The Milnes

We moved!

2011-11-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

What a month it has been! After 5 months of waiting to hear from the bank about an offer on a short sale, they accepted our offer! And they gave us 2.5 weeks to close, holy cow... we did it! We feel so blessed to have this home. It is in an an amazing neighborhood & ward, right next to the school the kids already go to & love. The house is our "forever house," meaning we are planning on living here until we get old!

We still have tons of work to do. The back yard's not finished or fenced, plus lots of decorating to do :)

Here are a few pictures of the house, some of my favorite things about it:

Front of the house. This is actually the picture from the MLS. I feel kind of dorky standing out in front of my house taking pictures.

The kitchen... I love the kitchen.

Here's the great room. We have ordered couches & should get them soon, can't wait. The big, open space is feeling a little too empty & echo-ish. We finally caved in to the "huge, flat screen tv" trend, & I have to admit it's really fun. Can't wait to watch Modern Family on it tomorrow night, I'm sure it will be even funnier in HD, right ;)

Now, my old laundry room was an unfinished room downstairs. The fact that this laundry room is one of my favorite rooms makes me feel slightly sad that I spend so much time in it. So much laundry, so so so much laundry!

And, my craft room, that's right MY craft room. I haven't had my own room of any kind since I was in high school. Sadly, with all of my time spent in the last mentioned room, there's little time to spend in here. Someday, my lovely room, you and I will spend hours and hours together!

And then life got crazy!

2011-09-20T11:33:00.001-07:00

I guess I thought my life would get less busy as my kids got older... not so! We have had soccer 3 times a week, dance 2 times a week, our callings (YW & Elder's Quorum) twice a week, plus all of the other fun stuff that comes up.

AND.... all the while we have been trying to sell our house (it's under contract), and trying to buy another house which is a short sale & taking FOREVER!!! Let's just say my patience has been tested the last few months.

And before we even knew it, Braylie is 4 months old, and as sweet as ever. Here are a few pictures of the last couple of months in the Milne household.

Braylie was blessed.
We swam lots, and lots.
Lake Powell with Nate's family for a week. Left the 3 older kids with my wonderful mom.
Sadie started 2nd grade.
Carson started kindergarten.
And both kids had a great soccer season.
Gracie found her creative side & wants to paint every day.
Went to the WORST byu game ever. Still had fun because we were in great company... but seriously painful game!

One month later

2011-06-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well, school is out, and summertime is officially here.

Here is what went down in the last month:

I'm still adjusting to 4 kids. Mostly it is really hard, almost impossible, to get all of us anywhere by a certain time. I feel a little like a circus train when I have (on the rare occasion) made it out into public. A trip to Target is just not what it used to be.

But, we are doing good. I'm trying to keep the kids busy this summer... so they will stop fighting with each other.
Sadie had her end-of-the-year dance recital. One of my favorite nights ever, she did great!
Showing off a bit...
Monkey see, monkey do.
Just wait and see how big Braylie's gotten in a month...
Carson graduated from preschool. My little man is not so little anymore.

And Braylie is getting chubby. Love it.

Braylie hospital pictures

2011-05-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Best decision ever: convincing Nate to let me get the Bella Baby pictures at the hospital. They did a great job, and it was done. One less thing to do with 4 kids when I got home.

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since she was born. She has been such a fun, sweet baby.

Braylie Cate

2011-05-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

Braylie Cate was born on Monday, May 9th. Thanks to my Dr. going out of town, I was induced 2 days early, which I loved (I think it's because I like to plan things).

Okay, skip this next part if you don't want to hear about the delivery.

The delivery was actually really kind of funny. My Dr. checked me at 12, I was only a 4. So, he went to lunch with a friend, but promised me he'd stay close. I got my epidural around 12:45, and I was having some pretty painful contractions and thinking, "I am a wimp! I am only a 4 and these hurt!" But, as soon as I layed down after the epidural I felt a ton of pressure and asked the nurse to check me and sure enough I was complete. But... no doctor. So, they gave me a surgical block & I layed on my side for the longest 30 minutes ever! Finally, at 1:30 the doctor came in, got ready and they got me ready to push. But, the nurse said "Dr., the head!" and sure enough the baby was just... coming out! My dr. turned around, and pretty much caught the baby. No pushing. I guess it helps when baby #4 is little.

She came out weighing 6 lbs. 2 oz., and was 19 inches long. She has blonde hair, which is funny since Gracie had so much dark hair. She definitely looks like a Milne baby, but I think she's a good combination of all 3 of my kids.

I still can't believe I have 4 kids!!!

My wonderful Mom was able to come for the birth & help me this last week. She left this morning and, I have to admit, I cried. My mom has been able to be here for all 4 of my kids' births. She is so much help, and I feel like it is such a special time that I spend with her. I wish she lived closer!
Braylie has the sweetest temperament so far. I know this could change, but so far she is so easy. Gracie, on the other hand, has been a challenge. She LOVES her new baby sister.... SO much, maybe too much! I have to protect the baby from her big sister's good intentions. I do have to say that I am excited for these 2 girls to be so close as sisters though.

Catching up..

2011-04-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

In the past 4 months, we have:

Enjoyed the end of the BYU basketball season. We took the kids to the last home game, and at the end we got these posters. Little did I know, Carson got Jimmer's autograph ;)
I took a fabulous trip to California with my cooking club friends. What a blast! We drove in a motor home, went to see "Wicked," ate amazing food, and laughed every calorie away.
In a 4 month period, we celebrated all 5 of our family members' birthdays. Me in January, Carson in February, and then Sadie, Gracie, and Nate in April.

Needless to say there's been lots of cakes (every one different), presents, and partying at the Milne house.

And we celebrated Easter, and managed to get one descent family picture before this new little one comes.

2 weeks to go, crazy! Are we ready?

December happenings

2010-12-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

Gracie finally got her first hair cut. I say finally because it was starting to look mullet-ish in the back, but it took a long time to get the guts to cut off some of those cute curls.
It's so nice that Nate's mom cuts hair... and lives so close. She is so nice & willing to cut all of the kids' hair.

Nate's sisters transformed Sadie into a "who" for Christmas. :)

And I am amazed that even with the 4th baby, I still am in awe at this little one. For sure a girl! And maybe another thumb sucker?

Will she be blonde with green eyes like Sadie?

Or a brunette with brown eyes like Gracie?

Or a blonde with brown eyes like Carson?

We will just have to wait & see...

And the baby (most likely) is....

2010-12-01T08:51:00.001-08:00

It looks like baby #4 is a girl! I am honestly excited for another girl. I think it will be so fun for Gracie to have a sister so close to her in age.
Carson, on the other hand, is a little bummed. He was hoping for a baby boy so he could "pick the name for the baby" (I don't know where he got that idea), but I think I have convinced him life as the only boy will be okay after all. And I told him we could go to Build a Bear & he could make a stuffed animal & name it whatever he wants to. He said he would name it what he wanted to name the baby, ...... "David Spiderman Milne."

A Turkey Baby

2010-11-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

After a week of stomach-flu symptoms for Gracie, and many prayers that she could get better in time so we would make it to Washington for Thanksgiving, prayers were answered. We flew into Seattle Thanksgiving morning & found out Randie was at the hospital & had a C-section at 3:00. My poor Mom made this amazing meal for everyone & then had to rush to the hospital before we ate.

So, we got to see baby Marlie & she is a doll. I just kept feeling so grateful our prayers had been answered & we could be there, what a perfect Thanksgiving!

And then, shopping the next morning starting at 3 a.m. LOVE IT! Okay, so it was crazy. And after 6 hours of shopping we were exhausted, but it was so much fun being with my mom for this.

BYU lost. Bummed husband, enough said.

Flying home tomorrow night. Do you know what the Seattle Airport has the the Salt Lake Airport is missing (not x-ray machines, that's for sure) No- Wendy's! It's the best.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

This Halloween seemed a little crazy for some reason. This picture sums it up. We went to Gardner Village to do the witch hunt for family night. It was fun, but I forgot to take any pictures until the kids were all in the car & I made them get out to take one family picture in the parking lot. Bummer.
Carson's preschool party. There's something to be said about a costume that's warm & completely covers the child from head (don't have to do his hair) to toe (no morning fights about wearing jeans vs. sweat pants). And, he looks so cute as a shark. Sadie's school Halloween parade. So fun! She looked so cute as a mermaid. Going out to trick-or-treat. We were going to make Gracie a hula monkey to go along with the oceanic theme, but the theme of the week was "whatever" and so she was just a monkey.

And then, the pumpkins.

(This is Nate's creation, I can't take any credit. ...The pumpkin, not the baby. I can take half the credit for that one.)
After weeks of keeping it a secret, we finally announced we are expecting #4!!! We are excited to bring another child into our family. I am 13 weeks along & due in early May.

Do not place pizza on top of car

2010-10-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I did something so dumb... even for me it was really dumb. I was having a friend over for lunch and was planning on buying Papa Murphy's chicken bacon artichoke delite pizza (yummy!) for us moms. I was in a hurry and had Gracie with me. I bought the pizza and when I came out a woman was smoking right by my car. So I hurried and stuck the pizza on top of the car so I could quickly get Gracie in and away from the smoke. I then got in and drove to Carson's preschool and then realized.... NO PIZZA! I had left it on the roof of my car.

So sad! I had to go back and look for the pizza, which was totally no where to be found (smoker chick probably grabbed it), and buy another pizza.

2010-10-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

The other day Carson said our family prayer. He had been pretending to be a cat earlier & apparently still was. For the most part, he said a normal prayer, but then he added a couple of hints of his feline species: "thank you for helping me talk like a cat," and then at the end "please bless that someday I can become human again."
I love that kid.
We decorated a 2 liter bottle of pop as Superman for Sadie's school fundraiser.

We started going to the children's museum again, which the kids LOVE! Gracie especially loved this truck. She would go in and out, and in and out, and in and out. And then grab a baby doll & bring it with her to go in and out and in and out.

We sent Carson to work at the local grocery store. Thought it was time for him to pay his part in the family. :)

And picture day... oh picture day. All I have to say is it takes a long time to curl this hair, especially with a crying baby and a little brother who wants attention. But, she looked very pretty & I told her she better have smiled great because I will NOT be curling her hair for retakes.

... but how can you say no that that face?

The end of summer

2010-09-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

Bittersweet, that's what it is. I love the change of seasons, Fall is beautiful in Utah. I love Halloween, and soup, and caramel apples.... but, summer flew by way too fast.

Lately, we've had lots of late nights swimming & enjoying the last few days of summer. Lots of tired kids:
Sadie started 1st Grade!!! She loves it, I mean LOVES it. When I asked her if she missed me on the first day she said, "not as much as you missed me." Apparently not!
We spent a day with friends boating, SO FUN!!! Best part of this picture, I told the kids to make silly faces & Gracie actually did it!

Fun with cousins at the splash park in Highland. Yeah, it's awesome! Worth the drive? For sure, if you have a great sis-in-law to chat with :)

Tiffany (Nate's sister) had her first baby, Quentin Blake. He is so stinkin cute, seriously. It's been fun seeing Tiff with her first baby, she & Blake are great parents!

Lastly, the first BYU game of the season! What a fun game, we got a sitter & made it a date night. Best part of BYU games: watching Nate get so excited when BYU does well, he's like a little kid again.

I forgot to take a picture, but I do want to say that we missed the Knowltons! It wasn't the same without you guys!

Lake Powell

2010-08-10T08:46:00.001-07:00

Our week at Lake Powell was so much fun! Highlights include:

No kids = much needed relaxation
Reading both the Hunger Games & Catching Fire within the first 4 days, LOVED them!
Dance parties on the back of the house party, the Milne girls have got moves.
Playing cards again and again and again.
THE FOOD! One thing is for sure, we eat well at Lake Powell!
Late night movie time. Word of caution: don't put on the subtitles during the pow-wow scene in "The Proposal." Bad.
Jarem getting bit on the nipple by a fish, no joke.
Spending a week with my favorite person in the world (Nate) & his amazing family, some of my best friends! What a blast!!!!

Sexiest thing in this picture? Nate's feet. :)

Washington

2010-08-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

There are things worth driving 16 hours in a car with 3 children. Washington, my family. The Wilsons know how to have fun and lots of it.

First we went to my 10 year high school reunion. It was..... interesting. Well, I loved seeing Kirsten, it's been way too long.

We spent a day at Lake Tapp's boating. What a beautiful lake!

This scene brings back some fond memories of my dad carrying all 5 of us kids to bed just like this. I tried to hop on too, but my dad said I'm too big, can you believe the nerve?

A day at Ocean Shores. It was a little chilly, but we had tons of fun flying kites on the beach.

My mom's friend Julie was so kind to invite us all over to let the kids ride her horse. They had so much fun!

A couple of days at the beach close by my parent's house.

A day at the Seattle Children's Museum with my mom.

I always get emotional leaving my family, and this time was no exception. I love my parents so much, they are amazing parents & grandparents!

The new baby

2010-07-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

And we shall call him... PHIL.

It took a lot of work convincing Nate I need ANOTHER stroller. Well, I didn't think so either until Marcella & I hung out for a day & I compared pushing 2 kids in my double to pushing 2 kids in this bad boy. I was baby hungry in a stroller way.

And I am IN LOVE! We went jogging together as a family last night, me with 2 kids & Nate with 1 in the single jogging stroller (which I was planning on selling, but it sure came in handy last night), and oh the joy!

Thanks Marcella for showing me my life wasn't complete without this. And thank you Nate for only rolling your eyes behind my back. I love you.... even more than "Phil."

A story

2010-06-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a story of a beautiful wedding reception for Nate's cousin & his bride. It was beautiful. The food was amazing, the company was terrific, the view from the balcony was gorgeous.

Apparently, my son had other ideas when standing on the balcony. Bad ideas. He thought it would be a great idea to PEE off of the balcony. In front of many people.

This last picture sums up his mood after getting in trouble for the "incident.

Seriously.

Brilliantly mischievious

2010-05-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

This morning Sadie & Carson were having an argument. Carson snuck one of Sadie's grow-bugs (the little capsule with foam bugs inside that grow when you put them in water... don't feel dumb if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

So, I took the bug away from Carson & put it in time out. Both kids were mad. Just how we like to leave things in our house, no one should be happy if I'm not. (a joke.)

Fastforward to this afternoon. The kids are up in the bathroom happily playing in the water. I come upstairs and Sadie says, "I gave Carson 2 of my grow-bugs." I feel an abundance of happiness seeing her being nice to her brother, I even give her a hug & tell her thank you.

So, we sit & wait anxiously for the foam bug to appear from the capsules. And wait.... and wait. Hmmmm... I think, why is it taking so long. I stick my finger in to feel if the capsules are dissolving & when I do I realize that there are beads inside, not foam. My daughter, my brilliantly mischievious daughter has replaced the foam with those melty beads (the ones you put on a peg-board & then melt together with an iron). They fit perfectly together inside of the capsules, I honestly couldn't tell myself until I broke it apart.

So, how do I react to this situation? I have to give Sadie a talk about not tricking people when it might hurt their feelings (because we all know Carson was devistated!). But inside of me I was, honestly, SO PROUD of my daughter!!! I mean, that's brilliant, I'm still laughing inside thinking about it. Someday I will give her props for this trick, but today I'll just blog about it.

Catching up...

2010-05-18T18:27:00.001-07:00

In the last month we have:

Celebrated Sadie's 6th birthday P.J. style! All of the kids got to paint pillow cases & then watched a movie w/ popcorn. My kind of a party!

Celebrated Nate's big 3.0.!! I tried to be a good wife, I really did. First I planned this huge "Amazing Race" surprise party, but decided more people could make it to a BBQ instead. He wasn't really surprised, but he was a good sport & acted like he was. In the chaos of the night, I only got one picture, and Nate's not even in it.... hmmm.

Tried babysitting the CUTEST baby ever! I watched her for a week, and it was so fun for me. Not so much fun for Gracie, however. She got super jealous & attention-hungry all of a sudden. My kids were so sad to say good-bye, she is so cute!

A couple of trips to the zoo. I'm still madly in love with baby Zuri, the elephant.

LOVED every single moment of Sadie's dance recital! She is quite the little dancer, I love it! (Considering I can't dance, she obviously didn't get it from me!)

And now I am looking forward to summer! And a little less of a schedule. Is it okay to admit that I am looking forward to staying in pajamas until 11:00 every day without going anywhere? And even then, at 11:00 I'll just slip on a swimsuit & head to the pool with the kids. Sounds blissfull.

The trip that almost wasn't.

2010-04-08T14:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we left to go to Lake Powell with Nate's family & my parents. We split up in 2 cars, with Nate, Brent (Nate's dad), Sadie & Carson in Tiffany's car. And then my parents, Mike (a close family friend), me, & Gracie in our van following behind. As we were driving through Spanish Fork Canyon, it started snowing, and it was sticking to the roads. The lane we were in started to lose it's tracks & so we moved over to the other lane. However, suddenly we watched as the other car (with Nate, Brent & kids) started to lose control & slide. They completely lost control & started sliding through the median, toward the oncoming lanes. It seemed like slow motion, and suddenly we saw a red semi-truck coming straight toward their car. I sat and screamed and honestly, lost it. The last thing I saw was the car straight sideways & the semi coming toward it. I thought the worst, & I reacted. Nate said inside of the car they watched the semi coming toward them and he told the kids to hold on, the semi was going to hit them. We had to keep driving before turning around so we didn't see the crash, but luckily they slid just enough for the semi to hit the car right in the front, which spun the car 360 degrees right onto the side of the road. A miracle to say the least.

I can't even describe the feeling of relief I felt when I saw Nate & Brent get out & grab the kids out of the back seat & bring them over to us. They were okay. They were okay! Nate's leg got bruised, Brent had some pain on his side (still not sure if he cracked some ribs or bruised them), and Sadie had a bump on her head from hitting the window. But alive, and okay. We said a prayer and thanked God for protecting our family.

They all got to ride in the ambulance down to the bottom of the canyon. We decided to go ahead to Lake Powell. Carson was pretty traumatized & we thought it would be good for all of us to spend time with the whole family & get our minds off of the accident.

Tiffany's car was totalled. She was so understanding & glad that everyone was okay. Now she gets a new car! Nate & kids in the ambulance. The ambulance ladies were really sweet with the kids. Sadie didn't seem phased at all by the event (she internalizes alot) but Carson was really upset. They gave them both stuffed bears & tootsie rolls.

Lake Powell:

Easter morning (who knew the Easter bunny goes to Lake Powell?)

Sadie had her 6th birthday on Monday. We let her decorate her own cake, and the combination of cream cheese frosting & licorice was actually delish!

Gracie turned 1 on Tuesday. She had so much fun on the house boat, love that girl!

So we had a great time at Lake Powell, and made it home safely.

We have much to be thankful for:

We are thankful for family.
We are thankful for seat belts & booster seats.
We are thankful for air bags.
Most of all, we are thankful for the protection of our Heavenly Father.

Mexico cruise

2010-03-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

We had SUCH a fun time on our cruise with my parents! It felt like partying with best friends all week. We went to Cabo San Lucas for 2 days. I LOVE Cabo, I want to move there. (They have a Costco, I could survive.)

We spent the first day going zip-lining and it was a blast! And then Nate decided while we were there he might as well go bungie-jumping too, no big deal right?

I think my adreneline was actually pumping harder than his and I was just watching.

The next day we went kayaking and snorkeling in Cabo. I love Cabo.

The food was great. The company was wonderful.

I did miss the kids, but apparently they didn't miss me too much. They had a blast at Grandma & Grandpa Milne's house, maybe a little too much fun? Gracie wouldn't even come to me when we got back. She snuggled onto Nate's mom & didn't want anything to do with me... sad! (She loves me again now, but I'm glad she loves Nate's mom too.)

A Super Birthday!

2010-03-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

Carson had his 4th birthday last week and it was so much fun! We partied for 2 days straight, 4 year old style. If you're wondering what "4 year old style" is, let me tell you. It's eating junk food, going to Build-a-Bear, swimming at the Rec-center, eating more junk food, staying up way too late, playing super hero with 10 friends, and of course lots of presents!

He had a blast. I am still recovering.

We love you Carson! Happy Birthday!!!

I think....

2010-02-24T13:50:00.000-08:00

it might be a little sad that I think this is so funny,...
... the perfect girls' weekend consists of my favorite city (Seattle), my favorite activities(shopping.... and eating), my favorite workout (laughing), and 4 of my very favorite women.
.... oh and sharing a hotel room with a fish named...?.... sorry buddy I forgot your name already.

Kids should have super powers.

I should go back to being blond. What do you think?

I was born in the wrong decade. I never really got to fully enjoy the 80's. And if I would have met my hunk-a-burnin-love in the 80's, and he was wearing this outfit.... man.

A thoughtful surprise.

2010-02-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

The other morning while I was on the computer Carson told me to come see what he made for me.
Behold:

A flower made out of Raisin Bran. Just for me. Wow. I am one lucky mom.

Seriously, it was pretty sweet.

Time goes too fast.

2010-02-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

How did this...

...become this?

And this....

..turn into this?

And where in the world did my Sadie baby go? Suddenly she is losing her first tooth and getting her ears pierced. And I'm thinking "stay small, just for another moment. please."

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

I hope you all have a great holiday season with your family!

Festivities

2009-12-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas! One of the things I love is all of the fun family time. This week we've had some fun times with family.

Nate's family has a tradition of making marshmallow castles instead of gingerbread houses. So this year we made one with the kids. It was actually great, a lot cheaper than a gingerbread house and the kids loved sticking on the marshmallows with frosting.

This year for Christmas gifts, Nate's parents took the whole family to the church cannery and let us spend $ on food storage. It was actually really fun! (Not that I didn't expect it to be, but it was REALLY fun!) Plus we've got our food storage stocked up. What a great Christmas gift! Thanks Mom & Dad!

And then there was fun...

2009-11-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

We are all healthy and happy... and boy has the last month been fun and busy! We had a great Halloween, and now it's time to Christmas shop!!!! My favorite thing ever :)

I changed my hair to dark! And it's shorter, which forces me to do it everyday, a good thing... I think.

Miss Gracie was a ghost.

Sadie, a witch.

Carson, a skeleton.

Waiting for the rainbow.

2009-10-27T09:32:00.001-07:00

2 weeks ago Nate got sick with a fever, chills, and a cough. Then Gracie got sick, then me. Nate & Gracie tested positive for H1N1 (swine flu) and so we were all treated with Tamiflu. (Love that stuff!)

Well, more than a week later Carson starts getting sick and then 3 days later Sadie. So, the good news is that we have all had the H1N1 virus, so no need to get immunized.

Luckily, we have all had a very mild case of this flu, thank goodness! But, I am seriously ready for a normal routine. The kids are ready to return to school & playgroups. They miss their friends, I miss my friends!

I told Nate last night I am having Target withdrawls, it's been almost a whole week without a popcorn combo!

With all of our time spent at home, Gracie has had lots of practice mastering her 2 new skills: sitting up & scooting. And oh does she scoot.... fast! Time to babyproof my house!

Some fun stuff

2009-10-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has been to see the new baby elephant at the Hogle zoo. She's a doll. I could sit and watch her for hours if I didn't have 3 kids begging me to move on to another animal.
Did you know that elephants nurse their babies for 3-5 years, and they only have 2 baby-feeders (not like cats or cows with zillions of em).
And another big event. A wedding actually. Here is the wedding cake I made to celebrate the OFFICE WEDDING last week. I know, Diego doesn't really look like Jim, but it was either him or Prince Charming and he was too tall.

Went to Vegas to watch BYU vs. UNLV. Well, Nate went to the game with his friends. I stayed and played with Meredith & the kids & ate Cafe Rio, which was fun too.

Oh, and if you want to know what Carson's going to be for Halloween, just come by our house any time, any day. He'll be sporting his skeleton jammies.

Gracie is officially 6 months. I should be a better mom & do a whole post on how big she's getting and all the cool things she can do. Instead I'll just say she's still cute and I can't believe she's 6 months old!

Crazy.

2009-09-07T07:45:00.001-07:00

This little one started kindergarten. Crazy.
This little one started preschool. Crazier.

Spent a night away with a few friends & then at Swiss Days in Midway. First night away from Gracie. Pretty Crazy!!!

And the craziest thing of all... BYU beating Oklahoma Saturday night! What a fun time with friends.

My thrifty craft

2009-08-29T09:19:00.001-07:00

I thought of a cute way to store flower hair clips, but didn't want to spend the money for a new frame and backer-board. So, I took this rooster picture that was replaced by the temple picture I got for Christmas....
And then with a little spray paint (actually a lot, black is hard to cover), some fabric, ribbon, lots of hot glue, and my handy dandy staple gun (love that thing!) I transformed that old rooster picture into.....

A little flower garden for my girls' flower clips.

Here it is above the dresser. Don't you love the feeling of doing a craft AND saving money?

In the last week...

2009-08-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

We had a fun swimming day with some friends. Fun times! My idol, Julie Lewis with her 2 year old and 2 baby twins. She's amazing!

Went waterskiing up at Pineview Resevior with Nate's family. Do you think Sadie loves her aunt, Chantell? YES, she does!

For the first time in 2 years I actually wakeboarded. The water was glass, it was SO fun! Good to know I still have a little of that in me.

We volunteered at the Babe Ruth 13-year-old Baseball World Series here in Murray. It was such a fun night. We witnessed a postal worker riding his bike into a parked car, poor guy. We got a free dinner, yum. And, we got to see some talented 13-year olds play baseball. (Although a couple of them with full mustaches made me wonder :)

Starburst Babies

2009-08-29T08:57:00.001-07:00

Apparently I was deprived as a child because, according to Brittany, everyone else was making "starburst babies."
And we all thought Brittany was done creating cute kids, here is her final addition.
(Not nearly as cute as the first 2, but pretty sweet if I do say so myself.)

Radio Disney

2009-08-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Brittany and I took our kids to Radio Disney at the Gallivan Center. It was fun, and most everything was free, gotta love that!

"Got milk?" Actually, I do.

A little resemblance?

2009-08-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

Gracie is 4 months old! She is rolling over, laughing, and getting more and more fun each day.

She is a super-cute baby. Sometimes I look at her and she reminds me of the baby gorilla from Tarzan. Something about the hair sticking straight up, the big eyes, ears that stick out, and the big cheeks.... if only I could get a picture of her with a big smile.

Holy Moley!!!

2009-08-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

I went to Albertson's last night and came home with all of these groceries. In the end (after the 2 mail-in rebates from Kraft & Kellogg's) they cost about $10.00!!! Yes I said 10 bucks baby!

Kyle's married!

2009-08-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

My younger brother, Kyle, married his cute long-time girlfriend, Jamie, this weekend in WA. Nate and I took Gracie on a quick little trip to attend the wedding. Nate's fabulous sister, Chelsie, watched the 2 older kids here in UT.

The wedding was pretty simple, but beautiful too. I still can't believe Kyle's married

The cake-topper was just perfect! Kyle is a mechanic, and is always working on his car. The cake topper was a bride dragging a greasy groom away from his mechanic tools.

Firsts

2009-07-29T08:06:00.001-07:00

Gracie had her first swim in Grandma & Grandpa Milne's pool. She did great, and was styling a ginormous swim diaper (one leftover from Carson) and cute teeny weeny swimsuit.

Gotta love the white thighs.
And another first: canning jam. We picked 3 buckets of apricots from Nate's parents yard and spent Saturday morning making and canning jam and syrup. I'm trying to forget the amount of sugar we used (an entire 25 lb. bag!) and just enjoy the delicious outcome.

A crazy, wonderful, week

2009-07-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend began a CRAZY week, and I mean crazy.... in a fun way of course. First my parents, my 3 nephews, my sister, her husband, and their 6 kids all came to stay at our house for the weekend. Yes, our 2200 sq. foot house held a total of 6 adults and 9 kids.

Sunday we blessed Gracie. The blessing itself was wonderful, Nate did a great job. He had to talk loud though because Gracie screamed through the entire blessing. And I later found out she was almost dropped during it, thanks to Blake for keeping her from slipping!

She had a super-cute bonnet on during the actual blessing, but I think that's what was making her so mad, hence the bonnet-free pictures.

Right after the blessing lunch we went to Bear Lake with my parents, Ramie's family, Tiff & Blake, Rob & Pam, and Nate's parents & younger siblings. We had so much fun, I LOVE Bear Lake!

Kids love the sand, I love the hours of entertainment the sand provides.

My wonderful parents, I miss them already.

The kids got SO dirty playing in the sand all day long. The first day I showered them and then they just got right back into the sand, so they went the rest of the week without showering. You should have seen the bath water when we finally bathed them at home.

My parents had ALL 12 of their grandkids there..... but only 2 out of 5 of their kids. It was a little crazy at times, we were definitely outnumbered.

We got home from Bear Lake and the next day left for the Heber Valley girl's camp property for the Porter family Reunion. The first night we had a blast canoeing and paddle-boating on the lake. Chelsie and I just had to take the photo-op with the sweet life-jackets.

The next morning we did the challenge course. Sadie was so brave and did the zip line all by herself. You have to climb up a pole, walk across a log, and then go down the zip line. I decided if Sadie can do it, I can too. Oh, Nate did it too, but that's nothing for him :)

Tampons in testimony meeting

2009-07-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

Today in sacrament meeting I got brave and decided to bear my testimony. So, I get up there and am all emotional and about mid-way through I look over to where Nate & the kids are sitting (in the very front row of one of one of the side sections) and a bunch of people are laughing, including Nate. I completely lost my train of thought so I quickly ended my testimony and sat down. When I asked Nate what happened he was laughing so hard he could not tell me. The nice lady behind us leaned toward me and told me Carson had gotten a tampon out of my bag, taken the wrapper off, and was swinging it by the string in circles while facing the entire congregation. Needless to say, I was completely humiliated. Leave it to Carson to entertain himself, and many others, with a tampon.

Flow Rid Dah

2009-06-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

We had a blast in Orlando, Florida with my family. We went to Cocoa Beach and it was HOT! We even had to get Gracie in the ocean to keep her cool.

The house we rented had a pool in the back yard and we were probably in it 5 hours a day, at least.

We went to Gatorland and saw some Gators. This was the best picture we could get because I didn't last long on the Gator, it was stinkin hot on my bum.

4 of the days we went to Universal Studios / Island of Adventure. The rides were fun, we took full advantage of the baby swap (one perk of having a baby) and the kids had a blast.

Oh, and can you tell who dressed Sadie & Carson that morning? Hmm....

My crudentials

2009-06-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

With the recent economy I've been thinking about what I would do if I had to get a job. Not that I am getting a job or anything. I just started thinking about what kind of job I could get with my current skills and experience. I have a few ideas:

I spend a lot of my time protecting this princess from 2 of her biggest fans. I could totally be a bodygaurd for some cool rockstar or celebrity. Recently, I have helped this client get chubby. I know this skill isn't usually appreciated (helping people gain weight), but I thought I could maybe start a clinic for people with eating disorders or something.

I have mastered the technique of a tight burrito wrap. This could come in handy at a Mexican restaurant, maybe I could work at Cafe Rio. Yum. But I don't know Spanish, darn.

I spend much of my time and energy cleaning up after these monkeys. I could be a zoo-keeper. Yeah..... no maybe not.

We've been bizzy!

2009-06-01T13:11:00.001-07:00

Sadie had her year-end dance performance. She did great, and was thrilled to get a trophy and flower from Ms. Victoria at the end.
Gracie started smiling, which is so fun.

On Memorial Day we drove up to Heber to see Thomas the Train. We are too cheap to pay the $20 a person to go on the train, so we do all of the free stuff and take a picture in front of Thomas. The kids have a blast!

Sadie graduated from preschool with honors (just kidding.) Ms. Debbie puts on a super cute graduation ceremony where they perform a bunch of songs and then get their diplomas. My how time flies.

Before and Afters

2009-06-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Remember this picture? It was taken in November of last year.
Here's the after picture, taken 6 months later. (Plus Merideth's Jack on the end, he was already born in the first picture). It was so fun putting all the babies together, Gracie is going to love having 6 cute boys to choose from! And here's a picture of before we went to the zoo with Marcella and her kids.

And here's the after.

May happenings

2009-05-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sadie had a preschool field trip on Trax last week. The kids had a blast riding the train. Who would have thought.

The other day I went to tuck Carson in before I went to bed. This is what I found. He had so many friends in bed with him he barely had any room to sleep.

And the wee one is not so wee anymore. She is getting close to 10 lbs. and has some serious chub to kiss. Love it. Love that she's gone from 6th percentile to 33rd percentile. LOVE this outfit my mom bought her when I found out I was having a girl. Love Gracie!

Random things

2009-05-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

I love these jammies. They are newborn size and they barely fit her anymore, but they're my favorite.

Nate's dad was so sweet with Gracie the other day. I love when she sleeps all snuggled up like this on my chest.

Am I the only mom who loves to take pictures of their babies crying? I think it's so cute, but don't worry I didn't hurt her to make her cry. I just grabbed the camera and took a picture before calming her down.

This is actually from St. Patrick's Day and I forgot to post it. I was walking into my Dr.'s office and looked down and realized I had put on a brown and a black shoe. It's my fault for buying the same shoe in 2 different colors and puting them on in a dark room, but at least I gave the girls in my Dr's office a good laugh. Here's the view from up above, belly and all.

Pictures

2009-04-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

My friend Brooke took some pictures of the kids last week. She did a great job, I love how they turned out! I'm so happy I got some good pictures of Gracie when she's so little, they grow way too fast & it's easy to miss it.

Easter

2009-04-13T16:04:00.001-07:00

We had a fun Easter weekend, I love Easter! And this year it was extra special with a brand new baby and my mom in town. My mom has been here for the last 10 days, and I have to say I shed some tears as I dropped her off at the airport today. It has been fun having her here, not to mention how much she's helped me out with 3 kids. Tomorrow might be a shock.

An Easter egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa Milne's house.

And how can I not be totally in love with this new little one?

Gracie is here!

2009-04-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce the arrival of our sweet baby girl, Gracie Lynn. She arrived in the world on 3:13 p.m. Monday, April 6th. Everything went great with the delivery, I got the epidural right in the knick of time at 2:30, thank goodness! Weighing in at 6 lbs. 1 oz. and measuring 18 inches long, she's a little one. And she has tons of dark, straight hair, more than even Sadie had, which is so fun. We feel blessed to have this new little one in our family!

Sadie's birthday party

2009-04-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

Sadie turned 5 on Sunday, so we celebrated with a little party on Saturday with her friends. She wanted an Easter party, which made it super easy to come up with crafts and ideas. Here's a few pictures of the wild party. I still can't believe she's 5 years old!!!

A Vegas Wedding

2009-03-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

We took the whole fam to Vegas this last weekend for my best friend Jenn's wedding. Nate's sisters, Chantell & Chelsie, came along for the trip, which was so fun plus they helped with the kids a ton. The kids had tons of fun in between wedding stuff going to cool parks and the M&M store. It was so nice getting away from the cold for a couple of days, 70 degrees is perfect for me! Jenn's wedding was fabulous. After the sealing at the temple (beautiful of course), she had the ring ceremony/ reception at the church, but HOLY COW I have never seen a gym be transformed like this. The kids and I got to walk down the aisle together, which was fun.

And yes, you can see from the pictures I am definitely looking pregnant! With 3 weeks to go, the final countdown begins :)

Almost warm enough

2009-03-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I got brave enough to take the kids to the zoo. Our membership expires soon and I don't know how much longer I can push a double stroller with 2 kids in it up that hill (because THEY are too tired to walk it). The weather was actually decent, but not quite warm enough to eat outside. We ate lunch on a bench in the leopard area, where there was heat and no wind. Anyway, it was fun... but I don't think I will do it again until the weather is a little better, or I'm a lot less pregnant, whichever comes first.

Carson's 3rd Birthday

2009-02-27T17:42:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Carson is 3. It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. He has been such a fun little boy. One thing is for sure, he is not lacking in the personality department. He loves being the center of attention and making us laugh. We love Carson so much and have had such a fun couple of days celebrating his 3rd birthday with him.

Back in time, here's Carson as a newborn:

First Birthday.

2nd birthday.

And yesterday, for his 3rd birthday. I put Carson in this new shirt for the party and Nate had to put on his shirt that matches. They were so cute as twins. I guess, unconsiously, I dress Carson like Nate.

Tiff and Blake gave us some of Blake's "Qubes" to keep at our house. Blake is starting a company making them. They are some really cool foam/ fleece cubes that are SO fun to play with. The kids have loved playing with them. Thanks guys!

I got Carson this outfit for his birthday. He LOVED it so much he immediately changed right in front of everyone. He calls it his "basketball outfit" because of the shorts. I love that he gets so excited about little things like that.

Obsessed

2009-02-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it's the winter, the pregnancy, or what, but lately I have been completely obsessed with crafts. Here are a few I've done recently:

I made these hearts with my friend Brittany last month for the girls' room. It's kind of hard to see, but the pink heart has crystals glued to it, which adds a little sparkle, so fun!

Brittany also helped me make some flowers and bows (she's amazing!). Then I learned how to make the headbands and the curly bows. The curly bows are so fun. Girls are so fun!

I made these blankets for the baby. The pink & green minky one is super soft and for the crib, the brown & pink one is just for fun.

I found this idea from Gardner Village and copied it for a valance in the girls' room. Lots of ribbon & then I added the flowers (actually hair clips from Brittany).

I made these square plaques to hang above the girls' beds with their initials on them. I left the baby's blank because we're not positive on the name yet.

Can I just say that it has been SO much fun getting ready for another girl?

Other obsessions lately: shopping for kids clothes & finding GREAT deals! (LOVE the gap outlet), baking cookies, and Bajios veggie burrito: YUM. Actually eating out in general is pretty much on my mind nonstop.

A happy Valentines Day

2009-02-16T10:40:00.001-08:00

We had a great Valentines Day spent at the Salt Lake temple with Nate's family. Austin Ruslan was sealed to Nate's parents, what a special thing to witness! Here is a picture of all of us after the sealing in front of the temple.

Diaper free... for a couple of months at least.

2009-01-20T12:22:00.001-08:00

Carson is officially potty-trained! We had a rough couple of days at the beginning, but once he got it he really got it. He hasn't had an accident for several days and is little mr. independent when it comes to the restroom. I'm enjoying not changing diapers for the time being and we are all excited to go to Ikea. 2 kids in the playzone for a whole hour, that's a whole hour of shopping without kids! Anyone up for a morning at Ikea and meatballs for lunch afterward? ( I LOVE their meatballs!)

And now I get to start stocking up on newborn-size diapers, which are so much more fun to buy than size 4.

Here's a picture of Carson in our "Underpants Parade" we did, from the Go Potty Go movie we rented from the library.

Extreme Makeover, Mom Edition

2009-01-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

This morning my kids wanted to do my hair and makeup. Carson was in charge of makeup (using Sadie's makeup) and Sadie did my hair. This is the beautiful result:

If anyone is interested in their makeover skills, let me know. I'll send them to your house. By the way, the play makeup doesn't come off as easy as you'd think. After washing twice, exfoliating, and then washing again there are only subtle remains of Carson's art.

Holiday fun

2009-01-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

We had a fun-filled couple of weeks with Christmas and my parents in town.

Christmas Eve: spent the night at Nate's parents' house. We stayed up late playing Rock Band.

Sadie and Carson had a fun Christmas & got some fun presents from Santa.

Nate and I decided to get a little more festive by wearing our ugly holiday sweaters from an ugly sweater party we went to earlier in the month.

Chantell loved her hand-made slippers (made out of maxi-pads) from moi.

Nate's mom's side of the family has a fun tradition of spending the night in a bowling alley in Brigham city (owned by an uncle). With unlimited bowling, lots of yummy food, and fun company, it is one fun night! My parents and some of their friends from Ogden came with us for the first half of the night, they had a blast. All the guys were sore from bowling so many games. I bowled one game with the kids and decided bowling and pregnancy don't go together. (Plus, Sadie beat me.)New Years Eve: We partied it up Rock Band style at my uncle Rob's house with his family. Costumes were mandatory.

Cookies for Santa

2008-12-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,
Here are some cookies we made for you. I hope you like sprinkles. You might not want to eat the green circle one with the red hots, Carson licked his knife a few times in between spreading the frosting. Plus I think he sucked on one of the red hots and spit it back out on the cookie.
Then again when I told Carson not to give you his germs, Sadie said you're magic so you can't get sick.
Hope you enjoy the cookies as much as the kids enjoyed making them with their friends.
Merry Christmas!
Love,
Marcie

Sadie's ballet sneak-peak

2008-12-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

Friday we got to go to Sadie's dance class to watch her perform a couple of the dances they've been working on. At this age it's just cute to see them all dancing around, trying to follow the teacher. Sadie actually takes it very seriously, a little too seriously because we kept having to remind her to smile!

Nate's mom came to watch and I just had to take a picture of how cute Sadie looked with her ballet outfit on with her boots and coat (it was a major storm outside that day.)

Back from the cruise, back to the snow!

2008-12-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

We had such a great time on our cruise with Nate's family. First we flew to WA for Thanksgiving & to leave the kids with my parents. Then we flew to Tampa, FL where we left for our cruise. I could go on and on about the fun we had, but here are a few highlights of our trip.

**COZUMEL: Definitely the funnest day of the week. We rented 2 scooters and 2 VW bug convertibles and drove around the island beach-hopping. We spent most of the time at a park where we snorkeled and a few people (not us) swam with dolphins.

**ROATAN: Wow! This island is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and by far the saddest, most poverty-stricken places I have ever been. School was out for vacation so we had a group of kids following us around town trying to get money. They were cute, but so dirty. We found a great guy to drive us all around the island and see the beach, the LDS church, and the views. He also drove us through the ghetto. I have never experienced anything like this before, it's hard to even explain how I felt. I felt grateful for what I have, but sad that poverty like this exists in the world.

**LATE NIGHT TRICKS with Chantell & Jarem. We stayed up together most nights and one night had the idea to take napkins from the dining deck and tie them together to make a rope to tie shut Tiff & Blake's room. It was hilarious!! We even got the room-service guy to knock and say "room service" to get them to try and open it. We had so much fun that we did the same thing to Christal & Chelsie's room the next morning. **THE FOOD. I should have taken a before and after shot of the belly, but I am positive my belly grew exponentially within the 7 days we were there. Some food memories to cherish: filet mignon steak, salmon, and crab cakes. Not to mention the chocolate melting cake we ate every night! I am trying not to think about the weight gain, it's all for the baby right? :)

** KARAOKE night. Boys sang Boys to Men and the girls sang Shania Twain. We weren't drunk (obviously) but it didn't hurt that 90% of the audience was.

**BELIZE. I didn't get any good pictures because we were too busy snorkeling on the reef. Amazing fish!

It's a.....GIRL?!!?!!

2008-11-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's right. I went in for my 20 week ultrasound today and was shocked to find out that it is actually a GIRL!!! I was dying of laughter because I saw with my own eyes what we thought was "boy stuff" in my 16 week ultrasound.... guess not! I still can't get used to the idea, since I have been saying "he" to describe this baby for the last month.

Sadie was really excited to find out the surprising twist, since she has wanted a little sister so bad. I had her read the ultrasound picture where it said "It's a girl" and she started sounding out the "gi" and then looked up at me like, "are you serious?" She was thrilled.

So, here's a couple of cute pictures of our GIRL!

Corn dogs and Jelly fish

2008-11-20T08:01:00.001-08:00

At Halloween Nate took the kids to a corn maze for mutual while I was at a girl's night out. The next day Carson couldn't stop talking about the "corn dog" and how fun it was. I finally realized that he meant corn maze, but I thought it was so cute I didn't correct him for a while.
This morning he was reading a book to me and started talking about the jelly fish in the book. Then I realized he was pointing to the jelly beans in the book.
It's moments like this when I temporarily forget his behavior in sacrament on Sunday or his stubborn refusal to take naps lately.

Props to Nate's friends...

2008-11-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

...for picking such cute, fun, awesome wives. I know they didn't get together and plan out marrying women who could have so much fun together, but they did a great job!

Last night we had a baby shower for Julie K. at Archibalds restaurant (yummy) and we had the best time! I love that 5 of us are pregnant and ALL having boys!!! Yes, and one is having twin boys, so that will make 6 boys born within 4 months. We had to take a picture of our bumps, lined up from soonest due date to latest (me being the last).

From right to left there's Julie K. (due Jan. 1st), Sheena (due Feb.), Julie L. (due Mar. with twins), Tabitha (due Mar.), and me, due April. SO FUN!

Wedding dress shopping

2008-11-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

My best friend Jenn came into town this week from Las Vegas with the sole mission of finding a wedding dress. I got to come along and help, along with her sister Tammy. We had such a fun day running around to several dress shops & she was successful!!! She found the most beautiful dress at the last shop we went to. Here's a picture of the gorgeous bride in "the one." I just love Jenn & am so happy for her.

Then, the next day because we had been so successful we got to go shopping at Gardner Village, which was so much fun. Sadie got to come along & enjoy the girl's day out. I must say Sadie is quite the little shopper!

Halloween week

2008-11-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sadie's preschool class had a Halloween party on Thursday, the kids looked cute, but Miss Debbie looked the cutest in her Snow White costume! We had a fun little party Friday morning with some friends from the ward, the kids had fun playing and decorating cookies. The moms had fun visiting and eating Maria's yummy homemade food. (at least I did!)

We went over to Nate's parents' house for pizza and trick or treating, and to show them our costumes. Carson was a dragon (if you asked him he was a pink dragon with butterfly wings) and Sadie was a butterfly. I was a bottle of "Prego" spaghetti sauce and Nate was a box of spaghetti noodles. There was a hidden message on my costume:

That's right, I'm prego with meat"balls," a boy that is! We found out this week and thought it would be fun to announce it on the costume. We are so excited for Carson to have a little brother!

The things kids do when you're not looking

2008-11-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

I would love to have a hidden video camera watching my kids while I'm out of the room. It's funny to hear the things they say to each other (when I can hear from the other room), and to see what they end up doing while I'm not right there next to them. This week we had a couple of funny ones.
Sadie came to me and said "Mom, I forgot that you told me to never do this." "This" was try to curl her hair with a round brush. She had that brush so tangled in her hair I could not help laughing, until after about 30 minutes of trying to get it out of her hair. Then I stopped laughing. Finally after another 15 minutes or so, I made some progress and quickly got it out.

Another day this week I got out of the shower to find both of the kids pretending to be pregnant. They had stuffed dish towels in their shirts to make their baby bumps. Oh boy!

A very scary weekend!

2008-10-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend, full of fun and scares. Friday night we went to Chantell's husband, Jarem's family's haunted forest in Layton. They are such a fun family and go all out for Halloween, I mean crazy all out! Their back yard is huge and has a forest with a path going through it. So they get the whole family and some friends involved and create a very scary haunted forest! I have to admit I got pretty scared a couple of times. But it was funny to get scared by some creature and then the creature saying, "hi Marcie." Makes it fun trying to figure out who is what.

This is probably the only picture I will ever have of me looking more tan than one of Nate's sisters! Chantell looked great, in a scary way.

Then, Saturday my friend Jenn came from Las Vegas with her fiance, Brady. We went to the BYU vs UNLV game together. It was a scary game, too close for comfort the entire game. But in the end BYU pulled out a win, thank goodness. Nate was getting pretty stressed. It was fun having Jenn to sit by so we could talk wedding talk, love it!

After the game Jenn & I went to Gardener Village for Witches Night Out, so fun! We cackled for coupons, got some great deals, ate great food, and I had a great time planning out Jenn's future in Utah! :)

Food, glorious food

2008-10-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

This pregnancy has been interesting because I've had the nausea stuff, oh boy I have. But, then I am also completely OBSESSED with food, but only good food. I have actually found myself watching the Food Network channel for hours at a time, with absolutely no intention of making any of the delicious food they create (not like I could with the ingredients in my fridge, but still). I've also gone through my favorite cookbooks several times, staring at the pictures of the dishes. Nate has gotten tired of me actually rewinding back to commercials I see with food (like the Arby's sub commercial, yum) when I am fastforwarding the commercials during our favorite shows. Here are some of the food items I have actually eaten, and been obsessed with in the last few weeks of :

Stuffed Chicken Marsala from Olive Garden, oh my goodness.... so good. I could have licked the plate, okay I totally did.

Nothing fancy, but I had sweet potato fries from Arctic Circle and holy cow! I couldn't stop thinking about them for days.

Roasted Red Pepper with Feta soup from the Village Bakery at Gardener Village. I think I will have to call and see what day this week they're featuring this soup.

I think it's safe to say...

2008-10-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

we're expecting! Okay, I'm the worst secret-keeper in the world, so it's probably not a huge secret to many of you, but I'm 14 weeks pregnant, due April 13th. We're excited to welcome baby #3 into our home!

Call me lazy...

2008-10-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

but I LOVE these Mr. Potato Head pumpkin kits! No messy, slimy, pumpkin guts to carve out. Plus the kids can actually help put the pieces on the pumpkins. I might not ever carve a pumpkin again.

The kids even named their pumpkins. So, allow me to introduce Aurora & Matey (like Arrrr matey), the 2 new additions to our family.

Nate has a new brother!

2008-10-01T07:21:00.001-07:00

Nate's parents were in Ukraine for almost 4 weeks finalizing the adoption of Ruslan, a 15 year old Ukrainian, who is now Austin Ruslan Milne. Last Thursday they finally came home! Everything went well with the adoption and it has been so fun to have Austin Ruslan finally here with the family. He is a great kid with a great sense of humor. Now he just has to learn English so we can actually get his jokes. And we need to get used to calling him Austin.

Tiffany's Reception

2008-10-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to Tiff & Blake's wedding reception at Nate's parents' house. They got married last month but had to wait for Nate's parents to get back from Ukraine. It turned out to be a fun night, with great weather (especially for the end of September!)

All of the pictures I got were before the reception started, but just trust me that there were more than just the Milne family in attendance :)

Oh, and thanks SOOO much T. for doing mine and Sadie's hair!

BYU vs. Wyoming

2008-09-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

2 BYU football season passes: $180.00

1 size XS BYU t-shirt for Sadie: $17.00

1 ice-cold bottled water: $2.50

1 football to entertain the kids during the 2nd quarter: $9.00

1 cotton candy: $3.50

Watching BYU play another shutout game (44-0): PRICELESS

Little ballerina

2008-09-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Sadie has started a dance class with her friends Faith and Katelyn. They look so cute with their pink ballet outfits! After 2 classes, Sadie has officially labeled herself as a "ballet dancer."

I am a painted woman!

2008-09-12T07:50:00.001-07:00

My uncle Rob Wilson is a very talented painter (why couldn't I get those genes?).

He called me a few weeks ago and asked if he could paint me, I said "sure." So, here is the painting he did, using a picture of Sadie and me from a few years ago (she was about 6 months old). I have to say it's a little wierd seeing myself as a painting, but he did a great job!

We are home!!!

2008-09-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

After 3 weeks in WA and another long 13 hour car trip, we are finally home! We had a fun trip. The first week we were camping with my family. Sadie and Carson LOVED tubing behind my Dad's boat. I was shocked that Sadie was absolutely fearless when it came to the tubes. She kept yelling "faster!" to my Dad.

We had a really fun time celebrating my Mom's 50th birthday. Some fun games, good food, and great company!
And then... the next weekend Nate and I met in San Diego for his sister Tiffany's wedding to Blake Nelson. What a beautiful, fun wedding!
We had a blast sitting together with all of Nate's siblings and their spouses.

The spent the next day at the beach surfing. Well, Nate surfed while I read and relaxed on the beach. Nice. Nate's cousin Nicole and friend Mike caught this pigeon that had a string caught on it's foot. They were kind enough to remove the string before eating the bird (just kidding, they let it go.)

And then it was back to WA. My kids had so much fun playing with their cousin, Tyson. We went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. However due to a flat tire on the double jogging stroller, we ended up seeing, uh.... 2 animals and spending the rest of the day in a play area called "zoonazium." The kids probably had more fun anyway.

Next weekend, Nate and some of his Murray friends (and their cute wives) fly in for the BYU game against the U of Washington. The first day we went to the Puyallup fair, great food, cute animals... and free admission. Now that's what I'm talking about!

And then, to cap off my trip: The BYU game at UW. We had SO much fun going to the pre-game BYU party (there were TONS of BYU fans there) and our seats were great. The game was super tense until the very end when we finally won by 1 point with 1 second left in the game! They got a penalty for celebrating after a touch down, and then we blocked their extra point! Go Cougs!

Happy 50th Birthday Mom!

2008-08-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are driving to Washington to go camping at my family's favorite WA campground, Lincoln Rock in the Wenatchee area. We are celebrating my Mom's 50th birthday with family and close friends, it's going to be one huge party! We'll be in WA for 3 weeks!

Happy Birthday Mom, we love you!

Here are some pictures of my Mom, Shellie, in her early years (eons ago :)

Flag Football champs

2008-08-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Nate and his friends played in the Murray High School alumni flag tournament on Saturday. They were really intense about it, having a couple of practices and planning all of their plays in the weeks before.
All of us wives secretly were a little concerned that they might not do as great as they were expecting (they are almost 30 and playing much younger guys). I have to apologize for doubting their flag football skills, though, because they won every game!!!
Good job guys, either you're super good at flag football, or you were the only ones to take the time to practice. Probably a little of both.

Happy 24th of July....

2008-07-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

I have to say I'm getting used to it. (The 24th holiday thing). But because I didn't grow up in Utah I haven't ever felt fully "into" the 24th of July, Pioneer day holiday. Every year I kind of forget about it until it's the day of, and then I feel slightly guilty for forgetting a holiday remembering the pioneers. This year I actually tried to schedule several things on the 24th, kind of not realizing that it was a huge Utah holiday. I tried to set up visiting teaching and got a laugh, "it's the 24th!" I do love that Utahns celebrate huge for this holiday, a huge parade and fireworks.... it's like 4th of July all over again. Maybe that's the problem, it's too much like the 4th. It needs to be unique, like everyone could wear bonnets and push around handcarts for the whole day. They could shut our power off, air conditioning, and running water. We could really feel like pioneers. Yeah, I think that would help me remember it a lot better.

American Idols Live!!!!

2008-07-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

We had SOOO much fun Monday night at the American Idols Live concert. Nate's whole family went, which made it all that much more fun sitting next to his sisters. We were screaming (I think I lost my voice a little) and dancing, what a blast! Our seats weren't the best, we were to the side of them, but we could actually see backstage too. Nate actually saw David Cook doing push ups right before his performance, ha ha!

David Archuleta did awesome. The crowd was so loud after he performed, he couldn't stop crying.

What a fun night!!!

4th of July camping & parade

2008-07-05T12:23:00.001-07:00

We had such a fun 4th of July!!! Thursday night we camped out with Nate's whole family in his parent's back yard. We went swimming in the pool, had a BBQ, set up our tents, and then roasted marshmallows by the fire. We all stayed up late singing songs by the fire. Most of the songs were girl's camp songs, which made me miss those good old girl's camps years ago.
We all went to the Murray city parade the next morning. We always sit next to some families from the Milne's ward that are SO fun. They have the list of names of the girls on the floats and we all yell out a name when one comes by. The girl (who has no idea who we are) looks over at us so confused, it's so funny.
Then we went to T & Darin's for a BBQ which was a blast. Thanks for throwing such a fun get together!

I think this is the funniest picture. Right after I took it I realized Nate looks like he's naked in the back ground. He's got his swimsuit on, but it's behind the air mattress.
Sitting by the campfire with 2 tired kids.
Someone actually T.P.ed all of our tents while we were sleeping!

Hot, hot, hot!

2008-07-05T12:13:00.001-07:00

We had Soooo much fun in Vegas! We spent most of the days laying out at the pool (I couldn't last very long in the 108 degree heat), watching movies in the hotel room, and going to the movie "Get Smart" (so funny). It was too hot to walk around outside for very long. We did go out on the strip at night, which was fun.
Mostly it was so relaxing and fun to spend time together just Nate and I. It's nice to feel like we're newlyweds again. We went to dinner with my friend Jenn from high school, she lives there in Vegas and is such a fun girl. I miss her, wish she lived closer, but it's fun to see her when we can.
Vegas was hot, but let me tell you... we came home to a broken air conditioner. Our central air went out and with the 100 degree heat outside the nights were miserable until we got it fixed on Wednesday! Thank goodness for A.C.!!!!

Hey Baby Let's go to Vegas!

2008-06-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Nate and I are celebrating our 6th anniversary this weekend in Las Vegas! We're leaving the kids with Nate's parents and staying in the Planet Hollywood hotel for 3 nights. And we've got front row tickets to Cirque Du Soleil's Mystere, I'm so excited! Although the front row view might lead to some too-close crotch views of some of the male artists.

And Nate also surprised me big the other night. I came home from Ciara's baby shower at 11:00 p.m. (it was a fun shower) and found a huge square box under the covers on my spot of the bed. I uncovered it to find ROCKBAND for the Wii, which I have been waiting for forever! (or at least since Christmas). Thanks SOOOO much Nate, I love you so much and am excited for our weekend away! I'm also excited to kick your butt in Rockband, but first let's go to Vegas.

I love you so much Nate, Happy Anniversary!

I L.O.V.E. Nate's sisters!

2008-06-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

They are great. I married a wonderful man with 4 amazing, beautiful sisters. They are some of my best friends. Without them I would be constantly homesick for my family in WA. I feel so lucky to know them and for my kids to be loved by them.
Chelsie, sorry I couldn't find a better picture of your beautiful face!
Golfing with Tiff and Chantell, love you girls!
At the zoo with Tiff and Blake (maybe a future brother in law :)
Christal, the youngest... 13 and now taller than me.

Bye bye binkies!

2008-06-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

They had to go. I got so tired of saying "take out your binky when you talk" and hearing "MONKEY, BINKY!" wherever we went. It was a love-hate relationship that lasted almost 2 1/2 years.

We took Carson to build-a-bear on Tuesday night and had him put his binkies inside of a bear that he picked. Okay, it was actually the 2nd bear he picked, the first was downright ugly. But, he did it! And although the first night was rough, he's since then done great without them.

"Monkey" of course is still in the picture. To be honest I think I will be really sad the day Carson gives up his monkey. He's become almost a 3rd child for me, always there.

So, farewell binkies. Carson will miss you, me... not so much.

Zoo, Zip line, and a drunk driver

2008-06-16T06:45:00.001-07:00

Life has been busy the last few days. We went to the zoo on Thursday with my friend Stephanie and 2 of her kids, along with 2-year old Blake who they babysit. The zoo has a new carousel to ride on, which was fun.

Then Friday night we drove up the mountains to our ward camp out. Right before we left we had a drunk driver (seriously drunk) hit our tree in our front yard. Since he kept driving, our neighbor followed him and called the cops. I'm glad it was just a tree, and not a person or car.

The ward camp out was a lot of fun. They had a zip line over a creek that Nate took the kids on. Sadie had such a blast on it, she kept asking to go by herself. I of course said "no way" but as soon as I wasn't watching Nate let her go by herself. Think 20 foot drop, no restraints or harnesses, probably a good thing I wasn't there to watch (& kill Nate!).

The big wedding

2008-06-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Chantell (Nate's little sister) got married on Friday June 6th to Jarem Nielson. The weather was kind of awful for June. It was super windy and pretty cold, but we still had a lot of fun. Chantell looked gorgeous in her dress, and I loved the colors and outfits she picked out. Nate looked HOT in his black suit & pink tie, seriously!

The reception was up in Bountiful at this gorgeous reception center, and we had a ton of fun. The food was delish, especially the soft serve ice cream, and the dancing was even better. (Did I tell you Nate looked hot?)

Sadie woke up on Saturday morning and asked, "Do you think Chantell & Jarem have kids yet?" I told her probably not yet, but it is a possibility :)

Congratulations Chantell & Jarem, we love you both!

Princess possibilities....

2008-06-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Sadie is seriously in need of a sister. The other day they were playing upstairs and when they came down this is what they looked like, Carson got a makeover Sadie-style:

Sadie is such a girly girl. She started dressing herself before she was 2 years old and she still refuses to let me help her in her fashion decisions. She loves to shop, wear skirts and dresses (refuses to wear pants or shorts), and of course the color pink!

T. told me that the other night when they were watching our kids Darin asked Sadie and Faith what they want to be when they grow up. Faith said she wants to be a fire-fighter and Sadie said she wants to be a princess. When he asked her why she said "they have lots of shoes and they don't do anything."

We should have gone to the dance!

2008-06-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday we were at Nate's parents house swimming in their pool. While we were there Chelsie (Nate's 18 year old sister) was with a couple of friends setting up for a dance they were having on the sports court that night. It was a masquerade ball, so Nate's other 2 sisters were going with their beaus with masks on (with masks on who would even know they weren't invited?). We thought about going, but we couldn't get a babysitter on that short of notice. Whatever, right?

NO, not whatever. Guess who showed up to the dance! David Archuleta!!! We should have been there! It's probably a good thing that I wasn't there, actually, because they wanted it to be "normal" for him, and I would have been like one of those 12-year old girls, screaming and crying and wanting a hug.

And this week I am living vicariously through Chelsie. She is on a 5 million dollar house boat on Lake Powell with a bunch of friends and.... David Archuleta!!! Lucky, lucky girl!

A Day with Thomas

2008-05-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

My parents flew in for the weekend, which was a ton of fun. When my parents are here, we go out to eat, go to movies, go shopping, and play the Wii. My kids love it when they're here because they stay up late, eat lots of treats, and get spoiled by Grandma & Grandpa. Today they left, and it is back to REALITY! I'm talking about tantrums galore, I've got 2 tired little kids going through Grandma & Grandpa withdrawls. The hard part is that I am too.

Saturday we had a fun day in Heber seeing Thomas the Train. We were too cheap to actually go on the train ($18 a person for a 25 minute ride!) but the kids were happy just seeing Thomas and taking pictures in front of him. Then we let them each pick something out in the gift shop. I have to say I have never seen so much Thomas the Train stuff in my life! It was crazy.

Bunkbeds & Last days

2008-05-23T12:54:00.001-07:00

I am trying to convince Nate to spend some of the economic stimulis check we got (wooohoo) on some cute bunk beds for our kids. I don't know why, but I'm totally into the bunk bed think right now, maybe it's nostalgia from my early years when Ramie & I slept in bunk beds for years! We had so much fun making forts and slides on them. Or maybe it's just one of my phases, and I'll be over it in a couple of months.

Well, I thought it was so fitting that my kids decided to play like the bench was a bunk bed. I think they're thinking what I'm thinking......we need bunk beds!

On another note, yesterday was a sad, sad day. Sadie had her last day of preschool until the end of August. We have both loved her being in preschool, She loves Miss Lori and I love the 2 hour break I get twice a week (it's during Carson's nap).

Of course I also love how much she's learned and experienced from preschool. Here she is with cute Miss Lori in her graduation cap. Sadie's grown up so much in the past year, it's crazy to think she'll be going to kindergarten in a year!

8 cheeseburgers please

2008-05-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Nate took Carson on a Father & Son's camp out last night, which meant Sadie and I got to party it up girly style. We spent the evening at a primary activity where we went to the church museum, Sadie loved the "I am a child of God" exhibit. She spent the entire time taking care of a little black baby she named "Miley" (after Hannah Montana of course). After that we took pictures by the temple. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous!!! I tried to have Sadie take a cute picture by the flowers, most of the time she posed in some silly pose, who knew she was even that flexible?
We then went to ice cream with Stephanie and her son Kamden at McDonalds. After we both put in our orders, Stephanie noticed they put 2 cheeseburgers on her tray, but she had only ordered one. She then looked at her receipt and realized they had charged her for 8 cheeseburgers. They were still busy making the other 6. When Stephanie told the lady at the register (she was Mexican) about the mistake, she said "no, you asked for 8 cheeseburgers." Stephanie and I were both laughing, realizing that she had said "I would like A cheeseburger" and the lady thought she said "8" instead of "A." It might be one of those things that was funnier when you're actually there, but hey I was there so it was funny.

Spring Happenings

2008-05-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

I wish that this post was about going to the big David Archuleta party at Murray High School this afternoon. I have been looking forward to it for weeks, in anticipation that he'd make it to the top 3. I was supposed to be there!!!! Of course this is the day that I feel terrible, and have to stay home to watch it on TV. At least we got to see Nate's sister and dad in the audience :)

But the last couple of weeks have been filled with some fun times in the Spring-time sun. I thought I would put up a couple of pictures and remember that although I didn't get to see David Archuleta in person, life is still happy and good.

What a cute little catipiller they found on Brittany's driveway, they even made a little house for it out of Brittany's flowers (sorry Britt!).
Gardner Village petting zoo, seriously so cute. There was a baby goat (below) that must have been hungry. He tried eating the sparkles on my flip flops, then my friend's daughter's shirt, the kids thought that was so funny.

My friend Stephanie's daughter just got a baby bunny. We went over there and the kids had so much fun letting it jump through their legs and eat carrots from their hands. See we don't need another baby, we can just go to Steph's house and play with the bunny.

"Are you kidding me?"

2008-04-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Carson has a new favorite phrase, "Are you kidding me?" He said it once out of the blue and he got such a great reaction from Nate and me that he just keeps saying it, it's definitely the funniest phrase he's ever said. You've got to see it to get the full effect, so here's a video of the kiddo in action.

Marcie's trip to WA

2008-04-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

I took a quick weekend trip to WA for my sister, Ramie's, wedding. It was a small, quick wedding to Garren Erickson, who also has 3 kids (all boys). As you can see in the picture, Ramie will definitely have her hands full with 5 boys and 1 girl!

After the wedding I spent most of my time spending time with my dad, which always a lot of fun. I also had a blast playing Rockband at my brother, Ryan's, house. We played almost every night and it was SO FUN!! I liked the guitar (on the easy setting of course) but could not get the drums at all.

This is my favorite wedding picture, we thought it would be funny to have Kyle & Jamie try out the cutting the cake thing while Ramie & Garren were out of the room, they look good huh?

A quick update on baby Lucy, her heart is okay, GREAT news! She is still in the hospital with a feeding tube and air, but hopefully she will be going home within the next 1-3 weeks.

Baby Lucy's Early Arrival

2008-04-03T14:42:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Marcella, Nate's brother's wife, went in for her 36 week check-up. She was measuring small and so the doctor sent her to the hospital in Provo to get a special ultrasound. They found out the baby had stopped growing and also saw something on the heart that concerned them. So they rushed her to her hospital where they performed an emergency C-section. The baby girl, Lucy, weighed 5 lbs. 2 oz, and was 16 oz long. She has had some trouble breathing on her own, so she's been on air, and they also have a feeding tube going through her belly button. I went today to visit Marcella and the baby. Marcella, understandably, was pretty upset, and the baby is still in the NICU. But she's a beautiful little baby, and we are praying that she will grow stronger quickly. They will find out today about the heart. Please keep them in your prayers! Thanks!

Sadie's Baby Birthday Party!

2008-04-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night we had quite the party! 10 girls 5 and under, each with their favorite baby doll! It was so cute, we made bracelets for them and their babies, then I gave them each a diaper bag I had made for them with a little blanket, bib, bottle, and diaper inside. They learned how to take care of their babies, change their diapers, feed them, and so forth. It turned out to be the easiest party I have ever done because they were so entertained by the diaper bags and babies, I just sat and watched! (Compared to the usual frantic running around.) Here are a few pictures of the first half of the party, the camera battery went dead for the second half.

I have to add that one of my favorite parts of the night was how excited Carson was to be part of the party. He loved feeding his baby, putting on the diaper bag, everything! Nate finally said, "Carson, let's go play some basketball" and then we lost him. Carson will be a great big brother someday.

Congratulations Chantell & Jarem!!!

2008-03-31T12:40:00.000-07:00

Friday night was so fun and exciting! Nate's sister, Chantell, was going to get proposed to by her boyfriend Jarem. Jarem called me up on Thursday and asked me to help out with it. He first took her on a helicopter ride from Provo up to Heber, where they went to a nice dinner. Then they rode the helicopter back to Provo. The saddest part, but kind of funny, is that she threw up the entire fancy dinner in the helicopter on the way back. She can laugh about it, which is great I think!
So, while they were going on their helicopter ride Jarem's sister Stephanie and I were setting up a very romantic setting in the basement of the Milne's house. We had chocolate-covered strawberries, tons of tea lights and candles, lights in the trees, the fireplace aglow, music, and of course sparkling cider. It was such a blast putting it all together knowing what would be happening there that night.
So, Jarem dropped Chantell off (and drove around the corner, ran through the back yard, and went into the basement to wait for her), Chantell came in and told us all about the helicopter ride. We all sat there and watched Enchanted for a few minutes, then Nate's dad asked Chantell if she would go turn the fireplace off downstairs. Of course Jarem was down there in the "love room" and then he proposed!!! We were really tempted to turn on the speaker system down there so we could hear what was said, but Nate talked me out of it!
Congratulations Chantell & Jarem, we're so excited for you to be married!!! You guys are great together, we love you!