Chase turns 9

 Our sweet Chase is 9! I really can't believe it, it feels so old. Chase is kind of an old soul though and in many ways far beyond his years, so I guess 9 seems about right. We aren't doing friend parties this year, but we still made his birthday special. Ben took Chase and Hudson to see the new Star Wars movie which they all loved! We had a few gifts for him and then on Sunday night we had a family party at my parents house with cake and more presents.

This boy loves one-on-one time, so each set of grandparents gave him a special date. Ray and Diane took him shopping at target where he picked out a present and then dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe. Nana and Papa took him to the Planetarium and out to dinner (he picked pizza again- this time at Blaze pizza).

I got to take him on a little lunch date the week after his birthday (it's more fun if you get checked out of school for it) and he chose Pizza Pie Cafe yet again- he loves that place. I loved having time with just him. We talked and talked, I got to hear all about his thoughts about the new baby coming, him reflecting on the last year, and a lot about his goals for the new year. The new youth program the church is doing is personal goal focused. The goals he chose were:
Spiritual: Read the scriptures. We talked about how participating fully in our family scripture study is a great way to meet this goal.
Intellectual: Keep working hard on piano- making the most of his daily 30 minutes of practice time. He's doing amazing in piano and I'm excited to see where it takes him!
Social: Work on building a stronger relationship with his brothers.
Physical: Learn to do a flip off the diving board without landing on his side sometimes.

A few things about 9 year old Chase:

• Still loves to read non-fiction books and learn constantly. He loves to watch documentaries about science and history. His other favorite books are Dog Man and Fablehaven. He got some Gary Paulson books for his birthday and has loved those as well.
• Wants to be just like his dad. He's constantly pointing out ways they are alike, or he decides he likes something (mushrooms) after finding out that dad likes them. 
• Loves third grade. He likes Mrs. Bland more than Mrs. Hubbard- but generally likes everything about school.
• Loves nerf guns, laser tag, Minecraft. He likes to help me cook and wants to learn to make more things all on his own.
• His favorite meals are tacos, sloppy joes, coconut curry soup, and pancakes and sausage.
• Wears his glasses faithfully now. And wears his Red Sox hat every minute he's allowed to (basically anytime besides school, church and the dinner table). He even sleeps in it. After wearing it all of last year, Heidi got him a new one for his birthday this year.
• After learning about musical terms in his music class at school, incorporated them (quite appropriately) into the piano piece he was learning that week. He even wrote them in in correct Italian. His teacher was impressed.
• We love this kid. He has such a big heart and is a friend to everyone. He's such a good big brother, he's quick to forgive, and tries so hard to be good. His passion for life and learning is inspiring to us and we can't wait to see where he goes in the world!

Boys Trip to Texas

On Christmas night my dad gave the boys one last surprise- they got to go on a boys trip! Just a few days later they were boarding a plane for Austin, Texas! The reason for visiting Texas was to see the Utes play in the Alamo bowl on New Years Eve, but they went a few days early to make a fun trip out of it!

These boys were of course, over the moon at the prospect of a boys trip. They loved every single aspect of it- the movie selections on the plane, staying in the hotel and swimming in the hot tub there, eating in restaurants (Chase especially is a BBQ fan and they found plenty of it in Texas!), and all the other fun little outings in between!

Ben took them to see a cool cave. Hudson, of course, found tug-a-lug remains in the caverns. Tug-a-lugs are an invention of Hudson's and we frequently find their homes, remains, tracks, etc. when we travel to different places. 

 They went and saw the Alamo. Chase impressed me with his knowledge of the Alamo before he even got there- he knew what it was, who won and why it was important. I did check him out a book from the library a few days before so he could read all about it and then he got to see it in person. Chase really appreciates seeing a good historical site, so this was a highlight for him.

One of their very favorite parts of the whole trip though was visiting an arcade one afternoon when they had time to kill before dinner. Go figure- all the things unique to Texas, and their favorite part is an arcade.

The actual game was a little bit of a letdown- the Utes got killed- although apparently they got all the way back to the car in the parking lot before Hudson said "So did the Utes win or lose?" These boys had so much fun on the trip though, enjoyed bonding time with their dad, Papa and Unky Will- just missing Unky Nate. (And Davis- although we all agreed the trip would have been a lot less fun for Ben had Davis come along- we had some good bonding time at home just the two of us though!) The boys already can't wait to do this again. Hudson kept chanting, "Boys trip! boo-yah!" and then dabbing.

New Years

I've said it before- we really aren't New Years people. In fact, we didn't do anything special for New Years. Ben and the boys were in Texas, I was home with Davis and we went to bed like any other night. It's okay to not go all out for every holiday.

When I reflect on 2019, I realized that overall that year was kind of hard! Between a miscarriage and then getting pregnant but being miserably sick, physically and emotionally it was a hard year for me. Of course, we are so blessed and excited for this little girl to join us in 2020, but the pregnancy itself has been kind of rough for me (as they always are). Ben has had a long year at his job- long hours, lots of stress, not quite enough money- you know the story. Not that this year has been terrible or horrible- but it has been HARD. I think through all its challenges we've grown a lot though, deepened our relationship with each other, strengthened our compassion for others, and overall been refined.

This year marked four years in our home and neighborhood and we are still thankful every single day we found this place. We continue to be in awe at the gorgeous views out our huge south facing windows. We love our kids school so much. And mostly we love these neighbors of ours. We've had so many wonderful memories with these friends- dinners and dessert nights, all hanging out in our front yards and chatting as the kids play, swapping babysitting, and so much love and support from these great people. It feels so good to be somewhere long enough to have developed some of these fun, deep friendships and I'm so thankful for them this past year (especially with all the hard stuff).

More than anything this year, Ben and I felt so blessed for our three sweet boys. They continue to make us laugh and bring so much joy to our lives. Life with three little boys is crazy a lot of the time, but we just really wouldn't have it any other way. These kids are our world.

It took us two weeks into January to finally pick a theme scripture this year- with so much going on in December we just didn't get it done. But one morning the perfect scripture came to my mind, "Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things will work together for your good" Doctrine and Covenants 90:24. I think it will be a good one- good stuff for us to remember as we hope for more good to come in 2020.

Our other big goal for the New Year is to read the Book of Mormon as a family. We started on January 1st with chapter 1 of 1st Nephi and we've been pretty consistent on doing a chapter a day, stopping to discuss as we read. The boys follow along in their own scriptures and do some of the reading too. It's been awesome! They are doing so well. This will just be part of us trying to embrace the "search diligently" part of our theme.

So 2020, we are ready for you. We hope you bring us lots of joy, and with a baby girl due I can't imagine it will let us down!

Baby Shower

 From almost the minute I told Heidi I was expecting this baby girl, she immediately started planning a baby shower. I felt a little sheepish about it, being my fourth baby and all. But Heidi was insistent that this first baby girl deserved a shower and so it was. We did it right after Christmas while Heidi was still in town and she spared no detail! She had this vision of a balloon arch, and with the help of my dad's friend Steve who actually does balloons for a living, she created this masterpiece! All the food was delicious and so beautiful and she just created such a darling party for me and my baby!

 I tried to keep it fairly small, since it is my fourth kid afterall. So many of my friends came! I didn't even get pictures of most of the people who were there, but did snap this one with my cousins! I was so happy to see them, especially since my due date falls too close for me to be able to attend the girls trip this year. Seeing them over Christmas was that much sweeter!

 This little girl was so spoiled! So much pink, and so many darling things! I still go into her nursery all the time to look through her drawers at all the darling little outfits and bows I can't wait to dress her in!

It was so fun to celebrate this baby girl, who is so loved already in our family! My heart was just bursting in gratitude for all my amazing family and friends who came to celebrate with me. As a little update- I was 30 weeks the day of the shower. I am so thankful to have made it this far. I've had a lot of contractions this pregnancy, and have had to slow down a little to make sure this little one stays cooking longer. While it hasn't gotten scary at any point, it has caused a little worry, so I've been thankful for every week I'm still pregnant. She's kicking like crazy and she's been measuring big (95%ile at my last ultrasound). I feel huge and she seems like she's sitting really high in my abdomen, I can feel her kicks up in my ribs all the time. I had been getting a lot of heartburn, so I started on daily omeprazole and it's been a lifesaver! I'm still taking my unisom/B6 every night and honestly I'm too nervous to stop- it's working pretty well and my nausea has been minimal over the last little bit so I figure I'll just do it until she comes. Don't mess with something that works! I got a little flu bug in December and was so nauseated and threw up a bunch, and I couldn't figure out if it was pregnancy related or a bug, well shortly after my kids all got it so flu bug it was! Besides that one day, I don't think I threw up at all in December, so nausea is definitely better than last summer/fall. Everything hurts, especially by the end of the night. I know when I meet her all this discomfort is 100% worth it- I can't wait to hold her and see her cute face!

Oh, and we can't pick a name for her! We are hoping when we see her something will feel right. We've got a list going, and rotate around which names we are liking the most. I think right now our favorites are Lila, Zoe, Abigail, Grace and maybe Hallie. We'll see if one of those feels right when little miss Hugo makes her debut!

Christmas!

 We had so much fun celebrating Christmas this year! As always, so many of the fun parties and activities went undocumented- but that's okay. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and my family and our friends and guests and didn't worry too much about pretty pictures. So there was a BYU friends party that happened (we hosted, it was fun!), a White family party and a Smith family party that was lovely, and a whole lot of merriment around our house.

We snuck away one cold and snowy Friday night to Christmas village in Ogden. I love this place. It's so full of twinkle lights and Christmas magic. This year was especially fun with silly Davis, who quickly looked at each little house and then RAN to the next one, frequently saying "Let's go boys! Let's keep lookin!" We kept up a brisk pace to keep up with him (which was great since it was cold) and finished off the night at home with pizza and watching Muppet Christmas Carol. It was such a fun night with our little family.

 We had a gingerbread decorating party with the Hugos one Saturday afternoon. These gingerbread men were delicious and the boys had fun decorating. Hudson made his army guys. I think Chase made a grinch gingerbread man.

 I love our house decorated for Christmas. In the evening, Ben and I often just sat in our living room in the sweet, soft light of the tree to chat and breathe for a minute. Such a happy place for us!

 We went to temple square one Sunday night with Nana and Papa. It was cold, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. These lights are so pretty and all the boys loved it!

 This is my ever diligent Chase practicing his Christmas songs early in the morning. I absolutely loved making breakfast all month while listening to his sweet piano music serenading me with Christmas carols.

 Then it was Christmas Eve, our most anticipated day of the year! We had a lovely time up at my parents house. The kids put on the cutest talent show- Chase played his favorite Christmas piano songs (Little Drummer Boy and Angels we have Heard On High), Hudson did a magic trick, Davis identified letters, Nora did ninja skills, Anna produced a small play, and then Chase and Hudson did a Star Wars finale with Chase playing the piano and Hudson light saber battling. We did the nativity with puppets, which was crazy and chaotic as always. We played a few fun games and had our beautiful candlelight dinner. Both of the older boys have mentioned lately how they really look forward to the candlelight dinner all year.

 Then we opened presents and the room was filled with so much love and gratitude. The kids were spoiled of course, and really didn't even need anything from Santa or us the next day after all the gifts they got from their grandparents, aunts and uncle and cousins. It was such a fun magical night!

 We quickly got the boys in bed, and they were all asleep by like 8:45! I read them a few Christmas books and sang a few carols and they were almost asleep before I even left their room. I had all the wrapping done early in the month, so Ben and I just watched BYU lose it's bowl game (bummer) and got to bed at a really reasonable time!

Christmas morning the big kids woke up early, but dutifully stayed in their room and quiet until 7:30, when we let them wake Davis up. We all headed downstairs and enjoyed a peaceful morning opening presents together! The boys were so thankful for their gifts and happy that Santa delivered just what they wanted. We unwrapped the gifts under the tree, and all loved watching Davis's excitement as this was the first year he grasped the presents concept!

Ray and Diane came over for Christmas breakfast, and bringing still more gifts! They got the boys helmets, which were much needed- hence them all wearing helmets in this picture. And this is actually the only picture I have of Christmas day! I guess I was just enjoying the moment too much to take many pictures. Ben made delicious biscuits and gravy for our breakfast and the kids played with their new toys all day long. Between the laser tag set we got them, several new lego sets, slime making kits, and other fun new games and toys they were happy and busy all day.

We ended the night back at my parents house to have dinner with them and Heidi. It was low key and delicious. This Christmas was just wonderful- we were all healthy and all together. It was full of fun, but not too frantic or stressful.  I'm so thankful for this beautiful family of mine and that we got to have such a joyous season together!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas!

It's truly the most wonderful time of the year! We started off the season with our traditional kick-off to Christmas party. All three boys loved decorating the tree this year. Even Davis was thrilled to help put ornaments on the tree. Then they got their new jammies and we cuddled up and watched "The Santa Clause". Such a sweet night with the sweetest boys!

 This was after Rosie's blessing the first Sunday of the month. Davis had fallen asleep at the end of the meeting, Ben tried taking him home for a nap, I came home to find this. Davis awake, Ben asleep.

 Just my silly boys before bedtime- I'm loving reading them Christmas books every single night, and then singing Christmas carols for their songs.

 We started doing our daily acts of service- every year this just gets sweeter. The boys are even more into it this year, and I love the focus on service instead of presents. This particular activity was so sweet. We took cookies to our local code enforcement office. Chase wrote the sweetest note to go with them, thanking them for serving our community and letting know we were doing this in honor of Jill Robinson- aunt Halie's mom who was a code enforcement officer and was murdered on the job last year. As soon as I mentioned her name, this man's face fell- he knew exactly who I was talking about. We explained our connection to her and he could not have been sweeter to the boys- so thankful and touched that we thought of them. As we left, Chase said, "that service felt good."

 Sometimes Chase helps Hudson with his reading homework and it's the sweetest thing ever. I love these cute brothers and their sweet relationship. Of course they fight- but the sweet moments far out number the hard ones.

 Davis prefers to have Ben put him to bed- so that's usually what we do. He has started saying, "good night mom! I love you!" when I kiss him good night. He used to say "I love daddy" anytime I told him I loved him.

 For a solid week I made myself salads for lunch every day and Davis sat next to me and ate like half the salad! Sometimes this kid only eats bread and pizza and then we have a whole week of lots of spinach!

 We went and saw Santa! The boys were so excited! Davis couldn't wait to get up there to see him, then was pretty reserved sitting there on his lap. Chase asked for a snap circuit set, Hudson asked for the stark jet legos and Davis asked for chocolate. I think they'll all make the nice list (even though I've threatened a few times...)

We went with Ray and Diane to festival of trees- the boys were really into it this year. They loved this Harry Potter tree and the lego and hot wheels themed trees. Davis really just wanted to eat. Afterwards Ray treated us to dinner- and it reminded us why we don't usually take our kids to restaurants! They were actually pretty good, but it was crazy and intense keeping everyone behaving well, no drinks spilled and everyone fed!

 For more light the world activities, we've tried to have other kids over to give their mamas a break. This day we had the Shaw's over to frost sugar cookies. It was super fun and not nearly as crazy as I thought it might be!

 Hudson had his darling first grade program! He did so great and I was just gushing watching him be so cute up there! Here he is with his fan club- Davis did enjoy the program but really doesn't understand the concept of whispering and didn't appreciate when they turned out the audience lights "HEY! Turn on the LIGHTS!"

 Megan and I hosted a huge gingerbread house party for a whole bunch of families (and sent the moms on their way to get a few things done and enjoy some kid free hours!).  It was nuts and crazy but all the kids had so much fun and it went pretty smoothly! We had 24 kids there I think- all 8 and younger. And the boys decorated some darling gingerbread houses absolutely loaded with candy!

It's been an exhausting month- full of so much fun and lots of chaos and so many sweet memories with my boys!