A outlet mall and a gun store.

This weekend we decided to go to New Brunsfield and check out the outlet mall. Everyone said it's AWESOME so we wanted to see for ourselves. WOW it's 2 miles long and every store imaginable is there. I was looking for some shoes and had plenty of stores to choose from. The boys were so patient and good.



Then the compromise was we had to stop at Cabella's. Another WOW that store is Huge with every fishing, camping, hunting gear you could imagine. We didn't need to go to an aquarium or the zoo they had everything stuffed and some live fish. They boys loved it. .





Josh cracked me up when he saw the legs displaying socks he said "look Mom they even have people legs." We kept explaining that everything in there was once alive and then when it died they stuffed them so we could see them. Again he took that literal and thought the legs were human legs on display as well.




It was a long day of just good family time. I love the weekends like that especially with perfect weather.

The Ensign

Thank you You Tube. I can finally get this video on here.

So I usually read the Ensign to be spiritually fed. The boys showed me there is another use for it. Both bring me great Joy.

My sweet baby boy!

Fun at the park.

Ryan was soooo not happy that I put a scrunchie in his hair but his hair is getting so long.


Where Gavin is there Jake is Also.

Sweet Natalie and a new baby

Isn't this little girl so cute. She is the shyest little girl. While we were in Hawaii I actually got a chance to hold her. Her sister went under in the hot tub so I grabbed Natalie and she sat on my lap for a long time. She even gave me a hug when they left. For her that was a huge step out of her comfort zone I was so happy. I desperatly would love to have a sweet little girl. But we are done. (More to come on that.) I sure hope I get sweet calm little grand daughters.




Ryans sister just announced they are expecting their 4th. Their three are pictured above. Who knows maybe this time they will get a girl. I always hear that if you have a girl first they will help out and be the little mommy to the other kids. But if you have a girl last she learns to hit hard and run fast. In my family that would be sooooooo true!!! Congrats Lynn and Keri we are so happy for you!!!

I just blew up the Bathroom

I love this picture of Josh his eyes are so bright and blue. He has such a sweetness about him such a loving spirit. Yesterday he was so excited he can finally reach the light switches in our house without jumping. They are the rocking ones so he could turn them off but not on. So he tells me he has to go potty and goes running. I then hear him screaming and crying like he was in PAIN. So I go running and he said. "I'm so sorry Mom I didn't mean to blow up the bathroom." One of the lights blew out and he thought he blew it up. SO CUTE.

Trevor

Trevor convincing this sweet girl to give him all her bread so he can feed the ducks.

Always picking on Josh somehow. This time it's by putting grass in his hair.

He would always do this. I'd turn my back and he would have a chair up to the sink in no time. I had to tie all the chairs together to keep my sanity.

Yes this is what he would do instead of going down a slide. I was so afraid he would one day hang himself.

Trevor lately has been a DREAM child. He's been doing the dishes, setting the table and cleaning up with out being asked. He also hasn't picked fights all week it's been HEAVENLY. Ryan and I were talking about how creative he can be. I thought I would share a few stories. Also so I can always remember because some day I know I'll forget.

1. When he was 2 1/2 I was teaching him stranger danger. A lesson he still hasn't learned.!! I was teaching him if anyone ever grabs you yell "This is not my Mom HELP "or "This is not my Dad" as loud as you can. A few weeks later at the store he decided to throw a tantrum. As I picked him up to leave he started screaming. THIS IS NOT MY MOM HELP HELP!! I was sooo mad. Luckily no one stop ed us. Boy did that one backfire.

2. When he was about 4 he wanted to go to school in the trunk of the car. He's never been one you can just say no to, he has to know exactly why. So I told him the story about the little kids in Utah who climbed into their trunk and ended up dieing from the heat. When I came to pick him up. His teacher kept saying I'm so sorry for such a horrible loss. And your only daughter. I was very confused as to what she was talking about. Come to find out Trevor had re-told the story but said it was his big sister and I was the Mom who drove around with her in the trunk and she died. His Teacher said he even had tears in his eyes and was very detailed in his story. She even questioned me twice making sure I wasn't just repressing it.

3. Trevor was getting his 3 year old check up when the Dr. was done she asked Trevor if there was anything he wanted to ask her. And he said. "Ya sometimes my Mom hits me". What? I just sat there stunned. I didn't quite know how to respond. Luckily the Dr. asked great questions and he couldn't respond correctly so no social services came knocking on my door.I was so grateful. I never know what's coming out of that kids mouth. And 1/2 the time I'm so unprepared I never know how to respond.

Ryan and I are both very reserved. We are always baffled of how we got such out spoken children. The good news is it has helped me come out of my shell. (well a better word would be forced.) Both Trevor and Josh will talk to anyone at anytime. Gavin is showing some signs of shyness. But only time will tell if I'm going to have another one who keeps me on my toes.

ER here we come

Another night spent in the ER. Gavin again stopped breathing and I rushed him in to the ER. This time Ryan was home and stayed with the other two. Man I can't wait for this to be DONE 5 nights with out sleep I'm starting to become delusional. As I was waiting I saw people rushed in from Car accidents left and right. It was crazy. Then this guy came in holding a bloody towel up to his head with his wife holding a cup behind him. I hear him say to the receptionist "Ya I cut my ear off and my wife has it on ice". It took all my strength not to throw up right then. How in the world do you cut off your ear? What a great Valentines night. But at least I'm better off then the ear less guy. YUCK!!!!

Happy Valentines day.

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentines day.
I just had to Share my little Joshua's funny comment for the day. We were doing valentines for his class and he wanted to give one to the director of his school. Unfortunately I couldn't remember her name so I said let's just leave it blank and you can give it to her when we get to school. So he rushed in and handed it to her and said "Happy Valentines Day BLANK". Funny kid.

Here we go again

OK so I thought Gavin wasn't sick. Boy was I wrong. Yesterday I spent 3 hrs trapped in a small hospital room with THREE CRAZY KIDS! Gavin's breathing was really tight and he was crying but no sound was coming out he was having such a hard time breathing so I called the Dr's office and they hear him over the phone and say "Get him in right away" Both Trevor and Josh were in school but it was almost time to get out so I hurried and grabbed them and headed to the Dr's office. It's at times like this that I really wish we knew people better so I wasn't stuck with all three there. Because Gavin was screaming the whole time and the two boys were beating each other up with anything they could find. I want prepared for a 3 hr stay so I didn't even pack any snacks or anything to do. The great nurse found them some crayons and told them they could draw on the paper on the bed. Trevor wrote a note. (PLEASE LET ME OUT I'LL DO ANYTHING) and then put it on the door. The Dr's got a good chuckle out of it. Ryan was out of town again so I had a long stressful day!!!! And another sleepless night. I can't wait until we are all healthy again. Oh Gavin has Croup he's doing better today but still has to be on breathing treatments. Poor little guy!!

A crazy Sunday

Church is always a challenge. My boys don't know how to sit still or how to whisper. I'm usually in the hall walking Gavin or wrestling the other two trying to keep them QUIET. I feel like I need to apologize to everyone around me when it's over. So I really look forward to Sunday school. Gavin is usually asleep by then and Ryan and I get to sit together (for now) and enjoy. We have an amazing Teacher who I've learned so much from. Well this Sunday I actually had the time to get myself ready. I had a new dress that I was so happy about I haven't had a new dress for a long time. The boys were pretty good in Sacrament and were really excited to go to their class. They had cookies in Sunday school and I sat down with Gavin gave him a bite of my cookie and next thing I knew I was covered in PUKE!! I'm not really sure what happened he didn't act sick I think he was choking on the cookie. So we had to gather up the kids and head out. They were pretty mad but I couldn't stay both Gavin and I were covered. After I cleaned us up Ryan took the boys to the park to let Gavin and I take a very much needed nap. The park again had a train and they all had a wonderful afternoon. Ryan's such a great Dad I'm so blessed!!!

Construction

They are building out our neighborhood. With that comes huge construction equipment. The boys had to go and check them out. They could be out there all day.

My Handy Man.

Give Ryan a computer or any gadget and he can fix it with out any problem. Ask him to hang curtains, fix a leaky faucet or any household item and he's a little perplexed. But I'm so proud of my HANDY MAN!!! Our washer hasn't been draining the water so the clothes come out sopping wet it's been so annoying to have to ring out the clothes before I can put them in the dryer. This is a relatively new washer and dryer set so I'm very upset. So I called my Dad to see what we could do and it sounded like we will need to call the repair man. There goes a few hundred dollars down the drain. Ryan decided to read up on what the problem could be. And he FIXED IT!!!!! Again this is not Ryan's specialty so I'm so proud. Not only did he save us $ but time on not having to wait for a repair man to come and fix it. I'm so proud. Maybe I can get him to hang my curtains :) Hey a girl can dream can't she?

Roll out the good times

It's been discovered and he's loving it.

A great weekend

What a weekend. The weather was PERFECT so we went to this awesome park called Zither park. It had a cute little train that took you around this little lake that people were boating around. Then it has a huge play land, a place to fly kites and a spring fed swimming pool. It was so weird to us to see so many people out in Feb. swimming and sun bathing. Something we will not be used to for a while. We ate snow cones and went on the train it was so much fun. We didn't know you could swim outside in Feb.and not freeze to death or we would have gone swimming as well. On our way home Josh likes to practice reading by telling us what the signs or restaurants are that we pass. It was so cute he said. "I know how to spell McDonald's" And then spells P-L-A-Y P-L-A-C-E. And then tonight I let him have some pudding and he again said "I know how to spell pudding" and he spelled F-A-T F-R-E-E. He's getting there on the reading part he just reads the wrong words sometimes. I think it's so cute. (unfortunately we forgot our camera so sorry no pictures.)

The missing table finally arrived in the mail on Friday. (long crazy story) Josh and Gavin helped me put it up and he and Trevor have been busy ever since coming up with some amazing creations. I'm so happy it has arrived. Even Gavin loves it. HE LOVES TO CLIMB ON TOP OF IT. Oh well what's one more thing that I constantly have to watch him around or clean up 900 times a day? It keeps them all entertained and to me anything that keeps my kids attention for more then 10 minutes is well worth the mess.

What a Great Weekend I hate for it to end.

Our wonderful Prophet

I've been so emotional since our dear Prophet President Hinkley has passed away. I want to live a life like him knowing that when it's my time to go I have passed the ultimate test. What an amazing Man he is. For he's someone I've never met in person but loved so much. He was so loving to his dear wife and truely is an amazing example to all. He will be missed and always remembered.

A lesson learned the hard way.

Trevor is my child that likes to learn thing the hard way. He knows there is going to be a consequence but yet he still does what he's not supposed to. I don't quite understand him but I'm praying he will grow out of it. The other day he again wanted to test the waters and he saw a rake in the grass facing up. He was playing around with it and I said "if you step on that it's going to come up and hit you." He rolled his eyes and took a running start and jumped on the rake. It sure enough flipped up and knocked him clear across the grass. I was trying so hard not to laugh or say "see." He went running into the house trying to hold back the tears. The welt across his face lasted a while. It has been a great lesson for him. Now
every time he's doing something wrong I remind him of the rake and how he isn't going to want the consequence to come up and SMACK him in the face. I know I can't use this for very long but while it lasts it's sure been great.

Not a good week.

This last couples of weeks has been TOUGH!!! Ryan's been traveling I hate it when he's gone we all miss him terribly. The boys love their Dad so much and they ask every 10 Min's when Dad will be home. It gets old fast. And Gavin got some weird freak virus. He would break out in HUGE welts all over his body. One welt was as big as his entire back he had them all over his face, up and down his arms and legs. They would pop up and then go away but they wouldn't leave for a week and he was absolutely miserable so I took him into the Dr. I was surprised they didn't have a sign up with our picture with the words BEWARE underneath. Anyways it was one of those it will have to just run it's course kind of things and nothing that they can do about it. (I HATE THAT) because here I sit in the waiting room filled with all these sick kids puking, and looking like Death warmed over as I'm huddled in a corner trying to avoid what ever they have. I'm such a germ freak. ( I wont even go into that.) Anyways my toughest day was the day I got only 2 hrs of sleep the night before and Gavin wanted me to hold him all day. I couldn't do anything it was miserable. Then I had a huge pile about 7 loads of clean laundry on my bedroom floor. The older boys left my door open and the DUMB DOG PEED ON THE LAUNDRY. Yes on the top of the clothes so it got on basically everything. Then Gavin puked all over me and him for the 5Th time and as I was trying to take care of that the dog POOPED all over the floor. I really had to remind myself that he was just a puppy or he would have been a goner. I really never thought dealing with a sick baby, two crazy boys,a dog with bathroom issues,and a traveling husband would be to much to handle. But it sure gets overwhelming sometimes. Luckily Ryan comes home Tomorrow night LATE. Gavin's on the mend and Jake the dog, well the boys and Ryan love him.

Trevor's pretend Birthday

Every year in school they always celebrate the kids who have Summer Birthdays in January. Trevor's 1st year of School he came home devastated that I his own Mom didn't remember his Birthday. He was so upset and didn't believe me when I told him it wasn't his Birthday. He didn't understand why everyone at School sang to him and told him happy Birthday if it wasn't really his Birthday. I felt like the worst Mom ever that he truly believed I could forget. So every year after that I made sure I knew what day they were planning on Celebrating his birthday and made sure I wished him a Happy early Birthday wish. This year the school gave him a book from the library and then took his picture to posts it in the Hall so all the kids could wish him Happy Birthday. He was pretty excited. I can't believe he's going to be 8 this year. We have been preparing him to be baptised and have challenged him to read the whole book of Mormon before July. He's doing great and really loves reading it thanks to Grandma Jenkins who helped him start, and now he wont let us go a night with out it. He and I are like oil and water and fight constantly. He knows how to push my buttons and loves to get a reaction out of people. He gets me very frustrated. But I'm sure proud of him, he is so smart, and is really trying to be the best he can be. He's growing up so much so fast, next thing you know he'll be a teenager. Man I'm not prepared at all for that. Luckily I have a few more years to prepare.

Ryans Motorcycle Crash

I've never been a HUGE fan of Ryan having a Motorcycle. But what can I do? He's always wanted one and I am a huge fan of him being happy. I did put some rules in his riding. 1. never ride in the woods alone and 2. always wear your safety gear. But now I'm more frightened than ever. He usually is very safe, but he stayed up late watching an extreme motorcycle stunt show and for some insane reason he thought he could re enact one of the stunts. Let's just say he is not a pro and it didn't turn out the way he had planned. He ended up losing control and skid about 100 feet until he flipped off into the forest. He came home pretty humble and very humiliated. I'm sure he's not going to be happy with me sharing this story but I did want to say one thing I love about Ryan is that he knows how to laugh at himself and knows when he's learned a good lesson. Here is a picture of his great skid mark and the scare he got when he realized he barely missed the pole.

Shots

Picture a 4 year old running down the hall of the Dr's office screaming at the top of his Lungs "HELP ME" in his underwear with a Mom, and 3 nurses chasing after him. That's my adventure for the day.
Josh was behind on some shots and so in we go today. He kept asking if he had to get shots and the nurse kept telling him we will have to see. Sure enough in they come with the shot tray Josh is stripped down to his underwear and the wrestling begins. I had another nurse hold Gavin as I pinned Josh down. He was kicking and pulling out all his wrestling moves to where I couldn't hold him down, so they had to call in some reinforcements 2 other nurses came in and as the door opened Josh took off screaming down the hall. With a waiting room full of now terrified Children we were able to catch him and all 4 of us had to pin him down while the 5th nurse gave him the shots. When it was all done we were all sweating and my darling Joshua said "I'm never coming here again." I'm sure the nurse felt the same way about him.
To think I have to do this all over again with Gavin in a month.

Broken

Another Great embarrassing moment thanks to Joshua. We were at the mall on Friday and I got the boys a pretzel so we sat on a bench to eat when a lady sat by us and started nursing her baby. I didn't nurse Gavin so this of course was something that spiked Josh's curiosity. He asked the lady what she was doing and she told him feeding her baby. He asked if it hurt she said "no". I was getting Gavin into the stroller to leave knowing Josh wouldn't leave this alone. He poked me in the chest and asked if I had any milk in there. I told him that sometimes Moms don't have milk to feed their baby's. He then turned around to the lady and yelled as we were walking away. "My Mom's boobs are broken". Everyone started laughing and I think I turned 5 shades of red.

Gavin

Gavin is now pulling him self up and cruising. When I walk with him he said "WaWa" as we are walking it's so cute. I can't wait until he can walk for real he's killing my back. It's harder with the 3rd because the older two keep all the doors open so the baby gets into more trouble. He now goes up the stairs so I have them barricaded with chairs. And he loves to play in the toilet water (yuck). He's getting so big so fast.

Hawaii

The plane trip to Hawaii was quite the adventure.Starting at 5:00 a.m. with 10 hr's of actual flying time and layovers with 3 connections, Josh throwing up all over me, then they couldn't find our luggage, luckily it was on a later flight. So once we were done with everything we crashed into bed at 3:00 a.m. Texas time 11:00 Hawaii Time. My brother in law said it best when he said as long as you say "Mahalo" in Hawaii you could rob a bank and get away with it. Things are very laid back there. We awoke bright and early 4:30 UGH our kids were so excited and couldn't sleep anymore. So we watched the sun rise and the boys went and jumped into the ocean. Trevor was in Heaven and Josh thought it was pretty cool until a wave knocked him down and took him under. He came out spitting and saying "yuck I hate the Ocean". It was really great to get that fear in him the first day so he was really good about not getting in to deep. It is so beautiful and peaceful there. We spent most of our time relaxing by the pool, or laying out on the beach. I read Twilight which I really enjoyed and we had some AMAZING dinners. Some not so great but that's all part of the adventure. Our condo was so amazing and Perfect. We sat out on the Lani and ate as we listened to the waves crash. The boys loved it so much they wanted to live there. It was so relaxing we hated to leave. But I missed Gavin so much so I was ready to see and hold him. We were glad to get to see the family again. It's been hard living away but it made the trip all that much sweeter as we really enjoyed everyone. It's been hard to get back to our real lives. And tomorrow my parents leave so we will really be back into the grind. I'm so grateful that my parents were willing to come and stay with Gavin. They really enjoyed him and spoiled him rotten. He's not used to two people giving him their full undivided attention and now he's demanding it. He learned to go up the stairs, blow a whistle, and got two teeth while we were gone. He's such a sweet boy.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins for such an amazing trip. We are very blessed to have such amazing parents :)

Christmas

I can't believe it has come and gone already. I never did get to my Christmas cards. Sorry everyone this is the year I really needed to send them with our new address and all. Oh well hopefully I can make up for it next year!!!
We had a great Christmas. Trevor got his DS that he so badly wanted and Josh got his 2 foot stomping guy that is what he calls it. For the rest of you that don't talk Josh language it's the AT-ST from star wars. We got a play tent,tunnel and a motorcycle bike thing for Gavin. He was very happy with that. The boys got up at 4:30 in the morning so by 6:00 Christmas was over and done and it was NAP time. We went to deliver the last of our 12 days that we gave to a family. It was really neat to be able to help someone this year. The boys loved helping pick things out and delivering them. We almost got caught once but we managed to keep it a secret!! After our delivery we were witnesses to a horrible accident. Where Ryan and I jumped out to help the poor lady and her little boy. The boy was OK but the lady was trapped in her car. I just held her and tried to keep her awake until the ambulance came. It was amazing how many people came to her aid and we all worked together to help this poor woman. She just kept screaming at me as I held her that she didn't want to die and then she would go unconscious. It was very traumatic and really affected us. When we left they were still trying to cut her out of the car which was now a convertible. Unfortunately we will never know what happened to her. And I can still see her face when ever I get in the car. It makes you realize how precious life is and how fast it can be taken away. All the way home the boys were silent and we have had several talks about car accidents. I think this one will stay with us for a long time.
The rest of the day we just relaxed and the boys played with their new toys. And I got the house ready for my parents arrival on the 26th.
(pictures will be added soon I'm having some technical problems. AKA Ryan's procrastination :) Love ya babe"