August...and then I'll get better at blogging

So, August. I guess August, rather September will be my month to redeem myself in my blogging/journaling. The very first week of August Logan finished up Itty Bitty Soccer. He had a lot of fun, it was harder with Tragon this time because he was walking and wanted to go out and kick the ball too, so it was an hour of squirming Tragon, fussing Damon, and happy Logan. Next time, Damon will get to do Itty Bitty Football while Logan is at pre-school, then I'll only have to worry about Tragon. :)

We were able to make it to the temple in August. I think we've only missed one month this year, so we still have about 4 more to go. It's really been a blessing to have the temples so close so that we can go and I especially want to go as much as I can now that we're having another baby and I usually don't get back for about 6 months while I'm on a tight nursing schedule.

At my last Dr Appointment everything was looking good with baby number 4. I have my ultrasound towards the end of September, so we'll be able to find out soon. I'm really hoping it's a girl though, we're having a hard time deciding on a boy name and usually by now it's already been decided for boy or girl. Either way I'm going to be really happy.

Morgan went on his big Scout Camp from Wed-Saturday. Luckily some of my friends in the neighborhood also had some summer time off, so we played in lots of water, had lots of picnics and the time really went by pretty quick.

We've still been going to the library more, but I decided that I need to be better at getting chores and other more important things (like scripture reading, praying, blogging, laundry, cleaning, etc) all done before I let myself read my fun books, otherwise I get sucked into a rather neglectful time warp and nothing gets done. Even though I know this happens every time I go on a reading binge it still happens, hopefully this time I will finally be able to find a good balance.

Logan has his pre-school open house this week and then he starts pre-school next week. I'm so excited for him. It will be good for us to have a little break from each other and I think it will do Damon some good to have a little more attention before another baby is requiring it too.
Tragon loves to feed himself and most of the time will eat much better if you let him take the reins, but it is a lot messier. Sometimes though, it's worth the mess if I can actually sit down and eat with them too when I'm hungry. :)
The pudding was everywhere, but he loved it!
Logan is getting to be too smart, but having a hard time with the fact that parents sometimes get to do things that kids don't. He doesn't quite understand why he has to listen to me and do what I ask, but I don't have to always do what he says. He's getting more independent and more trusting, but he's also coming up with more creative tantrums too. Overall, he's the best big brother in the whole world and loves to play with Damon and Tragon and I'm so glad I have him as my oldest to be the example.
Damon, oh Damon, where to begin. It seems like no matter how fussy you have been you can just smile and bat your big blue eyes and I forget why I was mad....well, sometimes. Life is so big and dramatic to him right now. And if things don't happen just right, it's always someone else's fault and surely means the end of the world. His laugh is contagious and he's really starting to bond a little better with Tragon, now that he seems more like a little boy rather than a baby. Damon can still be persuaded to eat or at least try most things at dinner and loves a good treat. Most of all he still loves trains.

Tragon's Birthday

Tragon's birthday was July 19th. I can't believe my baby is one! He is walking and running and getting into all sorts of mischief.My parents were able to come up for an evening and a do a little birthday partying. Morgan's dad had just recently had surgery, so they couldn't make it to the party, so we took some cake to them the next day.
I made a fun carrot cake.
See the cute carrots. That's about as far as I go in cake decorating. :) It's really not my forte.
he didn't actually get too messy eating the cake, probably because I only gave him a slice at a time, but I bet he could have polished off a whole cake all by himself. He's a really good eater and unfortunately has him mom's sweet tooth too.
Tragon really loved reading books with papa. I love to see my parents with my boys and it was great to see them even if it was just a short trip.

We love you Tragon and can't imagine our family without you. You've been such a good baby, but now that you're walking I worry about you all the time. You like to quietly get into trouble where your older brothers were always very loud about it. You are such a monkey and love to climb on things and just want so desperately to keep up with your brothers in everything you do. You sleep well, eat well, and take naps well. Happy Birthday Little Guy.

Fishing at Payson Lake

We took the boys fishing to Payson Lake last Saturday on a spur of the moment trip. It turned out to be a good learning experience. Fishing with little kids is NOT the same as fishing as a kid with your parents. :) I'm sure we kind of knew that going in and really it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I was a little sad that I forgot to take any pictures. We didn't catch anything and we ended up scaling the curvy canyon road several times (we had to go back in to town because the pay booths don't take visa and we rarely have cash, and really we weren't even expecting a toll for fishing and since we drove all the way down there to fish, by golly we were going to fish!). The kids were pretty patient, but towards the end they were ready to get out of the car and fish.

Logan was more interested in finding rocks and eating Nutella pancakes, a new favorite snack and craving of mine.

Damon just liked throwing anything in the water, I threatened to throw him in if he wouldn't stop...and I really should have followed through on the one, but I didn't want to deal with a wet crying kid for the whole way home...I should have thought of that before I made the threat.

Tragon was interested in walking up and down the path and sucking on the bobbers. He's getting pretty steady on his feet now. I need to take a video of it before he gets too good and it doesn't look like he's just learning.

Overall, it really was quite fun, we didn't catch anything, but just as we were getting ready to pack up and go we did have a bite, but it got away. It started raining and a storm was heading in, so we had to high-tail it outta there. It's been years since Morgan went to Payson Lake to fish and it was way more crowded than he remembers. The boys want to go again and so do I. It was fun to just go and do something without much preparation. Luckily I was craving pancakes, so I had just made a whole bunch of fresh pancakes that we took with us to eat for dinner. :)

Family Pictures July 2011

This past couple of weeks we did some photo-shoots with our neighbor. And, boy my kids were quite un-cooperative, but over the course of two different sessions we were able to finally get some decent ones. These are just a few, I'm still going through the rest to decide which ones I want to print and frame, so I'll probably throw some in the blog posts randomly just to get them in there.Logan was probably the hardest to get a good face on. He was trying a little too hard to smile most of the time.
Damon takes after his mom, he's not super photogenic when looking at the camera, but I loves the faces and lines on him when he's distracted with something else, it makes him look so much more innocent.
And Tragon was a little model baby....for the first little while anyway. He had lots of smiles for the camera and part of these pictures were to document him being 1 year old!!! Wow.
There are a couple other family pictures that turned out pretty good too, but we're still in the editing process on those. :) I sure love my family. I wanted to hurry and get pictures done before I got too fat again, because yes the rumors are true, baby #4 is on the way and due in February!!! YAY!