Where Are We Now?

So, let's just say I took "maternity leave" from the blog world. Apparently having a baby took a whole lot more work than I remembered. Let's just do a brief catch up of the past year and a half. Sweet Miles Ray entered the world January of 2011. He was welcomed with open arms from his big brothers, aunties, uncles & grandparents. He has been the easiest baby by far, and I think a lot of it has to do with our abundance of "experience" and maybe the Lord knowing what our family needed! Our other baby, Gunner, turned out to be a great addition too. Josh trained him pretty well, although he still goes through a spontaneous rebellion every now and then {hole digging or toy snatching}. He has done good with the boys but amazingly well with Miles, to my surprise and relief! He has been super gentle with him and pretty much let's Miles have his way with him... probably because of the plethora of snacks Miles feeds Gunner.
   We took a road trip last summer to visit family and friends in Oregon, Washington & Idaho. It was quite the trip with 4 boys plus dog. We had so much fun, made plenty of memories along with life experiences. We saw so many beautiful landscapes, places that seemed no man had ever set foot. Just God & country. It was a trip we will never forget and look forward to doing it again this summer! We came home in time for our two oldest to start school, in 1st grade & Kindergarten. This year has flown by as they only have 2 weeks left!
   In the fall I became an Auntie to my first niece! Aubrey came into the world and graced us with her beauty. She is seriously the most beautiful baby girl, and it's not because I'm a proud Auntie! She is loved by all, especially all her boy cousins :)  
   Christmas time was a blast and crazy busy. I take it the rest of our life will be crazy busy so I should just expect it right? We had fun visiting both sides of the family. That has always been a huge blessing to have both of our parents close by. It makes the holidays busy but I'm so grateful! We were able to stay in a cabin in Big Bear with the rest of the Ball clan after Christmas and it was a blast! Luckily there was just enough snow for the boys to play in & make a couple snowmen.
   Then January rolled around again, and it was time to celebrate all the birthdays, including Miles' 1st! We had a month of sickness passed around our home more than once. We had another anniversary and Mitchell's 4th birthday. I always hear people say" enjoy these years"..."they grow up fast"... and seriously it's so true! I look at other women I know with grown children that are going away to college or getting married and find myself thinking they were in my place at one point going through life just like me. The older these little guys get the faster life blows by. I seriously can't imagine them getting bigger, growing facial hair and wearing clothes that just look too big for my babies ... and then leaving me!? So here I am sitting here, remembering how little they were when they were brand new, looking at pictures old and new, watching them grow before my eyes.. and enjoying every crazy moment.
This past year has been a year of growth for me. There have been life experiences I never expected, good and bad. Things that have led me to reach for the Lord more than ever. Things that have molded & shaped me into a stronger person. I can look back and say we did this, this, this and that... but what has impacted me most were the things that happened to me and my family. The things I didn't plan and expect. I just pray that I always keep life in perspective and can show my boys how to love God & love others. Because that's all that really matters in the end.

The Story of Gunner

Here is the newest member of the family! His long awaited arrival has made it that much more sweet. This is the background story on our little guy. Last June we had visited Josh's grandma in Oregon. During our week stay we happened to look in the classifieds for lab puppies, just for fun. We found a lady who breeds labs in Washington, about an hour and a half away from Grandma's house. We made a stop there to check out the puppies on our way to visit my cousin Natalie in Washington. It was puppy heaven! There were lab puppies from the cute and cuddly age of 6 weeks to the brand new, week old pups. We had a yellow male in mind. We decided if we found a pup we liked and was available we would get one. It turned out all of her oldest puppies had already been claimed. The next in line were  the 2 week old pups but she only had yellow female or black males. We thought a black lab wouldn't love our desert climate, which is why we shot for a yellow. And we both grew up with male dogs so that's just what we knew. Next we looked at the week old labs. They couldn't even open their eyes yet, they were so teeny tiny! We decided to put a deposit on a pup from that litter. The breeder would send us pictures of the yellow males in that litter when they were a few weeks older and she would tell us more about the personality so we could make a decision. When that time came we made the decision on a pup and named him Gunner. He would be a hunting dog of course! He would be flewn down to So Cal when he turned 8 weeks. This was back in August. Well, long story short, Gunner had a health issue and the breeder didn't feel comfortable sending a dog that may have problems in the future. We decided we would wait until next summer when we visit Grandma again to see what pups the breeder had at that time and possibly bring one home then. After we have baby number 4. Well, not too long after we made our peace we got a call from the breeder offering her choice pick of a litter just born or whelped (I learned a lot of dog lingo through the process!) At this time it was the beginning of October and we decided to wait until we saw pictures of this "new" Gunner. Like anyone is going to look at that cute, smooshed puppy face and say "No, I think I'll pass!" Puppies, babies and chocolate are nearly impossible to resist! So, we saw the pictures, said yes, and in a few weeks Josh made a kamikaze trip to Oregon with his parents and Micah to pick up this sweet thing.

A lot of people think I'm either brave or have lost my mind for getting a puppy in my 8th month of pregnancy. I can tell you I have lost my mind! I was so very against getting a dog until we were done having babies. I didn't want to be doing puppies and babies all at the same time. But all of a sudden, for some reason, I changed my mind. I blame it on the pregnancy and the lack of brain I have left these days. A funny thing is I remember talking to Josh about when to get a dog and I always thought fall would be a perfect time because the weather gets to be real nice here. And look what happened =) I know we are about to have a baby in 2 months but I think having Gunner would help the boys through the adjustment, maybe even distract them a little. Even if Gunner is still a baby himself =)

 They love to help with anything at all involving that dog. And watching them use phrases like "C'mon Gunnah, here boy" in a high pitched voice while patting their legs is quite precious. We'll take it one step at a time and enjoy every moment of it. They're only this young for so long...

So apparently I've abandoned my blog. Luckily with a blog you can do that, not so much with your husband or children! Which is the main reason I haven't found the time to get in touch. But with all things in life you have to make it a priority, right? So for a brief catch up, here's what's been going on since hunting season started.

It literally took me a month to rid of all the bird feathers around the house from Josh's hunting excursions. I still have some left over breasts, wings and whole birds in the freezer. Josh "needs" them to train Gunner, our new pup (more on him soon!) with the dead, frozen birdies. Bleh. I only cooked the dove once, in a rice casserole type dish. It wasn't so bad at all, but still hard for me to bear being pregnant. I have no desire to cook up any more game for the time being. Here's a few pictures from hunting season:

Mason's First Field Trip

Mason had his first class field trip to Riley's Apple Farm in Oak Glen. I was able to go as a parent chaperone =) I was in charge of a group of 5 fun kindergartners, and we had a blast. I think the kids were most excited to ride the school bus though! At my age, I'm sorry to say the big yellow bus has lost it's novelty. We went on a hay ride and talked about different trees, berry bushes and vines. The kids got to help make their own apple cider in an old cider press, take a tour in an old log cabin and visit with some goats and turkeys.

Please won't you be my neighbor? 
We got a few new neighbors in September. Two families who we love! Our good friends the Gunns, we can literally see in their family room if their windows are open! Don't worry, we are NOT peeping toms, er balls. We don't want to scare away our friends! The other family happens to be the parents of another neighbor family, the Hackbarth's. Mark Hackbarth married Josh and I seven years ago, and we truly love their whole family like our own. I don't think any of us could have dreamed up having so many wonderful friends be neighbors! Sometimes I wonder what God's plan is for this little area we call home =)

Miramar Air Show

                                                                      

In the beginning of October we went to San Diego to visit Uncle B & Auntie Amber, and to see the Miramar Air Show. It was a fun little weekend of family, watching baseball and yummy food. Josh and I first went to that air show 5 years ago with a 2 month old baby Mason! We decided to see the 

Twilight Show, it starts at dusk and they show off 

the after burners of the jets. There was a huge robotic dinosaur that breathed fire, and a jet engine truck that blew out ginormous flames. Perfect entertainment for our pyro boys! They loved it and can't wait to go back to the "airport show". We finished off the weekend with a stop at Yogurt Mill- a must do on our San Diego visits if we have time!

We had three Super Mario Brothers for the Harvest Festival at church. 

Mason & Micah love playing the game on the Wii, 

Mitchell could care less so he didn't really have a say ;) 

All in all their outfits turned out good, they can wear them again 

and their mustaches were so fun on their little faces!

PUMPKINS!

I decided I wanted to try making my own pumpkin puree this year. I used three small pumpkins and one large pumpkin. It was a lot of work but it made a ton of puree. One small pumpkin made enough puree to make about one and a half pumpkin pies, just to give you an idea! Overall it was fun to do, and now I can say I've made my own pumpkin puree but nothing beats the conveniency of having canned pumpkin on hand. =)

Here are the recipes I used with the pumpkin puree:

Pumpkin Pie  .  Pumpkin Muffins  .  Pumpkin Butter

My sweet middle child (for now), Micah, just celebrated his 4th birthday! Can you believe it??

He has been counting down his birthday for the past month. Finally the day drew near and we took the whole family to Knott's Berry Farm to celebrate with Snoopy. He loved it. Grammy, Gramps and all three aunties joined in on the fun as well as cousin Braiden. There were no lines at all so the boys ran threw all their favorite rides over and over and over! They slept pretty good that night =) We had my parents over for pizza and cupcakes on his actual birthday. He opened all the toys he picked out at Toys R Us with my mom the day before, haha. It's sort of the birthday tradition with Nani for each boy's birthday, they love it!

I've taken on a few craft projects in the past months. Unfortunately I seem to have this problem where I start a project and cannot seem to finish it. It's so sad and depressing. I now have 4 unfinished projects. and they all have to do with decorating! I started with trying to make my own fall topiaries. Crafting is a little more challenging for me, I'm very visual and it takes me a while to get the whole idea together. So I only have one topiary finished, of a set of two..except the boys have knocked it over a few too many times and leaves and moss are everywhere. It's more of a half dead topiary. Plus I'm realizing it's not very puppy friendly either.

I also sewed pillow covers for some throw pillows for my couch. I wanted to make them removable so I can change the pillows for different seasons, but because of my lack of skill/knowledge/motivation they remain unfinished. I started sanding a window paned mirror to re-paint. It remains partially sanded. I bought a plain wreath just waiting to be decorated for fall. Maybe it'll be ready for Christmas. Or next Spring! I'm just awesome at not finishing projects. Someday I'll have pictures to post of my finished projects, but until then...life goes on! 

Our most recent family update is the addition of a new family member. His name is Gunner, he's 8 weeks, and he has the best puppy breath! I'll have a post about him in the near future, promise!