Baby #3 is on the way!

I think everyone that reads this blog probably already knows, but to make it official: I am pregnant! Our whole family is very excited. I am about 14 weeks along and the baby is due in September. I had an ultrasound at 10 weeks and it was so fun to see the baby - tiny arms and legs moving. It was nice to see that there is only one baby in there, since Alan has been praying and hoping for twins - a boy and a girl. Before we told him I was pregnant I told him that a friend of his was going to have a new baby brother soon. I asked if he would want a baby brother or sister. At first he said a brother but when I pointed out that our family already has two little boys in it and no girls he changed his mind to twins, so that we could have one boy AND one girl. So diplomatic. I went to see my doctor for the first time on Monday but she was at the hospital delivering a baby so I didn't actually meet her. I did get to hear the baby's heart beat though, which is always neat. I have been feeling quite sick but hopefully that will end in the next few weeks. Hopefully my energy levels will also pick up since Alan's and Conner's energy levels are as high as ever.

Church funnies

After church Alan and I were eating lunch and I asked him what he learned about in his lesson. Here is the conversation:
Alan: Um, we talked about animals.
Me: Oh, did you talk about being thankful for animals?
Alan: No, um, mostly we talked about eating animals.
Me: Oh, really?
Alan: Yeah, about eating them and shredding sheep.

I think he might have meant shearing sheep...I hope!

A couple of weeks ago the primary president said she had to tell me what Alan said during sharing time. They were talking about the earthquake in Chile and she asked all the kids what an earthquake is. The kids all said that it is when the earth shakes. Alan piped up and said "No, it where there are these plates under the earth and they slide past each other like this (demonstrating with his hands) and when that happens the earth moves on top." She said there was silence after his response and then she told him he was very smart and kept going with the lesson. She said it sounded so funny coming from a 4-year-old's mouth. Earlier in the week Alan had asked me how earthquakes happen so I told him a little about plate tectonics and he seemed interested but he never mentioned it again so I figured he hadn't really understood what I said. He is such a smart little guy.

Our family weekend

Last Thursday we drove up to visit my parents. We arrived late and then the boys woke up and decided to stay up for a while since they had just had a nice long nap in the car. We all finally went to bed around 11 or 11:30. On Friday morning Reed and I went to the temple while my dad watched the boys for us. Thanks again, we really appreciate it!

We took Alan's remote control car up with us and my parents already have 3 or 4 so all the boys went out and raced each other.

My parents got out the old marble works track and the boys and adults had fun building different tracks and then racing the marbles down. I remember doing that as a kid, good memories.
This is how Conner entertained himself for a half hour or so. He figured out how to turn the water on so he played in the water for a while and then he started washing all of our carrot peels and eggs shells, so that they would be nice and clean before we threw them away. He was in heaven!

On Saturday afternoon we met my cousin Janae with her family at the pool and went swimming. They have a really nice, family friendly pool there. It has a big pool with lots of toys, a hot tub and a kiddie pool that is warm and shallow and has a slide and some toy boats. The boys love it!

Here is Conner, who is loving being independent of me in the water.

Alan going down the kiddie slide.

Saturday night my mom and I went to a basketball game where my cousin was playing. She played really well and it was a lot of fun to watch. I also got to visit with Janae and some of my aunts. Then we went home to celebrate my Dad's birthday with carrot cake and ice cream.
On Sunday we went to a special stake meeting with my parents where Elder Jensen of the Seventy was the speaker. The meeting was held in the stake center and they had overflow seating in a nearby church building. We decided to go to the overflow building and my parents came with us. Part way through the meeting the Stake President stood up and announced that he would be calling some people out of the audience to come up and bear their testimonies. He then announced that my mom was the first one. We sat in stunned silence and looked at each other while people around us started to giggle, since they knew my mom wasn't at that building. My mom and I jumped up and ran out to the car and drove over to the Stake Center. My mom went and sat up at the front while the Stake patriarch finished his testimony and then the Stake president leaned over and smiled and nodded at her so she took her turn and bore her testimony. It was kind of funny. Then we went back to the other building to enjoy the rest of the meeting.
I think these last two are award winning pictures. Reed took them of Conner sitting on my Grandpa Pitcher's lap. Conner was showing him a book and Reed caught his facial expression as he pointed out something funny.

And that is a summary of our fun family weekend!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

In previous years the only thing we have done on St. Patricks day is wear green. This year I decided to start a new tradition by serving green food at all of our meals. So for breakfast we had green waffles and green milk. At lunch I was kind of stumped as to what to eat and I didn't really feel like eating green food but Alan was very insistent so we had green yogurt and green/yellow apples. I also made white grape juice and tinted it green. I have to admit that I cheated and had something else to eat when he wasn't looking. Then for dinner we had green shepherd's pie: the bottom layer was green gravy with chicken, the middle layer was broccoli with mixed veggies and corn and the top layer was green mashed potatoes. The boys didn't really like it but they loved the idea of eating green food all day.

I know it isn't much to look at but we had fun.

Cousins

Last weekend Mom and Dad Bassett and Jackie and James and Baer came to visit us. It was so fun to have them here! I absolutely love watching my kids play with their cousins and I am excited that Jackie and her family are moving closer.

Here is Alan and James playing a Jeep game on the Wii

Two cute boys!

We went on a photo scavenger hunt while they were here - the boys against the girls (plus Conner and Baer). Here is Grandpa with James and Alan in front of the oldest thing they could find (an old cabin)

I wish I would have gotten some pictures of the kids when they were going to bed. All 4 boys slept in the same room. Alan and James slept in sleeping bags in the little nook in Alan's room - they had fun pretending they were camping. Conner and Baer each slept in a crib or port a crib close to each other. One time when I walked in Conner and Baer were standing in their cribs facing each other and giggling so hard at each other. One would start to giggle, then the other would start to giggle then they would both start laughing. It was pretty funny. They also apparently had a contest to see who could unzip their pajamas the most because both of them had partially unzipped pjs. Thanks for the visit guys!