Tegen's Birthday

Happy Birthday Tegen! I can't believe that my oldest child is already TEN! Where have the years gone? The balloon fairy came to rain down balloons on him during his sleep which is our family tradition... he is buried somewhere under that red blanket...
This is the loot he got... A new dirt bike helmet, a rip stick, a camel pack for water and a couple of other small things.

Blowing out all TEN candles... Happy birthday to you!

Tegen is such an important part of our family. We love him so much. He brings a smile to my face every day. He is getting so big with each passing year... It makes me kind of sad to watch my baby grow up so fast. He is very intelligent, highly motivated, funny, loving, playful, awesome at math and reading, a great big brother and an all around good kid. We love you buddy!

The Baby's Room.. Before and After...

This was a boy room through and through- It was all decorated in blue and dirt bikes...
I was actually sad to have to paint over it because I loved this room so much...

But now- it looks like this... pink, pink and more PINK! Yikes- it's SO pink. It is definitely growing on me though. I don't know why the pictures didn't turn out very well.

Yes- this baby girl will have more clothes than anyone else! I think I'm addicted... Oops! Ed had fair warning at the ultrasound though when the tech said it was a girl!

This room is actually really cute but you can't really tell what it looks like because the pictures aren't that great. I have one more wall that I'm waiting to do something with. I am waiting for some shutters and then I will post a picture of it when it's complete...

Until then- I thought I would fill everyone in on what's going on with me- and baby. We are super excited that she is going to be born on February 25, 2010. We are going to name her Tessa Marie. I will have my fourth repeat c-section so luckily the doctor has already scheduled it so there won't be any guessing game of when she is coming. I am feeling (other than large) about as well as can be expected at this stage of the game. I'm contracting a lot, not sleeping a wink, peeing endlessly, and hurting quite a bit but loving it since I know this will be my last baby. She moves around a lot and we love to play the "what body part do you think this is?" game. Talen constantly kisses my belly and I have to tell him to leave my shirt down. Nobody wants to see it! He is convinced that she will know him the best when she comes out since he talks to her the most. The boys are getting excited.. I think. They won't have any idea what hit them when she's born though. Things are far too easy around here right now and I have a feeling that this is going to rock our world. We are used to sleeping in, eating when we want, leaving when we want, etc. We will now be starting over with a strict routine, but it will be worth it. I can't wait to meet this precious little baby. It will be here before we know it!

The Utah Jazz Game

Our friend got us a really good deal on some tickets to a Utah Jazz game so Ed took the boys on January 25 to the Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns basketball game. Unfortunately, being so close to my due date the doctor didn't think it was wise for me to travel in the car for so many hours because I have been contracting quite a bit so I didn't get to go... bummer! Ed took our nephew Cason instead.
Tegen and his friend Zach....

Ed said that Talen was glued to Cason's side the whole night. They are so cute together. Cason is a great cousin and the boys really look up to him. It was sweet of him to let Talen sit with/on him all night long!

This is a group shot of the people they went to the game with... the Taylor's (and their 4 boys), the Belnap's (and their 2 kids), and some of the Taylor's family. It looks like it was quite the crowd!

Ed said they had a blast!

They left just before school got out and got home around 1:00 a.m. I was surprised at how well the boys woke up this morning. Tray said "Mom, I had the best dream that we got to go to a Jazz game." Apparently, he was convinced that he dreamt the whole thing instead of getting to go there in person. I'm sad that I had to miss out but I'm glad that Ed's such a good dad and loves to do fun things with our kids!

Yikes I'm OLD!!

Another year older and wiser too... Isn't that how the primary birthday song goes? Well- I'm not sure if I'm any wiser but I'm definitely older- bummer! The boys gave me a great present- they did not fight with each other ALL day! It was a birthday miracle! I went out to dinner with my family and my parents. Since Ed is NOT a baker he bought a yummy ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Do you think the boys were just dying to blow out the candles for me?
Yea- it looked like we were going to burn the house down with that many candles!

Ed bought me a new video camera so I can take it to the hospital when we have the baby. He was so sweet and kept telling me happy birthday and wouldn't let me do anything. I think that's the best part of a birthday- being pampered 'cause it only happens ONCE a year :) Just kidding- Ed takes care of me all year long!

Our first NFL game...

Santa brought our family tickets to the Arizona Cardinals game for Christmas. We loved (almost) every minute of the game! For some reason these pictures uploaded all out of order. #11 is Larry Fitzgerald- Tegen's football hero! He was playing with an injured elbow that day. We were kind of upset because when we got to the game we found out that this was basically a "throw away" game for the Cardinals. They had made it into the playoffs the week before so they benched all their best players (except for Fitzgerald). So they didn't care AT ALL about winning. It's a good thing too because they got their hiney's kicked!

This is Kurt Warner- the quarter back. I really admire him as a person. He seems to be a genuinely good person- but what do I know?

We convinced the popcorn/peanut guy to take our picture. Ed had to buy a $6 box of cracker jacks from him though!

This was outside the stadium before we went inside. It was SO hot that day. We loved it!

This is the whole team warming up...

This was almost the end of the game. We got killed 7 to 33.... YIKES! To top it all off we were surrounded by Green Bay fans.

Gotta love the foam fingers!

This is when they were being called out onto the field- going through the tunnel...

These nachos were $8 a piece. If you ever go to a game bring lots of spending money! Ed and I had a $6 coke. What a total rip off. I really wanted water but it was $4.75 per bottle. I decided that I didn't need water that was laced in gold that badly!

Huge team huddle before the game. It was kinda cool to see all those players that we watch on t.v. all in one spot...

Okay- those were completely out of order but oh well. You get the idea. We had a blast even though our team got trashed. The only bummer that day was that Tegen's camera got stolen. I was so upset- so was he. At the end of the game we stood up to leave and Tegen realized that his camera wasn't in the drink holder where he put it. He got the camera (a really nice one too) for Christmas so it was brand new. It just makes me so sad to realize that there are people out there who have no moral conscious whatsoever. I'm guessing that they'll feel pretty good about themselves if they ever realize that they stole a 9 year old's Christmas present. The saddest part is that he had taken a ton of pictures of our whole trip and the game and he lost all of those memories. Darn it! Other than that we had a fantastic time and we would love to do it again someday!

Our fabulous but way too short vacation!

We had SO much fun on our little family vacation! Sorry- be prepared for mega picture overload! We went to Phoenix to watch the Arizona Cardinal vs. Green Bay Packer game and stopped to have lots of fun all along the way! The first day we drove to St. George, Utah and stopped to see the temple there. Talen fell asleep at dinner so he was passed out in the car so Ed and the older boys are standing in front of the manger scene.
I think this temple is absolutely gorgeous....

The boys were all fascinated by the palm trees. In my world anywhere where there is a palm tree it's okay by me!

Of course the minute we arrived at our hotel the boys were all about going SWIMMING! I can't believe I am putting a picture of me in a swimsuit 8 months pregnant here but I had to have proof that I actually went swimming with my family. The picture is fuzzy because there was a ton of steam in the pool area.

This was the outdoor pool that was FREEZING! This all the boys being brave and jumping in for a minute!

Friday morning we stopped at the Hoover Dam to take some pictures. I was terrified of the the height. I'm glad we didn't do the Grand Canyon like we originally wanted to.

There was this disgusting wall of gum so of course we had to add ours to the collection. EWWW.... Gross I know!

Some nice people offered to take our picture as a family. I'm pretty sure this is the only picture of our whole family that we got the entire trip.

This a bridge that is being worked on. When it gets closer to completion A-Core will be working on it so Ed thought that was cool!

Once we arrived in Phoenix the boys became obsessed with the pool. It was a really nice heated pool with salt water instead of tons of chlorine. I think they all swam on average about 4 hours per day. They love to do all kinds of crazy tricks with their dad!

The pool area was gorgeous....

Bombs away..........

This would be what I did while they all swam! Lounging by the pool with a book- what could be better than that?

What a bunch of studly men...

King Tegen....

We found this awesome little theme park called Castles and Coasters. It had 4 different miniature golf courses, several small roller coasters and a huge arcade.

We all loved miniature golfing...

Tegen was proud of his hole in one on this hole!

Unfortunately our fun had to come to an end. This navigation system totally SAVED US! It was so helpful to enter an address and have "Flossy" tell us where to go and the fastest way to get there. The navigation system's nickname is Flossy. It was so funny to hear the boys talk to it and say "K Flossy tell us where to go!"

The boys did marvelous on the drive home. We were in the car for almost 14 hours straight. We stopped for gas 3 times and those were the only potty breaks we took too. I must say I was impressed with myself that I was able to go so long without having to stop too. Being 8 months pregnant in the car ALL day made for one LONG ride- but we made it!

I am so thankful for all the wonderful memories we made on our trip. There is nothing better than being with your family minus all the interruptions of daily life. I feel so blessed to have such an awesome family who I absolutely LOVE to spend time with!