Is it Springtime Yet???

my handsome baby Paul

exhausted Ben after a day of playing

helping to water our new fruit trees and plants

trampoline fun!!!!

riding bikes

Having fun at the Dinosaur Park with friends

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

It has been a crazy couple of months. Lots of exciting things have happened. We have had many joys and some sorrow. To start, we found out we are expecting out third child in February. Kaitlyn is super excited and prayed for a little sister for months and was thrilled when she got to see her little sister on the TV at the doctors office. I am grateful that her sweet little prayers were answered and am excited for another girl. Brandon wanted another boy, bit I really wanted another girl. Girls are tons of fun. The baby is doing very well and after a tough couple of months I am feeling great. In anticipation of the new addition, Brandon insisted we get a minivan. It is nice to have the extra space in the vehicle, my car was getting a little tight anyway.

In July, we were saddened by the loss of a great friend. After a difficult battle with cancer, our beloved friend Paul passed away. It was very hard for Brandon, Paul was like a second father to him and really helped him after the loss of his father. I will forever be indebted to Paul because he patiently worked with Brandon and was instrumental in teaching Brandon the gospel. Paul was also always there to help us or offer us advice. I will miss his great knowledge and wisdom. It is comforting to know we will be able to see him again someday.

In September, I lost my maternal grandfather Heber Robertson. He too passed away after a long battle with cancer. I will miss my Grandpa a ton. He was the pillar of my mothers family. He taught me about faith, unconditional love, and the importance of family. He was an amazing man that will always hold a tender place in my heart. My Grandpa Rob (as we all called him my entire life) was a sealer in the temple for many years. Brandon and I were lucky to have him come to the Ogden Temple to marry us and seal us together forever. On our wedding day, he gave us some wonderful advice and it was nice to have a loving face perform the ceremony. The thing that I will miss most is that my grandpa was always there to talk to me and guide me. By profession, he was a counselor and always knew how to help me with my problems. It is wonderful to know that I am sealed to this great man for eternity. I look forward to being in his loving embrace again someday.

In August, I started school again. I am going to school full-time this semester and don't know how I will do it all. I feel like most of my free time is spent studying and doing homework. Brandon has helped a lot by picking up some of the slack around the house and taking the kids off of my hands. I try to do most of my homework while Ben is napping. Kaitlyn is adorable. She loves to sit at the table with me and do her homework. Her homework consits of coloring in some new coloring books and work books, playing with play dough, and painting beautiful pictures. It has been quite the adjustment, but we are slowly getting into a new routine. I am excited because after this semester I will be almost done with my Bachelors degree. I will only have 5 more classes to complete. There is finally a light at the end of the long college tunnel.

Kaitlyn started preschool in September. It is called Joy School and is not the typical preschool. I am doing it with three other mothers in the neighborhood. The kids, 2 boys and 2 girls, meet at alternating houses on every Thursday. The mothers take turns teaching the class. So about every 4 weeks it is my turn to teach. The curriculum focuses on teaching children to enjoy learning. So far the children have learned about the joys of obedience and decisions, the joy of spontaneous delight (having fun and being silly), and now we have started the section on the joy of the earth. I have really enjoyed the school and Kaitlyn loves it. She has made two new friends, we already knew one of the kids. There are also tons of cute songs that go along with the lessons and Kaitlyn loves to sing them and dance around the house. It has been a great learning experience and we look forward to the rest of the year.

Misc. thoughts

We have had a busy week. Sunday was Ben's baby blessing. It was a great day. We had lots of fun visiting with family and friends. Here is a cute family picture. I am trying to convince Brandon to get our family picture done professionally so we can try to get one with all the family smiling, or at least Kaitlyn smiling.

We have gone to the park a couple times. Kaitlyn still loves the slide and has discovered how much fun the swings are. I had to push her for thirty minutes before we could go home for naps. Kaitlyn also got to go play with some of her friends. She had lots of fun playing with Sierra and was so excited that she is back from her vacation. Sierra has a cute little Barbie Volkswagen car. Kaitlyn loved driving it around her backyard. Later, she got to play with Jaxon and his new swing set. Brook (Jaxon's mom) said she had a blast and Brook really enjoyed playing with Ben. Brook watched the kids while I went to the doctor for my mommy check-up.

Brandon had a good birthday. We went out to dinner at Sizzler and Kaitlyn was so cute telling him Happy Birthday the entire meal. This week I finally broke down and let Brandon buy a grill. He has wanted one since we got married. We agreed that during the summer Brandon will cook dinner a least once a week on the grill, so I can have a break. I am excited and look forward to eating lots of yummy grilled foods.

Bubbles

Kaitlyn absolutley loves to play with bubbles. We have had some nice weather on and off the past couples of days. So when it was almost 60 degrees outside and sunny, we decided to go outside and play. We have Kaitlyn's friend Sierra over today, which makes playing with bubbles even funner.

They had tons of fun chasing the bubbles all over the yard. I just love to watch them run and laugh. It is very cute. They were having so much fun that we even had to let Dotty out of her kennel to play with them. Dotty was not to fond of the bubbles or the bubble machine, but she did love the freedom and running around the yard with the girls. This is what they looked like after about 30 minutes of bubble mania.