Q-T with a capital Q

Quinn hasn't gotten near the blog time she deserves. I had no idea a baby would take up so much of my blog time (ha!).
Well suffice it to say that I LOVE THIS BABY!

She melts my heart! She is such a joy! I love her plump, rolly, huggable body! That baby skin just screams to be kissed. She is perfect.

lucky 7

I got lucky when Hunter joined our family. Dax and I had no idea how good we had it with this kid until Mack came along. But that is another post.

Hunter is a great kid! He is just chill and sweet and obedient. I love his innocence and sincerity; I hope he always stays that way. One cute conversation we had a couple weeks ago...

I saw a teeny spider on the floor and said, "Oh look, there's a spider." Hunter said frantically, "Where?! I hate spiders!"

Bewildered, I said, "Bud, you aren't scared of spiders are you? You catch grasshoppers and pull off their legs."

"Mom," he said, "I'm not scared of grasshoppers. But spiders are arachnids. That is a totally different story."

This morning Hunter woke up and opened a few presents. His school teacher grandma always knows how to delight and educate with her gifts.

Mack, Quinn, and I stopped by Hunter's school class to bring him a Happy Meal for lunch. Mack won the hearts of the whole class with his raspy, high-pitched, "Supwize!"
Mack loved taking Hunter a surprise and as soon as we left, he wanted to do it again.

Hunter had his favorite buds, Jaden and Grady over to play after school.


Dax made hamburgers that blew our minds and we had some yummy Lego cake for dessert.



Here is one happy dude. He is all about the Lego Star Wars...



And that concludes our fabulous Fall birthdays. Three boys' birthdays in under 30 days! Whew.

Time to take a break from birthday cake..

elk hunt

Yes I went elk hunting. Yes I took my 2-month-old. Yes I am crazy. The kids and I only went for one night. I got my fill of the beautiful yellow and orange aspens. I also got my fill of stress worrying about keeping a baby warm over night. It will get better as our family gets older. The kids had a blast. Hunter woke up early and went out hunting with the guys. He is so cute.

Congrats to Craiger on his bull! So fun to have him and Matt come out and spend some good American quality family time with us!

Mack is 3

This is the most adorable child (good thing or we would have gotten rid of him by now)! Quinn owes her existence in large part to Mack's cuteness. What would we ever do without him.


I have been going through a lot of boxes of baby clothes lately and Mack found some little pink sandals in a box and was trying to put them on his chubby feet, screaming in frustration, "I WANT TO WEAR GIRL SHOES!"

Last time Grandpa Craiger was over, he gave Mack a wet willie. Then Mack said, "I can do that." Then Mack stuck his finger in his mouth then gave himself a wet willie.

The other day Mack was kissing Quinn quite roughly and I said, "That's too hard!" to which he replied, "It's ok, we're having a hard party."


Some things I want to remember about Mack:

• his creative eating style
• how he loves to "tickle" with my hair
• takes forever to go to sleep (can't wait to forget this one)
  
• he loves to get in the mud
• he loves anything with wheels
• he loves animals and doesn't ever want them to be lonely
• he and his Dad share a special bond (ahem...Dax can't say no to him) and Mack loves to go to work with his Daddy and ride his horses and 4-wheelers
• the way he says 4-wheeler (fee lellow)
• the way he speaks; his little voice, his vocabulary, his lisps, everything
  
• that he answers "yes" instead of yeah.
• that he would live on candy and cookies if we let him
• he likes to tell jokes
• he would never get off the "fwing" if someone would stand there and push him forever
  
• loves crashed up things, burnt things, and anything else that is destroyed and also delights in doing his own destruction
• the names he comes up with when he plays...Zarnold Barnold is my fave. When you play with him, he can think of a name in 1 second and they are always original and always awesome.
• he potty trained a week before Quinn was born
• he loves all people and never wants anyone to leave our house including cub scouts, visiting teachers, babysitters, the mailman, his friends, work people, Dax, Preslie, Hunter, and especially Mom!

I just love this age because he doesn't really care about the gifts; he was so happy and content with the fact that it was his birthday and that he got cupcakes. He woke up and opened a couple gifts.

We played and watched conference all day. Preslie and Hunter dragged each other around and tried to give each other giant wedgies. I just love that creative indoor fun.


Dax got home from his hunting trip in the afternoon and Mack went on a treasure hunt for his bike from Grandpa and Grandma... a total hit!


I was hoping that age 3 would somehow magically be the end of his disaster days but after I cleaned up 2 messes in the bathroom and sugar and salt dumped on the counters, I realized he was just 2 yesterday and Mack will be Mack.

Here is round one of the singing and candles.


Here is round 2.

We love our Mack!

Dax is 32

Just love my Man and so so thankful I have him. He took the morning off and we all hung out together and his Dad was here, too. We ate at the China Star for lunch. They have the best fajitas but Dax couldn't decide between the sweet and sour chicken and a burger so I got the burger. He ALWAYS knows what to order and if he's waffling between 2 choices, I always go for one of them because I won't be disappointed.

I made his Mom's Italian Creme Cake as per his request and it turned out great. We ate it at 10pm when he got home from the temple with the youth. He is a good man.

new smiles

Look at my cute boy... something is missing!

Hunter lost his front tooth! He looks so different and cute to me.
Also, Quinn is starting to smile more and more. She's been the most smiley baby in her sleep and has full on laughed in her sleep several times which is so cute and surprising coming from a teeny baby. I tried to get her smile on camera today. It took some work but after several attempts...

We were so happy to complete Preslie's bug collection assignment for school. It became a family project!

Happy, happy day: Dax received his trophies from Africa!

We are no longer a one can of corn family. We can no longer fit on one of the short side pews in church. It is weird to think that I could possibly have a family this large. Pretty cool.

week without Mack

Mack spent Monday-Friday with my parents last week. It was AWESOME. It was just what this over-stimulated, under-rested Mom needed. He was very excited to go on a special Mack trip to Grandma's all by himself with his own suitcase. He did a lot better than we all thought he would considering how much he cries before we take him to nursery on Sunday. Granny and Grampa spoiled him, of course. He got all the one-on-one attention he wanted (and deserved) and we got a quiet house with no catastrophes for five quiet days. Don't get me wrong, we did miss him dearly!

While he was gone...

Dax went and cut a bunch of wood for this winter



we got the rocks for our front yard
I FOUND MY WEDDING RING!
I cut Hunter's hair and curled Preslie's hair for picture day
I enjoyed quiet time with my sweet baby

I slept when she slept
I finished reading Fablehaven 4 to Preslie and Hunter
I ate grown-up lunch
I called and chatted with my sisters (so nice without constantly worrying what my toddler was getting into)
I took Quinn for walks

I sure love my cute boy! It was so fun to go to Salt Lake and see him again. He squeezed me so tight and just kept saying, "Hello! Hello!" And "I love ya, Mom." We met up with him and my parents at my uncle's 75th birthday celebration. I can't believe I have an uncle that is 75. (And my niece just went to college last week, too! Crazy. anyway...)

We made it for the tail end of the party but from what I hear it was quite a bash. My Uncle Dee seemed super happy to have so many family and friends surprise him and put on such a fine party. I got to see a few relatives that I haven't seen in over a decade. I got a picture of just a few.

We spent the weekend with my parents, saw Aunt Sharon, got stuck in a road closure in Parley's Canyon for 2 hours, and are now home safe and sound and all together. He might be a little intense, but we are glad the Mack is BACK.