The Oborn Family

Joy comes in Small Packages!

2011-12-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess the Holidays are coming to an end. We've unwrapped every last gift, drank the last sips of eggnog, and uncinched our belts for those expanding waistlines. I have to say it has all been worth it. My four little ones were just a joy this Christmas season.
Each one of them believing in the magic of Christmas (Tommy still might be a little small.) and wanting to share in giving gifts to family and friends, but mostly trying their hardest to be good in hopes that they wouldn't be giftless Christmas morning. I don't know what I'm going to do without the threat of Santa not coming. Here are some of my favorite Holiday moments.
1. Advent Calenders-Just the little store bought ones my kids always want and I never buy. They all got one this year after about a week they realized that the chocolate in those cheap calenders was yucky. They then would just ask me how many more day until Christmas. I guess I'll never have to buy those again.
2. Christmas shopping with the kids. They had so much fun picking out gifts for the names drawn in our own family and for cousins. This time because they have earned a little money I made them each contribute a dollar to each gift. Wow. It amazed me at how much more they felt excited to give those gifts.
3. Decorating with my kids. I did most of the decorating on my own, but they loved to help when they felt like it. I laughed when charlie had put a few dinosaurs on our Christmas tree and Bella kept putting little nick-nacks everywhere. I never knew how a little girl could be so much more into the decorating. It's been fun and a little cluttered. I have to say they were also really good little gingerbread house decorators too.
4. Watching the kids participate in acting out the nativity for both mine and Rich's families. They looked so cute dressed up for their parts and Bella did such an angelic job reciting her angel part to the sheperds. I hope that they remember with all the hustle and bustle the true meaning of Christmas.
5. Of course we had fun opening presents and seeing the kids feeled with excitement. But we also has fun visiting Santa, visiting Temple square and seeing the lights, going to a few Christmas events put on by the city, driving around looking at Christmas lights, making hot chocolate, making eggnog, making chocolate covered pretzles, making gingerbread men. I guess I'm beginning to see why our pants are a bit snug, but that's why we have New Year's resolutions right?
We are so greatful for a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, but especially with our four sweet kids who really are such a JOY!

A Fab' Fall!

2011-11-28T13:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. We have been in our home for three months now and it's really starting to feel like home. We have been busy still getting home organized, but mostly with school, soccer, scouts, piano, family vacations, and just playing a lot. Maybe that why we're still getting organized

My kids loved dressing up for Halloween and all the festivities and candy. I loved dressing them up too and helping them look the part.
In early November we took a trip to California with most of my family. It was wonderful-perfect weather, great days at Disneyland, San Diego, and Laguna beach. We have been going each year for the past four years. We may have to start going a little less frequently, but we sure do love it.

We loved seeing a lot of our family on Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for them and the many ways in which we are blessed. So with that Christmas here we come!

Star Struck- With My Little Ones!

2011-10-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

I have always thought my children were darling, but that's because they are mine. However, I have had quite a few people tell me James looks like a young Taylor Lautner and Charlie like a little Matt Damon. Wow, what babes and sooo tough! I still think my boys are even better looking, but again that's because they're mine. Well, we now have little Thomas in the boy mix. Who is he going to look like? My sister once thought Harrison Ford- I think in his more youthful Han Solo days. We got pictures of Tommy last week. Who do you think he looks like?

Rich and I laughed when we saw this picture. We both thought he looked like a little Chris Farley. Maybe it's the double chin the hand kind of on his hip I don't know, but we were reminded of "Tommy Boy" (a nickname we use). I guess none of the other pictures look as much like the funny comedian, but if he makes us laugh as much as Chris Farley did we should have some fun days ahead.

I'm so thankful for this precious, sweet and maybe funny little guy and for the big boys and Bella. (As a side note we think Bella looks like Repunzle aside from the 70 foot long hair, which she is determined to grow out) I'm thankful to be blessed with these great children who fill our days with a little more craziness and a lot more love. Thanks Patience for your awesome and affordable photography skills.

There's no Place like Home

2011-10-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of change in the last couple of months. With all the change and craziness updating my blog came in complete last place. So I guess you could say we are finally settling in and life is settling down.
Our biggest change was finally finding a place to call home. After making offers on two different homes and losing them because we couldn't sell ours we finally sold our home in April without a place to go. I guess we had a place to go. We hunkered in with my Mom and Dad. Which could be a whole other blog post. I'll just say it was wonderful and blog about it later. We stayed with them for four months and house shopped to no avail. Except for one short/long sale that didn't seem to budge. It was okay though because neither Rich or I wanted it to budge. We just kept waiting and hoping that another house would come along that we would just love.
We decided to go through an older home in my parents ward, which was a great home, but not unlike the home we sold. We were hoping for something bigger. When we left that house showing, Rich said he liked the house across the street. It wasn't for sale. Three days later I picked up James from a friend and drove home down that street and that house had a for sale sign up. Well, the rest is history. I guess that's what they say. We got the house on August 22nd. Everything just worked out without a glich. Which was not the case with any other house. We feel very looked out for and so grateful to be in a home that we are thrilled about.
I guess the rest of the change comes with the territory and mostly for the kids. New school, new ward, new stake, new friends and really just new territory. They have handled it all wonderfully. It surprises me that moving probably less than a mile away can cause such newness for us all. I'm glad that the kids still can call old friends and really it is not so hard to get them together.
We're grateful to have a place to call home and such a beautiful and safe neighborhood to raise our children. and yes we are even in my parents ward, which might really come in handy.

It's Great to be Eight!

2011-08-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of James and his decision to be baptized. I have had so many friends tell me what a special day it was to have their son or daughter baptized. Not that I didn't believe them, but it really was a special day. I guess better than expected.

Rich and I decided to start the day by going to the temple, so early, the 0600 session. It was a nice way to start the day and for me it's been a while with little Tommy. Then we got ready for the baptism. We decided to have an open house at In-and-Out Burger, which we thought may be crazy, but they have an outside pavilion, so it actually was fun-we could actually visit. What I loved about it was we did not have to worry about food and cleaning in the morning we just prepared for the baptism and helped James.

Our stake does baptisms by ward so it ended up just being James. Our family got to put on the entire program. It was fun to have our families give talks, do musical numbers, and everything else. We had all of our families there excluding cute Jon and Rachelle in New York. We missed them. We are so thankful for our wonderful supportive families.

We are so thankful for James. He has been a joy in our family and a great example to his younger brothers and sister. Now if this growing up thing could just slow down a bit.

Such Blessings!

2011-04-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

We had an extra special Easter this year as in coincided with our little Tommy's baby blessing.

We have had a few crazy weeks in our family. We moved out of our home of the last four and a half years. Sadly, the home we were trying to get sold before we sold ours, but we decided in this market we should go through with our sale and hope that we find our dream home. So we're in transition and staying with my parents. It has been fun so far. Maybe, this is our dream home. Ha! I'm sure my parents will be glad to get rid of wild children after a few more weeks. Moving was hard and I'm so glad to have it done. So after a few crazy weeks it was so nice to enjoy our baby and so many wonderful family members that came to celebrate with us.

Tommy is now 2 months old and weighs in at 12lbs 7oz. He has been such a sweet baby, a pretty good sleeper, and I think he is easy going (maybe the fourth baby has to be) He has started smiling at us. We all love to get a cute, dimpled smile from him. Rich say that Tommy looks at me like he's in love with me. Well, it's mutual we have a little bond me and this cute boy. He melts my heart with his charming smile. We all adore him and I'm thankful for the way he makes us all a little sweeter. I love to hear my big boys talk to him in high pitched baby talk voices.
And Bella is turning into quite the little Mom as she like to help with baths and even diaper changes. (She just gets the wipes) She can't go by him right now because she has a bad cough, This has proved to be very difficult for her. She love to hold his hands and hold his little face in her hands. We are so thankful for this cute boy. He really has been such a blessing to us.

One Month Already?

2011-03-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how quickly time goes by with these little ones. Tommy is one month old today. He has been such a wonderful addition to our home. James says that one of his favoite things about Tommy is his sweet little smiles and he of course wants to hold him as soon as he walks in from school. Charlie just thinks Tommy is all around cute! And Bella thinks it is pretty cool that all he eats or drinks is milk. We really are all fasinated with this dimply, darling boy. We Love you Tommy!

Welcome Baby Tommy!

2011-03-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

Thomas Redd Oborn has arrived. Weighing 8 pounds 1 oz and 21 1/2 inches in length. Today he is two weeks old. We are loving having him in our home. I think his sweet little spirit brings a little more peace in our home and has created so much happiness. Our kids are all just in awe of this little brother and so are we. We sure love him!

The Family I love, love, love! and one more to come.

2011-02-15T07:59:00.000-08:00

We are all anticipating baby number four. I think especially me. All of our babies have come at 39 weeks, so I've told my kids it will come about Valentine's Days. But as they realized that yesterday was Valentine's, and still Mom had a growing, moving belly and the house was short of a cooing, crying baby, they all started to ask why baby wasn't here yet. I'm wondering too. I now feel overdue. I thought I only had 39 week pregnancies. I'll try to be patient, but time is definitely moving slower. We are so excited to add another special little person to our home coming soon!

Bella is curious about baby. I apparently need to make it look more enticing and magical because she has commented, "I dont want to grow up and have children", while looking at my tummy. She does carry her dolls around with the name of "Tommy" and takes care of them. I think she'll change her mind, say twenty years down the road. I thankful for all my babies.

Charlie is very curious about this pregnancy. Always full of questions and interested in growing Mommy. My favorite was him cuddling up to me one night, rubbing my arm, and commenting so sweetly, "I love you even when you are fat." It made me smile. I don't think Charlie is to in to outer appearance, but in almost all his prayers he prays that "Mommy will be cute and that Daddy will be strong." Such a funny boy. I'm thankful for the prayers.

James is getting so big and smart. He recently was in his school spelling bee. He was one of two to represent his class. Well, being new at this I didn't realize that he was the youngest child and that they were against all other grades and classes. Seriously. We were proud of him as he stood in front of the school and tried to spell his work "auburn" o-b-o-r-n. Well, we only practiced second grade words this was a fourth grade word and I guess it kind of sounds familiar. I was happy that he came home proud of himself. He is excited for baby too and I think and hope will be a big help.

Such a sweet, little family to Love and so excited to add another little lover!

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

2011-01-10T11:41:00.001-08:00

Merry, Merry Christmas to all of you and A Happy New Year. We had such a fun time this Christmas season. It is magical with young kids, who believe in Santa. Each of our kids were old enough to leave the ornaments alone and to not unwrap early presents under the tree. That will be out last year of that for a few years. We felt blessed to be surrounded by friends and family who we love, We missed Rich's family though who got pretty sick just in time for Christmas. They are all doing better now. Even though I'm a little late I thought I'd post a few pictures from Christmas vacation and of the progress Meg, Katie and I are making in our pregnancies. We are all due here in the next 5-8 weeks. Yikes, we'll have a lot of babies all at once, but so much fun! With that may the new year bring you blessings and love!

Thanksgiving and Disneyland!

2010-12-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

We have spent a lot of time with family over the last two weeks. We are so thankful for our families. We went to California the week before Thanksgiving and spent some much needed time in the sun. We are Thankful for the warm weather we had before returning home to complete winter. We went to Disneyland, which was perfect. We're thankful for the happiest place on earth. If you notice Charlie right eye he got stitches for the fifth time, the night before we went to Disneyland. We're thankful that our hotel it footing the bill. We had wonderful Thanksgiving meals with both the Oborn and Lewis families. We are so thankful and blessed to be surrounded by such great families. We love you!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun Halloween with our little zombie, dead pirate and fairy princess and wow it seemed to last three days. We have all had enough candy, donuts, and more goodies to last us until hopefully next Halloween or maybe just Christmas. Rich and I relived the "glory days" wearing our old high school uniforms. We'll just say they didn't fit like they used to. It made me laugh when I got my uniform on and Bella said, "Mom you look so pretty." Her preferred outfit is pretty much anything with a skirt over it, so I think she loved that I was sporting the same look even if the skirt was over 6 inches from buttoning. Katie and I are both about 5 month along! Happy Halloween!

Boy, Oh Boy!

2010-10-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, today was our official ultrasound. Drumroll...It's a boy! I guess you could say I was a little surprised and it took me a second to retrain my brain to think boy. So far with each kid I have been spoiled and have gotten exactly what I wanted. I wanted a boy so I got a boy two times in a row. I then wanted a girl so of course that's what I got. So, thinking it would be nice to even things out and for little Bella to have a little sister, I again wanted a girl. So much for getting everything exactly the way I plan. We do love boys at our house. They bring a lot of fun energy, easy haircuts, mismatched clothes, tough guy wrestling, and man they love their Mom. What more could I ask for? I guess I'm already lovin' this little guy. Now all we have do is get the kids to stop calling him Molly and switch to maybe, Tommy.

Hawaii!

2010-09-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

Rich and I just returned home from our anniverary trip to Oahu. Our tenth anniversary to be exact- Although it really isn't until December. (We decided to go now since December is always crazy and I didn't want to be eight months pregnant on the beach).
Anyway, we had a wonderful time. One of my brother-in-laws said that Hawaii was magical. I have to agree. Mostly because we could sleep in, we could eat meals without being interupted, we could sit at the beach and read without feeling like there was something we needed to be doing-just pure relaxation. No demands. It was so amazing.
A few of our favorites. The Polynesian Culture Center, Pearl Harbor (where my Grandpa Lewis was stationed on the USS Reed when it was bombed), Snorkeling off of a Katamaran near Ko'olina, Rich surfing and boogie boarding-me watching, hiking to Wimea Falls and Diamond Head, of course many beautiful beaches, and no responsibilities for a week. Wow!
We are so happy to be home with our sweet children. We sure missed them, but are already planning our next vacation. Not really. I'm so happy to have been married this ten years to Rich and for these little children who have made our home and lives even more sweet.

Summer, Summer, Summertime!

2010-08-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

Our fun and lazy days of summer are coming to an end. I don't know that we are quite ready for long school days, soccer games and practices x2, music lessons to start, and maybe even dance this year we'll see. I can say we have had a great summer. Here are some of our favorites about our summer.

1. A lot of swimming- Swimming lessons, actually learning to swim (good job James and Charlie), and first time going off diving board without floatation devices! Bella is proving to be our bravest little fish.

2. Biking- Rich loves to get out and mountain bike and had quite a few fun rides this summer. James and Charlie are following in Daddy's footsteps and both are out riding a lot. Charlie learned to ride without training wheels a few weeks ago and just took off!

3. Family Reunions- We have had a lot of fun with Family. The kids love to play and sleep over with cousins. We spent three days in Midway with Rich's family-it was great! We went down the Alpine Slide, went swimming, spent time together and just had fun! We also had a couple cousin sleepovers with the Lewis cousins. They all just love being together. It is so nice to have great friends in our cousins.

4. Hiking- Well I think Rich hiking 15 miles to the top of Mount Timpangos with my mom and some of my family topped the hiking charts, but we also had fun hiking to Donut Falls, hiking on trails in Midway, and even down behind Rich's parents house to a great spot his Dad created. The kids enjoy being out on nature taking a stroll.

5. Vacationing- Rich and I spoiled ourselves this Summer-going to Alaska with my family and then we head to Hawaii in a couple weeks to celebrate our ten year anniversary. We'll take the kids to Disneyland this fall so they we'll be okay. We have to keep reminding them that Rich and I rarely go on our own vacation-it really has been years-They all were in some sort of shock while we were in Alaska. We'll see how they do while we are in Hawaii.

6. Summer- All the other fun things: Parades, snowcones, Handcart Days, playing with friends, playing outside in the sprinklers, playing random made up games, Getting ready for a garage sale that my children insist we have, selling lemonade, and doing nothing at all. Oh, and of course we are all excited for baby #4 coming in February!

Alaska!

2010-07-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Rich and I just got back from an Alaskan adventure with many family and friends. We were lucky enough to go with my parents some of my siblings and their spouses, Rich's Dad and bother-in-laws, and some other cousins and friends. We had so much fun. We stayed at Silverking Lodge which is on an island right out of Ketchikan. We mostly fished in small boats on the big ocean, which was kind of unnerving for me. We caught a lot of Salmon, so I guess that's what we'll be eating for Sunday dinners. Luckliy my kids are fans of Salmon. We spent one afternoon hiking into the Naha River, which is really like the Rainforest of Alaska. While on the hike we saw four bears, one ran about 20 feet in front of me across the trail. Yikes! I was ready to turn back, but we finished. We saw orca breaching, doll porpoises playing in our wake, and several bald eagles. A few of us even had the Eagles trying to steal our fish. We had a great time! and wow -it was pretty high adventure, at least for me.

Fish Tales!

2010-04-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

We decided to go crazy a couple of weeks ago and get our first pet, a beta Fish. Okay, So it was not that crazy. My kids were thrilled though. They named him Nacho and spent a few minutes each day looking at him. He was not that entertaining.
Sadly, in those few minutes each day we noticed that he was moving less and less. I consulted my Dr. Mom, who had nursed my sisters failing beta back to health. She asked if I had put dechlorinator in the water. No! they had not told us to buy that at the pet store. It was to late for our little nacho. We bought him on a saturday and he died the following Saturday. I really did feel bad for the fish. I think we are really not pet people. I told my kids we could buy another one, afterall we had the food, the bowl, and now the dechlorinator. They said, No.

Kids say the darndest things!

2010-02-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sure I'll get some new material soon, but James really made me laugh a few months back and it makes me smile to think about, so I thought I would share.

I decided to try and help James enter the reflections contest this year at school. The theme was "Beauty is..." So in helping him brainstorm I gave him some ideas: Beauty is the mountains, nature, family, friends, the sunset. He didn't like any of my ideas. So I asked him. "James what do you want to do?" He replied after careful consideration, "Beauty is...Lydia." Well, I found out that Lydia was a pretty little girl in his 1st grade class. A few days later he changed his mind. "Beauty is...Anna Belle." Uh,oh!

2010-01-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

James (the culprit), Charlie (the sidekick), and Mom (looking mad, but just actually tired)

I decided it was time to be a better blogger. I guess time keeps me busy and I forget to update our blog and of course I'm slightly slow on computers. This year I'm going to figure it out. I thought I should come up with something fun to blog about so to follow most of the crowd I will blog about the craziness of Motherhood. So here we go.

Entry #1

A few months ago I decided it was time to get out of the house and do something fun with my kids. With all three packed in the middle row of our Pilot we headed out. Of course we had to make a quick stop at McDonalds for their favorite Chocolate Milk and then we headed out to the Discovery Gateway. About half way there My oldest, James threw his empty carton to the front of the car which in hit me in the head. After a quick scolding on how that could knock out Mom and cause an accident the incident was quickly forgotten. We arrive at the museum and got in line to get our passes. When I reached the front of the line the cashier lood at me funny and said, "Did you know you have a straw in your hair" I must have looked puzzled wondering when I had been around a bale of hay, but then she said again kind of laughing, "You really have a straw in your hair." I reached up and sure enough I had a chocolate milk coated straw stuck to the side of my hair. We all had a good laugh thanks to James. I don't think I was making a fashion statement at the Gateway. Hmm.

2009-10-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Brad and Katie Hagen's Wedding August 13,2009

2009-03-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Spring is Coming!

Merry Christmas 2008

2009-02-18T08:57:00.000-08:00

Disneyland with Grandpa and Grandma Lewis November 2008

2009-02-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

2008-10-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Enjoying Beautiful Autumn in Millcreek Canyon and the Pumkin Patch

2008-09-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

James' first day of Kindergarten!

Pictures of Chicago

2008-08-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of our Chicago trip. Standing in front of the famous Chicago sign, eating the Chicago deep dish pizza, and me standing in front of some tall buildings

Chicago

2008-08-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

It was wicked! Rich and I had so much fun visiting Chicago. I was happy to tag along with Rich as he had a conference for The Association of Social work Boards. We got to see Wicked the first night and were lucky enough to get tickets on the first row. It was great! While Rich was in the conference I enjoyed shopping, reading, site seeing and laying on a man made beach on Lake Michigan. It was so wonderful to spend some time together as our kids and life keep us so busy. We had fun seeing our good friends Colby and Crystal while we were there. The kids stayed with Grandma Oborn and Grandma Lewis, and Uncle Aaron and Aunt Wendy. We all missed eachother, but wow it was nice to have a break. Thanks Moms! What a fun time we had we can't wait to go again!