Playing with the Chillins! lovin it!

i am really excited to say that i think i am starting to get a handle on the whole what to do with your kids during the day thing. Partly because Boston is older and plays with me more, and partly because i am no longer a student and i can dive into mommyhood. So this week Boston and i made peanut butter cookie dough, dyed it green and then played with it like playdoe. This was all inspired by a star cookie cutter that i bought for boston. I wanted to make edible play doe but we were missing an ingredient for every recipe i found so i improvised and made the cookie doe. I think it works just as well, but i have a feeling that those recipes were alot healthier than the cookie dough. And, i must warn you, it is delicious and your kids (and you) will eat alot of it. Yummy! so here is boston playing with the dough and any other gadgets i could find.

We have also had fun filling large tupper wares up with water getting the foaming soap out, and washing all of his cars ...and stuffed animals...and electronics (yikes, not on purpose! hehe)

We go to parks alot here too. There are tons and tons of parks in Folsom i love it! And alot of people with families it is so fun.

Here is Story in her swing lookin so cute and i have to say thank you to Chrissy Walker for giving me such good tips to help me take better pics on my camera. I think they are starting to look better!

Boston is so fun to have around. I turned around the other day and he had these glasses on. The best part is, he know its funny now too and starts to laugh also! he is so silly. I love him.

moms...you are enough

So I know there is alot to catch up on, but this post is simply to say, moms, you are enough. I have had several conversations lately with dear friends, mommy friends, and i have come to the conclusion that although we feel the need to be constantly busy, look for validation in other aspects of our lives, and become the best at everything we do...we are already enough.

Have you ever been driving down the road and the perfect song comes on. It's not really the words that communicate as much as the music. And in that exact moment the realization of all your blessings comes rushing over you and warms you like the sun on a cold day. I have. It was the other night and i was out getting groceries after a long day of time outs, laughter, tears, diaper changes, quiet sweet moments, and of course the frusterating ones. It seemed to me that in the same moment i was able to reckognize all my blessings, Heavenly Father was again blessing me by allowing me to feel his love. I have felt that alot lately.

Which brings me to my other point. Being a mother is definatley the hardest thing i have ever done...but i am absolutly positive that without its incredible hardships, the ups would not be so heavenly. Sometimes i have those moments where it seems the world is standing still and i look at my perfect little boy singing while he plays with his cars and then my sweet baby girl in the swing. Then I see my husband run over and roll around with boston and i feel this sense of "i am right where i am supposed to be, and i am enough". I think your kids tell this to you every day, not through their words, but every time they forgive you for forgetting to change their diaper, or when they hug you when you come to get them from time out, or how they still want to play with you when you have been too busy for them all morning. It is my little ones that have allowed me to see everything for the second time, innocent, and full of wonderment and excitement. It is my children that have encouraged me to view cleaner programs and to work on my relationship with the savior. I am so greatful to be simply a mom, and i know being a mom is enough. I hope this helped remind some of you how special you are and wonderful. Of course it is many of you that have reminded me of this through your frienship and examples.

Story's Newborn Photo Shoot

Sorry for a short post, but check out Story's newborn photo shoot. Just click on this link, or copy and paste it.

http://video214.com/play/Iab1lPy1Vfxq0Xzxiu7beA/s/dark

More posts about our California move will be coming soon!

End of Summer

This summer has been a blast and full of adventure. I finished up my internship a few weeks ago at American University up in Washington D.C. and we've since moved down to my parents' in Bridgewater, VA for a few weeks. One adventure (or task, cause of stress, pressing item, and even a bit of fun...) has been finding a job. We were blessed to have several options, which in this economy is somewhat unheard of. These options could have landed us in Boston, Washington DC, Southern CA, or Northern CA. I accepted a job offer from a wonderful company called Envision Realty Services in the east Sacramento area, Folsom to be exact.

It was quite a cool story actually (I'll tell the condensed version). About 8 months ago I read an article in a magazine about a CEO who recently started a new company doing green building consulting. Upon reading the article and doing some online research and exploring their website, I realized that this is what I wanted to do some day. Then about 4 months ago, I remember the article, and email the CEO, requesting to find a time to speak with him to learn more about his company, his career path, and even job opportunities. Then about a month ago he got back to me, and I had pretty much forgot about the email, but we chatted, he flew me out for a job interview and made me a job offer. I LOVE the company, the culture, the work I will be doing, and even the other co-workers, not to mention the pay is attractive. I know Heavenly Father has blessed us with this opportunity, and I'm so excited to start in a few weeks. To anyone out there looking for work, take this model and USE it. Networking is the key and put yourself out there!

Ok, so our next adventure (sweet blessing, bundle of joy, little darling...) is that our little baby Story Soleil on September 1st at 9:49. She weighed 7 lbs, 10.2 oz and was 18.5 inches long. I will add more/better pictures in the future when I have time to upload them... but she is so cute! She is already even more adorable, she is doing so good at sleeping, eating, and her cry is so cute. Its like a little bird, hehe :)

Before:

After:

Earlier this week, before Story was born, we also bought a car. This is our first really major purchase together (my Scooter we bought together doesn't really count :) We bought a used 2004 Honda Pilot with about 86,000 miles on it for a really good deal. This will hold our new family perfectly, and provide us some relible tranportation which we've really needed. I will be driving it cross country next week in our move, as Emy will fly with the kids (so weird saying that now...) and her parents to AZ, while I'm driving/moving.

This is a funny picture we took at the dealership. We helped them achieve and exceed their sales goal for the month (we bought it on the 30th of August).

Other Photos from the last few weeks

Boston's Birthday, Brought to you by the letter "B" and the number "2"

We had Boston's 2nd birthday party about a week ago (yay, a current post, this is a record for us!) down at my parents house. As you well quickly realize from the pictures, it was Elmo themed. Emy did such a great job putting together cute invitations (I have to take a picture of one and add it) and sent them to each of the kids and a few family members and friends. While the party's guest only consisted of my sister's family (Jenny), Jon and Laura, and my immediate family (mom, dad, Kim, and Liz), we had a great time. Thanks for coming!

The kids each had gift buckets (good idea huh, perfect for the summer and the beach or sand buckets. Thanks Emy) that had fun things in them, including theElmo visors they got to make.

We were so happy that the cake turned out well. Last year's train cake wasn't so great, but this year we totally redeemed ourselves! I will take the credit on this one, I did all the decorating and tiny icing stars (Well, Emy did the eyes, only because I had to go help with something else). I guess I should give some credit to the cake mold we bought, that made a huge difference from trying to do it from scratch.

Boston got some great gifts, no thanks to us! We blew our budget on the party and whatnot, but we did buy him an Elmo app for Emy's Iphone. He loves that, and its well worth the money on the drive to/from D.C. Grandma and Grandpa Nowell and McIntyre got him some fun things, including a tent with a tunnel and balls, and some leap frog reading books. Yay!

We finished up the party going over to Jenny's house for some pool time. They just moved to Bridgewater about a mile from my parents, and are buying a house (from my parents, long story), and they have a pool. We're jealous that we don't live that close, have a pool, a house... hehe, j/k... But we had a blast! Feel free to send Boston late B'day gifts if you want!

Red Sox Game

So, sometime ago I thought it would be a cool tradition to take Boston to a Red Sox game each summer, close to his birthday. Well, I planned ahead and I saw the Baltimore Orioles were playing the Red Sox in Baltimore, so we bought tickets to go!

Camden Yards is great, and we had so much fun. My Dad, Kim, and Liz all came up to go to the game with us.

Yay, the Red Sox won, and even though we were in Baltimore, I would say that the fans were 50/50 representing baltimore and the red sox. We had a great time, and Boston loved the bounce house they had there for free, and all the excitement of the fans and players.

A new start in DC

Boston waiting for his grilled cheese at the fancy Olive and IVy restaurant with gma
(Jator sending love back home to Boston from hollywood studios)
So after our trip to Florida i went to AZ to pick up bubba and jator went to UT to finish cleaning the apartment and put all of our stuff in storage. Jason is such an amazing man by the way! i just have to put a quick plug in here and tell him how much i love him. SInce i have been pregnant he has gotten up with boston every weekend, made midnight ice cream and tums runs and everything else for me in between. I love you baby!

Ok so when i got to AZ i was so elated to see Boston. I missed him like crazy on our trip. He was so good for Nana and papa nowell. here are some cute videos and pics of him in AZ.

Well the flight was long and thank goodness for supportive parents who bought boston a ticket for half way to DC because i don't think i couldve done it any other way. The second leg was only an hour and with a pregnant belly there was no lap space and i was in between two teenage boys which made it even worse when i threw up in the barf bag 5 minutes before landing. But we made it. We spent the first two weeks in Bridgewater with jasons family. It was so fun to go and visit Jason's sister Jenny about 45 min away in staunton. Here is him with his cousins at the duck pond.

Boston has loved playing with his cousins . Here is all of them on a sunday playing in grandma and grandpa McItnyre's yard

It was hard though becuase Jason was in DC four days a week. We missed him so we sent him some love. here is boston saying goodnight to Daddy.

While Jason was in DC boston gained a new afinity for hanging on everything! here he is in all his buffness and a couple more just too stare at his cuteness! we miss all our family and friends in utah and AZ other parts of the US we are thinking of you!

This last one is of our favorite park in D.C. Its only 3 blocks away and we go everyday! They opened up a splash zone and boston loves the water.