Where would we be without mothers?  Obviously not here.  Besides bringing us into the world, moms do so much for us.  I am so lucky to have such wonderful mothers in my life.

First of all the GG’s – the Great Grandmas.  My grandmas have been a wonderful blessing in my life.  I have great memories of visiting grandma’s house or having them visit us.  Whether it was bringing cookies or making pancakes with powdered sugar, there was always a special treat from grandma.  Of course before they were my grandmas they were my parent’s moms.  They did a great job raising them.  And now they are my kids great grandmas.  My kids love to see them.  To have a story read to them or just to show them their latest trick.  I am so grateful for my Grandma Jean and Grandma Nettie.  Love you both.

What can I say about my mom?  She has been there for me since the beginning.  Always there to encourage and support me and she continues to do so.  She has worked so hard for 30+ years to teach me things that will make me a better person.  As you get older you start to realize more of the things that were done for you.  I see how crazy our schedules are with our kids and I realize what it was like for my mom.  It’s understandable why she could have forgotten to pick me up from soccer practice.  Don’t worry mom, it was only a 3.6 mile walk home .  I distinctly remember that experience, but what I don’t remember is the countless times that she was there to pick me up.  I guess we tend to remember the abnormal situations.  That’s why moms get taken for granted so much.  They do so much for us all the time that we don’t notice, or just expect.  Thanks mom for all of the things you have done and continue to do for me.

My wife is a wonderful mother to all of us.  Like I just said, there is so much that she does for us that goes unnoticed or unthanked.  There is the eternal laundry, cleaning, taxiing, organizing, somtimes cooking , early mornings with the babies, checking homework, helping at school, and love and support for all we do.  Kristin is an incredible mother.  We are so blessed to have her.  She keeps the family on track.  I don’t know what I would do without her.  I love you.  Thank you for all you do.

Thanks to all the mothers in our lives.  We love and appreciate all you do.

And click here for a little Mother’s Day humor

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Our little Maisy is growing quickly.  She is so cute and fun to have.  All the kids love her so much and give her a lot of attention.  I absolutely love having a baby in the house.  I could probably sit on the couch and hold and kiss her all day if I didn’t have anything else to do.  But with three others, that just isn’t possible.  But it has been nice to have a little more space inbetween.  The kids are a little more helpful and more independent and I feel like I’ve really been able to enjoy this sweet addition.  And Maisy is a pretty good baby.  She is getting to that age where smiles come and those cute baby coos.  She just wakes once in the night to eat and goes right back to sleep.  She is a bit fussy though during the day.  I can’t complain, she is consolable, just much more fussy than the other children I’ve had (I suppose I’ve been spoiled).  Thank goodness for binkis and a few spare hands!  And thank goodness for Maisy.  She is definitely a keeper!

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We made it home with everyone last night.  All the tests were normal and Maisy did just fine so they discharged her last night.  It was nice to finally get the IV out of her and all of the tape off of her hands.  Kristin got her dressed in her cute outfit and we left.

We were greeted at home with a banner and balloons and a throng of the neighborhood kids.  It took several minutes just to make it from the car to inside.

Once inside Emma and Meg were very excited to hold their sister once again.  They had all gone over 24 hours without holding her.  We are all so happy to have her home with us.

Cooper was happy to have his two ladies home, but he wanted to show us that he can ride his friends electric scooter a little bit more.

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I thought I would share with you the new look for 2008.  As time goes on we see that history repeats itself.  Fashions come in and go out and come back in.  Bell bottoms, big sunglasses, and of course the mustache.

I have grown out this authoritative look for 2008.  Everyone is very impressed with it.  It has garnered much attention over the past few weeks.  People can’t stop talking about it.  I have been told that I look like many people with my new look.  Here are a few of them.  (click on them to enlarge).  I think it will catch on.  In fact in our own family it already has.

They even made a Family Guy episode in honor of the mustache.  Kristin still hasn’t come around yet, but I know it will continue to grow on her like it is growing on my upper lip.

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Before church today we took some pictures in front of the tree.  We got some good ones.  I was then messing around with photoshop tonight and so I put one of those up too. 

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Our 2007 Christmas Card is now posted on the website here.  You can see Christmas Cards from years past here.  We hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas Season.  We look forward to receiving all of your cards. 

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Cooper’s preschool went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday. Kristin and Meg went along. They had a good time, but it was pretty cold. Cooper is really weird these days about long sleeves. He doesn’t like to wear them. Having something touch his wrists bothers him. After much fighting he finally agreed. As you can see by the pictures he was glad he had some warm clothes on.

They got to go on a hay ride and feed the goats. Meg really liked to do it all. She is wanting to be a big girl. She tries to do everything Emma and Cooper do. She does somethings better then them. She can turn the tv on, get it on dvd or tv. She is also wanting to be out of diapers. She comes home and gets naked. Unfortunately she hasn’t decided to go potty in the toilet. We have found a couple of choice deposits the last couple of days. Hopefully that will end soon.

Sophie, Sam, Oliver and Amy came by yesterday. It was fun to have them over again. The kids had a great time playing. We are excited for them to come back over on Sunday.

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Summer is definitely winding down. The weather has changed, the leaves are falling and we are keeping busy. We had a great summer. Emma and Cooper have been playing soccer. Neither of them are terribly aggressive. As you can see from some of the pictures Emma likes to be a few feet away from the ball. She keeps her feet moving but rarely does she try to get the ball. She had a good time playing for Thunder and she will be back with them in the spring. She is now in full swing at school. There are some funny stories from that, but I will add a different post to tell those – you will want to check back.

Cooper has continued to love to be anything but just Cooper. He still is into everything Pirate related. He has also decided he likes Cowboys. He doesn’t have any cowboy stuff, so he borrows McKenna’s boots and hat. As you can see by the picture, he likes to mix and match. I love it when cowboys have swords. With Halloween just around the corner, we thought he would be Captain Jack Sparrow. That would have been too easy. He fell in love with the Spiderman costume at the store, so that’s who he will be. He has already gotten more mileage out of it than most people get out of their Halloween costume and we still have a few weeks before the actual holiday. I am sure there will be days that he has the Spiderman mask, pirate hair, darth vader cape, cowboy boots and a sword. He is definitely one of a kind.

Meg continues to crack us up. She is talking more and more and has quite the personality. She is a little stubborn like the other ladies in the house. She doesn’t like to go to bed like most kids. We end up locking her in her room with the light off. She shares a room with Emma, but they usually can’t go to bed together. There have been several times that it has been an hour or so and she isn’t asleep yet. We open the door and the light is on and she is reading books. At first she took the step stool over to turn the light on. We learned to take that out of the room, but she evolved as well. She found that a doll house ladder could be used to push the light switch on. We now have to empty the room to ensure some darkness. As you can see, she is cute as ever.

We tried taking some pictures before church today. I will share them here. We hope you enjoy the update.

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We have been having fun in Washington DC. Yesterday while I was at meetings Kristin went for a run at the mall (Kristin was a little disappointed initially that the mall had no stores). She got tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument. We went to the top yesterday afternoon and got some good pictures. It was really interesting to see the special stones that have been donated from different states & countries that are on the inside of the monument. After that we went to the Holocaust Museum. Not as fun as the Washington Monument, but very interesting. My eyes were very tired after reading all of the stuff there.

On Thursday we rented a car and went to Charlottesville to see the Borgs. We were hoping to see Monticello, but about 15 mins after arriving at the Borgs house it started to pour. It didn’t really let up, so we just hung out and watched the BYU game. It was fun to see them. It felt just like old times. We hope to live closer in the future, so we can see them more often.

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