Boys...

I love having little boys. The 3 year old stage is so fun. It's especially fun when we get together to have playgroup. Getting 5 3- year-old boys together (yes, 5 boys) can be crazy at times, but its always fun. Plus, it gets some energy out! Here's a short video montage of all the boys watching Toy Story. (You might want to pause the music to hear the yells coming out of these boys... :)

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Also, Gunner had his first ever team soccer game last Saturday. He did awesome! It was really hot outside so it was pretty hard on him but he had fun nonetheless! His team is the Sharks and they played the Tigers. Here's a few pics of the big game.
all decked out in uniform! He's so big!
Go Sharks Go! (Gunner is #2)
Giving high fives to his friend Kyle who plays for the Tigers. Good sportsmanship!
Last of all, here's a 10 sec video of Gunn goofing around with his buddy Carter on the sidelines. I know, it's probably only cute to me, the Mom, but oh well!

6 months and then some...

Our Breezy is 6 months old! Here are some highlights of our sweet girl:
* She loves to reach out and grab everything and anything...including my face and earrings!
* She laughs at the most random things but when we really try to get her to laugh she just stares at us like we are crazy!
* She is SOOO easy going and mellow. I love her sweet personality!
* She sleeps so well. I dont know what I did to get such a good baby.
* She has amazing patience already - she lets her brothers crawl, kiss and tumble over her and hardly makes a peep.
* She will cover her face with her hand when she nurses. It's really sweet!
We love our Easy Breezy. Happy half birthday sweet baby!

Then these are just some random pictures of a few of Gunner's friends. He loves having friends over to his house to play. (And I'm grateful too because then maybe I can get some stuff done around the house while they play!)

Here they are playing "Climb the mountain." Gotta love how boys have to be tumbling all over the place...pretty much all the time!
Then this is Gunner's buddy Carter. We love friends!
Then, this past weekend, a cute thing happened with Caleb. Most often when Caleb passes by a mirror, he has to stop and talk to himself in his own little language. It's a sweet thing he does but I dont ever know what he is saying. 

Well, as I was getting ready one day, he happened to take different objects and explain them to the mirror. He'd take the object, say a little spiel in the mirror, then toss it off to the side. Like a comb, sunglasses, clothes, bracelets, etc. It went on for about 15 minutes so I was able to capture him on camera. Check it out! 

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Then this is the picture of all the different things he had taken out of my bathroom drawers to explain. He had been very busy!

We will never forget!

Today being September 11th, I wanted to do a little post about my gratitude for living in the best country in the world...The good old U.S.A! So, I feel so honored to be an American. I am so thankful that I live in a country where we can enjoy our freedom. I feel so blessed to have such honorable men and women serving this country so faithfully and so willingly. I truly feel deep gratitude for those that sacrificed their lives so that we can have a free country. Thank you to all who have served, defended and continue to honor our beautiful America! God Bless us all!

Friends!

This is Breezy's friend Brielle. She was born a week before our Bree. Brielle's mom, Stephanie, was so sweet to watch Bree while we went to the temple a few weeks ago. I just love that these two little girls could get together!
Our Bree is pretty laid back. She doesnt care much to roll over, or try to sit up. She's content to just lay there and take in the atmosphere around her...pretty much she's our lazy girl. Then we have Brielle... who is practically ready to crawl. Oh well, I guess I should be grateful that she's so mellow. She definitely makes life easy!

They tied the knot!

Last week Justin's brother Scott married Tiffany Hatfield in the Mesa, Az temple. That morning it rained so it cooled down the day and everything turned out beautiful! Here are some of the pictures from that fun day!

The happy couple!
Tiffany's favorite color is pink so she wore cute pink sandals instead of the traditional white. Super cute. You go sista!
All the girls!
All the flower girls!
This is my favorite flower girl!
This was our best attempt at a family picture. We had to take at least 25 shots before we got a decent one...and this still isn't that good. Oh well!
Caleb was pretty tuckered out by the end of the night!
This next picture I just wanted to throw in because we had a monster monsoon roll in last monday and the winds blew so hard it knocked over trees and blew over buildings...well not really but this actually did happen. If you notice, you can see where this big treetop used to be, on the opposite side of this car! This picture really doesnt do the storm justice but it was awesome!
After the monsoon last week we took Caleb to Chuck E. Cheese for his bday to party the night away! Thanks to our family and friends who were able to join us on short notice!
This is my sister and her cute baby Co-Co. I just love this little doll. She is so cute and full of personality!
Caleb and his buddy Mario playing air hockey.
Who's having more fun in this picture...Hmmm??? i guess the games aren't just for kids, huh?
Caleb in his monster truck. This is what I have to look forward to in 10 years!
Happy birthday again to our sweet boy!!

Our trip to "Holland"

It was 6 years ago today that we found out Caleb had Down syndrome. When he was born we had no idea, it even surprised the doctors who in the first day didn’t notice any signs. I remember one of our nurses handed me a pamphlet with a short story about a trip to Holland. Every year Justin and I remember this special day when we really discovered how special our Caleb is to Heavenly Father. Not that all children aren't special, but some have more challenges than others in this life and I believe it's because they were exceptional spirits in the premotal life. This story gives me strength during those hard times but also gives me hope to know that Justin and I have one of Heavenly Father's choice spirits. Enjoy the story!


WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

My oldest

My sweet Caleb turns 6 years old today! I cant believe he's already 6! The time has flown by. Today I thought about so many things I love about this boy. Here's just a few...

-He loves his family. His little face brightens when he sees me or Justin. It's such a great feeling every time I see him smile.
-Lately, he's been picking a favorite toy to play with. He plays with it for most of the day and likes to sleep with it at night. It's usually an animal of some sort. It's fun to see his imagination working!

-This boy loves mirrors. If he walks by a mirror and catches a glimpse of himself, he'll start talking to himself in his own little language. It really is super cute!

-He loves his Daddy. Whenever Justin comes home he signs 'Dad!' He always wants to wrestle with Justin and Gunner. He'd probably do this for hours if they let him!

-He loves to dance to a good beat. It's so fun to watch him dance. He'll often go around in circles and jump up and down. He's already a big fan of SYTYCD & Dancing with the Stars!

-Caleb is so sensitive to the spirit. There have been times that I've been having a hard day and for no reason, Caleb will come up to me and give me a hug and a smooch then run away and play again. I know it's simple, but to me, it makes me tear up every time!

Here's a few of my favorite pictures of Caleb growing up. This one is when Caleb was 5 months old. This boy was an angel baby. He never cried, loved to nurse and slept through the night at 8 weeks!This one was taken when Caleb was 9 months. He still loves trucks and cars to this day!This was Caleb's 1st birthday. He didnt really like to eat his cake. He just more wanted to play in it. He also loved clapping and hearing everyone applause for him!
My baby at 18 months. Wasn't he such a cutie? Still is!
This picture has always been one of my favorites. This shows Caleb's personality. He was 2 here and constantly loved to play peekaboo!
We love you Caleb and hope you have a great birthday!!