My Little Chubby Elf

My Connor turned 6 months old last Friday!

He is such a good "chill" baby. He makes my life easy.

He only cries when hungry or tired and for the most part, just sits and smiles and coos

and shows how cute he is!

We saw good ol' Dr Rose today and here are the stats:

Weight 19.5 lbs (80%)

Height 27 Inches (75%)

Head 45 cm (85%)

Connor is a "well-rounded" child as Dr Rose said today!

He is getting big and it makes me sad, but I am loving getting to know his

little personality! We love you Connor!

The Ups and Downs

Kinda feeling like this....

Life is just like a roller coaster,

most the time I feel like we are BLESSED to be going UP,

but as of today--a fast and terrifing DOWN

Life is scary just like this roller coaster!

Zak found out that Saturn is CLOSING

and we have no where to go....

Gotta love that kind of news 10 days before Christmas!

Please pray that our coaster ride will

quickly turn to the up side!

All I want for Christmas is.....

Landon is REALLY into Santa this year for the first time. He is asking all the questions--how does Santa get email? How tall is Rudolph? Which elf is supposed to "watch" me to make sure I am being good? I have become a pretty good liar these days! Funny how it is okay to "lie" about Santa. The jolly old man showed up at our neighborhood party the other night. Landon saw him walking up and ran right over and hugged him so tight the poor man nearly fell down! Then he waited patiently in line to give him the big list. When his turn came, he was to star struck to speak! He just giggled and said, "I sure do love you Santa!" How cute is that? Anyway--the list so far from Landon is thus--Batcave, walkie talkies, and a Magic 8 Ball. Yea--the kind that answers your most pressing questions. What 4 year old asks for that? I don't thin k I knew what that was until I was a teenager! But as you can guess--he is getting one!

PS---Connor just asked Santa to make sure he kept getting fed---the kid looks starved to death!

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!"

The Erwin family has the tradition to cut down your own christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. Zak's work schedule allowed us to go this year! So Saturday we drove to Montpeiler Idaho to Darren and Angela's family cabin. We treked out into the woods with our Forest Service permit in search of the perfect "Griswald" family Christmas tree!

We found ourselves a little beauty!

Thanks to the Erwin's (especially DJ and Angela)

for inviting us on this

very fun, snowy and cold adventure!

Landon's OWN tree- he was so proud--it had to make the trip home with us!

Dragging the "Perfect Pick" back to the cabin

Snow boys playing near the stream

Don't ask--but there was a slight fiasco keeping the tree on top of the car!
Let's just say it involved a sheriff, Zak trying to hold the tree out the car window,
and finally resorting to using my scarf as rope--since we had none!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
(PS-Connor was in the warm and toasty cabin

with Grammy Pat)

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

I saw this on YouTube and loved it! Not gonna lie--even got tears in my eyes. I am thankful for soooo much this year! I'm like the guy in this clip--this could take hours, can I send you an email list or something! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Ah, ah, ah, ah...Stayin Alive! Stayin Alive!

Good News! Zak gets to keep his job at least for another 4 months or so! This will at least get us through the holidays and into the new year! Here is the catch....He needs WORK to do to stay in business! They are closing the sales department for good but the service center will stay open for business. So, PLEASE take your cars there to be worked on! They service ALL types of vehicles for ALL types of repairs/oil changes/tire rotations/etc, etc, etc. Zak and the guys at Saturn work hard and they don't overcharge like alot of places. Ladies, he won't make you feel dumb if you don't know what he is talking about--he will explain everything so you can understand the "car lingo."So keep Saturn of Riverdale in mind for all your auto repair needs! (I sound like cheap advertising--which I am-Free!)

PS--We are still keeping all options open--so if you hear of a GREAT job opening--please keep Zak in mind. Not sure exactly how long after 4months he will get to keep his current job!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Every family needs an annual trip to the zoo, right? Well, the Erwin's can cross that item off the "to-do" list. Connor has his first Hogle Zoo experience and boy did he love it! Well, at least I imagine he did. My brother Andy tagged along--he was lonely with out his Marilyn who was off galavanting in Yellowstone. We were glad to have the company and he is SOOOO good to my boys. Highlights of the zoo excursion--baby elephant Zuri, crazy giraffe drinking other giraffes pee, 4 day old baby monkey, "measuring up" to the gorilla wall, drinking from the Lions mouth and of course Jimmy Johns sammy's and Jamba juice on the way home. One other bonus was that Landon didn't ask once if we could buy one over-priced zoo item or snack! He was having too much fun watching the animals this time. Hooray!

Zak's Favorite--Zebra's

Momma Kelly and Baby Connor Monkey

(This little guy was only 4 days old!)

Baby Zuri the Elephant--so tiny (for an elephant...)

This picture is a tradition!

The Zoo "Men" on Safari

Soccer "Super Star"

Landon started AYSO soccer for the first time a couple of weeks ago...ann now I am getting around to doing a post about it. The first game he acted super excited for days leading up to the game--but on game day he was a bit timid. He ran his little legs off, but wasn't all about getting aggresive with the ball and other boys. This week--much improved, in fact he scored his first goal ever! Yea!! We hope to have more of those in the future. We were talking about the game on the drive to the field and I told Landon I would be so proud if he got a chance to score a goal. He asked if I would yell "GOOOOAL" really loud for him and run around--so I said yes--thinking that him scoring a goal was a long shot after his timidness during the first game! Well, I was wrong and he made sure I kept my word. So there I was running down the sideline yelling "GOOOOAL" at the top of my lungs! Landon got a kick out of it! (No pun intended) .Thanks to the Erwin Family for showing support to our little future star!

I guess his namesake (Landon Donovan) would be proud!

The "Red Ninjas" warming up before the BIG game


"Coach" Daddy Zak

"Its What FUN is!!!"

My Mom and I decided to venture to Lagoon this summer. We had gotten some Deseret Book coupons so the price wasn't so steep. But we got to Lagoon and found out it was 2 for 1 day! Hooray--even better! We took Olivia, Luke, Landon and Connor. I hadn't been to Lagoon for MANY year and they have made some great new rides. Especially for the bigger-little kids--you know, not totally boring but not toally insane either. Landon was so brave. I thought he might be a chicken since this was his first experience at Lagoon. (Yes--I'm a BAD mom, he is 4 and has never been!) The kids liked "The Bat" roller coaster the best. We had fun on lots of rides, ate yummy snow cones, played in the fountains, and walked our little legs right off! Thanks kiddos for being so good! And Thanks Mom for being a good sport to go with me!

I think these cool "space helicopters" are older than I am!

Why do kids thinks thses dumb boats are so fun???

Root Beer + Banana Snow Cones= Yummy!

World's Coolest/Greatest Grammy!

"Chubby Brother"

My Connor is already 2 months and 1 week old! Time sure has flown by. I love this little dude with all my heart. What a sweetie. Nice to have a boy in the house that doesn't talk back!But he does smile and coo alot. How much fun he is. I have tried to be a little bit more laid back this time and not stress out so much. I love newborns now--why was I ever scared? All they do is eat, sleep and poop. How hard is that? We call Connor"Chubby Brother" thanks to Christi giving him that nickname. He is not HUGE, but to us-pretty chubby because Landon was such a skinny boy!

2 MONTH STATS

Weight:13 pounds on the dot! ( Thats 75% -fat enough for me!)

Height: 23 1/2 inches (60th%)

Head: 15 ( I think--cannot remember for sure--was to concentrated on that weight thing!)

1st Trip to Lagoon on his 2 month mark--was a total trooper!

Gotta love the "Buddah Boobs" and double chin!

Val--This One is for you....

The Erwin family has fun, fantastic parties each month for whom ever is celebrating their birthday! Here is the August Birthday Bash! We celebrated Nick and my Mom-in law Pat's birthday. We had a BBQ with burgers and brats, fresh from the field corn on the cob, salads and german chocolate cake. Yum! Bret and Val are always so kind to let us crash at their house. They do have a perfect party patio! The kiddos went swimming at the neighbors mini-pool and some of us played rock band. A good time was had by all! Thanks again Erwin Fam!

Bryce the "Life Guard" and Landon

Activity Books from Favorite Auntie Val!

Sun Bathing Beauties

Rock Band Groupies

That's Awkward....

Saturday night was my 10 year high school reunion. I was glad that the organizers (kudos to you!) chose to do a more casual, relaxed version. At Sonora Grill they had appetizers, smoothies, drinks, etc. We just hung out and visited with everyone. No lame presentation of the Senior Class of '99 video or introductions of each person and what they've been doing. That would've taken days to get through! So we just enjoyed each others company and ate yummy food. There definitely were awkward moments..I think I will not give details here--I don't want to publicly embarrass these poor people--but if you want some good stories--call me!

I stumbled upon a HILARIOUS web site today:

http://www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Here are two gems that I saw--love awkward moments, don't you???

I wish this was my great-grandma!

Polka-Dot "Units," remember these beauties???

Pioneer Day Camp Out

Cute cousins waiting for a motorcycle ride

Our Littlest Camper--what a trooper!

Seems that Daddy Zak always gets to snooze with the boys!

Mueller Clan Camp Site

Over the 24th of July weekend we went camping with the Mueller family to Smith-Morehouse near Kamas. Yes, I was brave enough to take my 5 week old child out to the woods. And yes, we slept on the ground in a tent. We are REAL campers, none of this fancy-shmancy trailer/rv/motorhome stuff! We relaxed, did some geo-caching, ate good dutch oven camp food and hiked around the lake and campground. We stayed for two nights. The second night it POURED rain! I am still wondering how we survived. We sat around the picnic table for a while thinkg the rain would stop. But it went on all night. We we put on trashbags and high-tailed it to our tent. The boys got cozy in warm clothes and fell fast asleep. Then Zak and I realized the water was seeping into the tent! Yikes. Good thing we had several beach towels to help sop up all the water. Lots of thunder and lightining and long hours--but we made it through the night! Landon and Connor were both warm and dry. Everything else was soaked! All in all, a fun camp trip. I would do it again with a newborn. They are easier to take care of than a toddler crawling through the dirt! One of these days I am going to get better at taking pictures of my whole little family together so you can see that I am actually attending these events.

"Buy me some Peanuts and Crackerjacks"...

On Monday night for Family Night we attended our yearly Ogden Raptors baseball game. We took Landon and Connor to see the game and have some yummy stadium snacks. Food happens to be my favorite part about baseball games! Baseball is much more fun to watch in real life than on TV. In fact, I refuse to watch it at home. The boys had a great time. Connor had a great nap and Landon got a autograph from "Oggie" the dinosaur and learned how to dance to "YMCA." That was the highlight of our evening. We had soda, nachos and slushies too. Thanks to Rich for letting us use his fabulous tickets. What a perk for being such great "clients" to him!!

"Raptor Blue" Slushie Face

Landon's Prize Possesion-Signed "Oggie" ball

My THREE boys--sports FANATICS!

PERFECT....

When I say perfect I mean my little boy is just that, as well as the photographer who took these shots, Veronica Reeve!! Talk about amazing! We had such a fun morning together. Older Kiddos playing together downstairs while Veronica and I got to squish Connor into all sorts of fun poses! He did pretty good--the shots of him awake are even cute! Fabulous Job Veronica!! Is there some kind of award for child photographers who happen to be one of your best friends? If so, you win hands down!!

Check out her website and blog at www.veronicareeve.com

Connor Update...

We are alive and kicking (and screaming!) Connor is doing well. Except he is a little confused about his days and nights. I am trying to cope and make the best of that. Still feels like I was hit by a truck--but I am hoping this gets better with each passing day. Landon is doing pretty good. He loves little brother so much, although he has trouble remembering his name--he calls him "baby dos" or "brother". If you do ask him what his real name is he usually answers "Connor Zachary Jon Mueller." Well, at least he gets the Connor Zachary part right! Zak is back to work and I am not sure if two hands is enough for one mom. I sure could use another pair of arms and hands while Zak is at work or bishopbric at nights! I love this little bundle and we are definately glad to have in as part of our family of four!!

Thanks to ALL for the wonderful gifts! Here is the handy-work

of a crafty neighbor lady Libby!! Love these!!

Here is a little smile straight from heaven!

Grampa Don and Connor catching some ZZZZZ's

BIG Yawn....

What time is it? Am I supposed to sleep now or later?

The NEW Arrival!!!

Baby Dos has Arrived!

Connor Zachary Erwin

Born: Thursday June 18th

Time:4:15 AM

Weight/Length: 7lbs 2oz and 201/2 inches long

Snoozy Boys

It's hard work being a newborn!

Last but not least--Landon the BIG brother!

A brief run-down of the situation--so that this post doesn't last a lifetime. My water broke at home on Wednesday night around midnight. At first I just thought I had peed my pants. Ended up getting to the hospital around 12:45. Was admitted and put in my room a little after 1:30 am. Was only dialated to a 3. Had to have a round of IV antibiotics for Strep B and a bag of IV fluids before I could get my epidural. Tried my best to be brave--but was kind of a wimp! FINALLY got my drugs and felt pretty good. 40 minutes after the first check the nurse checked me again and I was a 10 and ready to deliver!! Yikes! Panic ensued. "Call Dr. Julia, get some more nurses in here, get anestheisologist back in here for more meds" (due to the fact that I progressed so quickly-the epidural couldn't keep up.) Julia arrives and we push about 10 times and out comes a happy, healthy baby boy! So all in all, a fast and painful delivery! But we are SOOOOO happy to have him here and all is well. If you want more of the gritty details--I'll be glad to share! We plan to be home from the hospital mid-day on Saturday. Thanks for all the phone calls and visits--we love you all!!