San Diego Zoo

Dear Kate and Riley,
I am SO behind! Life has been fun and crazy and there is so much to talk about. When tax season was finally over Dad took a day off work so we could all spend some family time together. We headed down to San Diego to one of my favorite places-- the zoo! It was a perfect day, nice and cool in the morning so the animals were all out. Uncle Adam and his family met us in the afternoon and saved us from what I'm sure would have been a meltdown from a very over tired Zachary. He was so excited about the zoo and his cousins he's still talking about it a month later.

this little guy was super happy

Zach LOVED "flying" the helicopter that was by the polar bear exhibit

Spring meant lots of baby animals, this little guy was very entertaining!

more babies!

We got passes and I can't wait to go back!

Love,
mom

Easter Fun

Dear Kate and Riley,
In addition to being spiritually uplifted, we also got to have some secular fun for Easter. A few days before Easter we went with Will to the "Easter Train" which was surprisingly similar to the Halloween Train and the Christmas Train. We rode the train and when we found out it was $10 to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap, we decided to wave at him instead. The bounce house was a much better deal than sitting on a creepy bunny's lap!
On Saturday we had a little informal ward egg hunt on Saturday and on Sunday we had the Bowens over for yummy dinner and some egg dying. Two year olds and food coloring make me a little nervous but we managed with no major catastrophes.

I was excited for my first chance to dress the boys in matchy outfits. They may not go for it for long but while I still have control over the wardrobe choices they can match!

Matching! This was the Sunday before Easter. Getting a picture of these two turned out to be pretty impossible

Like I said, almost impossible

Waiting for the Easter Train

So excited to hold his own ticket for the train

I don't know what he was pointing at but I can hear the "WOOK WIWL!" (that's look will for those of you who don't speak Zachary)

The bounce house and a proud mom moment, my kid actually came OUT of the bounce house without someone having to go in after him. Didn't mean we didn't have a 20 min tantrum afterward, but hey we count every success here.



Brady was really in to the ward egg hunt

Zach getting ready

in pursuit

Checking out the loot
(let's get tax season over with so Dad can get some sun on those legs! wow!)

Easter Basket. I took a video so the pictures were scarce. He got Mater and Doc (from "Cars") and was VERY excited

"Happy Easter" (it was cuter on the video, doesn't quite translate here!)

Brady might kill me for this outfit when he's 16 but it was a gift and it was so cute we couldn't pass it up!

Easter Eggs, the whisk keeps hands out of the dye. It was a brilliant idea!

Our photographer was having some issues but I guess the moms were too nervous to back away enough to get a picture of the two of them

It was a fun-filled week!

Love,
Mom

"My soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain"

(we forgot the camera so dad's phone had to do in a pinch, the quality is really bad)

Dear Kate and Riley,
I think you know by now that since losing you Easter has become one of my favorite holidays. The promise of the atonement and resurrection are so much more real and powerful in my life than they ever were before you.

This year we had general conference on Easter where we get to stay home and listen to all of the church leaders give talks on TV. I have to admit that at first I was a little disappointed. I like going to church on Easter Sunday. I was excited to dress the boys up in cute little matching outfits, to sing "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and to listen to the choir sing. But it turned out to be a wonderful blessing to still sing, to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing (no disrespect to the ward choir, but come on, can you compare!?) and to listen to the apostles and prophets of the Lord share powerful testimonies of Christ and His atonement and resurrection.

Even though its hard to concentrate on conference with a noisy and active two year old and a needy infant, I was able to enjoy some of the talks and hope to be able to read the rest in the coming weeks. One talk in particular struck me with such power. Elder Hallstrom spoke of a woman who lost a baby in childbirth. He talked about this couple and their family and the anger they felt (I could relate) and how their inability to let go of the anger, hurt and resentment caused them to ultimately leave the church and affect four generations to come. How sad for that family. He then spoke of another family who lost not only twins but the mother as well as a result of childbirth but how their faith remained strong and that their faith and obedience to the Lord had positively affected four generations to come. It made me so grateful that I fell into the second category. There were times I was angry when we lost you but we were able to keep our faith and to understand the principal of opposition.

Elder Hallstrom continued and talked about the concept of opposition being a divine principle which I have come to have a very strong testimony of. He said that the promises that "Men are that they might have joy" ( 2 Nephi 2:25) and "there is an opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2:11) are complimentary and not contradictory. He also reminded us of Alma and his declaration that "...yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" (Alma 36:20) Oh how true that statement rang in my heart! I sat on that couch and thought of our pain of the past and our joy in the present as tears streamed down my face. I can truly say that I have felt joy as exceeding as was my pain. And that the pain that I felt is one of the REASONS that I have felt the exceeding joy that I feel. I am so thankful to have the gospel to put these things in perspective for me. I am so grateful to have the joy in our lives that we have today and for the promise that we can be together as a family again and that we will feel even more joy as we are reunited as an eternal family some day.

I hope you enjoyed your Easter celebrations.
How sweet the joy this sentence gives-- I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES!

Love,
Mom

6 weeks and lots of firsts

Dear Kate and Riley,
The weeks are flying by over here. We are really adjusting and getting into our groove. Brady is sleeping pretty well most nights. Mom is trying to get back into shape, we got a double joggger and have gone running a couple times.

At his 6 week checkup Brady was 10 lbs 14 oz and 21 in, so short and chunky, just how I like him. He's so opposite of Zachary. We have seen some pretty cute smiles but he's still a little stingy with them.

We got a nice little heat wave here, my favorite thing that sometimes happens in March so we got to let Brady have a lot of firsts. First day at the beach, first night at Disneyland and first visit down to Uncle Adam's in San Diego. We had a busy week! For Brady, the days are all pretty much the same and as determined as I am to take more pictures, Brady sleeping in the front pack in 20 different places just doesn't seem that exciting!

First beach day. Basking in the sun. He really spent 99% of the time under the umbrella with a paranoid mom trying to keep every ray off of that lily white skin!

Zach even braved the water!

And contemplated life


First Disneyland Trip

See, he's not always asleep
(why is blogger underlining this for no reason!?)

The boys intently watching the parade

Zach's lollipop which was the highlight of his night. We didn't tell him that mom was holding it later and it stuck to some passing man's pants. I really considered chasing after the man and asking for the lollipop that was stuck to his pants but decided against it.

Uncle Adam's House
We headed down to San Diego to watch some basketball on the big TV but it ended up being a PERFECT day so Zach and I spent our time out by the pool. I think everyone was 100% happy--Zach and I by the pool, Brady sleeping on Dad while watching basketball.

Zach loved watching the big boys jump in to the pool off the rocks. He decided to try to copy them in the shallow end. Thankfully, he had a watchful cousin, Maddie to help him make his big jumps.

Zach spent about an hour pouring water into the buckets and cups

Brady and Dad joined us when it cooled off a little. Brady learned the fine art of hanging out by the pool drinking Diet Coke, my kind of Saturday.

Brady and Dad watching some pretty sad basketball

Much to Dad's displeasure, Zach got a manicure AND pedicure from Maddie

He was very pleased with himself and was pretty upset when I took it off before church (I left it on his toes though-- don't tell dad!)

Love,
Mom

Brady--One Month!

Dear Kate and Riley,

I can't belive a month has passed. It went SO fast. Brady is already looking different and getting so big.

At one month Brady--

• loves to EAT and screams like you wouldn't believe if I try to hold him off at all
• is really awake for a few hours every morning and a few hours every evening, otherwise he mostly still sleeps
• is starting to track things and people with his eyes--especially his big brother
• is sleeping a little better at night but still wakes to eat every 2-3 hours. No long stretches yet (except the occasional fluke)
• is outgrowing his newborn size clothes and has moved up to size one diapers
• is turning into a big spitter-upper like big brother Zach was
• hates the carseat and screams most of the time he is in the car
  
• loves to sleep on his side
• has a mullet of baby hair we hope will fall out!

Love,
Mom

Not a big fan of tummy time

Very big fan of the front pack

often the victim of a little too much love from big brother

check out the hair-- business in the front...

party in the back!

Poor Brady

Dear Kate and Riley,
Poor Brady gets no attention, I don't sit at home all day taking pictures of him like I did of Zach, the poor kid is going to wonder if we loved him! We do, very much but its a little different this time around. Zach keeps us busy and poor Brady spends a LOT of time in his swing, bouncer and car seat. He's pretty easy going and only demands to be held a few times a day (and a lot at night). But I didn't want more time to pass without some kind of update. Here are some pictures from his first week home, while Grandma Janice was still here and I actually thought to get the camera out more. I can't believe he's almost a month old and I promise to do better about taking pictures of him (or at least try to do better!)

Sleeping in the bouncer, what he does a lot of the day! He's a side sleeper and doesn't like to be swaddled, such a change from Zachary I almost didn't know what to do with him! I kept trying to swaddle him and he kept screaming like we were trying to kill him, well ok, fine then!

First bath in the baby bath. Unfortunately this kid gets bathed MUCH less often than Zachary did but my excuse is that his skin is dry and its probably not good for him!

Grandma Janice made sure the tradition of Valentine's sugar cookies didn't go unfulfilled and mom made sure my love of frosting and cookies didn't go unfulfilled! Zach was eating them as fast as we could frost them.


Grandma Janice also revived an old tradition that I had kind of forgotten about-- doorbell ditching valentine's at the front door. Zach loved it (especially because it included presents for him!) Zach got a dump truck and Brady got a monkey (you can tell Brady was REALLY excited about his present!).

Love,
Mom