Names...

Now that we know what we're having I am dying to name HIM. But I just can't decide. I need help. Vote for your favorite name on the side or if you have any other suggestions I would LOVE to hear it. With my others I had them named from before I got the ultrasound. I don't know why I can't pick now but this kid needs a name.

We're offically having a...

Tu Tu Cute

Yesterday was Lizzie and Linnie's first dance recital. They were doing the "Doll Dance" and it was just too cute! They didn't get shy on stage (surprisingly) and did most of the dance. Paul and I were so proud. I forgot my camera for the show (but had the video camera luckily) so these were shots afterwards. Aren't they cute?These are their doll poses... too funny.These are some shots my friend Tonya got (that I stole from her blog... thanks Tonya!)

Baby ... boy or girl?

We still don't know! For those who don't know, I had the ultrasound tech write on a card I made whether it is a boy or girl. We will open the envelope tomorrow(Christmas Eve) as a family. It took everything I had not to open it at the doctors office but I did watch as he did the ultrasound and I have my suspicions (or you could call it wishful thinking I guess). I'll try to post a scan of the gender in the next few days but here's the first baby picture we got! The one that shows the gender is in the envelope. Any guesses?

Naughty or Nice?

f you ask Blake if he is naughty or nice, he is very insistent that he is nice. He goes around the house singing "you better watch out, Santa Claus is coming to town!" He's been obsessed this year. Last year, he wouldn't even go near a Santa figure we have so we were excited to see what he would do around the real Santa. He was thrilled to say the least. We braved the CRAZY Christmas Mall Shopping crowds the last Saturday before Christmas to see good ol' St. Nick. All three kids were thrilled! Blake looks grumpy in all these pictures only because he did NOT want to take pictures, he wanted to look at Santa. It was a drastic change from last year where I had to be in the picture so he would sit near Santa.Waiting to see Santa, Blake's trying to peek around the corner to see Santa some more...
Finally getting to sit on Santa's lap. The girls were shy but told Santa they wanted a Baby (again?) and Blake says tools. I just love this time of year especially since I've had kids! They make it all so much fun especially once they start understanding it all. I can't wait for next year when the baby is here and our family is complete!

Preschool Program

Being that Lizzie and Linnie have been in preschool for three years, we've seen their Christmas program before (its pretty much the same songs year after year) but it never loses its appeal. Its just so fun to watch them get more and more comfortable and actually sing. The first year, they played with their dresses, showing the world their underwear (oh yes they did!) then the next year they just sat still sometimes using the props (Linnie more than Lizzie). But this year, they sung most of the songs, used their props and not once did they lift their dresses up! What an accomplishment. I think keeping them in preschool one more year has been so good for them plus they have two great teachers that they adore!A clip of "I'm getting nothing" They do an imitation of their parents being mad.

Boy or Girl...

I can't wait! We find out on Friday whether this baby is a boy or a girl. Everyone seems to be taking their guesses...

Lizzie thinks boy because she wants Blake to have a brother (isn't that sweet of her)
Linnie thinks girl
Marcia thinks girl
Paul thinks Boy
(Blake has no opinion seeing as he is two and does not understand that there are such things as boys and girls).

So its 2-2. What's your tie breaking guess??

Temple Square

Temple Square is one of my favorite places during Christmas to see the lights. It's amazing to see how many lights there are and you just feel the Christmas spirit all around you. It's just gorgeous (and free!) and the kid's love it. It was freezing that night and we had a hard time getting into Salt Lake (the traffic reminded me of California!) but all worth it in the end!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love decorating for Christmas, everything but the tree. Its always so much work getting it set up (we have a fake one), wrapping the lights around every branch, then trying to control the kids. I've really got to learn to just let them decorate how they want, it will be so much easier on us all! But the end result was great! We had so much fun putting it all up. There were a few tears when I wouldn't let Blake sit on or step on the ornaments but besides that, it was great!

Lights up or not...

Every year, I ask Paul to put the lights up (I'm too big a wuss to do it myself) and every year he's exhausted due to Target. He usually just puts it off til it snows then "can't" do it. This year he had no excuses and I didn't even have to ask! Our house is a scary one to put lights on. It's steep and it was not designed for Christmas lights. Kent, being the nice brother he is, helped Paul come up with this grand idea (I think it was more Paul's than Kent's). Here's a picture of the boys at work.What you ask is Kent holding? That would be a rope. Yes a rope which is tied around Paul's waist. Yes thats right, a rope to keep him from falling off our very tall house. I am married to a crazy person but I have to admit, the lights look fantastic and I'm grateful my husband is still alive!

My Little Idea...

For those of you who don't know, part of what I teach is vinyl cutouts, meaning vinyl decor or lettering. I've been making vinyl for friends and family (and myself of course) for years and I love doing it. So I thought I'd put together some samples of stuff I have done and if anyone wants me to make anything let me know! My stuff is pretty cheap: $10 for 1 color, $13 for 2 Color, $16 for 3. I can do custom or whatever you need. Check out my website http://simplystickitdesigns.blogspot.com/ or email me at paulandmarcia@hotmail.com if you have quesitons!

Give Thanks to a Soldier

A friend of mine sent me some info about sending a card to a soldier for Christmas. I did this with one of my classes today and thought it was really cool so I wanted to share.

If you go to this web site, http://www.letssaythanks.com/, you can choose a thank you card and Xerox will print it out and send it to a soldier who is currently stationed overseas . You can't decide who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. It is FREE and only takes a moment. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you support or oppose the war, our soldiers serving around the world need to know that we are behind THEM.This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you, especially during the holidays. Please take the time to send a card and pass it on for others to do as well. We can never say enough thank yous. Thank YOU for supporting our military!

Christmas Traditions...

Today has been a day of recovery for our family. All three kids are sick, Paul is sick and I am sick. We've had family functions and visitors all week and had a great time but are now feeling the effects of it all. We LOVE being around family and having people stay with us, but we may never let another sick visitor into this house again (especially after Blake puked all over the computer, gross)!

Now, as I sit here with sickness all around us, my darling little girls have been begging to put up the Christmas tree telling me we ALWAYS put it up after Thanksgiving. The girls and I always put up the tree while Paul's at work on Black Friday(I can never wait til he gets home to do it) but this year with him being home, we thought it would be fun to do as a whole family. I love Christmas traditions and putting up the tree but just don't feel like it today. As I'm thinking of this and our other traditions, I'm wondering what all your Christmas traditions are (and if I can steal some of them). Leave a comment with your favorite holiday tradition in detail. If you tell me yours, I'll tell you ours :)

It's weird for me to put up a post without any pictures so here's one of the girls decorating last year... We did it before Thanksgiving I think!

Happy Thanksgiving

I love how everyone made a what they are thankful for list so...

My Thankful List:

1. My family! Obviously this is number one. My husband and kids make this life worth living. We have a great extended family who we just don't see enough but we love them all!
2. Being pregnant. Its crazy and tiring to grow a person in you but there is no greater blessing. I am even more grateful that morning sickness/exhaustion is over!!
3. My job. I get done at 12 most days and have lots of time at home. There's not many full time jobs like it!
4. Paul not working for Target anymore!!! We can finally enjoy the holidays and see Paul. The holidays tended to be stressful and tiring for Paul taking away from the fun of it all. I'm even more excited that for the first time in 5 years, we get to go to California! Christmas in the warmth is a very merry Christmas indeed.
5. For blogging. I seriously love it! I love reading peoples comments and catching up with everyone's lives through their blogs. Its fantastic!

Go UTES!

We are a red family all the way when the UTEs play BYU. Paul is an alumni for University of Utah so we support the Utes! (Pepperdine has no football) For those of you who don't live in Utah or have never lived in Utah, U of U and BYU are HUGE rivals. The big football game between the rivals was yesterday afternoon.The football game between them is always super heated. Anywhere you went on Friday or Saturday, everyone was wearing their blue (BYU) or red (UTES). Its a funny world we live in but so much fun. We went to watch the game at Scott and Jenny's (Jenny was at Twilight, lucky girl) with the Ercanbracks (Paul's twin sisters family). It was great. Adam and Lynette's kids are all our kids ages so the kids were quite distracted and we could watch the game! We had a blast especially since our team won but mostly it was just fun being with everyone. I made our family matching shirts on Friday at work (my students found that quite amusing, I think). We had the best time!

Blake is saying "Go Utes! We're number 1!"

Twilight with the Girls!

Let me say first of all that I absolutely love the Twilight books and could not wait for the movie (I feel a little dorky admitting all that). I was so glad when my good friend Lisa set up a girls day out to go see the movie! I think Paul may have been a little more glad seeing as how I would not be dragging him to see it, he does not understand my obsession with the books. I loved the movie but its really no comparison to the books. I had a blast hanging out with the girls and am so glad I got to go! It was an experience, never have I heard grown women swoon over a movie... too funny! Thanks girls for letting me go with ya!

Junior High Plays

Our nephew Rick had his play tonight, Cinderella. Paul's sister and her family are visiting from Virginia so all went to support Rick. He was awesome! We all still think he should have gotten the lead but we might be a little biased. Afterwards we went to Jenni and Jason's place for some cake and icecream, yum! We had a blast. Thanks for inviting us Jenni.

Happy Halloween... Witch Way to the Candy?

Halloween is always a ton of fun. It seems like the older my kids get the more fun they have. Today was a great day! It was the last day of the quarter so I was able to take the kids to work with me. They dressed up in their costumes and watched a movie on my projector and played games on disney. com. Then at night we did the same as last year just a little better. We went to our church's trunk-or-treat. Every year we go. If you've never been to one of these, basically, everyone parks their car and hands out candy from their trunk. The kids line up and get candy. Its great for little ones. Blake was not shy at all; if the candy didn't get into his bucket fast enough, he'd get it himself. Lizzie and Linnie said thank you every time (yes, this mom was quite proud of her two polite girls). Afterward we went to our friend's for some homemade chili (yum!! Thanks Cindy!) The boys took the bigger kids for some real trick-or-treating. The kids got a load of candy! It was a great night.Here's some more fun pictures. I really wish I would have taken more pictures...

Spooktakular Ward Halloween Party/Carnival

Last weekend, the kids FINALLY got to wear their Halloween costumes and they were thrilled. We went to our ward (church) Halloween party. There was a ton to do and it was pretty much ward chaos the whole time but we had a ton of fun! There was so much to do and the kids wanted to do it all. They ate ice cream, did a cupcake walk, played fish and won suckers. The girls got their faces painted by the young women... We even took a family picture. Isn't it scary?

Too Cute To Spook

I love Halloween. Every year, Lizzie and Linnie's preschool has a short Halloween thing. They have a party at school then 15 minutes at the end, parents get to come, they sing a couple Halloween songs, and do a short parade around the neighborhood. It's too cute and I love it!

Flashback Friday: Stop for a Spell

I've decided to do a Flashback Friday at the end of every month (its too much every week). Being Halloween, I thought there would be no better one than a Halloween one.

This is Lizzie and Linnie's first Halloween. They were too small for any costumes so I made them myself. There was a huge blizzard that night.Blake's First Halloween. He was a pea in a pod.
Last Halloween. These were my Favorite!Happy Halloween.

1st Trimester

My sister in law Jessica (who's preggers too yay!) has started keeping track of her month to month progress. Such a great idea that I've decided to copy that! (Hope you don't mind Jess.) I always meant to do this with my other pregnancies but never got around to it. Blogging just makes it easier.

So today I hit 12 weeks. Does that mean my first trimester is over. I say yes! I just need to convince my morning sickness of that. The other day, Tuesday, I was so sick. It seemed like everything smelled like fish especially outside. It was so gross and just made me nauseous all day. Uggh. Yes the first trimester is definitely over, thank you very much! So in my first trimester:
Cravings: scrambled eggs and toast, chocolate milk... mmmmm
Weight Gain- 4 lbs (I'm feeling pretty darn good about that!)
Symptoms: Extreme Exhaustion, Migraines & Nausea (isn't pregnancy blissful)

I'll post a picture later.

Our Lil' Pumpkins

Having Paul off this week has been so much fun. We've been busy the whole time and I for one love it! Today was no different. The kids have been really excited to carve pumpkins (last year we kept putting it off and never did it... Isn't that awful?) so this year we decided to choose our pumpkins from a pumpkin patch. They loved running through the field looking for their perfect pumpkin. Lizzie and Linnie really just wanted a tiny one but we had to convince them to go bigger so we could carve it. I think they did a pretty good job and I got some great pictures! I can't wait to do my scrapbook page for this one!

Feeding the Ducks

We went up to Liberty Park today to eat lunch (picnic), feed the ducks and play on the playground. The kids had been looking forward to this since we saw other ducks up in Logan yesterday. The ducks at Liberty Park have no fear. At first there were only a few, then once the bread came out, we got swarmed. By the end, the bigger ducks were trying to take the bread out of the kids hands. Both Lizzie and Linnie got bit and Blake just screamed as one of the ducks would not leave him alone despite the fact that he had no more bread left. It was a funny sight but I think my kids may not like ducks too much anymore. I don't think we will be feeding the ducks anytime soon!

Bear Lake Roadtrip

This whole week Paul has been off since he starts his new job on Monday. Its been amazing having him home, especially since the kids and I have been home since its the UEA break! Yesterday when we were trying to think of something to do, we decided to go on a short road trip. We have been planning a family reunion for Paul's family for next summer up at Bear Lake and yesterday went to check out the house we are thinking of renting. We made a trip of it. We stopped outside of Logan and had a little picnic. The kids ran around and saw ducks (they got very excited about that, especially Blake. Go figure.) Then we went and saw the house which is nothing short of amazing. Then we went and got shakes! Yum. These are some pictures of the kids having fun at our little picnic.

I have three little tree monkeys.

Weekend Excitement

This last weekend, I got to chaperone some of my students in Park City for a leadership conference. Lizzie and Linnie spent the night at their friend's so Blake and Paul joined me. We had a ton of fun and lots of excitement. Blake was so good the whole time. He walked around high fivin' all the high school kids. The rooms we stayed in were suites and very nice.

We learned that Blake does not like strange rooms. In the middle of the night, he opened our bedroom door, walked into the living room and went out the door that leads into the main hallway locking himself out. Luckily my husband is a light sleeper (I did not hear a thing) and heard the door snap shut then Blake screaming bloody murder when he discovered he couldn't get back in. We're lucky he stayed by the door and didn't wander off. It was scary. From now on I bring child safety things for the door handles when we go anywhere.

These are some shots of the next day when we drove around Park City. We ended up going to the Olympic museum. Blake was not entertained at all and was bored the whole time. He was fussy until we went back outside.

We're Just Full of Changes Lately

I've been waiting to post this until it was set in stone but finally Paul got a new job! As a lot of people know, Paul has not been thrilled with his job. Retail is hard (the hours are awful) and he wanted to try something new. Luckily, he found an awesome job in sales of a data computer program. It will be a normal 8-5 job, Monday-Friday and it's right around the corner! We could not be more thrilled. Our family needed this change plus its a change that keeps us close by! We are so excited and can't wait to have him home so much more. He starts on the 20th.

My Five Year Old

This morning being Sunday, me being exhausted and Paul working, I tried to stay in bed for as long as possible. My three kids were all playing in the playroom and I could hear them in my half asleep state. Linnie comes into the room with a wet diaper semi wrapped up and tells me Blake had a wet diaper so she changed it. Yes that is correct, my five year old changed my 2 year old's diaper. Can you believe it? I sure couldn't and she did a good job, I only had to semi tighten it. Hopefully she's getting some practice in for when the new baby comes! I seriously have the best kids ever!

Over the Top at the Circus

Yesterday, we went to the circus. Lizzie and Linnie saw it on TV and really wanted to go. It worked out that I got good tickets for really cheap so Paul took the day off (I had the day off due to Parent Teacher Conferences this week). Last time everything was so chaotic that we missed a lot of the extras to the show. This time we made it to see the animals before hand...

Blake is obsessed with elephants. He got a Diego figure set for his birthday that is a Diego and his elephant. He loves it and apparently loves elephants. He just kept yelling and pointing "Elephant" the whole time. He was in heaven.

The kids weren't too impressed with the tigers though...

And then we got to see the preshow up on the stage. It was cool being able to go right up close and see all the acts. Blake had a rough time towards the end. He had to go without a nap (yes it was insane!) and was so tired. This was before the exhaustion set in...
Lizzie and Linnie enjoyed it much more this time! They just sat watching never getting restless; I was surprised.

Paul and I both thought the show was a lot more entertaining this time, plus it was really long, about 2 1/2 hours. We had a ton of fun!

Flashback Friday: The Circus

Today, since we went to the circus, I decided to post pictures from the last time we went to the circus 2 years ago. At this time, Blake was just a baby (he was about 4-5 weeks old) and the girls were 3. Lizzie and Linnie threw up on the way over there all over themselves. Luckily I didn't get anything on me and I had gone shopping for them the day before and had some jeans and sweatshirts in the car. I had already paid for the tickets so there was no way we were missing it (I'm mean I know) and they were so excited to go. We ended up staying for most of the show and they were really good sports and really enjoyed it despite being sick.

More Changes!

We have officially taken our house off the market! We called our Realtor yesterday and within 30 minutes the key box and sign were gone (I think he might have been done too). Looks like we are here to stay.

Making Some Changes

Paul and I were debating when to post this and we're waiting a couple of weeks to let the news settle into our brains. But that was before we told two excited 5-year olds, who tell everyone they know! By now they probably told the neighbor kids and all the kids at school, and yesterday their primary class was told and then everyone else at church. So we decided to spill the beans a little early (we hinted at it on our flash back friday)... We're having a baby! He/she is due around the end of April or beginning of May ( I'm around 9 weeks along give or take.). I will only have to miss about 6 weeks of work then I get the summer off so the timing couldn't be better. I have my doctors appointment in a week and half so I'll know more then. We are very excited about this change (and are curious to see who actually reads our blog and will find out this little tid bit of information :) ) and happy to share it with all our favorite people!

Flashback Fridays

This week brought back some memories I wanted to share.

Change of Scenery

Today, I decided to change up the blog to match my Hawaii pictures. Can you tell I'm in a Hawaiian kind of mood? I was designing my scrapbook pages and decided to make a background and banner to go with the blog... What do ya think?

Hawaii (yes finally)!

Ok this took forever but I've been waiting to get the rest of my pictures before posting...

We spent the last week of July on the fantastic island of Oahu in Hawaii and loved every minute. Since I took a billion pictures (Click Here to See them ALL)(well just 300 if you count only the ones I didn't delete and Scott and Jenny's pictures) I figured I'd just give highlights of all the fun we had. These are my top 10 favorite things we did with pictures (in no particular order).

1. Waikiki- The first night we decided to stay on our own in a nice hotel. I really wanted one on the beach in the main area. We definately got that. Our view was amazing and we had such a great time. And of course there was The Beach... need I say more. It was amazing to be able to lay out in the sun and never worry where my kids were (since they were in California with my parents :) ).

2. The Poly Cultural Center- who knew learning could be fun?

The shows were hilarious and very entertaining. We got to see a samoan climb a palm tree.

Plus we got a luau and show at night. It was very cool.
The Luau...

Jenny and I loved the pina coladas... yum

3. Snorkling in Hunama Bay- Unfortunately we did not have much time. After watching the 9 minute video on how "NOT TO STEP ON THE CORAL" we only had about an hour or so to snorkel but it was very cool.

A little surreal to be so close to the coral with the waves crashing down on you but all good. My parents lent us their underwater camera and we had a blast taking pictures. Unfortunately you can't tell what you are shooting so you basically point it and click. Lots of the pictures didn't turn out at all. But this is what we got. The ones of Jenny didn't quite work out...

4. Golfing- Paul goes all the time with Scott but us girls never get to go so we decided to join them! Honestly, we were curious to see what the fuss was about but we really had a blast driving those golf carts around. It was awesome!
5. Pearl Harbor- Again, who knew educational stuff would be vacation worthy? We spent way more time here than we planned but it was amazing. I had no idea some of the stuff that happened. Plus we got some fun pictures!

We listened to the story of Pearl Harbor on headphones... Aren't we the coolest!

Jenny and I...

Drivin' the submarine...

The big guns...

6. Pipeline- You always see pipeline in movies so it was fun to see it. What a beautiful beach!

7. Sunset Beach- Since it was called sunset Beach, Paul just had to see it at sunset and get a picture of it. Isn't it pretty?

Scott had his own pose in front of the sunset...

Paul climbing a palm tree...

8. Our Beach at Bellows- Since Scott is in the military, we got to stay on Bellows Airforce Base. Not only was it cheap but the beach wasn't so touristy (Is that a word?). We had the best time!
9. Dinner Cruise- Jenny and I really wanted to do the Dinner Cruise so after some convincing the boys agreed and it was fun! We all got into it and enjoyed ourselves the last night we were there.

It was so windy but beautiful. Honolulu/Waikiki is behind us.

10. Shark's Cove- It was raining like crazy but in between, it was cool. We saw no sharks which was very disappointing but it was really cool. There was tons of people snorkling which seemed a bit insane to me. Who wants to snorkle (I'm sure you look like a fish of some sorts to a shark) for sharks... hmmm smart people...

Isn't this just precious? I don't think they even knew what they were doing.

11. The Hike to The Lighthouse- Now this did not make my top 10 since it made me get all sweaty and was just a whole lot of stairs (I swear it was like the stairmaster from Hell!) but we got some cool pictures so I included it!

A few of the stairs... Aren't they awful?


But the view was amazing!

Hawaii was amazing!! I can't wait to go back... maybe next year (hint hint Paul)!