Father's Day

Walk a little Slower

"Walk a little slower daddy,"

said a little child so small.

"I'm following in your footsteps

and I don't want to fall." Sometimes your steps are very fast,

Sometimes they're hard to see;

So walk a little slower, Daddy,

For you are leading me. Someday when I'm all grown up,

You're what I want to be;

Then I will have a little child

Who'll want to follow me. And I would want to lead just right,

And know that I was true;

So, walk a little slower, Daddy,

For I must follow you."

I really like this poem. I think my boys have a great father. If they follow his example I know they will become good men. I also know they have a father in heaven that will guide them in life too. They can't go wrong with either of these wonderful men.

Life list

1. Happy Birthday, Ellie!!! It just cracks me up how obsessed she is with princesses. Whenever Ethan and Luke play with Ellie they usually, at one point, end up playing princess and prince and one boy will be seen walking around holding Ellie's hand or cuddling her because she is the princess. I heard she was given a Cinderella dress for her birthday by a friend. I can't wait to see her in it. Ellie makes a good princess....oh I remember those days. Is this what every little girls goes through at some point in her childhood? We went swimming at Ellie's new pool and had Snow White cake. Amerie made a cute swimsuit debut.

2. Ethan had his last Tball game. He and the dolphins played a great game. We were happy to have Mae, Clay and baby Zane come out and show their support. Zane is quite ready to be introduced to baseball don't you think?

3. A friend introduced me to the coolest beach accessory. I am in love with it. Its called the Umbrella Stand. For all you beach goers out there that have ever struggled with putting your umbrella in the sand and getting it to stay this is for you. It works for the park or wherever you'd be taking your umbrella for shade. Its seriously awesome. We went to the beach yesterday and I used it, its the yellow contraption in the picture. You can check it out here. Enough of that, isn't this one of the cutest tooshies you've ever seen? I hardly ever put the boys in their "sungas" (pronounced: soon-guhs) when I go to the beach because I think its a little indecent but my mom got them ready at her house (they had had a sleep over the night before) and, of course, she put them in these. She did just come back from Brasil so I guess she's keeping the memory alive. The boys didn't seem to mind but I know that soon enough they won't tolerate these anymore.

4. I don't like this crazy format post. I'm more of a center format kind of girl.

5. I just finished reading East of Eden by Steinbeck. I really enjoyed his writing style but never fell in love with the story. I found myself craving a good book club where we could analyze the book and I could be enlightened by others' thoughts and interpretations. I'm moving on to some lighter reading now. I have the book Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger on hold at the library. We'll see if its any good. If you don't know, she's the author that wrote Devil Wears Prada. If Mae and Clay would ever finish reading Twilight I might be able to read that one.....hehe. Speaking of holding books at the library, have you ever tried it? Its great. You request it online and they pull it and put your name on it. Makes library trips sooo much easier. One thing I'll warn you about putting on hold is the DVD "Firebusters." Ethan and Luke love that movie so much. Its all about firetrucks, firemen and everything involved. I still can't get the song out of my head...."my firetruck is hot...its really cookin!"

6. We inherited a treadmill from my grandparents. They moved to Texas and were getting rid of it. My grandfather said he only ever used it for walking on so its in pretty good condition. No bells or whistles but I'm happy with it. I really like having two machines to exercise on. I do 20 minutes on each and my work out just flies by. There's something about doing 40 minutes all in one place that gets old fast. Anyway, I've been trying to slowly build my running legs back up. I speed walk a minute or two then jog two or three minutes. It feels sooooo good afterward....nothing like some good therapy.

Box boys and Sunflower seeds

Ethan and Luke graduated to booster seats this weekend. I'm so excited about them, they are so much easier to move around. They had some fun playing with the boxes yesterday. First they were just hiding in them and laying in them but then Steve told them they could be robots and cut holes in the boxes. I personally like to call them box boys. Here are some of the pictures of our robots.

I really like this one of Luke.

Both robots.

Also, a few weeks ago Ethan and I planted some sunflower seeds in our backyard. We've been watering them and watching them grow. We planted two sizes, the smaller two-three foot and the large five-six foot. I think we planted about a dozen in one area of our yard. I'm really excited to see them. I think next I'll try getting some hydrangeas...maybe one day our yard won't be such a desolate place.

These are the biggest ones.

Luke lines

Our favorite Luke line lately is this: Daddy, I can't talk right now - I'm watching t.v. (trying to avoid the potty training discussion with his father) one morning Luke was calling out from his bed - Mommy Dark Vader!! (he is struggling with saying "darth")

The results are in

This is the first picture of our baby girl....that's right, we're having a girl. Steve and I went in for my ultrasound today and we got some cute pictures of her. She looks good weighing 12 oz. and the tech said she's normal size for where I am at (a little over 19 weeks). In this picture it looks like she is sucking her thumb. We were going to bring Ethan with us to see the ultrasound but he wanted to stay with Luke at Ev's house instead. So on the way to pick them up I stopped at Rite Aid and bought some little bottles filled with candy pacifiers and they had pink tops. I got to Ev's and handed one to each boy (of course, I couldn't leave Ellie out either) and told them they were going to have a little sister. I think they were more interested in the candy but Ev was really excited! Thankgoodness she has girls because this is new territory for us. I feel like I'm becoming a mom all over again, its exciting and scary at the same time. I took a picture of the boys holding their candy bottles but it got messed up in the transferring phase so I'll have to wait until Steve can help me fix it before I post it up here. Now begins the name hunt. I have no idea what we'll name her, I am open for suggestions.

Take me out to the ball game

Ethan played in his Tball game yesterday. We missed the first game because we were all sick in our car trying to get home from Utah. Anyway...he did really well. He was a little clingy to me so I had to sit next to him most of the time but he didn't refuse to play and went up to bat like a pro and even played third base in the second half of the game!! We chanted the cheers together ("Ethan's in the box! Pulling up his socks! So watch out team, he's mighty mean!" and "We are the Dolphins the mighty, mighty Dolphins!") and sang "Take me out to the ball game." All the kids did a great job.

Up to bat

Running to first base

Playing third base

Will I or won't I?

One of my wonderful sister in laws posted a really sweet post on her blog about enjoying the now because she'll miss it when its gone. Ever since then when a particularly hairy situation arises I ask myself, am I really going to miss this? I've started thinking about all the things I will and won't miss. Here's a few, see if you can add any to it. Won't Miss battling over dinner - I never knew eating could be such an issue. whining - sometimes it seems like the only manner of speech. tantrums - at times they are comical but for the most part I could really do without. diapers - I know it comes with the territory but some days it seems like they never end...and I only have one in diapers right now! Will Miss cuddling - I know they are going to outgrow it eventually hugs and kisses - again, they'll probably outgrow these too being the most important person in the world to them - the day their hearts get broken and they turn to someone else will be a very sad day putting them to bed - another thing they'll probably outgrow being beside them for every new discovery - Ethan's only in preschool and sometimes its so sad to miss out on that; hear about it after the fact I know there are many more I'll probably think of after I've posted this. Motherhood definitely has a lot of ups and downs but the ups make all the downs worth it.

Blowing bubbles

"Bubbles, bubbles...who's got the bubbles?"

My splendidly fantastic SIL took these pictures. They are too cute to keep to myself. You can check out her photo blog here.

Barf fest 2008

Sat - Drive to Utah. Ethan has had a fever but nothing else so I shrug it off to growing pains. Steve has been fighting a cold and it seems to get worse on the drive. Luke has dual ear infections. Luke throws up 3 minutes before getting to Sherrie's house, Steve catches it in a bag...thankfully. Luke throws up again 3 minutes before getting to hotel in Utah, no bag for catching. After being in the car for 10 hours this is the icing on the cake. :) Thankgoodness we have a washer and dryer inside our room.

Sun - Steve stays in bed all day, Ethan still has a fever, Luke seems to be fine. I find out that my sister's baby was throwing up yesterday and today its her two year old but figure we're not staying together so we should be ok. Steve feels better enough to drive out to Salt Lake and we visit Brittany and Tyler and Reilly and Sean....thanks guys!!

Mon - We make it out to BYU. We all got some shirts and went to the Eyring Science center to show the boys the fun stuff. Ethan still has a fever but it seems to come and go. The boys both take their naps (Steve got one in too) at Mae and Clay's place in Provo. I was shocked they actually slept on the floor under our jackets for blankets. Luke used Zane's paci. Then we met up with the Pelos and Hewards for some tasty Cafe Rio. Thanks guys!!!

Tues - Wedding extravaganza! Ethan seems to be feverless. Congrats Raquel and Greg, you are an adorable couple. Thank you Britt and Reilly for watching all the kids, you two are such troopers. We leave for Mesquite around 3pm.

Wed - Ethan pukes at 3am and again around 3:30am. I puke at 6am then again a few hours later. We get brave enough to pack up and head home and make it back around 6pm. Ethan pukes again at midnight.

Ethan stayed home from preschool and didn't get to play in the first tball game but we all seem to be doing better. New resolution, if any members of the family are sick before a trip....the trip is CANCELED. I wanted to try and see more people (the Funks, the Parks, and the Emerys) but with all the sicknesses it just didn't seem feasible. I'm so sad but hope you all are well.

Here's the one and only picture I remembered to take.

Chicken Tacos

Ingredients: 3-4 Chicken breasts, depending on size 1 20 oz. bottle of salsa lettuce, shredded 2-3 tomatoes, chopped shredded cheese corn tortillas Refried beans (black or regular) sour cream (if you like it on your tacos) Directions: Put chicken breasts in crock pot and pour salsa over it. Cover crock pot and set on high for 6-8 hours until chicken is cooked through. Once chicken is cooked, shred the chicken with a fork and stir everything together. About 5-10 minutes before you're ready to sit down, lightly fry your corn tortillas in some vegetable oil. You don't want them too browned or they won't bend easily for your tacos. Also, warm your refried beans in a bowl in the microwave. Then set your table and assemble your tacos. They are soooo tasty and easy to make!!!