4th sleepover at Grandma's house

We have a sleepover at my Grandma's house every year on the 4th and it is so fun!

Pinata

Swimming

Fireworks

Grandma and pa on their golf cart

Samantha's Birthday

Mantha's 3!
We had a fun swiming party at our favorite pool in Orem. We were planning on getting there at noon when it opened then coming home for a nap at 2 or 3, then returning for the night swim at 5. But, she did NOT want to leave so she swam straight through from noon til 8 and LOVED it! She was one tired girl by the end of the day, fell asleep in the car before we left the parking lot. :)

**Sorry we don't have very many pics I will try to get more from everyone else's cameras.

St. George

We took a last minute trip to St. George last weekend and had so much fun! Ben's brother Mike is on a semi-pro football team, and they had their last season game down there. We went shopping and swimming and got our toe nails painted. Spent lots of money and had lots of fun! :)

Water, football, and bugs

Asher 2 Months

Well, I still haven't made it to the studio for pictures of the kids, so in fear that I won't I tried to take some here. Ug....I better go. He has already changed so much, I wish I would have gotten some newborn pics. I am such a slacker mom.

Mini-campout

We took a quick trip up the canyon for dinner and smores over the weekend. Mantha played so well with the cousins and it was beautiful up there. Can't wait for more camping trips this year!

Comics

I caught Samantha reading one of Ben's comic books the other day-she LOVES them almost as much as he does. She says stuff like "ahh scary part Mom", and "dee end, great story, nother one". She can pick out Batman, Spiderman, Superman, and Superwoman. Batman is her favorite. :)

Potty Training?

Don't let this fool you, she is in no way closer to potty training than she was 6 months ago. Everyone keeps telling me to 'wait until she's ready,' well..........she may never be ready. She does like to sit on 'Dora potty' before she gets in the tub though. :)

Any tips to help get her potty trained before she's 3? We have a month left and I'm getting sick of 2 kids in diapers!
P.S. Sorry the last 2 posts have shown lots of skin, I promise she usually has all her clothes on.

Classic Big Sister

Twinkle Star

Mantha has been starting to sing songs-usually she just listens and stays quiet, we didn't think she knew any words, then all of a sudden she knows all the words to tons of songs! It is so cute and fun!

Few pics from lately...

Asher is growing so fast and I feel so guilty that I haven't taken very many pictures of him and NONE in the studio yet. By this time in Mantha's life we had several albums filled and lots in the studio...seriously. He is sleeping pretty good (only wakes up once in the middle of the night and then early in the morning.) We are still trying to figure him out though. He cries most of the time that he's awake. He used to have REALLY bad, loud, explosive, painful gas before every feeding. Working with his Dr and a lactation consultant we have him on a few meds and me completely off dairy products and as of a few days ago the toots have slowed way down. (From like 30/feeding to like 5/feeding!) But, he is continuing to cry, spit, and vomit in between feedings which they now think is reflux, so we are starting him on prescription previcid (he has been on Maalox for a week or so and that isn't working). This may take a couple of weeks to work, but we are excited to see if it does. All I want right now is a happy baby.

So, life with 2 kids is pretty hectic for me. I am adjusting, but realizing life will never be the same. Kinda like the feeling I got when we had Mantha...only worse. I am now wondering why I ever thought one kid was hard. :) Those of you who have 3 or more kids are probably thinking that I'm crazy.

Too tired!

Daddy's shoes

Coloring Ester Eggs

Easter

I was pretty worried that Samantha was going to be left out of all the Easter festivities because I was still supposed to be taking it easy and not up to much, but she had a blast and Ben was wonderful to take her to egg hunts and such.

Here are the two kids (whoa that's weird to say) on Easter Sunday after church.

Samantha at an Easter egg hunt-not ours. Long story, Benj took her to Provo city one and they were a few minutes late and it was over, so they crashed Benj's brother Adam's in-law's egg hunt. :) ~Thanks Frisby family for letting them come.

She got a blue ring pop and was amazed that her tongue was blue and kept looking in the mirror and trying to wipe it off.

It ended up being a great holiday.

Asher Benjamin Corey

The birth went well. Once they made the incision on my belly the baby was out in less than 3 minutes! Ben got to come in the OR with me and then followed the baby around getting vitals and to the nursery. We stayed in the hospital for 3 days and as I weened off morphine and am continuing to wean off lortab I feel like I am starting the healing process over each time. The pain is bad, but I can already get around pretty good which is much better than I can say about my delivery with Mantha one week out.

We did finally name this little one, his name is: Asher Benjamin Corey. The name Asher is Ben's Grandpa's name, we had to fight some of his siblings for it, that's why it took so long. :) Ben is excited because his initials are ABC. He had a bit of jaundice that went away a few days after birth and he lost more weight than they wanted him to, but after some time and a few weight checks he is doing well weight-wise too.

I got mastitis this week and just started some antibiotics for that today, hopefully I will start to feel better by tomorrow. Asher got circumcized today.....it was rough. My Mom came with me and stayed in the room with him (I opted not to watch), and Benj took Mantha to a special Daddy-daughter lunch. I feel so sorry for Asher when I change his diaper because he cries pretty hard. I just keep hoping this is the worst thing he has to go through in is infantcy, and reminding myself that Mantha forgot everything that she went through and 'this to shall pass'.

Mantha is doing great with baby Asher and gets really worried when he cries and says 'Daddy, baby Asher crying, go help Mommy'. And she is obsessed with his carseat and always puts her baby in it and wants us to put Asher in it and 'go in car'. Benj is giving her lots of extra attention and we have had lots of help here giving her lots of love.

Thanks everyone who has come to visit, called, emailed, sent things, brought meals, ect! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Baby brother!

Gymnastics meet

I took Mantha to the Utah gymnastics meet last weekend with my Sister and her kids. Mantha LOVED riding trax to and from the meet! We may try and venture out again this week to the BYU/Utah meet here in Provo with Daddy.

First Kite

We took Samantha out to fly her first kite this weekend and she LOVED it! She picked the kite out herself and was so exicited all day. We packed a picnic with subs and it was a beautiful day. Benj would let Mantha hold it, she would let go, kite would go flying over the nearby fence, Dad would chase it down and untangle it, cycle would repeat. :)

Affected

I have noticed a change in people over the last year or so with the suffering economy. I have even started making different choices than I would have otherwise. I find myself being more satisfied with what I have instead of wanting the new or upgraded version (IE our home, fix it up a bit instead of upgrading, and Benj driving his '85 Spirit around instead of taking loans out for a nicer car).

It has been so difficult to see loved ones loose jobs, houses, take pay cuts, or stay with a job they don't enjoy or a lower paying one because they fear they can't get another one. This has made me so much more grateful of Benj's job and the things we have. Our generation has grown up spoiled and we're used to getting what we want, when we want it-even if it is on credit. We have this idea that we deserve some things and that's where we get into trouble financially. Like, we buy big houses in our 20's when our parents generation would scrimp and save to get a modest home in their 40's, and we think we should retire when we're 30.

I can start to see how living through a depression would really affect the rest of your life, like it did our grandparents. I used to look at their habits like reusing ziploc bags as silly, now I have respect for how very hard it must have been for them.

I hope we don't have to go through what they did, but also hope we learn from this time. I am still pretty wasteful and make lots of bad purchasing choices, but I'm trying to be more aware of wants vs. needs. Benj and I have had way more talks on saving money and budgeting and food storage is becoming a reality instead of somehting we 'should do'. I don't by any means think I am an expert on this stuff, it's just been on my mind a lot lately.

What do you think about all this?

Sorry for the long, serious post.....I know, not like me. :)