grandmas visit....

After my mom watched Tucker for the weekend while we were in Seattle, she decided to just bring him back up to Spokane and stay with us for a week to visit and to be able to go to my baby shower. We had so much fun while Grandma was here. I was glad to have some help while I was as big as a barge. :) I knew that she was going to come after I had the baby, but it was nice to have someone during the last homestretch. I actually had a long list of things for us to get done before the baby came...organizing, cleaning, moving etc... None of which got done! :) We just were having too much fun playing! :)
We went to Chuck E Cheese one day.
Here are Carter and Tucker playing the dance game at Chuck E Cheese. This is his 'Best Friend' Carter. Now that he has a cousin named Carter, he has to differentiate the two. There is 'Baby Carter' who is his cousin, and his ' Best Friend' Carter. :)

We also had playgroup at our house the week grandma was here:

It was my last week of having playgroup at our house before this baby comes. They are giving me a maternity leave! :) These boys are so cute. I love that Tucker has such good friends, he loves them! And they usually get along so well...most of the time! :)
We also, of course, got lots of playing time with this little guy...

Tucker also loves him some 'Baby Carter'...

They even got to take a bath together one night...

We watched Carter one day and my belly was the perfect seat for Carter. He loved to look at himself in the mirror in our bathroom :)...

Tucker and Carter getting ready for bed...

Funny how these are the pictures from when Grandma was here, but I have no pictures with Grandma actually in them! :)
Thanks so much for coming Grandma, we had so much fun! Tucker would cry for you in the mornings for days after you left. I am just not enough for the kid! :) I am always 2nd choice after Grandma when she's here. :)

Swimming lessons...

In an effort to entertain Tucker while being 8 months pregnant, I enrolled him in swimming lessons at the Y. He loves the water, so I thought that he would love this. We had a season pass to Wild Waters last summer and he loved going. He also loves going in our Hot Tub and wants to go in it like every day. It took him a little longer to warm up to these swimming lessons. We did it with his friend, Carly. When we got there on the first day he didn't want to get in the water at all. Once he got in (because I had to force him) he was fine and wanted to come back for more. But on that first day he really didn't want to do it. I don't know if it is because he just forgot because it had been so long since we had been swimming or what. He also hates to go underwater. Maybe he thought that he would have to go underwater. Anyway, it was 6 weeks and he enjoyed it. I think it was kind of a waste of money. I think that he got more out of going to Wild Waters this summer. I'm not sure if I will put him in another YMCA swimming class. I feel like I could just teach him the things that his teacher 'taught' him just by going to the pool this summer. We will see! :) Oh, and don't tell Tucker this, but he also didn't pass the class! :) At the end of the session they get report cards, and his teacher wrote in it that he needed to work on going under water and that she suggested that he take the class again! :) We didn't tell Tucker that, no need to break a little guys heart! :)

{Tucker and Carly in the pool}

{Tucker learning to float on his back, notice his stiff body and the scared expression on his face!:) }

{And the 'airplane' swim move, not sure what this is for...}

{My mom was in town during the last week of his lessons and you know that whenever she is in town there is an abundance of pictures taken!:)}

Cassidy's Blessing...

Well this is a little late, but I just had to post about it because little Cassidy Kay is so dang cute! :) She was blessed back at the beginning of February and we all headed down to Quincy to be there with her.
Here are the boys before the blessing:

{Kelli's dad, my dad, Allen, Cassidy, Nathan, Ben and a member of the bishopric}
And the ladies...

{my mom, me, Cassidy, Kelli and Kelli's mom}
And here are Keyton and uncle Ben...

Keyton loves his uncle Ben and uncle Ben loves him some Keyton!
We tried to get a picture of the cousins, but this was the best we could do, Carter would not have it! :) (this was before Taylor was born)
Cassidy looked so cute in her white dress!

And I love this picture of Cassidy and I. I love that she is smiling with me. She has the cutest smile, and looks exactly like my brother! I can tell already that we will be good friends! :) I am looking forward to being her favorite aunt! :)

We had a great afternoon as a family down in Quincy, Kelli and her mom made a delicious meal and Tucker and Keyton played all day together. It was Superbowl Sunday though, so we had to head out a little earlier than planned to watch the game. (Allen & Kelli aren't football fans) :)

Last minute quick trip to Seattle...

When Ben flew home from Hawaii, him and the guys flew into Seattle and then drove home to Spokane. We decided it would be fun to have one last little weekend get away before this baby came. So instead of him driving with the guys to Spokane, I drove to him in Seattle so we could stay for the weekend. We asked my mom if she would take Tucker so as to really enjoy our weekend and when she said she would, it was a done deal. It was perfect timing because our good friends, Doug & Sadie, just adopted a baby boy and she was having a baby shower that weekend.
So, I made the drive over to Seattle, part of the way with Tucker because my mom was meeting us in Quincy, where my brother lives, and that is almost exactly half way to Seattle. It was a long 2 and a half hours with Tucker for the first part of the trip. After being together for a week straight with no daddy coming home at night, we were both ready for a little break from each other, if you know what I mean. I had to threaten many times that I would turn the car around and he wouldn't get to see grandma (he was very excited to stay with grandma for the weekend). But we survived, and we got to my brothers house and I dropped of Tuck and the rest of the trip was a breeze! :)
I feel like I am always having to either bribe or threaten him these days. Do all 3 year olds act like this? Is this normal? I really hope that it is a three year old stage, and I am really looking forward to this stage to end. I feel really guilty for feeling like this with him, but he has been testing us on EVERYTHING these days and it is driving me crazy!!! And he's not like this with
anyone else, but Ben and I. Anyway.... the weekend in Seattle sans Tucker was a much needed little retreat for me! :)
Ok, back to our weekend. I got to meet this little guy for the first time...

Jacob Lee Agurkis! What a cutie! He is such a good baby, I couldn't believe it! He is a little sweetheart! We fell in love with him instantly!

{After bathtime}

{Just hanging out with the boys}

{I got lots of cuddling time in with him}
Sadie's baby shower was a lot of fun, she has such great friends! I've gotten to know a lot of them over the years just from our trips to Seattle, so it was fun being with her and her friends during the shower.
Here she is with Katie and Joy, the two that actually threw her the shower...

The Agurkis Circus... :)

And all the girls at the shower...so fun!

We went to lunch one day and Doug and Ben thought that I was walking too slow, (I guess being 8 months pregnant will do that to you) so they picked me up and carried me. This is NOT the most flattering picture, but it was just so funny, I had to post it. :) (maybe you had to be there!) :)

It was a nice little weekend getaway, and I'm so glad we were able to make it happen since I am not sure when we'll be able to make it back next. Thanks grandma for watching Tucker for us! Having two children will throw a wrench in our weekend get away plans. Plus Tucker is going to be starting preschool in the fall and I am sure our lives will be more scheduled and full here soon! Thanks Doug & Sadie for having us and letting us love on that little baby Jacob! :)

Hot tubin' in the winter time...

While Ben was in Hawaii, Tucker and I had a lot of fun together. We played in the hot tub almost everyday. We didn't want Ben to be the only one who was having fun playing in the water! :) Tucker had swimming lessons, we had play groups with our friends almost everyday. We ate dinner at our friends houses almost every night. We had a great time! Here are just some pictures I took while playing in the hot tub one day...



Tucker had fun playing in the jets...

And here is a photo I took of myself while Ben was gone. While he was gone I officially hit the 36 week mark...

Winter...what???

This winter has been unseasonably warm! We have loved it, especially after the winter we had last year. This year we are thinking we might actually be able to stay in Spokane. Last winter we were ready to pick up and move as far away as possible! :)
We've taken advantage of the warm weather with some fun family outings. The weekend before Ben left we headed up to Riverside State Park for the afternoon.
Tucker and I in the truck:

Tucker loves to 'Ice Skate' on the ice...

Ben & Tucker at the Bowl and Pitcher...



And our final destination, throwing rocks into the Spokane River...

These two boys were in Heaven...



Ben attempted to climb up this big rock, but thought better of it after realizing he had a pregnant wife and a three year old to take care of... :)

We couldn't ask for better weather this winter! We are just hoping it stays like this until the spring!!!

While the husband is away....

We are really missing this guy, right now:

He left us for a week to go to Hawaii...again! Can you believe the nerve of him? I mean, it is for work, but still...
So far, we have survived. Ben asked me before he left if I was up for it. If I could handle Tucker for a whole week by myself being 8 months pregnant. (since I can't really bend down all that easy, or get up all that easy, or breathe all that easy) I told him that we would be fine, we might not leave the house for a week straight, and eat Chips Ahoy cookies for every meal, but that we would be fine... :)
I have tried to fill up our days with things, so that Tucker doesn't go out of his mind. And luckily I have lots of good friends who have been helping me out. We have only had one trip to the Doctor, one morning of throwing up and only one night of him climbing in bed with me. And Ben's only been gone for 4 days! :) We have had swimming lessons, movie nights, lots of play groups planned for this week, and way too much cartoons, but I'm hoping that the rest of the week continues to go by fast!
Hopefully Ben comes back with some beautiful pictures from Hawaii and I can dream of my paradise get-away. Although, I did have to promise that I wouldn't post any shirtless pictures of the guys over there, like I did last year. He was not too thrilled about that! :) And hopefully next time he goes to Hawaii, it will be with me and not 4 other guys! :)

The above picture is of my big boy's first day in Primary. He is now a Sunbeam! I can't believe how big he is getting. He did great, the only thing that his teacher said was that he couldn't understand why in Sharing time he had to take turns answering the questions and saying the prayers and helping out. He wanted to do EVERYTHING and wanted to be called on every time. So, I guess it's a good thing that he wants to participate, right?! :)