Summer 2012

This has been such a fun summer. We didn't really go anywhere or doing anything out of the ordinary but had lots of fun being outside and enjoying the simple everyday things.

 We went to lots and lots of parks. We climbed trees (well the boys did), fed the ducks, explored and pretended lots and lots. At one park Quinn thought that one part where you climb looked like a tornado and so he kept getting "sucked up". At another he always would try to sell me pies but would inform me that the roof was leaking and being fixed and so he didn't have any pies just then. He loved pushing the roundabout rather than ridding on it. James preferred to jump around on it and so I tried to keep him away as much as possible. He spent a lot of time on the swings and both boys love learning how to swing on the rings.

 Hey look, a picture of me with a munchkin. I'm pretty sure he does NOT want to take a picture with me.

 At the end of spring Peter and I left the kids with my mum and headed down to St George for a few days. We had to change our plans a little as it rained the first two days and I was feeling pretty sick with the pregnancy. We hung out, rented a movie, went out to dinner, shopped at the strip mall and relaxed! It was heavenly. On Sunday the sun decided to make an appearance so we walked around the St George temple and then decided that we could make it to Zions after all. I am so glad we decided to go! It was beautiful and I only wished we would have had more time for hiking. We hiked emerald pools and the weeping rock. The bus driver informed us that because of all the rain there were gushing waterfalls that hadn't been there the day before. Everything was stunning!

 We rode our bikes, lots!

 We also went up to the treehouse museum a lot to escape the heat. The boys' favorite things were definitely the train and fire engine as well as the health section. They have microscopes that Quinn spent a lot of time looking through and they both liked taking care of the babies,weighing them and giving them shots

 One of our favorite things to do is to go hiking, The boys are seriously amazing, we must hike at least 1.5 to 2 miles and they hold up so well. Most of the time we are able to hike to where the trail crosses a stream. We never crossed but had fun throwing rocks into the stream and feeling how cold the water was.

 The boys were such great helpers with our garden. Though our garden was not that successful this year I'm glad we tried and will make a lot of changes next year. We finally got some strawberries this past week though that have been so fun to eat.

 Sometimes ideas on pinterest work out. This was a fun one...we got a plastic sheet and taped it all around, then we filled it with water and sealed up the hole. The boys had a blast jumping and rolling on it feeling the water swish around. We ended up with a few holes in it, but I think part of that was due to the fact that I put it on a hill and so there was much more pressure on one side than the other. All in all a super fun, different activity to cool off.

 I don't know if you can tell but this picture is a flour hand print on my belly. James loves saying hi to the baby, even in the middle of baking.We spent a lot of time baking goodies in the kitchen. Both boys love to help use the mixer and James has really started to take an interest in helping get dinner ready. He is super good at breaking mushrooms into bite sized pieces and has a slight obsession with knives, pointing out one when ever I am using one saying "knife knife!"

 Eating some lemon crinkle cookies they made

 We tried so hard to go camping this summer. Our first plans kept getting postponed because of all the fires. Then, we tried to scout out a place and realized the road was closed so that pushed our plans back as we tried to figure out a place that would be good to take the kids. We finally found an alternate route to the camp site we want to go to and then had to cancel plans again because a storm blew in. Then, we finally got to go. We started up the trail and quickly realized that this was going to be quite the trek. The path was SO bumpy. When we finally found the campsite we were so disappointed to find out that there was no where to pitch a tent so we headed back down that same crazy road. Quinn kept saying it was scary  and he didn't want to fall. Best part of the whole thing were the views, they were gorgeous. After getting some recommendations from friends we decided on a new campsite but then Peter had to work. Maybe we will have better luck next year.

 A picture with munchkin #2

 Hanging out with Daddy was the best part of the week

 The boys discovered dandelions and had fun blowing off the seeds. James can not go by one without picking it, but likes to rub the seeds on his or mine pants to get them to come off, silly man

 Love this picture. Quinn loves this sweater and wanted to wear it all the time, even though it was so hot out! Backpacks were a hot item this summer and of course swim goggles are a must. We did get to go swimming a few times. I took the boys twice on mine own, which actually worked out really well. I was pretty worried about being able to make sure they were both ok, but they stayed together and were super good.

We tried to go on the trail by our house for bike rides and a few walks. James loved spotting the trains that would run past the trail

 And Quinn found some pretty neat rocks.

 He also loved picking up snails and having an ant crawl on his arm

1st day of preschool! So far he is having a blast and is doing a super good job learning the letters and how to write his name. Its so neat to see him making friends, learning and discovering new things. I'm so proud of the way he is kind to the other kids, takes an interested in his work and tries to do a good job.

Look at that goofy face! Since we are doing preschool  at our house this month, James gets to join in. Using scissors is probably his favorite thing to do along with using the dry erase markers and playing with the other kids

25 Weeks

25 Weeks today! Only 15 weeks to go :-)

Everything is still looking great. She was measuring a little small (22/23 weeks) at my last appointment but the OB said at this stage the measurement is not entirely accurate and so not to worry about it. If she is still measuring small at the next appointment in a month then they will do an ultrasound. I think I just have small babies, thank goodness! She is a funny little one. She has a schedule and so I can always predict when she is going to be moving. 6am, 9:30, 12:30, 3 and 9 in the evening, every day without fail. She of course moves a few other times throughout the day but regardless she is always moving at those times. I hope she keeps this schedule, it will work perfectly with how the boys day usually goes. A little bit of morning sickness has been creeping back in and I have finally succumbed to wearing maternity pants. Other than that I am feeling pretty good. I am loving the timing of this pregnancy. The last 15 weeks or so go by so slow but with the fall coming it will keep me busy and distracted. I am teaching preschool for September and Quinn is doing Tot Sports, then October will be full of yummy pies, playing in the leaves and swim lessons, then November with Thanksgiving after which she can pop right out and we can enjoy Christmas with her. Perfect!

A few cute things

A few cute phrases I don't want to forget.

Quinn

"When I grow up I want to be a teacher, because then I can help everyone learn stuff, thats what I really really want to do"

"Mom that bird is carrying 'nectarine' from flower to flower"

"I think Heavenly Father hears our prayers with his really big ears!"

James

"2 Today!"

"I'm nake nake" (Naked)

The Sweetest Things

I am sure every mother has those moments when she wonders what the heck she is doing with her kids...I feel like I have been having those too often recently. All my ideals and goals when I was first pregnant with Quinn compared to the reality of having two little ones with a third on the way is humbling to say the least.  But once in a while you get those moments that give you a glimpse into the sweetness of those little spirits, that reassure you that you are indeed on the right track.


At dinner last night Quinn looked over and said "is anything the matter Mum?" Nothing was but I thought it was sweet of him to ask


I dropped a necklace yesterday and it broke clean in two. I cried! It was a necklace that meant a lot to me. James came over and gave me a big kiss and a hug. Thanks buddy! He has also started this habit of putting his hand gently on your shoulder and looking at you with his grave little green eyes as if he as trying to convey many words of wisdom and comfort. Sometimes he will even whisper a thing or two.


I was also amazed to see James take my bowl this morning and put it in the dishwasher.


Quinn decided to sing a song to the baby as I was telling him she could probably hear us. I asked him what song he wanted to sing and he picked "I Am a Child of God". He then sang the song to my belly so sweetly.


There are more but I can't remember any right now. I am so glad for my two little boys!

Our Home: Part I

We have been in our house for 10 months now and I still haven't posted pictures, in part because there are a lot of projects and decorating that I want to do. I''m slowly getting things done in the massage room downstairs so I haven't had much time for the rest of house and I can't see all that I want to do being done anytime soon so I thought I would share some pictures anyways.

Our family room :-) This is a fun room. Perfect for playing with the kids and watching movies

Our dinning area.
I love this table but with three kids we are planning on getting a new one soon. I really love the square pub tables and think it would look great in here so that's what we are leaning towards but I will be so sad to part with this one.

Our kitchen is perfect. Not so small you can't move around but not so big it makes cooking hard because everything is so spaced out. We have a large pantry which I love, tons of storage space and I love that the boys can sit at the counter while I cook or to eat breakfast there. There is also a large desk area in the corner which you can't see in this picture which is great for helping me stay organized. I am anxious to get something on top of the cabinets, they feel so empty and one day would love to put in a back splash and replace the floor. Its not bad just not my favorite.I'm leaning towards staining the cabinets darker too. Its going to be beautiful!

This is our front room. I always end up in here. It is bright from the large windows and so inviting. From our window we can see the park and I love sitting on the couch watching the clouds drift by. I have some fun plans for above the piano which will hopefully be done soon because the off center clock drives me crazy. I also need to update our photos and get some more up there. The previous owners left the nails in so we just hung up a few that we had but they are baby pictures of Quinn and none of James.

I would love to get two chairs to put by the window. We always have family prayers and scriptures and family night in here and some more seating would be nice. Also we NEED curtains in here. You can see right in and we would like some more privacy but don't want to cut out too much of the view or the light.

This is  the boys rooms. Only Quinn is sleeping in here right now but We will be moving James in just a few weeks. Again lots of plans for this room. I started making some curtains this week and am excited to get those up

Quinn is now responsible for making his own bed. Its hard not to straighten it but am glad he is learning how to do this

This is the nursery, I love where the furniture is and am excited to make this into a little girls room but am sad to take down the things i made for the boys when they were born.

The newest little Bracken is a

GIRL!

 We are so excited!! Quinn is excited too, he kept saying he wanted it to be a girl. He also wanted there to be two babies, not just one...at least it will be a little sister :-) Everything looked great and healthy. This little lady had her feet up resting on her forehead most of the time as well as her hands up in front of her face so it was hard to get a good picture. The tech showed us an awesome image, she looked so beautiful but before she could capture it her foot was in the way again.

We finally got this image. She looks a little grumpy, but still adorable!

She was measuring a little small (she seems to be following in her brothers footsteps) but they didn't change the due date which is great.

Having a girl will be strange. We went to the store after the ultrasound to pick up a cute outfit for her like we have done with the other two and it was strange not to be looking at things with cars and trucks but instead pink elephants and giraffes. Can't wait to go shopping for this little one and to decorate her room! We have a few names in mind but unlike the boys its been harder to settle on something so for now we are still bouncing around ideas. Another 20 weeks sounds like a long time until we get to meet this little one, I can't wait!

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures of what we have been up to the past couple of months.

 We love going on a trail by one of our parks. It has lots of places for the boys to climb and explore. They love scrambling up these rocks.

 The boys got a chance to walk on the moon at the planetarium.

 Have you seen these water beads? They are all over blog land and really are a lot of fun. You buy a little pack of beads that looks like seeds then hydrate them in water and they turn into fun little squishy beads.

This is the trail at the park again. One of our favorite places to be :-) Quinn loves ridding his bike

This train at Walmart makes a good bribe for James to encourage him to sit in the cart. Trains are one of his favorite things.

And Quinn got to ride in this train at the stake pizza party. They had the train ride, snow cones, pizza, water games etc. Lots of fun :-) It sure was hot thought so we rode the train, ate pizza and snow cones and called it a day.