Summer Project

Just thought I'd share what my husband has been up to this Summer. Whoever says that teachers don't work during the summer obviously doesn't know my husband. Ben was determined to learn how to frame and sheetrock our basement and here are some of the pictures of our basement getting finished. Sorry, these pictures aren't in the order I intended, but you get the idea. Ben didn't do the finish work (mudding/taping & painting) but I'm proud to say that he did everything else to get it ready!

Painting stage (near completion)...

I love the blue wall.

Mudding a taping stage...

And sheet rocking. With the help of our family members we were able to get a lot knocked out in just a day. Ben (red shirt) getting things into place. Just a side note: No one (except Ben's dad) had ever sheet rocked previous to coming to our home. Ben learned the night before our big sheet rocking party how to do it and then showed everyone else the day of.
Ben & brother-in-law Casey with their skrew drivers (now that's a deadly force). Who knew I married such a handy man? Honestly, I'm so proud of my husband and his hard work getting this done.

Family Firsts

We've had a lot happen over the last month that I just wanted to share. WARNING: Lots of pictures are to follow!! We had a family reunion the end of May down in St. George with the Cox Family. It was a lot of fun! The following picture is of the whole Cox Family.

We haven't had a couple picture taken for awhile, so we decided to pose for the camera. I sure love this handsome hunk of a husband!

Joshua and Jacob are in their first year of tee-ball. They are having a great time and I must admit it is thoroughly entertaining to watch.

Jacob hitting off the tee. From the looks of this picture I think he actually connected with the ball.
Joshua working on his throwing technique during a game. Can't you just see him thinking point, step, throw? He actually looks like he could be on the Karate Kid or something!
Who needs a bumbo when you have laundry baskets? Kaden has the sweetest little smile.
First cereal feeding. Ok, so the first time wasn't so great. More food ended up on their faces and clothes then in their mouths, but they're slowly getting the hang of it.

Bekah has enough hair in the back to put it in a pony tail. I decided to try a curler too and well isn't she just adorable?! She is such a happy baby and just a delight to have in our house.

Joshua and Jacob graduated from pre-school in May. I can hardly believe that they'll be going to Kindergarten in the Fall. What some sharp looking little men we've been blessed with.

They both passed pre-school with flying colors! On the evaluation sheet their teacher filled out they both completed everything required for entry into Kindergarten with one small exception for Joshua ... skipping. The kid can't skip, but he sure can gallop. Hope you find the following clip as funny as I did!

Cutting Teeth!

Ok so I am a super lame blogger, but honestly finding time for me to sit down and blog is a really difficult thing! I just had to write before I forget to and share our family's biggest news ... Kaden has 2 different teeth breaking through and Bekah has one on the way as well! I've been wondering the last couple of days what in the world happened to my happy little babies, well teething explains it all.

I love these little babes!

April Activities

My husband with his rock band 'Upside'. They preformed at the local high school Inaugural Ball. They had a lot of fun, the kids loved it, and well... it was great! Other band members include (starting from the left): Dax Higgins (lead guitar and fellow H.S. teacher), Ben (lead vocalist and guitar player), Spencer Cox (bass guitar, Ben's brother), and in the back Kenny Cox (drummer, Ben's cousin). They've only been at this since January, but the are pretty official. They have their own sound and light systems (fog machine included) :).

As you can see, the high school kids loved it!
I would like to introduce the newest member to the Cox Family... our little lambio Junior (Josh and Jake came up with the name).
When we first got the lamb I was terrified that it was going to die. That first night I fed it with a baby bottle to try and get it to drink. Now, you can't even tell that it was a frail little lamb to begin with.
Josh and Jake feeding Junior. Yes, I love the snowy weather in April (that was complete sarcasm)! The warm weather is not coming fast enough for us or for our lamb.
In the middle of the month Josh, Jake, and I went camping out on the West Desert with my sister Amanda and her family, and my mom and dad. Ben, my terriffic husband, offered to stay home with the babies. We had a great time searching for fools gold, arrowheads, looking at indian writings, catching horny toads, and playing in the sand.
Me, Jake, Josh, Brooklyn, Amanda, and Brandon hunting for fools gold.
As soon as we loaded up to come home we looked back to find Jake and Josh fast asleep. All the fun had completely worn them out.
Our family had a great easter. Kaden loves the little bunny that the easter bunny brought him. I think more than anything he just loves to eat it.
Two happy little babes.
Amanda's daughter Brooklyn (center of pic) celebrated her first birthday. It was a princess party and everyone was supposed to dress up. My sister Jessica convinced me to dress up in my old prom dress. So, I slipped right into my dress (it didn't quite fit as well I remember it fitting) and put on my Miss Lamb Day crown and off we went. It was a fun party and Brooklyn was so cute about the whole thing.
Grandma and Grandpa Ericksen have an annual easter egg hunt at their house. The kids loved it and had a great time despite the weather being a bit chilly. In this picture there are 3 sets of twins!
Josh & Jake dumping out the contents of their easter eggs.
Hunting for eggs.

Celebrating Milestones

It's hard to believe that our babies are already 4 months old! How quickly the time passes. I just wanted to recap what's happened in our family over the last month. Rebekah now weighs 13 lbs. 13 oz. and Kaden weighs 14 lbs. 11 oz. So there's only about a pound difference in weight, but Kaden has Rebekah by about a 2 inches in height, he is such a long boy.

Our beautiful babes!

Joshua is quite the creative child. I have no idea where he gets it from, but I'm grateful that he feels so inspired to try new things. With Spring here, he decided to go outside, find a couple of sticks, and make himself a bow and arrow. In this picture he is painting his bow.

Jacob is our little ball of constant energy. He loves to do anything that is highly active. The following picture shows off his athletic talent with basketball. Yes, I know, he has some great form!

Kaden is the abdominal master! He loves to crunch himself up and raise his head off the bouncer, couch, or whatever he may be propped up against.

Rebekah doing what she does best, showing off her beautiful smile. She smiles at everyone and anything that she thinks is looking in her direction. You may even find her smiling at the air. She is such a happy and content baby.

Four wonderful miracles.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Smith posing for the camera with the kiddos.

We celebrated my Grandpa Smith's 80th birthday on March 20th. It was such a nice tribute to a wonderful father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Happy Birthday Grandpa Smith!!

And last but not least, my rock star husband. For some time Ben and his brother Spencer have talked about putting a band together and well it has finally happened. They don't have a name yet, but they've started practicing and needless to say, they are pretty good!

Big Helpers, Builders, and Beautiful Pictures!

Ok, so you can call me a terrible mom if you want, but I don't always feed my babies right when they cry. I had made bottles for the feeding, but was trying to get a batch of laundry into the dryer before starting. Kaden was crying and apparently I wasn't coming quick enough for Jake. While I was loading the dryer Jake decided he'd help poor little Kaden out. Jake proceeded to pick up the bottle and start feeding Kaden. Josh decided he wanted to join in on the fun too and he fed Rebekah! They almost made it through the entire feeding and I was able to get some laundry done while they fed. What some BIG HELPERS we have!

The other day Josh picked up his pencil, sharpened it, stuck it behind his ear, and said, "Mom, I'm Bob the Builder!". I guess Bob the Builder has a pencil tucked behind his ear (I wouldn't know, but I trust Josh). Jake joined in on the Bob the Builder nonsense and I of course had to take a picture!

It dawned on me after the blessing day that we didn't actually get close up pictures of the babies in their blessing outfits, so Ben & I decided to take some photos ourselves. I thought the pictures turned out pretty good for not being professional photographers. Man, it's tough getting all kids to look in the same direction at the same time and get them to smile too (the following picture was as close as we got)!

Our adorable chubby little Kaden and ...

Our beautiful Rebekah.