Danny just keeps growing and getting bigger. He is such a happy baby. He loves to be talked to. He is started to make noises back. It is amazing how fast they grow in the first couple of months.

Here are some pictures to show the difference between Andrew and Jacob. Andrew loves his brother, but really doesn't want to have to help with him. I needed him to help, but as you can see, Andrew wanted to watch TV. Jacob wants to feed and hold him.

This past weekend we went into Minneapolis so see the Christmas display on the 8th floor of Macey's. The theme was "A day in the life of an elf." The boys liked seeing the display.

I don't know what I would do living so far from family if I didn't have the church! Last night a lady in our ward volunteered to watch Andrew and Jacob so Doug and I could go out together. We took Danny and went to the movie Four Christmases. This lady was so sweet to the boys. She bought them each a new coloring book, made a cute door hanger with them and then they made a cake and decorated it. The boys had so much fun.

Lost family member

Yesterday Doug sold his very first car. He bought this car after his mission and has driven it to work everyday for the last 10 years. My favorite memory of the car was our trip to San Diego with Dan and Kirty 2 months before we were married. I think that trip was when I knew I couldn't live without Doug.

That car has been from Arizona to Utah MANY times. Then it was taken on a truck to Boise where is was very reliable and then went on the long truck ride here to Minnesota. It was a little sad to see this part of our life be sold, but Doug said it was nice to have the cash in his pocket.

Good by to our trusty old Grand Am.

Happy Danny

Danny is starting to smile more and be a lot of fun. He is so alert and loves to watch his brothers play. That cute smile makes all the sleepless nights worth it all.

Happy Halloween!

Andrew and Jacob LOVE Halloween. Once I turned the calendar to October, Andrew has been watching the days go by until he could go trick or treating.

Doug was in Virgina the first of the week, so we waited to carve our pumpkins until Thursday night. I always love watching the boys faces as they clean out the pumpkins.

Batman Brothers

We went trick or treating for 2 1/2 hours. Andrew would have kept going, but Jacob was done. It was a beautiful night so we were able to take Danny in the stroller and all go enjoy the night.

As you can see the boys got plenty of candy.

Here is the latest picture of Danny. He is growing WAY to fast.

SUGAR Cookies

My boys put a whole new meaning to sugar cookies. I think after eating one of these cookies we will need a trip to the Dentist.

Jacob loved putting as many candies on each cookie as he could fit. We used a big bag of candy corns and a half of bag of chocolate chips. The boys had a great time. I also iced some, but didn't put any candy on them. We took them to our neighbors. Andrew told them that their cookies were boring. They said that we should have brought some the boys decorated. I guess I should have shared the sugar filled cookies.
Last Saturday we also went to an apple orchard and picked...you guessed it, apples. We went to this place last year and had to do it again. They take you on a ride out to the orchard on a wagon. We picked a 20 lb bag of apples.
Doug is holding Daniel, but his blanket was white and Doug's shirt is white too.

The boys loved picking the apples right off the tree.
Super Hero Boys!
After the apple orchard we went to a pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. Andrew walked out and picked a tiny one. Doug told him to get a big one, but Andrew wanted to be able to carry it. Doug helped him find one he could carry, but was big enough to actually carve.

Jacob was more worried about finding one for Danny. He got his and then had to find the perfect small one for Danny. What a good big brother.

Danny 5 weeks old.

Here are some pictures I took of Danny today. He is 5 weeks old. How time flies when you are getting no sleep.

Jacob loves to kiss his brother. I think the amazing part about the last 5 weeks is that Danny has survived all of the love from Jacob.

I was trying to get a nice picture with all three boys. Jacob was so funny I had to post both pictures.

Lots of pictures for family in Utah

Danny 2 weeks old.

















Andrew finally wanted to hold Danny. He thinks he is too loud. Andrew does not like it when Danny cries.
Jacob still loves to hold Danny. He is always there to put in the binky when Danny cries.

Sunday we blessed Danny. It was nice to have my parents here. We missed all the other family that was unable to be with us. Maybe next time we will rent a bus to have everyone come out here.

He is here!

Our sweet little baby boy was born on Sept. 11th. He is 8lbs 3oz and 20 inches long. We have named him Daniel Bruce Hobbs. Months ago as we started to talk about names we realized we had named the other two boys bible names. We wanted to stay with that so we started to look at different bible names. Daniel was the only one we could both agree on. Bruce is after Doug's Dad. I started to have contractions Wed. morning. As the day went on they got harder and closer together. That night as they were still coming, I started to get excited, but really scared because I knew he was on his way. My last 2 deliveries had been anything but easy, so I was scared of how this one would go. Around 2 am they started to get pretty hard and strong. We started to slowly get things ready to go. We arrived at the hospital at 4 am and I was dilated to a 4. At 5:30 am they came in and gave me the epidural. By 6:15 I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. I pushed until 7:47 am when he was born. It was a very fast and wonderful delivery. I don't think I could say that ever before. Jacob LOVES his little brother. He wants to kiss him and hold him all the time. Andrew isn't all that interested. He thinks he is cute, but doesn't really want to hold him. Doug is a happy man. Today he watched the BYU game holding Danny and Jacob with Andrew right there too. What more could a man want!

7 years and still going strong... most days.

Last Sunday was our 7 year anniversary. Doug was great and got up and made breakfast before we went to church. Other than that, it was a normal Sunday.

Tuesday Doug had me get a babysitter and then I went in and picked him up at work. I didn't know where we were going or what he had planned. As we were driving, I was getting a little curious where we were headed as we drove all the way into Minneapolis. Then he turned to go to the Mall of America. I thought of all the places to go, the mall was a little strange. Then he took me inside to the Rainforest Cafe. Again I thought, this is a strange place to eat for our anniversary. Then he said, are you figuring out why we are here and what we are doing next. Me and my pregnant brain had NO idea what he was talking about. He asked if I had ever been to a restaurant like this. I thought, but couldn't figure out what he was talking about. With a couple more clues, he was talking about our first date at the Mayan in Salt Lake. Then I felt so dumb for not figuring out that he was recreating our first date. WOW, for Doug this was big. I was so impressed that he had planned something so cute. After dinner we went and played mini-golf like we did on our first date. GOOD JOB DOUG!

This is a picture of us on our first date.

Potty Training...What was I thinking?

The count down is on until this little baby comes. I guess I thought I needed something to pass the time while I wait, so I decided it was a great time to potty train Jacob. I started last Wednesday and we had many accidents. Then Thursday was much better. By Friday things were going really good until...Jacob came downstairs with his pants off. I asked him if he had gone potty, he said yes. Then he turned around and I noticed some little brown "stuff" down his leg. I asked him if he had pooped and he said yes. I asked, in the toilet? No. Where is the poop? He said in the toilet. I told him to show me where he had pooped. He took me upstairs in the front room and said, here. I looked, but didn't see anything. Jacob, where is the poop? Upstairs in the toilet, Mom. Yes, Jacob pooped in the front room and was kind enough to his very pregnant mother to clean it up after himself.

Then Wednesday I was helping Andrew with the computer. Jacob opened the sliding door that goes out back and went pee. I heard him open the door, but wasn't paying attention to what he was doing until he started to laugh and said, Mom I pee outside. GREAT!

To top the week off he went upstairs today and went potty and then decided 2 squares of TP wouldn't be enough. He needed the whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet. I had a HUGE mess to say the least:)

I wish I had some pictures to post with this lovely story, but that was the last thing on my mind as I was cleaning up each and every mess.

Nap Time?

Lately Jacob has really been fighting me on taking naps and going to bed. I think he knows baby brother is on his way soon and wants to not let me go to bed very early. Last night Doug was gone so I had to fight with Jacob until 9:30 to go to bed. Today when I put him down for a nap I told him NOT to get out of bed. He said okay, but 5 minutes later he was downstairs. I sent him back to his room and didn't hear from him again. After about 20 min, I thought I would go check on him.

This is what I found when I went into his room... Jacob loves to hide from us in the curtains. I guess I took to long to find him and he fell asleep.

Family Fun in July

The past couple of weeks have been a lot of fun for our family. On July 3rd Doug's sisters, Leslie and Melinda flew in from Yuma and Mom and Dad Hobbs drove out from Utah. It only took them 18 & a half hours. (We would love to have more visitors make the trek across the country to come and visit!)

On the 4th we went to a parade and the boys got lots of candy and had a great time. After we came home and pulled out the slip and slide and barbecued in our back yard. Melinda bought fireworks, so the boys had a great time watching them that night.


During the week we went to the Como zoo. It is a smaller zoo, but it was perfect since we were all tired from staying up late and playing games.

Doug and I have found a really nice park that is about 10 min. from our house. We spent one day playing frisbee, baseball and horse shoes.

We also had dutch oven and ended the day with smores... what a great way to end the day!

Grandma Hobbs brought nets and little cages for the boys to catch bugs. I'm not sure who had more fun, Andrew or Melinda chasing dragonfly's. I think that was Andrew's favorite part of the day. What a good idea Grandma had!

The last part of the week Doug and his Dad spent putting together our new swing set. They did a great job. Mom, Leslie and Melinda did a great job keeping the boys entertained so they would stay out of the way. Here Andrew and Jacob have their super capes on being spider man and super man. Leslie, Melinda and Dad also stained all the wood before we started the project. Now that it is done, it looks GREAT! Thanks for everyones help!

Grandma & Grandpa Stott come to visit

This past week my parents were able to come and visit from Utah. It is always nice to have my Mom come and take over the house. She cooks, cleans, gardens and plays Candy Land over and over. I always love the break from being mom when my mom comes to visit. Dad always worries that she is taking over too much, but Doug is thinking about having her come out more often to get this house is order. I guess this pregnancy is starting to wear on Doug a little. Only 12 more weeks to go...AHHHH. Then I will be back to normal...wishful thinking.
Anyway, while they were here we did a little sightseeing.

We went to Fort Snelling in St. Paul which was once the furthest outpost of America in the 1820’s. Today it helps to tell the story of Minnesota from 1820 until it closed in 1946. Andrew and Doug were able to learn how to follow the soldiers and march.

Here Andrew is being enlisted in the army. The guy there said the one requirement for Andrew was that he had to have his two front teeth so he could rip open the gun powder to put in the gun.

This is on top of the fort looking over into St Paul. Karen, here is my one and only prego picture.

We went to a beautiful flower garden.

This is at a park in Stillwater called, surprise-surprise, Teddy Bear Park. We had a lot of fun there. Jacob had become a mama's boys that day and wouldn't get in the picture.