Family Reunion #1

We got to have another fun trip to California to see family and kick off our 1st of 3 Family reunions this summer. It was so fun to see everybody and Jaxson was ecstatic to play with his cousins everyday!

I was so happy to see Jaxson excited about being around and holding his baby cousin, Elle. He adored her and is now more excited about holding his own baby brother. Yay!

We had a fun day at California Adventure! Jaxson was terrified at first to actually get next to Mickey and all of the other characters, but once we took a picture with Mickey, he couldn't get enough.

All the grandkids (except for Mae) with Grandma Lori.

Cousins riding the rhino at the wild animal park. Jaxson was in heaven getting to see all of the animals. He didn't stop talking about them for weeks.

Sparklers on the 4th of July!

Of course we had a great beach day. But the best part of it all is seeing the creepy guy in the speedo that is in our picture. Oh wait, that's my brother-in-law! We totally didn't know he was posing so nicely in the background. Hilarious! Thanks Sean, we're going to blow this picture up and put in in our family room!

Jaxson and cousin Gracie playing as we're packing up getting ready to go home. So cute!

On the plane ride home. Thanks Cameron and Cindy for all the planning for the reunion. We had such a blast and can't wait to see everyone again soon!

Time in Paradise

Well we finally returned from our wonderful time in Maui, back to the rain and reality. We had so much fun on our trip and can't wait to go back. Fortunately, Jaxson did really well (even on the plane), regardless of the 3 hour time difference. We tried to stay somewhat on Pacific time, which meant we woke up at like 5 and 6am (Hawaii time) each morning. But, it was actually really nice because our days seemed so much longer! We were able to walk across the street to the beach each morning and spent lots of time at the pool, and just relaxing too!

The view of the Ocean from our Lanai

Our giant (legendary) hole

Oh the belly...ever growing!

We went to an awesome Ocean center Aquarium and Jax absolutely loved all of the fish and animals. (He still talks about fish, whales, and sharks everyday)

These sting rays were HUGE!

My favorite picture...he would just stare forever if he could.

Until next time...

Aloha!

Maui here we come! In just a few days, I will be basking in the sun, on the beach, with my giant belly, in Hawaii! Yay! This is one of our last hoorah's before we add yet another child to our clan, and I cannot wait. I love to travel (minus the actual journey in the car or plane), but I can't remember the last time I was this excited to get away from home! Although I am slightly terrified of having Jaxson in the plane for 6 hours, I am thinking Hawaii will all be worth it! Let's all hope for the best!

Happy Mother's Day!

What a lucky girl I am and what a wonderful day Mother's Day is! I got a wonderful breakfast made by my husband and son, an amazing spa day retreat, and then had a great day at church! We had a great dinner at my parent's house and then we got a special "present" on the way home. It was about 9:00 and just got dark outside. Just before we got home we saw a small little posse of birds running around in the street. As they approached my car, I stopped and we realized that they were baby ducks! There were 6 of them running around aimlessly, scared, and about to be pounced on by 2 cats just waiting for the right moment. I told Brandon to get out and make sure I didn't hit them and then told him to chase the cats away. He did, but then he stood there and said, "What should we do"? They were so cute and little we couldn't just leave them out there to get eaten. So, we contemplated on whether to go home and find a box to put them or call animal control. What do you do with baby ducks? Well, I remembered that the stroller in my trunk has a storage basket in the bottom. So what did I do? I ran around the neighborhood with my giant belly, in the dark, and chased down 6 baby ducks and put them in the stroller and walked them home while Brandon and Jax followed in the car behind me. Now, we have 6 little ducks sleeping in a recycling bin in our garage and Jax and I have fallen in love with them! They are so cute! Jaxson absolutely adores them and named all 6 of them...Mama, Daddy, Baby, Two, Quack, and Chirp Chirp. I told him we would take them home (to the pond) tomorrow, but maybe we'll have to keep them a few more days! :-)

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Pink princesses or dirty dump trucks?

There will be no pink princesses in our house (at least not this time around)! We found out what we're having today, and IT'S A BOY! We went in for our ultrasound today and one of the first things we saw, clear as day, told us that we're definitely having another boy. It is so exciting to find out what you are having when you're pregnant, but now I will be obsessing over everything I can until that baby comes, like, what will his name be? I love name searching and yes, I actually like to have a name picked out before the baby is born, but it takes me awhile to pick that name out. We already have a few in mind (I can't tell you yet though), but I would love to hear other people's suggestions for cute boy names (but you can't get mad if I use it)! So, if you don't mind, let me hear em!

Could it be...

Baby #2? Yes it is! We are expecting a new little baby in our family! I am only 11 weeks along, not quite past the "announcing period", but I can't wait anymore! We were able to see the baby on ultrasound at 8.5 weeks and saw the little heartbeat, so that was good confirmation for us. I am due September 18th and we are very excited! I am not quite as lucky to have another dream pregnancy like I did with Jaxson, because I have actually had all the pregnancy symptoms this time, but I think (I hope at least) that the sickness will be over soon. It certainly hasn't been as bad as some people's though, so I can't complain. We can't wait to welcome McEwen baby #2!

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday and New Year

I love the holiday season! I am always so happy to have the Christmas spirit in my home and see the kindness of people as they celebrate our Savior's birth. It is such a great holiday! Not to mention, it is always fun putting up decorations, baking lots of yummy desserts, and giving presents. This Christmas was especially fun because Jaxson is actually old enough to enjoy opening presents and he was fascinated by Santa. Every time he saw a picture or decoration of Santa he would say "Santa, ho ho ho!" and would then ask for presents. We had Santa come to our work Christmas party and I thought Jax would be scared, but he actually liked him. (This was the best Santa I have ever seen, real beard and all).

We had fun at Grandma and Papa's house for Christmas Eve dinner and some early presents.

Bryce and I had a little bit too much fun playing with Kamri's (my niece) little keyboard.

On Christmas morning we opened all of our presents and had my family come over for breakfast. Then, we opened more presents with everyone!

Jaxson got a new tool bench with lots of tools and he loves to "build" and hammer things.

Then, the very next day, we had Jaxson's 2nd birthday party! He had lots of family and friends to celebrate with at his "Farm animal" birthday! The kids helped open presents, they played Elefun, raced cars, and had lots of balloons to kick around.

Jax loved these huge, adorable pig and cow balloons,

he had a horse cake and farm animal cupcakes that mommy had way too much fun making.

Overall, he had a great Christmas and birthday, but after 3 days of opening presents, he thinks he should get to open presents everyday! We are looking forward to the New Year and wish everyone all the best in 2010!!