Livin' it up

2 weekends ago we went all out and really enjoyed ourselves, since once the baby comes we won't be getting out much. :) So we went to the temple Thursday night (with Derek!), went swimming at the Lehi pool Friday, and went to a BYU basketball game Saturday. Sunday we were supposed to have a big cousin dinner, But I got sick and we had to cancel. Anyway, it was a fun weekend! here's the pics. And one of my belly at 36 weeks- a couple of weeks ago.

go Cougars!

Kate floating on her kickboard

Whit practicing going under

being silly

The boy room at last

Here's a final tribute to the cute purple room both of the girls slept in at one time or another. It's been our "reading room" for the last year and we've loved it. But it was time for the purple to go! We have now re-painted every room in our house except the master bedroom and the toy room!

We went with a gray and blue room for our little boy. Here's the light switch cover and a glimpse of the amazing job Eric did making the line between the colors perfect!
Here's the view from the door- we kept the reading corner intact for now. I made the curtain and the fabric in frames.
My favorite thing ever- the nursing couch! I made a new boppy cover because my old one was pink and flowery and did not match the room! We love the basketball lamp. And the BYU blanket was Eric's contribution to the decor. The white canvas sitting on top of the couch will be hung on the wall shortly.
An up-close of my canvas project: It was my first time

a) using my Silhouette Cameo

b)making a stencil

c)painting with a stencil

and d)painting on canvas.

It's not perfect but I love it. And I made up the saying myself. I should trademark it and sell it. :)
The undecorated wall and the crib. You already know I made the bumpers, but I also made the crib skirt. Sadly the cute line of trains and cars on it is perfectly blocked by the bottom bar of the crib. At least when we lower the mattress someday you'll be able to see them!
Crib close-up. He's going to be so tiny in there at first!
On this wall will go a name decoration when I finish it, and we're pretty sure it will say OWEN! We love other names too but this just feels right. :)

Kate can write.

The last month or so, Katelyn discovered she can write! She used to draw pictures occasionally when she was upset or happy about something- she'd disappear for a while and then bring me a picture. But all of a sudden she realized that she could sound out words and actually write her feelings! It has been SO CUTE, I haven't been able to throw very many of her notes away like I do the pictures. ( My children produce at least 10 pictures a day on average, so I had to learn long ago how to emotionally detach myself from all but the most precious of them and throw them away. In the kitchen trash so they wouldn't be found!) The notes seem like even more a part of her than the pictures did, and I'm just so proud of her for taking this step. She's really growing up and entering a whole new world of reading and writing! So fun. So here are a few samples of her notes, with the interpretation underneath. I love how she separates all her words with dots! Now if only English wasn't such a ridiculous language, she might be spelling perfectly already!

Sometimes she writes really sweet notes for Whitney when Whitney's sad. Or sweet notes for no reason, like this one with a picture of a pig too: "I love you Whitney very much how are you"

And other times she expresses her frustration: "I am not going in to the tub" but with a heart to soften the blow??

This time she was mad at me because I offered to trade her for some Christmas candy that she didn't like- she could give it to me and pick something else from my stash. But she misunderstood me and ran off crying, then came back later with this:

"Why can't I have fun dips from candy canes why? flip it over mom"
then on the back she wanted me to "write why_____________________" she couldn't trade me what she wanted. Well I cleared up the misunderstanding and everything was fine, and I got this awesome note to remember it by. :)

Then one day she must have been feeling artistic and expressive, because she handed me this paper and told me that she wrote a poem! It says: When we "de don" (she told me "de don" means "play") there's always the right kind of weather but after a while the weather begins to change
I loved it and told her she should enter it in her school's Inspirations contest in the literature category. She was excited and re-wrote it on a piece of paper I made with lines. Completely on her own she decided to change "de don" to "play", and she added another line at the end. SO the finished poem went like this:

When we play there's always the right kind of weather

But after a while the weather begins to change

All the little children run into the house

Pretty good free-form poetry for a kindergartener. :) And the best part is, she took second place out of all the kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders at her school! She got a big ribbon and got to go on the stage at the assembly and her poem is going to the regional competition. She also got an honorable mention for the clay sculpture she made. She was so cute and happy at the assembly and we are so proud of her. :) Next year she wants to make up and film a dance for the dance portion of the competition, and write a song for the music portion. That should be exciting. :)

Christmas and California

We had a wonderful, delightful Christmas season. So much fun, relaxation, focus on the Savior, and abundance of treats. :) Here we are all bundled up to see the lights at Temple Square on Christmas Eve.

Kate watching the Nativity display

Christmas morning was hilarious. We went to wake the girls up at 7:30, and Whitney would have none of our usual tradition of coming down the stairs one at a time so we can get a video of each reaction. She popped right out of bed and ran for the stairs. I tried to stop her but she was too quick and I raced down to get this picture! She was way too impatient to eat breakfast until all the presents were opened.

Kate with her pillow pet from Santa

One of the cutest things about Christmas is how excited the girls are to give. Obviously we try to emphasize this at the best part of Christmas! This is Katelyn excitedly grabbing her present for Whitney so she could open it.

And Whitney with said present. So cute.

We also loved going to church on Christmas, and spending Christmas night and the next day with the Murrays. Sorry I never take pictures when we're together!

This was Christmas morning number 2, 2 days after Christmas when we set up the dollhouse from Grandma and Grandpa Murray late the night before and they ran down to see it in the morning. Heaven!

Then we went to California, thanks Eric!! The girls got to see tons of family including 2 sets of great-grandparents, enjoy the nice weather and the trampoline,

they had plenty of time for wrestling their uncles and playing with their aunts...

and everyone was so nice and fun with them.

they also got to play with cousins (I didn't get any pictures!)

Last but not least, I just had to take a picture of the Haunted Water Park. Anyone read Percy Jackson? This place totally reminds us of a water park in that series. It's between Baker and Barstow, all you Californians know what I'm talking about. So creepy and funny!

3D ultrasound!

We just got a free 3D ultrasound from my awesome friend who works at the hospital, and we got a glimpse of our little boy's face! (He Who is Not Yet Named)

So then we had to compare to the girls' baby pictures! Here's newborn Katelyn (we had to find sleeping pictures to they look the same):

Here's the boy:
And here's Whit:
so cute! we think he looks the most like Katelyn, isn't that amazing to be able to see a little already??

Random!

I love Christmas decorations. I don't want to take them down. I want to buy/make more. I love Eric. I love that he always has the week of our anniversary off, it's such a great present to spend a whole week with him. I love visiting California. I love coming back to my own home. I love laughing with Eric about silly or terrible things our kids do. I love that my 2 youngest sisters and I are all about the same height right now. We should have taken a picture. I love that I will be having a baby in 35 days or so. I can't wait to hold and kiss him and lay on my stomach and hug Eric tight and run. But I'm also enjoying my last month with my youngest child a 3 1/2 year old. My last month not being a feeding/diaper-changing machine.:) I love listening to my girls play happily. I love it when my lesson at church goes well and I feel like the kids learned something. I love to sing. I love to pray. I can't wait to paint a room blue and make some New Year's Resolutions and have another sibling live in Utah with me and Katrina.
That's it for now.
Good night.