.

Parker's Birthday

2012-01-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

My little guy is 'FOUR WHOLE'. That's what he has said ever since his birthday :). He was SO excited for his birthday this year. Here is his requested cake:

We opened up presents first thing - he LOVES his new leapster.

And was so excited about his ice skates that he had to wear them around the house all morning (thank goodness they came with plastic guards). We've used these skates a lot this winter!

Parker had his preschool performance on his birthday, too! Here he is performing with his class. He sang this song ALL day long:

And he even got to see Santa at the end!

Parker chose to invite his friends to our favorite children's museum for his party. He loved playing with them all afternoon!

Happy birthday Parker!! We love the enthusiasm and excitement that Parker brings into our home. He is so imaginative and fun! It's been so fun seeing him really grow up this last year and watching him become a big brother for the first time. We love this guy!

Santa!

2012-01-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

The boys were very excited to bring their lists to Santa this year! Landon wrote his all by himself:

Parker needed a little help:

This Santa was particularly good - he was so nice and chatty with the boys!

Good thing his beard was real - Rhys kept pulling on it! He is our first baby to love sitting on Santa's lap.

I let Rhys chew on this candy cane thinking that he just liked the wrapper...when I took it later, though, I realized there was a hole in the plastic. No wonder he liked it so much!

Sweet little guy...

2012-01-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

New Curtains!

2012-01-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

Our kitchen really needed some new curtains, but until recently, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. This muslin just spoke to me. Love them!

Boys Night Out

2012-01-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

We started the fun in December with a "boys only" night at a hockey game. Yay for free tickets!

Scott let the boys each get a hockey stick - they played "hockey" down in the basement for days!

Bad Mommy

2012-01-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when one doesn't fold down the ear when giving a haircut...

Deck the Halls

2012-01-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2011-12-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

We had a really great Thanksgiving! The boys had a lot of fun with their turkey crafts at home and at school. Landon made a turkey hat:

This video cracks me up - his class is reciting a poem that spells "Thanksgiving", but his teacher accidentally missed a couple of letters. Because Landon can read, he caught it right away. Such a funny reaction!

Friday after Thanksgiving we met with some friends in the ward to play games at the park. We all had so much fun playing soccer and kickball (and then partying it up later-with lots of pie!).

Rhys was a total trooper while I ran around :)

Snow Day!

2011-12-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

The snow was just to inviting...we had to go sledding!

And pretend we were on Hoth planet.

Winter Craft

2011-12-16T11:13:00.001-08:00

If any of you have indian corn left over from Thanksgiving decorations, here's a really fun (and beautiful!) craft you can do. I will warn you, though - this takes a lot of parental supervision!

First, break off all the kernels from the cob (my boys loved this part!). Then soak the kernels in water overnight, otherwise they're too tough to puncture!

The next day, thread the kernels like beads onto whatever you like. We used jewelry wire to make ornaments for our friends and then elastic thread to make necklaces. I think the easiest way to thread the kernels is to go through the germ (the white, starchy part):

Find the germ, then flip it over and go through the bottom of the kernel:

Up through the germ. This gives you enough of the kernel to stay on the wire/thread, but it doesn't crack the kernel or destroy your fingers :)

The finished product:

They are so colorful!

Quotes of the Day

2011-12-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

P: Mom, you are the best Mom ever....but today you're kinda mean.

P: Landon (giggle) stop! I don't (giggle) want to be (giggle) tickled anymore!

L: OW!!! Mom, Parker just kicked me in the EYE!

M: Bud, I heard Parker ask you at least three times to stop tickling him. Why didn't you listen to his words?

L: Ok. Parker kicked me in the EYE! That's the most important thing here!

P: Wow, this is robust! (when picking up gear at the rec center)

P: Mom, why do I smell that cinnamon cooking?

M: Oh, it's because I'm making granola.

P: AWWWW! I REALLY wanted to be smelling cinnamon buns! Will you make those for me today? Or how about a tortilla. Wrapped with cinnamon sugar?

L: Hey Parker, let's play Kung Fu Panda. I'll be Chen and you be Kung Fu Panda - oh! And look, here's baby Tai Lung. (looking at Rhys). Hi baby Tai Lung, you're so cute, you're so cute!

Halloween

2011-12-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

We had a LOT going on for Halloween this year. Is this how it is once school starts!? Parker had a preschool Halloween party. He LOVES preschool and really likes his teacher Ms. Karen. Here he is pinning the bone on the skeleton:

These are all iPhone pics, so not ideal (I know...here's where you insert the joke about the first kid getting all the good pictures and the younger kids getting shafted!).

Parker dressed up as a policeman:

Sitting across from his buddy Mason.

We carved the pumpkins we picked at the pumpkin patch. Parker's was really cool:

Putting up decorations. I have no words for this picture...

Parker's werewolf:

Landon's vampire, Daddy's Frankenstein and Mommy's "luna"

All lit up:

Then there was the elementary school trunk or treat. Parker was a policeman again (yes, the hat is way too small) and Landon was Jack Sparrow:

Their mustaches were mostly worn off by this time, but still pretty funny:

Then for our ward Halloween party, we were a family of Things!! Rhys' romper says "Thing 3". I tried to make Rhys his own blue hair, but I didn't have enough time to finish it! So...it looks a bit like Friar Tuck, but you get the idea right?

Then we got to real Halloween. Landon was saving this costume for Halloween day! Since there were no masks allowed at school, he asked me to paint his face. I copied the face paint he had done at Disneyworld last year - It was a much simpler version, but I think it turned out pretty good!

SO excited to go to school!

I got to volunteer at the Halloween party. Landon really liked these Frankenstein cupcakes (when I say "liked", I mean that he thought they looked really cool....but thought they tasted awful. Touche).

Sitting with his little friends:

Parker, of course, wanted to be a skeleton, too for trick or treating!

My two little skeletons (Landon looked at this picture and said "Ooh, maybe I shouldn't really smile like that. It looks awkward")

I loved trick or treating this year with them - it was hiLARious to watch them run their little tails off to get as much candy as possible!

The haul:

Someone was snitching in the car...

To the showers! Landon called me in to check if he got it all off his face....yeah, not quite.

They thought the perma-eyeliner was fantastic.

What a fun Halloween!

Scott Can See!!

2011-12-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

Yay for Lasik!

Recent Quotes

2011-12-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

(I am wearing a plaid, button up shirt)

L: Mom, are you wearing one of Dad's shirts?

M: No, this is my shirt.

L:....is it a boy shirt?

M: No, it's a girl shirt.

L: Ok.....but could a boy wear it? I think it's a boy shirt.

(overheard this morning)

P: ...5 cold rings! 4 calling birds, 3 french kids, 2 turtle dolls and a party in a pear tree!

That is the best way to wake up! What I really want to know is: what do the "french kids" look like in his imagination?

Weekend in ABQ

2011-12-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

After our "relaxing" weekend, we had yet another trip - this time to Albuquerque! I mean, when flights go on sale for NINE BUCKS, you just really can't say no! So off we went to see some of our favorite people: Brad, Lisa and Eden.

Brad and the boys decided to make Indian hats:

They loved them!

And I've been informed that "Brad's house is the coolest, 'cuz he lets us sit on the counter to cook". Thanks Brad.

Sweet little Eden:

They even had lots of extra pumpkins for us to help carve! I love this picture because you can see what their cute puppy was up to the whole time...

The boys still don't like digging out their pumpkins:

We are so grateful to have friends that always let us come visit them (and always make it so fun!).

Weekend Fun

2011-12-01T12:55:00.000-08:00

After our weekend in Miami, we decided to have a fun weekend at home. Somehow I convinced Scott that we needed to build this:

The boys (and their friends!) are in heaven!

Then we celebrated Parker's first week in preschool with some of our favorite ice cream:

And had a campfire with s'mores!

Life is good!

Love

2011-12-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Through the eyes of little boys...

2011-11-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

So much has gone on over the past month or so, but as I was looking through my photo's, I noticed that there were a LOT of pictures that the boys either took themselves or specifically requested that they be taken! I wanted to remember the things that are oh-so-important to my little guys:

Playing at the zoo:

They loved this fish:

And this snake:

Parker at the top of the hay bales at the pumpkin patch:

With their cute friends Adam and Annie:

They thought this was hilarious:

Artwork! We have SO many pictures, drawings, notes, etc. now that they are both going to school (and now that Landon LOVES to write and draw). The only way I could convince them to recycle some of these papers (read: 99% of these papers) was by taking pictures of them so they could "remember them forever". DONE!

Jedi pumpkin (I'm sure Landon's teacher was thrilled)

I think this is me pregnant??

Landon's "I love you Rhys" paper. He loves drawing hearts :)

Landon wanted a picture of him with his pig - he sold enough stuff in the school fundraiser to do the pig race! He got to keep the pig, which is all he really wanted. Thanks to those of you who supported him in this!

Landon loves to put his clothes on in strange ways and have us take pictures so he can see what it looks like (since his eyes are always covered).

These were last year's fuzzy crocs - they were NASTY inside so I said we had to throw them out. We transferred all the gibits, but...you guessed it: Landon wanted to remember them forever!

One of Parker's favorite preschool projects!

One of the thousands of star wars drawings we have littering our family room. Daily.

These boys want to hold Rhys at ALL times. I promise, there was supervision in this photo!

Parker always wants pictures of anything he's about to throw away:

Landon wants pictures of any toy packages (so he can remember the character's names and how they look in battle!).

Parker holding Rosie the tarantula:

Ok. I know, it is TOTALLY inappropriate to post poop pictures on the blog. I'm sorry, but I HAD to post this, because I REALLY want to remember this moment forever. It was (and is) hilarious. Imagine: you hear from upstairs hysterical laughter from your 5 year old and then this: "Parker! Come here quick! You HAVE to see my poop!". Parker goes running up the stairs as fast as his little legs can carry him, explodes in laughter a few minutes later and shouts: "MOM! Landon pooped and a DUCKLING came out!". First of all, where did he learn the word "duckling"?? Then he says "Mom, where's the camera? I need to remember this forever!". Since my hands were covered in dinner, I told him where the point and shoot was and told him not to drop it in the toilet - this is the picture he took. (I will have you know, the original photo had bum cheeks in it - apparently he took it while Landon was still sitting on the toilet. Yeah. I edited that for you)

Does it not TOTALLY look like a duckling?? I laughed so hard when I saw the photo!

Landon with his soccer team:

Last soccer treat:

Parker's Thanksgiving turkey:

Love this. Scott and I were slightly creeped out by the recurring masonic-esque symbol in each photograph...apparently he was copying an emblem on a friends backpack.

I said to Landon one day (in response to a question) "When it's cold, there is snow in the mountains". That phrase just seemed so awesome, that he had to draw a picture about it. And write out the words. I thought this was a pretty awesome depiction of our mountain getaway. Love the hot tub:

Parker's muddy pig (he said "Mom, he is SO Muddy that you can't even see any of his pink body. I did that with my fingers!")

After re-reading this, I'm pretty sure the duckling poo deserved it's own post....I still can't stop laughing about that!

Parker Quotes

2011-11-22T21:59:00.000-08:00

These both happened today:

P: Hey Mom, guess what? In one of our Primary songs it says "Mary fair". Do you know what "fair" means?

M: What?

P: It means that she looks like an angel. Like she's beautiful. And Mom....you're beautiful.

M: Aw, thanks Parker - that's sweet.

P: Like when you don't have that elastic in your hair....and when you put that stuff on your eyes.

P: Mom! That was SUCH a good job parking! I walked to the door like this - without even having to squish!

M: That's awesome! I'm so glad!

P: Yeah! You deserve a thumbs up! Will you give me a thumbs up? AND a high five......Mom, give me a high five.

M: Ok buddy - thanks for the high five!

P: Good job Mom. EXCELLENT job parking.

Country Boy Mine

2011-11-22T18:41:00.000-08:00

Our favorite excursion on our "Mountain Getaway" was going to the Country Boy Mine in Breckenridge. It was awesome!! While waiting for our tour, Landon and Parker played with the donkey's out front. This one donkey kept following Parker around - literally circling him - and we couldn't figure out why! Until he grabbed his apple...

Rhys was a trooper!

This was the entrance to the mine - I seriously can't believe people used to work like this!

It was so dark and damp back in there. These were some old things found in the mine:

Hard hats!

Rhys zonked out! The boys were a little frightened when they shut off the lights...our guide lit a candle to show us how much light the workers typically had. Not much!

After the tour, our guide showed the boys how to pan for gold:

Beautiful mountain view!

The boys were too freaked out to try this slide - next time I guess!

Singing in Miami!!

2011-11-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

Had to include a video - I think we sounded pretty good!

Sweet, Sweet Rhys-E

2011-11-22T18:08:00.000-08:00

These are a few of my favorite Rhys videos from the last couple of months. This boy is adorable!!

My very favorite:

Mountain Getaway

2011-11-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

The weekend after Miami, we decided to head up to the mountains for a weekend getaway! It was a blast! Hotel beds are always better than the ones at home:

I know...swimming when there's snow outside!? That used to be my favorite thing back home (though it didn't happen very often!). The boys loved swimming in the heated pool:

Scott being an awesome Dad - bringing snow over to the hot tub:

Steamy!

They loved watching the snow disappear!

I told Landon how, as kids, Brandon and I would run and jump in snowbanks and then run back to the hot tub. He had to try it out:

Not so sure about this...

Snowball fight!

Beautiful fall colors:

This is all the swimming Rhys got - we were cuddled up at the edge of the pool all morning!

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving while we were up there - the boys made Canada "medals".

Yummy food!! This was the best family picture we got. Unfortunately we are completely out of focus, but at least we're all in the frame!

Yummmmm...can't wait for another Thanksgiving meal this week!

Bienvenido a miami

2011-11-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Scott and I were able to go to Miami - without kids! Well, except for Rhys, but that doesn't really feel like "kids" at this point. Scott's Dad had a conference down there and the whole family went down. It was so fun to just spend time together as couples!

My wonderful Mother came down to stay with Landon and Parker while we were away. This was our first time leaving the boys and it was SO nice knowing that she was there with them. (And let me tell you, they had a blast! Seriously, I don't think they wanted us to come home!)

Grandma with Rhys before we left:

Our first morning there we just went to the pool and beach. I loved this little walkway from our hotel to the water - this is actually Ryan and Ian walking. We didn't ever get a picture of our family there unfortunately!

Rhys really loves the water!

Scott's pretty good at making him smile and laugh:

Then it was time to practice! The whole family performed together at the Presidential reception (hence the reason we were down there) so we ran through our songs a few times every day. Nick decided to use a martini glass for some breakfast:

The men practicing their number:

I had to include this - whenever we're on trips we always shower with our babies. Rhys loved showering with Daddy!

Then it was off to the big event. It was held at the Versace mansion - very, very cool venue. Here's the whole family:

We ran through our numbers a few times with the mic's - us girls just hung out while the men practiced their numbers.

All the men folk:

Me and Danna

Me and Chrissy

The mansion was gorgeous!! Scott and I finally got a pic together:

So beautiful:

It looked even cooler as the sun went down! The food was great - it was quite a hoppin' party!

I don't have any pics of our performance, but it was SO fun singing together with everyone. We sang "For the Longest Time" and "Lullaby" by Billy Joel and the men sang Shanendoah (everything was a cappella). It sounded great!

Some of the crazy rooms in the mansion:

Shower room!?

Our last night there Scott decided to take some sunrise photos. He just took a photography class and is getting really good!

Unfortunately, we had to leave before Len spoke, but Whitney took some pictures for us:

It was so fun to be there as a family and see what Len has been working so hard on the last year! We're so proud of his accomplishments and grateful that we could be a part of this weekend.

When we got home the boys were SO sad to say bye to Grandma.

They are still talking about all the fun they had while we were gone :)

Recent Quotes

2011-11-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

L: Do some people go to schools that are China immersion?

M: Yep!

L: What about.....are there other immersions?

S: Landon, I think you should do Egyptian immersion.

L: Yeah Dad. That's a really good idea. I should do Egypt immersion (laughing and using sarcasm!?)

P: (quietly) Hmmm, then you'd have to find a camel to learn sign language...

P: Mom, when I'm older...like maybe almost 100, will you give me the netflix password? Cuz I really want to know what that is.

L: Mom, tomorrow can I shower right before I go to school?

M: Well, your friend will be here so I don't think you really want to shower while your friend is here do you?

L: Yeah....well maybe the next day then? I just really want to shower right before school.

M: Why?

L: Mom! Other kids do that! I just want to do it ok?

M: Ok ok! I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to do it because you wanted to make your hair spiky or something - I could do that for you without a shower.

L: Moooom. Of course not. I just want to shower right before school!

Boys

2011-10-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Since having Rhys, I've had a LOT of people ask if we're sad not to have a girl (or if we're going to try again to GET a girl). Really?? I mean, yes, having a girl would be fun and if we ever did have a girl, I'd be thrilled. But I'd be thrilled about having another boy too! Boys are so much fun - they are tough and active and hilarious! Plus, they love me and don't give much attitude :). You pretty much always know where you stand with boys. Refreshing! Here are my boys being boys:

This is their favorite spot at the Nature and Science Museu

m. They could pretend to be astronauts all day! You'll notice another little boy in the pictures - that's Landon's friend Nathan. We watch him once a week so his Mom can go to institute. We got a lot of weird looks at the museum (a baby AND three boys under 5??).

We got to go up on the roof and look at sun spots - so cool!

They love eating lunch with friends:

These pictures show my absolute favorite thing about having boys - a belt becomes a weapon holder and a kids utensil becomes a sword:

Sometimes when I watch them play, I can almost see the way they imagine themselves.

Can't wait to see how this little man grows up...although I kind of want him to stay in this stage forever. He's so smiley and happy!

Sigh.

Soccer!

2011-10-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

We are doing soccer this fall and it has been SO fun for the boys. And kind of fun for me...but mostly for them :). They love it!

Cutest Snails Ever

2011-10-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

These were ALL over our steps for a few days. Parker was in heaven! He would catch them and put them in a jar with a little bit of water - soon enough they'd be crawling all over the place. When I made him let them go, he insisted that we take pictures to "remember them forever":

Yes...Parker insisted that they get a chance to crawl in his hair. He said it was their playground...

Aftermath

2011-10-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Ok....it's been a month since I last posted. What!??! I have a good excuse, though - we've been out of town a LOT. Which means a LOT of pictures to catch up on. (And since I've used the term "a lot" a lot in this post, I have to share this: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html. I think of it EVERY time I use that phrase. Anyway, to the catching up:

After the wedding we had a few days to spend in Calgary with our family. I miss them all a ton! Here's my Mom with Rhys and my Aunt Dee Anne and cousin Addi. They are wonderful :)

Wrestling with Uncle Brandon - a must on every trip.

Good old Uncle Craig!

Watching weird internet videos with Alicia :)

Shoulder rides! (I'm pretty sure Brandon has mastered the bored and miserable look in pictures...hehe)

We even got to meet up with one of my best friends from the good 'ol days. We met with Aubrey and her beautiful family at a park in Calgary. Scott took the boys out paddle boating!

Us girls. Aubrey was my first roommate when I moved out of the house. It was so fun to see her again!

Oh Rhys...

This is how we found Parker - naked with dirt all over his face. Any surprise there? Didn't think so.

Aubrey's girls and my boys:

I was totally excited to see the Calgary temple site!

We were able to see some friends from my ward back home - they helped set up/take down for Stacey's reception and did the same thing for mine!

My Dad napping with Rhys:

Landon took full advantage of my Mom's drawing skills. Can you see that she's got C3P0 in her hand?

Us and "the cousins". Landon and Parker had so much fun playing Lego's and Wii with Braxton and I loved getting to know Syd and Addi better now that they're grown (when did that happen!??). We love them!!

Stacey's Wedding!!

2011-09-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

We had SO much fun in Canada for Stacey's wedding! I flew up early with the boys so we could hang out with family and be there when Stacey went through the temple for the first time. My Aunt DeeAnne picked us up at the airport and we stayed with them for a day. The boys LOVED playing with Braxton (he has so many cool lego's). Then Aunt DeeAnne had them make their own pizza:

It was so much fun and now Landon insists on "throwing" his dough whenever we have pizza night :). Parker loved Uncle Craig (especially when he did 'Itsy Bitsy Spider')

And Rhys was spoiled like crazy!!

After staying with the cousins, we all drove down to Cardston to meet up with Stacey and then stayed with Granny and Grandpa for a few days before the wedding. I took the boys over to the temple. So beautiful:

We walked to a park down the street with Stacey and Scott. This is classic Stacey:

Rhys was spoiled here too:

Meeting his namesake (Edward is Rhys' middle name)

The boys thought Granny's jet tub was way too much fun!

Stacey and Scott are just the cutest :)

Then we had Stacey's bridal shower - pedicures!

Stacey has the littlest toes ever:

Presents!

And wrapped up with some Cheesecake...yum!

Then it was wedding day! We spent the morning doing Stacey's hair and makeup - she looked gorgeous!

The whole fam:

My parents with Stace and Scott:

The carriage ride:

Bryson was so good with the boys - Landon loved the horses!

Parker loved my flowers :)

LOVE my sister!

Bryson looked very dapper!

Me and my two beautiful sisters!!

My handsome boys!!

We had such a lovely day - crazy, but wonderful! It was so fun to see Stacey so happy. Can't wait to see them again and get to know her Scott better!

Berry Pickin', Airplane Watchin' and Frog Catchin'

2011-09-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

We went out to our favorite farm to pick berries a few weeks ago. Unfortunately there weren't many raspberries out yet, but tons of strawberries! The boys loved it and were actually quite good at picking this year:

Parker collected a lot of sticks...

Turkey lurkey:

Chasing the ducks:

This is out of focus, but just wanted to prove that Rhys and I were there!

We took the boys to their first air show at our little town airport. It was really fun! They got to climb in a cockpit and watch some really cool stunts. This little plane would go straight up in the air, then free fall!

The best ear plugs we could come up with:

Some friends of ours invited a bunch of people up to their lake house for a party a few weeks ago. The weather was perfect! The boys swam, played in the sand, ate delicious food and best of all:

Caught tons of toads!

Little boy heaven!

Back to School

2011-09-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

It's official: I have a kindergartner!! I can't believe it!

And I have officially been through some back to school drama - self made, I might add. As some of you know, we have had Landon enrolled in a bilingual school (Spanish immersion) for the last year - that's where he did preschool. I was SO excited about this school and I honestly still have a bit of a crush on it.....it's a pretty awesome school as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, Landon's subconscious didn't agree with me. I say subconscious because he actually loved being there (loved the teachers, loved the activities), but he was just NEVER excited to go! Last year he did great in preschool, but even at the end of the year he was saying "Ugh. Time to go to school". I figured it was just a transition thing, but when it started up again this year, I felt like we needed to make a change. I talked to him about it and it seemed like it was mainly two things making it hard for him: 1. He didn't like being gone full day - that was the only kindergarten option at that school and 2. He thought he wasn't good at school because he didn't understand all the Spanish. Now, this is the kid that's already reading at a grade 2 level (probably higher, but they don't test past that) and can READ IN SPANISH. What!? Not good at school? What I realized, though, was that all that really mattered was how HE felt about himself and he didn't feel good. He was really quiet in his class because he "felt dumb" when he tried to speak Spanish.

Yeah....that's about when we decided to pull him out. I prayed about it like crazy and it was a really hard decision for me, but definitely the right one. It was a great experience and we're still working on Spanish at home (I'm currently in a class and learning tons!) but I realized that right now, the most important thing was for him to feel good about himself and to really like school. As soon as we switched him to our local, neighborhood school he's been SO happy and excited. One of his friends from church is in his class and it's half day....and in English :). He loves it! At first I felt like he was going to be so bored, but he's not! He loves helping the other kids in his class and loves feeling like he knows it all....surprise surprise. Mom and Dad, it's not like he's MY kid or anything! Anyway, if any of you are going through something similar, here's my two cents: it is SO awesome to have your kid enjoy school and I would always make the choice to get that outcome even if it's illogical! Can't wait to seem him enjoy the rest of the year!

Amusement Park

2011-09-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

Every summer our library gives out amusement park tickets as part of their summer reading program prizes...so every year we go! This particular amusement park is perfect for kids - a little run down, yes, but perfect! Landon and Parker can jump on as many rides as they want, sans adults. Kind of a date night for me and Scott :). Here they are on some of their favorites:

Parker's first time on a real rollercoaster...he was brave, but decided he didn't want to do it again.

The Rhys-man. Such a little bug! Thanks Liz and Steve for the cute little outfit :)

It was a perfect back to school celebration!

Lots To Catch Up On!!!

2011-09-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, first of all, is he not the cutest thing ever!?!? So in love with this little man:

Bath time is SO much fun - Rhys loves to splash around with his brothers (and they love it even more):

He also loves to eat his towel:

Besides loving this little guy, we've been up to a whole lot the last month or so. More posts to come!

Fun Weekend

2011-08-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago I hosted a baby shower. It was so fun to chat and eat fondue! I'm loving the fresh flowers from the yard:

The spread:

Guests:

Debbie (red shirt), the shower-ee:

Jenny was the only one who didn't fit in the group shots, so I took one just of her (I'm sure she loved it):

We visited outside too - I love having a backyard!

That same weekend we had a very special visitor....Smoky the cat! We babysat him will his family was at a wedding. The boys LOVED having him around. Parker wanted to play with him all day:

Smoky just wanted to be wherever Rhys had been 2 seconds before (which is why we don't have a cat - he also wanted to attack Rhys whenever he moved his arms or legs!)

Parker and Smoky really hit it off - they were movie buddies:

Landon was a bit more hesitant around Smoky at first, but he was picking him up a lot by the end of the visit!

This was the perfect way to have a pet. A few days and then send him back to his owners :). I think the boys agreed with us that it wasn't the best time for a cat. They didn't like shutting their door at night so that Smoky didn't attack their feet and wake them up! Glad we did it - they haven't begged for a pet since!

Visiting Park City

2011-08-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to go to Park City to help my sister shop for wedding dresses, but when she didn't end up going down there, we decided to go out a week earlier to visit with the cousins! I'm so glad we did - although I do not recommend road trips with a somewhat wakeful new baby....not ideal. I have to say that his screaming on both long drives seems to have cured him from screaming in the car - yes! Definitely worth it :)

Look how loved this little man is:

Andrew loved holding Rhys:

Rebecca actually stayed up until midnight for us to arrive so she could hold him! I really wish she lived closer so she could be my babysitter! She held him and rocked him the whole time we were there:

Katie was quite smitten too:

Even Matthew got a turn ("where the baby!?")

Here's Parker snitching some cucumbers from Aunt Whitney. The boys LOVE their Aunt Whitney. In fact, the whole way home we heard "WHEN are we going to see our cousins and Aunt Whitney and Uncle Jeff again? When REALLY are we going to see them?"

We got to go down to Provo to see our other cousins too! Here's Anna and Rebecca - again, my star babysitters!

Whitney made these ridiculously adorable cupcakes to celebrate Matthew and Katie's birthdays. We gave her a hard time about the cupcakes being way too much effort, but seriously - how cute are they!?

Lighting the candles was tricky in the wind, but Matthew didn't seem to care:

Three sets of cousins:

Before we left, we had to hit up our favorite park in Park City:

Aunt Whitney holding Rhys. She babysat him (including shower service!) while Scott and I went shopping at the outlets. So awesome!

The boys and their idol cousin Andrew:

Since we've been home, all I hear is "no Mom, Andrew said it was..." and "guess what Andrew told me?". Love it. And love my cute nieces and nephews!

We had such a great time - short and sweet. Can't wait to see you all again soon!

Date Nights

2011-08-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

Parker went on his first special outing with JUST Daddy - they went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in the park. Our city does movies in the park weekly all summer long! That's Parker's favorite movie right now (along with Star Wars). He calls it "How ta train yer" for short :). He was SO excited for his special date:

Landon got to go to a movie with Daddy later in the week - Cars 2. He said it was awesome. They went to a theater here in town that is a restaurant/theater (with a kids eat free day - what could be better!?).

I got to have a special night too - girls sushi night! My friend Kristy was in town for a few days, so we got everyone together. I miss her a lot and it was so great to see her!

We had a visitor...

2011-08-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

For exactly 24 hours, Bryson played, hugged, wrestled and ate yummy food with us. The boys were in heaven:

Thanks for tiring us out Uncle Bubba!

Project Day

2011-08-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Parker woke up one morning and said:

P: "Mom, I really want to make a monster"

M: Sure, why don't we get out the playdoh and we can do that.

P: No, like out of fabric.

Yeah....there was a long pause after that one. I was quickly calculating if (a) that was even possible for the day and (b) if I actually wanted to do it! Since we didn't have much planned, I said sure. So, the boys quickly got to drawing what they wanted their monsters to look like. Then we cut out the pieces, sewed them together and stuffed them (their favorite part). Here's the finished product:

Landon's:

Parker's:

They love them! I'm glad I didn't just cop out like I wanted to - it ended up being really fun! And here's my current project:

I'm sure I'll finish it....eventually!

Photo Shoots

2011-07-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

I love newborn pictures! We had some taken of Landon and Parker when we were still in CA and they turned out so well, so we definitely had to do some for Rhys! Luckily, my friend Amber is a fantastic photographer. She even came TO THE HOSPITAL to take pictures of him when he was first born. Rhys came late and Amber was leaving on a trip the next day, so we only had one day of overlap! Here are the new-newborn shots:

I can't believe that he was just like this in my tummy just hours before these photos were taken. Too cool!

When Amber got back, we did some more pics. Rhys is three weeks old here - can't believe how different he looks!

My boys:

Love this:

This one is probably my overall favorite - so precious!!

Me and my little man:

She did a family shot and I LOVE it!

I love this photo too - Scott is so handsome :)

My Garden

2011-07-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

I have loved gardening this year! We've already had a ton of lettuce, some peas (not as many as I would've hoped) and some ripe tomatoes. Yum! I started everything from seed this year and I'm so glad they seem to all be doing well. Here are some of the gorgeous fresh flowers we've been enjoying from the yard:

Celery and carrots. The carrots were actually planted in straight rows, but then we had a crazy storm that washed all the seeds around. Now we have a carrot patch :)

Zucchini:

Peas:

This is what I'm most excited about: asparagus! We won't get a crop this year (you're supposed to let it go to seed to strengthen the roots), but next year we'll hopefully get a lot!

Tons of tomatoes! These are yellow cherry tomatoes:

Green zebra:

Red Cherry:

Bell peppers:

And this is the epitome of "bloom where you're planted". This squash plant somehow started growing IN the composter and then squished itself through the little slats to reach the sun! I decided to let it grow - I guess we'll see what kind of squash it turns into!

My raspberry patch. This will also take a few years to get going, but it's so fun watching these little plants grow!

Can't wait to start harvesting all of our produce, but it's been just as fun growing things and teaching the boys how to garden!

Fourth of July

2011-07-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

We had a blast this year on the fourth! We kicked it off with a BBQ at Ryan and Danna's along with our cousins from Utah. They boys LOVE their cousins :). Then we went to our city's celebration in the park. There were lots of bouncy houses:

These gloves crack me up!

Free cupcakes....with the nastiest icing I've ever seen...

Rhys was chilling on the blanket most of the time:

They had a petting zoo, but we didn't get over there until it was closing up. Landon, Parker and Ellie had to touch the rabbits through the cage:

And of course, fireworks! Here's Parker and Anna:

Rhys was so good - he looked pretty confused, but didn't cry at all! The show was so long this year. I think the boys were starting to get bored by the end of it...

We had such a good time and it was wonderful to get to spend it with family!

My Boys

2011-07-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

As you know, I am surrounded by boys in this household. It's honestly so fun! Boys just think differently than girls, which always makes it interesting. For example, one of my tomato plants blew over in this crazy storm we had last weekend, so I asked Scott to run out and pick it up. This is what I saw out my window:

I couldn't believe he changed into his swimsuit before going out! In his defense, it rained so much in the two minutes he was out there that he may as well have jumped in a pool :)

This is one of my favorite pictures. Love these guys!

And I don't even have words for this little face:

Parker with his crazy bath hair:

Lately we've been seeing some pretty cute smiles from Rhys - here's the best one we've caught on camera so far. Love this little boy!

The Blessing Weekend

2011-07-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to have lots of family in town for Rhys' blessing. He was very cuddled and loved by Grandma:

Stacie and Nick and their family were able to stop by for the weekend - it was so fun seeing them (and their kids are SO much bigger than last time!!).

Ryan, Danna, Grant and Ian were able to come, too - it's so fun having family in town!

All the little ones playing on the swing set (and yes, my boys DO own pants...)

Mama Kit and Papa Len were here the whole week helping us with the new baby. The boys were so sad to see them go!

Landon giving love:

Rhys in our family blessing gown. Landon and Parker both asked "Why is Rhys wearing a dress??".

Landon and Grandma playing legos after all the festivities. He's one happy boy!

Thanks to everyone who made such an effort to be here for Rhys' special day! We love our little guy and it was so wonderful to have family here for the blessing!

Happy Birthday Scott!

2011-07-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Rhys came just a few days before Scott's birthday. We were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with Len and Kit too!

The boys love Papa Len!

Me and my little guy (photo courtesy of Landon):

Scott's birthday digs: homemade quiche and the traditional german chocolate cake!

It was so fun to celebrate Scott's birthday with our new little love. And let me tell you - we are SO in love with Rhys! The boys cannot leave him alone:

I mean, look at that little face - how COULD you leave him alone!?

Parker's first time being an older brother:

We love the brow krinkle:

Welcome Rhys!!

2011-06-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well, he's finally here! Four days late, but who's counting....

Parker is completely thrilled to have a younger brother. He's constantly asking to help and to hold Rhys!

Labor was super intense and fast with this little guy. My suggestion: if you're going to be induced, ask for the epidural preemptively!!

Landon wasn't too sure about holding him at first, but he finally got up the nerve!

After being at home with Mama Kit and Papa while we were in the hospital, the boys were ready to get out and play. First order of business: play in the crazy sprinkler!

Rhys slept in the shade the whole time:

We are so in love with this little man - so precious!!

Rhys is such a joy to have in our family already - I love his sweet little noises and his perfectly soft newborn skin. Add to that the fact that he loves to cuddle and I am in heaven! Life is good here :)

Waiting for baby...

2011-06-26T18:41:00.001-07:00

We tried to take full advantage of our days waiting for baby Rhys to arrive...and he took his sweet time! We went to our local water park multiple times on Scott's days off:

The boys LOVE swimming and have so much fun playing their make-believe games in the water (usually Star Wars related).

We were able to take cousin Grant to the park with us one morning. Landon and Parker were very interested in helping him go down the slide - not sure if he needed help, but he was happy to sit on their laps! I think L and P were just so excited for their own baby brother that they couldn't pass up an opportunity to help someone younger than them!

Landon is getting so big....

Aunt Tamsin came in for a quick trip to Denver a few days after my due date. We were sure we'd have a baby to show her, but instead we rushed off to the hospital before she woke up in the morning! We were so glad we got to spend the day with her though - the boys loved seeing her!

Last of Camping

2011-06-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Loving the fort...

When we had to miss our camping trip, we decided to have a hot dog roast with some friends. They have a great backyard for football:

Scott trying a tramp catch:

S'mores:

Vanessa had some perfectly roasted mallows:

Then we went to the ward campout. We were some of the first ones there, so Scott and the boys played some baseball:

Beautiful:

Conspiring to find flowers for Mom:

Success!

Learning how to make a wish:

Scott even showed them how to do dandelion tattoos:

We had so much fun! Can't wait till next year...

Photo Shoot

2011-06-15T12:11:00.001-07:00

I didn't ever think I'd do maternity shots again since I had them done when I was pregnant with Landon....but I just had to get some pictures with my boys! They have been such a big part of this pregnancy and they are SO excited to have another brother (Parker especially can't wait to be an OLDER brother for the first time). We are in such a good place right now and I can't wait to add Rhys to the mix! Here we are at 39 weeks:

I was so excited to see these shots of Landon and Parker - my friend Amber did such a great job. It's VERY rare that I capture their real smiles on camera, but here they are!!

Thanks Amber for fitting us in and I can't wait to get shots of Rhys as a newborn. Any day now...

Last Day With Lisha

2011-06-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

The boys miss Lisha tons, but I'm pretty sure this was the perfect send off! She brought over water balloons and we set up our slip and slide and crazy sprinkler.

Direct hit!

Payback:

Trying to avoid the sprays:

Very happy boys!

They became best of friends over the last few months. We'll miss you Lish!

You know Dad's making breakfast when...

2011-06-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Green batter and everything!

Fake Camping

2011-06-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

We planned a camping trip with some friends over the Memorial Day weekend, but with Scott's new job (he now works Saturdays) and some crazy thunderstorms, we didn't end up going. The boys were so sad, so we decided to do some fake camping at home. The first night we actually set up our little tent in the backyard and Scott slept out with them. Parker made it halfway through the night before coming inside with me :).

The next night it was a bit rainy, so we took down the tent and built a fort in their room. The whole time I was putting it up I kept hearing little whispers: "this is the most awesome ever Landon!" or "so swEET. I can't wait to get in!". My efforts were highly rewarded:

We tried to take the fort down in a few days, but they wouldn't have it! So....we compromised. They get to keep the fort until Rhys is born. Not sure if I can handle their messy room until then, but we'll go with it!!

More Preschool Pics

2011-06-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

Miss Pam (Landon's preschool teacher) let me borrow her memory card to get a bunch of these cute pictures from preschool this past year. Landon really loved school (although he is thrilled to be able to play with us all day this summer!). He made some good little friends and I wanted to document some of the fun things they did this year.

They studied "la granja" for the last month or so of preschool - I love that he's wearing his CTR ring:

They did journaling at the beginning of every class and I LOVE reading through his journals. All the kids loved making up stories about each other and writing them down (although sometimes they involved falling off of cliffs or being eaten by sharks...)

Here's his class with his teacher's aid Mireida - she is so sweet!

The class with Miss Pam

I love this picture - these girls LOVE Landon and he had so much fun playing with them each day.

Dress up:

They raised butterflies and then released them this spring:

Knocking down the blocks at the children's museum. You can see Parker was an honorary preschool kid this day. He even had his own name: Parkercito.

Playing at the children's museum:

I am so grateful that he had such a good teacher and that we got to be so involved. Parker can't wait to be in "spanish preschool" just like his older brother (in another year). Landon's going to be in kindergarten next year and we couldn't be happier with this school!!

Belly Painting

2011-06-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

Can you see all the star wars guys??

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

A week or so before the end of school, Scott was able to give a presentation about Optometry to all of the preschool kids at Landon's school. Landon was a little annoyed that he couldn't understand some of it (because Scott did it all in Spanish), but he was SO excited to have his Dad there:

The kids made cards for Scott - I thought this picture was very well done :).

Here's Landon writing in his journal on his last day of school. These journals are so cool - every day the kids wrote and entry and drew a picture. It's so fun to see what Landon came up with. He's got quite the imagination!

Dancing to one of their favorite songs before the presentation:

They sang a couple of songs for the presentation - this one is one of our favorites. He was a bit shy during the presentation, but he knows it by heart:

Landon giving me the Zoolander pose:

His whole class:

Hugs for Miss Pam - he loves her!

Me and my boy. I can't believe he's going to be in kindergarten next year. I will so miss having him around all the time!

Landon is truly a joy to have in our family and I have loved watching him grow and learn this year. I can see him itching to grow up (Mom, soon I will be seis, then siete, then ocho...) and I just want to slow him down because I'm not ready for that yet! The other day I told him that I wanted him to stay little forever and his response was "but Mom, even when I'm older, I'll always be your baby boy right?". Exactly.

Recovered! Partially..

2011-05-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Chelsey for letting me know that it was possible to get pictures off of my memory card...even after I had deleted them! I found a free program (Recuva) online that searches for deleted files. All I had to do was put my memory card into my laptop and we were in business! Unfortunately, not all of the files were recoverable, but at least I now have proof that his birthday actually happened!

Here's Landon with his new glide bike:

Here's the Hoth cake:

Landon and Parker experimenting with a Whoopie cushion that he got from a friend. Did you know they made these self-inflating now!?! Watch out grandparents...

Here's Jess helping build his new lego set:

And Lish in the midst of being attacked by both boys:

I wish I had the video of him opening the DS and of them eating Star Wars pancakes the morning of his birthday, but I'm SO grateful to have these few pictures!

SO SAD!

2011-05-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to post all of Landon's photo's from his birthday this month and....they are all gone!! We had to get our hard drive replaced on our Mac and as I was at the Apple store, it occurred to me that my most recent pictures probably weren't on our last back-up. I had the guy burn me a disc with all of my most recent photos - problem solved right? NOPE! I just went to insert the CD and put them back on the computer only to find that the CD is completely blank. BLANK! The computer was having trouble burning a disc at the store (considering the hard drive problems), but I can't believe it didn't do anything?? And that I didn't think to check it before wiping everything?? AGHH! I'm so sad about this. So, to make myself feel a little better, I'm going to recount a few things that I know we'll all want to remember about this birthday:

- Landon had his "friend" party a few days before his actual birthday. We played at a local indoor play place and then went to the park for pizza and cake. His cake was pretty sweet - chocolate cake (with beets!) with chocolate frosting, then covered in icing sugar to look like snow. On top we built the whole Hoth planet lego set (imagine the Wampa cave, Luke hanging upside down, the Wampa with a chicken bone in his hand - the whole deal). It was awesome and Landon loved it! He couldn't actually blow out the candles because it was too windy, but it we all sang to him and he was thrilled!

- On his "actual" birthday, he opened up family presents and was immediately in love. He got a new lego set from us and we had a cute picture of him riding his new glide bike from Mama Kit and Papa Len and I had a video of him opening up his present from Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bubba. It was hilarious! He's been asking me for a Nintendo DS for a few months and I told him there was no chance I was ever buying him one of those. He had totally given up hope....and then he opened his present! Bryson was upgrading to a new DS, so he sent him his old one complete with games and everything. Landon was SHOCKED and so excited! He kept saying "Mom, HA HA, you told me I could NEVER have a DS but now I have one!". That night we had a birthday dinner (stroganoff and scones, his two favorite things) and he got an awesome lego present from Lisha and Jess. Then we watched Star Wars while Jess built his new ship. So fun!!

All in all, it was an awesome birthday and again I'm SO sad that I don't have the pictures and videos to prove it. Scott is making fun of me saying "well, I guess that birthday never happened". And I know it is ridiculous to be so sad about pictures....but alas. Here we are. Hopefully Landon won't be sad that he doesn't have pictures to remember when he turned 5!!

Granny's Gardening Tips

2011-05-18T19:06:00.001-07:00

Lately I’ve been having gardening conversations with my Granny - she is quite an expert! When I was little, she had a garden the size of most large yards in Broomfield and everything was delicious. The tips she’s passed along are practical, simple and I haven’t seen any of them on the gardening websites I typically look at. I thought you might enjoy them too:

Growing Carrots

Carrots are notoriously hard to germinate and when I mentioned this to Granny, she said there is an easy fix that will get all your carrots growing fast. Instead of just planting them in a shallow row, she says it’s best to first mix up some gelatin. Just mix up some plain gelatin according to the directions, then add an extra 1/4 cup of water to make it runny. Stir in your carrot seeds and then put the whole concoction into a squeezable bottle, bag or something that will give you an even stream. Take it out to your garden and squirt a line down the row and lightly cover with soil. This encases the seed in protein (so it germinates fast) and protects it! Genius.

Sprouting Seeds (the cheap way!)

I love sprouts on my sandwiches and salads and now I know a way to do it on my own without purchasing any equipment. What you need: a mason jar and old nylons. All you do is choose what you want to sprout (beans, grains - really anything in the bulk bins!) and then put them in the jar with water to soak overnight (cover the top with the toe of your nylons and an elastic band). In the morning, drain the jar through the nylons, then rinse and drain again. Continue to rinse and drain 2-3 times a day for 4-7 days or until desired sprout length (keep jar in a dark spot for days 1-3 and then a sunny spot after that). When finished, drain and keep in the fridge for up to 7 days. Enjoy!

Removing Tomato Skins (without scalding)

This tip is the easiest of them all. Granny says that when you get a bumper crop of tomatoes (or just any tomatoes you don’t have time to use), just put them in a freezer bag and throw them in the freezer. When you’re ready to use them, just pull them out and let them start to thaw. As they warm up, the skins will naturally just fall off the rest of the frozen tomato - you can slip off the skin and throw the tomato in with your recipe. No extra work!

Hopefully you’ll enjoy these tips as much as I have. Enjoy the weekend!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend - lots of music, scripture lessons and fun! A week or so ago we even got to see some new baby chicks (yellow this time). We're so glad our friends shared these sweet little guys with us:

Landon is in love with little creatures. He asked me today "Mom, what does the word 'adorable' mean?". When I told him, he said "Oh, yeah, those little chicks were so adorable".

Landon's friend Peyton:

Parker had just woken up, but he still wanted to see the chicks!

We dyed eggs over the weekend, too. Parker started things off by spilling green dye all over the table and himself....sigh. I must say, the boys were both extremely cautious after that! We dyed farm eggs, so they were already slightly colored (blue, tan, cream). And don't ask me why my kids have no shirts. Now that it's getting warm out, they basically want to be naked at all times!

Here's Parker making a "dinosaur egg" with a Q-tip:

On Easter morning the boys found that the Easter bunny had pooped jelly beans all over the house! You can see by how dark it was in the house that they were up early! Landon actually woke up a 1/2 hour before this. I told him he had to wait until Parker woke up....yep, you can guess what happened next. I heard whispers from their bedroom: "Parker....Parker! You should wake up and see all the CANDY that's on the floor!"

Very excited about their baskets:

They were big fans of the candy and chocolate, but they also have quite a grasp on the true meaning of Easter. Parker's primary teacher made everyone in his class a laminated set of Easter pictures. He was SO excited to come home and show us how Jesus was in the tomb, but then came out and is "still alive!". When I think about my sweet family, it makes me even more grateful for the Savior and all he did for us to allow us to triumph over death and live again together as families. I'm so glad that my boys recognize how important that is!! Happy Easter!

Recent Quotes

2011-04-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

P: Mom, Heavenly Father made rain so we could get drinks from the sky.

P: Mom, did you know that some people are mean to the earth?

M: Yeah, some people are mean to the earth - what kind of people are you talking about?

P: Uh......like zombies.

M: Hey Landon, I'm sorry you've missed so much preschool this week. It's no fun being sick!

L: Yeah, it's ok. I'm actually ok with it because I really like to spend time with you.

(enter heart melting)

M: Parker, stop complaining! Just be grateful for what you have!

P: Mom! I'm just feeling so complainy because I need a cookie!

Growing

2011-04-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, my belly is growing fast these days! Here I am at 31 weeks:

Every day I feel like my boys are getting TOO OLD! They are like little man-children! Here they are getting a horse-y ride on Scott and then a video of their battle skills...

And, of course, our plants are growing like crazy. We started tomatoes, bell peppers and some flowers inside this year. Our tomatoes are looking good:

Bell peppers:

The wild flowers the boys started:

A few more weeks and then we'll be able to put them outside!

My Conference Project

2011-04-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

I've been working on knitting a pair of slippers for me - they are so cute, but not quite finished. The reason they are still in progress is that my boys wanted pairs of their own! During general conference a few weekends ago I decided to put mine on hold and whip theirs out. This is what Parker was wearing before his were finished:

He wanted grey slippers:

Here's Landon wearing his - he chose the closest thing to blue that I had in my stash.

Aren't they cute!? And washable! With my boys dirty feet, I'm sure they're going to need that quite a bit! Here's what I did for the pattern (just adapting it from my adult pattern):

(This is the pattern I used for my 3 year old, for older kids, just increase the number of stitches you start with - I did 8 for my 5 year old - and follow the same ratios)

SOLES:

Cast on 6

Row 1: k6

Row 2: p6

Row 3: k1, increase one, k4, increase one, k1

Row 4: k1, k2tog, k6, k2tog, k1

Row 5: purl 10

Row 6: Bind off 6

TOPS:

Cast on 6

Row 1: k6

Row 2: p6

Row 3: k1, increase one, k4, increase one, k1

Row 4: k3, bind off 6, k3

Row 5: k3, cast on 6, k3

Row 6: purl 12

Row 7: k1, k2tog, k6, k2tog, k1

Row 8: purl 10

Row 9: Bind off 6

Once you have two tops and two soles, put right sides together and sew up the sides with yarn. Work in all ends. (I used some of my "end" yarn to tighten the area around the heel so they wouldn't slide off their feet). Enjoy!

Christmas Re-Visited

2011-04-11T13:14:00.001-07:00

I got our Christmas photo's from my Dad in the mail today - yay!! I know all of you are sick of our endless vacation this past December, but since I print off my blog into books, I had to post these so they didn't get left out!!

Here we are about to board the ship:

Parker wanted to line up for Mickey a million times:

Scott thinks this photo should be straight out of a Disney Cruise line brochure:

Character breakfast - Parker had a love/hate relationship with all the different characters...

Pluto!

Mom's favorite:

Our servers made these Peter Pan hats for the boys:

On Disney's private island, my Dad took some pretty sweet family pics:

Then we played on the beach ALL day....it was heaven!

The boys were so happy that we got to do a lot of relaxing:

Drying off with Stace:

Family sand castle time:

I can't believe my Dad caught this on camera. We had just gotten off the cruise ship - I had a horrible sore throat - and this guy was making me and Alicia take a birthday oath! I was so not in the mood, but it was pretty funny.

Classic castle pic:

Landon's first time on splash mountain. He was SO excited to be tall enough to ride!

Waiting in line:

Scott is pretty much the best guy to take with you to Disneyland. He gets on all the rides and loves taking the boys around to see everything. Since I love it too, we're a great team!!

Landon loves having his back scratched.

This picture cracks me up. Scott looks like he's about to assassinate someone:

We got soaked on this!

At Universal - so fun!

The Dr. Seuss waterpark was a huge hit!

They figured out that the water squirted out of this little hole:

So of course, the logical next step would be to try to force your brother's head into it:

Payback!

In front of Hogwarts

Butterbeer!

The Hogwarts Express

Another view of Hogwarts:

In front of the Magic Kingdom:

Landon loved the Swiss Family Robinson tree house!

And more pirates! Here's Parker swearing the pirate oath:

Trying out the teeth:

Definitely fit Scott's mouth better :)

So into character:

Love it! It was so fun going back through these photo's - thanks Dad! I still can't believe how much fun we had!

Sweet Boys

2011-04-08T19:04:00.001-07:00

As you'll know from my last post, we've been putting together a box to send to Japan (through my friend "Sleepy Time Gal"). I talked to my boys about it today and asked them what fun things we could add to our box to brighten the day of the children who open it. I was SO touched at how they immediately starting running through the house finding things that they wanted to give away. I actually had to veto things because they were trying to send away some of their favorite toys! They ended up choosing a couple of like-new stuffed animals, a couple of books (with lots of beautiful pictures), crayons, pencils and two new coloring books that they hadn't used yet. Then we chose a few pairs of pants, shirts, sweaters and pairs of shoes that they hardly ever wear. We also just happened to update our 72 hour kits, so we had a bunch of extra fun snacks that we decided to send. All in all we came up with quite a bit of stuff!

What touched me the most, though, was how thoughtful both of the boys were about this whole thing. I walked upstairs to find Landon teary-eyed on the stairs. I gave him a hug and asked him what he was upset about. At first he actually said "Oh, nothing. I just have water in my eyes". What!? At 4 he's already starting to be embarrassed about crying?? Anyway, I asked him if he was upset about something and he said that he was sad for the kids in Japan (and sad about the toys in Toy Story 3....we watched it for movie night and it made us all bawl!). We talked about it a lot and how Heavenly Father is helping them through us and everyone else around the world sending prayers and supplies. We talked about how we're trying to do everything we can to be prepared for an emergency in our area and how even if something bad happened, we know that we are a family forever. I was so grateful for that teaching moment with my kids and so proud of them for their sweet, tender hearts!

After our discussion Parker said "Maybe I could stop those tsunami's. I could blast them or shoot them away from all the houses!". We all laughed, but in that moment I looked at those two boys and saw in them the potential to be great. To be great people, great men, great missionaries, great fathers and great advocates for all that's right in the world. My two little superheroes out to save the world.

Help if you Can!!

2011-04-07T11:57:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine is organizing a project to help a group of people in Japan and I thought some of you might be interested! Check out her blog for more information: http://www.thesleepytimegal.com/for-the-children-of-ishinomaki-japan/

We're going to put a box together tomorrow and ship it - what an easy way to get involved!

Spring Has Sprung

2011-04-01T19:31:00.001-07:00

I love, love, LOVE my backyard. I can't believe how fun it is to see all of this beauty just bursting out at this time of year! In the last few days all of our trees and bushes have started to blossom. We have pretty white flowers:

A patch of chives - had no ideas those were there!

Lovely yellow flowers:

Tiny buds:

And...my very favorite...the biggest tree in our yard has turned out to be a pussy willow tree! I have wanted one of these ever since I was a kid!! Most of the pussy willow's have now turned yellow with pollen, but I was able to cut off a few branches and bring them inside to dry. My boys were in love with these soft little blossoms:

The side of our pathway looked completely dead all winter - I was almost positive that nothing would grow there come spring. And yet, here are the beautiful ground covers that we fell in love with last fall. I love these!

Half of our kitchen table is taken up with my garden starts for the year: tomatoes (4 different kinds - yum!), celery, bell peppers and some flowers. In a few weeks I'll be able to plant our cool weather veggies outside! We have had so much fun watching our seeds sprout and grow. I'm so grateful for all of the beauty that surrounds us at this time of year!

Boys Dig Chicks

2011-04-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

A friend of ours has some baby chicks so we decided to take some pictures of the kids! The weather didn't cooperate at all, so we couldn't keep these little birds out for long, but we still got some cute pictures!

Artwork and Marshmallow Roast

2011-03-24T19:27:00.001-07:00

Since the boys have been earning quarters every once in awhile, they wanted a "bank" to save their money in. I told them they could each decorate a mason jar and this is what they came up with:

Can you find "Landon is fiting Darth Vadar"? He sounded it out all by himself! Not sure why there's a #4, but I love that Landon's character is smiling and Darth Vader has a frowny face!

This is apparently "The Wado" from star wars. Is it really "wato"??

This is Parker's masterpiece. It's also Star Wars, but I'm not sure exactly what he was going for...

As the weather has been getting nicer, we finally had a chance to use our new fire pit!

We built a small fire and roasted marshmallows for FHE one night. The boys loved the fire almost as much as the marshmallows:

St. Patty's Day

2011-03-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

The boys made a very clever trap this year....just not tricky enough! This is what they found in the morning:

The leprechaun left some gold and some green gum for them - they were obviously thrilled :)

And of course, we had to have lucky charms!

We had an irish dinner on the weekend - it was delicious! Love St. Patrick's Day!

More Vacation Pics

2011-03-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

If you weren't burned out by my previous vacation posts, you should check out: http://mumsiepopsicle.blogspot.com/ to see some from my Dad's awesome camera! Including some really cute family pics. Still waiting on those pictures Dad..... :)

Best Buddies

2011-03-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

I love that these boys play together WAY more than they fight. They are truly the best of friends!

The "Boo-Boo Bunny"

2011-02-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

I just had to share this with all of you since it's been such a huge hit in our household! A friend from preschool recently showed us this "Boo-Boo Bunny" when Parker hurt his lip at the playground. He loved it, so of course we made some of our own when we got home! They are homemade little ice packs - and they're washable!

Here's how you make one. First, take a washcloth and roll it up from both sides until the rolls meet in the middle:

slightly pull out the middle of each roll on one end:

Then fold up the other side of the rolls to about the mid-point:

Then fold the front side (that you just pulled the middles out of) over the top of the back fold:

Secure with an elastic band and voila! A boo-boo bunny. As you can see, the folding creates a little hole in the body of the bunny - that's where you slide in the ice cube.

Every time we get a puffy lip or bruised head, this is what my boys want - the love to suck on the ice!! Enjoy and hopefully you won't have too many opportunities to use it :)

Parker Quotes

2011-02-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

This kid cracks me up!! He says about 50 things a day that just make me laugh - I love him so much! Scott calls him our "method actor" because he will not break character for anything (snack, potty, you name it). Here are just a few quotes that I remembered from the last week or so:

(While I'm making dinner)

P: Hey Landon, guess what?

L: What?

P: Women are the people that use women's bathrooms. Did you know that??

P: Mom, you are the strongest because you have a baby AND muscles!

(While Ryan and Danna were babysitting)

P: I can't go to sleep because I'm mighty sick.

R: You're mighty sick? What does that mean?

P: Ummm....that I'm really sick.

R: Well it's really lucky that Danna's a Doctor - she can check it out.

P: Uhhhhh..... (obviously not the answer he was expecting)

My other favorite thing is listening to Parker's ideas for games. Usually something like "Landon, you be the son and I'll be the dad k? SON!!!!! I need you to help me!!!!". I hear "SON!!!" or "DAD!!!!" or "HELPER!!!!" a million times a day and it's SO funny! Yesterday Parker was yelling "DAD!!!" and Scott kept saying "What?". Parker was not amused! He'd say "No, no....my pretend Dad. That's Landon, not you Dad". Again, he's very serious about his roles :)

Randoms

2011-02-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

First of all - It's A BOY!! We're very excited for more testosterone in this household. Landon at first was a bit sad that it wasn't a little sister in there, but now he really can't wait to be the older brother of TWO brothers. So cool!! Plus....I don't have to buy a thing :)

The picture above is what I look like at night....and this is the bump in the morning. What!? It's still so weird to see it pushing out more during the day. I actually want my belly to get a bit bigger so I can fit into my maternity clothes! These are all pics taken by Landon:

Skyping with Granny and Grandpa:

Landon loves taking pictures of Parker:

Now onto other things! We have LOVED winter this year. Having a backyard to play in has been awesome - I didn't think we'd even use it until summer, but I was wrong! These boys love to go out and play in the snow.

We celebrated Lisha's birthday last month, too. We had a delicious BBQ chicken dinner and then made her fave - German Chocolate Cake! Getting ready to blow out the candles:

Landon was SO excited to sing to her:

Playing Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii:

This is Parker's cheesy grin....so weird!

And lastly, Landon was in a play at school!! He did so well (considering it was all in Spanish!) and didn't get scared at all. He was the cangrejo :). The play was based off of "Oso Polar" by Eric Carl. Landon's line was: "Es el guarda que silba en mi oido" (It's a guard whistling in my ear!) after he was asked what he heard. So cute!!

I'm so proud of my little guy :)

Ice Skating!

2011-02-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Once we were back in town, we were immediately thrown right back into winter. AND Alicia and Jessica moved out here nearly the same day that we got home! We have all loved having them around for dinners....and free babysitting :). Don't worry, we feed Alicia WELL for her troubles! We decided to go ice skating one Saturday. At first it was pretty tough work for us adults:

Parker really liked going around with Mom and Aunt Alicia:

Until he got tired...

Landon actually really took to it - his balance is great!

He needed less and less help throughout the day, whereas Parker....well, he was still a lot of work!

It took me and Scott a little while to remember how to skate, too. It's been almost 7 yrs since the last time I did it!

It will definitely not be that long again, though. Scott and I took the boys again last weekend and had so much fun. Landon is getting really good! He's able to skate on his own for small stretches. Pretty soon I'm sure he'll be cruising around!

Universal...and HARRY POTTER!

2011-02-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter world was so fun - check out Hogwarts!! I think our favorite thing was walking through the castle before the ride. I was amazed at everything they had in there (think: talking portraits, moving pictures in newspapers, the pensieve - everything!!)

Another view of the castle:

We had lunch at the Three Broomsticks :). Butterbeer is delicious!!

My little wizards:

Can you hear the mandrakes in the background? The kids stood and watched that for awhile!

Then we were off to Dr. Seuss land - loved all the little kid rides. On the carousel:

This was Parker's favorite. He's still our little water boy!!

Trying to tackle Landon into the water....he was eventually successful!

Oh yeah....

The entire trip was amazing!! We loved spending so much time with our family. Thanks so much Mom and Dad!!

On to DisneyWorld...

2011-02-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

After the cruise, we went to an AWESOME condo (think: bigger than our house!) at Disney World. All of us stayed together and it was so much fun! The first day I was really sick...I caught some flu/cold and it really knocked me out for a bit. Scott and the rest of the fam took the boys to the Magic Kingdom that day - I was so bummed to miss it, but definitely felt better after my rest!

Here they are on Haunted Mansion (the boys said this ride was way to scary for them):

Eating lunch:

This is how Landon and Parker got around the parks - Brandon and Bryson are the best!!

Grandpa came through with some awesome treats. I'm pretty sure these were purchased when Parker was sobbing about not being able to go on Splash Mountain. Landon was tall enough, though and he was SO excited. He's wanted to go on that ride for over a year!

At Epcot on New Year's Eve:

Light Saber fighting - Happy New Years!

We hit up the Animal Kingdom on New Year's Day - definitely less busy than the other parks. Parker LOVED Dinoland!

I think this picture is hilarious...

On safari!

The next day we went to Island's of Adventure and Harry Potter World, but those pics will have to come in a later post. It was so fun! Our last day of the trip we went back to Magic Kingdom and it was perfect - not busy at all in the morning. Parker and Landon had a blast on the speedway:

We had to do Buzz again:

And Pirates - definitely one of our favorite rides:

After Pirates, Grandma noticed that there was a place where you could actually BECOME a pirate. She signed the boys up and it was so awesome! First they went in for make-up:

Not too sure about this:

But at the end, he was SO into it. This is "Davey Bad-Bones" and he was in character for hours!

Landon chose the skeleton and his name was "Ned Swordcutter". Here he is taking the pirate oath:

Daddy trying out the false teeth:

My two pirates. They were hilarious in line while we waited for our shuttle!

And the aftermath. Landon looked like he was wearing eyeliner for weeks!

Castaway Cay

2011-01-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

This day was probably my favorite day on the cruise - Disney's private island. So awesome!! The beach was amazing, water beautiful and we had gorgeous weather. We were all in beach heaven! The boys were on a major shell hunt:

They kept running up to me with more and more of these white shells. I had a whole pile by the end of the morning!

Playtime with Uncle Bubba:

Warming up with Aunt Stacey:

Parker and I played in the sand a lot (and you can see I DO in fact have a baby bump!)

Our little family:

Dad, Brandon, Stacey and I went snorkeling. We saw some really cool stuff (even though we were freezing!). Brandon found us a lionfish and Stacey and I saw a field of squid on our way back in.

How Bryson spent his time when the kids finally left him alone:

The boys really wanted to go snorkeling....but not real snorkeling. Alicia took them out on the tubes to see the fish:

Daddy's turn to give some tube rides:

Near the end of the day we decided to bury Stacey:

The final product: Ursula!! She had SO much sand in her swimsuit when she finally got out!

Dad on Brandon's shoulders trying to get a better view:

Scott took Parker out on the tube for a nice relaxing ride. The sun was going down so I couldn't really get a great picture, but Parker was resting on Scott's back. Too cute!

Singing

2011-01-26T20:38:00.001-08:00

I've had a few people ask the past few months whether Scott and I still sing together....well, here's your proof! We did this on the cruise ship and it was actually really fun :)