Ketchup

So I haven't been on here in quite awhile! Sorry guys!!!

Let's play KETCHUP.

Shortly after the last posting we were blessed with baby Christian's arrival - he is such an angel! I was induced and the little smarty pants thought it would be funny to try and come out hand first, then elbow first. Needless to say, I ended up having to have an emergency c-section since he was just not cooperating. He was 8.1 lbs at birth and 21 inches long. Daddy was SUPER brave and held my hand and watched the whole process of the c-section because I was terrified. I am talking - can't stop shaking - terrified. But it was a pretty quick delivery - just the recovery time took a little longer this time around.

Uncle Devin and Aunt Sarah were such a big help.

And we all can't stop talking - to this day about how Christian is a carbon copy of Rylan! Their baby pictures are almost identical - it's so funny!

Braden & Rylan were SO excited to meet their new brother and we have all just enjoyed having him as a part of our family. He's a sweet little handsome boy. Just smiley and happy nearly all the time.

When he was a week old, he would start smiling while dreaming. I caught him smiling when he was just 8 days old. I love love love this picture.

Christian's now 8 months old and is crawling like crazy. Today he got up on his knees to crawl for one of the first times. Before he would do the arm crawl and pull him self up on the furniture and toys around the house. He's learned to clap - super cute. He's mostly bald and is teething. He loves loves loves his big brothers and Braden is such a great helper. Rylan is really good at making Christian belly laugh. Christian loves his puffs and is now holding his own bottle and said 'mama' for the first time a month ago. He loves his daddy but we're still working on the word 'dadda'.

Over the last few months we've been busy having lots of fun. Braden's lost a few more teeth. Rylan's still freaked out about this. Daddy FINALLY tiled the boy's bathroom upstairs and I am chomping at the bit to get the master bathroom re-done. I cannot wait for the day that our shower gets the long awaited makeover.

This summer we went iceskating, to the pool, to California (the beach) and have enjoyed Travis being home on vacation for awhile. He's in the training postion with DPS and is loving that schedule. I am much more at peace knowing he's off the road - it's sooooooo dangerous and just too dang hot! He comes home sweaty, gross and grumpy. I am loving the new 'in office' schedule for him. He's also looking mighty fine after losing 25 lbs by dieting and excerising. We've been doing a 3 mile power walk each night with the kids and it's going really well so far. A little hot though - since we are still averaging 101 degrees at 9 pm :( Here's some of the Cali photos...

(note the mother in the left corner rushing in to save the baby from the water)

Tomorrow Rylan starts swim lessons and Braden has a summer camp at church this week that he is excited about. Rylan will be attending full day preschool this year at Sonoran Heights so he and Braden will have virtually the same schedule. I am really looking forward to this as I think he's really going to be prepared for kindergarten this way. Hard to believe it but Braden will be in 2nd grade this year! He's doing great and made us the most adorable card for our anniversary yesterday!

It was the big #5 for Travis and I yesterday so we snuck away for the night to our fav hotel - Hyatt at Gainey Ranch - and had some one on one for the evening. Went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and lounged by the pool for the evening. Sleeping in till 9 am was heaven! But by morning we were missing our babies too much.

(the hotel even surprised us with champagne & chocolates!)

Today Braden had another hockey lesson - so funny. All the kids in his class spend the majority of the time trying to stay up on the skates. He's really enjoying this sport and we might continue it in the future. This fall he's going to also start football and is looking forward to that too.

This year Rylan turned 4 and had a Lego party that I started planning 3 months in advance. It turned out super cute and I am kicking myself for not taking pictures! I made lego pops - lego brick chocolate topped cupcakes - lego party cups - lego gift bags and on and on and on. The best part is Trav set up the lego man by the door to greet the kids when they came in. It turned out really cute and was our best party thus far.

Braden just turned 7 and for his birthday we did a joint party with his buddy Trey Pareja at a friends house. They had so much fun swimming and slamming each other with birthday cake. Then on his "real" birthday we headed out to ChuckECheese. He and Rylan and his friend Cayden spent the evening loaded on pizza and tokens.

These little people are growing up too fast and eventhough we are always on the go - crazy busy - I have to say I am loving this life. Promise I'll keep my postings a little more frequent!!!

Batter Up

(Smiling at Daddy before his first "hit")

Braden had his first Tball game this weekend and OH.MY.LORD. was it the cutest thing ever! The kids on his team all run like little ants to the ball (mostly in competition to see who can get it first) and then slide just to get their pants dirty.

It was really sweet to hear Travis come home from buying Braden's cleats to tell me about "I remember my first baseball game..."

Braden is SUPER excited about getting to play this year "real baseball" and has been stoked ever since he was given his uniform. I had to peel it off him!!!

(Travis and I laugh at the kid doing the cartwheels during the game... bahaha)

Rylan loves watching Braden play but doesn't get yet that he's not allowed in the duggout with the other "big kids". BUT lucky for him Daddy makes sure to warm up with him before the game so he feels included.

We also finally finished the nursery - just in the nick of time!!! Here's a picture of all Trav's hardwork. He took my scribbles of a design and made it exactly as I asked... go babe! Have a FEW more things to do so it's perfect (repaint the top color eventually, add lights to the murphy bed and cabinets and I need to add some more fabric to the valance) but it's good to go for now.

(sorry the picture may look a little weird cuz we spliced 3 photos into 1 to make it panoramic)

NEXT UP - BABY TIME! He'll be here sometime this week!!! YAYAYAYAYAYA!

Missing Teeth & Legoman

This post is really overdue! So sorry but with me being near the end of my pregnancy there doesn't seem to be enough time or energy at the end of the day. I am actually writing this at 4:10am as I CAN'T SLEEP! Eventhough EVERYTHING within me wants to... my body just won't. This makes me very sad. And very very tired.

So to catch up on the last few weeks! Just to make it fun, we'll start backwards with last night.

Last night was Halloween and the kids have been picking their costumes from my newspaper ads for the last month - I am not exaggerating this time. Seriously - they carry the papers with them until they are falling apart. So around the 20th of the month, I went to good ole' Walmart and rustled up the last Darth Vader (in a medium - because my boy Braden has gone through a recent growth spurt) and a small IRONMAN for Rylan. You would have thought I was Ironman when I came home with those costumes - Rylan especially was so excited. In his "high little voice" he said " you got me my costume momma?" (with his little hands clasped together) "thank you!!!!". After that point, he wore that costume day and night for THREE DAYS STRAIGHT before I could get it off his tiny little body to wash it. Every time we meet or see someone he doesn't know, for that matter, he would proudly telling them that he was Ironman and Braden was Darth Vader. Which usually resulted in me having to explain because some people just don't speak or follow three year old lingo...

Travis being the coolest dad EVER created his costume this year and well.... Let me just show you because there are no words to describe his creative abilities.

My children LITERALLY chant "who's the best daddy ever?" and then simulanteously will shout "he is!!!" and point at Trav. CUTEST THING EVER. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Last night our poor kids trick or treating was stretched out to a TWO HOUR event because everyone in the neighborhood had to stop and take pictures with LEGOMAN. Some of the phrases I heard over the evening was "that's totally the best costume ever", "dude, check out the Lego-cop", "that's the best costume I have seen in FIVE YEARS" (not six mind you, just five).

One lady thought Travis was a kid - I am laughing as I am typing this - and asked why he didn't want some candy!!! WHAHAHAHA. I then had to explain it was my husband! BAHAHA. He couldn't see very well and took out one of our neighborhood children with his styrofoam hand to which I heard him call to me in a panic, "Hun, I think I just hit a child". No child was hurt or even phased for that matter but it was completely hilarious. I WISH YOU COULD HAVE  BEEN THERE! Rylan towards the end of the night was saying "Mommy, can we PUH-LEZ go home now? My legs are weally weally tired". They had VERY full treat bags and were on a sugar high for the rest of the evening.

Last weekend was super fun and filled with so many good things - we had my baby shower that my bestie Steph threw for me. It was adorable. I am so excited to post pics once I get them from her... Christian is going to be one spoiled little man for sure :)

We also went to the traditional pumpkin patch again this year. I can't get over how big the boys are getting. They had a blast - here's some pics of the day.

 And the week prior to that our biggest announcement is that Braden Matthew Palmer FINALLY lost his first tooth on October 14th at 4:30 pm! Rylan did NOT like this. He absolutely WIGGED OUT seeing Braden's missing tooth. Braden and I had a good laugh about this for awhile. He was super excited to see what the toothfairy was going to bring him that night and I must say, we have the coolest toothfairy that comes to our house. She managed to have a $2 dollar bill handy for the special occasion. In the morning, when I asked Braden about his special dollar - that he wanted to use to buy lunch at school with... - he announced that John McCain was on the dollar. I laughed about this all day long.

He's so funny. I lub him.

Oldies but goodies...

Rylan & Daddy Time

Chunky Chunk

Funniest Home Videos

Found these on our computer and thought I would share :)

Five minutes later....

Fourth of July Fun

New Creation

Travis and I have been attending a new church recently and it has been really really inspiring for both of us. For the last five years we've been attending a church near our home which was a great starting place for Travis in his new faith but over the last few months we've been feeling like it was time for something deeper and little more challenging for our faith.

We started attending Palm Valley Church and it's been really awesome to not only leave feeling like we've learned and grown during the service but to also get the opportunity to spend some time with our close friends who also attend there. The kids LOVE the children's ministry and Rylan has the coolest way to get into his class... they have a slide so the kids can "slide into church". EVERY weekend he asks if we're going to "the slide church?". ADORABLE.

Pastor Greg has recently began a new series called "All That I Am" and is really challenging the church to live out the life that God has planned for us. Two weekends ago he was discussing baptism and how many churches have many different doctrinal beliefs on when someone should be baptized. For example, I was raised in a Lutheran Church and was (like most people) baptized as a baby. After looking through Travis' bible I realized that last month it was five years ago that he first became a believer. Can you believe it?! After the service Travis really felt called to be baptized now as a believer and thought this would be the perfect way to commemorate this special year. This last weekend he had the opportunity to do so and it was such an AWESOME experience.

Our friends, his parents, my mom, Braden and I and the rest of the church were able to watch him be baptized and there wasn't a dry eye left in the house!

***Especially for this pregnant lady who cries at the sight of cookies***

I must say that I am so proud of this man and the journey that God has lead him on over the last five years. Anytime that I am feeling alone or that God isn't hearing my heart, I remember how I prayed for this man - before we ever dated - that his heart would be touched and that God would use him.

It's really awesome looking back through all the pain and the heartaches, all the laughter and the tears, all the troubles and all the praises that God has changed his life completely and made good on His promise just as Romans 8:28 says.

He's brought Travis to a place where he's able to touch the lives of those around him with God's grace and salvation and made him into a man that couldn't be a better leader for our home, loving husband or amazing father.

I love you Trav and am so excited for all that is in store for you and us as a family in the years to come...

Travis & Pastor Greg (on the right)

Papa and silly Braden

Ry Ry