Gratitude a day #4

Today I am VERY grateful for Daylight savings. I LOVE fall back. It is so wonderful to get an extra hour of sleep! I am also super grateful for 2 little girls who were troopers staying up an hour later, so they would still wake up at their normal time. This pregnant mama needed an extra hour of sleep today! What did you do with your extra hour?

Gratitude a day #3

Today I am thankful for temples. I love my little family so much! I would hate to think that we would no longer be together after death. It is such a blessing to me to know that they are mine forever. I am so glad that I meet a man with the same goal to get married in the temple and to live a life that will keep those covenants in our life's.  Our world has became a very scary and wicked place. Raising kids right now makes me realize how important it is to teach them young about the blessings of the temple and show them how to act to go there someday. I know I do not go enough, but each and every time  go to the temple I feel so at peace and everything in the world just seems right. I love knowing that when our little boy is born he will already be part of our eternal family. :)

Gratitude a day #2

Today I am forever grateful for my love of cooking. I LOVE to cook! It is something that relaxes me and makes me happy! The super plus side is I get to make food my family enjoys! :)

I have always liked to cook. I helped my mom cook a lot growing up. It was not until I was married, I really fell in love with cooking. I found it so exciting to see my husband get all excited and ask for 2nd and 3rds. I learned how to tell whats food needed by smell, and what just a pinch of more spice would do to the flavor combo. I love searching pintrest for new recipes, reading over them, and the comments to see what changes I will make to the recipe (because I for the life of me can not follow a recipe ;))
I am such a dork. Every time I try a new recipe I get all excited and nervous about how my family will react and how they will like it. The good news is my family is sweet and always loves everything. Every meal they girls say k on three thank you mama. Then they count to 3 and yell thank you mommy! It is the sweetest thing and I love it.
So there you go. I am glad for my love of cooking...might be a weird thing, but I really am. Last night I made a big Mexican meal (recipes here) and just thought...wow this is fun!

Gratitude day #1

Nothing like a REALLY REALLY long lack of blogging to jump straight in and agree to try to do 30 days straight right? I am sure through them you will get an update. Plus I am sure if you do read this you also read Facebook and know the basics!

So for today I am going to go with this little man growing inside of me! I am very excited to add to our family in just 19 weeks! And to add a boy as well! I am very excited to learn how to be a mom to boys, and to see what changes I will have to make. We will see how switching from man to man defense to zone goes...

This pregnancy took us a lot longer than our others to get. I think we both took advantage of the ease we had with our first 2. Going through a miscarriage and 6 months of trying after really has made me so much more grateful for every discomfort that has come this time around! (and there has been lots of extra fun ones this time!)

He has been a little mover! I started feeling him about 13 weeks. Now he just goes nuts when ever I am holding still. He LOVES to kick my in the bladder. Guess he is getting in his soccer practice!

We have been talking a lot about names, and think we have decided on Brigham Kirk Stell. Hopefully that helps explain the B in the pumpkin ;). The girls really wanted him to have his own. :) (also I do reserve the right to change his name haha ;))

Jackie and Abby are so excited to have another baby. They both were hoping for a girl though! When the ultrasound tech told us it was going to be a boy, Abby looked up at her and told her she was wrong she KNEW it was a baby sister. haha! They are both coming to terms with the idea of a brother though. After all Jackie said they need someone to play robber when they play cops and robbers!

Derek is really excited to have a boy! After all the pink and princess in our home, I cant say I don't blame him! Lets just hope he likes hockey....and BYU! :)

So there you go blogging world. I am not dead. I am very much alive and growing a human.

Princess Abby is 3!

Dearest Abby,

Mommy can hardly believe that you are already 3! It seems just like yesterday I got to meet you for the first time. You sure have changed a lot in these 3 years. As a baby you were very easy going and let everyone have their way. As you have grown you have developed a very strong personality. You know what you want and are not afraid to fight to get it. I love how much you care about everything! It is so neat to see what is most important to you and how you are going to get it. (granted sometimes I wish you would just listen to mom!;))
Your favorite thing to do right now is wear dresses. You HAVE to wear a dress every single day, because as you say Princesses wear dresses, and you are a princess. Mommy did have to limit your dresses down to 2 a day. We were running out of dresses faster than I could wash them! Luckily for your birthday you got 12 more, so I can cut back on laundry ;)! You even sleep in your dresses, because how else does a princess sleep!
You have started to want your hair up, which makes me SO happy! I love to do your hair and get some time when we can just talk and giggle at our self's in the mirror!
You like to make jokes and love to make us laugh! Every morning when you wake up you come into my room and tell me all about your dreams. I love hearing about them (even though I think lots are made up!) and listening to you talk. You are a good snuggler!
You do not like that Jackie leaves you for school each day. You keep asking me when she is coming back. When it is time to leave to get her you shout YAY and run to the car. As soon as we get Jackie you ask her how her day was. I love how much you love your sister and that you guys are little buddies!

I love you Abigail. You are and will forever be my little princess!

Happy Birthday Sweet Jackie!

Can you believe my Jackie FIVE! I sure cant!

Dear Jackie,

I seem to remember 5 years ago like it was yesterday. I was walking around our apartment CONVINCED i the pain in my back was not labor. I was going to head into work. Your Grandma kept pestering me to go into the hospital to be checked. I decided I would go to the doc first. I went in and sure enough I was in labor. They sent me straight to the hospital.
After a while a was rushed into surgery because your heart was not doing so great. I still remember the little purple baby they pulled out. I did not get to see you for about 4 hours. It was one of the longest four hours of my life!
As soon as they brought you to me and I held you, my heart just melted. You stole my heart. You made me a mom. I love being your mother Jackie. You are such a cute sweet little girl! I dont know how we got so lucky to have you! You listen, are sweet to others, rarely do you cause fights with your sister. You are a peacemaker. You always want to make others happy. You are the easiest kid ever! You love to be by my side helping me at all times. I love that about you! Thanks for all you do to help me around the house!
I love how hard you try to do what is right. You always want to make sure that the actions you are doing are the best! You care what foods you eat, how much you play outdoors, and that what you are doing is something mom and dad want.
Everyone always tells me how much of a joy you are. Your Sunday School teachers always love you. They say you love to comment and help.
Never lose that sweetie! Always try your best, always do what is right!
School is starting soon. You keep telling me how nervous you are. Don't worry though sweetheart. You are going to do great at school! You have such a thirst for knowledge, you are going to love it. I have no doubt you will make some good friends quickly. I know you will learn lots and enjoy being away from home. I cant wait to see what you do with school.
Love,
Mommy!

Summer!

We have been enjoying our big back yard this summer! Best thing about our new place is that it has a HUGE back yard with garden area and fruit trees!

Jackie and Abby love looking at our garden and eating the cherries off our tree! :)



The girls love the slip n slide-and are slowing getting closer to making it to the end when they slide ;)



Our crazy sprinkler. Abby laughs her head off at this. She loves how it wiggles! lol



Swimming pool is their fav though!

Last week we had a big water party play date for our ward at our place. We meet some people which is nice! We are slowly making friends up here-and Jackie and Abby are loving that!

YAY for summer! Now lets hope we can stay cool with a swamp cooler! Wish us luck!

Life

Hmmmm sooo I guess I just dont blog anymore.....I think I am now soooo far behind that I hate playing catch up! So I am just going to blog like everything is normal-and I have been blogging all along haha!

Jackie started T-ball! She looks sooo cute in her uniform. :)


She is having fun and slowly getting better! Hopefully by the end of the season she will remember how to hold  a bat ;)


We are having fun going to her games. Watching 4-6 year olds play T-ball is entertaining. I love how they all run to the ball no matter where they are standing.

I love how they get so interested in the grass and dirt. It is pretty fun to watch! No matter what though as long as they get their treats at the end of the game life is good! ;)




I sure love my Jackie! She is such a cutie!