Seth's Blessing Day

Seth was blessed at the end of February (that was our Fast Sunday since Stake Conference was the first weekend in March). We were so happy to have my parents, the Mitchells, and Anna there to join us for the big day! Seth was pretty oblivious to what was going on, but we all doted on him like crazy. The boys were so excited for him and kept explaining it to him and telling him to not be nervous.

He wasn't nervous :) just calm and happy!

Although he cried through most of it, it was a wonderful meeting and we felt so blessed to have him here in our family. He brings so much happiness to our family! That is one loved little boy.

Nathan's four!

Nathan's 4th birthday felt more like an ode to Angry Birds. He was so excited that this year is his party year (we only do them on the even years) so he could have an Angry Birds party! I thought I was all prepared, until the day before when the edible image cake topper didn't arrive and then I went into panic mode - it's not like spiderman where every grocery store has various options to use. My mom and dad had just arrived - they were here for the birthday and Seth's blessing and I took my mom to Walmart to see what we could come up with. After a little brainstorming we were able to come up with pom pom Angry Birds and pigs and a pretty fun cake - phew!

Nathan had helped quite a bit with planning his party. We started out with a golden egg hunt (since in Angry Birds you are collecting the golden eggs). We then played 'pin the bird on the pig' with a poster the kids had made, and then had the golden egg pinata! After cake, ice cream, and presents we ended the party with the kids playing 'live' Angry Birds with the stuffed birds and pigs Nathan got for his birthday. We couldn't build the structures fast enough for the kids to knock them down! All in all it was a super fun first party!

Later that day we went to the Supermall to go mini-golfing and Brian saw this trampoline set-up in the middle of the mall and was just sure the kids would love that (i.e. he thought it looked super fun). Nathan is pretty fearless and was excited to try it out. I could not believe how high the girl was helping him go - several times higher than her! It was a little crazy, but Nathan loved it! The other boys liked it too, but they didn't go nearly as high. Super crazy!

Nathan is such a fun kid and we love having him in our family! He definitely keeps us on our toes and with his absolute assurance that he can do about anything on his own. We try to watch him pretty closely, but most of the time he is right and he can do it. He's at that age where he can reason well and says some of the cutest things trying to convince us why he really does need candy for breakfast, why he should be able to stay up late, and so on. He is such a joy to us!

You asked...

Well, maybe you didn't ask, but several have asked for more of pictures of Seth. I've been terrible about updating the blog pics and it isn't for a lack of pictures taken, just a lack of time! Seth has been an absolute joy these last two months! He is such a wonderful baby and we still can't get enough of the little guy! Here's some pics of the little guy over his first two and a half months...

First bath - he didn't love it, but the boys loved giving it to him!

Seth had jaundice pretty bad and it was SO hard to wake him up. It usually consisted of undressing him and changing his diaper, but even then he would usually fall back asleep within minutes of starting to eat.

These boys just adore their little brother!

Already a cougar fan!

About one month old and oh so sweet!

With work never stopping, Seth was often got to share our arms and laps with the computer.

With Aunt Caryn - a.k.a. the baby whisperer

Seth got to go to Papa's (my Dad) retirement from BYU -

he was the only grandchild to see what a superstar his Papa was at BYU!

Loving time with Nana!

Got to hang with the adults at our fun weekend in Utah celebrating my Dad's awesomeness!

Papa and Seth

Love Love Love those smiles!

We've had several people tell us that they think he looks like Matthew - we agree!

Today - what a sweet little guy! We just adore him and are so happy to have him in our family!

Matthew's 7th birthday!

Matthew had a wonderful birthday! Since he turned 7 it is his non-party year, but he still had a blast with several family and friend outings! It was a short school day, so we went with some friends to Chuck-E-Cheese to play and have cupcakes!

Matthew loves Mario! He wanted to have a Mario cake and cupcakes, but he didn't let me know until the night before (before that he just wanted an ice cream cake), so I had to make do with printed pictures, but he didn't mind - he's such a happy-go-lucky kid!

For dinner we went to the Rainforest Cafe! Matthew had his third cake of the day with a brownie volcano! We had a super fun dinner!

Matthew is such a sweetheart! He is such a kind kid and has such a great heart! He is also super obedient and always willing to help. When I ask him to do things more often than not he will jump up and do it. He also loves his brothers! He and Adam play great together, he's great helping Nathan learn things, and he adores his newest little brother, Seth. He is such a great kid!

Our first Christmas at home

Up until this year we have always celebrated Christmas at the homes of our families, but never on our own. We have loved always being with family, but with Seth being only 2 weeks old at Christmas we knew it would be our first one just staying at home. Brian loved the idea of not traveling anywhere and just being able to hang out at home. I was trying not to be sad about having my entire family together and missing out on all the fun. The boys had mixed feelings - they were loving the idea of having Brian home (gotta love paternity leave), but missing their cousins and sad to not be with them. Lucky for us our good friends, the Hartmans, also celebrated Christmas here so we got to do Christmas Eve together! They were so wonderful to do a nice ham dinner for us. After a nice dinner we played a while and then I read them the little golden book "The Animals on Christmas Eve," which my mom had always read to me growing up, and then had a great nativity with the children (and me - I was the only one for the Mary job). Nathan was the shepherd so he could use the extra large candy cane wrapped up to look like a staff. It was so fun to have a baby instead of a doll to play Jesus - and he did such a great job! Adam was a wise man and Matthew was Joseph.

After that we went home to do our Christmas Crackers, open ornaments and PJ's, hang stockings, and put out the milk and cookies! The boys were beyond excited - I thought they'd never go to sleep!

In their cute new PJ's!

At the top of the stairs waiting to go down in order of age! Seth wasn't quite ready to be awake.

One of Nathan's favorite prizes!

Loving their new light sabers!

Seth liked his new toy too!

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. It was a joy to have a baby at Christmas time. We had a great day just playing games, playing with the new Wii, doing puzzles, putting together the marble tower and Lego creations, and just hanging out together taking turns holding the baby! It was a memorable Christmas and we were so glad to have Seth with us for it!