Welcome to the World

Please forgive us while we spend our time loving on the newest addition to our family. Zachary Perkins Gaufin joined us Thursday, April 19th at 12:46pm weighing in at 6lbs 7oz and captured our hearts from the moment he arrived.  We now spend our time holding, hugging, oohing, and ahhing over this true bundle of joy.  We will return to normal life soon and post more pictures then!  Oh, how we love him!

P.S. Due to the unfortunate timing of my cell phone's white screen of death (the day Zachary was born) it feels like we've been out of contact with the rest of the world.  We're not ignoring anyone who's tried to reach us via my cell phone, we just don't know you've called.  If you'd like to chat, we are happy to say that our home phone, email, and facebook are all still functioning! :)

Last Hurrah!

I wanted to do one last hurrah with the kids before we went from a 4-person family to a 5-person family.  The kids are undoubtedly excited for the baby's arrival so we decided to celebrate with a trip to one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Red Robin.  I thought about photoshopping the pictures together but I was 9 months pregnant and fairly lazy.  We were all there, you get the idea. :)  We can't wait to see how the new little one adds to the family as he certainly will!

Happy Easter!

We didn't neglect Easter this year although I was seriously tempted being 9 months pregnant.  Our family has arranged for the Easter Bunny to make his visit on Saturday morning so that Sunday can be focused on the Savior and His glorious resurrection.  I usually don't make a very big deal about the Easter bunny, in fact people we'd run into at the store and at the dr.'s office started asking the kids if they were excited about the Easter bunny coming well before I even pulled out our Easter decorations.

Anyway, Carl had to go on a Scout campout Friday night so I simplified things and instead of a basket full of goodies for each of the boys, I decided the Easter bunny would only give 1 basket and it would be to the family.  After the boys went to bed I filled the basket and left it on the couch for the boys to find in the morning and find it they did.  After showering in the morning, I came out to find plastic grass strewn all over the floor and the candy necklaces already half gone.  The kitchen revealed the Tyler had remembered where I put the Reese's Pieces and there was a bowl of them that had been emptied half on the counter and half on the floor.  They were pretty much wired for the entire day.  Thank goodness next year I won't be fighting the inner bowling ball and maybe I can direct the affairs of Easter a little better. :)

Touching the temple

A couple weeks ago, Carl and I had plans to go to the temple but at the last minute we had a mix-up with our babysitter and we decided to get the kids dressed up and take them with us.  We are hoping that the more exposure they have to that incredible building and the peace and blessings that it offers, the more they will understand the true treasure it is and have a desire of their own to go there someday.  Perhaps as they touch the temple, the temple will, in turn, touch them.  It has certainly touched us and we feel so incredibly blessed to live so close to one!

To learn more about LDS temples, click HERE.

Taking Care of Each Other

In addition to doing the occasional sweeping for me, when they're not arguing about whether they'd rather watch Dora or Diego, they do a pretty good job of taking care of each other too.  A few weeks ago Tyler was pretty sick. It was the typical won't-eat-won't-drink-just-lay-on-the-couch-like-I'm-dead type sickness.  Connor was a super big brother and offered to "read" him stories while I was making dinner.  It made Tyler's day...and mine!

The Beat Rock Boys - A Music Video

For the ward talent show this year we decided to participate.  To spare ourselves the pressure of a live performance though, we submitted the following.  Connor and Tyler had fun seeing themselves up on the big screen and of course showing off their dance moves.

The Inner Artists

I caved.  I would say I'm a reasonably permissive mother.  My kids color with markers, they play with play-doh, they feed themselves from a very young age, and I let them eat bananas on the couch.  But painting?  Yeah, we don't do that much.  But, they begged and I finally conceded. And I figured since everything was out we might as well do it all in one fell swoop so they painted their little wooden toy trucks and then we moved on to finger painting.  The best part is that Carl got home just in time to help clean up the messy little fingers (THANK YOU!) and over all it was an uneventful afternoon.

Happy Birthday to Me!

We actually celebrated my birthday on St. Patrick's Day this year.  The boys gave me fun presents, sang happy birthday (we went out for ice cream later, hence the orange for the candle-blowing), took me shopping, and out to one of my favorite restaurants, Red Robin.  We indulged in Cold Stone ice cream after.  Celebrating birthdays is big fun at our house thanks to those two little munchkins!