I've been sucked in...

I've always thought Crocs are, well, pretty ugly. And I have sworn up and down that I personally wouldn't be caught dead in them. Then... I was on their website trying for the zillionth time to order the Mary Janes for Makenna and saw the Alice Shoe and decided I could see myself in these. I ordered them at the same time I ordered Makenna the Alice Kids (because after all, as ugly as crocs are, they are truly the best invention ever in kids' shoes). Both pair came in the mail this week and I must admit that I've been sucked in. Now, I have my eye on the Celeste Canvas for me (in red and pink) and the Batman Cayman for Carter. Just as a warning, the shipping from Crocs.com is outrageous. I'm hoping I can find these locally so I don't have to order online again. (sorry I can't post pictures from the Crocs website, you'll have to peek). My mom will be so proud. Crocs are a proud Colorado company and she has been trying to get me over to the dark side for a long time.

As an aside, am I the only 30 something woman out there that has trouble with fall/winter footwear?! What are you all wearing on your feet these days? Stacy and Clinton insist that if you're over 30, chunky footwear is a big no -no. I'm not a big fan of the ballet flat look, though it is very slowly growing on me. Boots are are little ridiculous in my current climate, these have been my staple in past winters in colder climates. So ladies, weigh in here. Whatcha wearing?

Growing Up!

This weekend we had a couple of firsts in our family:

Carter's first Kickball game was on Saturday. It was a hoot. There were as many parents in the field directing the kids, as there were players (possibly even more). Carter loved the kicking and running time but hated the outfield time. He told me after the first inning that he was bored and just wants to kick all the time. Aaahhh, what a time to learn patience. Overall he had fun and especially loved the snack at the end of the game. Incidentally, what happened to sliced oranges and water after sports games?!? The mom in charge yesterday brought chips, fruit snacks and pop. Scandalous (for real)!!

Makenna finally got a big girl bed yesterday. We've had her bed for about 2 months now but just finally got around to buying a mattress yesterday! I was SURE she would fall off the bed sometime in the night, especially after checking on her a couple times and finding her dangling precariously off the bed. But she made it all the way through unscathed. Pictures to come very soon. We've been working furiously putting her room together and hopefully will have pictures up in the next week or so. It's turning out even better than I imagined (I LOVE that!!)

Can I just eat them?

I'm sure that all the moms out there feel the same way about their kids as I do about mine. I seriously could just smother them in kisses and hugs all day long. I love them to pieces. Today I decided to take some pictures and it is one of those rare times where they ALL turned out so great. So here are a few (I promise, these are a few compared to what I took):
This is her funny grumpy face she does when she's pretending.About 3/4ths of crazy man's pictures were action shots - he's jumping up and down here. (I think I love you Johnnie Boden!!)

*Pregnancy Love*

So here's a little pregnancy update (mostly for my record).

I *heart* salad!! I have always loved it but I am ESPECIALLY loving it this pregnancy. I literally crave it all.the.time. Sometimes I even eat it for breakfast. With my other two pregnancies, my big craving was Peanut Butter. This is a much preferred craving and will hopefully prevent me for gaining so much weight this time (I would eat an entire jar of PB every week during my other pregnancies). Anyway, this is my current favorite and I eat it at least once a day. It's kind of my homemade version of the beloved Cafe Rio salad.

I just cook up a homemade tortilla (available everywhere for purchase around here and so Delish!), top it with a ton of lettuce, some kind of beans, tortilla strips and this YUM chipotle ranch salad dressing. Voila - Yummy salad. I am also obsessed with the Chili's Buffalo Chicken Salad and beg Al to take me to Chili's every weekend for our date night. I don't even really like the food at Chili's but this is totally hitting the spot for me. Other great salads are the Luau salad from Cheesecake Factory and I've even hit The Olive Garden a couple times for their salad (and I HATE the O.G.). So there you have it, random pregnancy craving.

Ok, this is SO my new best friend:

Yep, I took the plunge (with strong encouragement from Al) to rent a doppler for this pregnancy. I've had it for a few weeks now and I LOVE it. It is such a nice peace of mind. I only wish I would have gotten it even earlier. It is so fun listening to Baby Girl's heartbeat every day. The kids get such a kick out of it too. And apparently word is getting out that I have one because all the pregnant girls in my ward have started calling to come over and use it. So FUN!

Finally, last night as we were getting ready for bed, I mentioned to Al how pregnant I am already looking. He said, "Yeah, you are way more huge with this baby than you were with the other ones." Gulp. Thanks. It's true though. I hate to see where I'll end up with this one, though I've only gained about 5 pounds so far. I'm still totally wiped out by the end of the day and am out cold on the couch most night by about 9. I'd love to get the 2nd trimester energy boost one of these days. Heaven knows the paint situation in my house could really benefit from some late night painting sessions!

Busy Saturday, Relaxing Sunday

Yesterday was such a busy day. It seems our sports season starts a bit later than most places, probably due to the weather. This week the weather has been fantastic. It's been in the 90s and then this weekend it's been overcast and in the low 80s (yes, Kayla, I finally got my first overcast day in AZ). I truly feel like a new woman with the lower temps.

Anyway, Carter started his season of Kickball yesterday. Yes, Kickball. He has been begging to play in a soccer league since he was 2 years old. In CT, the league starts at 3 but we moved before the season started. In Seattle, it starts at 4 but we moved before he could get going in that league. Guess when the leagues start here? Yup, you guessed it, at 5. Poor kid is dying to play sports but he always misses the age cutoff. So.. long story short, we did sign him up for a kickball team. It is totally low key and is supposed to just teach the kids about sportmanship and playing as a team. He had fun and is getting a little bit of exercise every week. Here's a picture of him in his uniform. His first game is next Saturday.

This picture is for Aunt Laurie - please pay specific attention to the shoe choice :)

While I was at the practice, Al attended the mandatory parents meeting. He had to pretty much sign away his life with the parents rules of conduct. Basically saying he would support the coaches and refs during sports and not get physically violent. Cracks me up. They must have had problems with it in the past. We rushed from practice to the church for Primary program practice. Carter was late but got in the last hour of the practice. We also spent hours at Home Depot finalizing paint decisions and getting stuff to get going on the kids' rooms. After digging out all of our painting supplies leftover from our days in CT, we decided that everything needed to be replaced. So we spent at least an extra $100 buying new brushes, rollers, paint trays, etc. I would love to have my house professionally painted but there are SO many other things I would rather spend the money on at this point (we still need lots of furniture and Al has his eye on a new BIG TV). So we will slave away and paint ourselves. Finally, we attended a fun ward party late into the night last night. I'm pretty sure I didn't sit down once all day until the party.

Today was the Primary sacrament meeting program. Despite the fact that we worked tirelessly on the Primary songs at home, Carter didn't really sing any of them. It was kind of frustrating for us as parents but in the end we decided you can't do anything but laugh it off. It seems to have been typical for most of the Sunbeams but we know that he knew the words to all the songs. We think he had a little bit of stage fright or something. After church we had a nice relaxing nap, took a long walk, played a bit at the park and on the trampoline, grilled for dinner and read lots of books. After such a busy Saturday, it was so nice to enjoy some down time together today. The windows are open and the fresh air feels heavenly after such a long, hot summer.

Heartbroken Girl

Poor Makenna had such a sad day today. Carter was invited over for a playdate with a little friend today and she didn't get invited. When the mom came to pick Carter up (she was out running errands) Makenna sat on our front step and cried for about 10 minutes. Poor girl! It seriously made me SO sad. It got me thinking how close my kids are. They just love each other and are rarely away from one another. They are really attached at the hip and do just about everything together. Makenna usually naps the entire time C is at school. It is going to be hard next year when Carter is at school all day.

So, even though I wasn't planning to run errands today I packed her into the car for a special Mommy date. We went and bought her leotard, tights and her ballet and tap shoes for her little dance class that starts next week (can hardly wait, giddy with excitement just thinking about it) and then went out to lunch. It was fun to have one on one time together.

I guess this is just part of the growing up experience but I think it was just as hard on me as it was on her!!

It's a.....

We are VERY excited! Everything looks great with our little girl. Carter was pretty disappointed and actually started to cry. He was convinced it was a boy (as was I). So the girl streak in both of our families continue (my family 3 grandsons, 8 granddaughters; Al's family 4 grandsons, 12 granddaughters, 1 unknown). We do have to go in for another Ultrasound because the tech could not get a good picture of the left side of her heart. She was curled in a tiny ball and we could never get her to move.

I am seeing lots of matching dresses, bows and jewelry in my future. And I have a CUTE double girl bedroom to get going on!!

{Eye Candy}

1. The kiddos before church waiting for mom to finish getting ready (sorry for the random bathroom picture, it was totally unplanned ):2. My brand new pink phone!! Not a big deal to most people but I had the junkiest phone ever (two previous phones having been broken by Miss M)
3. The fabric for my new diaper bag. I know it looks random but it is SO cute when it's all made up. The main fabric is the brown floral. Love it!
4. Homemade ice cream sandwiches for the kids. So easy, made them so happy: 5. Serious Halloween cuteness:
6. Cute picture from tonight!
Happy Sunday!!

The Motherload

Today I hit the Gymboree Circle of Friends sale. I came away with the motherload of stuff for the new baby. I have been itching to buy layette stuff for over a year but have held off until now. I'll obviously return the half I don't need after we find out what we're having on TUESDAY!!

For Boy:

For Girl:

I actually would have bought more if they would have had more summer lines out. I also got 2 outfits for Makenna and one for Carter (none of these were on sale). The grand total? $206 -- when you split that between the 13 outfits, 1 blanket and 1 swimsuit I purchased, it ends up being just over $15 per outfit. Considering what I can resell these for on ebay, I'm fairly certain I'll break even. Love that!

Craftin' Kids

In an attempt to keep my kids busy this summer we have been up to our eyeballs in glue, markers, paints... you name it. Carter has really taken to crafts and drawing this summer and a pad of paper and some markers can keep him busy for 2 hours at a time (it's so nice!!). So here are a few of our recent projects:

Crazy Man with his toilet paper roll super heroes (forgive the half dressed boy, we were on our way to the pool yesterday):

Up close and personal:Yesterday we made Halloween gingerbread houses with some friends. Look how cute it turned out!! (Kits can be purchased for $6 at Joann's if you have a coupon. The cans were to hold up the roof while the frosting was drying)Queen Orange Frosting:Carter with his Paper Maiche volcano we made last week. He had a ball with this and especially loved when we exploded the volcano. I see another, bigger one in our near future (it got ruined fast with the baking soda/vinegar explosion).

Woe is me.

Ok, you guys are killing me with the pictures of your kids in FALL clothes. I could cry. Really, I could. My friend Melissa posted pictures today of her kids in HATS. It was cold enough for hats. Sob. So far, not a fan of the weather in AZ (108 and climbing as of 12:30). I truly wonder when or if I'll get to pull out all the cute fall things for my kiddos.

Also, I fear it is the beginning of the end. A couple weeks ago when Gymbo released their Halloween costumes, Carter picked out this cute one:
A couple days ago he decided he'd changed his mind and that he wanted to be a superhero instead. Sigh. Oh well, I'm glad he has an opinion about these things. I went to Target on Monday specifically to look for a superhero costume. Their costumes weren't out. Carter was devastated so we went to Costco where I had seen costumes the previous week. Sold out. YIKES. So I called Target on Tuesday morning and they told me they were in the process of putting out their costumes. Away we went. Unfortunately only their adult costumes were out. Who cares about adult costumes? So, together, with the Target employees, we dug through some boxes until we found the costume we were looking for. Yeah, I was that mom. I truly cannot be the only OCD mother out there who must have costumes secured by the first week of September, can I? (Don't answer that) In the end, Carter is SO thrilled with his costume that he has tried it on at least 10 times in the first 24 hours. He never tried on the pirate costume once. I guess he knows what he likes.

Utah!!!

We are home from Utah and had an amazing trip. So much fun to get to see so many people. We drove up on Friday afternoon and the kids did great in the car despite the long trip. On Saturday morning before the game we got together with Allen's former college roommates and their families for lunch. There were 7 guys who lived together before their missions and then for a couple years afterward. They have all kept in touch and the wives have gotten to know each other quite well. So, 6 of the 7 families were able to come for the weekend (traveling from Washington, Atlanta, New York City, Arizona and California). We had a little while to walk around campus before the game started. I always love going to Provo and BYU, I think it still feels a little bit like home to me. On our way to the stadium, we ran into one of "my" young women from the Hartford ward with her brand new husband. It was great to see her and I suddenly felt SO old. She seems so happy and mature!

Here we are at the game:

It was blazing hot but we had SO much fun. The kids absolutely loved being a part of the action. Of course, it helps that it was a great game. Towards the end of the game we realized that Jenni and Dave Andrist's parents were sitting just a couple rows ahead of us. It was really fun to catch up with them for awhile (but none of my pics with them turned out)! After the game we met up with Steve and Meg and my little brother Steve to have dinner at our most favorite Provo restaurant, El Azteca. So fun!

On Sunday we attended church with Al's brother Steve and his wife Megan. That afternoon we got together with the roommates again for lunch/pictures/play time. Here's a picture of the most of the crew (missing 2 families):

And here are the kids - what is most amazing about this picture is that there are 4 kids missing another 3 babies that are on the way. The oldest child of the entire group is only 5! Unbelievable!

The guys (minus 2):The very significant others:

We are really grateful to have such great friends and we can't wait for the next reunion. (As a side note, we used to all live on the East Coast so reunions were a lot more frequent back then. But now we have A LOT more kids and it complicates things a bit. We're already planning an adults only vacation if we can ever get a break with all the babies - not likely any time soon :) )

Sunday night we had dinner at Steve & Meg with Joel & Ami.

On Monday, Joel and Ami came over for a big, yummy breakfast and then we all headed to Gardner Village for the morning. I have to say, you Utah girls have got it made with all the awesome shopping in Utah. I got a ton of stuff for my house while I was there and would kill for great shopping like that here. The kids had fun feeding the ducks and getting treats at the candy shop while the girls shopped. After lunch we took Al to the airport so he could come home to work. The kids spent the afternoon playing in the hose and Megan captured these brilliant pictures:

Monday evening, Steve and Joel graciously took the challenge to watch all the kids so Megan, Ami and I could have a girls night out. It was SO much fun getting to hang out together for a few hours. I am lucky to have such great Sisters-in-law. We went to Johnny Carino's for dinner (AMAZING food) and visited for hours. The three pregnant Frosts (Ami is due at the end of Sept and Meg is due 3 weeks before I am):

Big thanks to the guys for wrangling the troops so we could go!

Tuesday morning Meg watched my kids so I could hit Tai Pan Trading Company by myself. I love that store - so many awesome things. I scoped out my purchases for later in the week (they have no return policy so you HAVE to be sure what you want to buy). Afterwards, we headed down to Provo to spend the day with Mindy & Charlie. It was so great to see Mindy, she is one of my closest friends and I wish we got to see each other more often. I love seeing her beautiful new house and seeing how Charlie has grown since we last saw him last December. I am an idiot and took no pictures. Thanks for having us for the entire day Mind!

Tuesday night we got to have dinner with my darling friend Lizzy. My kids absolutely adore her (what child wouldn't, she is amazing with kids) so they had an especially great time. Lizzy made us a YUMMY dinner and then we got to see her CUTE house. Thanks Lizzy! (Are those couches not to die for?!?)

Wednesday morning I was able to see some friends from Seattle who have recently moved to Utah. We met up with Elisa and Jeri at Elisa's new house. My kids were THRILLED to see their old friends and had so much fun playing together for a couple hours. I loved seeing Jeri's new baby! And Elisa and I are due with baby #3 the same week!!

Wednesday night Meg and I took the kids to a fabulous park near her house. It was the coolest park I've ever seen and the kids had so much fun: It was SO fun to get to spend so much time with Meg this week. We get along really well and had a great time spending time together. Sometimes it's hard to get alot of one on one time together at our big family reunions so this week was a real treat! Thanks again for everything Meg and Steve!

On Thursday I got to spend time with my best friend from High School, Camille. We met up for lunch and then played at her house for a couple hours. It's always so much fun to see each other, it doesn't happen nearly often enough!!

On Friday my parents came from Colorado. We checked out of the "Frost hotel" and hung out with my parents all day. My mom and I went and did some more shopping for stuff for my house while my dad entertained my kids (thanks dad!!). I really needed my moms impeccable taste to help me choose things. Here's my mom with the kids at Gardner village (yep, back to G.V. My mom helped me pick out some fabric at their amazing quilting store Pine Needle Quilt Shop for some stuff for our new baby!!)

Friday night we went to the school my sister Teresa teaches at for a dinner and balloon launch. It was so fun to see my sister in her element. She is so good at what she does and it was a real privilege to see her in action. All the kids got a balloon and a laminated card with their name and the address of the school. The idea is to let the balloons go and then see where the cards are found. My kids thought it was fabulous. With their balloons (this was balloon #2 for Makenna):After the launch:

It was a really cool experience. After the dinner/launch we picked up Al from the airport. My kids were SO HAPPY to see their daddy. We drove up to Heber for my mom's family reunion that night.

For the family reunion we stayed at Heber Valley Camp. It was really cool to be there because one of my uncles was the project manager for the building project. It is an LDS owned camp where lots of Girls camp groups come during the summer. It is open to families on the weekends and throughout the year. There are very comfortable cabins and showers so it's not really roughing it but a beautiful location and tons of fun. Saturday morning we had a big breakfast with the few family members that were there. We hiked around the camp for the morning:

Most of my cousins came up later in the afternoon for the big family meal. It was SO fun to see so many of my cousins, some of whom I haven't seen in years. Carter was in hog heaven with all the dirt and little boys to play with. I honestly don't think I've ever seen my kids as dirty as they were at the end of Saturday. They had so much fun though. Here's my immediate family at the dinner (and I look extraordinarily huge here, I promise I don't look that pregnant in real life)

Extended family. Quite a few people had left by the time we took this picture. My nephew pushing the little kids around.

Sunday morning we made the very long drive back to Phoenix and arrived safe and sound. We packed so much into this trip but we had the BEST time. Thank you everyone who hosted us and/or made this trip possible.

(And I think this just might be the longest post I've ever posted)