Christmas Tree

Nick is big on traditions and one of them he loves this time of year is cutting down your own Christmas tree so we headed out Saturday morning to find our tree.

Nate wasn't afraid of hiking in the snow. He actually got lost for a little bit. While Nick was off looking for the "perfect" tree, Lorie had told Nate and Shawn to stay by a tree so see could hike out to an opening and see where Nick and Heather were. Well Nate decided that he was going to find Nick. Nate fell down and starting to cry so they were able to find him.

Nate, Nick and Shawn

It was really winding where we were so Caleb and I spent a few hours in the truck waiting for them to find the trees.

Heather, Lorie and Nick pulling our tree up to the truck. There is always some kind of adventure when we cut down a tree. This year Nick said he cut down the perfect tree as far as bushiness but he didn't realize how big and heavy the tree was. It took a couple of them to pull the tree and they had to stop every few hundred of yards. The tree is actually just shy of 12 feet so it's a little too big for our house. Nick is going to have to cut some it off.

JC (Heather's dog) and Lorie pulling her tree.

Shawn, Nick, Nate, Trisha and Caleb

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving in Richfield. The kids love being down there, playing outside and seeing all the animals. It's always fun to get together we Nick's family. We did missed Travis, Wendy, Clara and Jaquel and Brandon (since we only saw them during dinner.)

Nate swinging on the horse walker swings.

Kandelyn and Shawn playing by Kip and Texaco

Nick and Josh helping put a fence up to split the pasture so the mules don't keep eating the horses tails. There are always lots of projects to be done on the farm and Nick really enjoys helping his dad out.

Trisha and Caleb enjoying the outside for a little bit. They were making fun of me because they said I looked funny. This is a very handy baby carrier and very comfortable. I love it! (Thanks Ananda!)

Happy Halloween

I had good intentions to catch up on my blog but it's just not going to happen anytime soon so I decided not to worry about it and just start blogging. I've had a few request for some Halloween pictures so here they are...

The Family

Caleb "The Cow"

Cowboy Nate

Shawn trick-or-treating in the rain. He was really into it this year and even though he was cold he didn't want to go home.

Nate and Shawn with their pumpkins. They decided how they wanted them carved and Nick did the hard work.

Boating

On Tuesday we went waterskiing with my family. I was so excited to go because this is one of my favorite things to do with my family. Growing up we went almost weekly to the lake and I have so many great memories of it. While we were there Tyler was getting ready to go wakeboarding. I ask Shawn if he wanted to go with Tyler and he said "no". Then I told him I'd pay him a dollar and he said "a paper one, okay." He jumped right out and went with Tyler. He even did a trick (sticks his leg up). He wakeboarded twice and knee boarded once (Jana was hanging off the back of the kneeboard). It's so exciting to see my kids loving boating and all that it entails as much as I do. Here's the video of Shawn Wakeboarding:

Shawn and Tyler getting ready to Wakeboarding

Tyler and Shawn Wakeboarding

Shawn kneeboarding with Jana
Trisha, Nate, Jana and Heather tubing
Shawn, Trisha, Josh, Jana and Heather tubing

Misc Pictures

My Three Sons -- Shawn, Caleb, Nate

Nate loves to be like his big brother.

Shawn at his preschool graduation. May 17, 2010

Shawn, Kandelyn, Brock, Porter, Maren, McKenzie, Trais

Shawn's preschool friends.

Steph, Jodi, Trisha, Jennifer, Jessica, Sherrie - Teachers/Moms of the preschool. I had just had my baby a few days earlier so I still look extremely large in this picture. (Fun sidenote: Steph, Sherrie and I all had babies within a month of each other and Jodi is due in October. Kind of crazy.) They all did a great job and are so talented. I love doing the home preschool because everyone has different ideas and personalities. I'm so sad that we won't be doing home preschool again next year. Thanks for a great year!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Shawn has been playing Coach Pitch Baseball for West Point City this Spring. He has really enjoyed it and really liked to play catcher (you get to touch the ball the most). He enjoyed playing on the Braves team with his friends. His Coach was really great with the kids and even had them practice. It's been a busy month plus with three nights a week doing baseball but it's been fun! He's excited to have a trophy and looking forward to playing again next year.

Shawn, Austin, Dax

Baby Caleb

My Dad -David and Caleb David.

(Caleb was named after my dad.)

My Friend Emily has these blocks in her boys room that spell their names. I have always loved them and she suggested that we take a picture with them. The next two pictures are some other pictures that she took as well. She did a great job! Thanks Em!

Grandpa Gunnell, Caleb, Nick

Nick's step-Grandma died right after Caleb was born. This was taken at the luncheon after the funeral. We debated about Caleb's middle name being David or Reed. Reed is Nick's middle name and he was named after Grandpa Reed Gunnell.

Baby Caleb

{Caleb David Brown}

{Nick, Caleb, Trisha}

Caleb David Brown arrived today, Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 1:52 p.m. Mother and baby are doing well. Caleb has beautiful dark brown hair and the cutest chubby cheeks! We can't believe we have 3 little boys.

Little Update

I thought I should update our blog before this baby comes so here's what we've been up to lately.

Shawn and Nate - Best Buddies

The boys have been enjoying playing outside and helping Nick in the yard. Nick does a good job at keeping up with our yard. In the last few weeks he's power raked the grass, tilled the garden, planted peas, moved dirt to raise the flowerbeds, moved strawberries, mowed the lawn, planted pear trees, etc. I'm so glad that he likes to work in the yard and keep it nice. He's been so good to do pretty much all the work himself because I just don't feel that great.

Nate, Trisha, Nick, Shawn - at my grandma and grandpa's easter party

Shawn showing an egg he found. He was more excited to get money in his eggs than candy. My Grandparents always add money to their eggs. We decided to do this at our house as well and it was a big hit.

Nate searching for eggs Easter morning.

Nate and Shawn with their eggs they got at the West Point City Easter Egg Hunt. I am not always the best at taking my kids to holiday things but this year I tried to do some of the traditional things. The kids really enjoyed it and it was so fun to see how excited they got.

Nick has been working hard in our basement and our storage room is almost finished. We just need to add shelves and it will be done. Hopefully that can happen in the next few weeks. I've been busy "nesting" and hanging out with friends/family. It's been so nice to spend time with friends and family because my energy doesn't last all day to keep working and I don't feel as guilty for not working when I'm with people. Thanks to everyone that's been chillin' with me.

I've got less than three weeks to go and then Caleb should be here. When Shawn prays at night he prays that Caleb will grow big and strong. I think Shawn needs to say something different because when I went to the doctor yesterday he said that baby was already around 8 pounds. Looks like I'll be having another big baby.

Daron and Kjersten's Wedding

Here's a few pictures from my Brother's wedding last Thursday. (Congratulations to both of you and welcome to the family Kjersten!)

Shawn, Nate and Nick at the reception
Daron and Kjersten, the Happy Couple

I love my boys!

I had my big ultrasound this week and here's one of the pictures they got. Isn't technology great! I love being able to see my baby and it also helps it seem more real. Now if he only had a name.

(Mom, Shawn, Dad, Trisha, Nate, Jana, Kate, Chris, Nick)

Last Saturday we went out to eat at Red Robin for my sister's birthday. As we walked out the door Shawn let go of his balloon and it flew away. So we won't have a melt down, I told Shawn to make a wish as his balloon flew away. So he closed his eyes and made a wish. Well that back fired because he wished that he could have his balloon back. My mom was nice and took him back in for another one. I love my boys and I'm so grateful they make me laugh!

Big Green Tractor

This is what Nick's been bonding with the last few months. He has been disking some of the ground out at the Air Force's training range getting it ready to be planted.

I'm Grateful for...

This last month has been a real challenge for me having Nick gone so much. I'm used to Nick traveling out of town every week but usually by October he is home and doesn't have to start going out again until May. Well this year it's been a different story and he is still gone every week.

Last week our stake had Ann Edwards Cannon come and talk to us about "Be content today and don't wait for a rainy day." She talked about how we make up lists about "I will be happy when..." I'll admit I have a list with the number one being "I will be happy when Nick can be home every night at a reasonable time." She gave us the challenge to do some focus thinking about the "top 5" in your life right now. I decided that I needed to do this and post it so it will be on record. The list is kind of cheesy but here it is:

1. I'm grateful that Nick has a job and works so hard to provide for us.

2. I'm grateful for my new bed. Nick's mom was able to get us a King size bed for an awesome deal and I love it! This bed is a way better quality than our last one and I am sleeping better on it. Plus when Nick is home he isn't getting hit in the face as often. We used to have a queen and when I'm pregnant I like to have my space in bed.

3. I'm grateful for my healthy family. Nick has to remind me sometimes that wouldn't I rather keep the trials I have now rather than have a sick child in the hospital with cancer. We have been bless with health, especially this season so far we really haven't been that sick. Maybe it's also due to the fact that every prayer Shawn says he blesses us that we can stay healthy.

4. I'm grateful for the generosity of others in helping us finish our basement. We've had so many people spend hours of time helping us out. A big thanks to Nick, Grandpa Jones, my dad, Scott Bingham, Scott Green, Chris Weaver, Josh Brown and my uncle (he's coming to mud tomorrow). I'm super excited to have a storage room and a finished laundry room.

(Scott Bingham and Nick framing the basement)

(My Dad and Grandpa Jones helping Drywall)

5. I'm grateful for JuJu Hearts. This may sound funny but I love gummy anything - they make me happy! My sister and I love JuJu hearts and they are only available for a short period of time around Valentine's day.