Mo-knows

Update

2011-08-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

Long time...I know.

Life seems to be soaring by. I can hardly believe we are already into August. C starts kindergarten in 2 1/2 weeks. That is just crazy to me. We are still loving our new house. Jeff has been working hard in the yard all summer to try to get it ready for grass, but alas, it looks like that will have to wait until the spring. At least the sprinkling system is in! M is getting big & so is her attitude. She has become a very determined little girl & tries to be independant in everything she does before she will ask for help.

For those who don't know, because I haven't posted or shouted from the rooftops about it (though I have mentioned it on facebook), we are expecting child #3 next month. Ya, I know, it took me 7 months to post that on my blog. Just been too busy. We are choosing to not find out the gender this time around. I have about 6 wks left. Both kids seem to be very excited about it. That's pretty much it for updates. I'll try to get pictures on my computer so I can post those.

Slacker, Slacker, Slacker!!!

2010-12-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I know. It has been entirely too long since last posting! It has been an incredibly busy 6 months! To do a speedy catch up... we bought a new house, moved in, worked, worked, worked, went to Disneyland in October and have continued to work our little tushes off. That's pretty much the gist of it. I also have taken forever to post because we, yet again, have had computer problems. our computers memory stick port won't read our cameras memory stick. Also, the usb ports are finicky & don't always recognize our camera either. So it has been difficult getting pics onto this computer in order to put them on the blog. I still (believe or not, but it's true) don't have any house pics on my computer. However, here are a few of the pics from Disneyland. And by a few I mean a very few. We took over 800 pics!!!!

Dad & M with Sully. She wasn't so sure about him.

C's most favorite ride was Tower of Terror! He still talks about it NON-STOP!

My two little cuties!

C & I went on Splash Mountain right when it was getting dark & he got SOAKED from head to toe. Seriously, there wasn't a dry spot on him. He says "I hate Splash Mountain" even to this day.

It was really fun to be there for Halloween. I loved the pumpkins all over, especially at the front entrance.

Me & my little princess!

My whole family went (with the exception of my older brother). It was so much fun to have the crew together at the happiest place on earth!

New House

2010-06-08T14:16:00.001-07:00

Sooo.....

I have been slacking- A LOT! I have been busy with a little something called building a house. We found a builder, lot & house plan that we fell in love with back in March. Despite only seeing the floor plan on paper, we decided that we wanted to build & buy. The process has been extremely fast! They broke ground on March 17th & completed the finishing touches today, June 8th. Tomorrow is our final walk through! YIKES & YEAH! We LOVE the house!!! Everyone has always told me that building was hugely stressful. I have not found the building process to be stressful. Picking out all our options & upgrades was fun, a little intense, but I wouldn't classify it as stressful. Our builder, Cadence Homes, has been awesome. They allowed us to install a radiant heat floor in the basement that is going to be awesome! Anyway... After 3 months, we are going to be getting our house next week!!! I think moving is going to be more stressful than the actual build, and half our belongings are already packed up! It's going to be Christmas in July when we start opening boxes!!!!! I don't have the camera with most recent pics, but here are a few pics from a few weeks ago.

Kitchen. The posts around the island were just temporary until the supports were on & glue dried. They are now off.

Front entry

Pretty sweet eh?! Needless to say, we are sooooo excited. I'll try to get more recent pics of all the rooms to post.

Catch up

2010-03-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since posting (yet again). Life just seems to keep speeding by. I don't have any pics to post (well, I do have pics. Just not downloaded off the camera yet). I will post some soon, I hope.

The kiddos are getting bigger & bigger everyday. C is now sleeping in his big boys instead of pull-ups at night. He has only had 2 nights in the last week that he didn't stay dry the whole night. 2 of the nights he even woke himself up in the middle of the night, went to the potty, and then back to bed. (Our room is right next to the bathroom & we could hear him slam the lid down). I shouldn't complain about the slamming of the lid though, at least he closes it! Every time! This kid LOVES to talk! He will talk your ear off! Most of the time it's about some imaginary story/situation he is living in. He has the most amazing imagination. He will tell you that too. He is so cute, he will come up to me & say "mom, I have quite the imagination!" The other thing he says that cracks me up is "Mom, I do love you." He often adds "I do" to statements. For example, instead of saying "I have to go potty" he will say "I do need to go potty". It drives his Dad nuts cuz half the time Dad doesn't quite follow that he just said "I do" preceding whatever he needs to tell you.

M is also growing by leaps & bounds every day. She is getting closer & closer to walking. She has taken 4-6 steps consistently for the last week. It's funny though because as she gets closer to you (if you have her walk between 2 people) she lunges instead of taking 2 more steps. She will get so excited & clap & cheer for herself. She also is signing words like crazy. She consistently signs milk, more, banana, duck, change (as in changing her diaper) & poop. She also does all the actions for itsy-bitsy spider & loves it. She has 6 teeth (2 on bottom & 4 up top) and a 3rd one coming in on the bottom. She's a Q-t & a pest at the same time. She gives her brother a run for his $. She loves getting him in trouble. If he takes a toy from her, hits her or whatever he might do that bothers her, she will cry & the second you reprimand him she stops crying & is perfectly happy. She's learned how to play her dad like a fiddle, she can do no harm. We are in serious trouble with this one!

My hubby is still working full time @ IM Flash Technologies, part time at Lehi Fire Department & going to online paramedic school. Busy. I am still working full time in L&D @ Timp Hospital & love it. All-in-all things are going well. I will try to post again soon.

M's 1st B-day!

2010-02-09T14:16:00.000-08:00

So, It's been FOREVER since I posted. Life is way busier with 2 kids than with just 1. Especially now that M is crawling & cruising around. She doesn't sit still for more than 2 minutes I swear! Here are some pics of her during her B-day week.

Okay, so this pic is from about 3 wks ago, but it is a pic of her very first piggy tail!

So G&G Swenson went to Thailand for a week & a half over M's B-day, so we had a little pre B-day cupcake & present unwrapping before they left. She did not like having all that gunk on her hands.

She got several outfits & PJ's, boy does this girl LOVE clothes! She loves to play in piles of clothes!

Here is the cake! I special ordered M's B-day cake to match a pair of leggings I have for her. Isn't it way cute! Just the right size.

I got her all ready (leggings & hair done) & I placed her on my makeshift photo back drop. When Dad brought the cake into the room she started screaming! She wanted it NOW!

However, once she actually had the cake in front of her, she was a little timid about digging in.

Here she is trying to figure out how to pick it up without getting all gooey.

She started with the candle first. She did not want to give up the candle, not sure why though. It's not like it tastes any good.

It cracks me up that both of my kids are such FREAKS about getting their hands all sticky!

Still worried about the goop on her hands. :)

Here she is trying out a new way to eat the cake without getting it on her hands. It worked out okay for her.

The sugar is finally starting to set in.

Woohoo!!! Gotta love the sugar!!!

Notice the lack of REALLY digging in! Neither of my kids really ever got that it was okay on this one occasion to get really messy, that it is expected of them. :)

More cake & matching legging shots.

She started to get into a little more, after a little encouragement from mom & brother.

Daddies little girl!

Mom & M.
C & M. He is supposed to be hugging her (though it was more of a choke hold). She did not want to share her cake with him.

So there you have it. She is now 1! I can hardly believe it. She had her 12 month dr visit today & her weight is up from the 10th percentile to the 24th percentile. She weighed 19 lbs 6 oz. She is 28.5 inches tall (26th percentile) & her head is 46 cm (76th percentile.) All in all she is doing well.

The Sneezin' Store

2009-11-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

So yesterday my husband took my son to get his Flu-mist. He knew he would be getting a flu shot to help "keep him healthy & strong." I was getting ready to go to work when they got home from the pediatrician office & I asked him where he had gone & how it went. He told me he had been to "the sneezin' store." I then asked him what happened at the sneezing store. He proceeded to tell me "well, I got some nose stuff that is good. But it was really stinky!" The nurse told him to sniff like he was smelling roses- didn't smell like roses apparently!

Tahoe, Teeth & Trick or Treat

2009-11-06T15:41:00.001-08:00

Okay, so it has been WAY too long since I last wrote. Well, we have been busy. My husband got a second job (very lucky for us considering the economy & all). I continue to work full time & be a mom the rest of the time. Not much time for other things. Well, the end of September we went to Lake Tahoe with some friends for our Anniversary/my birthday. It was a very fun trip. We did lots of fun things while there. M got her first tooth the last day while we were traveling home (Oct 4). She cut her second tooth just one week after the first. Then of course there was Halloween last week. That being said, here are a bunch of pictures.

The first day we spent on the beach. It was nice & warm & a clear day. The rest of the week cooled off quiet a bit.

C kicking the waves

M & our friends little girl. They are 1 month apart & look like they are related, they are not.This is the view out our hotel winow. Yes, that is a ski lift. We woke up the third morning with snow & were SOOO excited about that. Little did we know.

A nice cold walk on the beach & the piers. C has a huge band-aid on his forehead because he fell face first off a 3 foot wall because he "was trying to see my ant friends."

The boys.

The hole crew minus myself.

We went & watched the Salmon spawn. All that black, those are Salmon.

Us & more Salmon

C & L with more salmon. There were some photographers at this bend in the river that told us the day before we were there 2 black bear had been on this very beach catching the salmon. How cool would that have been!?

This bend in the river really reminded me of our old family cabin in southeastern Idaho.

Crystal clear water & more salmon.

C & the wooden firefighter that was at the station near our hotel.

C & the back of the paddle boat we went on. The Ms. Dixie.

Me with snow on my sweatshirt. This was the night before we left.

The view out our window the morning that we were leaving.

We were told you had to have chains or snow tires to get around Lake Tahoe that morning, so we went down the other side of the pass instead of going around the lake. There was about 2 ft! Beautiful.

The road further down the pass.

M in her cute black Halloween outfit for our pumpkin painting/carving party we went to with some friends.

M in her flower fairy costume.

C & M on the front porch. He insisted on being a firefighter, again, for the third year in a row.

Transformers, robots in disguise! Autobots, roll out!

My little fairy firefighter! How cute!

UPDATE: She's 7 months old!

2009-09-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

7 MONTHS & COUNTING

I finally got around to downloading pictures off of my camera & discovered how terrible I have been about taking pictures! A week & 1/2 ago M turned 7 months old! I can hardly believe it! She has been sitting up entirely on her own now for over 3 weeks, on 9/13/09 she finally figured out how to roll from her back to her front as well as front to back (on the same day)! She had previously gone from front to back, but not with any consistency. Now she can do both & knows she can in order to get something she wants. In mid August she figured out that she could scoot while laying on her back. She puts her knees up & pushes off so she scoots upwards. This has not helped the bald spot on the back of her head! :) She is developing quite the little attitude as well. She knows what she wants & will tell you. She loves to chatter & making the sound "a-da, a-da". She absolutely adores her big brother & vice versa! Even if she is in the middle of a fit & C walks in, she will stop crying & start giggling & laughing at him! It is so cute to listen to the two of them giggling at each other. Once one of them starts in, the other gets going & they will just giggle & giggle & giggle. C is almost potty trained. He forgets to tell you he needs to go about 40% of the time, but if my husband & I remember to take him every hour, he stays dry. He still will not go #2 on the toilet though. However, he will hold it until he has a pull-up on for bedtime or nap time & go then. We haven't had a #2 accident (in big boy pants) in over 3 weeks! C also has a new friend. His new best friend is imaginary & is with him all the time. He is a robot. Yes, a robot! Anyone who knows my son will laugh at this. He used to be deathly afraid of robots. Now anytime he gets in trouble he blames it on his robot or says his robot made him do it. I even find him talking to his robot every once in a while. His new favorite movie is "Pete's Dragon" & "Scooby-doo." He is getting to be quite the little riot. Anywho... That is the update on us. Oh, yes, & today actually happens to be mine & my hubbys 10th anniversary! 10 years! I can hardly believe it! I would post pics of our wedding, but they are all in storage! Bummer! It's been a good 10 years with lots of fun, challenges, sad & happy times! I love you Babe!

Here are the pictures I took of M on her 7 month mark!

This picture I was messing around with my camera & used micro-burst. The blown up view of it is pretty cool. It would be a cool effect for sports or something like that.

POTTY TRAINING IN FULL SWING

2009-08-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

Day #1: FINALLY gets the concept! (No accidents even).
Day #2: only 1 accident! He even actually took the incentive & took off his own underpants, climbed onto the toilet & went without being supervised! When he put his big boy pants back on however, they were on backwards. But this is HUGE progress folks!
Day #3: We will see how it goes today!

Another HUGE in the world of my son... He swam yesterday (with his lifejacket) WITHOUT anyone holding onto him (or him clinging onto my neck for dear life).

We are making big strides with that kid this week! YEAH!!!!

My daughter still is only rolling from front-to-back and not back-to-front yet. But she is getting better at getting off of her much dreaded tummy time & back onto her backside. She cracks me up cuz she lays on her back & gets both feet right up to her mouth & chews on her toes! They are her favorite toys! It works for my cuz I don't have to remember to pack them when we go out somewhere.

I also got my new car a week ago. We decided to get another Nissan Maxima. This one is a 2004, Silver in color & has all the bells & whistles. It does have 70,000 miles, but that's just getting the engine started with Nissan though.

OUR FABULOUS HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

2009-07-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me very well, knows that I LOVE the fourth of July! It's almost like Christmas for me, I mean as far as anticipation & excitement surrounding the holiday. I love the BBQs that accompany the fourth of July celebrations, the fireworks, the parades. You name it, I love it! This year was different however. We started our regular 4th activities by going to the Lehi Fire Departments annual 4th of July breakfast @ 7:30. We left there to head to the Freedom Festival Parade in Provo. My family has been going to the parade for as long as can remember. My Great Grandma owned a house on the parade route when I was a kid, so the parade was a kind of family reunion time. Well, when she passed away, one of my Dads cousins bought the house on center street & there is an open invitation to come & watch the parade without having to go the night before to find seating. It's quite a nice arrangement. We even have access to a bathroom if needed (rather than use one of the lovely outhouses provided by Provo City). So anywho... we were running a little late for the parade. & I mean only about 10 minutes late. We would have been early enough to see the opening cannon or whatever it was this year. Traffic was pretty bad once we got to BYU campus & my husband & I were debating which route to take. We finally decided on our route, had our game plan in place & were stopped in traffic when... WHAMMMMM! This guy behind us rammed into my beautiful, lovely, paid off, perfectly running Maxima! He admitted to me (albeit after I chewed him out) that he simply "was not looking up at the moment" so he didn't see that we were stopped for parade traffic. How much do you wanna bet he was texting?! He must have "looked up" at the last minute & tried to swerve to miss us, but no such luck. He hit us pretty darn hard! My husband was driving, my 3 1/2 yr old son was in the back passenger side & my 5 month old daughter the driver side. (I was in the passenger seat). Fortunately, we were all OK. Some bruising, mild concussions & whip lash, but otherwise fine. Here are some photos.

You can see the traffic ahead of the car in this photo. That was not traffic caused by us, it was the traffic we were stopped in.

My brand new Sit-n-Stand stroller was in the trunk. It came out of the accident pretty much unscathed. A small scratch to the manufacturer sticker & some scratches to the front foot rest, but otherwise fine.

So, you know how I said the stroller was fine? Well the Fire Department had to take the back seat out to get the stroller out of the trunk. I think they were pretty happy I gave them permission to tear out the seat!

My Mom & Dad were only about a block & a half in front of us when the accident occurred. They came back to pick us up. My Dad was pretty T.O.'d at the guy for hitting us with his two grand kids in the car! Here is my car being towed off. My husband was talking with my mom & sister (who happened to drive past the accident on her way to the parade & stopped) & apparently said "watch, she's gonna start crying when the tow truck drives away." He was right. I am such a sentimental fool. But I LOVED that car!

Here's the damage that occurred to the truck that hit us. Not much. He drove off & apparently went to the parade, cuz my mom saw him walk past my Dad's cousins house.

We also went to parade anyway. We only got to see about the last 30 minutes of it. But my son had fun playing with his cousins! What a cute kid!
My mom with my daughter! My daughter was so mellow. It was kinda funny, hence my moms expression.
The painting in the back is my Great-Great-Great Grandmothers picture. When a was kid & we would go visit my Great Grandma & she would tell me stories of her. She was a very strong willed woman & I always admired her. My daughter is named after her!

That my friends, was my 4th of July! We had a BBQ after the parade & watched some fireworks in Pleasant Grove that night with my in-laws. It was good other than the whole, wrecked my car crap. The insurance company has since declared the car totalled & so we are in the market for a new car. Probably gonna move up to a minivan. Hope others had a better 4th than us!! :)

Slacking...Again

2009-06-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

I must be the all time WORST blogger! No, nevermind! My Sis & her kids haven't blogged for longer than me. :) My son just left this afternoon to go camping with Grandpa & my husband, so I have mostly free hands that I can post with! So here are some updated photos...

M's blessing day. It was clear back on March 29th, but here are some pics! Her dress is so pretty! It's now hanging as a decoration in her bedroom!

I had to show her cute fuzzy hair that's in this pic. She still has the little fuzz on top, but it is getting thinner as her "real hair" is growing in.

Aren't these shoes the sweetest! My mom got them for us.

A Slight little smile in this one!

This is her Easter dress, even though she still wasn't going to church on Easter Sunday, she still had to have a cute dress!

She had started smiling quite a bit by this time (April 12th)

I just had to take a pic in this cute outfit, plus it had been about a month since I had taken any pictures of her & she had changed so much...

...other than the fuzzy hair on top! :)

She'll hate me for this one later, but what a cute little Buddha belly! And what big eyes!

Yesterday (June 4th) my hubby decided to put M on C's bike.

She tried to sit up on it, but quickly gave up & rested her chin on the handle bars!

Then she got a shoulder ride from Dad. What cuties! You can still see the fuzzy hair on top, just thinner. I truly am blessed to have such a great little family. I'll have to take some pics of my two kids together & post them!

photo shoot

2009-04-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

This has been a long time coming. I have been meaning to post this announcement & pictures for several weeks now. So here you have it...

These are the pictures that we had taken when my daughter was 4 weeks old. She is now 11 weeks old. Time has sure flown by! She has changed quite a bit since these were taken. She is now coo-ing and smiling. She has become a morning person & is extremely happy when she wakes up each morning. She is still not sleeping through the night though. :(

Her cute baby bling!

Cute little feet

My husband wouldn't touch my shirt because she had pee'd all over my sleeve! :)

I love this one!

Same one in color.

Not my favorite pic of myself, but I have a pic of my son & I in almost this same pose.

I love this one with Daddy & daughter!

She's even chubbier now!

This is the pose where she pee'd all over my sleeve!

What a good big brother! He still dotes on her!

Boy he loves her! She, on the other hand, is not so sure about his hugs!

Back to work!

2009-03-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

Last night was my first night back to work after having my little baby girl. It was a nice night to start back with. While on my way in to work I figured that I would be working down in mother/baby because it would be my turn to float since I had been gone for 5 weeks. I was surprised that I wasn't lined up to float at the beginning of the shift. I actually got to work Labor & Delivery for the first half! It was good to get caught up with the girls at work! It is amazing how disconnected from adult life you become when you spend your entire day talking to a newborn or a 3 year old! From the sounds of it, things have been VERY crazy at work while I was gone. I am actually quite glad I missed a lot of the things that occured while I was off.
I got some decent sleep this morning, thanks to my mother-in-law for taking my daughter for a couple of hours between feeds! My husband tackled the task of keeping my 3 yr old son busy this morning so he wouldn't come wake me up. That was also very nice.
On another note, my husband is still in the process of applying for a full-time position with his Fire Department. Hopefully we will know more in about a month or so. Right now they are interviewing and will be hiring the new captains and engineers for the new station I guess. Then they will begin the process of interviewing and selecting the rest of the crews for the new station. Keep him in your prayers that he is on of the few to be selected for a full-time position! We really need it! Thanks!

Monthly Entry

2009-03-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

I know. It's been a long time & pics of my baby girl are in need. I had a friend come over this morning & take some pictures for me. She did a really good job. Here are a few of the pictures that she took. I have a picture of my son & I in almost this exact same pose. I thought it would be cute to get on of me & my daughter like it as well.

Do you love the baby bling?!

Sleeping babies are the best!

What a cute grin! I love his little dimple!

He is such a good big brother! He loves on his sister & is very gentle.

I love how she is looking @ her big brother.

I think he is thinking "I LOVE the camera!"

It's about time...

2009-02-08T00:26:00.000-08:00

I know, my posting has been absolutely inexcusable & lazy! I can't believe it has been a month since my last post! Much has happened, though it took long enough. The last several weeks we have been preparing the house for my in-laws return from their mission. (For those who don't know, we have been living in their house while they were gone & have since moved into the basement & readied the upstairs for their return). It was quite the task, but we completed it a day or two before they got home (this last Monday Feb 2nd). I had figured that my Little baby girl would arrive before her grandparents, but I was wrong. It seems that she wanted to wait until they were home before she made her grand entrance. Anyway, about a week & a half ago we took some belly pictures & my son wanted to part of that photo shoot.

He loved putting his hands on my belly & feeling the baby kick at him. :)

Side profiles! Not too big, but still getting uncomfortable.

February 6th, 2009 @ 0814 she decided to make her entrance into the world, all 6 pounds 12 ounces & 20 inches of her! The delivery was really awesome & quick! She didn't even get a cone head. I pushed through 3 contractions & she was here!

I think we were all surprised to see that she has a full head of hair! & IT'S DARK! I always imagined I would have a dark haired girl. (Plus my husband has a real weak spot for dark haired & dark eyed girls)! However, I didn't think my daughter would have dark hair @ birth, let alone ANY hair @ birth.

My son is TOTALLY enamoured by her. He was SOOOOOO excited to come see her for the first time. He was all smiles & giggles. A couple of days before she was born, he informed me that she was going to have to come out because she was getting too "bigger". He educated me on how this was going to happen. According my 3 year old, babies are born through moms throats! Here is what he told me...

Son: "mommy, your baby is getting too bigger & is gonna come out huh!? She gonna climb up & up & out through your tongue. & the helicopter is gonna have ta help pull her out with him rope, huh?!"

Mom: nods & chuckles at sons intuitiveness

Son: "mommy?"

Mom: "what sweety?"

Son: "Can I see your hole?" (as he peers down my throat)

I laughed so hard that he had thought this through. A lot of though for a 3 year old. Obviously food goes into your tummy down your throat, there is a baby in moms tummy, it must have to come up & out through that same hole!

He has been so sweet with her & gentle. We shall see how long that continues! I can't believe that she is finally here! I will post more pictures when I get home from the hospital.

Christmas & 3rd B-day

2009-01-07T08:05:00.001-08:00

I have been needing to post these pics for over a week! We had a good Christmas this year. My son actually got the whole Santa Clause thing! Well, not entirely. We neglected to tell him that Santa comes in the middle of the night & then leaves before you ever see him. When my son woke up Christmas morning he PROMPTLY went into the living room to the tree & started looking for Santa. It was so sweet! He looked like he was about to cry when he couldn't find him, until we pointed out that he left presents under the tree. My son soon forgot all about looking for Santa Clause.

My sons birthday is just a few days after Christmas and we had a party for him. It turned into a WAY bigger deal than I had intended it to be, but it was fun. My hubby wanted to have a pinata, gift bags for the kids who came, cake & ice cream & some games for the kids. So that is what we did. My son probably won't remember much of it, but he sure did have fun with all of his cousins & friends!

I ended up finding this guitar (really a Christmas present from X-mas '07) in my trunk & my son hadn't played with it in over 8 mths, so I re-gifted. Cheap, I know, but he loves it anyway (& does NOT remember that he ever had it before, I might add)!
The Sunday before his actual birthday we went to my parents house & my mom had bought him this cute cake! You gotta love Costco!

I didn't really get a great picture of the pinata before it got smashed, but it was a cute fire engine. The kids had a good time taking a couple of whacks at it!

We stocked the pinata with 2 HUGE bags of candy, which were rapidly gathered & gobbled up by the crowd & swarm of children! :)

My husband found this sparkler candle that was in the shape of a 3! It was really cool. My son LOVED it. He also loved the toy airplane that was on his cupcake.

He also got spoiled with presents from all of his cousins & friends. (If you look close, you can REALLY see my lovely baby bump, well, it's not so much a bump anymore).

This was his favorite gift! It is a metal jet that he had borrowed from his cousins earlier this year & when it came time to return it, he was heart broken. He did return the plane to his cousins without a tear, until they had left the driveway. Well, they gave it back to him for his birthday & he takes it with him EVERYWHERE again.

We had cupcakes for all the kids, but they had to eat them in the kitchen. So my hubby & his friend lined them up on the floor.

Here is cute video of my son playing his guitar. He was carrying it around making up songs. (We played rock band at my moms house on Christmas day and I believe he learned his technique from that).

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

2008-12-22T14:03:00.000-08:00

So I can't believe it has already been one month since my last entry. Time has been FLYING by this month. I also cannot believe that Christmas is just 3 days away! We have had a TON of snow in the last week, today being the biggest accumulation so far. In the last 6 hours we have gotten about a foot of snow at our house! It's pretty crazy & fun. The only bummer part, Both my son & I have a cold & cough so we are trying to stay indoors (as much as my 3 yr old will allow.) Here are some pictures to share!

We finally got my son a new "big boy bed" to get him out of his toddler day bed, which will transition back to a crib for the new baby. He didn't act all that excited about it, but hasn't had any problems sleeping in it. It's a twin size bed, just very low to the ground.

So my in-laws get their house Christmas lights done professionally every year. The lighting guys came just before Thanksgiving & did a great job. My son has loved looking out the windows @ night and seeing Christmas lights on the trees.

About a week ago we went to my parents house to help set up my dads Christmas train. My son watched it last year & it is the reason he refers to my parents as his "Choo-Choo Grandma & Grandpa." Well, at Thanksgiving my husband & dad told my son that he could help set it up this year. He did not forget this promise. Every time we would go to my parents he would ask if it was time to set it up yet. Once we got it set up he layed there & watched it go round & round. At one point he even stood up & started cheering for it! It was very cute!

Last week we got a little bit of snow, so we went out to play in it as a family. My husband took the lawn mower snow plow to the water retention basin behind our house & plowed up a pile of snow for my son to slide down. It looks like there is hardly any snow in this picture, that's because he had plowed everything off of the lawn.

A BIG "THANKS" to my sister for giving us her kids hand-me-down ski bibs, snow gloves & snow boots! They work FABULOUSLY! My son stayed nice & dry & warm! Here's a picture of the lawn mower with the snow plow attachment that my husband made certain Itake a picture of!

My son kept laying down on his tummy & licking the snow. GROSS!!! No matter how many times we told him that the snow was yicky, we couldn't stop him from eating it. (Things sure haven't changed from when I was a kid). What is so appealing about eating snow anyway? I think we are all guilty of it, at least once, probably more.

I made the attempt to post a little video as well. I hope it works!

Things are going well here. Still pregnant & holding her in. The doctors don't seem too worried about me delivering too early. They did an ultrasound last week (I was one of the new docs guinea pigs on the 3-d machine) & he measured my cervical length, which is still within normal, just a slight bit thinning. Hopefully I will stay pregnant until the last few days of January to the first few days of February. Just watch though, I am going to be one of those who go way past their due date. (I sure hope not!!!) I'll keep ya posted (as best as I can).

Update- 27 weeks

2008-11-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

Things keep plugging along. I am doing much better & have stopped contracting as much. I have been able to return to work this week & just tried to take it a little bit easy. So far so good. Thanks for all of your prayers & concerns in our behalf. We will just keep praying that this over-active anxious little girl will stay inside & cook for another 10 weeks (which will take me to term).

Pregnancy update-26 weeks

2008-11-15T12:30:00.001-08:00

Okay, so no pictures for this entry & it will have to be a quick one. I am now 26 weeks into my pregnancy, which would make one think "WOW, only 14 more weeks to go!" Right? Well that's what I was thinking about 2 days ago too, until yesterday. My retarded body is trying to decide that it wants this pregnancy to be done with sooner than later! I had cramps & contractions in the morning that pretty much went away in the afternoon. I went to work & they started back up about 3 hours into my shift. I had Braxton Hicks contractions with my son, and with this one thus far, but these were different. There was actually a little pain & discomfort involved. My OB just happened to be at the hospital & so he checked my cervix, which is fortunately still closed, but thinning out & softening already. NOT GOOD! So we went ahead & did a full triage evaluation & put me on the monitors. Contractions every 2 MIN! YIKES! I got a LOVELY medication called Terbutaline- it makes you feel like CRAP- and a steroid shot to my buttocks! The Terb (as we labor nurses call it) stopped the contractions almost entirely (1 an hour) but it makes your heart race & pound and you get all jittery! I could barely fill out paperwork. The steroid shot is to help her lungs develop quicker just in case she does really & truly come early. I get to go back to the hospital tonight for another one of those lovely bad burning boys! (seriously, the shot burns pretty darn good! & I HATE SHOTS!!!!!!) Anywho, this morning was pretty scary when I woke up cramping again, but now it seems to be only one an hour again. I will keep you posted on what develops with this lovely unwanted scenario. As a labor nurse I have seen all realms of the spectrum from moms who really do deliver early to moms who go past their due date despite having been treated for preterm labor. So we will see. Keep us in your prayers!

Oh Ya, I forgot...It's a...

2008-11-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

What a slacker I have been!!!! We had our ultrasound the first week of October. Everything looks good with the baby, all parts appear to be present & functioning! :) You can kind of see the profile in this one, I thought the hand in the "SHHHH" position was quite cute. The baby wouldn't hold very still so it was hard to get a good snap shot of its profile, but from what we could see, it has a very similar profile to my son.
Here is a good side profile of its leg & bum. The doctor couldn't get a very good "photo copier" shot of its bottom, so he had to look for boy/girl parts from the side view by scanning in & out laterally to see if there were boy parts between the legs or not. It was quite difficult.

From what the doctor determined (& from what I had gathered from an earlier peek with an ultrasound machine @ work) there are no boy parts & it's a GIRL!

You have to use your imagination a bit here, but this picture is looking at the babies bottom and thighs. It looks like the baby doesn't have the lower part of her legs because of the way we had to zoom in & out (she had her feet crossed & knees together the entire time.) The picture looks like a heart turned on its side, right? Well If you look VERY closely to the right side of the heart right where you would draw the "v" shape of the heart, you can see her girl parts. Some people describe girl parts in ultrasounds as looking like a hamburger. So we are expecting a little girl in February. Pretty cool, eh?

October

2008-11-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween we decided to take a note from my parents book. In the past my Mom & Dad have gone all out & decorated their garage for the Halloween Trick-or-Treaters. This year they were gone to Hawaii (poor them) for a week just prior to Halloween & were still playing catch up at work so they didn't have the time to decorate their garage. So my Husband decided that we should decorate ours. We had spooky music, fog machines, glow sticks, black lights & cobwebs. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but my hubby had fun setting it up. We also found a steal on the bracelet kind of glow sticks and so we handed those out along with candy. Our stash (3 Costco sized bags) only lasted about an hour & a half, as apposed to our AZ house where that same stash would have lasted, oh, at least 10 months. :)

Here is a picture of my son & hubby. I had to get a picture with the cute red suspenders!

I dressed up as an 8 ball. You don't really get the idea of my belly size here, but you can tell it is growing. (I guess it is nice to have a picture that makes your belly look smaller than you perceive it actually is instead of the other way around!) My son LOVED his Fire Fighter costume that his Grandma got him. Plus it was reflective-perfect for a 3 yr old!

Another picture of him with his Fire Fighter costume. He picked out his Trick-or-Treat bucket himself. (He says it "Truck-r-Treat").

So these pictures are backwards in order. Oops. A few weeks before Halloween we had some cousins from AZ come and stay at our house & we went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. My husband used his persuasive powers to get a ride on a helicopter. All 3 of us rode for the price of 1!

You can't tell in this picture, but my son really was having a BLAST! He still talks about the ride & the cool headphones he got to wear with the Microphone to talk to Mommy & Daddy!

Here are my boys on their way to get on the Helicopter. I wasn't planning on going, but one of the operators grabbed my hand and walked me up to the helicopter, for what I thought was a photo-op of my Hubby & son sitting in the cockpit. He then proceeded to all but shove me into the helicopter. This was my 2nd time in one & it was really fun.

Another picture of my little Fire Fighter.

We had really good success with my Father-in-laws garden. Perhaps our greatest success was the pumpkin patch. We ended up with 9 LARGE pumpkins! They are beautiful in their coloring. Each one a little different than the next. The largest one is the one behind my son to the right (in this picture) and up against the door. It is MASSIVE!

How can you resist a photo-op with such a cute kid and such huge beautiful pumpkins? I couldn't!

Crappy Blogger

2008-09-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I know. It has been FOREVER since I blogged last. I have been very busy this summer. If any of you have read the comments from my last post, you probably caught on that we are expecting child #2. I am due on February 19th. We will be finding out gender in about a week. I was pretty darn sick for the first 4 months, which accounts for not blogging in such a long time. It took everything I had in me just to function as a mom & human being on most days and so therefore I didn't get around to blogging. I have finally been feeling better & decided it was about time for me to get caught up. I'll start with the most recent grouping of pictures.
A week ago, we (my hubby & son & I) decided to take a drive around the Alpine Loop. This is a road that goes around my most favorite mountain! Believe it or not, but I had never driven the Alpine Loop until now. The fall colors are just starting to come into full swing and it was a beautiful day just after morning rain storm. Here are some pictures of the mountains, clouds & colors.

This picture was taken at the Timpanogos Trail head.
Pretty, EH?!
Here are some photos from the last couple of months. This picture was taken at our neighborhood 4th of July block party. It was in our front yard and everyone brought some fireworks to shoot off (the show could have lasted for at least 3-4 hrs, but we stopped it after about 2 1/2.) My hubby was a hit with his blow torch so he could light more fireworks at once.

My Little Bro got married in August. My son wanted so badly to cut the cake after watching my brother and his bride cut a piece and feed it to each other. They were kind enough to let him cut a piece of his own (with a little help from the bride).

Here he is feeding himself the HUGE piece he cut. Why use silverware, it just gets in the way!
He had such a huge mouthful and was trying to talk, it was quite funny.
My Father-in-law has 4 peach trees in the backyard that we had the privilege of harvesting. I am about peached out! I did however have to make the famous family peach desert! It is SOOOOO yummy & rich. My Aunt Molly used to make it & bring it to my Dads office when I worked there. My Grandmother also used to make it with all the peaches from Grandpas orchard when I was a kid. My son & hubby agreed that it is an AWESOME way to eat peaches!So there you have it. Not a ton of pictures, but I am finding that the further away from an event I get, the less blogg-able the pictures become. I need to stay updated on my page! Hope you enjoyed and I will try to do better with my blogging.

Been a Long Time

2008-06-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

So I was talking with one of my AZ friends this afternoon and she reminded me of what a terrible blogger I have been the last several months. So I thought I would get all of you few readers that I do have updated on pics and things in the life of me, my hubby & my son. So here are several pics and little blurbs so you are updated & informed.

Last month my son was being very quiet while I was doing some laundry, so I went to find him. This is what I found.

What is that tube in his hand you ask? None other the water resistant, almost impossible to wash out, Desitin. He must have thought it was toothpaste because it appears that he placed some on his toothbrush and moved on from there. There were little white hand prints all over the wet-wipe boxes as well. Proof that he was trying to clean himself up before being caught, but only made himself even more messy.

It took a lot of soap and awfully long bath to get him cleaned up. At least we were able to see the humor in it. :)

Thomas the Tank Engine was up in Heber over Memorial day weekend so we decided last minute to take my son to see him because he is OBSESSED with all things trains!

We went on the train ride and he was very enthralled with the whole thing, especially the sound of the tracks clickety-clacking as we rode along.

Both my Hubby and my son were REALLY intrigued by this old coal engine. The Heber Valley Railroad has a whole bunch of old engines, trailers and such that you can just look at and touch. It was really cool.

That same weekend we went to a gathering at my grandparents home. They have a fabulous backyard and a group of my dads cousins were all there and we had a picnic out on the patio and lawn. It was a little chilly, but a beautiful day. This is my niece giving my grandma a big hug. I thought it was a great picture of my Grandmother!

In their back yard they have this HUGE old willow tree that had some wood rot a couple of years ago, so they had to trim it WAY back. There are still several of the old stumps sitting around the base of the tree. My nephew and son had the best time hitting and breaking up one of these stumps looking for bugs and worms. They didn't find any, but it kept them busy, occupied and in one spot for well over an hour!

I know, a random picture of radishes! Well, this is my first harvest from the vegetable garden we planted earlier in May. I was so excited to have fresh veggies I just had to take a picture! I ended up putting them into a really yummy tuna fish sandwich! DELICIOUS!

This picture was taken tonight. We went out to dinner with one of my husbands high school buddies and his wife and kids. They ended up coming over to our house to hang out after dinner. They have two boys and all three of the boys played well together. At one point, my son was very mischievous and got up on the kitchen table to make a mess!!! Can you guess what the white stuff is? An ENTIRE bag of powdered sugar!!!! What a mess! It was so funny though. He was licking his little fingers as fast as he could when we were approaching him and while we were trying to clean him up. What a little stinker!

Little Steve

2008-05-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

This afternoon my son woke up from his nap with quite the hairstyle. I thought to myself, "Gee, that hairstyle looks awfully familiar."

Then I realized it looked so familiar because I have seen the hairstyle on my Father-in-Law when he was younger! You be the judge...

The Temple According to a 2 Year Old.

2008-05-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

So tonight I found myself driving home with my son from our friends house. My son was getting no where near tired enough for a night time drive (and it was past his bedtime) so I decided to take him for a little bit of a longer drive. I asked him if he wanted to go see the temple. He excitedly replied "YES! I see bemple!" So we drove the 1.5 miles over the LDS Mount Timpanogos Temple. Each time we have driven past this particular temple I have told him that it is the Timpanogos Temple and tried to get him to say its name to no avail. Tonight, without prompting, he came out and said "MOMMY, Look! Tekahogus! It pretty! Too high. It white!" So there you have it, the Timpanogos temple according to a 2 1/2 year old.

A few quick pics

2008-04-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

My Hubby finally got fed up with not having wireless internet upstairs and so he decided to get a hard line upstairs. He threaded it through the airduct! At least no drilling was involved! I can now post pictures! It snowed this morning, melted and then snowed again tonight. My son & I went & made a snowman while my Hubby studied. It was fun. My son ate the carrot nose off shortly after I had put it on the snowman. He also gave the snowman hugs & kisses. I really want to post the pictures from our move and a few others, but I don't have them downloaded and reduced on my hubbys laptop, & I am unfamiliar with Windows Vista so I will have to have him show me soon. In the meantime, here are current photos.

We are doing well & enjoying Utah!

Computer Problems

2008-03-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

So.... My brother-in-law who is a computer programer came over the other day to help get the internet up & running on my computer. Not much luck. He says he is going to need to rebuild my computer. So now I have to find the time to download everything important to my external hard drive so he can work on my computer. FUN! I also can't find my camera this morning so that I can post pictures from my Hubbys computer. What a boring blog page!!!
I am now off orientation at work and am on my own now. I started to work night shift last week & we had 2 very slow nights! It was quite nice actually. We shall see what this week holds!
My Hubby is working at the Lehi fire Department a few days a week and is enjoying it. He has also started doing garage floors. He did his friends floor last week and hopes to start doing his brothers garage soon.
My son continues to get into everything! He must be getting more of his molars because he has been chewing on EVERYTHING! Last night he practically ate one of his pacifiers!
We miss all of our Arizona friends, but are enjoying walking out onto the patio and seeing the goreous mountains of the Wasatch front every single day!
I will HOPEFULLY find my camera and get some pictures posted at the end of the week.

Still no internet!!!

2008-03-09T18:11:00.001-07:00

The frustration continues...
We are still having difficulty getting my computer to read the internet at the house. My husbands laptop reads it if he plugs it into the hardline. Maybe I will have to try using his computer so that I can post pictures.

So, Thursday my son got into a bottle of calamine (sp) lotion and finger painted with it as well as drank a little of it. It made a big mess in his bathroom, but we got it cleaned up. Every once in a while I can see a chalky pink foot print when the sun hits the wood floor just right. Thank goodness for the steam mopper!

Work is still just work. I will be starting to work the night shift the end of this week. It will be interesting to see if it is any different on nights than it is on days. I will keep updating whenever I can find the time.

Work Begins

2008-02-27T20:04:00.000-08:00

So, I still do not have my computer hooked up to the Internet & have to use other peoples computers for my blog entries. That is why I have yet to post pictures. We will work on getting the Internet connection figured out this weekend.

I started my first official day as an employee at Timpanogos Hospital today. It was comprised of filling out paper after paper after paper, followed by giving away my blood and receiving a few shots, followed by a few hours of computer training and testing. FUN! Tomorrow I go in for more computer training and a staff meeting to meet the nurses I will be working with in Labor & Delivery. I am still unsure of when my first day on the unit will be, maybe Friday, maybe not until next week. Anyway... Things continue to move forward with rapid pace.

My Hubby has been to a few nights of training and new hire orientation with the Fire Department and seems to be loving every minute of it. Never doubted that he would.

Though I deeply miss all of my AZ friends, it has been great to get together with friends here in UT. I have gone out with one of my long time friends twice already this week. She has two girls, one is 6 months older than my son and the other is 1 year younger. They all usually have a good time together, except when they are tired. :)

It is a strange feeling being here permanently. I keep feeling like "okay, vacation is about over, lets pack up and head back to AZ." And then I have to remind myself, that no, this is home now. It's a great feeling, and yet a little sad too. My son seems to be adjusting to it with no problem at all! (Thank goodness he is such a resilient and easy going kid. Not like his mother, definitely gets that from his Dad!)

We have arrived

2008-02-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little entry & update. The final stages of packing and loading were an adventure. Thanks to everyone who helped us get on our way. It was very difficult to leave the comfort and safety of our little neighborhood! (We miss you Clarks, Tupas and Amundsens!) I had to choke back the tears the entire way through Phoenix. My little Brother (who flew down to help us drive the vehicles) probably thought I was pretty pathetic. We left AZ on Saturday evening & stayed with our cousins at their family cabin in Flagstaff. (Thank you Rhoners for letting us crash in on you last minute!). The drive up to Utah was basically uneventful. My little Bro drove the pickup truck towing the U-haul trailer (we had to pick the U-haul up last minute because we have so much crap) and my Hubby drove the Penske truck that was towing my Maxima. My little Bro was creative enough to place a Nerf dart to the back window of my car before leaving our house in Gilbert, AZ... and it made it the whole way to Utah!!! I have a few pictures of it along the way I'll publish soon. We arrived around 8 pm Sunday night and had some members of the Elders quorum of our new ward come help unload the Penske early Monday morning in the freezing cold.

My Hubby had his interview with the Fire Chief yesterday afternoon and got the position as part time fire fighter with the Lehi Fire Department. Last night he went to the new hire orientation and brought home his very own fire fighter gear. Pants, jacket, boots and hat!!! He was pretty excited about that!

I went for my final appointment and interview with Timpanogos hospital and signed paperwork with them this morning. I just have to wait a week for my background check and drug screening and I will officially be employed! So as you can see, things are going well.

We still have a TON of unpacking and organizing to do!!! But that too will come.

We miss all of our friends in Arizona! You are all welcome to come up and visit anytime! I'll keep posting updates if anything new arrises!

Moving along

2008-02-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little entry... We have spent the weekend packing and still have a TON of work to do. The bathrooms are about the only thing that are squared away. So many people have been helping taking Caiden to give us some child free time to pack. We hope to be completely packed by Friday mid afternoon.

Jeffs interview with Lehi Fire Department went well. He spoke with the Chief and will have a final interview next Tuesday after we arrive in Utah. It sounds like he might just get the job.

I have been in contact with Timpanogos hospital and they said they would like to have me on their staff, they just needed to contact a few of my references. I'll keep you posted when I hear more.

Only a few troubles have been encountered, such as no internet unless we go around the block to feed off of our neighbors (who have given us permission to do so! Thanks Tupas!!!!). Jeff unloaded the storage unit into the garage yesterday as well! Thanks Owens for the trailer to help with that! I'll keep posting when I get the chance.

That's about all I have time to write, LOTS of work to do.

2008-02-07T09:09:00.000-08:00

My son has developed a silly & unexplainable love for dental floss! Ever since his Grandpa shared some flavored floss on one of our trips to Utah, he has been seeking out our floss whenever we aren't looking. The funny thing is I don't buy the flavored kind. It has no flavor whatsoever! So, the other day I was working on the computer when I realized there had been a few minutes of quiet. When it is quiet in my house & my son is not sleeping, you know he is up to NO good. I immediately went to look for him in our room, he also loves pulling clothes out of my drawers. I could hear some noise & giggling coming from my closet, so I figured he was just playing hide & seek behind his Dad's shirts again. This is what I found...

If you can't tell in the those two pictures, there was a reason he was giggling. He was sharing the dental floss with our dog Roxie. She too was sucking and sampling the floss, from the other end. It was our own version of Lady & the Tramp. I grabbed the floss (after taking pictures of course) so that Roxie wouldn't actually swallow it. Yesterday we went to the Phoenix Zoo. Probably for the last time. This saddens me. My Son had a GREAT time. He was more independent and out of the stroller this time than ever before. (He will actually come back to you when you ask him to, most of the time). He even climbed up this staircase to the Giraffe lookout all by himself. You could tell how proud he was when he got to the top! (We don't have stairs in our house, so he is not used to climbing them).
At the Zoo they have a cute farm called Harmony Farm where they have real & play tractors and farm equipment for the kids to climb & play on. My son liked this tractor the best.
We also went to the goat petting zoo again. He loves petting & following all the goats around.

My husband is, again, in Utah for the final portion of his Firefighter job application process. He was one of 11 to pass the written exam and 1 of 9 to make it through the physical testing to the interview. So tonight he will be going to an interview for a part time position with Lehi Fire. We are still going to be moving next weekend. Man do I have a lot of work to do. I will keep posting with progress as it comes along.

It's a Date

2008-02-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

We finally have a move date. February 16th. I am sure some of you will be asking "did you sell your house?!" Unfortunately, no. But we have prayed about this long & hard and feel that we need to move at this time regardless of the house selling. My husbands last day of work will be next Friday, and I have three more shifts (not counting my on call shift tonight). The move day is approaching FAST. In fact a little TOO fast. But we will make it through I am sure.

My husband flew to Utah on Wednesday to take the written portion of testing for the firefighter position he applied for and he passed! He is getting on a plane tonight to go back to Utah for the physical portion tomorrow morning. I know, yes, he flew home for two days due to his job.

While he is gone I will be struggling between taking care of my son, house cleaning, packing and a few crafty projects I promised some people I would finish before moving. It should be an interesting weekend. Plus we are supposed have some more people coming to look at the house over the weekend. (better put house cleaning at the top of my list of things to do.) I will continue to keep posting any updates. (Sorry no pictures this entry.)

Cute, Yet Naughty!

2008-01-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have posted, sorry about that. It has been yet another busy month. We went to Utah after New Years to spend a little time with the family & say goodbye to Grandma, Grandpa Swenson & Stacey as they reported to the MTC & left on their mission to San Jose, CA. While we were there I got to go snow skiing!! I went with my big sister, for the first time with only us two, and had a great time, other than the crummy snow and it being so windy that only one lift was open! We also took a quick trip up to Park City to see my parents newly renovated condo! WOW!!!!!!!! It looks AWESOME! Now that we are back in AZ, things seem to be moving forward with rapid speed. My husband applied for a part time firefighter position in Lehi, and got a letter yesterday informing him that he has made it to the testing portion of the hiring process. This means he has to report to Lehi next Wednesday night for testing! Our house has not sold yet, but we had 5 people come look at it last week, so we are hopeful that something will develop from that!

My son is continuing to grow up into a mischievous little guy! The last three days especially. He got a hold of Dads stethoscope the other day and wanted to listen to every ones heart. This was cute, until he started taking the stethoscope apart. :)
He also go a hold of a pen on Saturday and colored the couch pillow, coffee table and himself. He was very proud of his coloring job!!!!
He has learned a new word too. In this picture he is telling you that he colored his "fapples!"
What a funny kid! We will keep posting as more developments come along about our move to Utah.

Busy 2 Weeks

2007-12-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been busy for us. We had Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Stacey come stay with us for an entire week!!! (They were here for our cousin, Dane & Katherines wedding.) Caiden LOVED having them here. In fact, he and Grandpa (Ba-pa) are bust buddies. Whenever we were going somewhere, he just had to be in the same car as his Ba-Pa! We ended up doing some fun things! We went to Phoenix Zoo for his Aunt Staceys birthday and they both got to ride the carosel! What fun.

We had a yummy birthday cake for Stacey
And Stacey got to have her picture taken with the beautiful blushing bride, Katherine.
Grandma, Grandpa & Stacey left to go home to Utah just 2 days before Christmas. We have missed having their company this last week! But we got ready for Christmas and had a nice low key, quiet Christmas morning, which was nice because I had worked Christmas Eve & was exhausted when I got home @ 8:00 in the am. We opened presents & then I went to bed. Here is a picture of my two boys! One of Caidens most favorite things right now is the movie "The Polar Express." So I just HAD to get him the book for Christmas. He was excited when he saw the front cover, but didn't really care much more about it after he saw there were more presents to open.
One of his favorite presents, and the one we got the best reaction from him, was his new guitar. He has been walking around for the last two months acting like anything is either a guitar or a gun. I kid you not, this kid can imagine a stick or even a straw is a guitar. Now he has a real one to play, and he LOVES it!

Today was His SECOND Birthday!!!! I can hardly believe it has already been 2 years! He hasn't been feeling well so we just had a small little party with just the three of us. (seriously, this kid has been crying over ANYTHING and EVERYTHING all day long! He has a bad double ear infection, so I really can't blame him for not feeling well.)

His Birthday cake Before....

His birthday cake after...

All he wanted to do with the cake was to blow out the "fire" and to eat a few finger fulls of frosting. When we asked if he wanted to eat some cake, there was a resounding "NOOO!" So we didn't even bother cutting into today... Maybe tomorrow.

LET IT SNOW!!!!

2007-12-17T09:07:00.001-08:00

On Saturday we decided to head up North to experience the fabulous snow that dropped over the week. My cousin Becky & I were going to go during the week, but we decided to make it a family affair. We started by visiting the cabin they are building with their family. There was a little sledding right next to the cabin & the boys got out to sled.

I was happily surprised to see that my son LOVED the snow!!! It was all we could do to convince him that he needed to share the sled (which wasn't even ours by the way) with his cousins.
He discovered pretty quickly how a snow ball fight works simply by watching his Dad bean his Mom with several snow balls! :)

He even tried to start a snow ball fight with his cousin Gage. Gage was not too fond of that idea.
We finally got him to share the sled! Though Jack wasn't very excited about being in the freezing cold snow. It was, afterall, about 25 degrees outside... BRRRRR!
Caiden was even adventerous enough to try the steep hill on his own! This is just the start of the hill before Dad got him lined up & let go. He was yelling "WOO-HOO!!!" the whole way down. Caiden even made a snow angel after watching me! (I did have to help him move his arms up & down however!) And of course, he just HAD to eat some of that delicious cold stuff!

We tried to get a family picture, but Caiden would have nothing to do with it. He just wanted to keep playing. This was the best shot we could get.My Husband REALLY wanted to load the bed of the truck to take snow home...So we surprised the neighborhood with a small sledding slop (seen in the very back) and introduced them all to snow ball fights. None of the kids had ever seen, let alone played, in snow before. We rang their door bells & left a big block of snow on their porch while we quietly waited & surprise attacked them when they came to the door. It was great!!!

This video is my first attempt, I really wanted to post it because I found it so halarious. Caiden layed in this pile of snow for at least 5 minutes, just swimming & digging! He was LOVING it. Hopefully it loads OK.

2007-12-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been very busy for our family as we have been "spring cleaning" the entire house. Why? you ask. Because we have put our house on the market and will be moving (hopefully sooner than later). It is AMAZING how much clutter/junk you can collect over the years! We have filled the garbage can, gone to Goodwill & DI and taken loads to our storage unit multiple times. And I am certain that after the move, when we are unpacking things, we will ask ourselves "Why did we save this & bother packing it all the way to Utah?" Such is life I guess.

We went to dinner the other night & bought my son this cute ginger bread cookie, the only problem was that the bakery had used so much food coloring on the frosting. His lips, teeth and tongue were black for about an hour after eating it! It was hilarious. My husband even took a bite and gave our son a kiss on the forehead.

We also had the scouts over the other night helping wrap boxes for donations for charity that our ward collected at our ward Christmas party. He loves it when the cub scouts come over. He thinks he is one of the boys. He had a great time getting in the boxes & jumping up yelling "BOO!!!"

Thanksgiving

2007-11-28T11:05:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a long time since my last blog entry, sorry about that. Life has gotten crazy.

This last weekend we (my husband & I) decided to head home to Utah for a surprise visit. We decided this on Wednesday afternoon at about 4:00 and were packed and on the road by 7:00 pm. We prefer doing the drive at night because traffic is lighter and our son sleeps most of the way there. Anyway, the drive was uneventful and we made in 11 hours, faster than we expected. The kicker of the visit was that we didn't tell our families we were coming.

My husband called his parents house while we were in the driveway at 6am. My father-in-law & sister-in-law were so kind and even talked to my son on the phone before we finally told them we weren't just calling to say hello & happy Thanksgiving. My sister-in-law did not believe that we were in the driveway, so my husband honked the horn to proove that we were in deed in Utah and parked in her driveway! They were so surprised!

Next surprise visit was to my Sisters house for Thanksgiving dinner. I had to call my Mom and ask what time everyone was meeting so we could show up after everyone was already there. We drove up and my husband ALMOST ruined the surprise by parking right in front of their house!!! I told him to move, but it was too late. My nephew had already spotted us! DARN! I stopped him from running in and telling everyone he was right, he had seen our car. As we entered the house, my Dad was sitting on the front room couch reading Time magazine, he didn't even look up when I stood at his feet for a good 20 seconds. So what did I do? I placed my 2 year old son on his lap! He looked at my son, then up at me, then back at my son and said "how did you get here?! When did you get here?!" My Mom was standing in the kitchen and still had not looked up, so I simply said "Hi Mom!" She looked at me and was speachless for I kid you not, about 5 minutes!!! It was the BEST surprise EVER! Of course my Mom tried to pin the surprise on my Dad and my brothers and refused to believe that nobody knew we were coming, heck, we didnt' even know we were coming until 15 hours prior to that time!!!! I was gonna get video of the surprise, but forgot my camera back at my in-laws house (oops).

That was our Thanksgiving weekend. My Dad & I also said up his really cool train, that my son LOVED! I did happen to capture of few photos of him with the Choo-choo.

Mother Natures Farm

2007-10-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon we realized how fast approaching Halloween is & that we had not been to a pumpkin patch yet this year! (Sinners, I know). It turns out that just about 2 1/2 miles from our house is this cute little farm in the middle of Mesa/Gilbert. We have been there before, & decided that this would be the perfect solution to our problem, getting to a pumpkin patch without having to drive far. So we hopped in the car & drove on over. It was nothing really fancy, but we had a great time.

I think my sons favorite part was the bouncy castle. He couldn't have cared less when he was getting plowed over by the older kids! He would just pop right back up & keep bouncing & laughing.

He also learned how to say "bumpt-keen" (pumpkin) today. He LOVED the pumpkin patch. I tried MULTIPLE times to get a posed picture with the pumpkins, but believe it or not, he was actually more interested in the pumpkins than the camera!!! (He usually drops whatever he is doing to come get the camera or "cheese" as he calls it).

We had a family photo taken with a cute old tractor as well. My son also thought this was pretty cool & kept saying "vroom" & "go fassst" while sitting on it. I hope you enjoy the photos.

ZOO

2007-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my son & I went to the Phoenix Zoo. The morning started off cool enough, only 85 @ 9:00 with a nice light breeze. The Zoo was practically empty and we had a good time. My husband bought me a zoo pass for mothers day, which is great cuz I can go for an hour or two and not feel like I just waisted $14 on the entrance fee each time we go. As you can imagine, this zoo is limited to the types of animals that can tolerate the hot Arizona climate in the summer. Today we toured the west side of the zoo which has the elephants ("funts"), turtles ("lurles"), tortoises ("yucky"), several different species of birds, orangutan and other small monkeys.

We also went to the petting zoo where my son enjoyed hanging out with the goats ("doats"). He kept hugging one in particular, its name was Brownie. Another one (not sure of its name) kept chasing him around. It was rather funny because he kept telling it "back!!!" It was a great morning!

Today we played, and ate, at our neighbors house with their 5 year old daughter. He really enjoys playing with her, though I think it is hard for her to remember that he is still a baby and doesn't quite understand how to share things yet. She plays with him very well though, and he loves her! He even had to give her a hug before coming in for bath and bedtime.

Also, here is a picture of my husband cutting into a car at his Firefighter Academy. He is having a GREAT time, though some of the tasks and tests have been difficult.

Quiet Sunday

2007-09-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a rather uneventful day at our house, but I wanted share some photos.

After we got home from church, my son went immediately to the pantry & asked for some bread. How could I resist such a cute face!

The only thing he was interested in eating was bread and "blip."

Now, "blip" is anything that he can dip his food, fork or fingers in to eat. So he ate bread, peanut butter "blip" and honey "blip" for lunch. He was so sticky that he had to have a bath right after he finished eating.

He REALLY loves bath time at this point in time (there have been times in the not so distant past that it was not his favorite thing.) He especially loves his fireman duck.

He can tell you that the duck has a "hose" an "ax" and a "hat." I think the ducks hat is his favorite thing about bath time. He will put & pour anything he can get his hands on into the ducks hat.

We also received an email with

pictures from my husband at

his Firefighter Academy.

Long Lost Love

2007-09-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I rediscovered my love of sewing. Several months ago I attempted to make a shower gift, a personalized hooded towel. I tried to follow the pattern of the hooded towel my husbands aunt gave me when I had my son, but my sewing machine is not top notch quality & I was unable to sew through so many layers of thick terry-cloth. The first attempt at a hooded towel worked, but not fabulously.

So this weekend I have a baby shower for a coworker who is having twin girls and I decided that I would give the hooded towel(s) another attempt. I altered the pattern slightly, getting rid of the darts that I had failingly attempted the first time, and it was a success. At least I think so, see for yourselves.

I was up until 1 am finishing the final touches (the flowers & initials). I had such a good time, except for the few glitches the sewing machine had while sewing the hoods on. I had forgotten how much I love sewing and how fun it can be, especially once you have a finished project.

Yucky

2007-09-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

This morning I was struck by how much kids absorb and learn, even when we don't think we are teaching them. This morning we had an experience that made me laugh, cringe and freak out all at the same time. My son wanted to help take the dogs (we have two very large dogs) out for breakfast and a potty break, so I helped him poor the food and we sat on our bench in the nice (90 degree) 7 am weather while the dogs ate and did their business. After they were finished eating we all came in and as I was getting my sons breakfast ready, he decided to share something he had learned this morning. Our female dog, Roxie, was standing by my side and my son walks up right behind her, points (& touches) right below her tail, makes a scrinched face and says "YUCKY!" Needless to say, I grabbed his hand, washed it with soap and water and hand sanitizer several times before allowing him to eat his breakfast! Oh, the innocense and ignorance of little ones!!! Disgusting!

2007-09-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have finally decided to start up a blog. My family & several of my friends have been posting blogs for what seems like FOREVER, and I figured it was finally time for me to join in the fun. Though I am not nearly as creative as my other family members, I figured this would be a good way to keep friends and family updated with what is going on with myself, my husband and my son. Here is a picture of my 1 1/2 yr old & I at Zions National Park in Utah over Labor Day weekend. Enjoy.