Jake's First Birthday!

It's hard to believe Jake's already a year old!  The time didn't seem to move too fast until his birthday came.  What a cute little boy he is.  We had a simple, but fun little party.  Uncle Cam came for dinner and some friends joined us after for cake and icecream.  As you can see, it took a little training and coaxing to dig into his cake, but he finally got the hang of it and enjoyed that chocolate!    Our family favorite picture of the day is him opening a little walker/bike.  There are two pictures, one of him peeking in to see behind the loosely wrapped present.  The next picture shows him looking back with a huge grin as if to say, "I love it!"  Jake is a needed addition to our family and we love him.  :)

On the Loose

Well, Jake is officially "on the loose"!  He has been in position to crawl for over a week but finally took the plunge, and boy is he off and running.  He is curious about everything and I'm seeing all the things that need to be child-proofed.  It looks like our lives will be full of intensity keeping track of this little guy.  But Matthew and Thomas don't seem to mind too much--they adore their little "Bakey," as Thomas calls him.  :)

San Diego in spring

We recently took a family vacation to Southern California, our first trip to San Diego.  Gavin says his favorite part of the trip was the beach, "because it was the only activity that was free!"  :)  We love you daddy.  Thomas really liked the beach and daydreams of surfing with dinosaurs and splashing off their backs into the crashing waves (with lots of somersaults--hopefully no sand in the mouth).  Forced to pick a favorite, Matthew says it was the Maritime Museum in the San Diego Harbor.  We got to explore 6 ships (including two submarines) and took a harbor cruise tour--very fascinating history.  Heather just loved being on an adventure with her family.  She always wondered about Sea World, and can now say she's been...probably the first and last time since it's $70 a person to get in!  :)  Jake loved the long drive and sitting in his car seat for so long----NOT!  Jake really loved the new foods he got out of convenience and all the extra time with his brothers who he adores.  One interesting experience was seeing a herd of dolphin close to shore while we were at Mission Beach.  They circled back and forth along the coast where were were at for about 3 hours!  Exciting!.

Summer 2009--in a nutshell

As you can tell, this is my first, and possibly only post about our summer in 2009. It's been a whirlwind and we've been many places, but not rested much. We had a good start to our summer celebrating Gavin's MBA graduation...Hurray!!!! Uncle Brent and Aunt Anita hosted a lovely catered picnic at a nearby park and we enjoyed the celebration with Patrick (Gavin's dad), my mom and sister who all flew in for the occasion, friends from school and their families, and family in town. Gavin looked spectacular in his cap and gown and Matthew and Thomas were his biggest fans at the ceremony. Uncle Brent was kind enough to take lots of great photos of the occasion to share with my mother-in-law Maxine who was unable to travel as she'd been hospitalized for a sudden onset of Acute Myloid Leukemia, but I failed to download them for this blog. I'll have to post some later.

Spring Break Fun

We recently took the time to have some fun without school, business, or any other distractions on our minds and boy, did we need it! The boys were adamant about going to the beach, and to our good fortune, the arctic air didn't move in until we'd been at the beach an hour! Playing in the sand and watching the waves crash over our sandcastles made the short experience sweet. We also had the opportunity to see family and enjoy some great food. Aunt Betty is tops on our list and we look forward to returning again soon! Gavin agreed to brave Disney World and we spent a day at The Magic Kingdom. My favorite was seeing Thomas and Matthew's faces after the kiddie rollercoaster. Thomas rode with Dad and went from a terrified look to the biggest smile and Matthew held on tight with Mom. As soon as we started going up the first hill, he said, "don't let go of me!" I replied that I wouldn't let go of him and he needed to raise his arms if he wanted to enjoy the ride. He did! Amazing how trusting kids are. Thomas got off the ride with a permanent smile. Neither of them went back for a second ride however! :) Mom and Dad were really proud of Matthew and Thomas because they didn't melt down once the entire day even when got away from the park without buying any souvenirs! Don't worry, we rewarded them by going to Target on the drive home and they both picked out a toy. We are such a lucky family.

FIVE

Five is a very significant number, especially for a little boy. Matthew just celebrated his fifth birthday and it's amazing how much older he feels and even acts. He's trying more things on his own...because he's five. He's helping his brother more...because he's five. He wanted a big birthday party...because he's five. As a parent, it's easy to reflect on the past five years and question where the time has gone. I look back only to smile looking forward. Matthew and Thomas are at the core of why I live and love every day. The past five years have truly been the turning point in my life. Seeing my boys learn and grow and teach me new things everyday brings my soul peace, despite the seemingly constant turmoil surrounding our lives.

Matthew reminded me this week about appreciating the simple things. Last week, Uncle Greg found 8 eggs in the barn. The chickens are finally producing! Matthew was so excited when he heard the news, he jumped up and down and yelled, "we're farmers!!" Egg producing chickens sealed the deal in our attempt to live on "a farm." Today, Matthew went to the barn with his dad so I could finish preparations for his birthday party. They found one egg in the poo-filled chicken coupe (yuck)! Gavin told Matthew to go get his cousin so she could be the one to find the egg. He ran as fast as he could all the way to the house and all the way back because this was a very important responsibility for a farmer. Aunt Heather was so nice to share the egg with Matthew since he helped to find it. Matthew carefully washed the egg (you don't want a description of it's condition when discovered!) and proudly showed the egg to all of his birthday party guests when they arrived. Wouldn't our kids be happier if we ran to their big discoveries and proudly showed them off to everyone we know!

The day was a big one for our little family. Between Grandma being here for a sleepover, Matthew being the star of the day, and hosting family and friends for a five year old birthday party, we were all tuckered out by 6 p.m. Matthew and Thomas both fell asleep in a parent's lap and mom, dad, and grandma all had time to visit and relax. What would we do without each other!

Back on track...

Well, where do you start when you take so long to add a post? I guess I'll begin at the beginning... of the year that is. COLD! When we moved to Nashville a year and a half ago, we were told you only need a heavy jacket, but no coat. Wow! I have to say it was a blessing we brought our coats anyway because it's been pretty darn cold here in the winter! I can't complain too much, however, because we're yet to scrape our car windows of ice and shovel snow. Gavin spent a week in Utah over the Christmas break to work on an issue at our business and said he remembered how much he doesn't miss Utah with the snow covered roads and freezing temperatures. Don't get us wrong, we love Utah and especially miss our friends and family there, but who can honestly say that they miss shoveling snow and scraping icy windows? I'm sure there's someone out there...
I began reading novels again in January. There's a group at church who meet once a month for a book review. In attempts to be social and make friends beyond the farm animals here, I am reading again and loving the opportunity to engage my brain and socialize at the same time. Anyone who knows me knows I love to talk and think deeply about things, so the book group is perfect right now! Last month we read The Shack which was a novel about a man who's daughter was brutually raped and murdered and his struggle to find peace with God about the tragedy. Like I said, I'm a deep thinker, but the story drew me in and was a great discovery about relationships with others paralleled with my relationship with God.
Gavin and I also celebrated our 9th anniversary in January and feel kind of proud to have such a stout number behind our marriage. Life with Gavin has been nothing but an adventure as we seem to move at least every two years and have two active young boys that keep us grounded at the same time. I love adventures with my boys and love my husband, for both loves I am truly grateful.
2009 seems to have brought me more motivation to DO things: to exercise, eat better, love more, and remember friends. I am excited for more to come... but you'll have to wait for the next post. :)