This cutie just turned 3! On October 11th (Andersen finally knows his birthday and its the cutest when he says it!) Andersen turned 3! He has been looking forward to this day for a while now and has had a mental countdown for days. Andersen kept asking how many more sleeps until his birthday. Finally Andersen's birthday was here and we had "no more sleeps" and he was so excited. To celebrate I started with a friend party during the day while Nate was at work. We tossed around a bunch of ideas but a Halloween party was the final decision. We have so many kids his age in our neighborhood so I let Andersen invite a few over to play in their Halloween costumes. Jaden Christiansen, Josh Jenkins, Parker Christensen and Bronco Osness were his special guests. We played a couple games including pin the smile on the pumkin (Thanks to Josh's mom!) and read some fun Halloween books. The kids had mummy hotdogs for lunch and spider cup cakes for dessert. Later was Andersen's favorite... PRESENTS!

After his friends went home, Andersen had a quick quiet time and then he was back celebrating. Nana came to pick him up around 4:30 for their date. They went to Target and of course he got spoiled. Some of his many presents he picked out were a "Cars... Mac tow truck", Lightning McQueen stuffed car, some electronic spiders, new shoes and socks, and I am sure I missed a few more things. 

After their date, Nate and I and the other two kids met them at Chili's for some dinner. Andersen didn't want the workers to come sing to him but they did anyways and Jack's was very appreciative of the free treat! When we were done with dinner we came back home to open presents and do Andersen's birthday cake. Once we got "Grandma and Grandpa Colorado" on Skype it was go time on all his other presents from us. He got a soccer ball and cones, some coloring stuff, some small Lego sets and his favorite (and Jack's too) 3 super hero action figures... He got Hulk, Captain America, and Spider-Man. Another favorite of his was his $$ from his grandparents in Colorado. This boy loves his money so he was so excited as you can tell from the picture. We were all so full from dinner still so after presents we sang Happy Birthday to him so he could blow out his candles on his cake, but no one was even interested in eating it. I think Andersen was the only one that had a piece and that didn't happen until the next day and the rest got thrown away. I think by his smile in this last picture of the night with Nate and I tells me he had a fun day celebrating so that is all that matters to me. Happy Birthday little booger! You have brought so much fun into our family by your silly personality these past 3 years. We love you like crazy!

First Smiles

I don't remember my boys being so smiley, but Maelyn is always flashing this cute little grin at us. Maelyn started smiling at us just after being a few days old but she was 3 weeks old in this picture. They come and go so quickly so this was the first one I could capture on camera. Nothing better than your child recognizing your face and voice!

Maelyn's 2 weeks

I know its only been a few weeks with this little lady in our home but it seems like she's been here forever. Her first two weeks were spent pretty much sleeping away her time in between all our guests coming to meet her. One of our favorite guests was Grandpa Dave. He came to visit us the Sunday after Maelyn was born. It was a short visit, but we take whatever time we can get. My favorite part of newborns is catching them in all their silly sleeping positions. Her first two weeks we also had our first outing with just me and the 3 kids. We made a trip to Dr. Boud's office for Maelyn's 2 week check up. She had a great check up weighing in at 6lbs 3oz (Just an ounce bigger than birth weight) and 20 1/2 inches long (1/2 inch longer than birth). It is definitely an adjustment having such a tiny baby but she is SO much fun.. now if we can only find some clothes that fit this little noodle.

Midas Creek Fun Run

Just weeks before I delivered Maelyn, Jackson's school was doing a fun run for a school fundraiser. Jackson was dying to go (thanks to the teachers good announcements) so after dinner I took the boys over to the school. They were so excited! They were the 3rd group so we had to wait 45 minutes or so, but eventually it was warm-up time and then time to run. I wasn't sure how the boys would do but I just told Andersen to stay by Jackson. The horn blew and they were off! Andersen made it around one lap before he lost Jackson and wanted to be done. He came and hung out with me as we cheered Jackson on for his other 3 laps. I was so proud of Jacks. He ran all 4 laps only taking a few breaks here and there to walk. After the running part was over, Disney Radio was doing a raffle drawing for each running group. Jackson happened to be one of the lucky winners scoring a fun Halloween mix on CD. We have spent the last few weeks listening to his CD and now the boys love Halloween music. I am so glad Jackson insisted on us going because I had so much fun watching the boys run and have fun participating in his school activities.

The Green Alligators

 Just weeks before Maelyn was born Andersen started his first season of soccer. I was worried how the season would go because the practice day Andersen wanted nothing to do with it. Come game time he was a completely different kid. Andersen was so excited about his first game! Not sure if his excitement was for the actual game or just for his own uniform. He loved putting everything on, including his socks all the way up his thighs. I only got to go to the first few games and the very last game because of me being in the hospital or home with Maelyn, but for the most part Andersen played the entire time every game. There was one day that he spent the game pouting on Nana's lap refusing to play, but that didn't last long when he realized he didn't get the team treat afterwards if he didn't play. Its amazing to see how Andersen and his buddies developed in their skills just within a handful of games. Andersen has always played aggressive and not afraid of the ball but he also was the one running the other team over resulting in him always falling down on the grass. Towards the end of the season he got that all out of his system and was running with the pack. No goals out of Andersen this season but overall I think he did amazing for his first season of soccer. 

Can't wait until next season little booger! Good job Green Alligators!

(Top:Coach Travis, Jaden Christiansen, Issac Young, Andersen, Connor Mather, Coach Scott, Bottom: Cash Smith, Parker Christensen, Bronco Osness, and Landon Fenton. 

Not in picture: Addison Pack, Jake Howard)

Maelyn's Birth Story

Our baby girl has finally arrived! On September 25, 2012 Maelyn Grace was born at 11:12am weighing in at 6lbs 2ounces and measuring 20 inches long.

The story begins weeks before this special day though. As this pregnancy draws to an end and I am visiting Dr. England every week, I was constantly getting the same bummer news of my body not progressing. That has never been the case with the boys so of course I am mentally defeated thinking our baby girl is never coming. About 38 weeks Dr. England encouraged me to set an induction date because he was leaving town. Hesitant and really not sure if I wanted to be induced I schedule my induction just so I could get on the schedule and guarantee Dr. England would deliver our baby. (We're 3 for 3 with Dr. England!) Deep down I was hoping she would just come early and I wouldn't have to worry about it all. On September 20th, I went in for my 39 week check and I was barely a tight one and about 50% thinned. Still not enough progress to guarantee I could even get induced the next week so as I was leaving my appointment Dr. England told me to schedule one last time and the day before induction. He wanted to see if I had progressed and to see if he could help progress me farther along so the labor and delivery nurses wouldn't chance sending me home from my induction. Here is the last picture of myself being pregnant. I took it the day before I delivered and right before my last doctor appointment.

Unfortunately only a 4 days before my actual due date and just 16 hours until my induction I was still at the same point as my last appointment. For weeks Dr. England reassured me this was normal and it didn't really matter what my cervix was doing until the actual moment of delivery. So he sent me on my way and said he'd see me in the morning. At this point, although still defeated my body isn't going into labor, I accepted the fact I was going to have to be induced. I decided I would rather have Dr. England deliver our baby than have the moment of going into labor on my own. That night Nate had school and my mom was already in town so she took me and the boys to Red Robin for dinner one last time before our little one would join us and we were house bound for awhile. As we were eating dinner I had 2 strong contractions back to back. That was huge for me considering I wasn't contracting much let alone back to back at this point. I didn't want to get my hopes up so I chalked it up to me just cramping from my doctors appointment just a couple hours before. We were driving home from dinner when I had another contraction, and then shortly after we got home I had another while we were outside visiting with neighbors. That was 4 consecutive contractions which was a big deal for my body but still didn't think much about it since I mentally had committed to my induction. Time went on and I got busy with my "to do list" of things I wanted to get done before our early morning and before I knew it it was 11:00pm and I decided I should probably get some sleep. 1:00am rolls around and I have Jackson at the side of my bed waking me up because he had a scary dream. I told him he could climb in bed with us and he quickly fell back asleep. Me on the other hand laid there for an hour realizing I was contracting every 3 minutes. After tracking my contractions for an hour I decided I should probably get ready. I rolled over to wake Nate up letting him know I was getting in the shower because our little girl had decided to make her own plans for today. By the time we were both showered and packed it was about 3:45am. Both boys had made it into our bed by now and had fallen back to sleep so I walked downstairs to let my mom know we were leaving and to let her know both boys were sound asleep in our bed. She anxiously got up to lay with them and await our updates.

Luckily we delivered at Riverton Hospital this time and it was only a few minute drive. It was barely 4:00am when we were checking in at the nurses counter in labor and delivery. Once I told them my name I am sure they thought I was crazy! They said "we have you scheduled to be induced later this morning, did your water break?". After telling them about my contractions, they said "well lets just get you started a few hours earlier than". It was kind of nice being checked right in. Rather than putting us in a room to "wait it out" to see if I was really in active labor it was 4:30am and I was hooked up to my IV's and dripping away. I had to have the penicillin again for testing positive for Strep B so that was the first priority. Dr. England delivered a baby next door shortly after we had arrived so he stopped by to check on me. His first words were "you are the last person I thought I'd see here this morning going into labor on her own!" He also checked me real quick only to find out I was STILL at a tight one just like the nurses had stated from their earlier check. He went from thinking this was normal to this is strange... "I don't know why your cervix is being so stubborn this time". He said with a little pitocin things could change real quick so he wasn't concerned. He let us know he was going back home to get some more sleep and that he'd come back in a few hours to break my water. By the time I had made it through my first 2 bags of antibiotics, the anesthesiologist had already been called and I was feeling pretty dang good around 6:00am. I always love the epidural! What a relaxing feeling as the contractions slowly disappear and every muscle from the back down go numb and relax. Definitely worth every penny! Dr. England made his second visit around 8:30am. At this time he checked me again and I was STILL at a tight one. He was so confused on the lack of progress, but was able to force me to a 3 and break my water. He estimated delivery for sometime mid afternoon. He told us to hang tight and the nurses would notify him as I got closer. With his estimate, Nate and I knew we could be in for a long afternoon since we had already been there since 4am. We spent the time just relaxing as much as we could. The nurses kept coming back in to check on me and readjust my monitors so I couldn't really get much sleep. But I don't think I would have been able to rest anyways because the nurses were showing concern for our baby's heartbeat. Every time I would contract her heart rate would drop drastically. At first the nurses weren't too concerned because as soon as the contraction was over her heart rate popped back up to where it should be and was going strong. I remember feeling a really strong contraction and I looked over at the monitors only to see our baby's heart beat drop drastically lower than what it had been doing already. I knew shortly after that one the nurses would be back in to check on me. Little did I know Dr. England would be leading the pack my way. It was about 10:30am when he came back in to check on me. I had miraculously went from a forced 3 to an 8 within 2 hours! The nurses and Doc couldn't believe it. Dr. England said "I am thinking we need to get things started. Something is making your little girl stress and she is getting tired. I am going to force you to a 10 and then have you start pushing." He rambled a bunch of things to me but all I remember is him ordering the delivery nurses to get things set up and calling a lung specialist for our baby just in case. As soon as he was all suited up for delivery he checked me again and I was already at a 10. It was definitely game time but the atmosphere in the room instantly went from the laid back funny Dr. England to showing some real concern for our baby's safety. It took everything in me not to freak out and burst into tears trying to find out what was going wrong with our baby. Just the night before (and many months before this) I kept telling Nate how scared I was for this one and how I felt like something wasn't right with her. I know its every mother's worst fear of something going wrong during pregnancy and delivery so I tried to push those thoughts aside until this intense moment. The thoughts kept going through my head as tears are rolling down my face that "this is where its all going to happen, something is wrong with our baby girl and we are going to lose her!" Next thing I remember is the nurse putting an oxygen mask on my face telling me to "take deep breaths, your baby needs all she can get right now". I was a mess but kept telling myself to focus on what Dr. England was asking me to do as I was about to push. With only 3 pushes she was finally here only to have the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice. I remember looking down just in time to watch Dr. England unwrap it and realizes what was stressing her out so much. She was so blue but they instantly put her on my chest. The nurses reassured me our baby was fine and I was able to finally relax. I was in Mommy heaven although still in shock from the intense few minutes we just had. Nothing felt better than that new little warm body next to mine as I soaked in the moment with Nate of what a miracle these little babies really are.

After a few minutes of the Dr and nurses cleaning me up, Maelyn's big brothers got to come in from being out in the hall and meet their new little sister. They had spent the last 9 months praying for her and lovin' and kissing my tummy so finally getting to see her, they were instantly in love! Jackson and Andersen were so sweet with her and were so interested in every detail. Jackson especially followed her wherever the nurses took her just to make sure she was ok and watched everything they were doing. It was so cute, Nurse Blanch let Jackson be a part of all the newborn testing they do. She let him be right there when Maelyn got weighed and measured. He was at her side as Blanch did her footprints and even let him help with the apgard test to check her reflexes. They instantly bonded and Jacks never wanted to leave her side.

Thank goodness the proud Grandma's were there too to help with the boys and share our special family moment with us.

Its moments like these that makes a couples love stronger than it was just the day before. I most definitely love my boys, but I have always wanted a little girl too, so finally getting this moment I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Gratitude for Heavenly Father bringing her safely to our home. I felt so ashamed being disappointed in my lack of progress those last few weeks of pregnancy because now seeing the big picture I felt like it was a special tender mercy. I feel like Heavenly Father was protecting her all along because if I would have progressed like I did during delivery and Maelyn drop into that birth canal earlier than just minutes before delivery we would have lost her. That umbilical cord could have easily strangled her and taken her from this world. We already love Maelyn so much and its amazing how something so small can change a family so drastically for the better.

Welcome to your new home and family of 5 baby girl! 

We love you!

"Avenger's Assemble"

One of Jackson's favorite things to do is coloring or draw on whatever paper he can find. The other day he showed me this masterpiece and said "Avenger's Assemble". I LOVED IT! If you can't tell this is all the Avengers and a few other superheros (another one of his favorites! He loves everything superhero) We have starting at the top to the bottom is Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Captain American, (can't remember the big yellow guy), the Wasp, Hulk, Iron Man, and (can't remember the little red guy either). Good work Jacks! So proud of you and I love your creativity!

Little Booger is turning 3!

I can't believe Andersen is turning 3 later this week! Seems like yesterday we were just adding him to our family. Now we wouldn't know what to do without him. Lately he has been our entertainment. He is always doing and saying the funniest things. For example, these two pictures. A couple months ago, before the bunk beds, I put Andersen in his crib for time out. Within seconds I kept hearing loud noises. When I went in to see what was going on, I got this picture! He kept saying "cannonball!" and would jump into his crib. I couldn't help but laugh and capture his proud smile. The other picture is just from the other day. Whether it is him looking through all the pictures or me taking pictures of him he is obsessed with my phone camera lately. I was doing something in the kitchen while he was at the chair watching when he asked me to look at him and then asked "I'm cute, huh? Take a picture of it, k?" Anyone that knows Andersen, knows his voice and facial expressions are priceless. I LOVE the way he talks and how his face shows so much emotion. Another one of my favorite sayings he says lately is "I only have one hand, I can't!". I get this every time I ask him to pick something up or put away something of his. Lately he has loved playing with his friends, wrestling with Jackson or anything that Jackson likes for that matter, anything superheroes, anything electronics, his chocolate milk and apple juice and of course CANDY. That is one of the first thing he asks for when he wakes up is his chocolate milk and then a treat. The other day Nate took Jackson to the BYU game and it was just me, Andersen and Maelyn at home to play. Andersen and I were watching a show when he passed some gas my way and said "That was my butt talking, mom!" Also, its been probably a good 6 months but he is officially potty trained. We have accidents every once in awhile and he still wears a pull up at night just in case, but more times than not it is dry and accident free. He loves his new bunk beds, but has to have Daddy "cuddy" him usually or he refuses to go to sleep. I love that Andersen knows he birthday is "October 11th" (if only I could insert the actual way he says it) and we love his overall goofy, yet really whiny sometimes, personality. Our family definitely wouldn't be the same without him and Jacks would be super bored without his buddy.

We LOVE you little Booger!!

STITCHES

It feels like it is never a dull moment with these two rowdy boys of mine! and Thursday was no exception. Earlier in the day I had my 38 week appointment where I got another week of bummer news that my body is doing NOTHING to work towards delivery day. Luckily my old neighbor Connie was bringing us dinner and man was it perfect timing because it helped cheer me up and distract me from my "poor me" mood I was in. We chatted for a good hour until she went home and then me and the boys enjoyed our yummy dinner while Nate took off for scouts round table. It wasn't even an hour after Connie left, us eating dinner, cleaning up dishes, when I heard the boys running around the kitchen only to have Andersen start screaming. I was walking into the kitchen right as he hit the corner of the table. Andersen instantly starting screaming and came towards me. All I saw was this huge gash on his head that was SQUIRTING blood all over him and the floor. All I could do was grab whatever was closest to me and cover it up. Jacks being the good brother he is instantly knew something was wrong and knew this was more than just a little scratch. As I was holding a dish rag to Andersen's head I had Jacks go grab all our shoes and we quickly jumped in the car to drive over to the instacare. Andersen cried for Nate the entire way, so luckily he had his phone close to him during his meeting because he was able to quickly meet us over there.

They quickly got us checked in and back to the procedure room. Andersen was a little nervous and anxious for it all but was pretty dang brave! They started with the numbing stuff on his head for 25 minutes. After the initial taping and having Nate there to cuddle with he was able to settle down and we started seeing a couple smiles. Next was the cleaning process and once again the tears and screaming were in full force. This time I think it was the cold water running off his forehead into his ear that was scaring him. But as soon as the nurse was done doing that, she got him a popsicle and we were back to a few smiles. Then it was game time! After two doctors opinions on whether we should do glue or stitches, stitches were agreed on and it was time to wrap Andersen up to help him hold still. I think it was the only time through this all that we actually got a laugh out of him. We called him a little "burrito baby", because he loves burritos, and he obviously was a little proud of it. The last step was the actual stitches now that he was all prepped. Andersen instantly was screaming and Jacks had a hard time watching him be so uncomfortable that me and him walked out of the room while Nate stayed by Andersen's side as the Doc did his thing. We were out in the hall for what felt like FOREVER until I heard Andersen screaming for "mommy" that I went back in to watch the Dr finish that last couple knots to his last stitch. Good thing they had turned on Thomas the Train earlier for Andersen to watch because it was a good distraction for Jacks so he didn't have to watch Andersen. 

2 hours from start to finish we were walking out of the the hospital with treats, stickers, the squirt gun they cleaned out his wound with and 2 stitches! Andersen was pretty proud of himself as we kept telling him how brave he was. We got in the car and it was all smiles again like nothing ever happened. A few days later he has continued to be just as brave. He only complained about his head once and that was the following morning, but after some medicine we haven't heard a complaint since. 3 more days of the stitches and we will make another visit back to the instacare to get the stitches removed.

I am hoping now that we have experienced staples, glue, and now stitches between the 2 boys we have taken our share of injuries but knowing how boys work I am sure this is just the beginning. For what could have been worse, I feel like overall Andersen was amazingly tough and we couldn't have had a better doctor. Andersen still to this day says "my buddy?" when we are talking about the doctor. Thanks Dr. Whipple! Let's just hope he has some good "sewing" skills and this one doesn't leave a mark.

Brigham City Temple OPENHOUSE

Last Tuesday I skipped out on our Young Women activity to join the family on a trip to the Brigham City Openhouse. We didn't have a reservation, but we figured they wouldn't turn us away so we'd take our chances and just show up.

 Jackson was so excited to go to the Temple that he asked questions all day. When are we leaving? How long does it take to get there? Where is it at? Is it beautiful inside? He even wanted to wear his white shirt because he knows you wear white in the temple. So cute! He looked like a little missionary getting all dressed. I definitely had a mommy moment realizing that day will be here before I know it. He was able to go through the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain Temples when they were just built but couldn't remember a whole lot about our visits. 

Nate had work so me and the boys met Nate and Nana off the freeway so we could leave as soon as possible. We made up to the Temple around 6:30 only to start the long line waiting process. We parked in the bus parking lot, waited 5 buses until it was our time to get on the bus. A few minutes later we were at the Temple and waiting in another long line for our turn to watch the 12 minute introduction movie and make our way to the entrance. I loved watching the boys get their white booties to cover their shoes and then to enter in as family is always a sweet feeling. This Temple is definitely smaller than the ones we are used to but it of course is just as beautiful as the rest.

After we made it through the whole Temple we walked around the Temple grounds to get some pictures. Andersen's reaction was by far the best. Before we walked through the Temple it was light outside and by the time we finished the sun had set and the Temple was all lit up. We walked up the stairs to ground level from the underground parking garage only to hear and see Andersen gasping at the beautiful sight.

We finished the long night with a late dinner at McDonalds and finally made it back home at 11:30. I really didn't think we'd be gone that long, but I am so glad we made the drive and took the time to let the boys walk through the Temple. Jackson said his favorite part was seeing the "Sealing Room" while Andersen said his favorite was "riding the buses". Got to love the innocence of little children. I am sure the boys will have a few more chances to walk through Temples before they are 12 but if not I hope these visits as they are younger are strong enough memories for them to keep their desire to go through for their own covenants as they get older.

I love the Temple no matter the reason of the visit because its always a good reminder that families can be together forever. I love you boys (and little sister!) and I am glad we will be together forever!

Baby Bump... From 20-38 weeks

I have a hard taking pictures of myself like this but I know it always makes for good memories years down the road. I started taking a few once I hit the 20 week mark. Since then it has just been random times. I am now officially past the 38 week mark and ready to meet this little lady! The last couple weeks have been a little frustrating because Dr. England tells me I am doing absolutely NOTHING... no dilation, not really contracting like I should be 2 weeks out, and he even tried to force dilate me on Thursday and NOTHING!! I feel like I am more than ready for her to get her... Room is all set up, clothes have been washed and put away, car seat all cleaned, her bag is all packed... man I even cleaned out the car and garage! I don't know what more I can do to prepare for her arrival, but until then I guess I get to practice my patience and enjoy our last few days as just the 4 of us. Your brothers are just as anxious to meet you and kiss mommy's tummy and pray for you everyday to get here safely... so if you can't listen to me, listen to your brothers and come join our family soon! 

5 pairs in 5 MONTHS!!

I sure love this kid, but seriously... This is our 5th pair of broken glasses in 5 months! Luckily his glasses are under warranty and we've been able to get a new pair quickly every time. This past break we haven't been as lucky though. They are still under warranty but unfortunately they were on back order for weeks! Poor Jacks has been wearing these crooked glasses for two weeks. They originally told us the middle of October, but just a couple days ago they came in way earlier than expected. Phew... just in time for baby sister to get here. I don't know who was more happy for a new pair of glasses... Mommy or Jacks?? I honestly don't think it phased him though to wear broken glasses everyday because he never complained about it once and still wore them every second of the day. Definitely tells Nate and I how blind this little boy is because no kid would continue to wear them as faithfully as he does if he didn't really need them to see.

Visits from the Sampsons...twice!

This summer we were lucky to have the Sampson's out from Minnesota to visit TWICE! We usually get at least one visit, but two within a couple months was the best! The first visit was for my oldest nephew Jordan's high school graduation. I can't believe he is already done with school. It seems just like yesterday we all were at the hospital waiting to hear his first little cry. Now 18 years later he has grown into this fine young man and is off to college. Aside from the actual graduation day, we partied it up at my brother Jared's house to celebrate and let all the cousins play together. We also spent some time at the splash park and Jackson and Riley had their first sleepover together without his Mom there to tuck him in. The boys were so excited to be together that even one night of sleep away was too much. We brought him home to our house, the boys got bathed and then they snuggled into Jacks bed to watch a movie on the IPAD. Riley had a quick "I need my Mommy" moment but he was brave and we made it through a successful sleepover.

The next visit the Sampson's slept at our place. Mike didn't get to join them this time, but they came out to Utah for my niece Katelyn to go to a gymnastic camp up at the University of Utah. While Katelyn spent the week at camp, Lynne and I had some good sister time while the boys played. We spent a day at the Riverton pool, played at Jared's house and celebrated Collin's 1st birthday. Katelyn was homesick most of the time so that left Lynne worrying about her and joining her for lunch to cheer her up. Even though she didn't have as much time as we thought to hangout, I took whatever time I could get with my sister around since it doesn't happen too often being miles apart. Also this weekend while my mom and sister were both in town they gave me an awesome baby shower! We definitely got spoiled and it was fun to have as many of the extended family members around that could come.

2nd Annual Pie Night

Seems like Young Women's creates a busy summer, and it does, but it also creates some of the funniest times spent with our girls and leaders. Last year another YW President shared her PP activity with us and we started our own tradition. This year it was our 2nd year doing our PP Pie Challenge. We challenged the girls to do as much PP they could from June to August, along with our new challenge this year of learning to index for genealogy work. Needless to say some of the girls took our challenge very seriously and together they earned 154 pies to throw at us leaders and bishopric members. Got to love the before and after pics! Good work girls!

Girls Camp {Heber Valley Camp}

After going through my Youth Conference pictures I realized I never wrote about Girls Camp this year. I don't know how I forgot because this year was by far one of my favorites (as a leader and a youth and I have gone to 10+ years of camp!) Here is our group of girls and leaders about to board the bus to make our trek up to Heber Valley Camp in Heber. This year it was Stake Girls Camp and we had the best ward and stake camp directors. The theme was "Seek His Light and Shine" from 1 Nephi 17:13. Each ward was supposed to pick a light source and we decided to be the Fireflies. We had so much fun with our theme. We used the Aztec definition of a firefly, "a spark of knowledge in a world of ignorance or darkness", to teach our girls.

We seriously had the best group of leaders and girls this year! Once we made it to camp it was time to settle into our AWESOME 5 star camping arrangements. We had these roomy cabins for our group to all sleep together and we even had electricity. Best way to camp at 30 weeks pregnant!

One of my favorite activities among many fun memories that we made at camp was our time we spent on the lake. This activity was meant for the girls to reflect on all the great things around us and all that the Savior has done for us. All the girls got in canoes while the leaders got in paddle boats, floated out onto the lake and then they had a 2 minute of silence to reflect, followed by everyone singing "I Feel My Savior's Love". What a sweet moment hearing all the girls voices sing so reverently. I couldn't help but think of the scripture (my favorite BTW) hanging right before you get your life jackets to go onto the lake "Let your hearts be comforted... Be still and know that I am god"

Another favorite memory of camp, that I miss, are looking down on these cuties rubbing my tummy to feel my little lady or watching them enjoy the swollen cankles that I was sporting all week. Being 30 weeks pregnant I had an easy excuse to miss camp, but man I wouldn't have chosen to be anywhere else during that week. The girls and leaders were so good to me too that it was almost easier to be at camp than at home!

There are way too many spiritual experiences to write down to remember, but aside from the real meaning of camp and teaching the girls and feeling the Spirit, there are many funny moments that happen at camp that we all will remember FOREVER. These are just a few captured on camera. The Olsen sisters cheeto contest, GLOWIA our camp mascot, The "MORPH" suit sighting, funny conversations during craft time, celebrating Nikki's birthday and the best with Amanda burning her fingers and the rest of the time being wrapped up and used as her primary fingers to do everything!

Usually my favorite night at camp is the night the Bishopric joins us, and yes it was pretty dang fun to have them there, but the night before when Amanda surprised us all with little glow worms was a special moment for all. She made a glow worm out of water bottles for all the girls and leaders, put a glow stick in them, got a letter from all parents and husbands and put them out in the Volleyball field so it looked like a field of fireflies flying around. We all went and found our little glow worms and spent the rest of the night in our bunks enjoying sweet words from home.

Bishopric night was definitely memorable though! The girls were at the challenge course right before the Bishopric got up there so we decided to make things easy and ask them to bring up pizza and salad for dinner. They were running a little late and the girls were starving so a last minute joke Amanda and Hollie played on the girls was telling them the Bishopric wasn't coming and that we were going to practice what we had just learned the night before... fasting! The girls faces were priceless! One of my favorite quotes from one of my YW girls right after we told them we were going to be fasting for the night was "Mom, this is bull crap!" So funny! Shortly the joke was over and we were eating and having a good time with our Bishopric and other leaders that we had missed all week. We spent the night celebrating Nikki's birthday, eating yummy (NON CAMP) food, sharing our testimonies, and laughing until it was time to for our guests to go home. I serve with some of the finest women EVER! Not only do we have some amazing Stake leaders we spent the week with but our memories as ward leaders together are my favorite. Love you ladies!

Here is our last picture before we left our week of camping at Heber Valley. If there is ever a place to do girls camp, this is the ideal place! What a great week we had. Glad I didn't pull the pregnancy card and miss such a memorable and amazing week with some of the best YW girls  and leaders around.

Youth Conference {Little Deer Creek}

A couple weeks ago we finished our summer youth camps by doing Youth Conference up Midway area. Our theme this year was "True Believers". We wanted to teach the youth the importance of believing and KNOWING about Christ. We started our conference by going tubing down the Provo River. It took a couple hours from start to finish but it was lots of fun even if we did get stuck in every tree or bush along the side. Being 33 weeks pregnant at the time, everyone was a little worried about me floating down the river. If they didn't have rules against it I wasn't going to miss it! I am sure all the leaders were second guessing me going though because when we got to the end and had to get out, I missed the shallow part and kept floating down the river to fend for myself and have to swim in swift waters to the opposite shore for safety. Definitely an awkward experience when you have no sense to your center of gravity but I wasn't worried and I made it safely out of the water... eventually! The first day we taught them about agency and how important it is that we get to choose what we believe and later that night we taught them about the apostasy.

 The next day we talked about the Restoration and the importance of Joseph Smith. We took them on a "walk" through Cascade Springs and played some fun group activities teaching them about "where they can find the right things to believe in" and teaching them more about the 13 Articles of Faith. The rest of the night, until our yummy chicken taco dinner and testimony meeting, they had free time to play. Of course that included all sorts of mischief like water fights and taking turns rolling each other down the hill in empty garbage cans. The next morning it was time to go home. They cleaned up camp and then all us leaders and youth met at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to close our weekend together. We talked about the blessings of believing in Christ and the ultimate place on this Earth to learn about Him being the Temple and also how important is to not lose sight of the Temple and get distracted by the worldy things around us. 

With us changing plans from Bear Lake to Little Deer Creek a month before I would say this Youth Conference turned out great! We had such a great group of youth so it didn't matter where we were at. As leaders is was a bittersweet experience for us all. Not only could Nikki and I not sleepover because of babies, but it was our last camp before Hollie was getting released! Hollie makes everything more fun and she is missed tremendously now! Definitely won't be the same without her next year.

Random phone pictures from the SUMMER

Some of my favorite pictures I take of my boys happen to be at the most random times and I only have my phone on me to capture the moment. There really is no long post or story on the picture but just a glimpse of time that I want to remember. Seems like most of them are of my boys sleeping. I always think they look so sweet sleeping or they are in the most random positions, which happens quite a bit around here. Others are a little glimpse into my boys personalities or just something funny they were doing. Some of the funny stories behind these pictures starting from the top to the bottom. Nothing better than finding your 2 year old sitting on the toilet with an IPAD, Jackson putting olives on his fingers for "hook 'em horns!" for his Uncle Bob and Aunt Leeshie in Texas (added bonus with his hand in his pants like a typical Rothe boy), Andersen crashed in his car seat during a CARWASH.. how does that happen?, Andersen not making it to the toilet fast enough... enough said on that one!, Andersen got caught eating right out of the ice cream maker at Nana's and the last and funniest picture for Nate and I is of the boys running around naked with their horses. Man I love these boys and they bring so much happiness into our family. Seems like they are always doing something to make us laugh. Many times as a tired mommy I get caught up in the daily tasks or them fighting or whining about everything, but they really are the sweetest things I could ask for! Wish I could bottle up their little smiles and laughs so I can always have them when they grow up to be big boys one day.

We {HEART} Ms. Kim!

 I think this is our third year of swim lessons with Ms. Kim and Jacks loves every second of it especially because his best buddy Landon was in his class too! She does a class for 5 days in a row teaching him all sorts of things for their age group. I think this year Jacks finally got a hang of the swimming thing. He is definitely more confident in the water and gets the floating thing for sure. He can actually swim when he's not thinking about it, but more times than not he relies on the edge of the pool or the fact that he can touch the ground in more places than all the other kids his age because he is so tall. His favorite was jumping off the diving board again and Ms. Kim's new game playing "London Bridges" in the pool with a hula hoop. Andersen and I enjoyed watching every day but I think will have more fun next year when its his turn to take lessons as well.

Lake Powell 2012

 Towards the beginning of the summer our neighbors, Scott and Alison, planned a couples trip to Lake Powell to stay on their family houseboat. Unfortunately we were the only couples from the neighborhood that could join them but that didn't stop us from having a good time. It was a quick trip leaving early Thursday morning and coming home late the following Saturday. All excited to be there we jump on the boat to go out for a drive and the boat DIES! Come to find out it was something major and the boat was out of commission for our whole trip. Good thing we still had jet skis to play on because those were the perfect toys for this pregnant momma. After all our fun in the sun and before we took off, Scott took us all on a hike (or more like a walk) through some narrows. It was a guided tour with them showing us all sorts of cool things that the water from Powell has created over the years. Just like all trips without kids, they seem to go too fast, but it is always nice to be home to see the kiddos. Hopefully next year we can do it again... not pregnant and with a boat!