It's a.....

BOY!!! We had our second ultrasound tonight and confirmed that we are going to have another little man running around. He is quite the mover too! This is so comforting to me because I don't really feel him yet. Since Luke changed his vote to boy and so did Harlee, they could not be more excited. We are going to Maverick tomorrow to get their reward to which Luke said he will share with me because I lost! We are now on the hunt for the perfect name. I have loved Rhodes but Rhodes Childs just sounds like too many s's. So we are both really liking Gage. Goes great with the other one syllable boy names in the family: Joel, Luke, Nash. I also like Canyon for a middle name. Gage Canyon- probably the favorite option at the moment. We will have to see. We are just so excited to have another little baby and to know now that he is healthy!

So Many Blessings!

Blame it on the many extra hormones, but I was almost in tears this morning as we were reading scriptures. We do this every morning so I am unsure as to why I was so affected this morning. Nash was sitting on my lap with Harlee on one side of me and Luke on the other. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for all of my many blessings. I love our little ones so much. They are all so different but they all make me so happy. I feel eternally grateful for the opportunity to be their mother and cannot wait to meet this new little one. I just wanted to make sure I took a moment to express my gratitude for the sweet spirits that bring me so much joy.

*You may have noticed there has not been an update to the ultrasound email. The little stinker had the cord between it's legs. We are going tonight at 5pm to see if we can have more luck this time.

100's Day

Yesterday was Luke's 100th day of Kindergarten. I cannot believe he has already been in school for 100 days! We had to make a poster with 100 of something on it. Luke wanted to make one with, you guessed it, 100 Haunted Mansions. This seemed a little impossible since he had to fit all of them on an 8.5 x 11 sheet. So I went to Roberts and found a cut out of a haunted mansion and we surrounded it with 100 spiders. Luke loved it and said that Mrs. Westover felt the same. He also had to take 100 little treats to add to the trail mix they were making. He took 100 goldfish and 100 candy hearts. He said it was the funnest day! I love that he is enjoying school. He is learning so much and doing a great job!

Friend Day

On Tuesday after Luke got home he was so excited that his friend Andrew was going to come over. Andrew's mom called to see if his little brother Thomas could come to. He is Harlee's age and she could not be more excited. What good kids these boys are! They all played and had so much fun. I made some sugar cookies and they had too much fun decorating. I am so grateful for this neighborhood and the good friends that they are making.

Harlee's 3 year old checkup

On Tuesday, Harlee had her 3 year old check up and she is doing great! She is growing like a weed. Here are her stats:

Weight- 33 lbs - 75%

Height 39 1/4 in - 95%

She is looking so healthy and is so smart. She is struggling just a little bit with her speech. She talks all of the time but it is often hard to understand her. Dr. Dan recommended that we get her into speech class. I called and got a referral for her and they are suppose to call back within a few weeks. She is so excited about her own special class. She even went today and got her back pack on, ready to go. I think this will be a great thing for her and will get her right on track for preschool.

We love you Harlee and are so proud of the little lady you are becoming!

What is your guess?

Well today is the big ultrasound day! We are going to the doctor at 3:30pm. So last night Joey was asking the kids and me what we thought the outcome was going to be. Here are the results:

Luke- Girl

Harlee- Girl

Jamie- Girl

Joey - Boy

Whomever guessed right gets a treat at Maverick on the way home. Truthfully, I am just hoping for a healthy baby and the peace that will come from getting that information. What a blessing to have another little one in our family. I will update later this afternoon and find out who got the treat!

Too Close

On Monday night we had on of those experiences that you wish you did not have to go through. Luckily the outcome was so much better than it could have been. We had gone to Chuck A Rama for grandpa's birthday. As we were walking out I told Harlee to hold my hand. She did for one minute and fought her way out of my grip. She started running and I saw the lights come on the back of a white SUV. I screamed and she stopped. Her nose was maybe one inch from this car that was about to back up. For some reason, the car stopped and I ran to grab her. I was so sick. She was seconds away from being hit by that car. Joey and I spent the drive home talking to Luke and Harlee of the importance of being obedient. I told them that we do not give them rules to make their lives boring but we give them rules to protect them. As I was praying to Heavenly Father, thanking Him for keeping her safe, I was overcome with the idea of this is how Heavenly Father feels. He loves us so much and gives us guidelines/rules not to restrict us but to protect us. He knows that if we are doing what is right, Satan will have no power over us. He wants us all to be safe and to return to Him. Such perspective has come from this experience. I feel truly blessed to be a mom. I love my children more than anything and the thought of anything ever happening to them is just unthinkable to me. I am truly grateful for Heavenly Father's hand in my life and recognize it always.

The Haunted Mansion

I just love the creativity and imaginations of children. They come up with ideas that keep them busy for hours. So has been the story at our house lately. Luke is a little obsessed with the Haunted Mansion ride from Disneyland. The two times that we have visited Disneyland he has been too afraid to ride it but he knows all there is to know about the ride. He spends so much time watching clips on youtube from the ride, learning the facts and the songs. Lately Harlee is just as excited about this. She loves to study this with her big brother. They have been spending a lot of time down in the basement creating the different rooms from the ride. They are so cute and quite accurate. I just love that they are having fun together and learning as they go.

*I love these pics. The one of the two of them is when they are acting like the singing statues from the ride. They are so invested in their characters. I LOVE IT!!!

Anniversary Getaway

On Monday, January 18th, Joey and I will reach our 8 year mark. It is hard to believe that 8 years have already flown by. I can honestly say that it just keeps on getting better. I feel completely blessed to go through this life and eternity with my best friend. So yesterday we had probably one of the longest dates since having kids! We were gone 22 hours. I seriously think that is a record for us. We went to see Lovely Bones, a thriller that ended up being not so thrilling! Then we went to Outback for dinner. We had a great time just talking and being interrupted by the waiter/manager. Then we went downtown and stayed at the Hotel Monaco. It was a really nice room. We napped for an hour and then spent the rest of the night relaxing. Quiet is hard to come by at the Childs so we really enjoyed this time together. I am truly grateful that we were able to have this time together. I told Joey that the more time I spend with him, the more I want to be around him. If that is not love I am not sure what is!!

Who's Who???

I was going through some pictures the other day and came across some old ones of Luke. I was so shocked to see how much Nash looks like Luke when he was little. I know that we joke of having one mold for the kiddos but this truly proves it. What cute kids we have and cannot wait to see what this next one will be. We find out a week from Monday on the 25th. We will keep you posted!!

Harlee is 3!!!

I know I have said this a million times but time goes by too fast! I feel like I was just writing about her 2nd birthday. Last birthday I wrote her birth story so this time I am going to write down some of the many reasons why we love Harlee. She is truly a blessing in our family. She teaches me each day through her example of kindness. She is always thinking of others and makes sure their needs come before hers. She has mastered potty training and that has made my life so much easier. She loves to help take care of Nash and he loves to play with her. She loves to have fun and lights up any room. We just love you Harlee and hope you have a great year.

For her birthday she got a cute outfit from Downeast and a new princess bike. We went to Chucky Cheese to play games and then to Pizza Factory for dinner. When we got home from dinner we had cupcakes with "pint" (pink) sprinkles. Harlee's choice!!

Our Trip to Paris

Well it was not really "our" trip, Joey had to go to work. But since Joey did not LOVE the place, not too sure it will be on his list of places to go again. So I have to live through his pics and his amazing ability to give lots of details!! He went from Monday through Friday and I missed him terribly. They are 8 hours ahead so it felt like he was always eating dinner and getting ready for bed when we would talk. He did have to do some work but was able to go see a few of the sites. The first day when he got off the plane they took a boat tour where they were able to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. On his last day there they went to the Louvre Museum where the Mona Lisa is. He had a good time but we were both ready for him to be home.

We Got It!!

We have been looking very casually over the last few months for a condo in St. George. We have wanted a place down there for a long time but it just needed to be the right time. Well that time has come. Last Thursday we put an offer in on a one bedroom at Sports Village. They were asking $66,500 which is unheard of. Since we always have to get a deal we offered $64,000 with the seller paying closing costs. We found out last night that they accepted our offer. Kind of makes me nervous but excited. We are mainly going to use it as a rental and try to make some money on it. We have a bit of fixing up to do but are so excited. Luke was so excited that he hysterically cried when I told him we will not be living there on a regular basis. He finally calmed down after I told him that we can call it "living" when we go down for a weekend. Such a funny kid.

We are super excited for this new adventure and feel completely blessed to even have this opportunity!

She did it and is still doing it!!

On Thursday night, New Year's Eve, I caught Harlee as she was starting to go to the bathroom in her diaper. I quickly stopped her and said, "Let's go try on the potty!". Up until this point she has been very willing to sit on the potty but does not want to try to go. She tries to bargain with us by saying she will just try to "toot". Well I knew she had to go and so this would be the perfect time. Within a minute she had gone on the potty. She was so proud of herself and we were so proud to. We have been telling her from the beginning that if she went on the potty we would immediately go to the store and buy her a toy. So we all loaded up and headed to Walmart. Since Luke still had his tooth fairy money he was convinced he was choosing a toy too! This was a long drawn out decision but Harlee ended up with a Dora doll and Luke chose a Lego set. I love how our Luke has the ability to make all situations about him!!

She has since been a champion with only one small accident on Friday. She goes in and goes potty by herself. No need to remind her, she just does it. I feel so lucky that after trying for months, when she finally went on the potty it just made sense to her. She is doing such a great job and we keep reminding her how proud we are.