"There's a baby in my belly..."

I love my little Trenty. He is such a character and comes up with the greatest things! He keeps me on my toes and keeps both Matt and I laughing daily. Trent is your typical 3 year old: busy, loud and a little rough. He is always jumping around and running into me which is usually a non-issue, but with another little one growing strong inside of me, I am constantly fearful that Trent is going to ram into me and hurt the baby.

It is obvious there is a baby in my belly, but, lately, I have found myself reminding Trent A LOT of this fact. I tell him, "Trent, you have to be careful with Mommy, there is a baby in my belly" or "Trent, make sure you are soft with Mommy, there is a baby in my belly."

One day, Trent decided there was a baby in his belly too. He randomly told me one morning while we were at home. I was straightening up the living room and he said, "Mommy, you have to be soft with me because there is a baby in my belly." I raised my eyebrows and replied, "Oh, there is, okay, Mommy will be careful." He reminded me of his "baby" a couple more times that day.

A few days later Trent was (surprise ;)) being naughty. I was trying to help him put his jammies on, after his bath, and he had decided that he was NOT going to bed under any circumstances. That kid can put up a good fight and was kicking, biting and wiggling around as much as he could to break free from me.

Luckily, I have fought a few of these battles before and put my bent leg (gently, of course) across one of his arms and his belly to hold him steady so I could finish getting him dressed. Now he only had one arm, legs and his head that he could move easily and as he continued to wiggle his way out, he cried out, "MOMMY, I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL THERE IS A BABY IN MY BELLY!" I was so taken back that I burst out laughing and couldn't stop. He is such a funny kid!

Since I was laughing so hard he calmed right down and the rest of the bedtime routine went as usual, but I tell ya, that kid comes up with the craziest things AND he knows when to use them :). I've said it before, but I cannot wait to see what this kid is going to do in life, he is one of a kind and I cannot imagine my life without him. Such a blessing to me, I love you so much Trent and I will be more soft with the baby in your belly from now on ;).

Merry Christmas

Christmas was in Cedar this year and with the kids multiplying :) and getting so big we decided to open presents from mom and dad here a few days before we left for Utah (best decision ever!) The kids got a couple of gaming systems that came in handy on our 7 1/2 hour drive too!
We drove into a Cedar City blanketed in snow and were all thrilled for a "white Christmas." The kids popped up the next morning eager to get out into the white stuff and have some fun! Trent was the only one who got "soooo cold" and didn't last but a few minutes outside and wanted to hop into a "shower" right when he got inside to warm up.

It didn't snow again, but that didn't bother anyone. After all, it was Christmas Eve!

We always have such a great time in Cedar with Matt's family and this trip was no exception. The annual Christmas Eve party was a success! A yummy dinner was followed by the family reports and program. Wade played "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (from his piano recital) while we serenaded him :).

Matt's family is very musical so we are happy that we could contribute this year! Next year will be even better!
Christmas morning was a success! The kids were really excited to open their presents and we were all excited to attend Marie's ward to hear her lead her ward choir's Christmas program. It was really neat!
We all got a special present on Christmas day when Marlene and her family drove into town! SO fun to catch up and hang out! The trip was too fast, but super fun!

Centennial Jog

Wade and Seth are completely obsessed with running club. Well, Wade is obsessed and Seth goes along with him about 40% of the time :). They have been practicing twice a week since October and have done a great job!

Wade has already racked up over 75 miles in practice (I am SERIOUSLY impressed with that kid) and Seth is over 25 miles which is fantastic (especially for a kindergartener.)

Each year the school holds a "Jingle Jog" which takes place around the campus neighborhood. This year it was called the "Centennial Jog." It is totally for fun and the kids love it! Since Seth is in kindergarten, he ran a few laps around the campus field, got his candy cane and called it good. Wade, on the other hand, was in full on competition mode...saying ANY sporting event he's participating in (or rooting for) is "for fun" is not something his brain can comprehend :).

Wade is the 3rd kid in waiting for the go ahead to start running

Wade "raced" with 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders and they let the 3rd graders go first followed by the 2nd graders and then the 1st graders. The course was 1 1/2 miles and Wade came in very quickly in 6th place overall (but remember they let ALL the 3rd graders go before he could even start) and 2nd place in 2nd grade! He was thrilled and so were the happy spectators :)!

I'm getting so excited for the running club meets that are going to be happening in just a few weeks! It is a lot of fun to watch my kiddos compete and do so well and feel great about themselves while doing it!

Wade's First Official Piano Recital

I actually don't know if it is allowed to have a camera in the Chapel, but I snapped a quick one with my phone while Wade was introducing himself and his recital piece to the audience. :)

Wade has been in piano lessons since June and has been doing SO WELL! He goes once a week at 6:30 AM--EARLY, but never complains and practices at least 5 times a week.

Sister Taysom is the BEST piano teacher we could ask for and is so patient, experienced and loving!

Wade practiced "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" at least 100 times and performed it flawlessly at the recital! Matt and I were so proud! Wade was proud of himself too! It was so much fun to go to his first official recital and I look forward to many more with all of my kiddos.

NYC + DC

Oh how I love New York City. Such a fantastic place, I wished I could have lived there pre-babies! Matt and I had such an amazing time there last year, we decided we needed to go back, but this time I wanted to go during December so we could soak in all of the Holiday decor and events.

Jess and Ben took on the task of watching the kiddos--totaling in at 7 under the age of 8. We are so thankful we have them, they are so wonderful!

We flew into NY and the weather was warmer there than at home which was unusual and awesome! Since we feel like we "know" the city, we didn't plan to do any of the touristy things with the exception of the Brooklyn Bridge because we didn't get to do that last time.

So here we go....NYC 2011:
"Grimaldi's" under the Bridge is hands down, 100% the BEST pizza I have EVER had! SO worth the wait. Matt and I devoured an entire pizza ourselves without hesitation!

The "bridge" "Grimaldi's" is under is the infamous "Brooklyn Bridge" and we loved walking across it.

Since we had lots of energy from our HUGE lunch we decided to keep walking and shopped in SoHO where I HAD to see "Dash" owned by the Kardashians. I wanted to go inside, but there was a line wrapped all the way around the city block because they only allow 10 people in at a time for security reasons. I really just wanted to see it, so we kept going.

We ended up walking the entire way back to our hotel (over 4 miles), but barley noticed because NY is so fun to walk around!! We definitely earned a treat break at "Magnolia Bakery" with all that walking :).

Finally, we ended the night at "The Nutcracker" at the NYC Ballet.

SO amazing! This was the main reason I wanted to go NY in December! One of the best parts was that the best dancer was from SLC!

Before going to NY, we debated back and forth over if we were going to see the broadway show "Book of Mormon." Jess and Ben saw it when they went in October and thought I would be offended, but Matt would think it was funny. After lots of thought, we decided to drop the big $ and bought tickets to the show. I can't say that I wish I didn't see it after it was done, but what I can say is that I wish we would have left before the last 10 minutes of the show.

The music was fantastic and the jokes weren't too bad. I kept thinking, "wow, I'm glad we did this", but my mind was severely changed during the last 10 minutes of the show. They wrapped it up with a song and dance that was so over-the-top offensive it took me a couple of days to shake it off--literally! It's ok, it was our choice, but I do not recommend that show to anyone!

We saw the matinee so the rest of the day was filled with sightseeing down 5th ave, french food at "Pastis", "Dylan's Candy Bar", a really fun carriage ride through Central Park and the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller!

You simply cannot visit NYC without going to "Serendipity" and ending your meal with some frozen hot chocolate. It's to die for and we LOVE it!

We got VIP tickets to the "Dave Letterman" show and had the BEST time! One of my favorite things of the trip for sure! We were on the third row--Dave was less than 15 feet away from us! So cool! The set was so much smaller than I thought it would be, but still so cool! Jonah Hill and Kirsten Johnston were his guests and SO funny.

That night we got to go to dinner with my Aunt Char and Uncle Sam at a fancy restaurant called "21 Club." It is always a treat to spend time with them and we loved it!

I have never been to Washington DC so we decided to venture out from NY and see the Nation's Capitol and it did not disappoint! LOVED, LOVED, LOVED DC! The only downfall was that is rained, HARD, the entire time. It definitely put a damper on things and we did not get to do everything we wanted, but what we did do was SO fun.

We started in Georgetown (SO COOL!) and ate at "Clyde's"--oh my! So Yum! Followed by "Georgetown Cupcakes"--OH SO GOOD! And then, we went on the "Monuments by Moonlight" tour where an open top bus takes you to see all the amazing sights DC has to offer in the NIGHT so everything is lit up and even more amazing! We loved it!

The next day we went to see the outside of the White Houseand we got in! I even got to sit at the President's desk!!

HA HA! Just kidding, we did not get into the White House, but they did have a fake Oval Office set up in the White House Gift Shop! :)

We also toured the "National Museum of Archives" and saw the original Constitution and Bill of Rights which was seriously amazing! Next was "The US Capitol Building" tour
and we ended the night at dinner with my super fun cousin Mattie and her awesome hubby Erich! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time--love those 2!

Back to NY, we ended the trip with another broadway show "Jersey Boys", which was A LOT better! We ended up on the 5th row!
After the show we met Brian and Kristy in true New Yorker fashion :) for dinner at "STK" in the trendy Meat Packing District. Reservation time: 10pm! Thankfully we were on Eastern time so it was really only 8pm our time (still way too late for dinner for me :).) It was SO YUM and SO FUN! We wished our trips could have crossed over a little better so we could have seen more of these two!
Such an AMAZING trip!! I cannot wait to go back to both places ASAP!