Gavin 9 Months

Here we are...nine months on the inside, nine months on the outside.

I am about a week late posting that Gavin is now 9 months old. Last Sunday Gavin started crawling.....


The very next day he was getting into trouble and I was kissing my freedom good-bye.

Moms

This poem was sent to me in an email. I really liked it so I thought that I would share it.

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried..
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

I just want to say a big THANK YOU to my mom for all she has done for me!
I love you mom!

Fair

This year was the first year that we went to the local fair. Wait, I take that back, when we lived in Tucson before we took Makenzi on what must have been closing day because there were no rides and only 3 exhibits left. Since we have moved back, many friends have raved about how much fun they have at the fair. I thought that it might be a good idea to give it another try. I purchased ride tickets early to save some cash and we went on a $2 addmission day.

The kids had a great time with some friends riding the rides. It was a lot of fun to watch Eli's face as he thought that the bumper cars were the best thing invented. He loved being able to drive all by himself.

My favorite part was watching the kids go down this giant slide. It was so funny to watch their faces with their smiles/ looks of terror.

The fair wouldn't be complete without this picture right?!

Gavin 8 Months

So here we are at 8 months! I know that I've said it before but, I just cannot believe how fast the last 8 months have gone by. We love this little guy! He has to be the best baby out there. He is always so happy and is so much fun to make smile. In fact, making him smile is so much fun that it now takes me 3 1/2 hours to do my grocery shopping because with those big blue eyes and great smile he just draws in all of the other shoppers. No kidding, we usually get stopped on almost every single isle at the grocery store. You would think that yeah, the grandmas are the ones that stop but, he gets people of all kinds! Other kids, other moms, and even some men (most of them are grandpas). Gavin is just starting to make all kinds of noises with his mouth. When we sing with the hymnal at church he likes to hold it and "sing" along. He is rolling all over the place and he has started to get up on his knees and do the rocking thing. I just point my finger at him and tell him to get off of those knees! In a loving voice of course. I'm sure that by next month my free time will all be gone chasing him around the house.

Just for fun here is a close up! Can you tell I love that hat???

Our Easter

Yesterday we went to a local Easter Egg hunt. As you can see, it is more like an Easter egg gathering.

The kids had fun even though it doesn't look like it in the picture. It was cold and windy, which is unusual weather for this time of year.

Last night we finally got around to coloring eggs.

Even Gavin gave it a try.

Our finished product!

The Easter bunny left a lot of fun stuff. We are especially excited about the snow cone machine!

Here are the kids in their Easter outfits before church!

Easter Pageant

On Tuesday night, we made a spur of the moment decision and packed up the family and headed to Mesa to see the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple. I have always wanted to take the family to the pageant but for one reason or another we hadn't made it up there. I was supposed to be going to mutual but I explained to Sister Tanner that Spencer and I had talked it over and we had decided that that night would work out best for our family. We were hoping that it would be less crowded since it was a weeknight. We got there only 30 minutes before it started!

We sat on a blanket because all of the front section of seating was full. We were all of the way back by the back of the temple so you can see it in the background of this picture.

A lot of work goes into the production. The kids were tired because their normal bedtime is 7pm and the play didn't start until 8pm. Maybe it helped that they were tired because they sat there pretty well and enjoyed the pageant. However, Eli kept putting his head down in Spencer's lap and telling him to let him know when the cool stuff happened, "like when the armies come out".

After it was all over we decided to walk around the Temple and let the kids touch it like was counseled during conference so the following pictures are of the kids touching the Temple.