Before Time Slips Away....

It seems like for the past few months I have devoted my blog solely to the pregnancy and haven't given these little ones enough attention.

But believe it or not, I really do love these kids!

Braddock is growing up so much. I can't even really call him my little toddler anymore because he is becoming more and more of a big boy every day. For Christmas, Jim bought him a book to practice his alphabet in and since then, he willingly sits down at our kitchen counter every morning and practices writing his letters. I thought it would be a chore to get him to do it, but I don't ever even need to ask him.

I had to post this next picture because it describes Braddock perfectly. He has always been my very bashful little child. In fact, today we were watching "Snow White" for the first time and when he saw the dwarf named Bashful, he said, "Hey mom, he's like me!" It always takes him a while to get out of his shell when we are around people he is unfamiliar with, but when he gets to know you, he can be a real sweetheart.
And then there is Emma who is quite the little spit fire. She is independent in every sense of the word and determined to figure out everything herself. A few days ago, I caught her looking at one of her puzzles and sounding out the names of the animals on it! Ummm yeah..what? And I can't really take the credit either for her ability to do so. I blame it on the Leap Frog Letter Factory video which she wants to watch all the dang time!
She also loves to put together all sorts of puzzles, sing songs at the top of her lungs ("Nephi's Courage" is her favorite), and she especially loves to watch me get ready in the mornings. It is funny to me that she is so incredibly fascinated with things such as me blow drying my hair and plucking my eyebrows. She loves lip gloss and nail polish (Santa finally had to get some for her to have of her own because mine were constantly running low). She is all girl, but definitely knows how to hold her own with her brother!

Currently, their favorite book to read is "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" by Dr. Seuss. I look forward to reading this to them before their afternoon naps because they laugh out loud every time I read it. I'm not sure what is so funny about it - apparently they know something that I don't - but hearing their little chuckles never gets old!

I know with all that I share about my children it sounds like I am boasting, but don't get me wrong, life ain't perfect around here! In fact, last week I was really struggling to keep it together with them. On one particular day, I was becoming so irritable with the constant fighting between the two of them and their unrelenting demands for drinks, snacks, or just for me to give them some kind of one-on-one attention. By the time 8 PM rolled around, I hurried and laid them in their beds, said a quick family prayer, and then hurried to my own bed to CRASH!

It was wonderful to finally relax and have some ME time, but after only five minutes of doing so, I could hear my little ones crying once again in need of something.

By this point, my irritability level had skyrocketed and I was not in any mood to be patient or tolerant. As I hollered rudely for Braddock to come to my room to tell me what he needed, he slowly walked to my bedside with his head down and his bottom lip quivering. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "I just want you to read us scriptures because you forgot." Then little tears came streaming down his face.

You can only imagine how I felt at this point.

Yeah, like garbage.

After this little incident, I had to eat a slice of humble pie (or maybe stuff my face with one) and realize that I was the one in the wrong.

I am so grateful for these little ones who are always reminding me of what is most important, which is our family and how inportant it is we show love to one another.

Last Week

So last week, I almost had the baby. Just kidding, but I wouldn't have blamed my body for going into labor early after all the things I did last week! This week, I am feeling the affects of it all - I'm extremely tired and sore, but happy and relieved at the same time at the fact that I got so much done.

First, let's start with baby's room. So about a month ago I painted the crib. It was originally black, but I painted it green. To make a long story short, I didn't like it. Every time I would pass the by the room, I would cringe. After many sleepless nights, I decided to just take on the task of painting the darn thing again.

So, I painted it brown.

Then I realized that it was not blending very well with the walls.

You can only guess what I did next.

Yep, I painted the walls.

To my dismay, I still was not satisfied with the look of the crib.

So......I painted it again.

This time a blue-gray color - Juniper Gray to be precise.

After three days of working on this, I finally completed the nursery and I LOVE IT!

Might I add that for the three days I slaved away in here my husband had no clue. I had to keep it a secret because I knew he would stop me if he caught me in the middle of it. You see, he doesn't like when I do things like this to myself when I'm 33 weeks pregnant.

But, when all was said and done, I opened the door to the baby's room for him to see and he was amazed.

Oh, and I also repainted the changing table......

.....and the nightstand.
(I'm pretty sure Juniper Gray is my new favorite paint color from Wal-Mart).


Now, I must tell you about my next project. It has to do with organizing the closets. Ugh! For the last year, I have completely neglected some of the closets in our home because it always has seemed so overwhelming to even think about cleaning them out. Then I went to my dear friend, Kassie's home and discovered this idea.

What?! Using a hanging shoe rack as storage for anything BUT shoes?!

Yes, please.

In the baby's room, I have things such as lotion, wipes, ties, belts, creams, powders, etc. stored in these pouches.

Using this in Braddock & Emma's room has helped to create so much space! Things like Play-do, doll accessories, crayons, action figures, magnetic letters, styrofoam bullets (we have many of these!) and ties get stored away here.

I must say, I love having order, but I never know sometimes just how to go about creating it. This has sure been a great organization tool for us!

And last but not least, Jim's 27th birthday was last week! We went out for his birthday Wednesday night, which was so much fun! I can't say we did anything over the top - just dinner, a movie and church-pant shopping, but it sure felt like a vacation to me!

We went to Red Robin, where we ordered lots of french fries with yummy fry sauce, big fat hamburgers, and chocolate shakes.

Seriously, it was heaven.

I don't know when the last time was that I ate such delicious, fattening food.

We came home that night to these little sweethearts with a miniature store-bought chocolate cake, so they could sing "Happy Birthday" to their daddy.

Regardless of the bluriness, this picture is priceless.

I sure love them.

So yes, the week was busy, but I can't complain. We crossed things off our to-do list (well, at least I did) and celebrated our favorite man's birthday!

Now, I must go and finish up our taxes. Ugh.

I think I Just Might Buy.

Lately, I have been spending some time on Etsy looking for some much needed baby items. You would think that after having two children I would be very prepared for our up-coming little one, but I'm not. Plus, I don't care how many children you've had - It is always fun to shop for baby (and for yourself).

So right now on my list of purchases is a diaper bag - one that does not actually look too diaper-baggish and can function as a purse too because I really hate carrying 50 things on my shoulder.

I found this little beauty.

And oh, how I love it! And the best part is that it is only $25!

Maybe you think it is hideous or that it has the 1980's written all over it, but I think it's adorable!

Next on my list is a diaper clutch. I didn't even know these existed until I spotted one on my sister's blog.

What an ideal item to have! It has always bothered me in the past to pull out crinkled-up diapers that look like they were once used, but they actually weren't. They were just stuffed at the bottom of the diaper bag where all of the cracker crumbs stuck to them.

Now the diapers and wipes can be contained in a cute, safe little place!

That's what I'm talkin' about.

What are your favorite baby items? I'd love to know!

Winding Down

Time for another pregnancy update!

It is amazing how fast this tiny little person inside of me is growing! This morning I lay in bed thinking about what a miracle it truly is to carry a child and watch them grow. What was once the size of a sesame seed, is now the size of a pumpkin!

And can I just say that this is one squirmy little pumpkin?! My other two were quite mellow in the womb compared to this kid. I am preparing myself for a very busy child!

The first picture shown below is of me at 25 weeks........

5 weeks later............................

..........................................

And this is how I look!

I think my legs decided to balloon up alongside my belly....and the best part is - I DON'T CARE!

This may be our last baby, so I am trying to enjoy every part of this pregnancy. I quit working out at 23 weeks because my contractions were becoming stronger and more consistent, so I figured a 20+ week vacation wouldn't hurt. Plus, I have the rest of my life to work out, right?

Last Thursday, we were able to do a 3d ultrasound. Can you say AMAZING?! I feel blessed to be having babies when we have such advanced technology to see incredible things like this!

This little person spent most of its time sucking on its pinkie finger. We got this picture just in time before it stuck that little finger back in his/her mouth.

We also discovered during the ultrasound that our child is measuring at 32+ weeks. They told me this when I was not even 30 weeks! Lovely.
One of my concerns with this is the fact that I cannot be induced with this child because my last one was delivered by C-section. Because we would like to have a VBAC delivery this time, my doctor says I have to just let this baby come when it is ready - no Pitocin for me!
So we're praying this baby chooses to come a couple weeks early. :)

My original due date: March 4th
New due date: February 17th <--------------we want that one!


Here is one last picture to leave you with. I am already in love with this little face and so very grateful for the opportunity to mother another little one. Life certainly is a miracle and a blessing!

Home For Christmas

I'm just going to be honest when I say that I have become quite discouraged with blogging. Most of my disappointment with it is self-induced, but for the last year I have had little desire to be a dilligent blogger.

Why such little motivation?

There's lots of reasons. Namely, Facebook, life never slowing down, the pregnancy, and just lack of interest have all contributed to such little blogging effort, BUT I want to make changes. I want to make sure the important things and sometimes the not-so-important things are being jotted down because they are afterall what make up my life. As I look back and read previous posts, I realize I would have never remembered some of these things if I hadn't taken the time to blog about them.

SO, here's to a more dilligent blogger!

Now, onto the good stuff.

Most of you know that I am very passionate about Christmas. I absolutely love this time of year! The commercial part of it really bothers me, but when it comes to being snug in my tree-lit home listening to Christmas classics, I'm all for it!

Here is a glimpse of the Epps Family home in 2010.

Above: Our dining room table arrangement. {Frosted berries make everything better}.
Our little tree that I sit and stare at every night before bedtime.

The mantle in all its Christmas glory!

Homemade noel blocks - I was in charge of a project for Super Saturday and came up with this little display. All it took was some 2x4's, a little paint, stain, festive paper, and VOILA!

Our homemade stocking made with TLC by my wonderful mother.

I love her and I love these.

The Christmas cabinet. (I painted it red a couple of weeks before just to make it feel a little more like Christmas in my livingroom). Pathetic, I know. Jim calls it obsessive.

The candy canes that hang on my mantle just make life sweeter.

So there you have it. This is what Christmas looks like in our neck of the woods!

We hope you're enjoying this wonderful time of the year as much as we are!

Dear Santa,

I have been lusting after Petunia Pickle's Chocolate Decadence Diaper Bag for quite some time. .........

I know it's $350.00, but you're Santa, so maybe we can make this work for me somehow.

Ahhh, if only.

Thanksgiving in the Desert

This past Thanksgiving, our family had the privilege of going to our homeland - Arizona. I must say that the weeks before this trip, I was not as excited as I should have been. There was lots of things going on that made me think our family should reconsider and just stay in Utah for the holiday. However, we ended up going anyway and I can now say that I am SO HAPPY we did.

After 10 hours of ongoing driving, we entered the beautiful Phoenix valley and a flood of emotions instantly came over me. In the last 5 years that we have been away from Arizona, I can honestly say that I have never felt so sick for "home" as I did this last time we visited. It was an absolute joy to be with family and friends that we rarely get to see!

Our 11 hr drive there went perfect! My kids were little angels and seemed rather excited to get to be with their Grandma and Grandpa Epps.

Emma spent most of the drive doing this. Sometimes thumb-sucking is a plus!

We spent much of our time at Jim's grandparents, who by the way, took such great care of us! Luckily, the weather was beautiful while we were there ( 70's & sunny), so we took lots of walks around the neighborhood and played out in the backyard. Emma could not believe her eyes when she saw that there were palm trees in Arizona. She thought those were only on "The Jungle Book".

One of our nights there, we were able to go out to dinner with some close friends, the cute Hill family and Tyler with his adorable kids ( I am so mad I did not take more pictures of this!)

I did however manage to get a prego picture of Cara & I.

Look what a cute pregnant lady she makes! She is 4 weeks ahead of me and is as tiny as ever - definitely all baby!

One of the reasons we ventured to Arizona was so that Jim could help his dad remodel their home that they purchased in Queen Creek. My little ones LOVED going with dad to "help" because it meant they got to play outside on the farm.

They spent most of their time running around in the chicken coop. It amazes me that simple things like this can keep kids entertained for such long periods of time.

Also, I must make note that my kids witnessed first-hand the slaughtering of the farm turkey, whom we ate on Thanksgiving Day. It was a first for me to see a turkey's head get chopped off and well.....let's just say my kids handled the whole event a lot better than I did! Braddock & Emma were thrilled with the whole thing and thought it was great that they got to collect all of the feathers that were being plucked off the dead bird while I, on the other hand, laid down flat on my back in the car just to keep from passing out!

Thanksgiving Day was a success! The food was outstanding (even the turkey), the weather was perfect (just right to enjoy our dinner outside), and being with the family was something we certainly treasured!
It was nice to just sit and relax - something we rarely do- and visit with all of the family.

One thing I have come to learn about the Epps family is that they have some great stories and life experiences that I could sit and listen to for hours!

Oh, and we can't forget the wrestling! If you go to an Epps' household, plan on lots of it! I think Braddock is fine with that!

(Braddock wrestling with his Uncle Darrell)

Here is a picture we were able to take of all of us together.

Can I just say I love this family?!

I am so SO grateful for their strong testimonies of the gospel and the great examples they are to my family, especially to my children.

I didn't take any pictures of this event either, but we were able to be at church with Jim's parents when his dad was called to be 1st counselor in the Bishopric. Braddock & Emma thought it was so cool that their Grandpa was sitting up at the stand.

Once again, I am so grateful for these wonderful people!

So there you have it! Thanksgiving in 2010 was a succes! We really could not have asked for a better one. Of course, the time flew by while we were there and I am missing Arizona already, but we hope to take trips down there more often!


Oh, and one more picture that I must post because it makes me laugh every time I see it. One of the days that we were there, Emma grabbed my camera and asked me to take a picture of her (???) So, of course I did because you can't resist when your two year old daughter makes such a request. BUT, the funny part about all of this was that she made specifications of how she wanted to be posed. She wanted to be sitting on the dresser, by the window, looking sideways.

This was the outcome.

Oh, how I love her.

Now, I will end this post.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!