Christmas

Well we had a great Christmas and New Years. We stayed at home in Vegas for Christmas. We had big Christmas Eve dinner with just our little family. Then Christmas Morning we woke up and opened presents. We had a big breakfast and then we packed up and went to Cali that night.
Andrew reading the night before Christmas to the boys.
Smiley Steele loving his new Bumbo.
All my boys Christmas morning.
The boys cookies and milk.

We all went to La Jolla to go see the seals. It was colder than I had anticipated, so I wasn't prepared to have Steele out in the cold for so long so Andrew ended up taking him back to the car. But the boys had a blast with their cousins. Effie was all bundled up so she's not in the pics.
Jesse, Max, RJ, and Jace in front of the seals
Jace right in front of the seals

Jesse man and the seals
Me and the boys, self portrait

On Saturday after Christmas we went to the Sea Lab. It's a place in Long Beach where they rescue sea animals and nurse them back to health and release a lot of them back in to the ocean. It's very hands on. Jesse wasn't too sure about touching anything.
Brave Bugga
Jesse and a sea bass (you can barely see it)
A bunch of the fam at a shark tank that you can apparently pet. I never pet sharks! That's a rule!
More craziness!!!
Okay this was even more crazy! Our digital camera is water proof. Sooo cool! Unless you have a crazy husband who dips his hand into the not nice shark tank to take a "cool picture". All in all it was a pretty fun day and trip.

Beautiful, Snowy, Las Vegas

So for the few weeks Jace has been asking me if we were going to get snow for Christmas. My constant reply has been, "No, honey. It just doesn't snow here in Las Vegas. Maybe we'll go up and visit Nana in the snow after Christmas." BOY WAS I WRONG! Monday Andrew called and told me to have the boys look outside so we did, in true Vegas fashion, flip flops,

and it was snowing at our house! Jace stood at the door for a few moments in amazement then looked at me and quite matter of factly said, "You were wrong Mama." To which I said, "I sure was." Then it snowed again yesterday (Wednesday). Since it didn't stick at our house we went up to red rock yesterday and the boys and Andrew built a mini desert snowman. They used rocks for eyes and yucca plant leaves for arms. Anyway, the boys have been so cute about all our crazy weather.

Opportunity Village

On December 6th we went to the Magical Forrest. It was fun. It was more fun for the kids, having a new baby and it being so cold, I didn't go on the train:( I Like the train okay! It was still fun, because the boys were able to have both of their Grandma's there. They were in town for Steele's blessing. Here are some pictures of the kids with Santa, on the train, in the little fire house, Steele slept the whole time(I woke him up to take a pic with Santa then he went right back to sleep) and the darling crying baby with all the hair is my niece, Effie. She was fine when all the kids were on Santa's lap with her but once she was alone, forget about it! So cute!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving in Ely this year at my parents new house. It was fun! We'll go to Cali for Christmas to my in-laws new house (well practically new, the skeleton of the house is still original, but the rest is almost completely remodeled. I'll post some pics after Christmas.) My grandparents came and they are always fun to be around especially Gram. The boys just love them too, I'm so glad that they just adore all of their great grand parents. Steele got some one on one time with them too. Here's just a few from dinner (My Dad and brothers can never take a serious picture-hence, the nose picking and wierd faces) and Papa and Nana B with Steele.

Briefly what we've been up to.

After Steele was born we took some time off. The boys loved getting to know Steele. Then Halloween came so we went to Gilcrease orchard to pick a few small pumpkins and get some yummy apple juice.

Actual Halloween pictures were taken with my 35 mm so I won't post right now but the boys were darn cute super heroes. Jesse wanted to be Spiderman. Jace wanted to be Batman, so naturally Steele was Superman and was stinkin' cute.

In November the boys went to Anderson Dairy on a field trip for pre-school. It was fun and they gave out icecream at the end.

I can't remember exactly but back in October my parents bought a new house. Well not brand new but new to them and considerably newer than the house they were in. It 's so great! There's tons of room for everyone in the house and tons of room for the kids to play outside as well. The house backs up against the hillside so they really don't have any neighbors and can go hiking right outside the back door, and there is a creek just across the street. Sooo awesome. Here's the new address.

Here's a view of the house and the shop.

Here's my Mom taking the boys to go check the mail in the rain.

This is a great playground in the backyard.

Steele at about 2 months.

Andrew finished the boys new surfer bedroom. It's so cute. This surf shack is a queen bunk bed! We were able to babysit Jacob, the boys cousin, one night. He's mobile so he's so fun! The boys just love him.

Steele is 3 months old already!

Steele is so much fun! He is the easiest baby, or maybe I think that because I had twins first? Either way he is the cutest, most fun, and so easy. Like my friend said that her friend said, I could do hundred babies one at a time (I wouldn't ever in a million years be pregnant 100 times or even 10 times for that matter) but it is great having only one baby. I will admit, even until the day he was born I was hoping for twins, they're so much fun when they are newborns. I took these on the 11th which was his 3 month birthday.

Jesse and Jace are such good big brothers and are so helpful. They loooove Steele, sometimes a little too much. I always have to nicely remind them that they need to get out Steele's grill. But they do love him so much.

Meet Steele Jennings Meeks!

So after some computer problems our summer pictures are still being held hostage on the other computer but Steele is here and we are all doing great. After 2 rounds of mastitis I'm feeling much better. So the stats on poor skinny are:
Born- September 11, 2008
Time- 7:43 p.m.
Weight-10lbs 3 oz (that's right)
Length-21 1/2 in. long
OUCH! you say? Actually it was surprisingly easy! A couple of pushes and only 1 stitch. So we were home by 9:00 the next night. He's so good. He sleeps well and even through all the noise of 4 year olds and their dinosaur fights, and regular fights and the boys are so good with him and very attentive. They are so willing to help, it's great! One is definitely easier than two, I've even gone shopping BY MYSELF, with all of them. It wasn't bad, could've been worse. It feels like he's been part of us forever already! I'll have a giant post later when I get into my other computer. I'll have more pictures of him later too. Not sure about this computer.