4 what?  4 kids!  It's official, our family will be welcoming Stoddard Baby number 4 to our home on August 29th, 2012. We are so happy and excited.

Brooklyn wants a sister, but she says its going to be a boy because she wanted a girl last time and it was a boy. Brady says its a girl. Jackson doesn't have a clue what is going on. I would like another girl so Brooklyn can have a sister. I think every girl should have a sister. Mark is all for another boy. We will be happy either way and all we really want is a healthy baby. I had an ultrasound yesterday and the baby had its hands above its head. The doctor said it must be a boy doing a touchdown dance or it's a girl doing a ballerina dance. So we will just have to wait until a later date for the gender information.

We started our adventurers by heading west on Dec 16th. We pulled Brooklyn out of school and unfortunately she missed her class Christmas party as well as the school Christmas program, but she was a good sport about it. She sang her program songs to us many times throughout the trip. We prayed and prayed that roads would be good and we got wonderful weather and completely clear roads there and back. We drove to Wyoming our first day and stayed the night and then we got up early the next morning to drive to Utah and stop in to surprise my cousin at his mission farewell party. None of the family knew we were coming and were completely shocked when we showed up. It was fun to spend some time with them before we headed off to a Stoddard Christmas Party. We had lots of yummy food there and had fun catching up with all the cousins. Brooklyn and Brady had a blast at both places, playing with distant cousins they had never met. We then stayed the night in Utah before we headed to Boise. It was so nice to spend Christmas in Boise. I love being home for the holidays and doing all the traditions I did growing up as a kid. The kids got to see Santa twice in Boise. Once at his house where they got a ride on his sleigh, and once at the Botanical gardens where they got to pet one of his reindeer. Our camera has been acting funny so I am going to have to see if I can post pictures later.

After Christmas we headed back to Utah to spend time with the Stoddards and attend the wonderful wedding of  Brian and Angela. Here are some pictures from the wedding and reception.









And while we were in Utah, Brady got to go to his first two BYU basketball games. He had a wonderful time with his dad, uncles, and grandpa. He told us all about Cosmo and the food he ate. Here is Brady with Cosmo.