More pictures than you probably want to see

So, I have been kicking myself for not writing more about how things have been going with Steve gone in Virginia, me raising 3 kids by myself and moving into a new house, but unfortunately with Steve gone in Virginia, me raising 3 kids by myself and moving into a new house I'm not left with a lot of time for blogging. The best I can do is give you a picture journey of the past 2 months. It's kind of a mod-podge of all we've been up to. Enjoy!

The boys weren't quite sure what "the Army" meant, but they thought all the gear was cool.

They couldn't even pick up their feet.

Before Steve left, we tried to spend as much time as we could as a family. We went to a state park in Tennessee and had tons of fun splashing at the beach, hiking to waterfalls, and diving in swimming holes we discovered.

Favorite baby accessory: my sling by Spout Pouch.

Gorgeous day with daddy.
4th of July: Steve left for JAG training after the fireworks.
Can you tell I love my sling?!
He drives me crazy, but I can't help but love this face. A typical 6am morning includes cartoons and crying.
I got these funny animal noses at a garage sale before I even had kids. I was sure they would be hilarious...they are!
Carrots please.

Hilarious!

After several weeks of not seeing Daddy, we decided to meet halfway in Knoxville, TN for the weekend. Steve came in after I put the kids to bed and when they woke up and saw him, they couldn't resist a little wrestling along with the hugs and kisses.
We went to the Knoxville Zoo. Altogether a pretty lame zoo, but the camel was nice.
After not seeing my husband for a while, this view almost made me cry.
Oliver's courageous act of touching a hedgehog. For as wild as he is, he is pretty cautious of animals.
They may not be girls, but they LOVE playing dress-up.
Does this make me look fat?
"My hands upon my head I'll place..."
With daddy gone, I decided to forego doing haircuts myself and let the professionals have a shot at my wiggly crew. It was their first "real" haircut and they were great. (Which actually kind of bugged me because they are SO HORRIBLE when we cut their hair.)
Oliver finally learned how to climb out of his crib so I moved him to a toddler bed. This is how I found him the first night.
This was the second night. I almost panicked when I went to check on them and couldn't find Oliver. I searched all over the room and the house before I saw his two little feet poking out from underneath Caleb's bed. This was the third night. It completely baffles me how and why he would fall asleep under a bed that is only a foot off of the ground. Thankfully, he finally got the hang of it and now sleeps in his bed and not under it.
A couple of weekends later we met Steve again in Knoxville and decided to see how they make cheese at a dairy farm. It was fun, but way too hot. Don't you love the "cow-poop protection" booties? You might notice the boys are all in red. Besides being kind of cute, I've decided color coding my children is the only sane way to keep track of them in public.
This was a children's area at the zoo that we missed the first time and went back to see. I didn't know there was going to be water so I didn't bring their suits, but they didn't seem to mind.
Caleb: I'm getting soaked, Mom.

Me: You'll dry. Roll up your pants and stop splashing so much.

Caleb: I have a great idea. I'll just take all my clothes off.

Me: No.

So much for teaching modesty.

Steve's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary the beginning of August in Cheyenne, Wyoming, so I flew out with the 3 boys a week early and spent time with friends (Kristi and kids, Stacee and Erin) in Laramie before the big reunion. I neglected to take many pictures though so I don't have any to post. (Can you send more of the ones you took Kristi?) Steve was able to leave training and join us for the reunion weekend.

Flying across the country wore us all out. At least they could sleep in the rental car on the way from Denver to Cheyenne. The whole trip was quite an adventure with 3 kids by myself, but we made it. I sure got a lot of great looks walking in the airport with Peter in the sling, Oliver in the front of the double stroller, his carseat in the back, the carry-ons crammed in the bottom and Caleb walking with his backpack. And that was after we checked two suitcases and two carseats! Their were some who looked at me with admiration, but mostly it was the "do you need some birth control?" face accompanied by the "I hope I'm not sitting by you on the plane" look.

3 Dolls! (Marissa and Peter) The reunion = cousins galore. Steve is the 7th of 8 kids in his family, so there were A LOT of people. With 30 cousins to play with I hardly saw Caleb for 3 days. It was such a fun time with family! We had a huge family home evening together, went to Vedauwoo for a picnic, had a fancy dinner at Little America, did a session at the Denver temple with Steve's parents and all his siblings and spouses (so cool see everyone there together in the celestial room!), and had a huge party with singing, dancing and a whole lot of laughing. I'll post more pictures from the reunion later.

After our big trip to Wyoming, it was time to relax back at home with the Izatt cousins.
I still get lonely in the evenings without Steve, so I try to stay busy. Usually I'm unpacking boxes and cleaning, but my parents bought me a changing table (I'm on my 3rd kid and I've never had one. Thanks mom and dad!). It was supposed to come mostly assembled. Ya right. This is normally Steve's job to assemble things, but... in the words of Kate Gosslin, "I am resigned to try things I have never tried, do things I have never done."
After several hours and a lot fewer cuss words than I thought I would have to use, Ta Da! I even used it today and it didn't fall apart! Shocking.
I just had to stick on the end this picture of Peter that I took today. He is just learning to smile and coo and is the sunshine of my day.

Summary: a little stress and loneliness, but a lot of fun!