Derrick had a week off of school for spring break not long after we moved into our new house so we decided to try to get a lot done. We finished a lot of the last little unpacking and then we started on the yard. We started with one plan on what we wanted and it slowly evolved into what we actually ended up with. We're actually still working on it but through out all spring break Derrick worked hard digging up the yard and getting out a ton of rocks. We have a lot of caliche in the ground here and it is a pain! We got to buy a couple shovels and a wheelbarrow and a saw and a few other tools that I'm excited to have around. We decided to seperate the back yard into sections. We have two garden beds, a kids play area (that we hope to put a swing set in soon), a grass area, and walkways that go to each of the fences. We're now working on covering the dirt with river rock.

Before yard

Prepping for sod

Dog run

We also decided to build a dog run. Since we finally have a home and a yard we told the kids they could have a dog (plus, they're supposed to help keep snakes away). We went to a shelter and they got to pick which one they liked best. Tori actually was the big decider. I said on the way there the only types of dogs that I didn't want were mean dogs, like a  Rottweiler, or little yippy dogs like a chihuahua. Well we came home with Sugar.














 She's a little yippy Chihuahua mix. She was great with the kids and she can't knock them over which is nice. She's 3 years old. She's a pretty good dog and the kids like her. She is a little yippy and barks at night from 7-10pm but she quiets down after that, so I guess it's not too bad. She chases bugs and the third or fourth day we had her her whole face swelled up. I think she ate some bug or spider she shouldn't have, but it went down the next day. She loves treats and knows to sit and stay. All in all, I guess I'm ok with our little yippy chihuahua.
My family got to come visit for Easter which was way exciting. It was so cool to have all of the here. Even Ashley and Davey made it, which was quite the task. They packed up all their stuff in St. George and then drove 16 hours to be here for two days for Easter and then drove back jumped in their moving truck and moved to North Dakota (a 21 hour) drive the day after they drove back. I never would have thought though that I would have a family holiday gathering in Texas. We went to the city egg hunt on Saturday, which was crazy, and then decorated sugar cookies.

Waiting at the city Easter egg hunt

Sunday we found our Easter baskets in the morning, went to church, had an Easter egg hunt in our back yard, and then ate an amazing steak and shrimp dinner.



My parents and a few of the kids stayed for a couple extra days and we took them out to an awesome prime rib dinner at the Barn Door. I'm so grateful for my wonderful family.

Sooo... I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog thing and I didn't think anybody was really noticing, but I'm happy to find that I'm wrong on that, so I'll try to get better at keeping things up to date. A lot has happened since last time I wrote... 8 months ago. Sorry.
Tori (4 yrs) has been going to pre-kindergarten this year and is doing really well. She loves her teacher and her friends at school. She's very social and very smart and thinks she has to wear a dress or skirt every day. She loves music and is a great artist.

She also likes helping mom.




She is one of the youngest, if not the youngest in her class and she is the only blonde girl in her class and I think there is one other non-hispanic girl and two non-hispanic boys. That's actually pretty good for where we live. Derrick is one of the only people with blue eyes in his entire school. He actually had one of his students put bright blue contacts in yesterday and come up to him and say "Hey, now I look like one of you!". We're actually getting used to being somewhat of a minority. It's been a fun adventure and we definitely feel like we're here for a reason. I think the hardest part is being so far away from family. We are hoping to move back to the Utah/ Nevada area when Derrick has finished his masters in a couple years. Until then we're getting used to packing up our mini van and throwing in dvd's to help get the kids through the 16-24 hour drives.
Jaegen (2 yrs) is running all over the place and being the tough boy that he is. He's almost always got some kind of bump or bruise somewhere. He's definitely an athlete and I'm excited for him to get old enough to play in team sports. He loves any game that has a ball. He has recently developed a hat obsession that I blame on his grandpa. He is almost always wearing a hat. He also solutes and says "yes, sir" which is very cute. He's growing up fast and he's super cute. He also loves his little brother.

Bracksen (10 mths) gets tons of hugs and kisses and Jaegen is already training him to throw balls back and forth and they chase each other around the house. Bracksens army crawl gets him around very quickly. He's never had a real interest in actual crawling, and I'm pretty sure he'll skip that step. He is now pulling himself up and walking along next to the furniture. He is so sweet and he's my first baby who is a true cuddler. Tori and Jaegen were both very independent and although they loved hugs and kisses they'd get them and run to explore other things. Bracksen loves to be held and he just melts into you when you pick him up. He's also, luckily, very patient with his sister and brother.


Derrick is teaching 4th-6th grade German this year. Last year he taught 1st-6th. He is liking this year much better in that regard. He loves his students but he doesn't think he wants to teach forever... or very much longer. He's applied to the university here and will be taking his GMAT soon. He plans on getting his MBA taking evening and summer classes. Hopefully it will only take a couple years. He's also been working really hard on our yard. Oh, and he decided to try a goatee (or however you spell it) for a month or so. I love being married to a wonderful man, who is also a wonderful father, and the best husband ever.

As for me, I'm loving being a stay at home mom. I've stayed busy with my kids, we go to story time at the university here weekly and Tori just started a dance class with the other girls in the ward that is also once a week, I've also been putting together our new home. I love that I can put holes in the wall and paint whatever I want, options I haven't had in the apartments we've lived in up to this point. I love owning a new home. We got to watch it get built and we moved in February, just in time for my birthday. (Derrick made and amazing birthday cake, which was actually birthday brownies with marshmellow and hershey kisses)

It's so nice letting the kids jump around without worrying about downstairs neighbors and letting them go outside to play in a yard. I hope we never have to go back to apartment living, although I wouldn't trade the past 5 years for anything.
We've also recently found out that we are expecting baby number 4, due November 25th. We're way excited. When I first started having kids I thought I wanted them 2 years apart, like my mom had hers, but I realized after having Jaegen and Bracksen only 19 months apart that I loved how close they were. They share everything and are so close already. I think they are going to grow up being best friends and I think it's partially because of how close they are in age. Anyways, the morning sickness with this one is a little hard. Things have been getting a little easier with each pregnancy but with this one there are different challenges. Pretty constant food aversions make it hard to want to cook anything for Derrick and the kids to eat and I'm much more tired then I've been before. I'm not throwing up though, so at least what I feel like I can stomach is staying down. I've also got a heightened sense of smell, which sometimes makes diaper changing harder. All in all it's not that bad though and I am so excited for my first doctor apt to hopefully see this little baby. Which we are all pretty convinced will be a girl :). Actually when we asked Tori if we should have another baby (after we had just found out we were pregnant but hadn't told the kids yet) she said yes and that it was her little sister and she used to be far away in heaven but she wasn't far away anymore. I'm pretty convinced that children have a strong connection with heaven so I guess we'll see. So that's the update for now. I'll try to keep getting on and adding more of our crazy adventures as a family.

My Aunt Susie is a talented photographer. Here are some of the pictures she took of our family this summer.








 Derrick's sister Heather and her fiance Clayton