day three: my first love.

danny duschenes. 5th grade. mrs. hearts class. he had long flowing light brown hair in the back, and short blonde tipped spiky hair in the front. he was so, so cool. and i totally had a crush on him. big time. did i love him? mmmmmmm, no.  but i sure did like him a lot!

my fist love was evan. i was 11 when i first met him. he came over to hang out with my brother peter sometimes and i thought he was sooooo cute. that curly hair. those long sideburns. that skinny yet muscular build. he was older than me and he was so cool. i had no idea i would marry him someday! i mean i hoped i would when i put pictures of him in my photo album, but i didn't even sort of think it would ever happen! and then i grew up. and he noticed me. and we flirted. and he danced with me at my brothers wedding. and then we dated. and fell in love. and got married. and had like 10 thousand babies! and he is still the love of my life!

day two: meaning behind your blog name.

i bet that most people who see our blog name think we are total idiots who don't know how to spell. or that we are totally conceited or something. well. ha. jokes on them. we know how to spell heavEn, but we like it better heavAn. when evan and i first started dating and even sometimes now, people would get a little tongue tied with our names and would call us eather and heavan.  it's kind cool that our names combined spell heavan! if we were a hollywood couple, that is totally what we would go by. so. just call us Heavan...because heather + evan = heavan. awwwwwww. now isn't that sweet.

day one: hello, recent picture, 15 facts.

i saw this 30 day challenge about a month ago and am just now getting around to doing it. if you want to do one too...just click on the "30 posts" link in the menu bar. and here we go...

so far so good. now onto a recent picture. hmmmmm. i haven't really been in front of the camera lately. just had a baby and i am not the "bounce back two days later and look fabulous in anything" kind of person. it takes me literally a whole year, sometimes longer, to get back into somewhat decent looking shape. and even then...well. we'll just leave it at that! so, i haven't really been too eager to have my picture taken. but who cares right. this is what i look like at this point in my life. so here ya go. a recent picture of me. taken like 3 minutes ago. my hair is on it's...2nd day of not being washed. not bad, not bad. i need to get my roots redone! STAT! i just got back from a photo shoot and am babysitting my cute little nephews. and am getting ready for 2 more shoots later this afternoon and evening. and i stayed up too late last night watching my shows. gotta love that jimmy fallon. no really though. he is the best. so. needless to say i feel as tired as i look!

ok. recent picture. done and done. now onto 15 facts. it doesn't really specify if these are supposed to be 15 facts about me. or just 15 facts in general. so i am going with a mix.

01. did you know that the california condor is 1. a vulture and 2. has no vochal chords. they just go around hissing all the time. oh the things you learn with a first grader in the house.

02. i am forgetful. i didn't used to be. but i am so forgetful now. to a fault. like 2 seconds later. stuff just runs from my brain for some reason. it's strange.

03. but at the same time. i have a great memory. mostly for faces.

04. i was born in oklahoma. i should go back there someday. i have no idea what that place looks like.

05. i love being a momma. especially to all my boys. growing up, i always wanted to have more boys than girls. even though, i sometimes wonder what my life would be like if they were all girls. it would be so, so different.

06. i think laundry is the stupidest invention ever. i think clothes should be biodegradable, and we just throw them away instead of cleaning them. oh, and they should be free too. cause that would get mighty expensive.

07. i love color. especially hot pink. though, if you knew me really well, i think you would say my signature color is a sort of aqua-y blue. right mimi!!!

08. speaking of mimi, she lives in colorado. i used to live in colorado. i like washington better though.

09. i am lazy. i am working on it. i struggle with it daily. they should have a LA club.ya know...Lazy's Anonymous. that way i could get some help! like a 12 step program. i think i am onto something here. i better invent it, along with biodegradable clothes and make my millions. shoot. don't steal my idea guys!

10. this list is probably getting a little long. i hate reading long wordy blogs. and now i am writing one. ironic.

11. i would fit in better in the 80's.

12. if i were a millionaire, which i will be after my awesome inventions, i would spend a lot of my money traveling with my and throwing super fun parties.

13. i still love to swing. but i can tell that i am getting old. because i am getting motion sick on swings. who does that? not cool.

14. i wast born in 1982.  so cool. i know.

15. i have never been stung by a bee. i don't think. have i mom?

get out of my space already.

i think being a baby would be so strange. always having people get right up close to your face and smelling you, tickling you, or just sitting there staring at you. this poor kid is always having his space bubble popped. but i can't help it. i can sit for like 10 minutes with my face smushed up right next to his. i like to get so close to his sweet little face, this is pretty much all i see.

 his three older brothers are pretty into him too. especially this one. anytime merrick is near griffin, he get's in his face, sings to him, up close and personal. orion loves to puy his cheek on griffin's cheeks. and conner likes to help with rocking and binkie retreval. such great little helpers. and griffin just tolerates all of us...popping his personal space bubble!

who's who.

ok. let's see if you can guess who each baby is...

space robots.

i am not a scrapbooker. i don't have cool babybooks. ok, i don't even have babybooks for my boys. sad. i know. other than this blog, i don't write in journals faithfully. and i wish i did all those things, but i just know that i won't. but...i do write in my space robot journal. i got it a few years ago and it is just to write down things the boys say. or do. and it is the best decision i have ever made. you should do it too! it's never too late to start.

 i don't write it in everyday. in fact, i think i only wrote in it 3 or 4 times in 2011. but it is something. and something is always better than nothing. so grab a notebook of any kind, and start writing down the funny, sweet, and silly things your little people are saying.

just this morning i wrote down this conversation between these two monkeys...

conner and orion woke up early this morning and i overheard them as they were coming up the stairs. orion was yelling about something and conner yelled back that he was going to destroy orion's big bear with a chainsaw. (i know, i need to discuss chainsaw etiquette with them. they are for chopping trees, not toys).

conner: dude. just let me play with it. if not, i am going to chop it up with a chain saw.

orion: you don't even have a chainsaw.

conner: well, i will when i'm a dad.

orion: oh. well. don't.

conner: it doesn't even matter. we won't be living together when we are dads.

orion: why not? won't we be living in this house when we are dads? why won't you be living with me?

conner: because that is just what happens when you become a dad.

orion: but i like this house. and i want to keep living with you. will be still be a family? i don't want you to not live with me in this house. we could get another house and still live in it. right?

conner: well, we'll still be a family and we'll always be brothers, even if we don't live in the same house.

orion: promise?

conner: promise. ryan and grant are dad's brothers and the don't live together, but they are still brothers.

post 29: a person i love.

woopsies. i never did finish that 30 post list that i started forever ago. so i thought now is as good a time as any. picking up right where i left off with number 29. a person i love.

evan conner mann.

as if you didn't know...this is my husband, evan. he is the love of my life. i am so grateful to have him. he is here for me literally through thick and thin, good times and bad. he makes my life happier and so full of joy. he is spontaneous and energetic. he is funny and sweet. he is quirky and thoughtful. he is an amazing husband and father. he is a jack of all trades. he buys chickens when i tell him not to, cause he knows it will be fun for our family. he takes the boys on fabulous adventures so i can get some alone time. he puts fun things on our calendar months in advance. he gets excited about things like going shrimping, or building a chicken coop.  he loves summer and can't wait for all the fun things summer brings. he is the kind of dad that builds a fire outside to read the boys their bedtime story. he tickles me till it hurts. he loves me.
and i love him.

motherhood.

it's everything and nothing like i thought it would be.

(i love these images of my sweet mom and me)

being a mother is such hard work. 

lots of late nights and early mornings with crying babies or sick kids. 

getting spit up on, cried on, thrown up on.
having to say no and getting yelled at by uber opinionated 3 year olds.
the way they manage to completely cover the floor in muddy footprints literally right after i finish mopping.
or how they all 4 have a meltdown right when we need to get in the car to go somewhere.

or getting constantly whined at or tugged on or pulled over or tripped by these little men running around my house.
or when i just finished folding literally 20 loads of laundry, and they decide to make a fort out of the piles.

it's a lot like being at a 3 ring circus. 

so much is going on all at the same time. 

lots and lots of cooking while simultaneously feeding an infant, encouraging the 3 year old to stop peeing of the deck onto his brothers, while getting play doh out of the 5 year old's hair and belly button, and helping the 7 year old understand that permanent marker does not come off the furniture, even though the other black marker does.
it's a lot of compromising, cleaning, correcting, being corrected, corralling, shuttling to and from, and extra long days that seem like they will never end and i will never ever ever get a moment to myself. 

but it is all the worth it. 

being a mother is the best, most rewarding job a woman could ever have. 

and all that hard stuff is forgotten so quickly when my boys hug me, kiss me, smile at me, ask me to play with them, or tell me they love me.

their little hands holding mine. 

those little eyes that sparkle when they look at me. 

the way a simple kiss heals everything. 
they way their little spirits light up when they try something new and succeed.

the sound of laughter as they run naked through the house.
the quiet moments at night when they are all 4 asleep and dreaming.

it's in these moments that motherhood is all worth it.

every. single. moment.

happy mothers day to my mom and mother in law.
and you're mom and mother in law.
and to you.
and to me.

look at me, i'm thirty-three.

this man right here is my favorite human. i love him so much and am excited today is his birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN!

we love you so much. thank you for being awesome in every way possible.

totally rad referrals.

just wanted to let you know that i have a new referrals program over at Heather Mann Photography. go check it out, and help to share the love!