Happenings...

Baby boy #3! You can see his little hand resting under his chin while he snuggles up to the placenta. Both of our boys and myself sleep with our hands under their chins like this when we sleep on our stomachs. It was fun to see that this little guys already fits right in! So cute!

Birthday pictures!

Landon 2 years old

Chase 4 years old!

Cute boys!

The family with our new Master's Graduate!

Future graduate Parker Daniel! His talented mom CREATED this graduation outfit! It was super impressive and he looked oh so adorable rocking it!

Panda! He made faces and woo'ed the people behind us for the majority of the graduation. The guy behind me kept saying how much more entertaining a grauduation is when he's sitting behind such a cute little boy:)

Keynote speaker

Chase being a good boy during a loooooong graudation.

Our graduate!

I really have to get better at this updating business...We've had so much going on and I feel like I've missed being able to post about a lot of it. In a mad effort to do some catching up here are some recent happenings in the White family!

Kyle finally graduated from his Master's program in August!!! This was big for us. It's seemed like it has been a looooong journey but he finally finished with flying colors. He's been able to get a lot more done with that off his plate and we're glad to be able to see him a little more often now:) He's also training like a mad mad for his fast approaching marathon. He'll be running in the St George Marathon this year on October 1st. His 2nd marathon! His training is going well and he hasn't had any injuries. I know he'll be amazing come October! We're so proud of our marathon running master's grad!

I am loving my calling in YW's more and more. My girls are beyond amazing! They are such genuinely good girls. They make making right choices and standing up for what you believe in look easy. I don't know if all the youth in the church are like this or if I just lucked out but we've got a great group of girls that is ever expanding. I now have 5 Mia Maids (I started with only 3 and only 2 of those were active)! One of which is getting baptized this Saturday. So exciting! When I first was called in we had maybe 10 girls total we now have about 25 most of which are active. I've also started teaching gymnastics out of our home recently. This week was our second week. I love it so far! I have great classes and the kids seem to be catching on really well. I'm really looking forward to the fun things I have planned for this session! I am only doing the preschool age group this session of 3-5 year olds and it's been perfect for me while I'm pregnant. Depending on how things go with baby and how crazy things are with three boys I might do a spring session and take on the 5-8 year olds also at that time. We'll have to see! I love teaching gymnastics though. It's nice to be able to bring in a little extra while doing something that I really enjoy and look forward to.

This pregnancy has been great! I have had such a lack of any pregnancy symptoms and the ones I have had have been the good ones, healthier skin and nails and such. The only complaint I've had is that I have the appetite of 3 UFC fighters. It's been HORRIBLE! As a result I have already gained 15 pounds and I'm only half way through! I don't like where this is heading...I seriously feel like my stomach is bottomless. I almost never feel full or satisfied after eating. I hate that! Still we are so excited to welcome yet another little boy into our family in January! I LOVE that! I've slowed down a bit on my workouts since I became pregnant and I only run 11 miles each week total. It feels great to stay active and hopefully that's counteracting my rampant eating escapades.

Chase started his second semester of preschool in August and he is just growing up so stinking fast! His teacher said that during one of the first classes this semester that they were cutting and pasting some pictures they'd colored and Chase had remembered doing a similar activity from his previous semester. When the teacher had finished explaining what they kids would be doing Chase chimed in and said, "let me know if anyone needs help. I can help you when I'm done with mine." Hahaha! He is SO SO SO much like Kyle. He says the funniest things and he reminds me so much of his daddy with the way he acts. He loves to help me out during the day and keep Landon in line. He's always asking if he can help me clean and he jumps to do little favors for me. Again, Kyle. I have a feeling this little guy will be a GREAT help to me after the baby comes. He's found an insane passion for the Wii and asks to play it the moment he wakes up! I don't know how I feel about this. Seeing as I didn't grow up with video games, I've never been a big fan and I don't like the addiction it can cause. We allow him an hour of Wii play each day and he's usually really good at respecting the rules. He loves to sword fight and do bowling on it and looks pretty darn cute when he's concentrating so hard.

Landon is my little momma's boy. He is attached at the hip to his mommy. He doesn't like me to leave the house without him, he likes to know where I am at all times, and my favorite...he still loves his snuggle time with me. Kyle likes to do his bedtime routine sometimes for some bonding time with him and when he brings him over to give me a kiss goodnight Landon will dive to me from Kyle and wrap his little arms around my neck like a tree monkey to ensure that I am the one that puts him in his bed. Chase was and still is such a daddy's boy, so it's been nice to feel more appreciated by one of our children and it allows Kyle to see how it feels on the other side too:) He would always say I was overreacting or being silly when I would talk about Chase's preference for him. Now he knows I wasn't! I just adore my momma's boy! He is mischievous though...he is much more laid back then Chase ever was. He likes bugs, mud, and germs. His favorite things to do lately though is watch movies. He could do it all day long if I let him. He goes to our movie cupboard and tries to open and says, "Watch Mooovie!!" in the cutest little voice ever! He keeps talking more and more and uses a lot of phrases and copies a lot of our words. He can say the prayer (just repeating) and he likes that he's understood more now. He had a really hard time during that frustrating stage when they want so bad to voice their little opinions but their parents just don't understand a word. So glad that's coming to an end...

We just love these little guys and we are really really excited for a third one! We can't wait to see the difference in personalities and see what a third boy will look like for us. He's looking very healthy and growing right on target and we're getting anxious to meet him!

Catching up

The two biggest fish that were caught. One of the King Mackerels and on of the Red Snappers.

Buried Landon at the beach...

and then Chase

At the swimming pool on Landon's birthday

Pregnant!

Trip to Idaho

The infamous zhu zhu pet

Landon's 2nd birthday celebration

a couple of the party guests:)

I can't believe I haven't posted since May! Did I read that right? I think I can only be consistent with one type of record keeping medium and that's been my good 'ol journal recently. A lot has been going on with our family though so it's time to share.

In May we went to Idaho for a couple weeks to attend Grandma Diann's final Tavaci concert. It's the end of an era that I think she was happy to see end. She has touched so many lives with that program and won't be easily replaced or forgotten. We spent the week just soaking in Rexburg and being around family and friends during that time. It was a really great and relaxing vacation. We got to go the BYUI center and saw all the changes that have been made to the campus and I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty jealous that we never had a lot of the stuff the students now have. It is AMAZING up there! I kind of want to go back but it was a sad realization to think we'll probably never be students at BYUI again. Too bad ambassadors don't get any of those student perks (cough cough, a nice gym to work out in while visiting your old stomping grounds!) The boys had SO much fun playing with there cousins and still ask for them to come over for a play date almost daily.

We came back and I had a few weeks to to accomplish a whole lot before we left to Arkansas for our next vacation. We flew into Arkansas on a Saturday and a few days later my entire side of the family left for Alabama and the Gulf Shores. If you think like I did when I heard Alabama and Gulf Shore you might think tar covered beaches and tar ball infested water. We were extremely surprised when we walked into our BEAUTIFUL beach house to see a view of GORGEOUS white, pristine, sand leading up to the ocean. It was breath taking really. We spent the whole week at these beach houses and our days were something like this wake up go the beach, play for hours, go to the pool at the beach house, play for another hour, have lunch, take naps, and sometimes repeat. The Wednesday we were in Alabama the boys decided they wanted to do some deep sea fishing. There were only 5 men and they needed a 6th person. Surprisingly none of the girls wanted to go, and I really do mean surprisingly because I thought it sounded super fun! Since I was the only one that thought that, I got the last seat on the boat. We went out for 4 hours and came back with a great catch. The captain said he goes out for a 12 hour trip with a group and they won't catch as much as we did. We definitely worked hard to get our money's worth in fish and experience! It was a blast! We came back to Arkansas after our week in Alabama was done and my grandfather from Brazil came in the next day. Kyle and I haven't seen my grandparents since our wedding and our kids have never met either of them before so it was a real treat having him there even though we were sad we didn't get to see my grandma also. The kids ADORED him! We all went hiking to the beautiful falls in Bentonville and just relaxed and did some mini golfing and playing at the park. It was awesome. We definitely realized with these two vacations how much we REALLY miss being closer to family.

We got back from Arkansas on a Wednesday afternoon and I spent the remainder of the day finalizing preparations for YW's camp. We loaded the trucks later that evening and left early the next morning. A couple of angelic sisters in the ward watched our boys during the day and I cannot even begin to say how good I felt knowing they were in great hands while I was away. I didn't worry about them for a second even though I missed all three of my boys almost every second. YW's camp was incredible. My highlight was testimony meeting hands down. Every single girl bore their testimony including two girls that are not even members and one girl who has been really inactive for most of her life. It was absolutely the best YW's camp I've ever been to and we even got rained on the first day! We have amazing youth in the world at this time. I just look at my young women and think they are so much better, so much stronger, and so much wiser than I ever was at their age and they are growing up in a much harder world than I did! I just love each of those girls so much!

We got back from camp and we've just been trying to catch up to reality this past week. Kyle got offered a new position at work which he accepted and has already started to train in. His new job title is Business Analyst II. Sounds exciting! He is pretty excited though due to the experience he'll gain through working in this position, plus it's a promotion so we'll take it! His boss said that everyone who's worked in that position has gone on to a position in General Ledger within a short time which is where he'd like to end up at some point. So we're very grateful for the new opportunity.

Lastly Landon has had some changes brewing in his life recently as he was informed not too long ago that come January 14th he will no longer be the baby of the family. That's right! We're expecting baby #3!!! I am about 15 weeks along. This pregnancy has been totally low key. I don't have bad pregnancies to begin with but I have had NO symptoms this time around unless you count cravings for comfort food which I don't because I get those regardless of whether or not I'm pregnant. Seriously, I forget that I'm even pregnant sometimes.

So I think that covers the most recent for our family. Someday I'll be better at updating the blog and commenting on other people's blogs. I DO read other's blog though, very often. I am just horrible lately at commenting so I apologize for that but we love hearing what's new in our family and friend's lives.

These are all the pictures for now. I can't get our beach pictures to dowload so those will have to come on a different day. Enjoy!

Mother's Day card from Landon...

and this one's from Chase...

I know I have a lot of other things I need to catch up on blogging about but I'm just doing this quick post today. I have NO time lately! Who does, right? The boys gave me THE cutest Mother's Day gifts yesterday. I told Kyle that the only thing I really wanted was for Chase to sing for me during sacrament meeting with the primary kids. This is his first Mother's Day in primary and I had been waiting for this day to come. Luckily his cute preschool teacher is in our ward's Primary Presidency otherwise I don't think he would've gone up there without her motioning for him. He was a little hesitant, but once he got up there and started singing "I am a Child of God" with the other children, it was everything I'd dreamed it would be. I laughed, I cried, I loved every second of it and would've taken a picture if I could. They both made me cute Mother's Day cards and showered me with lots of hugs and kisses and loving words. Not to mention they were REALLY sweet yesterday! Minimal mischief, no attitude, just tender, snuggly, loving boys. It was the perfect gift. I'm grateful to be a mom to these two precious ones.

If I try to think of a title for this post it will never get written. Same with pictures. Unfortunately those will have to come at a much later time. A lot has been going on with our family lately and we've been pretty busy. Here's an effort to play a bit of catch up. Kyle ran his Spartan race and got an excellent time in my opinion. The obstacles and challenges were HARD but he did all of them and didn't get any penalties. (For example if you couldn't climb over the rope wall they made you do 100 push ups instead.) Basically, he rocked it! No surprise there. He's been busy with school and if I haven't said it already we are THRILLED that he will have his Master's Degree completed in about a month! It's been a long hard road mostly for him, but it has definitely been hard on us all to not have him around as often due to studying or his class nights. Glad to have it over and done with soon. He's been busy with his new calling and life has gotten a little more hectic there, but all around we can't complain. We are doing well. Not too much new with me...busy with my calling also, but loving every minute of being involved in the lives of these amazing youth. I think about them often and just love each one of them to pieces. Other than that I just spend my days finding new ways to entertain the two (and sometimes a third adopted) little men in my life. I love planning our days and getting Chase excited about going or doing different things. We've gone to the zoo a lot lately, and our favorite public pool. Their favorite lately is going to the park and playing hide and seek with a football (kind of like an Easter Egg hunt). Chase is still loving pre-school. I love hearing about his day when I pick him up, he just chatters non stop about all the things he learned and I really enjoy doing his homework with him and watching his little mind in action. He has a wonderful teacher whom he adores and he's learning a lot. When we're driving over to preschool he likes to sing the Sid the Science kid song that goes, "I love me mom (uh huh) my mom is cool (uh huh) but now it's time for having fun at school!" He starts soccer league this week. His first practice is on Wednesday and first game on Saturday. He also has the father and son's camp out this weekend which he is uncontrollably excited about. Landon is talking more and more clearly every week. He will repeat pretty much everything we ask him to and says an array of words on his own. His favorite words right now are: no, amen, ball, thank you, Dodger, no no Dodger, Chase, Landon, ni-night, please, look, and mommy and daddy. He is the ultimate in mischief. I have to keep a CONSTANT eye on him and there is not much that will keep him interested while I get other things done. So when I get ready in the morning Landon goes either in the empty bath tub with some toys where he's always right there with me or in the sink right in front of me while I get ready. I've learned that it's much easier to be proactive like this than it is to come out after getting dressed to find his "surprises". He is tons of fun though and our family really would not be the same without him. He definitely adds a lot of spice and variety. We are also new Honda Odyssey owners (yay)! I LOVE it despite the mini van aspect. That's about it for our family! We're doing pretty well and looking forward to summer! We can't wait for some fun adventures...

My little "son"shines

*Just a warning. This is definitely a journal entry and is probably going to get pretty gushy and long.* It really is incredible how much you can grow to love your children more and more with time. I know that sounds super corny, but I think back when Chase was born holding that brand newborn baby and being absolutely head over heels in love. The momma bear in me was born and I swore I would never let a single thing or person harm my beautiful baby. I didn't think I could possibly love TWO kids the same amount. I thought for sure I'd have a favorite and in fact I was very afraid I would. But then Landon came along and proved me more than wrong. Sometimes I feel that indeed my heart just might explode and sometimes I think it does a little when those uncontrollable tears come streaming out of my eyes just thinking about my precious boys. I.love.these.boys. I hope they know it. Chase is growing up so fast in such a short amount of time. He is like a miniature version of Kyle. So responsible, worried, and striving for perfection. I often have to say to him, "Hey! Who's the mommy?" He says back authoritatively, "You are!" to which I say, "OK then let me be." He is my biggest helper and will jump at the chance to do anything I ask him to do just saying, "OK mommy". He's always impressing me. He loves drawing, writing, and coloring and I often come into the garage to find the floor covered in Chase originals, or a variety of alphabet letters, or stick figures of our family. He's intuitive and has a memory like nothing I've ever seen. He's always reminding me of things I told him or something he saw on TV or learned in school. Landon is full of energy and love. He is curious and likes to watch people, observe, and try the world on for size. He likes being independent, but is by far much more dependent than Chase ever was. He makes me feel very needed:) He can snuggle for a good hour or more and there are times when I will do just that with him. I know there will come a day when I would give anything to hold that sweet smelling, fluffy dark haired, little toddler close just one more time. More than anything though, they are such great examples to me. They make me want to try harder, learn more, and be better in everything I do. I loved Sister Jean A Stevens talk in General Conference about children and following their examples and developing the divine attributes they exemplify daily. I loved when she said, "These precious children of God come to us with believing hearts. They are full of faith and receptive to feelings of the Spirit. They exemplify humility, obedience, and love. They are often the first to love and the first to forgive." I just thought of my sweet children when I heard that and how I could pin point examples from our day to day events of them exemplifying each of those qualities. These children coming into the world today are incredible. I feel blessed beyond belief to have the two precious princes that were sent to our family.It makes those hard days seem not so bad when I see these two sweet boys for who they really are, how Heavenly Father sees them.