Whitney's recital

On Saturday, Whitney had her first recital. She has to take private lessons from a voice coach for her major. This recital was all of the students of this voice coach. When the recital started, I was entertained. Her turn was near the end though. She sang one song in English and one in another language. I could hardly believe my ears when she started singing. I knew that she was good, but she was actually mesmerizing. No nerves at all could I detect. She looked totally relaxed and in character. Listening to the others I was sometimes impressed, sometimes not, but when she started, I was blown away. I had a hard time believing this was my little sister. By far the best one, even if I am a little biased. Wow, she is amazing. I am so glad that she decided to stick with Performing Arts. Not only does she love it, but she is so talented. Wow, again!!! I am so proud of her.

Football.....Tackle

Tyler and Zack love to play tackle or football. I am not sure how it starts, one or the other. They use whatever they can find for the football. Very seldom is it actually a football. This time it was a bear. My Grandma Hamblin actually gave this bear to Tyler and she would probably gasp at the way it is played with. Many of her bears just sit and look pretty. This one is loved very much and is played with often. Sometimes it is snuggled, sometimes it is hurtled through the air over and over or used as a football on this occasion. I was actually sitting on the couch feeding Cameron and the game began. They would run from the closet door on one side of the room (one goal) to the couch (the other goal). Many tackles happened in between. These two can play this for hours. Now there are usually injury timeouts often, but they don't last bery long. Two rowdy boys, but I love it.
Touchdown Zack!!!


It looks like Zack is about to be clobbered. They tackle pretty hard but usually come up laughing.

A tribute to a great man and his Granddaughter

This is Shon's Great Grandfather, Garrick Filmore. He is 103 years old. For the past 4 1\2 years he has been living with my in-laws. We have had the opportunity to get to know him and hear his stories. What a life this man has lived. He never misses a chance to share his testimony and love of the gospel. Even now, a hospice organization comes to help and he talks to the nurses and who ever else about the gospel. Great man.

Now he has a great and wonderful care giver for these years he has been here. Julie and Larry willingly took him into their home and has cared for him. Julie is amazing. She has definitely been his angel, I think. She is one of the most caring people I have ever had a chance to be around. No wonder I fell in love with her son. He was raised by such wonderful parents. Larry and Julie have sacrificed and I know that they have and will receive many blessings. I know I am blessed to be in their family.

It is really cool that when we are visiting, there is 5 generations in that house. Pretty neat.

Easter

We had a great Easter at our house. We did all the fun Easter things like coloring eggs, Easer baskets, egg hunts and of course lots of candy. But I always love the focus on Christ. Church on Sunday was really wonderful. Our ward choir performed 3 or 4 numbers. A handful of children got up and sang "On a Golden Springtime" with them. I just couldn't keep back the tears. There is something about children singing that makes me cry every time. The feeling of so much gratitude on Easter is just wonderful.





I just realized that I put these pictures starting on Sunday and they go back in time. Sorry. But this is Sunday afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Shuldberg's. The kids hunted eggs before dinner because they were so excited. Grandma and Grandpa had hid about 70 eggs for them. That is 7o just for the two of them. Way to go Grandma. They were a little xcited to say the least. It took them a while to find them all, actually most of the evening. We had a wonderful dinner and a nice visit. The boys used to spend a lot of time with these grandparents, but now that I don't work it is less frequent. They sure love them!!!
Finding their baskets from the Easter Bunny. They got nerf guns in their baskets and think they are cool.
Coloring eggs was so fun. At first they loved to see the different colors and how dark they could get the eggs. But Zack just wanted to dip the eggs in every color. They all actually ended up being a greenish brown color. But it was fun. I only boiled 8 eggs because I knew that they wouldn't get eaten. Finding them on Easter after the Easter Bunny had found them was fun, but I think that the boys enjoyed hiding them for each other more fun. They ended up pretty broken and I had shells all over, but they loved it.

On Saturday, we went to our friends Tom and Emily's house for an Easter Egg Hunt. They invite a bunch of neighbors and hide them in their back yard. Every child brings 12 eggs so we know that it is even and know we have found all the eggs. All the kids love it!! This year we woke up to 18 degree weather but it was very sunny and no wind (which is a miracle). So I got the kids bundled, and it actually didn't seem too cold. This is how Cameron hunted eggs. But Zack and Tyler each gave him one of their eggs. Very cute.




That is Zack up on the tramp. Notice the snow still on the fence line. Yeah, still snow in Idaho.

Ah, changing tables!!

When I was pregnant with Tyler, Shon and I were of course filling our little nursery with baby things in anticipation of our first born. We received much advice, some solicited, some not so much. One thing we wondered about was the necessity of purchasing a changing table. We received mixed responses, but actually most said that one was not needed. Floors, couches, beds, laps were all fine places to change a baby and who wanted to go all the way to the nursery to change the baby anyway. While we considered everyones comments, we decided to purchase a nursery set that came with a crib, cradle and a changing table. We got everything set up and all looked beautiful. When Ty was born, much to my delight, I loved the changing table and it I thought it the most convenient way to change him. But frequently, my mom would change him on her lap, so I tried it once and it was very awkward. So I stuck with the table. I have continued to enjoy it and use it with all my children.

Today I was watching a movie in the living room and my Cameron filled up his britches. My diaper bag was sitting there next to me so I decided that instead of missing part of the movie I would change him on my lap. So I had his diaper off and he was smiling at me and cooing and it was so cute that I talked back to him for a minute. You can guess what happened. Yes, he sauced me. And of course it wasn't urine. It was the bright yellow goo. I was covered. My cute pink skirt that I had worn to church got the most of it. I actually didn't know where to start so I sat there stunned for a moment. I hurried and put a new diaper on my smiling child (I think he thought it was funny) and tried to keep the mess contained. I think everything came clean, but it was an ordeal. Ah, changing tables!!

Melt your heart...

Cameron is really getting to know all of us and the boys love to make him smile. He is really making eye contact really well, and the older boys love to talk to him and hold him and he loves it too. I can't believe I captured this smile!!!
I don't know if you can tell great in these pictures but Cameron is growing like crazy. Tyler calls him little fat cheeks and pinches them. Cameron actually has a cold and I could tell he hasn't felt good today. I always get so worried but I am sure he is okay. He hasn't really been himself today, but he sure loved it when Zack held him. He smiled a ton.

Sliding

Being a kid was so fun and kids can be clever in finding ways to have fun. Now I know that everyone has tried sliding down the stairs on something before. Pillows, blankets, couch cushions, all work well. But m kids found something that works great. These are air mattresses with a sleeping bag attached. Now I know that it was against my better judgement to let them do this but it was so fun. They slid down really fast. It could last for hours and hours.

These little gems are so great. Emily had one for Taylee once when the stayed here and my boys thought it was way cool. So I saw these on sale at Sam's Club and got them. They work great for traveling and aren't hard to blow up and put away. And every once in a while, we just blow them up and let the boys sleep with them on their beds for fun.

Bryan's big dog

Bryan has this dog Allie. She is a boxer. He actually bought her for his wife Mary for her birthday. He got her when she was only 10 weeks old. Now she is big!!! It seems she grows a ton everyday. She is quite hyper and still acts like a puppy, just doesn't look like a puppy. Zack loves to have her on her leash, even though she pulls him more than anything. She loves to play tug-of-war. I wanted to show you how big she was.

It is kind of funny that she is actually Mary's dog, but Bryan likes her a lot more than Mary does. They are trying very hard to train her. Zack really had fun with her. Tyler stayed pretty far away though. He does okay around calm dogs, but this one is far from calm.

Shon passed his final test!

Shon finally got up the guts to take his final exam. Shon graduated with his bachelor's degree and took a 170 question 4 hour test and became a Licensed Social Worker. Shon then attended graduate school and graduated and then took a 170 question 4 hour test and became a Licensed Master Social Worker. He then was supervised by a Clinical Psychologist for a year and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker for a year and 3000 hours over at least 2 years and was then eligible to take another 170 question 4 hour test. This last test tested him on everything he had ever learned in social work. You can clearly see from the picture he passed. There are no more tests for social work unless he was to get his PHD. Which probably won't happen. Shon is now a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and can bill insurances and work independently on his own license. His current license is also nationally recognized. It is awesome to be done.

Late night fun

It is 12:22 am and Cameron and I are having a late night talk. I am lecturing him on the importance of "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". He seems to be ignoring my counsel since he is wide awake smiling at me. As all you moms know, it isn't that cute at this time of night. It has been almost 4 1/2 years since I had a newborn, and it seems I had forgotten this part, but now remember that it is hard. I hope to have his time changed around soon.
I realize I haven't posted lately. I blame that on getting used to three kids, but it also that I have nothing great to say. Life is pretty mundane, well as mundane as it can be. We are trying to keep Cameron from getting sick, so I try not to go places unless it is necessary. I'm not used to staying at home all day. You would think that I would get more things done, but that really hasn't been the case. I think that I should be able to keep my house spotless, as well as work on projects that I have put off but Have yet to accomplish either. Oh well. I know this is a really boring post, so sorry. Hopefully I will have something better tomorrow.

Cameron's Blessing

Grandma and Grandpa Shuldberg
We blessed Cameron on Sunday. It was a great day. I am always so especially thankful for the priesthood on days like these. We are so blessed as a family to have this wonderful power and a father and husband who honors and uses his priesthood.
My parents were very gracious and made their all ready long trip even longer and stayed at our house for a few extra days so we could bless this baby. Ben and Heidi came from Utah. We had a good time. I wish that all of my and Shon's family could have been here, but we know that it isn't possible. Cameron didn't cry when he was getting blessed and it was a sweet experience.

Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin

On Saturday evening, we decided to go down tho the church and play some basketball and let the boys just run around. Our church was being used so we went to Rigby to Bryan's church. It was a ball. The adults played lightning while the little boys ran around and played with a bunch of bouncy balls. We then set up a little bowling lane for the boys. Whitney was the setter-upper and each boy took a turn. They loved it. Jake just kept getting the biggest ball he could find and throwing it whenever he felt like it. The older boys got a little ticked but they all had a great time.
Shon, Bryan and Ben played 21. They all got pretty competitive.

Josh can't quite crawl yet, but he scoots everywhere. And he is pretty fast too. He just followed the other boys around and tried to get the balls. This is just a really cute picture of him. He smiles so big.

"Easter" egg hunt

Grandma wanted to have an easter egg hunt for the boys while she was here. So her and Grandpa went and got a bunch of little treats and hid them all over the family room downstairs. It was quite fun to see those boys going ofter it. Zack just really wanted to find a dinasour egg. Thank you Grandma for remembering that that was what he wanted and he actually found it before the other boys did. Even Josh got in on the action. They made quite a haul. It was fun.

Zack and Jed saw these treats at the same time. This is them crawling over Ben to get to them first. It took them about three times to get up to them.
Some of the funnest things that Grandma got for the boys were some Disney card games. Go fish, Crazy eights, and a memory game have been the ones they like and Tyler plays them a ton. The grandparents were very nice and played the games over and over with the boys. I haven't been quite as willing but we play quite a bit.

Still a lot of snow!!

We still have a ton of snow here in Southeast Idaho. Ben and Heidi were here for the weekend and so we decided to go sledding. It was actually raining when we were out there, so the conditions were not ideal at all. Ben and Shon were such great dads and spent about 1 1/2 hours out with the boys. Heidi, Josh, Cameron and I spent most of the time in the car watching the fun. They sure had fun.
At first, Jake just wanted to play on the jungle gym. He just played all by himself and was having fun while the three older boys were going up and down the hills.




Jed is Ben and Heidi's oldest boy. He was 4 on Dec. 1st. Jake was 2 on June 28th. And Josh is almost eight months. These cousins sure had fun together. They got to have a three night sleepover in Tyler and Zack's bedroom and loved every minute of it.

Our three boys

Cameron is three weeks old and looks to have grown a lot. He was 10lb 5oz at his 2 week check.
The older two think that Cameron is great. Zack has been calling him "pumpkin pie". It is reaaly cute. He raises the pitch of his voice real high And says it over and over.
Tyler likes to hold him about 50 times a day. He is very proud to be the big brother of these two. He seems so grown up to me lately. Maybe it is because Cameron is so little or maybe it is because he is reading and writing and figuring things in life out that amazes me.