September Recap

Way overdue...if I don't put them somewhere, they'll just get lost in all the other millions of photos!!! :)

 Some of Dev's birthday presents from his grandparents.

Thanks!!

 You'll see all the dressing up Devin does around here...

 This "typo" was just too good to not take a photo of! HAHA!!

 One lovely night we spent on the rooftop of the most gorgeous condo I've ever seen!

One of Matt's attendings threw a dinner party. Unfortunately I spent the entire time downstairs

with a screaming baby.

 Have a wrote about this before? There is this adorable little house right by Luke's school.

It's a book swap. You leave and book, take a book. My boys LOVE it!

 Date night at our favorite Italian place. 

 Paterson's Fun Fest this year happened in the pouring rain.

Luckily it wasn't cold! We still had a great time.

 Luke's photographing skills.

 This was his idea.

 As I walked Luke to his Kindergarten door this morning and it was about 10 degrees...

these photos really make me miss the warmer weather!!!!

 I really braved up this fall and took the boys to the orchard, on my own, to get apples.

It was not easy, but we had fun (with all the other MILLIONS of people-what was I thinking going on Saturday?).

 Devin went through a little phase were he wore his helmet EVERYWHERE.

The car, stroller, shopping cart, in the house...

 This year I went with some friends to pick grapes! Concord Grapes!

It was my first time. I loved it!!!

 That week for date night Matt and I canned our first batch of grape juice.

Which was the EASIEST canning I've ever done!

And it tastes so delicious.

 Dev took this photo of me and James.

 I had a photo shoot one morning and came home to this...

 boys painting.

 a camouflaged baby... and Matt painting the deck.

 Conference weekend-on the wall. The kids thought it was awesome.

 In between sessions we explored one of our new favorite places.

 with a freaky little tunnel that gets smaller and smaller when you go through it.

I did not like it.

 And then during conference...Seriously? cutest dad ever.

 Devin...

 is our funny boy. He loves to wear his jacket/coats backwards.

Then he likes to stand up against trees with his hands in the pockets and the hood 

covering his face. He just stands there....such a goof!

 Last rotation dad was on was AWESOME!!! We had lunch together often 

and he was around all the time!

 So, the week after conference, we had Stake Conference and Elder Ballard came.

It was so neat! The photo above is horrible. Here's what happened: We went to an adult session (which was great) and then as we were leaving we realized we were right behind Elder Ballard and hardly no one was around. Naturally, I hustled over there trying to snap a photo. I take ONE photo and no joke, my phone DIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, that explains the poor photo of how cute Elder Ballard was helping his wife to the car.

 The next morning we went to Kirtland. They had a walk through Historic Kirtland and up to the Temple, breakfast and then the kids sang on the steps of the NK Whitney store for Elder Ballard.

 That same weekend, we swapped with our friends, because they had two adult sessions.

I just thought these boys were too cute watching Star Wars on the projector (while Matt

watched football on the TV behind them).

 It was a crazy party.

 Our first Parent Teacher Conferences (WEIRD!!!).

And my good friend Ayrel and little Avery came to Cleveland for a visit.

I took Avery's pics and they came over to play for a while. It was so fun to catch up!

Halloween 2013

I know it's almost Christmas...but I couldn't forget these cute boys and all of our Halloween festivities!

I think Halloween was WAY overdone this year, but it was still fun.

And hey, at least we got a lot of good use out of our costumes. 

We did trunk-or-treating with the scouts at the Stake Center, 

then again at our church for our ward party. We also did some "speed" 

trick-or-treating at a nearby college. The students decorate and open up their dorms.

You walk door to door (like 10 ft apart) and LOAD up on way too much candy. 

It's fun though and all indoors, so that's a plus!

Then, trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

AND last but not least, we went to Boo at the Zoo with HSSA.

We had dinner in the Rainforest, which was also reserved for only our group, 

which is SO nice! Then we braved the cold and walked around the "spooky" 

zoo for a while. 

Here's to another great Halloween!

We had a Thor.

Captian America.

And...

a monkey. 

 This was at the college.

The loot. We were excited about our portion of "good" candy this year. :)

But seriously, TOO MUCH CANDY!

 At the Zoo.

And just a cute picture of my cute Devin on Halloween.

Even though he is my out-of-control, crazy, stubborn

and wild one, he LOVES to read his little scriptures 

(we actually do read it-he can't). It's so cute.

Happy Halloween!

4 Months Old

I think as a mother of 3 boys, many things get left behind or delayed...or just forgotten. 

I am trying NOT to forget about my personal blog. 

It's my way of documenting our lives (and I know my mother-in-law in Hong Kong really loves it! :)

So, Nov. 1st (I know, a month ago) James was 4 months old!!

Here are some cute pics of him just playing on the floor.

 Drooly

Alert

Grabs toys

Stopped sleeping like a perfect all-nighter angel

Still laughing and smiling

Hungry hungry hippo.

Loves everyone-as long as Mom is holding onto him 

(already screams with strangers)

We love this sweet baby James.

James' Blessing Day

Finally, we blessed James!

With James being born on the 1st of the month, Matt's schedule and General Conference, 

we haven't had the chance to bless him until now. We've never blessed such a big baby before!

He's also just turned 4 months old!

It was a much different experience than we've had with the other two.

We didn't have any family here. I was a little sad about that. 

Thankfully we have a great ward, with lots of friends and "family" 

there. Just so I remember Matt had our friends Allan Belcher, Trey Banbury, 

Ben Larson, and Bishop Weight (aka my Ob doc) in the circle.

We invited Matt's attending, Dr. Weight, who is also my OB and delivered Devin and 

James (well, his feet :) and is also a Bishop on the west side of Cleveland. He and 

his wife came for the blessing. I guess you could say they were our "parents" 

for the day. We were happy they could come. 

After lots of rain the past few days, it turned out to be a gorgeous fall day.

Matt did a beautiful job on the blessing. I'm so thankful for this healthy baby boy of ours, for a beautiful family that Heavenly Father has blessed us with and for a husband who holds the Priesthood

and could give our little James his blessing. 

This was the best family pic we got.... :)

On our way home from church we stopped at a park to take some more photos.

 James is SUCH a happy baby!!!

He's very social. He's always smiling and chuckling and 

sometimes even full on belly laughing.

He's a great little sleeper!!! 

And, he likes everyone, but I'd say he definitely is a mama's boy....well for now. :) 

 I just love those big brown eyes and I'm pretty sure those funny little pointy ears are a Johnson thing. 

 It won't be long until he's running wild with his silly big brothers!

[a house full of boys]