a fun week

We felt spoiled last week with so many visitors in town. I anticipated it for so long that it was over in a flash. My youngest brother Marky was here as well as my older brother Dan and his family. We also spent a day at grandma Shirley's house. It was so much fun. When can you all come again?

Johnny loved being one of the boys at the Long Beach Aquarium

I caught Cache patting Johnny on the head. It was so sweet. Johnny reciprocated with a hug.

Two of my favorite photos from the week. Baby Ty and Brooklyn. Aren't they a photogenic pair?

And here is Marky. The best uncle ever. Johnny was beyond delighted all week.

A cute photo of the kids together. I love Bellamie's bright orange cast!

Johnny almost blends into the background with those big blue eyes and blue shirt.

Tyler is such a good baby. We hauled him all over L.A. and he was a perfect angel.

Cozied up on the couch at home. It was SO nice to have an extra pair of hands. I can't believe how much more I can accomplish in a day with someone to help.

Ty and Grandma. She made him a bunch of cute bibs like the one he's wearing.

I love both of these photos of Marky and Ty on the beach so much that I posted them both (even though they are almost identical). Uh, who's the lucky girl that will someday marry this awesome boy? I'd like to meet her because she must be amazing.

We were at the beach with a bunch of my friends from church and their kids. A lady walked up to one of my friends and asked her if we were from Utah. My friend said, "No, why?" The lady said she'd never seen so many modest people at the beach before. I hadn't thought about it, but I guess we were wearing a lot of clothing for an 80 degree day.

Why does my child always have to wander? Johnny found the seagulls a million times more interesting than the water.

Johnny's New Friend

Johnny made a new friend today while shopping at Old Navy.

And yes they are holding hands!

Mem @ 4 months

So this week Mem (Tyler) turned 4 months old. He is very cute as you can see below, and his brother Noni (Johnny) is seriously in love with him. Caroline took him to the doctor for his regular check-up and everything seems to be going okay...which is good because Johnny had the 'croup' this past weekend and it gave us a bit of a scare.

So at 4 months Mem weighs in at 18 lbs 7 oz and is 26.5" long. That is pretty hefty. It puts him near the top of the charts in both categories. If you are wondering how that compared to his brother...at 4 months Johnny weighted 20 lbs 15 oz and was 29.0" long which is way off the charts.

And here are few bonus shots from our recent trip to St. George to visit our cousins.

Valerie, Tyler, RyLee

Johnny is seriously fascinated with kitties

Johnny and Kate

Johnny and Jared

Johnny getting ready for his bath

Finally

My mom and dad have attended a lot of high school basketball games. At least 800, but probably more. They followed 8 kids all over the state of Idaho in snow and rain and on icy roads. They sat on hundreds of hard bleachers, yelled thousands of encouraging words, endured many a horrible referee and only got tossed out of a handful of games {dad!}. They watched us win, they watched us lose. They saw school records broken, MVP awards won, district championships clinched and even a state championship final. When it comes to high school basketball, they've pretty much seen it all. Except one thing. They never watched one of their kids win the ultimate prize, a state championship... well, that is, until TODAY!!

Today my siblings and I lived our dream vicariously through our baby brother, No. 8, our last hope, Marky Mark, when his team won the 2A State Championship against all odds. I couldn't be there to cheer, to call the referees names, to jump up and down and celebrate with my family, but I was there in spirit. I'm so proud of Mark. Not only is he a great athlete, he's an even better person and an awesome little brother. I'm so thrilled that he could experience this game as a senior, in his last basketball game. And I'm happy for my parents too. Not because they care whether we win or lose. But because all they want is for their kids to be happy. And I know that today, all 8 of us were very, very happy.

{photo and article here}

{Mark Beus #5}

Captain Adorable

Last week some of my wonderful friends from church threw me a baby shower. Though it was a bit late (they joked that if they waited any longer they would have to pitch in and buy him a car for his 16th birthday), I decided that the best time to have a shower is 3 months after your sweet baby has arrived. Bringing my smiley little love to the party was so much better than a packing a big, uncomfortable belly. Here are a few pictures of Ty wearing one of his new outfits from the shower. He is such a fun baby right now. He smiles a ton and is even laughing. Sometimes he starts laughing out of nowhere. Its so funny. He also recently decided that he loves pacifiers which has made our lives much easier!

A lot of people ask me if I think Ty & Johnny look alike. What do you think? Here they are side by side, at almost 4 months old. They both happen to be wearing little sailor suits which is beside the point, but kinda cute. I think they share a lot of features in common, yet to me they look so different.

do you like samoas?

{photo and recipe here}

then you should probably make these. they're sooooo good.

I'm wondering...

How much t.v. is too much? Ever since 101 dalmations came in the mail from netflixs we haven't been able to bribe Johnny away from the t.v. Sometimes I prop his brother up next to him and take pictures. He's so into the show, he doesn't notice that either of us are there.

Tyler is not nearly as interested.

He'd much rather smile for his momma.

America's Next Top Chef

For all of you non-believers, check out this awesome video. Johnny is seriously the best 1 year old chef that I have ever met. The other day I was making a crust for a pot pie and pulled the raw dough out of the fridge and took it over to the flat surface. He saw what I was doing and went over to the lower cabinet, opened the door, and pulled out the rolling pin. I didn't even know where the rolling pin was. In this video Johnny demonstrates the Army way of cracking eggs and the French-Italian pastry chef way of cracking eggs.

Well done Johnny, well done!

-brian

a couple parents about to get real

Hey folks, guess what? We are the proud owners of a Swagger Wagon. We're filling this wagon up with our swagger.

I think its embarrassing yet awesome that as of yesterday we became a minivan family. We didn't even realize how cool we were until after we bought it. We were showing off the new wheels to our friends Heather and Chris who, as it turns out, were actually quite impressed with our "Swagger." And we were like, "What?! Where my kids at?"

* side note - before ya'll start gettin' all jealous, we didn't get a 2011 alright? ours is a little older. but still.

Blessing Day

Sweet baby Tyler was blessed in church this last Sunday. I told Brian that we had better invite a lot of people to stand in because he's such a chunk at almost 12 weeks. I don't think most people wait as long as we did to bless their babies. Usually you see a dad hold up a teeny tiny little thing wrapped in a blanket. In a 6-9 month collared shirt, a pair of overalls, with a double chin and elbow rolls, Tyler's presence in front of the congregation was a little less dainty. Yes, he's a manly little man and we think he's pretty neat.

We were lucky to have my mom and dad and grandma Shirley come for the occasion. Besides making the cute little overalls for Ty's blessing, my mom also ironed our clothes, washed our dishes, changed dirty diapers, read stories, rocked babies and took great care of us as always. Johnny loves Grandma and behaved like a perfect little angel around her. Though it took a little while to warm up to Grandpa, whom he hadn't seen in over six months, Johnny was repeating the words, "hi grandpa" over and over by the end of the weekend. We had a great time and hope they can come again soon! Grandma Shirley came bearing gifts and lots of kisses for the boys. We are so grateful that she lives close by and that we get to see her often.

Its so fun being a family of 4.

I love this picture for Ty's furrowed brow and for the goofy way Brian is holding Johnny.