Our November was one to remember! Randy was the assistant coach for Graham’s basketball team and they had a blast! Graham played super well, scored quite a few points for his team, and leaned into being a better basketball player! Clarkson loved to color and try to run on the court like a little menace! And Wells was such a good brother and would cheer!

We went to see The Nutcracker which is a favorite family tradition of ours. The boys love watching the dances and getting ice cream after. This year was fun as always, and we can’t wait to bring Clarkson with us soon!

The day after The Nutcracker we always decorate for Christmas. This year we had our new record player and Christmas music, fun jammies, hot cocoa, and we had the best day ever decorating and being together.

Thanksgiving was magical this year too! We went on a family run and Graham and Wells are SPEEDY. We ate with both sides of the family, lunch and dinner, and ate so much pie! The kids made a movie for us and it was SO fun to see them so excited about writing the script and filming.

Graham had hero day where mom dressed as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and he shared info about her, and helped his class decorate collars. It was so special!

We did Black Friday shopping, mom held Survivor for her friends, and Clarkson went to Nursery for the first time. A great month of getting in the holiday spirit!

October was a wild month for our family, Randy was out of town most of the month and we spent a lot of time doing fall activities! We had a ball at the fall pumpkin patches, on field trips, on hikes to see the fall leaves. There were lots of tears from all of us as we were sick and missing Dad. But we did it!

We spent a day at Frightmares which was fabulous! The boys had the best time and loved all of the rides so much.

We sat courtside at a Jazz game and the boys were spoiled rotten. We went to the fancy dinner club, got tons of treats, had the Jazz bear come hang out with us, got on the jumbo tron, and got onto the court. It was the best game ever and the boys were so lucky and excited! Randy and I got to go to the BYU Utah game which was also such a blast!

Our Halloween was a blast with everyone dressing up for a Mary Poppins costume, and the boys being Axolotls for trick or treating.

Clarkson also turned 18 months. He is the best baby ever and we adore him. He’s the best scooter rider, says a few words, screams to get what he wants, loves the water more than anything, will grove to any music, requests APT to listen to every time we get in the car, loves eating any kind of food but particularly loves yogurt, cheese, and DRINKS.

Everyone is officially back in school and we are happy and sad at the same time! I’m so proud of the boys for their hard work, but also sad we aren’t all together at home all day. Wells felt VERY mid about going back to school while Graham was devastated to be heading back. Wells didn’t really care, he wasn’t sad and wasn’t happy. Graham always struggles with change and was sad to be going. He was nervous for his new school and making new friends, but he’s already been killing it.

Wells helped a new kid be relaxed about going to Preschool when dad dropped him off and we were so proud. He’s so adventurous and brave. Graham is so smart and thoughtful. Clarkson is so playful and silly. we love them all!

We spent Labor Day in Saint George with Beth, Gavin, and Jamie! We celebrated their birthdays, hiked, played games, ate yummy food, and swam. It was a end of summer blast! The kids had the best time with the whole family together. We enjoyed the peach festival and delicious treats.

We celebrated my birthday in so many ways and I felt so special. I did my run and had some friends visit, we went to a delicious dinner with friends, I had breakfast in bed, went shopping, had visitors all day, had a tea party, and a dinner. It was SO much and I was spoiled. And then my work colleagues did cake and a beautiful bouquet for me, and my friends threw me a pickleball party. I feel SO insanely spoiled.

Randy and I spent a few days in Chicago for work. It was fun to see the sites, take an architecture tour, and win like crazy at Texas Hold ‘Em.

We have had soccer and Wells has done a great job at scoring goals when he’s not running away from the ball! The boys love picking tomatoes. I took Graham to his first concert (The Jonas Brothers) and we had a blasttttt. It was so fun to show him what a concert is like and music we love!

September was beautiful and this year is going by too fast.

Summer is ending too quickly. We had the best summer ever and August was no exception. We said goodbye to Noelia as our nanny which was heartbreaking. She is off to pursue school and additional work and we are devastated. She has been with our family since Wells was just a few months old, and we’re so lucky to have had her love our family.

We did the free ice cream truck which was awesome! We handed out ice cream through the neighborhood, riding around in the jeep and having such a blast.

We also had the ice cream truck visit us which was SO fun. We’ve had swim lessons again, and the kids spent the month doing cardboard coloring and crafting.

We met cousin Jamie which was a dream come true! He’s the sweetest baby and we wish he lived closer! The kids got to spend time with him, but Clarkson wasn’t sure how he felt!

Our friends got Clarkson a new car and we’ve been taking it all over the place! We’ve been enjoy park picnics and late nights. We enjoyed Cherry Hill and Graham got to the TOP of the rock wall! It was amazing! The boys had the best time at Cherry Hill every week and we loved being all together.

Back to School Feast was excellent! We ate delicious foods, gave everyone a goal for the year, talked about how we are feeling, read books, and enjoyed. First day of school came quickly but I’m insanely proud of our boys and how they are growing and learning.

July was crazy, busy, and so fun. We held our July Neighborhood Bike Parade and it was wonderful! So many people showed up and we did Dole Whip which was wild and so fun. It was busy and exciting! We then had a lovely 4th of July, with the parade, fun drinks, a BBQ, watching a scary movie, and then fireworks that almost got rained out. It was a fun day, and we spent a lot of time talking about what our country could be.

Cherry Hill has been magical and we’ve loved going every week this summer.

Graham took Golf lessons and loved it, it was so cute to watch him in his outfit! The boys have also rocked swimming lessons. Wells had art lessons and did such a fantastic job. They are all so talented and amazing!

I spent a few days in Lake Tahoe for work which was beautiful.

We did Eat What You See with cousins! We hosted Luca which was SO fun. We did goldfish, onigidi, watermelon, pasta, sandwiches, and gelato! The cousins all had fun. We also went with everyone to Thanksgiving Point which was a blast. We hiked up to Lake Mary which was lovely.

July is beautiful and fun and summer is going by too fast.

June was busy busy busy, and fun fun fun. We started our summer with lots of visits to Cherry Hill, tons of time outside, checking off our summer bucket list, and lots of friend time. Clarkson is obsessed with the water and is always dying to be outside splashing. He loves when the boys pour it on his head and get him soaked.

Wells has been a trooper with his broken leg. We have a wet bag to help him still enjoy the summer. He can do a little gimpy run, has tried to jump on the tramp again (we stopped him), wants to ride his scooter, and has been running around with his friends. He’s got great at getting around with the cast, he even went hiking in it and on a water slide at Cherry Hill. We are so happy that his leg hasn’t made summer less fun!

Graham had a wonderful June and was sad to be done with school, but also so happy for summer. He’s loving more freedom staying up late, being with friends, just living his best life!

We have a summer bucket list and have had a puzzle day, a water fight, a road trip, and lots of other activities already. We went to Park City with our friends, driving late to surprise Kate for her birthday, and had a wonderful time hiking, eating yummy food, and more.

We drove from there to California! Clarkson didn’t do great in the car hahaha, he was not about sitting around for that long. We finally made it to LA and went to the beach. The boys were enthralled with the waves and the sand. It was magical until Wells had to pee and couldn’t do it in the wild haha. So I carried him around, running to find a bathroom. It took longer than it should have but we finally got there! Then the boys got knocked down by the waves and had the best time. It was pure magic and we felt so lucky this is our family.

The next day we went to Little Tokyo and ate delicious food, then got ready for the Dodger game. The game was HOT but it was so cool! We ate Dodger Dogs and ice cream and watched Shohei pitch, saw home runs and grand slams. We were so happy we had gotten to go! We went to the beach again and enjoyed the waves and the sand some more. We ate more yummy food including Din Tai Fung.
The next morning was our WELLS BOY’S BIRTHDAY. We had donuts for breakfast, had balloons, and opened presents. He LOVED his Sonic Puzzle and insisted we put it together. After we played and packed it was off to DISNEYLAND. We got all checked in and went right into the park. We had the best time going on all the rides, eating yummy treats, and more. We spent the night at our character dinner and Wells even got a birthday cake! He was INSISTENT on his Sonic cake and party when we got home, which we had. He was so excited to be celebrated and we love him.

How can he be 4?

Wells is a force to be reckoned with. He is obsessed with music and constantly wants us to play his favorite songs, or will ask us what a song is called so he can request it later. He is a killer dancer and gets lost in a melody or a beat in a second.

He is so insanely smart it blows us away. He does math in his head, loves reading, and would spend all day doing puzzles and games.

Wells is opinionated, loud, and pushes our family to have fun. In the same moment he is so sweet, tender, and kind.

I am obsessed with who he is and who he is becoming. Getting a front row seat to him is my joy.

Happy birthday Wells Bells🩵

We spent the rest of our Disneyland week with cousins, eating delicious food, riding every ride multiple times, coming back to the hotel for naps, and making memories. Clarkson was an absolute Disney delight. He loved it so much! Wells was stoked to see characters, Graham LOVED every ride, even the ones he had been nervous about before. Wells was able to ride SO many new rides and he was so brave on them. It was too magical to talk about, with Clarkson downing churos, dancing during the parade, the big boys running around knowing exactly where they were going. We would stay late at night and close the park, exhausted and so happy. It was a magical, magical vacation.

We did more summer fun at the rock house where Clarkson ate 400 pieces of watermelon. The kids spent the whole time outside. We just love love love summer.

May is always so busy, it moves too fast and there are a million things to do, But it’s also so fun, you want to hold on to it.

Wells had his preschool field trip to the farm which was a blast. I love getting one on one time with him. We had a pool day as it’s been getting hot and that was so fun.We enjoyed Mother’s Day with the boys making me feel SO special, and then tragedy!

Wells was jumping on the tramp with friends and caught a double bounce. His knee buckled and he collapsed. Our sweet neighbor brought him back over and he was crying a LOT and refused to stand on his leg. I put him in the bath to see if that would calm him down and he would not get calm. We ultimately decided to take him to the hospital to see if it was broken. We went to Primary Children’s and I held him in the backseat until he fell asleep. He watched movies as we waited, and waited, and waited. We arrived at the ER at 9:30. At 12:30, Randy went back home so he and my parents who had come to be with Graham and Wells could sleep. We got in at about 3:00 AM. He woke up not knowing what his splint was. It was a hard first few days. So many people brought us so many fun toys and treats, but Wells was in a lot of pain and wouldn’t walk or move. He watched a lot of movies and relaxed. He got brave and did his Preschool Program and went to Wicked and was such a trooper. He started scooting on his bum when friends came to play!

After a week we got his hot pink cast on and he started MOVING. He got more and more comfortable and brave, and it was so fun to see him back to his normal self.

Graham celebrated his 7th birthday! He had a whole crew of friends at Kid Zone which was SO fun. Graham is tender, cautious, caring, sweet, so imaginative, and wonderful. He has excelled this year at piano, school, loves math and coloring, and has the best imagination ever. He loves all things Pokemon, Sonic, Minecraft, and Mario. He also loves building, learning, has killed it at baseball this year, and is an incredible friend. He’s a fantastic big brother and helper and we adore him. We are SO lucky he is in our family.

The rest of May was spent with end of school parties, and getting into the swing of summer. We saw the new Syracuse Temple, spent all our time outside, and have truly made the most of every day!

Our trip to New York was a dream come true. We had the best time. We kicked it off with Beyonce in LA which was LIFE CHANGING. The reclamation of America, her voice, all of it was insane.

We then spent a week in New York eating every good thing. Sarabeth’s, Pop Up Bagels, Butter, Soup Dumplings, Little Italy, Chelsea Market, Magnolia, Macarons, you name it, we ate it! We also saw everything! We were obsessed with the MOMA and The Met. We cried in the 9/11 memorial. We spent a day riding around Central Park. We crossed the Brooklyn bridge, found ancestors at Ellis Island, saw a Seth Myers taping with Florence Pugh, and even bought a Tiffany ring to celebrate our 10 years. We saw 4 Broadway shows which were all absolutely incredible, and saw Maybe Happy Ending the night it was nominated for a ton of Tony awards. It couldn’t have been a better trip and we are so lucky my parents kept the boys happy and safe while we were gone.

It’s wild that we have been married for 10 years. Some days I still feel like we are 18 years old and just falling in love. When I look around at our life, I want to cry. We are SO lucky. We have worked hard to get here, but we are also so blessed.

We spent April doing so many of our favorite things. Days at Thanksgiving Pointe with cousins, Easter celebrations which included our own passover type feast with unleavened bread, egg hunts, egg coloring (dad chose a sonic theme this year and Graham made his own Minecraft eggs). We enjoyed time in the yard, time with friends, Graham did amazing in his piano recital and was celebrated for how well he did at the Federation competition. We are so proud of his hard work!

Clarkson turned ONE and man, I’m not ok. We had an “oFISHally One” party which was fun and he was loved by lots of friends and family. His curly hair kills us. He directs us or yells at us to do what he wants. He eats SO much food people are always in shock. He has a little gap tooth smile that we love. He claps and makes everyone around clap for him. He carries things in his mouth when he’s on the move, he loves climbing on everything and everyone. He is mischievous and sweet, and we are the luckiest to have him.

We celebrated Grandpa Phil’s 60th birthday with a movie at the Kaysville Theater with all of our family and some close friends. We had a lunch after and it was so fun to get to celebrate my dad!

We also celebrated Aunt Beth and baby boy coming in July, had a Lord of The Rings themed Bakeoff competition, and celebrated Grandma Ann’s birthday. Overall it was such a busy and fun month! I went on a work trip and to Disneyland with friends for a night. It was BUSY and wonderful!

Next month he will be 1 and I’m not ok.

Clarke is trying so hard to walk, crawls around with things in his mouth to carry them to his next location, and does the cutest breathing as he explores.

He waves and claps all the time and has what we call American Girl Doll teeth. He wants to be everywhere his brothers are.

He’s a big eater and is so offended when people eat and he’s not offered a bite.

He loves baths and books and being outside is his new obsession.

I am in utter disbelief that my baby is almost one, but it also feels like he’s been part of our lives forever!