Inside looking Out

I came down the stairs today to see this in my living room! I thought it was adorable...so I ran back upstairs to grab the camera!

Woops....they caught me!!!

I sure love these three stinkers!!

LOVE

When my mom came to visit, she brought a project she has been working on for some time.

This painting of Alexa.

My mom did the painting from this picture (below), taken of Alexa when she was 18 months old. She was intrigued by something on our little balcony of the apartment that we lived in at the time. Didn't my mom do a fabulous job??

I. LOVE. IT!

The painting needs to be framed but it's already hanging in my upstairs hallway, the first thing I see as I walk upstairs. And I smile each time!

I've already sent her a picture of Payton at about the same age so she can begin working on another painting for my upstairs gallery!! :-)

Thanks mom, I really love it!

A Fun Visit

My dear friend, Stacey, happened to be in Phoenix this week visiting her parents. So they took a day and drove down to Tucson to visit me!! How fun! She and her husband brought their new baby, along with her parents, and we had a great day visiting! I saw her last summer but she was still pretty pregnant at the time, so it was fun to meet their newest addition (they left the older 3 kiddos at home with family).

Aren't our little boys so cute??!!!

(Sorry for the not greatest picture Stace..but you can thank your parents (can't remember which one took the picture) for it...guess we should have checked to make sure it was a decent pic!!) :-) If you have a better one, email it to me and I'll switch it out!!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

This kid!!!

Our girls never got into cupboards or toilets or toilet paper...I know we got lucky with them, but they just weren't interested in those kinds of things, I guess. However, the tables have turned with our little curious explorer now. He wants to know what is behind EVERY door and what every little thing will do. Thankfully, most of the kitchen cupboards already had child locks on them when we moved into this house, and the ones that didn't are successfully off limits thanks to elastic bands around the knobs...but this one cupboard is the one I let Barrett have free reign on. I let him go to town. I usually have to clean it up 3 or 4 times a day, but he loves it so the extra effort is worth it.

And how can you say no to that smiling face????

An Annual Event???

My parents came to visit again this past week, that's two February's in a row...I think it's going to be an annual thing now since they just tack it onto their annual business convention! Works for us! The kids were sooooo excited for Gramma and Grampa to come visit. They got here late Wednesday night so first thing Thursday morning, they were jumping on Gramma and Grampa's bed to wake them up!! Here's Miss Sassypants herself that morning, sporting a cute new shirt from Gramma!

We ventured to the Desert Museum on Thursday morning and had a lot of fun looking at the snakes and bugs...it's always a favorite of the girls'!

There was LOTS of playing with Gramma while she was here!!

On Friday, we drove to Thatcher for Kevin's cousin Owen's wedding. It worked out perfectly to have my parents with us to watch the kids while we attending the sealing in the Temple. And the girls couldn't wait to see Owen's new wife come out of the temple looking like a princess! I love opportunities like this to really show the girls the importance of the temple and that families can be together forever if they make the right choices.

Yesterday morning, we drove up to Mt. Lemmon to see the snow. I know my parents see it a lot...but it was fun to take them on that drive and show them the differences in climates and environments from the bottom of the mountain (desert, cactus, heat) to the top of the mountain (snow, pine trees, cool). And we even had lunch up there. It was a fun day!

Saying goodbye is never fun...but this time we know we'll see Gramma and Grampa in just a few short months!! That's right, our little family is headed to Canada this summer for a family reunion! I'm really excited. I know I was just there last summer from my grandpa's funeral...but the last time we went as a family, I was pregnant with Payton, so the majority of my family hasn't even met her yet. It will be a fun trip!

Thanks for coming Gramma and Gramps...we'll see you SOON!!!

..::Barrett: 10 Months::..

We have a 10 month old on our hands!!! We sure love this little dude around here!

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The Happenings for this past month:

*Got a tooth, Top Right Lateral - Jan 20th

*Got another tooth, Top Left Lateral - Jan 27th (all our kids have gotten their laterals before their centrals on top!)

*Rode a horse for the first time - Jan 28th (Kevin took all 3 kids to visit his parents for a weekend)

*Met Kevin's Grandma & Grandpa Brown for the first time - Feb 4th

*Got yet another tooth, Top Left Central - Feb 4th

*Stood up unassisted! - Feb 6th

*Got his first fever - Feb 7th :-(

*Grandma & Grandpa Baker came for a visit - Feb 15th - 19th

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We had a very fun-filled, milestone kind of month! This whole teething thing though is for the birds! Why, oh why, does it have to be so hard on these little munchkins??!! I'm sure that's what his fever was from...those blasted teeth. If they weren't so darn necessary...!!! :-) Barrett's fun little personality is really starting to shine. He loves to play with his sisters. He giggles like crazy when we tickle him...and he's ticklish EVERYwhere!! He gets soooooo excited when Daddy comes home and even knows what "Daddy's Home!!!" means now when shouted by the girls. Wherever he is when he hears that, he immediately starts crawling toward the garage door as fast as his little arms and legs can take him! It's pretty darn cute! He still loves to put anything and everything straight into his mouth. He's a drool faucet...I think we go through about 6 bibs a day trying to keep the dude dry!

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Getting our monthly update picture is proving to be quite the challenge though these days! For some reason, he just has NO interest in sitting still...so most of the pictures end up looking like these below! But at least we got one workable picture! We only have 2 more to do....let's hope we succeed!

Happy 10 Months, Bubba!

Me Thinks it's The End of Naps :(

This is what happens when your almost 3 year old decides she doesn't want to nap anymore...she crashes in the late afternoon! I really really REALLY am not ready for her to be done with naps, but is it worth the fight every. single. day???? I may have to lose the battle on this one!

On a happier note....this little man is the light of my life right now!!! He brings so much joy into our family. I really don't know what I'd do without him! And yes, he is holding a bottle and playing with a baby doll...but in all fairness, he just loves anything his big sisters are playing with and is usually trying to take it from them!!! :-)

Great Grandpa & Grandma

We went down to St. David today to visit Kevin's grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Brown. Grandpa's health has been quickly deteriorating and so we felt we needed to take the kids for a visit to see him again. The girls were excited for a trip to see daddy's Grandma and Grandpa but they were SUPER excited when we got there to see the little kitten. They both LOVED holding her. I took my camera for the main purpose of getting a picture with Grandma and Grandpa and completely forgot...but at least our trip wasn't totally undocumented! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Brown for a nice visit...we wish you both peace and comfort at this time.

Heart Breaker

Seriously, this boy is such a little stud muffin...a total heart breaker!

One of the BIG Projects...

THE PLAYROOM!!!

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I have LOVED having a separate space for all the kids' toys. Being able to put it all away at the end of the day and relax in a family room with NO toys is one of my favorite things. However, from day one of living in this house, there has been no real organization to the playroom. We just put everything in there and hoped it would stay there. Here is the playroom shortly after we moved in, back in May of 2010. Since then, more things have just been crammed in there!!

Then I got my new bookcase (I love IKEA!!!) for Christmas! Here is the playroom right after getting it set up but before any real organization took place. I needed my kid-free weekend to accomplish all the de-junking that needed to take place!!

And here is the finished product!

Everything has a spot! I love the bins and that the kids now know where everything goes. I made wonderful little picture labels and laminated them! I still have aspirations of getting some fun vinyl lettering to go on the wall above the bookcase, and perhaps a cork board on the wall above the table and chairs so they can have a spot to hang their artwork...but we'll get there. Let's just hope the kiddos can help me keep it nice and tidy....hahahahaha, yeah right. Well, a girl can dream, can't she??!! :-)

My Catch-Up Weekend

Back at Christmas, I told Kevin that a WONDERFUL gift he could give me would be a weekend to catch up on all the little and big projects that have been falling by the wayside since being pregnant and having Barrett, all the deep-cleaning that needed done and basically to just catch up on life. And he could do this by taking the kids to visit his parents for the weekend. And since I pretty much have the most amazing husband in the world, he agreed! So we planned it for a weekend that I wouldn't have to teach my lesson at church so I could 100% devote my time to all that needed done. And this weekend was it! It.Was.Fabulous! It really is amazing how much you can get done when you don't have 50 million (no exaggeration at all) interruptions!!

And the kids had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's! Barrett even got to ride a horse for the first time!! Yay Bubba!!!

The girls didn't even need to call me the entire time they were gone...they were having too much fun! And I got everything done that I wanted to, and then some. I still have a lot of things to do, don't we all...really is a mother/homemaker's work ever really done??!!! But I just feel sooooo much better about life. I feel like I can actually keep my head above water now! Thank you Kevin for supporting me and loving me and helping me be a better me! I love you and our precious babies so much!