Dave's Spring Break

Well we just finished a nice week with Dave at home. We took the boys to the museum (and forgot our camera) the zoo and to Chicago! Earlier this week I had my ultrasound. The baby is growing and has all it's parts, at least the ones we could see! This baby is either very stubborn, or very modest. It had it's legs locked closed the entire time! I was quite sad, and even started crying...pathetic, I know. I blame it on all the extra hormones floating around in me! Dave got to be there, so it made it even harder to not find out. My doctor is going to try and come up with an excuse to get me in again next month, so keep your fingers crossed for me! I know some people love the element of surprise, but I am not one of those people. I like everything ready to go!!

Below are a bunch of pictures from our week.

For some reason the boys all wanted maps at the zoo, they have never wanted them before, but they loved looking at the animals on the map and telling us where we should go!

The boys loved riding the huge ferris wheel on Navy Pier.

Chicago is a really neat city, we had such a nice time just walking around looking at everything. The boys really wanted to go swimming in the lake, and I finally got to try Garrett's popcorn, SO yummy!

If you are Dave, or a member of his family you can't go somewhere that has a Del Taco and not eat there at least once...we ate there twice. Luckily we all love it!!

We spent a good amount of time at Millennium Park, Caden could not get enough of the huge "jelly bean."

We had to stop by and look up the Sears Towers. We heard a lot of WOW's from the boys.

We had such a nice time being together as a family. It really made me realise how fantastic my three boys are. They get along so well together and are so kind and thoughtful. I think they are just wonderful and I am so grateful I get to be their mom. I also remembered how nice it is to have a hubby around! However, I am also very grateful to him and all his hard work in school. We are both doing what needs to be done for our family right now, and it feels good to have such a great companionship where we both understand that!

A little Hawaiian update...

Some of you have been asking me how things are going in Molokai with my in-law's restaurant, and how Rod is doing after his accident.

Well, The restaurant is finally open. They have be super busy which is a great thing. There are a few kinks that they are trying to work out, but they are hopeful and things are going better than expected.

Rod's accident was scary. We really didn't know the extent of his injuries until after they transported him to Oahu. By some miracle they didn't have to do surgery and Rod was actually released the next day. He has some nasty open holes in his arm that have to be packed with gauze and changed often to prevent infection, and a grapefruit sized nodule in his thigh that has been giving him some discomfort. Both are starting to heal though. Rod sent us this picture of his truck. It looks like one that has been sitting out in a junk yard for a while, but this really is, or was, his truck. Our family knows that he was being watched over and protected!

Thanks to all you great friends who know how great Rod and Kerrie are for keeping them in your prayers and asking about how they are doing. It is nice to have such great support, even when we don't get to see each other very often!

A little glimpse...

I went to the Dr. today, just for an ultrasound. They were unsure of my due date and they also wanted to make sure there was just one baby. Everything is going well and there IS only one baby. I am officially 16 weeks!! In a few weeks we will get to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl. Pretty exciting. I know this is our 4th, but it is still so much fun, and getting to see the little body moving around today made it even better.

It's been a rough week, but...

Caden was playing with blocks and was excited to show me what he had done! It's the little things that make it all worth it!!

Snow, Snow, Snow!!!

Well, it finally snowed in Indianapolis. We got a record amount: 12 1/2 inches in one day. It is the most they have had at one time in 13 years (or something like that). They even cancelled school, all the schools, even Dave didn't have to go in. That is a little unheard of, the dental school never closes!! I did have to laugh a little at the big deal it was, growing up in Utah and all.

The boys were so excited to get to go out and play in the snow. They don't have school again today, and have already been asking if they can go out and play!

Just a litte something

When we first moved into our apartment we painted some walls. The walls in our front room were supposed to be a light brown color, instead it didn't look like we painted at all. The night before Dave went back to school after Christmas break we decided to fix it. It is now a brown that I probably wouldn't have chosen, but I really like it now. Here are a couple pictures of Caden helping Dave paint. I love the one on his tippy toes, trying to reach the top.

Oh and one more bit of news...

Do you get it?

Christmas break

Dave has this game called Rampage, it is a monster game where you jump on buildings and try and earn points. Caden has recently taken an interest in this game and is pretty good. We looked on line to get the code to unlock all the monsters so he has more than 4 to choose from. He was asking me if I could look up the codes again so I could unlock the monsters. I told him I didn't need to look it up because the code was in my head. This is what he did next...looking for the code! Silly kid.

Dave's big project this semester was to make a set of dentures. He worked really hard and did a great job, see... by the way, they were washed really good between mouths! They are sure nice and straight, but I am super glad Dave's teeth don't really stick out like that!

Our ward had a nice Christmas party with a special guest, can you guess who it was? We have pictures of all the boys, but Caden was the only one who looked.

We went to cut down our Christmas tree again this year. It is such a fun thing. It was kinda windy, and cold, but we had a great time being together.

The boys really wanted to put candy canes on the tree this year.

Caden got this funny straw from his class party, silly hua? I love how he looks so serious even though he thought it was so funny!

Christmas Eve I attempted a traditional German dinner, three different kinds of wurst (sausage) and hot potato salad. I am pleased to say that it was delicious. This was the first year I have had to do the wurst, so I was a little nervous. Christmas morning was fun, the boys really got into it this year. Caden and Austin forgot to wake us up before going downstairs, so that took some of the fun out of it for Dave and I but it was still great!

Well, that's all in a nut shell. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas also!

A little Christmas laugh

So do you remember Elf Yourself last year? Well they added a few new versions. Here is one of the boys. They laughed so hard when they saw it and wanted to see it over and over again. Enjoy!!
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/jaCxJFNNcFt65HolaaR1

Thanksgiving

I know this is a little late for a Thanksgiving post, but Dave had all the pictures on his laptop so I had to wait for him to put them on our computer.
So kinda last minute we decided to make the drive down to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Dave's Sister and her family. What made it even better was a few days before Dave's mom called to say she was going to be there to.

Dave's sister had her third baby, Whitney on November 6th so I was a little hesitant at the thought of us all there, but she insisted that they wanted us to come. To lessen the chaos we booked a hotel for our time there. Because she would still be recovering (from an almost 10 pound baby, without any drugs!) I told her I was going to do the dinner...all of it. Boy was it yummy. We had turkey, cranberry apple stuffing, sweet potato casserole (it tastes like candy, not gross sweet like the kind with marshmallows, but buttery brown sugar pecan goodness sweet) mashed potatoes whipped in the kitchen aid, corn, maple glazed baby carrots, homemade rolls, and apple juice mixed with sprite. For desert we had turtle pumpkin pie, triple chocolate pie, and a pecan pie (that was not made by me, we had a couple come to dinner from Dave's sister's ward)

We had a ton of fun hanging out together, playing games, going swimming at the hotel pool, shopping Black Friday, I even got to see a good friend from University Student Apartments that moved to Virginia.

We had such a nice time with family, it was so nice for the boys to get to spend time with their Grandma. I probably had a lot more to say about this whole experience, but I have let it sit too long, now all I want to talk about is Christmas. We did have a fantastic time though, it is always great to get to be with the people you love the most!

Whitney Dee and Andrea

Me and Andrea

Our Dinner group

Swinging with Grandma

Grandma and all her grand kids.

Playing at the pool

Sorry it is blurry, still kinda fun!

OK, so this was fantastic. There is a place called the Monticello trail, I think it is 4 miles round trip. We walked down the last mile. Well I walked, the kids ran, the whole thing, and guess who crossed the finished line first? Guess who never took a break when the others did? NO, not Taylor, that is Austin. Can you imagine cute determined Austin with his limp running the whole thing? Well he did and was sooooo proud of himself, and so were we. He continues to amaze me in the way he pushes himself, and overcomes his physical challenges!!

Andrea, Eric, Dave and Me

I hope everyone had as fantastic of a Thanksgiving as we did!