I found it, I found it.......

Easter morning pictures. The boys were wasted!!! They were so TIRED. I think, other than these pics, the rest are in order. We went down to Park City on Friday. Heather and her family were in town from N CA. We played in the snow, saw Hannah Montana (you better believe it!:) and got ready for Bunny Day (Saturday).

These are the early risers. Actually, Jared was up at five, then i made him go back to bed and he slept until almost 8. The other kids all had to wait for him. Eliza and Tommy slept sooo much longer!

Spencer and Jared SCORED!! Really, spencer just wanted the candy, and jared wanted nothing to do with candy. well, except the part of finding it and opening it- he doesn't like to eat any of it. I know, i don't know whose child he is!

After the baskets and such, we went down to the dinosaur museum. All these years i've lived here, and i have never done ANYTHING at thanksgiving point. we definitely need to go back! Jared loved it all, EXCEPT playing in the sand. which is really weird since we have a huge sandbox in our backyard that he LOVES.
And finally as we were making dinner, the kids had a GREAT egg hunt. all the big kids looked up stairs, and Jared and Tommy got their own special hunt all to themselves down stairs. They were HILARIOUS! After the boys found all the VERY obvious ones, we would start giving them hints. Tommy would almost take jared out running to where we hinted to go. but then jared would still find it first. they are BEST buddies!
Oh, and they colored eggs. all the boys did about 2 and then were dones. the girls went on and on forever! maybe next year jared will have a bit more interest.
oh, again. Shawna had to do sharing time for primary on sunday. She enlisted jason, tom and me to do a little reenactment of easter morning. it went really well with the small kids, but the older kids had our neices and nephews in it. when tom came in (he was jesus) a they all started yelling "that;s my/your dad" great way to loose the magic of it! :)

Crazy time....

Well, we had a wonderful easter. I came home (we were in park city from fri-sun) and i was all excited to post all the fun pictures- and i can't find my camera. I'm sure we must have left it there (i hope!) but they (my SIL's fam) left for spring break so i have to wait til they get back to even find out if it is there!!
Anyway- these are a few random pics from a little while ago- but they kind of describe some of the things that have been keeping us busy. First, above, this lovely maroon entertainment center. It was NOT this color when we bought it (used on KSL) We decided to sand and paint it to coordinate with our couches. It is finished now, but it stayed like this for quite a while, simply because the boys LOVED to play IN it. we really like how it has turned out. It adds a fantastic little POP of color to our front room.
NEXT- me being attacked ALL THE TIME by my hilarious boys! they are constantly hiding with either swords, pillows, guns, socks or whatever they can get in their hands. even spencer LOVES attacking his mama. and of course, really i quite love it!
and then of course, music makers. These aren't the best pictures. but we are up and dancing and singing or i'm teaching and i always forget to pull my camera out. But, for those that don't know what music makers is- it's basically a bunch of preschoolers getting together and learning songs, dancing, rythm, movement, and fingerplays. My sister did it with her kids, and I have a couple SILs that do it with theirs. I decided i wanted to do it with my boys, so i enlisted a friend and we got it started. We pick a different theme every month and learn/sing the same songs for that entire month. we have about 10-15 kids that come every week. THEY LOVE IT!! and jared sings the songs all day long every day! makes a mama proud!
what else??? yes there is lots more. I got a new calling at church a little over a month ago that is challenging me in ways that i never knew possible. it's been interesting to watch and reflect on where life is taking us as a family. it's hard to explain it all right here, i need to just write an entire post about it all. but, i will say that i am so grateful to know that i'm not the one in charge of it all! there is a GOD that is mindful of our every needs and WOW does He take care of them!

Shere Kahn

oh, i'm so behind i don't even know where to start! for valentine's day we gave the boys each a book from the dollar store. each book came with a mask in it- one was a monkey the other a tiger. The monkey one was destroyed that same day, but the tiger one has hung around for quite a while. a few weeks ago jared was wearing it, then stuck a sword in his pants as his tail and started crawling around being shere kahn. He has the best imagination.

His latest and greatest- which i really need to video and put on here- is singing the song 'Called to Serve' ALL DAY LONG at the top of his lungs. he pretty much knows both verses all the way. the other morning he woke up (he had crawled into our bed at about 4 am- another new thing that i am trying to not make a habit) and the first words out of his mouth were "onward, ever onward as we glory in his name!" a WONDERFUL way to start the morning!

a few days later, jason put the mask on spencer. he is just one adorable little tiger! i can't even believe how big he has grown in the last month. He understands sooo much, and really listens to what we say. his latest words are: MAMA (finally!!!!) ball (or BAAAAAA) and CHEESE (or eeeeeessssssssseeeeeeee) i have an old camera that i let them have in their toy box to play with. spencer holds it up to his face and yells- "EESSEEESEEEESEE" LOVE IT!

First day of Spring! First day of Spring! First day of Spring!

So, i know that sometime in the last 36-48 hours it was the first day of spring. I've had strep throat (my first time that i can remember- though i'm sure my mom knows... it is TERRIBLE) so while the weather has been beautiful the last couple of days, my boys have had to enjoy it without me. These pics were all taken at the begining of the week- before it was technically spring-- but boy was it beautiful! i think it was almost 60degrees out! :)
we picked jason up from school one day and went and had a picnic at our favorite duck pond/park. BOTH of the boys seem to have a mild love for ducks. It is so fun for me to be able to watch them learn and explore what it's like to be outside again. That is one of the benefits of living in a place that actually has seasons- your kid always have something new to look forward too! (for example: all winter long i had to tell jared we had to wait until it was warm out to go and feed the ducks. now it's warm, so he wants to go swimming! so now, i have to tell him he has to wait until it's hot! :) it's all about learning patience!
Aren't they getting so big!!?? Spencer really still doesn't have a desire to walk- well, that isn't entirely true. He will walk all around the furniture and with his toys. He doesn't really like to hold my hands and walk. And he doesn't want to even try to stand on his own. i can't really blame the kid- if you had any idea how huge his thighs were, you wouldn't either! It is kinds of fun for me though. Jared never really crawled- only for a month and then took of running. So having spencer crawl so much makes him feel so much more like he is still my little baby. i LOVE it. he can stay that way for as long as he wants!

This Buzz Lightyear kite that we got jared is the BEST! it is inflatable- which means he can fly it ANY time- wind or no wind- and by HIMSELF! perfect for my little independent man! it was only $3 at wally-world! LOVE IT!!

also, i've got tons of posts that need to be done- but quite frankly my schedule has recently been overloaded- and probably will be for a long time! soooo, you'll probably get them all in groups and then have a drought- and then a ton more. Just the way i forsee it being!!

It's official

So everyone always asks me if Spencer has shown any signs of allergies like jared. Up until now, he hasn't. BUT i made omelets for dinner tonight. Which is pretty much straight egg right? Yeah, within 5 minutes he was covered in dime size welts all over his body. I felt so sad for my poor little boy. I was so scared to give them to him- but i really wanted to know. It was the first time i had ever given him straight eggs. I'm pretty sure his allergy will be similar to Jareds- he can have a small amount of eggs in baked goods and such- but straight eggs are a BIG NO-NO. We shall have to see if anything else shows up.......

Zoo, Zoo, Zooo

Thursday was our first zoo trip of 2009. It was a bit cold- it had snowed the night before- but there were breaks of sunshine that made it ok. Jared had been BEGGING for weeks to go to the zoo (spencer had gotten a new zoo book from the doctor at his 1 year check up- thus the zoo obsession) We have this fun pass from the tracy aviary that gets us into the zoo for free the first thursday of every month. We haven't gone the last couple months because it has been freezing. So, i decided that a little sunshine was worth the trip this month.
The boys LOVED it. We had music makers in the morning, and jason had class, so we had to go in the afternoon right during naptime. BUT they really did so well. Jared had been talking about getting a map and as soon as he got it, he wouldn't let it go. he was our adorable little tour guide. For the most part he walked everywhere carrying his little map.
Two highlights of the trip: going into the giraffe building there are signs everywhere that say you need to be really quiet so you don't scare the animals. We explained this to jared and he "tip-toed" all the way through the building. Spencer on the other hand growls at every animals he sees. This is what he did- really loud, the entire time, trying to get the giraffe's attention. Jared kept trying to 'shhhhh' him, but it didn't work so well :) AND when we went to see the gorillas, they were "crawling" around like they do. Jared said "hey, they walk like spencer!"

for more info on the zoo pass- click THIS link. The pass is $40 for 2 adults and 2 kids- for a year. that link will show you the benefits that you get with the pass. You get all kinds of discounts. (like 50% off to the L.A. Zoo!) and tons more! If you live in Ogden, you get into the dino park for free every week day.

Ski fun!

Last Saturday we got the chance to go and watch Jake, Belle, Bryce race- well, Jake and Belle- we got there right after Bryce raced- so sad! But Jake and Belle did AWESOME!!! They really are amazing little skiers! Gramma McKe was in town as well. After we left jared kept asking for his gramma. They both love her so much!

My boys are the cutest! Jared really only wanted to eat the snow! Lucky for us, the weather really was nice.

Fun Family Pictures!!

I'd been debating where to get spencer's 1 year pictures done- since i don't know any fabulous photographers/photo shoppers that live close. Anyway, i found this lady on KSL that was offering a $50 photo shoot. Then she gives you a CD with the copyright to all the photoshopped pictures. I then decided to do the boys together, but made sure jason and i were at least dressed in case we wanted a couple family shots. I think she did a pretty good job. It was pretty cold out- so the boys weren't exactly all smiles :)- but they're cute enough that it doesn't matter! we'll do it again sometime when it's warm out and we can get a couple more "fun"shots.

I Would Die For That

My cousin's wife posted this song on their blog a little while ago and it has not left my mind since hearing it. I don't think she even knows that i read her blog- but i'm glad i do!
Anyway, while i am very grateful that infertility isn't a trial i have had to deal with- i sometimes need a reminder! :) There has been a lot going on over here, that i'll post about eventually. But for now, i just needed to share this. There are so many days when i'm tired, impatient, ornery, and i just want to scream at my sons- JUST LET ME SLEEP!!! and i forget how grateful i should be that i have little beings to keep me up and teach me patience and more. My BIL often asks me what i "do" - as in what i do for me- and really i have a hard time answering that question 'cause there isn't a lot i do just for me. but quite frankly there isn't a lot that i WANT to do that is just for me- at least right now in this stage of my life. and after watching this, i'm reminded why. I'm only going to have this time now with my boys- come june, jared will never be two again. spencer will never be my infant again. those days are gone. SO, even if my house is always a disaster and i'm soooo tired, i GET to be tired. I GET to clean up after my 3 munchkins (jason gets thrown into that category :) I GET to wake up in the middle of the night to take jared to the potty for the hundreth time. and you know what- in all honesty, i really wouldn't have it any other way. I don't want a ton of my own activities for ME to do. I want to got the treehouse, or library, or music makers, or the zoo, or the dino park, or the mall, or wherever else will give my children more opportunities to grow and develop and LOVE LIFE!
And i actually do have a LOT of friends that can/will relate to this song in the way that most these women do. I don't know why we are given the trials we are given- obviously we each have different lessons to learn and only the Lord knows how we are going to learn those lessons. But for now, i am going to try harder to focus more on what i have been given the chance to do, rather than what is hard for me to do.

Abc's

He has the sweetest little voice when he sings!! We had just gotten back from music makers and he was in a singing mood!

Brotherly love

We go to our little treehouse museum usually a couple times a week. The other day the boys were playing so cute together. The museum has different little sections set up with different country themes. It is so much fun!

Have I told you lately......

How much I LOVE this silly boy?? He is hilarious!

Spencer's Stats

Spencer had his one year old check-up today. He was such a good boy; he just sat there and let the doctor look at him. I'm so grateful for such a healthy boy- even if he is a little tiny!

He is 28 1/2in long- the big 10% there; He weighs a whole 20.3 lbs- yep, 15% with that one; but here is the big one- his head is 47.2cm- 75% there- now we're talking!

Short, small with a big head. gotta love it!! I think he is the most adorable boy!!!!!!

A "CUPCAKE" cake

So, other than the "writing on the cake" that I used to do when I worked at baskin robbins in high school, I have not done any cake "decorating." Since jared needs "special" cakes, and does NOT like frosting at ALL, i haven't gotten to make anything fun for him. I decided I'd give it a try this time around since we weren't having a big party- i knew my audience would eat it no matter how it looked!
I went online and looked a few different options. there are a couple baking blogs that i read that do way cute stuff- but i'm really NOT creative, so i had to find something that was pretty easy to just copy. I found THESE pictures and then blog of a lady that makes cakes out of cupcakes. Hers are soooo stinkin cute. Mine, not so much, but hey, I tried!
I used THIS buttercream frosting- which was really easy to work with, but it isn't as tastey as say, costco frosting! It is pretty good though.
The lady that does these, doesn't really give any instructions other than the fact that she uses 12 cupcakes to make all her designs. I could really only get 11 to fit nicely on my platter, so that is what i used- which wasn't a good choice. It made the face smaller so it looks more like a mouse face than a lion face. I'll remember to follow the one instrucion she gave next time! Over all, i was happy with my first attempt. And spencer and jared sure thought it was cool- and that is what matters most- right!!???

Cupid, you better be happy.....

A few weeks ago I started to talking to jared about giving his paci to baby cupid. (yes, my almost 3 year old still used a pacifier to go to sleep) I assured him that since he was giving the baby his paci, he would get a present in return.
well, little did i know how sick jared would be the week leading up to the dreadful day. Jason and i were very tempted to not go through with it, just because we wanted sleep and didn't want to deal with it. BUT- i knew it was time and jared was pretty much better, though still not sleeping. I decided that if he wasn't sleeping anyway, we might as well hit two birds with one stone.
So, i cut the tips off them, so he could see they were broken, and had him put them in a pretty bag. (and yes, those are gorgeous flowers from MY valentine!) He went to bed that night, asking to just hold them. I gave him one, but when he remembered it was broken, he told me to put it back in the bag.
Anyway, the next morning, he indeed had a present from baby cupid. he got a diego baseball glove and ball. He is still having a hard time with naps, just asking for that dang paci, but when going to bed tonight i think he only cried for a couple minutes- so i'm not too worried!