Happy Birthday Aaron!

Aaron turned 7 in January! His birthday was on a Sunday this year and also happened to be the day his baby cousin Emma was getting blessed. That means the morning was spent with his cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's house which was honestly perfect for him. 

For his birthday dinner this year, Aaron picked to eat loaded baked potato soup which is one of his favorites. After dinner we had cake. He asked for a minion funfetti cake this year and luckily, I found a super easy to follow tutorial online. It turned out great!

The biggest gift we got Aaron this year was a box of Nerf guns and gear. He and his brothers had fun shooting at targets and each other for the rest of that week!

As far as birthday parties go, this is the year everyone can have a party with friends. For some reason, Aaron was nervous and didn't want to have a friend party though. So, we compromised with all the boys and his cousin Charlie going to play mini golf instead. They had a blast!

Aaron sure is a fun kid! He loves to tell jokes and make people laugh and he's a great brother. We sure love having him in our family!

Brooke had a birthday!

Brooke is our summer birthday kiddo and just like her mom and dad, she'll probably have many memories of birthdays on the road.

This year, we spent the morning of her birthday in the car which is pretty lame. But we left early enough that we were able to get to Carson City, NV by lunch time and did a fun waterfall hike!

After that, we let Brooke pick out a birthday cake and headed to our hotel. 

The rest of the evening was spent eating pizza and cake and swimming in the hotel pool and hot tub. Brooke said it was her best birthday ever!

Since we knew we would be on vacation the whole week after, we decided to do Brooke's birthday dinner and presents on Friday, the night before we left.

For dinner, she asked for her favorite, quesadilla casserole. 

After dinner, Brooke opened her presents. This year she asked for a doctor playset again. Since she already has a lot of doctor toys, I got her new scrubs that came with a first aid bag and a working stethoscope. I filled the rest of the bag with a real thermometer, ice pack bag, and fun Band-Aids. She loved it!

One other thing that she asked for specifically was a "My Sweet Love" baby doll. She said she didn't care which one as long as it was a girl with a pink outfit. With that as the only stipulation, I got her one that had some cute accessories rather than play diapers like the other pink ones had. Brooke loves the baby doll and told me she wanted it so she could practice being a big sister to get ready for November.

Our Brooke just gets kinder and smarter each year. She enjoys taking ballet classes and has started learning the violin. We love having our Brookie girl in our family and are looking forward to the year ahead! 

We love you Brookie!

Welcome Sweet Baby Emily

Our sweet Emily Jean joined our family in November and we all love her so much! In fact, maybe a little too much from Zack and Sam. Haha!

Although I was definitely ready to not be pregnant anymore when she came, I was still a little surprised when she came a few days early. David was the only one that was early so far so I was fully expecting to make it to my due date.

On Monday night I went to bed and then woke up from a contraction at 12:30 am. This had happened twice before during the past week so I used the restroom and tried to go back to bed but kept track of my contractions just in case. Around 2 I realized I was not going to be able to sleep and that my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. At this point, I realized I wasn't completely ready for the hospital yet, so I got up to finish preparing. I wrote out the list for my mother in law so she knew the kids' schedule and I made sure the rest of my hospital bag was ready. I even decided to straighten my hair since I had just showered the night before. Haha!

Even with how painful my contractions were, I was still in denial that it was go time since most of my past ones hadn't come early. By 4:30 am, my contractions were about 10 minutes apart and we called John's mom to come over. We got to the hospital at 5 and checked in.

The nurses had me go into a triage room and said I'd be sent home if I wasn't at a 5 and wasn't progressing. They had no idea this was my 6th baby and I'm sure they were rolling their eyes in their heads when I walked in and in a very normal way told them my contractions were pretty painful and were 8 to 10 minutes apart. They were very surprised when they checked and I was dilated to an 8! As usual, they made the comment that I wasn't acting like someone that is at an 8. Thank you high pain tolerance!

After checking in to a room, I got an IV and an epidural and waited for my doctor to say I was close enough to push. Once I got to that point, my doctor checked me and the baby's head was half way out! He said he wasn't even going to tell me to push and waited to see if the next contraction would push her out, and it did! My doctor said he doesn't think he's ever had a delivery before where the mom didn't even have to push. So that was pretty crazy!

And just like that, our sweet little Emily was here. She was born at exactly 8 am on Tuesday, November 4th.

For the entire pregnancy, I kept feeling like her name should be Emma, even after finding out that was what my sister in law Lindsay was going to name her baby. But that Monday night before going to bed, the name Emily kept going through my head. And once our sweet girl was here, it just felt right.

Emily's middle name we decided would be Jean. John has so much respect for my mom and grandma that when I suggested using the middle name they both share for Emily, he loved the idea! It was sweet to call my mom and my grandma afterwards and surprise them.

Once Emily was here, it was just recovery for me and her just learning how to be alive. This was the first time I was actually thinking about going home from the hospital early. The idea of being comfortable in my own bed was nice but the fact that I didn't have to cook and clean and had a little more quiet time was what kept me there. I love my kiddos but a house of 5 excited kids plus a baby is not exactly relaxing and I knew they'd be dropped off as soon as we got home.

Having Emily in our family has been sweet. These cute little boys love her so much! Zack was immediately making sure he would be a favorite with all the cuddles and kisses he gave her. He learned early on how to sneak into my room where she was napping on my bed and roll her over onto his chest. We had to be careful with that since one time he rolled her over onto himself and fell asleep. Sammy has also been loving his new little sister but he kisses and hugs a little too hard sometimes. I've been having to help him learn to be softer and give him extra attention when I notice he needs it. Our other kiddos love her just as much, especially Brooke who is happy to finally have a little sister!

We love our sweet Emily and are excited to see the wonderful person she will become. Welcome to the family sweet girl!

Bodega Bay Vacay

With how busy last year was, we didn't make it to the ocean like we had originally planned. Instead, we put it off until this year and it came at the perfect time! We invited my sisters Tami and Julia to come along and all of us definitely needed the break!

To start off our trip, I got roped into another time share presentation deal... I didn't think we would do this again but we decided it would be worth it one more time to save some cash. We left on Saturday morning for Nevada and stayed at David Walley's Hot Springs. For those first few days, we had cake for Brooke's birthday, did a waterfall hike, completed a scavenger hunt at the pool, went to a local church meeting, got donuts, swam in Lake Tahoe, and chilled in the hotel pool.

We went to Pope Beach at Lake Tahoe and with Tami's inflatable boat, Tami, Julia, John, and David were all able to use it to paddle out to a giant log standing straight up in the water that people were jumping off of. They each took a turn climbing it and jumping off!

After Lake Tahoe, we split up for Tuesday. John took the kids to Bodega Bay to enjoy the ocean while Julia, Tami, and I took a detour and went to Yuba City. There we were able to visit the Feather River Temple which was built and dedicated after we had all moved away from our hometown. We also got to visit with some of our friends that still live there, get good Mexican food for Julia (it is apparently lacking in flavor in Georgia), and of course, go to Brock's Ice Cream!

Wednesday was our first day all together in Bodega Bay. Here were some of the beaches and places we visited on that trip:

Schoolhouse Beach

Super cool secluded feeling beach with small pebbles instead of sand. I loved the different colors of tiny pebbles surrounding us and John enjoyed the tide pools to the left of the beach stairs. We also tried out some cool surfer guys Julia brought along. Unfortunately, the tide was too strong for them to get pushed back onto the sand and they are lost forever to us. One thing to note about this beach, it does have a sudden drop off right at the edge of the sand where the water comes in. A local came down and warned us about it since it is a drowning hazard with little kids. Thankfully, none of our kids were planning on getting in the cold water anyway and we enjoyed our time at this beach.

Goat Rock State Beach

We went to this beach twice and had completely different experiences. The first day, it was sunny and beautiful! We walked along the beach looking for sea glass and the kids built a driftwood fort by adding to one someone had started and left. Then, we walked down the beach to the right and found the sea lion sanctuary. There were tons of sea lions we could see resting on the shore across from us and easily over a hundred large pelicans that would circle the skies every 10 minutes or so. it was incredible! 

We loved this beach so much we came back another day but unfortunately that evening had turned incredibly windy. The super soft sand turned into what felt like bits of glass hitting our shins and faces and after trying to brave it and hide in the fort for a few minutes, we gave up and all rushed back to the cars. The evening wasn't a complete bust though since we were still able to enjoy the hot tub back at the airbnb.

Sebastapol

On Thursday, we drove inland about 20 minutes to do a hike to nowhere. John saw how stressed I was feeling so busy and trying to plan everything myself the week before and asked how he could help. I asked him to find a hike for us to do and he accidentally picked one that was over 5 miles long one way... With 5 kids and me being in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy, we only made it about an hour before turning around and later finding out it was the right choice! After that, we got In-N-Out for lunch (always tastes fresher in CA for some reason) and then picked blackberries to make a cobbler back at the airbnb.

Campbell Cove Beach

This beach had the perfect sand for sand castles! It was fine sand but it stuck together very well. At this beach, we (obviously) had a sand castle competition with John, Sammy, and I against Julia, Tami, and the rest of the kids. We also explored a tiny cave on the side and got to see the boats docked in the bay. This beach was so fun but also best in the morning before the wind picked up.

Fish and Chips and Clam Chowder

One thing we love doing at the coast is to enjoy fish and chips and clam chowder one of the days. Thankfully, we found a place that makes it fresh! The lines were long but so worth it! We got Fish and chips from Fisherman's Cove and then John bought clam chowder from Spud Point Crab Company. Just writing about it I wish I was back on the bay eating this again! it was seriously the best!

Shell Beach

While looking up places to look for shells, a lot of places suggested Shell Beach. It was a long walk to the water and unfortunately a bit of a bust for shell hunting. I did take a short nap here though and the kids had fun exploring so it wasn't a complete bust. Haha! 

Overall, this trip was the perfect balance of fun and relaxing. John still says he prefers the Oregon coast to Northern California, but it was fun to try a new place as well. One other funny thing was that we got salt water taffy at a candy shop in town. I saw a few people say online that they make their own taffy fresh so I thought it would be fun to try it our. After buying a plastic bagful, however, I got in the car and John saw that they had Taffy Town labels on them! We had driven from Utah to California just to eat taffy that had been made 20 minutes from our house back home. I guess that was a good reminder to not believe everything you read online. Haha!

It was so nice having Julia and Tami come along with us on this trip! It turned out perfect and you better believe we will be planning our next trip out to the coast again soon!

Sam hits the terrible 2's!

Sam turned 2 this week and just like on Zack's birthday, he had to spend the morning at David and Aaron's soccer games. Also, just like Zack, he didn't mind because it basically just meant he played at a park for 2 hours which was just what Sam would have wanted to do anyway.

When I was looking up photos of Sammy on my phone, I realized he's a bit of a foodie. He loves snacks and treats (like most kids) and is not picky at all (unlike most kids). In fact, whenever he sees John or I eating salad, he begs for us to give him some. He will often climb up on my lap and insist on eating straight out of my bowl. He is such a cutie, it's hard to say no. Especially when it's a healthy food!

Being the youngest brother, it's surprising how well he is able to keep up for a barely 2 year old! We got him a toddler bike for Christmas and he loves to ride it around our court with his older brothers. The tricky thing is making sure he doesn't sneak out with them and get too close to the main road or go into the street!

Since Sam is a little too small to tell me what he wants for his birthday dinner, I just chose something I knew he'd like. So, we had waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. He definitely loved it based on the mess he made. Haha!

For his cake, we made some simple cupcakes with race car and monster truck cupcake toppers. He is definitely following in his brothers footsteps when it comes to his love for cars!

Sam is at such a fun age and is a joy to have around! We love you Sam Sam!

Zack turned 4!

Our Zacky Boy is 4 now! And what a fun (and active) age it is!

Now that we are in our new house, Zack has been having a blast playing with his cars in the backyard. We currently have a huge pile of pea gravel and a separate pile of dirt in our yard and both have been a great hill for the boys to drive their monster trucks down.

Zack and the other kids had to come along with us to Aaron and David's soccer games in the morning since John and I are the coaches this year. The games are at a school so they basically just got to play at a playground for 2 hours. 

Speaking of parks, one of the first parks we tried out here in Herriman is a small bike park nearby. Even though the kids have had to share bikes (Aaron can't use the peddle one well enough for the ramps yet) they still have a blast! Even as a barely 4 year old, Zack loves to try to keep up with his brothers everywhere we go and I'll say, he does a pretty good job of it!

For Zack's cake this year, he asked for a funfetti monster truck cake so that's what I made! These monster truck cakes are so much easier to make than some of the other cakes I make during the year, so I'm all for it!

With Zack being in a monster truck craze, he was the most excited about an El Toro Loco monster truck John and I got him as a present. He was also super pumped about a hot wheels track from his grandparents.

Overall, it was a good birthday for our fun Zacky. He sure is a firecracker in our family! Yet at the same time, I have multiple photos of him hanging our in his favorite comfy position in random places. 

What a fun kid! Happy Birthday, Buddy!