Fallen off the planet

Yo!

I did fall off the planet there for awhile-sorry!! It's my sisters Lisa's fault. She told me that blogs without pictures are "boring and no one reads what you write." Rude! So since my computer is on its last leg, and patience has never been a quality of mine, I didn't put pictures or words up! I will post about 4 months of pictures soon- I promise! A lot has happened. Thatchers soccer, Madeline's gymnastic performance, Thatcher turned 5, My 31st b-day(!), Jack being dang cute etc. We are all good! Madeline just finished 2nd grade. I really don't think I am old enough to have a 3rd grader! Thatcher is going to start kindergarten this year, and luckily it is Madeline's teacher so I can prepare her for Thatcher. (-: Damn cute, and a damn handful! (-:

Thatcher's latest funny thing he said. We were at Wal-mart, and a man walked by with 2 hook hands. Thatcher dropped the toys he was holding and came over to me freaking out, and said in a loud whisper, "Mom, Mom that guy has hooks for hands!" So I started to explain to him that he must have lost his hands in an accident, those were his hands, lets not stare, etc. He cuts me off and says "No, he just has those to scary little children!"

SPRING!!

At last Spring is here! I can't tell you how happy I am. Stewart commented last night that" why do we live in this state when we hate the winter so much." Hmmmmm I have been saying that same thing for years. We are forgetting that we even have a winter right now, and focusing on how great it is to be outside. Last week we went to the aquarium, the park to play and have a picnic , and played outside whenever we could, used an entire thing of sidewalk chalk, my kids swam on Sat. outside (not quite warm enough for me but good enough for them.) Yesterday I went on a 5 mile glorious run. Today we went to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. Jack was studying all the animals, and wasn't sure if he liked them or not. So cute. Madeline feed everything the corn and was licked by giant animal tounges. Thatcher refused to hand feed anything, and was wearing his hat sideways all day (like a gangster) and said that how rock stars wear their hats. I promise to post pictures of all the above activities! Life is good, if you need me you can find me outside!!

Goodbye baby-hello toddler!

Jack started taking steps this week. Sad! I no longer officially have a "baby" - he is a "toddler"!! I can't believe how fast this year has gone! Anyways, he has been popping up to a standing position from the floor all week, and all the sudden decided to add some steps. So cute-he looks like a little robot, all stiff legged. I will some day include pictures of all of this.....maybe. (-: Where did my baby go? Whoever took him please bring him back! I just have to remind myself of my New Year's resolution- "to be present". "What?" you may say. Well let me explain....I am what you could call an obsessive planner. I know many of you already may know my little dirty secert, it's time to come clean about it. I can't live without my day planner, and it has every detail of my day carefully planned out to maximize time/people/and energy, and doing it all while multitasking everything. I get a lot done. I am efficient. I am organized. And lately I am worn out, tired, and grumpy. I've been reading a really good book about being present. It is really interesting and has got me thinking and reflecting. I always tell myself "when ____ is done, then I can have some fun/relax/play/etc." Well guess what, blank is never done. There is always, always, some mundane task ahead, waiting to pull me from my "moment" with my kids, at work, with my family, or my good friends. I am sick of it, and realize that I have missed, and am missing a lot of moments. I want to be in that moment fully enjoying it with my kids, not always rushing to make it to my next thing to check off my list. So guess what I signed up for: a sewing/quilting class with my sister, possibly a dance class (minus the spanadex after 3 kids), and am going to run a half marathon or two this summer. So is there going to be panic attacks along the way, and lists of how not to have lists? Sure, but I'm going to try to relax, leave the messy house along with the stupid lists, and force myself if I have to, to be present. Wish me luck!

Big...... I mean REALLY big news!

So I have an announcement..... you guessed right I AM PREGNANT!!! It was a bit of a shock to us too! O.k. dumb april fools day joke, I am sooooo not. I may still look it but there is not a fetus in this gut. We made the mistake of telling the kids today that it was April Fools Day so every 5 sec. they are playing a joke on us. Stewart played a joke on the kids this morning by putting green bean baby food in a diaper, then showing it to the kids and telling them it was Jacks poop and then he licked it. Not really funny just disgusting-Madeline about threw up. Oh last year he put real milk in one of my breast milk bags and in front of Madeline dumped it on his cereal and told her we were out of milk but could use mom's breast milk. She started screaming and gagging, poor girl.

Thatcher was being naughty in his bed last night. Stewart went in, picked him up, and carried him to our bed, and tossed him unto it. Thatcher said, " Hey man...... thats not cool" is this surfer voice. The kid is so funny! Last night I also bought him a new swimming suit that he was wearing around the house. He jumped out of my closet with my bra on swaying and singing some song he made up. I never know what he is going to come up with next.

So its spring break and it is snowing!! Insert F-word here. Seriously. Next week we are going to go on a vacation here- downtown. We were going to go to disneyland before Stewart starts his job, but decided to wait until our annual October trip. It is so fun to go around Halloween time. So next week we are taking the kids to a hotel downtown, and taking them to movies, swimming, the childrens museum, zoo and planetarium. Should be tons of fun, I am really looking forward to it.

The latest on everyone

Good ones from Thatcher this week-
1) Comes in the bathroom when I'm in the bath, and says staring right at my chest, " I'm not lookin' at your privates Mom." The kid is going to be 5, and will probably have horrible flashbacks of that moment.

2) Snuck Stewart's hammer and a nail, went outside, and was hammering it into our wood swing set. (The day before he had done the same thing and smashed his hand.) I looked outside right as the hammer was being raised above his head very, very close to his eyes. I yelled, "Thatcher DON'T! Do you remember what happened yesterday?" He gives me this look with his head tilted to the side, and says " M-ooommmm, I KNOW about safety because I am totally, totally safe. What happened yesterday was just a joke. I was just joking when I smashed my hand!" Then he does this little fake laugh. We have since hidden the hammer.

3) Thatcher HATES going pee. HATES, HATES, HATES! I don't know why but he will dance around for hours before he finally breaks down and goes. The other day Stewart walked in, and Thatcher is watching T.V., dancing around, and has "it" out and is squeezing it as hard as he can, as pee droplets are slowly dripping on the floor. Yum!

4) He does air guitar. Ha Ha hilarious!

Jack is crawling everywhere, and will walk behind a walker, but REFUSES to walk with me holding his hands. As soon as he realizes that he is walking he puts both legs up and starts whining. What brave boys we have! Thatcher was 15 months and I think that Jack will be 3 when he starts walking. He is such a love bug baby. He loves songs, and books but his favorites are dipping his hand in the toilet and then sucking on them, and emptying the dishwasher or sucking on dirty dishes. His latest discovery is outside. He wants to be out his every waking moment, eating dirt and bugs and watching for planes. When he hears one (he doesn't miss one) he stops what he is doing, freezes, and makes his mouth an O. So freaking cute!

Madeline is doing great! She just had a leading part as Henny Penny in the school play. (Will include pictures of all this soon.) Doing great, as always, in school, gymnastics and with friends. She came home yesterday and told me that she "had the worst day ever because she had so many admirers, and it was so tiring." Dramatic, dramatic, dramatic. Heaven help us in a few years.

Stewart is having an affair. With a HUGE remote control airplane. He is getting really good at it( he spends a lot of time with this love) he can do tricks and drops parachute guys from it. He is often approached, and complimented by 3rd graders at the park.(-:

Me-Same old. Kids, work sometimes, running (yeah for spring), and a sewing class!

Holidays

Is this a blog with no pictures? Yes, I guess it is lately. It has a lot to do with the fact that I don't get computers. Yep, just don't get them. Cut me some slack-new camera, and really, really old computer. They don't mesh well together. So sometime when my sister Amy is visiting, or Stew gets around to it will get some up there! Anyways.........

Madeline told me today that the leprechaun ruined her St.Patrick's Day by not bringing her anything. That the neighbor girl got gold coins, toys etc. Thanks a lot people! I worked and didn't do anything (surprising I know since I'm a holiday freak!) for the kids, except pick out green outfits for them. Then as we were walking around Target she asked me if the Easter Bunny was real. When I asked her why she said because "they is no such thing as a giant bunny, especially one that can hop around the world in a night." The bunny doesn't make any sense to her, but a leprechaun and Santa still do. Whatever- as long as she believes as long as possible. I will cry when we have that conversation. I really will. I will take drastic measures to ensure they continue!!!! No more slacking on the holidays! Time to step it up! Crisis averted, at least for now.

5 new family members

Well we had a good week, I hope everyone else did also. Stewart and I got to go over night for our anniversary. (Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids!) It was heaven! We went and stayed downtown, went shopping and to dinner at The Roof. 9 years, I can't believe it! Stewart got a new job, all the details are still being worked out, but we are really excited about it and the long term opportunities that we think are there. We also got news that Madeline got into ALPS , which were are happy about (it's a gifted and talented school in the Jordan School District.) I had a great day at work yesterday training on being in the nursery (we are switching from just taking care of the moms and surgeries to also doing the babies.) It was fun just to hold a bunch of cute, new babies. Only bad news is that Jack has been sick for 2 weeks. Started out with a cold/cough, pink eye in both eyes, and ear infection. He still has a runny nose and has thrown up a few times. Poor little guy.

The kids best news.......we added 5 new members to our house. No I'm not pregnant. We added 5 aquatic frogs to our already way too many pets house! 2 cats, hamster, and now 5 frogs. Thatcher's cousin was getting rid of one and so we took it, and put it in a 10 gallon tank we had. He looked so lonely in there so we added a few more today. We brought the new ones home and all of us were crowded around the tank as Stewart dumped them in. Things were good for probably 10 sec until one jumped on another ones back and looked like he was getting a piggy back ride. Madeline started SCREAMING and jumping all around because we thought it was trying to kill or eat it. Stewart goes into frantic mode, also screaming like a girl, and reaches his hand in and tries to separate them. He can not get the stupid things apart, so to calm Madeline down he yells over the top of her that " they are so happy to have friends now they are hugging!" She sort of calmed down and the kids got bored of the "hugging" frogs, and went outside. I kept watching them and finally the bottom one used his back legs to kick the other one off. With a little computer research Stewart found that they weren't trying to kill each other they were mating! Great. They lay eggs and then hatch within like 3 days. Oh crap! Hopefully they weren't "hugging" long enough. Thatcher asked like 5 times if the frogs were still "communicating". I don't know where he got that. Hopefully no more "communicating" or "hugging" will go on, I really don't want any more of them. I also really don't want to have the birds and bees or frogs and frogs talk with the kids this early. I'll let you know soon if we have some frogs to give away!

Tumbling

Here are a few of Madeline's tricks in motion.

Back tucks

Side ariels

Back handsprings

Back walkovers

Satan vs. Jesus

Thatcher really wanted to have his cousin (and best friend) come and play today, and was begging me to let him come over. The two have gotten in quite a bit of trouble together lately, and so I told him I didn't think that it was a good idea. He sat there a minute glaring at me with his hands on his hips, and said "Mooooooooom I just want people to know that Satan IS real!!!" I'm glad that he feels he is doing his part to spread the word(-: So I asked him if he knew who Satan was and he said "yes, he's the guy who tells you to do bad stuff." Then silence for a minute and then he added, " actually, I MADE Satan to destroy Jesus." Lovely. Everything, even church, is now including in being a superhero. Bad against good. Hopefully he meant to say it the other way around- that Jesus would be the one to destroy Satan, but in fear of what else he would add to the already blasphemous conversation, I just let it go. Where would a kid get such a crazy idea? Try the Book of Mormon. I was just reading the kid version to Madeline and Thatcher, and people were getting burned in fires, smashed by buildings, and killed all over the place. Not the best thing to read right before bed. Madeline was sitting there with her hands over her ears, saying she was going to have nightmares, and Thatcher was looking a little nervous. I think mostly because Stewart had just explained what "righteous" meant to him, and everyone not in that category was dying an awful death. Then, when I tucked him in bed he said he hoped that no one would chop him like they do in the scriptures. Wow. Wow. Wow. Time to scratch the current way we've been teaching our kids and try something different. I'm already nervous of what the kids will say to their teachers at church, now they are going to be FORBIDDEN to open their mouths! People are going to wonder what the crap we're teaching them(-:

Jack's 1st Birthday!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Jack!!!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone! It actually makes me sad. As hard as the first year is, it is also such a sweet year. Many times I have thought of the baby blessing that Stewart gave Jack. He blessed, "that Jack would have a special relationship with his mother, and be close with her." I love that he said that, in fact I think that he has said that will all our kids. I feel like I do have a special, different relationship with all of them. I wish I could freeze time right now. My kids are so cute(naughty too!) but I am having such a good time playing with them, and watching them grow. It is going too fast, way too fast! I want to be there for every minute, every new thing they experience, every hard thing, every success, I don't want to miss anything. Since I can't freeze time, I am just trying to be present and soak them in.

Jack is DARLING! I have enjoyed him so much this year.Everything about him both in looks and personality. Jack is a lot like Stewart in many ways. The only times he gets upset are if he is tired and hungry (just like Stewart!) He is also like Stewart in that he is easy going, has a sense of humor, and loves to play(with others not much by himself, dang it!(-:) His favorite place to be is on my hip, and lately he wants to stay there all day. I adore his long eyelashes, his smile with all his teeth, being a show off, how he splashes like crazy in the bath, and how he chases and harasses the cats, how he loves to wrestle, how he follows me around the house like a puppy, how he loves Thatcher, and I LOVE how he smells. I could eat him. I really could. I absolutely adore him. Happy Birthday Jack- Your mommy loves you!

1 year dr's appt. stats
20% for weight
30%height
92% head(he's very bright!)

Sharing with mommy...

Jack's Train Cake..

He would sure make a cute girl!! :)

Playing with his new toys!!

Big brother helping out..

mmmmm!!! Dinosaurs!!

Reading Stories with Mommy

Thatcher showing off his muscles

Ninja milk

This morning I poured milk on my oatmeal and took a bite. It had a weird faint taste of grape punch. Then it hit me. "Thatcher did you pour grape punch into the milk?" I said. He just looked at me and shook his head no. I said " well it tastes like grape, why would it taste like grape?" Then the confession-he put his hands out exasperatedly, one raised eyebrow, shaking his head. "Mom" he started out slowly, "how else am I supposed to make Ninja milk?" Gross! I'm so NOT a fan of "Ninja milk." I don't think I am going to dare drink the milk anymore at our house. Who knows what else he will put in it! There are probably worse things then grape punch.......

Thatchers quote of the day

Today I ran into Ikea to quickly exchage something(30 mins later I was out of there - I hate that freaking place-hire some employees for your giant store!) Stewart took the kids across the street to see some horses while they were waiting. When I finally got into the car Thatcher said," I named one of the horses Sweetie!" Then he thought for a second and added very seriously, "but be careful because Sweetie almost bit my hand off!"

Fun Times!!

People always tell me they look alike, and I can never
see it but I can in this picture!

Doing it all by himself!

A few days before Matthew left.

Thatcher puts him in this toy dump truck

and pushes him around the house. Jack loves

it!

CUTE boys!

Christmas morning

Poor Jack got awakened by the other excited kids and yanked out

of bed on Christmas morning.

Jacks FAVORITE thing to do.... throw or suck on all the

dirty dishes! Yummy!

Madeline's gymnastic performance!Good job Maddie!

Jacks first time on Santas lap. He didn't cry

at all just looked confused.

Christmas

Halloween...a bit late :)

He is OBESSED with superhero p.j.s and still is attched to
the purple barbie blanket!

First time Thatcher wrote his name by himself!

Halloween Fun!

Elvis!

V Day

"All you need is love. Love lifts us up where we belong" -Moulin Rouge

Happy Valentines Day to all!

Madeline just asked me "do all holidays have mascots? Easter has the Easter bunny, and Christmas just depends on what you believe in, and Valentines day has hearts?" I guess so. I like how she called them mascots. Go team holiday! We had a really fun love day this year. I was able to help at Madeline's school on Friday for the class party. I went early to eat lunch with her. Kids are so funny, this girl sitting across from us wouldn't stop talking to me the WHOLE time. She told me the entire plot of Avatar, how her mom wins her grandma when they play games, and everything else under the sun. Then we went into her classroom and the kids played games, did crafts, and passed out valentines. I remember in elementary school how fun that was to get valentines. I loved making the mailboxes too.

My kids had a great day today getting Zu zu pets (pretend hamsters) from us, and more toys and candy from my parents. I love you Mom and Dad, and siblings you are the best!
I love you beautiful, smart Madeline! I love you my crazy buddy Thatcher! I could eat you up I love you so, Jack! I adore and love you Stew!

Love movies

Stew and I were trying to brain storm about good love movies for Valentines Day. We came up with a few 1- Moulin Rouge 2- Stranger than fiction 3-Stardust 4- Good will hunting 5-Love actually 6-About a boy ??? That's our list, what other ones did we forget? The first 3 just also happen to be my favorite movies, if you disagree then you have bad taste, because they are great!

Stew and I just got back from a very long, and great date. We dropped the kids off at the grandparents house, went to dinner at PF Changs and then to a movie. Four whole hours of calm and peaceful-Happy Valentines Day to us! Thanks mom and dad!

My kids are bouncing off the walls with all the sugar they've ingested over the past few days. I think they will be pooping red or pink dye for weeks to come.

Warts are deal breakers

Doing Valentine's with Thatcher last night, I teasingly asked him if there were any cute girls in his class? I totally thought he would get embarrassed or say no, but he didn't. He sat there and thought about it for a second, and then said " get out the class picture." I pulled it out and started pointing out and naming the girls( all of which are darling). I pointed to them one by one and he would look thoughtfully, wait a second and then say "yes" or " yeah she's pretty cute" then we came to one and he said smiling " wow, don't even get me thinking about her!" Then I pointed to another one cute one and he said disgustingly"Umm no, she has a wart!" Stewart and I died laughing! Thatcher is O.C.D. about cleanliness and hand washing. Sorry cute class mate, but I guess a wart is a deal breaker.

Thatcher is going to be trouble. Good looking, and already into the ladies. When he first started preschool this year I asked him if he was going to be o.k. He said "yes, as long as my teacher has a nice face." I think that I should probably have the talk about the inside mattering more than the outside. Happy Valentine's Day from my insides!

Ahhhhh....first love

I thought in honor of Valentines Day coming up, I would post a few blogs about love.
Number 1-First love.

Every day when I pick Madeline up from school, I immediately get a run down of the days love saga. I love it. I listen very seriously, and try my best to not crack a smile. I nod and say things like "are you kidding me" and "then what happened". It all started with Madeline hearing through the grapevine, that a boy named Stockton, had a crush on her. I mean come on who wouldn't! Then the story changed and became weeks of a pushy, annoying girl in her class, chasing him at recess and kissing him!! Of course Madeline was right there see every detail. Madeline would say to me disgustingly "can you believe her, she is breaking a school rule!" or "that is so unappropiate" (she hears me say inappropriate all the time). Then what happened after all the chasing and kissing? Was he totally annoyed with this girl, like we both were? No. Then the dagger-Brynn asked Stockton "if he loved her and wanted to marry her when he grew up." Guess what he said...... "yes"! Madeline said rolling her eyes,"then Brynn fainted." Oh the injustice of it all.

Boys....already loving the pushy girls, and the pushy girls stealing our boys!

First love. Poor Madeline is getting her first taste of love, disappointment, and pushy girls.

I tried to think of my first love. Lots of little crushes through the first years, but the longest was my husband. I first saw him across the playground, on his first day of school in 5th grade. He was wearing a weird, and very ugly cowboy tie. (He just moved from Colorado, so he was a strange mix of cowboy/skater). I quickly got over the clothes. Look at his beautiful face! The darn boy only wanted to play four square and ignore everything/everyone (like me) else. I'm not one of those annoying girls, so I waited. We were on the same debate team in 6th grade. Still nothing, so I waited. Then middle school- I patiently watched as he dated every pushy/slutty girl in the school and made-out with them before getting on the SAME bus as me, still I waited. High School- I remember coming around the corner of a hallway and almost walking into him. He had hit puberty over the summer, and was a MAN. His blond hair perfectly combed in a skater wave. Plus, he was wearing khakis and a button down shirt. Oh be still my heart! So I watched him more, but continued to wait. College-We both ended up at Snow College. Stewart asked me to dance at the dance the weekend before school started. We became inseparable from that point. FINALLY! My room mates would all say "are you sure you want to be with one person in college, college is for dating!" Are you kidding me! I've been waiting and waiting. Then a very long mission and I waited a long time more. Finally, Finally, Finally he actually came home! I didn't have to wait anymore! We got engaged and married.

I am so happy. I adore my husband. We have so much fun together! I'm so glad I was patient and waited and waited. It was meant to be-We're soul mates!

So Madeline, I hear you girl! Pushy girls and dumb boys are all part of it. You'll find your love, but for right now you'll just have to wait.

Dear Spring

Dear Spring,

I love you! I have missed you so much since you have been gone these last 6 months. I'm so happy that winter is packing up. I have missed your sunshine, running with you outside, green yards and plants, and the kids outside with you. I'm excited to get to know you again! We will be best friends!In fact, I have already started stalking you. Please come back soon or I will be in the loony bin. In fact, if you are late this year (like you were last year) just come and find me there, heavily medicated, in a straight jacket, sitting rocking in the corner mumbling nonsense. Please come soon....I am on the verge.....

New Blog!

Hey everyone!

I know, your all dying of shock right now, I have a blog! My sister Amy has done EVERYTHING
so I still don't know how to do anything. So this might be my first and last post!(-:

We put pictures up of our trip to Hawaii. It was the most relaxing best trips that we've ever been on. Well I should say after we got there. I took all 3 kids on the plane by myself which was HELL! Each kid had to go to the bathroom about 5 times each(I'm not kidding). I would be holding Jack and trying to take 1 kid to the bathroom and be watching the other fromt he back of the plane. Not fun. Once we got there it was so worth it! We went for 2 weeks and stayed in a house right on the beach. My whole family( except Micheal and his wife Kelly dang you guys!) came. It was a last trip before Matthew headed out on his mission. We had a total blast! At night right down the beach sea turtles would come up and sleep for the night. So freaking cute. We caught hermit crabs on the beach. There was lizards all over even one in my shower one day. My kids keep asking when we're going back they loved it! So enjoy all the photos, when I get a huge computer lesson I will add more updated ones of the kids.

Hawaii!!