We are alive!!!!

I promise. i haven't disappeared. we went on vacation. we are leaving again in a couple days. life is crazy!!!!!! These are just a few pictures from our last trip to northern California.

we went to go to our neice's baptism and to see all my brothers, especially will. he recently returned home from his mission to zimbabwe. it was a GREAT trip.

we spent time on folsom lake, time at lake tahoe, TONS of time in the pool, time with his family, time with my family. really, we didn't want to come home! the boys still ask every day when we can go back to tommy's house. and they really want to see HAMMIE HAMMIE AND HAMMIE! (those would be dan and pat's dogs- cammie, ky, and chewie that spencer fell in love with!)

the boys were wiped out every day. really, it was just a fabulous time!

and i do have another really great excuses for being so absent from the blogging world. i have been sick. VERY sick. for about the last three months now. like, more sick than i could have ever imagined. but i think i am turning a corner and seeing the light at the end of that tunnel...... hopefully it has passed!!!

He is FOUR!!!!!!

I can NOT believe i have a 4 year old. He had been anticipating his birthday for months. he just KNEW that he would get a bike for his birthday........ and he was right!! i know some may think it strange that it's his first bike, but you don't know how my children grow. they have these short little legs for soooo long, that it would be pointless to get them a 12" bike, so we just waited for a 16" and it fits him PERFECTLY!!! BUT unfortunately it has been a hurricane outside for the last couple days, so he hasn't been able to ride it!!!!

You'll notice that the boys are in their pj's for all the pics- we started the morning off with a bang. Daddy made his boy waffles and he opened his presents while he ate them. Then he got to go with his brother and he 2 best buddies from next door to the treehouse- one of his favorite places. then out to lunch at old mcdonalds. then home for quiet time, then out again to go spend the money grandma carrie sent him. (he loved having control over how he got to spend his money!! thanks grandma!!) then home from errands and i realize i have baptism at the church i have to hurry to............ just as jared reminds me "mom we haven't sung happy birthday with candles yet!!" yep, i hadn't even made his banana muffins yet either. i'm a great mom! :) so i start the muffins but leave them to jason to finish. (it's true, especially right now, my husband is far more than just super dad, he is AMAZING!!! totally picking up my slack!! thanks babe!!) the muffins bake while i'm gone, then I hurry home to serenade my boy with tons of happy birthdays before he is off to bed.

It was a busy day, but wonderful. I don't know if i accomplished my goal of keeping it low key by not having a "friends" party. but i think it was just great. i've decided we are only going to do friends parties every other year. we shall see if that lasts!!

a little about my big boy:

- he is a lover not a fighter
- he LOVES the color red
- he has a deep passion for running and for music/dancing
- he HATES to color and do anything artsy. (pretty sure he gets that from me! oops) i'm getting creative on how to develop his fine motor skills- he may never learn to write!
- he still dreams about the day we will buy him a horse, always a cowboy at heart!
- his food that he considers edible is still less than 20 things
- he LOVES LOVES LOVES his brother spencer- words can't even describe how much they love each other.
- he has recently developed a love of short chapter books. we have to read a couple chapters EVERY night- right now we are reading The Magic Treehouse series- he can't get enough! (we are going on a rode trip this week and i am soooo excited to try books on CD for him- i know he will just love them!! yay for not watching 8 hours of movies in the car!!) (not that he ever gets to do that!)
- he still worships bruce- his best friend that lives next door (he tells me often that he wishes bruce's mommy was his so they could be brothers)
- he thanks Heavenly Father in his prayers every night for bruce's chickens (yes, the neighbors have chickens, and my boys couldn't be happier!)
- he still sleeps with his blue silky "me-meet" every night
- sing him a song and he'll have it memorized in 5 minutes
- he out wits me more than i think should be possible
- if you've lost something in our house, just ask jared, he'll tell you where it is, he ALWAYS remembers where we put things
- he wants to be JUST like his daddy. and sometimes their facial expressions and mannerisms are so similar it scares me! (he closes his when he smiles in most pictures- just like jason!! notice jared in the pics above!!)

i love my big boy!! he never ceases to amaze me! i'm so blessed to be able to be the mom that gets to watch him learn and grow- and to get to have him teach me!! he is one creative, imaginative little guy!!

What, I have a blog??

I know, there really aren't any excuses for it. But ACTUALLY I do have some great ones, but I'm not going to bore you with all those details.

I have a lot of pictures to post, and sadly i have been letting facebook take over that part of my sharing. but i figure it's better than nothing. i'll get em posted on here sooner or later.

for now, we are busy, but not. jason graduated and we are in the "looking for a job and wondering what the future holds for us" phase. AKA- LIMBO and it's not fun. he has started his online masters program and LOVING it. it's a great program and so far it seems it will work really well for us. other than that and filling out what seems a hundred job applications a day, that is where we sit. (well, really that's just him, but frankly our future depends on him.....)

We have been getting some little house projects done, which has been nice (once we finish them all, it will be really nice!)

and as you can see from the many pics above- the weather has decided to finally show us some sun!! it's been either raining or just beautiful, so we have been getting some hiking in. we love all the trails that are just up the street from our house! both boys are really good hikers- though we did take the backpack for spencer this morning- it was a little longer of a hike.

we are happy and healthy and can't complain too much. as soon as we find out what will be doing for the next few years, we will let you know!!!

Easter!

We had a very busy Easter weekend. Dan and Brittany and their 3 week old baby Audrey are here!! We have been having soooo much fun with them!

Easter Saturday, Jason had to work all day :(. We all went over to Ernie's house to watch conference and have a big Easter lunch. I didn't take pictures there, sorry. But we always have a great time at Ernies. Afterwards, while the men were at priesthood, Brittany, Audrey, Brooke and Zoia came over here for a little egg dieing and hunt! the boys LOVED it all. I didn't really think they would love the coloring part (they just don't like that kind of stuff) boy was i wrong! i could have had dozens and dozens of hard boiled eggs from them! Spencer especially thought it was so cool. he just kept wanting more!
And the egg hunt was just as exciting. My boys are getting soooo big! this is the first year of holidays that they BOTH are getting it! it is so fun to watch- and Do! i have to remember to be a little bit more prepared for upcoming holidays. I definitely can't do the shopping with them around anymore- they are way too observant!

And then, we woke up this morning to this:

CRAZY!!!!!
(all of our snow was gone- we didn't have any idea where the snow shovel was, buried somewhere under all that snow)

My Little Boy.....

Is not so little any more!! I need to record some of the ways he has been using his imagination......

1- building "movies"- that is what this lego creation is. This was one of the first ones he created, and they have only become more elaborate (well, as elaborate as our basket of legos will let him!) why he calls them movies is beyond me. but that is what they are and he can build for hours.

2- Sparky the bear- Sparky is a bear that his daddy told him about in one of his bedtimes stories. NOW sparky regularly visits our home. Jared will open the window in the front room (even when it's snowing) to talk to sparky the bear, who is always waiting patiently on our driveway for jared to play with him. Jared will go on and on and on telling the most random stories about adventures with his nice bear Sparky. Sparky has been around for quite a while now, and i hope he doesn't leave any time soon. Sometimes sparky is just a regular brown bear, but more often he is blue. this week the stories have been about sparky and his grandmother. (which is funny to me because jared doesn't call any of his grandmas "grandmother" but sparky does)

3- Uncle Patch- who is that you might ask? jared's reflection. When jared looks in a mirror, he sees Uncle Patch. He talks to him, plays games with him, has sword fights with him. His reflection IS uncle patch. At first i thought he was saying uncle pat (my brother who we saw in october, and it was just after that that the whole uncle patch thing started) But no. He was quick to correct me. It is uncle patch. We are going on at least 5 months of seeing uncle patch in the mirror. i hope he doesn't go away either, he entertains jared for quite a while each day.

and one other thing i don't want to forget......

a while ago we decided that we needed to get jared a bigger bed. He had a toddler bed but would wake up in the morning with bruises from smacking it in the middle of the night. (he is a very light sleeper and moves all over the place!) at the time we didn't know if we would be moving or what our plans for the future were (more on that later). Our basement where our rooms are has really low ceilings. i want to get them a bunkbed, and now am just looking for one that is really low to the ground so it will fit down there.

Anyway, since spen is still in his crib another bed won't fit in that room like the toddler bed did. SOOO, we just bought a twin size mattress and put it on the floor, 'cause that is all that would fit in that room. (we are still in the process of fixing jared's room from the flood....well i fixed it, but i haven't painted yet) and i want them in the same room- they both sleep better that way.

SOOOO, long explanation.

He does NOT like the mattress. At first we thought it was because of the firmness. NO. he says daily "i'm just confused by it" me: "what do you mean?" him: "It's JUST A MATTRESS" he can't understand for the life of him why we would make him sleep on just a mattress. it isn't a bed according to him. and now, STILL he will randomly wake up at 3 in the morning, half asleep, and come and complain that his bed is "just a mattress!!!" (don't worry, we will be getting him a real bed soon enough!)

(and if you don't know- the bedrooms really are that tiny! our house is 100 years old)

Visitors!

I'm hurrying to get this posted (no i did not get a bunch of posts scheduled yesterday like i had planned, oh well) but before my husband takes the computer to school, i thought i'd throw this wonderful (or not) shots of last week.


My sister amy, her husband, and their 5 kids (with one in the oven to make 6) came from texas last week for a little bit of spring break. the boys came to ski, which they did a ton of. and lucky for them, the mountains got a fresh layer of snow right before they got here. the girls, got to hang out with us. No, they did not spend the entire week in my tiny house- only one night! and it was crazy- but we had a bed for everyone, so it really wasn't too bad!!

In one room we had jared, keenen, and aiden. We had gone to the new boondocks that night and the kids didn't go to bed 'til almost 11. (which, if you know my boys, they are in bed by 7:30 EVERY night) it was late. we were all going to sleep. Then jared yells out to jason "can we talk for a little bit?" jason says sure- Their conversation starts with jared saying "so, you're going to have a new baby. what are you going to name him? let's talk about names" and they procede to have their own little grown-up conversation for another HOUR! jared is 3 keenen is 5.... and now jared continues to ask for his cousins to come back to his house, every day!

We went to the zoo- most of the animals weren't around. kinda sad. but we did finally get to see the new babies at our zoo- elephant, giraffe, tiger...... kids had fun! amy, lily and i went and got our toes done- something that i hadn't done in a LONG time. my feet are very thankful now.

anyway, that is a bit of last week. lucky for us it was also jason's spring break. we are on the final count down- less than a month til graduation!!!!!!!!!!!! can you tell i'm excited?? now, if we can make it through this last month........... he's got a TON to do. oh, but wait, his master's program starts May 1- guess it's just life for a few more years!

UP DOWN

This is for my mom. A couple weeks ago she asked for a video of spencer talking. This is the most i could get at the time. He isn't a jabber mouth like his big brother. Up and down were his new current favorite words when i took this. And, of course, it has taken me a while to get it on here..... but what can i say? life is CRAZY! i'm hoping to schedule quite a few posts today, so you will have something to read over the next week or sooooooo

2 - TWO- 2 -TWO -2

Yep, it's true. my little valentine baby turned the big 2 last sunday. He LOVED every minute of his birthday. A couple of family members asked if he had any idea of what was going on. UMMM, yeah, no doubt he did!

Jared was sick and slept in a little bit. So Spencer got to have his own special "coming up the stairs and seeing the kitchen all decorated just for him" moment. He was sooo excited. We had gotten some "special" fruit snacks and a fun new car rug for the boys for valentine's day. Spencer just wanted to eat the fruit snacks for breakfast. And then he asked for pancakes.

He got to go on a special daddy date to church. I had ANOTHER TERRIBLE ear infection, and jared was sick- so we stayed home.

(*side note* have you ever had a BAD ear infection as an adult?? OH MY HEAVENS talk about PAIN. if that is what it feels like when kids have ear infections- WOW, now i know why they cry- 'cause i did! i still can't hear out of my ear -which was my good ear, so now i just can't hear)

I didn't let my silly body stop me from making his Ka-Chow cake. Yep, this little guy LOVES lightning McQueen or Ka-Chow as he calls him. We went out to park city to doughman's house to have a little v-day dinner and do the cake and presents stuff. My boys LOVE to play with their older cousins!

It ended up being a great day. Jared started feeling better and Spencer KNEW that it was his special day.

January, i'm glad your done

What was your January like? I've determined that last month is a HARD month for lots of people. I've decided it must be one of those lows that come after a really great high. you know what i mean. the holidays are great and wonderful (or stressful and crazy) either way, they are BUSY. and then comes january. you feel like you owe it to yourself to slow down a little bit- but wait, you've got to set new years resolutions, and you've got to get your house organized and returned to normal from all the chaos. And you've got to do it all NOW- because if you don't your entire year will be thrown off. it's all about a great start right? and really, you just want to get some rest and quick taking your antibiotics and quick getting sick and .,..... and...... and.......

anyone else feel like that?

oooooohhhhhhhhh!!!!

February, I welcome you with open arms!

january is done. the pressure is off. what i didn't get accomplished at the "beginning" of the year will eventually get done. I know that. I knew that last month. i'm just hard on myself i guess. and i really wish my head would just STOP pounding! anyone got a great cure for migraines that come EVERY DAY for an entire month (and counting....) i got rid of the sinus infection and the ear infection..... but i'm about ready to rip my head off! sorry, i needed to yell that out into the universe. i feel better now.

the top 2 things that got me through last month:

Jared's "MOVEMENTS"

We've always done dance parties in our little family. it's just what we do. Especially in the winter time, when my boys are going crazy with energy. One night when i was at a meeting, jason and the boys had a little dance party. Jared started teaching jason some of his "movements" (why he calls them movements, i don't know) but the above video shows SOME of the way cool movements my 3 year old has invented. i know, the video would be a TON better if i had included jason in it- you know, to catch the teaching process! maybe another time! ('cause watching jason hop around on one foot with his arms doing crazy things really is a great thing to watch!)

Speaking of the teaching process. A few weeks ago (like 2 days before i got sick- great timing, i know) i decided it was finally time to potty train my little monkey. He won't be 2 for a couple of weeks, that was my original start date. But boy was he ready. he has practically got it down. it is so HILARIOUS to watch his little 24lb body run around in tighty whiteys. (yes, he is that tiny)
it is frustrating some days. i won't deny that. but man, this little guy is soooo eager to do it, it's just plain fun to witness his excitement.

* i also need to add something else that is on my mind today. but maybe it should be a post of it's own. ok, you'll have to wait. i'll post it tomorrow.

snow......Snow......SNOW

These pictures pretty much plainly state how my boys feel about the snow. Jared is finally at the age that he just L*O*V*E*S it! we took them sledding a couple weeks ago and he couldn't have had more fun! Sometimes he just surprises me. He often pretends to be afraid of a lot of things. that's pretty normal, i know. But with sledding there was NO fear at all. He wanted to go by himself, and be the first one down the hill. He just FLEW and was laughing the entire time. Though, he didn't like the part about having to carry your sled back up the hill!

Spencer on the other hand- not so much. He would SCREAM when we put him on the sled. But would stop on the way down. he did like it- but enough to want to do it over and over again. he really just wanted to eat all the snow. He is hilarious. he just face plants right into the snow and stays there forever- i guess long enough to finally feel his nose freezing. then he'll sit up, wait a few minutes, and do it again!