Monday, May 18, 2009

Adventures at City Creek Canyon

John is almost 4 weeks old! I can't believe how fast the time is flying by. Here is a pic from our first Sunday back to church. Now that life is finally settling back down to normal we decided it was time to get out as a family again. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, so we headed out to City Creek Canyon to go exploring. The boys had a good time chasing butterflies, getting "attacked" by friendly dogs, and climbing on anything and everything!







There were lots of snack breaks!
That looks safe!

I had to put in a pic of John, just to prove that he was there too. He slept almost the whole time. If you look close you can see poor Michael's injured hand. He had to make sure it got in the shot! There was just too much to look at to keep an eye on where he was going.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

He's finally here!

We welcomed 10 lb 22 inch baby John Maxwell into the world April 22 at 1:13 am. The Dr was concerned about a few things, so they had the NICU nurses in our room for the delivery. I don't think those nurses were used to handling a baby as big as John. They all just kept saying, "He's so big. He's so BIG!"
His head, measuring at a whopping 37 cm, was bigger than the tape measure!
Here's the proof... 10 lbs!
Okay, don't judge... I just gave birth to a TANK!
The boys were thrilled to meet thier new brother.

Thank goodness Grandma Goostrey was there. My water broke at home and three hours later John was out! We would have been in big trouble without my mom coming down from Boise a week early to help out.

I think Daniel likes the idea that he is no longer the little guy in the house. He is constantly asking to hold John. And everytime I turn around he is snuggling up to the baby and piling his favorite blankets and toys on his baby bro.

Another picture of a very tired mommy!
Awww, so cute!
Does it get any better than this?

Monday, March 30, 2009

Where the Wild Things Are

The month of March has been a rough one in the Bates house. We played musical virus all month. No sooner had we recovered from one bug, then the next one came barrelling in. After being caged in for a couple of weeks we all needed a good vacation. So we decided to brave the winter weather and go camping in the rough untamed...



LIVINGROOM...
Not much room to get aroung the tent, but we made it fit, barely! We started out the evening with frozen pizza and took turns making up "scary" stories.
What would a camping trip be without smores...the oven roasted kind?! Messy, but TOTALLY worth it!

Happiness is.... gooey fingers and a chocolate mustache!

After scrubbing faces and fingers we got into jammies and grabbed every blanket and pillow in the house. We cuddled together and watched a movie on Daddy's laptop. Then after a quick bedtime story, it was lights out. I don't know if it was all the excitement or the children's tylenol, but they crashed hard!
I think morning came faster than we planned.

Any guesses who the morning person is in this house?


Sleepy and still so sweet!


This was Zach's version of a scary story. Hard to hear, but really cute!




Thursday, March 26, 2009

There's no Place Like... Boise!

I have wanted to post these pictures since we went to Boise over 3 weeks ago, but we have been slammed with sickness almost constantly since we got back. I think we are finally over the hump so...enjoy!

Whoever said you can't go home again has never been to MY parents house. I LOVE to go back and kick my feet up in my Mom's recliner and talk about all kinds of unimportant stuff and lots of really important memories. I don't feel guilty in the least watching my 3 boys run around like a flock of birds and mess up someone else's house! Mom always cooks all the foods I LOVE like tuna casserole and peach cobbler...mmmmm! By the end of the trip I feel rested and refreshed, and my mom looks like she needs a nap!

Dad took us all the the church to fly his little RC plane. As usual, he was atleast as exctied as the boys to get it up in the air!

Too cute!

Dad gave each boy a turn controling the plane. They loved watching it loop and dive and crash (several times)


No comments on the beatle's hair, I finally buzzed it last week (sob)!
After a few minutes the flight came to a tragic end. I won't tell you who had the controls when this happened....
Yeah, that IS really high!
Anyone else think this looks like a bad idea?
GULP!!!! I don't know if you can see it from the picture, but that ladder is not standing straight! Also, notice the vice like grip Mom has on Dad's arm.... He's not the one we are worried about here!
But the plane was saved. My hero!
Daniel couldn't handle all the drama....
A couple of days later we got to hang out with Kylie, the boys cousin (so cute it's hard to believe she is Eric's little girl!)
We took the whole herd to Planet kid and let them loose. It was like watching moneys at the zoo. Lots of swinging, jumping, and climbing.


Mom has a giant chalk board on the wall in her dining room that the boys had fun drawing on, and I had fun drawing on the boys!
We went to Eric's house and got in a good visit.
Zach never changes! I think I am in trouble when this kid gets older!!!

We had a great trip. Thanks Mom and Dad Goose. We love you!