Big changes

We are in the middle of some seriously big changes in our family! For a long time Paul has been pretty dissatisfied with his career. In fact, back when he graduated he knew that someday he would want to go back to school. Well, the time has finally come! This past weekend we moved out of our house and into a condo in Provo and during the next few weeks Paul is officially starting an MBA program at BYU. I think this go around at BYU will be quite different with four kids! But we are all pretty nervous and excited for this new adventure. Although it is hard to leave our home and friends behind in Draper, we've put a lot of thought and prayers into this decision. Here's to the student life, round 2!

Last night in our home :(

First dinner in our new place after a LONG day of moving

Thomas Robert Pahulu, "4th baby"

Before Tommy was born and we didn't know what his name would be, Lauryn would bring home things she made him at school addressed "To: 4th baby". I don't know why, but I thought this was so cute and funny. It seems like each of our  children has joined the world pretty much in the fashion that they live in the world. Lauryn- slow, steady, a lot of pushing but little pain; Annie- fast and furious, completely on her terms; and Keleni- easy, peaceful, happy, with just a touch of fury. Thomas seems to follow this same pattern. My labor went pretty seamless, but then he had to stay in the NICU for a week because he couldn't keep his oxygen levels up. (Don't worry, he is completely healthy now). For the most part, he is a really easy baby. He sleeps pretty well and is pretty happy, but then every once in a while he gets a little difficult. Really he just likes to be held, so it doesn't seem fair to blame him. Unfortunately, I don't usually have two free arms to hold him, or even one free arm for that matter! I am pretty happy to let other things slide and snuggle this boy as much as I can, though! He is about as sweet as they come and we are all 100% smitten with him. Just see for yourself.

Summer fun

Here are some pix from our summer so far.

Soccer for Lauryn:

Sunday walk ( or ride :) ):

Father's Day (Lauryn had just eaten a ring pop):

Picnic at the park and trip to the Aviary with friends:

Birthday celebrations for Aunt Kalo and me:

Backyard play time:

Resting whenever we get the chance!

Halloween

Are you completely shocked that I'm actually posting on here? I guess that's what happens when you are up at 3 am holding a teething baby and you are tired of playing Temple Run. Instead of catching upon the last 5 months right now, how about some Halloween pix?

Family vacation

In the beginning of May, we took a little family vacation to Phoenix. We had decided we wanted to do one, but we had the hardest time deciding where we wanted to go. Every time we ran into what I called the "vacation escalation" cycle. It went something like this: Let's just go somewhere close, maybe St. George. But if we're taking vacation time, we should make it worthwhile, so let's go a bit farther, how about Phoenix. Well, if we are going to drive for 11 hours, let's just drive 12 hours and go to San Diego. But, if we're driving all the way to San Diego, we better go to Sea World, and the zoo, and maybe Legoland, or even Disneyland. But if we're going to spend that much on a vacation, we should use it to go see our family in Florida. But we can't afford to go to Florida right now. Let's just do something close then, what about St. George? And so we literally decided where we were going about 36 hours before we got in the car. Phoenix finally won out mostly because of the hotel. We stayed at this resort and ended up having so much fun. Even the drive was pretty fun. I know I brag on him a lot, but I just have to mention that during the 22+ total hours we were in the car, Keleni cried for maybe 1 hour total. During our trip we swam a ton, went to the children's museum, went shopping, and went to a train park. It was the first real family vacation where we haven't been visiting relatives and we really had a wonderful time.

Catch up- March

Annie turned three in March. She had been telling me for weeks that she wanted a minnie mouse cake and then two days before her birthday switched it to a swiper the Fox cake. Not Dora, just Swiper. Three is a great age for birthdays, and she was super super excited about every present she got. Annie is such a special girl. Everyday she makes Paul and I laugh with something she has said or done. My brother Travis put it this way, Annie has a song playing in her head that only she can hear and it makes her happy. I love being her mom and getting to share in this song sometimes. The pictures below are not in any kind of order. Some are from Annie's birthday and others are just cute pictures from March

The trouble with technology

I have been a terrible blogger lately. But I have a very legitimate excuse. For Christmas Paul gave me an iPhone. So now, I never really look at the computer I just check everything on my phone, but this means that I am never on the computer to do a blog post. However, I just downloaded the blogger app to my phone, so problem solved! We've been up to a lot of the same old same old lately: playgroups, preschool, gymnastics class, trying to maintain my sanity while keeping the house clean and entertaining three children. I'm pretty sure I will never master that last one. But here are some pictures of cute and crazy children. I think the only picture that needs some explanation is this first one. We were driving in the car and Annie decided to pretend that her granola bar was a camera, she got a little bit sad about the results.

End of November, December, and into January

We had a really great Christmas and actually all of December this year. For the first time ever we had Christmas at our house. Paul had a week and a half off work and it was so nice to just hang out and be together. I got really lazy having a husband home all the time to help with laundry, dishes, and parenting so it took me a while to get back into my regular routine after he went back to work. And let's be honest, my regular routine isn't even that impressive, so the first part of January was a little rough at our house. But I finally felt the pull of the new year and all those resolutions that had been bouncing around in my head. So, I finally jumped back on the treadmill yesterday and I'm on my second week of a push up/sit up regimen. The kitchen is actually clean at this moment and the majority of the laundry is washed and dried (even if it is sitting in baskets waiting to be folded). And here I am finally blogging about what has been going on for the last two months!

Thanksgiving at Jenni and Rob's house

Gingerbread house

Christmas card pictures, both unsuccessful

and slightly more successful
Christmas Eve:
new jammies

letter for Santa
Christmas day:
Stockings

the only present she actually asked for, Yoshi
as Grandma says, every boy needs hotwheels.
New Years Eve