Mon. Oct 3rd - House is coming along. It still needs the stucco, flooring, and drive way. Probably another 3 more weeks. Erik is jabbering a lot. It's hard to keep up on the new words he is saying.

Mon. Oct 10th - Our house should be ready in the next couple of weeks. Our website will be down for a few days while we move but it will have a new look when it's back online.... stay tuned...meanwhile, enjoy the new pics.

Tue. Oct 18th - We are getting really close to moving. We complete the sale of our current house this thursday. The stucco on our new house is almost done. It needs to be painted and then the driveway goes in. The carpet is installed and the only thing left inside the house are the appliances, touch up and moldings.

Mon. Oct 24th - We sold our house on Oct. 20th. So we are packing up our house right now and we are planning to move into our new house this Saturday. This will be the last update until after we move. Also, there will be a new look when we come back online. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures and a video of the ultrasound of the new kid. PS. The web site will be down during the move... so plan on the site down for about a week.

Fri. Nov 11th - Welcome back to billionsmiles.com. It's has a new look, just like our house. We are finally all moved in and mostly unpacked. Lots of things are still in boxes. The house is wonderful. It's quite, it's big, it's what we wanted. This site is still going thru maintenance so excuse the bugs you find. That's all for now.

Sun. Nov 20th - Erik just had his 2nd birthday. He had a great time and ate lots of cake and he stayed up late. He also received lots of presents. This kid is spoiled! He received a train set, 2 remote control cars, lots of small cars and planes, a tool set, some clothes, shoes, and a PlayDoh set. Thank you everyone for everything. Erik loves all his presents.

Wed. Dec 7th - Rachelle finally got her braces off. She can now chew through things. Erik is doing well. Matt and Erik went sledding yesterday for a while and then Erik helped shovel the driveway. We got about 5-6 inches of snow. It was quite an exercise. Erik didn't want to go into the house even though he was freezing. He cried and screamed but he had to go in. We are really enjoying our house still. We are still unpacking...that's expected for the next few years. We put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Erik calls the lights, "birthday" because they look like his birthday candles. We finally bought Erik a new bed because he's finally climbing out of his crib. We bought a bunk bed off ebay for pretty cheap... even after shipping. We decided to go w/ the bunk bed instead of wasting money on a toddler bed since they both have the bars to prevent the kid from falling out. Nothing else is new. Hope everyone is well.

Fri. Dec 16th - What a crazy little dude we have! Erik has been facinated with all of the holiday things going on. He points out Santa Clause whenever he sees him, but wont touch anything that looks like him. He has been so facinated with the snow (which he calls "bubbles"). When he sees snow on the ground he calls it "snowman". He loves to look at the Christmas lights on the homes around here. He calls them "birthday". He has been pretty good at leaving our Christmas tree alone but his curiosity has gotten the better of him a few times and he'll clear off a 2 foot by 2 foot area of decorations in 5 seconds flat. One morning he brought us in a bunch of decorations in a basket. We had a hard time holding back the laughter. He still loves his cars and trains (which he calls "Choo choo"). He plays with his train set literally every day. He is such a happy goofy little boy and loves to call himself silly. We are so looking forward to meeting his little brother this March. Erik is starting to notice that mommy's tummy is getting bigger. He likes to point out her belly button as it clearly pokes out. We tell him that he's going to have a baby brother, but he doesn't get it yet. We are so excited to watch him Christmas morning. He really does make everything wonderful and special for us. We hope that the holiday season is finding all of you healthy and happy. Merry Christmas to you all.

Mon. Jan 9th - New videos posted...finally!!!<br>
Erik is crazy as usual. He's picking up new sentances as well as new concepts every day. He's starting to understand how things work and is able to express himself so that we can understand what he is so desperately trying to tell us. He loves the toy motorcycles Santa brought him in his stocking. He now notices that women are "Mommies" and men are "Daddies". He loves to look at Rachelle's pregnancy magazine because it has lots of pictures of babies and mommies and daddies. He still doesn't get the concept of baby, but at least he's noticing that people other than us are mommies and daddies. His favorite movie now is "Polar Express". He calls it the "choo choo" movie. He loves to sit and snuggle with either mom or dad and munch on popcorn while watching it. He asks to watch it every day, even though we don't always give in to him. To Rachelle's absolute delight, he LOVES egg nog. Erik still gets mad when the cats so much as walk by any of his toys. He tells them to "sop it" (stop it) or "don't touch it". Most of the day the cats hide under the bed to get away from Erik's rath. We are all having fun watching Rachelle's tummy grow and are very anxious to meet this new little boy. We are all doing well here and hope all of you are doing great!

Sat. Feb 11th - Changes are occuring at our household. Matt is almost done prepping the basement for framing. Rachelle is getting bigger each day and is very uncomfortable. We're anxiously awaiting our new little arrival. Erik is changing before our very eyes. He loves playing with kids his age. He loves to scream when they scream. He especially loves to run around the kitchen island with his cousin Jessica. Erik is really piecing sentances together. They may not always be correct, but we are able to understand more and more every day. He loves to eat ketsup with anything and everything.... hot dogs, bread, cereal, etc. He'll scoop just plain ketsup up off his plate and into his mouth. He also can't get enough milk. He's growing like crazy and is a healthy happy little kid which we are very grateful for. We'll keep you all posted when the baby comes and hope you all are as excited as we are!

Mon. Feb 13th - New videos of Erik posted!

Sun. Mar 5th - We are only a few short weeks away from our new little addition. We are very excited to meet this new little guy! We are getting the house and baby's room ready. We've washed all of his clothes and started to pack the bag for the hospital. Erik still doesn't know what's going on. We think he'll be quite surprized when we bring his new baby brother home. Erik has really begun to speak in full sentances now. He'll say things like "Where are you? I found you!!!" or "Where is it?", "Sit down and play cars", etc. Matt and Dad O. finished framing the basement. It was a lot of work, but very fulfilling. Now it's time to wire and insullate. It's exciting watching it all come together. The weather has finally warmed up and the two feet of snow on our lawn has finally melted. Spring is just around the corner! We hope you all are doing well.

Tue. Mar 21st - Devin Li has finally arrived!!! He's a healthy 8 pounds 1 ounce baby. He measured 20.5 inches. He does have hair but not as much as when Erik was born. Rachelle is doing great but really tired now. Labor and delivery took a total of 6 hours. We got to the hospital at 7:45 this morning. The nurse started Rachelle on Pitocin at 9:15. At 2:30 Rachelle was fully dialated and started pushing. At 3:05 baby Devin arrived with a slight cone head. As for Erik...he came to the hospital at 7:00 tonight and was not happy to see mom or the baby. He gave both a scowl and wouldn't even acknowledge the baby was there. He eventually warmed up with mom but still wouldn't even go near Devin. Oh well. He'll just have to get used to it. That's all for now. More pictures and news later.

Wed. Apr 12th - The gallery has been updated with all of our older pictures. We are all doing well. Erik is getting used to Devin and has accepted the fact that Devin isn't going back to the hospital. Devin is pretty easy to take care of. He sleeps for 3 hours in between feedings during the evening so we can actually get some sleep. He doesn't really cry other than when he's hungry. Most of the time he just looks around and hang out. Rachelle is of course tired but she is up and about taking care of the family. She's able to still give Erik one-on-one attention when Devin is sleeping. Also, she naps with the boys in the afternoon to regain her strength. Matt is still working on the basement. Most of the wiring is done. After a few more miscellaneous things, we will be ready to sheetrock, mud, tape, and texture. Maybe it'll be done by the end of the year. Everything is still exciting around here. Hope you all are well.

Mon. May 1st - We are all doing well. Devin still isn't sleeping thru. the night yet but we have hope that he will in 3 weeks. All the wiring in the basement are finally done and the canned lights are wired up and working. Last things on the list before sheetrock include insulation, HVAC, PEX pipes, CAT 5E and telephone. Then sheetrock...hopefully by next week.

Mon. May 15th - Devin is getting big. He's is now 12 pounds 8 ounces. He had his checkup and he is a healthy little boy.

The basement is now waiting for sheetrock. Everything else is done!!!! Hopefully we'll have it sheetrocked in the next couple of weeks.

Sun. May 28th - We're ready for sheetrock in 2 days! We can't wait! After that we'll be able to put up the moldings, doors and paint... then carpet! Things have been going just swimmingly around here. Erik has started being more kind to his stuffed animals. He'll hold them and tell them not to cry and that it will be ok. We think this is a direct result of watching his mom and dad handle the new baby. He still tries to get Devin to hold toys and play with him. He is very tender with him. Devin is a wonderful baby and is only waking up once in the night now. He's generally very happy and is really putting on the charm with his coos and smiles. He is already a momma's boy. If Rachelle walks out of the room while someone else is holding him, he'll start crying in 5-4-3-2-1. We get a kick out of this. The weather has been fantastic lately and we have been taking Erik outside all the time to play with his neighbor buddy or to play at the park. He has so much energy and we like to help him burn it off. Keep watching for new pics!

Mon. May 29th - We took Erik and Devin to the zoo for the first time in their lives. Erik was interested in most of the animals but Devin didn't care for them and was a lump and slept the whole time. Hope every one had a good memorial day!! Ho Ho Gourmet was yummy too and it treated us right.

Wed. Jun 28th - Devin continues to grow healthy and strong. Erik is becoming a great brother. There are a few new videos taken/posted during the last few months. Our basement is close to completion. The doors are hung and the walls are primed. Next comes installing the casing around the doors and the baseboards. After that will be painting and then the carpet.

Thu. Jul 27th - Wow!!! It's been a month since our last update. Things are going well. Devin just learned to roll over. He also had his 4 month checkup and he's a nice, healthy kid. He in the 75% for weight and 50% for head size. So basically he's normal in size. Erik is learning to be nice to Devin and he constantly gives him hugs and kisses with the occasional slap. Our basement is almost done. We had carpet installed yesterday. The walls are painted, the electrical plugs are installed, and the smoke alarms are mounted...but, we still have to finish up a little big of touch up painting on the base boards, install the cat5 and telephone jacks, install the speaker jacks, finish painting the doors and hang them and install the door knobs, and install our projector screen and projector. Hopefully that will be completed in the next week or so. Then it's off to work on the yard. Right now it's looking pathetic. We are half way there from being a bunch of rednecks. All we are missing is the inflatable pool in the front yard, the chain link fence, and a couple of old cars. At least we don't have to work late in the evening/mornings now. One more thing...new pictures are coming soon... stay tuned.

Tue. Aug 15th - Devin and Erik are both doing well. Devin just started sleeping through the night. He goes to bed around 8-8:30 and wakes up around 7-7:30. We are finally getting a full night of sleep again!!! Erik is talking a lot now. He's copying everything we say. Matt is clearing the front and backyard of all the weeds. It's a big task but eventually it will be done. There are new pictures and videos of Devin and Erik.

Thu. Aug 24th - I have added a couple of funny videos in the "misc" page. Go check them out. Also, you can email me your favorites and I will post them. Have fun.

Tue. Sep 12th - Wow!! Time has flown by this past month. It's flown by this summer. Things have been hectic. Matt's been busy with work but things have finally slowed down. Matt also spent days pulling the weeds out of our yard. Dustin and Sara came and visited us and helped cut the weeds down. Since we were finishing our basement, we didn't have time to take care of the yard so weeds overtook it during July. We hauled away 3 trailers full of weeds. Devin and Erik are doing well. Devin is almost starting to sit up on his own. Devin loves to watch Erik especially when Erik runs at him full speed. Erik is starting to want to hold Devin. Erik is finally calling neighborhood kids by their names instead of just "Hey Kid!!!". Erik now loves to eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches. He helps mom make them. He loves to help mom cook and put in any ingredients that mom lets him. He loves to stir cool-aid. He has learned how to peddle his bike and is getting pretty fast. He's learned how to play soccer. There is a video posted of him kicking the ball. Enjoy!

Tue. Oct 3rd - We just got back from California visiting Grandma. We had a great time there. The drive wasn't bad at all. The drive would have taken 10.5 hours but we made plenty of stops so it took us 13 hours each way. Erik watched movies in the car and that kept him quite most of the time. Devin slept and Rachelle sat in the back seat and entertained Devin when he awake. Erik enjoyed playing outside everyday. He had fun helping Grandma water the plants, exploring the backyard, going for walks to see the deer, sweeping the deck, feeding the birds, watching Sammy the squirrel eat nuts in the tree, and playing with his new Percy (Thomas and Friends train) and his new fire truck (from Grandma).

Devin has started to get up on all fours. He's ready to crawl any day now. We fed him his first taste of rice cereal on Oct. 1st. He liked it. We went and bought some baby food for him today (peas, carrots, pear, peach, squash, banana, and sweet potato). We'll see if he likes those.

There are two sets of new pictures in the gallery and there is a video of Devin eating rice cereal. Enjoy!!

Tue. Oct 31st - Devin is almost crawling. He's rocking back and forth. He can lunge forward and then get back on all fours and then lunge forward again. He likes to move around in circles. He loves to pat things, especially the kitchen floor. He loves baby food especially peas, and baby crackers but not peaches. Devin adores Erik and giggles whenever he is around. He now has two teeth on the bottom w/ two more on the way. We will be giving him his first haircut shortly.

Erik's vocabulary is bursting from his mouth. He never stops talking. Erik loves to talk about anything and everything. Erik is adamant about not letting Devin look at his train set or touch any of his toys. He is very affectionate to Devin when the mood suits him. He loves to play peekaboo with Devin and enjoys the interaction.

We had our first snowfall last week. Look at the pictures for proof. Erik is going to be a viking for Halloween. It's the same costume from last year and he still fits in it. Rachelle made Devin a monkey costume. There's a video and pictures of Devin in his costume. That's all for now. Happy Halloween!!!

Fri. Nov 10th - We gave Devin his first haircut this weekend. It was fun for him but lot of work trying to hold him still. The haircut turned out pretty good. Erik also got a haircut but we lost count on how many he's had.

Fri. Nov 10th - Devin has learned to crawl. There's no stopping him now!!!

Mon. Nov 20th - Erik just had his 3rd birthday. He received lots of toys and movies. We took him to McDonald's for dinner (he loves the cheesburgers there) and Rachelle made him a rice krispies cake (Erik doesn't like regular cake very much). Then he opened his presents and we watched "Cars" together. He loved the movie.
Devin can now sit up buy himself and is getting faster at crawling. He's now exploring the house on his own. His favorite room is where Mom and Dad are but he loves going into Erik's room and playing with whatever toy he can find. Of course, Erik runs in and yells at Devin and takes the toy away (we are working on changing this behavior). Time has flown by this year and it's crazy to think Thanksgiving is this week. Hope everyone will have a great Thanksgiving and lots of fun shopping for Christmas the day after.

Sun. Dec 10th - Devin is crawling fast now. He's also starting to pull himself up to a standing position in his crib as well. He has 4 teeth. Two on top and two on the bottom and has discovered how to grind them. He looks like a rabbit when he smiles. Erik still isn't sharing yet with Devin. He's always taking toys away from Devin. That's all.

Sun. Dec 24th - Devin can now stand up by himself and is crusing along. Erik's is getting better in being nice to his brother. We finally finished all our Christmas shopping. We are excited for this holiday season. We hope everyone will have a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Tue. Dec 26th - Wow!! Christmas has come and gone. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Erik got his first drive-able car today. He loved it at first but got bored of it soon after since he wasn't used to driving it. He'll get the hang of it. Erik also drove the car into the Christmas tree when he was sitting in it. Devin loved his toys but of course liked to boxes and his plastic spoon better. Have a Happy New Year.

Thu. Jan 25th - My trip to China was an eye opener. It was amazing to see the changes that has happened so far in China. We saw the old and the new, the poor and the wealthy, and the out of place poor who seemed wealthy. Of course we also ate like kings with 10 to 15 dishes every night. I think my favorite was the dumplings (simple meal) and the Hot Pot in Shanghai.

We started out our trip by landing in Shanghai. The next day we went shopping in the basement (literally). Then Bai Li picked us up and took us to WuZhen. WuZhen is a small city that is now preserved as it existed many years ago. The streets and buildings looked like old China during the Emperor era. After WuZhen we went to Hang Zhou where the real estate development has been booming in the new part (across the river from the old Hang Zhou). However, most of the new apartments are all empty. There are now 4 bridges that connect the old part to the new part. The drive from Shanghai to Hang Zhou took around 2 and a half hours. The new freeway was nice but there was a toll booth every 20 to 30 minutes. In fact, each time you get on the freeway, you have to pay a toll when you get off. I guess it's a good way to fund the projects but it's expensive to own a car in China

While at Hang Zhou we went to West Lake, the silk museum, silk factory (1 hour outside of Hang Zhou), and we went into the mountains for dinner (1 year old pig slaughtered that day). Hang Zhou was a beautiful place with lots of trees. It almost reminded me of Seattle. West Lake was a tourist attraction. It was nice to walk around the islands and see the scenary. The only complaint was the fog.

It was interesting seeing Bai li's silk factory. It's amazing to see a beautiful silk fabric being made on an old style machine inside a dark and kind of dirty factory. One would think that it would be made in a state of the art plant but I guess that's how things are produced so cheap in China. Also, the living conditions of the workers are pretty shabby. The picture will explain this better.

After the silk factory we drove another hour into the back mountains to a farmer's house to eat a freshly slaughtered pig. Since the pig was raised on natural grains and whatever it can find in the mountains, the meat was a little tougher than a pig raised on hormones and grains like ones raised in the US. We had 3 different dishes made with the pig (prepared in different ways) and 6 other dishes of vegetables, bamboo, and potatoes that were all grown in the mountains. Everything tasted fresh and wonderful. The farmer's house was a shocker. I expected a little grass hut or mud home but it was a 4 bedroom, two story house. It had electricity and running water. Only thing missing was central heating. Only way to warm the inside of the house up was a little pit in the concrete floor where some coal embers was placed. However, the farmers did have a big screen TV, surround sound system, and a new IBM centrino laptop for his daughter. It seemed like their standard of living was quite good considering what they had.

After 4 days in Hang Zhou, we went back to Shanghai where we spent a day shopping and touring the city. Shanghai is looking like New York now. It's clean and everything is updated especially the PuDong district. The government has been spending billions on tearing down the old houses and building new ones for people to live in. It's made the city quite beautiful compared to what I remembered it looked like in 1999. There are many tall buildings and lots of electronic billboards with advertising all over the city...even on the sides of the tall buildings. Even the bus stations had LCD TV's where you can watch the news and see more advertisements. I would consider going to Shanghai equal to going to New York. Shanghai has plenty of high end shops and plenty of places to buy cheap goods. There's great cuisine every where you turn but it's considerably cheaper than the US.

From Shanghai, we took a plane to Harbin. Harbin was a huge contrast compared to Shanghai. There weren't many tall building or electronic billboards. The streets were crowded, dirty, and the traffic was bad. No one seemed to care about the lines drawn in the street where as in Shanghai, people stayed in their own lanes rather than trying to squeeze by, by driving inbetween two lanes. Just outside of Harbin, there were farmer who were still living in mud huts with no electricity and no running water. Also, Harbin was the only place in China where I saw the old style squat pots in the public bathrooms. I guess that's what you get when there aren't many foreigners and very little government investments. In Harbin, we went to the Ice festival where huge ice sculptures was on display. Each sculpture was some famous landmark. We also went to the snow sculptures festival.

Our last destination was Beijing. We only had a day there so we spent it shopping and having dinner with my dad, uncles, and cousins. We did go near the olympic park area where I took some pictures of the bird nest stadium. There were lots of developments in Beijing but the changes were subtle compared to Shanghai.

Overall, it was a great trip and I can't wait to go back to see how China progesses in the future. I ate so many things that I don't remember most of what I ate. However, it was all good! China is a great destination to go for anyone wanting an adventure.

Thu. Jan 25th - Erik is now potty trained!!!! It took Rachelle one week but he now has the hang of it. We have been bribing him with "Cars" toys, candy, stickers, and "Thomas the tank engine" toy. We are running out of prizes but we succeeded. Devin still loves to eat. Sometimes we wonder where he puts all the food he eats. It's fun to see Erik finally playing with Devin.

Tue. Feb 20th - Erik is doing great without diapers. He's also starting to let Devin play with his toys. Devin is still growing strong and getting big. He's a funny kid and loves to smile. It's amazing that spring is almost here when it felt like winter has just started. Devin has been saying mama for the last month. He's also stopped eating so much but now he's getting picky with what he wants. He still loves cereal and his baby dinners but he hates fruit. Hopefully he'll change soon. Check out the new pictures and new videos.

Thu. Mar 22nd - Devin just had his first birthday. We gave him a twinkie cake but we'll have a big cake for his birthday party this Saturday. He made a mess with the twinkie. It was fun to watch him attack and eat it. Devin has taken 5 steps in a row before falling over. He's on his way to walking...soon. Erik is nicer to Devin now. They often play together but Devin still gets picked on once in a while. Erik has learned to share his toys.

We just got back from a trip to Arizona. It was hot there. During the first of the week, it was 90 and then getting up to 100 by the end of the week. It was nice to be in a warm place but it was a little too hot. Especially when we went to the zoo. Erik and Devin had lots of fun at Natalie and Michelle's and at their cousins' house. Rachelle and I had a bunch of dental work done...that was fun. I helped Rick setup his wireless and remote access so he could work from home. It was nice visiting with friends and family but it would have been better if the boys(mainly Devin) didn't get sick and wake up in the middle of the night....everynight. We also went shopping and ate at some great places (In and Out burger, Texas Roadhouse, Murphy's house...German food). We all had a great time. Hope to do it again next year.

Mon. Apr 2nd - Devin had a great first birthday. Thank you all for the gifts. Devin is now officially walking. He pretty much started the day of his birthday. What a milestone! We are getting ready to do our landscaping. Hopefully it'll be done in about a month. There are new videos posted of our trip to Arizona and Devin's birthday. Enjoy!

Wed. Apr 25th - Our boys are still a growin' and a movin'! Devin decided today that he likes
to ride in the neighbor boy's red plastic car. He likes to hold onto the
steering wheel and honk the horn. He probably learned this from watching
Erik do that while riding in the car carts at the grocery store. Erik has
really started his relentless nit picking of Devin. The OCD in him makes him
so mad when Devin destroys some perfectly set up line of cars or train set.
He does take time to give Devin lots of hugs though. The boys like to bouce
on Mom's lap then tip over just to start again. Devin is walking all over
the place and is doing so really well. One of Erik's mean big brother things
to do is walk by Devin while he's walking somewhere and hold out his arm to
knock Devin over. Poor little guy! He'll be able to get back at Erik soon
enough. Both boys love to jump on the neighbor's trampoline. Devin still
does so with Mom's help. We are now working on our yard and are going to be
installing the sprinklers this week. The boys love to get their shovels or
"dig it" (rake - as Erik would call it) and dig in the dirt. Devin even
likes to eat it occasionally. We look forward to being able to play on fresh
new grass as opposed to dirt and weeds!

Wed. Jun 6th - Wow!!! It's been over a month since our last update. We've had a busy month. First, we had our yard tilled and graded. Then we raked up as much of the rocks as possible. Then we trenched our yard and installed our sprinkler pipes. After that we filled the trenches and graded again. Matt then spent another week raking up the rocks. Then we seeded the yard and laid down some peat moss. Now after 4 days, some of the seeds have germinated and we have a little bit of grass. We also had a huge concrete RV pad poured on the side of our house. That was 13 cubic yards worth. Matt worked on the yard almost everyday of the week this last month. It was tiring but well worth it. It's amazing how much work it is. Now we wait for the grass to grow but we still have lots of other work to do around the yard. This summer will be a busy one. Erik and Devin are doing great. Erik is getting big and loves to play outside everyday. Devin is getting quite fast with walking. We have to keep up with him or he will sneak off. Devin is quite a fearless and adventuresome little boy. Rachelle took the boys swimming two days ago and Devin loved the water. He's also drank a lot of water too. That's all for now. Enjoy the new pictures.

Sat. Jul 14th - Devin has added a new word or grunt to his vocab. He'll now say "uh-uh" meaning no thanks. Erik thinks it's funny when he says it and always laughs at Devin. Erik laughs at Devin for a lot of things. Erik has started asking where things come from. He doesn't always accept your answer. For example, he asked where water came from. I told him from the clouds in the sky. He quickly corrected me and said that water actually came from the sprinklers. HA! We've been having a great summer. It's been super abnormally hot so we've spent lots of time in the sprinklers or at the pool. The boys are having a great time!

Mon. Aug 13th - WOW!!! It's been a rough few weeks. We have been busy and we have all been sick.... except Rachelle. Rachelle first went to girls camp and Matt was left home alone with the boys and he still had to work to finish up his work project. Then we had our anniversary which was cut short by Matt's work. It's been a crazy 3 months and it still isn't over yet. Then a week later, Rachelle had to go to California and left Matt home alone with the boys again and he still was working from home. Both Devin and Erik decided to catch a cold and have diarhea for a few days. Then Matt got really sick right when Rachelle gets back from California. Then Matt gets a bad stomach and ended getting some antibiotics. Now we are finally all starting to get better but now Erik has an eye infection. What a crazy summer. Hopefully things will start calming down for us and matt will have some down time at work. We are looking forward to finishing the yard ... planting some trees and hopefully we'll have enough time to finish paving a patio.

Fri. Sep 14th - Nothing new this last month. Things have been extremely busy for us. We are still working on the yard. Hopefully we'll have some trees planted within the next month. Erik start pre-school and he loves it. He talks about going to school everyday but he only goes 2 days a week. Devin is becoming a great little climber. He can climb on top of the bathroom counters now. Who knows what he's going to climb next. Enjoy the pictures.

Mon. Oct 1st - Things have been busy. We finally had time to get some more yard work done. First, we had 10 cubic yards of dirt delivered and we moved it with the help of some neighbors to the flower beds around the house. Then we bought trees and bushes and other plants. We planted those and now we got about 2 tons of flagstone rocks that we'll be laying soon. It'll be for our patio in the back yard. Hopefully this won't take more than a few weeks to complete. Also, we just had our first snow fall of the year. It happened on Sept 29th. We got about 1/2 to 1 inch of snow on the ground. It stayed on the ground overnight before it was melted the next day. It was exciting to know we are having a change of season and the soon it will be Christmas again. The time has flow by fast this summer!!! Other than that, we are all well. Erik enjoys going to school and learning new things. Devin is finally standing up for himself when Erik picks on him. It's quite funny how the two argue.

Mon. Oct 8th - New pictures posted.

Tue. Nov 6th - Erik and Devin had a great time this Halloween. They helped carve pumpkins and ate lots of candy. It took a few houses before Erik understood how to get candy but he got the hang of. He would run up to a house, knock on the door, and then say "Trick or Treat" and then run off saying thank you. Then he would show us the candy he got after every house. We are all doing well. Stay tuned for more pictures and videos soon...

Sat. Nov 24th - Erik had a great birthday. He also had his tonsils out 2 weeks before but that didn't stop him from having fun. We finally finished all the landscaping projects for the year... just in time for the holidays. Everything is great but busy. Matt started a new job and is quickly adapting.

Sun. Jan 6th - Hello All. Wow... another year has flown by. It's been exciting and challenging at times but we are all well.

We've had yet another busy, busy year. This years projects included putting in sprinklers, trees, bushes and just flat out finishing the yard. Glad that's over.

Erik has changed so much this year. He had such a fun summer at the pool. He started preschool in September which he absolutely loves as well as gymnastics. He has really started with the "why" questions as well as "where does that come from". He seems to think that Mom's are made in factories with hook thingies holding them up. He loves to watch Spongebob, Loony Toons and Tom & Jerry. He and Devin love to race around the house with the ride on car and big push firetruck. Round and round they go!

Devin celebrated his very first birthday! He's such a silly little guy. He loves to laugh... mostly at himself. He also had fun this summer with all the dirt around while we were finishing up the yard. He also loved to get on the neighbor's trampoline and hang out with the big kids. He's starting to talk (finally). He'll say things such as "yeah", "ball", "mom", "dada", "more", "pease"(Please), and "dank do"(Thank you). One of his favorite things to do is to get into Erik's room and bug him. He loves to smash whatever glorious project Erik has put together. Typical little brother stuff.

Mon. Jan 7th - There are two new sets of pictures just posted. One of pictures taken just before we went to Hawaii and the other are of Hawaii. Hawaii was awesome!!! We had a great time there with Grandma, Don, and Bob. We went to the beach or the pool or both almost everyday (missed one day when we went to see the volcanos). We left Utah on Dec. 24th at 11 AM. Our flight took us to Maui (6.5 hours) where we had a 2.5 hour layover. It was nice and hot in Maui. Hot compared to Utah (80 degrees vs. 30 degrees). Then we hopped on a puddle jumper plane (8 passenger, single propeller) for another 30 minutes before we landed in Kona. The pilot of the plane was also the ground crew, luggage handler, ticket agent, flight attendant, security guard and co polit. The plane ride was bumpy the whole way but we made it alive. The next day we opened gifts from Santa and we hung out at the pool. On Dec 26th, we went to the Hilton hotel and saw the dolphins. Erik loved riding on the boat and the train they had there. The following day we went to the beach and did some shopping. We did the same thing the next day but we went to another beach were they had sea turtles everywhere. The sea turtles hung out near the shore, eating stuff off the rocks. It was amazing to see these beautiful creatures up close. Erik was freaked out by the sea urchins in the water between the rocks. He called them emergencies(Little emergency, Big emergency). The following day, we went to the volcano and saw the craters. It was the first time we were cold on Hawaii but it was still warmer than Utah. It's amazing to see the old lava flows. At times we felt like we were walking the landscape on "Lord of the Rings" near Mordor. Everything was dead and it smelled of sulfur. This was the only day we didn't go to the pool because we didn't get back until 8:30 in the evening. The next day we went back to the beach and the pool. Our last half day(Dec 31) in Kona was spent at the pool. After the pool, we ate lunch, finished packing, and headed for the airport. We flew back to Maui on a 20 or so passenger plane (twin propeller) and spent 6.5 hours at the airport. Then we took a 10:55 PM red eye flight back to Salt Lake. We arrived safely at 7:30 in the morning. When we got home we opened up the rest of the gifts from Santa. That was how we spent our Christmas and New Year. It was the best time we've had in a while. Hopefully we can do it again soon. Enjoy the pictures.

Thu. Jan 17th - Just posted!! Go check out the new videos.

Sun. Mar 30th - Wow!!! It's been a crazy few months. It's hard to believe it was almost 3 months ago since the last posting. We've had literally no time for anything. You can tell by how many updates we have posted. NONE!!! Lots of things happened since the last update. Devin celebrated his second birthday. We took Erik and Devin to Kangaroo Zoo where they can climb the air filled slides. They had too much fun and was exhausted when we got home. It was a good birthday for Devin even though we didn't have a party for him.

Matt started a new job first of March. He is now working 3 days in Salt Lake and 2 days at home. It's been a difficult transition but things are going smoothly. He's enjoying the new job and challenges.

Erik just finished up 4 months of gymnastics. He loves gymnastics and did so well in his class.

Rachelle is still the same. She enjoys being a mom and is keeping busy with medical billing and keeping up with the boys and taking care of the house/family.

That is all for now. Enjoy the pictures. New videos will soon be posted.

Mon. Jun 2nd - It's been a while since our last update. We have been busy finishing the 3 bedrooms and bathroom in our basement so everything has come to a stand still on this site. The good news is we are almost done. Soon we'll have new pictures posted and more frequent updates.

As for us... we are all doing well. Erik fractured his arm and just finished up his first year of preschool. Devin is getting big and is finally starting to say a few words. Rachelle is getting bigger and starting to waddle. I'm busy working on the basement. That's all for now. Look for new pictures in the next few days.

Tue. Jul 29th - Wow!!! This summer has flown by. We have been busy. Matt and his Dad built a rock patio. We finished most of our basement except 1 bathroom that we'll finish in the next couple of weeks. Rachelle is bigger than ever. She is still mobile and can keep up with the boys. Erik and Devin is finally starting to get along better. There are days where they will play together for hours. Then there are days where they just don't get along and Devin is usually left crying outside of Erik's room. It's sad and funny to see. Erik and Devin both love swimming. Devin has no fear of the water and can move around the pool by kicking his legs. He also loves jumping in the water. Hopefully he'll be able to swim on his own without the arm floats by next year. Erik is almost swimming. He still gets scared and is too lazy to use his arms. That is all for now. Enjoy the new pictures.

Mon. Aug 25th - Good News!! We are proud to introduce Spencer!! He joined our family weighing in at 7 lbs 15 oz's and is 21 inches long. Spencer came along with a full head of hair and some crazy long fingernails. Other than that, everything went as planned. Erik and Devin met Spencer for the first time today. Erik was fine but Devin wanted mom. Devin found out he was not the baby anymore so he's struggling. Hopefully he'll get over it soon.

Mon. Sep 1st - More pictures added

Wed. Sep 17th - New pictures posted. Spencer is a healthy baby. He has his 2 week check up and he's already weighs 9 lbs 4 ozs. That was over a week ago. Devin and Erik are now adjusted to their new brother. Spencer so far is the easiest to take care of. He pretty much eats, poops, sleeps. He's not very entertaining yet but he is nice to hold.

Sun. Oct 26th - New pictures posted. It's been a crazy last month. Things are busy but finally starting to slow down a bit. Erik loves going to school. Devin has a crazy personality, and Spencer is getting bigger everyday. Life is good.

Fri. Nov 14th - Wow! Another month has flown by. It's amazing how busy things get. We are all still doing well. Spencer is finally starting to sleep through the night. He's pretty good most of the time except when he's tired. That's when he gets grumpy. Erik is still loving school. Devin wishes he was in school. That will be next year. Devin loves to wear Erik's back pack all the time. It makes him feel like a big kid. New pictures posted. Enjoy.

Tue. Dec 2nd - Erik just had his 5th birthday and boy did he have fun! He had a party with 4 other crazy little guys. We also celebrated by going to Chuck-E-Cheeses and ate cardboard pizza, which the boys loved ... sadly enough. They had a blast playing games. To top off the celebrations we all watched "Wall.e" with Grandpa and Grandma Ostler and cousins. Devin was a great sport watching Erik open all the gifts. Erik was even nice enough to share a few. Spencer is, as Erik would put it our little "chubby chubby". Spencer weighs in at a hefty 16lbs. WOW! He's such a sweet happy little thing who's always ready to share a smile with anyone who talks to him. We just enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We truly have so much to be thankful for. We're especially thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends.

Tue. Dec 23rd - We are busy getting ready for Christmas. Spencer is a healthy little boy. Erik and Devin loves being around him. We'll have more updates later. Enjoy the new pictures.

Wed. Jan 28th - We had a great Christmas and New Year. It's been a long past month with sick kids but we are all doing better now. Erik started taking piano lessons first of the year. Devin is in the process of being potty trained. Spencer just had his second hair cut. He is cute and brings us lots of joy. Enjoy the new pics.

Sun. Mar 15th - Wow!!! Time is flying by. We can't believe the winter is pretty much over and spring time is here. All of us have been sick for the last few months (since Christmas w/ colds) but we have been healthy for the last month or so (Finally!!). Erik is really picking up on piano. He loves playing but does goof off sometimes. He's still loves going to school. He is getting big now. It's getting difficult to pick him up now. Devin is still crazy as ever. He is now finally potty trained w/ the occasional accidents because he gets distracted by toys on his way to the bathroom. Spencer is just a cute little boy. We started feeding him real food about 3 weeks ago and he can't get enough. He whines when we eat dinner until we feed him a little of our food. Hopefully he keeps this up instead of complaining every night about the food that is prepared (wishful thinking). Spencer is very healthy and is very heavy now. He is rolling over and he can hold himself up when we carry him. It's nice to see the change in him. Sorry for the lack of updates. We have been busy and we're still trying to catch up on things. Hope everyone is well. Enjoy the pictures.

Wed. Apr 29th - It's amazing that another month has just passed by since our last update. A lot has happened since. Devin had his 3rd birthday. It's crazy to think he 3 years old now. Spencer learned to flip over on his own and has started to crawl. Erik finished his first set of piano books and is onto the next level. Rachelle and I are all tired from working too much and not enough sleep.... but all is well and we are doing great. Enjoy the new pics.

Fri. Jul 24th - It's amazing that it's been almost 3 months since the last update. First off, we are all doing well. We have been busy w/ life and taking care of the family. The summer kicked off nice and cool and now it's just hot!! We had our first 100 degree day a few days ago. For most of June, it was in the 70s and 80s. Matt has been fishing more this year. He takes the two older boys w/ him to the Spanish Oaks reservoir. Erik and Devin loves going fishing. They get excited when they catch one and get to pull it in. Erik has been enjoying the summer. He's taken swimming lessons and has learn how to swim. Now we don't have to worry as much when we go to the pool. Devin took lessons too but he's still sinking. Spencer loves the water and loves to splash. Rachelle has been busy taking care of everyone. Other than that, we've been getting out and doing things w/ our family and trying to have some fun. Also, we just had our 10th year anniversary! Can you believe how old we are getting? Rachelle turned 30 this year!! Wow!! You'll see some of the stuff we have done w/ the new pictures. Enjoy!

Fri. Jul 24th - Also, posted some new videos from last year.

Mon. Oct 26th - Wow!!! After an unbelievable summer filled with family trauma, swimming, sandboxes, bikes, dirt, mowing the lawn, fun, and a trip to disneyland, seaworld, legoland, and visiting with family, we are getting into the school routine with the kids. Erik started kindergarten and thinks it's cool. He loves going to the big kids school. Devin started pre-school and thinks his teacher is the greatest. Spencer has just learned to walk and is still a little chicken. Matt is still busy. Rachelle is trying to figure out how to balance everything crazy. Check out the 3 new sets of pictures posted. Enjoy!

Tue. Nov 10th - We just had a great Halloween!! Erik was a Vampire, Devin was a pumpkin, and Spencer was a Turtle. Rachelle made all the costumes and the boys looked great! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Thu. Feb 11th - There has been too many things going on. Where to start? All the boys are getting big. We are all doing well but extremely busy. Sometimes sitting down to relax is a luxury. You'll have to check out the new pictures to see all that's been going on. Enjoy!

Thu. Jan 13th - Wow!! Can't believe it's 2011 already. It's been a while since our last update. We had a fun and crazy summer, fall, and Christmas. We went to Disney this fall. There's a lot of snow out. Everyone is one year older than last year. Kids are loving school. We are still crazy busy but life is good. Enjoy the new pictures. There's quite a few.

Wed. Apr 27th - Wow! Can't believe how fast time has flown by since our last update. Lots of things have happened. Devin turned 5. He got his tonsils taken out. We've had lots of snow this winter. Spencer is potty trained. Erik is almost done w/ first grade. Rachelle and I are still the same except getting older and starting to get some gray hair.... sad! Devin got a camcorder for his birthday and he's been taking lots of photos and videos. Stay tuned. These masterpieces will be posted soon. Enjoy the 3 sets of new pics that are posted.

Sat. Dec 10th - Our baby Julia was born this week. She is doing great as well as the rest of the family. Delivery was un-eventful. The boys are enjoying having her around. As for other updates, Erik and Spencer both had their birthdays. We've taken a trip to California earlier this year. We've gone to the 2 different zoos, Six Flags, and have had a pretty busy/crazy year. Matt built a shed and we've painted a room for Julia and moved the two older boys downstairs to their own rooms. Erik and Devin loved to play soccer. Devin is enjoying his hip hop class. Spencer is still sweet as ever. Enjoy the last 6 months worth of new photos.
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