.

Disneyworld with my fam

2012-01-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

(this is one of my fav pics from the trip! The look of pure joy on Samantha's face is priceless!)
We were so lucky to meet with my mom, dad and Alex at Disney World this year for Christmas. My fam goes every other year but the last time Tommy and I went with them was when I was pregnant with Samantha! The next year I was having Parker while they were at Disney, then the next time Hannah was only a couple months old. Soooo this was the 1st time they have ever done Disney with my kids and it was so much fun! It was a last minute decision to come but such a good one:) It was definitely a bitter sweet trip. Really hard to be there the 1st time without Astra. We had some good cries and then in our typical fam style usually ended them laughing at how silly we must have looked to everyone crying at the "happiest place on Earth!" It was a great trip that ended to quickly. We were there for 4 days and drove home (2 1/2 hours) Christmas Eve so we could be home for Christmas. The weather was amazing- low 80's everyday, we didn't even need jackets at night! Doing Disney with my fam is such a diff experience: they have a wheel chair pass for Alex which means we don't wait in any lines! It seriously makes such a difference, plus he liked to walk most of the time so I got wheeled around by my dad a lot! It was a dreamy trip for sure:)

I LOVE all the Decorations during Christmas and all the special holiday parades!

We went to my parents hotel room one night to exchange gifts. In my mom's present I gave her a card that said, "It's a BOY!" It was fun cuz she had no idea that we were going to find out the gender so it was a fun surprise! Samantha got a sweet Barbie Bug from "Astra", parks got a big truck and Hannah love's her dolly.

It was SO MUCH FUN for the kids to get to know my parents. We talked about how Parks and Hannah were both born out of Utah and only going home once a year isn't much time. Plus, when we did go home Astra was usually in the hospital so we would only see my fam for a couple hours here and there. So this really was the 1st time they really got to know our kids and their fun personalities:)

Oh how I love watching the kids eyes and faces light up at Disney!

Oops! My mom forgot to finish her veggies but our old fashioned waitress kindly reminded her!

When we say the lights in Hollywood Studio we all had a good cry...sweet Samantha picks up other's emotions so quickly. It broke my heart even more seeing her miss Astra. So then my mom and I were trying to console her while keeping our emotions in check. Oh my little tender heart:)

It was such a fun trip seeing all the characters, going on the rides, eating till we couldn't eat any more, watching the magical parades, and being with my fam!

Make it stop

2012-01-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

My brain. Make it stop. My brain is on serious overload right now and needs to chill out. The last couple nights I have gotten up at 3 am and can't get back to sleep cuz my mind is just running with projects and lists of things to do. I believe the term for this is called "nesting" but I think I take it to a whole new level each pregnancy. When am pregnant I feel like I need to get as much done as possible because life as I know it is coming to an end with a new babe on the horizon:) Dramatic I know, but I can't help it! Plus, I have heard that #4 turns your world upside down so this time around I am extra crazy about preparing.
**Is it just me or do you feel like you will never have time to get anything done once babe comes??? better to expect and prepare for the worst and then if it's no sweat be pleasantly surprised right?:) It's funny cuz I am usually like this before babe comes and then once the baby is actually here we are up and running again after just a couple weeks- we go stir crazy fast around here! Buuuut that being said I a terrified for my sched this fall when I have FOUR completely diff schedules that each of the kids will be on.
I have been trying to decide whether I am going to put Parker in morning Pre-k or afternoon and if I do morning like I am leaning towards this will be my crazy schedule:
6:30ish nurse babe, pack lunch, get 4 kids dressed and fed
8:00 take Samantha to school
8:30 drop off P at school
9-11 come home for babe's morn nap and play time with Hannah
11:45 pick-up Parker
12: lunch
1-2:30 naps
2:40 pick-up Samantha
take to after school activities like dance and soccer on certain days
So basically I am going to be glued to the couch nursing a babe or in the car playing taxi. I have some major concerns for this fall!!!... and I feel like if I want to get anything done it's now or never!:)

I am constantly organizing, thinking about organizing, and re-organizing all areas of the house! I am afraid I might be driving my family nuts but I simply can't help it. Plus I am trying to wrap up all projects before babe comes. This is often the pattern I follow when preg:
1st trimester: way too sick and exhausted to do anything outside of the norm...ex: I feel accomplished if I get the dishwasher unloaded for the day and sometimes my family has clean clothes:)
2nd Trimester: I have this super human energy and I am a crazy woman trying to finally get things done before the 3rd trimester hits and I am out of commission again
3rd Trimester: my rib and back pain usually gets so bad I can't bend over without shooting pains feeling like someone is stabbing me in the ribs- hence I don't get much of anything done once again!
Thus, with this cycle it has become inevitable for the crazy overactive mama to show up every 2nd trimester.
But I think this time I am even more crazed. The past couples weeks I have kicked it into high gear and have: organized both kids closets (to the point where I even took out ALL their old clothes bins and went through them to see what is really worth keeping etc.)
my closet
linen closet
pantry numerous times:)
made labels for kids toy bins and basically any other bin in my house:)
new bench to store shoes
kids bathroom
the garage- that was on Tommy's "honey do" list while he was on break- so happy he got it done!
...my nightstand , kitchen cupboards, and I could go on and on. Organizing is always on the brain and I am constantly on the look out for good finds at the $ store, yard sales, Ross.

check out this beauty I scored for $5 this Sat at a yard sale. ( I forgot to take a before pic until halfway done spraying it with primer but you get the point- it was not the prettiest color!)

But with some cherry red spray paint it looks great in the toy room. I was so sick of all the toys that were too big to fit in bins just laying around. So this works perfect!

and these books shelves for a buck. I ripped off all the butterflies and sprayed them orange to hang in the toy room for a little book nook. Didn't get a pic but I love them:)
Are all these projects necessary? No, but do I feel peace when my house is clean and everything has place yes!
It's hard because I feel like I can justify it since having your house in order is most definitely a good cause...but to a certain extent. I love the new year and the new renewed desire to do a little better. Rather than make a list of goals I most likely will not accomplish in the craze of having our 4th babe, I decided to have a theme or motto to strive for in the 2012 year. I have been thinking a lot about "time" and trying to make sure I am using mine effectively. For example, should I reorganize the pantry again or play a game with my kids type thing. These two talks have been on my mind a lot lately as I keep referring back to them and my theme is taken from them.
The first talk is A Time to Prepare by Ian S. Arden. A few fav lines from the talk:

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf reminded us that “in family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e”
Let us be as quick to kneel as we are to text.
We must devote our time to the things that matter most.

The 2nd was given at BYU Women's Conferece by Julie B. Beck and she talks about how to prioritize. She gave three categories.
1. Essential Things
   These are things we must take care of for our eternal life- prayer, understanding the scriptures, developing a relationship with God, etc.
2. Necessary Things
   These are things we need to do to maintain our homes and families- becoming self reliant, earning money, cleaning our homes, cooking meals, etc.
3. Nice to Do Things
   This is self explanatory. But the important thing to realize about this category is that if we make this category our #1 priority, we will waste time and lose power to be a force for good or to achieve the goals we want to reach.
I am really trying to analyze and categorize the things I am spending my time on and make sure my priorities are lined up right. I know now more than ever with a fourth baby to care for I am really going to need to make sure I am spending my time wisely. Hopefully I can keep these talks in the forefront of my mind as we take this leap of faith into this new world of being a family of SIX!
p.s. I know some of you might be wondering why in the world we got prego if I am so darn anxious about having our 4th...but I know this is what the Lord wants for our specific family. And I know that if I stay close to Him I won't be doing it alone and will be able to accomplish all that he asks of me and all that I hope to as well.
This talk about children has also been a great comfort to me lately: Children
"I testify of the great blessing of children and of the happiness they will bring us in this life and in the eternities."

(Wow this post sure has been all over the place, but it was good for me to take a minute to process all the ramblings going on in this prego brain right now!)

Class party!

2012-01-07T18:21:00.001-08:00

It has happened.. I have a child old enough to be a room mom! WEIRD!!! I love watching Samantha in her school setting and seeing her interact with her class mates. I don't know who was more excited about the fact that I was helping with the Christmas party me or Samantha?:) It was so fun and sooo rewarding with all the kids sweet comments and gratitude. My fav was, "this is the best day of my life!"

Miss Cochran and I went a little crazy planning ALL the activities- darn you pinterest and all your cute ideas! But it ended up perfect and the kids had a blast. We had 4 tables set up as diff stations: hand print snowmen ornaments, gift bags, reindeer footprints, and reindeer dust. Then we played a couple games, sang songs and Tommy brought us some yummy pizza.

Miss Cochran thought my belly fit perfectly inside the wreath:)

This is Samantha and Colby...the boy she told she loved the very 1st week of school. (Yes, Tommy has had a very serious talk with her since then:)

We had some kill time so I put on our fav Christmas Glee songs and Miss Cochran had Samantha and Parker serenade the class. It was so darn cute and they were lovin' the spot light!

Overall it was such a hit and I'm so glad to have been able to be there for all the fun festivities!

It's a BOY!!!!

2012-01-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

That's right it's a BOY!

The story on how I caved...

So up until the hour before my ultra sound Tommy and I were still dead locked- he wanted to find out and I did not.
His argument: With the 1st 3 babes when I was dying to find out I got my way (even though he opted not to find out with the last 2). So now that he really wants to find out I should give him his freebie. This is ALL he wants for Christmas- talk about guilt trip! Also, this is the hardest time to not find out- with the 1st 3 there was no pressure:
Baby #1: We both wanted a girl but would have been fine with either
Baby #2: a girl would be great to have 2 sisters close, but it would also be great to have our 1st boy
Baby #3: We have one of each so whatever we have is great
Baby #4: New ball game! Tommy desperately wants a little buddy for Parker and would be super bummed if he didn't get one. Would he adore another little girl? Of course. But he thought it would be easier to take the news now rather than in the delivery room.

How am I supposed to argue with all this? My arguement:
I have heard how fun and exciting it is not finding out until labor day and now totally have my heart set on it. What if this is our last babe and our last chance to not find out. (For the record I made him swear that if there is a # 5 we WILL NOT find out- he agreed:) I think it would be easier for him to see a beautiful little girl in his arms rather than just her the word's "it's a girl."
Blah blah blah. So I told him I would have the ultra sound tech write it down in a sealed envelope and we could still think about it. Well what I didn't tell him is my 2nd part of the plan. I had Samantha's sweet teacher who lives right by Target (we share the love for the place and frequent it often!) meet me there after my appointment. We picked out a cute little going home outfit for a girl and a boy. They didn't have the right size for the girl but I told her I wasn't worried since I was basically positive we were buying the boy outfit! So I sent her to the cash register with both outfits, my credit card, the secret envelope and a box to wrap it in. She was so funny and cute about it. She called me when she was done and she could hardly look at me she was so worried she would spill the beans! So we cut our convo short and I promised to text her details if we opened it.
So I went home and just asked Tommy if he had decided what he wanted to do. He still had not made up his mind. But later the kids saw the wrapped package and asked what it was. So I presented Tommy with his package and his options: "Inside this box is either a baby boy or girl outfit. You can choose to have your Christmas present and open this now...OR you can wait and open it at the hospital AFTER the babe is born. But for the record I am 99% sure it's a boy:)" Well he thought about it ...for about 2 minutes and said, "I'm opening it!" So we gathered the kids and told them what was going on. I passed the present around the circle and as each of them held it they made a guess. Everyone guessed boy except Tommy who didn't dare say. Then they ripped into it and what do you know my little boy outfit was inside!!!! I am soooo mad I somehow deleted the pics from my camera! But his face was classic. Everyone was so excited. That night Parks didn't hesitate to bless baby Jamis and Samantha reminded him, "mom and I are not yet decided on the name!" But he just kept talking about his little brother and how excited he is! So cute.

So that is the story how I caved on our baby surprise! Even though I wanted to wait this was a super fun way to find out...and let's be honest I pry would not have been that surprised on labor day anyway. I am now 4 for 4 predicting our baby genders! and Tommy ?:( Let's just say he has the opposite record:)

My belly has become somewhat of a fascination for me! Tommy doesn't get why I like taking so many pics of my ever growing belly- but I just can't get over the alarming rate it is growing! Seriously I look full term in this pic- in fact a lady at church two weeks ago said, "You must be 8 months pregnant..." ha not even close!
A few prego notes:

I am way too uncomfy for having 4 1/2 months left: my ribs have started to ache as well as my back
heart burn has come but not too bad
sleeping is getting more tricky but only get up once to go potty
definitely waddling and wearing mostly all maternity clothes- some normal clothes work- but soem not so much:)
NESTING! My brain is constantly thinking of things to organize. I have lists of things to organize, love searching Pinterest for org ideas... and have re-done my pantry at least 3 times this week! It is good to get it all done- but I am getting a bit out of control:)

This is one of my projects we did during this "break"- ha Tommy had no idea the plans I had for him! I actually planned on doing this one myself...but quickly realized spray painting would not be the best thing for the babe right now:) But this was my very 1st furniture re-do and I LOVE it! The kids were in desperate need for another dresser- since you really need your summer and winter clothes out at the same time in FL. I sanded it and Tommy spray painted it for me, then I roughed it up a bit:)

Dresser: $20 + Paint: $10= not bad at all!

The kids were sooo excited about having their own color knobs on their drawers:) Ooh-la-la!

my prego brain is killing me I will add a couple FB status stories for my record:)

12-15-11 FB status: Ah I am sooo sick of my prego brain! Story: I gave Samantha's teacher our Christmas card with some treats and when I went to pick her up from school I saw she had it hanging up- but it was our family calendar instead of our card! Costco gives you 4 free calendars with your cards and I guess I accidentally gave 4 people calendars...so if you got a calendar from us know that we do not think we are so cool that we decided everyone needs a calendar of the Dunn family! Ah! Sooooo embarrassed! oh and to add insult to injury I just threw away $75 of my Christmas cash from grandma!!! In the trash compactor gone forever...ugh my brain simply cannot handle being preg while running after 3 kids!!!

12-19-11 Finalizing packing for Disney trip at 10pm and realize I lost my wallet. After searching both purses, the car, and house all over I realize I left it at Walmart. As I am on hold with Walmart and thinking of a way to persuade Tommy to go get it for me I realize I already packed it in the diaper bag for the trip!!! Seriously how did that information totally leave my mind?! Sooo frustrating when your brain just doesn't work!

12-31-11 FB status: Slipped while giving Samantha a bath and my belly caught my fall right smack on the side of the tub! Ended up in labor and delivery for 4 hours to monitor babe. Sheesh luck is not on my side this pregnancy... healthy babe? yes... klutzy mom? YES!!!

It was a super hard blow to the belly but luckily everything with babe is fine...I just need to be more careful!...Here's to hoping I make it through the rest of this pregnancy without any major disasters!!!

ChRiStMaS FuN!

2011-12-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast this holiday has zipped by! In the midst of all the craziness I think we managed to squeeze all the traditional fun events in:

decorate the tree while eating cheese and crackers- check!

Every year I check the sales to buy a fake tree and it has yet to work out for me! But Tommy was able to score this huge and beautiful real tree from Costco for only $30! I still miss going and cutting down our own tree in Virginia but this heavenly smelling beauty will do:)

Our tree was looking a little sad to me so I went to the trusty world of Pinterest and found some ornaments to make! I made little wooden square ornaments with some modge podge tissue paper and the kids hand prints for the snow men. Super easy and cheap and l
ove how they turned out!

let kids open Christmas jammies to wear while decorating tree- check!

train pose gone wrong!:)

snap a quick pic, make our Christmas card, print, and send!- check...

Well sort of check:)
Funny story: I gave a card to Samantha's teacher with her treats and when I went to pick up Samantha later that day I saw our family calendar hanging on her board! Costco gives you 4 free calendars with your cards- and they are the same size as the cards. So in my rush to get the cards out I accidentally sent out the calendars too! Sooo embarrassing thinking about what people were thinking when they got their own personal calendar of the Dunn family! Ah! I was able to track down two of the calendar recipients...and there is a chance Costco only gave me two of those calendars cuz it was on my extra 25 order- so hoping that was the case! The joys of what you do with a prego brain!
(if we missed you this year so sorry! )

preschool Christmas party with lots of fun activities- check!

took pics of the kids in their darling Christmas outfits Grandma Barb sent- check!

LOVE all these pics of my rascals!!!

handmade cards for cousins and grandma's- check!

ward Christmas party to look at the pretty Nativity sets, watch kids sing, and eat dessert- check!

recruit kids to help make neighbor treats- check!

write letters and take them to Santa and snap our pic with the big man- check!

Parks loved chatting with Santa and told him he wants: a guitar, a watch, and a skateboard.

Hannah did not enjoy it quite as much:) she gave him the cold shoulder- but at least she didn't cry!

Samantha snuggled right up and told him she would like a Barbie and a bike.

Phew! I think we managed to squeeze in the main traditions. We also loved looking at the Christmas lights, having dance parties to N' Sync Christmas, belting out Glee's "All I want for Christmas" in the car every morn on the way to school, wrapping and shaking all the presents to drive mom nuts, and ask everyday if it's Christmas yet!
We have also had a couple Family Home Evening nights reminding kids that we really celebrate Christmas because of Jesus's birth. The kids have been focusing on giving gifts to Him by doing kind things for others. Hannah has been loving playing with our Little People nativity and carries baby Jesus everywhere.

I LOVE this time of year and the joy it brings with it!!!

Random wrap-up

2011-12-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post some random pics from our happenings this fall. Basically everyday after school the kids play out front with our neighbors. They love these little cars and look so grown up in them!

Betty has continued to bring us goodies constantly. This was her Halloween basket for us filled with treats and a Yankee Pumpkin Spice candle for me. I didn't get a pic of it but she also bought the kids this huge dog statue that was wearing a Halloween cape( for our porch). Let's just say the kids loved it and I loved that it was just Halloween decor:)

When Barb came to our rescue while Tommy and I rushed home for Astra's funeral we went to the beach to play. Don't mind how beat up I look- it had been a LONG week!

We were able to sneak out for our 1st date night since living in FL. We went out for a lovely dinner date and it felt good to have some one on one time with my babe!

I have been wanting to get rid of Hannah's bink for awhile now and have even attempted to take it away a couple times. But then after a couple days I feel guilty and think she would nap better with it. We were finally down to our last bink and it had a small tear in it so I knew it was time. Without much thought I just grabbed the scissors and cut the top off so there was no turning back. When I showed it to her I almost started crying I felt so bad. She just stared at it in disbelief whimpering softly, "my bink, my bink." She was so sad and confused. But after 2 days she never really asked for it again- which I was shocked about because she had become quite attached to it beginning for it all day. So we lucked out with how easy she let it go.

I found this great idea on pinterest to reward and focus on good behavior. When the kids do something good they get a "happy ticket" and every Friday we open our family store. The kids get to buy rewards with their tickets. Parks and Samantha have loved it so far and were excited to buy dates with mom or dad and Samantha chose to stay up 30 mins late. I forgot to open the store last week and the kids didn't even notice and have still loved collecting their tickets. So far so good!

love that these 3 rascals will all sit and watch a show together now- totally helps during the dinner craze:)

30 sucks!

2011-12-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

Tommy turned the BIG 3-0 this fall!!! I had thee hardest time planning what to do to celebrate cuz I had a lot of things working against me:

tommy does not like parties for himself- especially surprise parties
none of our family our close friends live here- lame
he hates spending money on himself and would prefer if I didn't buy him anything either- he just tells me to save our money- super lame!:(

Ba humbug right?! After agonizing over it I decided I would let him win and keep it simple- no matter how much it was killing me to not go all out on the big 30!
We had a family dinner where I made "him" salmon (the rest of us were not brave enough to eat fish), asparagus, rolls and bubbly. After opening presents we played some football and had our friends the Endrizzi's over for dessert.

I did slightly break the rules by surprising him at school with the kids, balloons and a sucker bouquet that said, "30 sucks!" He was totally shocked, red face, and happy to see us! It was super cute. That was on a Friday and his birthday was on Sunday so it really caught him by surprise. Then on Monday his director called him into her office during lunch. She had bought treats and gathered everyone together to wish him happy birthday. So sweet of everyone especially since they had only known him a couple months.

Classic pic of Samantha being sweet and posing while Hannah terrorizes Parker to get out of "her" seat!

We made a jar with "30 things we love about you." The kids thought it was hilarious when he would read one that they wrote! This funny pic was about one where Samantha said, "I love the way you dance crazy!" ha ha ha

The kids made lots of pictures to hang around the house!

It was a simple family celebration but I think it was just "what the doctor ordered!" :) hee hee

Thanksgiving weekend!

2011-12-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

The Stevens clan came to join us for our 1st Thanksgiving in Florida! They stayed for the weekend and we squeezed in a lot of fun 3 short days...

We cooked, baked, cleaned dishes, and repeated that process for many hours!:)
took the kiddies to see the duckies and play at the park while the boys went golfing
boys watched lots of football and took kids to park while we slaved away in the kitchen:)
Bree and I went and scored some sweet deals at Toys R Us black Friday, or rather at 9 pm Thanksgiving night- sooo much better than early am hours!
took both our family pics for our Christmas cards
highlighted and cut my hair
went and saw Puss an Boots...as per Jonathon's request:)
and the kids play, play, played their little hearts out!!!

We catered our menu to what we liked and it consisted of:
Yummy rolls, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, pretzel jello salad, banana cream pie, apple pie and some sparkling bubbly of course!:) Bree and I have both done Thanksgiving dinner with friends before but neither of us have ever been in charge of the turkey or stuffing - and they both turned out lovely! Phew:)

My hair: So way back in the day I loved my hair color. When I was little it was super blond and then in high school and college I life guarded which helped the golden color stay...buuut once I started having kids my hair just gets darker and darker. And that was about the time we started dental school and getting my hair colored just wasn't in the student budget. I always said my graduation gift from dental school (because yes I deserve a gift for all my sacrifices helping put him through school:) was going to be to finally color my hair. Well, that all changed when Tommy decided to continue being a student for 3 more years...which meant more student loans and no money to color my hair:( Bree has offered to color my hair several times but I knew I would not see her enough to keep it up. Well this trip she finally convinced me to go through with it now that we live in the same state...many times before I have committed and gotten cold feet last minute. Soooo this time the second I said yes Bree whipped out her supplies and strapped me down in the chair and got to work! I didn't even have time to take a real before picture... before I knew it the process was already under weigh. This may all seem a bit dramatic to someone who has been dying their hair since junior high...but to go 28 years without coloring it is tough to take the plunge into the unknown world of hair color. I had gotten so used to my virgin hair and was just so worried it would damage my hair and be so hard to keep up on.
But Bree did super thin highlights and it turned out better than I imagined! This way it is not super drastic and will be easy to keep up to keep up with. I'll just have her do it when we go to Orlando for temple or Disney trip:)

It is hard to get a pic where you can really see how light it is. But this gives you an idea:) Thanks again Bree!!!

Baby bump update...

2011-12-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

For those who have asked and actually care here is my baby bump update. I am loving the 2nd trimester and welcome the relief from sickness.
I am almost half way (19 weeks) and at this point in baby # 4 pregnancy ...

I have more energy and can at least motivate myself to be productive for the 1st half of the day...after lunch time there are no guarantees as I lose my steam quickly!
Parker and Hannah have been very sweet to let me sneak in a nap most days. Parker naps almost every day and I usually crash with him...if not to sleep we just snuggle, read or have some good down time:) Sometimes I can convince him to play with my hair while I lay down and rest- he is so good to me! One day I even woke up to find him sitting outside my door after I woke up and when I asked what he was doing he said, "I didn't want to wake you." What a sweetie- but I felt sooo bad!
At 12 weeks I gladly went and got some new maternity pants. I think I waited past 20 weeks with Samantha, but there was no pushing it this time around. My normal jeans did not want to button and I did not want to force them to! So I welcomed my new maternity jeggings before my 2nd trimester even started ha!
Around 17 weeks I welcomed the body pillow back into my life...and boy does it help with the restless nights!
In my 1st trimester I was getting up for potty breaks 4-6 times a night but now I only get up once-weird.
I hardly ever feel sick anymore and surprisingly have not had a huge appetite. No huge cravings, but I am back to enjoying my sweets and loving bagels again!
I have my 20 weeks ultra sound Dec. 19th and Tommy is getting weak on me! He has decided out of nowhere that he can't wait to find out. I think part of it is because with Hannah and Parks he could not come to the ultra sound, but it just so happens that this 20 week app falls during his break. So he does not have school the day of my app and wants to know if he is getting his boy. But I think he would be less disappointed if after labor they handed him a beautiful baby girl ratherthan the doc just saying your having a girl. Not sure if that makes sense- and don't worry he will love a little girl he just really wants a little bro for Parks.. I am still working on changing his mind about the ultra sounds...so to be continued!
About week 17 I started feeling little flutters and now and definitely feeling this little one move. Tommy and the kids still have not been able to feel it though:(
pretty sure the waddle has started and I'm ok with it:)
I feel like it is going by pretty quickly, I think because we are hopefully not finding out the gender I have not been dying to get to week 20. So somehow I keep losing track of what week I'm in. Not sure if that makes sense?
Since I am so busy with my 3 kiddies I don't feel like I am super anxious for baby to get here. Yes, I can't wait to hold and snuggle my little one...but for now I am enjoying the time I have with my 3 and don't want to "wish" time to move too quickly.

Overall, I am enjoying the glorious days of the 2nd trimester!

I seriously can't believe how big my belly got so quickly! For those of you who don't think I am that big check out the diff in my baby bumps. Between not taking very many preg pics and our computer crashing I hardly have any bump pics from Samantha and Parker. This was one of the only ones I could find so sorry it's a lame swim suit one but it works:) When we moved to VA I was 16 weeks preg and no-one had any idea I was preg till I told them...and that was after swimming with them! There is no way I could have squeezed into my pre-preg suit at week 16 w/ # 4- and you would for sure know there was a baby in my belly!
(I also pry didn't take too many pics before 20 weeks with baby 1 & 2 cuz there was nothing to show! But this time around the belly started to grow at week 6!)

Ok, enough of all that blabbering. This is my most recent bump pic in all it's glory! It might not look that huge...but keep in mind this is not quite half way- can you imagine this bump doubling in size?! I am so curious/ slightly afraid of how big my belly is going to be at week 40?! To be continued...

*** thought I would throw this in for those of you who falsely have told me I can't possibly get that big. Let's remember how nice and large this beautiful bump was with Hannah at week 37... I have a feeling this is going to get pretty comical:)

Tricky treats...

2011-11-28T11:38:00.000-08:00

Oh this year Halloween was tricky! With my sister passing away Oct. 22nd and flying across the country for it, things got a little rushed and tricky to squeeze in the holiday. But I am soooo glad that for the 1st time ever I gave into the kids and let them choose their costumes- and bought them at the store! Gasp, I know! I have always loved doing a family theme and making the costumes from the Wizard of Oz to 3 Little piggies it has been tons of fun. But Parks was dying to be Spider man and Samantha has requested to be a princess for a couple years now. So I thought it is pry time that I start letting the kids choose...since Halloween is about them anyway right?!

Hannah is still young enough that I got to choose. She love's wearing her fairy wings and tu-tu. So I just made her some yarn hair and matching wand and she was Abbi- Caddabi from Sesame Street. Easy and she looked darling!
Ward Trunk or Treat:

I was not sure if we would make it to the ward party, but we flew in Thursday and were able to make it. One of our cute friends had this Belle dress made and sent from China! The dress was beautiful and all the girls were lining up to take pics with princess Belle.

Samantha and Parks were too fast for me to keep up with, let alone snap any pics of them. But boy was Hannah into it this year! She was in heaven and looked so darn cute waddling around. Ok, she is too fast too call it a waddle but she is so chubby it looks close to it:)
Halloween night:

Tricky! So Parks started throwing up early that morn and I didn't know what to do about trick or treating. It was my 1st day on my own since Astra passed away and I felt ready to get back into the swing of things: make some chili, go help at Samantha's fall party, and enjoy trick or treating. Well most of that got thrown out the window and I opted against making my traditional white chicken chili, and spent most of the day rushing Parker to the toilet:) But he stopped throwing up around 4 and insisted he was ok to go trick or treating. He was acting fine and running around but I didn't know if I could trust that it was really over. I was just trying to get the other kids fed before Tommy got home, but still not knowing what we were gonna do. Tommy got home late around 6:45 and Samantha and Hannah wanted to go out. Parks was laying on the couch and saying he wanted to go- but I would have to dress him laying down. That should have been a clue to me if he could not even stand up to get dressed! So we got into speed mode and threw everyone's costume's on. I had not even gotten ready for the day thinking I would stay home with parks. So I threw some clothes and a hat on and called it good. Getting out to the car was CRAZY! Get the kids, get the bags, shoes, camera, stroller- wait! PAUSE on all that while Parks starts throwing up in the car!! Ah! Luckily I brought his bucket to the car and we were able to catch it all. Even after he threw up he refused to sit out trick or treating. I felt so bad for him I just told Tommy I would push him in the stroller. We drove down the street to our chosen neighborhood and when we got there I realized everything I had forgotten:

Samantha's glasses

her cute eye mask

Parker's shoes
Parker's Halloween bag

Ah! it was just so hectic leaving I totally dropped the ball-oops! So we decided to make due and threw Parks in the stroller and we were off.

Samantha wanted to match Parks for Halloween and be Spider Girl and be a princess for the ward party. I had good intentions of dressing up her costume to make it a little cuter...but that never happened:) Normally I am all about the details but this Halloween, I just kept thinking, "does it really matter?" I guess after the funeral I had a much diff outlook on things.

I felt so bad for poor little Parker just watching on the side lines. And I didn't even recognize Samantha without her glasses! I was so worried she was going to trip all over the place in the dark, but she did fine.

After a little while Parks said he felt fine and wanted to join the fun. Maybe I should have kept him more contained, but I figured since we were outside and he would not be touching anyone we were ok. ( Plus, he never threw up again)

The kids had a ton of fun and loved coming home to check out all their goods. But poor Hannah lost it when we cleaned up the candy for bedtime. It was so sad but so cute! Phew! Glad we were able to squeeze in some Halloween fun in all the craziness!

What a week!

2011-11-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

Wow! Last week was busy, busy, busy! I wanted to try and document it all before the memories left my scattered brain for good!:)

Tuesday kicked the week off to a great start when Tommy found out he was accepted to the residency program. We thought we would celebrate kiddie/ poor student style by going to pizza hut! The kids thought it was such a treat and were super excited! I tried to explain to them why we were celebrating. The convo included something about daddy being in school for a VERY long time, but he is going to be able to learn a lot about teeth so he can have the job he wants. They acted like they understood but not quite sure:)

Thursday the marathon day started by Hannah and I going to Panera for a mommy date while Parks was at preschool. Hannah love's her one on one time!!

Later that night was Samantha's school Fall "festible." (In Samantha's word:) She has been soooo excited about it but we found out the night before that there was a celebration dinner for the fellows at 8 that same night. So it was go go go! I made the kids dinner early and got the house somewhat presentable for the sitter. We rushed over to the festival right at 5:45 and played till 7. Tommy did not get there until 6:30 and it was madness without him! We ran home and got the kids in bed before our friends got there to watch them at 7:45- phew!

Luckily Miss Cochran was super nice to hang out with us and help me keep track of the crazies!

The residents in Tommy's class are all so great and supportive. They planned a special celebration dinner for the 5 fellows that got into the residency (there are 10 other residents who don't live in Florida who will be in his class). There were more than 40 people that came to B.J.'s and were so sweet congratulating us all night!

Friday: holiday! It was so nice that Tommy and Samantha had the day off so we took advantage by deep cleaning the garage. Our sweet neighbor Gary helped us finally find a way to hang Tommy's surf boards...a phrase I NEVER pictured myself saying:) But it feels sooo nice to have it all organized!

Then we treated the kids to an afternoon at the zoo since they were so good to let us get work done in the am. Samantha came up with this clever idea to bring her journal and draw pictures of each animal she saw. Then she would put a check mark next to it once she saw it- so cute!

Samantha and Parker both climbed the rope tower for the 1st time! It was quite the accomplishment for both of them! Afterwards Samantha bent down to Parker's level and said in such a sweet voice, "great job buddy! I am so proud of you!" It was a sweet moment:)

Every Saturday Tommy goes to play soccer with some doctors/ professors from his school. The kids so look forward to it. (the above pic was taken 2.5 seconds after Samantha took a ball to her head!)

Saturday morn we took a family hike- I loved the beautiful ocean view!

Sunday the kids had their long awaited Primary Program. They both worked really hard and memorized their parts. Actually, We were shocked at what little effort it took Samantha to memorize her super long part. she had it down way before Tommy and I did!
Parker: "I can follow God's plan by reading the scriptures!"
Samantha: Doctrine and Covenants Section 1 vs. 38: What I the Lord have spoken I have spoken, and I excuse not myself. Although the heavens and earth pass away, my words shall not pass away, it shall all be fulfilled, whether by my own voice of the voice of my servants it is the same."
(ya, I had to have Samantha recite it for me to write it out- I so don't have it memorized like she does! Little smarty pants is already smarter than her mama!)

We did a little mini photo shoot for their big day...

Love these silly little munchkins!

Yes, it has been a super fun and busy week. I know all these fun pics may paint a picture full of sunshine and smiles...but don't be fooled we are still a normal crazy family.

**At one point today all three of my kids were in time out at the same time! But lets try to focus on the good times right?:)

You know you live in Florida when...

2011-11-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

This Florida weather is CRAZY!!! Crazy warm, crazy nice, crazy different and has crazy mood changes:) All day I keep thinking this kind of weather for mid Nov. is crazy! I keep saying to myself only in Florida would...

your toddler be running around playing in water fountains in her diaper on Nov. 16th!
you be walking around barefoot outside and almost step on a lizard!
meet my hubby for lunch, eat outside, throw a football around, and use bug spray!
shop for another dresser just to be able to fit all the kids winter AND summer clothes in it at the same time
need to go buy your son a new pair of flip flops cuz his summer ones broke- when do we get to wear our boots?!
debate putting sunscreen on your kids because it is 82 degrees!
have to go back to pony tails since the humidity is crazy out of control again
have your allergies going bonkers from the weather going from cool to HOT in a matter of days and then back again
put the water back in the yard toy since it is now super hot again

These are all things we have happened TODAY and I keep reminding myself that it is indeed one week from Thanksgiving. There was one week in October where we wore pants for almost a whole week. But then we were back in the 70's and have stayed there since. It is true that if you can survive the summer here the fall/ winter is dreamy. Summer's here are compared to Utah's cold winters. You basically stay inside unless you are in the water. Which isn't too bad since the beach is only minutes away. But I am just having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it is indeed fall and most people are bundling up in their pea coats while sipping hot chocolate eating yummy soup. I am a warm weather friend so I welcome the sunshine...but a little cooler would be nice:) I have been told that around Dec. / Jan. it can get chilly- 30-40 in the mornings and a high of 50. But they say it only lasts a week or so and then it warms back up to low 70's.
I am in heaven in this weather but could all my friends and family please move here to make the picture complete?!

Tommy gave these to Doctor Parker when we had lunch with him today. Parks he been wearing them all day talking about how he is going to be a doc when he grows up!:)

My lil Punkins!

2011-11-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

We went to the "punkin patch" with Parker's preschool group. I kept thinking we would make it back some time with Samantha...but it never happened:( But my two babes sure had a ball!

Parks and Hannah have become great lil buddies while Samantha is off at school. But they are usually too busy playing to stop and smile for the camera:) They loved running around all the pumpkin, playing on the pile of hay, going on the hay ride, listening to stories and more.

Parks wanted to pat my "pumpkin" for the pic!

This was my barely 9 week bump- when I had not publicly announced yet! Pretty sure it was no surprise when I finally did tell everyone- ha! Love fall and all it's fun festivities!

It's official!

2011-11-10T04:45:00.000-08:00

Tommy is going to be an ORTHODONTIST! Some of you might be thinking, "isn't this old news?" But this year he was just accepted into the orthodontic fellowship program. So he still needed to apply to get into the actual residency program. Since we have been in Florida we have felt so blessed for Tommy to be able to be getting such great experience and clinical stills...but in order to practice as an actual orthodontist he needed to get into the residency. So we have still felt like we were in somewhat of a limbo land not knowing what exactly our future held...would he get in and our story ends easy and happily ever after? Or would he not get in and then we go to plan B of him trying to practice ortho as a general dentist which is totally do-able but just a much tougher road. Anyway, he interviewed this week and we have been on pins and needles waiting. The school had 30 dentists come and interview and they all shared Tommy's feeling that this opportunity is make or break for their future as an orthodontist. Bottom line pressure was on!
Ok, to get to the point after Tommy completes his fellowship this year he will start his 2 year residency and then NO MORE SCHOOL for us!!! After 11 years of school we will officially be students now longer.

Is it all going to be worth it? 100% YES! To have a hubby that is able to do what he is so passionate about is worth every bit of time, money and sacrifice we have made.
We just feel so excited, relieved, and most of all grateful for this incredible opportunity and blessing. We keep pinching ourselves wondering how this all happened ...and know this really must be where we are meant to be. Anyway, enough of the cheese ball stuff. Just super excited!!!!!!!

CONGRATS DR. DUNN!!!!

Joy School

2011-11-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

When we 1st moved here I decided to put together a little "joy school" group for Parker. We kept it really simple:

meet every Thurs from 9-11
only four kids in the group with each mom hosting only once a month
each time we do our welcome things like the pledge, names song, colors, etc.
we each pick a letter with a coordinating theme with crafts and snacks to go along

I was super apprehensive about whether or not I wanted to take the plunge and do this. But I am so glad I did! Parks loves it and it has given Hannie and I some good one on one time:) Only doing it once a month is perfect- I get excited about my time to host and then get a nice long break before I brave it again.

I put paint in baggies and let the kids draw with Q-tips. (Thank you Pinterest:)

The week the letter was "H" for Halloween. At the end I let the kids dress up and we went trick or treating at sweet Bill and Betty's house.

I these wiggle cards I got off http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/mommy-school. She has sooo many great free printables. Her mommy school packets are huge- as in 80 pages! So I just print my fav 10 or so pages/ activities and laminate them. I figure this will most likely not be the only joy school I do and they are fun activities to do with the kids. Anyway, loving joy school!!!

Breathing Easy...

2011-10-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

It's ironic. After 20 years of struggling Astra is finally breathing easy...and yet we are now the ones struggling to breath. One week ago Saturday was the day I wish I could take back, but that is just the selfish part of me. In truth I know that it was Astra's time to go and the longer she was here on Earth the tougher her journey would have become. We keep saying that if there was an ideal way for her to pass this was it in so many ways- even if it's not how any of us pictured it happening. I think most of us pictured her becoming super weak, post lung transplant, possibly bed ridden, emaciated and basically not her lively active self. But we should have known better- that would not be Astra's style. It was said many times this week that Astra lived 60 years in her short 20 years. So we should have known that the night before she passed away she would be out playing with her friends until 2:30 am! It gives us such comfort to know that she had one of her best weeks ever shopping, hanging out with family and friends, taking a fun friends photo shoot at day break (who knew that photo would be used for her obituary) and much more. Through so many tender mercies from Heavenly Father our family feels peace knowing it was her time and we have a feeling she knew it too. From little things like printing pictures of her with her friends and family and randomly placing them around the house for my mom, to making an unusually long 3 hour visit with Rem's ( her missionaries) family.
Was her death unexpected? That is a tough question to answer- yes and no. No, because she was diagnosed with a terminal illness at birth with a life expectancy between 20-30 years. This past year she has been in the hospital 7 times already. After a two week hospital stay she would usually feel "good" for about 7 days, then the fever would start and she would start to feel run down again. She would try to hold out for as long as possible but after 2-3 weeks she would end up back in the hospital. The tricky part was she NEVER complained so you never truly knew how sick she was...that is until she was admitted and her numbers don't lie. But yes it was unexpected because we just did not picture her passing so quickly. She woke up screaming/ gasping in pain and struggling to breath Saturday. The ambulance arrived quickly and within 30 mins of her being at the hospital they discovered she had a punctured lung, sedated her, tried to incubate her, attempted CPR and she passed away. We have comfort knowing it was quick and she did not suffer. I am also so grateful it was a Saturday so my dad was home and able to be there with my mom.
This past week I kept telling myself and my mom, "baby steps." There were soooo many difficult and painful steps we had to take. Each time I thought there is no way we can handle anything else but we pressed forward through each painful step of planning and experiencing my baby sisters funeral. The 1st time I saw her empty pink casket I completely fell apart and thought, "there is no way I am going to be able to do this." But that was the easy part... the steps that followed only got more and more painful. But here we are now 4 days post funeral with less tears each day. I know the peace we feel comes directly from our father in Heaven. I know I will and have had moments where a memory will hit me when least expected and I will realize a piece of my heart is still broken. But with time the pain will lessen and I KNOW that I will see Astra again and am so grateful for the blessing of that knowledge. I can't wait to give her a great big hug, hear her beautiful laugh cough free, and see her contagious smile again. She was an example to us all and taught us so much about living life to it's fullest! Breath easy "little A"...till we meet again:)

Astra and her little man! My did she have a sweet spot in her heart for Parks- they were the cutest little buddies:) This pic is one of my fav's and was taken at the Derby July 2010.

5+1 = A HALF DOZEN!!!!

2011-10-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

Not my best pic- it was taken Sunday after wrestling 3 kids during sacrament, babysitting 8 wild sunbeams( 4 yr olds) and while I was making Sunday dinner for us and our neighbors. It would have been nice to have freshened up or thrown on some lip gloss- but this life these days!
That's right this spring the Dunn family will count SIX! The 1st time I said that out loud Tommy didn't believe me...do the math sweetie we will soon have half a dozen members in our family:)

Details:
***note:I am a person of details- I love to know all the details and I love to document all of them:)
Questions:
was it planned? Yes:) Back in May we started trying really hoping for a Feb. baby. That didn't quite happen but we will take a spring baby:)
are you ready to have FOUR kids? I have come to realize I may never feel "ready" to have another baby but we know we want more and I can't wait forever so I just needed to take the plunge. We have known from day one that having lots of little kiddies close together would not be easy- but it would be worth it:)We love having lots of life and energy in our house and want to have lots of kiddies and grand-kiddies in our future. I come from a fam with 4 kids and Tommy comes from 5 and it's so fun now that we are all getting married and having kids together. Bottom line we want a big family... but understand this lifestyle is not for everyone.
aka: I know to a lot of people we look bonkers:)
due date:
unknown:) kidding..sort of... so according to my last period, how early I got a pos result and how long ago I started feeling sick I should be due end of april to may 2nd. But at my 1st app where I thought I was 7 1/2 weeks she said I was barely 6 weeks due date may 8th. Which makes zero sense! That means:
1) that I got a pos preg test at only 2 1/2 weeks- and it was a $ store test. odd?
2) At only "3 weeks" I started getting sick
3) At 3 weeks Parks pointed to my belly and said, "There is a baby in your tummy!" (crazy right?!)
anyway, bottom line they have always moved my due date back with my babies by at least a week or two cuz the babe is measuring "small." But then I have my babies at a good and healthy weight a couple days "early".
They are doing an ultra sound Friday to try to confirm the due date a little more. So I am somewhere between 10-12 weeks. Yesterday I laughed when they gave me my print out that said due date: April 25th- May14th! nice:)

am I showing? It is seriously crazy how fast my belly popped this time. The morning of my 1st app we were getting ready and Parks looked at my belly and said, "Wow! Mommy has a baby in her tummy!" Then all 3 of them proceeded to investigate my belly. Parks lifted up my shirt for a closer look and Samantha confirmed, "Oh ya, it does look like Heavenly Father put a baby in there." Oh boy! I just said we need to go to the doc to check and changed the subject. I just knew as soon as the kids know the whole world knows!

when will we find out what we are having?
As soon as the babe decides to make an entrance this Spring! - We are NOT finding out what we are having! There- I made it a public statement now there is no going back on my word:) Tommy has always thought it would be fun to not find out what we are having but controlling me said I would NEVER do that. I am a planner- like to know the babies name, know what to expect, don't want to call it "baby" for 9 months....but I have seen how fun it is when a couple friends did not find out and think why not?! It just makes us that much more excited for "labor day". My friend told me after her sister did it on baby #3 she said her only regret was that she didn't do it with all of her kids cuz it was so fun! So, ya I'm pretty excited about it:)
p.s. I did have a dream last night that it was a boy...just for the record:)

How I'm feeling... I hope to have at least one more baby after this, but I'm pretty sure this babe is determined to be my last! For example:

I basically feel sick all day every day. I have only thrown up twice, but all day I feel like any second that's gonna change and I still go running to the bathroom gagging.
I feel nauseous before I eat, while I eat and after I eat. Hence I am just forcing myself to eat which is so unlike me. Not only am I having aversions to spicy/ flavorful food but all the things that I usually love make sick even thinking about them like: ice cream, sweets, bread and melted cheese. Who am I right now?!
Tired is such a pathetic way to describe my lack of energy- how bout I feel like a walking zombie...or the fact that I have not been seen up past 10 pm in weeks...sorry Tommy:( But it has been fun to snuggle Parker during nap time and take a good snooze together:)

Don't worry I just slapped myself for anyone who was wanting to do so:) I always feel lame complaining when I'm preg when I wanted to be here so bad. No matter how bad we may want to be preg and have a new little babe I don't think we ever look forward to being sick and tired non-stop right?!
My doc gave me some Zofran yesterday but I'm a little hesitant to take it as it says you could get dizzy and headaches. Anyone take it and have any words of wisdom? like if I take it will I still be able to function taking care of my kiddies or will it make me loopy?...not saying I am not loopy without drugs these days!:)
**I like to doc all the details cuz i always look back to compare the pregnancies. So far this one is the 2nd hardest. Samantha was to roughest, then they just got easier until this one:) So my boys and girls have not been consistent- my hardest and easiest were both girls- so much for that being an indication of the gender right?!

We are so excited and the kids cannot wait. It's fun having older kids when I am preg for the 1st time. In the past our Samantha was only 3 when we were preg with Hannah. But now that she is 5 and Parks is almost 4 they both totally get it. They love poking my belly saying how big it is getting. When we told them we were having another baby Hannah lifted up my shirt, said, "baby" and kissed my belly! So cute:) Parker keeps telling me how excited he is about my baby. We told the kids how lucky they are since most families only have one or two kids and we have a bunch. When we asked the kids how many kids they think we should have Parks said he wants 5 kids and Samantha said she wants 100. Hmm..I think Parker is closer to reality:)
***I am a little nervous for our neighbors to find out we are preg with our 4th. Especially since around here it seems like most our neighbors have 2 kids- a boy and a girl. It is very rare for people to have more than 2 kids out here...I am at the point where it's getting kinda embarrassing to go in public. Yesterday at the grocery store a grandpa walked past me and just laughed uncontrollably! He didn't even have the decency to give a little smile or comment like most people do- he just plain laughed at me! What are people gonna think when they see me with 3 plus a baby bump?! Oh well, such is life right:)

So there are ALL the baby details! We can't wait for this new little babe to join our family this spring!

HaNnAh TuRnEd 2!!!

2011-10-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Our baby just turned two!!! I am still in shock that she is so darn big. Everyday she does something that confirms she simply is not a baby anymore. It seems like overnight she turned into a toddler who loves to run around with her big siblings, eat big girl sandwiches, stay up and watch family movies and throw toddler tantrums!

This was my attempt at taking some two year pics of her. I am mostly happy with the ones we got despite the crazy changing clouds, poky bushes, and toddler who did not appreciate standing let alone smiling in the weeds!

My girl on her big day! Samantha's teacher was so cute to have her class sing to her and gave her a birthday sticker:)

For her special day we invited some friends to come swimming with us. Karlee was so cute to give Hannah such a thoughtful gift. She knew exactly what the play dough queen would want:)

Opening presents: Grandma Barb is always so sweet to send a little gift for the other kids with her birthday packages. Samantha and Parkers reactions were priceless. Samantha said, "Oh my very own journal!" and Parks just raved about his new police car.

Hannah must have learned from her siblings cuz her expressions were so cute and animated! She was full of "Oh's!" and "huh!" Seriously so cute watching how happy she was with the simplest gifts.

The grand finale was the best! We got her a new play dough activity set and she was beside herself! I am so glad I caught her joy on camera- what a cutie!

this little girly is "ossessed" (obsessed in Samantha's words) with Play dough! She would start and end every day with play dough if we let her... and sometimes we do:) She will go to the craft cabinet, get the big bin out, and heave it onto the kitchen table all by herself. Then she says, "sit! sit!" Which means she wants me to come sit and play with her.

favprite gifts include: play dough set, new purse's, phone and high heels

This little princess didn't have her new slippers on for more than 2 seconds before she did a face plant! It was the saddest thing to see her face go from pure joy to pure pain!

She loves cupcakes but was kinda funny about actually digging in. She started off a little hesitant only taking a couple catious licks... but eventually went all in!

she seriously is such a little ham! She knows she owns the stage in our home and eats it up!

The big kids thought it was funny to put their fingers on her face to lick the frosting right off her face! Hannah did not think it was so funny- I LOVE her grumpy expression!

When the grumpy look didn't work she turned to screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Which resulted in a giggle fest from Samantha and Parks.

This fun little water toy was also a birthday gift- thanks you clearance section at Walmart! The endless play these kiddies have had was well worth the twenty bucks! And might I just add that I assembled it all by myself:) ...well I did have a couple handy helpers working with me! Samantha even put the screws in- go girl!

Oh what can we say about our Hannie bear except we love her so!!! She brings such a fun and lively spirit into our home! When people first meet her they comment on how sweet and calm she is. I tell them they have yet to meet me little Hannah yet! ha! Yes, she is a sweety- but with spunk! Once you get to know her wild side you know what I mean:) She isn't naughty or anything- she just likes to have a good time...and the girl has some lungs! Whenever Tommy gets home she gives thee loudest scream of excitement you have ever heard- it's ear piercing really.
All about Hannah:

she is a tender heart- she might act big and tough when fighting for a toy... but if you even begin to get angry at her she melts right away and breaks your heart
we have just started putting her in miny time outs and she is so good to sit on the step and calm right down
she will tell me when she wants her diaper changed or when she is wet or poopy- she may be read yfor potty training but mommy isn't:)
she loves Dr. Seuss books- her fav right now is The Eye Book, she also loves being included at looking at the Eye Spy books every night with dad and the big kids
she has become a picky eater- I think she may have eaten too many banana's in her 1st yr but now she rarely eats them. she loves chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, strawberries, and peanut butter pancakes
her nursery leaders still tell us most days Hannah is so quiet and she will just play so mildly and never has any episodes- thank heavens she saves the craziness for home!
the poor girl has FAT feet! her feet are wide and fat... so sad about all the cute shoes that could have been... (she wears about a 7/8...if they are wide enough)
she is not a huge talker. She only puts 2 or 3 words together like, "Daddy, where go?" or "my ball" my all time fav thing that she says is when I tell her something she says, "Oh, ya." like she totally gets what I just said. She also has the sweetest little voice so we love when she softly says, "noooo."
she is such a tease. If I am holding her and I say, "do you love me?" she says, "no, daddy." But if daddy is holding her it's opposite with a little smirk:)
i can't tell you how many times a day I say something about how much i love her chubby cheeks and contagious smile! ah! they do not get cuter than Miss Hannah in my unbiased opinion:)
even though she is not a big talker she has started nominating herself to say prayers. When I ask who wants to say it she says, "ME!" So I help her and she repeats the few words she can- but the best part is whenever she can't say a word like Jesus or blessings she replaces those words with "mommy" or "daddy" ...which can make for some interesting prayers!
she has thee best hair! I love the color, texture, curl everything! She is one lucky girl that can pull of any look:)

her lovely locks:)

Bottom line- we love our Hannah and are so lucky to have her in our family! Usually when we have a 2 year old we also have a 4 month old in the house. But this time it has been fun to just baby little Hannah a little more. It's funny cuz with Samantha and Parks they were totally ready for a sibling at 20 months and did great... but I think Hannah would have really had a hard time with it. She is such a mama's girl and up until the last couple months she was glued to my side. Anyway, I loved having our 1st three so close and I have also loved having this little gap to baby our Hannie:)

We hope she had a happy birthday because she brings such happiness to us everyday!

These days...

2011-09-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Lately I keep thinking about how different these days are. We have had so many BIG changes recently, it has taken me awhile to process it:

we live in a new HOUSE, in a new state, with new neighbors who are not students or Indian- shout out for Chelsea peeps!
Tommy is going to orthodontic school- and he is finally a DOCTOR...all very new and weird
My baby started KINDERGARTEN and is gone all day
when we go outside for a walk we are not greeted with tons of kiddies to run around with and all our fellow student buddies

To be totally honest, it has been a strange transition and hard to get used to. I knew from day one that the Chelsea life was a strange utopia that did not exist in real life...but that doesn't make it any easier to fall into the ways of the real world. We are getting used to life with just the 5 of us and have had to get creative to entertain these little rascals...

One huge plus to our new neighborhood is no hills + sidewalks = the kids can finally own bikes! The kids are obsessed with riding and will do it any chance they get. We have had many mornings that start out with a bike ride in their jammies. It's still so dang hot outside that if we don't get out before 9 it's not gonna happen till 6 or 7 at night. We found Parker's bike at a yard sale for $3- the catch was it did not have training wheels. So we then went through 5 packs of training wheels before we actually found some that fit.

A friend in our ward had an extra girls bike and gave this one to Samantha...ya it's a tad on the small side for our tall girl! We are working on getting her a bigger one even though she insists it's the perfect size- bless her sweet little heart:)

Then there is wild Hannah who tries to keep up with the madness! She has gotten pretty good at riding her scooter and also puts around on her little trike too:)

Parks bike chain fell off every 3 mins and it was driving me nuts! I was telling Gary our sweet neighbor about it and he offered to fix it right away. Seriously we have thee most generous neighbors. Gary spent an hour sweating over that little bike and then went to the store the next day to get an extra bolt to tighten it. After he gave it the 1st fix he told Parks it had a 5,000 mile warranty till he got the new bolt- so cute and sweet! Then another neighbor gave Hannah a sweet push around tricycle she wasn't using anymore. Everyone around here is so generous- love the southern hospitality!!!

Parks wanted a picnic and I wanted to stay out of the heat- so this was our alternative:)

The kids go CRAZY when daddy gets home! Seriously- screams, sequels, jumping, tickling you name it!

The story: One night the kids were driving me nuts...I mean they were a little restless:) So I said, "that's it everybody upstairs!" They were a little hesitant but didn't dare disobey. Then I told them to go in my closet and pick out an outfit- we were going to do a skit for dad. Samantha dressed as me and Parks dressed like dad. When we came downstairs we ordered dad to sit on the couch with his eyes closed. I gave them a subject and let them run with it and this is how it turned out:
P: "babe, I'm going golfing."
S: "No, babe:( dont' leave me here with the kids I have like been here all day doing all this work."
P: sorry

then they decided P would be Justin Beiber and Samantha a crazed fan
P: "Never say never! I will fight! I will fit for NEVA!"
S: "sequels and giggles...I love Justin Beiber!!!!! I'm gonna marry him..."
then they both burst into uncontrollable giggles- so dang funny!!!

One night Tommy drove past this huge tortuous. He came in to tell us all about it but by the time we got out for a walk to hunt him down he was nowhere to be found. But the next day when Tommy was driving home he was back. We all ran down the street to check him out. We were afraid he might be a snapping turtle, but then this lady came and just picked him right up. She said it's a baby tortuous like she had when little and they get up to 300 pounds!!! They are like the huge ones they have in the zoo's. She rescued it and is gonna find a home for it. Fun adventure:)

Tommy in his new scrubs that actually say, "Doctor Dunn." I have not written much about his new school life so here it is:

Tommy was not sure what to expect to do as a fellow...but they had them hit the ground running. He started out with his own chair and sees 5-8 patients a day.

he is at school from 8-6 mon- thurs then Fridays are half days. In the summer Fridays are completely off which compensates for the 10+ hour days. He has a class in the morning where a student presents a case and the doctors/ professors all talk about it. He presents a case every other week where he finds an article to support his case and does a treatment plan for that particular case. He has had 2 so far and they have gone well.
Then he see's patients from 9-12. After lunch they have a lecture then patients till 6. They schedule his last patient at 5- so he gets home between 6:30 and 7:15. Which to me is killer! I don't know why 5:30- 6:30 makes such a big difference but it does. (every day in VA from 3-5 we would go outside and play with all our friends so it was so easy to kill time- these days it's all on me to do the entertaining:) If he could just get home ONE hour earlier it would make all the difference. Then he could be home to help with the kids while I cook, we would not have to wait so darn late to eat- which we are learning some nights we will just have to eat without him. Tommy does not by any means expect us to wait for him- but I would much rather eat with him if at all possible...some nights it just isn't:) Rumor has it next semester they are switching the schedule so they will be done at 5... my fingers and toes are all crossed!
Tommy is LOVING ortho! It's kind a funny cuz obviously he knew before we came that he had a huge interest in it- but he had not been able to do much in it. But now that he has he is seriously eating it up! I'll wander upstairs and find him reading these ortho books just to read! Since he doesn't have tests there is nothing to study for but he is just so interested he wants to learn as much as possible. It's cute when I ask him how his day is he always says something to the effect of, "It was crazy busy but I loved it all." Knowing he has such a passion for it makes it easier to let him be gone so much. (which lets be honest we see him way more now than we did in dental school. It's just hard now cuz I had envisioned him being home regular hours like 5:30, plus it makes a difference when I don't have my Chelsea peeps to distract me when he is gone:)

Hannah and Parks have been learning to be good little buddies now that their ring leader is gone. It's been fun to watch the transition of Hannah being considered a play buddy now.

I printed off this little "around the house" activity for the kids and Samantha was all about it! She was so cute walking around with her little clip board and after she was done she made her own little chart.

One day I was out of ideas and told the kids to just play with my hair. They kept going into my bathroom for more supplies...and I didn't care since they were entertained and I was getting my hair done which is my fav. Well that was until I realized that one of their "supplies" was a tampon! They had gotten a box of them out and were brushing my hair with them...oh boy that was a good laugh!

Since I have lost my crafting buddies I have had to get some new recruits-Tommy and the kids. It has acually been really nice to have Tommy's skills to do the math and measuring on some of my wood projects. I have been looking at diff growth boards for YEARS now but had a hard time finding one I loved knowing it would be used for 20 + years was pressure! I wanted it gender neutral, and not too cheesy so it could match other decor. I finally found one I was happy with and made it AND hung it- oh boy! It was funny cuz as I was making my list for supplies Tommy randomly said, "Do you know what I am so upset about? The fact that we still don't have a growth board to measure the kids on...we really need to get on that." Ha! I was so happy to report that I was in the process of doing just that. After it was done he said it is his favorite craft I have ever done:)

The kids thought it was super cool to measure themselves- and it brought back some good childhood memories for Tommy:) They had a place at his grandma's where they measured themselves and he feels complete now that we have one for our kids:)

I'll end with my new fav pic of my yahoo's! They were playing spy kids on their bikes and I told them to give me a spy pose. Love that this is each of their interpretation of what a spy would do. Their poses match their personalities perfectly- sassy Samantha, crazy Hannah, and goofy Parks. Love these crazies!!!

p.s. for the record we have made some great friends out here that we get together with a lot for park, beach, pool and home play dates, book club, girls nights etc. But it just makes such a difference when your friends actually live in your neighborhood- easier for impromptu playing, walks, BBQ's, girls night every Thursday and more. Ok, enough whining about that though:)
p.p.s my Florida friend reminded me that summer in FL is like winter in Utah. Unless you are in the water you don't go outside...so with that perspective I look forward to the winter months of being able to enjoy the outdoors. Maybe then I won't have to get so creative with entertaining the kids:)

There is our wrap up of what we are up to these days!

Jax Zoo

2011-09-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

We heard great things about the Jacksonville Zoo and decided to get season passes...especially since the pass pays for itself after 2 visits. Those of us girls who have passes try to go on Fridays, and on Tommy's last half day we took him to see what the hype was all about:) A few things I love about the zoo:

it is very clean and the grounds/ gardens are really pretty
they have a TON of baby animals my fav's being the giraffe, chimps, and ant eater- so cute!
the kids play area is a lot of fun with a great splash area for when its too darn hot to walk around.9 which is anytime after 11:)

The day we took Tommy was elephant day and they had free face painting and gave the kids free baby elephants. The kids still carry them everywhere with them and have named them. Samantha and Hannah's are Ellie, Parkers is Jacob- a name he is obsessed with lately.

Oh these little babes are sooo cute! I could just watch them all day. My girls were ooohing and awwing over them too!
p.s. yes these chimps are posing super inappropriately...but lets just say the other pics I have of them were worse:)

Hooray for the Zoo day!!!

MaD hAtTeRs PaRtY!

2011-09-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Meet Bill and Betty thee sweetest neighbors ever!

And now the story of the mad hatters...

One day we ran over to Bill and Betty's to return a vase from the flowers she brought us and give her some cookies. She insisted that we come in to visit...I was super hesitant to bring my little ones into her non baby proof house. But we went in and had a merry old time. Betty had the idea to have Parks and Hannah try on Bill's hats. She said he doesn't wear them very often and my kids could take a hat home with them. I told her that is not necessary...but then Parks found the sweet NC hat and had to have it! Betty told us that is the only one hat Bill could not part with...but Parks could borrow it for a couple days.

The kids were such a crack up trying on all the hats posing for sweet Betty. She had her camera out and was loving the photo shoot...so I ran home to grab my camera to join the fun:) I loved all of his fun stylish grandpa hats!

The story continues: a couple days later there was a knock on the door. Sure enough it was Bill and Betty bearing gifts again. They went a bought Parks his own NC hat! So Parker traded Bill's hat for one of his own. Parker was beyond excited and put it on right away...and has basically been wearing it everyday since.

For the couple days Parks was sporting Bill's hat Samantha called him Justin Beiber...and Parks was eating it up!

They didn't want Samantha to feel left out so they got her a cute little golfer hat. They seriously are thee sweetest couple ever and it has been so fun getting to know them. Get this: they have the cutest pic of them when they were 11! That's right they were "school yard" crushes as they put it. It is fun chatting with them hearing about their life stories... I could learn a lot from them as they have been married for 56 years! Being 80 years old they have a lot of history and it's fun hearing about it.

Last week Betty brought by another darling goodie bag that included the book, "Green Eggs and Ham" and she gave us eggs, ham and green food coloring for a night of fun.

We feel so lucky to have such great neighbors. This pic is with our other neighbor Gary. He broke his ankle in a motorcycle accident the same day Parks had his accident. So here they are sporting their matching hospital bracelets. Gary is a retired police officer and is so helpful. He helped me unload all my gallons of water and stash them under the kids beds, brought me his ladder when he saw me using a kitchen chair in our garage and more! Meeting new neighbors can be a scary thing...but we have loved meeting and getting to know our neighbors...and are blessed to be by such kind people.

1st Summer in Florida!

2011-09-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

We have officially wrapped up our 1st summer in sunny Florida! Although, my guess is our activities these next couple months will not change much as the weather doesn't seem like it will be cooling down anytime soon:) It was humid in VA but florida humidity definietly trumps it. But living close to the coast we do get a nice coastal breeze some evenings. During the day if you are outside you are in the water. So our summer days were spent either at the pool or the beach...literally! It is a little more work to pack up for the beach but once we get there the kids are less work. Between the waves and the sand it provides non-stop entertainment for the littlies. Thus, we are at the beach A LOT...

every Tues for play date
Tommy had Fridays off in the summer so we beached it every Friday usually with our friends that are in Tommy's fellowship- the Endrizzi Family
and Saturdays we liked to go after nap time and pack a dinner. We love going in the evenings when it has cooled off a little bit, yet the water is still plenty warm.

As you can imagine this poses quite a problem for the cleanliness of my car...I cannot figure when to vacuum it! It's hard to justify cleaning it out when I know it will be a sandy mess in a few days again. Hence, my car is not the prettiest site these days:)

So since most of our summer was spent at the beach that is what most of these pics are from...so sorry for the overload of beach pics!
If we were not at the beach we were most likely playing at our pool. It is such a nice pool area, but almost creepy how few people use it! With the palm trees surrounding it I feel like we are at beach resort...possibly in a ghost town:) Kidding there are usually one or two others family's there...and we usually invite our friends who don't have pools. It's just not like our old Chelsey pool slammed with all our friends:(

Hannie Bear can wear floaties now! she is the cutest little thing and just thinks she is the bomb floating by herself!

Oh and I should introduce the newest member of our family... Tommy's surf board. He figured if we are going to live 10 mins from the beach he should pry learn to surf. It's been pretty fun/ entertaining watching him get into a new sport: watching U-tube videos with the kids, getting all the gear wax and all, checking the waves online before we go, and finding the best surf spots around. He is by no means a pro just yet... but he is standing up now and in time who knows?! :) ha

it does not get any cuter than this!

or this!!!

the kids are such great little helpers carrying all our beach gear. It is crazy how much there is to bring:

umbrella
beach chairs
buckets and shovels
beach bag with supplies
boogie boards and surf board
three kids

Phew! good thing the kids are such good helpers and like their jobs...Samantha loves carrying the beach chair as a back pack, Parks like the Umbrella and Hannah takes the buckets:) Go team Dunn!

Some indoor entertainment...

and back to the beach again...

Love the Endrizzi family! What would we do without them?! How random is this: in Tommy's fellowship there are only 5 guys: 3 from Saudi Arabia and two Mormons! Seriously what are the chances? Plus, they also have a 5 and 3 year old and just had their 3rd baby last week. We love hanging out with them and usually beach it with them on Fridays and Saturdays. It has been such a blessing to have someone else that is going through the same experience, has kids the same age, and is such a great friend! We love their little family and are so grateful they are here with us! (Oh and crazy that out of all the places to live in Jacksonville they live just 2 mins from us in a complex we almost rented...small world)

After I took this pic Samantha told me she was making that face cuz she loves to relax and listen to the ocean while she is riding the waves!

Parks came up with this lovely fashion piece...I wonder if now that we live in Florida he thinks he can get away with looks like this?! No, buddy plaid on plaid just isn't gonna work:)

Like I said, if we are outside it involves water... even if it means splashing in the puddles. This is supposedly the rainy season and every time it rains we get these perfect puddles right outside our house. The kids love splashing through them...and its pretty entertaining to watch...even if they do come back to me like wet puppies!

We also love going for evening fam walks looking for lizards. We easily see at least 30 every time we go outside it's crazy! There are 2 that stay close to our front door that the kids have named Lucinda and Larry- so funny!

It was a great 1st summer in Florida...here's to hoping for a few more!!!

Hodge Podge of feelings today

2011-08-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

My boy had his 1st big accident last night:( We were playing at the pool and as he went to jump in he turned backwards to catch the ledge...but instead the ledge caught him right in the chin. Tommy and another lady saw him hit and the lady said it looked pretty bad. But Parks just kinda sat there...maybe he was in shock but he really wasn't crying that bad. I went over to him to check in out and didn't see any blood like I was expecting to. But I put my hand under his chin and asked him to lean his head back and as he did so I saw his chin split open before my eyes! Nasty, sad, traumatic you name it. I immediately told Tommy we need to take him in. Tommy had one look and agreed. It wasn't a crazy bad cut but bad enough that there was no way it would close on it's own. It was about an inch long and 1/2 inch deep. Luckily our friends Bree and Jonathon were visiting so Bree stayed with the kids while I ran home to help Tommy get insurance cards and some supplies for Parks E.R. visit. (ya know the necessities like candy and the I Spy book to distract him)

Parks didn't want me to take a pic of his hosp. bracelet...and I wasn't gonna push him today after his rough night:)
Tommy took him so I could go back and get the kids from the pool...it was SO hard watching him drive away crying! break a mother's heart! But Tommy said he was so brave at the hospital. The decided to glue it since it leaves less of a scar and is easier to use on little kids. So I was glad they didn't have to stick him with a needle...but the glue had it's drawbacks too. The 1st take was not great (I obviously don't have anything against student docs but maybe we should just use the real deal for a crying toddler?)so the doc said they needed to do it again which meant ripping the glue off his wound?! It is pry a good thing Tommy was there and not me cuz I would not have been a mean mama bear at this point. (plus Tommy said it was a pretty ugly site to see...the wound got bigger than when I saw it) But Tommy said he was so cute and brave...he didn't even scream like we would have expected from him. He just sat there with tears dripping down his cheeks and his little lip quivering in pain as they yanked the glue off his open wound, recleaned it, prepped it and glued again. When Tommy told me that I just lost it... such a sad picture:( But after almost 5 hours in the E.R. (at 11pm) my boy was returned to me. I was so anxious to hold him when Tommy told me he was in our neighborhood I ran outside to greet him. Of course my little man was fast asleep by then so we juts tucked our champ into bed.
After a crazy night like that it makes me beyond grateful for our good health and such a minor little event. Anytime my kids get sick or go to the hospital I think of my mom and how routine things like this are for her. My little sis went to the E.R. Saturday because she was in bad shape. She was having a hard time breathing and they could not stabilize her. She was admitted right away but was soon transferred to ICU. She was there for 2 days while they tried to bring down her heart rate and help regulate her breathing. I am so happy to report she moved to her regular 4th floor room last night! When her 4th floor nurses and docs saw her being wheeled back to her room they all stood and cheered. My mom and sis just cried and when my mom told me the story I cried as well. It brings me such comfort to know she is so loved and watched over at the U hospital. They are like her 2nd family and love her dearly. One of her surgeons has basically become a family member and he sat with my mom in the ICU the entire time. He and others are always bringing Astra her favorite treats and popping in for special visits. As hard as it is to be away and feel so helpless it is reassuring to know she is in such great and loving hands. (Her nurse told her that is the only standing ovation a patient has ever gotten..so touching)
Sorry this post is just a hodge podge of the feelings but I just felt like it was important to journal it . My sis has been on my mind constantly and after talking to my mom today I can't stop thinking about how precious life is. My silly little E.R. visit with Parks pales in comparison to the many struggles so many others are going through. Is it silly to say I am grateful for this experience to remind me what life is all about? Regardless, it puts things into perspective and makes the tantrums, never-ending cleaning, errands, and constant demands of a mother seem a little more do-able.

Our new home!!!

2011-08-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Every time I drive into our neighborhood I give a little sigh still at how happy these palms trees make me!

**The story about finding our house: Tommy searched and searched but could not find anything in the area we wanted in our price range. It was so tricky cuz our criteria was: be within 15 mins of his school, be in a good area for Samantha's school, have access to a pool, close to a grocery store and stay under $1,100 for rent. Well we quickly learned that just didn't exist. We could get something cheaper if we were in a sketchy area- but now that we have a school age kiddo that is out of question. It was so hard cuz we were trying keep the same price as in dental school so we could keep our loans to a minimum but yet we need added amenities with our growing fam- yes we hope to have more kids while we are in Florida. So push came to shove and with an extra $100 a month we found the perfect fit for us.

So here it is our new home!

For those who have been asking/ waiting for this post- sorry it has taken so long. It was quite the task getting unpacked with 3 kiddies while my hubby worked 10 hour days! Once unpacked came the time for actually decorating the place. It is crazy how hard it is to decorate a new area with your same decorations. With a diff layout/ diff wall space it gets tricky. I have had to get creative using what I have and spray paint has been my new best friend!
I have wanted to wait till the rooms were put together for the most part, and then there was the issue of getting all the rooms clean enough to take a pic. No the rooms in my house don't always look like this, and especially not all at the same time! We do have FIVE people living in this house and it usually looks like it:) Anyone with kids knows how it goes: while I am cleaning one room they are taking apart another- gotta love those rascals!
*** as far as the house goes I feel good about it right now...is there more I would like to do sure...but does it feel good for now it sure does. I found a quote the other day that is a new favorite, "Finished is better than done!" I think that may just need to be my new motto:)

the house details: It is a town house style with a very similar floor plan to our old place. 1st floor: kitchen, living room/ office area, play room, and 1/2 bath. Upstairs: laundry area, master with full bath and 2 other bedrooms with full bath for them to share.

this is what you see right when you walk in the door. kitchen to your right, stairs in front of you and the living room.

Our favorite feature of the home- the beautiful stairs! Aren't they just dreamy?! Ok, really what were they thinking? The whole house looks fine, but then they throw this baby in there and it throws it all off! Tommy and I just laughed when we 1st walked into the house- cuz they did not show them in the pics we saw online. Who has to vacuum, sweep and wipe down their stairs? They are such a pain to clean! We figure it is a small price to pay for such a great house- most of the units like ours are renting for quite a bit more than what we are paying so if ugly stairs is what we have to deal with done!
**warning: sorry for the million pics but it was so tricky get a pic showing all the areas of each room- so i took a bunch of each room so you could really get a feel for it...since lets be honest very few of you will ever actually see it in person:( boo but know visitors are ALWAYS welcome!!!

One of my favorite things is this open cutout to be able to see the living room from the kitchen- sooo nice!

Don't mind Samantha's foot that she strategically got into the pic:)

Oh these shelves are sweet to my heart! I started making them in VA with 2 buddies...and boy were they tricky. Alyson is a wood making pro, but for Lara and I wood making skills did not come so easy. I waited to paint them till i got here, then had to decide on what corbels looked best, then convince Tommy to spend an hour hanging them! Boy they have been a work in progress... and I guess still are as I'm not quite sure how I want to decorate them. For now this is just fine since the main thing I want to use them for is my holiday decorations...oh I cannot wait to get the babies decked out for Halloween!

My favorite room: THE PLAY ROOM

Having a play room has been a looooong time dream of mine- with 3 crazy kids it is a must! I love that it is just right off the living room so it's close to everything but yet off enough that the mess is not seen. I wanted to set up the room into different zones. So I have the toy bin for the play zone, art zone, dress-up and car zone. The kids love having their special play room and I love having a place to put it all! I seriously have no idea how we lasted this long without one...or who is more excited about the room me or them?!

When we got here I sold a couple things on craigslist to make my dream room. (I still want to get some vinyl sayings to put in the zones but that will have to wait) I was able to make the $ go pretty far and still get an outcome I was happy with:

the rug was my splurge $38 from Target (but you have to have a rug with hard wood floors!)
mirror $3.80 from Walmart
Bin for dress-up $6.50 Walmart
art display wood from Lowe's $4 clothes pins $1 form $ store, paint free since I used what I already had on hand
orange frame- already had the pic so i just used my orange spray paint I already had from painting my "D" so that was free photo make-over

Total: $53

I have been wanting to make an art display for so long now. Love that I finally have the perfect space for it.

this pic of the kids playing goes perfect in there and with a little spray paint it has a whole new look:)

Little Hannie has a discovered a new love of coloring...she will color a pic and give it to me to hang on our art display. Love it!

The kids room: Samantha and Parker

We finally got these kiddies bunk beds and naturally they love them...and I love how much open space it leaves in their room.

Rather than take down the toddler bed we decided to leave it up. It works great as a little book nook ....plus it will be nice to have when visitors come:)

Hannah Bears Room

Unfortunately I have not done anything super fun with my room...maybe one of these days...

but i do love my own little jewelry area.

this little porched in "lanai" is great for the kids. I just put our rice sensory bin out there and the kids go to town!

As you can see our new place is by no means extravagant but it is a huge step up from our dental days house. I didn't realize how big of a difference going from 1200 to 1800 sq. ft. was going to make - but it has been huge! It may sound dramatic but there are several things about this house that have been life changing:
(I realize the term life changing is a bit dramatic but these things truly have made my life a lot easier)

the play room! love that I don't have to tidy the toys all day every day...now if i don't get the them no biggie no-one see's that room anyway:)
having a big washer and dryer that both actually work. In the past it took me an entire day just to dry towels, now I can do all my laundry in one day- folding it and putting it away in the same day is another question
having a garage- mostly I love that we can store all or holiday decor and outdoor toys somewhere
having a HUGE fridge. It is so nice to be able to go the the grocery store and stock up so I can go to the store less frequently
last but not least- love my garden tub! It is so nice to let the kiddies splash around in there while I get ready or get a few things done. Plus now they are not all fighting for a place to sit like in our old tiny tub.

It's funny cuz I really didn't mind our last place that much. Sure we had definitely outgrown it, but the rest of it could deal with. But now that I have experienced a few joys of the good life I am lovin it! I know most of these new found joys are pretty standard in most homes...but being students they certainly are not standard. So no laughing at the fact that I am 28 with 3 kids and jumping for joy over 1800 sq. ft and having my 1st garage!

A new holiday in our house!!!

2011-08-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

When your 1st baby starts Kindergarten it's a BIG DEAL! So I have been thinking a lot lately about just how to make it a special occasion for her. I view starting school as a holiday and thus wanted to come up with some fun traditions. Those traditions included: (after cruising the lovely bloggy world and coming up with a few things on my own here is what I decided on)

a fancy dinner the night before school starts where Samantha picks the menu
during dinner we all went around the table naming attributes/ talents she has that will help her succeed in Kindergarten
we had our 1st family toast in her honor
Tommy gave her a Father's blessing (in which I sobbed like a baby before it even began)
put love notes in her lunch -which she did not notice till day 2 and then insisted I leave it in there forever
when she got home from her 1st day she was welcomed with a giant cookie

The fancy dinner was super fun. The menu consisted of (in her own words):
shrimp
white macamoni
rolls with jam
strawberries with sug (sugar)
and root beer

She spat this menu off to me within seconds of asking...I love a girl who knows what she wants! The kids loved eating on "mommy and daddy plates" and using the "big cups" aka plastic wine glasses. After we went around the table talking about her. I talked about how she is so friendly and nice to others that she will make so many new friends. Tommy talked about how she is very smart and a hard worker. Her memorizing skills will help her a lot too. Parks mumbled something about how she is kind. Then I asked Samantha what talent she thought would help her at school. Her answer surprise/ impressed me when she said, “Well I’m not very shy so I will be good at meeting new people and making new friends.” I thought that was very good that she said it about herself since lately she has been acting more and more shy. After we went through everyone she exclaimed, “Let’s go around the table one more time!” Ha, we didn’t to mention her being humble for a reason hee hee: )

After dinner we went for a little walk to our “secret family place”.We love relaxing on this swing looking out at the water. Our neighborhood is so nice and quiet we have never had to fight anyone for our special spot…but we do miss not seeing all our student buddies out for Sunday strolls! :(
After the walk we came in for our ice cream dessert, bath time fun then I had the kids pic out there clothes for the week. I heard of a great idea to lay out all their clothes on Sunday night to minimize the chaos in the mornings. I think it will be quite a task getting all 4 of us fed, dressed, lunches packed and out the door by 8 so I am trying to get as organized as possible! I have also put baskets in the pantry filled just with snacks for her lunch so she knows how to pack it herself. She knows to grab one bag of gold fish or chips, a juice box, and a treat and I will pack her fruit and sandwich. This is all so foreign to me but hopefully we can master it quick enough: )

The BIG day!

She was beyond excited about starting school! But Tommy and i were a little less excited about the idea of saying goodbye to our girl forever! I think it would be a lot easier for me if she started out with half days, but saying goodbye from 8-3 is super hard.

(Forgive Hannah for her wardrobe. It has become a game for Tommy to put her in the funniest jammy combo's to give the kids a good laugh- this one was a doozy! Mismatch, boy, Christmas jammies- a winning combo for sure!)

The night before school as I had puffy red eyes Samantha told me to come over to her bed. Then she put her hands on my chin and looked into tenderly into my eyes saying, "it's ok mommy." It was so cute slash funny that I started laughing which launched her into a full on giggle attack. This girl is a riot!

All poses are patented by Miss Samantha Mae:)

I LOVE Samantha's teacher Ms. Cochran...and I'm pretty sure I won't have a hard time getting Tommy to go to parent night:) It's funny her teacher like 20 years younger than almost all the other kindergarten teachers I saw- so no not all Florida teachers look like her in case you were wondering:)
But during orientation we were completely lost wandering around and her teacher was the only who stopped and helped us. We were not registered yet on her list so she thought Samantha was in another class and pointed us in the right direction in the midst of all the chaos. When I found out we were indeed in her class I was so relieved that Samantha was in good hands!

(Love that the pink flamingo is the school mascot!)

Picking her up from her 1st day and it was a huge success! She loved every minute of it, which made my not so great day worth it. My facebook status update from the 1st day to remember my feelings:

mins at Chick-fil-A Parks said he has no-one to play with....which resulted in me climbing in the jungle gym only to get stuck halfway down the slide! Not my best moment! :) Come back Samantha!!!"

This cute pic was from her orientation day- I keep looking at these recent pics asking when she got so old?! She looks so grown-up and pretty I don't know where the time went...but I am so proud of the little lady she is becoming!
**sorry for the lengthy post but like I said this is like a new holiday in our house and i want to document it
all!!!

*** do you have any fun 1st day of school traditions/ memories?...

Utah part 2

2011-08-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

We were lucky to get together and catch up with some friends while in Utah. As always, time went way too fast but we are grateful for the fun friend time we did squeeze in. Our get together's were filled with yummy food, swimming, good convo's and lots and lots of kiddo's running wild!

So our month in Utah consisted mainly of 3 things: family, friends and fishing! Tommy bought a fishing license and was determined to:
1) get his money's worth and
2) show his kids that he can indeed catch a fish
Lets just say we definitely did ONE of the two:) We went early morning fishing, late night fishing, fishing with the whole family and more. The kids had a ton of fun and I have a pic to document the one and only fish caught- which was by Mel and I'm not even sure you can call it a fish! Nonetheless, good times were had fishing in Utah:)

I LOVE this pic of Hannah...oh and also the one of Parks

Ashly just lives up the street from the Dunns so we were able throw some impromptu park play dates. It's a bummer we don't live closer cuz Parks and Grady were instant buddies:(

While at the park I ran into sweet Noelle who I have not seen in over 7 years! It's funny cuz when she saw a glance of me she thought to herself, "That girl looks a lot like Sara Jacobs, but what are the chances since she lives in VA." And sure enough it was me:)

As always it was good times with the Visser's with a BBQ and Smores:)

Park dinner with Tommy's high school buddies. So fun that they are all still so close and that all the girls are too! LOVE and miss them:(

We will rap up my every so long Utah post with this goodie of Parks. Tommy took him real golfing with him for the first time. He made him wear a helmet in case a golf ball came heading his way. Parker loved riding in the cart and still talks about it!

It's what I like about "U"-tah!!!

2011-08-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Excuse the cheesy title but I have been dreading/ trying to figure out just how to organize and capture the highlights from our Utah trip. It is quite a daunting task since I took 576 pictures in those fun filled 6 weeks! When we are not in Utah it is easy to feel like I am ok not living there...but when we go back I am reminded of the things I love about Utah. Hence this is a post dedicated to the fun things we like about Utah.

Numero Uno: Family

Family, friends, fishing, swimming without humidity, eating all the yummy food, hanging out with friends are just some of the things we love about Utah! It was way too hard to cram it all into one post so I started with family for this post and the rest will follow...when I get some more time:)

We had so much fun playing with ALL our family that lives in Utah! Once a year is just not enough time to spend with them so when we are there we definitely make the most of the time we do have with them...

The trip started off with a bang and a typical Dunn bet. It was FREEZING cold and Drew asked how much Mike would give him if he jumped into the dirty pool. (It had not even been cleaned for the year since it was still May and bitter cold.) Apparently $100 bucks was worth it for Drew and out he went into the rainy night. All the kids (ok and adults) ran outside to witness the silly site. Funny night!

COUSINS are one of the things we love most about Utah!!!

I was so glad we were able to be in town for the Surprise 60th Anniversary Party for Tommy's grandparents. Annie and I were in charge of putting together some decorations- a banner, pom-pom balls and frames for the tables. Then all the families were given the assignment to put together a little skit/ jingle. The Wynn family dominates in this area and they were all soooo funny! Our song went to the Brady bunch tune and we coreagraphed moves and all! Practicing was hilarious- some of us took it a little more serious than others- aka Papa Mikey was game on and the rest of us were all giggles! We caught some classic "Mike-isms" on video:) The grandkids came in at the end of our song with a little part of their own. They came in with their walking sticks singing the jingle Barb wrote:

" You are the reason why we're here.

60 deserves a great big cheer!

Your light has been the bright light

and you have shown us the best way to be!"

At he end of the skit we all went out with a solo dance...very entertaining!!!

We were lucky to squeeze in this BBQ with my fam in between hospital visits for Astra. When we got in town she was in for the 1st week and a week in a half later she was unexpectedly admitted again. Bummer but glad for the time we did get to to spend with them!

When Samantha was just a baby Barb started talking about "cousin camp." She said when the cousins turned 5 they got to go to her house for a weekend retreat. The girls have been so excited talking about it for years and years and this summer the time for cousin camp was finally here! Barb was so dang cute with it:
Theme: "I CAN DO IT!!"
Cheer that they all came up with: "Is it good, is it true, will it help me and you, then IIIIIII can do it!!!!!!!!!!"
Activities:(All revolved around the theme that the ycan do it) the first night Barb had them each help make a part of the dinner.
Barb was so great at planning it all the the girls were given assigmnents in their cousin camp letter:

get a recipe for the dinner item you were assigned (Samantha's was bread)
memorize a scripture relating to the theme Samantha decided on 3 nephi 18:20 "Whatsoever you shall the father in my name which is right, believing that you shall receive and behold it shall be given unto you." She had it memorized word for word- such a smartie pants!
prepare something to perform at the talent show

The was two fun filled days and such a success! Some of the activities included going on a hike, going to grandma and grandpa Wynn's, Papa Mikey as a guest speaker who dressed up in his Brazil soccer jersey and crutches for his story and more. Grandma wrote the recipes down and gave them to the girls in a recipe tin, made each of them blankets in their favorite colors, each got their own set of scriptures to mark and my fav was that they went shopping and got their siblings little gifts so they felt special too. Such a darling idea- what a lucky girl!

This was the 1st time all 10 grandkids were together in almost two years...and sadly it was only for a couple hours. L.E. 9, Hallie, Reagan and Samantha 5, Parker, Ally & Savannah 3, James & Hannah 1 1/2 and Mason 10 months.

sadly, Hannah was sick most of our Utah trip. It was the strangest thing she would throw up once and be fine...then a couple days later start again. It lasted almost 2 weeks and Parks caught it in the middle of it too- poor kids!

We had a lot of fun at the pool and I tried to give each of the kids their own little swim lessons during the month. Hannah is a little fishie and LOVES the water! Parks finally braved water wings by himself (not a part of my swim lesson but an accomplishment nonetheless) and Samantha master the superman float and back floats. They each did great in their own way!

Mike bought a sweet little disco ball for late night swims and Tommy thought it would be fun to let the kids join in the fun. They stayed up till dark which was WAY past their bedtime and you can tell from this pic they thought they were so cool!

Tommy filled a cavity on me for the 1st time ever! Even though he is officially a doctor now, it still made me a little nervous...but he did great. It was funny having him talk to me like a patient- such a concerned doctor explaining everythign so calmly to me. At one point he even accidently slipped and said, "Ok, here is Mr. bumpy." Ha I gave him a hard time and said, "I hope you only say that to your pediatric patients- not the adults!"

this was our last day in Utah!!! boo!!! We always have so much fun and are so sad to leave! Love and miss you all!

You know you are poor when...

2011-08-05T04:40:00.000-07:00

This silly little phrase has been in my head quite a bit since moving to Florida. As always moving states is super expensive but Florida in particular is CRAZY expensive! Mainly it's car stuff that has been the most draining: our car insurance more than tripled, you have to register your cars within 30 days of being here which was a steep $500 bucks for two cars, plus change to a Florida drivers licence another $50, gas of course is almost $4 a gallon, and we have had to put quite a bit a cash into our cars for maintenance since being here- grr!! Supposedly having no sales or income tax(I can't remember which it was) is supposed to make up for some of it but we will see about that)
All this does not help when you are living off student loans. We are trying to live super frugal to keep the loans down as much as possible. That is not super hard for my hubby the frugal king- but last week he had an idea that tops all:
The other day after he used the restroom he exclaimed,

"Oh shoot! I forgot I was only going to flush every third time I go to the bathroom to save on water!"

Oh my goodness! Once I stopped laughing and composed myself I then had a little chat with my sweet hubby and he WILL be flushing every time he uses the toilet:) So don't worry about that. Before you jump to judging my dirty hubby let me elaborate a little:
1. in Virginia our rent included utilities and before that we lived in a 500 sq. ft apartment where we only payed electric so we are totally not used to paying all utilities.
2. Again this is one of the crazy expenses in Florida after only being here for only 10 days our water bill was $34 and electric $97- and that was with having it set to 78 degrees and shutting the upstairs AC off during the day! The complex waters our lawn so that water bill was just basic uses. (We have since done some research and learned that it is not wise to shut it off and on and have a new plan:)

Tommy's silly little phrase has been quoted and replaying in my head many times since the incident! Every time I flush the toilet I have a good little giggle in honor of my cheap hubby. This for sure has been my favorite "you know you are poor when..." since we have moved here and I have no doubt there are many more to come! Gotta love the poor student life:)...it's a good thing we live ten mins from the beach to provide us with endless free entertainment!

When we were in Utah we went back to our 1st apartment and took this pic. I think this apartment is a great example of what our life has been like the past 8 years as students. We lived in this TINY apartment that was only 500 sq. ft. for 4 years, yet our view was looking at angel Moroni on top of the Salt Lake Temple. How can you complain about that?! Yes, it was a sacrifice living in such a small place but experiencing living in the avenues, being in the prophets ward, walking through temple square to get to work and school every day was more than worth it. I feel like that is how all of our student life has been. We may have had to make a lot of sacrifices but the rewards have made it all worth while. I have a feeling this new adventure in Florida will be no exception to that...

With great sacrifice comes great rewards right?!

(This little park "Brigham Young Park" was right next to our house and Samantha and I spent much of our days there. It was crazy to go back now that she is five and we have added two more kids to the mix!)

Parkers 3rd Birthday Bash!

2011-07-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

Since Parker's b-day is the day after Christmas we have his birthday party on his half birthday.
It was so fun to be by family for his birthday! It was the 1st birthday party we have had in Utah in 4 years! We were busy playing in Utah so I didn't want to spend too much time going crazy over the party. I kept thinking if I just had more time, more money, and less kids this party could be sooo sweet! But I just had to keep telling myself to just keep it simple and Parks will think it's the bomb no matter what we do. So I just took the day before his party to throw some things together and for only $21 I threw him a fun little party. (I was pretty proud of how frugal I was:)
Theme: Cars
Decor: red table clothes, a bunch of Cars, B & W streamers and flags, red, yellow and black balloons,a birthday banner I finally took the time to make, and a couple other little things. It was the windiest day in Utah's history so I could not put any of my table decorations out and the streamers kept blowing away...but I don't think Parks noticed so it's ok.
Games/ activities: Luigi's Casa Della tires bean bag toss (I couldn't find any bean bags so I ran to Walmart and got some Cars fabric and made some. I was surprised at how quick and easy they were for a beginner seamstress like me:) Each of the kids got a Cars sticker for playing.
The Piston Cup Race which included Tommy as the animated announcer, balloons to mark the racing track, a pit stop where each racer had to stop to refuel with some water, and then bust through the streamers at the finish line. The kids had so much fun doing it the adults decided to take a turn:) (thanks to tommy for setting up the awesome track!)
Then it was time for cake and ice cream, presents and mingling. It was a ton of fun celebrating my little man on his special day!

Of course Parker won the Piston Cup race and was awarded his fabulous trophy. (I scored when I found this in the clearance graduation section at Walmart- slapped a Cars sticker on it and called it good:)

Ah the cake! Making this little beauty almost made me crazy! Let just say Barb, Tommy and I were up till midnight trying to save the silly little thing. In the end I think it turned out fine, but boy did it give us grief!

hence my not so happy expression here:) my hands lip and teeth were black from making/ tasting frosting all night!

Parks was a lucky boy and got lots and lots of Cars for his birthday! One of his fav gifts was a Spiderman watch Troy gave him. He told Troy that's what he wanted and Troy and Erin came through on his specific request! He was so proud to show everyone hissweet new accesory:)

We were so sad my family could not be at the party since my sis was admitted to the hospital AGAIN while we were in Utah. (she is actually checking in again today for a 2 week visit- which means she will be in for her 21st birthday tomorrow- boo!!!!) Anyway, so we brought some of our party crew and cupcakes to the hospital to celebrate with them for a bit. Parks serenaded Astra with "Never say Never." It was pretty stinkin' cute!

The happy birthday boy with his fav gifts (his shirt, Buzz and his watch). Tommy's mom took him to the store when we 1st got to Utah to get let him pick out his birthday gifts and boy did she regret that...every single day he asked it it was his birthday so he could open his Buzz lightyear. Poor kid had to wait 3 weeks to open it! He also LOVES clothes and coudl not wait to sport his new T-shirt- what 3 yr old boy likes getting clothes for his b-day?! Anyway, it works for me and here are a couple other things about my boy:

he is beyond stubborn. on the subject of clothes it takes him A VERY long time to get dressed in the morning. He has to make sure the shorts are long enough, the shirt does not have buttons, the underwear fits just right, the sleeves are not too long etc. It takes a lot of patience (that I sometimes lack in the morning) and a lot of time...hence many mornings are spent with him in tears cuz I just don't have it in me to change him for the 4th time!
he is such a thoughtful boy always making sure his sisters have snacks when he does. i love when he will rub Hannah's back our smooth her hair. For example, right now Hannah is asleep and Parks saved half his gold fish and insisted I make sure to give them to her when she wakes up:)
he loves to GOLF! He will tell me he did not have a good day cuz he didn't go golf with his dad- tough life buddy:)
he is very good about asking permission before he does most things but has a hard time taking instructions or help... hmmm
he is still obsessed with Cars and plays with them almost daily
loves to swim, play at the beach, golf, play soccer and any other sport
fav foods: chicken nugs, applesauce wheat muffins, fruit snacks, any and all treats, and pizza

We love our little man and it was fun to plan a special day just for him. Happy 3 1/2 years Parks!!!

The 4th in Florida!

2011-07-16T05:55:00.000-07:00

For our 1st 4th of July in Florida we went to Gainesville to celebrate with our good friends Bree and Jonathon. They took us to the Ichnetucknee river for a jungle tube float. We really did feel like we were floating down the Amazon- we saw snakes and all. The kids loved being in the raft, and Hannah and Parks take the award for the bravest kids! They both hopped right in the freezing water and loved it. Afterwards we headed to Bree and Jonathon's house for some yummy BBQ, hanging out and fun fireworks. It was the perfect traditional 4th and we are lucky we had the Stevens clan to celebrate with!

So how is Florida?...

2011-07-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

This is one "last" that I am sooo ready to happen:

Tonight is our LAST of our 12 nights in our extended stay- yahoo!!! I feel like every time someone asks me how we are doing in Florida I feel like I have two options; I can tell them a "Debby Downer" version, or I can focus on the positive and tell them what we love about it.

I could tell you about how the humidity is so crazy insane I have only taken the time once to blow dry and do my hair and make-up once....
or I could tell you that I love how the humidity make's Hannah's hair curl in the cutest ringlets you have ever seen and how refreshing the beachy pony tail look is to me.
funny story: the other day we were walking through the make-up department at the mall and Samantha asked, "Mom, are you wearing make-up?" I told her no- Gasp I went to the mall without make-up!:) She said, "then what are those dark circles under your eyes?"ha ha I told her those are not make-up they are from being a tired mom and not sleeping well in our hotel!

I could tell you that the sand is so fine that it is impossible to get it off your body and will forever be all over our car...
or I could tell you that the sand is so white and soft on your feet it is unbelievable.

I could tell you about how we have joked that we feel homeless roaming around from Walmart to Costco, back to Walmart then Target, etc just so we don't have to hang out in our hotel room...
or I could tell you how fun it has been to spend so much time at the beach and how pretty Downtown Jax is.

I could tell you that one day we spent 7 hours stranded(one car was in the shop) in our hotel room while Tommy was at school and I about ripped out my hair...
or I could tell you that the kids have had a blast exploring the halls, swimming, meeting new friends, running in the rain and more!
( In the above pic Samantha took her scriptures outside and when I went out to her she said, "If you are gonna be out here please be quiet cuz I am trying to study the gospel and this is the only quiet place I can find." So funny!)

I could tell you about how hard it has been without a real kitchen- our stove fills our room with smoke every time we cook and we are just sure the smoke alarm is going to go off. Which, one night it did go off at midnight and Tommy and I were just looking at each other trying to figure how we would get our 3 sleeping kids outside. Luckily it was only a false alarm (someone was cooking popcorn;) Also, how hard it has been living without a washer and dryer- paying 4 bucks per load.
Or I could tell you how much the kids have loved having picnics in our room and our hotel rocks!

I could tell you how horrible I feel about having my baby sleep in the closet for 2 weeks...
or I could tell you about how awesome our kids have done in the situation- after the 1st night Hannah seriously goes to bed right away.

I could tell you about how we had to get out of our hotel so we went to stay with our friends in Gainesville for a couple days and our kids had a blast hanging out together swimming, playing in the sprinklers, going to the beach and more...
or I could tell that by the end of 3 days our kids were completely starting to fall apart and while Bree was driving me home I held a bag of Addi's vomit in a grocery bag! (she ended up throwing up twice on the way there, 5 times at the beach, and 4 times on the way home)

Bottom line, although our first 12 days in Florida have been a little bumpy it doesn't taint my excitement about living in the sunshine state. But my oh my am I ready to get settled and have some routine of normalcy return. Basically since the beginning of May we have been living out of suit cases, and our routine has been anything but normal. Although we have had a lot of fun on the past couple months and it has been quite the adventure, I am so excited to once and for all unpack our bags, sleep in my own bed, use my own washer and dryer and just do normal day to day activities with my kiddies, cook dinner for my hubby and have some down time. I know our next 12 days there will still be a lot of adjusting and new things but we welcome it and can't wait to move in tomorrow!!!!

Is this a sign?...

2011-06-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

Our journey getting to Florida was not so sunny. Every time something else went wrong I kept joking asking Tommy if this was some sort of sign we were not meant to be in Florida. Our adventure began when we woke up at 5 am for our flight. Moments that stand out to me:

We were stoked to bypass most of the security line to go to the "stroller line" but the ticket man was not so nice. He looked at me after 5 mins and said, "Are you ready now? ... every time I looked at you you were busy doing something." I replied with a chuckle, " Yes, with 3 kids there are hardly ever moments when we are not doing something." He grumbled, "No thank you, you can keep the kids." Well Mr. Grumpy I would rather be busy taking care of 3 wiggle worms than be a bitter old man! grrr!
our 1st flight was looooong. For basically the entire 3 1/2 hours Hannah was not a happy camper refusing to sleep or sit still.
when we landed we discovered we only had 20 mins to get off the plane, and get to our next flight. So two elevators, an air tram and lots of running later we were the last people to board our plane!
Tommy went to get our van from the long term parking and called me to tell me he had a flat tire- what?! So I was left to entertain 3 tired kids in the airport for another hour and half.
While waiting for Tommy, Samantha and Parks desperately needed to go potty...the dilemma: what to do with our stuff. I asked a worker to keep an eye on it but she said FDA regulations didn't allow her to. So I pulled Tommy's 70 pound golf bag, my camera bag and the diaper bag, Samantha pulled Tommy's 50 pound bag and Parks pushed a 25 pound baby in her stroller. Alas, we made it to the bathroom and all was well... until we were sitting back in our section and I realized I left my phone in the bathroom! So we had to load up all our stuff for round two clear across the lobby to the bathroom.
After sweating in the Florida heat for over an hour Tommy finally found the spare, changed it and got back to us
went to Walmart to get tire fixed, walked to Wendy's while we waited and then shopped around during the 2 hour wait.
at 7:00pm we were finally on our way to see our new place! phew! We checked out the park and pool and let the kids play for a bit while I marveled at what our new life will be like. It was a long journey to get here...and one that is still not over while we campout in our hotel for 11 more days...but I love our new place and think it will be well worth what it takes to get there!

the pics to document the memorable day we moved to Florida!

our park and pool area for the town house we will live at:) aka where I will spend all my days!

I had to throw this pic in from tonight (day 2 in Jax) . After dinner we decided to be wild and crazy and go check out the beach...even though it was raining. It ended up being the best choice- when we saw the white sandy beach we all ran into the water rain and all. I think we are going to love the rain here since it's so hot and humid the rain is a welcomed treat and feels awesome. Plus it only lasts a few mins then it's done.
I'm not sure who was running, squealing or leaping more the kids or I? The sand was the smoothest my feet have ever felt and the water was so nice it felt like bath water. I seriously felt like I had died and gone to heaven! I kept telling Tommy how happy I am at the beach- I just can't believe this is our life and we will actually be living within 10 mins of my heaven. Bottom line I am one happy lady right now and can't wait to start our life here in Jacksonville:) blah blah blah ok I'll stop being annoying now and won't go on and on ...and there is no need to be jealous... we have an extra bedroom so visitors are welcome anytime!! ;)
( I wasn't able to get any pics of us frolicking on the beach since I was worried about soaking my camera in the rain, so the afterwards naked pics is all I got:)
p.s. after reading some of the comments I feel like I need to add a '.ps.' for all my Virginia gals: Of course I am missing my Virginia gals/ life like crazy! But I feel like we are still kinda in "vacation mode" and we have not settled into real life quite yet. I am sure that once we do reality will hit me and it's gonna be rough for a bit...so don't worry VA ladies I have not completly moved on- the beach is just my 'rebound' to get my mind off my mourning my VA lose right now!!!:) hee hee

Saying goodbye to Virginia

2011-06-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

In our last couple days in Virginia we took Tommy's parents to some of our favorite places as we said goodbye to Virginia. One of our first stops was checking out where Tommy spent his dental school days. Tommy showed them the clinic and made the tour a bit more personal by taking them by his beloved locker:)

Next stop was the enchanting Maymont Park. Oh how we will miss this park! The gardens, the petting zoo, the acres and acres of rolling hills and fun trees to climb and the fact that it was all free!

It wouldn't be right if we went to Maymont without running into the Dalling family!!! So funny that literally both times I have taken Barb we have run into Emily and her family...great minds think alike right?!

On Sunday we took a break from packing and went to see Mike's sister. His sister lives in Buena Vista but we met in the middle at her sons house in Charlottesville. They live in my dream home complete with a pool, Victorian style home with a huge deck over looking the pond for canoeing, and a rope swing in the front...it is beautiful!!!

This pic best describes how we spent our last night in Virginia... cleaning, eating on paper products, living off donuts since our kitchen was packed up and my favorite part is the two sleeping pills my father in law left out for me. (I had told him how I was nervous I would not be able to sleep especially since I had to be up and chipper at 5 am y across the country with 3 kids. From VA to SLC is about a 12 hour travel day)
and I really needed a sleeping pill to keep me from staying awake all night thinking about saying good bye to our home at Chelsea Square...

I took pics before all the moving madness began. Our little townhouse of 1200 square feet may not have been huge, but the rooms were quite spacious. Especially compared to our 550 sq. ft. apartment we lived in for 4 years before dental school! But sure enough 4 years and three kids later we had completely filled and out grown every sq. inch of our VA home.

Our Living Room/ play room/ anything else room:)

the desk was in our room while we lived there but we moved in downstairs when we were getting ready for our yard sale.

Our bedroom that I never really got around to doing any fabulous decorating in (but still wanted to take pics to remember it).

The kids bedroom

This room sure has been ever evolving. When we 1st moved in it was just Samantha's room and we were getting ready for baby #2. Then Parks joined her in the room, and a year and half after that Hannah bear joined the party! We usually keep our nursing babies our bedroom for the 1st 6 months or so just so it's easier for me and they don't wake the other kids. And every time we get ready to put another baby in the kids room we are so worried about how they will all cope...but they always surprise us and do just fine. Since our kids are so close in age and great nappers (nap till they are over 3 yrs old) we had to get creative during nap time. We would usually have someone nap in our bedroom and the babe sleep in the kids room.

I didn't get pics of the kitchen before it was destroyed nor the bathrooms but they were pretty basic...except for the fact that our washer and dryer were in the kitchen.
After three kids and four years we certainly did outgrow our little home in Chelsea Square. Living the "poor student" life certainly got interesting at times like squeezing three kids into one bedroom, having your washer and dryer in the kitchen, not having a garage nor a fenced in backyard, basically outgrowing and using every sq. inche of our home!
But I always joke that when the time comes that I do have my nice big kitchen I will be saying, "curse you big kitchen cabinets! I will take my dental student friends/ days any time over you!" hee hee. I know that the experience we had during our four years at dental school were irreplaceable and we truly loved it all!
Now here we are getting ready to move to FLORIDA... in less than 10 hours our new adventure begins! We have MANY mixed emotions about what it will bring us. Mainly my head is just filled with dozens of question marks:

will we survive 12 days in our sweet extended stay until our town house is ready to move- in?
Will Tommy be able to move us in all by himself since our move-in date is on a Sunday and we can't exactly recruit the ward to help on the Sabbath?
what will our neighbors be like? will they have any kids for our little ones to play with?
how long will it take my to unpack my house with three kids and no-one to pawn my kids off to while I work?
what will our new ward be like?
How will registering Samantha for kindergarten go?

I could go on and on but bottom line the next couple weeks be be one big adventure for our little family of five! We know things will fall into place as they always do and are excited for what our future holds...to be continued;)

How will we manag

Life's (not) a beach

2011-06-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Oh where to begin?! So my baby sis (who at almost 20 years old and is not such a bay anymore!) has Cystic Fibrosis and has not been feeling so hot lately. When we got into town she was finishing up a two week hospital stay. We were so excited for her to get out so we could start playing. She was out for less than two weeks and was readmitted on Tuesday. (out of the last 12 weeks she has been in the hosp 6 of them)
So Erin and I went to visit her yesterday- let's just say it was a big day in many ways- poor girl!!!
For one it was her 2 YEAR anniversary since her lung surgery which is a great thing to celebrate... but then something not so great happened...

While we were visiting her my little brother called in hysterics screaming to my mom, "I need help! I think Astra's dog is dead!!! Please come help me!" Oh poor kid! So I immediately called Tommy and we had him and Troy go over to help him. My brother went outside and found tiny little Paisley lying on the ground stiff as a board with flies around her. I will spare you the rest of the sad details, bottom line she passed away and there were a lot of tears shed that day. Astra's missionary gave her the dog before he left on his mission, just adding drama to the situation- heart break right?! It was sad being there with her and to make matters worse anytime a new nurse, doc, or therapist came into her room they would all say how sorry they were. I guess it was all the buzz in the hall and everyone was talking about it. ( We finally told her social worker to tell everyone to please stop bringing it up) I decided we needed some fresh air so we loaded our baby sis in her wheels and took off. It was so funny in the hall we saw a male nurse and as soon as he saw Astra he put his head down and tried not to say anything awkward. It seriously made us crack us and we definitely teased him about it!
I just thought it was a bit humorous that we were having this whole sad business in Astra's happy beach themed room. So I had to take a pic of Astra by her sign that says, "Life is a Beach." When I asked her to pose in front of it she wasn't super thrilled about taking a pic with puffy eyes so I told her she could flip the sign the bird if made her feel better:)

My sis is seriously one of thee strongest persons I know and I look up to her in so many ways! I love her fun and lively personality and she is such a joy to be around. I hope she knows just how much we love her and are rooting for her to get better SOON!!!! Love you little "A"!!!!

Introducing Doctor Dunn

2011-06-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

It's official Tommy is now known in his profession as Doctor Dunn! C.R.A.Z.Y!!! It's such a surreal feeling knowing we are finished with dental school. Before we left my grandma and Tommy's parents and told me medical/ dental school was the best time's of their lives and to enjoy it as it will fly by. I remember thinking they were crazy for saying such things as being a poor dental student living clear across the country from all my friends and family did not sound one bit fun... let alone how could FOUR miserable years fly by...but right they were! Tommy and I got married and had our first child in Utah but we actually became a family in Virginia. I truly feel that our little family grew closer in ways that we would not have otherwise done if not thrown into this crazy world of dental school. True, it was not always easy...but what blessings in life come without hard work and sacrifice? All the late nights studying, cramming three kids into one bedroom, spending 14 rotations our 4th year as a single mom, missing countless family reunions and events and much more was a tiny price to pay for the irreplaceable experience we had during dental school.

It's crazy to look at this pic of us at our very first dental school BBQ where Samantha was only 16 months old and Parks was a little 17 week bump...

compared to this pic from graduation where Samantha is 5, Parks is 3 and Hannah is 1 1/2!!! A lot sure has changed in four short years!

Graduation Ceremony
I really wanted to be able to focus on my guy during graduation so we left Parks and Hannah with a friend and Samantha got to join the adults. She was really good during the LONG two hours, and was so proud to cheer when her daddy went on the stage. Tommy's parents flew out for graduation and we were so happy they were there the share our special day!

It's hard to express just how proud I am of my hard working hubby...but I think this beaming smile shows it:) I went up to take a pic of him reading his dental pledge and Marci offered to take a pic of me next to Tommy during it. Lucky for me he was sitting right on the end so I was able to hang out with him for a lot of the ceremony. I loved how friendly they were about encouraging us to run up and take pics anytime we wanted and when the Dean ended his speech with, "If you are going to cheer...cheer loud!!!!" Which of course we all gave a big loud cheer to:)

My cute friend Emily and I waited at the front to get pics of our Doctors get hooded on stage.

It was so cute that in honor of VCU making it to the final four this year they had a game ball signed by the basketball team and all the new doctors signed and rubbed it for good luck.

Dental school just would not have been the same without these amazing friends to experience it with!

After graduation we picked up our two babes and went to celebrate at the yummy Dora's Brazilian Grill.

After dinner we walked around the Canal Walk...which I thought was super fitting since it is one of the 1st places we went to when moving to Virginia and it was one of the last places we went to before we moved away from Virginia. Boo:(

It's strange I pictured life being so different once Tommy graduated and was an actual doctor....
but not much has changed at all. We are still the same silly family who as it turns out are still going to be jobless and poor students for at least a couple more years! But we welcome this new adventure and are excited for what our future holds.

Our LASTS in Virginia

2011-06-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

Our last month in Virginia we experienced a lot of "lasts"...and I was not one bit dramatic about any of it:) One of my favorites was our last scraps night. All the girls planned a secret suprise last scraps that was so sweet and oh so fun! The night included yearbooks that we all passed around and signed, superlatives were awarded, they made a top ten list for each of us, and made a DVD with pics from all 4 years in VA. I truly could not have picked better girls to have shared this experience with!!!

This is the LAST park play date that I will plan with my girls- boo!:(

The LAST time the kiddies will wave goodbye to their daddy out this little kitchen window.

In our LAST month in VA Tommy was able to check going to a Nascar Race of his VA bucket list.

We had fun at our LAST ward gathering where we helped clean-up the James River for a service project.

The kids lived it up at the splash fountains one last time.

and on our LAST night sleeping at Chelsea Square we went out for our final walk. As usual we didn't make it too far before we saw friends and stopped for a chat as more and more friends gathered around. It was heart wrenching watching our little kiddies give hugs and giggle together knowing it will never happen again.

But we all put on a happy face for the camera and tried to mask our puffy eyes. It was ridiculous: someone new would walk up to our group and even before words were exchanged tears were shed.


The boys had a last get together to watch a game/ chat like little girls:) I hated knowing all these times would be our LAST in Virginia. We were so spoiled to have had the best four years ever and just didn't want any of it to end!!!

Can you picture your doctor doing this?...

2011-06-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

On our graduation trip we did have tons of fun in the sun...but when we were not lounging at the beach we were inside playing just as hard. The kids fav indoor activities were playing games, running around chasing each other, playing hide and seek and dancing around with their friends. The adults activities didn't vary much from the kids! Once the kids went to bed it was a party all night long...as in we stayed up every night till after midnight. (the girls and guys took turns sleeping in the next morning:)

"Baby when the lights go out...." Sorry but I couldn't resist some cheesy lyrics to describe our night time fun! In this pic I am not closing my eyes for Hide and Seek ( although I am not above doing that on these beach trips:) but we wre playing a much more mature guessing game. David bought tons of different drinks and we had to guess the difference between Sprite, Sierra Mist, Caffeine vs. non- caffeine drinks, Coke vs. Pepsi and more.

As always kinect dance off's were hilarious!

Several times throughout this trip I thought, " Can I picture my doctor doing this?!" It is just funny seeing all these guys who are now doctors do such silly things! In the dental/ medical world they are all very professional...but after hours there are just a bunch of goofballs!

Tommy acting out Tony the Tiger....and below is Nick acting out nursing bra...many laughs were had!:)

Our night version of wiffle ball was cut short by all the creepy crabs that kept crawling all over us- freaky!!!

Nightly hot tubing was also a fav activity and so cool hearing the waves crashing in the darkness.

Loved this trip, loved the house, loved the yummy meals, loved being right on the beach, but most of all I LOVED all the people we shared the week with!!!!

Graduation trip Virginia Beach style!

2011-06-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

To celebrate graduating dental/ med school we thought we would go out with a bang and spend the week at Virginia Beach! The details:

16 adults + 16 kiddies + one huge ocean front beach house= hours and hours of non-stop fun!!!!

Warning: I did not even attempt to limit the pics I posted... and this is only our outdoor fun pics...the indoor pics are still to come oh boy right?!

From left to right: Dallings, Sanfords, Sharps, Spendloves, Dunn's, Sedwicks, and the Nobles

Chelsey, Emily, Marci, Sara, Jenna, Lindsey, Heather, & Alyson

The Boys: Nick, Nate, Tim, David, Jake, Richard, Tommy & Andy

The babes born in 2009: Rhett, Sienna, Griffy and Hannah

One of the afternoons we went to the boardwalk to listen to a live band and play. Naturally when the boot scootin' boogy came on Jenna I broke out into a line dance!

We thought we would brave the ocean, but after our feet hit the water we all chickened out! I promise Jenna and I did not plan our whimpy pose...we are naturally freaked out in the same silly pose!:)

One of the funnest things about the house was the hot tub overlooking the ocean. The kids definitely got good use out of it:)

Hannah was all smiles runnign by the water...but all it took was one big wave to take her out and she avoided the water the rest of the trip!

This is a perfect portraylal of Hannah's personality- while everyone else jumps in having a good time... she is taking her time getting warmed up to the situation.

but after a few minutes of scoping out the situation she is joining in the fun!

Tommy was learning how to skim board and said, "hey babe, get a pic of this!" and this is what I got... him flat on his booty!... but now to worry i did get a pic of him catchin' a sweet ride.

...somebody didn't do so hot putting the sunscreen on:) Poor girl!

Jenna, Emily and I took our turns attempting the skim boards...I had about one good run and quit while I was still standing:)

Visiting a foreign country...

2011-05-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have been in Utah for 3 days and I feel like I am visiting a foreign country.

They speak in words I don't understand using words like 'shellac' and have fashions I have never seen before...like all the girls (including two of my cute friends and my sister) have feathers weaved into their hair. They all pull it off and it looks super cute...but a little strange for me to understand at first:)

(for my Virginia girls shellac is a special type of nail polish you get put on at the salon and it makes it so your polish stays on longer...I hope I explained that right)

Everyone here is BEAUTIFUL! I went to the movies last night with my sis and friend and could not stop staring at all the beautiful people. Every one's clothes were such high fashion, including the boys who also bleach their hair (not seen in VA) and even though it is bitter cold here somehow everyone is super tan. I even saw a pretty girl wearing a cute outfit but she had these strange dots painted on her face with her make-up. What?!

I seriously feel so out of place here...back East it's just sooooo different and I guess I have become accustomed to it. You can go to Walmart in your sweats, a pony tail, no make-up and still feel like your lookin' pretty good...but here I'm not so sure I would dare brave Walmart Virginia style:)

Last night Megs was laughing at me cuz I kept talking about how when I am in Utah I just have to eat cuz they have such great food here! I mat have even compared it to being in Paris and needing to try all the yummy food:) I am a burrito girl and VA does not have any good mexican, Rubio's, Rumbi grill, Pei Wei, Paradise Bakery, Zuppas, Cafe Rio...ah I could go on and on:)

I forget how to get places and have been getting lost driving around.

Have I really been gone that long???
What other new trends do I need to catch up on so I don't look like a dummy and act shocked when I see it???

p.s. So bummer deal- Tommy was not able to find us a house:( I have been on the phone and comp non-stop for 3 days trying to help them find a place for every place the yfound we had to:
1. google how far it was from Tommy's school (he has school till 6 so we didn't want to be further than 15 mins)
2. make sure it was in a good ward that at least has a primary:) (I talked to a couple girls to get advice)
3. make sure we were in an area with a good elementary school- most of the schools are not great in FL so this was super tricky
Hence, it has been crazy!!!
There are a couple of possibilities that might work out... but Tommy and his dad ended up having to unload all our stuff into storage with just Tommy and his dad in the pouring rain! What an adventure this is turning out to be...I hope and pray that things will work out before we get there.

In a state of shock

2011-05-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

Right now I feel like I am numb to everything that has just happened and I am in a state of shock. Every year we watch the 4th years graduate and move, and I always feel safe like it won't happen to me for such a long time. But against all my hopes and wishes our time did come.
This past two weeks has been such a whirlwind of events and emotions I have not even had time to stop and process it all...which is probably a good thing. Things were crazy busy up until the minute we left.
We went to Virginia Beach for 6 days with our graduating friends
Tuesday got home from the beach with less than 2 hours until Gala started (a dinner dance for graduation)
Wed, preschool, Samantha's last ballet performance, an eye app, pack laundry, grocery shop, etc
Thurs, preschool, pack, clean, get ready for Tommy's parents to come in and tie up loose ends
Friday pick up Tommy's parents, grab a quick lunch and head to graduation, go to out to dinner to celebrate Tommy becoming a DOCTOR- weird
Saturday pack, clean, visit my favorite place one more time-Maymont
Sunday church, then go to Charlottesville to visit some family
Monday load the truck, clean, watch Bachelorette with the girls and say goodbye to my friends and life in Virginia
Tuesday leave at 5 am for the airport while I cry driving out of Chelsea Square one final time, travel for 10 hours with 2 adults, three kids, a huge car seat, stroller, and three carry on bags

These last two weeks I felt like I was being swept down stream and was trying desperately to get things to just slowly down...but things just kept moving and now I have been in Utah for a couple hours and things are starting to sink in:
Our four years of dental school are over- meaning the fantasy world of living of dental school. Living
in the same neighborhood as dozens of your best friends all of which are in the same situation as you has come to an end.
We said many tearful good byes to friends who become our family over the years knowing we will most likely never see each other again.
I watched my kids give last hugs to all their little buddies while I sat by and cried with their mommies.

I know life will go on and the sting will eventually wear away...but for now I just needed to get all this off my chest.
To my Virginia family- thanks for all your help during our move and for making our dental experience a time that we will never forget! Miss and love you ALL already!!!!

As I am writing this post I am eaves dropping on my kids talking about how we will NEVER EVER go back to Virginia again. Parks said, "so does that mean I will never see Whit?"
Samantha, "That's right, we won't ever see our friends again."
Break my heart all over again! :(

p.s. of course I plan to post pics of all these events but that will have to wait till Tommy gets here with our computer...right now he is in Jacksonville with his dad trying to find us a new home. I am super anxious about it all working out and praying they can find a place so we don't get off the plane with all 5 of us and no place to live. Plus, that would mean they would have to unload our stuff from the Uhual to storage, back to a Uhual, then to our new place- ugh! I so hope we don't have to go that route, but am trying to be positive believeing that like in the past everything will work out.

While the kiddies sleep the mommies...

2011-05-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Play cops and robbers!
If our kiddies only had any idea that while they sleep peacefully their mommies are running around like crazies!

Somehow the brilliant idea came up for us to play the night game cops and robbers...it didn't take much convincing to get a bunch of girls on board for a night of fun!

(These pics are from our 1st night out back in November and the second set is from May. ) For those not familiar with the game you split up in two groups: the cops and the robbers. The point is for the robbers to get to a designated point without the cops finding them. So the robbers go in groups of two and try to get there as quick as possible without getting caught.. which means there was a lot of squealing, running, diving/ falling in ditches and even hopping fences!
I thought Heather's description of finding me was pretty funny so I am quoting from her blog,

"Emily and I found the first two renegades crouching in a ditch by the side of the road. We were flashing lights at them and yelling names, but they did not move. We started to wonder if we were yelling at trash bags, but they kept giggling and we knew we had them."

Again in Heathers words:

"On my last round Sara and I were running through an apartment complex. Sara started to say, "I think this grass is wet," but it was too late my feet started to sink in to mud but my body continued to propel forward and I face planted in the muddy, watery mess. Sara and I were dying laughing, but also trying compose ourselves/avoid peeing our pants."

Round two was equally as wild and crazy and non-stop fun! It is so funny seeing all of us run our little hearts out in complete darkness trying not to fall. The scariest part is going through the forest where you literally cannot see anything in front of you...so you have no idea a branch is right in front of you until it hits you in the face!

Marci brought donuts for the cops- how funny!

This pic is supposed to make fun of how much longer Cindy and I's legs are compared to all the shorties:) They teased us that while that for every one step we made they had to take 3 or four!
I love these girls and am so glad they are always up for a good time!:)

Hannie bear at 18 months...

2011-05-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

I had to wait till I had Hannah's 18 month app so I could post her stats- better late than never!

Hannah is now 20 months and in Parker's words "she is one cwazy woman!" She is by far our most active and curious child yet.

If I could only use a couple pics to describe all of her crazy loves these would be it:

This girl LOVES BUTTER!!! She will sneak into the fridge, grab handfuls, then hide in a corner and use them to paint whatever is her canvas for the day!:) So far she has just put it everywhere but her mouth which I don't know where I would rather her put it- the couch or her mouth... how bout neither?!

Although, butter is her favorite material of choice she also likes markers...and will find them anywhere. She has dug to the bottom of boxes I have packed, found markers and proceeded to color on the couch and walls.

She is super SHY! Whenever she is around new people...or most people other than her family she will assume this pose until she warms up to you. She will keep her eyes to the ground, hands in fists and basically freeze. It's kinda cute, but I do feel bad that she is so timid and scared around others- hopefully she will grow out of it:)

This pic sums her up in a nut shell- she is all about the accessories...even if it means she is wearing nothing else. Plus, she is doing her timid hands up pose!

She LOVES sweets and has the thighs to prove it! Seriously get a load of those thunder thighs- i just can't get enough of this chunky girly!:)

This is what I most often see of her- her back side as she runs away! Most of the time she does not walk she runs...and runs FAST!!! I also love her cute little piggy tails- melt my heart:)

She is a climber! Her fav place in the house is on top of the kitchen table. She would stay up there all day long if I let her!

I say she is a daddy's girl...

and Tommy says she is a mommy's girl...

Either way she is super loved!!!

I think she is getting to be quite the little talker these days and her vocab includes but is not limited to:

mama, mommy, dada, go!, mine, wuv u, auw dun (all dune), uh-oh,wawa (water) , more, byyyyyeeee, hiiiiii, nana, pa-er (parker) and more.

Despite the wild woman in her she also still has a sweet side:) She will still snuggle with us anytime we request it and she gives the best kisses ever! We love our Hannie Bear:)

18 month stats:

Weight: 23 lbs 10.5 oz. (25-50%)

Height: 31 1/2 inches (25-50%)

Head: 18 1/2 (50%)

"aRgh" you looking at me?!

2011-05-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry I couldn't resist the pirate joke!

When I was prego with Samantha I said there were 3 things that I really hoped she did not inherit from her daddy:
1. His big toe (as in it's so abnormally huge it made the school year book!)
2. His super white skin
3. His horrible eyes and thus have to sport the eye patch like he did
Don't get me wrong or think I am insensitive- I think my hubby is the bomb now... but when he was younger...well those of you who knew him in those days know what I am talking about. And those who don't let me paint you a picture: bright orange spiky hair, coke bottle glasses with chums, freckles and super fair skin. Despite all of that Tommy was always super confident- I just didn't know how my little girl would handle all that? Well as fate would have it poor Samantha got all three traits I feared- the big toe, super white skin, and now the patch! But lucky for her she rocks all three just like her daddy did. She is so stinkin' cute that a silly little thing like a patch will not deter her in the slightest.
The story:
When they tested Samantha's eye's last month they discovered her left eye is still super weak with the glasses...as in she is basically blind in that eye. It was so heart breaking again watching her take the eye test and realizing she cannot see anything with that eye!
Treatment: patch the weak eye for just two hours every day for 6 weeks then go in for a follow-up
How did Samantha take the news: At first she was super worried about what people would think and if her friends would laugh at her- but she perked up a little when we started decorating her eye patches with stickers. She is pretty good at putting it on- we try to do it while we are at home as she does get a little embarrassed when her friends see her wearing it. We have had a couple slightly funny moments with running into screen doors and such... ok she will laugh about it later:)
As you can see from her pic she still thinks she is a rock star so I feel like I can joke about it a little:)
Go Samantha go!!!

A very happy birthday indeed!

2011-05-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

As fate would have it Tommy was on rotation for on my birthday. (Ok it's not that shocking that out of 15 rotations one would fall on my b-day.) You would think that at my old age of 28 I would not mind and would be over birthdays by now...but not so! I was so bummed he was going to be gone and may have "boo-who-ed" just a tiny bit to some friends about it...but why was I ever worried it turned out just lovely!

We went to a play date at the park in the afternoon for my friend Sarah's boot party.

After naps we were hanging with our back yard neighbors and Dane offered to throw a burger on the grill for me...then he offered to grill for Marci and Jackie who were out playing with us. One thing led to another and soon we were all gathering supplies for an impromptu BBQ. In no time at all we had hamburgers, hot dogs, a fruit salad, baked beans,corn and chips...not bad at all!

Later that night my sweet friends Jess and Lara (I wish I took a pic with Lara!) threw a "scraps for Sara" birthday bash! Lara was so concerned about my whining about missing scraps while Tommy was gone on my b-day, so she arranged a special night in my honor. (Tommy was supposed to get home by 9, but was late so he called a buddy to come over and sit with our kids. But when he got in town he stopped by Lara's to give me a much appreciated birthday hug...which is a super big deal for a guy who does not like doing things that draw attention to him:)

It was a big group effort where the girls had all my fav treats: starbursts, Marci's divine strawberry cheesecake, cinnamon rolls, funfetti cake, banana bread and sooo much more!

Lara had everyone take a quiz to see who knew me best and I was quite honored at well they all know me!

Lara had the girls share fav stories about me: some were juicy and embarassing but I was touched with so many thoughtful memories. I seriously am so blessed to have the best girls ever to share this experience with!!!

We celebrated with the kids the next night and had a date night down town with dinner and a movie. It was a fabulous birthday and I totally felt the love from sooo many friends and family- thanks for making my day extra special this year!!!!

2011-05-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Easter weekend! It was filled with all my favorite usual traditions: celebrating and remembering the birth or our Savior, our annual student Easter egg hunt, and matching outfits for church.

In case you are worried about my sense of style, it was wet and a little rainy so unexpectedly I had to wear my rain boots...which in turn left me looking a bit like a pirate:)

We love getting together with all our friends for our Easter egg hunt and yummy brunch. I didn't get a group photo... it was a little tricky gathering 70 + people for a group photo!:)

It was no shocker when Jess and I showed up matching as usual. We seriously do this ALL the time- unintentionally! Neither of us have ever worn these shirts and yet just showed up twinners- we find it quite humorous:)

The kids woke up happy to see the Easter bunny had hopped over to our house.

I took my 1st attempt at sewing clothes and made the girls their Easter outfits...they are in no way perfect but I am happy with the way they turned out. Super simple but I think the print makes them super cute- that and the fact that the models wearing them could make any outfit darling in my book!

I didn't get a pic of the V-neck back but it's really cute on this little baba! Before we moved to Virginia my mom made all of Samantha's bows and dresses. But once I moved out here I realized it was time I learned a few tricks myself. I love the blogging world that will teach you anything your little heart desires! I realize my tricks are quite simple compared to the crazy talented sewing/ crafting world... but I am content with these new found skills for now:)

Later Easter night we had a little impromptu BBQ dinner. I love being able to throw together a last minute gathering with dear friends.

And the entertainment was awesome!!!.. and a little dangerous if you ask me:)

Happy Easter!!!

In one week...

2011-05-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

With less than a month in Virginia our schedules have been jam packed with trying to squeeze in all of our "lasts." Just how much fun can you fit into ONE week?...
On MONDAY

We started the week off with a picnic play date at Crump park and farm.

Hannah's new word is "Weeeee!" and it is just my favorite thing lately! When she gets a rockin' she just lights up with a joy that is so contagious!!!

How sweet is this moment with all three of them going down the slide together?! It was so cute watching Samantha guide Hannah up the steps sayings, "Come here sweetheart." Then when she got to the top watching Parks help her sit and give her a little push down.

Crump park is one of our favorites, the kids love the train!

Next we were off to to check out the animals.

We ended the field trip with a little game of Ring Around the Rosy...where Marci snuck up on me and snapped some action shots:)
And since blogger hates me, I will be posting each day in it's own post- lame I know!