4 reasons to celebrate

1. making it to your 4th birthday

2. mcdonalds birthday parties (best idea ever)

roen, gabi, jude, tamari, grets, lucy, minie (notice the had holding), bella, and poppy's forehead. not pictured cohen, jack, sophie and 10 supervising adults.

3. family parties at rock creek pizza

4. being the cutest and most adored 4 year old in town

best birthday ever.

four

jude is 4 today....

... and what a handsome 4 year old he makes.

as we close the door on three i can't help but feel a little sad. turning 4 seems like a big milestone for us, jude is no longer my baby.

dear jude,

i love you, especially today, my sweet boy. today you are mine. i cannot believe you are 4 but at the same time it seems you have been mine forever. you are my first born, my son. we have learned so much in our 4 years together and we will continue to learn and love and make mistakes. you have been through so much in your 4 short years. you have grown from my baby to my boy. it has been a trying year for us, we have both cried a lot. please forgive me for my lack of mothering skills and continue to love me for who i am because i love you to the moon.

i want you to stay a little boy forever, just like i wanted you to stay a baby forever. i know its impossible and that you must grow but it breaks my heart to see it happen. i guess i just didn't know it would happen so fast. there are still a few things that keep you my baby and i cherish each and every one. i love that you still love your silky. i love that you still sleep with your favorite toys. i love you still prefer me, always. i love your innocence. i love that you adore your sister and really think she is a princess. i love your passion for whatever you are into at the moment. i love your inquisitive nature (even if it does drive me crazy from time to time). i want you to know i love you jude, just the way you are.

my sweet jude, you are chosen, you are loved, and you are perfect. thank you for choosing us. i love you, forever.

xoxo,

mommie

happy 4th birthday

cook or treat (as jude would say)

what a perfect halloween it was.

greta cat & her own vampire jude

ready to go trick or treating.... and yes it was the perfect weather and you did not need a jacket for the first hour or so.

jude decided on his own to be a vampire. i was so thankful he didn't want to be bumblebee or some other sort of super hero. its not that i have anything against them i just feel like he has a whole childhood to be those things. its only when they are really young that they can be cute classic things. anyway, he has been waiting and waiting and waiting for the day that he could wear his costume and he was the best "in character" vampire you have ever met (even if he was not with the trend of vampire's these days.).

jude and minie moo the cat. they are BEST friends. if you ever get to see them in action, consider yourself lucky. i love them.

so typical brooke.... we decide to have our girls be cats for halloween, she goes all out and gets amazingly creative and i go 100% classic kitty cat.i think brooke was bored to tears with greta's costume but i liked the simplicity. we are the same in most every way but she is just a little bit more creative and cute and it really bugs.

greta and poppy lou enjoyed the wagon and their treats for their trouble. they are almost as tight as jude and minie.... almost.

our halloween was so perfect even if it did get thrown a little off coarse. nannie's surgery nixed our plans for some serious hidden oaks trick or treating and delicious billie chili. its good thing we are adults and have our own houses these days that we could fall back on. our own house, as it turns out, made a perfect halloween party location. the neighborhood maybe be old and a little bit ghetto but it proved perfect for little legs running from house to house (even if jude wanted to be an invalid the whole time). we were joined by the jackson's and mark and tiffani for a little jack o'lantern pizza, trick or treating, and games. we got all of 4 babies(miracle of miracles) to bed in time for some adult humor and our laughter could be heard for miles. note: play telephone pictionary immediately. it was perfect.

hope your halloween was as perfect as ours.

i cannot wait to take down our halloween decor.... its been a long 2 months.

all hallow's eve

somehow halloween snuck up on us this week. i don't know how seeing as we have been decorated since september 1st, the costumes have been ready for weeks, and its the topic of all jude conversations. i don't know if its because we were gone so much in october or what but it still managed to sneak up on us. needless to say, the pumpkins needed to be carved and we made sure that tonight it happened.

after a long day at the hospital with my mom's surgery i headed home around 4:30. i had to bust my butt to pick up the kids from yaya's, swing by the store for dinner items, and prepare dinner all before we could start the carving which did not commence until nearly 9pm (late to be starting such a feat with our youngen's). i am just glad we got it done before halloween, even if it was by the skin of our teeth.

prets was the best helper ever....

jude is STILL utterly disgusted by the pumpkins private parts.

jude warms right back up to the pumpkins the second they light up

jude = bat, greta = princess, and trevan = mummy (featuring his very own googly eyes)

let the festivities begin.

another year older and wiser too

it was my birthday yesterday.... i am officially 27 and it feels old. i don't feel like i am 27, but i don't think i have ever felt any age. i have just felt like me. i have done a lot in my 27 years and i am truly blessed and loved and i live a privileged life. i don't feel like i have missed out on anything, except the part where i became an adult.

the actual birthday part of my birthday was a doozy. first off, trevan was in chicago for work and secondly my mom's knee completely gave out (acl) while at my birthday lunch which resulted in us spending the rest of the day in the ER with her.... my poor mommie. trevan got home late and once he was home we fought over the significance of birthdays. it was a bad day, a bad day even if it wasn't my birthday. i don't like my person (i.e. trevan) being gone and i definitely don't like seeing my mom in pain. i guess that's the bad part of growing up, you sort of have to do so. i really hope this year is better than the day.

but alas, don't feel too bad for me because hopefully we are going out tonight to celebrate. that should make things a little better.

so what if i am still a little bit of a big baby?

disneyland meets the gregory's

we did disney for 3 days straight and the only regret is the corn dog that i got food poisoning from. somehow disneyland is new to me every time i go. it's so much fun seeing it through my kids eyes. jude could take or leave most of the rides (with the exception of peter pan and the haunted mansion) but loved everything else. jude loved seeing the characters and he is still upset we missed some. greta loved each and every ride she could go on and giggled the whole way through. she fell in love with disney princesses, tinkerbell, and minnie mouse (how does she know to like them? i certainly don't encourage it. princesses? no. barbie? yes.). and i think we all left the park a little bit better people, but definitely happier.

i hope you noticed jude laying on lightning.... it was sort of adorable.

miss step taker herself and her favorite yaya

i get to be her mom.

poor brennan and his perfectly starched shirt fell victim to the grizzly river run

woody and jude.

i wish i would have brought jude's cowboy boots to show them to woody. the one's with andy's name on one shoe and jude's on the other. its funny how these characters become a part of your life, you wind up loving them almost as much as your kids do.

the pixar parade was 100% amazing.

jude and his first love.... lightning mcqueen. thanks to this trip we are back into cars world at our house and to think i almost packed them up!

the gregory kids and jude's endearing facial expression.

jude and his real father cameron

did you know jude is obsessed with halloween? i think i may have mentioned it (29 times). well, naturally, "nightmare before christmas" is his favorite too.... mostly the soundtrack. its safe to say all of jude's disneyland souvenirs were "nightmare before christmas" themed. pretty sure he looks like he had a shopping spree at hot topic. gorge....

....at least he's cute.

landy and rog

the whole brood

so greta is a bit terrified of people costumes as you can see. we learned this a few weeks back when i tried on my cheer uniform from 8th grade and then followed with my wedding dress, she was horrified (i knew they were tight but certainly not deserving of that reaction). i was a little concerned about the whole disney character thing for her so we steered clear of most of them but when it came to mickey and minnie... who can resist?

jude could finally rest when we found mickey and greta had warmed up a bit or a lot.

a little embarrassed for them right here.

trevan opted out on the tea cups..... we were all offended.

my poor children have nobody to love them.

precious

we went back 2x to the winnie the pooh ride just for greta, she loved it. i think the soft cuddly costumes were easier for her to swallow.

this picture pretty much sums up our trip.... delightful.

thanks for being you disneyland.

p.s. do you think you would like me more if i had less pictures? well too bad.

i'm on a boat aka scott and dina's wedding

the real reason for our jaunt to orange county was to witness the marriage of scott and dina. i figured that event needed its own post....

we dined at a lovely seafood house the eve of their wedding and a lot of good food was eaten and laughs were had. i love this family i married into.

greta and bren

speaking of bren... have you met him? he is oh so handsome and charming. i kind of love him. i am making sure this is his profile picture for match.com.

the lady and the gentleman

terri, mo, and kelly ripa (or at least that's who jude thinks she is)

greta and jude both downed the calamari appetizer. it looked delicious but this hot babe (me) stays clear of all things seafood but apparently my kids feel differently.

cute dina had everything planned down to a tee and i mean everything, she even had birthday presents for me and jude. presents for us at her wedding... unheard of. don't get me started on the amazing mocha ice cream pie that i devoured shortly after my pre-birthday wish.

the following evening we met at electra cruises in newport beach for the actual wedding. the mist over the ocean set a perfect scene for a wedding. it was magical.

mr. & mrs. scott earl

boy II men

omg.

the daughters of the bride and groom, chelsie & marissa.

greta loved hanging over the deck... luckily her dad had a good grip and steady hands.

simply us.

in a while crocodile

this vacation has been in the works for about a year and it has not come soon enough.....

we are off to witness the marriage of these 2 love birds

and to spend some quality time with our friends in disneyland

its perfectly fitting that we are going while disenyland is all gussied up in halloween. jude is literally dying to get there...

see you next week.

How to do Jackson in 24 hrs

my family (the williams) went to jackson hole this past week. we were suppose to go but because we are going to california/disneyland this week we opted out because we could not financially swing both. trevan and i were depressed all weekend. we majorly heart jackson hole. trevan would have rather gone to jackson (the fishing? please.) but because his most favorite uncle is getting married he knew the right choice was california. i was just upset that i was missing out on QUALITY sister time. poor jude was even sad, he really wanted to go to jackson hole but understood it was that or disneyland. i called daily for updates and cried nightly on what i was missing out on.

after work on monday i called my mom and she said there was room for us because ante and paige were leaving and that we should come up for the last day. i told her sarcastically i was already half way there. when i got home i told trevan what she told me and he laughed and then we went to bed. the next morning while i was feeding the chillens breakfast i got a call from trevan asking if i wanted to go to jackson for the night. needless to say we were packed, loaded, and driving in less than an hour. (side note.... trevan is great but he is not sporadic. it may have been his best moment yet.)

we spent the most wonderful 24 hours in jackson hole. we had to jam pack my families 5 days of fun into 1 day and i think we succeeded. we were sad we missed the clark's but were also grateful for their contribution. we went on a little hike, laughed, ate, crafted, played cards, fished, enjoyed the scenery, strolled the town, shopped, and slept soundly all in a few measly hours. my kids LOVED seeing their st. george cousins and i am pretty sure jude would like to be a lamoreaux boy. it was perfect. the only down fall was the speeding ticket i got after i dropped trevan off at the snake to fish on our way up. i may or may not have not tried to "elude" the cop and have a hefty $158 fine to pay to the lincoln county sheriffs department. its embarrassing and hilarious at the same time. the ticket however did not make this trip any less perfect.

proof we were there in '09

these 2 are best friends.... really. minie thinks jude is the cats pajamas and jude thinks minie is both nearly 4 and a boy. i can get jude to come with me anywhere as long as i tell him brooke and minie will be there too.... because they usually are.

tired handsome boy. its rough getting in 24 hours of play with your favorite people in the world. (thanks nannie for finally getting our kids to bed at 1am.... we owe you.)

why its totally awesome to be their mom

sometimes being a mom is the best. right now our family is kind of into glee. jude only ever wants to listen to "morgan's" song (dont stop believin') and i really hated the song at first but after listening to it 300+ times it has grown on me. trust me, its even better in person.

enjoy.....

(don't mind the laundry in the background or my own vocals jumping in on occasion.... i can't help myself)

i told you she was a dancer.... hilarious.

18 months

today my greta is 18 months.

i literally never thought this day would come. i think every mother feels this way at every milestone with their children, they don't think that those times will ever come but they always do. i cannot believe gretsie is 18 months, i cannot beleive jude is nearly 4, and i certainly cannot believe that i am their mother. i am lucky to be a mother, especially theirs.

dear greta,

i am elated. you, greta, are a sheer joy. i never, ever want to take being your mommie for granted. in your short 18 months you have been through a lot, more than anyone should ever have to go through. you are so brave. you are so beautiful. you are so happy. you are a miracle.

at 18 months you are so smart. you are not a talker quite yet and they say its because of your decreased muscle tone that effects even your mouth, but you understand everything. you can do simple signs to indicate what you want or feel (more, eat, drink, and thank you). believe me sweet baby you know exactly what is going on around you. you interact with us and are a part of all of our conversations. you think you are a big girl (silly girl, you are my baby you can't be a big girl yet). you are exactly where you are suppose to be emotionally, socially, and cognitively.... if not even a bit advanced. you still struggle with some gross motor development and are a bit delayed in speech but to me you are perfect... because you are perfect grets. you get around by crawling and climbing wherever you want to go, and if you can't physically do something you sure know how to let people know that you need help. you want to walk SO badly and you are getting there. its so cute when we put you down and you flex your little legs so you can stand and practice walking. you are one determined little girl. you are a dancer. from a very young age you started jiving. yaya likes to say you hear music in your head and dance to your own music. when any sort of song comes on you have the coordinating dance moves on the first note and its beyond amazing. eating is your favorite hobby and you are really good at it. you hear food and you start grabbing for it. no one can sneak a snack by you without having to share. you are a little peanut with a big appetite.

greta you love your brother to pieces and love to do whatever he is doing (in spite of him). you have wised up to his antics and are now putting up a fight for the things you want. although i strongly discourage any sort of biting or hitting, its kind of adorable/hilarious when you do it. you have us all wrapped around your little finger. no one can resist your sweetness. you are still snugly and it makes me warm and cozy all over. you still prefer me over anyone else but your daddie is an extremely close second. all you have to do is tuck your head to your shoulder and bat those eyes like you do and your wish is his command. you love to flirt with all men and are upset when people don't notice you. don't you worry my angel, you will always be noticed, you are extraordinary.

greta thank you for being here. thank you for fighting. thank you for choosing us, for choosing me. i love you endlessly. i never knew i could love a daughter they way i love you. i never knew....

happy 18 month birthday!

forever and always,

mommie

weekend perfection

one of our most favorite things to do is drive up big cottonwood canyon, over guardsman's pass, into the beautiful miday/heber valley(our future home), and have bite to eat at dairy keen. {did you know that there you can get soft serve orange sherbet like the kind that mcdonalds use to have years ago? well, you can and for me that alone is worth the trip.} that beautiful drive combined with our favorite music and sleeping babies has got to be the closest thing to perfection.

this weekend we made the drive for the leaves and you better do the same ASAP because they are out of this world.

i want to live in late september forever.

after our early dinner we stopped at the middle provo river so trevan could scope out some fly fishing territory. probably his best idea ever, screw fishing there i could live there. i will settle for something with in a 100 ft radius. in all honesty, living in that valley is in our 10 year plan.

the best view of life is always on your father's shoulders.

gretsie loved crawling around through the meadow. her poor legs are still recovering from all the cockleburrs.

jude ran around for nearly an hour jumping through the waist high grasses and fighting the reeds with his sword (stick). he was in 7th heaven and loved to play follow the leader around the river banks.

did you know my husband is smart? he is full of information that you would never care to think about. i wonder where i got him sometimes..... the things he fills is brain with are so random.

such as this.... see those slugs on the bottom of that rock? well, they are very bad for the rivers/fish. going from one fising spot to another fishermen track these vermin into the rivers on their felt boots they use for fishing. as 2010 you will now longer be able to buy felt soled boots for fishing. good to know, right? (see i was listen trevan)

what a perfectly magical weekend.

today... i love my life.

an evening with the schreck's

meet blake, lucy, and codi.... the schreck's. blake and trevan go way back to trevan's morgan stanley days, way back to when these 2 darlings thought their dogs were the perfect answer to children. 3 years later we are still friends and becoming better friends with each passing get together. friday we met at the zoo right before closing (perfect time to go the zoo btw) and then gathered at their house for some delicious pizza and cookies. safe to say.... we love the schreck's.

meet lucy.... she is equal parts amazing and adorable.

how do you feel about baby elephants? you should love them, especially ones like zuri. if we didn't have such cute human subjects i might have gotten better animal shots... oh well.

its good to love your siblings as much as these two do.

what? why yes, greta is standing up to objects and starting to cruise. it is nothing short of a miracle and nothing short of really really cute.

yes, he is that beautiful.

and no jude's teeth are not always that orange.... its a side effect of the nasty orange drink he got in his zoo collectors cup.

these 2......

are bound to be besties.

thanks blake and codi for a wonderful evening of animals and children. jude is STILL sleeping with his goody bag. you are the perfect hosts and perfect friends. we will return the favor as soon i decide to clean my house.

my friend jude

you should know that we are friends these days, me and my jude.

the past 3 weeks have been wonderful. jude has made a break through and i think (fingers crossed) we are out of the horrible 3's. jude's personality is so much like mine its a little scary (two of us in one house... ahhh). i think that maybe thats part of our problem sometimes. we get each other and we get how to make each other crazy. its a dangerous game reproducing, you never know what qualities your kids are going to get of yours. jude is a mix of mostly me, slightly trevan and some other crazy we have yet to meet. he is delightful, truly.

jude is actually pretty funny and has the most unique way of looking at things. his newest thing is making facial expressions when he talks to help get his point across. it is kind of adorable.

jude is also a singer and a dancer. jude loves music.... mostly my music. we sing-a-long to plenty of music he probably shouldn't be listening to but it is what it is, swell. he and greta both can shake a leg with the best of them. cam was over the other night and kept calling jude a "flamer" (slightly offensive) because of his dance moves and positrons. we all get a laugh out of my kids dance moves. we dance to the beat of our own drum over here on carnation drive.

in case you are wondering who this is......

this is the 'little fella' and he has been a part of our lives now going on 7 years. he sings a heart warming version of "super freak" and shakes his lovely little bones. he is part of our family and we all love him. its a national holiday when he gets out every year and consider yourself lucky if you get "crank" called by him.

missing him

{photo courtesy of our brookie}

trevan and jude went to a father's and son's camp out tonight and i am missing them. grets is sick with the flu and in bed and i am missing my nightly companion, my senor.

trevan and i don't spend much time away from each other.... ever. i think we have been apart for a total of like 8 days or something in our 7 years together. i am lonely without him. i miss him. i am thankful everyday for the wisdom i had at 21 to marry trev. he is so good to me and SO good for me. he is the perfect husband for someone like me. we don't hang out with friends much and with the exception of family we really just like being with each other. i am not trying to be cheesy, its just the way that it is and its nice. he is my husband and my best friend.

i am ready for him to come home and its not even been 5 hours. i don't know how people do it when their spouses travel, the thought makes me nauseous. i hate being alone.

i love you trevan, even though i am not the best at showing it. thank you for always being on my side and always being mine.

xo, me

early birthday present for me

is this a sign? probably.

i know what i am doing on my birthday (oct. 28th) this year.

this is it.

meet me at the fair

run, don't walk to the utah state fair.

we went with our besties to the state fair on saturday and a good time was had by all. trevan made a lifetime friend, the kids ran crazy, and i ate until i could eat no more.

jude was 100% smiles about riding a pony.

(we figured they make at least $960 every hour with this little pony attraction)

b.f.f.'s and the hitler youth all in one. they will never cease to amaze us.

i am not sure about the KKK goats.

can someone (farmgirl) explain this to me?

greta loved the moo'ing at all the animals. all farm animals moo, including the new pants she got today.

i want 3 piglets of my very own to snuggle with.

i won't lie, one of the #1 reasons i wanted to go to the fair is for the food i knew would be there. it didn't disappoint.

fresh funnel cake? to die for.

even the prets could not resist a little funnel cake. wait, hold the phone, she can't resist anything edible. its a wonder she is not an exhibit at the fair herself by the way she eats.

these 2 are best friends these days. i kind of love it.

jude at the lego table with a boy with his pants pulled up EXTREMELY high. he was however, a very nice boy.

the big yellow slide? worth all 400 pennies.

fyi... the utah state fair ends the 20th. giving you ample time to enjoy classy people, deliciously disgusting food, stinky farm animals, and a few rodeo queens.