Learning to stand

Levi is learning to stand and so I tried to catch it on camera. It was a little tricky because he kept going for the camera. Levi is definitely my earliest mobile kid. He climbs both sets of stairs, into the dishwasher and I even caught him trying to climb up on my table. We definitely have our hands full. But he has the most fun personality that (I hope) will keep the humor in the craziness that he will create. He is 9 months old now.

Halloween

Dressing up for the Halloween party. For some strange reason we forgot to get a picture of me :( I dressed up as a witch. The boys are all characters from Toy Story. Tony is the alien, Turner is Buzz and Levi is Bullseye. Derrick dressed up as a chef. This is a fitting costume because he spent all week trying to perfect his "spicy" chilli recipe. He did an amazing job and won the prize for the hottest chilli.

On the actual day of Halloween we went up to my Mom's house for trick-or-treating. It was a lot of fun. Their neighborhood gave out some REALLY nice candy :) We stayed the night and went to church with them the next day. For Tony the highlight wasn't the candy...it was Grandpa's ribs. He loved them!!! He talked about them for the whole week after he had them! Go Grandpa!

Some Favorite friends

So life was pretty great here in Aurora, CO. We found some new friends (the Johnson's) that moved into our ward while Lynn went to Nursing school. Cameo and I became great friends. We did a lot together...even were pregnant together. Our kids got along great and they even convinced us to buy season passes at Eliches!

Well...all good things are not meant to last forever. We couldn't convince them to stay here in CO and they moved back to Arizona the end of October. They mentioned something about the crazy weather of Colorado that they didn't like. But what isn't to like about 40 degree temperature swings? But life goes on...(sniff) and we still keep in contact. Hopefully we can arrange a time when we can get together again.

Here are some pictures so...(as Tony put it) we can remember the good times :)

This is the last night the Johnson's were here. They are madly trying to pack up their house and we came over to distract them :)

Turner and Ezra are only a month apart...but they look the same size!

Ezra and Turner

I think they might be trying to share...

Jonah, Granger, and Turner...BIG hug!

Jonah and Turner

Yikes!

Tony and Cora

Turner, Jonah, Cora, Tony, and Granger



We sure miss you guys!

Preschool

I have started a Preschool this fall and am really enjoying it. Turner LOVES going to preschool and it is nice to have his help. It all started out as kind of a little idea...and then got bigger. I started with 8 kids (including Turner) and my friend Monette watches little Levi for me while Xander (her son) comes to preschool. I love learning all the little personalities and watching them discover the world of learning.

A couple of kids have moved away :( I have picked up another girl so we are back up to 7 kids! Turner is the crazy one on the bottom right. :P

30 and 10

Soooo yeah. I turned 30 this past week. The day after Derrick and I had our 10 year anniversary! (What a week!) I have upgraded to contacts again :) and am very happy with being able to see without glasses on. Derrick took the family out to dinner on my birthday and the food was awesome.

I don't feel much different. I guess I am "mature" now. Maybe I thought I would get suddenly wise. Not feeling a lot of new brain cells...actually I still suffer from pregnancy brain:)

I know that this past 10 years have been amazing. We are blessed with 3 incredible boys and a LOT of memories. I wouldn't change this past 10 years for anything and am so greatful to my wonderful husband for treating me like a queen. I love you babe!

We are in the process of putting together a "First 10 years" scrapbook (Derrick's idea...awesome huh?) It has been so nice to remember all the wonderful times and craziness that we have experienced the past 10 years.

Gardening

Levi really is enjoying gnawing on this carrot from our garden.
Turner loves carrots also!

We have gotten SOOOO many zucchini, squash, pumpkin, tomatoes, fresh basil, rosemary, beans, snow peas, and carrots.

I am so proud of our garden this year. Derrick, the boys and I worked really hard on it. Our labors were definitely fruitful (just ask Cameo and Lynn Johnson...they are helping eat all the zucchini and squash that my family just can't seem to get through. Thanks guys :) )

Derrick built me a couple of garden boxes this year and I love them. We are hoping to add another box next year.

Tony's baptism

"I felt so good when I was baptized," Tony said.

We had such a perfect day on September 5, 2009. Tony got baptized at 10am. Nana and Grandma gave wonderful talks. Papa and Grandpa were able to be witnesses and Derrick baptized and confirmed Tony. I am so proud of Tony and his decision to be baptized. We had a lot of friends come also to enjoy the day. Great-Grandma and Grandpa Williamson drove all the way from Ely, NV to see Tony and Ky and Shannon came up from Colorado Springs. Thank you for coming.

Afterwards we all pitched and had some wonderful food. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

Levi

Levi enjoying some food. :)

Levi is getting REALLY quick!

Help

I keep trying to upload a vid of Levi crawling but it says there is an error. Any ideas?

Tony's 8th birthday

We went to Eliches for Tony and Carter's (Tony's cousin) birthday. It was a lot of fun! Ky and Shannon brought up their family from Colorado Springs (Kyra, Kadence, and Carter) and we had an amazing day at the park.

Tony and Turner LOVE the swing :)

Tony, Turner, and Kadence fought their fear of the kiddie coaster and tried it out! Kyra and Carter have no fear.

Tony on the kiddie coaster!


Carter and Turner in the front ridding the kiddie coaster, with Kyra and Kadence sitting behind.

This is the "little" version of the Tower of Doom!

After a fun day at the park, we came back and ordered some pizza and wings and had some birthday cake. Tony wanted brownies and icecream and Carter wanted some cool froggie cupcakes. It was awesome.

Turner's 4th birthday

Turner wanted a dirt cake this year. Looks yummy! Xander is in the background ready to eat cake!

Tony facing off with Mom at the waterfight!

Water fight!

Playing at the pool at Nana's house

Say Cheese Tony!

Turner loves the turtle.

Levi enjoying the water.

Levi and his newest cousin, Kyler (they look the same size but really almost 3 months apart :) Levi is a little peanut)

Tony's piano recital

Tony did an amazing job on his recital :) He is getting really good at the piano.

Levi's Bath

Thought I would update you on Levi. I notice that I am not really including many pictures of him. He is growing fast and LOVES to splash in his bath!

Fun at Papa and Grandma's House

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Layton, UT to spend some time with Derrick's parents. Yes, I took the trek with my three boys on a 8 hour trip by myself. Derrick had to stay and work to fund my week of fun. We piled the van high with stuff, took out the captain chair and then put the boys in and finished packing behind them :) I am very grateful to have a wonderful trip. The boys were great and Derrick packed us all some "goodie" bags that we could munch on in the van. Levi did very well and the 8 hour trip only took 10 hours.

We had a lot of fun playing in the pool in the backyard, I went on some much needed hikes/runs. I got to spend some time with my sisters-in-law and my niece. (Who ALMOST warmed up to me by the time we left). I had a little mini-makeover and got my hair done. Derrick flew up a few days later and we were able to go to a movie together, dinner, and the zoo.

The Zoo was a lot of fun. The whole week was a little rainy. We were watching the bird show at the end and then the floods came! The show got cancelled and we ran for it. We made it to the car completely soaked and then dried off at the Spaghetti Factory later that night.

One of the highlights of the trip (I think Papa and Grandma planned this for the boys and not me) was our trip to Chuck-E-Cheese's. I had Levi in my front carrier and was going around helping the kids with their games when I suddenly spyed a basketball game! I put in a token and I was hooked. Needless to say, I played that game over and over and over. BUT I did really well! I KNEW all those hours I put into practicing for High School would pay off!!! I was earning tickets! Haha!! We finally ran out of tickets, Levi had a bunch of basketball treads in his hair, and we walked with a couple of balls that we traded all those hard earned tickets! Thanks Papa and Grandma! It was a blast :)

More Fun at Eliches

Recently we got to spend a day at Eliches and Derrick was able to get some time off! It was awesome. The boys excitedly showed him all the fun rides and we rode the "Disaster Canyon" ride enough that the person running the ride said, "Back again, huh?"

We checked out the Survivor show and were ready for some more Elich fun when the storm rolled in and we got rained out. I think this is becoming a theme for this summer. Rain, rain, and more rain. Our garden is loving it.

Eliches

So with some peer pressure from some good friends of ours here in Aurora (the good kind of peer pressure :) ), we splurged this year and decided to get some season passes to Eliches. So I have someone to hang out with and talk to while the kids go on ride after ride. (Levi can ride the carousel so that is a favorite of ours.) At first the boys were pretty timid to try the rides but recently we have ventured out of kiddie land to try some of the more "moderate" rides. In these bumper car pictures, I am sitting on the bench feeding Levi while Tony and Turner get in line...over and over and over. Perfect!

S'mores at the reunion

Everyone likes their marshmellow toasted a little differently. Derrick likes 'em flamin', I like mine golden brown, Tony likes his brown on the top, Turner likes his golden brown and puffy, and Levi hasn't decided how he likes his.

Family Reunion

Some cute picts of the cousins at the reunion.

Family Reunion

We had SOOO much fun on our Family Reunion. We went camping in Grand Junction at the KOA over Memorial Day. If you notice the dark clouds looming in the background that is what we had the whole time :) Rain and fun! The rain may have cancelled a couple of activities but we made lots of memories and everyone had a blast. And yes...our tent can withstand heavy rain...over and over.

Levi's talking

Just some more video of Levi. He is cooing/talking in this one. Enjoy!

Turner loves to sing!

So...yeah I made up a couple of songs for Levi. I noticed when Papa and Grandma were over he LOVED to listen to songs. And unfortunately, I don't know a lot of songs. Grandma J was singing all the nursery songs and Levi is stuck with a couple of my made up ones :) Turner has picked it up and LOVES to sing to Levi. (He sounds much cuter than I do). It is to the sound of "Cucaracha"(however you spell that). "Hey little Levi, hey little Levi, bop-ba-di-da-di-da-da. Hey little Levi, hey little Levi, bop-ba-di-da-di-da-da." Repeated ad naseum. (I know...song writing is one of my specialties!)

Soccer time

Well this year has been really fun for me. I get to sit on the sidelines and Derrick gets to coach. He has done an amazing job with the team. Tony has scored a goal and had multiple assists. GO TEAM!!

This picture is just after Tony was taken out! Whew! He is a little winded.

Moving and shaking

Levi has already rolled over 5 times this past week. (He will be 3 months on Thursday!) I guess he can't wait to keep up with his older brothers!

Tony the pianoman

Tony loves playing the piano and he has gotten really good at it :) This is one of his favorite songs to play.

Bath time

This is cute little Levi taking a bath. He loves to splash!

More Levi

Yes that is milk coming out of his mouth!

Well Levi is getting bigger all the time so I thought I would share some ofhis smiles with you :)

Hot dogs for dinner and dessert!

Turner and Tony have been wanting to make some cool cookies and these were about the coolest we could find. Derrick made hot dogs for dinner and the boys and I made hot dog sugar cookies for dessert!