I always love to go back and look at baby pictures and see who looks like who, so here is Vince, Benji and Max in their blessing tux. Charlotte’s picture isn’t quite as comparable since we didn’t have a car seat.
And here are passport pictures for the kids. First Charlotte, then Benji, Vinson and finally a straight on picture of Max (we didn’t need a passport for him. 
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We love Max! He is such a good baby! Here’s my favorite picture of him.
Since Max was born, things have been pretty busy! Here are some highlights of the first two weeks.
Max was born on the 17th.
On the 19th, we went to American Fork for my brother’s wedding dinner. And they got married in the Timpanogos Temple on the 20th. Here is my brother, Rob, and his beautiful new wife Janae. We absolutely love Janae, she is a perfect fit for Rob! 
As you could expect from Rob, their reception was really fun. We could dress up in Mexican clothes and pose with some Rob and Janae dummies. They had frisbee golf and a pinata – which meant that the boys were entertained and not embarrassing.
That Sunday we went and visited Grandma Ward. She needed to meet Max (who was named after her husband). She hadn’t been feeling very well and was on oxygen but we’d been around to see plenty of ups and downs with her. Well, this was the last picture taken of her. She died the next morning. I’m so glad we visited and she got to meet Max.
Her funeral was on the 27th, which was actually a really happy occasion. We believe in life after death – so for us this was her being reunited with her husband and family who had already died long ago. Charlotte kept saying, “Grandma sleeping” and looked really concerned when they put the lid down. Charlotte and Grandma had a special relationship. We will miss grandma but know we can see her again someday.
Max is here! He was born September 17 and weighed 7 lb 13 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches tall(3.2 kg and 52 cm).
Max was named after Dan’s grandpa Ward and grandpa Reeves (both were named Max.)
After having babies in the Czech Republic, Davis Hospital seemed so ritzy. I had forgotten that each room had a TV and DVD player. The food was really good – and filling! And they even gave me a complimentary hair cut – which is still so strange to me.
The kids have been really good with him. Benji and Vince love to hold him and Charlotte likes to be just like him (lay next to him, sit in his car seat etc.) She likes to bring him toys and set them on his lap and put his shoes by his feet.
In the hospital my sister Lorraine came to visit with her 2 week old Norah. Charlotte was pretty cute with Max, but her eyes lit up when she saw Norah and she wanted to hold her and touch her and love her.
We’ve fallen in love with sweet baby Max!
I was having a conversation with a friend, who I haven’t talked to in a while and I said, “Guess what? I have some news.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“Well, yes- but that’s not what I was going to say. Our offer was accepted on a house.”
So there’s our big news! First I’m pregnant and due September 11. Easy to remember. I will find out the gender in a few weeks and this week have gone from looking maybe pregnant - or a little chubby to most definitely no doubt about it pregnant.
Our next big news is that (crossing our fingers) we will soon be home owners. Dan and I have spent a lot of our evenings looking for houses from Bountiful to Sandy. We’ve made some offers and finally one has gone through. It was a short sale in Woodscross (aka LONG sale). Four months later they accept our offer and give us 3 weeks to do our paperwork. We’ve had to ask for an extension and hopefully we will be homeowners on April 19th!
Here’s some pictures of our house!
Charlotte is 18 months, I can’t believe how fast time has flown! One of the best ways to show what is important to her is by what she says.
Boo – meaning both cow, boots/shoes and book.
Side note: Seeing all of Charlotte’s shoes reminds me of a time I took a picture of all of Benji’s shoes – which I thought was a LOT at the time. I guess that’s the difference between girls and boys.
Baa – sheep, bottle and blanket
Be – Bear (her bear pillow pet which she carries all over the house) 
Bebe – Benji :)
Ma – Follow me and Mama
Da – Daddy! Her favorite person in the world!
wan dow – I want down (from her chair)
Gama – Grandma (though she gets confused that grandma doesn’t just mean Grandma Ward).
She is very conservative with her words, but her expressions say so much she doesn’t have a hard time communicating. Benji took this jewel:
There’s so many fun things to do in the winter, especially with the kind of snow we’ve gotten this year. We all got outfitted with cross country skis and the kids love it!
Grandma’s back yard is big enough to go cross country skiing and we’ve made several trails. If you follow Vinson’s trails they might take you behind the grape bushes and under the rose bushes and through the strawberry patch and under the swing set.
Last week we went sledding. Vinson refused to go – but agreed if he could bring his cross country skis. He side stepped up the big icy hill and skied down like a pro!
We love hanging out with Randall and Lynn and their kids. Our kids LOVE their cousins and can’t wait to see them, it’s just too bad they live far away. But if they have to live far away, at least they live in a cool place to visit! So we braved the 12+ hour car drive to San Diego.
Our first day was spent at Lego Land – which has since become high bar for fun for Vinson, “This is almost as fun as Lego Land!” Means he likes something a LOT.
Charlotte was pretty tired, but things were too exciting to take a nap.
We love this family! The next day was our beach day, but it was rainy so we saw the seals instead. 
Saturday was Lori’s baptism (which was the main reason we came to visit). It was beautiful!
Here we are at the San Diego temple and Mormon Battalion. We had a great time and can’t wait for Randall and Lynn to come for spring break!
Since this trip Vinson has said, “In school they were asking if anyone loved someone and I was the only one to raise my hand.”
Me: “Oh yeah, who do you love?”
Vince: “Lori!”
