Five years! :)

Well, Derek and I officially made it to the five year mark in our marriage! Last Saturday was our 5th anniversary! The past five years have been awesome! I am so lucky that I found Derek! I always think about when I was younger and things I would have done way different in relationships and just life in general if I knew then what I do today. I really feel though that wrong choices and bad decisions helped me develop into who I am now. They help me appreciate the good man that I get to spend my life with even more. Life led me to him and I'm so grateful for that! On our anniversary he brought me roses when he got off work and then we went to Roseville and had dinner just the two of us. Its always good to spend time alone.

This week we took another trip to Tahoe, but this time we took the kids with us. It was a lot of fun. We took them swimming, in a heated inside pool of course. We also took them bowling. It was Jax's first time and Peyton's second. Her first was when she was to young to walk so it might as well have been her first too. They loved it! I adore the picture above! You can see Peyton so excited about the two or three pins she just knocked down and Derek is loving her excitement!

Jax was just excited to throw a ball and hit some pins! He did have a hard time though waiting for the ball to come back and also waiting his turn. He's saying, "cheese!" in the picture. He actually got his first haircut this week! I'm excited that he doesn't have all of his little fly aways that had just recently started to curl, but sad because he's starting to look more like a kid and less like a toddler.

Peyton is starting to turn into a careful little girl! She kept telling me to get back when Jax and daddy went to take their turn. I've been noticing her worrying about little things every once in a while that kids her age normally wouldn't think twice about. She's becoming aware of dangers which is good, but I do enough worrying for the both of us lol!

Jax was getting cranky, but Dora Gummies changed that quick. He's been saying, "ya!" now which is soo refreshing from his, "mo" which is supposed to be no. It's funny when he says no he sounds like Gary off of sponge bob, "meoo"... I'm still not used to it though. When I ask him a question and he shouts, "ya!" it's still totally cute! It's sad to think that one day he'll say it and it will be another normal response instead of making me smile every time.

Three kids is definitely going to be an adjustment. I'm so excited to have one more angel to add to our happy home, but nervous at the same time, which I think is normal. I remember being nervous with Jax. I just want to make my children feel that they are loved equally, but different because they are their own little person. I always want them to feel like I will take time out of every day to appreciate them, tell them that I love them and set that time away just for them individually. I know that life gets hectic and I'm sure when they're older it will be even crazier, but I really feel that's important in building my relationship with them. I want their 18 or so years at home to be remembered as happy times and for them to know that I will love them no matter what and they can always come to me with anything.

The best part of it all is knowing that Derek feels the same way. I love him even more every time I see him with the kids.

Yesterday I had to get my blood work done in Roseville so we took the kids to a park that was like a block away from our old apartment. We used to take Peyton there when she was one. 

Jax actually swung! He loved the swings when he was just old enough to sit, but lately he's been too afraid to even get in one. I was shocked that he let Derek push him in them.

OK, so the craziest thing happened while we were there. When we lived at our apartment we would always see two ducks swimming in the pool out back and Peyton, who was only one at the time, would go outside and feed them bread with us. We even named them Willard and Willamina. She loved it. When we would take her to the park some times they would be there. I swear these are the same ducks from two years ago and we saw them yesterday in the park. I know ducks look the same, but I'd put money on these being the same ones that we used to feed and play with. We were able to relive that fun memory for a minute and it was pretty cool.

Guess What???

We've known for a little over a month, but wanted to go to the Dr. and make sure everything was fine before announcing. With Peyton and Jax we told right away by just calling everyone, but this time I wanted to do something a little different and I loved what Lacey of Lacey C Photography came up with for us! Our appointment was Monday, the day after Easter and for some reason I was way more nervous than I'd been going into ultrasounds in the past. I was instantly calmed down after seeing the little flicker of the heartbeat on the monitor. My prayers were answered and we have a healthy growing baby! We were even able to see the spine starting to form as well as little stubs for the legs and arms. It was very exciting and I was spot on with the calculation of my due date! It's November 19th and every Monday is one more week into my pregnancy. I am 8 weeks and 2 days pregnant today. This pregnancy so far has been the worst. I was sick for about a week straight with nausea, but I'm finally feeling better. I'm  just really tired. By the end of the day I'm running on fumes, but hopefully that will pass soon too. I know that it could be way worse so even though I may sound like it I am trying to not complain. There is more exciting news!!! My sister Audrea is also pregnant and her due date is two days after mine! Every time I've been pregnant I've been excited, but nervous of something happening before I made it to full term. Now it's like double stress, but double excitement as well. I pray that we both have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies! 

Easter!!!

Daddy had to work the night before Easter so he missed Easter morning when the kids woke up to see what the bunny had left. When he got home they were excited to show him everything.

Sleepyhead #1

Sleepyhead #2 with candy already in his mouth :)

I swear I didn't tell them to pose like this lol...

After Easter at our house we went to Grandma and Grandpa's. Daddy had to work Easter night as well so he stayed home to get some sleep. Peyton must have told me about six times throughout the day that she missed him. :(

The girls were soo cute in their dresses.

Peyton loves baby Lauren

The cousins on the Wakefield side. They get along so well! We can't wait to see Lauren's personality show when she gets a little older.

I remember when it was just Peyton like it was yesterday, now there are three more and I don't know what we ever did without them.

 Proud Grandma and Grandpa

Then we left and went to Derek's aunt and uncles to spend time with them, Grammy and Grandpa, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, Uncle Jay and Amanda.

Uncle Jay and Amanda hid Easter eggs in the backyard and the kids had a blast finding them. I think by this point Jax had the concept down.

During all of her egg hunts this year Peyton would say, "I think I need a bigger basket!" It was really cute. Jax actually started saying, "Cheese!" for some pictures which is amazing because he is so straight faced and stubborn. This year was very fun and the kids were spoiled again, but the only thing that was missing was daddy. With him there it would have been perfect...

Yesterday was a ton of fun! We had an Easter party with a lot of my aunts, cousins and their kids. We had a lot of fun things for the kids to do while we caught up with some family that we haven't seen in a while.

I'm pretty sure the kids loved it! Trying to get them all together for a picture wasn't easy.

Audge was watching Mya and Sophia so they were able to come too, which is good because Peyton wouldn't want it any other way. :)

The wagon was a big hit...

and so was the chalk...

but the best part of all was the egg hunt! There were eggs EVERYWHERE and each kid had an overflowing basket. They were all smiles!

Janeane even stuck a bunch of ginormous suckers into the ground that looked like flowers. Peyton thought they were the best thing ever!

My cousin's little boy, Eli is so adorable...

And so were the rest of the kids! I'm always thinking about how I will look back and remember these days because time is going by so fast. At the party I was visiting with my Aunt and she said that looking at our kids reminded her of my cousins and I as kids running all over my grandparent's house. I thought about the home videos that I've seen in the past where all my aunts and uncles were probably around the same age as we are now and all of us kids running around with our cousins and having a lot of fun. I am so greatful that my family has always been all about family and that they've taught me that family is everything. I'm even more greatful now that I have a family of my own and to be able to teach them these same values.