Baby #3

We are excited to be having another baby. I am due June 6th and I am so happy I'll be having this baby at the beginning of summer and not the end. We told Blake and though I know he really isn't sure about what is going on he is pretty set on naming the baby Church. Matt and I have lots of girl names pick out but no boy names...so chances are we will have a boy! Here are some questions I have been asked ( You may have the same questions, so I'll just let you know the answers now so you don't have to wonder).

Was this planned (The one I know your all thinking!)? Yes

Do you hope it's a girl? Yes. But, of course I have to say I will be happy if it's a boy (I'm sure I will be, maybe just a little disappointed at first).

Are you having twins? No. I was a little worried at first, but thank goodness no.

How are you feeling? Let's just say the toilet and I have become close friends.



We are excited and scared for the new adventure that three children will bring!

Happy Halloween

from one cute cowboy and an adorable bear.

Only boys...

would think that spitting is hilarious. I hate spitting, but I love to hear my boys laughing. I think all my efforts of helping Blake learn not to spit went out the window when he saw me taking this video.

Fall Fun

Recently Matt went to a U2 concert in Phoenix, so the boys and I went with him up to the valley and stayed for about a week. We had a lot of fun visiting family and I enjoyed not cooking for a week. :) While we were there we went to Superstition Springs Mall to ride the carousel and have some lunch.

Tyler is sporting his handsome hot dog on a stick hat while scarfing down a yummy Subway cookie.

Later that week we went to Schnepf farms. Blake really liked the petting zoo. He was a little cautious at first but he soon warmed up to the goats.

Tyler spent most of the time watching the fun from the wagon.

Blake was to nervous to let the lady paint his face so he settled for having his arm painted instead.

The airplane ride was his favorite part.

On the way home Aunt Nicole started to sing to Tyler. I love the way he is looking at her.

Thanks for the great time Grammie!

Catch Up

Man, it's been awhile since I've posted. Here is what's been going on in our lives. We moved from Arkansas to Arizona in May. For the summer we lived with my parents while Matt worked as an intern at a law firm in Mesa. We had a lot of fun visiting and playing with family and friends. In August we loaded up our stuff once more into a moving truck and headed down to Tucson. Matt had started his third and LAST year of Law School at the University of Arizona. He is currently looking for a law job, so if you know of anybody who is hiring let us know. ;) We both got called to serve in the Nursery and we love it! The boys and I have been discovering all the fun things to do in Tucson, like the Zoo, story time at the library, searching for near by parks, swinging in swings, the Children's Museum, looking at the puppies at the mall, etc., etc. August we celebrated Blake's 2nd birthday, and we are looking forward to celebrating Tyler's first birthday in a couple of weeks. Blake has become a real chatter box, he surprises me with new words he has learned everyday. I've learned that I need to watch what I say around him. :) Blake loves to read stories with anybody who will take the time to sit with him, and he loves coloring and being outside. Tyler has mastered crawling and is about start walking. He already took his first step a couple days ago. Tyler is learning a few words himself. Thanks to his brother Blake he knows how to say, "mine", and "no". He can also say, "ball", "what's that" "mommy", and "puppy". Tyler's favorite place to be is either in his high chair eating or being outside crawling around. Blake and Tyler keep me pretty busy, but I guess there are times when they think I am not busy enough, so they come up with ways to keep my time full. Like unraveling the toilet paper roll, or the aluminum roll or taking out every single wipe and stuffing it into their popping ball machine, opening mommies make up and using it as crayons, or coloring with pen on the leather couch, or taking food out of the refrigerator, or taking all the dishes out of the lower kitchen cabinets, etc. etc. We love life and all that it has to offer!

Fourth of July

Yummy birthday cake.

Staying cool.

Oh, my!

Blake's Prayer

We are trying to teach Blake how to pray. Just recently we were able to get Blake to repeat after us some of the prayer. This is how this morning's prayer went:

me: Dear Heavenly Father
Blake: Heavy Fader
me: We are grateful for this day.
Blake: A day
me: We are grateful for Grammie( I was going to say, and the breakfast she made, but...)
Blake: and Grandad...and Tyler...(starts singing) I love Tyler he loves me...
me:(trying not to laugh) in the name of Jesus Christ
Blake: I love daddy he loves me
me: Amen
Blake: I love Tyler he loves me.

I thought this was funny and I wanted to write it down before I forgot. At least Blake knows there's a lot of love in our family. :)

Happy Father's Day

I know this is a day late, but I wanted to say thank you to Matt, Dad, and Bob for being true men and influencing my life for the better.

Tribute to Arkansas

I meant to post this video before we left Arkansas, but we packed up the computer before I had an opportunity. I loved living in Arkansas mainly because of the amazing people we met and became friends with. I wish I had a picture of every person that touched our life, but I'm not the best at remembering my camera! We miss y'all in Arkansas. We can't wait for graduation so we can come back for a visit.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This has been one crazy week! Here are a few things that have happened to us in the last couple days (I'll share the good part last, since it will make more sense that way):

The Bad: Got to the storage unit, that would be storing all of our belongings from AR while we are in Gilbert for the summer, after it closed so we couldn't unload the moving truck.

The Ugly: Not unloading the truck meant not being able to turn it back in on time. We would be charged for an extra day.

The Good: The man at the truck rental place (Budget) was very nice and didn't charge us after all!

The Bad: Blake got sick.

The Ugly: One trip to the doctor, after hours, costing a nice chunk of change. Then he threw up all over himself and me during Sacrament Meeting in Church.

The Good: Not one ounce of barf got anywhere on the Church bench or floor. (You know you are a mom when you would rather catch the barf in your hands then let it get everywhere making a harder mess to clean up).

The Bad: Our car was broken into.

The Ugly: Back window was shattered and a bag stolen.

The Good: One disappointed crook when he realized what he stole only contained some articles of clothing. (Warning all criminals: most everything we own is of little street value, but have importance to me and my family. So save both of us the hassle and leave my stuff alone).

I just keep telling myself, "In the Eternal Perspective of things life really is good!"

Humpty Dumpty

Yep, Blake had another fall! He fell into our computer desk and smashed his poor face! I feel so bad. Maybe I should put him in ballet to help him with his balance?

His lips were so huge that they reminded me of this guy...

Luckily Blake seems to heal really fast. You could never tell that he and the desk got into a rumble.

Braggin' on my baby

The other night my sister called me to tell me that her one and only child had mastered the art of rolling over. Of course I was excited that my ADORABLE little niece was developing so well. But I began to think about when Blake was my one and only child, and how every time he mastered anything: rolling over, smiling, laughing, first tooth...etc., I would be on the phone calling Matt at school, my sister, mom, anyone who would listen, and tell them what an amazing child I have. Then I thought oops...I really haven't done that for Tyler. I still get excited when Tyler gets the hang of new things, but I don't broadcast it like I did for Blake. So this post is dedicated to my baby.

Tyler is an expert at sitting up. He hardly needed any practice. One day I thought,"Huh, I wonder if he can sit up yet?" Low and behold he could. He soon was bent in half and his nose was touching the carpet, but hey he could do it. Now he is a pro!


Tyler is an extremely happy baby. It is so easy to get him to smile and laugh. Even though he is only six months old (soon to be seven) he is a peacemaker. Blake can be so grumpy (I think he has the 2year old attitude mastered pretty well) Tyler can cheer him right up, he can do the same for me when I am feeling grumpy (I think I have the frustrated mother of an almost 2year old attitude mastered pretty well). He also has been sleeping 12hours a night since he was 10 weeks old. WOW! What a kid, eh?

Tyler loves the sound of his voice, and really likes the "ba ba" sound. He can also clap, not on cue or by imitating, he just likes to smack his hands together. He loves solid food especially bananas. He loves to be sung to. His favorite song is "The Little Green Frog" , thanks Uncle Ben for teaching us. Like his older brother he loves to go outside, and loves taking baths.

Tyler is a big boy and is wearing the same size diaper as his older brother. They even share pajamas once in awhile.

I am so grateful that Tyler is a part of our family. I love him so much and I feel very privileged to be his mommy.

A walk in the Park

Now that it is warmer (or at least it was warmer) we like to go for family walks. One of our favorite places to go is to the Sherwood Cherywood Lake park.

Here we are ready to go in the double stroller, the best thing ever invented!

We like to go and feed the ducks...well we like to go see the ducks and feed Blake.

Another art contest

Go here to vote on another art contest!

Random

It's been awhile since I posted last, but here are some random things we Backus' have been up to.

TYLER: Has been busy discovering the world of solid foods and he loves it.

He also has been bouncing away in his favorite toy the "Super Saucer".

And hanging out with his gal pal Sydney twice a week (I'm getting a small glimpse of what my mom's life must have been like with twins!)

BLAKE: Has been climbing, and climbing and climbing on anything he can. This is his favorite climbing spot. I think it's because he likes to look at "hugh" (Truck) and the "boo" (bus) go by.


Putting things on his head has also taken up much of his time.


And when he is not putting things on his own head, he is putting them on Tyler's.

MATT: Has probably been the busiest! School, Work & his church calling make for a very full day. Not to mention being husband of a very needy wife ;), and the father of two active babies.

He is a wonderful husband and dad.

He bought me flowers just because.

And he has been playing with the boys showing them (mostly Blake) how to throw and catch a ball. Matt was super excited when some friends of ours gave Blake his own baseball glove.ME: I get to spend my days with these two cute guys...




and this very handsome man!

The other day I had a hair splinter! I didn't even know that was possible. GROSS. (Just so you know this is not a picture of the piece of hair I pulled out of my foot...it's just one I found on the Internet.)

I also had an unwelcome visitor climbing up my blinds. I swear the guy was as big as my hand(that was only a slight exaggeration)! GROSS, GROSS, GROSS! I hate bugs. You might say what's the big deal grasshoppers can't hurt...I don't care, I hate them and their ugly looks. They also jump at you when you least expect it (which he did). Matt wasn't there to help me so I had to take matters into my own hands. I won't tell you how I killed the guy because you bug lovers out there might call me cruel. I'm not proud about it, but I did what I had to do.

other than that I've been working on some online classes and hanging out with the primary kids!

Oh, and we've also been doing a little dancing!!

Sorry Matt, I couldn't resist. In Matt's defense I told him to dance so Blake would.

Another Family Hike

If you haven't noticed yet, we love to Hike. It has been to cold to really be able to do any hiking, but about two weeks ago there was a period were things warmed up. So we took the boys and went to Pinnacle mountain. This was Tyler's first hike, and I think he liked it.

Videos for the Grandmas

52 Dates

Matt and I have a new goal to have a date night every week, but the deal is we can't repeat any dates and we only have $60.00 to spend for the whole year. I'm going to keep a blog about what dates we do. Go here to check them out!

Holidays

Christmas Eve we got on a plane and headed to AZ. We spent Christmas day with the Backus'. We had a great time and I love to see some of the traditions Matt had while growing up. His whole family was there

Tyler enjoying his first Christmas morning

Blake opening his cool pajamas he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

Playing with Grandma

Tyler hanging out with his Grandpa

Grand kids picture

Then the next day we got back on a plane and headed towards Idaho. My sisters Nicole and Nellie and my brother Ben live there. Nicole was about to have a baby any day so we decided since she couldn't come to AZ for the Holidays we would go there and have a family reunion

We stayed in a cabin in Driggs and had lots of fun. It was very, very cold and I am more grateful that I live in a State that only at most snows once a year .

Blake loved his Uncle Ben and followed him wherever he went.

Nicole day dreaming about not being pregnant

My cute and fun SINGLE sister Nellie. (Let me know if you want to set her up with a great guy.)

My handsome, fun , SINGLE brother Bradley (also let me know if you have any girls you want to set him up with)

While their dad was gone Blake and Tyler become models for the bows that their aunts were making.

Blake loved the snow.

I learned how to snowboard. The one thing I thought I would never do because of my distaste for cold and snow. As well as a horrible memory of watching a lady in my ward growing up break her back on a youth snow trip. It still gives me the shivers when I think about it. However, my sisters talked me into it and I am so glad I went.

Here I am trying to stand up. It took me forever! At this point I was not happy I came. But thanks to a patient and loving husband and a suggestion from Nellie I got up.

Look at me I am practically a pro! (Just kidding I think I fell about every two minutes if not sooner).

Enjoying the hot tub after being super sore from snow boarding. My Body loved it but my face was frozen!

My camera died while we were there and there are some other events that I will probably post later once I get the pics from my fam.