Amy's Big Belly

Any time now...

Random Blessings

Awe and amazement as our children learn about the world & everything in it	Mischievous, daring, strong willed, brave, and curious children	Brothers and examples
Wonderful mom and amazing wife	Smiles with drool and unconditional love	Friday night family movies with popcorn and PJ's
Children who love computers as much as their dad

Amy's how old?

It's Amy's birthday this week! Happy birthday to Amy. Happy birthday to Amy. Happy Birthday Dear Amy. Happy Birthday to you!

We love you Amy!

Preschool Crafts

Matthew made this for Amy. The note attached reads:

This little flower that you see,
was made for you, just by me.
There's only one like it in all the land,
because I used my own little hand.

Lazy Monday, Lazy Amy

It's 10:35 on Monday morning. I should be doing the dishes, cleaning the bathrooms, or finishing up things for Christmas. Instead I am sitting here in my pajamas reading random things on the computer. And the funny things is, I don't feel bad at all. Hope you all have a great Monday. Happy December!

Halloweenie Roast

My Aunts Gayle, Nola, and Jeneile put on a Halloweenie Roast every October at my Grandpa Tams' farm in Paradise. They have bonfires to roast hot dogs and decorate the barn as a haunted house. There are children's games and two tractor rides, one in a barrel train and the other in a wagon. The tractors take you over two acres of land decorated with various Halloween scenes. (The best way to describe it is like a drive through a Christmas light display, but it has a Halloween theme.) Honestly, it was amazing...I can't believe my Aunts and Uncles do it every year. We had a lot of fun and of course the boys didn't want to leave. You can't go wrong with candy and tractors!

Capt. Jack Sparrow, Ryan, and Amy.	Matthew, Ryan, Zach, and Amy at my Aunt Jeneile's house.	My uncle Paul driving the tractor barrel train.
Optimus Prime with Matthew, Ryan, and Kevin.	One of the many cool hanging skeleton decorations.	Matthew riding in the barrel wagon.

Happy Birthday Amy

This week we celebrate Amy's Birthday. Amy requested apple pie instead of cake...and it was great! It is so fun to see how excited the boy's get over birthday's. They really do love a good birthday party.

One Month

Zach and Amy have both survived the first month! Zach is gaining weight and growing everyday. Amy hasn't lost too much sleep and is amazing for taking care of Zach all night and Matthew, Ryan and Zach until I get home from work.We even made our annual trip up Provo Canyon to get fall pictures! This is one of Amy's favorite things to do. Zach has done better in the car than Matthew or Ryan did but I'm sure that it is nice to look at your brother's instead of the back of the car.Zach has been eating well, he binges before bedtime and once or twice he has slept about four hours. Amy loves those nights! We are so excited to have Zach in our family. The boy's just love him and we really can't imagine life without the little guy (that's what Ryan calls him).

Amazing Amy

I know that this blog is supposed to be about our kids, but I can't help but brag about how amazing Amy is. Really she is the glue that holds the family together and she is a rock. Like other women, Amy does amazing things every day that almost always go unrecognized. Here are a few reasons why I think Amy is amazing.

Over the past four years Amy has been running on little or no sleep. Ryan was especially difficult in this area as it took him over a year to sleep through the night. With Zach she is getting about four hours of sleep a night and went almost 36 hours without sleep before his delivery. The real amazing part about this is that every morning she wakes up happy and cheerful.

Amy approaches everything with love and patience. With three little boys we really need extra love and a whole lot of patience. And she is willing to share that love with everyone.

Her willingness to serve. About four years ago Amy was called as the Relief Society President and then a few months after we changed to the family ward she was called to be the Primary President. I know others have done the same, but can you imagine having all three children while serving in these capacities. She amazes me everyday and I know we are blessed for her willingness to serve.

I know I have missed countless other attributes and I'm sure each of you can add something to this list. But I wanted to publicly let Amy know how Amazing I think she is and that I love her.

Note: the pictures, left to right, are: Amy at the wishing well in Disneyland, Zach yesterday, Ryan sleeping with Matthew in Matthew's bed.

39 Weeks

Amy is officially 39 weeks. Hooray! We are excited for little Zach to come and we look forward to the delivery soon. We added a new tab to the top of our website. It is Zach's home page. We will post pictures and any news on Zach's homepage.

Pictures from last week

Over the past few weeks we got a little behind on the pictures in the blog so here are a few to help us catch up.

Ryan and Matthew with Grandma and Grandpa Tams. This was the day we did peaches.

Matthew, Makenna, and Dillion all playing with Grandma Tuft's cars.

Grandma Tuft with her 50th birthday, Halloween, tree. (Amy had the whole family come up with nice things about their mom and put them on the tree).
Matthew and Dillion have the same shirt! I guess sisters really do think and shop alike.
Amy made her mom fifty flower cupcakes to celebrate her fiftieth birthday.

Grant me patience to deal with my blessings

This week has been very enjoyable. On Monday Amy and the boys went to play group at the park. Matthew and Ryan both had a lot of fun playing in the park. Unfortunately Matthew was subject to a little potty humor from the other boys and is now concerned about droppings falling from the trees. Silly boy. On the way home from the park Matthew told Amy the following: "Mom, when I get big like you I will drive the car and you can sit in my seat."
On Tuesday Amy attended the Relief Societies "Chat and Chocolate." I'm sure glad that Amy has the chance to interact with other mothers. Being in the Primary takes away that opportunity. Also Matthew has started asking if there are animals in his room. After Amy says personal prayers with Matthew she has to do a room inspection to make sure that their aren't any: Lions, Alligators, and Bears in the room. Funny kid.
On Wednesday the family went to the Veterans memorial pool in Provo. The temperature showed that it was around 95 degrees but it actually felt a little cold. Matthew loved going down the water slides. This time he was actually excited to have Amy take him down the slide. It was funny the last time we went down the slide Matthew was shaking so bad he could hardly walk. But he still wanted to keep going down the slide. Matthew also went to the potty and it was fifth time so he got the "Sheriff" as a reward. Amy and I both think he still isn't interested.

On Thursday Matthew was in a mischievous mood. He is finding new ways to get into trouble every day. As a result of Matthew's creativity we had to tie the picnic table to the Bannister so Matthew couldn't use it as a stepping stool or a lunching pad. We have also resorted to putting the gate up between Matthew and Ryan so that they don't steal each others toys. Sometimes Matthew will come into a room and ask, "Excuse me, is this the "E" room?"
Ryan is growing up so much. It is neat to see how mobile he is becoming. Ryan is a little attached to his mom and chants uMM, Mum, or Mumum until he finds her. He and Matthew are starting to play better together but they still are learning how to share and play nice. The love to wrestle and it is kind of funny to see Ryan end up on top. Ryan also gets mad when you take something away from him and he will bury his head into the floor. It is funny to see how early they learn to pout. The boys appear to be a little too smart for their own good. We are trying to get Matthew to stop throwing fits when he doesn't want to do something. On Friday we asked Matthew if he wanted a snack before he went to bed. Normally this would be grounds for a fit but surprisingly he said "No, Thank you." Lets hope he is learning.

Matthew will also have long conversations about all kinds of random things. During his conversations he likes to say: "Look at me Mom." "I was talking." "I'm just trying to tell you something." Amy and I were both impressed by the quote that is in the home of the Herrin twins. It reads: "Grant me patience to deal with my blessings." I think that is a great way to summarize being a parent.

Provo City Airport

Today Amy took Matthew and Ryan to the Provo City Airport for a tour. Ryan was really excited to be outside and loved all the new things to look at. Matthew wasn't too sure at first - the big planes were a little scary, especially when one of them started up. But then he got to see some planes flying in the air and he started to warm up. Before long, Matthew wanted to ride in every plane he saw!


The guide at the airport let the kids sit in one of their Katana planes. Matthew thought it was great. He loved all of the buttons and gages. He even managed to turn something on! Don't worry - there wasn't a key in the plane. Matthew liked it so much that he sat in the airplane twice. We also went into one of the hangars where they had some helicopters and the flight simulator. We were able to watch one of the pilots fly an airplane on the large "video game" screen (that's what they called it for the kids). At the end of the tour Matthew got a little red plastic plane and a coloring book. It was a fun day!

Ryan walking?

Just a few days ago we were wondering if Ryan would ever really start crawling. He had been army crawling for some time and on occasion he would crawl with his belly in the air. After our swimming trip Ryan has started to crawl for real. Also he has started to stand up and balance on his own for a few seconds. Then today he started to cruise along the furniture. It is almost like he is ready to walk. Ryan among other things has also started saying the "D" sound, "G" sound, and the "Y" sound.

On Wednesday, Amy finished the Harry Potter book. The kids were a little neglected that morning but it was nice to finally be able to talk with her about the book. Matthew also said some other fun things. One day when we asked him to put away his cars he responded by saying "absolutely." Amy made him lunch one day and he said it was "beautiful." We think he got those words from "Little Einsteins" because we don't remember saying them in our everyday conversations. Then when we were going to the store, I had parked the car too close to the pole and Amy couldn't squeeze in. Amy told Matthew that she was going to have to wait for Dad to back up the car. Matthew then told Amy, "Mom you are too fat to get into the car." We all laughed. Matthew's imagination has also taken off. Today he was eating a hot dog for lunch and he decided that it had become an alligator and was going to eat his peas for him. He likes to get his pillow and blanket and pretend to sleep under the table. Our tomato plants have started to give fruit and we are happy to eat the BLT's.

Water Slides and Farm Animals

This week I had Monday and Tuesday off. We thought it would be a good time to do some fun things around Utah County. On Monday we decided to go the Veterans Memorial Pool and Water slide in Provo. It was great! Matthew and Ryan both enjoyed the water. Matthew didn't like the little pool as much as the deep pool and the water slide. The first time I really had to talk Matthew into the water slide but after the first ride that is all he wanted to do. Amy took Matthew down the slide a few times but at the end she isn't tall enough to keep Matthew out of the water. After the second time of getting too much water in his face at the bottom of the slide, Matthew informed Amy that he wanted dad to go down the slide and not her anymore. Earlier Monday morning we told Matthew that we were going to go someplace fun. In response he said, "Are we going to Kmart?" Looks like we need to get out more if "fun" is going to Kmart. Sorry we don't have any pictures of us swimming but this is a "G" rated blog.

On Tuesday we went to Thanksgiving point with the boys to visit the "Farm Animals." Matthew was very excited. He loved the baby horse and all the other animals. He really got into the cow sounds and Amy and Matthew enjoyed a horse drawn wagon ride. After we had visited all the animals Matthew was able to go on a pony ride. As soon as he got on the pony he gave it a hug and told him that he loved him. Kids are really funny that way. All in all they were both very enjoyable outings.

Amy and Ryan's week in review!

Amy and Ryan have had another busy week. With Amy's Primary President responsibilities she is always doing something and as you can see from Matthew's post the kids take up the rest of her time and energy. Ryan on Tuesday was able to sit up on his own. On Thursday he pulled himself up on a chair leg. On Saturday Ryan was crying in his crib and the cry sounded odd. After further investigation Ryan was found standing in his crib holding onto the edge of the crib. Consequently, the crib was lowered a level and Ryan is now safe again in his crib. Later on Saturday, Ryan was climbing up on Amy and he would stand up and then let go of her and balance for a second. Ryan is also found an ability to find electrical cords in any room. He will find them, army crawl to them, and the chew on them. Last Ryan wants what ever Matthew has.

Disneyland Trip - Planned

Amy and I were able to schedule and confirm our trip to Disneyland this fall. We are going October 10-14 and we will be staying in the Ramada outside the main gate. With the proximity of Disneyland to our hotel we should be able to go in and out of the parks based on our children's napping/eating needs. Everyone is excited and happy to have a vacation.

Fourth of July 2007

We spent the fourth of July in Perry this year. We really enjoy the community breakfast, small town parade, and the little children's carnival. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Tams and we spent a lot of time playing with Grandma's water slide and trucks. Matthew and Ryan both had a great time with their cousins. In the evening on the fourth we lit a few fireworks but for some reason both Matthew and Ryan don't like fireworks. Funny boys. I will post a photo album on our website soon that will show you all our pictures. We really did have a lot of fun.