I just got back from watching the Hunger Games and it is AMAZING!!! I am so stoked about it that I'll probably have a hard time going to sleep now because I'll just be thinking about it. I loved loved loved it. Me and Nathan have been so excited for this movie for awhile because we read the books and the movie definitely doesn't disappoint the fans but I also think it catered well to those who haven't read the books and it explained the things very tactfully that non-readers may not have understood. Plus, they cut all the corny lines to make the scenes more real and not awkward and thankfully they skillfully portrayed all the violent scenes. They of course had to make slight changes to make it movie ready but they made all the changes in the right places, like the places that you wanted changed anyways. It was perfect. absolutely perfect!!

our car broke down and dad tried to fix it but couldn't so we ended up taking it to the shop but the boys had a good time helping him.
15 weeks...I think
So I went to get my hair cut at one of the beauty colleges on Saturday because I hadn't done it in almost a year and I slowly began to notice that all the hair dressers were wearing green, it was St. Patricks day and I didn't even know it, so as soon as I got home, we all got dressed up in green and we made ourselves a green smoothie. I went to the store to try and find some green candy but ended up getting gummy bears and picking out all the green ones. Then we played a game with the kids where daddy would hide a green thing in the room and then the boys would come out and find it and would get some green gummies for their prize. the boys had fun and then we had a little family dance party and me and Nathan tried to slow dance together for one song and be romantic but the boys kept trying to wrestle between our legs no matter where we moved and Benny came up and would press his head against Nathan's buns making it very uncomfortable. They're funny little guys. Here's a family pic of everyone in green.

The boys got the reading bug

daddy and the boys in green

Nathan was able to find an internship for this spring semester and it's in one of his favorite places... Arizona! He actually got it with his cousin Brandon so he's very very excited to be working with him because he thinks the world of him. So we'll be packing all of our stuff away in a storage unit soon and basically just be taking clothes and bedding with us to Arizona. We're very excited for a new adventure. The timing will work out just so that we will come back, have a few days to unpack and settle into our new apartment here in Rexburg and then we'll go to the hospital and have our baby so things will be very close together.

Benny was proud of this drawing and willingly posed for a picture with it. Benny is so smart and sky rocketing with his language skills. He can memorize passages from his favorite books and recites them to me and he memorizes dialogue from his favorite movies and recites that as well and he tries to use big words for his age like "embarrassed" or "frustrated." At least I think they're big.

Benny has displayed the more social, people-person personality and Ephraim has started to display his personality as the helpful one. He loves loves to help me around the house. Here he is helping me take the laundry out of the dryer and then I hand him the stuff from the washer to put into the dryer. We're quite a team together. He also loves fetching my boots and coat form me when he knows we're leaving the apartment. He also does the same for Benny. He's a very sensitive, sweet, and helpful soul.
can't resist those sleeping pics

vacuuming in the snow

so cute

rain or shine, the grass needs to be mowed!

I signed Benny up for gymnastics and he loves it. The pictures aren't great because I'm behind glass but oh well. Of course his favorite part of gymnastics is the treat at the end.
here he is jumping over cones. It's so cute watching the kids doing gymnastics.

hey ho everyone, we've had a couple busy weeks. Actually Nathan has. The amount of credits he's supposed to take to stay on fast grad is very very demanding, but he's definitely risen to the occasion and been working his buns off. It's been frustrating for him though because he's been working so hard and still feels like he's falling behind. We've been thinking about getting off fast grad this next semester so that he can resume taking a reasonable amount of credits and keep his sanity. Also it's probably likely that he'll have to find part time work too so a less hectic schedule would be welcome. Things remain less hectic at home with me and the kids. Although I know I don't get nearly as sick as a lot of women I still don't feel like stepping outside the house a lot of the days so poor Benny and Ephraim don't get much excitement or variety. Every once in a while I'll have the gusto to take them outside on a walk, or to some big toys. If school wasn't hard enough already, Nathan has also been helping me out a lot by doing the dishes a lot and giving me naps. He's my knight in shinning armor. I had my first ultrasound last week and got to see the baby!! They determined that my due date was Sep. 6th which means this will be an August baby since they're going to deliver a week early. I got to see him/her wiggle and move his/her little cute arms and stomach. The doctor also predicted that it was going to be a boy. The sex organs aren't developed at this point (10 weeks) but from the way it was looking he said it looked like it was leaning towards being a boy. I kinda had a hunch before this that it was going to be a boy so it was kinda exciting hearing that I just might be right. I'm very excited for another boy and Nathan is too. What a big surprise it will be if it actually is a girl.

Last week was also very fun because we had both of our families visit! First my mom and sister came down for two days. I asked my sister to come down so she could go snow boarding with me before I got big and couldn't do it anymore. Then kinda at the last minute Nathan decided to come too. Nathan was able to get a free lesson from a snow board instructor who was one of Julie's friend and that really helped him enjoy himself better. Unfortunately we couldn't stay all day because Nathan had a lot of homework but Julie and I were able to go on one run together just us. It was nice to spend that time with my favorite sis. Then a couple of days later Nathan's parents came and that was super nice too. Lots of good stuff happening.

lately Benny has gotten into the habit of experimenting with different surfaces instead of paper so I thought I would record all the cleaning he's been doing.

Thankfully he enjoys the cleaning up process as much as the coloring process.

Ephraim helped him make this one.

father son time.
Ephraim gets bored when his brother falls asleep

This is when we found out we were pregnant. the pregnancy test got cut out though.

Benny's Birthday

So, its' kinda been awhile but I'm proud to say that we now have a 3 year old among us. We celebrated Benny's 3rd on the 16th and I think he was very pleased with it. We started the morning off playing the hot and cold game to find his presents. Then later on in the day we went to the dollar store and he got to buy three toys with his birthday money. It made him feel very grown up I think. He was excited to hand the lady the money. He kept trying to give it to her before it was even our turn in line. He ended picking out a long neck dinosaur because we left his at oma's accidentally and he wanted a replacement and then he picked out a big, plastic dragon fly and then some skeleton dinosaurs. No doubt, dinosaurs are his thing. His favorite underwear are his dinosaur ones and he has me look for them if he thinks they might be clean and just misplaced somewhere. He also requested a sharp tooth cake. He actually requested a sharp tooth, long neck, spike, and three horn cake but I had him narrow it down. He really liked his cake. It was fun to make. On one of the ferns on the cake you can see where his little finger swiped it to taste the frosting. For the actual celebration, we invited all the family in town which was his cousin Brittany, Cousin Jenny and her two kids, Lilly and Zander and Ben but he was sick and didn't come. We had pizza and then we sang to him twice so he could blow out his candles twice. I think that was his favorite part. His eyes were just brimming with excitement and joy when we were singing to him because ever since I had my birthday in Dec. He's been anticipating the day when the birthday song would be sung to him. He requested the piece of cake that had the head of the sharp tooth on it. It was a fun time. Benny was also very excited days later when he got a birthday gift from grammy and grandpa, a harmonica! ever since he discovered it at their house he's loved playing it and to have it back again made his day. Anyways, it was a good day. We're sure proud of him. He's such a good brother and a quick learner and always trying to be good. We love him.

I'm so bad at remembering to take pics. This is all I got but we did get a video at least. Benny with cousin Lilly.
The beautiful sharp tooth cake. Obviously home made but made with love.

a little hint

Hope this picture gives you all a hint to some exciting new developments in our family

Well, only one more week of classes and I'm super excited. Nathan has been doing tons of presentations in his classes and soon it will be all over. I'm so proud of him. He's worked hard during the whole semester, waking up early and coming home late, always going to the tutor center for help with his math. Next semester is supposed to be pretty hard because he's taking this super hard math class, so we're told, plus he's taking more credits. He wanted to take this wood carving class or cabinetry class but they were the same time as his math class so he won't be taking any fun classes which is a shame. As for me, I've been having fun using the free facilities at the college. Since cross country ended awhile ago I've been going to some of the work out classes they have. I've tried turbo kick, hard to the core, abs of rock, cycling, and zumba. I can't say that I liked the zumba but I love the hard to the core class. I love having instructors because I'm very unmotivated to push myself in exercising without someone telling me. I'm so going to miss this free access to the gym and classes when we leave.

And as for the boys, they've been wonderful. Benny is still doing great in his underwear. He tries to hold off going to the bathroom as long as he can but he's good about making it before he has an accident. The potty dance precedes the actual event for the first 20 minutes. Ephraim has been growing and changing a lot lately. Not in the way he looks, he still looks like a sweet little, old man but he's got some new habits. He likes to read books now. before he couldn't stand still through the first page of a book but now he gets books from the drawer and puts them on my lap and just climbs up and makes himself comfortable. He still gets bored if you actually read the book but he does like to turn the pages himself and point to things. He's also becoming more conscience of messes and helps clean up. If his coat is on the floor, he'll pick it up and give it to me to hang up. He also likes to help pick up his toys and help me unload the dryer. He's such a good helper. He's also become a lot more clingy to me and surprisingly less adventurous. He was the kind of kid that would go down the tall big slide at the park without hesitating while I dashed to catch him before he hit the bottom. He was just fearless, but now he would rather sit on my lap and watch other kids playing instead. I took him and Benny to this cool indoor toy with slides and tubes, kinda like at McDonalds and he just sat on one of chairs and watched me and Benny playing inside (nobody else was there so I thought "why not join Benny in the big toy") and then he would cry if I tried to get him to go in with us. He's cute. I'm kinda enjoying this little change though because I get more cuddle time with him now that he prefers mommy to playing on the big toy. Anyways, I love all the changes that these boys go through.

Ephraim is emulating his brother quite skillfully

keep dreaming Ephraim

partners in mischief

one mommy, one daddy, and 14 babies!

ahh, nice and dry

I found this carelessly placed piece of evidence on the couch one day. It didn't take me long to find the source or the culprit.