sport - seated kite flying!

Another season of soccer has started and it's been fun to watch Nathan's growing enthusiasm for it. The first season we had to force him to go to practice, even though he wouldn't participate, and he would only play in the games because there was a treat at the end. Now he just loves it and goes all out, running around, kicking "monster kicks", and getting sweaty (though, poor little guy, that's not very hard for Nathan to do! He sweats so easily...hate to see what happens when puberty hits!). It's been fun also for Matt to coach Nathan and have that time with him. Every year they pick their team name, this year they are the Turtles. Mostly because the girls wanted something pretty like the Ponies and the boys wanted something fierce...somehow turtles were a middle ground.

Coach Matt doing his kid herding, I mean coaching, job while Nathan joins the pack of kids running tightly around the ball.

Over Conference weekend we got to have my brother and his wife and three little girls down for the weekend. The boys loved having the to twin babies around, especially Luke (who is a baby fanatic, at least until he gets his own). The pictures aren't great because we are still using our video camera camera function (anyone have a point and shoot digital camera you love and recommend??), but it still captures a fun weekend. Carter still gets excited when he sees someone with two babies just like his cousins. We had fun pulling out princess plates and anything remotely girly (there isn't much).

Back to School!

2009-09-27T19:51:00.001-07:00

What? We've been in school for three weeks? Nonsense! Didn't your mother ever tell you to NEVER argue with a pregnant woman? That's what I thought...

Nathan was just stinking cute on his first day of kindergarten. He has afternoon school from 11:00-2:30, so of course all morning long - "Is it school time yet?", "Is it school time yet?" I tried to clarify things by telling him that school wouldn't be until lunchtime. I thought I hit home as he mulled that one over, only to be followed by a chorus of "Is it lunchtime yet?"s.

Finally the time came, and mom of course made him take a bunch of pictures. No hunny, in front of the door. Smile! Now, in front of the tree. Now, in front of the tree with your brother. Okay, yes we are done now.

I love this one of Nathan and Carter together.

I know, the door was a bad idea - horrible lighting - but I just love when my kids voluntarily show affection to each other (Nathan's arm around Carter).

The only time I got teary that morning came next. I got down and looked Nathan in the eyes and said something like this, "Nathan, mommy has been with you almost every day, every hour of your life. I have loved sharing everything with you and sharing all the things you are excited about. Mommy is so excited for you to go to school and learn even more fun things. But, this time mommy's not going to be there, so I need you to store up all the cool things that you do and learn in your head and then come home and share them with mommy so I can still be a part of that part of your day, okay?" (He of course was lost on the sentimentality of this situation and just kinda, "uh-huh"ed me...) Sniff.

Shuttled them into the car and then drove the whopping 1 mile away to school, unloaded everyone and took Nathan to the cafeteria, as Nathan eats lunch first. He proudly opened his transformer lunch box (matching his transformer backpack of course - I did ex-nay the transformer shirt for the first day of school however. Come on, I had pictures to take!) and ate his pizza squares, chocolate milk, yogurt, and fruit snacks. It was so cute to see him with all his little friends. I had no worries about him being sad at my leaving, so I said adios and shuttled the other two off to the park.

Nathan proudly sitting in the big kid cafeteria (though notably absent of big kids!). He is sitting next to his favorite pal Mia (Who did you play today with hunny? Who did you sit by at lunch? Mia. Mia. And more Mia.). She and two other kids in his 14 kid classroom are LDS, which is fun.

How's Carter doing with the change? Well, it's rough...yeah right. Every day he gets pure JOY out of wearing Nathan's shoes, sitting in Nathan's carseat, playing with Nathan's toys. Suddenly karma has come!! He plays by himself for hours on end, even shoeing me away when, out of motherly guilt, try to interact with him (my mom said to never wake a sleeping baby - I say the same with never disturb a happily playing toddler!).

Here's to your journey Nathan! I am excited to see the boy you become and know your little sponge of a brain will just love school, hopefully for many years to come!

Losing my marbles!

2009-09-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

Today has been one of those mornings. Luke spilled a whole box of cheerios, smeared ketchup all over himself and his chair, climbed into the bathroom sink and then filled it up (fully dressed mind you)...all before 8:30 a.m. and usually with me in the room. He is just too quick! I finally headed to the store to buy some sale items and to be able to make large batches of pumpkin bread (it's the first day of autumn and I think I am going to start a new tradition of handing out pumpkin bread - my favorite fall treat! - on the first day of autumn).

I was trying to collect myself, looking at the ad and pulling out coupons as the kids were looking in the toy isle of Albertons. Suddenly, Luke had reached a bag of 100 marbles, bit through the bag and they spilled out, heading every which way direction down the isle. I groaned and sent the boys after them. A nice man was nearby and started helping. Embarassed, I thanked him, and he said not to worry about it, that he had three kids too. Though as he left, he laughed as he said, "Well, you can tell everyone today that you really did lose your marbles!"

Let me know if you find any extras rolling around - I am pretty sure I am still a few short!

Newest Addition(s) to our Family!

2009-09-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, we are moving up the pet scale. First, it was a simple beta fish (no tank, just a bowl with food). Then, we moved on to FL hermit crabs (which survived the cross-country trip and are still with us today). Not very active during the day, but occasionally entertaining. Finally, we have just moved on to a full fledge aquarium, complete with some pretty fish and even a very small shark (small like 2" small!). The kids love watching it while they eat (it's next to the dinner table). Course they are still opting for a dog, but my rule is no dependant animals of that size until there are no totally dependant children (i.e. no babies or uncommunicative toddlers in the house!). Come on, I have my hands full here people! Or at least every stranger tells me so at the grocery store....

Oh, yeah, and there is one other upcoming addition:

Summer Wrap-up

2009-09-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know school has been in session now for two weeks, but my poor digital camera died, forcing me to use the photo option on our video camera to capture any kodak moments. I finally figured out how to get them onto the computer, so now it's blog catch-up!

Towards the end of the summer we had an amazing group campout with a big group of friends in the Redwoods. Wow! I thought it was great to just visit the redwoods, and you have seen plenty of my pictures of that, but man, to camp there - talk about the perfect family vacation, especially with my boys. We had such a blast exploring, hiking, playing in the river. We hope to go every year! Here are some of the funny highlights:

The boys LOVED how you could crawl in and through these old big trees. We had to pull them away when it was time to move on to something else. Here is Nathan with a good buddy Isaac.

We of course had our hands full at time, especially with little Luke who doesn't know not to touch fire, eat dirt, or tough poison ivy. For the most part it was doable to contain him, but when we were trying to cook meals it was a little more challenging. We quickly found out that Luke couldn't get down from this stump on his own...are we awful parents or just creative?

Carter contained himself - having a blast playing in the "bear box" - the box you put food in to prevent bears from smelling or getting into it (of course we paid close attention to make sure he didnt' get trapped!).

The kids loved the river - throwing rocks, building dams. Kids and nature is just such a natural mix - I love it!

Daddy's adventure of the weekend - jumping off this over 20 foot high rope swing. Wowsers!

One of the things I love about Oregon is the proximity to such great fruit (not the case in FL). There are even an overabundance of blackberries that grow everywhere (it's kind of a problem here) and you can go a lot of places to pick them for free. I didn't get as many this year as last, but the kids still loved the fruits of my labor - especially Lukie!

Mine all mine!!

Mmm mmm good! I love how both the boys would just belly up to the whole bowl and dive into the berry goodness.

There are a lot of toys I wouldn't mind getting rid of, but dress up clothes are ones I am always trying to aqcuire when I see a good deal. The boys just have so many fun adventures with them. Neighbors and friends laugh at the boys going into public places with them on, but for the most part I don't mind letting them express themselves (though Carter wearing a 2T woody costume to storytime was probably borderline PC = ).

Carter loved riding his bike with the cape on because he said the wind made his cape blow.

Even Luke insisted on getting in on the action on this one, of course wanting to put on the biggest costume we have (and Carter once again wearing the 2T sized one!).

Sprinkler Fun

2009-08-26T15:48:00.001-07:00

What kid doesn't deserve a good run through the sprinkler on hot summer days? I remember doing so fondly (though not so fondly when I recall that my dad was fumming when I had run the grass to death...) and when I found out a sprinkler attachment was only a few dollars I decided to give the same fun memories to my kids.

What, we don't have a back yard? Well, no we don't . Nor a front yard for that matter. So what grass am I picturing my kids running through? That's right - the two foot wide strip of it in front of our house. Laugh all you want, these kids had a great time and I got my good mommy points for the day!

At first they were only brave enough by holding hands, squinting their eyes shut, and running as fast as they could through the sprinkler.
Often Carter just plain ran around, just giggling at how the sprinkler "missed" him. Oh, he's so tricky!

I love the squinched eye squealing pictures. This is what I am talking about!

Finally, as they got braver, they went through the sprinkler on all fours as "dinobots". Don't know what a dinobot is? Ha, some transformer fan you are! It's robots that transform into dinosaurs instead of cars of course. Don't worry, Nathan has made sure to educate all the other kids on these old school transformers (because we only let him watch the old original (less violent) transformer shows). Sorry about that ladies.
Top it off with a fudgicle on the porch and we had a rockin day!

I choose you!

2009-08-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

I am not usually one for the pensive deep posts. My method is simple - use the blog to remind me to take more pictures of my kids and our family and then write some family history type summary of the pictures and click post. Not the funniest, not the deepest or best read, but will help us remember as a family, share it with friends/family, and then preserve things for posterity.

However, today I have somethings to say that has nothing to do with some cute pictures of my kids (though there are always more of those to come!). It has to do with a realization that I want to capture and share with my children.

As most of you know, I started teaching aerobics when I moved to Oregon, using a part of my Exercise Science degree I haven't since college. How much better can it get to be paid to work out right? I have really enjoyed it, though it has been an on and off struggle to make sure it stays in the background of my life, not the foreground where it could interfere with our family life. Not that I have ever taught more than 8 or 9 hours a week, which is far below part time, but the amount of energy that it took mentally to prepare for classes and shuttle the kids to and from got to be too much. I felt like that was all I did. So, I cut back on some classes (and gave myself a good pat on the back for making the hard but right choice) and have only been teaching 4 paid hours a week for the last few months.

Funny how sometimes I guess Heavenly Father really wants you to be committed in your decisions, as the same temptation came back recently, with a different face. This time it was to teach more Zumba classes, which is my FAVORITE type of class to teach because it actually is more than a workout - it also honestly makes me happy. I feel like it pulls together parts of me I haven't used in a long time - specifically my love for dance. I struggled with saying no because of how it uplifts me. However, to say yes, I would have had to do some real finageling with the kids - to avoid putting them in the kidcare at the YMCA (which they don't like much) and then to get Nathan to school on time. I had some sweet friends who offered to help me make it work, so I almost said yes.

But, last night as I finished my prayers it hit me - the clarity I needed to be able to say no to further opportunities that would affect my family life. I knew that saying yes would add another morning of craziness - the stress of trying to get the kids where they needed to be and then to prepare for my class, not to mention my body being tired from overexercising.

Now is not the time and season. In ten years I will probably be done having kids and all my kids will be in school from 8-2 and I will have plenty of time to dance my little heart out or teach whatever. But, right now my calling is to be a mom. And all the things I have heard about how "you will miss these years" and "don't wish away your children's childhood" sunk a little deeper into my heart.

I want my kids to know that their mom didn't be a stay at home almost exclusively because "what else would she be doing?" (which is what I think I grew up thinking!). I CHOOSE to be home with you. I want to be a part of your day, every day, all day. I want to be your main influence, especially for the first pre-school years. I want to be that point of security, that constant. And I want you to know that YOU are my priorities. I don't want you to remember mommy always doing something else. That when you are home, I am with you, interested in you and caring about how you are doing. I want you to think that I have nothing better to do - because really, I don't. I teach and personal train because I want to improve people's lives, to make a difference. But, it doesn't get more impacting than to spend my days with these impressionable little spirits.

So, my sweet little boys - even on the bad, crazy pull-my-hair-out days - I choose to be with you!

Surfing! (No, something besides the internet!)

2009-08-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

The highlight of our Santa Cruz trip was by far living out a whim to take a surfing lessons. Why not? Doesn't putting on a beyond skin tight (like have to do more than a shimmy and a shake to get into it!) wetsuite, going out into deep freezing water, and trying to stand up on a board and not injure yourself sound like fun? Ha - none of those even came close to stopping us.

After the wetsuit shimmy, we had our short on-land low down from our nice instructor, David. He got a kick out of these crazy moms (people were always shocked to find out that we were not only moms but how MANY kids we had) who were high on vacation life. We paddled out to sea with our extra long strofoam type surfboards (I guess "training" boards? So dorky I am sure, but I was happy with it - they weren't slick or hard if you banged them). After that we took turns watching each other and trying to ride the wave. Our instructor would help give whoever's turn it was a big push to help us get up on the wave and after that it was placement of your feet and balance that seemed to determine how long you rode.

Go ahead, I know you want to ask it. The answer is YES! Yes, both LeeAnna and I stood up and rode more than one wave. Not for more than a few seconds, of course, but we did it and it was exhillerating! We loved it so much we almost took another lesson, but decided not to push it and ended up renting some boogie boards our last morning instead. Yes, we had to hide behind them when surfers passed, but though not as cool we definitely had a good time with the boogie boards too, as we had more control over them!

*Disclaimer - We wanted documentation of this crazy activity, so we bought a water-proof camera and luckily had a nice enough teacher to carry the camera on his surfboard most of the time (after informing us we weren't going to be able to stroke or surf very well as newbies with it on our wrists!). So, the quality of the pictures suffered and, go figure, we didn't get any pictures of each other on top of the waves like we wanted because the teacher had the camera (plus we were usually watching each other ride the wave from behind), but oh well. At least we have proof that we were on the water for surfing lessons, even if you never choose to believe that we did really get on top of the waves and do more than have a surfboard photoshoot!

Our nice teacher Dave. Thanks for the self portrait.

Look it's me! Yeah right...we watched these surfers from the cliffs, slightly more appreciative of how hard this stuff really is!

More surfboard photoshoots...man, no wonder I had so many pictures of myself as a teenager and none of me now! When you don't have kids to take pictures of...

Here's some of us boogie boarding. I actually really love boogie boarding, again because it has a very small portion of that thrill of riding a wave, but is so much simpler! Oh, and PS -it is amazing how much wetsuits keep you warm! We were in disbelief and as a now west coaster (i.e. COLD water, not like the gulf water in TX and FL!), I was almost ready to buy one so I could actually get in the water in OR.

Funny story - there were NO waves to be found when we first got our boogie boards, hence the above under-the-pier photo shoot, as well as the following story. There were sea lions everywhere, which isn't unusual at all for this area. There were bunches of them clustered on little floating piers beneath the main shopping wharf. I wanted to go check them out, as they weren't far away and were still in the designated swimming area. About halfway LeeAnna decided I was crazy and kinda gave me a "I got your back" and stayed put, while I crept closer. Funny how somethings can precariously boarder between brave and stupid. I got pretty close (about 8 feet away) and then the one sea lion that was awake had had enough and started barking, waking the others who also started barking. We swam away like mad and they didn't pursue. Why I did this, I am not sure, but it sure was cool to see them close up!

Finally, our second favorite thing to do was the beach bike rentals. Wow, if you could capture the feeling of riding along the coast of this gorgeous beach with sunshine and a light breeze blowing your hair...it was amazing. We felt like we were in a movie. It was so picturesque and relaxing, I would love to do that every day.

The funny thing is that I teach 3 cycling classes a week at the gym, but am slightly scared of regular bikes due to past crashes or other people crashing into me. But, I am proud to say there were no injuries!

Right before we left we did a little souvenier shopping and had to take a picture with these winners. I guess their claim to fame was that Regis and Kathy wore them on their show, but, needless to say, we only took a picture, no need to own these babies!

Santa Cruz - Things we saw and ate

2009-08-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

10 years ago in Houston I met a crazy little blonde girl named LeeAnna who has been my best girl friend since (had to put the "girl" disclaimer in there of course, because it doesn't get better than my hubby!). We thought we were the coolest of cool. In our world, we thought we had it as good as it came. We defied all odds staying friends past high school, loving rooming together in college for a year, got married in the same temple 3 months apart from each other, and together have 7 little boys ages 5 and under! I have been so blessed to make good friends in all areas we have lived (you guys are lifesavers!), getting me through the day to day with a smile. There is also something really great though about someone who has known you through the years.

LeeAnna the past year and a half has been battling with a chronic illness and all the "growth" that comes with it - the months of not knowing what the illness is and then the challenge of figuring out how to deal with it. For those of you who know her, she has disautonomia (sp?), a nervous system illness specifically affecting her parasympathetic nervous system (or involunatary systems - heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, etc.). It's been a rough rough road and she, as always, is one of my heros for the faith she has held onto through it.

With that, we started talking about getting together and kinda creating some new memories. We have only vacationed together once, with our hubbies and two small kids, and that was 4 years ago. At first it was whismical and then it was a "why not?" She used her connections to her parents timeshares (which kinda dictated the place we went - just wherever we could get a free timeshare) and amazingly enough it worked out!

So, we left our kiddos with our amazing husbands and bid farewell to the real world for a few days. We started out with breakfast at our favorite local girls breakfast spot, Morning Glory, in Ashland. Then we took our time heading down to Santa Cruz. LeeAnna had never been to CA before, so we stopped for dinner in San Fransisco and took a look around the city. I grew up in CA until I was 11, and lived in the bay area, with my dad working in San Fransisco, so I have a lot of memories there, but haven't been there since. Though, I thought I was going to meet my untimely death driving around in San Fran! Plus, silly me, driving away from our 100 degree weather forgot to pack any jacket! Good thing LeeAnna brought two. Still, the wind blew threw us and we shivered our way through Pier 39.

This is at what was labeled as a "picturesque photo spot" showing (through the fog) Alcatraz and the Golden Gate. Though, ever since the golden gate was painted a different color (it's kind of a rusty red now - sorry if to pop your bubble if that is news to you!), I always thought it was such a gyp that the bridge isn't gold any more. Random fact for you - we had a friend in our 4th grade class whose dad worked on the building and I still have one old gold rivet from back when it was actually gold. We used to walk across the bridge for field trips. Amazing none of us died on those...

I was actually surprised at the joy I found in recognizing things from when I was 11. I haven't walked down that memory lane ever, having not been back, and it was so fun just the little things I remembered. Like the left handed store on Pier 39, or, my favorite store, Chocolate Heaven. So I drug my poor friend, who can't have sugar due to her medical condition, through a mouth drooling chocolate heaven in the name of memories. Thanks mom and dad for all the fun memories!

LeeAnna really wanted to ride the trolley, but I didn't have enough cash. So after walking 8 blocks to get there, we just settled for a picture.

We pulled into Santa Cruz Thursday night and slept until I think 9:30 the next morning. And then the only thing that got us out of bed was that the free breakfast ended at 10! What a life...This was the view from the Santa Cruz beach. Just gorgeous!

Here's me in front of the famous Santa Cruz boardwalk.

We ate at some amazing places. Friday night we just picked a restaraunt that smelled good and looked busy. Turns out, it has the world champion pizza throwing champ (and an up and coming pizza thrower) there and he does a show on Friday nights! Wahoo! It was quite impressive.

The most impressive food though was on Sunday when we drove down to Monterey for the day and ate on the pier at Isabellas. Dinner was pretty good, but here is dessert. Not only was it death by chocolate, but look at the presentation - the name in powdered cocoa, decorative strawberries, and a small bowl of dried ice just to make it smoke and for effect! I should remember that for my next dinner party....I am sure you would all be so impressed!

We spent a lot of time in the car, driving to the beach and LeeAnna insisted on a car picture. We blasted our chick songs all the way down Pacific Ave. Ah the good old days.

Sunday we drove down to Monterey (here is LeeAnna on the docks at Monterey)had lunch and then went down to Carmel and talked on the beach. Heavenly Father is so obvious in the beauties of nature! It was so awesome to just talk about life with someone who I have always looked up to for their faith. I really came back from the trip feeling not just rejuvinated but recentered.

I will be back with another post on the fun (and crazy) things we did...

Boys will be boys!

2009-07-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

Although I definitely had to have a paradigm shift every time that ultrasound has revealed another baby boy (Okay, so I cried every time. What can I say, my "maternal instinct" kept leading me to believe I was having a girl on every one!), we would definitely not have it any other way! We LOVE our pack of boys. It's so fun now that Lukie is walking (yes, that's right - he will not crawl his way into nursery, the child is finally full fledged walking. And running. Oh dear...) and getting older to watch the boys start all playing together.

The best is when daddy gets home and daddy wrestlemania begins. As soon as dinner is done Matt is on the floor wrestling with the boys. He is the king of getting everyone in a good mood with it, even Carter at his grumpiest. They love beating him up and having pillow fights. I love that Matt wants to be with his boys as soon as he gets home! He is such a champ dad, always wanting to be with the kids and build that relationship. Here are all the boys riding the "daddy camel".

I also loved it the other night when all three boys played together for the first time. Each of them had a lightsabor and amazingly enough had fun without ending in tears (yeah, giving little boys long stick toys such as lightsabors isn't always the best, but the imagination that comes with it is awesome).

I had to do a close up of Luke's face - he is SO excited to be playing with the big boys!

Oh dear, Darth took out our dear Carter. The kid awesome at playing dead. He must know it too because he "dies" at least 10 times every time they sword fight or play light sabors.

Space needles, pigs, and directions

2009-07-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Seattle is an amazing city and will be a great family memory for us for a long time. Though I have lived near big cities (San Fran and Houston), I have never lived IN the city, even for just a few nights. And though we are much more contented in our small little town of 18,000, it was a blast to live the big city lifestyle for a few days.

One of the things that really made the trip was meeting up with Matt's Aunt Diane. She has lots of energy and an open heart and home and let us bum around with her, not only mooching off of her tour guide abilities, but her two youngest kids making great babysitters.

Matt had his conference for most of the day every day, but then was free at night. The boys' favorite activity (besides roasting "smarshsmellows" around cousin Craig's new fire pit) was the awesome science museum. It huge and had all kinds of things for kids to touch and explore. I had to laugh - Diane mentioned that they had a great dinosaur exhibit. "Oh, great the kids love dinosaurs," I said naively. Ha. One look at the roaring t-rex and Nathan was shaking in his boots. Of course, that spread to Carter, who though at first thought it was all fascinating, was suddenly scared too. However, other exhibits were on the other side, necessitating several trips through the dinosaurs. Nathan soon proved why rollercoasters and scary movies make money - he by the end of the museum was ASKING for the shivers of going through the dinosaurs. Always makes me wonder - when as a parent do you push your kids in life, knowing they will warm up, and when do you back down and let them walk away from something you know they might enjoy?

I loved this - we were walking to the science center, when Nathan, who was very proud of his map, insisted that we stop and he double check that we were going the right way. (His dad must have divulged to him that I am directionally challenged...) I loved that he just plopped down in the middle of the sidewalk for said map check!

Carter and Luke seeing Seattle from the stroller (during Nathan's map check)

Nathan, Carter, and Aunt Diane pushing the water wheel at the Science Center. Nathan so accurately said, "Look, we look like hamsters!"

The boys loved the butterfly exhibit - these butterflies were no strangers to being stared at!

These huge butterflies were enjoying a fruit buffet.

Now Nathan is afraid of the dinosaurs but LOVED this human-sized talking fly? Standing here with their cute cousin Camille (who was so great with Luke - taking care of him almost the whole time!)

I had Aunt Diane take this picture so I could remember the day when my boys were so little to be scared by the dinosaur exhibit. If you know Nathan, you can tell this is his "my mouth is smiling but my eyes aren't" smile.

This is a fountain that is nearby the science museum and the space needle. It squirts water choreographed to music and you can tell from all the kids in swimsuits that this is a popular summer activity! Nathan was proud of himself for being brave enough to run down and touch it (only when the water wasn't squirting mind you!)

Nathan in front of the space needle!

We of course took a trip to Pikes Place Market. Two actually. Once after Matt's conference ended, only to find out that the vendors closed by 6 p.m. So, trip two we finally got the real feel. We watched the guys throw the fish, hunted down the famous doughnuts, and saw lots of pigs...when did the pig become the symbol for the market? There were even pink little piggies marking the way, but my kids were disappointed that there were no ACTUAL pigs in the market. This little piggie went to the market? To market to market to buy a fat pig?

We found the pig!

Matt and I's highlight of the trip was our first, yes you heard that FIRST, night away from the kids. Yes, we have never been away from our children in five years overnight, unless you count being in the hospital away from most of them to have another one. Yeah, not quite. So, when Aunt Diane offered to watch the kids, we tried not to say yes too quickly. A night in a big city with my hubby? No diaper bag, snacks, stroller (yes, I pushed the kids up and down the hills of Seattle in a stroller!), no constant head counts, and we even had something besides McD's for dinner.

Actually, we had dinner in the Space Needle. Yes, it involved eating $5 subs for dinner the rest of the nights, but just close your eyes when you sign the check (yes, they have a food purchase MINIMUM) and you too can enjoy dinner in Seattles most famous icon. You rotate around 360 view of the city and dinner includes a free trip up to the view area (one of the big selling points for us). We really wanted to do something for our night out that we couldn't do anywhere else. It was amazing and the food was delicious. Our kid-free night really reaffirmed out grown-upness. We even got to hold hands. Tee-hee. Sad thing is the next morning we woke up at 5 stinkin' 30 a.m.! Our morning to sleep in and we had so nicely enjoyed falling asleep to our great hotel view of the city...only to wake up to the bright early sunrise. Oh well.

This is our view from the hotel. To the left you could actually see the space needle. It was so fun having this hotel in the middle of downtown!

Our last event was to hit the Seattle Aquarium. The kids always enjoy any animals in most any setting so they had a good time.

We drove to Portland that night and spent the night with my oldest brother Jonathan and met my newest two nieces, twins, Clara and Nicolyn. SO cute! We played with them and cousin Annika (their 2 year old sister) and then finally finished up and went home. Whew!

Matt's Half Marathon

2009-07-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Matt had a conference for work in Seattle at the end of June and, for the first time, we tagged along and made an awesome family vacation out of it.

It started with Matt's turn at a half marathon, taking on the much larger Bend Oregon Pacific Crest 1/2 Marathon. It was huge with thousands of athletes coming to participate in everything from a kids triathalon (no, they don't swim in open water, just splash through a kiddie pool - it actually sounded really cute), to olympic triathalon, 1/2 or full marathon. The energy of all these people stretching themselves and pushing to do something hard was really inspiring.

Our hotel was a ways away from the race so we all trooped down together to the race before 7 a.m. Matt went off to warm up and stretch and the boys and I wandered around seeing what could hold our attention for several hours. It's always hard being on the cheering end of a long race like that - you have no idea what the person is going through and how the race is going.

I had tears in my eyes as Matt crossed the finish line, I just know the heart it takes to push yourself to run distance races and I was so proud of him (no it wasn't his first). He had an awesome time - 1:40:24, which evens out to a 7:40 minute mile! Wahoo! He finished 84th overall (out of 1400 participants!), putting him in the top 6%! He is one speedy handsome guy and I love the heart he has always put, and taught me to put, into physical endevors. (*If you don't know - I picked up running because of a cute boy in my ward at BYU named Matt who I wanted to spend more time with - a year later we ran a marathon together. He is one of my heros in the physical area. He is consistent and truly lives the word of wisdom, taking immacuelate care of his body. Matt, you are are incredible!)

Truly a Happy Independance Day

2009-07-07T22:51:00.001-07:00

We had a great family day on July 4th. It started out with Nathan's very first race. Not a mile, not even half a mile, mind you - 4 blocks. But, Nathan has come leaps and bounds in trying new things and we were happy to support his enthusiasm for his first race. He was so excited that he got to have his own number to pin on, just like mommy and daddy. Course, none of mommy and daddy's races had football players to help warm us up! Nathan obediently followed these big boys' instructions on warming up - even doing his very first lunges (don't worry hunny, we will talk about proper form next time...).

We thought at first we might need to run with him, but he was off and going and even made it all the way back still running (we were banking on the potential walk/run). We were so proud of him as he crossed the finish line and got his participant ribbon, but not as proud as he was of himself. So cute!

Oh, about this point I should probably offer a disclaimer - I am a holiday junkie. I celebrate them to the the point of potential overdose. I just L-O-V-E getting into every little fun detail that makes holidays special and separate from the day to day. Okay, you may read on now - consider yourself warned.

So the night before we took our cue from some Florida friends' tradition of tie-dying shirts for the 4th, white shirts in blue and red. There was a learning curve so Matt and I's shirts turned out better than the boys, but they were excited for something new and it was fun to be patriotic AND matching.

After the race and breakfast we hurried off to the big Central Point Parade. I know what you are thinking - we live in a town of 18,000 people - how big does a parade get? Well, 100 floats/participants big and big enough to outdo the big city (Medford) close by. We were grateful for a warning from a friend the night before to save our place in the shade early so to have a seat the next day. It was easily 90 degrees+ that day here, so we were grateful for the heads up and enjoyed the parade. Of course, my kids were all about the bling - which parade participants gave out candy, frisbees, balls, or necklaces. Or, my personal favorite - the plumber who gave out toy plungers. Yup, the kids were even fighting for those. Amazing how exciting things get when they are free and being thrown from a parade float.

The boys in their parade watching positions with good bud Isaac

Dad and Luke looking especially patriotic infront of the flag (that later kept whapping them in the face!)
What this parade doesn't have it's own face painting? Don't worry - Mommy brought her own! Like I said, holiday fanatic!

Two cute boys happy and complete with blue sucker-dyed lips

We spent almost the rest of the day at a local lake thanks to some friends reserving a pavillion and inviting us and a bunch of other ward members along. Gotta love the water - it really is an ageless place to hang out. Everyone had a great time, from little Luke to Mom and Dad. Matt and I even did some tubing, which was a blast. We were one of the last to leave and had a great time. Dad was smart and even brought our own little inflatable boat (in FL everyone had boats...this was all we could afford!)

We got home in time to clean up and head out to a fireworks show. A guy in our ward does an amazing firework show, just on his own in the neighborhood. Literally 100+ people were there and the kids loved watching the show.

Even among all this, it was great to have kids to have to explain things to. Nathan wanted to know what we were celebrating and it was neat (though hard!) to explain freedom to him and how that was something really worth celebrating!

Go Mommy Go! My half marathon

2009-06-23T21:05:00.001-07:00

A few Saturdays ago I ran my token half marathon in a small nearby town called Gold Hill. I say "token" because I have a personal goal of running a half marathon after each child, to help me stay in shape. To be totally honest, I don't run much these days. I teach at least 6 hours of aerobics a week, so, to keep my body from falling apart by 30, I only did long runs on Saturdays to help keep up my running shape (normally I would run shorter runs throughout the week as well). Matt and I did a 10 mile race at the beginning of April together and I was tempted to call my token run good with that (a half marathon is 13.2 miles - just 3.2 miles further). But, we had a great fast run (I always do when I go with Matt - he is great at pushing my speed) and the post run high drove me to do the half marathon.

So, a friend (Christine) and I looked at races around town and ditched the fancy big race in Ashland due to too many hills and opted for a nice small town race in Gold Hill. Christine and I both signed up and showed up the morning of (and when I say small town, I mean like pop. 1,000!).

Long story short - I had a decent race (well, okay, the fastest race I have had so far - 1:44, averaging 7:56 min miles) and I even won my age division and came in as the 4th woman overall! Wahoo! Oh,....did I forget to mention that there were only THIRTY people in the whole race?! Must have slipped my mind...We were dying laughing as Christine and I realized how small scale this race was!! For most of my hour and 44 minutes, I ran A-L-O-N-E. Didn't see anyone. It was a race I will never forget.

The best part was as I rounded the corner for the final stretch and see my boys and hear them cheering "Go, mommy go! Go, mommy go!" Those faces get me through tough times in life, and this was no exception. Though my joy in seeing them resulted in the cheesy pose in the picture below, it was so rewarding.

Me with my cheerleaders, who, by the way, are easily impressed by the bling (a.k.a. my ribbon) - even if it was only because there was no one in the race!

Me with Christine and one of her running buddies - all with ribbons. Like I said, 30 people = awards for us all!

Now I get the chance to be Matt's cheering squad as he does his half marathon this weekend (but it is a very large race, so we aren't expecting ribbons, but we are sure we will be proud of our healthy daddy no matter what!)!

Oh Lukie!

2009-06-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

Luke can't walk. He is 16 months old and can't walk. We, being the oh so seasoned (ha) parents of 3 children know enough that he will probably be just fine and will hit his walking stride soon enough.

A lot of parents are glad to have walking come late as it is less effort to keep up with the child when they are crawling.

Luke may not walk. But, man can he climb!

This kid is SO much energy to keep up with. He was the most wiggly in the womb and that has continued on. He is always into something. He can crawl into the downstairs bathroom, from the toilet onto the window sill, then onto the sink and loves turning on the water, often while sitting CLOTHED in the sink while doing so. Yes, we have tried to buy the baby lock, but our door is a lengthwise handle and the two types they make don't fit - there isnt' enough space between the handle and the door frame. Argh. Once I just plain locked it for three days straight and made the rest of the family use the upstairs bathrooms just for peace of mind (Nathan griped about that one!)

His latest is to crawl onto chairs and then onto the kitchen table and eat whatever is still there. With his hands of course. So, not only can I not have a CRUMB on my floor else ants will come, I have to not have food on the table or Luke will come.

Oh Luke. It's a good thing you have the sweetest happiest disposition - you keep us not only on our toes but smiling!

My 2 Seconds of (Zumba) Fame!

2009-06-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

About two months ago I was contacted by a reporter from a local Southern Oregon health magazine called Healthy Living (it's free and produced by the local newspaper). They were interested in doing a story on Zumba, as it's a unique form of exercise and an up and coming trend in the fitness world. I was excited and of course agreed to let them cover my class.

I did my best when they showed up to have the presence of mind to smile in addition to remembering my choreography. Of course that night I had one of my smallest classes in a long time (only 6 people - I normally average at least 10 if not 15, which is one of the higher attended classes for our YMCA), but we still had a good time. The reporter only asked me a few questions, which left me to wonder what he was going to write about...

A lot of time passed and I wasn't sure if they were going to cover the story after all, but one day my boss at the YMCA came up to me and said, "You're famous!" and handed me a copy of the article. I had to laugh as I told Matt that my fame had spread to the far corners of our little town...or at least as far as the grocer at Albertsons who must wonder why I always come in sweaty and recognized me from the article. Now that's fame.

If you want to read the full article you can do so here.

Of course this story came out right as I decided to cut back my Zumba classes to just one night a week instead of two, as it was just taking away too much time from my family. I love doing it - it reminds me of stake dances (my friends and I went to every stake dance within 3 or 4 stakes and thought we were surely the coolest thing to hit the dance floor). But, to every thing a time and season right?

So, in the meantime every Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. - Zumba on baby!

I always knew my handsome husband could stop traffic...

2009-06-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Now I have proof.

The other part of our coast trip I didn't detail was that while playing on the beach we were witnesses to a crazy car crash. Coming too fast around one of those fun sharp turns that are common on the windy roads around the coast, a car flew out of control and landed upside down. The driver (the only occupant) staggered out delerious and seemingly crazy from shock.

Matt, being the awesome responsible citizen that he is, went with a few other people to check on the driver and assist. Matt was soon put in charge of helping control traffic while waiting for an ambulance and a police car.

The funny part of this story is that while Matt was helping, and once it was clear no one was hurt, I, thinking of the blog potential, grabbed a camera and took a couple of pictures. A lady, having just passed the wreck, slowed down enough to tell me, "You know, you could help instead of just standing there taking pictures", but didn't slow down enough to HELP herself!! Oh, it's so easy to judge...(I am also assuming she didn't see the THREE children in my car!)

The not funny part of this story, is that it turns out the driver was just flat out drunk and it took several men watching over him to control him in his drunkenness. The scariest part is that the driver almost hit a car full of a couple and their kids, who were crying from the scary almost-collisan. The man driving his family turned around and had to be restrained from pummeling the drunk driver who could have killed one or several members of this mans family.

You never know what is around the corner in life - may we all cherish the time we have with our loved ones!

The Coast - Take 2!

2009-06-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

In May we went to the coast for the second time and loved it all the much more. It's such an amazing day trip - we go through the Redwoods and then go play on the beach by Crescent City, all in one day (even leaving after a soccer game that ended at 10). We love it! The sights are amazing - the redwoods are just beautiful and the beach is always a hit by the kids (who weren't as impressed with the "big trees" the second time as they were the first - guess they had already been there done that!).

I'll never forget reading in the scriptures the verses about how everything around us testifies of Christ while I was an art major (one of my original majors at BYU, which ended up being demoted to a minor later). I literally spent the entire 2 hour art class one time drawing ONE leaf. The intricacies and beauty of nature are so incredible and truly testify of Christ and the presence of God. Seeing things like the coast and the redwoods just reiterate that to me.

With that, here is our trip, in picture form:

This was the biggest tree we could find in the certain grove we went to. Wow!

Carter had a yuckie bug that weekend, with a fever, cold, and general gunk so there weren't too many smiles from him, poor guy!

I had to put this one in there - it's similar to the one above that I love of me and the boys, but in this one below Carter just has an all out FROWN. Not happy!

Just look what you see when you look up! Amazing!

We stopped by the tide pools in Crescent City and I loved watching Nathan and Matt explore. They are such birds of a feather with their intrigue in animals and their habitats.
I thought this one was especially sweet as Nathan held onto his dad for support while they explored.

One of those picturesque views that look like they came from a travel book - this shot of a lighthouse in Crescent City.

When we hit the beach for the only time that day, we got our Carter back. He couldn't resist the fun of getting sand in between your toes and mom allowing (actually encouraging) you to get messy. However, the happy moment ended when a huge random wave hit and Matt and I only had time to grab one or two things before it hit. Matt grabbed Luke, I got the cameras...Carter got drenched (don't worry mom - we knew it wasn't enough to carry anyone into the ocean, just enough to get those sitting soaked, which would ruin the cameras vs. Carter's mood). It just wasn't his day!

Luke, true to form, just wanted to get into things - which included continually trying to crawl into the ocean, as well as eating sand (which is a normal Michaelis boy trait). But, he's still a cutie nonetheless!

Nathan, thanks to much time spent on Florida beaches, had no problem embracing the sand....

Also at this little beach there is a small creek, and the boys, of all ages, found joy in throwing rocks and sticks into it.

As we were walking towards our car to drive home from this great day, I turned around and this is what I saw.

As we drove home, Matt and I were so greatful for the beautiful things outdoors that are so wholesome to enjoy together as a family!

100 Things I Love About My Wife

2009-05-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

There are thousands of things I love about my wife. Here are 100 of them.
by Matt Michaelis

1) She has a genuine interest in how I am doing.
2) She is great at asking questions.
3) She loves Koalas.
4) She knows how to word things in potentially sticky situations.
5) She understands how I work, despite how complicated I am.
6) She finds joy in being in “her kitchen.”
7) She has developed a good balance between being a “doer” and a “relaxer.”
8) She has developed a strong sensitivity to people’s feelings.
9) She has freckles.
10) She receives energy from socializing.
11) She has a smile that radiates happiness.
12) She understands how I best need to handle setbacks.
13) She treats everyone the same—as if they were her friend.
14) She loves chocolate.
15) She ran a marathon only a year after picking up running.
16) She gets over things fast.
17) She understands how hard I try at various things.
18) She is outgoing and friendly, much more than I could ever be.
19) She makes me feel like I’m funny.
20) She will let someone in as far as they are comfortable enough to go, and she will befriend someone as far as they are comfortable enough to be befriended.
21) She is good at cultivating an eternal perspective.
22) She sees me for all my positive characteristics.
23) She tries to cultivate righteous desires.
24) Her “maturity rate” is exponential. She has grown so much in our marriage, and I mean that as a compliment.
25) She is a hard worker—in everything—she isn’t the type of person that lives life in 2nd gear. She is passionate in everything she does.
26) Deep down inside, she is a little girl — who likes to dress up, has a curiosity of unicorns and princesses, and will always be willing to watch “Never Ending Story.”
27) She has worked hard over the years and become an amazing cook — but not by most people’s standards. She specializes in things that are fat free, whole wheat, and sugar free...and makes them taste amazingly good.
28) She is a bargain shopper. She is a coupon nazi and has the humility to shop for clothes at a thrift store.
29) She is, because, she cuddles.
30) She works hard to set up dates with me by finding babysitters and bargains for date activities.
31) She wants “us time” more than “me time.”
32) She is always trying to get me to watch chick flicks.
33) She is non-judgmental and good at giving people the benefit of the doubt.
34) She likes being outdoors and enjoys traveling to new places.
35) She is very smart, but is not cocky about it.
36) She always knows what’s going on in a movie.
37) She is financially savvy.
38) She loves berries.
39) She is calm when our kids are sick.
40) She copes well when she operates on little sleep, and is actually quite amusing.
41) She is good at persevering through trials.
42) She would rather be in harmony with me over winning a battle.
43) She is not the type of person who will go off and do something crazy — she is a homebody.
44) She loves the beach.
45) She laughs.
46) She gets down on the floor and plays with her kids.
47) She is very much in touch with her aesthetic Autumn.
48) She loves planning social gatherings.
49) She cares about family more than self.
50) She leaves overly thorough phone messages.
51) She is an amazing dancer, and always whines about missing dancing with me.
52) She is a strong woman — she doesn’t complain much.
53) She is passionate about molding our kids’ little minds.
54) Though she rarely knows which way is north, she always knows where everything is at.
55) She is great at assessing whether something is important or not — I confider in her because she has a great ability to sift what should be focused on in a situation.
56) She is an open-minded person.
57) She makes birthdays and holidays so fun and special, to say the very least.
58) She makes our kids feel so validated for their accomplishments.
58) She is committed to magnifying her callings.
59) Whatever is important to me, or our kids, is important to her. She can watch a basketball game or pretend to be a transformer as required.
60) She is passionate and knowledgeable about health and fitness.
61) She is faithful.
62) She always says she is not attracted to other guys, and I believe her.
63) She is a good prayer, she makes things very heartfelt.
64) She exercises hard — she puts her aerobics students through boot camp too.
65) She is always the type of person that I will always be attracted to — pregnancy weight or not, make up on or not. She has no clue how beautiful she really is. Sometimes I like that but sometimes I really wish she would see herself as I do.
66) She is sympathetic.
67) She is a very clean person.
68) Having been an artist, she understands and appreciates artistic and creative endeavors in others.
69) She is a very good runner. She consistently finishes in the top 10 percent of females in all races she runs.
70) She is patient with me about the things that I do that bother her.
71) For some reason, and I don’t know why, I know that she will never talk bad about me to her friends.
72) She is not politically stubborn.
73) She is great at teaching gospel principles to our kids.
74) She loves spending time with my family.
75) She loves flip flops.
76) When she is pregnant, she waddles.
77) When she is not pregnant, she walks with confidence.
78) She is service-oriented. She often makes cookies for those who may be having a hard time.
79) When I’ve had a bad day she tries harder to make a good meal.
80) She will read as many books to our children as they want in one sitting.
81) She is great at answering our children’s questions.
82) It is impossible for her to have cookies without milk.
83) She is very laid back.
84) The first thing she does when I get home from work is talk to me. I love that because the last thing I want to talk about when I get home is work.
85) She is great about initiating the spiritual things when I forget to.
86) When we were engaged, she wanted more than anything to secure the possibility of a temple marriage, so she initiated setting rules for physical expression.
87) She has a wonderfully developing sense of humor.
88) She enjoys musicals.
89) When she hears a catchy love song for the first time, she repeatedly sings it (while bobbing her head) for the following few days.
90) She gets so much out of watching her favorite TV show is “The Biggest Loser.”
91) Whenever I commit serious fashion faux pas, like wear socks and sandals, she politely recommends alternatives.
92) With our boys being mamma’s boys, she always tries to find ways to get them to want to do things with me.
93) She is adamant about taking pictures of our family.
94) She is very unselfish.
95) She really wants to go see France with me someday.
96) When our kids are not around us the first thing she does is hold my hand.
97) She makes running any type of errand seem doable and stress-free.
98) Honestly, I can talk about anything with her.
99) Her personality stands out in a crowded room. Like sunshine breaking through the clouds.
100) I love her because she is Autumn, and she is the love of my life.

Big Bad Five!

2009-05-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, my baby is 5 years old. Am I qualified to have a 5 year old? Of course, I have been asking if I am qualified since Nathan was born. I still feel far from qualified to be the one in charge around here, but here we are nonetheless now with a 5, 3, and 1 year old.

My mom asked me why I was giving Nathan a birthday party when I gave him one last year and said they would only get them on their even-yeared birthdays. I told her it was because we had moved to a new area. Like that means anything. Really, I just love a good party. Plain and simple. I love to throw them and, go figure, my kids like to have them, so it's a great relationship. So, instead of presents, my kids are probably always going to get parties from me (or the choice of either) - at least until they get old enough to demand expensive parties.

(*Though, mom confession - I couldn't handle two days of birthday celebration, since I do like to make a big deal of birthdays. So, I pretended like his birthday and birthday party were on the same day, when they were actually one day apart. But, since the kid doesn't even know the days of the week or months yet, I am assuming he will be fairly unscarred from this pretense).

Unlike Carter, Nathan's primary class has about 13 kids in it (Carter only has a handful of kids his age), and almost all boys. So, I chose to keep it inclusive and invite almost the whole gang, plus a few hero-worshipped 6 year olds, and a buddy who is 4.

I was proud of myself though - I didn't take the easy route and buy all the nicely premade transformer things ready to go for the price of one of your appendages in the store - you know, the transformer invitations, masks, napkins, cups, plates, party bag goodies, etc. I knew with that many kids to keep costs down I would be going the homemade route.

It started with the invitations. Thanks BYU for my art education that I almost used to get an Art Major, then almost an Art Minor (officially, nothing at all - I stopped 4 credits short of the minor in boycott of the ridgid program and a critical teacher or two that brought me to tears - but that's another story). I don't do much art these days, though still enjoy it. My latest creation I am proud of - sad to say, these pop up invitations.

Pretty nifty, eh?

The party itself was a blast - I honestly had a good time. We did energon cube races (energon is the source of transformer power), which was just the good old marshmallow on a spoon race, Transformer bingo, Transformer memory, Optimus Prime says (same as simon says). Matt did the Optimus Prime says and it was great - the kids were captivated as Matt had them punch bad guys, jump in circles, do all kinds of fun silly noises.

Energon cube races:

Transformer bingo (when they got a bingo they said, "Autobots transform and roll out!" It was very cute). Thank you wide world web for providing me access to someone elses' hard work in making these great transformer bingo cards!

Transformer bowling:

Optimus prime says (with each kids face very serious as they punched those bad guys!)

Then we had a little intermission for a pizza dinner (thank you $5 little cesear deal!). My favorite was Nathan's hero Ashton (one of the 6 year olds) who had a blob of sauce on his forehead all of dinner because "Benny triple dog dared me to put my pizza on my forehead"! Finally, we played everyone's favorite game: Decepticon bombing. Aka - throwing 150 water balloons at 4 bad guy pictures taped onto my garage door (since we have no backyard, had to do it in the driveway). Amazingly enough, everyone listened to my threats and no one threw them at each other and came back inside fairly dry (I know, I was either brave or crazy doing water balloons, but I just knew it would be a hit and braved it nonetheless).

Finally, our half autobot half decepticon birthday cake and ice cream with presents. Nathan's friends couldn't handle the anticipation and definitley helped him open his presents, but everyone seemed to just enjoy the excitement.

The whole birthday gang (yes, just one little girl. Nathan was convinced she wouldn't want to come because it was such a "boy" type party, but I told him to invite her and let her chose. She is a tough cookie and if anything has those boys running circles around HER not the other way around!)

Nathan you are a cute, intellegent, cuddle bug and we love what you bring to our family! We can't wait to see what another year will bring! Happy birthday kiddo!

Carter is 3!

2009-04-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

(Above) Nathan and Carter the day Carter was born - Nathan not to sure about this deal. (Below) Nathan and Carter after the party, they are truly the best buds and love having adventures together.

First of all, following up on my last post, I want to thank those of you who said hello via a comment who usually don't - especially my wonderful mother. I even took her advice and changed my blog background back to a lighter color so reading my blog won't cause her to have to up her reading glasses perscription = ).

On April 10th Carter turned 3! We built it up for days, and being the middle child, I wanted him to have an extra special day that was all about him. Even Nathan caught on and insisted we called him "birthday boy" all day long and bowed to most of the birthday boy privileges (going first at things mostly).

My parents did a fantastic job growing up making birthdays magical. We woke up and came downstairs and the house was decorated with streamers and balloons, a birthday tablecloth or centerpiece and a present waiting for you at your spot at the table. You knew right away people remembered your birthday and it was a special day to them. So, I have always tried to follow suit. I stayed up late to ensure he had that magic to wake up to and get everything ready for the birthday party.

It was worth it. He loved the decorations and got his first present (the one and only toy from mom and dad - a toy microphone as he and Nathan love to sing). Then we headed quickly to the store to grab one or two last things for the party, in addition to birthday chocolate milk and donuts (two rarities in our house except for special occasions!) and got ready for the party guests to arrive.

Carter chose a spiderman themed birthday party. He luckily has a small group of friends his age, so we invited all 6 of them and were excited they could all make it. We did a spiderman placemat craft while we waited for everyone to arrive. Then we did a spiderman "cake" walk - where you walk around on numbers and when the music stops you stop and whoever is standing on the number that is chosen wins a cake. Except, they walked around on spiderman bad guy pictures (since no one knows their numbers really yet) to the original spiderman theme song and got a piece of candy if they won.

Or that was how it was supposed to work. Quickly each little guy found their "favorite" bad guy and didn't want to walk around, just stand on it. Except for Nathan and a few other rule abiders who tried to keep walking. But then they got annoyed by the ones who weren't walking and some shoving ensued. We quickly went through several rounds, distracting them by doing the game and quickly getting to the candy prizes.

Next we pinned spiderwebs on the spiderman poster, which went surprisingly well and each kid took about two turns, even allowing themselves to be blindfolded.

By then it was time for lunch. The kids played with toys as I got out Carter's chosen birthday lunch - popcorn chicken, doritos, strawberries, spiderman fruit snacks, and juice boxes. Most kids had a well balanced diet of chips, fruit snacks, and a little juice.

After lunch the troops were restless and I needed to clean up before we could open presents. This whole time all the kids were begging to watch a movie. I don't know if that is a regular birthday party activity these days, but I hadn't planned it in. So, we hopped onto Utube and grabbed a classic spiderman cartoon (short - 10 min- and no violence) which tided everyone over until it was time for cupcakes and presents.

Carter loved all is presents and opened them with a great cupcake mustache. I had to laugh as it took us almost 5 minutes to sing and blow out the candles because all the little boys wouldn't stop blowing out the candles and not letting Carter do it (which of course made the birthday boy upset). He finally got to blow out 1 of the 3 candles and we called it good and distracted with presents.

That night we met up with Matt for dinner at McDonalds as one of our last birthday treats and then went swimming at the YMCA, one of our favorite family activities. Nathan got into the car afterwards and said, "I hope my birthday is as special as Carters!" I hope Carter felt the same way. We love you Carter! You are such a little firecracker for our family!

This one's for you, mom.

2009-04-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

You wonderful people take time out of your busy schedules to read our blog - we love you and are glad you try to keep up on our little lives. Most of you can ignore this post. Those of you who take even more time out of your day to occasionally leave a note (aka a "comment") after you read our blog - thanks for letting us know you are out there on the other side of cyberspace! However, some people, my dear mother for example, read this blog regularly but never comment to let us know you were here. She said she didn't know how. So, this one's for you mom.

To make a comment on anyone's blog, you just click on the lovely little underlined "comment" link (**that's right the word COMMENT - next to the little pencil**) - see the big giant red arrow pointing to it below. That will then take you to a screen that shows the comments already made on the left hand side of the screen. Then there is a BIG white empty text box at the top of the right hand side of the screen for you to write away your little thoughts. Then you just identify yourself somehow (no you don't have to be a blogger to make comments on our blog) and then click the "publish your comment" button. Voila! You have now left your little footprint on our blog for us to know you were here.

So, all you little silent "blogstalkers" out there - give us a friendly hello when you read our blog. To those of you who already do - love you and appreciate you!

The blog you have all been waiting for - our new house!

2009-04-08T19:45:00.001-07:00

After 6 1/2 years of marriage, 6 different rentals, and three different states, we are excited to announce that our life got a little more permenance in March when we bought our very first home! Wahoo! Everyone kept asking us if we were excited, and we were, though I think mostly we were just in a state of shock that we finally own a home. But, we love it here and want to stay in Oregon, specifically Central Point, for as long as Matt's job will allow.

We ended up chosing based on community. I wish we could put up a little virtual tour of our community, called Twin Creeks. It is wonderful - family oriented, safe, wide sidewalks and roads, well maintained, a park across the street ("our" park according to the kids), a huge open soccer field with basketball courts across the street the other way, as well as a large common area/pavillion kitty corner to that. We are far from knowing everyone in the ward, but we know of at least 10 other mormon families in the community - which isn't a big surprise when we are within walking distance of the church and the temple. So, needless to say, we sacrificed a little on size for the "location, location, location".

Our new home is an adorable new townhome (so two stories) with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, as well as a two car garage. Zero lot line, so no backyard, but no lawn maintenance either, and if the weather is good we are often at the park across the street. Now, before we get to the pictures, let me tell you my 10 favorite things about our new home:

1. It has a pantry. I have never had one before and always felt like I was cramming food into every corner of the kitchen. It's already full as I am trying to beef up our food storage, but I am still excited to have it!

2. It has a toy closet. It's downstairs under the stairs and it's fantastic - for the first month the kids just disappeared in there for what seemed like most the day. It holds the majority of their toys, allowing the toys to be downstairs but not taking over my living room!

3. The downstairs is very open. It's all one big room really, which I like in that it makes the most of the space.

4. It has the most adorable front porch, which is surprisingly big. We already have plans for a porch swing and small planter boxes.

5. It has a linen closet. What can I say - I have missed having places to put things (besides crammed under in and around things!) and I just love that wonderful linen closet

6. It has carpet downstairs in the living room. We have had mostly tile or wood floors, which sound great, but Matt hates it - he has high arches and it literally hurts his feet to walk around on hard floors barefoot. Also, he loves wrestling with the boys, which is hard to do on hard flooring without some kind of head injury. Now, every day he comes home after dinner they beat up on dad while I clean up dinner. It's a great arrangement!

7. We now have a water dispenser and ice maker. We bought our first appliance - a fridge and it has filtered water and an ice maker. Heaven!

8. The two car garage. Room not only for both cars but all our stuff! Loving it!

9. Our digital thermostat. We had a thermostat in FL, two actually, that were pyscho. You had to buy a separate inside thermometer to find out what temperature it really was and then if you barely touched the thermostat dial it would go out of whack and send you into the upper 80s or way down into the low 60s.

10. My fantastic dishwasher. They really mean it - no prewashing required! I have only had a dishwasher for 12 MONTHS of the 6 1/2 years we have been married. I have done more than my share of handwashing dishes (I know, what a spoiled child of technology I am!) and I love putting a whole sinkful of dishes in and pressing that magic on button.

I am sure there are many of you who have never thought too much of some of these, but that's the great thing about starting out marriage as a poor student - you really appreciate the small steps up in life!

So, now, drumroll please, the pictures:

The front view (notice the cute porch, complete with hanging planters)

Our downstairs and what you see when you walk in

Matt's little "recording studio", with our computer and electric piano to the right of the couches. I really resisted having the desk downstairs, but it's nice to have so we are in the same part of the house more often.

Our kitchen complete with new fridge

The fabulous toy closet. And, there's even still room for a kids bookcase and coat closet as you walk into the closet, and then the toys are in the section that extends downward under the stairs.

Matt was wonderful in tackling the assignment of building shelves for the garage. He hadn't really had a chance to build much, so he researched, hit Lowes multiple times, even got the boys "helping." It turned out great, and, as you can see, holds all kinds of stuff. He will probably build some more, but for now our garage is fairly organized.

Sorry, the upstairs was not clean enough by my standards for posting, so that will have to come at a later time. But, now you know that we really do own a house (and aren't just living under a bridge)!

Sledding in March!

2009-04-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

For Christmas Grandpa Blaine and Grandma Heidi (Matt's parents) gave our family a great new sled. Because we were moving, we didn't try to hit the hills until Matt's birthday weekend (March 20). But, what can we say - we love Oregon. Where we live you don't have to be in feet of snow to be within driving distance of snow. We thought for sure we would be out of luck in finding somebut headed up towards Crater Lake to a great sledding spot called Union Creek with fingers crossed. We were driving and saw no snow, no snow....until we hit the sledding spot and almost like someone waved a magic snow wand - snow! We were so excited and had a great time (especially Matt!).

Matt definitely made the most runs, with Nathan at a close second. Nathan used to be such a cautious little kiddo, but has become more and more adventurous.

At the bottom of the hill Nathan would pop off and say - "That was fun - let's do it again!"

Here's a cute pic of the boys enjoying riding on their new sled.

Sleds aren't much fun to sit on unless they are moving, so the boys quickly enlisted the "daddy horse" to pull the sled. They made rounds over and over again, over little hills until they wore the daddy horse out. (And, yes, mom, Matt brought a jacket (see above picture), he just took it off when he was hot)

So what did Luke and Mom do through all of this? Well, I documented everything (hence the pictures and some video footage) as well as stuck with Luke. We started Luke out in the stroller, though as you can see from this picture he was dying to get into the action!

Finally he had had it being stuck in the stroller, so I moved him to the snugglie (after I had done my all of two sledding runs - I am not much of one for uncontrolled speeds!) and we spent the last hour like this:

Carter had been quiet while I was taking pictures/video of Matt and Nathan sledding so I checked up on him and he promptly told me how delicious snow is. At least it was clean snow!

Finally, after sledding, making snow angels, and eating snow the last thing was to make a snowman. However, towards the end Nathan realized how cold his toes were and Luke was super mad at not being allowed to crawl around in the snow...so not a happy looking bunch, but a great snowman!

February Recap - Sweet Lukie Turns One!

2009-03-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Luke has been an absolute joy, a sunshine baby. All of our babies have been fairly happy babies, and I thought Carter was a sunshine boy (believe it or not - minus the craziness of Carter lately, he is a very happy guy), but Luke has topped it all. If he cries, we know it's because he's tired, hungry, or in pain - otherwise he is smiling through it all: happily played in his carrier (for often the whole hour!) until just recently while I taught aerobics at the church, still exploring and happy despite the crazy nap (or should I say napless) schedule that comes with being the third. He is just so much fun. Matt has loved it because the other two have been such momma's boys, but Lukie loves his daddy!

We love you Luke and are so glad you are a part of our family! Here are some pictures from his big day (actually the celebration waited until my parents were in town to celebrate with, as his birthday was actually on the day we were traveling home from NM):

Here I am with the birthday cake. My dad always made our own cakes for holidays, and I love the creative part of carrying on that tradition - I love seeing what I can make! I was especially excited for Luke's birthday because he doesn't have any requests - I just made a cake I have wanted to for a long time. It's a dragon, complete with chocolate covered graham cracker cookie scales, and fruit roll up wings. Isn't it fun?!

This is Luke's first introduction to large amounts of sugar - aka his birthday cake. He wasn't too sure about it at first.

Then he started warming up....

Finally, he was begging for more! What a cute cakey smile!

Luke is one and our third boy, so birthday presents were pretty minimal. I got him some leather slip on shoes (you know, the kind with no sole so they can feel the floor for walking, but can't take off and loose their socks everywhere!), and then we used the money from Aunt Aubrey to get his one and only toy. We did such a great job getting a cool toy that we had to remind his brothers over and over to let him play with it!

Happy Birthday Luke!

February: A Recap (Part 1)

2009-03-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Still playing catch up here, but thought it better late than never! February was a fun, crazy month with a trip to Alburquerque, NM for Matt's brother Tim's wedding, Luke's first birthday, as well as all the insanity that comes with buying a house.

First, Tim's wedding. It was Matt's first chance at real vacation, as they don't let him use vacation during the first 6 months of work - poor guy! We were excited to go check out a new place. It was really only a long weekend, but the wedding was beautiful, it was wonderful to see family, and our favorite part of Alburquerque was this gem of an aquarium we spent an afternoon at, quite by accident.

You start walking through the aquarium and see some small fish tanks, walk by the big swim tanks for the sting rays, then see some cool eels (you're thinking, oh this is nice..), then BAM - you are infront of this amazing giant aquarium (the kind that is so big they build risers into the floor so you can just sit and enjoy). The kids could have spent forever watching in there - there were sharks, turtles, sting rays, various fish, and we even got to see the workers feed them all. It was so cool!

These eels just made me think of Flosom and Jetsom in the Little Mermaid (yes, I even remember their names - I was obsessed! I had the sheets, the sweetshirt, the movie, knew all the moves and songs...)

The glass on the giant aquarium was obviously specialized - you felt like you could just touch the fish!

There was an amazing jellyfish tank as well - we love this picture that Aunt Megan took of Lukie just mezmerized by them!

Here are a few pictures from the wedding. Like I said, it was beautiful and the love the bride and groom had for each other was very sweet. All our little boys had on white shirts and matching ties - it was adorable!

The handsome couple - Uncle Tim and our new Aunt Kaitlyn

The kids were pretty pooped by this point in the day (can't you tell by Nathan's fake smile and having to lean against me!), but amazingly enough Carter is the only kid smiling!

This is all of Matt's immediate family - Top row (right to left): Megan, Matt, me and Carter, big football player Aaron (just entered the MTC for Samoa!), and Melanie; bottom row Grandpa Blaine, Kaitlyn and Tim (holding Luke), and Grandma Heidi with Nathan. What a great group!

It was a fun trip, and we love any chance to see family! Hope you are loving married life Uncle Tim!

Our trip to Portland

2009-02-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

If you haven't noticed, the blogging bug has been dead for me for the last little while - as I am just barely pulling myself out of the post-holiday blogging sluff. But, what can I say, between teaching aerobics 8 hours a week, doing the kid scene, running a personal training fitness challenge for some friends, and buying a house I can feed you all kinds of excuses (oh wait, I just did!). But, instead I will just back track a bit in time to cover the latest Michaelis happenings.

Last month we took a three day weekend to head up to Portland to see my oldest brother Jonathan and his wife and daughter. They took us around to see some of the sights and we hda a great time (despite Carter flat out disproving my statement that "I think he is coming out of the screaming stage." Sigh.)

One of the boy's favorite things was the Portland Children's Museum. Lucky for us they now have a traveling Bob the builder exhibit that was a huge hit with my little guys, especially Carter (no family get together on my side is complete if we don't all hvae the bob the builder song in our heads from all of the little boys chanting it! How can you not love a guy who gets to use tools and has talking trucks?!)

Here are the boys posing with Bob and his cat. I love the look on Nathan's face!

Every time Carter got behind the wheel of one of the trucks, he had a smile on his face!

So they announced that Bob was coming LIVE to meet and greet. We excitedly joined in line with other little boys and parents to get our picture with Bob. We wait, and wait, so excited. Then, it's our turn with the big guy and the boys have a Santa moment - they want nothing to do with this strange person with a plastic head. As other parents watch on, I make my kids come sit with me with Bob (I had just waited 15 minutes in line, gosh darn it!). As you can see, they were far from excited.

Sweet Luke being scooped up by a digger truck.

Nathan not even turning to look at the camera as he gives a thumbs up. We had to drag him away from these trucks kicking and screaming when it was time to give other kids a turn.

Carter also happily behind the big steering wheel.

This is my sweet sister in law Jenelle and their beautiful little girl Annika. I don't think she was nearly as excited about all these trucks. Poor kid, she is one of 2 granddaughters on my side, with 6 grandsons and, until her twin sisters are born, is just doomed to be surrounded by little boys, their noise, and their trucks.

The boys love the water exhibit and the chance to get all wet without getting in trouble!

I know this is supposed to be for the kids, but we took the opportunity to get a rare shot together.

On Sunday, before we went home, we took a few hours to go see the beautiful waterfalls around Portland. However, there was ridiculously strong wind. I wish I had a video - people at one lookout point were, I kid you not, falling down just trying to walk to their car the wind was THAT strong! We drove past all kinds of fallen debree and even a few trees. We thought for sure a tree was going to fall on us as we drove, it was crazy. Needless to say, the boys weren't too interested in getting out of the car to look around. So, we just would run out of the car (one at a time) take a few pictures and then run back in and drive to the next waterfall. We look forwrad to going back in the summer and actually getting to enjoy the view!

And finally, Carter is very independant and determined to do everything himself. He came in the other day, just so proud of himself "See mom?! I put my shirt on! Ta-da!" That kid is both ends of the spectrum - so darn cute when he is happy, and just a firecracker when he is mad. That one might be karma...

For all those picky eaters out there!

2009-01-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

I truly wonder what my kids eat. How on earth they are not in the "underweight" cetergory at the doctor's office, because most days I sure feel like I am a failure as a mother as far as feeding my children. Argh. But, I did want to share my current food victory with all of you out there. Three words: peanut butter balls.

Here's the recipe:

Mix 1 c. peanut butter (preferably creamy for better consistency, but crunchy will do in a pinch) with 1/2 c. honey or maple syrup (we strongly prefer honey for flavor and health reasons, but both will do).
Stir in 1 1/2 c. rice crispies (or 1 1/2 c. crushed chex - my kids love this better just because they like being the mashers that crush them!).
Scoop out by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and freeze for approximately 10 minutes. (*You can also add sprinkles for an extra treat or roll the spoonfuls into crushed graham crackers or chopped nuts). Enjoy and store leftovers in freezer (they are gooey at room temperature).

My kids think they are getting a treat, and I am as happy as a clam knowing my kids are eating a good source of protein (peanut butter), no white sugar (gotta love honey), and decently healthy fortified cereals. And, I can make these with my kids without wanting to pull my hair out by the end.

Now if only I could make broccoli so appetizing! (Actually that's the one vegetable Carter likes - but only the tops).

Holiday Recap: Part 2

2009-01-05T19:09:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing ward Christmas party. It was themed around the Polar Express, and let me tell you, we had it all! The kids (5 and under) arrived in PJs and a conductor greeted the children and gave them their punched "golden tickets". Around the room was a train mural, complete with sillohettes of each of the primary kids, that they had created in primary the weeks before. Also, hanging from the ceiling were not just lights, but snowflakes the kids had made in primary. We had a yummy dinner followed by a short program, including the primary kids singing, which is always a favorite of any parent.

Then, as the grand finale came santa. This was our second santa experience of the year, and it did go better than the first, though it took some convincing to Nathan, ever the logical one, as to why he needed to tell santa AGAIN what he wanted for Christmas (didn't he listen the first time?!). Of course, it was all about mom wanting a better santa picture...

Nathan and Carter in their special new Christmas pjs with good buds, twins Aiden and Anden and best gal pal Mia (actually, around here one of the ONLY girl 4 year olds and popular with all the little boys!)

Carter showing me his golden ticket! Man this party was authentic!

The "train conductor" - what a great costume! Also, you can see in the background the decorations I was telling you about with the train and children sillouhettes.

Nathan singing in the children's choir. I love that he is reading the music - like he can actually read! I am pretty sure it's even turned sideways, but he dilligently looked at it the whole time.

The cutest reindeer on the block!

Here is Santa, Take 1 at the Childrens Museum. Luke was the only one who would sit on Santa's lap and Nathan and Carter wouldn't be up there without mommy (as you can tell from their body language). Too bad too - a very authentic looking santa!

Santa Take 2 at our ward Christmas party. Still a little nervous about it all, but they did get on Santa's lap.

Of course, as we are walking out the door to the car with very tired kiddos, I realize I have more than 2 children and that I didn't get a picture of little Luke on Santa! Ah! So, I rushed back, cut in line (awful, I know - sorry everyone!) to get a quick candid before going home. Whew!

Our thanks to our ward committee and leader for an amazing party and a fun night/Christmas memory!

Holiday Recap: Part 1

2009-01-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

Well, I am finally putting my blogging cap back on to recap on the holidays. We spent Christmas with Matt's family in sunny So Cal. Again, unfortunately, Matt wasn't able to join us until the night after Christmas, because of his stinky inability to take vacation until mid-January (6 month probation period). However, the kids still were the highlight of Christmas for us all and made things fun and festive. Here are the Christmas day highlights:

Nathan was the first to wake up (not surprising) at 6 a.m., raring to go to open up presents. I convinced him to wait until I fed Lukie and then finally around 6:30 a.m. me and the kids were all awake and I let them open our door and start waking up the rest of the family. Our three boys are in such different Christmas stages, it was funny to watch present opening. Nathan of course, just wanted to open any and every present (including those not his). Carter opened one or two and was content with those. Luke we couldn't even really get interested in opening presents, he just wanted to crawl away and climb the stairs (the favorite activity of the trip for him).

Here's Luke with his present from Santa enjoying Grandpa Blaine's lap:

The boys enjoying their great new sled from Grandpa and Grandma (though we have yet to have any snow to actually get to use it! Argh.)

Nathan proudly displaying two of his new presents - his lightsabor and laser gun. (He also has his old lightsabor and a new flashlight attached to his pj pants - this kid is loaded!)

The boys both got lightsabors from Santa - not just any old lightsabors, mind you. These glow and make the whooshing noises! Very exciting. Of course, Santa didn't know they don't collapse down to shorter than 1 1/2 feet and, extended, they are taller than Carter. Ooops...so far though, they have only helped the boys play together more and no major injuries. The best is Carter's repeatedly playing "dead" (see last picture below). He says "I dead" and falls down, sometimes even with his tongue sticking out. It's too cute!

Kids sure do make the holiday season. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for the great visit and all the fun new memories!

The holidays, to be continued....

My Matt

2008-12-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

I am at my in-laws for the holidays and don't have access to my pictures for updates on our holiday festivities, so I decided to steal Callie's blog idea about her husband, since few of you know him nearly as well as me (guys just don't get to sit around and chat for hours during the day during playgroups like us lucky moms! Course they don't have to break up nearly as many kid fights, clean up as many messes...I think it balances out = ).

FIVE THINGS HE LOVES (excluding me and the kids and any gospel references - those are an understood and not very telling):

Music - In the past year or so you would think the guy breathes it, he always has some melody going through his head, often one he is creating (see previous blog about his music). I am wowed with his ability to pick things apart and hear all the different pieces of a song, everything from instruments to chord structures
Animals - He loves watching the nature channel with the boys and you should the meticulous and caring way in which he takes care of our pets - and they are only hermit crabs!
Sports & Exercise
Americas Funniest Home Videos (or any other like show that just make you laugh out loud at spoofs)
Making a difference - that's why he became a government employee (yes, big shock - it wasn't for the money...)

5 Things on His To Do List

Finish updating our home video collection
Clean the house (this one is sweet - the kids and I left in a whirlwind, as trips always go, and Matt is slowly trying to put that whirlwind back together)
Get some actually restful sleep (with me and the kids gone, that's his only chance, as with 3 young kids, we hardly every get to sleep uninterupted through the night!)
Build our family music collection
Watch the movies I said were too boring and didn't want to watch with him

5 Foods He Enjoys

He would say anything "Autumn makes" - I love that he is the number one fan of my cooking
Broccoli - Matt is my hero - he's the only person I know who often eats based on how the food makes him feel, and thus loves good broccoli
Mexican food
Cereal
More cereal!

5 Things You May Not Know About Him

He is so funny. He does a great job of trying to get me to laugh more and loosen up about life.
He's a thinker.
He is not quiet. Because he is a thinker he is fabulous at not saying things without thinking about them (unlike his wife...I have gotten better though!), but mistaking his pensiveness for having nothing to say is his number 1 pet peeve! He won't add to a conversation just to make himself look good.
He is a work horse. He even got the "workhorse" award in his masters program from his peers because he knows how to discipline himself.
He can do one impressive turkey gobble.

5 Places He Has Lived

King City, CA
Provo, UT
Belgium and France (his mission)
San Dimas, CA
Cape Coral, FL

5 Quirky Things About Him

He is a nazi on dental care (he accredits it to his dental merit badge - like if he eats something sweet, he has to eat something to get it off his teeth)
I don't think he has ever gone more than 3 days without working out (okay, that's just impressive, not so quirky...)
He does the socks and sandals scene
He is a total homebody.
He doesn't like the tangy taste of most berries (I was raised on them and LOVE them, but him, not so much)

There it is. He is the love of my life and I sure am missing him right now, as his new job is keeping us apart for the holidays this year. I love you!

2nd Annual Michaelis Gingerbread House FHE

2008-12-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, I tried to make it sound official, but really we are just excited to have two Christmas traditions (makes me feel like I am racking up the mommy brownie points and leaving some kind of legacy for my children!).

The first tradition is Christmas caroling (combined with our treat deliveries) - which we already did this year. We listen to a kids Christmas carols CD constantly in the car, so the kids were well versed in their carols and then we sing just one song at each doorstep (because who really knows what to do when being caroled to? Hold open the door and smile? Invite them in? Sing along?). It started two years ago with Nathan just shaking jingle bells while mom and dad sang, but this year the kids really did sing (and shake bells, just because it's fun). Very fun, underdone tradition.

The second tradition is gingerbread house making. I wish I had some of the pictures to show you, but I remember making these with my family growing up, however it wasn't just houses - castles, teepees, you name it. They were grand creations. Last year was the first year we tried it in our family. *Warning - there is potentially a learning curve with this tradition! We use real homemade gingerbread (an alternative is graham crackers - sturdier and of more consistent size) and homemade frosting. Last year the gingerbread didn't turn out so great. This year, we got good tasting gingerbread, but had issues with the frosting. I put them in frosting tubes, so the kids could squirt it out easier, but their hot little hands made the frosting goopy. I also blundered by using margarine in the frosting. Crazy health nut - some things just need butter!!

But, that aside, we had a great time trying and snacking as we tried (*2nd Warning - this is not a low sugar activity for kids!). We invited some friends over (Spencer, Luke, and Benny + parental figures) to increase the housemaking fun. Matt and our friends' oldest child Spencer (with the help of his dad, big Spencer) got the only two standing houses. The rest of us opted for the just as comfortable, but with less complicated engineering, gingerbread teepees.

Carter with his gingerbread "teepee", complete with marshmallow snowman. I told him to smile, this is what I got! Notice the gobs of frosting all over his teepee - he was going to town until we noticed what he was up to!

Benny must have been taking notes on the fake smiles from Carter:

The group hard at work (no, the hubbies aren't doing ALL the work - I was taking pictures so you could see this, and Kristi was helping Luke make his teepee - but she conveniently sidestepped when I pulled out the camera (yes, I saw that!) - all you can see of her hard work is her finger showing Luke where to put stuff)

Luke with his great looking finished product. His is definitely a born engineer and took his building very seriously (and was understandably frustrated with the goopy frosting!) I love the look on Luke's face in this pic - doesn't he look just like little baby sis Lila?

Spencer with the best looking house of the bunch!

Nathan's teepee...notice that he has the most candy per square foot!!

Matt's house. He only stole a few minutes of time away from helping the kids to throw this together, which is a shame because if you have ever seen this guy build with legos you would know he would have been capable of a gingerbread mansion! Next year...

So, lessons learned and we had a blast. Thanks Kristi and Spencer for sharing our tradition with us. Next year we will have to find a bigger place to have you all over for a gingerbread building party!

Let it S-N-O-W!

2008-12-15T23:43:00.001-08:00

We have spent the last two years of our family life in sunny Florida, where they claim 350ish days of sunshine a year. The beach was literally down the street and, during the summer, we went twice or more times a week. Once you accepted the fact that sand would just be in every crevice of your body, car, house, and your children, it was fabulous.

However, variety is definitely meant to be a part of life and a wonderful cold front came in this weekend and snow with it. We were bummed we didn't have any snow on the ground by Sunday, but the boys thought it was magical Sunday morning when we showed them the flakes of snow coming down and insisted on throwing jackets and shoes on on top of pjs and going outside "in the snow". All they could figure to do with it was catch the snowflakes. Well, Nathan did - Carter just thought it was fun to run around with his tongue out!

We were thrilled this morning when we woke up to find an exciting two inches of snow on the ground. Carter has never seen it and Nathan only knows he has seen it before from videos of him playing in it at age two (see pic below), but doesn't remember it.

So, once we dug deep into our "haven't-used-it-since-living-in-Utah" winter clothes box for all the necessary coverage, we went out into the snow. These boys obviously had gained some sense of what to do in the snow because, as soon as I stepped out (they were in the backyard and had gone ahead of me) they grinned at each other, counted to three and then chucked two snowballs at me! Little stinkers! We used pretty much all the snow behind our town home to make our snowman. I have to tell you though - we never could get a good snowman going in Utah, but for some reason it was super easy here, just roll the little ball along and it picked up tons of snow and voila - a snowman! We were sad we didn't get to go sledding with daddy, as the snow melted very quickly, but maybe next time.

(Nathan was very upset we only had baby carrots for the nose and told me we needed to keep the big carrots around just in case! Still, I think our 10 minute snow man turned out pretty cute!)

Impressions of ZUMBA: A Dumb Jock's Point of View

2008-12-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

This is Matt writing. This is my first entry on this blog. Since Autumn has created this blog, nothing noteworthy enough to feel the urge to write about it has happened with me. Until tonight. If you don’t know already, Autumn teaches fitness classes part time at the YMCA. She specializes in ZUMBA – a high energy Latin dance fitness class. I finally had the chance to participate in her class tonight. She’s been on board about two months now, and I knew she was passionate about it, but I had no idea she was as good as she is! But before I get to how much I liked the class, not to mention her as a teacher, here are some initial impressions of ZUMBA:

- First of all, I love the music. Catchy rhythms, rich chords, and intricate piano cadences…just the type of stuff you want to get up and dance to! I especially liked the improvisational vibe solos, and the jazzy scales they were based on.
- Second, the foundation of how one moves in ZUMBA is similar to the foundation of one moves in basketball, which is something that I am much more familiar and comfortable with. This may be difficult to believe for some of you, but check this out. Both require a high degree of agility, or the ability to stay light on your feet. Both require the ability to know how to pivot, or moving up to a 360 degree circle without lifting up the foot in the radius of the circle. Both require the ability to squat down for extended periods of time, and shuffle the feet (i.e. playing defense in basketball). I honestly believe that ZUMBA is more similar to basketball than any other type of aerobics/dance/fitness class.
- ZUMBA is very low-impact. Great for the joints! That means you can prolong not having to drink nasty collagen lubricant when you get older! (I once taste-tested that stuff at Costco, and it tastes like motor oil!!!)
- ZUMBA is a great workout. It works all the muscle groups, and it is a great balance between cardiovascular consistency and intervallic muscle toning. The only muscle I didn’t work was my obliques, and according to the teacher, the only way you can work those well is if you really know how to shake your hips. Not my forte…yet. So you combine this with the fact that ZUMBA is fun, the time really flies and before you know it you have a cute little sweat ring on your shirt.

Autumn was spectacular. She is at the point where she is good enough to do the moves and add her spunky personality to them. Her enthusiasm for ZUMBA is very contagious. She interacts with people and cracks jokes, and she is the center of attention. When you walk in to a classroom full of people, and she’s teaching ZUMBA, you feel an immediate sense of energy and enthusiasm. How therapeutic is that! I think the main thing that influences all this, though, is the fact that she is smokin’ hot.

I wonder how my baller buddies would feel about me hanging up the bball shoes and converting to ZUMBA…

Time for a Sweet Tooth Extraction!

2008-12-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

My dad is one of my heros. I would LOVE to inherit a lot of his attributes - his amazing patience, his ability to keep his cool (I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard him yell, and both times it involved me sassing my mom as a teenager), his abilty to be friendly to anyone with a heartbeat...However, though I will probably be striving for those attributes into the eternities, the one thing I inherited from my dad that is already well developed is a sweet tooth.

Now, I don't know how bad it is for my dad, but as far as my sweet tooth you need to know what I am talking about. Most of you who know my love for fitness might not even know or suspect this about me. But I don't have just a "having a hankering for sweets on the every few days" type sweet tooth. No, I mean that "I would literally be happy having sweets for every meal of the day as well as my two snacks" type sweet tooth. I love them. They hypnotize me into wanting them constantly, and of course not just one bite.

So, I am declairing war! I am afraid Nathan has inherited my sweet tooth gene and has become an unfortunate mini-me, wanting something sweet all day long. I know these types of resolutions don't usually come mid December, but it is something that is already over due. Carpe Diem - the time is now!

I have seen enough dieting to know that absolute removal of any one food group or making a food "forbidden" (da-da-don!) is not wise and can often lead to over indulgence. So, the new Michaelis family standard is that we will have sweets once a week (typically on Monday night for FHE treats), and on birthdays and holidays. Matt and Carter probably won't notice any difference, but if you see Nathan and I looking a little shaky or seeing just down right cranky, you will know it's just from chocolate withdrawls.

There is something suspiciously wrong with food that does nothing to satiate your hunger (as food is for), but only whets your appetite for MORE. So, for most of the week, I am boycotting it! And if goodies come our way, no problem - we will just freeze them until next FHE treat (my mom was the QUEEN of freezing - you can freeze almost anything). But, don't be offended if I turn sweets down or ask for them to go.

I am going public with this so I have to do it. Feel free to bug me about it, stare at me as I go through an appetizer/dessert line. Please do so I know YOU know of my resolve and our resolve as a family.

Now the real question is...is there a tooth fairy for extracted sweet tooths?

They do like each other!

2008-12-07T10:05:00.001-08:00

I don't know if this is just my lot in life as a mom, but I feel like all day long I am telling my kids to not fight with each other. Of course, I remember having a "contention chart" growing up to try to stop me and my siblings from fighting with each other (okay, mostly ME and my sister from fighting with each other). We all turned out okay and now I am closer to my sister than anyone in my family. But, how to manage the madness from here (the squabbiling all day) to there (when they grow up and realize mom was right and they ARE each other's best friend)? I would love any ideas and tips you guys have on how to manage the fighting madness. Until then, I am posting these pictures of the two boys being oh-so-cute and, for a brief moment, are the best of friends.

My Unfamily Family Day

2008-12-03T20:36:00.001-08:00

As some of you know, this Thanksgiving was both fun and sad as the boys and I got to head home for my annual family gathering, but at the tough cost of leaving Matt here. Matt can't use his vacation for the first 6 months, so in order to make an appearance and see my family, we had to go without him. I know, my husband is on his way to sainthood for spending the holidays alone (however, he was well taken care of here - thanks Kari!). But, we always take family pictures over the Thanksgiving break, so I thought I would introduce those of you who haven't meet them to my fam! My sister is standing next to me (holding Luke), and then my two brothers are on the ends with their wives and daughters. As you can tell, Nathan and all his boy cousins on the front row and thrilled about this picture taking process! It was great to spend time with my family and Nathan loved having fellow star wars jedi to play with him. Thanks again Mom and Dad!

A Belated Oregon Fall

2008-12-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

I know we are well on our way into winter, but I snoozed on my blogging lately and missed sharing this great shot of our Oregon Fall. Who doesn't love fall with all it's beautiful colors and just cool enough weather? We hadn't seen one in two years (palm trees don't change color...), so we were extra excited for this one. This is a more aerial view of where we live from a road just up the street. Just gorgeous!

My Amazing Hubbie

2008-11-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

I am posting below a video of Matt improvising some blues and a little bit of jazz at a talent show when we lived in Florida. I don't know that everyone knows about this recently developed talent of Matt's. He's amazing and just decided to write me a little blues birthday ditty on the piano 5 years ago this month. That was cute and endearing, but also opened up a door for him of creative exploring into the world of piano, specifically jazz and blues. He played in a Jazz band in high school, but trumpet. So, the music skills were there, but only a little bit in piano from lessons as a child. After his little birthday number, piano really struck a chord (sorry, had to make that pun!) and he was off and running. He has done tons of research and practicing and has gone leaps and bounds from a small piano ability to what you see below.

Everything he plays is written and created by himself (how many of the current popular/mainstream musicians can say that!) and I just love hearing him play and create. I am certainly his biggest fan! He has come a long way over the years. Unfortunately since he’s developed symptoms of carpal tunnel his piano playing has died off a bit. But he has taken up songwriting -- refer to www.myspace.com/mattmichaelismusic to check out his songs (he really values feedback).

What can I say, one of several ways in which my husband is amazing!

The beach and the Redwoods

2008-11-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

Even though we knew rain was in the forecast, before it got to be just completely cold and rainy, we decided to make a long awaited trip to the beach and the redwoods. Some friends (thanks Kristi!) told us about a great little day trip that takes you through the Redwoods and then over to the beach (not technically an Oregon beach, but northern CA - by Crescent City). So, we loaded up the van and headed down. We had to laugh when Nathan started whining after being in the car for a bit and said, "Why do we have to go so far to just to look at TREES?!" The redwoods are hard to picture until you see them!

(*Note, all of the following adventures were made by having people jump start us every time we stopped somewhere, as we were having battery connector cable problems (obviously we didn't know that until we had the van fixed yesterday...). We could have gotten just one jump and driven the 1 1/2 - 2hours back home (as the problem evidenced itself infront of Paul Bunyan, but we had just gotten there and were determined to have a good family day. So, crazy as it was, we did most of the things we came to do and just prayed for nice people to get us from one place to another. We got them, thank goodness (the three slightly wet children probably didn't hurt our sympathy vote!))

Our first stop was by the famous Paul Bunyan statue, right on the freeway by the Redwoods. There's really not much to see here, unless you want to pay $14 per person to got through their section of the Redwoods (versus the free version just up the street), but I remember seeing these when I was little, so we went and got our picture by them too. Nathan and Carter were impressed with these large statues of two characters they didn't know at all. At least they were really big!

I could have done without the tacky Christmas decorations in front, but oh well. I do love Nathan's "cool guy" pose though!

Then we stopped by the beach. We knew that OR beaches are obviously very different from Florida beaches - rocky and not so much for beaching as exploring. So, we left the sand toys at home and instead brought jackets in preparation for the rain. It started raining a bit just as we got there, but we explored as much as we could before it scared us into the van.

Rainy or not, Oregon rocky beaches are beautiful!

Our cute boys, probably just happy to be out of the car!

True to form, our boys just wanted to play with the sticks (the waves scared them, so they stayed pretty far away from the water). Nathan used to go to one park in Cape Coral, FL just to find "long sticks". So, you can imagine how happy he was to find one even longer than him and drug it around the whole time. Carter was more into the hording and carried as many as he had hands for!

Of course, you don't have to wonder where they get their love for sticks and all the things they are good for from...
Little Lukie, such a trooper, as always! No complaints from him, though, in an effort to appear to be a good mother, I removed my hood from my jacket and fashioned it into one for him. What a cute little beach eskimo!

Carter, just like at the pumpkin patch with the hay, just wanted to throw the sand. Luckily, we got his hands busy with carrying sticks (which he was too attached to to throw)!

By the time we hit the stretch of Redwoods we wanted to explore, it was more seriously raining (still not the FL downpour we are used to, but enough to not go romping through without an umbrella, even with a redwood covering). We just got out enought to take some decent pictures (as pictures validate any trip) and show Nathan that these weren't just "trees" (he was very impressed and said, "Oh, wow - these are BIG trees!) and really were worth the trip. We earned extra brownie parent points for taking him to the place Star Wars was filmed, as he is in a big Star Wars kick right now. We kept our eyes peeled, but no Ewok sightings this time!

A beautiful view of the magesty of these ancient trees

Matt and Nathan standing in front of the biggest tree they could find in a 5 minute walk. Though not the biggest out there, still a great shot of how amazingly huge these trees are!

We loved the trip, and can't wait to go back without the rain, car problems, and hopefully with one of you!

Name that Baby!

2008-11-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

All this sentimentality about baby Luke has made me take a stroll down memory lane, taking a look at baby pictures. Some people see no resemblence between our boys. Some think our two oldest are twins (okay, only mostly elderly women in Cape Coral thought that one...). I think our boys definitely look alike, but that yearing from alikeness might come from the fact that I come from a family of "mutts" (not in a lesser-breed type way, but in a look-nothing-alike type way). My sister has strawberry blonde hair, my brother red curly, my other brother almost black wavy hair, and then me with stick straight mousy-brown, though all of us with gray-blue eyes. So, having come from a family where someone thinks my brother is my boyfriend before they would guess brother, I would LOVE to have some family resemblence between my kids!

What do YOU think? My friend Kristi did a cute little "guess the baby picture" on her blog, so I am going to steal that great idea. Do they look alike? Can you tell who is who? Do you know your Michaelis boys? Answers posted at the bottom of the page- just drag your scroll bar to the bottom of this page to my first post - so you won't cheat! (PS - Pictures are in black and white because Carter came out with bright strawberry blonde hair and his pictures would be too easy to guess!)

Sweet Lukie

2008-11-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

So with my first baby, everything was so new that I couldn't appreciate much of anything - I was too busy figuring the whole baby thing out! With the second baby, I was trying to figure out how to keep child A happy when child B had needs, so still didn't cherish the baby scene as much as I could have. However, child number three rolls out and he is just amazingly laid back and just one happy kid. We have loved every minute of him. Don't get me wrong, things are still chaotic around here at times (okay, okay maybe more often than not), but somehow with number three I just feel like I can finally appreciate. I am no longer worried and hurriedly checking the baby books to see if he is crawling soon enough or what milestones he should be reaching. I can't say I have the "hang" of motherhood by any means, but have been around the baby block enough times that I can just enjoy this one. And, boy is there a lot to enjoy.

Luke just learned to pull himself up and he is just so tickled by himself that everytime he does, he just starts making serious happy noises and sporting the biggest smile. Not just the first time he did, every single time since. If only I could be as proud of myself for the small accomplishments in life. So here's to you my cute little Lukie - may I smile and light up around those I love as much as you do and learn to rejoice in everyday victories.

A "Super" Halloween

2008-11-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

I love the holiday season. Come October 1, I am pulling out the boxes of Halloween decorations and we just decorate and do various festive activities for the next two months (we take a short break between New Years and Valentines day and then we enter the "birthday months" (Luke, then Matt, then Carter, then Nathan with Easter sandwiched between)). My mom instilled in me a love for the holidays and the great way they break up the day to day life.

This year for costumes let my kids pick their costumes and apparently (as you will see in later pics) the hot costumes for little boys are superheros. My budget directed Nathan towards superman (okay, so I found the costume in the thrift store for $3 and we were both pumped - the only costume I didn't have to make!), Carter already had the batman mask, and Luke already had the incredibles shirt. So, several late sewing nights later, I had three adorable superheros on my hands. They had a blast going to a great kids Halloween party on Thursday, Trick or Treating at dad's work on Friday, as well as Trunk or Treating at the church, and then hitting a few houses Trick or Treating, as Nathan informed us the Trunk or Treating wasn't the "real" trick or treating. I definitely thinned out their candy (some I bought, some I just threw away when they went to bed), but all in all we had a great Halloween.

The development of a Superhero:

Step 1: Get some muscles (ours were so conveniently built into the costume, no crunches
or ab shock belts for us!)

Step 2: Show off your muscles to everyone. Especially bad guys so they will know to stay
away.

I love how there is also apparently a "muscle-showing-tough-guy" face, which Nathan so perfectly displays!

Carter didn't quite get the whole showing off your muscles scene.

But, he soon perfected his own tough guy fighting stance:

Step 3: Develop an alliance with other superheros to ensure you will be able to pow the snot out of any bad guys in the vacinity! (This is Nathan and some friends at the kids Halloween party - there were about 10 little boys there and almost all of them were superheros!)

Nathan also had his first experience with bobbing for apples at the party. It was a race between two kids and Nathan lost in a matter of seconds, but was determined to do it. This is him bobbing away:

Then, realizing how hard it was, this is him resorting to cheating (using his hand) to get an apple:

Then, finally, in his cute little determined way, he wanted to try again without cheating and made all his little friends wait for what seemed like forever for him to finally get an apple:

And finally (yes, believe it or not this is 1/10 of the pictures we actually took of this holiday), here are the cute pics from before heading off to trick or treating. Oh, and if you are wondering, Luke is Jack-Jack, the baby from the Incredibles.

You just gotta laugh...

2008-10-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Nathan today was playing with his toy guys and one was shooting other. He said that one "killed" the other one. I reminded him that in our household we don't kill bad guys, we put them in prison and give them a chance to make good choices. He just looked at me and said, "It's okay to kill them mom. They will be resurrected."

At least I know he's listening to one part of what I am teaching him!

Oh to be Incredible!

2008-10-26T21:59:00.001-07:00

It was a weekend of firsts for us a couple this past weekend. Matt and I went to our first couples Halloween party and, in order to do so, even hired our first babysitter (we have always date swapped or had friends without kids watch them in the past). I had to laugh at myself as I tried to figure out how to find a babysitter (it was a young woman in the ward), how much to pay her (I asked her mom what her going rate was), what the employer/employee etiquette was (you know, that oh so fun polite interaction when you are picking them up, taking them home, and also assuring their parents that you are good people). But, we survived the babysitting scene, might even find it in our pocketbooks to do it again sometime, and had a great time at the party.

The party was a costume party, of course, and so up until two days before the event we couldn't agree on a costume. Matt liked one that had a funny guy role, but a boring girl role (Angela and Dwight from The Office) and I liked one that had a great girl role, but kinda embarassing guy role (okay, so totally embarassing - like loin cloth embarassing: She-ra and He-man - it was an eighties themed party). Finally, we took a cue from our cute little superhero boys and decided on Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. I sewed the costumes free form the night before, so they were defintely imperfect and safety-pinned together in places, but they were way cute and we had fun. Nathan and Carter thought it was pretty amazing that they had "supers" for parents. I had to laugh that Nathan told me that next year he thought we should all be Incredibles and he wanted to be the one that could "do forcefields and disappear." "You mean Violet?" "Yeah, mom I want to be Violet." Oh, to be so innocent that gender means nothing.

To the Pumpkin Patch!

2008-10-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a great tip from a friend (thanks Kari!) we headed off as a family to the pumpkin patch today. Matt and I hadn't been since childhood and Nathan has been dying to go (thanks to the idea from various halloween books and Charlie Brown's Halloween movie). We had so much fun!

First, we went through the "sunflower" maze. Yes, this is the "baby" corn maze - you won't seriously get lost in it. However, I have a bad taste in my mouth for real corn mazes (they had one of those too), probably thanks to a college FHE night at the corn maze in which it was really dark, I truly couldn't find my way out, and, to top it off, they had men running around trying to make girls scream with their chainsaws! So, can you blame me, I don't do real corn mazes any more!

Next was one of our favorite parts of the day - a mountain of hay. We got there and no other kids were on top of it, but Nathan and Carter quickly figured out the great thing about this mountain - throwing it!! Carter was especially gleeful and we had the hardest time taking him away from it. Maybe he had finally found justice in the world! Luke was just too cute sitting in the hay.

Oh, boy oh boy oh boy!
Fire away!

Take that Nathan!

Whee!! Look, I can make a mess and Mommy doesn't care! Freedom!

Hey, Carter, let's gang up on Daddy!

Just too darn cute!

Nathan looking cute too (Carter wouldn't hold still long enough for a "cute hay" pic!)

After that, Nathan was just dying to go pick out a pumpkin. He was convinced he would find the "perfect" one. Of course, every one he saw was the "perfect" one (even a few rotting ones), but we finally directed him towards a winner. Here are our picks, not including the little baby pumpkin we got for Lukie:

Here's our pumpkins!

One of the many, many "perfect" pumpkins
Mom, I can't carry it - it's too heavy! Oh, you mean the wheelbarrow we brought isn't just for me to ride in?

Don't worry, mom, I'll carry this!

And finally, we just took a little more time to take some cute fall pictures, Nathan rode a pony, and we all did a little hay ride. Matt and I drove away feeling like we had done our good parent deed for the week, introducing our kids to fall!

Driving a tractor - Grandpa Dell will be so proud!

My new favorite picture of Luke! Cutie Patootie!

Nathan riding his first animal

Two cute little boys (both finally smiling at the same time after only 10 pictures!)

What IS Zumba?

2008-10-16T13:57:00.001-07:00

As of two weeks ago I am a Zumba fitness instructor here at the local YMCA. I certified a month ago and then just started teaching and LOVE it. It's a lot of work to pick up a new type of aerobics like that (and then be able to turn around and teach it), but I am coming to really enjoy it.

So what is it?

Zumba is a latin dance fitness craze that has literally gone world-wide. It started with a guy named Beto, an aerobics teacher at the time, forgetting his music for a class and having to use the latin music that he just had in his car. His class loved it and it just grew and grew from there. His idea is that working out shouldn't be dreaded - Zumba classes are supposed to be high energy and "party-like" (that's a quote from their website), as well as a good work out and a fun way to learn different dance steps. One of the biggest challenges is making it universal - for dancer and non-dancer alike. Dancers will catch on faster because of their experience, but instructors try to build on basic steps so that everyone can do it. The basic steps build on latin steps like merengue, salsa, etc. If you are interested, they have a website http://www.zumba.com/ that shows you a little more about it. And yes, I wear more clothes when I teach than most of their models do!

I have seen amazing results in the last two weeks from a bunch of people who weren't sure they could do it to regulars who plan on being at every class. I have definitely fallen on my face as I have pushed myself to be a professional instructor (I have been certified since college, but have been wrapped up in motherhood and hadn't made it a priority yet), but enjoy the rewards of helping people have fun and work out. I feel like I have found a part of myself again - I was the energetic (probably slightly annoying) teenager who was not only at every stake dance, but every stake dance within the three surrounding stakes (yes, I was that zelous). I love to dance, I love smiling, and I love working out and this combines all three.

So, if you are ever in the area, let me know - you can Zumba!

Who's who answers: Luke: #1 and #6, Carter #3 and #5, Nathan: #2, #4, #7 and #8 (sorry, first child overdose of pictures sindrome - we just have more pictures to work with from his baby days! Sad!)