{OH. MY.}

OH. MY. GOSH. Anyone want three kids? Ages 5, 3, and almost 1?

This is Jaydon lately....all day long....(he has teeth comin in)

And this is Gavin and Tanner...i must say, they don't hit each other...but they are at each other like this all day long. And at ME, i might add, all day long too.

And here is mommy all day long....

And this is me now because of it...
Seriously. Who knew that the most rewarding job ever and the job you love the most could also be one that drives you completely and entirely insane?

{Boys and their sports...this post is more for family}

We went to the park so the boys could play football and baseball. Here is Tanner throwing his football to me. Here is Tanner running to me....

Here is Jaydon sitting in seat we pull behind the bike.

And Gavin playing t-ball.

I realized recently what the rest of my life is going to consist of ....

1. SPORTS. Lots of sports. Lots of going to games. Lots of leisure sporting activity.

2. Cub Scouts and Boy scouts. They will all be in it. It seems like the mom's that have all boys always end up as a scout leader.

3. Lots of gas releasing.

4. Spending LOTS of money on groceries. Boys eat a lot! Especially mine already! I mean, Gavin already eats more than i do! Not kidding at all. I can't imagine how it will be when they get older.

5. Lots of girls calling the house. Honestly, i hope not. But my boys are so cute and have great personalities....how could they not call looking for them? hahaha(i know, a bit braggish) I really hope they will be teenagers like shane was. If they will then we won't have too many problems with girls coming around OFTEN.

6. Lots of testosterone.

The other day all the boys were like "let's go to the park and play ball." I was thinking "ah man....what else can we do?" I just don't get all excited about the sports like shane does with the boys. Then i realized we have boys. The rest of my life is going to consist of lots of sports. I moped for a minute b/c i was like "i want a girl who wants to do girly things with me. Like go shopping, paint nails, sit and chat and watch girly movies, decorate, etc." Well, i realized that won't happen....so i decided to just DEAL with it and learn to love it. They like it and that's what matters. :) So, i need to learn to have fun with it. And i can. I will learn. But i will make them do some things with me every once in awhile that I want to do...hahah...like watch girly movies. I will teach them to learn how girls are and teach them how to treat a lady. :)

BUT believe it or not my dear little boys...i attempted a lot of sports. I played t-ball when i was little. When i got older I was in karate and got my yellow belt with 2 red stripes on it. Your uncle got his Brown belt. Actually , i think both of them did. I was in swimming and swam in competitions (swimming was one of my favorites. i still love it. I just need a pool.). I beat my older brother at the 100 IM. haha. I like to remind him of that when i can. :) Believe it or not...i played basketball in middle school. I liked it a lot. Yup. Bet shane's family didn't know that one! But we stunk so bad and never won one game. I got the clue after that and never played again. Though i did take basketball class after i married shane so that i could get a little better and play with his family. But that never happened. I still stunk at it. :) But i do enjoy it. And when i can't do something the way i picture myself being able to do it i get frustrated and give up sometimes. :) And stay away from it! I took tennis lessons. LOVED tennis and still do. I was in dance. LOVED dance and still love to dance. I was a wrestling cheerleader...hahaha! I will leave it at that! And believe it or not....i like to wrestle. Sometimes it doesn't matter the size...it's the MOVES that get ya. I like to wrestle my husband. I like to try to pin him...show him up. haha! Doesn't happen too often b/c he is a lot bigger and sometimes size DOES matter, such as in this case! :) haha! But i like to surprise him and show him i am tougher than he gives me credit for! :) My brother was a wrestler so he taught me moves and liked to use me as his dummy A LOT growing up. AND i watched a lot of wrestling matches when i cheered for them. It's a tough sport. Your papa seifert was a big time swimmer. He won state competitions in the butterfly stroke...which is the TOUGHEST stroke. When he goes back to his hometown in quincy, illinois they still have pictures of him up on the walls from newspapers showing him as a winner. Cool huh?! We went to baseball games all the time growing up. We had season tickets to watch TU basketball , which i LOVED going to. And now i am a runner. So, i guess sports has been a big part of my life...more than i realize. I CAN do this!

{tHe ThReE StoOgEs}

First let me say this about Gavin...
He came home from preschool today and said to me, "Hey, mom...Avery said that if Talmage won't marry her then she will marry me!" And he was excited. :) haha! I guess i have to teach him a few things. ;)

Next is Jaydon... He LOVES looking out the front window. He stares out the window and bounces up and down, up and down, up and down. He is now crawling the stairs. Good thing we are moving soon. The house we will most likely move into is a one story home, so we won't have to worry about gates! :)

Look at those precious blue curious eyes!

He discovered he likes biting the carpet....? He liked it and thought it was funny. Interesting.

Jaydon has not only mastered climbing the stairs, but he has mastered drinking from a sippy cup, eating real food(he doesn't eat baby food anymore), he can say "mom" and says "bah" when he wants his bottle/milk, and says "da da". It is sweet. And he has mastered BEING REALLY LOUD. He is best at being loud. When he gets in a zone he makes the loudest yelling noises i have ever heard from a child! He is so flipping loud! Not kidding. He has got lots of spunk, lots of personality, an attitude problem, he is very expressive, and boy does he love when you play with him. He gets so excited and loves loves loves to play. I thought my other boys were pretty expressive , but i think he has topped them. He is BUUUSSSYYYYY too. Very busy. Busiest out of all the boys. He just won't stop. Boy is he full of a lot of love too. And when he wants something he lets you know by his LOUD yell. He is sooo loud. And sooooo loveable. I can't imagine what he is going to be like when he starts walking and when he is two!!!

Gavin and Tanner love him to death and Jaydon loves his big brothers a TON! Gavin and Tanner will play hide n seek with Jaydon. They will go hide in the closet and Jaydon see's them go in so he will crawl over and try opening the door(since it isn't closed tight) and then the boys laugh and run to another closet and Jaydon will follow them and open the door and so on. Jaydon LOVES playing with them. I love watching them!

In this picture Tanner is very distressed b/c he can't seem to get his sock on his foot....

I see this face a lot. :) Tanner is such a sweet boy. It is so sweet b/c when the boys say their prayers they always help each other out if the other doesn't know what to say. When gavin says the prayer tanner will help him to remember things to pray for. Like the other night...Gavin was saying the prayers and then he paused, trying to think of something else to say. Tanner leaned over, and whispered to gavin gently, "Bless the scriptures." I love the things they say in prayers. Gavin bore his testimony to us last night. Daddy gave a family home evening lesson on testimonies and at the end of it he asked Gavin if he would bear his testimony to us. He did and i thought it was the sweetest thing ever. I loved it. After our family home evening lesson we watched Alvin and the chipmunks movie, and ate cookies. The boys loved it.

{Closing time...}

So, over the weekend Shane went to Utah to watch his sister be sealed to her husband and her kids. I stayed here, obviously, with the boys. My sister came over and spent the whole weekend with me. We stayed up too late(too late for me) and talked and laughed a lot. We had lots of fun together.
While Shane was gone i decided to get a project done. I resurfaced our dining room table. I think i did a great job and it looks great, though i think it might be a little too busy. I might have to redo it again into something different, but i don't mind b/c i had fun doing it. I still have to paint the chairs...trying to figure out what color to paint them. But i figure it's a lot cheaper remodeling the table instead of buying a new one. My next project, which i hope shane will help me with :) is making a headboard for our bed. Yup. I am dying to make it and it will look awesome. Anyone know where i can find used cabinets?
Saturday night was the Senior Dinner. I had been excited about that night since last year. Last year i babysat for some friends so they could attend it and it sounded like fun and i just had been looking forward to it for awhile. To me, it was a time to celebrate the 4 years we have been through together with friends, as husband and wife, etc. So, i was honestly sad when i knew he would be leaving b/c that meant i couldn't go. BUT i decided, "man, i have been lookin forward to this for awhile and i am not letting him not being here stop me!" So, i went. All by myself. I felt like a dork at first, and a BIT awkward, but some of my friends helped to make me feel comfortable , saved me a seat, and made me feel not so "dorkish" being by myself, which i appreciate. :) The dinner was wonderful. I loved the salad, dinner and dessert. YUM! It was a very nice setting. I was able to get all dressed up. On my walk through this building trying to find where the location of the dinner was, they had butlers spread out every 20 yards guiding you to the silver grille. "Are you looking for the Silver Grille?" Yes. "Right this way ma'am." It was fun. They an elevator person who always stays on and they take you up to the floor of the Silver Grille, which was on the 10th floor. Then there was a lady waiting for me to take my coat. I loved it. I can handle that treatment. :) They had cocktail hour an hour before dinner, so when i got there i went over and got myself a mixed non-alcoholic drink. haha. Then shortly after dinner started. We enjoyed dinner and talkin with friends. They gave out awards after the dinner, then they played a video that showed a bunch of pictures of all the students throughout the 4 years. One showed a picture of them all in their white coats(the ceremony to welcome them to dental school). When i saw that i wanted to cry. I couldn't believe we have made it to this point so quickly! I am so proud of my husband! They showed some funny skits by using small kids actions figures...they used a spiderman, batman, etc. Ya know, action figures like that and then they cut out students faces from a picture and taped their face onto the action figure face. And some guy played out a whole skit on video of some of the students and making fun of them. I guess there were a lot of inside jokes, which i learned about afterwards. But it was still funny. They like to make fun of some of the students, which they did by showing their picture and saying something about them that was usually pretty funny. At the end of the video i wanted to cry too b/c they said some sweet things....about how we all came as strangers, and we will all leave as family. Go class of 2010! They said a few more things. I just couldn't believe how far we have come. And we have made some great friends and it is like we are leaving family. We have all really come close. we don't have family around, its a tough time, and we have had to become close in order to make it through. We have had to rely on each other a lot as well. It's crazy we are at the end.
Anyway! All these years Shane has mentioned many of his instructors names and so it was nice to finally be able to put a name with the face that night. It was fun and i am glad i went and was able to experience, learn and celebrate what my hubby has been working so hard at for 4 years! :)

{80 degrees and Sunny}

Of course we went out and played outside. Mainly the boys just played in their pool while Shane washed his Honda, which is now for sale.

Here is my cute little-BIG piece of chunk. After playing in the water he layed his head on the ball and just layed there for probably 5 minutes. It was soooooo cute! And what is hilarious about this is that Gavin is in timeout here. BUT as soon as i was aiming my camera at him he did this pose for me. Is that not so funny? It made me laugh. He so reminds me of his daddy.

And now it's Tanner's turn to be in timeout. He was mad and wasn't going to smile for me.

Isn't this face just so funny?! He makes me laugh!

And here he is splashing around like crazy in the water. He LOVED splashing the water all over! He couldn't get enough of it.

Look at those big extra chunky squeezable legs! Ohhhhhhhh i LOVE squeezing them every chance i get!

I love my boys. They are just the cutest darn things i have ever seen! :)

{Jaydon loves the water}

Jaydon loves standing up against the bathtub so he can watch the boys take their bath. He also likes trying to reach for the water to play in it. He is successful sometimes. I have to sit in there and watch him b/c one of these days he might lean over the tub and fall in the water. Tanner did so i am sure Jaydon will too. :) Can you see his pajamas and how they are pretty big down by his feet? These pajamas are a little too long, but not by much. They are size 2!!! Crazy. My baby is big and he was only a baby for about 2-3 months! :( He loves to take his own baths. He loves splashing the water around and loves playing with the foam letters in the bathtub. He also LOVES swimming in the pool. I got him in there and he doesn't hesitate for a second. He just starts kickin those legs like crazy and splashing the water with his hands! And when i was sitting in the hot tub, i would sit him up on the side of it and his feet would hang over the ledge. When i put my hands out for him to come to me, he did. He would lean forward, quickly, and head right into the water. He loved it and he didn't mind the heat of the hot tub or the transfer from the hot tub to the pool. We are trying really hard to get a home down in texas that has a pool with a gate around it. I think it would be great b/c i could teach the boys to swim. It would be tons of fun. We would be out there ALL DAY LONG!! We have found a couple, BUT i would have to sacrifice a little b/c the inside of the home isn't quite what i would like...for example: wallpaper(floral). Is a pool worth having wallpaper in my home? I am not so sure b/c i would have to live with that during the winter when i can't swim. It is only a year. What would you do?

{Kite Flying...}

Recently, we have been out to fly kites, we have been on lots of bike rides, we went down to Columbus to the temple for an overnight stay and it quickly reminded us how LITTLE sleep we get in a hotel(the beds are too small for shane and i to squeeze into. it's horrible), and we are preparing for the future. Here are some pictures of the boys flying kites, and with shane helping them out.

UPDATE: Jaydon is over his croup, but still has a pretty bad runny nose. He gave me a pretty bad sore throat, but i am starting to feel better. Shane has 12 more official days of clinic. EXCITING!

All the trees have bloomed. We now have leaves back on the trees and flowers are poppin up everywhere! It's exciting. Winter didn't stay as long this year as i thought it would. So that is great!

Tanner told us yesterday that he learned about Adam and Eve. Shane was like "what did you learn about Adam and Eve?" Tanner said "That he was a prophet of God"....and then he started singing "Adam was a prophet, first one that we know.!" It was so funny. Then shane said "Soooo, you learned about Adam and Eve...Did you learn about the Garden of Eden?" Tanner misunderstood shane and replied, "Nooooo, he didn't get eaten!!" It was hilarious.

My boys are pretty funny. I tell them they are so funny, and they like to tell me that i am hilarious. "Mom, you are huuullllaaaarrrrious!" It is so funny.

Something that is so funny is that Gavin knows every word to all the songs on the radio....which recently has made us change exactly what we listen to. Seriously. It's funny the difference in why people listen to songs. Shane listens for the beat. He loves a good beat...depending on his mood that is what he listens to. I can guess his mood by what he wants to listen to. He doesn't really listen to the words though, therefore he doesn't know anymore than about 10 words to a song. He connects with music according to the beat. If he were a singer, he would be a great entertaining singer. I , on the other hand, know ALL the words to songs...i love to CONNECT with a song, emotionally.... and i like a good beat. If i were a singer i think i would be one of those that could really connect with the audience emotionally while singing the song. BUT alas, i can't sing. Unfortunately. Gavin learns ALL the words quickly. And he likes a good upbeat song so that he can dance to it. That is his way of connecting to music. If he were a singer, he would be someone like Chris Brown(JUST as a singer)....dancing, singing, connecting, entertaining, etc. Boy oh boy does he love singing primary songs. He just belts it out so beautifully. I love listening to him. I still haven't discovered Tanner yet. He doesn't really get into music like the rest of us do. He will sing songs in primary, but that is about it. Jaydon bounces up and down and gets his head poppin when music comes on. It is funny.

{What we've been up to...}

Here is what we were up to General Conference/Easter weekend....

The boys and there cute little easter eggs they made.

Playing nintendo DS...

Grilling. I made shishkabobs. They could've been better.

The boys ate lots and lots of candy.
We had an egg hunt here at our house the morning of easter. Bright and early at 7 a.m. We also had an easter egg hunt at our church the day before easter. We also ate a pancake breakfast while we were there. It was fun...
The easter bunny brought them some $1 goodies...they got some bubbles, glow sticks, bouncy putty, and there own set of crayons. And of course lots of candy in there basket.
Jaydon got Croup. He wasn't happy and was VERY needy...understandably. He sounded horrible. It really does sound like a barking seal. And he was wheezing horribly bad. All the time i had to give tanner breathing treatments i never heard tanner sound as bad as i heard Jaydon. The doctor gave me steroids in case it got really bad. And it did. So, i gave it to him and it kicked in about 2 hours later. It helped me to relax b/c he wasn't wheezing so bad anymore. And he is finally getting the hang of drinking out of his own cup. I will throw his bottles out at 12 months so he better get it down soon! :)
On easter Sunday we had ham, cheesy potatoes, broccoli, and deviled eggs. It was a yummy dinner! And the weather has been soooooooo beautiful. I am in shock that it's so wonderful here! I love it!

I've just been doing a lot of reading and exercising, cleaning, cooking, and running errands. Yesterday the boys and i took the car to the car shop to get a small dent fixed. The boys and i walked home, which was about a mile. On our way home we stopped at the little ice cream shop on the side of the road and i got the boys there own little ice cream cone. Then today i walked to pick up gavin from preschool(shane dropped him off). They whined the whole walk home. It was hilarious. Especially watching tanner whine as much as he did. Gavin would run as fast as he could, then stop and wait for us to catch up to him, then run again. He didn't wear a belt with his pants b/c we couldn't find it, so he would run while holding his pants up...BUT he was holding them up so high that he was giving himself a big time wedgy. It was hilarious! :)

As a family we've had a goal that we started at the beginning of this year. To have FHE every monday night, ready scriptures everyday, and have family prayer everyday. We have been so successful at it. It has been awesome and has made a big difference in our day to day lives. We are on schedule to finish the BOM in May, i believe. I have really loved that we have been soooo consistent about it. It brings us closer and i find that my desire to learn more about the scriptures has increased greatly....i often want to pick up the BOM during the day on my own and read, study, and learn. I know, to some that is common, but i have never been like that before. So, it has been a neat experience. We have really grown as a family. And the most rewarding part is watching my kids. I really want to instill a strong foundation for them. And i feel like it is working. It is so hard sometimes to read everyday, but i find that if we read in the morning it is so much easier. It also helps that we have a chart that we fill in with each chapter we read. The boys like that. And it helps to have a reward planned for your family when you finish the BOM. Shane's family and ours are all doing it together. So, when we go out to Idaho this summer IF we all read and did all those things consistently then there is a surprise planned for us. So, having that in place helps to keep us a bit motivated to stay on top of it. And it really helps.

We went on a bike ride on the tow path, which is about 30 minutes from here. It is really pretty over there. It would be even prettier if all the leaves were on the trees. It was fun. I have the baby on the back of my bike in his own little seat. Shane pulls the boys around behind his bike in the bike trailer. It is fun to be able to do all this. Last year we couldn't b/c Jaydon was brand new, so it was nice to get out and have a bike ride with all three boys. They loved it. Jaydon fell asleep though. It isn't a very comfortable spot to fall asleep. He would lean forward and rest his head on my back.

{Easter Sunday...warning:this is a spiritual post. Don't read if it will bore you. :)}

I don't usually post my testimony on here, or something like it for a few reasons, but i think its about time i put something like this on my post, since this is my journal and this is what i am feeling...
With Easter coming up, i have been thinking about my Savior, Jesus Christ a lot lately. I loved this message i found on you tube and had to post it. I am glad we have the opportunity to celebrate Easter Sunday in a couple of days. I have been bearing my testimony, maybe too often, in church lately. BUT i can't help it. I never plan to get up and then it just hits me, and my heart feels so full of gratitude constantly of the love my Savior has for us. I know he is real. I have had too many things occur in my life to ever deny his presence in it. He has made his presence known to me throughout my life in many different, sometimes unique and sometimes in special ways, which i am so grateful for. I know he is real just like i know my three boys are real. I love him so much and i know he loves us so much. I have so much gratitude in my heart for him. I am so grateful for the atonement and resurrection. I was thinking about the last moments in his life...the last week. AND how lonely and disappointing it must have been for him. I go back to Elder Holland's talk everytime i think about that moment. His talk was incredible. Anyway, how hard and lonely it must have been for him. Only he could have done it. My heart breaks inside whenever i think of that moment in his life. I am eternally indebted to him and eternally grateful.