Thank You,

for keeping me alive this week.

Slap my face and call me Country

If You know me at all, then you know that I absolutely abhor being outside. I don't like the way it makes me feel or smell. So last Saturday I took one for the team and we took the kids to a Gorgeous Farm up past Riverside. It took us a little over an hour to get there but it was totally worth it! It was beautiful. Bryce said as soon as he got out of the car with a huge smile on his face, " Mom, do you know how I know this is a real farm? Because it has real mud!" I guess we need to get out more! It's a place called Riley's Farm and they had a colonial settlement and a frontier settlement that you could explore. Pumpkins on the vine and all kinds of other fruits and veggies you could pick yourself. We even got to press our own fresh apple cider! It was so much fun and we'll definitely be making the drive back in December for Christmas at the Colonies!! I can't wait!

The kids were so funny looking for their pumpkins. They each took so much time deciding on theirs but in the end they each found their perfect pumpkins.

They got to go on a free hayride. Can you tell Bryce was excited?

These are the apples we were about to press. Oh and Kensie's dirty face!

This is the press that they used like a hundred years ago to do the same thing we did!

It was harder than it looked!

We found Steven and Cortney and they helped us press the cider.

Washing was definitely Ryker's favorite part of the process. Although, I'm fairly certain he had diarrhea from drinking all that nasty apple water!

And just for Aunt Becca are some obligitory Hudson pics!

This binky looks a lot bigger in the picture than it does in real life!

Keeping Score

It has been over a week since Hudson's birth. Let's see how Mom's doing, shall we?

My boobs have literally doubled in size.
**1 point: Mom

The newborn has a most difficult time latching on to the afore mentioned due to the fact that the milk flows so freely it eliminates the need to do anything but open his mouth and swallow.
**1 point: newborn

I decorated the house for Halloween with the cutest little hand made decorations for freeeee!
**1 point: Mom

You would be hard pressed to find the decorations under the mess that is slowly threatening to take over the house. Perhaps I should have spent a few hours cleaning yesterday instead of paper crafting?
**1 point: kids

I cooked a large hot homemade meal yesterday.
**1 point: Mom

I didn't do the dishes and the kitchen is trashed. I only had one clean cup this morning so they all shared the one cup...don't judge. It was a matter of survival.
**1 point: kids

I got everyone fed, bathed, combed and dressed (including socks!) ten minutes Before school starts! I even put on make-up and jeans!
**1 point: Mom

In the end, it took me a total of 45 minutes start to finish to get everyone into a carseat with buckles on, drive 2 blocks to the school,park a half mile away from the stinking school due to lack of parking, unpack the mammoth stroller, unbuckle the kids, find a huge glob of toothpaste in Charlie's hair, tame Kensie's "I don't want to put my shoes back on I want you to carry me!" tantrum, yell at Bryce who is already halfway to the school to slow down, walk him into the classroom 10 minutes late and have his teacher with a sickeningly sweet smile ask me to "please make every effort to try to be on time from now on?", fume back to the car, get the remaining children buckled into car seats, wrestle the stoller back into the trunk, and drive the 2 blocks home. Oh! And the jeans I put on? elastic waistband...enough said.
**1 point: kids (well played...)

Wow! It looks like it's a tie at 4 points for each side! Maybe it's not so bad after all! Way to go, Me!


...but wait! We have a last minute addition to the tally! I just typed this entire post one handed! ** 1 point: newborn.

It's official: Mom is losing...

Baby Hudson

This is Eric posting here so not much words just pics.
Hudson was born at 1:10 PST and was 7 lbs and 4 oz. and 19 inches long.
Mom and Baby are doing great.

relations and creations...?

Eric and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on August 2nd. Since the San Diego Temple was going to be closed from July 27th until the middle of August we decided to move the party up a week and we got to spend the day in the temple on the 24th of July. It was incredible. We did a session which we didn't do last year when we were sealed and this was the first time we've gone back to that temple since then. So we did the session and then we came out and had a picnic lunch and went to the distribution center outside the temple. Then we got to go in the cafeteria and have some yummy ice cream. After that we got to participate in some sealings. Something we have never done before. All I can say is AMAZING. We definitely need to do that again. Eric got to participate in the sealing of a living 89 year old man to his parents. It was very sweet and the perfect way to spend our anniversary. We decided this will definitely be a tradition every year.

On another note, we are moving next week and we have been making due with a 4 seater table that we have had since we got married. It has been a good table and served us well but I have been dying to have my whole family be able to sit together for a meal since there are 5 of us (soon to be 6) and only 4 chairs. We found this gem on craigslist for $20. It started out as one of those ugly oak with white legs tables and it came with 6 chairs! I haven't attempted the chairs yet since we are so busy with packing and such but here's how the table turned out. I'm pretty excited about it. Eric seems to be a little shy with the bright color on such a big piece of furniture but I'm sure he'll learn to love it!

"My eyes aren't Blue! They're Pink!"

That is what Kensie tells me whenever I say something like, "That Blue dress is so pretty. It matches your Blue eyes!"
These are some shots from just before heading out to a royal birthday celebration for another of her princess friends. She was so surprised that I let her wear makeup because normally I find her covered head to toe in liquid eyeliner and she's getting in trouble! She felt very special!

I asked her why she was doing all of those silly poses and she said it was because that's how the princesses at Disneyland do it!

It's a good thing she's the only girl!

let me see your privates!

What the HACK is up everybody??? Why do people "go private" on their blogs?? It's so annoying. I've lost half of my reading material due to this new fad. I know, I know. I can send my e-mail and be "granted access" to see the goods but most of them are a friend of a friend that I'm not entirely comfortable letting them know that I'm a creeper. Oh well, I guess I could find a real hobby or something.

All washed up

Doesn't she look like a little washed up mermaid? I thought it was cute. I also have a ton of pics from Kensie's first big girl princess party on Saturday with her friends. I'll figure out how to post those later.

C-dog's B-day

Charlie turned 2 on April 24th. If you know this kid, then you know he is obsessed with Wall-E. So Naturally, we had Wall-E cupcakes, Wall-E sandwiches and watched Wall-E on the WALL with our projector! Every gift he recieved was something Wall-E and he was in heaven! Then he hit the WALL and we went to bed! It was a good day.

You know you're 5 months pregnant when...

This is all you want in world right before bedtime:

Luckily I have a husband who bought these gems at 10 'o clock at night while I laid in bed in my jammies. Oh and yes, I did eat these things together. Why do pickles and chocolate syrup taste so good?

I did what?

Yes, It sounds crazy even as I say it to myself, I took all 3 kids to Chuck E Cheese all by myself. My sister was gone over the weekend so my brother in law invited Eric over for a boys sleepover party video game night. I had a couple of really good coupons to Chuck E Cheese so I decided it would be fun to take the kids since we have never been to the one here. It was surprisingly delightful and we had a ton of tokens so the kids got to do pretty much everything they wanted to do. They had a lot of fun I think. I didn't get a ton of pictures because it's hard to snap photos when you're chasing 3 small kids around that nut house but I managed to get a few.

He was very proud of his tickets

At the end of the night we got the biggest ice cream sandwich I've ever seen. Needless to say I was pretty popular right about then.

These popcicles were like a foot long and weighed about a pound!
Kensie didn't eat all of hers but Charlie went to town and finished the whole thing!

Bryce's ice cream sandwich that could've fed a small village.

This was also the day of his school's jog-a-thon hence the ugly t-shirt. He surprised everyone and ran the most laps out of anyone in his class. They said he ran over 30! Good thing we did a flat donation and not by the lap!

Over the course of the night we collected over 600 tickets and everyone got to choose a prize and then we headed home. WE escaped the building with no melt downs but that changed when we got to the car! luckily we went straight to bed upon arriving home! I don't know that I'll be doing it again anytime soon but it was fun while it lasted!

Not that good after all...

As some of you may have heard, Charlie suffered a terrible accident yesterday. He fell from the 2nd story bedroom window of our apartment. He rolled off of a small roof and landed approximately 18 feet below in a flower bed. He was taken to the emergency room and observed overnight in the PICU. He was released late this morning with only a few scrapes and bruises. It was absolutely the most horrifying experience of my life and I cannot thank Heavenly Father enough for protecting my son so completely. He seems to be doing quite well now that we are home and was practically jumping for joy when he got to have his IV taken out! He is such a brave little guy and it is a sweet experience to have my children healthy and back together again. The older kids were so concerned for their brother and we are all so pleased that he is home and safe and happy. And in case you were wondering, we've already rearranged the furniture in our bedroom so that no one can even think about getting on the window sill again. All windows have been permanently locked and will never be opened again. And no there are no pictures. I do not wish to remember this weekend at all! Thank You Everyone for Your concern and Prayers on our family's behalf.

Nothing like Pajamas and Red meat!

I just have to say...I am so excited for conference this weekend! Mainly because I don't have to get 3 toddlers and one big one dressed and out the door for church on time. We get to stay in our jams and watch conference in the comfort of our own home thanks to the wonders of the internet and a technologically minded husband! Also, the real reason this weekend is so incredibly exciting for me is our fairly recent (we started it 2 conference weekends ago) Tradition of creating our own home-made version of these little babies...

Ok ok these aren't really them but you get the idea... Tahoe Joe's Steak nachos. Oh the Joy! And no Steak Nacho meal is complete without the ice cold Lemonade. Yes, my Friends, It's gonna be a GOOD weekend!

Is it sad?

That I dream about someone giving me a brand new Honda Odyssey almost every night?

I guess it's official...My dream car is a mini van...I think I just threw up in my mouth.

BTW...

Eric said I have to tell people so....We're having another baby in September.
There you go. You happy now? Let's all cross our fingers that it's a boy!

Oh...You know...

Yeah so I haven't posted for a few..months. So what? I've been busy! With what? You might ask. Well, being DEATHLY ill for one thing and I can't really think of any other things I did for the past few months but it feels like i did a lot... Anyway, It was Bryce's Birthday on the 5th and my family came down from Fresno to go to the Aquarium of the Pacifc with him. I wasn't allowed to go because I had mono and had to stay in bed. The staying in bed part was actually quite lovely but the missing the fun birthday festivities for my oldest guy, not so much. I was super sad to miss all the fun but the pictures are cute and they all had a blast. Plus I have another coupon so we can go again. Maybe for Charlie's birthday next month. Is that lame? oh well. Anyhow, I'm feeling much better now and hopefully we can avoid illness in the house for at least a week so we can get back to normal, whatever that is. Here's some pictures from the fun day:

The Brothers diggin' in to that yummy cake!

Normally, I make cute homemade cakes for all the birthdays but, you know (mono)

So Grandma took Bryce to the bakery to pick out this speed racer cake.

Kensie getting loves from Uncle Matt

Kensie's new friend

Grandpa having fun with the kids

Grandma and Charlie

My cute family

Daddy's Armful

It doesn't look like anyone is too happy about it...

touching sharks and sting rays and crap

Oh and just in case you were wondering, this is what your children will look like when you have mono and stay inside your bed all day while your husband is at work:

and yes that IS chocolate milk dripping down the walls...don't judge