Minzie moo

Sweet little miss Minie came to visit us this week. She is the sweetest little baby I have ever met. She never cries, smiles like crazy and giggles at everything. Tucker, came down with Influenza A while she was here. He stayed far away from her but alas the poor girl got it. We sure love this sweet girl!
Isn't her coloring awesome? She is pink all over.

Gwyn's New Shoes

One of Nannie's purchases for Gwyn......

Big Kid on the Block

Wednesday was Gil's 18 month check up. He weighed in at 31.6lbs and is 36 inches tall. This means he is humongous.
He is way off the charts for height and in the 96th percentile for weight. The Doctor told us that he is the biggest 18 month old he is seeing in his practice now. When Aunt Amy heard this she said "He is the Lamoreaux hope for the NFL".
He isn't chubby, he is just plain solid!The funny thing is that he is actually really coordinated and is walking up and down the stairs. He can actually jump and get off the floor (a half an inch counts right?) So we will see how he turns out. The Doctor said we will have a better idea when he is two. Let's just give a shout out to those Lamoreaux and Ausman genes. Those shoulders could have a hard time getting through the door.
He is starting to say everything, you say it he repeats it. I will say it isn't always understandable but he is trying. So watch out all you 18 month olds.....the Gil Moster is a comin'! (Let's hope he isnt' a bully.)

The Smiths Annual Visit......

Ally and Wes came with their darling little boys to visit us. We had great weather and enjoyed our time together. Ally and I shopped and got her new baby girl some darling outfits. We also got to eat Mexican and hit a movie without any kids! I wish they lived closer to us, maybe they will someday:) I love these people and it is never enough time with them. Thanks for the visit!

Wolves vs Bears

Last night the my Wolves played flag football against the Bears for Cub Scouts. It couldn't have been more beautiful weather. The boys had a great time. This is a picture of almost all of my Wolves....I love little boys. They are so fun and energetic and there is never any drama.

Here are the intimidating Bears (with a little help from some younger brothers!)
Bob and Steve were the coaches.
Here is the Wolves huddle.

This is what was going on during the game.....
Gwyn worked on here skating with a little friends borrowed skates!
This kid never ceases to amaze me. Once we let him out of the stroller he grabbed a football and NEVER put it down. He was int he middle of the game for awhile, then he headed for the baseball diamond and started rounding the bases.....how does he know?
Here he is leaving the baseball field. Ah, I am enjoying these AMAZING days right now.....perfect weather. It was a grand night and the Wolves and Bears tied;)

Zion....

For Presidents day Bob and I decided that we would head up to God's country for the day. You know, Zion National Park. We packed a lunch and planned for a couple of great hikes. As you can see from the picture of Tucker there is still a little snow on the mountain.

Well, about 1/3 of the way up the trail it became very icey and slushy. Bob was pushing Gil in the stroller and I was holding on to Gwyn. Lets just say Tucker fell about 30 times, Abe about a dozen and Bob at least once. I kept seeing in my mind my kids sliding off the mountain. I don't why we just didn't turn around. We were all grateful to be done with that hike and agreed that we were done with hikes for the day.
We saw an old man just about slip off the mountian....we were afraid we were gong to have to call an ambulance. I have to say though that we had a great time. (I am posting this picture because my husband didn't want me too.)
This is as far as we made it. This is a picture of the lower Emerald pool. Gwyn wanted me to take a picture of the rainbow.


We went back down to park at the Zion lodge and had our picinic. The kids were obessed with the box elder bugs on the big tree. I hate these bugs. They surround my house while I was growing up. I woke up many a night to one of these little red bugs crawling on me. One time I woke up to one trying to crawl in my ear......makes me shudder just remembering! Can I get a shout out from any fellow Highlander that also hated these bugs.
Like I said, they were fascinated.
Abe Baby just lost his top tooth last week......ahhhh the begining of the snaggle tooth stage.


I told you I was crazy about the shutter speed.

brothers....

the giggle girl
Just so you know, Gil is weighing in now at 32 lbs. He is one big kid. I am so interested to see how big he will be when he is grown. He is solid and so broad. There is no fluff to this little man. His rump is pretty round also......
I could eat him!

Playing around.......

I have been taking a digital photography class with some friends....I would like to say that it has helped me a lot but, really I don't think it has helped me a lick. Staci has loaned me some books and they have had some helpful tips. So this is what I have played around with....Gwyn ready for church in her princess dress that use to be her cousin Miranda's. I just need to lighten her face a bit but I don't know photo shop at all. I will figure out this lighting!
Needs a little help....
I am totally obsessed with the shutter speeds...I love action shots. Here is Tucker a couple of Sunday's ago(thank you 9am church) over at Sand Hollow. Nothing like jumping sagebrush.

* I let the kids dress themselves after church. That is why Tucker looks like he just left the DI. He couldn't match a thing if his life depended on it.

Oh yes and Abe is looking so good too...

Where have we been?

If you have been wondering why I don't post anymore I have two words for you.....Strep Throat!

I would love to say that we (my family) has had this seriousley annoying bacteria for the last week. But no, let me say that we are on our third round of it in two months!!!! The ENTIRE family is on medication this week and so help me if I get this again I will personally cut out my own tonsils. A cold I can handle, but being totally down with the chills, fevers, fear of swallowing your own saliva, and serious back aches is for the birds...... When I can't function it is not pretty; dad has to miss work, laundry piles up to the attic and the house starts to smell funny..... So our Valentines day was spent like this.....Gwyn and Abe watching movies under a little tent they made because what is the harm of sharing strep with eachother if you already have it. Abe couldn't have been more devestated to miss his first grade party that I was in charge of (I obviously had to turn it over to some other mom's). He waited with baited breath for his brother to get home from school to see his Valentines his brother had so kindly picked up for him.
Abe was feeling much better by the afternoon and thought that I was the meanest mom to keep him in. Although, it was really fun for Gwyn to have her older brother home to play with. Poor Gwyn got it the worst this time around. She had a fever of a 103.2, and that was while she was on motrin. She was throwing up and mostly laying in the fetal postion all day on Wedensday. I feel so bad because when I had strep two weeks ago my best buddy took really good care of me. She sat by me, brought me food, asked dad to bring me drinks I didn't need, brought me meds that she thought I should take. She brushed my hair, and put pretend make-up on me. She refused to leave my side and kept telling me "i'll take care of you mommy". I knew at one point she would end up with it. Poor baby girl. She did take great care fo me. This is what I did for Bob for Valentines. I decided a new shirt is nice but I would try my hand at that romantic thing again....at one point I was very good at it. Something about 4 kids changes that...weird I know. There were at least 130 post it notes of why I love Bob. The best part of this was how much my kids loved it. Abe was having a lot of fun reading them and Gwyn threw a couple of scribble notes on it. Tucker was proud of it and brought his dad right in to see it. Even Gil would stand under it and jabber some kind of crazy baby babble about it. All the kids had suggestions of reasons why I should love him......it was really fun to hear, like Abe's suggestion, "because dad doesn't mind when his kids beat him in monopoly". I am pretty sure he liked it. All in all it was a delightful day. My husband bought me a rose bush and an i-pod player. Love him!

*Stace....I hope you don't get strep after riding with me....I did end up with strep that next day...oops....sorry!

About us......tagged

What is his name? Robert Lyle Lamoreaux

How long have we been together? Over 10 years.

How long did we date? We knew eachother for about6 months before we started dating. Then we dated for 6 months and were engaged another 3 months.

How old is he? 34 yrs old and very soon to be 35!

Who eats more? Ummm.....he does.

Who said I love you first? Bob did I think? Once we started dating everything just felt so easy, so all of those steps are a little unclear. Except he talked marriage WAY before I even thought about it, freaked me right out. That's why I think he must have said it first.

Who is taller? Bob is by a long shot. I am only 5'5 and he is 6'2.

Who can sing better? Bob! He has a nice voice, not amazing but good. He can and carry a tune. I am only so-so. But like my friend Andrea once said " I love to have my own concerts in the car." So much so that I have known to be horse after along drive.

Who is smarter? He is. I love to ask him while driving what random things are. Without fail he knows what it is. For an example, just past Cedar City there are little orange flags all over. Why? They were marking Prairedog dens for road construction?! Now why would he know that?

Who does the Laundry? ME!!!! Bob NEVER does the laundry.....I am far to particular.

Who pays the bills? It depends on the month. Both of us I guess.

Who sleeps on the right side? Bob does. But really he sleeps in the middle and I sleep close to the left side because I like to sleep close to the side.

Who mows the lawn? Bob does. I have only once mowed a lawn and it was my boyfriends when I was 16 and just because I wanted to try it out. Bob takes wonderful care of our yard. He has landscaped the whole thing and it looks great. He takes great pride and joy in his yard and yardwork. We agree that I'll decorate the house and he will decorate the yard.

Who cooks dinner? Always me. Except for lately, we started a meal swap with some friends. So I only cook once a week. Bob is great with the BBQ so I have to say that is some cooking.

Who drives? Bob does! I HATE to drive. I love to be the passenger though. In fact if my mom comes to town I let her drive, and truth be told she is a terrible driver. When I drive I am like a Grandma...I drive slow.

Who is more stubborn? ME! That's all I will say about that.

Who kissed who first? I kissed Bob first. We had been dating for awhile and in my experience if you started kissing you were fairly committed. I was afraid of committing to anyone so I held off. To the point that Bob said that I would have to kiss him...Then one night on my parents couch I just leaned over and kissed him. I think he was pretty surprised. I wasn't. I did say right after though "No committment, no committment."

Who asked who out first? Bob did. He convinced me to leave my other date early so that I could go up to his friends house in SLC later. Brad got in on it and told the other guy I had to be home before midnight because it was the sabbath the next day. As the one guy drove off Bob pulled in the driveway and we headed up to SLC. Our first official date was a week later, we went to Ruby river and then to see Seven Years in Tibet.

Who proposed? He did. He had told me he was ready when ever I was for a couple of months. When I finally knew he was it I left him a message on his answering machine that said I was ready. We actually had our temple date before he actaully asked me. Then on a trip down to St. George for Kennan's soccer trip, Bob and I went up Kolob Mt. to the Lava Point fireman's lookout and he proposed there. We love to take our kids there to visit, it's one of my favorite spots.

Who has more friends? I do. What else can I say.

Who is more sensitive? Well, I am more moody but he is far more sensitve than I am. He says I can verbally cut his heart out and then ask him where he wants to go for dinner. Ouch! Comes from growing up in my family. But I love his tender side and he can stop me in my tracks with a few words.

Who has more siblings? We have exactly the same. 5 siblings. I have two brothers and 3 sisters. Bob has 3 sisters and 1 living brother.

Who wears the pants? I hate to say me, because it is known that I am eternally bossy....sorry! But truth be told he is so nice to me that I usually always get my way and he leads very quietly and kindly. But in reality I really think we are a great team. We always try to be united in our ways.

I tag.....My sisters, Ally, Jamie, Celia, Amy (A,L,M) Laura (B,S) and anyone else who wants to do these fun little faq's

and then there was one.....

Wahoo!!!!! Gwyn is officially potty trained!! She has had two perfect accident free days!!! Gil is now the only one in diapers at our house. (thank goodness) We started out on Monday and she did pretty well. She was about half and half with the accidents and successes. Who knew after all of the sophisticated ways I tried to teach her, that stickers and Laffy Taffy would be the trick. By Tuesday she had only two accidents and only when it was close to bed time. Wednesday and Thursday have been great and accident free. I love when your child is finally potty trained and they change. Their is a new indepenence and confidence about them. She is so happy and so very proud of herself. She announced to everyone while at Target, Michaels, and the Library that she was potty trained. I loved all of those mothers who smiled so big at her and told her she was a big girl. (thanks to all you mothers out there) Ahhhh, great week for miss Gwynnie. Awesome week for my diaper bill:)

isms.....

I just have to document of few of the things Gwyn and Gil have been saying lately:

Gwyn

• scream cheese (string cheese)
• I broke Jesus. (After breaking a picture of Jesus the boys had on their night stand. She tells everyone this.)
• I need some lisptick.
• everything is really "dangerous" or "difficult" ie; "Gil has a cough, it's really dangerous."
• "it's so darling"
• "ohhhh...she's just like Minie" (her baby cousin.)
• "When I get bigger......... I'm gonna go to school" (or whatever she might think she can do later on in life)."
• "When my dad gets home he's gonna hug me and love me."
• "I have a baby in my tummy, it's moving." Umm, I am not pregnant and the last time I was she was fifteen months old. Where does she get this stuff?
• Gwyn, where are your socks? "they died"
  

Gil is the stuff boys are made of. He LOVES balls, any one will do. He has taken to sleep with his football. I can honestly say that this is the first one of my boys to be so crazy about balls! He will stand beneath the big basketball hoop and try to make baskets. He also squats a lot, he squats while walking. and dancing, and trying to jump. He give the impression of a Samoan doing some Maori dance. Bob calls him the gorilla. He is huge! He is tall but I am pretty sure his shoulders are as broad as he is tall. To top it all off he has the face of an angel! (maybe not in this picture) He is a funny little man.

Gilbert Odin

• "i wannnnna go outside"
• "daddy"
• "mama"
• "tou-CH"
• "BALL"
• "NO!"
• "Mine"
• "Pees"
• "i wannna bite"

Pine Wood Derby, baby........

This was Tucker's first time making his own car for the pine wood derby. I am proud to say that he came up with the idea all on his own. Bob helped him along the way but this was Tucker's moment. I have no idea where the cheese idea came from but both Bob and I thought it was very clever! Thanks to Miss Debbie for the mouse:)
Tucker named his car "the big cheese" and was very excited to reveal it to his friends. I am sad to say that he did not win first place but he did pretty well. His prize was for the "speedy Swiss."
I was very proud of him! He was fine with not winning and just happy to finally get to be apart of the "PINE WOOD DERBY!!" He had a great time racing his car down the track again again. He already has big plans for next years race!

It was a Sensational trip on the Elation! (in my best australian accent)

For Christmas my parents gave all of their children a Cruise to Mexico. Brad and Vanessa couldn't go because her immigration papers had lapsed. So they are heading to Hawaii on Monday instead. January 12, 2008 we all left from different places in the US and met in San Diego, to board the cruise ship. Imagine our surprise when we walked up to the cruise line to see this was our ship! The Black Pearl.....cool huh? A little small though.
Oh whoops, I guess if I looked the other way I would have seen this monstrous ship....The Elation!
After setting sail and getting situated and eating anything and everything. We went to bed early and slept in. (wahoo!!)
Our first real day on the boat we enjoyed beautiful weather, food, sunshine, massages, and music. We had our formal dinner that night and here are a few pictures of us all dressed up.
It was great to see Bryce and Lisa. I haven't' seen them in a year and it was really fun to spend time with them.

The lovely ladies after dinner. (yes, I do wear this dress a lot.)
My dad, Trevan, Bob and Bryce. Nate and Dustin had already taken off too the casino.
Trevan and Kennan
Doesn't she look great for being 7 months pregnant?
Bob and I
Mom and Dad....I love this little fifties dress my mom was wearing.

After dinner many nights we hit the hot tub. One night Bryce bet Trevan $50 if he would wear Brooke's swimsuit to the hot tub. Dustin had already said he wasn't going to the hot tub until he saw Trev. Without a bet he put on Brooke's other swimsuit bottoms and joined in. Oh, Dustin.....
Trevy baby.....who wouldn't pay 50 bucks?
How can I not mention our lovely towel friends? Who didn't love going into your room to find one of these little gems? Wii, our stateroom steward made this one special for pregnant Kennan.
As it turns out Wii, has worked for the cruise line for 19 years and he was the actual person to start the towel creatures. He told us how he use to get in trouble for making them and using all the towels; but after so many people sent comments about loving them they asked him to teach everyone.

~Cabo San Lucas~

Kennan and Trevan rented a wave runner and followed us around while Brooke & Dustin and Bob & I Para-Sailed. Yes, Kennan did fall off once not being that balanced with her belly. Trevan rode wave runners for the first time ever.

After we hit land in Cabo, a man with an Iguana walked over to us and handed Bob the reptile. He then looked at Bob and said "two dollar". Yes, we were taken at every turn!
My personal favorite is the sweet little Mexican hat the Iguana is wearing.
Brooke was determined that she and Dustin were going to Para-Sail. Me, Bob, and my dad decided that we were going to ride along and watch.
After seeing how much fun it looked Bob and I decided to try it out also.
My Dad, just hanging out. (He doesn't do that much.)

Here we are para-sailing. It was so fun. We watched as Manta ray's jumped out of the water. It was great.
Yeah, we were up pretty high.
Here is the famous arch right off of "Lover's Beach".
We took some little tour that showed you all around the cove and here was the ledge where all the Seals were hanging out. Our tour boat took us about five feet from them, they were REALLY stinky.
Here are Brooke and Dustin Snorkeling.....Brooke had to snorkel! Don't mind that the boat they took out was nasty, the man didn't even have life jackets for them and he was throwing food around them so the fish would come right up to them. If you can see Brooke's face she is FREAKING out. We just giggled as we drove past.

*On a side note: Apparently, you are not supposed to take these little adventures unless it is through the cruise. It is supposedly really dangerous and a real "no no". We didn't know this until after our little adventure and we could actually see the Cruise Line point. Oh well, Brooke and Dustin lived. We also spent half the money we would have if we went through the cruise.

Bryce and Lisa had a little less luck and were stung by jelly fish....


~Ensenada~

La Boufadora (the blow hole)
Once again we took the tour that was local....we like to live dangerously. My mom and dad went with Bob and I on the tour and we had a lovely time.
It was really neat to see this, I guess there are only 2 others like this through out the whole world.
We hit the flea market while we were their and found Tucker an awesomely disgusting real shark head.....what 8 year old wouldn't love that. Also a great Nacho Libre mask for Abe. It got kind of chilly the last 2 days on the cruise....that was a little sad but we brought jackets....anything seems warmer than where my parents live.

Okay, I know that you can't see this very well but it says Carnival Legends. As you know most of my family does not drink so we kept to a few places at night. The most popular being the Karaoke Room. Well, Kennan is quite the performer so she did a few numbers, Brooke also joined her for a little Back Street Boys number. I might add it was Awesome! Bob even performed a little Garth Brooks and made twenty bucks from Dustin who dared him to do it. Lisa, who did do a little drinking, performed a moving rendition of a Madonna's La Isla Bonita. It turned out that she was in a competition with a few other ladies, Kennan being one of them, and she won. So the last night of the Cruise she had to perform Madonna's Like a Virgin.
Here she is....a few drinks later.
Don't mind that they made her have a rehearsal, gave her a costume and an MP3 player to practice her song. She was stressing out, saying "how did I get myself into this?" She was great and we all had a fabulous time watching her. She was our claim to fame the whole trip......"Madonna's my sister-in-law!"
Bryce and Lisa.....After the show. Doesn't he look proud? He was, it was cute.(ahhh...I know)
Mike and Pam with the super star.

Our cruise was a great time. Bob picked up three new accents...Australian, Mexican , and eastern European. It made my dad laugh so hard every time Bob would use any of these accent. He especially LOVED when he quoted our Australian Cruise director. Dad made him say it to everyone, even if they had heard him 20 times. My family is so funny. I have to say, if you only know me and you think I am out of control you need to meet the rest of my family. I am one of the most reserved of them. I have to say that our parties are never dull, and you are guaranteed to laugh your head off. I cannot tell you how funny it was to see everyone Karaoke, I swear they should all be in movies. We missed Brad and Vanessa but we still managed to have a good time. I had hoped to relax and not worry about anything and that definitely was achieved. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great time and creating a sensational environment for us to hang out in. I am so glad you two decided to have 6 kids! I count them as my biggest blessing.