Botanical Gardens

When my grandparents came down to visit us, we planned a trip to the Botanical Gardens. We did this with them last year, too, and also visited the butterfly pavilion. But this year they had a bunch of giant bug sculptures. They were all made out of different types of wood and super cool looking!

My cool sister and me

 Grandma and Grandpa Boucher on their 53rd wedding anniversary that day!

 Praying Mantis sculpture! SO cool!!

 Ha! I love this picture! I think Katie might have been sick of me taking pictures?

 The boys were having a BLAST identifying the bugs and finding them on their maps.

 Another one of my favorites of my grandparents!

 Tyler was dying to get a butterfly to land on him. He even wore a green shirt to look like a plant!

 Can you tell we were all scared of the giant spider?!!

And this picture is solely to remind me that I don't like being pregnant and really shouldn't do it again anytime soon.

Preschool Open House- Kenya!

Tyler's preschool does an "It's a Small World" theme, so each classroom gets to study a country. Tyler's class was Kenya, which was perfect since all his favorite animals are African safari animals!! But, like the Halloween program, Tyler was sick the day of the open house so we had to miss it (yes, I am still sad about missing both of those events!). They learned songs and had a program and walked through the classroom to see all their projects.
So, we had our own open house at home! We invited Grandma to come see his projects and hung them all in the playroom. Tyler greeted her at the door with his safari hat and said, "Welcome to Kenya!"

    

 

I'm so proud of Tyler and all the work and projects he has been doing. He absolutely LOVES his preschool and his teacher. He is so sad that he only has a couple weeks and has told me he doesn't want to go to kindergarten because he will miss Mrs. Davila. :( I've tried to tell him kindergarten will be just as fun, but he'll have to find that out for himself! It's been a wonderful year, and I'm so happy we found a preschool that was just perfect for him!

T-Ball and Soccer Class

In April the boys started a t-ball and soccer class through the city. It was actually quite comical for the adults to watch! The boys and girls would kick the ball in the wrong direction or go off and dribble it way out of bounds and just keep going. It was a great beginners class and I feel like I should pick a sport for the boys to do, but they really could care less, so I wonder if it is even worth the effort! But all in all it was a blast!

Doing their beginning stretches- I think sometimes the biggest struggle for the boys is following directions!

Practicing throwing and catching. Tyler is in bright green on the end.

 Jackson's group practicing- Jackson is throwing the ball in this orange shirt.

 Seriously, how cute is this face?

 Tyler's first turn at batting.

Then running the bases!

My thoughts on motherhood...

It seems like it's always Sunday nights when, after I've enjoyed the day with my family, I am overwhelmed with the joy I feel as a mom. With Mother's Day being last week, I've been feeling so blessed to have the opportunity to be a Mommy.
5 years ago, I held my 3 month old baby on my first Mother's Day. I remember feeling so fulfilled and happy to be able to celebrate Mother's Day AS a Mom. 4 years ago, when Tyler was 1, I found out I was pregnant with Jackson. It was Mother's Day morning and I'm pretty sure I cried through church that day! (tears of happiness, of course!)
And this year, Mother's Day was May 13-- exactly 3 months from the day I will get to meet our baby girl.
I was just released from my calling in Young Women's as Laurel Advisor. I had been feeling like that calling had the perfect amount of responsibility for me, and a great opportunity to get away on Wednesday nights :) and be in a different part of the building on Sundays!
Jeff was in Primary so I always knew my boys would be happy in there. But recently he was called to Young Men's, and they especially needed him on Wednesday nights.
But lately I have been feeling like I wish I knew what the boys were learning about in Primary and feeling like they needed me there. I was called as Primary Chorister! A calling I had right after Jeff and I were married, before we had kids and before I had this much confidence working with children. I still feel like I am so not musical, but I am so happy to be involved in my boy's activities and learning again... I get to practice on them  throughout the week and teach my children at the same time- priceless!
Some of the things that as a MOM I've been grateful for lately:
-sponge bob and spiderman bandaids. How did moms convince their kids to wear bandaids when they were blank?
-calamine lotion and vaccines. Tyler had a mild case of chicken pox this week, and thanks to the vaccine and some calamine lotion, it never got very bad. I think the hardest thing for both of us was that we had to stay in the house. We are all looking forward to preschool, tiny tots and gymnastics this week!! (and we have our fingers crossed Jackson won't get it in 20 days)
-finger prints on the windows and dirt rings in the tub. Seriously! I saw a sign the other day that said, "Excuse the mess, my children are making memories." I want to be that kind of a mom. A mom that doesn't follow her kids around with clorox wipes. This makes me laugh (or squirm) a little because if you come over unannounced you will see that my house turns into a disaster rather quickly! Pretty sure no one in the world will peg me as a neat freak.
-having three pairs of toy story underwear in my purse. It always makes me smile as I am rummaging through the bag to find my keys, phone, sunglasses or library card.
-seeing Jackson's favorite toys lovingly placed there by his big brother while he naps. I wish I took a picture when I saw it, but imagine a sleeping 3 year old next to a pile of trios, legos, spiderman, and robin from his 5 year old hero.
-memorizing Are you My Mother so that we can still read it when it is lost under a bed and mommy is too fat to search for it. enough said :)
-tackling a child to give them a hug just because. This is even more fun when one of them is mid-sentence. Although I have learned it is best NOT to do it when Jackson is talking about Batman.
This week has been one of the most overwhelming, because due to the pox, we were home together all week without very many outings. In fact I called my mom a couple times and said, "we need to get out!" But I noticed most of my most joyous moments happen within the walls of my home! I am so blessed to be called mommy!

Boucher Family Time

After my Uncle Eric passed away, the boys and I drove with my parents to Sacramento for the funeral and to visit all my Mom's family up there. The funeral was hard, but also nice to see everyone and to remember the great qualities and memories of Eric.

After the funeral, Grandpa planted a special tree that will bloom in the Springtime to remember Eric.

 Shauna, David, Andrew, Denise, Grandpa, Grandpa with Carson and Cameron

 My Mom and her siblings (minus Eric, plus Cameron- Andrew's darling daughter)

 Me and my parents

 Mom and her cousins

 Grandpa Boucher, Honey and Cameron (she calls Grandma "Honey" because that's what she hears Gpa call her!) 

The boys had a blast playing in the backyard treehouse and swing. Good thing my cousin Carson was there, he was the perfect playmate for the boys- they loved him!

Uncle Eric

My uncle Eric passed away yesterday, he will be missed so much! I have so many great memories of him, especially when I was a kid. I remember he used to spend summers with our family and drive with us on our family vacations. I have been told that one particular trip I got carsick and threw up on him (and he still loved me!) He has always been so fun and kind and wonderful to be around.

This picture is one of my very favorite memories of him, I remember riding the SeaDoo with him at Lake Powell!

Another one of my favorite memories of him I have now passed on to my children!! Whenever we would pass the cows on the drive to Sacramento, we'd say, "Eeeew, Eric!!", as if he was the one making the car stinky :) This past summer when my mom and I drove the boys up there to visit, we did the same thing. One day when I took off Jackson's shoes, he smelled his stinky feet and said, "Eeeew, Eric!" I will continue to think of Eric often!

24 Weeks Baby Update

I went to the doctor today for my 24 week check up. I swear this pregnancy is flying by!! I had a couple weeks of swollen hands, achy body and joint pain but other than those uncomfortable days I've been feeling super good. I finally feel like I have things under control at home (besides the bedrooms most days) because I have more energy but it doesn't last forever!

We heard the heartbeat, scheduled the glucose test and my rogham shot (dumb negative blood type!) and the C-Section date!! AUGUST 13th-- different than what I previously thought, but I'm so excited because it's my brother's birthday (no, we are not naming her Thomasina!) :)

 The dreaded belly shot! I felt myself get bigger each day this week. And I still have lots more to go!

We just got back from visiting my sister, Katie and her darling baby Samantha! The boys LOVED holding her and knew to be quiet when she was sleeping.

Today after lunch time, Jackson was yelling at me to get him out of his booster chair. I walked up to him with my finger over my mouth and said, "shhh, say it quietly please." He said, "your baby sleeping in your tummy?" It was so sweet and totally made me laugh. Thanks Samantha for letting us practice on you!! :) More pictures coming of Samantha and our Utah fun soon!!

Jackson's first big boo boo :(

This week has been crazy, to say the least! Jackson fell (or got pushed?) off the toy shelf in the playroom and landed on a toy right on his forehead. He cut it bad enough that by the time I got to him his face was all bloody! I called Jeff and he came right home (I love that work is less than 5 mins away!) to check it out. He butterfly bandaged it and gave him a priesthood blessing, which helped to comfort us all and told us we would know what to do next. Jeff took Tyler and went back to work while Jackson and I cuddled and I watched his wound. Olivia and Alissa came over a little after that to pick something up and cheered Jack right up. Then Jeff called and said we should head over to urgent care so the doctors could take a look and see if he needed stitches. Alissa drove us over so we'd only have one car at urgent care and Jeff planned on meeting us right when he got off work.

We walked into the care center and I could see blood dripping from his bandages and a sense of relief that we listened to inspiration and brought him in. I peeked in the window and the nice front desk lady frowned when she looked at Jackson. She took our info and I heard her say, "we have a cute little boy here with a head wound". They took us right back and I tried to keep up with the paperwork as they started checking him out.
They sent us to the triage then procedure room and told me he'd need stitches. This was so awful to watch. It had nothing to do with the blood- although the doctors put a chair behind me in case I fainted. They had to strap him down on the table and Jackson was so calm until they started numbing him. They actually stuck the needles in the cut!! (I thought they'd just poke him a couple times next to it) It was awful. From that second on the screaming begun. I tried to talk to him and tell him he was doing so good but at one point I couldn't talk and almost cried! It was just so sad to see him so upset and not understand they were trying to help him. Afterwards when he was calmed down he pointed to the bed and told me, "bad guy did that". I told him the doctor was a good guy helping is head stop bleeding, but how do you explain that to a 3 year old??!

Anyways, he has been doing so great since then. One of my sweet friends watched the boys today during my doctors appointment because he wasn't up to going to Tiny Tots, and another friend brought toys for the boys to play with. He is running around like a crazy boy today, and climbing on everything. Now he can actually understand when I tell him to get down so he doesn't crack his head open! I've asked him a few times when he was climbing on a chair arm, the same toy shelf and all the way up the outside gate if he wanted to get stitches again! Seriously, I need him to slooooow down!

please, no more boo boos on this pretty little face!!

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter this year! Pretty low-key, and enjoyed the day together as a family.

In the morning, the Easter Bunny came and left the boys a basket full of goodies! We skipped the egg hunt -they hid eggs for each other all week, so it was old news :)

Then we got all dressed up and headed to church!

After we went to our favorite scenic spot (my parents backyard!)

My handsome men!!

Seriously, I didn't know he was making this face... it was at the end of our "photo shoot" and I think he was ready to be done!

Cuties and their shades!!

Then we headed home to finish our baking projects-- deviled eggs and rice krispie treat eggs! (Thanks Christine for the egg holders and cute bunny plate!! I enjoyed taking them to our family dinner!)

Did anyone else see that cute commercial with the mommy and kids making these? I saw it and just had to make them!!

Then we headed to my parents where my grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins were at- we had lots of fun and enjoyed the time together!!

All week I have felt especially grateful for our Savior. That he lived such a beautiful life and sacrificed for us so that we can live again. During one of the speakers at church, Tyler turned to me and said, "I know this. I know about how Jesus died on the cross." I love teaching my children about the gospel and the true meanings of why we celebrate holidays. Our boys know that we will all live again in heaven and I'm so grateful for that knowledge!!

Tyler Funnies and Jackson Jokes!

The boys have been cracking us up like crazy lately!

The other day, Jackson was jibber talking and he said something to the effect of, "booboo berries, poopies." I told him, "Hey, we don't say poop words. If you need to say poop words, go sit in the bathroom." He immediately walked to the bathroom, put the toilet lid down, sat down on the toilet and after a few seconds I heard him say, "poop words"

Tyler was asking me to tell him all about Texas. I told him about how we walked to the park that was right by our house all the time and he asked how old he was, "was I three?" I told him he was 2, and he said, "oh so I was really close to the ground, then."

We were driving and Jackson called out to Tyler, "hey baby, what'cha doin?" no answer. "hey baby, what'cha doin?"

Tyler-- "I'm not a baby!"

Jackson-- "hey boy, what'cha doing?"

It was raining and Tyler asked if they would see a rainbow. "Maybe after the rain goes away, we'll see one." I told him. Jackson overheard only part of the conversation and said, "A monster?!" (I think he was excited)