Happy Halloween...a little late!

I thought I would post some of our Halloween pictures since I did not take the time to do it before. Here is Max, my little monkey. This costume was a bit too small for him, so it made it even funnier. He is such a chunk!

When I planned our Halloween costumes, we were in Flagstaff where it is cold, so Gus's costume was very warm. The only problem is we went trick or treating in Mesa, and this was what Gus looked like when we were done. The poor kid was sweating to death under his helmet!








Here is Gus in full costume at his joy school Halloween party. He loves joy school. Every time I come to pick him up he tells me to go away because he doesn't want to go home. Ouch! Pretty soon he won't need me for anything.



Here are the boys carving pumpkins. We always sneak candy in the pumpkins so when the kids open them up, there is candy inside. We call them magic pumpkins!


I am not usually one to dress up my dog, but I thought this costume was hillarious. Boo did not really love the hat, but he made the coolest little black and white horse I have ever seen.

Welcome Cash!

Okay, I know it's been a while, but finally, here is our new baby boy Cash. He is seriously the rockiness baby ever. He already just fits right in with the family. I love the peace that he brings into our home.
















Here he is in my favorite little jammies (because I don't have to button them, and he poops like 12 times a day).



















Paul has been really busy this last week, so he gets his cuddle time at night when he is home. I love this!













Here is our new happy little family. 3 boys. Who would have thought? It is a good thing we are planning on having 12 kids. There has to be a girl in there somewhere.

















I know, these right after birth pictures aren't really cute, but fun regardless. You may notice that the whole top of his head is purple. That is because he was stuck for so long in the birth canal while I was pushing. What a coincidence that my smallest baby was the hardest one to push out. I was dilated to a 10 when we got to the hospital, and the doctors and nurses all just expected him to pop right out. After pushing for 2 hours and feeling that he was not moving at all, I thought I was going to go crazy. The doctor said that his head was turned transverse, so at that point, they gave me an epideral, had me turn and lay in different positions to try to get the baby to turn. After about an hour of that, I pushed again, and Cash popped right out like nothin. That's the way it was supposed to be the first time I pushed! I sure was glad he was there, and the funny thing is, it has only been a week, and I can't even remember what it was like being pregnant or being in labor. I guess that is a gift from God! Anyway, he is healthy and happy, and my boys love their new baby. Gus was a little sad that we didn't name him Jimmy Neutron, but other than that, we are great. I was so lucky to have my mom here with me all last week. I loved it! Last time I had a baby, she was on her mission, so it was nice to have her with me to enjoy the new little life.

Also, check out professional pictures of Cash at this link

http://www.pattersonpics.com/proofs/cash/

It's a Boy.....again!

Hey everybody. Had a baby yesterday. Things went great. He is really small 6 lbs 10 oz. I hope I don't break him. Anyway, he's healthy. Things are great, and we are just so glad to have him home. His name is Cash Clifford Fox. I'll try to get some pics on soon.

Crazy, Crazy

I have been wanting to post for a while, but I am too lazy to upload the pictures from my camera. Trust me, when I do, it will be awesome. Paul and I are both suffering from that crazy time at school right before Thanksgiving when all of your big assignments are due. That would be dominating my thoughts if it weren't for the fact that I keep having killer contractions, but I am not going into labor. I am not one to usually be very anxious at the end of my pregnancy. I usually just go with the flow, but I am having a really hard time concentrating. I just want the baby out for me to love and hold, and then contractions and labor won't be the only thing I can think about anymore. It is really hard studying about the nervous system when my mind is on the baby. Also, I am excited to see if we will have a little boy or girl. Anyway, life is good. We went on a hike for veterans day, got our first snow storm, and went to boyscout night at Sizzler. What more could a girl ask for?

Halloween Humor

Today, I was trying to teach Gus a Halloween joke that he could tell people. So this is how the joke goes: Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?....... because he didn't have any guts. So I told it to him a few times, and then I asked him, "why didn't the skeleton cross the road?" and Gus replied, "because he didn't have any nuts." OK, that also works! Hillarious. I almost died laughing. He now recites the joke correctly, but it is not nearly as funny as his first version.

farm boys

The Young Women's president in our ward is a photographer, and I wanted her to take some pictures of my boys in front of this cool old, rusty truck. She took so many awesome pictures. I am used to going to a lousy studio at JC penney or something, so I am not used to having to choose between so many good ones. Go check them out at this link

Kid's say the darndest things

Is any one else amazed at the things that come out of their kids mouths. I swear, when they start reasoning for themselves, they really come to some of the funniest conclusions. I love it! Today, Gus got done going to the bathroom. Sometimes he sits, and sometimes he stands. Today he decided to stand. When he was done, he walked out of the bathroom and said, "Mom, you will never be as strong as me, because you can't stand up when you go pee." Okay, where did that come from? I must admit, he is right. Boys do have the advantage of standing when they pee. It doesn't seem like an advantage until you have to go while your camping, running, or doing anything where a toilet is not readily available. I guess Gus already understands the leverage he has over the female population. He's a genius!

On a separate note, Max is really testing me lately. It seems like every time he is either in the bath tub, or just getting out, he decides that it is a good time to go to the bathroom (number 2, and he is not potty trained). I'll just leave it at that and spare you the gory details!

My baby is due in a month and a half, and when it is safe, I am going to start doing squats and lunges to help speed up the process. I am more ancy than usual to get this baby on the outside of my stomach. Oh and by the way, Happy Halloween to everyone!

Autumn is in the air

This is the Time that the leaves change every year in Flagstaff. Up here, we don't usually get a huge display of different colors, but we do get a glorious display of gold leaves on our aspen trees. We usually try to go hike up by the peaks every year at this time to see the dome of gold. It is really breath taking. This year it wasn't quite as pretty as in years past, but it was still amazing. We found the perfect hike that is not too long for kids, but is still long enough for and enjoyable hike. It went right through a whole lot of aspens. The weather has miraculously warmed up again, and we are no longer freezing! Hooray! I love living here. It is such a beautiful place to be!

There were huge rocks everywhere, and Gus took great pride in his rock climbing ability. It was hard to go very fast on the hike, because he kept insisting on climbing to the top of every big rock he saw.
Max, as usual, was just happy to be there! This is an old cabin that is just off the trail. It was very short. I am so glad I don't have to live there! We took our dog, Boo, with us, and when he gets too far away, we whistle to call him back. Max thought he knew how to whistle too. He kept saying "woo" "woo", and then he would yell Boo's name. It was the funniest.

Just below is Gus performing one of his amazing rock-climbing acts. I was really impressed with some of the rocks he climbed up. He was really having a ball.
Eventually, Gus ended up on Dad's shoulders. After climbing all those rocks, you would be tired too!

Coconino County Fair

We love going to the Coconino County fair. I must say, there is not really much to it. Our favorite part every year is looking at the animals. There are pigs, goats, cows, chickens, rabbits, you name it. Max especially loved that part. This year, we let Gus ride a couple of the carnival rides, and after that everything else was a bore. We should have waited until the very end to let him ride, it would have made the rest of our time at the fair a lot more enjoyable. He just kept begging to ride more rides, and telling us that the baked goods competition, the plant competition, and the gems and minerals were "stupid" and "boring." The nerve! Paul's brother Kevin entered his Dahlias into the competition (Dhalias are really beautiful flowers that are usually very large. They are usually purple with white-tipped petals). He won first place (most entrees win a prize, that's the benefit of a small fair). Anyway, it was good times for all. We loved it!

This was the first ride Gus got to go on. This was what ruined him. At least Max was easy to please. He could have looked at the animals all day and been happy. Of course he calls all animals "Boo" because that is the name of our dog. He is definitely my animal lover. I am glad because he reminds me of myself. Gus doesn't care as much for animals. He likes them, but he doesn't have a natural instinct to love them. Max tries to hug every animal he sees.


This was ride number two. It was the most jerky rollercoaster ever, but he didn't mind.

shiver!

OK, I have not been posting lately because I have not been taking pictures, and I figure most of the time, it is the pictures that people care about, but I just had to let everyone know that we are freezing up here in Flagstaff. It got cold overnight. We can't seem to warm up! The one thing I have always said about Flagstaff is that it is very deceptive. You look outside and say to yourself, " looks like a warm, sunny day." But when you go out there, the brutal wind chills you to the bone! Last night, we went for our annual Fox family fall cookout. We go out in the woods where we can see all the pretty leaves changing color, and we eat home made soup and biscuits. Last night was the least enjoyable fall cookout so far. Nobody dared step away from the fire. The kids were all bundled in their winter clothes, and still complained that they were cold. The weather changed from warm to cold so fast that the leaves did not even get the chance to fully change. They all just froze and died in a couple of days. Despite the harsh conditions, we still managed to have a blast, but hopefully, it will be a little warmer next year!

Our lives

Hey all, just checking in. The last few weeks have been just great. Nothing unusual has happened. I am really just enjoying myself. I am in my 4th week of school now, and it has been really refreshing to be back. I think I am looking at it differently now. The first time I went to college, it was like an extension of high school. I never had a break, and I was completely burnt out. I also am a little bit anal about getting good grades, so I always killed myself in order to get them. The problem was, I was more worried about my grades than what I was about learning. This time around, I am really soaking it all in and enjoying the learning process a lot more. It amazes me how much there is to learn in the world. I could go to school full time for the rest of my life, and still have a lot to learn. It really makes me realize the greatness of our Heavenly Father. He knows everything there is to know, and when I think that I have the potential to be like him, it boggles my mind. I can't imagine ever knowing all the things he knows. I am especially enjoying my anatomy and physiology class. The human body it a fine-tuned machine!

Gus is also going to school now...sort of. We are participating in Joy School. It is like a preschool co-op, where you buy the curriculum and then the mom's rotate teaching. He loves it. Mostly, I think he is just so social that he has been dying to get out and interact with other kids on a regular basis. Ever since he got a taste of preschool when I taught it last year, he yearns for that activity with other kids his age. He is a bit of a class clown, although the jokes he makes don't make sense all of the time, the other kids laugh anyway. I just love kids that age.

Paul is really working hard at school. This is his last semester and he has 21 credits. Luckily he got a great scholarship (good job sugar), so he doesn't have to work this semester. What a great guy. I am so proud of him for sticking with it.

Max is not in school, but he is starting to say a lot of words, and he makes the most hillarious faces these days. My favorite thing to do is just watch him when he doesn't know it. He does the funniest things. He loves dogs, and anytime he sees one he says "boo" because that is the name of our dog. Love that kid.

Well adios, hope everyone is doing well!

Splish splash I'm Takin a Bath

The last few days we have been having problems with our septic tank, so we have not been able to let any water drain from our house, which eliminates, showers, baths, laundry, dish washing, flushing the toilet, washing hands, etc. Well, our boys get really dirty because they play outside in the dirt every day. Not to mention, it has been raining a lot, so they get muddy too. So we can get water from our sink, as long as we don't let it drain. Paul had the ingenius idea to bathe them in the cooler out back. We could have just bathed them at Paul's parents house the next day when we were going to shower and get ready for church, but Gus and Max had so much fun with it, I think we may bathe like this from now on (not really). As you can tell, they were a little squished.

1st day of school

Today is Paul's first day of school for his very last semester of college. He has got a crazy schedule, but he handles being busy very well. He never seems to get too stressed unless there is something really wrong. I decided a couple of weeks ago that I was going to go back to school, and thus today was also my first day of school. I have had really mixed emotions about going back. I am so excited, but for some reason, being out of school for 4 years makes me really nervous to go back. I will have to develop good study habits again, and I won't just be able to take off with my kids and do whatever I want. I am going to nursing school. Luckily, because of my previous degree, I have a lot of the prerequisites done, and I don't have to take any Bull crap humanities classes. I think it will be hard to work it in between my kids, but now is as good a time as any. I'm only going to have more kids, and life is only going to get more crazy. One thing that my Mary Kay business taught me is that I will be able to make the time for anything I want to do, as long as it is important to me. My family will always come first, but that doesn't mean I can't do anything for myself. Well, I just wanted to get some of those feelings off my chest. Like I said, I am a bit nervous.

Pet detective

This week, the most amazing thing happened. Our dog turned up missing (that's not the amazing thing), and He was gone for a couple of days. I went to the Humane Society and made sure he wasn't there. We drove all around Mountainaire looking for him, and I was getting ready to make signs. It was really strange, because I thought he must have gotten run over because, if he was just wandering, he would have found his way home. He is not a runaway-type dog. He always stays close by. Well, after a couple of days, I figured that we would probably never find him, and I was feeling a bit melancholy. As I was laying in bed that night, I was listening, through our open window, to the dogs barking and howling around the neighborhood, and I could faintly hear a dog whining. It was about 10:00 PM. I thought to myself, if someone had Boo, and they weren't letting him sleep in their house, he would be outside whining. I listened a bit more, and decided I had to know if it was him. I got out of bed, and pulled Paul with me of course, and we trecked up and down the streets of town trying to single out the house where the whine was coming from. Paul thought I was totally crazy, and that we were on a wild goose chase for sure. Finally, I said, "the whine is coming from that back yard." So I snuck along the side of their house and looked over their fence, and I could barely make out Boo's black and white spots in the moonlight. It was him! I could see that the people were still awake, so I knocked on their door, and told them they had our dog in their backyard. They said they found him, and didn't just want to let him go without knowing he got home safely. I couldn't believe it. To be honest, I didn't really think I was going to find him. I just couldn't sleep until I found out if that was him whining. It could have been any dog whining, I just felt like it was Boo. I am now officially a pet detective. So if any of you need some work done, I charge $50 per hour to help you find your beloved pets!

blackberries...yum

Last week, my friend April took me to a spot on Oak Creek to pick wild blackberries. It was a blast. The kids just played in the water while we picked. They also helped eat a lot of them! In just an hour, we got 2 ice cream buckets full. They were so good. We made cobbler that night, and jam the next day. The cobbler was so delicious. I am really gaining weight fast with this pregnancy. Probably because I eat dessert almost every day now that I am not sick anymore. I swear, during the first 3 months, I thought I would never like dessert again, and now I can't get enough of it. Anyway, we had a great time picking blackberries with April and her kids Ryker and Ivy. Here are some pics.

Dun da da da! And now the moment you have all been waiting for (well at least the one I've been waiting for): OUR FINISHED HOUSE! I did them in a sequence of before and after pictures, so you can all see the transformation.

Before...

and after! (Just keep going, I'm not going to keep typing before... and after)