norton's visit

My sister and her family have been in town the past two weeks!  It has been a pretty big party and a lot of things happened while they were here.  We had a funeral and a baby born in our family.  While there was plenty of excitement going on, it was so fun just to spend time with them.  So much fun, in fact, we were actually looking forward to them leaving so we could get a break!!  Just kidding, sister!  You know how much I wish your little family lived here so that we could play together all the time.

Here are the cute kids at Gardner Village.  You can tell which one is her child.  Obviously, the girl is not mine.  I wish.  Harper is such a cutie and the boys love playing with her.  There is just so much to love about this picture.  The bag of chips is probably my favorite though.

Another classic shot...

Finally, we got a keeper!

This is Erika's new baby, Dawson.  He is too cute and always this happy!

Then there is my baby (who is getting too big)...

All the kids talking to the ducks...

More posing on the way to the candy store for some bribes!

Crew in his element, dirt!

Sweetest candid picture ever!

We also got to celebrate my Grandma's birthday while they were here.  I love that we made my Grandma pretend to blow out her candles 10 times so we could get a picture.  She's a great sport! 

Besides swimming and sleepovers, the most favorite thing for me was watching these kids play together.  Harper is the smartest little girl there is (with a temper to match)!  I absolutely love watching my boys play with her.  Parker is the cutest thing ever with her.

Erika is absolutely going to kill me for posting this, but it was the only picture I have of her.  Keep in mind that she has a 3 month old baby and is still very self conscious about her body.  I think she looks great!! 

This is also the only picture I have of Brian (in the background playing basketball with Payton).  I loved getting to snuggle with Baby Dawson and help give him baths.  I also loved hanging out in my parents yard.  The weather could not have been more perfect.

Just chillin at my parents, which is what we did most of the time.  Here we are saying our goodbyes.  Harper does not love to hug...

This is such a classic shot of the chaos.  I love Payton on the couch, twirling his hair.  Classic Payton shot!

Bye, bye, Dawson.  Doesn't he look sad to leave us?  We are sad to see them go too, but love the time we got to spend with them!

crew update

I took Crew in for his one year check up (only a month late).  He's my fourth child, what do you expect?  Anyway...he's still looking great and doing well.  He weighed in at 21 lbs which puts him in the 25th percentile for weight and he is 30 inches long which puts him in the 55th percentile for height.  Dr. says it sounds like he does have "reactive airway" (blah, hate that term) so we need to give him the inhaler when necessary.  We gave him a breathing treatment already and it worked great.  I hate it when the Doctor is right!  Here are some fun "shots" (no pun intended) I got of Crew while we sat patiently waiting.

All I have to say is, "Where is Crew?" and he puts the blanket over his head and begins playing peek-a-boo with me.  Too cute.

Check out this smile.  It was cracking me up.  Every time I pointed the camera at him, he would do this silly grin.  What a silly boy.  As Tim would say, a "fish head."  Not sure what that means, but I can just hear Tim saying, "What a fish head!"

Another silly grin...seriously, this is his version of "cheese!"  Look at those two front teeth.  He has 7 teeth now and 2 more molars making their way in right now.  My other boys never had this many teeth so early.

Caught him with his eyes open because he was snacking.  He really does have the prettiest blue eyes.  And, he really does constantly make the silliest faces!  Love those little fingers too.  I want to snack on them.  And that blond hair...where does it come from?

Crew is ALL OVER the place.  He goes up and down our stairs all day long.  He does really well with them and (so far) has never fallen.  He was kicked down the stairs one time and was totally fine, so that's good news.  He gets into every single drawer and isn't content until every item is cleared out of the drawer.  I'm sure he knows how much I love to organize so he thinks he's doing me a favor.  I do get the chance to reorganize most of our house daily.  Thanks for that, Crew!    

Here's one more of his silly smile face.  Too funny!  I love that Crew is understanding us.  He loves to shake his head "no" or "yes" and he definitely knows what he wants.  He's getting an awesome high pitched scream just like his older brother, Parker.  He says, "mama" and "dada" sometimes, but mostly just babbles a lot.  He does say "oh" a lot or "uh-oh."  He gets very excited and hits whatever he is excited about...many times it's another little human.  We've got to figure that one out.  He also loves to clap.   He loves to dance to music.  He loves the water and splashes like crazy in the bathtub or swimming pool.  He also loves taking a shower and letting the water run all over him.  He loves cars and will make car sounds while driving the car around.  He is at such a fun and crazy stage.  We love our little, Crewser, Crew!

utah vs. byu

Last year I didn't make it to one Utah Football Game because I am a complete home body when I have a newborn.  This year everyone is shocked that I'm acting like my season ticket is actually MINE.  Yes, the ticket is mine!  I had to fight Payton for it for two weeks straight.  In the end, Mom always wins.  I'm so glad I fought for that ticket.  It was an awesome game.  We had dinner and carpooled with our friends, the Cleggs, who also have season tickets a couple sections over from us.  I loved the excitement at the stadium.  Tim was hoarse before the game even started! 
 

Matt Halvorsen & Clint (my brother).  Becca had her baby just 3 days before this game so Clint got to bring one of his boyfriends instead!  Matt was good entertainment...

Just like our other Matt.  What a goof!  It's a good thing Kara is so cute.

Just to prove that we weren't one of the fans rushing the field after.  See, we're way up here!!  Sheesh that was a crazy ending.

Cooper's been suiting up in this football gear for days.  He loves that he looks just like a real football player.  He also told me today, that his friend Porter (who's Dad is an avid BYU fan...the same one who spray painted our lawn last year) can cheer for Utah when his Dad isn't home.  Too funny!

Go Utes...

brigham city temple

Since the boys were off track during the Brigham City Temple Open House, I thought it would be a fun opportunity to take them.  Tim took the day off and we were lucky to be joined by some of his family that were able to come in the middle of the day. 

Payton and Parker having fun on the big bus shuttling us over to the Temple.

Brady, Mahina, Eme & Dax.  They left their brand new Baby Evan at home with Grandma!  I was so impressed that they were all able to look this perfect at 9:00 am in the morning with a 2-week-old baby.  Go Mahina, you're amazing!

Grandma Ann, Andi & Corbin.  It was fun that Andi was able to drive down from Wyoming and join us!

My favorite part of the picture is Ann photo bombing us in the background.  What's more hilarious is that she was not doing it on purpose.  She was just having a conversation with Andi back there!  Cooper loved his "map" of the Temple and loved looking for all the special rooms.  This is our "before" picture.

And here is "after"...everyone was hot and hungry!  We finished the day off at Maddox, which is a must when you're visiting Brigham City.  It was delicious food, fabulous company and a beautiful day! 

The temple is absolutely gorgeous!  I loved the beautiful stain glass everywhere.  I also loved learning some more history about Brigham City.  I'm so glad that we took the time to do this.  I'm excited for the dedication this Sunday.  It will be neat for Payton to experience his first Temple Dedication as well!