Trimming the Tree

My kids are definitely in the Christmas spirit. they have been begging to put Christmas decorations and the tree since the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving weekend was so busy for us that I told Logan we would put the tree up next weekend, and trust me he asked everyday!

To try to keep them entertained during the week we spent one day making a Christmas chain, which I think every kid loves.

Here is part of our chain , once we made ours at home they both came home with their own from school, now we have three chains to help us countdown for Christmas.

Finally it was Saturday and time to put up the tree

Here's how Hunter spent most of the time

Logan was so excited and actually every helpful this year, his job was to hand the branches to Dave and I

Makay wanted to open all the ornaments and hand them to people to hang on the tree

Of course you have to put the star on first, and Logan insisted on having this job.

Even though Dave and I weren't quite in the Christmas spirit yet given everything that we have going on it was a lot of fun to put up the tree and some other decorations with the kids. It is so fun to see how excited the kids are about the whole Christmas season not just the presents, it also helps us as adults remember the joy of the season.

Temple Square

We decided to go to Temple square to see the lights the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we wanted to go before it got too cold. Even though there was a ton of people there, it actually wasn't too bad once we got away from the really busy places like the reflecting pool.

Logan

Makay

Dave took most of the pictures so I had to get one with him in it to document that he was there, guess it's a little dark.

Dave took this beautiful picture

They had lots of nativities for different countries all over, it was neat to see how they were painted.

Here's how Hunter spent most of the night

This color was one of my favorites, mostly because you don't see it a lot.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa Richards

We had a lot of fun going to temple square and seeing the lights, it always helps us get into the Christmas spirit.

Fetal Echocardiogram

A couple of weeks ago when we had our routine ultrasound, that Dr. saw that the left side of the heart was a little bit smaller then the right side. She didn't give us much reason to be concern, but said that we should do a fetal echocardiogram at primary children's to give it a second look. Today I had the fetal echo and the Dr. there saw the same concerns about the size of the left side of the heart. The left side of the ventricular wall looks great, the concern is with the Aortic arch. The Aortic arch is looking too thin, right now it's fine because as a fetus that part only deals with 10% of the blood flow, after the baby is born and detached from the placenta it will handle 100% of the blood flow. There is also a slight concern with the Aorta and that it is too thin as well, although not as much of a concern. In 6 weeks I will go and have another echo and we will track the growth of the the Aortic arch.

If it hasn't grown enough it is called coarctation of the Aorta which is basically that the artery is too narrow. If that is the case we will discuss what the plan of action is. Certainly this is not what we want to hear, but we are staying positive and hoping that the heart will grow and develop the best it can. We are staying positive and know that the Lord will comfort us.

The Adventurous Hunter

I thought I would document how "busy" Hunter is these days.

Here is what happen before we put the locks on the cupboards, I was only in the other room for a minute.

Here's how it starts, sitting on the floor looking at the ladder

Then he climbs up with his silly little grin.

On the bed finally

Now getting down

Back on the ground to try it again

We put the ladder on the top bunk, but it doesn't matter he has figured out to how to get up and down without the ladder. The boy has NO fear.

Optimus Hunty

Hunter is so cute, so busy, and so determined. He thinks he is as big as the older boys and wants to do exactly what they are doing, and if you try to redirect him he just grunts at you and pushes his way back to the direction he wants to go. We just laugh most of the time, good thing he's so stinkin' cute!

Makay's Preschool fun

At the beginning of the school year Makay went on a field trip to the fire station, by far one of his favorite places!

Here he is getting ready to watch a fire movie, one of the only times he will smile

Fireman Brian all dressed up in his gear, sorry it's so dark.

He LOVES fire trucks

Here he is holding the ax

His whole class, he had a great time!

# 4 is....

So I guess we can make a GIRL after all!

We had our ultrasound today and we are having a girl, we are super excited to have a little girl to help mellow out these rowdy boys, but if she's anything like her mom she will probably just join in. When the ultrasound tech first said we both said oh, almost in a state of shock, I pretty much just assumed it would a boy, so far that's all we know. Now that it has sunk in a little I'm getting a little more used to the idea.

All three of our boys were easy to see and moved around in their ultrasounds, but our little girl did not want to be disrupted. She had her chin tucked down, her arms close to her face and legs crossed curled up in a ball. It was fun to see her and of course find out what we are having.

Halloween Festivities

Halloween was so fun this year, the boys really had the trick-or-treating down.

Here's Makay at his pre-school Halloween parade

He was Batman last year, but insisted on being it again, which saved me some $$

Here's most of the kids getting ready to sing their Halloween songs

I made these chocolate covered donut holes for a party, they were delish and easy!

Napoleon and Kip...AWESOME!

Our Halloween evening started at Dave's work where everyone was dressed up and the kids filled there buckets all the way. That was enough candy in my opinion.

Scary Skeleton

Batman

Cute cow

Dave's dad's bday is on Halloween so we almost always go out there to see him and show the kids off to the neighbors

The two skeletons

This house was decorated so scary and Logan loved it. He kept staring at this person and didn't want to leave. He LOVES scary stuff.

Makay, Logan, Grandpa, Hunter, Morgan, Tyler, and Austin

We end the night trick-or-treating with cousin Morgan in her neighborhood. The boys knew exactly what to do, they would run from one house to the next YELLING at the top of there lungs trick-or-treat! They got lots of comments like " your the loudest we've had", or "your going to get a sore throat yelling like that". It was hilarious and so fun to watch.

After nonstop trick-or-treat since 4 pm til 8 pm Mom was tired, and so were the boys!

It was a really fun night!

Pumpkin Patch

While Dave is still deer hunting in Panguitch we decided to go to the pumpkin patch with our cousins the Fishes.

There is a really cute pumpkin patch in Farmington that has lots of different kinds of pumpkins and squash, it also has a haymaze.

Here's my cute Hunty trying to pull himself up.

Believe it or not I am holding up all of them, so cute.

Logan, Austin, and Makay in the haymaze

All the boys in the wagon

Trying to hold Hunter for the picture

Logan, Austin, Makay, Hunter

Logan acting scary!

Here are all the boys before we leave, Hunter (blue) and Tyler (red) not interested in taking the picture as usual.

Makay went a couples weeks earlier with his preschool, but Logan didn't get to go so he was dying to go. We might have to go again with Dave it actually get some pumpkins to carve. We had a lot of fun going with Austin Tyler and their parents.