Clearing Out My Phone...

...and I came across these pictures.

This is a leaf bug we saw when we went to Jason Hewlett's show at the Scera shell. My kids were fascinated by it (okay, I was, too) and we watched it for a good 15 minutes until the show was starting and we needed to use the chair. Then Brynne and I took it to a good empty spot by a tree and let it go.

Remember these squares? I always wanted to put our baby's name there, but there was the little problem of not being able to pick a name. Thank goodness we figured that one out. I finally stopped by Hobby Lobby and picked up these awesomely big letters to put above his crib. How I love them.

Here's Tyson enjoying Alli's soccer game a couple weeks ago.

My Name is Somehow

This is what Alli said to me this morning as she sat down at the bar to eat her breakfast:

"Mom, we always sit here, and we always make a mess, and then somehow it gets absolutely clean!"

No Sunday 10

Just a quick Sunday update. We had a great day today spending time in Logan with Nat and the fam. It's hard to pull the kids away when it's time to leave. Alli had a nice spill on the bike and got a couple nice battle wounds on her knees and elbow.

Yesterday I was able to get together with Debbie, Chelsea, and Ashley. A lot has changed since our days of being roommates, but it's always wonderful to spend time with those girls. (Wendy, sometime we need you there, too!)

Alli scored a goal in her soccer game yesterday! She also got smacked in the face by the soccer ball. There were tears. Lots of them. Luckily she was able to recover and get back in the game.

Here's what's great about Holly: Tonight on the drive home from Logan I looked at the back of the van to see if the girls were okay. Holly looked right back and gave me the sweetest smile. She loves holding Tyson and asks to do so all the time. Sometimes a little too much . . . like right when I'm in the middle of feeding him. But she patiently waits until I'm done and then holds him right after.

Brynne and I have a little game going where we sing a line from a Lady Antebellum song over and over. All it says is "ooh, baby, baby", but we sing it in funny ways sometimes and it always makes us laugh. Today Alex and I were being dumb while we were making lunch, and we were making up a song about making lunch. As Alex walked away Brynne asked what we were singing. I said it was a silly song. She said, "was it a mommy daddy song?" I said yes. She said, "I don't sing that song. I sing 'ooh baby baby' ".

Tyson was amazing in the car today. I'm starting to freak out a little less about our upcoming trip to Disneyland and the looooooong drive that entails. I think we might survive it with minimal screams.

Alex is gearing up for another basketball season. Let's get this straight: golf season is ending, basketball season is starting, football season is in full swing . . . what am I missing? Hopefully nothing. I love my husband and I'm so glad (and slightly jealous) he has great hobbies.

Chaos is constant these days, and I don't always feel like I have things together. But I'm SO grateful for the reason for that chaos. I'm grateful for my lack of sleep and my flabby belly and my full calendar and my dirty floors because it means I have a family to take care of and love. And I can't think of anything better than that.

Aaaah, so cute.

I can't stop looking at this picture. Love this boy.

The Switch Has Been Flipped

Well, I don't know if it's because we're nearing the 3 month mark, or because he just decided to make my life easier, but Tyson has had the most amazing week. If he's fussy and I walk to his line of sight, he stops crying and smiles. If he is crying after waking up from a nap and I walk in his room and say "hey buddy!", he stops crying.

Two weeks ago . . . okay, even one week ago, I would have told you that he HATED the car and screamed from the second I snapped his carseat in to the second I got it out. Well, guess what? Magic has happened this week. He hasn't been crying. And if he does, he calms down once the car starts moving. Amazing.

Tyson cannot calm himself down. If he gets tired, he will scream until he falls asleep. Today I snapped his carseat into the stroller (where he usually cries, but not this week!) to take the kids to Holly's gymnastics class. He usually makes it about 2 seconds before I have to take him out of his carseat. Today he sat there, smiled at me and made some happy noises for about 15 minutes, then just fell asleep. This afternoon I fed him, he happily played for awhile, then started getting a little fussy. I knew he was tired so I decided to try a little experiment. I swaddled him as usual, but instead of rocking him to sleep, I put him in his crib and turned on the music box mobile that we just put in there yesterday. I went to check on him 5 minutes later and he was still wide awake and just staring at the mobile. 15 minutes later I went back in and he was fast asleep.

Okay, last story. Last night Alex was mowing the lawn and the girls were outside playing. I needed free hands to make dinner. I put Tyson in his bouncer in the kitchen and he stayed in there while I made dinner, set the table, and while we ate. At least an hour. Alex has never seen him chill like that. Thanks in part to Tyson suddenly become a chill baby, I feel like we're settling in to this family of 6 thing. And it's fabulous.

So now I declare Tyson the 8th Wonder of the World.

*Adorably amazing photo courtesy of my awesome cousin-in-law Holly Robinson. She's the best. And I stole it off her blog. Thanks, Big Holly.

Growing Eyeballs

Dinner last night nearly had me in tears. Alli tried to get up from the table while I was looking away, and without looking at her I told her to sit down and finish eating. Shocked, she asked me how I knew she got up. I told her that mommies and daddies have eyeballs buried in their hair so they could see what their kids were doing. She gave me this look like, "I don't believe you, but maybe you're telling the truth." She kept saying, "tell the truth!" and I would tell her that I was. Then Alex piped in and told her we would prove it. I covered my eyes and he held up fingers, while quietly knocking the number to me. Whenever I said the right number, the girls would laugh but get more frustrated. I think Alli really wanted to believe it, but just couldn't quite figure it out, especially after searching my hair and finding nothing. So we continued the number game, this time switching roles. I was really laughing by this point, seeing Alli and Holly's faces as Alex "guessed" the right number time after time. Finally we told them that we were tricking them, so Alli insisted on holding Alex's knocking hand so he couldn't cheat. Alex quickly flashed me the numbers before I closed my eyes, and I again said the right number. Alli's face was priceless. Eventually we told them the truth, but not before we got some good laughs out of it!

The Winding Down of Summer

Our zucchini plant has called it quits, which means the end of the grilled zucchini we've been enjoying all summer. Sad. Here are a few pictures of how we've spent the last few weeks of summer:

Playing in the water

Getting crazy hair on the trampoline

Eating popsicles on the porch

Playing make-believe games on the trampoline with our friends on Labor Day.

This summer has been a little weird for me with the whole giving birth thing right in the middle. It went by way too fast, and I felt like I didn't have enough time to do all the fun things I wanted to do with my kids. But I'm grateful that Tyson is big enough that we can enjoy our time now before the cold weather comes! (Note to the snow: feel free to skip us this year. Thanks.)

My Boy

He's getting so big! He is about 2.5 months now. He's definitely not the easiest baby I've had, but he's not the hardest, either. Having 3 other kids and a house to take care of definitely makes this the craziest time of my life. I love being a mom to my kids, and I also love when they're all asleep at the end of the day. Sometimes I think, "oh, things will settle down a bit when he doesn't cry so much, or doesn't need to be held all the time", but then I remember that in just a blink or two, Tyson will be running and crazy and not want me to hold him and snuggle him up against my shoulder. These last few days I've seen such big changes in his ability to just chill, and I love when that happens. He smiles at me all the time, and today I caught him watching Alex walk across the room. I love my little guy!

Not the greatest picture, but it's the closest thing to a smile I've been able to get on camera.

Twins!

Raspberry Picking

This afternoon we went here:


to pick these:

with our friends, the McCartys.
It was a fun experience, and my kids all loved looking through the bushes for the best raspberries. Tonight we made raspberry shakes, and they were delicious. This is definitely an outing we'll be doing again!

Brynne and Miley

Alli getting started

Brynne sorting through her picks

Holly and Brynne

Sunday 10

The start of school and our fabulous stake conference today have had me thinking about ways to feel like I have control of my life. I need to remember that having a new-ish baby never allows for the structure I enjoy, but there are still things I can do.

And so, here are ten things I wish were more organized in my home and life:

1. Storage room
2. Family pictures
3. Laundry (ugh)
4. Morning schedule
5. Family scripture study
6. The endless flow of papers that get sent home from school (save a tree or two, people!)
7. Scrapbooking. I've slacked off so much, I'm not sure Tyson will ever have one...
8. Exercise schedule
9. Random recipes I've found that I'd like to try. So scattered.
10. Kids clothes. I started cleaning out drawers today . . . so much to do!

Sunday 11? A Busy Week!

1. Here's Holly showing how we all feel at the end of this week:

She fell asleep in the middle of the stairs last night, waiting for Alli and Alex to get back from the BYU game. It's been a fun, busy week. We are all tired!

2. Monday night we went up to the Isoms for dinner. The girls were thrilled to play with their cousins again for the first time in awhile.

3. Tuesday night we went to dinner with the Gardners. For anyone local who hasn't tried Rib City Grill, you must.

4. Wednesday night brought soccer practice for Alli, and Alex and Holly made a Costco run for me. I got another shelf for our garage, and spent the next couple days cleaning up and organizing the garage.

5. Thursday morning was fantastic! Jamie and Joy came to spend the morning here. I probably should dedicate an entire post to the utter bliss that is hanging out with old friends. Maybe I'll do that. For now I'll just say that I loved being with these girls and I'm so grateful for their friendship over these last 15 (WHAT!?!? Crazy.) years. We've had some great times together, which I shall share in a post to come.

6. After the friends left, the youngest 3 kids and I went up for a quick visit to Alex's work. The girls love going there to play on the spinning chairs and see Daddy. That night, I went to a baby shower in my old ward. Always great to see those people!
7. Friday morning Holly woke up super hyper. As Alex and I were eating breakfast we decided she needed something to do. So I signed her up for a gymnastics class at the rec center that started that morning. While she did gymnastics, Brynne, Tyson and I walked the indoor track. I'm looking forward to doing that again every Friday.

8. Friday night was a wedding reception in Orem for Alex's cousin Jill. We had fun relaxing and chatting with the other cousins. And don't forget the food . . . we had fun eating that, too. After the reception, Alex took the girls home and I took Tyson to see Chelsea's completed baby room. Chelsea, Lindsay, and I sat outside talking for awhile. A night like that is necessary every now and then.

9. Saturday morning was Jackson's baptism. It's weird to think that Abbey and Alli are the next cousins in line to get baptized! She's getting so old. After the baptism we went to the park for lunch. We ate by a little stream. Brynne started out clean. She didn't end that way. I don't have a picture of it, but I'm very glad we brought her swim suit. She had an awesome time.

10. After the park, we went to Orem where we killed a little time at the Gardners before the game. Alex and Alli went to the game, and the rest of the kids and I went home. I gave the kids quick baths, then we got all ready to go to Allison's (Jamie's little sister) wedding reception in Farmington. Let me just say that I am SO grateful for car dvd players for times like that. The kids were amazing, Tyson slept the entire time, and I had a wonderful time sitting outside and catching up with friends. A great night.

11. We went to the McCartys for dinner tonight. We were introduced to pizza on the grill. So tasty. We had fun playing and chatting and the kids all played outside for the most part. A relaxing, wonderful night.

Do you see why we're so tired!?! Busy week. Throw in getting up early to get Alli to school by 8 every morning, and you've never seen someone so excited for a day off tomorrow! Bring it on, Labor Day!

And now, enjoy a picture of my little chunky man. I can't get enough.