Catch up time once again..

Summer has ended and school has begun. It seemed to have gone by so fast, but when you are traveling a lot I think it really goes fast. We had the opportunity to attend 4 family reunions in a 2 in a half week time period. It was a lot of fun being able to see that many family members and letting the kids make memories with their cousins.
After the family reunions settled down we had a few days of relaxing but then it was time to finalize baptism and blessing details. We had the wonderful experience of being able to have Brysan baptized and AJ blessed the same day. We had lots of family and some very dear friends (who are like family)come to visit and share in this special day. I hope it is a day that Brysan will never forget. We are very proud of her for making the decision to be baptized.
August was a pretty quiet month but since I cant remember a whole lot of what went on it must of been pretty busy too. We had a lot of fun going swimming and spending time together as a family. In our subdivision we have a swimming pool so we went swimming almost ever night we could through out the summer. We really enjoyed it and look forward to next summer when we can enjoy it some more.
The kids are really loving school. Spencer is in Kindergarten and is having a great time. I can see him changing and growing already. Brysan started 3rd grade this year. She too is having a wonderful time and is very excited to learn cursive this year. We are very proud of both of them for doing their best and enjoying school.
Aleysa is loving the time that she is the oldest one home. She however, does miss Spencer a lot while he is gone, they have become pretty good pals and love playing with each other. Braidon has been our adventurous child. He is still very polite and is so fun but he is turning into a 2 in a half year old almost 3 and seems to not want to listen as well as he has before. We had a scare with him a few weeks back and he ended up in the hospital for a couple days. He has cold induced asthma and we couldn't get it under control so he got to spend a few days in the pediatric department of the hospital. All is well for now and hopefully we wont have any more episodes like that. AJ is now 6 months old and is army crawling everywhere, he even managed to find the dog food the other day so now I really have to watch him. his first tooth broke through this week and it's just amazing to me how the time has flown by. He is a great baby and more often then not we get glimpses of those he is named after and it is fun to see those characteristics in him.
I know I have a camera full of pictures from our summer and since then so hopefully, I will be able to get some pictures up soon. But we are all doing well and are still alive. I am hoping to get better about posting stuff but life with 5 kids they always keeps you hopping.

we are alive.... I think!

Well it has been a few months since i have posted anything, sorry. But all i can say is we are still trying to get back into routine after having AJ. We are all doing great and finally adjusting to everything i think, of course we do have those days or moments throughout the day that can be more stressful then others but it is all worth it.
Since my last post we have done a lot and hopefully soon i can get pictures posted of our adventures. Brysan finished 2nd grade this year and had an amazing year. She is a wonderful student and was sad to see school come to an end. (she definitely gets that from Dusty not me!) We are looking forward to 3rd grade and the many new adventures and things she has to learn there. Spencer is all registered for Kindergarten and is very excited to go. He keeps asking "how much longer until i get to go?" Hopefully it is all he is hoping it will be. As for Aleysa she is growing up so much and loves to copy ANYTHING her siblings do. Which isn't always the best but that's what older siblings are for right??? She is a lot of fun. Braidon is talking so much more and is loving being a big brother. It is so fun to watch them all grow and change. It's still hard for us to believe we have five kids but we sure love everyone of them so much.
Over Memorial weekend we took a very LONG trip to Arizona and California. Dusty's grandparents live in Yuma AZ and we haven't seen them for almost 3 years, which means they haven't met 2 of our children. It was time for us to take a trip so we went. It was such a wonderful experience to spend a couple days with them and for them to see our children. We had a hard time leaving but knew we had a wonderful visit. After leaving Yuma we decided to head over to San Diego and visit Sea World since we were only a few hours away. The kids had a blast and Dusty and i enjoyed the visit as well. So after spending 6 days away from home and all but 3 in a half days or so out of the car we made it back with great memories! Thanks to my sister for tagging along to help with the kids, if it hadn't been for her we probably would have gone even crazier then we did!
Now we are preparing to have our annual week long camping adventure with several reunions and we are looking forward to seeing more family and making more memories. And i think the highlight of the summer will be when Brysan gets baptized the end of July, it is going to be such a wonderful experience for her and she is even sharing her day with AJ so we can bless him the same day. I can't believe she is old enough to be baptized and i am grateful for her sweet spirit and her decision to get baptized.
Well if i can find a few more minutes sometime i will try to post pictures of our adventures so far this summer, with many more to come i am sure!!

Welcome to our family A.J.

Well after what seemed to be a very long pregnancy for me with many ups and downs we finally had our baby!!! Arlon Joseph (A.J.) was born Wed. April 7th. He has been so much fun to have around and the kids are totally in love with him, maybe a little too much! A.J. weighed in at 8 lbs 15 oz and was 19 inches long. He struggled the first 24 hours to maintain his blood sugar levels so we had a lot of heel poking to keep that checked but he has done a lot better since then. He was named after my dear brother in law (Dusty's brother) who lost his battle with cancer last year and after my grandfather who passed away the end of March this year. We love having him around and the sweet spirit he brings with him. We are so blessed to have him in our family and love every one of our 5 kids so much. WOW we have 5 kids that's pretty crazy!!! I am so thankful that i have the opportunity to be their mom and to teach and love them. What a joy they all are and how blessed we have been to be able to have such wonderful kids. Here's the whole gang!!

waiting to come home!
We finally made it home

Happy Birthday Braidon!!!!

It's hard to believe but our baby is 2 today! He is such a fun little guy to have around, always full of smiles and thank yous. However, the terrible twos have begun so hopefully he doesn't change to much. We are very grateful to have him in our family, and I wouldn't change any thing about him. He has such a great spirit about him and can always make me smile. He tries so hard to be just like his older brother and sisters but sometimes it just doesn't work out but he is always willing to give it a go. He is our little monkey, always trying to find something to move to climb on and see what he can find on the counters or turning on and off the lights. I hope you have a wonderful day and know how much you are loved. Happy Birthday Braidon!!! (hopefully soon i can update with pictures of him and even our Christmas)

All I want for Christmas is...............

my two front teeth!!!! Brysan lost her first top tooth last week and was really excited about it. The other one was loose but not ready to come out, until daddy came along. They were playing around and wrestling last night and her tooth got knocked out. So now she can sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front Teeth." She is super cute and really excited that they both are out.

News...

It's been a week ago now but we had our ultrasound. We were very excited and really enjoy this part of the pregnancy so much. I love being able to see the baby and I truly do treasure this day. We were not going to find out what we are having, however we changed our minds (or Dusty gave in) and we were able to see that baby #5 is going to be a.............
BOY!!!!!!!
We are excited but a little sad that we broke our pattern. Boys are fun and we can't wait to meet this little boy in April.
We didn't get very many great pictures of the baby because of the position he was in but i am still going to post some of them and hopefully you can tell what they are.

This picture is of the nose and the mouth.

Here is an arm and the hand in a fist.

Here is a picture of the feet.

She's 3.............

Well Friday happened to be Aleysa's birthday and she turned 3. It's hard to believe that she is 3 already but it is fun to see how she has grown and all the things she is doing. She is such a sweet spirit and is so much fun to have around. It's been really great since she has potty trained and is totally out of diapers. (even at night) She is the earliest of our kids so far and it has been wonderful. She is full of energy and loves to read and learn things. I am so grateful she is in our family and love her tons!!!!She sure has changed, but she is still a cutie!!!!

Our Family pictures....

Here are just a few of the family pictures we had taken the end of last month. We are really excited about them and wanted to share a few. Taken by Kim Hodson photography.










Thanks Kim for taking our pictures.

Happy Birthday!!!!

I just wanted to wish Dusty a very Happy Birthday!!! You are such a wonderful Dad and husband and we couldn't ask for anything more then you. Y0u always amaze me at the love and time you have for us and i am glad we can have that time with you. Thanks for all you do and know that you are appreciated and loved and we all hope you have a wonderful Birthday.

Fall and Halloween Fun....

We have had a busy couple of weeks and hopefully things will slow down just a little for us. We are in the process of cleaning out my Grandpas house and when we were over there the other weekend the kids decided to have some fun in the leaves. It was fun to see them having so much fun and playing together.Here are the kids pumpkins that we carved for them. They created their faces and we did the hard work for them. I think they turned out cute.For Halloween this year we had all kinds of fun and lots of things happening. I spent most of the evenings before Halloween trying to finish Dusty's Costume, which took a lot of time. For the work contest they posted that if you brought a treat to go with your costume you would get extra points so he decided he wanted to go as a popcorn ball. So we made him into a popcorn ball and made over 60 popcorn balls for him to take to work. He did look pretty good and he looked like a popcorn ball.Then we have the kids, they are always fun to dress and get ready. They have been really excited and on the count down for a couple of weeks. Brysan decided she wanted to be a pink princess after a long debate on whether or not she wanted to be a vampire. Spencer decided on the muscle pirate. He looked really cute. Aleysa went as Snow White, and Braidon was our little tiger. They had lots of fun and all looked really cute.Now that Halloween is over, things should calm down i hope! Things are going great with the pregnancy still, I have been able to feel the baby move for a couple of weeks now and i love that feeling. We should be having our ultrasound the week of Thanksgiving and i can't wait.

What a day.....

So the day was going great, the kids were playing very well together which is rare, and then about 2 pm I hear Braidon start crying. Spencer came down saying Braidon hit his head. I waited for Braidon to come to me because the cry was not that bad, so i figured it was just a bump. Then Spencer came running to me saying "it's bleeding" I looked up and he is covered in blood with it just dripping. I ran and took him to the bathroom, and realized it was too deep for a bandaid. So our wonderful neighbor came over and helped me get things cleaned up and ready to head to the ER. After spending almost 2 hours there we finally got out and got home with 4 stitches total. So since I waited for him to come to me we had blood on the stairs and in the hall way. It luckily came out and i don't think i will have to shampoo but i will see in the morning. Braidon is now the child that has been to the ER the most, but it would be nice if he would space them out a little. This is twice in the last month in a half. I sure hope this day ends soon and i can just sit back and relax.
He is doing good, he is running around and playing like nothing happened. The stitches will come out in 5-7 days.

This is us waiting for the numbing medicine to work so they could do the stitches. Here are the pictures of his new look for the next couple of days.

The ointment made it all shinny. As you can see by his smile it isn't phasing him at all. What a trooper.

Update...

We went to the doctor for a check up today, all is going well we are 15 weeks along and everything is looking great. The baby was hiding a little today so it took some time to find the heart beat but we found it and the kids were so interested in it. They have been asking for the last month when they could go with us to hear the heart beat so they were really excited when they heard it. We will go back in 4 weeks and in 5 weeks we will have our ultra sound. I can't wait for the ultra sound it's always so much fun. Now we get to start debating further as to whether we will find out or not. Dusty says no and i say yes maybe no, who knows. If the kids will stop asking when the baby will come out then it will help this pregnancy go a little faster, instead I am having to say 6 months several times a day. It seems like it will never be here. I am feeling better and if i can get rid of the rest of this cold i have i am hoping to feel great.
As for the rest of the family they are doing well and so far staying healthy, knock on wood!!! The kids are growing up to fast and it just doesn't seem possible at all the many things they each can do now and they continue to learn so much. They are truly great kids and i love them so much they teach me so much each and every day. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and to be able to add another member to all the craziness but it will be so much fun and so worth it.

Our big 5 year old!!!!

Well it's hard to image that Spencer is 5 today but it is true. He has grown up so much and really loves life. He can be a handful at times (a lot of the time) but i am so grateful for him and the love and joy he shares with us all. He is very excited to turn 5 so hopefully it won't be a disappointment. Hopefully later today or with in the next few days i can post a picture of our birthday boy.
Happy Birthday Spencer hope your day is wonderful and as much fun as it can be. We love you and are so glad you are a part of our family!!!!

Big announcement...............

Well we heard the heart beat today!!! It was just as exciting as the first time we heard Brysans. That is right we are expecting #5 in April. Our due date is April 11th and we are very excited. It came as a little bit of a shock but we are still very excited. We have known for about 6 weeks now but we decided to wait for a little while to tell everyone. I am 11 weeks along, we had our first doctors appointment today and we were able to hear the heart beat which is what i look forward to the most during pregnancy. I am hoping that things will continue to get better from this point on, I have been pretty nauseated for the last several weeks but this week has been good so far so i am hoping i am past all of that morning sickness stuff. We are very excited for the opportunity we have to be able to bring another child into this world and that Heavenly Father has entrusted us to be able to do so. It is a great blessing to have children and to learn from them as they learn from us.

More pictures....

Here are some pictures of the end of our summer and the beginning to a new school year.

Our trip to Utah, patiently waiting for the 24th of July parade to start in Logan.

Brysan's birthday cake. She turned 7 this year, time flies!!!

So has become a big fan of Hannah Montana so she was really excited to get this from my Aunt and Uncle.

After she blew out the candles.

We took the three older kids to Roaring Springs with the help of two of my sisters we all had a great time.

Brysan very excited to start 2nd grade. Can you tell???

Walking up to the school catching up with a friend from 1st grade.

Walking into her classroom.

It was a great summer we had a lot of fun and made some great memories!!! We can't wait until next summer to see what fun adventures we will have. We are very grateful to be able to live close enough to family to be able to do many of the things we did and to have that time to make those memories. Life is GREAT!!!!

Pictures finally.....

I finally got it to work so here are some pictures of the beginning of the summer.

Here are the kids have a blast playing in the lake.

Aleysa and Brysan trying to warm up.

The snowmobile going across the lake.

Great Grandma Spencer with all of the great grand-kids that were camping with us.

Just a picture to show how much it rained on us one night.

The girls tents. The little held the suitcases.

The Boys tent. Same here the little was for the clothes.

What's camping without Karaoke???

Spencer helping with the fire wood.

Aleysa helping with the firewood.

Brysan helping with the firewood.

Braidon enjoying a smore. YUM!!!