Game Day with the McDonald's

We take football seriously in this house so game days are important! We had all the windows open so a nice cool breeze was flowing throughout the house. We had lunch outside with the neighbors to celebrate Jan's birthday, and then we were in and out of the house to check up on the games. Too bad Georgia lost to South Carolina and BYU lost to Air Force. My favorite part was getting my little monkeys dressed for the day. Both of the outfits came from my Brother Bryan and his wife Sharon. Sharon sent Addie her whole outfit months ago and after she got her clothes on she said, "Mama I pretty" then after her headband was on she said, "I wanna look in the mirror". Lucas' outfit was my nephew Lane's that Bryan had sent them years ago. I told DJ I wanted pictures so I persuaded him to wear his GA shirt instead of what would've been a "blue day".

NEWS

It's official we're moving to St. George in about a month or so. DJ got his transfer with work! After a lot of prayer and patience we're getting what we think is best for our family. I'm not looking forward to packing at all, but if this gets us closer to our family then bring on the boxes. We're hoping to get approved for buying a house so that's our really big step right now. Oh how nice it would be to have a yard for Addie to play in! Even though I would love to move back to GA, I've just realized that it's not going to happen and I'm finally ok with that decision. Especially since mama will be staying in St. George at Diana's for awhile, so we can work on getting her strength back. It may even work out that when daddy retires in 3 1/2 yrs that they'll move to St. George too. (Fingers crossed) I'm so excited for Addie and Lucas to have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins so close by.
Addie - has been talking up a storm! She's been pointing out colors: blue, green, pink, red, green, purple and yellow, saying and pointing out letters, singing which is absolutely adorable, doing pushups (learned that from Brianna and Lane), allowing water to be splashed in her face (HUGE step for her), not wanting to take pics and playing big sister.
Lucas - started smiling last week, focusing on things hanging above his head, getting chunkier, at night sleeping 6-7 hrs straight, eating 3-4 oz at feedings and is so chill. He's a really good baby. Just for the record: girls diapers are so much easier to change!
Gama (what the grandkids call my mama) - has been out here a couple wks and seems to me to be doing alot better. She definitely still has her rough days but I think some of those have come because we've had so much going on. So once she gets on a schedule I think that'll help. She's communicating better, walking by herself better and loves to be around her grandkids. I think it's really gonna be good for her to be out here so she can stay motivated and give her something to do besides be in bed and watch tv all day.
Nana & Papi

Gama & Papa

Lucas' 5 wk Pics

Pics

I was in the kitchen cooking and realized Addie was way too quiet....go into the living room and I find baby wipes all over the floor and she has one in her hand cleaning Lucas' head. I'm in for some trouble!

4 wks old. Krista gave me the idea to take his pic each month with the same stuffed animal just to see how much he's changed, so if you think I'm posting the same pic from here on out, it won't be :)

Diana's cat sure has tolerated alot over the years especially with Addie

She got quiet again.....and found her way into Diana's bathroom and found her lipstick, the dental floss and the toothpaste.

Luke Bryan Concert

So if I have a celeb crush......he's definitely it! For lots of different reasons but just to name a few: he's from GA, he seems extremely down to earth, his songs are so country and remind me of home and of course he's pretty cute. :) So last night we went to see him at the Westerner in Salt Lake which is a club that holds about 1500 people. It was so much fun. He's such a great entertainer and even though I just saw him a few months ago this time was much much better cuz we were right in front of the stage!! DJ wore his Georgia Bulldogs hat and right when he came out and came over to our side he pointed at DJ and gave him a thumbs up sign, we were about to come unglued it was really exciting. DJ had some older drunk women standing behind him with their boyfriends and they were hugging DJ. I didn't know that til afterwards, but I thought it was hilarious. One of my favorite parts was when he started singing "Fishing In The Dark" by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and then they started rocking out to it.

The New Man In My Life

I'm not the most patient person in the world, but my kid(S) (wow that's weird) are helping me learn to be. My due date was July 28 and Lucas decided to come on the 29. I was supposed to have a dr. appt on Thurs morning and I was thinking I would be discussing with my dr a time to be induced. I'm so glad that Lucas decided to come before then. I'm not really sure why I was so nervous about the thought of being induced but I was. Anyhow, at 1:00 Thurs morning I started having pretty hard contractions for about 45 secs every 2-3 mins but I waited it out at home for a lil over an hr and then had DJ take me to the hospital at 2:30. I was dilated to a 3 when we got there and the nurse said they couldn't keep me unless I had dilated another centimeter in an hr. When the hr came I was almost to a 4 and she said they could either send me home with some pain medicine and if I was still having contractions then I was really in labor and if I wasn't then obviously it wasn't time yet. Or I could get up and walk around to try and get things going more. By that time, my contractions were hurting really bad. I told her there was no way I could walk through them. So she gave me a shot of morphine and phenegren and that helped me relax a ton. When they put my iv in I started having coupling contractions which was really tough b/c I would have two of em right after each other and they hurt extremely bad. I had dilated to a 5 the next hr and at 5:30 they gave me the good stuff: THE EPIDURAL. Luckily this labor went a lot better than Addie's. I only threw up once this time and my shaking wasn't nearly as bad. Then at 11:00 I was dilated to 8 cm and they gave me some pitocin and at 1:00 I started pushing and at 1:09 my lil man came!! He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was 20 1/2 in. He has blonde hair and looks just like his daddy. DJ did such a good job helping me through the labor. He would fan me through every contraction to help me from getting nauseated, fed me flavored ice chips, and helped me through my breathing. It was such a special experience for it to just be the two of us. As soon as Lucas arrived and after I got to hold him , the first thing I asked for was a coke and the nurse went and got one right away. :) I'm so happy he's finally here and I could just spend all day holding him and kissing those cheeks.

Feelin' Pretty Good

So I was a week early with Addie and I'm so hoping to be at least a few days early with Lucas, but so far nothing seems to be changing. I don't know that for sure cuz my dr appt isn't until Thurs. All along my target date has been tomorrow but I don't think that's going to happen. However, last night I went and got a manicure, pedicure and had Krista dye my hair so I feel good about rushing to the hospital at any point. I can barely sleep at night cuz if I wake up then my mind starts racing and I start thinking of everything under the sun. I'm just ready to get this lil booger here and see what he looks like! Mama was supposed to get here today to stay for 6 wks, but she had a couple seizures the day before she was supposed to fly out last wk so she decided to come Aug 24. Hopefully between now and then they'll get her some different medicine to help her to not have so many seizures so she can still come out then. We're so disappointed that she's not here, but we want her feeling well while she's here so we can wait! Just this past wk Addie has started saying so many new words and using sentences. I just love it, and she's so dang cute. She's been playing with her baby dolls a ton and feeding them and having lots of conversations with them. When I come into the room she'll say hi mama, hi baby (referring to Lucas) it cracks me up. We do group hugs before she goes to bed where we all squeeze each other at the same time and after each one she'll say "Again." She's growing up so fast.

2 Year Pics

You wouldn't believe what an experience this was to get these pictures taken at Portrait Innovations! OMG I didn't think I was gonna make it through this. This was a few wks ago and I was already having such an emotional day. Addie didn't wanna be still for anything or take any pictures. DJ had gone with us cuz I figured that would help......LOL what a joke. Think that made it worse. So then a few days later I took her back by myself and got these results! To DJ's credit, she may have still been getting over hand foot and mouth disease which was still making her a pill. (Yeah, that's right...this was the second time she's had that since our trip to mama's!!! Not fun for any of us.) It was still difficult to get these pics taken since a couple who were looking at the pics they had already taken were just letting their kid run around and into the room where Addie was so she didn't wanna focus, she wanted to play with that lil brat. I was so bugged. I was glad we were able to get these to be honest. I hope she's better with getting our family pictures taken whenever Lucas decides to grace us with his presence!

I absolutely LOVE this one if only she had been looking at the camera!!!! So that's why the first pic will be the one that is given out to people.

Summer Pics

At the beginning of warm weather, Addie was so not interested in getting in the little pool that our neighbor has or getting splashed. I was getting so frustrated with it, but I think it's cuz the water here is SOOOOOO cold, I don't blame her. And I think she just wasn't used to the water. So now, we're making lots of progress! She likes the pool, getting in the sprinkler and Saturday we took her to Veterans Pool and water play area and we stayed for 2 1/2 hrs. She even fell under the water a few times and just got right back up and kept playing. I was so excited, cuz the water felt so good and helped with the pressure of this heavy belly!

4th of July Weekend

DJ let me sleep in on Saturday while he took Addie to see the hot air balloons taking off and to pick up some breakfast for all of us. Then that afternoon we bbq'd with the neighbors and hung outside and let the kids run wild. Lots of good food and especially desserts. Then the kids played with the sparklers and watched their daddy's have fun with the fireworks. I was expecting Addie to be scared of all of it, but she actually really enjoyed it. Then Sunday night DJ, Eric and Jared were gonna go camp out at a spot they found on Center St. for the parade on Monday morning. So Jan and I took the kids over to the spot to let them play and see all the other crazies that go and wait till the next morning for a parade. I never knew people did that sorta thing till we moved to Provo. We were seriously considering spending the night there too, then I wisened up and thought of how miserable that would be for me and Addie so we came home and left the boys there about 11:00. Jared and DJ ended up coming home around 2 leaving Eric there with his brother and sister to hold down the fort. So Monday morning we walked down to the parade and watched a LONG 2 hr parade that I was quite bored with. I don't think I've ever seen so many marching bands in my life. Last year's was a lot better. My favorite part was seeing the different military branches being represented, and getting to stand and cheer for them. It was special for me to see the banners for the local fallen mariens since Darin was familiar with them. All in all, it was a fun weekend and I'm glad we got to celebrate our independence and all of our many wonderful freedoms.

Addie, Colten, Callie, Shyanna


Jan, Krista & me