Friday, May 31, 2013

May...

I started this post weeks ago and I can't believe it is already the last day of May! I thought that May was pretty low key for us, but as I look through the pictures, I see that we did have plenty of fun! Lots of playdates, parties and having fun with the warmer weather! Woo-Hoo!
We got our trampoline up, finally! :) The kids were dying without it. The net is not up yet, but hopefully soon (before any accidents) :)
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This is Taylor's new BFF, Chase. My good friend lives right behind us, and we have discovered that our kids play SO well together. They are staggered enough in age, but close enough, to just all really get along. My kids have spent some evenings over there, and they have spent some over here, it is so fun having friends so close. We just need our husbands to put the gate in between our yards. Good thing I know a fence guy! :)
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Taylor's playgroup sadly ended today. But we did have one last hurrah at our house. Here are her and her good friend Abbey having a pillow fight! I love my sweet Taylor, who gets along with anyone and is generally so happy and content! :)
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It got up into the 90's a few weeks ago! It was crazy! That is crazy for Spokane. We got out the sprinkler to put under the trampoline, but ran into a problem, the side of the yard with the trampoline didn't have a water spout thingy. And the hose wasn't long enough to reach across the whole yard. I couldn't move the trampoline by myself in my pregnant state, so the kids had to go to one side of the yard to cool off in the sprinkler, and then go back to the trampoline to warm up again. They still had fun! :)
Tucker was making bum prints on the trampoline all afternoon. He would get his bum wet in the sprinkler...
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Then go do a bum bounce on the trampoline! :)
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Then, of course, Taylor had to do the same thing! :)
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I got my hair did!! :) Woo-hoo! My dear friend Megan is a fabulous hair dresser! We ombred it a bit more, and then she taught me how to curl it so it actually stays curled and looks cute! I'm so clueless when it comes to doing my hair. But I love it! :)
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Taylor and I had a girls night while the boys were on the father/son campout. We got Taco Bell and spent the evening at the park with some good friends to play and celebrate my good friends birthday. When we got home that night I told her she could sleep with me and she was so excited. But I told her she had to sleep on her own side of the bed. (I can't snuggle when I sleep--gross!) We laid down and she quickly fell asleep and not only did she snuggle right up to me, but was literally in the crook of my neck! I finally couldn't take it anymore (I do love cuddling for short periods and like on the couch watching TV or something) and I had to move to the other side of the bed. She eventually followed me to that side, too! :) I love my kids snuggling with me in the mornings when we're waking up, but not when I'm trying to go to sleep! :)
I snapped this picture pretty quickly after she had fallen asleep, that is how close she was to me! :)
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I do love my girl though, and we had a fun girls night! :)

36 weeks pregnant!!! Woo-Hoo!!!
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I finally did get the baby's nursery put together. It was a big pile of junk that I was kind of dreading having to go through. But I did it and now we are officially ready for this little man. :)
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It's all of Tucker's stuff that has been in storage since he was a baby. It was fun getting it all out again. So reminds me of Tuckers little nursery (that I loved so much!).
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Tucker's soccer season ended, just when it was finally starting to warm up and we didn't have to bundle up for the games! :) He loves soccer, and I am so happy that he enjoyed it.
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Him and his friend from his soccer team, Branson. These two became close little buddies! :)
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The sweet ladies from the branch threw me a baby shower, and some of my NON branch friends came. It was so nice! :) I love our branch and my friends!
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My friend Marisol made me this diaper cake! :)
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I picked up Tucker from school one day and looked back to see him chilling like this! :) It's a rough life.
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Taylor then wanted her window down so she could put her feet up. I didn't think she could reach, but I looked in my rear view mirror and saw her little toe sticking out! :) So cute! :)
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37 weeks and counting!!! I went in for my 37 week appointment and the baby was still breach. So, Dr. Brown scheduled me for a version the following week, to flip him head down. When I would be about 38 weeks. I went in last Tuesday, to the hospital, got all hooked up and they did an ultrasound only to find out that he had flipped all on his own! I wasn't dilated at all, so they sent me home and said now we just wait for him to come! (I was secretly hoping that the version would cause me to go into labor and I could have this baby a little early!) :) But no such luck! I have an appt. on Monday and we will see where this little man is, make sure he is still head down and see if I'm dilated at all!
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I love having the front and back doors open and just being able to relax about my kids playing outside. Taylor is inspecting for bugs here, I just thought it was a  cute shot! :) See those little seed things all over our walkway and road, they are EVERYWHERE on our street. My kids call them helicopters and they literally cover everything right now. It's been a bit windy, so we drive home and they are just swirling all around us! It's pretty fun! I think that they are actually Maple tree seeds or something, and every yard on our street has at least three trees full of them!
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Another play date with friends. I was doing the dishes in the kitchen while they were jumping and Tucker came in with an exasperated look on his face, and said, 'They dared me to wear the wig while I jump' and then sneaked a little smile. And I thought to myself, yeah, I'm sure it was THEIR idea!!! :) He will wear that wig any chance he gets! :)
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I turned 34!!! Woo-Hoo!!! And this is what I got to wake up to! Happy Birthday to me!!! :)
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Just joking! :) I mean, I really did wake up to it, but it wasn't all that bad, because I also woke up to cinnamon rolls and cards and some really sweet sweet kids! :)
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I'm so glad I got this shot of Taylor eating her cinnamon roll. She's a girl after my own heart! :)
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I spent a fabulous day with family and being spoiled by going out to eat for lunch AND dinner. (If you know me, you know I would go out every meal if I could!) :)
Then after dinner, we went home and I was surprised by a house full of all of my good friends!
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It was the best birthday ever!!! I don't know how they pulled it off, but I had no clue. I was wondering why Ben was so annoyed when I was late picking him up to go to dinner, he usually doesn't care about that kind of thing. (and it happens a lot with me)
And it wasn't just a few people, like our whole house was filled with my friends and their spouses and kids!!! :) It was so much fun! I have the best family and friends in the world! And the best husband who ALWAYS goes above and beyond planning and surprising me for my birthday!
Some of the kids on the trampoline:
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We found out a few days later that my dear sweet grandmother passed away, which I have already blogged about. And while I am so sad that she is gone, I am happy that she is no longer suffering from cancer, and able to be reunited with her husband and other family members who have passed on. She was a WONDERFUL lady and I love her!
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I don't know why but sometimes when it rains, it pours!!! My brother and sister in law had been planning a cruise with her family to the Mediterranean for years now. It was a 10 day cruise, but with travel and some extra stops that they were going to make in Ireland, they were going to be gone for over 2 weeks. My mom was in Quincy watching their kids when we got the word that my grandma's health was deteriorating fast. I knew that my mom wanted to go to Oregon to see her mom in case anything happened, but I also knew that it would be hard for her with 3 little kids. But me being 8.5 months pregnant, I didn't really think that I should head to Quincy for a few days, or Oregon. Luckily it was Memorial day weekend, and the kids had a few days off of school, I told my mom I'd meet her in Ritzville to take the older two kids, but that in my state, I didn't know if I could handle a baby. So she took Aubrey and I took Keyton and Cassidy and she headed to Oregon and we headed  back to Spokane for the weekend. I am so glad that we decided to do that because my grandma ended up passing away that very day and my mom was able to be there with my aunt and get some of the arrangements made before having to head back up to Quincy for another week and a half of babysitting.
Here are all the kids piled up in our van in Ritzville ready for the hour drive back to Spokane:
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{Aubrey was really sad that she didn't get to join us and had to leave with grandma}

That night we went to Tucker's BFF Garret's birthday party. Luckily they didn't mind that I had a few unexpected extra kids with me! :)
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Tucker was very concerned about where to put his candy so he could get more...
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Other than Garret's party, we just kind of hung out at home for the weekend and played. The kids didn't seem to mind, and it gave me ample time to work on some wedding pictures I took a few weeks ago. Uncle Ben did take the older boys to see the movie 'Epic' one night and we went to church on Sunday, but other than that, we did a whole lot of this:
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Cassidy is the most accident prone girl I have ever met! We have had Taylor's bunkbed up for over a month now, and the trampoline up for a few weeks without any accidents, and within the first day of being here, Cassidy fell off the bunkbed, fell off the trampoline, and fell down the stairs into the sand box at Garret's party. Hence the wounds on her face:
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{cute, silly girls!}
All the cute kids before church:
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Pretty girls...
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Luckily grandma was able to make it back to Spokane on Sunday (they had done all they could do, so she decided to come and spend the next day and a half with us before taking the kids back to Quincy) So we did have some help with getting all the kids ready and to church on time. Even with one o'clock church, I have a hard time. I don't know what my problem is!
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There was a LOT of trampoline playing! And we had so much fun with our cousins! It was so nice having room for everyone, and not feeling crammed. There were little spats here and there, but for the most part they all got along great, which I was so grateful for! So, despite having to remind Cassidy to smile and talk nicely every now and then :) we had a fabulous time and are so glad that they got to come!
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Of course, when grandma got here, she had to spoil them and took us to Chuck E Cheese on Monday for lunch before they headed back home. These two girls got along so well, and were so cute together the whole weekend. 
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IMG_2637 Aubrey was scared to death of ChuckECheese, I have seriously never seen a child so scared in my whole life. She clung to me with her face in my neck, holding on SO tight for a good half an hour! The poor baby! :) Taylor doesn't like him either, but I have never seen anything like Aubrey's reaction!

And then to top off the month, I got to go to Chris & Brittney's sealing in the Spokane Temple. It was so sweet, and I love being in the temple with couples getting sealed. It totally reminds me of my own wedding day and makes me want to work better and harder at being a better wife and mother! They are such a sweet and great couple and I am so happy for them!
All of their friends and family who came:
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And me with the Fairbanks, minus Andrew:
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{Cute Brittney is only 2 months behind me in her pregnancy and looks so good!!! I don't think I was ever that small!!!} :)
And that was our May! Lots of good times and memories made! :) Now if this next week and half would just go fast so this little man can get here, we've got lots of plans this summer, and the sooner he arrives, the better! :) I will keep you posted!

Friday, May 24, 2013

I am a mother...

I found out yesterday that my dear sweet grandmother passed away. She was such a great example of love and service and dedication. I got a birthday card from her every year of my life up to last year. As did my children, every year of their lives up to last year. My grandfather passed away almost exactly a year ago, and she has been struggling with health problems ever since. I am glad her pain and suffering weren't very long and that she is reunited with her husband and three of her children. (although I am sad to have her gone!)
I was writing this post about mothers day and thought it a perfect time to mention how much I loved my grandmother and always will! I am so grateful for the years of love and support that I had with her.

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This was one of the last times I saw my grandmother, last October. We went to Greenbluff to pick pumpkins and I am grateful we took this four generation photo. She came up later in December to have surgery to remove her ovaries (Ovarian Cancer) and I was only able to see her a few times in the hospital then, and didn't get any pictures, I should have!189
I love you Grandma (GG as my kids called her) and will miss you dearly!

I am also grateful that I am able to be a mother. Although it is hands down the most challenging thing I have ever done, it is also the most rewarding. I love the fun and silliness that we have together, and I am so grateful for a hard working husband to take care of us, so that I can be at home with these little people and make sure that I am the one raising them. (scary thought!) :)
They are sweet, funny and smart smart little people and I love them so very much!
After church we had a little photo shoot. 
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Woah, Tucker making me show some leg there, sorry! :)
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Me and my little man...
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And me and the little lady...
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I am also grateful for my own wonderful mother who always taught me to have fun, laugh and enjoy life, and who always put her children first and loved us and encouraged us and supported us in everything! IMG_2258
 I am so blessed!