Mad Marchness

As you have seen, all my boys have their birthdays in March. Super good planning on our part, huh? In addition to 3 rowdy boy bdays, Jeb and I have our anniversary in March. What that means is that all the boys in my life have come to me in March. What that means is that March is my favorite month. It's a crazy, busy, exciting month, but it's even better than Christmas.

Who'd have thunk it? I can see Jeb and me sitting in my parent's living room on the multi-color couch in front of the big window, the bird dive bombing Jeb's head (since he was the newbie), with a calendar on our laps. My brother and his girlfriend were there, as were the rest of the family. It was my parent's anniversary and also the day that Jeb proposed. We were picking a date. We needed a little bit of time, 6 months maybe? We check the school's schedule and see spring break on March 22nd. That gives us 5 months to get ready and time off for a honeymoon. March it was.

Fast forward 15 years and now in addition to my guy, I have 3 more boys plus 2 girlie girls to count as mine. My engaged self would never have believed that this was in store. Also unbelievable would be the absolute bliss that would come as a result of it.

Oh, little newly engaged girl. It is so good. So incredibly good. You have no idea. Just you wait.

H.R. Fluffinstuff

One year ago, we welcomed the biggest of our babies and things have been as big of a surprise every day since. It seems like when Holden was born something in the universe cracked, and he and I have been working ever since to repair it. He is a chubby cheeked, big blue eyed baby, and with every new chin or roll of leg chub came a new adjustment we made together, my Fluffy and I.

He is a soft, quiet boy, who was meant to be in this big family of ours. He loves to be in a crowd, mostly because that means he's being held, but just sits back and takes it all in. He is loving, and sweet, and cuddly, and just wants to be in mama's lap.

He loves to laugh, loves to smile, and loves to eat (anything except baby food peas. Real peas are okay, but don't mess with the baby food ones. It's a no go). He blows kisses, claps, waves hello, and also waves bye - which is completely different than the hi wave, by the way. He says mom, and just this morning started saying uh-oh. Ask him "Where's Fluffy?" and immediately he disappears with a cover of his eyes. He then reappears with a huge smile on his face to show you "there he is!".

I love my big boy. I could eat him up all day long, if he'd let me. Heaven knows there is enough of him to last that long. But I wouldn't change one thing. Not one roll on his wrists, chubby dimple on his hands, or day he's blessed us by being here.

Hudson turns 3 (although he won't admit it).

My Buster Blue is now 3 years old. But, as much as we try to tell him that, he is adamant that he is still 2. Ask him how old he is, and he'll tell you 2 all day long. Which is just fine with me.

This kid has grown so much in this past year. Too bad his tiny little bean pole body didn't get that message, though. He's my runt, and I love it. But he has learned to talk, and boy howdy, he never stops. In the car he is constantly singing songs to himself, or calling out all the trucks! cars! and GARBAGE TRUCKS! he sees. Garbage trucks are his thing. He absolutely goes nuts for them. The bigger and louder the better. And any construction, moving, or big truck of any kind is categorized as a gah-bahge dwuck. But, the real live green stinky kind are definitely his faves.

He absolutely hates it (HATES IT) when Leah plays the piano during the day. I'll just hear him loudly demanding "Boo! Get off the pa-doh!".

He still says some funny things like topper-topper for helicopter, jump-a-bean for trampoline, riggit for ribbit, and, our favorite, cycle moto for motorcycle.

He is very intrigued by everyone's full names right now. His baby brother is Ho-den Woodof; biggest sister is Agabell Mree, and the aunt he loves is Ambo Kevin. And if you call him the wrong name by mistake (or not by mistake - it's super fun to tease.) he'll let you know "I'm Hudson-no-Mitcho!". I love it.

He goes to nursery now and loves it. He has 2 men who are his teachers in there with him. He calls them "the dudes". He definitely has a favorite between the two dudes, and we have to check through the window in the door if he is there before he can go inside. When he spots the dude, he gets all excited and proclaims "the dude's home!". Then he will run inside and love the next 2 hours.

When put to bed, he must, MUST have 3 things said to him. Sleep can not and will not come unless these things are said. Love you (to which he replies wuv you), night night (nuh night), and buh-bye (whispers buh-bye).

He still sticks out his tongue when he eats. But now, in addition, he spits it out whenever a word has the letter L in the middle of it. He says b-lah-ue, and pi-lah-ow with a big sticking out of his tongue.

Hudson is a crazy monkey, for sure. He has a sound effect for everything. He loves to hang out with the big kids and manages to keep up just fine, thank you. He is our wild, curly haired, dramatic weirdo, and he makes every day an adventure.

It Really IS Great!

This was a big year for my Bubba Lubba. He has finally, no I mean FINALLY, made it to his baptism date. And he would tell you that it has taken way more than 8 years to get there. This kid has been ready for his big day for quite some time now. The only concern he had was if the water was going to be cold. He asked the Primary presidency. He asked his friends. He even wrote a letter to his cousin serving a mission in Missoura (no, not Missouri. Missoura. He's really immersed himself in the work down south). It said "Dear Garrett. I am getting baptized!! Was the water cold for you?" But no matter the temperature of the water, he was ready.

We had a beautiful day with all our favorite people. We are so proud of our Bubba Lubba, and can't wait to see what is in store for this sweet, tender hearted boy.

Bubba's Birthday

With the blowing out of those candles, suddenly my chubby, happy baby with the giant mouth and smile to match, is an 8 year old.

Harrison is my sweet boy. He's rough and tumble, for sure. And he can pull some faces that will make everyone at the table do a spit take during dinner. But inside that goofball is a tender heart that just loves to make others happy.

Bubba is smart as a whip, and loves to be his teacher's helper in school. He has some really good friends and is so happy to be able to go to scouts with them (finally).

His favorite things are Legos, reading, and the show "Wild Kratts" about animals. And, if left to his own devices, would turn into a Wii zombie. Gotta watch that kid around video games.

Happy, happy birthday, Bubba dear. Thanks for being such a good brother and a good friend. We love watching you grow, but would love it even more if it weren't going so fast.

Give me an A! Give me a B! Give me an I! Oh, you get the idea.

Abigail came running home from school the first day back after being off track for a month. She was waiving a paper wildly in her hands. It was for a cheer camp up at BYU (down at BYU?) for that weekend, and she really wanted to do it. No, no. She HAD to do it. It was 2 days worth of cheer camping, with the culmination being participating in a dance WITH THE BYU CHEERLEADERS during the basketball game. I mean DURING THE BASKETBALL GAME! Can you even imagine?!?

I know. I know. I get it. She's cheering for the wrong team. Seriously. But, I lost that battle a long time ago when she and her dad would go to the football games together. It's their thing. And as much as I would love it if she were a staunch Utah fan, I love that she loves her dad and gets to have that connection with him. Love it. Besides, who can argue with the all caps and exclamation points she has in excitement for the cougs? I mean, it was THE GREATEST DAY OF HER LIFE!

At the gym during the camp.

Getting ready for the big show.

In the tunnel waiting for her cue. Where's Abigail?

And she's on!

That head in the way is the President of BYU, Cecil Samuelsen. I just have to mention that he graduated from the University of Utah. That's where BYU goes shopping for the really good candidates. You know. Just sayin'.

This head in the way just so happens to be Russel M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. You bet we snuck down into the really, REALLY good seats to get a glimpse of our girl.

It will never matter what team she cheers for. I'm always just going to be the biggest fan of Abigail's. I mean, look at this face. I was so proud for her to be a Cougar that day, my heart almost burst out of my chest. Rise and shout for sure.

The Oh Face

Holden started making this Oh face like crazy. I've only managed to catch it a couple of times, and I looohh-ve it.

A trip! To somewhere cold!

Because I am so crazy and spontaneous, I kidnapped my 10 month old boyfriend and hopped on a plane to the crazy and spontaneous town of Baltimore. In February. Woot Woot!

Actually, grandpa got a promotion at work, and he was sentenced to one solid month of training in the winter wonderland that is Baltimore. And since he and grandma are practically joined at the hip, she was going with him to hang out in the hotel for a month and be there when he got back from training. Which is good, since my dad turns into Harry from "When Harry Met Sally" when she's gone. You remember the part "I'm just going to lay here and moan". Go, ahead and find it. We'll wait.

Anyway, Holden and I wanted to go and hang out with grandma and see what Baltimore looked like in the winter, so we used our flight benefits and the flying is free for under 2 benefit and headed on over. What did Holden think of the plane? A hooray and thumbs up from him!

This picture is for Leah. Every time she and I would talk on the phone once I got to Baltimore, she would say "Mom? I have a question. Soooo, what's it like on the plane?" And I would tell her that it was pretty squishy, and feels like when you are in an elevator, only bumpier, and that we had TVs on the seats in front of us. And then, the next day when I would talk to her, she would read me the grocery store ads for awhile, and then say "Mom? I have a question. Soooo, what's it like on the airplane?" And I would tell her the same thing every day. The only thing that varied in our conversation was which grocery store ad she would read to me.

And here we are in Baltimore! Doesn't it look super exciting? I know! Call your travel agents now and make your reservations!

Flying Ace Fluffy did awesome on the flight. He ate, he smiled, he slept. Just like we had rehearsed.

When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by a bundled grandma and papa. By then they knew all the ins and outs of the Charm City. All the good Subway sandwich shops, where the Kinkos is, and most importantly to never, NEVER turn left out of the hotel.

Fluffy was just glad to see his grandma and papa again. It had been awhile.

During the days mom, my boyfriend and I walked and shopped, and shopped and walked around. It was so nice. At night, we'd get the baby to sleep, have him wake up 10 minutes later, poop 2 times to ensure that he could stay up, and then we would retreat up to the hospitality suite until either grandpa fell asleep downstairs, or security was called on us because of our all nighters with a tired baby; whichever came first. See? I told you Baltimore was awesome.

What was Fluffy's favorite part? Getting to touch grandpa's moustache. Baltimore will always hold a special place in his heart because of that momentous moment.

Thanks for letting us come and party like hotel freeloading rockstars with you, mom and dad. We had a great time.