Toothless

My good friend and neighbor Cynthia, has been taking care of Keyan a lot while I have been gone. Keyan goes to their house after school until Jeff gets home from work and he has also stayed there when Jeff has been kickin' it here with me in Boston. Cynthia has three kids at the elementary school and her youngest is also in Kindergarten, so she is often at the school. She and other moms in our neighborhood, who are also in our ward, have sent pictures of Keyan to help me feel a part of things back home. Thanks for everything girls!

This is Keyan and his friend Samuel from their Thanksgiving party today at school. I just can't get over that toothless grin!!! LOVE IT!! Keyan has been a hoot to talk to lately and has really surprised me by how much he has grown up. He told me about some girls in his class who "like" him and were writing notes to him and calling him handsome. I have to agree with those little five year olds. He is pretty darn cute. He also started telling me about the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana. Seriously, that kills me. They know about that stuff in kindergarten?! I am a little weird and have never really been up to date with popular bands/ musical groups, but seriously, the Jonas brothers? Oh dear. Tonight he told me that when his dad turned 44, that he would need a cane or a wheelchair because he would be old. I laughed out loud. 27 is feeling pretty old right now, but hopefully I can hold off on the cane or wheelchair at least until I'm 30. Can't wait to see that crazy Keyan and his silly siblings!! Tracen asks to talk to Keyan everytime I call him. I hope Keyan, Brynna and Trace have a great reunion in a few days. I'm so excited to see them for the first time in over two months. I hope they recognize me!! Ha!! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Boston

My good friend Amy Huling came out from Texas to visit me for a few days this week. It was such a treat to have her and her 7 month old son Clayton here.

We went to the Museum of Fine Arts,





rode the subway to Boston Common where the Freedom Trail begins,


and did a little shopping at Downtown Crossing. We did quite a bit of people watching which is always fun in a big city.


It was so much fun to just hang out and talk and really made the week speed by. Thanks Amy for coming, Ken for holding down the fort so she could come and Meryn and Tiffany for babysitting while Ken was at work! It was a great gift from all of you! Only one more week until Jeff comes!! Hopefully my body can hold everything together and not go into labor until he gets here. We are counting down the days! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I got Alissa an Iphone

So Alissa is stuck up in Boston with a broken phone and so as a surprise I got her a new Iphone 3Gs. This will help her get through the lonely months up there and allow her to update the blog remotely. I am usually the one to get the new technology, so I thought I would surprise her with this when I went up for the birth of our son. Her phone is broken up there, she can take calls but really can't phone out or see messages. Her screen went blank. I saw that it would be the same cost to replace her phone with an iPhone as it would be with any other phone even with the cost of the service plan so I thought this would be extra good for her at no additional cost. I am writing this right now on a blogger app to test that she can update her blog. It looks like it will work. Maddox is improving and they will try to make him last until 36 weeks and so I will be up there a few days before probably in the first week or two of October. We are so thankful for all your emails, phone calls, prayers and love and continue to keep them in your prayers. Here is to test the picture feature of the app.

Jeff - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ready to Pop!

Here's a shot of the belly one more time before Maddox is born. I'm leaving for Boston on Saturday all by my little lonesome self. I definitely wish Jeff was coming with me, but I guess we need to fund this adventure somehow, so he'll stay at work until we have a date for the c-section. It could be a couple weeks until Maddox is born, and until then I'll be crashing at strangers' homes and hitchin' rides on trains and taxis. A little stressful, but we are sure Heavenly Father will make it all work. Here's to taking a few steps into the dark! Keep those prayers coming. We are definitely being blessed by them.

First Day

Keyan is officially a kindergartner.

He went to his first day of school yesterday, and I might add that it is all day, 8am-3:15pm. Brynna, Tracen and I all walked him into class, gave him a hug and watched him go forth into the educational world. The first thing he did was give his teacher a hug. That did my heart good. And then we were off. Tracen was pretty upset that he didn't get to stay, and I was just hoping to keep it together until we made it outside. I made it through the day without crying, which I am proud to say, but maybe that's because I'm all cried out for a little while.

The worst part of the day was that I was LATE to pick him up due to falling asleep on the floor while playing a game with Brynna. AHHHH!! How could I do that?!! I felt just sick about it! So much for starting the school year off right. Luckily, Keyan didn't seem to notice or care, and got into the car with a smile on his face, excited to report on his day.

As exciting as tying shoes,

losing teeth(about to lose his 3rd one) and starting school are, I sure wish that my kids weren't growing up quite so fast. It's starting to make me feel old.

Just to let you know...

There have been some difficult things going on at our home lately. I hate to publicly ask for prayers and faith, but I know what strength there is in numbers and what a difference prayer can make, so I'm asking for all of you to remember us when you are on your knees. So as not to be redundant, I'll direct you to the top right side of our blog where it says "Maddox" to fill you in on what's going on.

Oh, the joys of mortality.

She must have super powers

What possesses children to put things in power outlets -and metal things at that?

The kids found some keys and some big pad locks in a drawer the other day and have been playing with them a lot. I didn't have a problem with it until Brynna sat on the floor with the three completely metal keys on a metal ring and stuck them in the outlet. Immediately the power went out and Brynna yelled, "I'm sorry!" I saw the key in her hand and almost passed out. How in the world was this child not electrocuted? She could be fried crispy, or should have at least felt something, but after questioning her she said that she hadn't felt ANYTHING! We have since talked at great length about the dangers of power outlets and have banned them from the children. Sheesh!! I guess we need a few more outlet covers.

30

Happy Birthday to my honey!!!

Yesterday Jeff turned 30!!

He celebrated by weed-wacking, building shelves, weeding some flower beds, cleaning out the garage, and getting a pretty nice sunburn on his head and neck!!

I got him tickets to the BYU versus Oklahoma Sooners game that will be at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in September!!

I love you Jeff!! Thanks for all you do, even on your birthday!!

My Country

My sister's sister-in-law posted this on her blog and I really appreciated her position on the things that are going on in our country. This may not represent your political opinions, but I think we all need to be aware of the ramifications of our leaders' actions and the role we should be playing in the future of our country.

Harry Potter Fanatics!!!

My kids are slightly obsessed with the boy wizard!!

They love the movies, have listened to some of the books on cd, and pretend to live in the wizarding world daily. Pencils are their wands and spells are cast at each other for hours on end. "Expelliarmus" is heard frequently as they run around trying to disarm one another.

Here they are getting ready to play "Quidditch" on their brooms. I would have joined them except we only have three brooms. It must be a family obsession!