little bubs

This little man is getting too big way to fast.  Jack will be 8 weeks old this week.... hard to believe.  He is starting to coo and smile and we are LOVING it.  His smile is heart melting!!  He is starting to get a double chin and tiny cute fat rolls on his little chicken legs.  At his 6 week appointment he weighed 11.2 lbs. 

Sometimes I wish I could stop time or at least make it go a little slower.  The newborn stage just doesn't last long enough. 

flashback friday

Tomorrow is Friday.  Flashback Friday.  Liv had a project at school where she had to bring in a timeline of pictures from her life so I have been looking through our hard drive at old pics. I loved it.  There are some goodies on there. For instance this cute pic of Rex eating spaghetti.  He always enjoyed his food...he still does,

Liv and Rex were the cutest buddies when they were this age.  They still are good buddies, but they were two peas in a pod when Liv was 2 and Rex was 1.  I love that they are close in age.

I have all of these cute pics of the kids stored on the hard drive, all taken before I started blogging.  Here is Liv at age 3 (Lucy's age)  you can tell they are sisters.

The other night I was talking to Jared and we were talking about fun times back in Utah during the summer.  One of our favorite things to do go to the Finch family cabin up Payson Canyon.  Here we are back in 2006.  It is so beautiful up there and it takes just a hop and a jump to get to Payson Lake.  We will miss going there on the 4th of July this year.

I like this picture of Jared's dad and Grandpa up at the cabin during the fall.

Cabin + roasting marshmallows= good fun

Cute Liv trying to pull chubby, cute Rex around our backyard in Orem.

Rexbo dude at age ummm, 8 months I believe. I wonder if Jack will look just like him in 6 months.

Ahh, the snow.  This was our first house in Orem.  We loved our house, friends and neighborhood there.  I love thinking back on the "olden days" as Liv calls them.  We have had some great times and great memories.  Until next Flashback Friday.... :)

stewart + finch

Warning:  this is a p3 post!!  PICTURE PACKED POST

When we moved to Australia we knew that were moving far, far, FAR away and we accepted the fact that we probably wouldn't be getting many visits.  Well, the exact opposite has happened...we  have had lots of visitors and we have loved it.  Our latest visitors came from Texas.  My sister Rebekah and her fam stayed with us for a week.  We always have fun when they visit wherever we live.  Our kids are similar in age and everyone has someone to play with.

We chilled in Sydney a few days.  Here we are taking a break for lunch at McDonald's. 

8 kids..8 and under

what a cute bunch

Jack's first time on the ferry.  He was a trooper while we walked here there and everywhere around the city.  We took the ferry out to Manly beach for a walk about.

At Circular Quay there were all sorts of stuff going on for the World Cup.  They had a kids soccer clinic and the kids had fun learning from a few coaches for a half hour.

oops, probably not the best day to wear flip flops. :)

Everyone rugged up and ready to hit the town. Yeah, I get people starring at me with my FOUR kids...try EIGHT...:)

The kids had fun running up & down the stairs at the Opera House, counting each one.  Lucy wanted to make the pic look artistic and sit on her own.

The kids put on a dance performance and wanted their hair spray painted.  (I think Rex's scalp is still pink after 3 washes).  Miss Liv working it.  I think we listened to Justin Bieber(not totally sure how you spell his name) "Baby" at least a million and a half times.

Woohoo Grace

Adam getting down with it

Lil Lucy showing us all how flexible she is

Rex was a maniac..he was all over the place showing us some pretty tricky maneuvers

cute little Claire

Rex took this pic and I told him I would post it.  Good job, buddy!  A perfectly round sunbeam on my face..impressive.  It also looks like I have Lucy in a choke hold. haha

We drove out to Clontarf beach just before the sun set and it was FREEZING so we let the kids play for half a second.

Except for Lucy who was perfectly content playing in the sand & refused to surrender the shovel and leave.

We hit a few parks while they were here.  Parks & kids are always a hit.

Last but not least we went to the Blue Mountains. It was a gorgeous day and the view was incredible...chilly, but incredible.

Nothing is cheap in this country...EXCEPT for McDonald's ice cream cone. They are only $.50. It is pretty much the only thing here under a $1. Just kidding, but pretty close. :)

So, if you haven't guessed, we had a great time with family and were sad to see them leave, Poor Liv woke up all teary. We loved the time we had with them and are happy we got to show them around our hood. Thanks for the fun visit, Stewarts. ;)

out serving!

My niece Annilyn entered the Missionary Training Center last week. (Annilyn on the left with her sis Erin) She will be serving a mission for the church in Russia.  I am so happy, proud and excited for her.  I remember when she was 3 years old talking about wanting to serve a mission.  (Makes me feel old saying that). Good luck Sister Schill, we can't wait to hear all about it.

She and her sis Erin have been going to BYU.  Here they are at my parents house with my brother Steve and his girls, eating a Russian dish.

My nephew McKay has been serving in Korea and returns home this October.  We love reading his letters and being able to get a glimpse into what life is like for him as a missionary.  We are also so proud of him and his example to our kids.

It is neat to have two second generation missionaries in the family(meaning my fam with my bros and sisters).  Missions are great experiences...hard, rewarding, incredible, memorable and definitely a learning and growing period.  We love you Annilyn and McKay!! 

a little night ride

Our friend Wes has this nice motorcycle and he wants to sell it and Jared would like to buy it, but I am a little too nervous about it.  Yes, he would get to work quicker and could park anywhere, but I would be a wreck everyday worrying about him....sorry, that is just the way it is. :) He know I was a worry wart when he decided to marry me. 

But, he did let us take it out about a month ago.  We had fun taking a quick ride around.  Rex was loving it.

He loves to pose for the camera...he was feeling pretty sweet in the bike helmet.

Liv loved riding with Jared around the neighborhood.

Then it was my turn...here we are saying goodbye to the kiddos.  Can you tell that our friends are Canadian??

I am not a huge motorcycle lover, I get too nervous...but Jared took me on a fun ride around and it was actually quite fun.  I felt pretty cool.  :)

Mr. 5 weeks old

Hi, I'm Jack!  My mom thinks I am sleeping all soundly.....

Nope, I was just faking it!!

Here I am showng my mom my nails that need to be trimmed!

So, really...I can hardly even believe this little boy is 5 weeks already!  We are loving him and his baby smell and noises and the whole thing.  He has brought so much fun and tenderness into our home.  He has just recently started giving us little grins.  This morning I woke up feeling like I had been run over and then run over again because of lack of sleep...I turned the light on to change Jack and he looked at me with his little face and cute eyes & gave me the CUTEST, BIGGEST, most ADORABLE grin ever and I said to myself out loud, "That just made last night all worth it, little man."  He made up for the long night big time with that move.  I love him!

I pity the fool

Jared and the guys are going to see the A-Team movie this weekend and in celebration I thought I'd post this pic.  My mom made this cake for my brother Ryan for his birthday back in the 80's.  He loved Mr. T.  Have fun boys!!

Orem High School

I am sitting on my bed listening to Jack swinging back & forth in his swing.  He is completely asleep and Lucy is in her room.  She usually likes to use your little scissors to cut up paper into tiny pieces and scatter it all over her room.  She calls it snow.  I am guessing that she is making "snow" right now...either that or getting into Liv's lip glosses and other goodies...those are her two favorite things to do. ;)  The other day I was in the kitchen making dinner and Lucy came walking in with her little hand on her hip and said,"Mom, are you kidding me?"  She is a crack-up...we love laughing at all the funny things she says.

Anyway, as I was saying..I am sitting here and it is quiet, so I thought I would do a little bloggin'.  Last week  the high school I went to was torn down. People have been posting pictures of the school on facebook...Yeah, I may have swiped a few..if I could have been there I would  have taken my own pics, but obviously I am not and I wanted to post some for memory sake. [i really hope they don't mind] :)

My oldest brother Mike all the way down to my little bro Jeff went to Orem High..all 9 of us, plus my bro in law Carl and sis in law Angela and my niece Aubree who is there now. So you can see why I am a little attached to this school and why I am feeling a little melancholy that it is being replaced by a brand new Orem High. I really loved this school and actually loved high school.

I love the snowy mountains in the background.  This is the front of the school on 400 South (Tiger Way). The LDS Seminary building is on the end towards the mountains and Center Street. (I am detailing these pics so that down the road when my kiddos read my blog they can know where I am talking about.)

The O...and some construction.

Ahh, the driving range.  Some fun memories took place there.  I think my first time there was mainly spent getting out of the car and fetching the cones that I had run over.  hahaha..jk I was a good driver..I may have only clobbered one or two cones.  There is a tower where your instructor watches you and one time I was driving with my friend Jenny White, also my neighbor and friend since birth...we went down the ally part where the instructor can't see you...but was part of the course and on the way back into sight we would step on it and get up to 40mph....I know we were such rebels.  :)

The parking lot. Oh the memories of pulling in and searching for spot and jumping out and running my face off so that I wouldn't be late to Mr. Downs (C7) AP English class....he did NOT tolerate tardies.

The walk from the parking lot to the football stadium.

The auditorium where I watched some of my siblings act in plays or music productions and also where a lot of great assemblies took place.

Gotta have the fight song!  Go OHS!! '97, '97, ninety, ninety, ninety, ninety, '97!!

One of the many halls lined with lockers.  The crazy thing is that I STILL remember the combination to my locker my senior year. Yep, that was 13 years ago. Wow, I feel old typing that. hmmm

Student Government helped make this stained glass window for the gym as part of our Senior Class project so I was able to help create this masterpiece. It was actually pretty fun.

A collection from years and years past.  If I remember right...Orem High first opened in 1953.

Mr. Downs, who I spoke about earlier.  He was one of my favorites.  We had such a great class.  Downs C7 was written on EVERYTHING.  His class was on C hall #7...hence the Downs C7...you get it!  :)

So I was a little sad about the change...Change is often hard for me, but I am happy for the great memories that took place in the Original OHS & for all the friends that were made there. 

P.S. I miss the mountains!