And baby #3 is a...

Boy!

And we couldn't be more excited!

The more I think about it the more perfect I think it is. Crew is going to have a little brother to pal around with and I hope they are best buds. It also seems like everyone around us is having boys right now... my cousin is due a few weeks before me and she is having a boy, my neighbor just had a boy, and two of Steve's good friends just had boys. So many boys! Which means a lot of fun! So here is to our new little man...

Isn't the tape so cute? I saw it on a friends blog and had to get them for myself. If you would like to check them out you can by clicking HERE. They come in 10 different colors and I can't wait to try them all!

Ballerina Class

Reagan has recently started dance classes! This is the highlight of her week. She asks every day if she is going to dance and I have realized I should have put her in something that was twice a week. She LOVES it. To say the least.

Here she is on her first day of dance

She is a total poser, and I love it! She is taking the class with her friend, McKella who lives across the street and together they are total hams! This next one is really posed, but I had to do it. When I was close to Reagans age I was in dance and my dad took a picture of me sitting just like this in my dance outfit. I still have it and so I had to have Reagan do it too...

I can't wait for their performance in December. These girls are too cute!

I'm a BIG girl now!

As many of you probably know, I have had a rough time trying to get Reagan potty trained. You might know this because I was asking everyone I knew for any advice or tricks to help this concept "click" in Reagan's mind. She just didn't seem to understand what I was trying to get her to do. Now, I know I am her mother, and mother's always think this about their own children, but I think Reagan is pretty smart. She said her first word at 9 months and the mouth hasn't slowed down since. She started walking at 13 months. Both of these things seem momentous compared to Crew who didn't walk until he was 17 months and still has yet to say a word at 19 months.

But the potty thing - nothing. She just didn't get it. I tried 3 different times spending full days cleaning up messes and washing clothes with no successes at all. Not one. She just wouldn't go in the potty.

One night, at FHE, I was talking to my cousin and expressing, again, my frustrations with Reagan going in the potty. She has a little girl who is a couple of years older than Reagan and one who is 3 months older than Reagan. Both of which are potty trained. She started explaining to me how she got her oldest to go in the potty after she had some struggles and I knew she had hit the nail right on the button. THANK YOU TARA!

So the next day Tara brought over her little kid potty for Reagan to borrow and we started our routine. Here is how I got Reagan to go in the potty:

When Reagan woke up we went right down stairs. I got her breakfast and she ate it while she sat on her little potty and watched a movie. That sounds crazy but she went in the potty for the first time that morning and I think that was the "click" I had been trying for all along.

When she finished I would wipe her and she could stand up and we would do her "potty dance".

She, then, carried her little bowl of pee upstairs and poured it into the big potty and got to flush it.

We washed our hands and went back downstairs where she got a sticker for her sticker chart and a small treat like a starburst or taffy.

This sounds a little extreme, I know. We did that all day long every time she went to the potty. And you know what? It worked! Reagan didn't have a peeing accident after 3 days. The poo poo thing was a little harder to figure out, but all of a sudden that "clicked" and it has been a long time since she has had one of those accidents. She doesn't wear a diaper at all any more. Not for naps or bedtime. What a big girl! We are so proud of her! I am so happy that she is out of diapers! Yeah for growing up! I miss the little girl that she was but am loving the big girl she is becoming! We love you Reagan! Good job!

Bear Lake ~ August 2009

We spend a lot of time at the lake (if you haven't figured that out yet). But this year has been a bit of an exception. We have had a hard time finding time to go up. When Steve and I first got married we seemed to go up there every weekend. Now, I realize this is probably an exageration, but that is what it seemed like. Then, we had Reagan and it slowed a bit but we still found time to make the trip. After Crew we made a huge effor to keep going but this summer, time has finally caught up with us. Life is just crazy busy. With my church calling I feel like I need to be at church on Sunday and that makes it hard to do weekend trips. Plus, we have had family vacations/activities, holiday events, etc. that have kept us at home. Steve is having a hard time with this. Hopefully we will be able to find a happy medium so that we can participate in the things here at home and Steve can feel like he is getting enough of his Bear Lake fix. We'll see.

This last trip to the lake, the kids pulled out this handcart. I'm not sure if this is a new addition to Bear Lake or if I just never realized that it was up there but I swear I have never seen this thing before. It sure was a hit. All the kids wanted to ride and Eli was a champ and pulled them forever! Thanks, Eli!

I have been feeling like my pictures all look the same when I go to the lake. Although my kids are getting older in them, the scenery never changes. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes you need a little change, you know? So I have tried to switch things up the last few times we have gone up. This has proven to be a tough challenge. So thank you, Steve, for this great idea! I am wishing we lived closer to the lake so I could do more shoots here! This was a great spot!

We had a great time as usual. Hopefully we will be up there again soon!

Pioneer Day 2009

This is a little late, you say. I think Pioneer Day was like 3 weeks ago. Well, you are right. It was over 3 weeks ago. I am a total slacker and I apologize. Please forgive me. I think this is just going to be the way it goes for a little while. I am playing catch up.

For Pioneer Day (24th of July) we usually head to Bryce Canyon with the Henrie Family for the holiday. Most of the time all of my dad's family attends and it is a fun and large event. This year it was still fun and the festivities were great, there just weren't as many of the family around. That's what happens, I guess, when you get older. But we had a great time anyway.

We started off the trip with a parade in Panguitch, UT. The Henrie's originate from this great town. There are actually monuments dedicated to our great family. Pretty cool. But that is a side note. The parade is truly one to be rivaled. It has everything and everyone is a part of the fun.

Here is the Crew man in awe of all the action

This guy was awesome! There were a bunch of little cars driving around, princesses on horses, and even a man in a bath tub. (I didn't dare put that picture on here) It was great!

Reagan takes everything very seriously, and this was no exception. She wasn't sure at first if she was going to enjoy this parade or not. It didn't take long for her to decide she was going to LOVE it!

Here is my Grandma Henrie. She is wonderful, isn't she?

And here is my wonderful Grandpa Henrie. We love you guys!

Papa and Reagan had a great time at the Parade. Papa made sure she had a bag FULL of candy

Crew really enjoyed himself. Never before has he been able to run free in the middle of the road. It was a miracle I was able to get any pictures of him at all! He was in heaven running around.

At the end of the parade the fire engine from town stops along the route and blows water out of the top. This is a grand tradition that the kids look forward to every year. I was safely keeping me and my camera out of range from this water, but I decided it would be worth it to run in and get a shot of Steve and Reagan getting cooled down.

Steve thought he was safely close to the fire engine so they would only be misted by the overhead spray of water. He was wrong. When the fire engine turned of the water the end of the waterfall slowly came towards the truck and before Steve realized what was happening he and Reagan were DRENCHED! It was awesome!

Reagan thought that was the greatest thing! She talked about it for weeks. Steve is so good to get himself soaked so that Reagan can have a little fun.

On the last day of our trip we decided to head into Bryce Canyon National Park. We have never actually gone into the park before. We usually stay just outside of the park. It is a breathtaking Canyon and the weather couldn't have been better. It rained a lot and the smell was divine!

Sky and Heather... Isn't the sky in this picture beautiful?

The little princess. Sometimes she does cooperate.

We just started potty training Reagan before this trip and here she is truly ruffing it with her very own porta-potty. I wish I had one of those!

We had a great time and look forward to this trip every year. Thanks, mom & dad for taking us!

Happy Birthday Mom!

This post is a long time coming, especially considering that my mom's birthday is in the beginning of July, but I had to wait because this picture was a part of her birthday present and she just got it. So now I can share it with all of you!

My mom is the best! She would do anything for me or anyone in my family. She is always putting everyone in front of herself. I just wanted to tell her

Happy Birthday!

Even though it is a month late! Thank you for all you do for us!

Spreading the news...

Steve and I are expecting our 3rd baby!

And we are so excited!

We broke the news to my family last weekend. We got chinese food and had special fortune cookies made and the fortunes had different things like #3 or Girl? or Boy? or my due date. It took a minute for the parents to figure it out, but they did and they are very excited.

Steve's parents are in Germany so we couldn't figure out a way that would be as fun, but we called them and put Reagan on the phone and she said "Baby in her tummy!" We had practiced with her to say "Mommy has a baby in her tummy" but she was just too excited. They got the gist of it and are very excited as well. We are hoping that the baby will bring them home a couple of months early, cross your fingers!

As for me... I am doing great! This has been my best pregnancy by far! I have felt slightly nausious on occasion, but really nothing to complain about. I am 12 weeks along and my due date is February 9th, 2010. Crew's birthday is February 11th so they will be almost exactly 2 years apart. We are extremely excited! Let the countdown begin!

Book of Mormon Experience

So it's been a little over a week since Steve and I returned from our Stake's Book of Mormon Experience with the Youth. We were called in February to be "Lehi & Sariah" of a family of youth during this year's Youth Conference. When we got the call I was so excited. The Stake had been talking about this experience for months and I was so sad to miss it when I was released from the Young Women's organization. This was my chance to participate, and I was pumped!

The experience turned out to be all I had hoped for and more. I think I actually got lucky being a Sariah because I was able to be right in the thick of things, while the ward leaders didn't get the same experience. After many meetings and trainings, we finally got to meet the kids in our family and jump in!

Although most of the Lehi's & Sariah's said this about their families, we had the best! They really were the best group of kids! We had one of the few large groups with 6 girls and 6 boys. It was a little awkward at first getting to know each other, but everyone put themselves out there and we clicked in no time.

Here are our kids on the first day. We had just met each other and we were still trying to warm up to each other. (I don't know who the little guy is on the top row on the left side. It was a hot day and he had found a place to sit in the shade and nothing we could do could get him to leave it.)

Our experience was filled with presentations of stories from the Book of Mormon, team building games, discussions within our family, water/flour/paint fights, great food, and so much more. Coming home was a relief and a challenge. I really grew to love my kids and had a surprisingly hard time telling them goodbye.

My favorite part of the whole experience was the last morning we were awakened by the sounds of earthquakes at about 4 am. The whole camp was shaking with the sound. It really was incredible. We gathered our family and went down to the ampitheater. We waited there for a bit in the dark and the sounds stopped. We then heard a voice who spoke in a language we didn't understand 2 times and finally in english announcing the coming of Christ. Just then a spot light shone on the roof of the stage and Christ walked up and greeted us as an audience and spoke the words as we read them from the Book of Mormon. It was incredible. He came down from the roof and called his diciples from the audience to join him. (They were the bishops from all of the wards and the Stake Presidency). He then left the stage and began to walk throughout the crowd, touching us and hugging us. He was talking the whole time. Truly, this experience was incredible. After he left, there was silence among all of us and the spirit was extremely strong. There weren't many dry eyes. We were instructed to go back to our camp fires and read the account of Christ coming to the America's. Never before has that passage been so real to me. We talked as a family about what we had just experienced and then turned the time over to our kids for a small testimony meeting.

It truly was one of the most special experiences I have had in my life. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to meet these kids and feel of their spirits. I am glad to be a small part of their lives as they have become a big part of mine. Together we were reminded what is most important and what we should be striving for.

I love my Savior and his gospel. I love that I know I will be happy if I follow his teachings and strive to be like him. I know that He is always watching and hoping we will do what is right and return to him. I hope I can make him happy. I can't wait to really see his face and give him the hug that I wanted to give the actor who portrayed him. One day!

California ~ San Diego

I really have the best intensions, but that never seems to be enough. I have so much to blog about it isn't even funny. But the good news is that this will be my last post about our California vacation. I am so happy to be done with these pictures! They did turn out great though, so I guess it is all worth it. I'd love to hear what you think!

Here is a picture of the whole group. This is the only one I got the entire week. Sorry family. We should have been better about that.

So on our last day in Cali my dad really wanted to go into downtown San Diego and see the fun little sea-side shops and maybe fly a kite. Reagan loves Mary Poppins, for those of you who don't know, and she has never flown a kite before so my dad thought it was time she did that. We decided to give it a try.

There was a little kite shop right on the coast and the owner found us the right kite for the weather and gave us some great tips. The guys got the kite ready to go and it seemed like the wind totally died. There were other people out flying kites (ones that looked like they did it for a living) and even they couldn't get their kites off the ground. I think my dad was kinda sad. But it was still fun. It did get up for a bit!

I was able to get Reagan to sit still for one minute while I got a couple of shots of her in front of the ocean. She was loving it.

My dad stole the camera at some point in the morning and got some pictures of our family. They had these amazing trees. You will see... I wish they had some around here because they were perfect for pictures!

You'll have to tell me which one you like better...

Here is the little stud. He was so good this day. The whole trip actually. Love him.

Reagan was pretty sick of the camera by this last day. I can't blame her, really. It was out a lot.

Here is my mom in front of the bay. Isn't she a beautiful woman? It was just her birthday and I bet none of you will come close to guessing her age. (unless you know my age, then you are cheating).

Reagan is beautiful. That is the only reason I am posting this picture.

After we spent awhile at the shops we decided to head over the biggest bridge I have ever been on to see this really amazing, old hotel. It was beautiful. I guess it was in a movie called "Somewhere In Time" with the guy who played the original Superman. I have seen a part of this movie, as Steve loves all things old and insisted that I see it. Unfortunately it is kind of long and I didn't last. But the hotel is as beautiful in person as it is in the movie. More so, I am sure.

They have this fun little walkway that has statues of different Dr. Suess stories. It was really neat. Can you guess this one?

Just beyond their gardens was their beach and it was beautiful and very well taken care of. Here are the kids looking at the ocean. They just couldn't get enough of the water.

Here am I with the Crew-man. (the only reason I am posting this picture is because I had a request for more pictures of me... I am not happy about it)

Here is a better picture of the little man. I thought he deserved to be shown in a better light, don't you?

Reagan insisted that we go down to the water and dip our feet in. You may not be able to tell by this picture, but the water was quite a ways away. We had been walking all day and didn't want to hike to the water for a five second dip. Reagan is lucky she has a Grammy who will do anything for her. She hiked down and let her put her toes in.

This is what Crew did while we waited...

One thing I couldn't get enough of while we were in Cali, besides the beach, were the flowers and plants. They were beautiful. They were so different from what we have here and I think that is what I loved the most. It seemed like every tree and bush flowered. So there was color everywhere. Loved it.

I took a ton of pictures of the greenery, but I don't think you will enjoy them as much as I do, so here are only a couple for you to sample...

As you can see, our trip was a hit! We had a great time and the kids did fabulously well. Can't wait for the next adventure to come our way!