Happy Birthday, Reid and Drew

Happy Birthday!!!

These two little sweet peas had NO idea what we were all so excited about.  

 As expected, they really didn't care what was inside. But, the paper and ribbon were a big hit.

Drew 

Reid

To my birthday boys,

I love you to the moon and back, to infinity and beyond. I am so thankful for each day I've been so lucky to spend with you, and look forward to a lifetime full of adventures. I am so grateful I get to be with you, and watch you grow. I am certainly the lucky one. I love you, my angels.
Happy Birthday.

xo
Mommy

11 months

I don't know how this happened, but the calendar doesn't lie. My babies are 11 months old today! It seems like they were just this small. Baby 'A' and Baby 'B'

To say I am completely in love with them would be such an understatement.


Reid,

You are the most adorable little chunk I have ever laid my eyes on. Every time you smile, I can't help but smile. Your cheeks lift up, eyes disappear, arms straight out at your sides, and always flapping. You have the most adorable raspy voice. I fall for your every cry or whimper...and you know it, and take full advantage of it. You LOVE to eat, anything! We're pretty sure you would snack all day if we would offer. When you're eating your feet are waving with excitement, and you hum while chewing each bite. (just like your daddy) When you're sad, you actually frown. While nobody makes you laugh like your brothers and daddy, I'm still your favorite! I'm going to hold onto that role as long as I can.  I'm certain the day will come, very soon, when you wait for your daddy all day long, just like your biggest brother.


Drew,

I have no idea how you are so happy, but I am so thankful for you and your wrinkled nosed smile. You are thrilled about life. Sometimes, you even cry with a smile!? You are a very busy boy, and curious about everything around you.  You love crawling all over to check out any forgotten treasure left behind by your biggest brother, whom you whole heartedly adore. You could play by yourself all day, by throwing a toy and crawling to it, then doing it all over again. I love to listen to you giggle at yourself. You are my little munchkin, 3 pounds lighter than your other half sure makes you feel tiny! Every time I hold you, you wrap your leg around me as if you're holding on by your foot. It makes me never want to put you down.  You completely adore your biggest brother. Like, a lot! There is no one that can make you giggle like he can without even trying. I love to see the short glimpses into your future relationships with your brothers. But, for now, I am still your person. I cannot tell you how much I wish I could hold onto this role for the rest of my life, but I know that's not how it will always be. So, for now, I will cherish each day that I'm the one always wanted by you and your brother. Time is flying by, and the more I want it to slow down, the faster it seems to go.

My little ones, the day I found out that you were both growing inside of me was a day full of many emotions. We were so humbled and grateful with the blessing of you coming to our family. Mixed with the excitement I was so scared I couldn't be all that you needed and deserved in a mother. The minute I held you both in my arms, my heart took over and I was your mom. Nothing else mattered. We have figured it out, day by day, together. Some days have been better than others, but each day I will treasure forever.

nana & bop

Six months! That is a really long time. It had been six months since we last saw my parents. That is just too long. We made up for lost time in their 10 days here. We stayed really busy, and I think we were all exhausted by the end of their trip!

Mother's Beach in Portland, Maine. It was beautiful! 

 Quechee Gorge is one of our favorite places in Vermont. The Gorge, along with a lot of other of our favorite places in Vermont were damaged by the flooding. We went on what ended up being a very short walk to see the Gorge, since it was closed. But, as always, it was still beautiful.

Everything always just looks better after by parents have been here. Last trip was the shelf building trip, this trip was the get the house ready to sell in the Spring trip! We sanded and stained the porch, cleaned up the front yard, and my dad organized the garage--because he's just really good at that!

We FINALLY took Chase on a real train ride! We went on the Hobo Railroad, and Chase was so adorable.

Chase & Nana

Chase started Preschool...how did this happen? I swear he was just born. Leaving my baby with someone else to teach him, wow, it was really hard. He has been all mine for 3 1/2 years. I probably would have been just fine keeping it that way forever. But I realize that it's not all about me. Even though my heart is still breaking every time I drop him off, he is thriving in school, and that is all that matters.

my boys

I couldn't love them more if I tried. I know I'm sounding super sappy, but, lately I really feel like my heart may burst because I love them so much. They are just the best.
Happy Birthday, Nate! Chase was certain it was his birthday all day. Now he asks for his birthday and Christmas because he wants presents! So it begins...
Drew. Oh how I love that sweet little angel.
Chase is the best big brother. He loves his brothers, and is so very helpful!
The many faces of my Reid. I love this boy!


Nate has been working, well, WAY too much lately. Like, WAY too much. If there was a way I could have flown with my crew back to Utah I would have done it...that's saying a lot since flying with children is probably one of my least favorite things to do! As hard as it has been for me to be raising our little ones alone, it is 100 times harder for our little Chase. There is no place he is happier than right in his Daddies arms. Two peas in a pod.

In honor of my sweet Grandpa who passed away 2 weeks ago, all of the grandkids released balloons. We sent them to our Nanie & Gumpa, one at time, and with each balloon we sent them a message of love. Chase was so adorably sweet. When he released the last balloon, he said 'Happy Birthday, Nanie & Gumpa' it made me smile, and I know his sweet innocence made them smile too.

our summer fun

Seriously, how can I start slowing down time? These little gems are growing up so fast. All 3 of them! I had this idea to have a little photo shoot for part of Nate's Father's Day gift. I thought, how hard can it be to take a few pics of all three together? Turns out it was hard, actually, it was really hard! Lesson learned.
Drew- 7 months
Reid- 7 months
Chase- 3 years
Every Father's Day weekend there is a hot air balloon festival about 10 minutes away in Quechee. When we arrived there weren't ANY hot air balloons. But thankfully, there was a train, and bouncy house obstacle course. He was super lucky and got to ride the train 3 times. They did eventually set one hot air balloon up that was tethered to the ground. Chase was so into the train, that he really didn't care much.
He is a little daredevil. And a heat box! He is always the kid with the bright red face. I love that boy. We only seem to remember our camera about 1/4 of the time, we went back a second day to watch all of the beautiful balloons take off for the evening ride and it was so much fun! Chase was able to stand below each one as they took off, seriously cool! But...we don't have any pictures to show for it...so you'll have to use your imagination :)
We were able to go to Cape Cod of the 4th of July weekend. I LOVE it there! Everything about it is perfect. We had such a great time with our friends and hanging out at the beach. The babies really could have cared less about all the the fun the beach had to offer, which made it kind hard to keep them entertained. Maybe next year?! Wow, that will be an adventure...3 mobile little people. Yikes.

After a great day swimming and building sand castles, the ice cream truck was waiting for us in the parking lot. It was a perfect way to end a perfect day!
There is the most amazing bouncy house place on the Cape. It was HUGE. Chase went on every slide, even the biggest one he wasn't supposed to go on. He only missed the cutoff by 10 inches...oops.

Mommy & Drew

Turns out, Nate isn't allowed to put sunscreen on the kiddos anymore. The pictures doesn't show how red he was under his eyes and across his nose. Sad.
xo

bar harbor

I love living back here. We're hitting our one year mark until we're done. We have worked really hard to get to this time for...well...a long time. Now that we are closing in on Nate completing residency, I'm not ready. I'm not ready to be done with this chapter, and I don't really want to start a 'new' chapter. We're happy, really happy, and I don't want to mess with a good thing.

Last weekend did not help the situation. I love all that living on the east coast has to offer. It is so different than Utah, and sometimes different is just good. Our family along with 3 other of our very favorite families headed 6 hours north to Bar Harbor and had a perfect weekend.
Eating lobster
Checking out the 'view'...dang fog....
and playing at the beach. Despite the rain and fog, Chase still played in the ocean. He felt it necessary to return every rock back into the ocean.
The sun did eventually come out, and we had a great day at the beach.

And it was wonderful!


We were able to ride on a lobster boat...like a real lobstering boat! Chase LOVED it. He was even able to steer for a couple of minutes. He is still talking about it.
These 2 little men were troopers, up until we had the crazy idea that 6 month olds would be ok with wearing a life vest. They did eventually just give into the fact that they weren't coming off, and they both took a snooze as we enjoyed the view. And the view was amazing.