Hyrum got glasses!

This was a rough transition for Hyrum- going from never wearing glasses to having to wear them all the time.

He sure looks good in them. He's gradually getting better and better about keeping them on and not being so rough in them. He's started taking them off and handing them to me or putting them on his dresser when he knows he's going to be rough-housing. That's very responsible for a three year old!

I can't believe my baby is THREE!

Hyrum just had a birthday and now he is three years old! Wow how the time flies.

He's been very interested in fire trucks lately. So I decided to make him a fire truck cake. He really liked it and kept asking to go and look at it. (I kept it locked in my bedroom so that little curious fingers didn't ruin it before the party.)

Here he is opening presents... He got a bunch of Little People sets we almost have enough to make Little People town.
One of Hyrum's latest skills is riding a bike with training wheels. He's been stealing Birgham and Rebekah's bikes to practice. So, when I saw one at a yard sale earlier this week I had to get it for him! He loves it!

Random info about Hyrum:

♪ He is really enjoying having the other two chilren in school so he gets time by himslef to play and gets Mommy Time regularly.
♪ He is getting close to being potty trained!
♪ He is ALL boy- he likes trucks, cars, dinosaurs, balls, etc.
♪ He counts like this: 1, 2, 11, 12, 14, 18! And he's so proud of it. (It's the same number pattern almost every time.)
♪ He knows all his colors
♪ He's just starting to get interested in letters and numbers
♪ The phrase we hear a lot from him recently is "I'm not little, see, I'm bigger!" (as he stands up with his arms in the air.)
♪ He's wearing the clothes Brigham just grew out of 6 months ago and is only one shoes size behind Brigham. I'm thinking they'll be the same size before long!
♪ Hyrum is very friendly and love to say, "Hi" to people he sees.
♪ He always has a smile on his face!

We sure love our little Hyrum boy! We're so glad he's in our family!

A Bike Riding Summer

Ready, set, go!

This summer we have gone on a lot of bike rides. We've collected enough bikes for the daycare kids and my kids to each have one to ride, so 2-3 days a week we ride our bikes either to the park or just around the neighborhood. The kids love it.

Hyrum only lasts about 1-2 houses down the street before he gives up trying to keep up with the kids. Then I stick his bike in the triple stroller with him on it and he pretends to ride while I push him in the stroller.

Busy week

This has been a crazy week for our family.

Monday the kids and I rode the city bus with Timothy downtown and we went to the library while he went to school. The kids have been asking to ride the bus with Daddy for over a year, and we finally decided to do it. They enjoyed it. We checked out a few books from the library and then I took the kids home on the bus. Later that day, Timothy decided to ride his bike home instead of busing. He was part of the way home when he got hit by a car. Luckily he is alright, but his bike didn't make it.
Timothy came away with some very sore spots and a lot of scrapes, but nothing broken—hopefully no permanent damage to him. Here are a few pictures of his bike.

It's totally ruined. The only things really salvageable are the tires and the bike rack. Everything else is really bent up. The handle bars are folded in half, you can see above- the front wheel is folded in half. The frame is bent is a number of places. It's a mess.

Having this happen has made me realize that we never know what could happen to completely change our lives. If Timothy had gotten hurt worse or... not survived. I would have been crushed. It made me grateful that we have the gospel. It also strengthened my testimony that God does watch over us. It simply wasn't Timothy's time to go—or even get hurt badly—and for that I am deeply grateful. But even if something worse had happened, I am so grateful that I have learned to trust God and His timing.

Also this week—on Thursday—my little baby (who's not really baby anymore) had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids. Then, he had to stay in the hospital over night to make sure he was breathing okay at night. Hyrum has been in a lot of pain, but is dealing with it fairly well. It's so hard to watch my baby in pain, but hopefully this helps. He has had sleep apnea for a while—not sure how long—but he's never really slept through the night consistently. I hope the surgery is worth all the pain. I hope he'll be able to get better sleep once he's healed.

I didn't get a picture of him in the hospital, but I wanted to. He loved his "bunk bed" there. It was a huge crib that had sides that went up and down and plastic walls above the rails so he couldn't climb out. He thought it was great! He also really loved the partially outdoor playroom in the pediatrics ward. He was glad to come home, but the next day I asked him if he'd rather be at home or in the hospital and he said the hospital. I think he liked it so much because he got so much one-on-one attention and he loved the bed and the play area. But I think if he had been in the hospital much longer he would have been tired of it.

Sensory play

The children have really been into sensory type play lately.

We recently expanded Hyrum's ball pit from Christmas to the swimming pool- adding two more bags of balls. It's not quiet enough to fill the pool, but they sure have fun with it anyway and they can all fit at the same time which solves a lot of problems.(The extra legs in the pictures belong to a little friend.)

They also have been very interested in playing with some old, expired beans. I pulled these out and set them on the floor with a few measuring cups and bowls and they were content while I made breakfast.

Hyrum is so excited about the beans, the ball pit, and also play dough. That he's constantly asking to play with one of them. It's nice to have him interested in something other than getting into my things. This morning he asked to play with the beans and I told he needed to wash the table and then put his blankets on his bed - then he could play with the beans. So, he promptly washed the table, put the cloth away and then ran (without prompting) to the living room, gathered his blankets and put them on his bed, and before I knew it he was back in the kitchen asking for the beans. I was very impressed that he remembered all those steps and got them done so fast!

Hyrum's gotee

Guess who has been playing in the sandbox?

Hyrum's bluff

Hyrum is starting to develope a sense of humor and he gets us laughing regularly. He started this thing where we ask him to give us a high five so he lifts his arms way over his head and holds them there to create suspense.

Then he brings them down and just when you think he's going to give you that five you've waited so patiently for...

He pulls up his other hand and gives himself a five instead.

It's hirarious and makes me laugh everytime!

Another 2 year old!

Hyrum is two!

Happy Birthday, Hyrum! I can't believe my baby is now 2. Time flies so fast I worry they're all going to be gone before I ever get this parenting thing right.

Hyrum had a great day today. He got pretty spoiled with new toys and clothes.

He is really into balls right now so I decided to make him a basketball cake.

He also loves ice cream and blueberries so Timothy made him some blueberry ice cream.

Hyrum is a happy little guy. (When he gets enough sleep) he's usually smiling. He says, "hi" and smiles to everyone he sees where ever we are. I think he's cheered up a lot of strangers just by that small act. I hope he keeps up his cheery friendliness. A smile and a friendly hello can go a long way in this fast paced world. :)
He is also learning to talk very well. Just in the last few weeks he's been speaking in sentences almost every time he speaks. His vocabulary continues to expand daily. His favorite things are balls and animals. He is always the first to point out animals where ever we are. He is becoming a good helper like Rebekah. He listens and notices things that need to be done and when he's in the right mood, he'll jump at the chance of helping others.

Future Missionaries

We've finally found suits for all our boys! Gotta love thrift stores!

What you see before you is four future missionaries! We belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All of them are carrying copies of the Book of Mormon. They're almost ready to go out and share the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world! (Well, maybe in about 15-18 years when they've grown a little more.)



In our church young men are expected to serve a full-time mission for 2 years they can apply for this when they are 19 years old (at their own expense). Young women aren't expected to serve missions because their primary responsibilities are to become a wife and mother. But, if they don't have marriage prospects by the time they are 21 they can apply to serve a full-time mission for 18 months. Young men and women are sent all over the world preaching the gospel in many languages.



They teach that Christ was born on this earth!

That he atoned for our sins, died for us, and was resurrected making it possible for us to return to God our Heavenly Father after we die.

They teach that there is a LIVING PROPHET on the earth today! President Thomas S. Monson (who is pictured below in the center, the other two are his counselors) is the prophet of God on the earth! He teaches us under the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the head of our church. Oh how we love our prophet dear.
Brigham, Rebekah, and Marc love to sing the song, "Follow the Prophet" as they march around the house. They recognize pictures of him and when asked who the prophet is today they replay with "Thomas Monson" or "President Monson". Well, most of the time... A few months ago I asked Marc "Who is the prophet today?" He said "Thomas the train." : ) Well, I guess for a three year old that's close... maybe.

Brigham, Rebekah, Marc, and Hyrum are preparing for missions not only by dressing like them, but by learning about Jesus. They are learning to pray, they are learning the scripture stories, they are learning the articles of faith.

Brigham's favorite article of faith (which he has memorized along with about 4 others) is "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Marc's favorite one is "We believe the bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God."

Rebekah's favorite is "We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely apostles, prophets, pastors, teacher, evangelists and so forth."

Hyrum's favorite one is, as he says: "Holy Ghost" He doesn't have his memorized yet, but he's still really young. "We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

Yet another catastrophe

2 boys

Playing chase

Bed room door

Slammed in face

Not only face

But also pinky

Smashed -

Blood oozing

Parents worried

Doctor questions

X-rays, stitches

Lots of pain

Fussy Hyrum

:(

Hyrum's Blessing

We had Hyrum blessed in church on March 7th. He's all dressed in white for his blessing and proud that he managed to take his sock off right before the picture was taken.
He did really well during the blessing. I was worried that he would squirm quit and bit or start talking or fussing in the middle, but he did very well.

Hyrum's adoption

Well, Hyrum's adoption is finalized. Yesterday, February 17th was the 1 year anniversary for him moving in with us and that is the day we found out it was final! It was actually finalized on Feb. 11th, but since we didn't want to go through the hassle of finalizing in court we didn't find out which day the judge signed the document until later. We are very excited about this! We got his name legally changed as well! Now we're looking forward to getting him blessed and then getting all three sealed to us. If you're interested in being invited to the sealing please let me know, and I'll give you the date, time, and temple location. We haven't scheduled it yet, but we're planning the second week of April so as to accommodate family who need to travel.


For the children's sake, I'm sure glad these three got to stay together. They are so very attached to each other. It's so fun to watch them try to help each other.

The power of powder

Brigham and Rebekah got into the pantry and decided to make "muffins" for me. They mixed the rest of my jar of baking powder and the rest of a salt canister in mixing bowls. Later (after the photos were taken) they added left over muffins, crumbled. Tasty!




Hyrum got into the pantry and got out the cocoa. He decided to taste it too.


Brigham and Rebekah got into the baby powder in the bathroom and managed to cover the bathroom with a fine layer of powder.



Rebekah had wanted to put some baby powder on her bottom, hence the almost naked girl. Brigham saw the fun she was having and decided to join in. It took me a half hour to get the powder cleaned up and there was still a layer of powder that wouldn't wash up coating every surface in the bathroom.




Rebekah climbed onto the counter and decided she needed a little more salt in her life.

(This was actually a few weeks ago, and happened over a two day span, but we've been busy so I haven't had a chance to post it yet.)

Bath Night

The children have really been enjoying baths lately, so we've decided to them three times a week instead of two. They get so excited every time we tell them it's bath night- especially Hyrum. He can say bath ("baahf")now and gets an excited look on his face when we ask him if he wants a bath. He waves his arms all around and says, "Baahf, baahf, baahf." Almost every time he goes into the bathroom he asks for a "baahf".

In the tub
Brigham
Rebekah being tickled
Hyrum engrossed in water play

Rub-a-dub-dub three kids in the tub