Baby William...5 Months

This kid is a ball of chubby squishy softness.  At his check up he weighed 17.7 lbs 97%, and was 27% for height!  He is the sweetest thing EVER!  I could kiss that face all day long.

Isaac's 6th Birthday

For Isaac's 6th birthday he asked for a Despicable Me cake.  Thanks to pinterest...this is what I produced...not too shabby.  We ate breakfast and opened presents.  That afternoon we went and saw the new Despicable Me 2 movie & went out to dinner at Chuy's {Isaac's pick}.    It was a great day celebrating our sweet little bub's.

 Opening cards from grandma's & grandpa's

 Some new Texas Tech apparel

Even Will got in on our birthday celebrating.

Natali's Baptism

With the move this summer we decided that it would be the easiest to baptize Natali in Utah.  It was such a special day, July 20th.  Natali was baptized in the Bountiful Tabernacle.  In the same font that her Uncle Spence was baptized.  We were blessed to have so much family and friends there.  Grandma Gerry, Great Grandma Dove, and the Kings were in Park City already so it made it easy for them to come down and be there as well.  I gave a little talk about baptism and Grandma Gerry talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Dad perfromed the baptism and confirmation. Since we were already gathered we took the opportuntiy to bless William as well.  Such a sweet baby and beautiful blessing.  It was reported that Will just sat there staring at everyone making little cooing sounds.  I had a hard time paying attention since Spencer was detterminded to be a little turd!  {Loved that he kept trying to lift my skirt up while I was up front giving my talk!}  After we all went back up to Fluhmans and ate, celebrated, and talked.  It felt like the perfect day!

Dressed in white 

I was so glad this fit him...finally getting blessed at 4 months.  

Sweet baby in white.

Such a wonderful gift & keepsake!  

{It's suppose to be a baptism dress...get it...out of cupcakes}

Eight is Great!

This year was a milestone birthday for Natali.  My first born turned 8! {In 8 more years she'll be 16...NOOO} We spent the day celebrating all things Natali.  We had a special breakfast (even had some extra friends with us), took treats to playgroup to share, and topped off the day eating pizza and bowling at the new Spare Time center with friends.  I convinced the folks there to let us use the back room for our little gathering so it made it feel all the more special.  They brought us our pizza and there where plenty of lanes, lights, and food. Natali thought it was A-MAZING!

I love that sweet smile!   

 The girl loves Legos just like her dad and brothers.  

 Spencer bowling with help from Dad.

One of Natali's presents was to go get a pedicure.  I took her to a spa.  They had her sit in the "quiet/meditation room" and gave her a glass of water before bringing her for the pedicure.  She thought she was pretty special!  There will be no living with her after this.

I hope Natali felt our  love for her on her birthday.  I can't imagine life without this intense spunky red headed daughter of mine.  She has a tender heart and big ambitions.  She is a wonderful big sister and great helper to me.  She has taught me humility and patience.  She loves life.  She is an artist and loves to craft/create.  I love my Nattles.  Happy 8th Birthday baby girl!

The Graduate

Residency is SUPER easy...said NO ONE EVER!  Ha, like most things in life it was hard but rewarding in the end.  Rewarding because we could say that it was over.  Rewarding because Ben could look back at where he started and be proud of where he was.  I get emotional when I think back on the last 3 years of our life.  It was so much more than just residency but it WAS what we revolved around.  Our road getting to Temple/Scott & White was bumpy.  We saw the Lords hand open doors and lead us right there.  In some of my trying moments I often reflected on this and took comfort in the fact that I KNEW we were suppose to be there.

I knew that our 3 years would go by fast, I knew it.  But I wasn't prepared for the relationships and comfort I would have in those 3 short years.  Saying goodbye was hard.  I cried saying goodbye to the kids Kindergarten teacher...Mrs. Kelley.  Bless that woman...she was an answer to my prayers.  I cried driving home from Chick-fil-a {lets be honest...I have lots of memories there}.  I cried driving past the hospital...that's where I brought my sweet baby William into this world.  So many memories made in 3 short years.  Then there were the people.  People that we met there in Temple, life long friends.  People that will hold a spot in my heart forever.  These people made getting through residency bearable.  We each understood roughly what the other was going through.  It was comforting.

Then there were people who had been with you for the long haul.  People you'd been with from the beginning of this journey, 7 years together.  They'd been there for 3 of your babies.  They knew all about the craziness of your family {you can't share that with just anyone}.  Friends that really were more along the lines of family.  The kind that see you in your ugly moments and know all about your personal level of crazy!  The kind that you can just sit and talk with all day.  I was blessed with a couple of those.  Those were hard goodbyes for so many reasons.

In celebration of graduating, the Podiatry program took everyone out for dinner.  They do a presentation honoring each of the graduating 3rd years.  It was actually very funny!  It was a fun night of celebrating for both the husbands and wives.  It was such a bitter sweet celebration...I was so excited to be done and so terrified and sad at the same time.  I'm so grateful for Ben and his hard work and lack of sleep.  I could never have functioned like he did on such little sleep.

 {The ladies...Me, Jen, Shauni, Megan, Meghan}

 The DPM-3's...Ben, John, Colby, Jason

Dale made these awesome plaques for each of the guys.  They are pretty awesome.  We are just grateful he didn't loose another finger in the process!

More of the podiatry ladies...Jen, Shauni, Margret, Meg, Me 

Me and my buddy!  

Kindergarten Graduation

Isaac did it....he survived his first year of school!  He might not have loved EVERY second of it, but he did it.  He GRADUATED from Kindergarten.  On Wednesday Spencer, William, and I went to Western Hills to watch and celebrate.  Although it might seem a little silly, they had the cafeteria all decorated and the kids were decked out in mini caps and gowns.  I got teary eyed as I watch my baby boy walk out with most GIANT grin.  He was so proud, and I was so proud as his mom.  They had a banner up that said, 2025.  That will he be his graduating class in high school.  That seems so far away.  But I know it will be here before I know it.  Isaac has loved his year at Western Hills.  He has loved his teacher Mrs. Kelley.  She has been such a blessing in our family.  She was also Natali's teacher, and we all just love her to pieces.  They had the kids walk out across the stage and stop and say what they want to be when they grown up.  Isaac said, "I want to be a doctor so I can help kids not get sick."  Sweet boy!  Spencer was so excited to be apart of the action...poor kid just wants to be "big" kid just like his older brother & sister. {please wait Spencer just be little for me awhile longer}

 Isaac telling us what he wants to be when he grows up

{Isaac & Mrs. Kelley}

Our Dancer

This year Natali decided she wanted to give ballet a rest and try out tap.  I was kind of excited since I had loved tap as a kid!  She had a full & fun year Gabrielle's.  The year ended with an awards ceremony where she earned her 2nd year medal and a recital.  Natali did a great job in her recital.  She looked so grown up in her costume.  I loved watching her dance!  We were all there together as a family to cheer her on.  Dad even got a special rose for our dancing girl.

{Natali getting her medal on her last day of class}

Spencer turned 4

My sweet boy turned 4!  I have such a soft spot for this little guy.  He just makes our whole family laugh with his silly faces, dancing, and personality.  Back when talk about birthdays started Spencer made it clear what he wanted...Star Wars!  So what else was I to do.  With a new baby doing this cake was a true labor of love!

Spencer woke up on his actual birthday to Star Wars plates and a special box of cereal...Lucky Charms.  Natali & Isaac were more than happy to help him celebrate.  Ben was gone in Chicago {somehow the guy left for 3 days and managed to miss 2 family birthdays...dang boards}.  So we did some celebrating on Saturday, Spencer's actual birthday, and then we did cake & presents on Sunday with Dad.  

{we simply can't just smile...we have do put bowls on our heads}

That night we ate pizza, watched a movie, and ate some some ice cream.  I had to let the kid blow out a candle on his actual birthday! 

Sunday morning with daddy back we opened presents and had Spencer's meal of choice...homemade meatballs.  The kid love them!  Natali kept trying to "help" him pick something else more to her liking.  He loved all his presents.  You can't go wrong with Star Wars & Lego's.

SPENCER at 4:
LOVES Star Wars....at his preschool graduation recently they started to sing a song, and he started crying saying he wanted to sing Star Wars.

He is not a breakfast eater.  He tells me he is not "hungy yet".

He loves paying angry birds on my phone.

He is in heaven playing Lego's with his Dad.  He could do it all day!

He adores his big brother and sister (but adequately KNOWS how to push their buttons).

He is always telling me how cute my baby is.  Never his baby...my baby.

He is by far my most mellow kid.

He is great about giving me random hugs & kisses.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!  Love you!

One Month

Baby William One Month Old

 Sweet baby!  I could just nibble on that face all day!

 Sibling love...

Happy Easter

Nothing says Happy Easter like a bunny face on a cute babies bum!  I LOVE IT!  Easter Sunday we got up and the kids went and found their set of eggs...pink for Natali, Footballs for Bubba, and Baseballs for Fudge.  There were baskets filled with candy and little goodies.  We all went to Sacrament meeting and then Will and I went home.  

HAPPY EASTER!