Black Island Farms 2014

The day before Louis' birthday we went to Black Island Farms for the second year in a row.  It was again so much fun!  We started by taking a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin.  Along the way we stopped and they taught the kids about how carrots and cabbage grow.  

Avery enjoyed picking out the perfect pumpkin and Mary loved all of the dirt to play in.  She really knows how to find dirt.

After everyone picked their pumpkins and was back on the trailer the workers brought over a sunflower and explained why they have them planted around the fields.  They plant them so the birds will eat the sunflowers instead of the pumpkins and other plants.  After they talked about it the worker gave the sunflower to someone on the trailer.  Avery was a little sad she didn't get the sunflower so the nice worker picked a flower from one of the pumpkin vines and gave it to her.

After getting our pumpkins into the car we headed in to look at the animals.

There was a very friendly donkey that thought we had food to share and bit Mary a little bit.

The goose once again honked back and forth with Avery.  I loved it!

After the animals we went over to the slides and spent a lot of time there.  The kids all loved it.

We only left the slides once some older kids came around and were being annoying.

As in sitting on the tops of the slides and blocking them off so no one could go down.

Where were their parents?  Who knows.

This is when our camera died so the rest of the pictures are from my phone.

After the slides we went over to jump in some old tank that was painted like a ghost.  Then over to the train.  Mary wasn't interested in riding the train so her and Louis went back over to some slides. 

 Avery got to ride on the train all by herself!  She's getting to be such a big girl.

During Avery's train ride Mary came and laid in my lap to eat her sandwich and we knew it was time to go so she could nap!  We were sad to go, but had so much fun together!

27 Years

So Louis had a birthday!  It was weeks ago now, but I haven't taken the time to blog about it yet!  

We started out the day with a delicious breakfast of scones and honey butter!  Louis' favorite! 

After breakfast we decided to do presents.  Avery was a very good helper and handed each present to Louis.  Mary helped by sitting on the floor playing with princesses.

I know this next picture is fuzzy, but Avery was SO very excited to give Louis her present.

After presents were opened, we attempted to take a family picture.

It turned out great!

The rest of the day was spent at home being together.

For dinner I made pork chimichangas and we had eclair cake for dessert.  

I am so grateful for Louis and for all that he does for our family.  

He is a very hard working dedicated man.  

He loves to have fun and play with our kids.  They both love him so much!

Happy 27 years Louis!

Oh Boy!

Everyone hopefully knows by now that Louis and I are expecting a boy!

We are so very excited!
Louis was supposed to be working during the appointment, but luckily was able to get someone to cover for him!  I had prepared a cute way of telling Louis the gender, but since he was able to come
 we did was I prepared to tell the girls if they were having a brother or sister.
But we'll get to that a little later.

Can you see his face here?  I swear it's there.  He's even smiling!

I was a bit nervous going into this appointment.
I've for some reason had a lot of anxiety this pregnancy.
It was a wonderful thing to see our baby moving around!  The first thing we saw was our baby boy open his mouth and stick his thumb in there!  Sadly there is not photo of this.

Our little stinker had his legs crossed for almost all of the appointment.  It was at least 20 minutes until finally all of the wiggling and the jostling of my stomach worked and he let us see that he is a. . .HE!

Louis and I gave each other a high five which is a typical Louis reaction for excitement.
It was the first time I cried at an appointment.

Now for how we told the girls!  Avery was very excited about finding out.  She has been saying she's going to have a baby brother for months.  I kept reminding her though that we didn't know yet.  Avery was very sad when I let her know that she wouldn't be coming to the appointment.  It did cheer her up though when I let her know that she'd get to open up a box and find either pink or blue balloons for a sister or brother.
Sorry the video is sideways.

As you can see, Avery is very excited to be getting a brother.
Mary was very excited to get a balloon.
She does know there is a baby in mommy's tummy, but she doesn't know what brother or sister means.

Besides back pain and occasional heart burn I'm doing really well.  

At this point at 20 weeks I am probably more than half way done.  Avery was 3 weeks early and Mary was 2 weeks early.  I am a little smaller than I was with Mary.  I believe that is because this baby is settled soooo low!
We're excited for February to come!

And now we're trying to agree on a name.
Which is hard.

The Big TWO!

It's official, Mary's a big girl! 

At least that's what Avery keeps telling her, "You're a big girl now!"  

Then Mary shouts, "BIG GIRL!!"  

Mary's second birthday was yesterday.  We did most of the celebrating on Saturday, 

but did have some fun on Monday as well.

On Saturday we took some pictures of Mary.

We got some really nice ones of our sweet girl.

During Mary's nap Avery and I made cupcakes for that night.

After her nap that day we got ready for a little mini party just the four of us.

I prepared her birthday dinner, (peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples, and chips)

After our dinner we opened up her presents.  

She really wanted nothing to do with it.  She just wanted to get down and play.  

After presents we sang to her and had cupcakes.

Mary DID NOT like the candle!  

She wouldn't even eat her cupcake after they were in there.

She was able to enjoy a cupcake the next day though.

On her birthday I was able to take Mary and Avery to the Jump Zone.

I knew my little jumper would LOVE it!

These next pictures are all from a phone, so not the best quality.

It was so much fun watching Mary have so much fun!

She loved to jump, climb, slide, and even did the rope swing!

She is an adventurous one.

We are so thankful for Mary in our lives.  She is such a happy spirit in our home.  

We love watching her play and learn.  

Some of our favorite things about Mary are:

Her cuddles

She love of animals, especially horses

She loves books

She will knock on doors or on the window and sings "Do You Want to Build a Snowman"

She's always happy to see us

She's always polite and says thank you to us for everything

The way she jumps

Happy 2 years Mary!

All About Becca

Becca:  

I am 25 years old

Becca's Personality:

This is hard to write.  I actually started this post several months ago, but couldn't figure out what exactly my personality is.  

I am a quiet person.  I always have been.  

As a little girl I was the one hiding behind my mom when we met new people.  

It takes me a while to get out of my shell when I meet people.  (like our little Mary)

For that reason I think it's harder for me to make friends.  I've been working on that lately.  

I am a nice person.  I like making people happy and feel good.  

I get very sad when I see others who are sad or who are not being treated well.  

Even in movies and TV shows.  Like on Parks and Recreation,  I just hate how they treat Jerry, Gary, Larry (he had so many names in that show), why can't they just be nice and appreciate him??  

Becca Loves:  

I love to read.  It wasn't something I always loved doing, but once I started reading Harry Potter as a young teenager (probably) I finally learned to love reading.  Thank  you J.K. Rowling and Mom.

I love cooking.  It's something I've always been good at, (again, thank you Mom) but didn't love to do until last year.  

For almost a year now my sister-in-law Alisha and I have been taking turns making each other dinners.  We switch back and forth every Thursday.  

It has really helped me love cooking and branch out on the things I make.  

Speaking of food.  My favorite thing to eat is pizza.  Seriously pizza is the best. 

I love being a wife and mother.  

I love watching my kids play and learn.  They are such good kids.  

I love making meals for my family and packing Louis' lunch for work.

I love being able to stay home and take care of our home and my family.

I love doing what I believe to be the most important thing I can be doing in my life right now.

Becca Knows:  

I know how to make worksheets for my girls so I can teach them at home. 

We took a long break from our at-home preschool while I had morning sickness.

Avery missed it a lot.  I'm glad I've taught myself this skill so I can help Avery and Mary learn, which they both love to do.  

I know how to turn just about everything into a teaching/learning opportunity.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church.  

I know there is a living prophet on this earth today, President Thomas S. Monson.

I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us.

I know He loves us all perfectly.

I know that we have a purpose here on earth and if we live faithfully we will be blessed.

If you'd like to know too.  Talk to me.

Things Becca Can Do:  

I can sew.  I'm not awesome or very confident with my sewing, but I enjoy doing it.

I've made a few things for my girls to wear.  I've also made several blankets and burp cloths.

For Christmas this year I plan on making aprons for the girls.

I can drive a stick shift.  I'd like to say I'm better than Louis, but I know he wouldn't agree with me.

  I'm at least better on hills than he is.  

I can throw a really good party.  I really enjoy planning things and think it's something I can do really well.

I can do a fishtail braid.  I just taught myself yesterday, so I'm pretty proud of that right now.  

It's a lot simpler to do than I thought.

That is Becca, I had a hard time at first with evaluating myself.  

Hopefully now though you all know me a little better.  

To read the "All About Avery" post, click here.

To read the "All About Mary"  post, click here.