Make that 7 days to go!

I think this is my first post without pictures. Anyway, just wanted to report that the doctor has scheduled me to be induced in a week! So, as long as the baby doesn't come sooner, her birthday will be May 29th! We are so excited! Uh oh, now we only have a week to figure out her name.

Aren't we festive?

This is us going to our ward luau. I thought it was fun that we had all of this Hawaiian stuff in our dress up box. I've decided a mumu (I don't know how to spell it...in my case it should be spelled MooooooMoooooo) is a very comfortable option for a pregnant momma. Doesn't my face seem to say, "I wish I were in Hawaii"? Maybe someday.

We got away!

We didn't get very far, but we still got away! We went to a live session at the Salt Lake temple, a tour of the Conference Center (we are on the roof of it in the above picture), and dinner at the Garden Restaurant.


We got a free night's stay at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. We stayed in the "Mysteries of Egypt" room. It was pretty cool.

The shower comes out of the snake's mouth.

We had a great time together...a much needed getaway before life gets crazy with baby #4. (or should I say crazi-ER) Thanks to Nanna (& Bubba) for watching our cuties.

I can't believe he is 2!

Levi James Rice

turned 2 on March 30th!

Here he is when he turned 1! He got this Thomas the train that he still loves.

Since he loves trains, we decided to have a train cake for his 2nd birthday. Chris made it and did a fabulous job. (Even with the lame frosting that I made him that was hard to work with)

We love our Little Levi!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

We love the cabin!

Here are some action shots of us playing at the cabin! Yes, even I went snowmobiling and sledding in my pregnant condition. Funny how my back started hurting after that weekend!

We feel so blessed to have this family cabin! Thanks Stewarts for a great time (as always)!

Easter

Why am I always a couple months behind? I think I need to download my pictures on a more regular basis. Anyway, here is a look at our Easter spent at the cabin with my family.

My kids got to dye Easter eggs with their cousin Tanner (Will & Christina's little boy)

Big Boy Bed

So, we might have gotten ahead of ourselves, but we put Levi in a toddler bed. Our reasoning was that it might take him a couple of months to adjust, so we'd rather do it now than after the baby comes. What were we thinking? What 2 year old boy is going to want to stay in his bed? In fact, you may think less of us as parents when I tell you that we have resorted to locking him in his room. I just couldn't deal with him giving up naps quite yet, so I just lock him in. He doesn't cry. He just lays down on the floor and looks under the door until he falls asleep. Kind of sad, huh? But the good news is that SOMETIMES he stays in his bed and falls asleep. We're just hoping that it will happen more and more. The funny thing is...the first 3 or 4 days he stayed in his bed and went right to sleep and when he woke up he would just sit up and cry. It's like it didn't occur to him to get out of his bed! :) Anyway, here are some pictures of his first night in his "big boy bed"This is him pretending to be asleep.

This is how we found him later that night. Good thing we put blankets down. We have since put up a railing to keep him in. I can't believe how big he is getting. I am sure he will seem even bigger after we meet his baby sister.

We're lovin it!

The basement is finished! (Well, except for the bathroom) We are all lovin it! I am so proud of Chris and his determination to do so much of it himself. He did an amazing job! Here are some pictures, but just know that the "after" pictures don't do it justice. You'll just have to come visit and see for yourself! This picture is to prove that I helped where I could (i.e. sweeping and painting). It is also to show the "before" of how Chris took an old brown bookshelf and put it in the doorway of our storage room and added hinges and a wheel and made it look like a built in bookcase, but really it is our hidden doorway.

Here is the after!

This is how it looks open. Chris has always wanted to make something like this and he did it!

Even Madison helped paint baseboards!

Here is our family room/Theater room! Of course it is wired for surround sound...this is Chris we are talking about!

Here is a little play room for the kids complete with an automatic light that comes on when they go in and goes off after awhile instead of me having to crawl in there to turn it off...Chris has thought of everything! They have already done a puppet show for us in the little windows and we expect many more to come. We have 2 bedrooms and the office down here as well. The girls have already moved downstairs and love their new room.

Our little star!

Madison's dance group did the Nutcracker in December and she was a small doll (a Chinese doll). She did a fantastic job!
She was recently in a fireside called "Stories of Faith" at the new Covey Center in Provo. Her dance was to "My Heavenly Father loves me". She even had a solo. (Maybe I'll get Chris to help me post the video) It was the best spiritual "so blessed to be a mother" moment I have had in a while. I was bawling (I'm sure being pregnant didn't help, but the spirit was very strong). I love this dance company! They even had a guest speaker the week before to encourage the girls to dance to uplift others instead of just dancing for themselves and for praise. I certainly was uplifted by this fireside.
I thought this was a very cute picture of my girls. Both girls will be in "Alice in Topsy Turvy Land" at the end of the month, so stay tuned for pictures of both of our little stars!

Better late than never!

Okay, so I knew when I started that I would be more like a "once a month" blogger, but it's pretty sad that I am just now blogging about Christmas. Hopefully I will get better at this. Anyway, here are some pictures from our wonderful Christmas.This is Katelyn with reindeer food that she got from preschool and set out Christmas Eve. She was VERY excited about it.

The main gift that Santa brought was a trampoline. Santa was up until 3am on Christmas Eve putting it together on top of snow WHILE it was snowing! For some reason Santa was too tired to put up the safety net. We put it up 2 months later when the snow melted. The kids love it! Mom loves it too! Thank you Santa!

Long Awaited Ultrasound!

Yep, that's right....it's a girl!!! We are very excited! I was wrong, I totally thought it was a boy. Katelyn was the only one that knew all along it was a "gril baby"! Sorry Chris and Levi, the girls have the majority in this family!

Tagged!

What is his name? Christopher, but I’ve always called him Chris
How long have you been together? 9 years
How long did you date? 6 months (3 months dating, 3 months engaged)
Who eats more? Sadly, it’s a tie
Who said I love you first? I think he did
Who is taller? He is
Who has more speeding tickets? That would be me
Who is smarter? I think he is
Who is more sensitive? I am, but he IS sensitive
When there is a fight who usually wins? We take turns
Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but he pitches in a lot
Who does the dishes? We both do
Who sleeps on the right? Me
Who pays the bills? Automatic bills baby! But I pay the couple that aren’t automatic
Who mows the lawn? He does. I’ve done it a handful of times just for a change
Who cooks dinner? I do, except for grilling
Who drives when you are together? He does
Who is more stubborn? Probably me
Who kissed who first? It was so perfect that I would say both of us at the same time
Who asked who out first? He asked me out, but I had to flirt with him a lot first
Who proposed? He did of course-on the Las Vegas Temple grounds
Who has more siblings? He does. He has 6, I have 4
Who wears the pants? I pick the pants-he wears them :)
I tag.... Raquel, Mary, Sarah Dodson, Jen Stewart, and Nancee

Little Levi

Levi has discovered the water dispenser! AAAAAHHHH! He pushed this chair over, got a cup out of the drawer, and filled it up three times. I'm impressed (and grateful) that he even bothered to use a cup.






I love this second picture, because it shows how proud he was of himself. He felt so big. I love my little Levi!

We're having a Rice Rice baby!

Yep...we're pregnant! We will have baby #4 the first week of June. Actually, it will be the end of May...my doctor said he would induce at 39 weeks (since Levi came pretty fast and I didn't get my epidural), so I'm planning on it! Anyway, we are excited. Katelyn thinks it is a "gril" as she says it, and has already named her Cassie. I think it is a boy because I have been pretty sick and I have only been sick with Levi so far. But we will see...we will let you know when we find out!

Haloween (finally)

We went trick or treating at Novell, then went to a ward party, and then Chris took the girls trick or treating around the neighborhood---way too much candy!

Halloween Party

Chris and I got invited to a Halloween costume party...we took the cheap and easy road.

Can you guess?

I am white trash and Chris wore his birthday suit! We got an award for Most Original Costumes. (I think that is just a nice way of saying Cheapest and Easiest costumes...what do you think?)