Stout Family

Looooong December

2011-12-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

Londynn has the WHOLE month of December off from school. To keep myself from going crazy we came up with a sticker/reward chart. Good behavior and doing jobs around the house earns them stickers. Bad behavior and not listening makes them lose stickers. When they have earned so many stickers they get to pick a fun activity to do. So far they LOVE it.

The first reward up was making play dough. Who knew making play dough was so easy. The kids loved help make it and best of all they each got to choose what colors they wanted.

I asked Boston to smile for the camera and this is the look I get.

Such a simple activity that has provided hours of entertainment for the last couple of days.

He's off

2011-08-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well my not so little guy started preschool this week. To say he was excited was an understatement. I was a little sad because I wasn't able to go inside and drop him off because I had to get Londynn to school. I pulled up and dropped him off and the kid didn't even look back. I can't believe he's already in school. He was definitely ready for something. He's been asking to go to school since Londynn started preschool. I'm excited to see how he grows this year and I also can't complain of the 2 1/2 hours of free time I have 2 times a week.

This was my attempt to get a picture of them together. Londynn would having nothing to do with it.

The unthinkable

2011-08-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

I did what I thought I would never do yesterday. Londynn has afternoon Kindergarten. We are well within walking distance from the school but being the lazy mom that I am I always drive her to school. Picking her up from school however is a different story. I forget how crazy pick up can be and all the cars so I have been choosing to walk to school to pick Londynn up. She knows to wait for me at the flag pole that way she is easy to find. Yesterday I thought I would I have her start to walk home and I would meet her. On the way to school I showed her where I would be waiting. If I was where I said I would be I would be able to see her walk from the flag pole to me. I thought this would be a great idea because then she could get the feel to start walking on her own and also make my walk a little less long in the scorching afternoon heat.

The afternoon rolled around and I was dragging. I told myself I would just lay down for a little bit knowing that I would never be able to fully fall asleep because Boston is still around and needs me (he usually comes in my room multiple times while I am trying to rest). Just to make sure I wouldn't be asleep when school got out I set my alarm. Well before I knew it I was waking up and it was 3:35, school gets out at 3:25. I jump out of bed and realize that Boston had also gone to his bed to take a nap. I hurry and wake him up and run out the door thinking that I was late but still would okay. As I came to the place where I had told Londynn to meet me, Londynn was no where in site and the last of the school kids were just crossing the crosswalk. My heart sunk. The nice crosswalk lady asked me if I had a little girl I was picking up. She informed me that Londynn had come to the crosswalk and didn't know where to go to from there. She was in tears. She had sent her to the office to call me. At this time I could see her walking towards the office so I called her name. She heard me and turned around and I don't think I have ever seen that girl run so fast. I was heartbroken.

Needless to say I think I learned my lesson about taking naps/resting while my kids are gone at school. It took a lot of convincing and promises to get Londynn to go to school today and I honestly can't blame her. I traumatized the poor child. Here's to hoping that today is a better day.

It finally arrived

2011-08-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

The first day of kindergarten that is. I feel like I have been waiting for this day for a long time. Londynn has a September birthday so she missed the August deadline. I feel like she has been ready for school for awhile. She needed something to keep her busy and quite frankly I needed it to. Everyone always talks about how they cried after sending there first child off to kindergarten. Maybe I was to preoccupied with getting packed up to head to our family reunion after she got out of school for this to really hit me. Either way she was so excited and I was happy for her that I'm happy to admit no tears were shed. She is LOVING school.

Growing up

2011-05-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

My little girl has done a lot of growing up these last couple weeks. It started about 1 week ago when she lost her first tooth. She was SO excited. She was able to pull the tooth out herself with a little help from her aunt Kelsey. She was fully aware of the fact that the tooth fair was going to make an appearance that night.

At around 11:30 that night Londynn comes walking into our room excited to tell us that the tooth fair had come and had left her $2. I understand the excitement and didn't mind being woken up; however, the events that continued to happen after that left me less than thrilled. We told londynn that we were happy for her and to take her money and return to bed, which she did. Five minutes later she was back in our room saying that she thinks she heard the tooth fairy in her closet and wanted us to come and check it out. Sure why not it's only 11:30 and we're half awake. Jared gets up to check things out and returns to bed. A couple minutes later Londynn has returned, this time she says she's seen a little orange light and that it's the tooth fairy. She's to scared to return to bed. By this time Jared and I are furious. Londynn is being the drama queen that she is and won't stay in bed, Jared and I are tired and just want to go back to bed. We finally ended up taking her $2 away and threatening her with her life (okay not really but we definitely were not happy) if she didn't return to bed. I'm happy to report that she stayed in bed from then on. I think the next time a tooth is lost we will have to inform the tooth fairy to make an appearance while she is at school.

Her next growing up moment happened last night and today. Our little princess graduated from preschool. I really didn't know what to expect having my oldest child graduate and I was surprised when I found myself shedding a few tears after I picked her up from her last day today. I think she also felt that sadness because once we returned home she also broke into tears saying that she already missed her teachers and didn't want to go to kindergarten she wanted to go back to preschool.

Preschool for Londynn did amazing things. I can't believe how much she's grown and learned over the course of the year. Not a day went by that she wasn't asking if she had school that day and wanted to know what she would be learning at school. One thing about my little girl that didn't change was her fear of being center of attention or being on stage. My little girl definitely has a strong will. I could offer her the world and if she didn't want to do something, she simply would not do it. No convincing could change her mind.

Last night was her graduation. We invited grandma and grandma to come even though we knew that the chance of her getting on stage and participating was slim. We showed up and there was a chair on stage with her name on it. She was the only child not up there. Being her mom there is still a part of me that is saddened when I can't get her to participate but over the last couple years I think I've come to accept this as being part of londynn (and quite honestly I have no where to talk because she gets this from me).

Another school year over and a new chapter beginning. It sure is fun watching my kids grow up even if it makes me cry.

So funny

2011-03-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

This is really mean of me to share but it's one of those moments that was to funny and I don't want to forget.

Boston has been potty trained for about 6 months. He's done really great but still has those occasional accidents. Last night we put him to bed around 8:00 and at 9:00 I was to tired to stay awake so I went to bed. Apparently around that same time Boston woke up crying. When Boston wakes up crying it usually means one thing...he's had an accident. I had just fallen asleep and didn't even hear him cry so Jared walked into his room to see what the problem was. Apparently Boston had his legs over his bed rail and had just had an accident. We think that he woke up to use the bathroom and started making his way off the bed when I guess he assumed the position that felt like he was sitting on the pot and let go. lol Poor kid was still to asleep to realize that he had not yet made it to the bathroom. At first I was frustrated (just like I am every time there is an accident because I have to clean in up) until Jared shared his theory with me and then I couldn't help but laugh.

vacation

2011-03-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

We had so fun much at Disneyland last year that we decided to go again this year. This year it was just our little family and my sister Kelsey and her husband Derek that went. I am surprised how well the kids did on the long drive. On the way there we stopped at Prim for the night to break it up. On the way home we drove straight through. Our kids are at the perfect age and it makes family vacations fun.

It's amazing how things change in a year. Last year it was torture trying to get Londynn to go on any rides. Boston was pretty easy going last year and went on basically everything we wanted him to go on but if he saw Londynn crying then most times he ended up in tears also. This year there was a lot more smiles and Londynn was willing to go on more rides. Both kids have grown a lot since last year which meant that both kids could go on most rides. With the exception of the "scary" rides (i.e space mountain, haunted mansion and Indiana Jones) we went on almost all of the rides.

Before we left on the trip the weather didn't look like it was supposed to be very warm so I packed long pants and long sleeves for me and the kids. I should have known better because the weather was beautiful and on one of the days it actually got a little too warm.

The Toy story rides was a favorite of all of us and we were sure to ride it many times.

Boston thought it was pretty cool to get a picture with Mr. Incredible. They had just put on a little street show and Mr. Incredible came up and gave him five. He was all smiles.

On one of the days we took a break from Disneyland and did a little shopping and headed to the beach.

We've heard to many good things about The World of Color that we had to see it. Pictures don't do it justice because it was pretty cool. The kids loved it and when it was over we couldn't get back to our car soon enough, the kids were tuckered out.

California and Disneyland 2 years in a row was a blast but I think it's safe to say we have had our fill for a couple years.
The only downside of vacationing this early in the year is that in a couple months I will be ready for another one.

Tender moments

2011-02-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

Having sick kids is the worst. Being sick yourself also isn't any fun. I can't decide which is worse? I recently was hit with some nasty bug that left me in bed with a fever, the chills and the aches from 3:30 until I went to bed last night. My kids new I was sick but that didn't stop them from coming into my room every 5 minutes checking on me, whining at me, or asking me for things. At one point after dinner Londynn came walking into my room as somber as could be. She just looked at me and I could tell she was fighting back tears. I asked her what she needed and she said "I just want you to feel better". By this time her eyes have filled with tears but she's still fighting them back. Out of my 2 kids Londynn is most like me. She is very strong willed and I feel we butt heads more than we get along. It's not very often I feel we have those "tender moments as mother and child" and quite honestly that makes me sad. Last night we had one of those moments. As she is trying to hold back her tears for me I couldn't help but to let mine fall as I tried to reassure her that I was going to be okay and I just needed to rest. As she walked away she mumbled the words "I love you mom" and left my room.

It's moments like those that I am reminded of how in tune our children are. Here I was laying in bed feeling sorry for myself and all Londynn wanted was for her mom to feel better. Oh how I love my little girl, even if we butt heads. :)

Ticklish

2010-12-17T14:54:00.000-08:00

So Boston came to me yesterday holding his head. I asked him what was wrong and his reply was "my head tickles" aka I have a headache. Too cute!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

2010-09-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

So take a look at these photos and tell me if you see a common trend?

Londynn's 1st birthday

Londynn's 2nd birthday

Londynn's 3rd birthday

Londynn 5th birthday

This child does NOT like for us to sing Happy Birthday to her. It all started on her 1st birthday. While we were singing to her she burst into tears. That first year I didn't think anything of it. I thought maybe she was scared of the candles. Her 2nd birthday it happened again. We all started to think it was funny. Third birthday came around and we all started making bets as to whether or not she would cry. Sure enough she did. On her 4th birthday we had a friend party and unfortunately I was a bad mom and totally forgot to sing Happy Birthday to her; however, I'm pretty confident that she would have ended up in tears. That brings us to her 5th birthday. We celebrated the kids birthdays together at a local pizza joint. I wasn't sure whether or not she would cry this year. I was kinda hoping she had outgrown it. We started singing to her and she was all smiles. It wasn't until after we had finished the song and was congratulating her on not crying that she broke down into tears. I think she caved under all the pressure. Poor thing. Good thing grandpa was there to comfort her because I was too busy busting a gut. Yup I know I'm a mean mom, but you have to admit that it's pretty comical right?

The big 15...I mean 5

2010-09-25T19:56:00.001-07:00

Well my little/big girl turned 5 today. Anyone that really knows Londynn knows that she is 5 going on 15. People tell me all the time that she is a lot like me. Hmmm not sure what to think about that. :) This girl is full of attitude and personality and I couldn't imagine life without her. At 5 she:

1. LOVES preschool. Everyday she asks if she has school. Poor thing missed the deadline for school so she has another year before starting kindergarten. Everyone says this is a good thing and I'm sure it will be in the long run but it sure is hard having her home when she is ready to go to school.
2. Londynn is ALL girl and still loves everything girly, especially if it is pink and has sparkles (what can I say, she takes after me).
3. loves playing with her friends and makes friends easily.
4. is very reluctant to try new things even if i know she will love it (i.e rides at disneyland, trying new foods, participating in an activity at school or dance etc.)
5. Londynn just learned how to whistle today. She was so proud of herself and the look on her face was priceless.

Happy Birthday sweetie. We love you!!

Look who's 3

2010-09-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my little boy!!!

Well another year older and full of personality. I can't imagine life without this little guy. He's my tender hearted go with the flow little boy. At 3 you:

1. just became potty trained and are doing awesome
2. love doing and saying everything your sister does and say
3. are finally getting into "boy" things. With an older sister and all the "frills" having a sister comes with, you were a little slow getting into the boy things. You now love cars and play fighting.
4. LOVE Toy Story
5. are very giving and think of others. When Londynn has a friend over and you ask for a snack you will always ask to have one for sister and her friend, even if you weren't playing with them at the time.
6. are very easy going and rarely fight over toys. You usually just end up giving up whatever it is your sister or cousin or friend wants. Perfect example: We were at aunt cristy's with family and you had just pulled out a bucket of toys to play with. Your cousin a year younger than you saw you pull out these toys and immediately came over and tried to take the toy away from you. You actually fought for it for a minute and we let you fight it out because rarely do you ever do this. A minute later your cousin had stopped crying and we looked over to find that you had given her the toy and went to find something else. That was either you being really kind or you couldn't stand to listen to her scream at you any longer and gave it to her (learning at an early age to give the girls what they want to get them to be quiet :)).
7. love to eat. We have to remind you constantly to slow down and chew your food.
8. have a major sweet tooth (hmmm I wander where you get that? )
9.have a love/hate relationship with the movie Enchanted. i think you love the movie for the music, but you are soooo afraid of the witch. You'll watch the first have just fine and then hide behind my leg telling me how scary the witch is for the second half.
10. when you get embarrassed you shrug one of your shoulders up and down. It's the cutest thing.
11. are tender hearted. I wouldn't say that you get your feelings hurt very often but when you do you have a quivering lip and eyes that fill with tears enough to melt anyones heart.

Happy Birthday little guy. We love you!!!

Summer Lovin'

2010-08-16T13:04:00.001-07:00

People are starting to say that summer is coming to an end and that fall is just around the corner. Every time I hear the word the fall I cringe a little. I'm not ready for summer to be over. We've had an awesome summer. I'm not sure what made this one different from all the rest but I think that my kids are at a good age makes a huge difference. We are out of the baby stage and my kids are a little more independent makes for more enjoyable outings. We've kept busy and I've loved every moment of it. Some of our outings have included:

The Tim McGraw concert. We went with my sister and her husband. Jared can't stand country but believe it or not he loves Tim McGraw. His concerts never disappoint (okay except for the sound system is definitely lacking if you have grass seating). Good music (and people watching) and a night out without kids makes for a nice relaxing evening.

Our summer has been full of swimming, which unfortunately has resulted is a few sun burns. :( We kicked off the summer with running through the sprinklers. It was a hit the first time but they weren't so interested in it after that. We are fortunate enough to have an awesome outdoor swimming pool at our gym. On many occasions we have packed a lunch and spend the whole afternoon lounging at the pool. This is where my kids age comes in handy. They are finally old enough to know not to go into the deep water. They are perfectly content hanging out in the shallow while I hang out on the lawn chair in the shade watching. This has been one of my favorite things to do this summer.

I love summer time and being able to spend time in the mountains. I'm not much of a hiker but I love going on picnics and having a camp fire and hanging out with family and friends. The kids are just happy to get out of the house.

My favorite summer outing thus far has been just this past weekend. Some of our friends invited us and few other families to spend the night at their cabin. I don't think I have laughed as hard as I did in a long time. It was definitely a good time. We hung out, went four wheeling, ate, played games, and watched wild life. These two little guys (okay maybe not so little) decided to pay us a visit on Sunday morning. They were fun to watch. We saw deer, bats, squirrels and humming birds all while sitting on the deck of the cabin.

Between 4 families there were 9 kids. Overall the kids did amazingly well. I loved the fact that there was enough for the kids to do around the cabin that they could entertain themselves.

These two love birds were hilarious. There was definitely a lot of love going around. :)

Thanks Millgates we had a blast!!

Summer is not complete without tinfoil dinners up the canyon. We started this tradition a couple years after realizing how much work it takes to actually go camping, and the fact that getting a camp ground isn't as easy as it used to be. This particular weekend we had actually made plans to go camping. We had hoped to wake up early Friday morning and head up the canyon in hopes of getting one of the few "first come fist served" camp sites. Unfortunately that didn't pan out. By the time we made it up the canyon and to the site there was already a waiting list. We decided to have a picnic that night instead. Maybe it was a good thing we weren't able to camp because we got rained out later in the night and had to call it a night before we could shove our faces with smores. Still a good time was had.

Ahhhhh Mill Hollow. Our family loves this place. It's the only place that I know of that you are almost guarantee to catch a fish, because we all know it's only fun to fish if you catch something (even if they are small). This was Boston's first fishing trip. He loved catching the fish. Londynn loved it the first time until she realized that after you reel the fish in it splashes in the water and swings towards you until you grab the line. She didn't so much like it after that. She would reel it in as long as you told her there wasn't a fish on the line.

It's been quite a few years since we have been to the Heber demolition derby. We were able to get tickets this year and went with my sister and her husband. It was just as exciting as I remember it being. The kids loved it but I forgot about all the down time there is while the cars are being towed off the field. Definitely a fun night.

....and there you have it. We hope to add a few more swimming sessions and a few more canyon runs before "fall" arrives. aaahhhhh how I love summer.

What gives

2010-07-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

I took the kids swimming today, granted it was for 4 hours. I applied sunscreen at least 4 times thinking that I was being a good mom and preventing sunburns. However, when all was said and done my kids still got burned. Boston started out with a shirt on but the poor guy was freezing when he got out of the water so I took his shirt off and heavily applied sunscreen thinking he would be okay. I was wrong.
Here is Londynn's burn and Bostons back is just as bad. We won't mention my legs but lets just say I didn't apply ANY sunscreen. In my defense though I spent the majority of the time in shade watching the kids. Apparently it didn't matter thought because my legs are still pretty toasty.

I guess there goes my plans of taking the kids to the pool again on Friday. :( Next time I think we will all wear pants and long sleeve shirts with hats. I think that's the only way to prevent getting burned in our family.

Like father like son

2010-07-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

Jared had a couple days off this week and on one of those days he decided to go to the apple store. He took Boston with him and I think I should be a little worried. He said Boston was in heaven and he had a picture to prove it.

Scaredy cat

2010-06-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

So yesterday afternoon I sent the kids outside to eat popsicles and I sat down at the computer for a minute. A few minutes later I hear both kids screaming bloody murder. While I'm running to the door I'm thinking that maybe Londynn got stung by a bee or maybe they had a run in with a big spider or something. I get outside and ask them what was wrong and Londynn cries "there is a cat in our yard". Yup no bee sting, no big spider, my kids were terrified that there was a cat in our yard and instead of opening the door and coming inside they felt it was best to stand on the stairs and cry like they had just been hurt.

Look what I did

2010-05-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well I finally finished my first furniture makeover. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be and I actually had fun doing it. I think I'm on the lookout for my next project.

here is the ugly before:

and after

I knew I wanted to paint his dresser orange to match the orange stripes in his room, but I wasn't willing to buy a brand new dresser only to paint it orange.

So the total cost for this dresser was $25. $15 for the dresser and $10 for the primer (I did it the easy way and spray painted the primer on). I already had the orange paint and the stain. I love how it turned it out.

Bad hair day

2010-05-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder where our kids come up with the stuff they do. This morning I was blow drying my hair curly and Londynn comes in and says "mom I don't want you to have curly hair today I want you to have straight hair and me have curly hair". After I was done doing my hair I asked her how she wanted her hair done (because heaven forbid I do it the wrong way). She told me that she wanted a flippy and a ponytail. So I attempted to do it how she said. Apparently I didn't do it right and she stormed out the the bathroom saying "mom that's not right and now I'm having a bad hair day". I'm not sure where she came up with that one because I don't ever remember saying that. We never lack the drama at our house that's for sure.

Big boy room project

2010-05-10T18:47:00.001-07:00

Well it's official. My baby is in a big boy bed and is no longer a "baby". At the rate we were going he could have slept in his crib until he was 10 except for the fact that he'd just about out grown it. He's a good sleeper and at 2 and a half is still taking a nap most days and has never crawled out of his crib.

I've had the decorating and crafting bug lately so his room was my next project. I don't have a before of his room but it was nothing special. White walls and not much hanging on them. He had primary colors in his nursery so I wanted to go with something different. Brown and orange it is. Jared was mister handy man and made his bed (with the help from http://www.knock-offwood.com/) . I LOVE how it turned out. His room is still has a lot of work to do but here it is at it's current state.

Boston pretending to be asleep in his new bed.

My mom found this dresser at a yard sale on saturday and I picked it up for $15. It will be my first furniture makeover project and will be going in Bostons room.

I wanted to do something fun and bold so I'm painting it orange to match the stripes on his wall. Here is it with it's first coat.

More to come when the project is complete (what am I talking about my projects are never complete!)

starving

2010-04-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

Apparently I starve my kids. Londynn just came to me saying "mom I'm starving, if you don't give me food I'm going to die".

Vacation part 2

2010-03-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

We decided to do Disneyland during the week to avoid the crowds. Our first day of Disney was on Monday. The day started a little rough. The kids were way excited to go to Disneyland but I knew Londynn would probably fight us on the rides, and she did. We thought that if we started her on way easy rides and worked our way up that she would be good. We started with the teacups and right away it was "I don't want to go on that ride", being the mean mom that I am I made her go on it. It took a lot of talking to and convincing her that it wasn't scary. Once the ride started the words that came out of her mouth were "that's not so bad after all". It ended up being her favorite ride and we rode it many times. This was the perfect time of year to go. I don't think we waited in any line for more than 15 minutes.

That first day we all wore ourselves out, as you should at Disneyland and by the end of the night I ended up with the worst migraine of my life. So not fun!

On Tuesday we decided to take the day off of Disney (we had a 3 day pass) and just relax and do a little shopping. Wednesday and Thursday we hit it hard again; however, by Thursday we were worn out and only lasted about a half of day. When we go again I think we will do the 3 day pass again but this time allow enough time to have a day off in between each day.

This here is the Londynn "I don't want to go on that ride" face.

The 2nd day she was rewarded with these ears for trying new rides.

The whole fam (and some strange guy in the way)!

My cute nephew Bryton and Mark. Bryton wasn't quite sure what to think of pluto.

Boston loved seeing the characters. Londynn not so much. She viewed them from a distance.

This was Boston when he saw Woody from Toy Story. He LOVES Toy Story. I would say this was probably the highlight of the whole trip. It was so fun to see him get so excited.

Mark, Heather and Bryton.

Boston with uncle Derek

Overall the vacation was a success and we all had a fun time. We had plans to stop in St. George for the night to split up the drive but our kids surprised us and were awesome in the car so we drove straight through. And there you have it......

Vacation part 1

2010-03-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Anyone else not a fan of blogger? I finally sit down to do the long process of uploading photos and for some reason I was able to do a few and now I'm getting an error. grrrr. So now this post will be split up.

Well we finally went on our first "real" family vacation this past week to California and Disneyland. We were fortunate enough to be able to have my whole side of the family join us on vacation. I think it made it just that more enjoyable (that and we had help with the kiddos, that's always a plus). In order to save us $$$ we opted to make the long drive instead of flying. I was dreading the drive not knowing how the kids would handle being in the car that long. We left on Saturday and stopped for the night just outside of Vegas. It was the perfect length of car ride for the fist day.

That night we headed to the outlet malls for a little shopping because what's vacation without shopping? The next morning we made the rest of the treck to California. The nice sunny weather in California was VERY welcomed. That first day it was close to 70 and nothing but sunshine. We didn't waste anytime hitting the beach that night. This was the fist time my kids have seen the ocean. I don't think they cared much about the water but they loved playing in the sand.

washing apples

2010-02-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

So Londynn just came to me and handed me an apple and said "mom here is your apple, I washed it for you." I asked her how she washed it and she said "with my tongue". Gotta love that girl!

sssssnakes

2010-01-29T15:05:00.000-08:00

Aunt Cristy has a snake at her house and this is what happens when she babysits.

Apparently Londynn wouldn't have anything to do with the snake and Boston was in total heaven. I just get the heebie jeebies when I look at these pictures. eeewwww

Binky free

2009-12-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

Well Boston is officially Binky free. He turned 2 in September and I knew I should probably take it away but he's my baby and I just didn't have the heart to do it yet, that and he only needed it when he took naps and at bedtime. Well the other night Jared put Boston to bed and a couple minutes later he started crying (this is very unusual for him) so we went it to see what the problem was. We opened the door and he cried binky broke. Sure enough the top part of his binky was completely off. He had bit it off. Instead of getting him another one I thought this was the perfect time to try and do away with the binky. We told him it was broken and we had to throw it away. We gave him loves and laid him back down. He has now slept 2 nights and had 1 nap without a binky. Who knew it would be this easy?

Heartbroken

2009-12-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

I knew when we decided to start a family that part of having children would include some heartache a long the way. Tonight was a perfect example of that. Londynn started dance a couple months ago and tonight was her first dance recital. We invited the grandma's and grandpa's and and some aunts and uncles to come watch her dance. I warned everyone that I wasn't sure if she would actually get on stage and perform but we would love to have them come anyways. The big day finally arrived and Londynn was fully aware that if she got on stage and danced that we would reward her by going to the store and letting her chose out a new barbie. She was so excited. Jared and I were actually both nervous for her all day. I just wanted her to participate and enjoy the experience with the other girls.

As part of there dance costume there was a flower for there hair (on a band). The moms decided that instead of wearing it in their hair they would wear it on there wrist as a bracelet instead. There is a reason for me sharing this, just stick with me. So we put it on Londynns arm and was set to go. Her class lined up ready to go on stage and Londynn surprised me and let me go sit in the audience. I thought all was good and she was actually going to dance. I sat in my seat with butterflies in my stomach for her. The curtains opened and there she was. Not a moment after the curtains opened Londynn started running for the side holding her arm, pulling her hair band off. It was obviously bothering her. I thought she was just going to give it to her teacher and return to the stage but instead she started crying. The teacher tried to get her to return to her spot on the stage but she wouldn't. There she stood on the edge of the stage crying while the others girls continued to dance. I was heart broken for her. Not only because she didn't dance but because I knew she was expecting a new barbie.

When the dance ended I up met her out in the hall and gave her loves and asked her what happened. All she talked about was how the flower was hurting her arm and then asked if she got a barbie. I felt like the mean mom telling her no barbie. I totally understand the fear of getting on stage. I'll admit she gets it from me, but how could I not reward her for the effort? So we did. We took her to target and she got to chose a treat. Definitely not a barbie, but hopefully next time. If my heart aches for her at this age I can't even imagine what it will be like when she is a teenager.

Here are the girls lined up and if you look closely you can see londynn making her way to the side.

...and here she is on the side of the stage where she stayed.

month and a half recap

2009-12-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

Wow it sure has been awhile. I'm sure you are all dying to know what we have been up to. So in no particular order here you have it.

When I saw Disney Princess on Ice was coming to town I knew I wanted to take Londynn. I made aunt Kelsey come along with us. Londynn LOVED it. At intermission I asked Londynn if she was ready to go home or if she wanted to stay and watch more, she didn't even hesitate with "I want to see more". It was fun to see her get excited over the princesses.

I celebrated another birthday and Jared bought me these.

What's Thanksgiving without the leftovers? We were at the Stouts home for Thanksgiving this year and Thanksgiving isn't complete without leftover turkey and green olive sandwiches. We decided that we would make our own turkey and rolls so we could have leftovers. Let's just say they did not disappoint.

I know you are all thinking how yummy that sandwich looks. It makes my mouth water. Yummy!! I'll admit it is one of those things that is an acquired taste.

What's Christmas without making sugar cookies? The kids sure enjoy helping but I'll admit that it takes a lot of patience on my part to let them "help".

We recently attended an ugly sweater party and boy were our sweaters ugly. I can't help but laugh looking at this picture. The sweater is a "little" to snug and that ugly blue thing underneath it would be a dickie. Sweet!!!

Boston recently learned how to sing his abc's. It's so dang cute. This is a video where you will need to close your eyes because our camera is THAT bad (no worries though because we are getting a new one for Christmas. Yipppeeee!!!)

And there you have it. Our exciting lives for the last month and a half.

failed movie attempt

2009-11-06T18:43:00.001-08:00

Jared had today off and we thought it would be fun to take the kids to see a christmas carol. We actually bought our tickets in the morning and was looking forward to it all day. Londynn couldn't wait to go to the movies and talked about it all day long. Well our great idea turned out to be a BAD idea. We got to the movie theatre and in our seats and as soon as the movie started Boston was scared (scrooge is a pretty scary guy). He quietly laid his head on my arm and once in a while he would look away, but as soon as the first ghost appeared the poor kid was whimpering.

I picked him up and held in my lap and was trying to distract him so he wouldn't watch but the poor kid couldn't keep his eyes off the screen. By this time Londynn decided that she wanted to sit in Bostons seat so she came over and sat by me. She now noticed that Boston was scared and became scared herself. This is where everything fell apart. My kids feed off of each other and when they both realized that they were scared they both started crying. What else could I do but stand up and take Boston out. I begin to get up proceed down the stairs (mind you was are almost at the back of theatre) and Londynn starts freaking out because I'm leaving. Jared grabs her and starts down the stairs when apparently she looses her shoe. She is now screaming bloody murder because she lost her shoe and Jared isn't stopping to get it.

Have you painted this picture yet? Pretty comical right?...not so much. I'm pretty sure everyone in the theatre is laughing or was wondering what we were thinking bringing them to this movie (I honestly didn't think it would be scary). As soon as we get out of the theatre some lady comes running out carrying Londynn's shoe. Needless to say I didn't have enough time to grab all of our stuff so I had to go back in the theatre to get it all. Lucky for us we were able to get our money back in the form of a gift card. Let's just say Jared and I will not be taking our kids to another movie anytime soon.

Bribery

2009-11-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Londynn is ALL girl and loves everything girly so when her friend Isabel signed up for Ballet I knew I had to sign Londynn up also. She has loved going but her teachers say that they have to remind londynn what's she doing and to keep dancing. Parents get to come and watch the first Tuesday of every month and it wasn't to surprising that when I am there she won't dance. She pretends to be shy and holds on to me the entire time. As a parent it was kind of disappointing because I wanted her to participate and I also wanted to see her dance. Well this month I decided to try and bribe her. I see nothing wrong with bribery. I told Londynn that if she danced while I was there the entire time I would take her to the store and let her choose a toy. Right away she lit up and said she would dance, I wasn't quite convinced though.

Well Londynn surprised me and danced the entire time. It was so dang cute and makes the monthly fee and expensive dance costume all worth it. I kept my word and we stopped at Target on the way home. Londynn chose a pair of press-on nails from the $1 section. Doesn't get any better than that!!

She loves tapping on things because they make "clicky" noises.

We're creepy and we're kooky........

2009-11-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.

Jareds sister Cristy has a Halloweed party every year and this year our family went as the Adams Family. We had yummy food and then took the kids trick-or-treating. At our first stop Boston knocked on the door and when the lady answered he walked right into her house. That kid always makes us laugh.

Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday and Pugsley.

The hostess (cristy)

Wednesday and woody (jack)

The host (matt)

Mitch and Lara

Morticia and Wednesday

Beautiful Wednesday. Londynn wouldn't let me spray her hair black and insisted on wearing the witch hat. That was a war I let her win.

Jareds parents (gail and bev)

FOOTBAALLL

2009-10-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

This kid takes after his dad and LOVES football. I can't help but smile every time I look at these pictures. I LOVE this boy!!!

another birthday

2009-10-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know what my problem is but I just have not been into the blogging thing (as if you couldn't tell). I wrote about Boston's birthday so I thought I better do the same about Londynn's.

Londynn's birthday was on September 25th. I decided that I would let her have a princess birthday party. After throwing that party I have decided birthday parties are just not for me. Props to all of you that throw them because I learned how much work actually goes into a party and this was only for 4 year olds. Now I understand why my mom didn't do many parties for us growing up.

The Birthday girl!!!

Londynn is ALL girl and loves everything princess. She outgrew her other cinderella dress so we got her a new one for her birthday. I didn't realize how many sparkles were on the dress when I bought it. I now have sparkles ALL OVER my floor.

For her party we had the girls make candy necklaces, magic wands, play pin the princess on the castle, had a pinata and decorated cupcakes.

Londynn did want to be blind folded so my sister had to put her hands over her eyes. Silly girl!

The girls had troubles breaking the pinata so I had to step in.

Overall the party was a success. I'm just glad it's over.

At the age of 4 Londynn loves:

1. anything Princess and sparkly

2.wearing dresses (she would wear them everyday if I let her)

3. helping mom in the kitchen

4. going to preschool

5. playing with friends

6. going to grandpas house

We love you Londynn!!

A little late

2009-09-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

This post is just a little late, okay A LOT late. It was Boston's 2nd birthday on September 4th. Birthdays were not a big thing at my house growing up. I remember mainly celebrating with family and because Boston is still too young to the know the difference we decided to keep it simple. We decided to head up the canyon with my family and have dinner on his birthday. I can't believe summer is over and we hadn't made it up the canyon yet. It rained a little before we arrived but it was perfect the rest of the night. The kids entertained themselves quite well by climbing a little hill and singing the Happy Birthday Day song as loud as they could. I'm sure the neighboring families loved us.

Here's my birthday boy.

Here he is tasting the Elmo cake I made him.

We are a terrible family and we actually all forgot to bring his birthday presents with us up the canyon so the next morning he got to open his presents.

At the age of 2 this big guy is:

1. an awesome sleeper

2. loves to do everything his big sister does

3. would rather play barbies with his sister than his trucks (he better outgrow this)

4. Loves to play football with dad or anyone who will throw him a ball

5. Is a dang good eater

We love you Boston!!

Sexy Boots!!!

2009-08-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Londynn loves the song Sexy Boots by U2, so when she put on my boots that's the first thing that came to my mind. This is the first time she's tried these babies on and I couldn't help but laugh. I told her I wanted to take her picture and I got all sorts of poses.

Here she thought I was taking her picture, so I caught her dancing. Sorry about the bad video my camera is on it's way out. booo

Of course this would only happen to me

2009-08-13T10:18:00.001-07:00

Why does it seem you always run into someone you know when you're looking your worst? Okay so today it wasn't someone I know but probably worse. I have a bad habit of running my errands right after I get done at the gym. So if you can picture this I was in shorts (shorter shorts than I usually like to wear to the gym because lets be honest my legs are far from perfect). I had no make up on and was sweaty (because I am actually one those people who sweat when I work out). Not a pretty picture. I had this great idea to run to a local farmers market to pick up some veggies (because my garden absolutely SUCKED this year) before going home so I wouldn't have to run out later with both kids. I get in there and start bagging my veggies and a lady approaches me and tells me that she is with the Salt Lake Tribune and they are doing an article on this particular farmers market and asks me if it is okay if she takes some pictures of me while I am shopping. What am I supposed to say? Sorry I look like crap so no? Okay that's what I should have said but I'm to nice. I agreed and while I continued to shop and she continued taking pictures of me I was regretting my decision. The only thing running through my mind is "I hope she's far away enough that you can't see my cottage cheese" and many other similar thoughts.

As I was paying for my stuff I thought maybe people won't recognize me because she never asked me for my name. Yeah right. As I was walking out she stopped me and asked me my name and Bostons name. I'm just hoping nobody reads the papers anymore!!!

Weekend getaway

2009-08-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

My brother Brad recently returned from his mission and our family wasted no time on planning a little getaway with everyone. This last weekend we headed to Logan and Bear Lake for some play. It's pretty sad but this was the kids first stay at a hotel and they actually surprised us and did pretty well. They drove us crazy but they did sleep. We drive us thursday afternoon and met everyone at Maddox for dinner. Yummy!! We can't drive through Brigham City without a stop at Maddox.

Friday morning woke up and headed to Bear Lake. We had reserved waive runners for the day and they did not disappoint. It was a bit chilly that day (we were lucky if it hit 65) but we didn't let the cool weather dampen our day. We were just happy we didn't get rained on. We actually found that it was a bit warmer to hang out in the water than it was to hang out on the beach. After playing in the water all day we of course had to stop and get a raspberry shake. Oh and were they good!! That night we all went to dinner as a family. Anyone else feel that vacations are usually planned around where and what you are going to eat? I swear all we did was eat.

Saturday we woke up to rain, which kind of put a damper on our canyon plans. Instead we headed to the pepperidge farms outlet and then to some fun center for arcade games, laser tag and a game of bowling. Of course that was followed by lunch out and a pizza place. I think we all rolled out of there. By this time we were beat and it was past the kids nap time. We decided to call it good and headed home. It was a fun and tiring weekend.

Kids hanging out in the hotel

Boston for some reason thought the dirt tasted good

Londynn trying to stay warm and have a snack

Kelsey and Boston

Bryton

Boston thought the lockers at the bowling alley were fun entertainment. He could actually crawl in and turn around and almost get the door closed.

Jared and Boston at dinner

I heart London

2009-08-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

No self esteem issues at our house!!!

Bad mom?

2009-07-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Does it make me a bad mom when my almost 4 year old gets in the face of my 2 year old and teases him, so he smacks her in the face and I just stand back and watch? I say she deserves it after all the teasing she does to him.

Kirby- the salesperson from HELL

2009-07-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

Ever had a kirby sales person knock on your door? I have. The first time they came to my door about a year ago they came into my home and shampood my living room floor, for free. It looked amazing and the vacuum was pretty amazing too; however, priced at over $1500 there was no way I was going to buy one. The sales person wasn't to pushy, gave me her speech and cleaned my carpet and left. She stayed maybe 45 minutes tops. Well when they knocked on my door again today I thought sweet, they are going to clean my carpet again. Boy was I mistaken. I let them in because they said they would clean my carpet for free. All I would have to do is suffer through there sales pitch again, which as I remember wasn't to bad. When they showed up at my door it was 4:45pm. The girl said they were just finishing up another house and would return in 15 minutes. Fine no big deal plenty of time to get the carpet cleaned and dinner started before Jared returned from work. They showed up at 5:00 and started there sales speech. Of course he had to go through each and every attachment and show what an awesome thing it was and how it would save me "money and time" buying this product. He cleaned, my blinds, the sliding door, my ceiling fan, my kitchen floor, my carpet and then asked me if I would take him to the nearest bed mattress. My first thought was "are you kidding me" you didn't just ask me to take you to my bedroom or any other room in my house for that matter. Of course I'm to nice and really didn't say anything and after a moment of hesitation I took him to Londynns room. He started cleaning her mattress and after a second I could smell something was burning. I totally forgot that she has a plastic covering over her mattress and if he continued doing what he was doing it would melt this covering. I told him that I got the picture and he didn't need to do anymore but he insisted that if he didn't do a mattress then he wouldn't get credit for doing my house. He asked if he could do another mattress. I was a sucker and took him to my mattress. He showed me all the dust mites that I have been sleeping with and we returned to my living room. It's now 6:15 and kids are hungry, jared is stuck at work and I'm stuck with this stranger in my house. He continued to show me the "magic" this thing did. Finally after being in my home for two hours and asking for a drink, asking to use my cell phone, using the bathroom and another guy showing up at my door trying to give me the sales speech, I told him that I still had things I needed to get done tonight and could he please just shampoo my carpet and wrap things up. When all was said and done he left my house at 7:30 and only shampood half of the carpet. Are you freaking kidding me? Even if I wanted the vacuum and had planned on buying one, just the fact that you stayed at my house for 2 1/2 hours and wasted my time (and his) would have changed my mind about buying one. Never again will I let a Kirby sales person in my home.....and neither should you!

The weekend

2009-07-05T20:39:00.001-07:00

Our weekend was full of activities as I'm sure everyone else's was. Friday night was our neighborhood block party/barbeque. Saturday was a picnic in the park with my side of the family and later that night was a barbeque on Jareds side of the family. Tonight just our little family hung out. We decided to head up the canyon for a little picnic and stroll around silver lake. We quickly discovered that we came unprepared and found that if we spent much time outside we were going to get eaten alive. The mosquitos were thick. Being the great photographer that I am the only pictures that were taken the whole weekend was our little trip up the canyon tonight, and even then only 4 pictures were taken. Fun times!!

We had a little visitor join us on our picnic.

Getting along

2009-06-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous day for the farmers market today so the family met downtown and walked around for awhile. It actually got a little toasty and the crowd was a little more than we had hoped for. After walking around for awhile we headed over to The California Pizza Kitchen for lunch and to walk around gateway. The kids surprised us and actually did really well. We thought the kids would enjoy the fountains but who was I kidding? They were perfectly content sitting on the sidelines watching all of the other kids get wet.

Of course grandpa had to buy a treat for Londynn, and she made an instant friend.

ohhhhh, I want some.

how cute is that? I love when my kids are getting along.

Train show, train show

2009-06-21T07:58:00.001-07:00

Boston is going through a not so good phase. My sweet little easy going child has turned into a tantrum throwing whiney toddler. I guess the terrible two's have officially hit and I'm ready to ship him off already. Londynn looks at him the wrong way and he cries, Londynn talks him and he will cry. I tell him no he will cry. Basically anything and everything we do these days will result with Boston crying, except the train show (also known as the Polar Express). He LOVES this show and asks for it constantly; however, if you don't turn in on for him that will also result in a crying fit. I'm not sure what it is about this show but when Londynn was Bostons age she LOVED this show also. It's the only show that I can put on that he will actually sit down and watch for awhile (if I were to sit down with him he would probably sit through the whole thing). Soooooo needless to say we have been watching A LOT of the Polar Express. It's the only thing that has kept me sane through this terrible stage of Bostons.

I did it!!

2009-05-31T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well the "big" day has come and gone. I ran and survived my first 10K on Saturday. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Because this was my first run I didn't want to set a goal, my goal was simply to finish the race and I did that. I run as fast as a snail and finished in 67 minutes (but I guess it wasn't that bad because we all finished within 10 minutes of each other). Again, I didn't really care about the time I just wanted to do it. Next time (because I think there will be a next time) I will set a goal to beat this time. When I began running I HATED it, at this point I no longer HATE it but I'm not quite a lover either. I don't know if I will ever get to that point but I love the feeling I get after I have done a run and I think that will keep me coming back. Being a stay at home mom it's hard for me to have the feeling of accomplishment from day to day (being a mom is great don't get me wrong) but it was an awesome feeling doing something for myself that I have always wanted to do.

Jared and I after finishing the run.

Steph and Melissa, the true motivators.

the gang

Picture this

2009-05-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

So I rarely buy juice for my kids because it's just loaded with sugar and they get it in plenty of other areas. So the last couple of weeks capri suns have been on sale so I caved and bought some thinking that they would be nice to have for picnics. Well Londynn saw me buy them and asked to have one for lunch. I thought why not and gave one to her. She learned real quick that you can't squeeze the pouch or it squirts out the straw. Well Boston sees Londynn having juice and of course he wants one....sure why not. I don't know where my brain was but I try to show him how to hold it and put his mouth on the straw without squeezing it....didn't work so well. He freaks and takes it from my hands while the juice is pouring out the straw. I am in a battle with my 1 year old trying to get the juice away and of course he doesn't want to let go so is squeezing harder. Needless to say I think he won that battle. There was capri sun everywhere. I'm an idiot!!

weekend o fun

2009-05-25T18:36:00.001-07:00

Our family is known for sticking around home for the holidays and this Memorial weekend was no exception. Jared took friday off so we took the kids to the Living Aquarium. Boston loved the "whishies" (that's how he says it when you ask him to say fish). Overall it was a hit.

Saturday my dad smoked ribs and we all invited ourselves over for dinner. I think these were seriously some of the best ribs I have ever eaten. I'm surprised there were leftovers. He'll definitely be making those again.

Monday we went to my parents house for a bbq. The weather turned out to be perfect even though we were expecting rain. Kelsey and Derek were nice enough to ride their motorcycle over so we were all able to take it for a ride. So much fun!

The result of all play and no naps for two kids.

Bug... bug... bug...

2009-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Boston has an older sister so you can expect to see my little man playing with barbies and dolls, but when we visited grandma and grandpa stout last night I was happy to see my little guy trying to pick up a flying ant (not sure if that's what they are called but that's what they look like). He really is my little boy and likes boy things. Well that is until he sees little miss Londynn freaking out over an ant. Yup my little girl is scared of ants (and flies and bees and... but you're not surprised are you?) Boston went from trying to pick up the bugs to totally freaking out not wanting to move and crying to be picked up. Even while he was being held he was worried about the ants on the ground and at one point started crying owie and pointing to his shoe. Grandma took off his shoe and I think he thought the dirt on his foot were bugs because he freaked out a little more. Bug, bug, bug was all he had to say while the tears ran down his face.

We're still here

2009-05-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

Apparently I haven't been blogging enough but like I've said before, we lead boring lives. We have however made it to the park for a picnic a few times now that the weather has decided to be nice. On one of our latest trips we were walking around the park and Londynn felt it was important to hold Bostons hand and warn him to watch out for cars (as you can see from the picture there is not a road in site, making her comment all the cuter). Boston is all about being independent these days so it's not very often that he will let his sister hold his hand.

Yup Londynn is at the age where she thinks she needs to make a funny face every time her picture is taken.

kids, kids, kids

2009-04-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

We have a problem at our house. Here is miss personality, she is 3 going on 13 and let's be honest she'll be lucky if she makes it to 13. Londynn has challenged me since the day she was born. She refused to nap unless someone was holding her and even then her naps we only 30 minutes long, she was a very fussy baby and to make matters worse she didn't sleep through the night (you following me, no sleep at night and no naps during the day makes for a very tired mommy). To say the least she tested my patience from day 1 and continues to do so. Our main challenge with Londynn these days is her mouth. She talks back ALL the time. I'm at my wits end with her. I put her in her room for time out and she screams and kicks her door until she is let out (I'm scared she's going to break her door one of these days). We put her in time out on a chair in the kitchen and we get to hear her at full volume crying and whining and even then she continues to talk back. We take away TV and the world comes to an end and in reality it's punishment to myself. I don't know what else to do with her, she just doesn't care. But seriously something has to change and fast. Suggestions anyone? The only time of day I look forward to is nap time, time to myself (so I can have a much needed nap) but even these days she's fighting me on that. If she finally does get a nap then that means that I don't get an evening because she is up until 9:30. I can't win.

But how can I not love this? She's so adorable when she's sleeping. This picture was taken on a day that she won and didn't have to take a nap. She fell asleep on the couch after getting ready for bed.

and then there's Boston.....

Jared likes to tease Bostson and pretends to take his nose. He recently learned to how to say give it back (or in his words back). Maybe I'm just prejudice but it's so cute and makes me laugh every time.

Sunshine

2009-04-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

I get stuck in a rut. I have my routine and I usually stick to it. My sister called me yesterday on the way home from the gym and wanted to get together and have a picnic at the park. I agreed because I'll admit I don't take my kids to the park nearly enough (mainly because it requires me pushing them on the swings the whole time). Yesterday was a nice day (a little breezy but we had sunshine so I'm not complaining). The kids surprised me and actually played on there own. Boston figured out how to clime the stairs and go down the slide all by himself (that was a first). My baby is getting so big.

This is Heathers little guy Bryton. He is so dang cute and all boy.

Easter

2009-04-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

What kid doesn't love easter? It's all about candy and sugar highs. Our kids definitely were not lacking in either category. On Saturday we took our kids to Wheeler Farm for an Easter carnival. There was supposed to be an easter egg hunt but when we got there we discovered that there would not be one. booooo We stayed anyways and let the kids play a couple games and froze in the rain. It really wouldn't have been bad at all if the weather was nice. But apparently that is to much to ask for in utah. Later in the afternoon we headed to aunt Cristy's for lunch and an easter egg hunt. She made up for the fact that they didn't get a hunt an wheeler farm. Our little Boston is a character. He managed to find everyones candy stash and when you were not looking he was shoveling the candy in his mouth as fast as he could. You would have thought the kid had never had a piece of candy the way he ate it that day. Each time Boston disappeared or was quiet he was found with yet another piece of candy. I'm surprised we didn't have a puke fest that night.

Dad thought he was tough and didn't need a coat Saturday morning. He finally admitted to being cold.

The ring stash Londynn came away with after the egg hunt. Three days later and is still wearing them, even sleeps with them on.

Sunday morning. I was lucky enough to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. That's a rare occasion around here.

....and apparently I didn't think we had enough candy from easter and went out and bought more yesterday. Okay I really didn't buy it, I got it free after coupons. Who can pass up free chocolate? Not me!!!

Treat

2009-04-14T11:22:00.001-07:00

These are my favorite easter treats and believe me I've had my fare share of them.

This is the year

2009-04-08T14:16:00.001-07:00

I HATE to run and I don't hide that fact. I've ALWAYS hated running and just because I have long legs (apparently having long legs = long strides) doesn't change the fact that I HATE to run. I don't understand how some people can say that they LOVE to run. Can you share the love please. So even with this HATE of running I still manage to have this desire to run some sort of race. I've had this desire and wanting for a couple years now; however, I haven't had the desire and will to train and race one on my own. Well over conference weekend a couple friends in our neighborhood suggested that we all run the Bridal Veil Falls 10K at the end of May together. I don't know what I was thinking but I agreed to it. I know you are all thinking it's only a 10k it can't be that bad, but for someone who has NEVER ran a race before and currently has no running in her workouts, this is a big race. I started my training this week and I am my hips are killing, my calves are tight and the bottom of my feet hurt. Please tell me it gets better than this?

Girly Girl

2009-03-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

When Londynn was 6 months old I took her to get her ears pierced (I know so mean but oh so cute). Somehow in the last couple years the backs of her earings managed to twist and were no longer on straight. Londynn wouldn't let me play with them to try and get them off and really they weren't bugging her so I let them be. Well Jared and I went out Friday night and aunt Cristy babysat the kids. When we returned home the first thing londynn showed me were her earings. They were no longer her little studs but Cristy's dangling earings. Londynn thought she was soooo cool. Needless to say we now needed to make a run to the store to get her some pink dangly earings. We made a trip to the mall and walked into claire's and you would have that we just stepped into a candy store. Londynn was in heaven. She was touching all the pretty jewelry and trying on all the headbands. We found the perfect pink dangly earings (which she calls little soccer balls). She loves her new dangly earings. Having a girl is so much fun!

Little Stinker

2009-03-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Londynn decided that we needed a reminder of what it is like to have a newborn. She woke up and came into our room at least 6 times last night. Are you kidding me? I think we were lucky if we got 2 hours of straight sleep before she started making her appearances. Granted the poor thing has a cough (okay more like a bark), but come on. I think the vicks vapor rub on the feet and socks will be making another appearance tonight. Because mom is sleep deprived I'll admit I haven't been a happy camper (can you blame me)? Finally around noon I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and opened the blinds. It's amazing what a little sunshine can do for you, but to bad we live in utah and in a few days we'll have rain again. BOOOOOO

Little miracle

2009-03-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know my sister, she has lupus. She has had some major health issues over the years and didn't think that she would ever be able to have children of her own (and was actually on a waiting list for adoption) and if she was able to have a baby she would have a high risk pregnancy. So you can imagine our excitement when she announced she was pregnant. We were both excited for her and scared for her health as well as the baby she was carrying. She amazed us all with her almost flawless pregnancy. Little Bryton had to make an appearance about 3 weeks early due to Heathers fluid being low but both baby and mom are doing great.

Bryton Clark Smith was born on

March 5, 2009 weighing

5 Ibs 12 ounces and was 19" long

The poor little guy had troubles keeping his body temperature up so we were not able to unwrap him to get a good picture.

Congrats Heather he's adorable

A good day!

2009-03-03T18:53:00.001-08:00

Today was a pretty good day. The sun was shining and it was warm, the kids were good and happy, we finally got carpet in our basement, I was able to check a couple things off my to do list and news that my sister may be having her baby tomorrow. My days don't get much better than that. Hopefully we will have a repeat tomorrow!

A hard thing to learn

2009-02-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

Londynn is at the age where we are pulling teeth trying to get her to eat her dinner every night. There are very few items that she will actually sit down and eat without us nagging her. Tonight I had finally had it and decided that I wasn't going to push the issue. I told her that she wouldn't get anything else the rest of the night until she ate her dinner. She didn't seem to care. Well here it is bed time and we gave Boston his glass of milk and here comes Londynn asking for hers. Total meltdown when I told her she doesn't get any because she didn't eat her dinner. She could only have water. Guess who decided to eat her dinner at 8:15pm just so she could have a glass of milk?

Baby Shower

2009-02-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

My oldest sister Heather is due with her first baby next month (baby Bryton) so we had a shower for her on Saturday. I was the lucky one to host the shower, which was okay because it gave me a good reason to clean.

The diaper cake

Heather and Autumn

Heather had a little helper to help her open all the gifts. Lonynn thought it was the best party ever.

Don't kill me for posting this picture Heather. What I would have done to be this small with only a couple weeks left. I was gigantic with both of my pregnancies.

We're so excited for Bryton to arrive. Londynn will finally have a cousin on the Ivie side.

The car wash.....what a scary experience.

2009-02-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know what is wrong with my kids. Please tell me they are not the only ones. So I will admit that I am cheap and rarely spend money on a car wash and honestly I'm too lazy to wash it on my own so it's a rare occasion when my car gets washed. I happened to have a coupon for a free wash when you fill up so I stopped today and got my car washed. As soon as I pulled into the washer Boston got a worried look on his face. I actually wasn't even worried about him. He's my mellow kid. I thought Londynn would be the one losing it. As soon as the wash started Boston became hysterical and was reaching for me and of course because Boston was crying Londynn then became worried. We sat there in the car while both of my kids screamed. It was great times. All because of a car wash. Maybe I should stop threatening with time out when my kids are acting out and start threatening them with the car wash. I'll have to give it a try.

happy as can be now that we're home from the car wash

Love/Hate

2009-02-07T19:26:00.000-08:00

For Londynn's birthday my sister thought it would be a great idea to get her stuff that requires adult supervision. She got markers, paint and some play-dough. All I could think about was the markers that would appear all over my walls and the play-dough smashed into my carpet. This sister also doesn't have any children(yet) and thought it was funny. I told her she could expect to receive some of the same gifts when there children have birthdays. Well Londynn finally noticed the play-dough on top of the fridge a couple weeks ago and so I finally decided to pull it out and let her play for awhile. I think these gifts have turned out to be some of the best. Londynn has spent the last week playing for hours with her play-dough. Aunt Kelsey was nice and finally added to her collection this week. Who would have thought play-dough would entertain a child for so long. And the best part is she is pretty careful and only plays with one color at a time and when she is done she puts it all away with minimal clean up to follow. The one gift I thought I would hate, I now love.

Saturday project

2009-01-31T20:02:00.000-08:00

My grandparents came for a visit a few months ago and while they were here we gave them the tour of the basement. I think my grandma took pitty on me when she saw my storage room (no shelves and all of my food was in grocery bags on the floor). It was a complete mess. I don't remember if my grandpa volunteered or whether my grandma volunteered him but they were then on a mission to collect wood and come and build me some shelves. Today was the day. They made the trip from Heber to build me some shelves. They turned out perfect. After they were done and I had a chance to load them up I was scared to tell Jared that we are already in need of more. You can never have enough shelving right?

I forgot to take a before of the storage room while it was a disaster, but here is the food that we moved from the storage room to make room for the shelves.

Here is the storage room after it was cleaned and ready for shelves.

Here is the completed project.

Because we had all sorts of family over today Londynn went without a nap. After everyone left she sat down by me to have a snack and the next thing I knew she had passed out. ahhhh they're so cute while they are sleeping.

My new obsession

2009-01-28T13:15:00.001-08:00

I have a new obsession, hobby, love, whatever you want to call it. I am obsessed with finding a good deal and to see how much I can get for as little as possible. I've come across a lot of deals lately and I've had to stop and say "does my family eat or use this or will my family eat or use this." Today I ran to Albertsons to pick up a few of the deals. This is what I got:

Total value: $38.39

Total out of pocket: $4.66

Not to bad if I must say so myself. Of course I would have never come up with this on my own. I found all the information on the website pinching your pennies. If you've never checked out the site before I suggest doing so. It's saved our family so much over the last couple of months, it's been fun for me and I've been able to stockpile for our food storage.

Finally!!!

2009-01-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

We are finally done with our basement (okay not completely done but the office is done and the living room needs carpet), woohoooo!!! It only took us 2 years to complete is all. I didn't waste anytime breaking out my scrapbook stuff and have already made a mess. Love it!!

Since Jared isn't allowed to decorate the rest of the house I told him he could do whatever he wanted in the office (why he really cares about what our house is decorated with I'll never know). He's actually really surprised me with what he did with the whole room. I had no idea he could build a desk. He designed it himself and built it from scratch. I love it.

The other end of the office.

After we put Boston down for bed I took Londynn downstairs and let her stamp while I scrapbooked. She was in heaven.

My little man! One of the few words he can say is football and boy does he love balls.

CHEESE!!

good old nickel cade

2009-01-21T15:23:00.000-08:00

Anyone else in a serious blog rut? Not much has been going on but even when something IS going on I'm not in the mood to blog about it. But nonetheless I'm finally making a post.

My family is always wanting to go and do something different. With Monday being a holiday and everyone having it off except grandpa and Jared we decided to go and play. We all met up for lunch at the Philadelphian and then headed over to nickel cade for an afternoon of games. Londynn was of course skeptical of the games at first but eventually warmed up and gave them a shot, Boston was in heaven as expected. He thought it was so cool that we let him push all the buttons and play with the balls. It amazing how two siblings can be so different.

Christmas....better late than never

2009-01-10T21:10:00.001-08:00

Santa proof

2008-12-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

We had our ward Christmas breakfast this last Saturday. I knew santa would be visiting but I was pretty sure we wouldn't be seeing him because londynn has been scared of him in the past. My thoughts were correct when in walked santa and Londynn began to cry because she didn't want to sit on his lap. We assured her that she didn't have to go see him; however, a few minutes later I noticed that she was breaking out in a rash all over and thought we better leave (we think she had an allergic reaction to something she ate, but who knows). We picked up our things ready to leave and she threw a fit because she wanted to go see santa. I thought for sure we would wait in line and when it got to be our turn she would chicken out, but nooooo, she marched right up there and sat on his lap. What a surprise!! Boston on the other hand, a total different story. He wasn't to fond of Santa.

Cooookies!!!

2008-12-20T16:19:00.001-08:00

Londynn came down with a fever the night we were supposed to decorate sugar cookies with our friends so when she finally started feeling better we pulled out the icing and cookies. Grandpa Clark you should feel lucky we didn't see you right after she decorated that big gingerbread man, she was saving it just for you. :) I think there was more icing than cookie. Poor gingerbread man didn't make it to grandpa's house, he visited the garbage can instead.

My little helpers

2008-12-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

This little pink vacuum was the best day after Thanksgiving purchase.

Bostons new favorite toy.

Do as I'm doing......

2008-12-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

.....follow follow me. Meet my little shadow. She says her name isn't Londynn anymore it's Allison. I was laying on my bed talking to Jared and she crawled up right next me and assumed the same position. What a cutie!!

Temple Square

2008-12-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a few years since I have been to temple square to see the Christmas lights and since Londynn is really into the lights and temples we decided this year would be a good year to take a trip downtown. We thought we might be making a mistake going today because it was the Christmas devotional; however, we found parking that we otherwise wouldn't have found because of the devotional. We pretty much beat the rush both coming and going from downtown which was perfect. It's been hard getting into the Christmas spirit this year because it's been so warm; however, I wasn't complaining tonight when the temperature was bearable.

never before and never again

2008-11-28T11:42:00.000-08:00

What was I thinking when I got up at 4:20 to hit walmart (ya I know I shop at walmart) on black Friday. That's just it, I wasn't thinking. I've been out shopping on black friday before and have been just fine; however, I have never been up and at the store when it opened on black friday. Let's just say I will never do it again. I arrived at walmart at 4:45 15 minutes prior to when the sales were supposed to start. I should have seen it as a sign when I pulled into the parking lot and the WHOLE parking lot was full, but no I continued on. So much for starting at 5:00. I walked into the store at 4:50 and people were already going hog wild over items. I have never seen so many crazies jam packed into one store at one time in my life. It was quite the scene. The further I continued on into the store the more insane it became. I'm surprised I ended up leaving the store (after standing in line for over an hour) with almost everything I had on my list. What an ordeal. Now I can say I have braved the early morning crowds on black friday, something I do not wish to repeat!!

Gobble gobble

2008-11-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

This post is a little late coming seeing that it was for family night this last week, but if you can't tell I just haven't been in the blogging mood. We have a million pictures on our camera so it takes FOREVER for the new ones to upload, thus the reason I have put it off. However, with this being said, for family night on Monday we made Turkeys and talked about what we were thankful for. Londynn is thankful for santa because she seems to think that he will be bringing her Sleeping Beauty, hmmm we'll have to see about that one.

Just mom and me!

2008-11-16T19:53:00.001-08:00

So I've decided that I need to start spending more one on one time with my kids because honestly this is something that I haven't been good about doing. Friday night I decided that me and Londynn needed an outing together with just the two of us. We made a trip to the store to buy a birthday present for her friend and then we hit Iceberg for a yummy shake. I think her favorite part of the night was walking up and down the Christmas isles at the store wishing she had everything. Londynn sure has been testing me the last few months (I like to say she is a lot like me that's why we clash so much) so it was nice to be able to go out with just the two of us and spend some time together.

Stuck

2008-11-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

I heard crying in the kitchen when I was in a different room, I came out to find this. I'm a mean mom and instead of rescuing him I had to grab the camera. He didn't appreciate it to much. It's

amazing that they can find there way up on top of things but have troubles getting themselves down.

Rock Star

2008-10-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

While most kids are singing along to High School Musical my child is singing along to Pinks "So What".

Trunk-or-Treat x2

2008-10-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Well Londynn has proved that she doesn't need to go trick-or-treating until she's 10. I don't know where her leeriness comes from but this girl is scared of everything. Friday night our ward had a trunk-or-treat. Londynn wouldn't play the games or hold her bag out to get candy, she was scared and wanted mom to do it. She would hide behind my leg and say "you do it". This was repeated Saturday night at Jared's parents ward Trunk-or-treat. We've made it a tradition to go to his parents ward Trunk-or-treat. There ward goes all out and has numerous halloween games for the kids to play. I thought for sure she would eventually warm up and want to play the games, but no such luck. I ended up playing a lot of games and winning myself some candy. I think we'll skip out on trick-or-treating this year. Anyone know how to break a little girl of her leeriness?

Mr. Penguin and Snow White

I can understand her being scared of this face(cousin trent)!

Dress Up

2008-10-17T08:18:00.001-07:00

Londynn came to me the other day and asked if Boston could play dress up with her. I didn't see any harm in it, he actually seemed to enjoy himself. There will come a time when this won't be allowed anymore (lol), but for now have at it!!

Da Toilet

2008-10-09T10:05:00.001-07:00

I think our toilets can talk, they call to Boston all the time these days saying things like: "come and splash in me it will be so much fun", or "the harder you splash the more of a mess you'll make for your mom" and "come and see how wet you can get your clothes before she notices you are missing". Yup pretty sure they talk because Boston can't leave them alone and what's even better than that you ask? Well Londynn has a hard time flushing the toilet and putting the lid down so not only does he get to splash in water, it's pee water. Yummyyyyy!!! I bet you all wish you had talking toilets, don't you?

recent conversation

2008-09-30T15:56:00.001-07:00

Me: Londynn your shorts are on backwards.

Londynn: No dere fine.

Me: No look your pockets and the flowers are in the back.

Londynn: No mom dere fine.

Me: Okay sure whatever you say.

Bad, very bad!

2008-09-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have an addiction, I'll admit it. I

can't seem to get enough of them. I'm on my 4th bag (but don't tell anyone) and we haven' t even hit October yet. I'm in big trouble. These candy corns are bad, very bad.

Happy Birthday Princess!

2008-09-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Londynn's birthday on Sunday but today is her birthday. I thought it would be fun to let her help me make cookies today. She loved it and hasn't stopped talking about it. I guess we need to do this more often. My little girl is three and before I know it she will be off to school. It's weird to look back and wander what you did before you had kids. Life must have been really boring. j/k Some of the things I love about Londynn at this age are:

1. She's all girl and into everything that has to do with princesses.

2. She's decided that Boston isn't such a bad playmate after all.

3. She loves to sing

4. She's 3 going on 13 (not sure I love this about her but it's definitely something about her).

5. She still has a crush on Ernie and Bert and will still get shy if you talk about them.

6. She LOVES her grandpa Clark and asks for him almost everyday (probably because he spoils her like no else does).

7. She's our sweet little girl and we are so happy she is part of our family.

Look at those rolls. She was such a cute little baby.

Crying on her first birthday as we sang to her.

We love you Londynn

Photo Shoot from H@#$

2008-09-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

So last month I thought it would be a great idea to get our family pictures done. What was I thinking? If it wasn't torture enough the first time we went back for a second time. The first time we went to a professional photographer. After realizing that they had basically false advertised (or lied to me, whatever you want to call it) I was livid. I ended up walking out of the place not purchasing a thing. I still wanted family pictures so I called up my sister and asked if she would try just taking some pictures for us because after all her pictures couldn't have been any worse than what we had at the professionals. Can I just say taking family pictures with a one year old and 3 year is pure hell. Londynn would not cooperate even with every bribe in the book and Boston just wasn't haven't it either time. It's quite hilarious to think about it now but it sure wasn't funny at the time. Here are a few pictures that will have to do because I'm not planning on another family shoot for a LONG time.

Birthday Bash

2008-09-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Londynn's and Bostons birthdays. Seeing that both of my kids birthdays are in September I decided to do one big birthday party for both of them to make it easy. We had both sides of the family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. Londynn has been looking forward to her birthday for weeks now. I wasn't a very bright aunt and scheduled the party on my nephews birthday so my lovely sister-in-law volunteered to make the cake so she could include her son. Of course I didn't complain; however, I was picturing a big sheet cake with all three kids names on them. What she brought to the party was far different than what I expected. She went ALL out! Thanks Cristy!

A boston cream pie for her son, a vanilla and strawberry filled one for Londynn and a chocolate one for Boston. Are these amazing or what?

Londynn trying her cake before the "happy birthday song"

Since Londynn's first birthday she has cried during her happy birthday song. This year was no exception. She almost made it through the song but broke down right at the end. I'm not sure if it's all the attention or the candles scare her...or is it our singing? Who knows. Boston wasn't sure what to think.

The song is over and she still wants nothing to do with her cake.

Here she finally decides her cake isn't all that bad.

Boston on the other had LOVED every moment of it. He downed his piece of cake in no time flat.

Boston opening a present.

Miss Londynn our princess. I found a bunch of dress ups at a garage sale this summer and put them away for her birthday. They were a huge hit. Anything princess these days and she's all over it!

The little mermaid

She doesn't think she's cute does she? All girl!!

Grandma and Grandpa Ivie got her a bike. Spoiled!

Boston checking out his new bath toys.

Not a bad birthday celebration if you ask me.

underwear...who needs it?

2008-09-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

So last night I ran to the store and took the kids with me. While at the store I noticed that Londynn couldn't leave her shorts alone. She kept pulling them up and tugging at them. I couldn't figure out what the deal was until I saw her run down the isle and her shorts fell down far enough for me to see her crack. I had asked her to use the bathroom before we left for the store and I guess she had forgotten to put her underwear back on. How could you forget to put your underwear on? LOL The funny thing is right before we left for the store Londynn had coming running to the door with a pair of underwear, I didn't think anything of it because I had just bought her new princess underwear and she had playing with it like I had just bought her a new toy, so I just told her to leave her underwear at home. Stupid me I guess she was trying to tell me she didn't have any on. :)

Like mother like daughter

2008-09-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

I've been guilty of saying "you're killing me" to Londynn when she is driving me crazy (which quite honestly is a lot). The other day I guess I was "killing her" because I made her flush the toilet when she didn't want to. Out of all the things to throw a tantrum for she decided to throw one because I wanted her to flush the toilet. As she was stomping her way down the hall she turned around and said "you're killing me mom". I couldn't help but laugh out loud. That's my girl!

Birthday Boy!

2008-09-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well my little guy officially turned one today! I can't believe it's been a year already.

1. You recently learned how to crawl.

2. You are a growler. You growl when you are mad, happy and when we ask you what a lion says.

3. You have gorgeous blue eyes.

4. You are a momma's boy.

5. You love to eat and will eat just about anything I feed you. I like to call you my garbage disposal.

6. You go crazy when your dad walks in the door from work. It's his routine to throw you in the air when he walk in the door and you love it.

7. You already love your grandpa clark.

8. You adore your sister and love to get into whatever she is playing with.

9. You love your sleep and for the most part will only fall asleep in your own bed.

10. You're adorable and we love you. Happy Birthday!

Yummmmmy!

2008-08-27T07:08:00.001-07:00

I've always enjoyed baking; however, since being married I find I don't do it very often (probably because I can't eat anything I would like and remain the same weight, so there for I don't make it). Baking bread and rolls has always intimidated me. I never thought I could do it so I never tried. Well last night I finally gave it a try and let's just say nobody was disappointed. They turned out pretty good for my first attempt and as Jared said "I will be making them again very soon".

honey whole wheat rolls

Here is the recipe for those of you interested.

1/4 cup warm water

2 and 1/4 teaspoons yeast

3 tablespoons butter or oil, plus more for the bowl and roll tops

3 tablespoons honey, plus more for the tops

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

1 egg

1 cup all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more if needed

1/4 cup oats, for the tops

In a small bowl, combine warm water and yeast. Let stand for five minutes. In a separate large bowl, combine butter, honey, salt, and hot water. Stir until butter melts. Let cool until luke warm, about ten minutes. Add yeast mixture, egg, and flour, about 1 cup at a time, until the dough is no longer sticky. Knead the dough briefly, about two minutes. Butter the bowl and replace the dough. Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and let rise for one hour. (You can refrigerate the dough for 2-12 hours, instead of letting it rise for one hour.) Punch down the dough and divide it into 12 portions. Shape them into round rolls and place in a greased 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Let rise, covered for about 1 hour. Bake for about 18 minutes at 425 degrees. When rolls finish baking, brush the tops with extra butter, some honey and give them a sprinkling of oats

Mama's Boy

2008-08-25T19:49:00.001-07:00

Since the day Boston was born he's always been my baby boy (and probably always will be). Now that he is getting a little older he has turned into a mama's boy. At first it melted my heart and I loved it; however, lately it has gotten a little out of hand and it is making my life quite difficult at times and I'm not sure how to break him of it. He's gotten to the point that if I am in the same room as him he will always choose me over anybody else in the room. When we are home during the day he will freak out when I walk out of the room. When I am making dinner he has to be in my arms and if he isn't in my arms then he is at my feet throwing a tantrum. He's quite the stinker these days, but one look at this cute tittle face and most of the time I can't resist.

How convenient

2008-08-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

We've had family pictures scheduled for tomorrow for a couple of months now; however, Londynn woke up with pink eye this morning. Just dandy! I guess we'll be canceling our pictures, the gym and our cookout up the canyon this weekend. Great timing!

Fun at Lagoon

2008-08-20T19:37:00.001-07:00

One trip to Lagoon wasn't enough this year. When I heard that channel 2 news was having a 2 for 1 at Lagoon this week we couldn't pass it up. Our good friends the kings and my mom and dad met us there for a long day in the heat. We found a babysitter for Boston for the day so we just had Londynn. We had a lot of fun. Londynn actually surprised us and decided that the rides weren't to bad. We got her to go on a few by herself; however, once it passed bedtime she was done and refused to go on any more rides. I couldn't blame her. After dinner we hit the nightly music show and Londynn surprised us again and actually enjoyed it.

It was so hot we decided to hit rattlesnake rapids. Londynn was okay until I was more worried about protecting myself from getting soaked than I was worried about her (I know I'm a mean mom). However, she didn't get any wetter than I did. Poor grandpa took the brunt of it.

We made the guys go in the other tube. We were worried that they would make it a point to soak us.

Granpa was only there for Londynn. Not much into rides anymore; however, Londynn did get him on a few rides.

Londynn and Isabelle

Londynn's favorite ride were the whales!

Lunch time!

Sweet deals and canteloop

2008-08-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Growing up my mom was always frugal. She always shopped the bargains and wasn't ashamed to hit savers or the DI. I on the other hand always hated shopping the sales and at second hand stores because I hated going through the garbage trying to find something good. I will also admit that I wasn't to fond on wearing anything second hand. Growing up I always told myself that when I had a family of my own I would never shop second hand wether it be from savers or garage sale shopping. Well the time has come where I am now eating my words. I am addicted to garage sale shopping. Thanks a lot mom!! There is nothing like coming home from a morning of garage sale shopping with bags and bags of clothes and toys for your kids and having only spent $30. It doesn't get any better than that. My kids grow like weeds and I would much rather spend $.50 on an item of clothing than $10 only to have it look like second hand once it has been washed. And why not save a penny while my kids are to young to know the difference? If you've never been garage sale shopping before or think it's a little "white trash" to do, I say try it. You'll be hooked!

Changing the subject. Londynn has taken after her mom when it comes to the love of cantaloupe; however, when you ask her to say it it's not cantaloupe it's cantaloop. Love it!!

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well I finally finished the book and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it. Unlike most people who have read the twilight series I really liked the first book but I struggled through parts of the second one and the third one. I actually had no desire to read breaking dawn but once it was released and the all the hype that was going around I thought I would give it a try and I won't lie, I wanted to know how it ended. So I purchased my book Monday night and I finished it last night. Overall a pretty good read! What did you think of it (for those of you who have read it).

Alligator ride

2008-08-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

So I've been on the hunt for a brown plaid shirt for Boston for our family pictures coming up. You all know that when you are looking for something specific you can NEVER find it. Well after searching a few stores and online I decided that I needed to take a trip to the mall. Having two small children this is quite a chore when going by yourself (and the fact that I don't have a double stroller doesn't help the matter either) but nonetheless I packed them up yesterday and headed to the mall. After walking around awhile Londynn started asking me if she could ride the "alligator ride". I had no idea what she was talking about but assumed she meant the carousel. Boy was I wrong. We walked past the elevator and she pointed to it and said "alligator ride". I just had to laugh. I kept trying to teach her elevator but she kept saying alligator. Who am I kidding alligator is a lot cuter than elevator.

**and if you are wandering if I found a shirt for Boston I did, I scored one at Mervyn's. Mission accomplished!

Mind games

2008-08-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one that has weird thoughts about my kids. For instance Londynn will be asleep for her afternoon nap and she will be sleeping longer than usual. My mind starts going crazy wandering if someone got in her room to take her and I didn't hear or maybe she died in her sleep but I'm to scared to go in and check on her because I don't want to know if it's true and if she really is okay (which obviously has always been the case), then I don't want to wake her up. I know pretty weird huh? Or I'll be in the shower and Boston is free roam of the house and I'll start wandering if he found a small object and swallowed it and is choking and again I'm to scared to get out and check because I don't want to know if it's true. I think these thoughts go through my mind everyday. Maybe it's just a mom thing and everyone has these creepy thoughts or maybe not and I'm just a little weird like that...........

Fangs and worms

2008-07-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well it's finally happened. Our little Boston is now mobile; however, I wouldn't call what he does crawling, he looks more like a worm. His stomach and legs don't leave the floor. He uses his feet to push himself and his arms to pull. It's pretty cute. He can crawl about as fast as a worm can. I'm sure with time he will get better but for now he is our little worm. He's also growing some fangs. He doesn't have any teeth yet and the first ones about ready to pop through are his two eye teeth. Poor kid.

As you can see from the video he loves his new found freedom. NOT! This video was taken on one of the first days he started crawling so he's still really slow.

We did it!

2008-07-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty eventful week this week.

1. Londynn was potty trained. Hooray!!

2. I survived speaking in sacrament.

Pretty big accomplishments if you ask me.

I kissed a girl...

2008-07-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

.....and I liked it. Have any of you heard that song? It has a pretty catchy tune. I was getting ready today when this song came on the radio and before I knew it Londynn was singing it. Yeah pretty sure I don't want her going around singing "I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chap stick". I guess it's time I start screening my music.

(You were right Heather, it was only a matter of time before she caught onto this song. Lol)

Girls just wanna have fun!

2008-07-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last night was another awesome girls night out. It's so much fun to get together and be stupid and laugh together and last night was no exception. Last night was disco bowling night. I'm not much for dressing up (I know, party pooper), but those who did looked great. We went bowling at fat cats and had pizza and breadsticks. About an hour into our bowling we asked if they would turn on the music and turn down the lights. It's amazing what a little music can do to everyone's mood. We all let loose. Thanks Holly for putting it together it was a blast. We'll definitely need to do it again.

Girls, girls, girls.

Hot stuff Steph!

Sistas!

The one and only Holly! Her shirt was hilarious. The lights went out and her bra lit up. It made for a great laugh. This picture she was trying to hide the fact that she glowed.

Jamie, Teresa, Jenny, Melissa, Shanae

How do you do it?

2008-07-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

How is it that some people just have the nack for keeping their homes spotless all the time? There is nothing I would love more than to have my home look like a model home all the time; however, this will NEVER happen. I like to say it is because of my kids that my house is never clean, but how do those with kids still have a clean house? I'm not the type that likes to clean all day every day and my house shows it. I'm lucky if I can keep up on the dishes and the dreaded laundry, and keeping up on the laundry doesn't include having it folded and put away. We usually end up wearing the clothes out of the laundry basket. Please tell me I'm not the only one. I always have good intentions of one day cleaning my house top to bottom but my the time I am done with the rooms that are visible I'm beat. When the kids go down for their daily naps I'm not one to stay up and clean things up. I follow them to bed myself. That's how I survive my day. If only I were rich I'd just hire a maid. That would solve all my cleaning problems.

Fun, fun, fun

2008-07-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

We had a fun filled 4th of July weekend and our kids are definitely feeling the aftermath of it. The fun started on Thursday with a neighborhood block party. Good food and company and ended with fireworks. I always forget how fun it is to hang out with friends and neighbors and enjoy each others company. Friday was a barbeque, swimming and fireworks at Jared's sisters (sorry no pictures taken at this event). I definitely ate way too much that night. Saturday we spent the day on the lake with some good friends and ended the night with yet another barbeque. yum yum. Sunday was dinner at my parents with yet another good slab of meat prepared by my dad. All in all it was a fun weekend but the long days and late nights sure wore us all out.

Saturday at the lake.

Sunday evening at my parents. Grandpa pulled out the wagon and was pulling them around the backyard.

Thursday evening at the neighborhood bash.

Shanae, Holly and baby "g". Thanks Shanae for a fun evening.

Londynn enjoying the cruise on the boat.

Floating on the tube. This was definitely a highlight of the day.