Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday just passed and it was GREAT! I just have to say kudos to Kendall for making my birthday really special this year. I woke up in the morning to the smell of breakfast and the sound of Kendall and my bigger boys downstairs. I was surprised because Kendall is always gone by the time the boys wake up in the morning. Well, he came up with a yummy breakfast in bed, a cool birthday crown from the boys and the awesome news that he had taken the day off work!! I was so surprised, especially because he has been so busy at work. It meant a lot that he would take off a day just for my birthday. He had planned out the whole day...I got to take a bath and get ready at my own speed- including watching some Regis and Kelly while I put on my makeup. He even had a new shirt sitting out for me to wear- which I loved. Then, he told me to pack an overnight bag and we dropped Sam and Luke off with his mom. He took me to a beauty school where I got a hot stone massage, then we checked into a hotel in Salt Lake, went out to dinner and then to a movie. Brigg was with us, of course, but we were still able to sleep in a bit in the morning which was great! We did some shopping, got lunch with some friends and eventually made our way back home. It was SUCH a nice day! Kendall put a lot of planning and thought into it and made it a really great day for me! The best part was that I didn't have a clue about any of it. I have the best husband in the world!
Here's me with my three boys wearing the birthday crown they got me.

And I'm not done...Kendall's dad came over yesterday and made us an amazing dinner for our birthdays (kendall's is in a few days). This is me with a big 'ol lobster tail. Yum! What a great birthday!

Mii Family

I know these pictures are horrible, but I just love our Miis! Making someone a Mii is my favorite part about the Wii.

Kendall

Hannah

Sammy

Luke

We tried making one for Brigg, but it's too hard to make one that actually looks like a baby. His will have to wait.

H2O

More summer fun!

Grandpa Andersen took Sam and Luke fishing in a stocked pond near our house that is free for kids. Sam caught 2 fish and they all had a good time.

Here are the boys playing in a slip 'n slide with our neighbor. Luke just kept drinking the water.

For the fourth we went to a really fun party at another neighbor's house. The kids decorated their bikes and wagons and did a sidewalk parade.

Sarah and her kids came up to visit us while they were in Utah. We LOVED having them visit! Sammy has been totally bummed ever since they left. He loves having his cousins to play with.
We went to Bear Lake for a day trip to play on the beach. A little windy, but really fun!

Here are some cute ones with Brigg.

Kendall's most exciting news is... after months of deliberation, we finally decided to get a Wii!

Thanks, Fam!

That's right...that is a smile! Brigg knows he's got the best family in the world.

We had so many people come visit us in the hospital and help us out...

Thanks, Mom, for waking up in the middle of the night to come up for Brigg's birth (sorry he didn't wait for you). Even more, thanks for taking care of Sammy and Luke while we were at the hospital. And thank you for doing laundry, sweeiping and mopping my floor and all the other misc. cleaning items as well as making meals and stocking up my kitchen with some fast-fixin meals. You're the best!! I wish you could stay at my house all the time.

It was so fun to visit with my Grandpa and Grandma Porter when they came to the hospital. I can't think of a big event in my life that they haven't been to and I feel so lucky to have them supporting me.

And we got a cute picture of them holding Brigg...

The same goes for Kendall's grandma. There's not a nicer person in the world and we know she'd do anything for us.

Thank you, Janice (and Steve) for coming to our house in the middle of the night so that we could head off to the hospital. Thanks for the meals and gifts and for loving our boys so much.

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Somehow I didn't get pictures with grandpas, but Kendall's dad came up and brought Kendall some dinner which was nice. He wouldn't have missed the opportunity to come up and support us and meet the new baby.

My dad and Abby drove 2+ hours on Monday night to meet Brigg (and then turned right back around and drove 2+ hours back). It was way too short a visit for how long they had to drive, but it means a lot to me that they would take so much of their time just to come up and see us. Thanks, Dad! (and Abby)

And here's another one of our littlest guy. He didn't want to be put down for the first 5 or 6 days of his life which had me feeling a little stressed, because you can't get much of anything else done when you have to hold a baby all the time. But, he's seemed to snap out of that and does fine on his own for short periods. He's started to extend the time between feedings a bit which I am also grateful for. Every 1 1/2 - 2 hours gets old pretty fast. He's still sleeping quite a bit, but I love it when he's awake and looking around. Overall, he is a pretty content baby and already growing too fast.