Just a few more pictures...

Here are a few more pictures I didn't post in the last post.  While Kaylee was at school yesterday, I took Livy to Kohl's to get some jeans for Carson and Kaylee.  She was such a little flirt and so full of character while we were out.  She would smile at everyone, say hi, and just be such a ham.  We got home and she kept being super cute, so I grabbed the camera and took her picture.  She loved having me take it of both of us, and smooshing her cheek up to mine.  It was SO cute!  

On Friday evening, we were supposed to have a date night, but I was feeling horrible and spent the evening laying on the couch.  Nick had the kids outside trying to keep them entertained so I could rest.  Next thing I know I hear this big crash in the garage.  I ran out to find Carson on the riding lawn mower, that he had just crashed into two bikes and a tool box because it doesn't have brakes on it.  (Nick said something about when he did the transmission the brakes didn't work and apparently that wasn't a concern for him!)  Carson didn't get hurt, he was wearing his helmet, but I know it scared him pretty good.  I made him sit there while I went and grabbed the camera.  Apparently, Nick had told him to stop in front of the house and he was going to park it for him.  But Carson, wanting to be helpful did it himself.  He was going to fast so he could make it up the drive way, and since there were no brakes, the garage wall became his brake.  Poor kid!  We laugh now, but it gave me a bit of a scare too. 

 And one more picture of Alivia and Emery.  This was during dinner Tuesday night.  They are only one month apart and I thought they were both so cute sitting there eating dinner together.  It will be fun to watch them grow up together!

Fazoli's, Pot Roast, and Playdo!

It was just a few weeks ago that I unloaded the SD card from my camera phone and posted about them.  I have just a few more I wanted to add before waiting another year to do it!  They are mostly from the past weekend when we went to Draper on Saturday.  We stopped at Fazoli's for lunch with the kids then went to Ikea to get a new mirror for our bedroom.  It was a super fast fun trip and to make it super easy on me, Nick pushed me in a wheelchair at Ikea.   The mirror we got is to replace the full length mirror in our room.  We wanted one that hung on the wall and not stood up in the room taking up space.  We love it!

 Later on Saturday, our ward it an emergency preparedness dinner thing at the park across the street.  It was a 'last minute' thing, because the specifically wanted people to treat it like a drill of the calling tree, using home teachers to spread the word about it.  We had 'stone soup' and so as part of the dinner, they read the book stone soup.  We all brought canned food to combine to make our soup.  It was actually pretty good.  They also went over different first aid things like shock, choking, and bleeding.  It was another fun time spent with friends and neighbors.

Sunday was the Brigham City Temple Dedication.  We spent most of the day relaxing and playing. Kaylee and Carson have had a thing lately with getting our shoes out of the closet...they are so funny!

 I got in some readying of the book "Torment" (The fourth book of the fallen series).  And to sweeten the relaxing, I enjoyed some dark chocolate we had picked up at Ikea.  SO GOOD!  

Of course, our Sunday couldn't just be simple and relaxful, Nicholas made sure of that.  I had put a pot roast in the crockpot early that morning and we were super excited to have pot roast for dinner that night, since we don't have it super often.  One bite into dinner and Nick got a piece stuck in his esophagus.  After being unsuccessful getting it out himself, he called Dave G. to come and take him to the ER at Lakeview.  One ER Copay and 3 hours later, they got it out after doing an endoscopy.  I made him an appt with his Surgeon, Dr. Glasgow in a few weeks to see what we can do to permanently fix his esophagus.  So until then, we hope that I am the next in the hospital, not him again!  On Monday, I went and got my hair done by Heather.  We had french toast for dinner then for FHE we headed to Orange Leaf with some coupons things I bought from KSL Deals.  (It's too expensive to pay full price!).

 Tuesday, I went with Deb and got a pedicure!  (All of this self beautification is in preparation for the baby on Friday!).  We got home and Deb & her family joined us for dinner.  I had made beef stew using the left over pot roast from Sunday.  I even had made homemade rolls earlier, and even though it was a new recipe, I think they turned out good.  Yesterday, I mostly sat on the couch since I had so much back pain I couldn't do a whole lot.  While Livy napped, Kaylee spent quite a bit of time playing with Playdo.  She made a really cute 'person'.  She is probably the most creative out of our kids so far when it comes to art stuff.  And she loves it and could spend hours with markers, paper, scissors, and glue!

Today, I'm doing some last minute laundry so it is all caught up while the grandmas are here with the kids.  I still need to make beds (I also washed sheets) and I need to pack the hospital bag.  I don't know why I am procrastinating that, but I am.   I keep finding other things to do...like blog. :) I still can't believe we are less than 24 hours away from meeting our new little guy!  I know the kids are excited and so are Nick and I.  I am getting a little nervous about the surgery, but I felt like this with the others too....I just can't wait until it is over.  Still...I am so excited and I am felling so blessed that we get to add another sweet spirit to our family!

Family of Five...almost Six!

This morning, my good friend Jana came over and took pictures of our family.  I asked her to take some 'maternity' pictures with our family so we could remember this moment in our lives.  This is probably my last pregnancy and so I wanted to remember it and have some nice photos to go with it.  Since we decided to us our bed as our backdrop, we decided to do them pretty early this morning (9 AM...on a Saturday, that is early!) to make sure we had the best lighting.  I got up early to make sure I was ready and all the kids had their hair done...it was like getting ready for Church, but on a Saturday.  I was even trying to find us all clothes to wear at the last minute and was feeling a bit unprepared, but it all came together and worked and  I LOVE how they turned out.  After pictures and a quick Ikea trip and a lunch at Fazoli's I was able to spend some time editing them while Livy took a nap and the kids played.  Again, I love how they turned out and I was super pleased with them!  Jana did a great job and I was glad we got as many shots as we did with all the kids looking at the camera.  Alivia was not the happiest during the photo shoot, so considering her mood, these pictures are AMAZING!!!  Here are the final results of the photo shoot....which by the way, was probably one of the fastest I have ever done for our family...only about a half hour is all.

A super big thanks to Jana for her help and expertise!  She is such a great friend to always help me out when taking pictures.  It is great being a photographer, until you have to be in the picture yourself!  So it is awesome that I have such a great friend who also happens to be an amazing photographer too!

Lucky kids....

The kids were prett lucky yesterday and got to see not only Grandpa Brower but later that day Grandma Brower too!  Gpa was on his way to SLC for some meeting earlier in the day, so he stopped by to say hi real quick.  Alivia was quick to go to him and play with him.  

 Then later that day, Gma stopped by to drop off some stuff for me and stayed for a few minutes and played with Alivia.  She had brought it a bunch of turkey feathers from the garage and she thought it was funny that Gma put them in her hair and clothes.  It was so funny to watch!

Even though some days we wished we lived closer, we feel like our kids are pretty lucky to have such great grandparents (on both sides!).

Paint Time!

The other night Nick ran some errands with the kids and picked up some new paints for them.  They love to pain, and the paints we had were all gone, so they were both excited to use the new paints.  They spent most of the day Tuesday painting, and Kaylee has painted non stop since then. They were all so cute painting I had to take a picture.   Even Alivia got in on the action with some crayons and paper.  My kids could spend hours painting, cutting, and taping paper.  Who needs toys or tv when you have crafts??  I love it!!!

Alivia-18 Months

Time sure goes fast!  Alivia turned 18 months old on Tuesday!  Part of me is so excited to finally have her at this age yet I am sad that she is getting so big so fast!  I took some pictures of her on Monday, and even though I had more success this time than last time, she still gave me a bit of attitude, but I managed to get her to smile a few times for me!

 I took her to her 18 month check up today with Dr. Reese.  She is doing great and and hitting all the milestones she is supposed to hit at 18 months.  She weighs 19.4 lbs (1%) and is 30 3/4" tall (24%).  She is itty bitty, but healthy in every way.  She loves to eat hot dogs and bananas, and is a huge chocolate fan whenever she has a chance to eat it!  She still has the prettiest blue eyes and her hair is slowing getting a little more thick.  We took away her binky last week and she has done pretty good with out it.  She would only have it at nap time and bedtime, and NEVER took it past her crib.  She might fuss a little longer when going to sleep, but she is still a champ at napping and nighttime.  She is getting quite a little attitude and does not like to share.  She will yell at cry if she doesn't get her way and can be kind of a grump if she doesn't get her way...it will be interesting to see how she is as she gets older.  But she is also very loving and has turned into quite the cuddle bug.  The other day she fell asleep on my lap during the day as we were getting ready for nap time.  SHE NEVER HAS DONE THAT! (I even took a pic with my phone to document it!)  I cuddled her that way for a few minutes and then laid her down, but it was quite precious to me since it is so rare for her to fall asleep that way.  We sure love our Livy Lou and can't wait for her to be a big sister!!!