Little Get Away

So if you live anywhere near us, you know these pictures were NOT taken here! We haven't had swim trunks or water out for over a month now! We got to go down to Vegas this last weekend to attend baby Molly's blessing (Deanna's 2nd daughter!)
The Wilsons drove up, Keri and kids came, Doughmans were there for a day, scotty and rachel made it after much tribulation, and of course, gramma McKe was there too! My boys just LOVE all there cousins! Rikki and Natalie are the best helpers anyone could ask for, and all the boys make Jared just think he is in HEAVEN! (which, hopefully that is how it will be!)
Dee MADE this beautiful dress for Molly! I should have gotten a better pic of the baby girl- it is just gorgeous! I might have to hire her one day (if i ever have a girl!)
Saturday night we roasted marshmellows and sang songs around the fire. In the little picture of jared with his hands on his hips- he is rockin out to "home on the range" one of his FAVORITE songs.

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family to spend time with. The drive was long, but really, the boys did great. It wasn't until the last hour driving home (about midnight) that spencer decided he had had enough and just wanted out. He had to go to the bathroom, and apparently couldn't do it in his car seat. So he was obviously uncomfortable. But we made it- up and back- in a couple days. We get to do it again in a couple weeks, but are going a little farther. YAY for road trips!!

WOW!

Some of you may or may not know that Jason has decided to become a chaplain for the army. We made this decision at the beginning of this year. Since then, we have had to do TONS of things to be accepted and start the process. and let me just tell you, it is a process!

Currently we are in one of many waiting phases. We have gotten our ecclesiastical endorsement from the LDS church- which is a VERY good thing (you can't become an LDS chaplain without that!) To get that we had to fill out an extensive application and pass four different interviews.

Now that we have that, we are trying to figure out which grad school we should attend - or be accepted to! Our options at this point are: BYU or Lubbock Christian University. BYU is obviously in Provo, and Lubbock is an online program, which means we could live wherever we wanted :)!! or wherever we have a job! We shall see what happens. BYU is the obvious choice, simply for the fact that if you are going to get an MA in religion, it would be nice to get it at a school that teaches your religion! but there are actually only 5 spots open and we know of 16 people that at least say they are interested in going there. We would like to go there and feel we need to apply, but also feel very strongly that if that is where we are supposed to go, we will. otherwise, we know we have other options, and aren't worried. Lubbock is where the majority of the current candidates are attending. thought they aren't an LDS school, they cater really well to LDS chaplains- that's why we'd go there. We'll probably find out the where we are going information at the beginning of the new year. so, once we get the applications in, we just have to wait, and wait, and try not to go crazy.

But, since we are considered chaplain applicants/candidates we were invited to attend an annual chaplains seminar that is held in Salt Lake surrounding General Conference. Most of the chaplains came in from around the world (all different military branches) and all applicants and candidates were there. In all it was probably 100 people, maybe, if that. i don't really know. it is one thing that we can now look forward to for the rest of our chaplain career- always coming to general conference and chaplain seminar every October, no matter where we live in the world.

We had a social friday night and were taught by Elder Carlson of the 70. Then we had tickets to all sessions of general conference (though jason ended up having to work ALL DAY saturday -long frustrating day!), so we just ended up attending the two sessions on sunday. Then we had 2 more days of instruction all day monday and tuesday. to say that i am spiritually filled would be a major understatement. Some of the well known speakers from those two days are: from the 70 of the church (or emeritus)- Elders Robert S Wood, Robert Oaks, Paul Johnson, and Gerald Lund; Sister Barbara Thompson from the general relief society board (i got to sit and talk with her for a little while- she is soooo amazing!) Dr.'s Larry Dewey, Gary Lawrence, Robert Millet; Major General and Army Chief of Chaplains, Douglas Carver (he is the top dog of army chaplains-not LDS) and his wife Sonny; and then we ended with Elder Holland of the the quorum of the twelve. (i know, you don't really care about any of this part, but it's my blog and i want it recorded here!)

SOOO, all those amazing speakers, plus a wonderful general conference, and man am i tired!! we had to be up early every morning to get down there ahead of major traffic (and be in our seats by8) a HUGE THANK YOU to all the many different families that watched our boys over the last 5 days. they are tired and bored at home now!

BUT, i did want to record a few of the lines that really stuck out to me during the seminar. I'm not going to put who said them, just for times sake. I've got tons to do today, but i wanted to get some of this down. if you want to know a specific one, just ask me.

"mold children by instilling righteous habits"

"change your behavior by understanding doctrine- it has to come from within"

"nobody is self-sufficient but we are all expected to be self-reliant"

"this is a time for intentional spiritual leadership"

"if you aren't hearing from God, what are you teaching?"

"If you are having a pity party, the Holy Ghost is not invited"

"Look for things to fill you up, not leave you depleted"

"Questions are a sign of growth" (this explains my 3 year olds constant why??)

"3 R's of personal revelation- Receive it, Recognize it, Respond to it"

And last, but not least, Elder Holland said this in his closing remarks (somewhat paraphrased in my words, but general idea!), "I believe the commandment we break the most is to BE OF GOOD CHEER. In the last verse of John 16, the last thing the Lord says to his disciples before the intercessory prayer, betrayal and crucifixion is,

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
My words:
We will have tribulation, but he has suffered it all- NO MATTER WHAT IT IS. As we have started this chaplain process, i have seen the adversary working very hard to stop us from doing it. Satan doesn't want to let the righteous and good thing in the world happen. At times it has become very discouraging (like our basement flooding in 3 rooms while we were gone all weekend- yeah, lovely) But we have been commanded to BE OF GOOD CHEER!

Smiling is my motto. being cheerful comes with that, or can follow that. It is often times A LOT easier said then done. The Lord knows we will not be happy all the time. But there are many times we just aren't trying. While many muscles are used to create a smile, it is a very simple thing to do- and the results can be tremendous.

I encourage you, no matter who you are, to strive harder to remember the admonition to be of good cheer. We have every reason to be, even when the world tells us differently. We are here to be on this earth so that we can have joy. That takes action. It isn't just going to happen always on its own. Make sure your are doing the things that we have been taught to ensure that you might be cheerful, and have that wonderful joy.

Fall is HERE!!

Faster than I can blink, the leaves are changing colors! It gets really gorgeous around here when that starts to happen. We had gone on this little hike on Saturday, and the leaves were pretty much all still green. We went again last night for an FHE treasure hunt, and the leaves were ALL different colors. I didn't really get many pictures because we were in a bit of a hurry- it was getting dark fast. But we had a great time. Jared is such a good little hiker- and then he LOVES to run down the mountain.

About 6 weeks ago I decided that I was going to learn how to be a runner. I started this little program that begins VERY basic (run 1 min, walk 1 min). But that is basically where i was. I have NEVER ran other than for PE in school- and let's be honest, i walked most of that. I always made terrible excuses of why i couldn't run, ones that sounded pretty legit (i.e.- i have a hole in my heart and it just HURTS when i run)
well, i am BOUND to prove myself wrong. It isn't easy, considering the heart is a muscle that i have never really worked very hard, and really, i do have a hole in it. BUT- i am doing it!! i'm on week 6, which means run 6 walk 1 repeated 4 times. I'm not sure how far i'm going to go- it is getting quite tough. and i am THE SLOWEST runner out there- but i'm doing it, and that is all that matters to me.
I bring this up now, because as we were running down the mountain last night, jason yelled "look! momma's running!" as if it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen! :) i love my husband. But i am proud to say that i did run down, and didn't get anywhere close to being winded! (and i'm even sick right now!) Go me!!!

Silly Boy

This kid kills me!! he is HILARIOUS!!! I've decided this is one of my favorite ages. I vaguely remember loving it when jared was this age (though i was 9 months pregnant and a single mom at the time- so really, how much was i loving life then?? poor kid, hopefully he didn't feel too neglected!) But Spencer is seriously so much fun to be with. He is one feisty/sassy boy, but he is sweet and snuggly all the same.

Yes, he is sitting on a little potty in a couple of these shots. And, not to brag or anything, but he TOTALLY initiates it. Quite frankly, i'm NOT ready to potty train AT ALL. he still needs to be my baby for a little while longer, so i don't start feeling like a need another one! :) He actually hasn't really done anything other than sit on the potty. but he comes and gets me, takes me to the bathroom, tries to pull his clothes off, and says "poo!" and then he sits there and fake grunts and grunts, and stands up with a big smile on his face all proud of himself. now, i have NO IDEA where he learned the grunting on the toilet part :) but that is what he thinks he is supposed to do! And he does this ALL DAY LONG- gets quite annoying. I probably should just go with it and start him, since i was planning on doing it in 4 months anyway, but we are going on 2 trips this coming month, and i think that would just end up being one frustrating disaster. So, we will wait 'til we get back and see if he is still extremely motivated in november. he's not even quite 20 months yet!!! and he's a boy!!!! and he doesn't really talk!! or take his clothes all the way off!! no, i'm obviously not ready- and really neither is he!

Getting Ready For Church

BEFORE

AFTER

Who knew i had more than tinted moisturizer in my makeup bag???

One HARD headed kid!!

Don't let innocent face fool you. When he gets mean, he gets mean:


{my mug shot}

Not really. well ok, kind of. he does get pretty mean when he is mad. But that isn't how he gave this cute little shiner. The real story: we were lying in bed yesterday morning (6 AM!!!!!) both boys were up and i was trying to get them to fall back asleep in my bed (jason is already at class by 6) jared sat up and then threw himself back down on the bed. he wasn't upset or even trying to hurt anyone. he just happened to land at the perfect spot on my face with his head to create an immediate explosion under my eye. I saw stars and everything. it hurt. it still does, and probably will for a while.

other jared bits and pieces to record:
he won't eat anything that he doesn't already know what it is. it is VERY rare for him to try anything new. DRIVES ME CRAZY. i have tried EVERYTHING!!! lately my unsuccessful strategy has been to tell him he has to eat at least 1!!!! bite of what i make for dinner, and then he can have something else. talk about stubborn. he rarely does it. his other option is to go straight to bed with no dinner. yep, that is what he chooses instead of eating 1 bite of food. stubborn, stubborn boy. OR like the other night for instance- i made tacos. he won't eat meat (unless it's hot dogs or chicken nuggets)- so, i was trying to be creative and let him make his own taco, hoping he would put what jason and i were putting in our tacos. he had a tortilla stuffed with lettuce. that was it.

if anyone has ANY suggestions, i'd gladly take them. just so you know before you start suggesting: i let him choose what he wants to eat for breakfast and lunch (which he does fine with- oatmeal, cereal, pancakes, ham sandwich, nuggets, hot dogs, peach cups, grapes, apples etc.) he does NOT snack all afternoon long. i'm not a snacker, and really my kids aren't either. unless it's a few pretzels when they are in the stroller to keep 'em quiet! :) sooo, he SHOULD be hungry by dinner time, and NOT willing to go to bed hungry. he only gets 2 glasses of rice milk a day- the rest water (which he drinks a lot of, and which i think is a good thing) no juice really. but other than canned corn and lettuce, i can't get him to eat a vegetable for the life of me (and i make sure i give him one at every meal- you kjnow they say it can take 10 times of introducing a child to a certain food to get them to eat it- well, pretty we passed the number 10 a LONG time ago with everything) i think his main concerns are: texture (if it feels wrong to him in his mouth, he will spit it out) and he's afraid it will hurt his belly (because of his food allergies) i've tried and tried to explain to him that mommy won't give him anything that will hurt his belly (eggs, peanuts, cow milk) but he doesn't believe me.

sooo, good luck. and really i don't want to hear "it's just his age he'll grow out of it" because i don't have the patience to wait until then- i'm afraid that might be forever! :)

FHE

So here is a quick tip. Jason was in charge of the lesson for family home evening last night. He did a search for "helaman family home evening" and found a great one on Scribd. Do you know what that is?? I didn't. Basically it is free data base from google docs that you can search and find amazing things. Anyway, you sign up for a free username account- and whammmmm- you have access to TONS of FHE lessons. All you do enter either FHE or family home evening (or even get more topic specific) and there are tons and tons of great lessons that people have shared. it's greatness- even if really we are just at the color page stage! it's nice to have access to already prepared coloring pages! so go to www.scribd.com and see what treasures you can find!

Fashion Tips

Spencer wants me to make sure to tell the world that this look (featured above) will soon be the next great thing in fashion. It's layering at it's finest. Diaper, onesie (covered in oatmeal, naturally!) big brother's underwear (that he puts on himself) along with white socks and brown cowboy boots. Really, it's HOT!!


all humor aside, he really wears this A LOT!! i love how it makes his little diaper butt, be a cute bubble butt. I don't remember when exactly he started doing this, a few months ago at least. But he puts the underwear on himself (and often adds two or three pairs on top!) LOVE IT!!

Growing TOO fast!!

So, sorry they are n*ked in this little video, but normally he won't perform on command for me, and he was last night. so, i took the chance to capture the cuteness.
(these are pictures of boating with ernie the other night. we went for a sunset cruise, and it was BEAUTIFUL! jason and i even got to do a little tubing! (which i haven't done in FOREVER and was quite sore from- don't laugh, it hurt :)

I can't believe how big spencer is getting, and well, jared for that matter. they are the bestest of friends. i'm really glad that i had them so close together. they really play well together (well, most of the time. they ARE brothers!) i've been feeling like i need to record a little about who they are right now.

Spencer is one feisty little man. he has a hard time sitting still for any amount of time. he always wants to be DOING something. if we are reading books, he has to be turning pages in another book while listening. don't cross him, he will scream his head off! i don't like always comparing him to jared, but of course, it's natural- he is the only other child i have had! :) but jared was so mellow at this age, and talked a TON, saying full sentences by now, really they are completely different personalities. spencer, will run and hide (often times i really can't find him!) whenever i call his name. he tells me NO constantly, and knows exactly what he is saying. he doesn't talk a ton. every word pretty much starts with a B or M- whether it's supposed to or not! he does say mama, ball, mine, cow, dog, car, go, book, hot dog, cheese, shoes, no (unfortunately that is his favorite word) and then really random words here and there. he'll just all of the sudden say some word that we've never heard from him before, and say it correctly, but then not repeat it. he says please, all done, more , and bath in sign language. and shakes his head for yes. he LOVES animals (especially horses and dogs) and cars. he LOVES to dress up. he LOVES to snuggle. he has his two green "nugglies" (as i call them) he still hasn't named them anything other than "mine." he is the BEST hugger and squeezes soooo tight, and gives great slobbery kisses. and pretty much, he wants to do ANYTHING that his brother is doing! he will eat anything, which is great, totally opposite of jared.

Jared is a 3 year old boy with NO fear. he doesn't cry unless he's really hurt, and even then it lasts a couple seconds (well, unless he is over tired, of course!) he really believes he is a cowboy- or whatever costume he is wearing- which he pretty much always has a costume on. he LOVES LOVES LOVES to run. it is hilarious to watch. lately he asks if can go outside and run. and he means it. he runs laps around our front and back yard and never gets tired of it. we really need to get him some decent running shoes and help with the good habits! he races himself, wants to be timed to see how fast has a run a certain distance. he is a RUNNER!! he hates food. i'm working really hard on expanding his diet, but it is the most frustrating thing ever. any tips are much appreciated. he can count to at least 20, sings his ABC's, and well everything else. LOVES to sing. we sing all day long, no matter what we are doing (even running!) he can recognize the letters J M D and S (any guesses why?) he wants to be his daddy. it's great to watch him do things that jason does. his imagination has always been incredible, and that hasn't changed. we tell him a bedtime story every night, and half the time he is the one making it up. his memory is AMAZING- the things that kid remembers are crazy! the details!! he is very sensitive to the moods of others and their feelings. he wants everyone to be happy. (don't we all?) he loves to do 'art projects' at the table, like daddy does homework. he wears a different outfit (costume or clothes) every couple of hours. drives me crazy. loves to help- uses his manners, clears his plate after he eats, helps with the dishes. he is 3 and trying to figure out how far he can push me, and where his limits are. lately he has started stomping his foot or throwing a little fit- i don't know where he learned that, or if it just comes standard in every kid, but i hate it. i give him to the count of 3 to be "quick to obey" or he has to have a time out. as soon as i say "1" he ALWAYS yells "don't say that!" and usually does what i ask after i remind him to be quick to obey.

anyway, there is more, but that's all i can think of right now. i love my boys soooo much. they are at such a fun discovering age. my favorite is to watch them right before they go to sleep and right after they wake up. they give each other the best hugs and kisses, and when they wake up, they hug and smile at each other like they haven't seen each other in ages!! it is sooooo cute!

LOVE IT!!

this one's for you babe!

Black Bean Soup

I try to make one meatless dish a week- which is hard, 'cause most the time jason doesn't consider it a meal unless it has meat! but i made THIS (click the link) black bean soup today, and it's really good. THIS blog, $5 dinners is AWESOME! sometimes it's a little hard to match it all up, but her recipe index is GREAT. and an added bonus for me- her sons can't have dairy either, so in recipes, she substitutes rice milk (that she makes herself, i have not yet tried that, but am going to, just a little frightened!) that way i know ahead of time that it is ok to substitute it.

with the bean soup, i just used canned beans, corn, rotel, boxed chicken broth and threw it all in my crockpot on VERY LOW and let it simmer all afternoon. put some cheese and little sour cream in your bowl, and it is great! oh, and i used an immersable blender so i didn't have to mash all the beans, it really helped.

another cooking blog i like- Our Best Bites and can't wait to do these stuffed zucchini in the near future!!

ME TOO!

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Treehouse fun!

We love the treehouse museum!! especially the fact that it is just down the street from our house. we use our passes sooo much! when i think that we will most likely be moving next summer, this place is at one of the top spots on my list of things we will miss! i doubt that we will EVER find one anywhere near as wonderful!!

Other reunion, 2009

The last weekend in july the boys and i went up to nampa, ID to attend an extended family reunion on my mom's side of the family. my mom and two sisters drove down from WA- the real reason we went to the reunion! it was good to see some family that i haven't seen in years, and to catch up with others. The boys really loved the backyard of the house most people stayed at. the trampoline, swingset (that had a HORSE swing) and grass to run on. they made new friends and played until the wee hours of the night.
my sisters, becky and rachel, and I got to go river rafting- and i'm pretty sure i just about died. There were 5 rafts that went down the river. my boat had a guide that had never been down that particular river, and 10 people that had NO idea what they were doing. SOOO we were the only boat out of 5 that completely tipped over. i ended up under the boat going down the rapids, not having any idea which way was up or where air was. not so fun. i didn't die though, so no need to worry. but i did get a really ugly bruise on my leg, that i think has just finally gone away.
right before we left for the trip i had what i thought was a cold; then a sinus infection; then pneumonia. my mom ended up sending me home early on sunday. the 5 hour drive home was kind of terrible, but i was quite blessed and did feel the full effects of my illness until right after walking through the door. AND lucky for me, jason got home the next night (monday) so i was able to get all the rest i needed to finally recover.

Cowboy up!!

(click on collage to see pictures better)

Wow have we been busy! It has been great and wonderful and I think I just need a really long nap. Summer still isn't quite over for us, jason starts school in 2 weeks, but i think the majority of planned fun stuff is finally winding down. Hopefully now I'll have time to post some of our past adventures, and maybe stay a little more current...... ok, i said maybe- we'll see.

This pictures above were all taken in the last month. i have the two cutest little cowboys ever!!!! spencer is totally following in jared's footsteps in LOVING the dressing up department. But by far both of them are cowboys about 90% of every day. To indulge in this wonderful cowboy obbsession we have been to places like the county fair and rodeo, the treehouse museums new rodeo exhibit, the city parade and farmer's market, and This is the Place pioneer village. I'll hopefully post all the fun pictures from those places, but for now, just stare at my adorable cowboys!