He's Finally Here!

(well, almost two weeks ago) :(

It felt like time was moving sooooo slow at the end. I thought my due date would never come. I even feared that he would come late :(, but sure enough, I delivered on my due date again. Now, it seems like time is flying by so rapidly, there is just not enough time to get anything done besides the absolute necessities!

It has been wonderful to have my sister and mom here these past two weeks and I am quite afraid of how these next two weeks will go. Damond's last exams before finals start next Thursday, so most likely we will see him even less then he's been around since Jacob was born and I didn't think that was possible! So if possible, don't come visit in two weeks, because the house may have exploded from not getting anything done :D j/k, but do pray that we will survive :)

INTRODUCING

JACOB JACKSON FARAR

Born October 25, 2010

7 lbs .5 oz 20 in. long

We say that Thomas picked his name, since on two separate occasions he told us we should name him Jacob before we had mentioned it to him and then did the same with Jackson.

Thomas absolutely adores Jacob and is very sweet to him. He loves to call him Jacob Macob (because that rhymes) :) He is always trying to make sure we include Jacob.

Alex has been a little more skeptical about Jacob. I think the hospital situation weirded him out a bit. He seems to be having a harder time, because he has been acting a little more off the wall when Jacob is around. I think the three's are going to be much harder than the two's with Alex. But he loves to see Jacob and kiss him (I just don't think Alex realizes how strong he is) :)

The delivery went well, only 11 hrs long. Jacob and I are still recovering, but I think we are figuring life out every day. There is something about this third one that has somewhat thrown me. I guess, it just gets harder with more little ones to take care of.

Things about Jacob...

Has much lighter colored hair than the other boys

has huge hands and feet

only seems to cry when hungry and even then he usually gives me three squawks as warnings :)

likes to give me a good three hour stretch and then wake up every hour after until about 6 or 7

I think he is a mix of the two boys, in looks and in personality

though some say he looks more like Thomas

is already very observant

is too precious and I am so glad to be holding him in my arms!

Anderson's Apple Orchard Fall Festival

I must say that this is one of our favorite places in Indy. The boys love to pick apples and raspberries. Well, last year we went to their fall festival, but it was rainy (muddy!) and Damond was in a rush to get to school to study, so it wasn't as enjoyable as I had thought. I have waited a whole year to attend again. It was awesome! The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed a lot of yummy food. Mainly their apple cider slushes. Yum!

Saturday's are usually huge studying days for Damond. That leaves Saturday as a long day for me and the boys, if I don't find something to do. Feeling so sick, and huge, and uncomfortable I am never very excited to take them out by myself, but I know we will just drive each other crazy if we stay inside. ( we have already done a little too much of that those first six months!)

Anyways, I am glad that I took them, because they had a blast playing in the play area.

Thomas loves swinging and then jumping off. He did this for the longest time!

"Hey, mom watch this!"

I guess it must be more fun to land in straw than in hard gravel :D

Alex also loved the hay! They had several hay bales stacked together that he would climb and then land in a pile of it. and he would just get the biggest grin :D

He, also, liked to put it at the bottom of the slide, except sometimes he'd prep the slide only to have some other kid go down it first. So then, he'd have to race back and put more on and try again. It was quite comical. He would never get mad (unlike a certain brother of his would have) he'd just try again.

We always miss Damond on our adventures, but I am glad that I can manage to get us out part of the time :D

Enduring to the End

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to give a talk. I almost started crying and then I was told the topic, Enduring to the End. :) very fitting. I thought, for sure all of my trails and tribulations could fill up 10 to 15 min :) so Heavenly Father sent me some more. It was a tough week! But, that talk has blessed me week after week since then. No, I did not stand up and recite all the many trials I've faced these last nine months, but in preparing for the talk I learned how to Endure to the End "well". I can't say that I have perfected it, but in the last month when I have felt that I could not take another day, another hour or minute of this, the words of my talk have seeped back into mind and reminded me what I need to do. So one more week! All I know, is that one week from tomorrow, I better, at least be in the hospital delivering this baby!

My feelings are generally, just that I want this baby out, but I occasionally start to feel anxious about having #3. What is it going to be like to have a newborn again? How am I going to manage three? Alex has been acting up a little bit lately and I think it's due to hearing, "no, it's for the baby," as I have cleaned and put together all of the baby stuff. For the most part he likes to rub my belly or kiss it and say, "I love baby", but I worry about his adjustment. Thomas, on the other hand, continues to be so excited and asks when are we going to go "pick up the baby"? He even said that whenever somebody babysits them, he will give the baby the bottle. (which is funny, because they rarely, ever, have babysitters. So, I know that he will be helpful.

We have had many wonderful offers of help, so I know we will be taken care of, but I still get anxious. but then I remind myself that I won't be sick anymore and, therefore, will be ready to take on the world :D

Fall is finally here! I love the changing of the leaves and the cooler weather. It hasn't been too cool, but anything is better than hot. I, realized that I had maybe one pregnant picture of Alex, so this time I tried a little harder. So, instead of one, maybe with this one I have five :)

This will probably be the last. Enjoy the beautiful trees and not so much my hugeness! :D

Grandpa!

When Grandpa Comes!

It's always fun when Grandpa comes,

When Grandpa comes, hooray!

He always says the "silliest" things,

and in the silliest way.

He has a funny, twinkly smile;

He's happy all the day.

It's always fun for everyone

When Grandpa comes!

By Marian Major

I changed the words a little bit, but this is exactly what my boys think!

We would love more than anything to have Grandpa come

or at least us go to him on this Special day.

We want to wish Grandpa a...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Grandpa and Thomas

Grandpa and Alex

These boys could not be any luckier to have a grandpa that LOVES them so much!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! We love you :D

When I asked them what they liked about Grandpa, Thomas answered," that he's silly" :)

When I asked what they liked to do with Grandpa, Thomas said "play hide and seek"

I must say they always have tons of fun playing hide and seek.

It's hilarious to watch!

Alex answered, "go swimming." :)

He is just one very fun GRANDPA!

We had a fun video, but it's not working so I will try again later.

Independence, Liberty Jail

After Colorado, we decided to stop and stay in Kansas City, well actually Independence. We decided to visit the Independence Visitor Center and Liberty Jail. They are quite close.

The Independence Visitor Center is HUGE! It has two full levels of different and wonderful exhibits. Obviously, not all the exhibits are super captivating for a 3 and 5 year old that have been stuck in a car for so many hours, but they have really nice Sister Missionaries that know the right things to show you in the right amount of time! My favorite exhibit was a little pioneer cabin that was all set up and then the windows did a little presentation. Even the boys sat still for this one :) The boys' favorite exhibit was this one below. It was a mini cabin area, where they could pretend to be pioneers. They pretended to cook, eat, clean up dinner at the well, play pioneer children games, and even drive a wagon. They loved it!

We then headed over to Liberty Jail, before starting the final leg of our month long adventure. Damond really loved the presentation given at Liberty Jail. It also was captivating enough to keep my boys quiet :D I would recommend both :)

We were really glad that we decided to incorporate this into our itinerary. I was a little nervous with the boys, but Damond and I both feel strongly that we should continue to see as many church history sights while we are out here.

This movie was too hilarious! Can you tell how much fun Thomas is having? He had the same thing done to him by his Grandpa and Uncle Diego. What a rascal!

Hockey and Princess Clothes

Oh, I miss these kids! Look at the fun they have when they are together... hockey and princess clothes! Can't get any better than that! :)

On the way home from our trip, we decided to stop by and see the Ereckson's at their new home. Unfortunately, it was much too short!!!! As you can tell, the kids picked up right where they had left off a couple of months ago, but with more room. It was so nice to see that this wonderful family is right where they should be (although, I really think they should still be by me!)

As I was taking this picture, Damond told Thomas that he would one day regret it :)

and the summer flew by...

I can't believe that summer has come and gone! We are now back into school full swing, except now we have two in school :D

Damond started MSII. (his second year of med school). He come home from the first day, saying he was soooo glad that he wasn't a first year. He glimpsed into the cadaver lab and was so happy that Anatomy was over! People ask if second year is easier/better and I just say, "it doesn't really seem easier, plus they have the Boards looming in front of them, but we both know what to expect and what we have to do to complete another year. He's back to studying all day, everyday, except for Sunday and Mon. Evening. We definitely cherish that time. Thomas has had a bit of a hard time not having Dad around anymore. They were lucky to have a summer full of Dad time, but now they struggle to understand why dad has to study so much :( It's just something we'll ALL need time to adjust to.

As for me, it has been a little strange becoming the "school mom". It's a mixture of nice and weird to only have one child for six hours. But I feel like, ever since we got back I have been going a million miles an hour. I am totally in the nesting stage and have a tons of projects I am trying to get done before the baby comes. (cleaning/organizing rooms, closets, ect. starting and finishing Alex's baby book, working on a FHE Music Kit, organizing and scanning pictures) and those are just side projects! I continue to feel yucky and uncomfortable :( I want my due date to be yesterday, but at the same time I am trying to enjoy these last few months with just my TWO sweet rascals.

And then there is blogging! One of my favorite books, is These is My Words. It's written like a journal and towards the end, she writes maybe once a year. I would get so mad that she wouldn't write more than that, but as a pioneer woman I am sure that she has way more stuff to do than I can imagine. but I think it is so fun to go back and read, see what was posted before its forgotten. If only I could be better.... :)

Now, this is what I see and love to see on a daily basis... cars all over my living room, my two boys happily (sometimes, not so happily) playing with their cars and each other, and my awesome eternal companion playing with said boys, thereby making their day! :D

LIFE IS GOOD!

THANKS!

The boys are really lucky to have such a talented aunt (well, they actually have 8 very talented aunts)! Damond's mom has come to hang out with the boys, while I go to camp. We are so grateful for her willingness to do this! The boys are loving time with Grandma!

Back to their aunt. Their beautiful Aunt Linsey sent these awesome neck pillows so that the boys will still be able to move their necks after our LONG car trip :D

Let me tell you how much they love them... They take them everywhere! They tested them out in the car and then they had to sleep with them :D

Thanks Aunt Linsey

The Mold:

Why Break the Mold, when it's working so well :D

IT'S A BOY!

How could it not, when we have such cute and fun boys?

We are all very excited to meet this new brother of ours.

Though, sometimes Alex thinks he's being replaced :D

International Motor Speedway

A couple of weeks ago was the famous
Indianapolis 500.

Prior to the race, the International Motor Speedway holds several events that are open to the public. As is customary in this wonderful city of Indianapolis, there is even a family day. Damond had to work during the family day, so we decided to go to one of the practice days. We have been wanting to take the boys here since we moved here! I mean, come on Cars' is our life, right? Of course, right as we are getting ready to go it starts raining, so we were really worried that we were not going to be able to see the race cars practice, but we still found some cool things to look at.

I never knew just how big the track/stadium was. We got to go under the racetrack and park in the middle. The boys loved seeing these race cars up close!

But they thought this


was even cooler!

We took them to Monster Truck Jam back in January and they have loved Monster Trucks ever since!

I was even impressed by its size. I tried to get my belly, but it's not very defined yet:D
We climbed up to the stadium seats and watched as the race trucks dried the tracks... or at least that is what we concluded they were doing :) (We know nothing about nascar!)

And eventually we were lucky enough to see some race cars in action!

It was really cool and I was very impressed by how fast they go in such a narrow space!

The boys were in Cars' Heaven! They even got to watch a couple Pit Stops :)

We're So Glad When Daddy Comes Home...

GLAD AS WE CAN BE :D

The boys love to wrestle with dad. Generally, there is a lot of tickling going on

and an occasional "monster"

will show up! Fun times :)

Two Week- Grissom Air Museum

The first week we were in Indiana, we drove by this museum. Unfortunately, it was closed, but the boys were fascinated by all the Jets they could see through the fence.

During Damond's break, we decided that it would be a fun day trip. And it was! It was so interesting to see all these historic planes up close and learn more about them.

The inside of this small museum was filled with parts of large airplanes, many little airplanes encased, and other stuff :D Obviously, the big planes the kids could climb into were their favorites!


The above picture is a little too foreshadowing for me... I don't think I could handle my kids signing up for the armed forces! ( I doubt many mother's can)