One Girl vs. Three Boys

Big Day

2011-12-02T10:43:00.001-08:00

So I am a horrible blogger, I know this. I have plenty of time to sit down and write something out for the few of you who keep track of this but I'm not good at focusing what I want to write so it always takes at least twice as long to jot down then it should. Especially when I add photos because I always put them in the wrong order or I write a bunch of stuff and then add the photos and get everything all mixed up. Anyway, I want to get better because I see other people's blogs and how they are like a journal for them and I want that. I want to have something to look back on that highlights my lives of my family members.

I'm not going to take too much time right now but there are a few things I should write down before I forget.

First off there is Regan. Holy moly the kid is 3 years old now and probably more stubborn and devious then ever. He sure knows how to be super sweet and lay the cuteness on thick and its a good thing too because that always redeems the mischievous behavior he displays throughout the day. His new favorite behavior is making HUGE messes. Like the other day when I assumed that he had fallen asleep for his nap I managed to doze off for a bit just to be woken up to Levi telling me I was going to be mad. Lo and behold, Regan did not nap but instead decided that the hard wood floor in the front bedroom needed a coat of paint and so he used his feet to get the job done. Thankfully he wasn't inclined to paint the bed or any of the other furnishings in the room. I'm also thankful that I was too mad to even lose my temper, partially I think because I completely blame myself for falling asleep. Sadly I can't help that much lately.... Regan is a really great kid though. He's really smart and very imaginative. He also has a bit of a thing for fighting and can turn anything into a weapon. I'm sure any boy has that ability though. :) Also, he has one of the greatest smiles ever, and the deep dimples definitely help. Heck he is currently watching a show that both boys just love and laugh and laugh and laugh at. Crazy I tell you. Crazy. :D

And then there is our Heber slug. Oh my goodness that kid is funny. He has gotten so big and if he weren't a couple of inches shorter then Regan then there is no way people would believe that he is the younger kid. I get asked a lot if they are twins. Anyway, Heber is a crazy sweet kid. I swear that he turned 2 and then over night became more of a little boy then a baby. After changing the kids diapers I ask Regan to put it in the garbage and all of the sudden Heber decided that he wanted to take on that responsibility. And then when its bed time he will occasionally give kisses, gather up his blanket and a toy and walk himself to bed without extra prompting from us. His vocabulary has also blossomed and he has started saying complete sentences, and I definitely believe that having an older brother that talks helps. :) Finally I can not overstate how much Heber LOVES cars. We thought Regan loved them but he seems to have grown out of it. He still likes them but not nearly as much as Heber. We're pretty confident that Heber isn't going to grow out of this fascination. He is currently driving his "McQueen" around on the table and on the wall. Heck he narrarates his little driving expeditions as he goes around the house. I love how much he gets a kick out of them and I'm ok with having a car nut in the family. :)

Ok, so I may have gone on more then I was planning and I don't intent to read over what I wrote because I know its probably not all going to make sense so forgive me if its not the best thing you've ever read.

Anyway, I guess I can get to the title of this post finally which shouldn't be the only post of the day. I am currently pregnant with number 3 and in about an hour and a half I'll be headed into to have my 20 week ultrasound to check out how this kid is growing and hopefully put an end to call it a peanut, leech, it... So yeah, I can't wait to find out what we are having but am having a bit of anxiety that for some reason this kid won't cooperate and we won't get a good look to determine gender. Its not likely but I'm anxious nonetheless. (My pregnancy hormones have been super crazy this time around, no fun.)

So yeah, thats what we have going and if everything goes according to plan and I don't get too lazy, I should be posting results by the end of the day. :D

See you then....

For Mom

2011-07-13T20:40:00.001-07:00

My mom is awesome and took on some sewing projects for me. She added the extra length to my sweet $3.50 dress.

And then she made a pillow case for Heber (who is obsessed with cars if you couldn't tell...)

Thanks Mom!

Just Wondering

2011-07-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

Right now we are:

Wondering when we are going to have two working cars again

Wondering when we'll be able to refinish the deck so it doesn't rot out and we have to replace it

Wondering when we'll be able to finish the shed

Wondering when our oldest will be potty trained

Wondering when we'll have another kid

Wondering if we'll be able to afford another kid

Wondering if we'll be able to then afford a van to fit all of our kids

Wondering if we're ever going to get a chance to actually save money instead of spend it on unexpected needs

Wondering if school is really going to be worth all of the trouble

Just to name a few....

When is life going to get easier?

Pictures

2011-05-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was going to include these in the other post but it is a bit easier to just do it separate.

So the boys (Regan) broke Heber's crib and while we were working on getting a new one this is what bed time looked like.

Regan takes his mattress off his bed all the time so we just put them together on the floor. Obviously someone is missing....

I found Heber like this, on the floor by the door. Silly kid...

Like I said, Heber fell asleep in his high chair a lot.

Just chilling with each other.

This is how Regan prepares for battle. Bunny Easter basket helmet, fork sword, and sippy cup shield. Bring it on.

Haha, it wasn't all bad, really. He did have fun. :D

Check that kid out!! :D

My little astronaut. :D

"Its been a looong ti-ime"

2011-05-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Since its been so long since I wrote last (thanks to the kids breaking my space board...) I'm just going to list off the big things that I can remember happening during my hiatus.

Levi turned 28. The title of this post is actually from Portal 2 which I got for him and he promptly finished in three days I think... :)

We got a new computer. Its a MacBook Pro and its wonderful. :D We also got a printer with it so I've been playing with both quite a bit. ;)

Heber reached 18 months! This is a serious milestone because he now goes to nursery at church! We don't have to wrestle him for the last 2 hours anymore! :D This last week was actually his first time in nursery because the two weeks prior he was sickly. Poor kid. :( Anyway he did great! At first he didn't want to say good-bye to me but when I put him down at the table with a puzzle and all the other kids he quickly got distracted and didn't have any problems from there on out. Not that I know of at least. ;) I think it helps that Regan is there too so they get to play together.

I got a hair cut. Nothing special, just a trim and new bangs. It was needed. :)

I turned 23. Nothing too special there.... ;) All I got to do was see Calley, baby Chloe, Britney, Dave & Liz, eat lots of yummy Mongolian, run around in a INSANE(ly awesome) storm, see Suzette with green hair (hehe it was not on purpose), and go shopping, and when I say shopping I mean wander around the mall soaking wet getting weird looks from everyone and finding some great deals on new clothes. :) I guess it was an ok day. :D

(too many smilies? I think not) ;)

The boys got to play in the sprinkler for the first time this year. It wasn't a very sunny day but it was really warm. They had fun.

Heber fell asleep in his high chair. A lot. Like every day for a week. He plays hard that kid. :D

Anyway, thats just a little update. I have more pictures but they are on the other computer and my camera still. These are just a few of the newer ones that I had on my phone. I'll work on updating more often but no promises. ;)

I'm Saved!!!!

2011-01-30T00:44:00.000-08:00

.... From a world of crappy phones....

After quite a bit of "patient" waiting, I finally got Levi to go to the store with me so I could get a new phone and its worth the wait! And so far, the money too. :) I've been without a good phone for a month or two now because the kids messed up my last phone and its made life unpleasant... Don't get me wrong I've gotten by but when my phone decided to refuse to perform all the functions that turn a calculator into a phone, the night before Reed left for the MTC (Missionary Training Center), while I was talking to him, I finally had enough. I'd been using my old phone from high school and my other option turned itself off whenever it so pleased so I was really antsy for a new phone. My upgrade wasn't supposed to be till next month but my mom told my story to a customer service rep and she pulled some strings so I could do it now. Thank goodness for that!!! Anyway, I did my research and found the phones that I would like in all the different price ranges and all it came down to was getting Levi to the store to approve the purchase, which was no easy task. Anyway, I realize this isn't really an interesting story, sorry, but I feel like it was such a long process that its blog worthy. Oh well. :) So yeah, I got the My Touch 4G and it honestly wasn't my first choice but Levi's input was helpful and I'm glad I chose it. The kids don't get to touch it. AT ALL. I know that is going to be a practically impossible feat to accomplish but darn it I'm going to do my best! :)

I'm happy now. I hope you guys are too! :D

Picture Post

2011-01-11T23:34:00.000-08:00

Like usual it has been a while since my last post so I figured I'd ease my way back into the swing of things (fingers crossed...) with a post based on pictures. Less thinking and creativity is needed I think so thats what I'm going for. :D Plus I don't want it to get too far from Christmas because there are some super great pictures in here and I don't want to feel even for like a fool for putting them up later in the year. ;)

So first off we have Regan... enough said. :D

Then this is my sister's son Ethan. The last and first time I saw him he was only a couple of months old and now he's almost 18 months.... Cute kid.

Mom and Ethan

Heber Beber rockin' the binky!

The kids were big helps and handed out the presents... as best they could... ;)

Heber learning is numbers.

This year for Mom and Dad we got family pictures. (For the first time since I've been married, we were close at my Grandpa's funeral but my brother in law was in Iraq...)

Heber got right on taking that little motorcycle apart...

My older brother, The Geek. (Well one of them at least :D Love you Briggs!)

The Geek and The Slug

Regan using his Lightning McQueen back pack from his cousin Lilly as a pillow. :D

This is a two part picture: 1 Our washer is dumb and it walks....

2 Regan is wearing Lilly's shoes and running away because he should really take them off...

Look at that smile! (He only smiled because Maranna helped me) Oh and he is sporting one the shirts I made him so he can be like his Daddy.

This motorcycle was a gift from Grandma Shaw. Regan wouldn't look at me...

This is one cool kid!

So anyway, thats a wrap. Nothing super special but I have to take baby steps. :D This winter has really brought the lazy in me out in way too many ways then one... So I'm trying to work on that. I'll do my best to post again soon.

My baby is running low on babyness...

2010-11-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know where I can get a refill? :)

Heber turned one on Sunday and I am still in some kind of disbelief...

He was feeling a bit snotty so all the boys stayed home from church while I went to Stake Conference. Once I got home we just enjoyed time together, napped (for the boys at least), and I made a mini cake for Heber. Its was a very laid back day. :)

Oh and Heber ate, and ate, and ate... a lot. :D

He started with Lasagne...

Then his own personal cake

I just loved this picture. :D

(Oh yeah, there were raspberries in his cake, lucky boy)

Teeth! His top two are coming in also but their tough to catch. :D

Before we knew it, the cake was gone... We were going to cut him off...

"I'm one!"

Its crazy how much I love this kid. He had his one year appointment yesterday and his stats are ridiculous....

Height: 31.5 in

Weight: 27 lbs

They are both around the 93 percentile.

He's big but proportionate. :D

He is starting to walk, just a few steps at a time but he's getting there. He also says Dada, Uh oh, and occasionally he will say, "What's that?", but it comes out as "s'at" and he only says it after we do. :) There are a lot of similarities between him and Regan but their personalities are definitely individual. Heber plays with actual toys while Regan just turns everyday objects in to toys. Oh and he is learning to hold his own against Regan's rough housing. Regan's going to have to watch himself because once Heber can walk Regan will be in trouble! :D Heber is also starting to give kisses, which I love! They are slobbery (naturally) but so sweet.

Yeah its a handful to have a 1 and 2 year old but they get along really well and we are so blessed to have them. Heber was a bit of a surprise but I can't imagine our family with out him. :D

I love you Heber!!

Long time no post....

2010-09-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Ok so I've been very slacky when it comes to blogging lately... obviously. I've started one or two but they are irrelevant now. Anyway, this one isn't going to be super long or anything but I do have a good enough topic to get me on here again and that topic is...

Regan is 2!!

I seriously can't but at the same time can believe it.

I mean of course two years have gone by since I was at KGH waiting to finally be a parent because a lot has happened including a second kid. Anyway its just weird to think that one of these days I'm actually going to understand everything Regan says. And I won't have to change his diapers anymore. We're working on potty training but Levi and I are new to it and its been hard getting Regan to understand the concept fully so if you veterans out there have tips feel free to share them. Now even though Regan hasn't really picked up on potty training he is a really smart kid. He will retrieve things like diapers, wipes, and the phone for us. He loves to play peek-a-boo and has since he was a baby but now he hides himself and says, "Where's Regan"? Super cute. He even does it with Heber by covering him up even though he still says "Where's Regan"?, not Heber. Its funny though because he can say Heber, he just associates peek-a-boo with his name. :)

His list of words (that we can understand fully) includes but isn't limited to: Car, Cars as in the movie as well as his pillow because my mom made him a cars pillow case), Go, Hot (he says it very carefully, thanks Calley ;D ) Bear, Mom & Dad, Clare & Levi (we're trying to be better at calling each other mom and dad...) Grandma, Chips, Cracker (or more like "ca-cars"), More, Please, Thank You (he says it "hey cue") Dog, Water... there are a bunch more but these are his most consistent words that I can think of off the top of my head right now. Not really impressive on my part. Oh since he turned two he will say "two" now when we ask him how old he is and he'll hold up three fingers... he has a hard time keeping his thumb in. :D Its cute. Oh and he says "miss you" when Levi leaves as well as "bye bye" as well as "I love you"! Super cute is what that kid is.

We seriously love him to pieces even though he can be one seriously mean older brother. We're pretty sure his terrible two's started like 6 months ago but now its official. ;) I can't wait to see him grow and mature. It actually terrifies me to think of him as a teenager... but I'm not going to worry about that right now. ;)

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dear Regan Began!!! We are extremely blessed to have you in our lives. You are crazy, funny, energetic, silly, goofy (I know most of these things mean the same thing but its true) sweet, and you are so stinkin' cute!!!! :D

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

T-Shirt designers...

2010-06-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include a picture of the shirts Calley and I made. They are pretty awesome and we got compliments from a few people. :D Well you can't see the swim part of mine but it looks just like Calley's. And we put the Ironman MDot on our right shoulders. (You can kind of see Calley's) Levi wanted us to only do half the MDot since he was only doing a half ironman but we decided to just not fill it in, so that way when he does a full one we can fill it in. ;)

Oh and we got the hats so we could have a full ensemble. (Levi got one for free...) We thought we were pretty funny because we managed to change our outfit for every part of the race just like one of the racers. :D

Swim-regular clothes (we hadn't finished our shirts yet...)

Bike- our awesome shirts

Run- we added the hat. :D

Boise Ironman 2010

2010-06-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

I think its about time that I wrote an update about Levi and I's trip to Boise now two weeks ago. First off, its amazing how quick a 5 hour drive seems to be when there are no kids in the back seat. Seriously amazing! I'm not saying that I wish I didn't have kids, I'm just saying that the occasional trip away without kids is something to be celebrated. :D So we drove down to Boise Thursday morning and thanks to the time change, we got in an hour later then planned. ;) Anyway, we checked in to the hotel and after eating the warm cookies they gave us at the front desk, and resting out feet for a while we went over to Calley's place. It was great to see her and to have someone to hang out with over the weekend. I think she enjoyed having someone other then Mowgli to hang out with too. ;) That evening we went to Levi's athlete check in so he got his number, athlete wrist band, and goodie bag then we perused the event store and headed out to dinner. We chose the Macaroni Grill and I will point out that they do not grill macaroni like Levi had hoped. ;) It was pretty fun though. We saw some interesting characters and really enjoyed drawing on the table. ;) After that we took Calley home and headed back to the hotel because Levi wanted to get a bit of a swim in before the race on Saturday. Now we stayed at the Double Tree Club and they have an outdoor pool. It was open but in my opinion shouldn't have

been. For one it wasn't really heated and even though it was pretty nice outside it was still windy and therefore at least cold when you got out of the water. Oh and the water was filthy. The pool was in an area with the building on one side and then bushes around the rest. The bushes were the kind that have the little seed pods that fly off and let me tell you most of them were in the pool. Plus it tasted way too much like chlorine and sweat. Not the best pool I've ever been in by far. Oh well. After that I got in the hot tub and it was still kind of sweaty tasting but oh so hot and it felt really good. :)

The next day we kind of slept in which wouldn't have been so bad but the clock in our room was off. Way off. We had woken up a few times in the night and looked at the clock and would mentally take off an hour but it never felt like the time the clock said. It was interesting but we just let it fly. We didn't notice the wrong time until we looked at the phone and it had said that we had gotten a text from my mom that should have come a couple of minutes before but then I noticed that it came and hour before. Thats right, the room clock was pretty much on Washington time. So we ended up being a little bit late for Levi's athlete meeting but we didn't really miss much I guess. After that we met up with Calley and headed down to Lucky Peak Reservoir where the swim portion of the race would be held so that Levi could get his bike set up. After that Levi wanted to drive along his biking portion of the race (56 miles) so he could get a feel for the hills and everything but oh man it was boring... I mean, educational and whatnot... They had to ride miles and miles into the middle of nowhere and there were some seriously steep and long hills on the way. Poor Levi. Anyway after that we killed some time at the mall for us girls and then got ready to go to the Boise Temple. It had been a while since Levi and I had a chance to go together with his new work schedule so we were kind of excited about it. We were running a bit late and were really pushing it to catch the 7:00 so we rushed to get dressed and as Calley and I were coming out of the locker room Levi was headed back to his so we decided to wait for him despite the fact that the group started heading in. Well it got to the point that we were sure Levi would come back to find us but we ended up in separate sessions... It wasn't so bad though because the Boise Temple is big enough that they have sessions every half an hour. So that didn't go quite as planned but it was a great trip nonetheless.

After the Temple we dropped Calley off and headed to dinner. We went to The Cheesecake Factory because neither of us had been but had both heard great things and let me tell you it lived up to all the great comments. We had a great waitress who kept the bread and water coming the whole time we were there, (A BIG plus for Levi) and was very helpful considering their menu is a book! We got a full 3 course meal and were seriously stuffed when we left, and that is including the fact that we got our cheesecake to go! All in all a great evening!

Ok so finally we got to Race Day and normally races start at like 9 in the morning but Boise has a special 2 pm start time so we had some time to kill before it actually started. So we got all of our stuff together and checked out of the hotel, since we were going to stay with Calley that night, and checked in with her. :) Calley and I decided to make some shirts so we got some material for that as well as some last minute things that Levi would need for the race and headed to the race start. Normally you can drive most of the way to the start but race day most of the parking up there was filled up so we had to walk up a BIG hill to get there. Oh and it was really nice that day so the hike was pretty intense for Calley and I. ;) Anyway, once we got there we only had 10-15 minutes till the race start but instead of a mass start they sectioned it out into waves and Levi's wave didn't start for almost an hour after the "official" start. So we got to wait... However in the time it took for Levi's wave to start we got to watch the Pro Men start and transition to the bike part. The fastest swimmer did the 1.2 miles and his transition in 24 minutes! Seriously fast. So finally it was Levi's turn to start.

He's in there somewhere...

And then they're off!!!

(age group men 18-30)

It was really exciting and nerve wracking to sit and watch because you see the group but don't know who is who. So once the majority of Levi's group seemed to get around the last corner we moved towards the swim finish and watched people get out of the water. It was really exciting when we finally saw Levi. I only got video of the transition though... Anyway Levi did great and was finally onto the 56 mile bike ride. After he was out of sight, Calley and I headed back down to the car and finished up our shirts, waded in the little reservoir and headed to town for the bike transition. We had some trouble finding where Levi would leave his bike but once we did we enjoyed getting to wait in the shade for a while. :D

So here is his transition #2...

And again I only got video of him running right in front of us to start his half marathon to the FINISH!

The race finish was only a block from the bike finish so we walked that way and spent the rest of our day watching other racers and wandering the few stores there were on the block. We had to wait over an hour and a half but after wearing out our calves from getting up on our tip-toes to watch for Levi he finally came into sight and crossed the FINISH LINE!! We were very excited, and I'm sure he was too. :D

Again I only got video but this one is the most important so I figured since this post is already crazy long that just the one would be ok. :) Feel free to ignore our screaming... He really did great though!! We're so proud of him finishing what he had worked so hard to get to!!

(If you can read it, don't pay the race time any real attention because it measured from the pro start, not Levi's actual start...)

This is us afterwards at Calley's. Levi got a medal for finishing and I got a sunburn. Mostly on the back of my neck. Oh and Levi is forcing a smile because he was so tired.

That night we enjoyed some Red Robin take out and some Ben and Jerry's as well as an "interesting" skype with Brandon who was stuck back in Othello. :) We left the next morning a little before noon I guess and were so excited to get to the see the kids. All in all it was a great weekend and a pretty fun "honeymoon" for Levi and I. Thats right, our first honeymoon. We're special. ;)

Ok well I'm going to consider this done even though I'm sure I left something out. (and to that I'm sure you'll just think, HOW? She wrote so darn much!!) ;)

So for all of you who will actually make it to this point, Its finally over.

Ta ta.

HOLY GEISER BATMAN!!!

2010-06-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm sure most of you won't want to know this but the other parent's might get a kick out of it... Anyway, today we were watching tv and Heber was just sitting on the floor playing with a toy when all of the sudden I hear a loud raspberry and then see poop flying out of his diaper! He just sat there completely content as it just bubbled out of his diaper and up his back. I couldn't believe the force behind that poop but I know he felt better afterwards. :)

Well thats all I had to say, just wanted to write it down for future reference. ;)

My Super CUTE Kids!

2010-06-02T10:38:00.001-07:00

Put your hands in the air because here we gooooo!!

Heber is a pro at sitting

Goof...

He is an occasional thumb sucker.

Look at my mustache mom!

Brothers!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D

I took this without looking, I just reached back... Cutie.

For whatever reason, Regan was plugging his ears... He does this every once in a while.

Heber got a hold of the phone book, and ate it.

By the time I got the camera this was the happiest picture I could get... He got sick of his hood after a while.

All drooly from sucking on the toy...

BIG bottom lip!

Who me??

This was the best I could do to get a picture of them together...

Check out the rolls!! Such a squishy kid!

I LOVE IT!!

Comparison

2010-06-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Regan at 1 year...

Heber at 6 months...

Same outfit and just about the same fit... Heber is a chunk. :D

Triathlon

2010-06-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

In a week and a half Levi is going to be competing in a half Ironman in Boise!

He has been training really hard and is on week 19 of a 20 week training program so its really nice to finally be at the point where the end is in sight. I personally can't imagine ever doing a race like that but according to Levi I will complete a full Ironman some day... Yeah, we'll see. I am excited for Levi to get to do this and to be completely honest its mainly because we get to get away for a weekend for the first time in our marriage. Thats right, we have been married two and a half years and this will be our first trip. We didn't even have a honeymoon... Its ok though. It will be nice to stay in a hotel and not have to worry about cleaning or taking care of the kids. (Although I will actually worry anyway)

Another thing we are looking forward to is spending time with our friend Calley who just moved down there. We'll also hopefully be able to take her husband down since he is finishing up school here and will move down later. It will be nice to be in a new place but still have people we know to hang out with. Especially since the actual race is pretty boring for me since I'll be able to see Levi for a couple minutes of the 5 hours he thinks he'll take.

I also can't wait to be able to go to the Boise Temple as well as the mall. ;) I figure with all the money we have spent on Levi's gear for this race that when we are down there I get to spend some money on me. :D

I can't wait to let you guys know how it goes and put up some pictures!

Memorial Day

2010-06-02T00:05:00.000-07:00

This Memorial Day we didn't really have any big plans, just a couple little ideas that we could possibly follow through on as well as a couple of things that we pretty much do on a daily basis. We had high hopes for the weather but the Tri-Cities haven't had much sun shine recently so even though we had a few time slots that were filled with blue skies we did have our share of wind and random down pours. It all worked out in the end though despite the fact that we spent more time inside then we would have liked. Anywho, one thing I knew that I wanted to do was go shopping, and with great Memorial Day sales I wasn't going to let Levi stop me. ;) I had to wait for Levi to go on his 1 1/2 hour bike ride (so he could beat the rain) but after that I got some time alone in a few stores and it was great. Admittedly I only bought a swim suit but that was really the only thing on my "list" so I managed to behave and not spend money on things we didn't need even though they were seriously marked down. :)

After my little outing our friend Nate came by and then we managed to persuade Brandon and Calley to come visit us so we could play, which was seriously fun. We started out at home just playing with the kids and then went to Red Robin for dinner. After that we got the kids home and in bed so us adults could really have some fun. ;) We borrowed Levi's parents fire pit and got the essentials for s'mores and chatted the sun away. Let me tell you Levi's friends are a dangerous bunch to get together. And we only had half of the crew. I'm currently the only add on because Calley grew up with all of the boys (she married one of them) but one of our topics of conversation dating (for the unmarried folk of course) so maybe by the 4th of July we'll have a big group. :D Anyway, we also got to talking about how old relationships/how our married relationships started and that reminded Levi and I that 3 years ago this Memorial Day weekend we had our first kiss. :D It was fun to tell both of our sides of the story and kind of relive that part of our relationship again.

We really had a lot of fun but the time came where the sun had set and our fire finally turned to coals so we said good bye and called it a night. We seriously had a great time though, (at least I did) and I can't wait till we head to Boise in two weeks for some more fun! (I'll blog about that later...)

Ok, well be looking for an update on the kids as well as info on Levi's half triathlon because I need to get back in the blogging state of mind. ;)

Our First Home!

2010-05-06T00:06:00.007-07:00

Yep we bought a house. So far we've just painted a couple of rooms, put up a few curtains, and planted some fruits and veggies, but have some more things on our list including finish the basement. Its going to be a bit of a project but not too bad. Anyway I've been told that I need to put up pictures and as of right now I've got before pictures but honestly haven't managed to keep the house in a state that I feel comfortable taking new pictures to post. (Mainly of my bedroom. You'll see...) So with out further ado, our house.

Back yard (I thought I had a picture of the front but don't, sorry... I'll work on that)

Big 'ol patio area...

1st half of the big play room

We plan on redoing the kitchen at some point...

The cabinets are as old as the house.

Bathroom, kind of small but great.

2st half of the play room

Our room, its now green. Very good change.

Regan's room. We painted this room too, its white now. Also better.

Front Room, we're ok with the red but will eventually change it too.

We've pretty much gotten everything unpacked and can't help but notice how few things we have now that we're in a bigger place. We could definitely use some more seating... :)

So yeah thats about it for now, sorry that its been so long for those of you who actually read this and care. ;)

ONE WEEK...

2010-04-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

...Till we should be getting the keys to our new house!

I have packed a few boxes of the extra stuff but I guess I should getting to the serious stuff. :)

I can't wait!!

Quick Update

2010-03-26T23:29:00.001-07:00

Ok so for once I actually have something to blog about that isn't just updates on the kids or whatever and it has taken me a month to finally spread the news... Thing is if the one or two of you who will actually read this are already my friend on facebook then you already know, sorry. Anyway the news is that we are buying a HOUSE! Its a great place with a number of improvements, namely:

~ Its bigger (I won't have watch Levi play video games because there will be a room I can hang out in other then the living room)

~ It has central heat and air (no more window ac units...)

~ It has a fully fenced back yard so the neighbors dogs won't be able to see us and bark at us all day

~ Heck the neighbors don't have dogs (we like dogs just not our current neighbor's dogs)

~ It has a basement (which we have to sheet rock and carpet but its all set up for that)

~ All the appliances stay so we won't have to buy a fridge or stove and the washer and dryer are nicer then the ones we have. :D

~ It has a big, like 400 sq. ft. play room

~ And finally and most importantly, it has a DISHWASHER

There are a ton of great things about this house and we are getting it for 15 grand less then we were looking for! Seriously we were so lucky and blessed to find this place. We decided that we wanted to try and buy a place while we could still get the $8,000 grant, so in January we started looking and our new place was probably the 3 house I found that I wanted to look at and I found it the day the guy posted it on craigslist. By the next week we put on offer in and now we are less then a month from getting the keys! Everything has gone really well as far as I can tell being a first time home buyer. Oh and another fun fact is that the family that is living in it right now are mormon. They are in a different ward but are in the same building as we are in right now however his parents are in our current ward. :)

Anyway, we are very excited to move and have our own place that we plan on being in for a long time. I have yet to start packing and really should get on that but even if we get down to the wire we are only moving like 2 miles away and we don't have very much stuff so I should be ok. :)

I guess this has turned into a longer update then I had planned so I'll throw a little bit about the kids. Regan is now 18 months old and is learning so many new things daily but for the most part is the same crazy kid. Heber on the other hand is 4 months old and is about the size that Regan was at 6 months. Seriously this kid knows how to grow. We have given him rice a handful of times and he is a natural with a spoon. Technically he just sucks the food off of it but the fact that he swallows it instead of spitting it out like Regan did is something. :)

Well I can honestly say that I probably won't update this again till after we move and I'll try to get pictures up then too.

Get ready for a slew of pictures.

2010-01-31T17:56:00.000-08:00

BEWARE:

These pictures are both super cute and even more ridiculous....

This is a serious face...

This one is less serious. :D

HAM!!!

He's a bit chubby. 2 month update he was 15 lbs and 25.5 in. 99th percentile for both...

This was just supposed to be of his crazy bath hair....

Heber is a really good kid.

Clean boy

He's getting really strong.

-no words-

Peaceful sleeper

He aged very quickly...

SLUGATHOR!!!

I love just walking in on this kind of sight.

Cutie!

Regan loves the cushions

Loving the blanket Grammie Harston made.

Very serious faces....

I LOVE THESE BOYS!!!

(notice Heber looks exactly the same as in the last one...)

Well there you go, I've put up new blogs and didn't really have to say anything. :D I'll put up a worded update sooner or later. ;)

Update Request...

2010-01-31T17:24:00.001-08:00

So a friend very kindly requested that I update the blog...

I guess it has been a while.

Well at the beginning of the month my "twin" growing up got married so we took a quick trip to Moscow, ID to attend his reception as well as visit my Grandma Harston. It was hard not to miss my Grandpa who died this last October, because he never got a chance to meet Heber. Overall though I got to see a lot of people that I love and miss and we had quite a bit of fun.

Our newest family picture

The boys and Great Grandma Harston

This is a marble machine of sorts that my Grandpa Harston made and all of the grandkids played with. It was fun to watch Regan figure it out and enjoy it.

My BIG Boy

2009-11-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

Ever since Heber joined our family I am constantly finding myself thinking, "Regan's HUGE!" Its amazing how much he has grown in the 14 months (today) that he has been alive, especially considering the fact that he was smaller then Heber at birth. Really makes me wonder where Heber will be at Regan's age...

Levi and I constantly find ourselves asking, "Who made you child?" because its hard to believe we made that super ball of fire. One minute he is running all over, climbing up and down on the furniture and gibbering excitedly and then the next minute he will just climb up on one of us and nestle in like we're his own personal recliner and watch a show with us for a half an hour. He is awesome! Funniest little character around and super cute to boot. He's a great kid and is really turning into a great big brother. We still have to work on the concept of being soft with baby brother but he pats his head and has given him a few kisses and hugs. :D

We love both our boys an insane amount and feel so blessed to have them in our lives. We can't wait for Heber to be old enough to really show us his personality like his brother does. :)

Anyway, I just wanted to put up some of the newer pictures of Regan that have been building up. I might get some videos up later too...

Ok this isn't the best picture of me but I was really enjoying snuggles from both my boys. :)

I LOVE THAT SMILE!!!!!

He "reads" to himself... (Haha I just noticed that the book is upside down...)

This kid loves his bear and blanket.

He also loves getting in this chair even though he exceeds the weight limit...

Yeah, Happy Kid.

Playing with his rocks in the back yard.

This kid stuffs, literally stuffs, bananas into his mouth. He can't eat them fast enough...

My snuggle bug. :D

Heber Mark Shaw

2009-11-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

November 6th was my due date and just like with Regan it slowly came and went... So in the same fashion as with Regan we scheduled an induction to get the little guy out of me, however I didn't have to wait another four days this time and instead waited until the 7th. I spent a very large portion of the last month of my pregnancy that I could go into labor on my own and possibly even early because I was so ready to be done. I had a lot of back pain and related head aches this time around, thanks in a big part to Regan, so I was pretty miserable. I mean things could have been a whole lot worse but I really just wanted to finally hold my little boy in my arms instead of feeling him try to smash my internal organs and possibly break a few ribs just so he could have some space. Seriously, Heber was a mover. Anyway I was very excited to schedule an induction at my last appointment because that gave me a date. A specific date when I would finally get to meet my little boy. The annoying part was that I didn't get a time, and wouldn't until the day of and that also meant there was a possibility that the hospital would have a super busy day and I would have to wait some more. So the morning of the 7th I was up at 5:30 so I could be ready for the 6 o'clock call they told me I would get so I would know when to get to the hospital but by 7:30 I hadn't heard anything so I called them to find out that they would instead call me at noon. I seriously didn't want to hear that but thankfully they called at 8 and said that they decided they would like me to come in whenever. Oh happy day. Anyway we got there at 8:30 and finally got things started around 9. Labor was pretty quick though and just like with Regan my epidural sped things up even more. Anyway I started pushing around 2:45, possibly later, and by 3:13 we had Heber!!! So yeah, 6 hours of labor isn't so bad.

We are super excited to have Heber with us now and love him to bits. Heber looks a lot like Regan did so we know we've got a serious cutie on our hands, plus he is a really good kid. Super tired all the time still and regularly falls asleep while eating but he is doing well and is gaining weight so he is getting something. :) Regan is catching on slowly but surely that there is

another kid in the family now but he likes his little brother and does his best to be soft. Overall things have transitioned very well, which is definitely thanks to the fact that Levi was able to take this whole week off so we have definitely have enjoyed being able to get used to our new family. Anyway, I guess I've babbled enough so here are some pictures.

I love this look.

Cute little bundle.

Haha, Levi really likes having two little boys.

Finally home!

Snug little bundle.

A LOT to catch up on...

2009-11-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

So we have been without a proper computer and internet for a while now and there has been a lot that I haven't been able to post about so this is my list...

First: Levi and I celebrated our 2 Year Anniversary on October 13th.

I Love You Levi!!!

Second: We closed in on and made it to my due date, finally...

Third: We induced our second kid into this crazy world!!!

Ok so this really isn't a lot but I had so much more to say as the days were coming and going because I was so excited about our anniversary as well as ticking off the days until I wasn't pregnant anymore.

So yeah this isn't really an exciting post but thats what I wanted to talk about... I guess this is the super condensed version.

Ok, thats it.

Goodbye Grandpa

2009-09-30T19:14:00.001-07:00

We'll miss you.

Clarence Briggs Harston

October 2, 1911 - September 30, 2009

Regan's 1st!

2009-09-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

So its been over a week since Regan turned one so its about time I get some pictures up. I made him brownies on his birthday but we saved the "party" for the weekend when my parents came down. I just have a couple from his actual birthday today but give me another week or so and I'll get the other ones up... ;)

The brownies didn't stay "untouched" for long...

We gave him the 1 from the middle and let him go for it.

He really only played with the frosting... we were surprised that he didn't stuff his face

Time to get clean! (He really loves to show off his new chompers. I love that face!!)

New Roomie & Aging Child

2009-09-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well as of Saturday my younger brother Reed moved in with us. He is starting school at CBC next week so he can be like his big sis. ;) Really though CBC was kind of a last minute decision so he could get a bit of a college experience in before he leaves for his mission. The fact that we live here and its fairly close to mom and dad just made the decision that much easier. He is currently socializing with my old crowd in the singles ward and hoping to find someone in need of a room mate. Its not that we don't want him here, we are just expecting a second kid in a month and a half (yay!) and we live at least 15 minutes away. We are enjoying his company though and I really enjoy having another set of hands around the house to help with Regan as well as an on call babysitter when needed. :D

The next set of news is that my baby is turning one in two days. HOLY COW!! We're not really going to celebrate much on his actual birthday because Levi has class till really late so hopefully Grandpa and Grandma Harston will be able to come down that weekend and we'll have a family party then. We'll also be getting family pictures taken this weekend which I'm excited about but Levi isn't so much... oh well. I'm looking forward to seeing how Regan does because lately he knows when someone is taking his picture so he poses with this big cheesy grin that shows all of his teeth. He now has 6 total, 2 of which are just popping through the gums. We are really enjoying our little family and I am way to anxious for our numbers to go from 3 to 4. I'm sure its the fact that this time around I'm chasing a super active monkey all the time but I've been a lot more uncomfortable this pregnancy and can't wait to be done.

Oh I almost forgot to mention the triathlon Levi did Labor Day weekend. The race consisted of a 1 mile swim (which was supposed to be downstream but with the low water levels there was absolutely NO current that day) 25 mile bike ride and a 6.2 mile run. Levi did amazingly well for his first triathlon finishing in just under 2 hours and 45 minutes and was 80th overall out of 500+ people. I'm mad at myself for forgetting the camera but I did manage to get a shot of him crossing the finish line with my phone. He wants to do a half ironman triathlon next June in Boise, thats a 1.2 mile swim, 57 miles on the bike and 13.1 miles on foot. For now we plan on getting a gym membership and then he'll train through the winter while I eventually will get to work off the baby weight. ;) I'm really looking forward to that. :)

Well I will try to post in a couple of days, maybe of the CBC volleyball game that is so conveniently on Regan's birthday so we can at least do something, but I'll at least be posting pictures and all that some time next week. Bye bye.

Regan Walks

2009-08-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty good sample of Regan's new skills. ;)

Heber Mark Shaw

2009-07-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Well Levi didn't want to put up pictures of Heber because he doesn't think that people need to see the "Its a BOY" pictures, but I'm not sure he remembered the other pictures we've got of him so I thought I'd put them up.

I LOVE Baby Feet!! And he was all for showing them off! :D

And here is his little face. His arm is kind of in the way and his chin is in his chest because he was curled up the whole time.

Anyway there are a couple more but they aren't anything special since he was in a ball.

As for the rest of the family, Regan is getting more confident with walking, Levi is starting his second week at his new job and even though all he has been doing is reading manuals and stuff he really likes it, and my belly is getting bigger while Heber is moving around and making himself known.

I know that not very many people read this but I'll try and do better at keeping this updated for those who do.

Updates

2009-06-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

So its time for an update, and this time it isn't Clarissa. I guess you could call this my blogging debut.

Since the last post, sometime in April, we've had quite a few "major" changes. First off, we moved, it's a really nice place, or at least nicer than the place we were in, it's only about a mile from where we were. I was going to insert a neato image of a google map but I'm not computer savvy enough to do that sort of stuff, especially not on a Mac. Moral of the story is that we moved, it's got an extra bedroom and the bathroom wall isn't caving in, nor is there a broken down shed in the back. There are some drawbacks, due to the color of the yellow paint on the outside of the house, it's one of the few man made objects that can be seen from space.

Moving on, I'm up for a new job. I'm going to be a government employee; I figured I would just get a jump on the program. It'll be a nice change of pace, a major slowdown from private sector to government, if anyone of the 3 people reading this blog are at all familiar with govt. lab work they'll know what I'm talking about.

I'm also starting my senior year at WSU and its shaping up to be a bear of a year.

Enough about me. I figure we should just go public, were going to be having another baby. We found out last week that it's going to be a boy, I'd put up ultrasounds, but, well, that's not something I would do, so I won't. It's a boy. We're going to call him...Heber Mark, both are family names from my side, Heber was my grandma's dad and Mark is my dad. Clare is about 20 weeks and just starting to show. We were very surprised but very pleased when we found out, so soon our trio will become a quartet. Needless to say with a new kid, new job, new house, 2009 is proving to be a fairly eventful year.

Regan is starting to walk, he's very good at standing and he takes a few steps out into free space at a time before going down to his knees to crawl the rest of the way. He's very good at cruising around the furniture, and is getting more and more bold about going off into the unknown. Anyway, that's all I've got to say. We'll try to get the regular hostess of the blog back on track with more regular updates.

Our Baby Won't STOP Moving!

2009-04-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well my last blog was about how Regan has started the adventure of crawling and getting into new things.... now, I guess a month or so later, he NEVER stops moving. He has gotten a lot better at crawling for longer and getting over the cushion barriers we try to stop his mobility with. So now we've invested in a baby gate and a couple other things to hopefully help prevent Regan from getting into the wrong stuff but no, he had to go and develop another "skill" which happens to be pulling himself up to a standing position on the furniture. Yeah its really exciting at first but then we went through a week or two of him just falling, hitting his head, and getting really angry every time he wanted to get down. For the most part now he sits himself down or lowers himself from the furniture but he is still struggling with being graceful getting down from the TV stand... He'll learn, we're sure of it. Other then the whole crawling drama Regan is finally getting a tooth! We can just barely see it getting ready to pop out. Its on the bottom and I can't wait for it to finally show itself so we can really get some goofy grins out of our little goober!

Our next update is that Levi had surgery on his arm yesterday and is doing well. He broke his arm a couple years back in a bike accident while he was on his mission in Puerto Rico and had to get a plate and some screws put in to fix it and last year he started having pain in his arm again so he went back to the doctor and some x-rays told us that the screws protruded enough that they were starting to rub his tendons the wrong way and that his bone was healed enough that they could just take the plate out and let his bone fill in the holes. Anyway, the surgery would make his arm kind of fragile for about 3 months so he decided to postpone until after hockey season. Now its done and he's happy to have it out but its unfortunate timing still because now that it is warm outside his family has started their tennis season and Levi wants to play so bad but can't. I however played yesterday with his sister and parents but I lack experience so I really just embarrassed myself and got sore because his family plays a lot and I've never really been an athlete who plays with any kind of implement other then a ball; Volleyball, Basketball, Track... not Tennis, Baseball/Softball, Golf... I enjoy tennis so I guess I've got plenty of years to practice with his family so I'll be somewhat "good" one day.

Our Baby Is On The MOVE!!!

2009-03-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Regan has graduated from rolling all over the room to army crawling/lunging... Now we really can't trust him to stay in one spot, and nothing in the living room is safe.

We try to hide things out of Regan's reach but he's too smart (or dumb?) for that...

Texas...Finally

2009-03-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

Ok about a month ago Regan and I went to Texas to visit my sister and mainly we just relaxed in the house watching movies but we also played with my mom's Cricut, which I must say is an awesome machine. Maranna really wanted to make her husband a calendar to send to him in Iraq so while she did that I made a valentine for Levi and I must say that I'm pretty proud of it.

The controller is pretty much to scale and every piece was either cut out by me or the Cricut. It took a while but this is a Valentine he is never throwing away.

There were a few occasions where we did leave the house and one of them was to drive 3 hours north to Dallas where Maranna and I went through the Temple while mom babysat.

This was the closest Regan got to smiling.

"Look at the Temple"

And this is one of many shots but this was the only one where everyone is facing forward...

To wrap up the trip we went bowling and then on the way to Austin we stopped by this BBQ place because Levi thought it was wrong that I was in Texas and we hadn't gotten real Texas BBQ. So we went to a place called Rudy's where they claim "The Worst BBQ in Texas". At least thats what the sign said but I thought it was pretty awesome. I even got some of their house sauce for Levi. After that it was back to Washington, which was pretty good because Regan slept for most of the first flight and some of the second.

It was great to come back to the best state in the world and a big part of that was that we got to see Levi after so long and we spent the rest of the weekend in Seattle with family, which included Valentine's Day at the Pacific Science Center.

Back to life...

2009-02-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

Well Regan and I are back from Texas. We flew into Sea/Tac and Levi picked us up and then we spent the rest of the weekend staying with family. On Valentine's day we had made plans to go to the Pacific Science Center because Levi had never been and I have an aunt and uncle that have memberships there so we got in free. BONUS! We had a bit of a late start and didn't take into account the crazy traffic of Seattle so we got to the science center two hours before it closed. This would have been plenty of time to wander and see all that there is to see but we watched "Mysteries of the Nile" at the IMAX so we only had 30-40 minutes after that. On top of it all Regan decided to completely blow out his diaper right at the end of the movie. So I got to take off his poop stained onsie and clean him up in a public restroom with people waiting for the changing table. Then as I proudly said to my aunt that is was a good thing I had extra clothes in the diaper bag I kept digging to find nothing but socks... Thankfully he had a sweater that he wasn't wearing during the explosion so he had something to wear, but that didn't keep me from feeling like a horrible mother... It could have been worse I guess. So we saw a little bit of the insect displays, touch some starfish, and watch the naked mole rats run through their little tunnels and then it was time to leave.

After the science center our plan was to possibly go out for dinner for some kind of Valentine's day celebration but Aunt Donna and Uncle Michael wanted to take us to dinner so we decided that we'd postpone our dinner to spend some time with family. I'm glad we did too because it turned into quite the experience. We went to a Old Country Buffet in Bellevue and as we got there we noticed swarms of people coming out of the mall that it was in, then some people we passed informed us that a fire emergency had been announced. Great... Well we ended up just waiting because it couldn't have been too serious because only a few of the diners heeded the warning and left the building while the rest just sat it out and enjoyed their food. Haha, very serious stuff. After entering the emergency exit (don't worry we paid) we enjoyed our food as much as we could because Regan wasn't happy. The time for him to eat had come so I got to do my favorite thing and feed the little goober in public. It really wouldn't be so bad if he weren't such a squirm. Seriously the nursing cover my aunt made me is very convenient but it doesn't work so well with little hands flailing around endangering my modesty. So after I finished feeding the little man he still wasn't happy, Aunt Donna walked him around which calmed him down but as soon as they stopped he was angry again... At this point I figured I'd change him into the clothes I'd grabbed from the car (one bonus to traveling) just to find out that he had pooped again. Problem solved. After that the evening went smoothly and Regan enjoyed playing with his very first balloon, fun stuff. It was definitely great to finally go to sleep that night.

Anyway we left this morning and finally got home so now I can relax. It's definitely nice to go on vacation, but coming home is even better.

Well thats probably too much, and I didn't even touch on what happened in Texas but I'll just go out of order and give that update later.

Ta Ta till then. :)

Its been a while...

2009-02-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

Like I predicted I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog but I actually have an update on me this time and not just the boys. Anyway its not really that big of news but I'm super excited about the fact that I'm going to Texas on Wednesday. My sister lives there and right now she is a bit lonely and overwhelmed with her 18 month old because her husband in currently in Kawait. Actually he might be in Afghanistan or Pakistan right now but I haven't been updated on his "final" destination. So my mom, Regan, and I are headed to Texas on Wednesday to enjoy some girl time for the first time in some 6 months. We enjoy each other's company almost too much for our own good which makes it so sad that we live so far away from each other. When it comes down to it it is not a Harston girl party without any good card/board game, and old stories that result in laughing till we cry, so maybe its a good thing that we don't see each other that often. ;) Anyway at this time our gathering isn't that big of a deal right now but after our trip hopefully I'll have something more to say. The sad part is that we're leaving Levi behind because school and work take up all his time. We will however get to go on a family trip this summer that a bit over due but I'm really looking forward to it. Ok well this has been a lot of rambling on which probably doesn't make sense but I guess that is the point of a blog. Maybe the next entry will make more sense, but as for now I need to rescue my son from himself. He's learned how to roll himself up in a blanket... Until next time.

Back to "normal" life...

2009-01-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

Well its been a while since I got on here, which was made obvious by the fact that I just now posted an entry that I wrote 2 weeks ago but more has happened since then so here is a real update.

Levi started his CBC class this last monday which is kind of exciting for him because its his final class for CBC before he is actually done. (We both graduated this last June) His WSU classes however don't start till this following monday and it'll be years before he is finished there.

We thought Regan might have an ear infection so we went to the doctor yesterday but she gave him a clean bill of health, as well as mentioning the fact that he is perfect, and confirmed our other suspicion...teething. Let me tell you we are excited about the months/years to come. He has always been a pretty calm baby, only crying every once in a while but now its more often with less ways to calm him so we're going to put our heads down and trudge on with this new adventure. When he is a good mood though we do one of two things; either we lay him on the floor or put him in his new jumper. A couple of weeks ago we put him on the floor and he rolled over and he hasn't stopped since. Our place isn't that big and the blankets we put him on only cover so much floor space so are constantly having to "restart" him in one corner of the blanket because he only rolls to his left. A bit Zoolanderish I know... As for his jumper, I'll just let you see some of the video we have of him in it because he enjoys it almost too much sometimes.

Don't mind me talking, I was on the phone with my mom...

As for me absolutely nothing is new, which I know isn't a shocker but hopefully there will be some excitement one of these days and when that happens I'll let you all know.

Our Exciting Life

2008-12-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

Haha, so I wrote this almost two weeks ago and thought I posted it but I guess I didn't. So here it is!

So these last couple of days Levi hasn't had school and he's taken time off work so we've had them to ourselves to enjoy our family. This special time doesn't come very often and I look forward to it just being the three of us at home. So here is what we've done... Levi has played his new game called Shadowrun, Regan has been a total goober by crying for no reason and more often then usual, and I've sat around killing time on the computer and trying to calm Regan down and keep him somewhat entertained as usual... what an exciting life, I know. Really it isn't that bad but we are so boring and just don't know what to do with ourselves sometimes. We did however go to Levi's parents for Christmas Eve and Christmas day and spent at least 36 hours with all 14 family members (12 kids, mom & dad) plus 2 add ons (me and Camilla's husband Steven) and 3 grandkids (Maddie 2, Gracie, 1 and Regan 3 months). Those two days were quite eventful and all we really did was eat and sit around in the livingroom. I guess its not too hard for me to get a little overwhelmed when the usual holiday clan with my side of the family is generally 7 people (The six in my family plus Levi one year). Anyway I'm getting used to there being a lot of people around and its definitely great for the grandkids because they are always getting attention from some loving aunt, uncle, or grandparent. In all honesty as crazy as this "break" has been it is fun to spend time with our new little family no matter how unorthidox our family time has been. I guess the best part of it has been how much time Levi has gotten to spend with Regan because he works so hard that by the time he leaves in the morning he only gets a couple of minutes with Regan and then when he gets home at night Regan is in bed.

Our Update

2008-12-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well we are starting a blog and it may be a complete waste of time but if anything it will provide something for us to do when we're bored. To start off our baby Regan James Shaw is 3 months old now and growing fast. Levi just finished his finals for WSU Tri-Cities this last week and his CBC finals. Its amazing how much relief he gets from not having homework on top of work and family time. I on the other hand am just spend my days cleaning the house over and over again and raising our amazingly cute kid, which turns out to be a pretty easy job when he is also a super calm and happy baby. There are times when he changes moods in an instant but for the most part he's content. Regan's new favorite trick is rolling over, which he pretty much mastered this last week but once he gets tired of being on his stomach he gets too frustrated to work on rolling back over so there is still a little ways to go. We are really looking forward to when he starts crawling and its obvious that Regan is ready to be mobile too. Well its going to be a simple but enjoyable first christmas for our little family but we can't wait.

I love this kids cheesy smile and enormous dimples.

Another one of Regan's favorite things to do is grab on to things and never let go...

Our family on Thanksgiving after serving dinners at Clinkerdaggers in Spokane.