Phoenix Zoo Photos

Halloween Photos

Birthday Photos

Most of the photos from the baby blessing, Logan's birthday, and Travis and Sara's reception are on my mom's camera so I'll hopefully get those next weekend!

Utah trip photos

This picture of me with Jude is in front of a glass case holding the walking stick of my ancestor Jude (Markham) was named after, Stephen Markham. It's in the church history museum and it was pretty cool to see it in person! The display case said, "Cane used by John Taylor at Carthage- Both John Taylor and Willard Richards used canes to beat down the guns that the attackers thrust through the jail-room door. John Taylor used this knotted hickory cane to fend off the assassins until he was seriously wounded. The cane belonged to Stephen Markham." The family records refer to this can as his "rascal beater" lol.

Blake and Laura

Blake is in the Elder's quorum presidency and is really enjoying his calling and the people he works with there. He'll be taking his A+ certification test in the next few weeks so he's been spending all of his spare time studying for that. He is still loading trucks for his dad in the mornings and working at the 55+ apartments 3 nights a week. They're going to add on another day to his schedule in a couple weeks though which will make us eligible for health insurance. This job has been a huge blessing for us and he loves that it gives him a quiet place to study too! I am keeping busy with the kids and just got called to be a ward missionary. I'm starting school in December and should hopefully have my bachelors finished this time next year! I'm excited and scared to be back in school but I think this will be a good decision for me and it will be nice to finally have it done! I've been in school off and on since fall of 2003 so it's been a long time coming. I'm getting this degree in accounting and the plan is to do some small business accounting from home until the kids are all in school and eventually to do the accounting for Blake when he starts his computer company. Plus it will be nice knowing that if something ever did happen to Blake I would have something to fall back on to support the family. In other news, we're getting excited for Thanksgiving! My family is coming next weekend for our Thanksgiving celebration so I'm getting excited for hosting that and then we'll do the Pedersen party Thanksgiving day and the Walker feast the day after! We have an awesome family so we're pretty excited to see everyone and this is my favorite holiday and time of year so I'm excited for it to finally cool down!

Jude

Jude is 2 1/2 months old already and growing like a weed. He still eats every 2-3 hours and rarely takes naps during the day. He actually slept 5 hours straight last night for the first time so I'm hoping that will start happening more often! He wants to be held constantly and throws a fit whenever he's set down during the day and has a hard time sleeping on his own at night. He is kind of a hard baby but as long as I let him nurse whenever he wants to and hold him nonstop he's a happy guy lol. And I guess I have the added benefit of toned arms lol. He is pretty smiley and has even started giggling at things. He is really strong and loves to stand up on our laps. He has found his hands in the last week or so and likes to look at them and grab at things. He loves to play with my hair when he's nursing and has started reaching out and rubbing your face when you hold him. He is really long and skinny so he's still in 0-3 month clothes for the most part but they're getting too short in the legs and still to big in the waist. He is such a cute little guy and is my permanent sidekick since he won't take a bottle. He looks like a cross between Logan and Blake's baby pictures but with my crazy eyebrows lol. We sure love him and it feels like the missing piece of our family is here now!

Brin

Brin just turned four and is still a very independent little girl. She wants to do everything on her own and doesn't like being told how or what to do. We put a hammock on the porch a week or so ago and she loves to swing on the hammock and sing songs. She loves dressing up in her princess costumes and changes her clothes at least three or four times a day. She loves to watch movies and tv. Her favorite movie is Rapunzel and her favorite show is the Fresh Beats Band. She has had a really hard time being the only kid at home during the day and we are working on teaching her how to entertain herself. She loves to ride her new scooter and loves to go places. She still has a hard time saying the letter 'r' but has an extensive vocabulary. I haven't done a formal preschool with her but she has picked up a lot just from hearing Logan and from our occasional lessons. She loves girly things like getting her nails painted and having pretty hair but also loves things like bugs and dirt. Her favorite foods are jello and macaroni and cheese. She loves to "mother" and her baby dolls are still her favorite toys. She is very dramatic and makes a wide range of facial expressions. She is such a sweet girl and we love her to bits!

Logan

Logan turned six in September and is getting to be such a big kid. He is already chest high on me and growing every day. He loves school and is getting 100%s on everything in his progress report although we keep hearing that he needs to work on listening to directions. He does his homework on the bus ride home most days. He is a very thoughtful kid and is always looking for ways to help out. He loves to hold Jude and is very helpful in the kitchen. He has a very good memory and enjoys memorizing poems and stories for school. His writing has improved so much since school started and he can read short stories on his own now. He has picked up his phonograms very quickly and it has really made a difference in his reading and writing. He loves animals and loves to play outside with the neighbors dog, Duke, or inside with our cat, Batman. He is better at picking up his stuff in his room than Brin but hoards his things on his bed. I have to go in there every week or so and clear out all the clutter he accumulates. He loves scary things like zombies and vampires. His favorite toys are still his little Legos. He is such a good kid and I am so lucky to be his mommy!

Long overdue updates...

Since it's been so long since I last updated the blog I've got a lot to catch up on. Lets start with September... My baby brother got married in Utah so I got to take my first ever trip away from the kids (although I had to take the baby with me so I'm not sure it totally counted lol) and had a 5 day road trip with my parents and baby sister going there and back. It was so fun and I think all the sitting and resting in the car really helped me recover after the baby. Jude was so good the whole trip! He is my first exclusively breast fed baby so I had to pump in the car every few hours and then feed him by bottle but it was worth it. He has refused to drink from bottles since I've been home so I was really blessed that he took it on the trip. A couple weeks later, Travis and Sara had a reception here in Mesa so we got to see everyone again. Logan's birthday was also that weekend and we also blessed Jude that Sunday while everyone was in town so it was a very full and fun weekend! October was also a busy month. We kicked it off with general conference weekend then we had October break. The kids had a cold the first day or two which put a damper on things but we still were able to have a zoo day and a park day so it was still pretty fun. We met my family that lives in Yuma halfway in Gila Bend that Saturday and had a birthday party for Brin. She got totally spoiled and also had a party the next week with the Walker side of the family. I watched my old day care kids for a week in October and I am just so glad I don't have to do that anymore! The money was nice but I was so exhausted by the end of the day! I am so grateful to be able to just be a mommy this time around and not have to keep working. Blake had to work Mon-Sat the next week so that was kind of crazy. We had the ward Halloween party that Wednesday. I just got called to be a ward mission leader so I had my first meeting for that. It's kind of an intimidating calling for me but I'm looking forward to meeting new people and sharing my testimony of the Savior with them. We had a stake day of service on Saturday and helped paint a house for a single mom in downtown Mesa. I need to make more of an effort to do things like that with the kids because it was a really good experience for them. The kids had their primary program that Sunday and both did a great job. Halloween was this past week and the kids had so much fun! Logan was a vampire this year, Brin was Cinderella, and Jude was a cowboy. We went to Dave and Jodi's for trick or treating and a party and it was really fun to spend the holiday with the family. I got a bunch of cute pictures I'll post later. I can't believe how fast the time is going! It's already November! I'll do some kid updates in the next post. My apologies for the huge paragraphs. When I post from my iPad it doesn't let me separate the paragraphs.