Happy Halloween!

The kids had a fabulous halloween. we had dinner at the Illum's and went trick or treating together. There is a very popular neighborhood where everyone decorates and we ran into the whole ward. Woody and Snow White got tired pretty early and for some reason daddy refused to carry them from house to house, so we called it quits.




teaching micahlyn the art of kissyface. this is important stuff.

"Halloween halloween trick or treat, our costumes can't be beat!"
-Dora (the explora)

september?

That's pathetic. September is usually one of my favorite months. Back to school, cabin parties, season change, football season. aaahhh. but what happened? It's October? well in the overlapping week of the end of september into october i threw my mom a surprise birthday party, moved into a new house, got a new calling, had my in-laws in town from Canada, my sister jenn stayed with us for a night, it was micahlyn's 4th birthday and all three of my kids have been sick. oh yeah and jonathan had to be at this convention from friday till sunday night. did i mention the power was out on saturday and that the truck broke down. i have to stop, i'm thinking of more horrible things that happened last week and i'm pretty sure this isn't helping. the point is, it's raining. you know what that means don't you. it's whiping my metephorical slate clean and giving me a new beginning to a new week. thank you rain. i will write and post pics this week. i promise. mean while, i love and miss you all.

Fat, Fat, Fat.

I've been thinking a lot lately about being overweight, and not just because I was just in my sisters' wedding where every other woman didn't weigh more than 125 lbs(including michelle who was like 7 months pregnant)and not just because all of the women in my new ward are gorgeous and run marathons 2 weeks after having babies, and not just because of this extra 20 pounds i'm carrying around. Note- it's definitely more than 20 but 20 sounds so trivial, like i could drop it at anytime if i wanted to. Case in point, jonathan lost 31 lb.s last month doing this 5 bite diet. i did the same diet and lost 4 but you know, life's not fair blah, blah, blah.
anyway, i've been thinking about it because of this ridiculous, awful, disgusting television show "More To Love". It's gross, and I hate the bachelor and I watch it every week. It's like the car accident, I'm uncomfortable the whole time, squeamish and sometimes even really sad, but I can't pull my eyes away from it.
In case you are unfamiliar with the show, as many people are,it is the Fat version of "The Bachelor". They have this nasty overweight sleazy cheesy chubby chaser guy and 20 morbidly obese women, then like 5 that are just fat. Side note- only fat people can say stuff like this so if you're skinny, don't try it cause people will hate you. onwards. I get that the producers decided that instead of having a bunch of beautiful skinny yatches on the show, they would make one with fat girls. fine. but A. do all the women really have to have zero self-esteem, zero social skills and have never kissed a guy, let alone had a boyfriend? and B. does the bachelor really have to be a nasty pervert to be a guy who would overlook a woman's size? ugh.
It really bothers me when people think that the opposite of judging people for being overweight is embracing obesity. I cringe every time one of these girls goes into a monologue about how they are "proud of every curve and every pound". Liar! you would have the lapband tommorrow if you could. Or how amazing Luke is for loving them for who they really are. No no no. do you also love heart disease and dying young? do you love being tired and unhealthy? No, everyone is not meant to be a size 2 but no one is meant to be a size 20. no one. you should at least be attempting to be healthy. aaaaand, the funny thing is that being overweight is the least of these women's problems. it's like this cop out, " people don't like me because of my weight" they actually think that there is nothing else wrong with them. they would never think to take a look at other things they could improve on because they are just sure that 100lb. is the only thing standing between them and their prince charming.
I realize that i am ranting but i find it hard to believe that the producers couldn't have found women who were "bigger" or chubby or whatever size, that were also socially adjusted and confident. not in a "don't i look good?" way, which is masking insecurities anyway. but women who actually have some self worth, despite not looking the way they would like to. i mean, most women are insecure about their bodies, whether they are a size 5 or 25. most women, with the exception of kristen kearl,(my freshman year roommate who would stare at herself in the mirror everyday and say things like " it really isn't fair, i mean, i don't even work out, but look at my stomach, i mean who do you know that has a better stomach than this?") don't love every inch of their bodies. But i suppose the show would not be a success that way because women with any kind of self esteem would realize that this "great catch" that is overlooking their weight, is actually a complete loser and that needs way more than his man-boobs overlooked.
Watch it.

Girls' Weekend

I keep telling myself that I don't want to do this post until I get some good pictures from Chelsea or I have time to write something really profound. Both will probably not happen anytime soon so I am settling. Many were missed at our little freshman year reunion but I am so glad that we keep having them since it will never be convenient for everyone. We went to Santa Monica this year and did absolutely nothing, which was a far cry from last year's Manhattan trip. I spent 2 days just laying on the beach, with no children, no responsibilities and had the time of my life. I realized why mothers always have such white legs. When do you ever put your feet up? Even if you are outside your chasing someone or holding someone and usually need to stay on your toes. It was amazing and I soooo appreciate my husband for taking the kids for weekend. Also my friend Barbara for worrying about my husband and checking in on them. ( or maybe she was worried about the kids, i'm not sure.)
So it was Allison(Phoenix), Shauna(Denver), Brecken (Denver), Megan (Grand Junction, CO.), Chelsea (Portland), Melissa-formerly Dalton (Orange County), Mehrsa ( Manhattan) and me (Valencia) so mostly the west coasters. I love these girls. I admire and respect them so much and I love having such great role models of fabulous wives, mothers and women in general. Thanks guys. For those who couldn't make it, we missed and talked about you the whole time(: next year- Coloradoooooo where Megan and Shauna will be co-hosting.
Out to lunch

Chelsea's first in-n-out burger-life changing, i'm sure

Chelsea brought her baby Oliver(4 months) and he makes Hudson look like a shrimp

We needed a good shot of shauna

The Santa Monica Pier

My fat friends

catch up

I don't know why i have had such a hard time keeping up on here but feel absolutely disconnected from the world. We moved. shocker, I know. Jonathan's work asked him to open up a new office in Valencia/Santa Clarita. This has always been on our top 3 places we'd love to live list. Sooooo we were like, yeah. It all happened very quickly and 3 weeks later we were moving into our new house in valencia. It's only been a week but we are loving it. We live at the end of a culd-e-sac and have these "paseos" walkways that connect all of the culd-e sacs together. Lots of parks and pools and it's just beautiful. The ward is filled with great, friendly people and i can actually see us being here for a while. (: it doesn't hurt that it's only an hour from my parents.
so , i miss you all and vow to be better at staying in touch. although i'm not yet unpacked and my 3 monkeys are not the best helpers, i feel somewhat adjusted. Here are a few pictures from our happenings so far this summer.

A day at Ventura



enjoying the new backyard. i'm not quite sure why the hammock got set up before the bunk beds, but so it goes.

micahlyn loves the rosebushes

Laura on the tube with 4 little ones. such a trooper.

micahlyn,Isaac and their cousins Braxton and Peyton after the lake. a little sleepy.

my angel baby. this is what he looks like 99 percent of the time. if they only all came like this.

Jenn's Wedding

so attending a wedding/reception with your 3 children is stupid. actually traveling at all, flying, driving, hotels the whole bit, not enjoyable, but the wedding was gorgeous. i have no good pictures of jenn(blaming the children) and i am not in most of the family photos(also blaming the children). but here's what i have and the link to jenn's photographer. most of you knew that she didn't get married in the temple, if not, the photos may have tipped you off, but things didn't get worked out in time with david's temple divorce and all that, they decided to go ahead and get married now and look forward to going to the temple next year. consequently, my dad got to marry them in the little white church(the monument) across from the capital building. it was beautiful. we love them both so much and are so excited for them.
there are a ton on here. the slideshow is the best bet. http://swensenphotography.instaproofs.com. use jjennhawkins@hotmail.com if it asks for an email
and here are some of mine which do neither her nor the capital justice.









we had a family golf tourney the day before at sleepy ridge. who's team won? well it wasn't really fair, we had mikey and jonathan on ours.(:

kids usually tell the truth

i know that i just had a baby 2 months ago "it took 9 months to put the weight on blah blah blah" and i realize that i never got back in shape before the last pregnancy, or the one before that. i also realize that i use the phrase "back in shape" like i had this killer body before i made the ultimate sacrifice and had children when in actuality i've never been anywhere close to happy with my body. none the less i would like to live in a fantasy world where all of the baby weight comes off with nursing and i magically have all of the energy in the world. i would become addicted to exercise and start training for a triathylon.
last week i had a double dose of reality. first my 6 week check up after the c-section. i had all three kids with me which i could tell really excited everyone else in the waiting room. it was funny because you could visibly tell which ones were pregnant for the first time by the looks of fear/disdain on their faces when my 2 and 3 year old got into a booger war.( not sure on the spelling of booger). also the obvious discomfort when i had to nurse my infant under a blanket right there in front of them. i fealt like yelling at this one lady that was giving me dirty looks- " you're right, i should probably let him starve rather than make you uncomfortable." but i refrained. finally after and hour and a half in the waiting room when were taken back to a room. the dr. came in and was pleasant but after he inspected my incision he looked at me and with a straight face said " looks great melissa, and it's nice and low and you're cleared to start working out so you'll be back in that bikini in no time." i'm thinking, "was that a joke" but i just smiled and said "yeah". i drug the kids out to the car fighting back the tears.
the next day i was reading with micahlyn while the boys were taking naps, "Dora has 5 mangos in her basket, can you count the mangos?" she cuts me off and says "mom you chunky". "what?!?" " you plumpin" "what?!?" " i mean, you huge girl, motomoto" it was the motomoto that tipped me off. she tilted her head when she said it, plus she doesn't usually call me girl. i again fought back the tears while asking her what movie it was from. i had to see it. it's from madagascar 2, there is a scene where these 2 hippos are dancing and the guy tells the girl all this stuff. should this make me feel better? yes it's from a movie but why does my daughter relate the hippo to me? i decided to laugh at it. although i did tell her to never ever repeat those lines again.

Tradition Lives On

The Hawkins Family tradition of baby jumping. Hudson is 2 months but holds his head up and rolls over and all that so we decided he was ready and he LOVES it. which means that i can actually get the laundry done so i LOVE it too.


BATHTIME


and why is it that grass only itches adults. these kids roll around it, isaac can even fall asleep on it. i miss that. i sit on it and immediatly feel like i've got ants crawling all over me.



Life is good. summer is here and we are enjoying grandma's pool. hudson is quickly catching up to his older siblings ridiculous growth rates and getting cuter every day. we love california but are excited to make a little trip to utah next week for jenn's wedding. love to all.

Lets Make A Deal

So on one of my first outings as a mommy of 3, I had to go shopping for a new kitchen table. We sold ours with our condo when we left Utah and we are finally moving into a house this week here so it was time. I went to the "Furniture Mall" which is this Costco sized warehouse of great furniture- a lot of brands from down south that i really like. i had found what i wanted online and saw that they carried it so i wanted to go actually sit in it before i bought it. when i got to the "furniture mall" 5 small Vietnemese men greated me and i quickly realized that it was more of a furniture tiajana. no racial slurs intended. not that the stuff wasn't nice but there were no prices on anything. a sure indication that the prices were less than set- which i love. i don't know why i have always loved negotiating. that's what i like to call it. there is something incredibly satisfying about thinking that you have a gotten a better deal on something than anyone else. I also like to tell myself that it is because of my amazing negotiating skills and take no prisoners attitude and not just because the guy was gonna drop the price anyway. so i am stoked. i find my table and sit at it( in every chair) get under the table and really check it out like i'm looking for a loose screw or something. i put on a show for the guy like i'm not really sold on it you know. i ask him what kind of wood it is and about the finish, like any of that means anything to me. " so how much is that again?" "sssssssssss"- this is the noise and expression you make when something is really cold on your teeth- a little painful. " oh, yeah, that's over my budget. i really like it, but yeah, no i couldn't spend that much. is that really the best you can do for me?" this is where the guy acts like he has no control over the pricing and i ask him to go talk to the owner. he goes in the back and when he comes out miraculously the price has come down $300. Triumph. But i'm not done. " I like it, i like it. you know my son really likes those bean bags over there." needless to say i got a great deal on my table, it's being delivered on thursday so i don't have pictures yet but here is a picture of my kids new favorite, tennis ball bean bags. i love tiajana.

this is the kitchen micahlyn got for Christmas. they are yet to play in it. just on it.

our angel Hudson, doin what he does best.

the Gainor boys

Micahlyn finally mastered the potty, just shy of 3 1/2 years old. her reward was tinkerbell- which was really popular 8 months ago when we started this project. it was a little harder to find recently.

The joys of life

4 days after a c-section, i'm still not really up to being creative or whitty so you'll excuse the short post and the spelling errors please. it's the darvocet.

Saturday, the 21st of February at 5:52 pm our angel of baby boy was born. He was a little early but thankfully that was due to problems with my body not his. he is perfect. tiny (for us) 7 lb. 8 oz. and only 18 1/2 in. but so healthy and happy. we feel truly blessed. After having gone through what we did with Isaac, i take nothing for granted but certainly not a complicaiton free delivery and perfectly healthy baby. Hudson brought with him a strong spirit of happiness and love that i know comes directly from my Heavenly Father. I cherish every moment that i get to hold him and gaze into his surpisingly focused little baby blues and feel how close he has been to the Lord. I know that i have so much to do to be worthy of him and to prepare him for what lies ahead. I love this little boy.

Hudson Russell Gainor







tiny but he still got his daddy's toes and fingers.