3 Months Old!

It's our favorite time of babyhood - Peter is 3 months old today!

I took a hundred pictures, and the one above was the first one I took and also one of the cutest. But the lighting was a little dark. Not that I know much about taking photos with proper light...

Oh Peter, he's the perfect blend of cuteness, squishy-ness, and softness, and he's got that o-so-lovely baby smell.

And he makes the cutest little coos and squeaks, it's so fun! Later in the evening Mel came and got him to smile some more for me, he was flirting with her, he loves Mel

Isn't that a cute picture? Who are we kidding? They're all cute. But I'll limit myself to six pics.

This one below captures the cubby-ness of his chneck (cheeks and neck)

Peter Peter! Ok, ten pics...

Show us how cute you are!

Aww... I love how much he moves his fingers and fists -

And when he gets really excited, he'll squish himself all up with his hands up to his face

Remembering the cuteness of my past babies - I used to do 2 month pictures, but that tradition apparently stopped after Sophia. Sorry Natalie, my apologies to her and the children that have followed, I'm not sure what happened, other than I just got really outnumbered by kids and over my head in life. Actually I think it was cause Kiddie Kandid's went out of business. And I figured I take enough pictures myself. So you latter group are lucky that your babyhood is captured online for you to enjoy for many years to come since I have been blogging in earnest for your entire childhoods. Here is 3 month old Natalie, 3 month old Owen (and almost 4 month old Owen, cute little guy) and 3 month old Daniel. I love my babies.

Be Still for Journal Time

Getting the kids quiet for scripture reading at night time always makes me so not in the mood to be spiritual.  I'm telling them to listen and shhh and stop and they are bounding off the walls and teasing and fighting and goofing off and playing and laughing, you know how it is, things like this. Sophia is always so cute just being a baby, I admit if I was a kid it would be hard to resist playing with her. (look at that little face, I could just kiss her)

So, anyway, just asking them to listen doesn't ever work, but these past few days, if I just start reading a funny journal entry of mine about when they were kids, one or two will listen in and laugh, then the others will say "What?  I didn't hear, will you read it again?" so I re-read it, then continue reading another entry, and lo and behold they are all listening and I'm not left with a foul disposition.  It's fun. The most tender entries are of things the kids say as 2 and 3 year olds, it really is such a sweet time. 

A few cute entries:

Wesley in Jan 2009 (3.5 years old) - I can't remember what Wes did, but Corey told him he had to go in time out, so he picked him up and carried him over to the couch and in his little 3 year old voice Wesley protested "Dad, you can't do this to me!"

Joe in April 2009 (9 years old) - during a short family lesson Corey was trying to get a point across and it wasn't working cause the kids were teasing/poking/tickling each other and not listening.  In frustration, Corey said with irritation in his voice "This isn't working you guys.  Something is missing.  Who can tell me what is missing?" His point being that reverence was missing from his children.  But smart-alec Joseph quickly replied "Your good sense of humor?" which totally made me laugh and Joe was very proud of himself, he even got a wry smile out of Corey as he admitted that was another thing that was also missing at the moment.  It was funny.

Hyrum in April 2009 (5 years old) - I was pregnant with Lily and he asked me how come babies grow in the mommy's tummy.  I replied "I guess that's just the way God made it."  That answer seemed to satisfy him well enough and he was quiet and thoughtful for a moment, and then with a sigh in his voice, he said longingly, "I wish that babies came in eggs and that chickens got fat..."  Then he walked away and I couldn't help but laugh.  I told the kids later what Hyrum had said and Melodie told me that when she and Hyrum had been playing that day he said he wished that the baby was in an egg.  Too bad for Hyrum and for me that it's not true, cause I have to be the fat chicken. 

I've had "Be Still" on repeat as I've sat here at the computer looking through pictures from 2009.  That's a good way to feel sentimental about life and change, time does pass by so quickly.  sigh.  So that song is my favorite today, beautiful lyrics.

A Sunny Beach Day!!!

Today was our last Friday here in Costa Rica. Last I talked to the RMs on Tuesday, we decided to get together again this week and have a girls night out for the Moms. We thought it would be best to do it at our place, and if they are gonna drive all the way out here, might as well go to a beach too, no? So it was arranged. Playa Flamingo, and let's get all our American friends - the Martinsens and the Heathman's to come too. So it was. We got there around 1 and stayed until sunset (5:30). With our big group it looked/sounded like Raging Waters - water splashing, kids squeeling. It was great. Couldn't have asked for a better beach day, but we might still try to go one more time before we fly out. Flamingo is an awesome beach, and today it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!! It was sunny! There were hardly any clouds in the sky.


The ocean looked SO BLUE - it was a beautiful beautiful day. Wow. My camera's battery was low, so I was trying to conserve and thus didn't take as many pictures as I normally would have, but still have a ton.


Lily fell asleep in the car on the way there, wasn't happy I woke her up and took her out into the hot and bright outside world. But she calmed down quickly and started playing with the other babies in the small slightly shaded area from the two folding chairs-


President Lopez from our branch came with the Martinsens and he was so cute with all the babies digging in the sand. He kept them quite entertained and the little ones seemed so pleased to have an adult freely choose to play with them.


Melodie sculpting her body again. Giving herself little troll legs. She's so funny.


Joseph started this - take a quick run in to the water and get wet, then book it up to the dry sand and coat yourself like a snickerdoodle cookie.

From Joe's macho pose here, I guess being a sand man makes him feel pretty tough

And Ethan as the Sand Man.


Rolling down the beach slope - making sure to get that sand everywhere!


Inspired by the other boys, Wesley also coated himself in sand. Wes was the only kid that I realized (at 4:00) that I hadn't put sunblock on. Luckily I think the dirt covering him did the trick. His cheeks looked kinda rosy though, so I rubbed the sand off of them and put some sunblock - made them look nice and pink. Glad to report that after the bath at home, I was glad to see that he wasn't not fried. As seen in Wes' photo above and hte following pictures, the sun was starting to get lower in the sky - it's more orange in color and longer shadows.

Lily was our designated beach b u m today. (I forgot her b o t t o m s - o o p s!) She wore a diaper at first, but when she needed a change I didn't want to waste a diaper that was just going to get filled with sea water, so she went without. Totally the norm here. :) I saw a grown man just take off his pants on the beach, right out in the open, to put on his swimming trunks! That wasn't here, that was at Samara. Maybe he was from Europe?

but Lara didn't seem to mind Lily's b a r e bottom at all and was so cute holding her and playing with her - thank you Lara! You are such a sweetie! As you can tell Lily loves her.

Lara also helped Abi find a hermit crab! We love and will miss the Martinsens! Maybe we'll come visit you guys in St. George since you all might be back in Utah before us! We'll miss you guys!

The boys spent the last hour of the beach making sand forts for their sandball fight. Ethan's head poking out - and up close...
Very impressive - this was packed dirt, so I thought it was really hard to dig in. Playa Conchal - now that's my kind of digging material. But the kids were determined and worked hard. when the mom's said it's time to go at 5, they hurried and had their mudball fight. We're doing the best we can to not miss out entirely on all the winter activities we're missing...

Sunset was beautiful!!!!

A great ending to our last week in Costa Rica.

Anniversary Skiing

After Corey treated me to a nice night away, I thought I would come up with another anniversary activity for us. I decided we could go night skiing at Brighton (with the get out pass, sweet!) I made sure Melodie would be home to be the mother of my baby, cause I was going to leave Peter for over an hour! (I caught a smile today!)

Abi was holding my baby as I kiss him before we head out - I love you, Peter!

Melodie got off work and said she would be in charge. Before Corey left for work yesterday morning, I asked him if he had an anniversary preference: fancy dinner or skiing. He didn't reply. I asked again over messaging later. He thought I was thinking to take the whole family skiing. "No, it's just for you and me!" and then he liked that idea. He came home at 4, we got dinner ready for the kids and got ourselves ready, and then we headed out. We left at 4:40. The lights were flashing to the canyon saying that 4 wheel drive or chains were required. I wanted to still drive up, cause there was no snow on the forecast and it didn't look bad to me, but yes, we are just in the mouth of the canyon here and might not be able to tell what's going on up there. Corey said we should obey the flashing lights. So we parked in the park-n-ride and got ready to get on the bus, which was scheduled to arrive at 5:06. I was kinda irritated, cause I had baby on the brain, and I felt that waiting for a bus to take us up or bring us back down made me think we'd be taking a longer time gone than necessary. So we talked about our differing opinions about if we need to obey the "chains required" warning and I explained my thoughts about wanting to hurry for Peter's sake (for Pete's sake! ha!). He hadn't thought of that. Yeah, I'm always thinking of that. That is why I didn't enjoy the half marathon years ago when I was nursing Abi, I just couldn't relax during the marathon or the weeks leading up to it when I trained - I couldn't think about the nice run it was, cause I was worried in my mind wondering if my baby was still asleep or if she was awake and crying for me! So, tonight, my goal is to be present with my husband and suppress those worries. I was able to text on the ride up - "How's my baby?!?" "Mel said "He's doing great" Oh good. Peter had already taken a bottle with formula and did just fine. So I still miss my baby, but that's good to know he's fed and happy. Then I started telling Corey about mother cows and when their babies are taken away. (...and that is why we don't drink milk or any dairy! See Dr. Bernard's talk at 48 min, or Dr. Klaper's Webinar - scroll down till you see Dairy Doubts.) Mommas need their babies.

We arrived at Brighton at 5:36. We got our tickets and then walked to the elevator. But then Corey wanted to get helmets! Corey, this was my activity! And I'm frugal, and my $0 activity just had two $4.50 bus fares added to it, and is going to cost two more to come back home, and now you want to rent helmets for $7 each?!? This is not the Hibbert way of doing things. I impatiently tapped my toes, we were stuck behind someone and the rental place's printer wasn't working...

Ok, finally got the helmets, now we can go out into the freezing cold, just like we wanted.

Corey said he knew it was going to be cold. I, however, don't have enough experience with skiing to be aware of what a single digit temperature translates to experience-wise. But now I know, and I will try to remember for next time. It was COLD.

On our third ride up the lift - we're nice and frozen now.

Nothing like a romantic get away into the mountains.

I haven't skied enough to even know where we were. It was nice to see a map later to get perspective. We took Majestic and went down Mary's Back on our first run, then runs 2 and 3 were both up the Crest Express and down Thunder Road. Then we took a break in the lodge at 7:30 to warm up. The hot cocoa helped my fingers learn to feel again.

I told Corey I didn't want any hot cocoa, but he bought a cup for himself and made me have some. He insisted it would warm me up from the inside. My apologies to the cows if it had dairy in it. We made sure we were properly bundled up before we went out again. I zipped up both my coats, ready to roll!

We went out at 7:45 for 2 more runs. The moon was beautiful - come to find out last night was the biggest supermoon of 2019 - Super snow moon! So that was cool, a little gift from Heavenly Father to me (He knows I like the moon). We went up Majestic and down the shoulder, then Crest Express again. Corey dropped one of his poles in the pit right after we got on the lift, so we had to come down to that lift again before going to the bus. That last run we turned left right away but I don't know if it was Wintergreen or Tantamount. (Yes, I took this pic early this morning while nursing Peter.)

Corey was nice and let me call the shots and I was firm that we were not going down any black diamonds. I think the last time we skied together was in 2014 and the last time I was on the slopes at all was in 2016 when Abi and I had to be rescued by the ski patrol. I wondered if he was bored waiting for me, but I'm hoping that I was more fun to ski with than the kids? We turned in the helmets at 8:10, headed to the bus stop at 8:20, like the bus driver on the way up told us to do. And the bus came at 8:36. On the ride home we warmed up, but my toes were still cold.

We got home in pretty good time, Peter was well, kids were all still alive. It was fun. Maybe we'll try it again but we'll go earlier at 4 before the sun is all the way down. Happy Anniversary to us, love you Corey.

Sleeping with Daniel

I've got a lot of pictures of the kids sleeping with Daniel.

We all agree that snuggling with him is as good as taking a sleeping pill.

I've also got lots o pics of them holding Daniel while he sleeps ~

I dare say there's nothing better than the dead weight of a sleeping infant on your chest.

After Lily did that pictures Sophi wanted a turn. I was impressed he kept sleeping after the transition. He seems to really like laying on his tummy.

We are all so glad he is here, we love Daniel!! 

It's a lot of work, but so worth it. And babies come with the bonus that they're still pretty fun when they get to be teenagers. Not as cute as babies, but still fun ;)

Beanie Boos

So, Beanie Boos became a favorite toy of the kids during our time in Brazil. They kept the little kids entertained over a whole weekend when Corey took the older kids to Iguacu. And then of course there's Natalie and her baby. When Joseph and Ethan came down, I had plans of ordering some on Amazon or asking someone to go by the toy store and get some more, so they could bring them as gifts for the kids. But then time got away from me. But now we're back, and I know the store that sells them! I can go buy some anytime I want! On my way home from a prenatal visit yesterday, I went and got some. I got a pink cheetah baby for Natalie's blue leophard baby, and I got another unicorn for Sophi...

I got a pink giraffe for Abi (she lost her pink giraffe in Brazil) and I got a fox for Lily cause I thought the fox was cute. And an elephant for Wes for when he feels like playing down to his little sisters' level (such a nice brother). The little girls never have their babies far. At breakfast this morning, Natalie's babies were flying.

Hyrum calls it a "gravity problem." He plays with his little sisters a lot too. They toys will be talking, saying hi, and then all of a sudden they have a gravity problem and woah! ~they start to float up!

What happened to the gravity! What's happening! Wee! We're flying!

And then they do it over and over again. Today at breakfast the pink unicorn also died. But then she came back alive cause of the powers in her horn.

I love seeing the big brothers play with their little sisters. It's cute, they see the fun and innocence in their little sisters' games and like telling me about it (Like in the Rapunzel game at the end of this post). Here's a few pictures of the Beanie Boo game in Brazil. There the game usually consisted of all the animals greeting each other... "hi!" "Hi!"...

then standing on each other's heads, which is what everyone does after saying hello, right?

then having an anti-gravity problem, then gravity would suddenly return and they'd all fall down

then they'd do it again. "Hi!"

 "Let's stand on each other's heads!"

Woah ~ Anti Gravity problem! and we all fly away!

It's fun. I've got good kids.