Morris Family

Yay! Another sister has started blogging! That makes three of us Hubbards -Christa, myself and now Amy! Her blog is http://www.brimorrisfam.blogspot.com/. I am excited and hope more siblings, or my Mom follow suit! Oops - I wrote the wrong address at first, but fixed it!

Biker Chick

Almost four years ago, as I was nearing the end of my first pregnancy, I would often feel the most peculiar little movement repeatedly in my tummy. As I asked others and had them feel, we came to the conclusion that these little movements were little Chloe's hiccups. The doctor said this was common and was most likely caused by Chloe sucking her thumb. Sure enough that first evening in the hospital, she started looking for that little thumb. Success came the next day and since then, Chloe's thumb and mouth have been nearly inseparable. In the beginning, her ability to self sooth was wonderful. As the years have progressed however, it has become an object of frustration, with the worry of speech impairment, overbites, braces, and mocking, we have wanted to help her stop sooner rather than later.

After months of starts and restarts, threats of yucky fingernail polish, uttering the phrase"get your thumb out of your mouth" more times than should be humanly possible, and several fits - on both sides, we finally succeeded in thumb-mouth separation! We are soooo proud of her!What could convince a child to quit sucking her thumb cold turkey (which is exactly what she did)? Disneyland and a new bike! Joe has never been to Disneyland and Chloe is in full blown love with anything Disney princess related, so it is something we have talked about doing for some time, and as we talked about it we realized this might just be the incentive she needed to get her to WANT to stop. If I had realized it would work this well, I would have offered this a LONG time ago! So, if all goes according to plan, and the thumb stays out of her mouth, we will be travelling to the happiest place on Earth come September.

Since September is still a bit off, another thing she has talked about wanting is a "big girl" bike. For about a year, her little red trike has made her happy, but as has watched friends make the upgrade, she has wanted too as well. Nothing like a little instant gratification to make this habit breaking worth it! Maybe we are going too far with the rewards, but the money we will save in saving her overbite now will be worth it in the long run - fingers crossed.

Here, in all it's princess glory, is Chloe's new bike! She LOVES it! The day we bought the bike was rainy, as many have been lately, but that didn't stop her from wanting to break the bike in.Here is the first try on the new bike. Chloe was not quite sure how to transition from Trike to Bike.

Day Two - posing once again on the new bike and ready to try again!So much better the second time around!

I am so proud of my cutest little girl! She is such a sweet addition to our family and I am so proud of her for the willpower she has shown in kicking a habit that began in my tummy. Way to go!

Does Anyone Know...

If there is a way to make the header picture smaller? I want a picture of my family as a header, but it just looks HUGE! Any help that way would be appreciated - I am still learning the ins and outs of blogging. Thanks!

Fathers' Day

From the day Chloe made you a daddy...

...continuing through the addition of Noah......you have been such a wonderful Dad. I am grateful for the love you have for me and our kids and for the example you are to our cute little ones. They love you to pieces and so do I! Happy Father's Day!Special shout outs to our Dad's too who helped us become who we are today. Thanks for being great Dad's, Granddad's, examples, and friends. We love you!Grandpa Hubbard with newborn Noah

I am going to have to fix this but this is, sadly, the one and only (and horrible at that) picture I have of Grandpa McBride on Chloe's blessing day.

A Weeks Worth of Pictures

Lots of pictures here, but here are some of the things we have done and lessons learned over the last two weeks...

Chloe decided to break in one of her new swimsuits (which she, rightly so, thought she looked "SO Cute" in) with a run through the sprinklers... ...but decided she enjoyed the air coming from the air conditioner more.

We learned that Noah cannot be left in the kitchen with food or treats anywhere nearby...

We experimented with letting a three year old coordinate her own outfit. Chloe started out really well at first.... ...but took a misstep with the shoes. "Mom they are PINK!" - she was not happy that I did not think this look was as cute as she did.

Chloe tried Mom's patience in picture taking. My little stinker would smile and then pull the book up just in time to mess up the shot. Madeline, meanwhile, posed perfectly the whole time. I seriously tried this picture at least fifteen times, Chloe thought she was hilarious.

Finally after I gave up, Noah joined the party and they all posed for me. Now if only they would all be as helpful with cleaning up the mess they made!

We helped our neighbor Hilma pick yummy strawberries. Yes, Chloe it is okay for you to pick these, you don't have to make sure no one is looking first!

Hilma, helping Chloe with which ones are ripe enough to pick. Noah, not caring, just grabbing whatever he can get his hands on.Yum! Strawberries are one of Noah's favorite things!

You would think I would have learned this one several times over, but once again I found that a quiet child is not an obedient child when you are one. I appreciate the child's desire to be clean, but stealing the shampoo (I have no idea how he got it) and washing his dry head while clothed was a wonderful suprise to walk in on.

With all that you would think there would be no time left in a day, but Joe still found time to monkey around. Last night Joe, my 29 year old, responsible, father of two, decided to climb a tree to shake down the water (from the endless rain we have received) onto the kiddies below.

This 30 year old, responsible, mother of three (haha) is officially exhausted.

More Family Pics

These are some more (and the last I will post) of our family pictures taken by the wonderful Sanae James a couple weeks ago. I love them all and cannot pick a favorite!

Black and White: Color:

Five Years and Counting

Five years ago on June 3, 2004 Joe and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. What an amazing and crazy day. The years have flown by and as I look back have been just as, if not more, amazing and crazy too. I can't believe how blessed I have been to have Joe in my life and that our Heavenly Father trusted us enough to bring into the world and raise two wonderful WONDERFUL children. I am honored to be their Mom and Joe's wife and so happy with the life and opportunities I have been given!

I have a hard time letting go - grudges, those last couple of pounds, the grab bar on rollercoasters... but most especially of my kids. Joe has been so good to deal with all the issues that come with being married to me, but was firm when he told me we were going to spend time without the kids OVERNIGHT for our fifth anniversary! I know I should have done it before, and I don't know why the idea has always terrified me, but it has and so reluctantly I agreed and Grandpa and Grandma Hubbard got the kiddos for a sleepover on Friday night.

I was worried that Chloe would freak out, but after setting up and telling my Mom everything I needed her to know (as if she hadn't done this on her own six times previously) Chloe was practically pushing me out the door. The kids had a great time - although Noah would not let me out of sight the whole next day- and so did we.

Really, we didn't do much exciting, but that is almost what made it so fun! Joe worked Friday night until ten, so once I got the kids settled I headed off to go on a ride along with him. We didn't break up any drug rings, save anyone's life or get involved in a high speed chase, but it was fun to get a chance to see what a normal day is like. My favorite moment was when Joe responded to a call at the hospital for a 14 month old who had been bitten by a dog. The bite was minor and would heal on it's own, but it was so sweet to watch Joe interact with the little boy in taking his picture and trying to make him comfortable. Being a police officer is often a thankless job - no one likes them when they are giving you a ticket you may or may not feel you deserve, no one likes them when they are blocking off the the road that will save you ten more minutes of drive time, no one likes them driving behind you making your hyper aware of every driving move you make - but the things that police officers do for communities, the safety and peace of mind I have knowing they are around, and their willingness to give their lives if necessary make me so grateful for the sacrifices Joe makes (even if the adrenaline rush of running code makes it all worth it to him) - he's my hero.

Anyway I loved the moment watching him in his job and seeing him in his element with the little boy and it reminded me again our how much I love him for all the little great qualities he has. Joe is such a great friend, husband, and father and I am so grateful that I get the rest of eternity to have him as all mine!

Jack B Fuller

Jack B (that is the middle name - just B) Fuller joined Heather and Brady Fuller's family on Thursday June 4! He is a cute little guy who I can't wait to hold again soon. Now I need another sister to get pregnant so that in a year when Jack and Hadlee are walking there is another baby to hold! For now though, I have my choice of two sweet little ones.
He was 6 lbs 10 oz - the smallest Hubbard baby so far (look at how tiny he looks compared to my dad's hand) and way smaller than my 9lb Noah!