Birthday Bash

I was awakened at 6:30 yesterday morning to two little boys standing next to my bed as excited as could be to point out that I am a year older.  "Mom, it's your birthday!"  They were so excited.  I must be getting old because I really wouldn't have cared if nothing special happened on my birthday, but for the boy's sake I tried to make it fun.  We went down to a park by the river and let the boys play.

 Then we went down and threw rocks in the river.  Stephen is pretty good at skipping rocks. 

Porter is determined to do what his older brothers do.  This is a video of him "throwing rocks in the river".

Porter swept the kitchen for me.

 I made the boys get their picture taken with me.

I also made them eat girly looking cupcakes.  I didn't have one myself (trying to eat healthy and cupcakes just don't do it for me).   They sure seemed to enjoy them regardless of the fact that they were purple.

 I was trying to play up being surprised with what they gift I unopened for them so here I am being a nut.  Truth be told though, I was the one that picked it out. 

 I videotaped Vance and Tanner singing to me because it is sweet.  I am glad they were so excited for my birthday.  It made it more fun for me.

Birthday

Well, it's that time of year again when I add another candle to my birthday cake.  28 years old!  Not sure how that happened since I feel like I should still be in my early 20's.  Here were are though.  I thought I would take a look back at the last ten birthdays just for a little fun.

18th birthday I was about ready to graduate from high school.  Woot-Woot.  I thought I was so smart.

19th birthday.  I had just gone through a bad break up and was wrapping up my first year of college.  I wasn't nearly so smart as I had thought a year earlier.

20th birthday.  I was about to be engaged to my wonderful husband.  Sounds a little fickle when I narrow it down that way.  All I can say is that I know marrying Stephen was the right decision and I am even more sure of that now nearly 8 years later.

21st birthday.  I was finishing up my college education with an Associate's Degree in Preschool Education and we were getting ready to make our first apartment move.

 22nd birthday.  I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant with Vance.  Very sweet birthday gift.

23rd birthday.  Still adjusting to being a mother and getting ready for another move.

24th birthday.  Pregnant with Tanner and chasing Vance around.

25th birthday.  Enjoying being a mother of two cute, but michevious little boys.

26th birthday.  The first birthday I got to spend with my parents, brothers, and one of my sisters since I got married.  Very fun. 

 27th birthday.  Adjusting to having three kids and recovering from the shock of Stephen losing his job and deciding to go back to school.

 And now we've reached my 28th birthday.  Hope it is a good one.  Thank you to everyone who has already wished me a happy birthday.  I only have a couple of years left in my 20's so I better enjoy them while they last!

Yard Work

We got our garden planted today!  Hooray.  This is our third year (thanks to my mom for the box!)  Last year was kind of a dud year as far as the garden and yard work in general went to be honest.  I blame it on having a newborn.  I have high hopes for a great garden this year though!   

Vance was my gardening helper.  Tanner could really have cared less about the garden.

Porter stole my shovel when I was trying to weed.  He also tried to eat the older boys sidewalk chalk.  He's just trying to find his place in this world.

 The favorite outside activity has to be playing with bubbles!

 The good news is that both Vance and Tanner know how to blow bubbles themselves so I don't have to do it for them.  Yay!  We did pull out the bubble machine, but it scared Porter.

 Porter did enjoy watching the other boys blow bubbles though.

 Porter tried blowing bubbles on his own too, but it just wasn't working.  I'll probably post the video of his attempt on facebook.  (It seems to load faster there).

Hopefully all our work outside will make our yard a little nicer looking than it has been.  It is interesting being a renter because we know we will not stay at this place for a long period of time, yet you still want to be able to enjoy a nice yard while you are living there.

P.S.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Jeppson, and Kimberly for the Easter package.  The boys were excited to get it!  They love getting packages in the mail.

Happy Easter!

I don't want to brag or anything, but I've got some pretty darn cute little boys.  However, today they were just not feeling photogenic or something....

 Instead of Easter baskets I gave each boy a book and a stuffed animal.  Plus the oldest two got peeps.  Stephen thinks Porter was thinking, "Hey, where are my peeps?"  when I shot this picture.

I took the boys outside to get some pictures before church.  No one got anything new for Easter, but I like taking their pictures on each holiday.  Things did not go very well. 

Vance would not quit pulling this face.  I don't know why.  He has gotten really good at smiling for the camera, but he just was not feeling it today.  After church I asked him about it and he said it was too windy.  It was barely even breezy...

 This picture of Tanner isn't awful, but it's not great either.  Titlting the head, and pained smile.

 Tired Porter is ready to take a bite out of something.

 And now time to try and get all three looking pleasant and in my direction.  It wasn't happening today.

 I think Tanner was imitating Porter.

 Is it too much to have a cute picture taken with my boys?  Apparently.  This was the best one out of THREE!  Not to mention I look like a chubby cow...

 We are so done!

I just look at these pictures and laugh.  Oh well.  We can look back on this Easter and remember how the photo op did just not go according to my plans. 

Spring

Enjoying warmer weather!

Easter Time!

This week we are having fun getting ready for Easter.   Today was all about eggs.  Here are Vance and Tanner dying their eggs.

 Ta-da!

 Then I hide the plastic eggs around our yard and the boys went out and found those.  We did it three times.

 Porter is not so sure about walking in the grass yet, but he still wanted to see what the boys were doing.

 Vance and Tanner are very excited about Easter.  We have to talk about how many days we have left until Easter each day.

Tanner's first talk and some musings

Tanner gave his first primary talk today.  He did a great job.  He talked about the Savior.  I believe he enjoyed being up in front of people.  He insisted on sitting on chair in front of everyone through the remainder of sharing/singing time despite my attempts to get him to go sit with the class.

Last week I was reading L. Tom Perry's conference talk.  (Thank goodness we can go back and read or listen to them since it's hard to get all you can from conference with little children)  Elder Perry talked about the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament and I was thinking about how we spend the Sabbath.  We don't go to the store or work or anything like that.  However, I was thinking that we could do a lot better at keeping the Sabbath day holy.  So starting today my boys were only allowed to watch Veggie Tale (or other religious movies) and no video games.  I put together some gospel related activities to do this morning as well.  We pinned the fin on Jonah's well, did a missionary lacing card, played a matching game of a scene of a family going to church, and played a game trying to get to Jesus by making good choices.  It was fun and I think it helped us be more prepared for church.  Reading this talk made me think about how just because we aren't doing something wrong doesn't mean we are doing something good either.  Or maybe we are doing good, but we could be doing great.  Also, I think that the more faithful we are at striving to do what is right the more that Heavenly Father will pour out his blessings upon us.  Hopefully, we will do better at keeping the Sabbath Day holy and in return be more mindful of Christ and receive more blessings. 

I feel this great responsibility as a mother to teach my children and help them to grow into fine adults that will be strong in the gospel as well as productive citizens to society.  Today I read Quentin L. Cook's conference talk concerning women of the church.  I truly feel that my purpose on this earth is to be a wife and mother and I don't want to fail.  I am so imperfect!  I  hope and pray that I can improve daily.  Anyway, there are some things that are on my mind lately. 

I will leave you with pictures of cute kids playing outside last night.  Yay for Spring!

More pictures

I haven't really written much on my blog lately.  Just posted cute pictures of boys.  I have plenty of those to share!  I do love my sons.  They are teaching me a lot.  Hopefully I am teaching them something as well.

Sweet smile from my Vance!



Tanner was making this face because he didn't want his picture taken.





There is his sweet smile!



Porter is growing up so fast!  He loves to play and thinks he is a big boy.

The Boys

 I gave Porter his first haircut last night.  It was starting to get into his eyes so it was time.  He looks so much older now especially when I watch him walk around!

 Here is Vance playing in Grandma Porter's sandbox in between sessions of Conference.

Tanner also enjoyed playing in the sandbox.  I put Porter in the sandbox in his barefeet and tramautized him.  He cried and it took a while to get him to calm down.  We'll leave the sandbox to the older boys for a little bit longer.