I Love Relief Society!

I love Relief Society! Yesterday was the General Relief Society broadcast and as I went to the stake center to watch it I kept praying that my back wouldn't hurt and that I could sit and enjoy it without any discomfort. As soon as the meeting began the baby immediately moved from out from under my ribs and my back stopped hurting for the entire hour and a half! This was a miracle!


As I sat listening to the speakers and feeling the wonderful Spirit I was also having feelings of sadness. There were way, way too many empty seats. We barely filled up the chapel which should have been overflowing far back into the gym. Yes, most of us could have stayed home and enjoyed listening to it while laying on the couch in our pj's but one of the main purposes of Relief Society is to meet together, socialize, and uplift one another which is something that seems to be lacking.
Earlier in the week our ward had a Relief Society service project to make disposable pads for teenage girls in Africa and only five people showed up! Why is this? Of course we are all busy and our schedules are filled with lots of different activities but part of me feels there is a much deeper problem. I have heard many woman say that they, "hate relief society" and that they are "happy to be serving in Young Women's or Primary" because it's just a room full of "old ladies." This is very sad to me. It's no surprise that the Young Women are not excited and eager to join Relief Society. I don't know what the answer is but I am on a mission to get more women excited and involved so that their testimonies will grow of the wonderful blessing it is to be a member of Relief Society...the greatest women's organization on earth!
I don't know what do you think???

Sunny September Day!

I love the Autumn season and today was proof of how beautiful it can be.














The boys went exploring outside and found the neighbors cat!























Paden was trying to help push Evan around on the tractor but Evan was way too independent for that!








While I was outside playing with the boys this morning I began thinking about how grateful I am that I have been pregnant throughout all of this nice weather that we've had for the last few months. I haven't had to worry about a newborn getting too much sun and because of that not be able to play with my big boys the way that I have. Next summer the baby will be big enough and than I can play with all three of my boys!

Peach and Raspberry Crisp!

A week ago we got a huge box of the juiciest peaches ever from my mom . We have been eating them up but just not fast enough so I began looking for a good recipe to use up all of our peaches and this is what I found....Peach and Raspberry Crisp. DELICIOUS!!!





Step 1- Immerse the peaches in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, then place them in cold water and peel off the skins.









Step 2- Cut the peaches in thick wedges then add sugars, orange zest, flour cinnamon, and raspberries. Gently stir together and place in a large casserole dish.







Step 3- For the topping combine flour, sugars, salt, cinnamon, oatmeal, and cold diced butter. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle on top of the peaches and raspberries. Bake for 1 hour until golden brown, bubbly and crisp!






Step 4- Let the 3 year old eat what's left in the bowl. Paden looks like he's not really enjoying it in this picture but I couldn't get him to stop eating it!










Step 5- Devour!

This turned out pretty good. I usually am not a fan of any type of dessert with warm fruit but I did like this and Robby kept complimenting me on how good it was so I think it was a success!

Take this poll...

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Snapdragon - "Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

To take the poll, simply click on, "What Flower Are You?" underneath the picture of the snap dragon and don't forget to let me know what you are!!

Check out those knee pads!!

I heard Robby complaining about his knees hurting while wrestling with Evan. He left the room and after a few minutes came back looking like this!

He has had me cracking up for the last little while!! Could you imagine if that was me wearing protective gear so I could do some serious wrestling around?! Daddies are so much fun!

Ready...Set...Go!

Has your child ever said this after getting a new pair of shoes, "watch mom, see how much faster I am!"
If shoes can make you run faster than I think I need shoes like those!











We had a beautiful sunny Autumn morning so we went outside and I let the boys run off some energy before school.












I love how they both stare at me while running with a big huge smile on their face. They get so proud of themselves!




























And then Evan got a little ride from his older brother.

Boys and their Blocks!

Just something that goes on almost every day at our house.










Ever since Paden was a baby he has been obsessed with cars, trucks, and trains. This picture is funny because it's the very first block he picked up and it's a train!












Evan is a little different he LOVES ducks and of course he found the block with the duck in it!
Silly boys!
One of the things I love most about being a mom is seeing how unique they are and how they come here with their personalities already instilled in them. It's like I'm their audience and just get to watch it all unfold!

"Sunday Best"

Look at this little cutie pie!

Here is Evan looking very charming in Paden's old suit that we bought when my sister Amber and my sister in law Cathy each got married.













I think we will have to buy Paden a new suit to match his brother!!







Evan is a funny little boy. This is his favorite blankee that we NEVER leave home without. It has been such a life saver and has stopped many many tears instantly. All We do is just hand him his blankee and he sticks those two little chubby fingers in his mouth and then whalla he is one happy boy!
The word, "blankee" was also one of his very first words yes even before "mommy"! We are still working on getting him to switch from calling me "April" to Mommy!





One thing that I have done with my boys is buy them a really nice snuggly blanket for when they are born. I showed Evan the new babies blankee this morning before church and he did not want to let go! He first bagan walking around the room holding on to both blankets with his fingers in his mouth and then laid on the ground rolling all over them!!






That is one happy boy!






By the way, I decided to be nice and have a better attitude while being at Church today! I decided that when I go to Church instead of trying to avoid all conversations with others that I would put a smile on my face, socialize and act friendly! Well that didn't really go so well.
Almost every person I talked to either asked when I was, "going to pop" or "Wow...how many weeks are you" with a look like if I get any bigger I will explode. I wanted to respond by saying just a week further than the last week you asked me...don't worry I followed my plan and just smiled politely. One lady even said the dreaded, "you are way bigger with this one, are you sure you aren't having twins!?" Ahhhhh, how do I smile my way through that one?! So what I have decided is that I think my very first plan was the smartest...it's back to avoiding ALL conversations at church. The good news is that General Conference is coming up and I can stay home!!!!

Paden's 1st official week of Preschool!

Paden posing for the camera while waiting for his ride to come and pick him up for his first day of school!










He was really excited and began acting like a crazy person. He kept jumping around with his arms folded and with a deep voice repeated, "I'm going to preschool!"











"I'm going to preschool!"













"I'm going to preschool!"
















"I'm going to preschool!"











And there he goes!
Francys Tobler and her daughter Sophia taking my little boy away...ahhhh! I almost didn't know what to do with myself. Francys told me that the ride to school was very entertaining if you want to hear about the conversations that went on you can read her blog!





Now it was my turn to take them and look how cute they are...all grown up!










He is learning so many things. He is learning to write his name, learning the alphabet, numbers, the pledge of allegiance, lots of new songs, sharing cars and trucks, and how to appropriately socialize with others! I am so proud of him!

Artist's Point!

We are so lucky to live in such an amazingly beautiful place, and this is one of my favorites!
I have been wanting to come back here for months and can now check this off my list of things to do before the end of summer.






Robby and I!!











Family Picture!!











We met up with my brother Jonathon, his wife Shanna, and their cute little boy Jackson!
As you can see Jonathon was all set for the hike!














Paden led the pack!














This was the boys' favorite thing! They LOVED playing in the snow and throwing snow balls and wanted to stop at every little pile of snow that they saw.
It took a while for us to get to the top!











I am over 34 weeks pregnant right now and I really appreciated having a husband that could do this...














and this!














The boys picking blueberries!















Paden enjoyed them the most, he sat there forever eating them up!













I don't think we could have gone on a more beautiful day. The weather was absolutely perfect (somewhere in the 70's) and we even came back with tans!

After we got to the end of the hike we set up a picnic and ate our lunch.








This was one of the funniest parts of the hike! After we finished eating, a bunch of fluffy and not so shy birds flew down and started eating all of our chips!
They ate out of each of our hands and even ate...






off of my belly!!!

Crazy little birds!

Paden's Preschool Open House!

My little boy is growing up!

Yesterday was Paden's Preschool Open House where we met his teacher and the other kids in his class. He has been so excited for this day!










When we first got there he hung up his backpack and then unloaded all of his supplies and gave them to his teacher Mrs. Fife.

Ahhhh, he was so cute!
It was so funny how nervous I was, it was like my first day of school!







The next task he had to do was to write his name, which he doesn't know how to do yet. This made me even more nervous when another child in front of him quickly wrote his entire name almost perfectly. Luckily, I found out this boy was 5 years old and this was his 3rd year of preschool. Phew!





Mrs. Fife had the kids stand against the wall to take their picture.










Circle Time!
No one wants their child to be the busiest or noisiest in the class but that was Paden during "circle time"! Ugh!
However I think he was the youngest child there. I believe Sophia and Paden were the only first year preschoolers all the rest were returning for their 2nd or 3rd years. Tuesday is Paden's first full day!!

Last Days of Summer

When Paden and I got home from his Preschool Open House we discovered that Robby and Evan had filled up an entire cooler with water balloons and they were ready for a fight! So that's what they got!!

Actually I just stood back and watched the balloon fight which was over in a matter of minutes!





































After the 5 minute water fight the boys were definitely not ready to come back inside so Robby got the hose out and they continued to play til they were soaked to the bone!!





I'm sad that it will be another year before we'll be able to do this again but it has been a really good summer!

Boulevard Park!

Yesterday we decided to go to Boulevard Park and enjoy this beautiful weather we've been having.

I can't believe how nice it's been! I looked at the forecast and we're supposed to have at least another week of temperatures in the 70's. Yeah!

Sunday will be the hottest at 76 degrees so I am hoping that we'll be able to drive up to Artists Point after Church and take a little hike.

Evan is such a funny little boy he is saying lots of new words and talking like crazy. However one word that he refuses to say is Mom, Momma, or even Mommy. What is with that?

He says Daddy and Grandpa a million times a day but no mommy (isn't that supposed to be one of their first words)! For the last few days he has been calling me April! What? What 18 month old baby calls their mom by their first name...he is such a crazy little boy! Ugh!

I love this beach, just crushed up sea shells!










Watching for the train. They were lucky and saw two trains go by!

I Love a Good Sale!

It is so much fun to shop for these two boys!

We love Old navy at our house or at least I do! If you haven't heard Old Navy is having a fabulous 40-50% off sale on all their baby/toddler items!

Here is what Paden and Evan each walked away with (and of course they match): a jacket, a fluffy vest, 2 pair of pants, 6 long sleeve shirts, a Halloween costume, and some shoes!

They are all set for the fall season!

Take a guess at these pregnancy side effects...

Lately I have been suffering from one side effect of pregnancy not listed here and that would be SLEEP DEPRIVATION.
I haven't been able to get more than 5 hours of sleep a night in what feels like FOREVER. People always say to pregnant woman, "enjoy your sleep now because when the baby comes you won't get any." My response to that is I wish that I could.
I don't think I have gotten more than 3 hours of sleep in these last 34 weeks of pregnancy without having to get up and go potty. (By the way that would be the answer to number 8 on the list!) For the last week I have woken up between 3 and 4 in the morning with my mind racing. I can't stop thinking of about a million things that I might need to do, or buy or clean out before the baby comes. By the way I still have 6 weeks to go. Ahhhhhhh!
I am pretty proud of myself though for all that I've gotten accomplished. It is 7:30 am and the kitchen is spotless, floors have been mopped, windows washed, laundry done, bathroom cleaned, kids have had their breakfast, and I have listened to 4 General Conference talks! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of my day!
I am hopeful that I will one day have a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, maybe in about a year...as long as I don't get pregnant by then!!!

Fun Family Night!

Ingredients for a fun-filled family night:
5 apples
5 wooden sticks
1 bag of caramels
2 tbsp. milk
candy bars and candies
melted chocolate
marshmallows
1 daddy
1 mommy
2 cute boys
1 pepperoni pizza






For Family Night we made caramel apples!
This was the firs time Robby and I had ever attempted to make them with our boys and it was definitely evident.






After we dipped all of our apples in the caramel sauce we got ready to cover them with candies and discovered that all of the caramel had already hardened making it impossible to put the candies on.

Oh what to do....









Robby came to the rescue. He melted more caramel and we teamed up to re-dip the apples one at a time covering them in all of the chopped up candy bars and candies until they were all covered!












This is how they turned out!
I don't think we'll be going into the candy apple making business any time soon!

For all of you that have asked....

the recipe for this Apple Spice Cake is on marthastewart.com

Let me know what you think!

Visiting Grandpa at Work!

With a job like this -- there's no cooler Grandpa than theirs!








Paden and Evan were in heaven!














Grandpa gave the boys balloons and tried attaching the strings to them to keep the balloons from blowing away. Evan was only interested in one thing...watching it fly away! He kept taking the string off that Grandpa put on and would let it go every time! Hahaha!

Grandpa was such a sucker and kept giving him another one!






Paden was a good boy and kept a tight grip on his balloon!

DAD...How does this place look to you?!!

Just imagine after a short 2 hour boat ride docking here for the night...Roche Harbor!!!









We could all take a relaxing walk along the bridge through the beautiful gardens and then eat dinner at the only restaurant on the Harbor!





We could go on a hike and go exploring around the island!









How does breakfast at this place sound?












Come on Dad you know you want to take us!!!

The best part of summer ending...

are these plums!!











I am very sad to see that summer is at an end and that fall is fast approaching. Luckily I always have something to look forward to. This is my favorite fruit tree on our property and it produces the most delicious fruit in September.
These plums are the BEST and I have been watching them grow for months now and finally they are ready to be picked and devoured!










DELICIOUS!!











This last week whenever the kids are ready for a snack I have sent them outside to pick these yummy plums, it makes me feel like such a good mom giving them something healthy to snack on. Best of all I don't have to dirty the kitchen with making something for them I just send them out to the yard!











Paden trying to figure out how to get the pit out.

Labor Day Weekend at Sucia Island

When our parents asked if we wanted to go out on the boat with them to Sucia Island over Labor Day weekend we jumped on the offer!

It was such a perfect and relaxing family vacation!





Paden was anticipating this trip for over a week he kept asking everyday if it was time to go yet.

Here's the first place he went to when we first got on the boat and there he stayed throughout most of the trip.





The next place that they found!












Ready to go!

Evan and Paden LOVED being on the boat so much and they were such good boys the entire time!

I don't think that they would have any problem living on a boat. Paden even said that he wanted to stay on the boat forever!



And we're off!!















Family Photos!



















After a short drive to the island, we anchored out onto the water and prepared to go explore Sucia Island!












As you can see the life jackets were a little small for all of us!














So we decided not to use them, it was only a short distance in our little dingy from the boat to the Island anyway!





































We made it!















We found a lot of crazy looking things while exploring.

Paden liked playing with the gooey ducks the most!







These things were all over the place they looked like jelly fish but I don't think that's what they were.





































My brother in law Lance made my dad a crab pot for his birthday so we decided see how well it worked and do a little crab fishing.

The only problem was after a few hours we couldn't find where we had dropped the crab pot. We looked everywhere for it and figured someone else had taken it.


Luckily we came back to look again and we found it...Yeah!!




Grandpa pulling up the crab pot...did we catch anything?













Yes! We caught TONS of them but they were all too small to keep...so no crab dinner for us.


But we did have fun playing with them before throwing them back into the ocean!

















Shaking hands!

The BEST part of our trip was playing cards out on the boat at night. We had the best time together laughing so hard...mostly at Robby! I have never seen anyone play so bad and have the worst luck!!
Hahaha!


Time to go home!
These two fell asleep on the ride home and missed out on seeing the dolphins.


The last two days were the best, Paden has already asked if we could go back on the boat!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wondeful time!!