Christmas 2013

We moved into our place just in time to start decorating and get the tree up. I seem to recall doing the same thing when we moved into our townhouse in FV. Our tree was up before we were completely unpacked. Same thing this time. I just have this need to have decorations and tree up to motivate me to do much else around this time of year.

The boys "helped" us decorate the tree. We just got a small one and put up about half of our ornaments. It was perfect.

I decided at 30 weeks it was time to finally take a belly pic. Of course I couldn't do it alone. The boys had to get in on the action :)

 Sometimes the boys will start holding hands during our drives. It melts my heart.

 Brad and Kori came to Utah to spend Christmas with her side of the family. We were lucky enough to get to see them for a dinner at Dana's house. It was so much fun seeing them again. One of the perks about living in Utah is so many people have reasons to come here!

The day before Christmas eve, I came down with another stomach flu! It came on fast and I got dehydrated and started having contractions. This happened once while I was pregnant with James. I called the doctors office and they told me to go into an urgent care and see if it was food poisoning or the stomach bug. We went to the one at the hospital just in case and after seeing me, they sent me up to labor and delivery. They hooked me up to the monitor and I was having contractions. So they pumped me up with fluids and zofran and I started feeling better. After about 2 hours the contractions had stopped and I was able to go home. Thankfully Dana was able to take my boys during this time. We got a little taste of what the hospital was like as well :)

 Christmas Eve I was still not feeling well, so I had to miss out on the festivities. Haws took the boys over to Jared's house to spend the evening with their Hexberg cousins, Grandparents and Uncle Wade who were all in town visiting. I was sad to be home alone on Christmas Eve but didn't want to risk spreading anything to the rest of the family.

Luckily I was feeling better by later that night and was able to enjoy Christmas Day!

The boys were so fun Christmas morning. Aren't they so cute in those matching pjs?

 They dug right into the presents.

 We all got shoes appropriate for living in the snow.

 James got a fireman hat that doesn't crack every time it gets dropped. We are saving a lot of tape.

We headed to the Hexberg's for some sledding, food and presents. Jared got a 4 wheeler and dragged everyone in the sleds.

After sledding we took our boys up to Midvale and took James ice skating for the first time. He has a little bit of work to do, but it was a great way to spend our first white Christmas :)

Here are James and Haws ice skating. Davis was pretty upset about being the spectator.

The big 3-5!

I turned 35 this year! The great thing about moving around your birthday is that you are too busy to even notice you are getting old!

So I didn't have a hard time turning 35. I spent the day taking a barre class in the morning (yes I am crazy), going to lunch with Dana and then getting a prenatal massage. If that wasn't enough, Haws took me out that night to an amazing dinner!
I love Mediterranean food and he found a place in Salt Lake that was sooo good!

After dinner, we walked the lights at Temple Square. It was pretty cold and crowded, but I always love looking at Christmas lights so it was a treat.

We got home (Haws barely made it home with out falling asleep) and the second Haws sat on the couch he was out! He didn't even have a chance to turn on the TV! I will never feel that old since Haws makes me feel so young :)

The Move

As I mentioned before... while on our trip to Utah and Montana, Haws and I had a distinct feeling that we needed to look into moving to Utah. When we got home from that trip, Haws broadened his job search to Salt Lake City. After a few months and a few trips to Utah for job interviews, Haws landed a job in SLC with a design consultancy company that specializes in putting on large sporting events. He was really excited about the job and liked the people he would be working with and the vibe the company had. He got the job the day before his current job was ending! Talk about a blessing! He had told his current company that he was trying to relocate his family to Utah and they gave him a few months to try to make it happen. Luckily it did happen! It was definitely an answer to our prayers.

So Haws had a week between leaving his current job and then moving to Utah to start his new one! It was a busy week. Since I was pregnant and would be home with 2 little kids, Haws and I did as much packing as we could while he was still home to help. We got a lot done, but there was still a lot of work to do. This is the mess I stared at for over a week until the missionaries were nice enough to help me move most of it into the garage.

We put our house on the market and got 3 offers after the first open house! (we actually put the house on the market before Haws had the job... just taking a leap of faith!) We went with a cash buyer who ended up being a nightmare and he pulled out of the sale. So we went with a back up who ended up being a pain as well, but at least the sale went through and the house closed towards the end of Dec. It wasn't easy dealing with the sale of a home from out of state, but our real estate agent, one of my best friends Kelly Bradshaw, took such good care of us! We knew we didn't have to worry too much with her taking care of things.

I finished up the packing I could. Here is James in his empty closet... in his underwear of course!

 The boys didn't seem to mind the mess. They went on playing as usual.

Haws came home for Thanksgiving and we worked hard to get the house ready for the movers. I am so grateful that we were able to have movers! I don't think we could have done it on our own. The movers sent out a truck that was too big for our alley way, so they had to get another truck and do the move the following Monday. We left on Sat and my parents supervised the move. 

The boys are great travelers so far. That DVD player really comes in handy. 

 This was our welcome into Utah!

 My sister Dana and Chase was kind enough to let us stay at their house while we waited for our stuff to arrive in Utah. Unfortunately, we got the stomach flu that was passed around the extended family during Thanksgiving and the first night we were there James and Haws got sick. I followed a few days later. Luckily Davis never got it.

Once we were well, the snow hit! I had to run out and get the kids snow clothes ASAP! Hit up target and we were all set. I forgot about myself, so I didn't last as long out in the cold.

James LOVES the snow! I frequently get request from him to go out and play in the snow. Davis likes it for about 20 min tops and then I think he gets to cold and wants to come inside.

The first day it snowed, James and I made a snowman. I later learned that snowmen are easier to make the day after it snows. Ours was pretty pathetic.

 I am surprised by how little the cold has bothered me while living here. I am cold in CA, so I thought I would freeze here! The things is, you prepare for it. You dress a lot warmer and you usually are not out in the cold for hours. So really it is tolerable. Of course I miss being able to go to the park any day of the week, but it's just something I need to get use to. We do a lot more indoor activities and bundle up for snow activities.

While at Dana and Chase's house, we got to enjoy making candy together and watching some classic Christmas movies together. I was thrilled when the boys loved Home Alone!

Davis and Tate even bonded over Home Alone and popcorn.

 Isn't he cute in his snow clothes?

 The day we moved into our temporary townhouse was the coldest day so far! Go figure. It snowed pretty bad all day. Thanks to my friend Callie, I was able to leave the boys with her during the majority of the move in.

 It was a busy day of unpacking and the boys played in the little back patio area we have. When they set up our bed, we discovered that it had been broken! It was an air bed and one side had deflated! So that night we ran out and bought a new mattress. It was going to be a few days before we could get it delivered, so we went back to Dana and Chase's house. I am so glad they took us back in!

 This is the boys riding on a train inside the mall. I really feel like this move has brought these two closer together. Sure they fight over things, but it is so fun to see the bond that is growing between these brothers. When they are outside and Davis wants to come in because he is cold, James gets so sad and begs for "Big D" to come back outside and play with them. I hope they are ready for brother number 3 to be here soon! Hopefully they won't mind a third wheel.

 Davis doing the snow moon walk.

Halloween time!

I love Halloween time and so do my boys! We have been prepping since Oct 1st! James had let me know that this year he wanted to be a ghost. I remembered a Halloween that Brad was a ghost and thought I would make his costume based on that. Little did I know that he wanted to be like the ghost on the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown movie and wanted a sheet over his head. So after making the costume with his head sticking out, I bought some sheer material to cover his head. It kind of worked although he took a few tumbles even though he said he could see :)

Disneyland and Halloween and Christmas is my favorite! I am glad we got to enjoy the decoration and rides before our passes expired.

We took a trip to Tanaka Farms with the King girls and their kids. It was sooo hot that day! I felt like I was melting. But the kids had fun :)

I had my friend's twin girls over one day and we may little pumpkins to decorate. This was a lot easier than carving pumpkins and I think everyone like it.

Haws had some interviews in Utah, so we headed up to Dana's house for some fall fun!
I love going to Witchappaloza at Gardner's Village and I have done it the past few years around this time. It is decorated so cute and the boys loved the face painting.

 Since we missed our truck or treat back home, we joined Dana for hers. The boys loved getting to wear their costumes multiple times and getting lots of candy of course :)

My little ghost...

 and my little monster. I love Davis' look here. 

On Halloween we got together with the cousins for dinner and trick or treating at my parents house and neighborhood. My mom went all out with the Halloween themed food. The boys had a ton of fun going house to house and getting candy with their cousins.

 How cute is this kid with his little hippo?

trip to the fire station

James has been obsessed with wearing his fire jacket and his sheriff hat outfit. You will see many pictures of him in this get up. The sheriff hat because it was all he had to go with his jacket. 

When I found out that our local fire station was having an open house I knew we had to take him! 

Both boys had a lot of fun.

Just look at the joy on that boys face! Now I have to somehow make a air tank and mask for him because that is what real fire fighters have.

I love the picture of Davis cuddling with Haws' head. That boy is such a love bug! 

Oh and I don't want to forget to mention that Davis is finally walking!!!!

He started walking about a week before his 18 month birthday while we were at the Irvine Zoo. It's like he knew his pediatrician was giving him until his 18 month birthday. And what a cute little walker he is :) Here is a video of his first steps.

It's a boy!

When I told people I was pregnant, I think 90% of the response was "maybe you will have a girl this time!" It was funny, because I would be lying if I said I wouldn't love to have a girl... but I really wasn't hoping for one! I love my boys and I actually think it will be fun to have a house full of boys to spoil me :) The night before our ultrasound I had a dream that we were having a boy. I woke up and told Haws for the first time I felt like I knew what we were having. With James I had no clue, with Davis I thought he was maybe a girl.
So we went in and took James with us to find out the sex. Right when the nurse started the ultrasound... there it was. There was no doubt this little guy was a boy! James was so cute. He said "Look! It's Bobby!" I told Haws that we should name him Bobby but he vetoed it.
We had decided since it was baby #3, we would do something fun to announce the sex. So we made a cake and had the family get together for the unveiling. Pretty much everyone thought we were having a girl because we were making a bigger deal about the announcement. But to their surprise a blue cake!

Here is the little guy giving me either the finger or a fist pump :)
We are so excited for him to join our family. It's going to be crazy, but it just feels right.

Taking Flight

Before Haws left to start his new job in Salt Lake, his buddy Matt wanted to take him out for a spin... in his plane! Matt has his pilots licence and shares a plane with a few guys. He was nice enough to take Haws to Catalina for a buffalo burger. Just a quick flight, but they had a blast! Haws even got to fly for a little. I am just glad he made it back in one piece!