Cute baby

Matthew is such a sweet baby. He fits so seamlessly into our family that it makes me wonder that I hesitated for so long over the thought of having baby number five. Definitely the Lord blessed me with such a sweet baby as a tender mercy.
It is also a wonderful blessing to have my boys around to help so much. They are good to get baby when he wakes up from his nap, change his diapers and feed him his meals. Although lately there hasn't been much love for feeding Matthew his baby food. The boys try to feed him too quickly with large bites and it is quite messy.

To help the boys not quable over feeding Matthew I made assignments today for Tom to feed Matthew breakfast and Charlie feeds him lunch. Quite often when the kids whine about random assignments I then give specific assignments so it then become their chore, and it saves them having to argue about who did it last time.

The girls are good at playing with Matthew and keeping him out of trouble. The cutest thing I over heard happened tonight when Lydia was unloading the silverware. Matthew was in the kitchen with her and she said,

"oh, you want to help me unload? Ok"
"good job" after each time he pulled out a silverware, in a falsetto, sweet voice.
"oh, good job" each time.
As I sat listening to it I realized too late that I should have videoed it.
We actually did get a video the other day of Matthew "helping" Charlie unload the dishwasher and it is the cutest thing. It really looks like Matthew is purposefully unloading, but there are a couple giveaway moments that show he is really just trying to get ahold of at least one dish to chew on it, but Charlie always grabs it just in time that makes it look like Matthew is handing the dishes up to Charlie.

I dont know why, but when the girls are in the office playing with Matthew they stick him in a big blue bucket we have and the amazing thing is he will happily sit there and play for at least 20 minutes before he starts whining wanting to get out.

One other cute thing, we don't have a nick name for Matthew yet, but obviously Lydia thinks Matthew is too long of a name to say all the time. All of the other kids have a one-syllable nickname-- Char, Tom, Bec, Lu. So Lydia (Lu- stems from her middle name Lucille) calls him Map. She does it very much on purpose and she does it all the time and it makes me want to laugh every time I hear her say it.

Halloween

We were in St George for Halloween and trick or treated in our old neighborhood. It was so fun to see old friends and see how much their kids have grown up.

Tom and Charlie got to go around with their cousin Dallin and they came back with bulging bags if goodies. The girls were sad that we wouldn't let them go with the big kids. Then they became annoyed with having to go around with daddy because he stayed and talked so long with everyone.

The kids love Halloween and got their costumes at least six weeks ago and they made sure they had them packed for the trip. I had nothing to do with any of it, they took care of everything, and for them thankfully so. Jeremy and I got back from our Vegas trip on Halloween and met up with them at 5 pm and they had themselves all ready. Honestly, I would like to have done something with the girls hair so it looked better, but there is always next time.

What every mom needs

a weekend getaway with their husband at a spa resort.

Technically we didn't go on a weekend, which is actually more cost effective. We were able to leave all 5 kiddos in St George with grandparents and we left on Monday for the Green Valley Resort on Las Vegas.

Monday, before arriving at the hotel, we first stopped at our favorite India restaurant, India Oven, for lunch. We love the spinach Palak and we tried a new to us dessert, Halwa, so good.

Then we checked in to the hotel about 4 pm and headed for the pool/spa area. This is included in the price of the room. We spent about 3 hours working out (me on the treadmill and Jeremy swimming laps), in the jacuzzi, steam room, and sauna. The spa area is so beautiful and relaxing.

After all the relaxing time we went ate dinner and then went to the movie theater that is there at the hotel.

Tuesday I meant for us to spend all day hanging out by the pool, soaking in the beautiful 78 degree weather. , but we ended up sleeping in, watching tv, stuffing ourselves at the breakfast buffet (loved the eggs benedict) and then going shopping. Right next to the hotel is a great shopping center that has REI, pottery barn, Anthropology, and Williams-Sonoma.

After so much shopping and walking we were more than ready to return to the relaxing spa. I love the steam room. The funny thing is when I lived in Florida I didn't appreciate the humid air, but at the spa that was my favorite place. As I thought about that I realized that it probably has to do with the fact that I only stay in the steam room for 15 minutes, verses in Florida I was living in it full time.

Wanting to take full advantage of our stay at the resort we didn't lounge around as much Wednesday morning because we wanted to go to the spa again before we had to check out at noon.

When Jeremy got into the pool to do laps the water aerobics class was just starting and he got roped into joining the class. Turns out he really liked it and would like to do another class again. I did treadmill and weights while Jeremy was in the water and had plenty of time left to sit in the steam room and lounge by the pool.

I didn't know I was the spa/resort type of person, but after this short get away I am and even though it was only two days it was the perfect size break and I feel rejuvenated and am looking forward to returning to my kiddos, and to taking them trick or treating.

Kids

Kids are so cute and funny. It's good to take time to capture the moments like these ones.

Becca and Lydia keep themselves occupied while I do school with the boys. Yesterday their activity of choice was to set up a stand where they were selling rocks and bugs. Fortunately they have kind brothers who came out and made some purchases.

Then there was Matthew, who is pulling himself up on everything. He is months old almost and although is already in 12 month clothes, he still is short in comparison to everything else around him. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him to remember his cute, short self.

Lydia is a goof and as she walked around with goggles perched on her head I knew this was another fleeting moment. Most kids go through the goggle phase and I have one super cute picture of Tom when he was a 2 year old with goggles on.

I have to capture these moments because all too soon they are 10, like Charlie will be tomorrow, and on and on they grow.

Family night

Fall is in the air, the leaves are changing colors and pumpkins are in abundance.

We went to the pumpkin patch and Jeremy chose a very large pumpkin. I don't know if he is actually going to carve it, but it is an impressive sized pumpkin. The girls chose some normal sized pumpkins and I really liked the tiny pumpkins, so we will have quite the variety of sizes.

I realized one reason we haven't made too big a deal about pumpkins in the past is because we have lived in places that are not pumpkin friendly. Florida and St George just don't get cold enough and if you try to leave pumpkins out, especially carved ones, they go bad quickly.

One year in Florida we didn't even carve our pumpkins until the day after Halloween.

After picking pumpkins we headed to the "south hills" we keep hearing about. Supposedly it is mountain-like with trees and camping areas. Looking at them in the distance that sure doesn't seem to be true, but we wee pleasantly surprised to find out it is true and it is a very lovely area we will be returning to often.

We brought along a tabletop BBQ, (but no matches, that is a story of its own) and the bb guns. While Jeremy attempted to spark a flame in order to light the propane the kids and I had a lovely time wandering around and shooting the bb gun.

Weekend fun

This weekend we were able to meet up with family in Salt Lake City and Park City.
Saturday was my nephew John's baptism on the Smyth side. We got to spend a short time with my parents and some of my siblings.

After the baptism we drove to Park City to spend some time with Jeremy's parents.

It was such beautiful weather and it is a beautiful time of year in the mountains with the leaves changing colors.

We went to the Olympic museum and also watched some skiers using the summer jumps that end in a pool of water.

It was a quick weekend trip, but it was a great time.