ITS ABOUT FREAKIN TIME!!!

Ladies!!! What the heck! Rachael here. I need some girl time and I need it now! : ) Who is with me!!??!! So, I hate to ask this, but I promise fun. I would love having a pizza-chick-flick party this Friday night, and this is where the part I hate to ask comes in... could we party at my new place? We actually don't have to, but I have a super great huge room with a big screen and cushy couches for everyone! I will bribe you with pizza. If you want to pitch in that's cool- if you can't, that is cool as well, I just want you here! And I want papa murphys chicken artichoke delite pizza! It's to die for!!!! Please tell me you can come!! Pass the word on. I need to know how many to expect so I get enough pizza, so TEXT me, because I rarely visit the computer these days. 801 808-7037

If you are saying to yourself, "self, I don't want to drive that far, I'll be too tired..." blah blah blah, stop right now and tell youself, "self, this will ROCK! Rachael needs me, and so I will go for no other reason than to make her happy. :)" -perfect!-

When you text me i'll give you my address. Obvioulsy car pooling would be ideal. I was thinking to start the party strictly at 7- come earlier if you can.

Kay! let me know!!!!! I might even have other surprises planned, you never know. Pass the word along!!!

It was my Birthday... Again!

Another year older. This birthday was a billion times better than last birthday. Let's see- strep for my birthday, or Cornbelly fun, strep or fun... I chose fun this year.

My mom took my sisters and I to lunch to celebrate all of our birthdays. We went to the Lion House Pantry. It was SO fabulous! And a lot of fun. My kids love running around Temple Square, and so do I!

After lunch and naps we went to Iceberg for dinner, and then went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point for an evening of fun. Stu stayed with Seth and Sara, so it was a double date with Ben and Lydia. Actually, it ended up being a quadruple date because we met up with the Haslams. And as you can see, Chelsea and I put the men right in their place as soon as we got to Cornbellys.

This is so telling of how my children are. Lydia is so happy and easy going and Ben is trying to put me in the Loony Bin. He has been such a STINK lately. What you can't see, is him holding his yellow balloon he got at the Lion House Pantry 6 hours previous to being here. He would not let that thing go! It was driving me crazy! Which is why as soon as he let that puppy go, I "accidently" let it go... oops. (I know. I'm mean.)

Lydia went to a birthday party for a friend. She was so excited about getting her face painted. She is growing up way too fast. She is such a sweetheart.

Stu- aka- Stud muffin. :) He is getting so big. Those are his 3-6 month paints unbuttoned because he's too chunky, which I love. :) He is wearing 6-9 month old clothes... he's just over 2 months old. Really?!? I'm thinking of buying a really nice baby doll to hold because my baby's get big so so fast and I miss it. :(

Here is Mr. Naughty himself. :) Actually, if he gets to be in charge of himself and everyone just leaves him alone, he's very pleasant. He finds his own fun. He needs no one. I really love this boy though. He's a handful, but I would do anything for him and love him to pieces.

Oh Boyfriend. Where do I begin with him. He is absolutely amazing. I don't know how he puts up with me, cuz I can't even stand myself. Here's a sample of what he gets to live with. So the night before my birthday I just had had enough of the kids and was having a really strange- bad night. Originally I was going to be gone til 9 or so, but things fell through so I just came home. I locked myself in my room basically, while he made dinner for the kids, took care of screaming baby, etc. He got all the kids fed and in bed. Then, he went to work making me two birthday videos. One of the kids and one of us. He stayed up til close to 4 IN THE MORNING!!! I feel guilty just posting this because I was so ridiculously selfish and had I not been, he could have slept that night. :( I really do consider Jon my biggest blessing. He's such a great example and he's my best friend. Enough of the sap. :)

I can't wait til these two really get to play with eachother. :)

So there's my quarterly update. Life is good. We would really still like to move, but know everything is in the Lord's hands. One day...

My daughter has a crush... AH!!!

I don't know what it was about today, but my little girls heart has been beating for her crush- little Ethan. Before today, any time we read a book, if there was a couple, it was always her and Ethan. She always tells me that "after I marry Ethan in the Temple I can get a baby in my tummy...." Ha! So, that's been the extent of it. She constantly sees this little guy at church, but that's about it. They never talk or anything. So, today we had a friend Halloween party. Out of the blue she says, "Do you think Ethan will talk to me?" My 3 year old is asking me this!!! I reassure her that he probably will, and she starts grinning ear to ear. When we get to the party she plays the shy card. At one point I tell her to come be by me, and she says she wants to go be with Ethan. So, I told Kristin, Ethan's mom, about the little crush. She has Ethan tell Lydia (who goes by Bell these days) that her dress is pretty. She was floating!!! What is going on!?! Is this normal?? She finally has the chance of a life time. Her and Ethan sit by each other and eat cupcakes. She reassures him that she has more dresses at home. So, we drive home and she doesn't make a peep. When I open her door to get her out she just sits there. Usually she is leaping out of the door by now. 5 TIMES! I say, "Lydia! Come on. It's time to get out!" I was ready for naps so I didn't have much patience. She takes her time getting out of the car with a SMILE on her face. Then she says, "I was just thinking..." I ask, "What were you thinking about?" "Ethan. He told me my dress was pretty." Are you kidding me!!! My 3 year old is day dreaming now?!! I'm in shock. I guess I'm just not prepared for this sort of thing. It's adorable, just shocking. :) Anyway, I had to write this down. A first crush is in the top ten important things in life. I remember mine... Mikey Simpson. That's a whole nother story.

The Baby Story

If you are just interested in pics, scroll to the next post. :) I just always love hearing the official story of it all, so here is ours.

So, one good thing about having your babies come out toddlers is the doctor will induce you at least a week early. So, since I wasn't up for a possible 11 lb baby this time, we opted for an early delivery, and the earliest we could go happened to be August 9, 2010, 8-9-10. Ha! So clearly we thought it would be perfect, however, that day was a Monday and that was my doctors day off, but he was willing to send me in Sunday night, so the baby would be born early Monday morning and he could have the rest of the day off- he's so selfish :) So that is what we did. Sunday the 8th, at 8... in the 8th month (I'm so dumb), we checked in to the hospital. Our doctor forgot our little plan, so we were almost sent home, but at 11:30 pm he called in and said we were good to go. At midnight he broke my water and we had started the PIT. I waited until I was desperate for pain relief to get the epidural because it's the scariest part I think. Oh what joy when that puppy kicked in. The only problem was my blood pressure kept getting low and I almost passed out. So, I was paranoid that if I feel asleep I would never wake up- ha- so I stayed awake the whole time. I just love how accommodating hospitals are for husbands NOT! Jon had two sitting chairs to try and make a bed with. He looked so uncomfortable. I felt so bad for him. :( Anyway- at 4:30 am I was curious where I was at. The nurse checked and tada! Ready to push! The doctor was there by 5:15 and a push and a half later we had our baby BOY! WHAT? I totally thought it was going to be a girl! It was such a surprise. Jon had thought it was a boy though. Even more shocking is he was only 9 lb 2 oz! For me, that's almost preemie size. :) He is 20 inches long and is an absolute Angel.

Would I ever sacrifice a night to have a cool birthday for another child? Um... NO! :) It was such a long night, and I didn't sleep hardly at all the next two nights. Needless to say I have been super duper tired, but other than that I can't complain. Actually, maybe I can! I found out three different pain medications I'm allergic too! So, I gave up and I'm not taking anything. It's a little uncomfortable, but what the heck. The pioneers did it right? :)

So there's our story. Nothing too crazy, which is probably a blessing. Thanks for all the help and the guesses of what we were having and the support and EVERYTHING! To those who didn't get a text or know earlier, way sorry. We had almost zero cell service making getting the word out kind of hard.

Stuart really does complete our family for now, just like each child before him. It's amazing how much love I can have for each child. I never understood how it could work, but it does. Being a parent has helped me realize that when Heavenly Father says he loves ALL His children, He means it, and it's possible. And He has a TON :)

We love you Stu!

Stuart Lester Homer

Welcome to the world Stuart Lester Homer!!!

Born 08\09\10

5:25 am

Came with 1.5 pushes. :)

I can not believe all three of these beautiful kids are mine! Being a mom is the best.

Here are my 3 super cute boys. Lydia and I are out numbered now!

Ha! Stuart looks kind of funny here, but I love it.

And mom is looking really funny here. Yep, Stuart takes after his mother for sure.

Thank you for everyone who has helped us and continues to help us out. We have the greatest families and friends in the world!

We love you Stu!

But if Not...

I have had this thought in my head for the last couple of months... It was a talk given by Elder Dennis E. Simmons of the seventy awhile back. My heart has been aching for specific family members and friends lately. They are going through things I don't understand, and quite honestly hope I never get to go through so I can understand. Life is not fair. Even to the most obedient, loving, successful, amazing people. It's really easy to become bitter towards others because it seems they are given things on a golden plate, and take those things for granted, when if you could only have a taste of what they have, you would be satisfied for life. While reading through his talk again, I came across a few great quotes, that have helped me understand better why life is not fair.

"The Lord has given us agency, the right and the responsibility to decide. He tests us by allowing us to be challenged. He assures us that He will not suffer us to be tempted beyond our ability to withstand. But we must understand that great challenges make great men. We don't seek tribulation, but if we respond in faith, the Lord strengthens us. The but if nots can become remarkable blessings."

I obviously love the part I bolded, "great challenges make great men (and women)." He goes on to say this- which is totally awesome! :)

"Our God will deliver us from ridicule and persecution, but if not. . . . Our God will deliver us from sickness and disease, but if not . . . . He will deliver us from loneliness, depression, or fear, but if not. . . . Our God will deliver us from threats, accusations, and insecurity, but if not. . . . He will deliver us from death or impairment of loved ones, but if not, . . . we will trust in the Lord.
Our God will see that we receive justice and fairness, but if not. . . . He will make sure that we are loved and recognized, but if not. . . . We will receive a perfect companion and righteous and obedient children, but if not, . . . we will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that if we do all we can do, we will, in His time and in His way, be delivered and receive all that He has."

So, just a "sharing Rachael's thoughts" moment. I do know that the Lord loves us all, and He sees the big picture. This life isn't easy and it won't be perfect, but I know if we just endure- and endure well- it will be worth it, and one day it will be perfect.

Homer Picture Update!

I love seeing pictures of everybody and their cute kids, so I thought I'd post a few of my pictures in case anyone is like me. :)

I FINALLY got to babysit for my best pal, which really wasn't babysitting at all. I just read my book, and the kids just read theirs. It was perfect!

Here is my beautiful girl who was tired of me doing her hair... so we cut it.

We made a girls day out of it! We got her hair cut, signed up for swimming lessons, and went to lunch with our friend EmmaLee and Jana!

Lydia LOVED the experience of getting her hair cut. My cousin does a fabulous job, and is Lydia's little idol now.

Here's the goofy girl afterwards. I almost cried with the first snip, but since I have not regretted cutting it at all. It fits Lydia's personality perfect, and is so low maintenance, which is awesome!

And here is my genius in the making. :) He really is a smart boy- very into details. I think every future pro basketball player should be well rounded...

Feeding geese and ducks. My kids loved it, but I was getting nervous. It's sad... I use to be such an animal person, now- not so much. I'm just a baby kind of person.

Ben had a birthday recently, the big 2! I made him this cake, with rotten powdered sugar! You may be thinking, "I didn't think powdered sugar goes bad." Let me tell you- it does, and it ruined this cake and some cookies I made. So, I kept the cake for pictures, but we had cinnamon rolls and ice cream instead.

Dad and Lydia fishin at the cabin!

My HOT husband, holding this fish as if he caught it- which he didn't. I did, for the record.

Me, Benny, and baby to be.

SWIM LESSONS! Lydia has been so excited to go to swim lessons. She LOVES the water. She had a hard time conforming to the meaningless rules like: stay by your teacher, listen to your teacher, and hold on to the wall. :) Luckily they were patient with her, and it was a way fun experience.

It made it a super fun experience because our cute friend Katelyn signed up too! Lydia and Katelyn had so much fun. Ben was a little jealous, but I let him walk and splash on the edge of the pool and it worked out fine- well, after my fabulous neighbor gave up her daughters granola bar to keep my son happy. Note to self- have LOTS of treats on hand, at all times.

My Baby Boy is 2!!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!... Not too long ago. :)

I can't believe he is 2! We were living in our condo before he was even close to coming, and now he's cruisin around, talking, playing, screaming... I just can't believe it! My pictures are in the wrong order, but needless to say, Ben LOVED his birthday balloons. We didn't even give him presents until the evening when we had a little get together, because I knew his attention would be with the balloons.

Here's the little guy going down for a nap, with his balloons of course. I was a little nervous to let him sleep with them, but I figured he would be okay- don't turn me in :)

Before nap time we went to Wheeler Farm for a little fun day out with my super cute mom. Here we were having a little picnic before we went on our wagon ride- which was a joke by the way. I paid $6 bucks for us to go on our 15 minute- which was suppose to be 30 minute- ride, with a little girl who literally was screaming and crying the whole time! Live and learn huh. :)

Here is us BEFORE Wheeler farm, of course holding the totally cool birthday balloons. My kids had a bath before this, and I was barely able to convince Ben he didn't need to take a bath with his balloon, but as soon as he got out of the tub he grabbed a balloon and ran around naked. I almost posted that pic, but didn't know if everyone wanted to see my sons cute bum.

I love this picture, for so many reasons. He really did have a good birthday, but you wouldn't know if from his expression. My kids and the camera just aren't friends. It's a joke to try to take pictures with them smiling in them, oh well.

We love you Ben!!

Life is AWESOME!

Lydia update! I can not tell you how much fun this girl is! I am loving having her get older. Today I got home from school, and I hear this, "How was school mom? What did you learn about?" Where does she come up with this stuff! Recently she has been working on a week long goal of going to the bathroom by herself, flushing, washing her hands, etc, without the help of mom and dad. I visit the bathroom enough and I was through. So we bought her the 4 pack of Princess shoes and each "good" day she got a smiley face on her chart. Tonight she finished her goal. I'm so proud of her :) She was so cute with her shoes. Snow White shoes were her "school shoes" and her "meeting" shoes were her Little Mermaid shoes.

She is the best big sister. She shares EVERYTHING with Ben, willingly. There's times I tell her she doesn't need to give up everything because Ben doesn't always get everything he wants. To this she'll say "it's okay mom. Ben's okay. "

I've started to need to talk in code or spell things out because she is picking up on everything I say about anything or anybody. I'll be telling Jon about a family member who is sick or something, and the first chance she has to pass on the news she will, to whomever is around. :)

Her imagination has just gone wild lately! It's so fun. She's also giving me my dialogue of things to say. It's cute now, but I hope it isn't all day every day being told exactly what to say.

Lydia is such a blessing in my life. She's my "Best Girl" and I learn so much from her every day.

This picture just seemed fitting for my baby Ben. :) He will be 2 in May and is just now starting to repeat things back to us. He weighs 36 lbs and out of all his percentages his height is still off the chart! Love it. I really wouldn't mind if he wanted to play pro basketball. Don't think I'm dumb, but I've given this some serious thought. I worried about him playing pro anything because I believe if you have a choice you should always strive to keep the Sabbath Holy- so football is out. :) But as I was reviewing the Jazz schedule they only played 2 Sundays this year! He'd just call in sick or let them know upfront that he wouldn't be playing. Wallah! Where's the contract, I'll sign him up. :)

Ben is pure boy... besides his super high pitched scream that is. He LOVES cars\trucks\anything with wheels really. He sits at our table (and the neighbors and my mom's) with a couple cars in hand and rolls the cars back and forth and back and forth just starring at the wheels! It's so funny. He sometimes ventures out and places with balls, mainly just carrying them around. The kid is so cute!! I can't stand it. He's such a good boy too. So easy going and happy to just do his thing. I am so grateful for my baby boy.

So- funny story. The other day he was taking a bubble bath with Lydia. He stood up and started dumping water on himself... which led to him peeing in the tub. I have never seen Lydia look so horrified! I covered him up, while Lydia backed herself into a corner in the tub, looking at the water with disgust. I took Ben out and told her she could take a shower, which she was more than willing to do. Lol. She showered for probably 10 minutes, making sure "Benny's pee get off me." Maybe that's my sign that it's time to split up bath time...

We went sledding awhile back, and here are a couple pics. I constantly hear people say that Lydia looks like Jon, and Ben is totally me. It's true, especially when I'm not wearing makeup. :) This pictures show just how true those observations are. I personally think my husband is HOT so Lydia is going to be a looker... Ben and I look like sweet people... the kind you want to just pinch their cheeks, and when we smile it's so goofy looking it makes others smile... sorry Ben :)

All in all life is great. We love staying busy. Jon works long hours at his job, and comes home and keeps on working. He constantly helps around the home and with the kids. I'm sure me going to school has made things hard on him, especially when it comes to "him" time or when he trys to have meetings and fulfill his calling. He is so talented too. He's working on a book right now and I think it's awesome. I'm doing full time school and loving it, but also loving seeing the end in sight. We are trying to sell our home :( and :) , which adds a little stress to our life but what the heck. We really are surrounded by the greatest people which is what is going to make this move so hard, but we feel the time is right and I won't lie... I want to plant a garden and not share walls with anyone for the first time in my married life. So we'll see what happens. :)

I'm sure I finally got the "bug" to blog because spring is in the air. This winter has been kind of hard on me. I really think I have depression or something when the Sun isn't out. It's the pits, but those days are almost gone!! Hallelujah!!!! We feel so blessed to be a family, have the Gospel in our life, and have the greatest families and friends ever! That, my friends, is why life is AWESOME!!

Hello Again

I am having a "I miss my blog!" kind of day, so here's a little update on the Homer Happenings.

We'll start with Ben. He is such a cute little guy! He's not a baby anymore! He weighs more than Lydia too! He is in such a fun stage right now. He's so pleasant and easy going. One of his habits is to crawl under the table after every meal. It doesn't matter where we are, he has to crawl under it and sit for a few minutes. I think it's adorable. :) I can't imagine life without him. He is my own ray of sunshine.

I promise my kids really do smile, we just won't have a history of it because they never smile when asked to for the camera! It use to drive me crazy, but I've just come to terms with it, and it's just funny now. Here's the kids with cousins. We had a special picture day at Gardner Village with family. It was a lot of fun!

We wen to Lagoon this year and had a really great time, just in case you couldn't tell by the enthusiasm on Ben's and Jon's face. We really did. Lydia was FEARLESS! She would raise her arms on all the rides and never even got nervous. She would have gone on anything we put her on. Ben was only tall enough for this ride, but next year I'm sure he'll be good to go.

Lydia is such a sweetheart. Recently she has also become quite the tender heart. She gets crocodile tears in her eyes everytime I say anything remotely "bad" or getting after her. She's also very protective of Ben, and constantly tells me "he didn't mean to, don't be mad at Benny." Her emotions are running a little wild for me so I hope a little time will help her out.

She really is a sweet girl though. She always has to kiss daddy every morning before work or she gets sad, and every time I go to school she tells me, "I will miss you SO much!"

Jon and I recently sat down and watched some "old" videos of Lydia and Ben as babies and it just blows me away how fast life has already gone. Having our kids has been one of the greatest most rewarding blessings. I have such an abundance of love for them and Jon that I never knew I could be capable of feeling.

I am going to school, working a little, performing with a choir soon, and being the mom. I love being and staying busy. I am ready for a break from school in December though. I can not WAIT for Christmas. Oh I just love it!

Jon is an amazing dad. He puts the kids to bed most nights by himself because I am off at school, rehearsing with my choir, or at meetings of some sort. He really is like Super Dad! He is such a good boyfriend too. :) I really don't know why he chose me, but I thank the Lord constantly that he did.