Halloween and Thriller!

Here they are.....The Golden Girls!! GO CATHY!! This was the opening number, they were all dressed up as witches and the best part was that they all came out with stuffing; in the front and the back, it was hilarious!
(she's the one in the middle with a yellow flower on her head.)

Let me explain. So my mother in law is a "Golden Girl," one of 70 ladies, ages ranging from 50 to 90 years old!, who get together a couple of times a week to dance. Good for them, right! They travel ALL over the place to perform; NY, California, in state doing basketball game half time shows, etc. She loves it and she's great at it! If you don't know my mother in law, she is very theatrical, she loves to perform (mostly in plays), she can sing!, and tonight she showed she can dance.

The Golden Girls were the pre-entertainment for Thriller and not only were we lucky enough to see her perform, we also got free tickets for Thriller! We are really proud of her and it was SO much fun watching her!

Here she is again doing "The Monster Mash!"
(she's in the white costume)

Cathy's show is over and now it's time for "THRILLER!" You have no idea how excited I get hearing that word and then hearing the first beat of the song! It makes me wanna dance!

Jared and I have gone to this show four times now and it never gets old. It's the best outdoors and it was the perfect night. Pictures above are of me trying to stare down a zombie, but Jared took too long to take the picture and I couldn't keep a straight face any longer. I also got a picture with Natalie, a girl from So You Think You Can Dance (my all time favorite show!!) who is now on Odyssey. Another guy from SYTYCD is also on Odyssey, Thayne, (the one w/out his face painted), he's amazing! I was going to take a workshop from him Halloween morning at a dance studio here in Cedar but I chickened out. :)

These are pictures of the costumes I made. Braden wanted to be Nephi this year so I threw his costume together the night before and ended up with enough fabric leftover to make the same costume for Ashton. I thought it turned out alright. Pictures below are from the ward halloween carnival; Ashton, Braden and Dawson (darth vador, sp?) and all the primary kids that came. Braden had another halloween party at his preschool on Friday where they did lots of fun games and activities.

Halloween day started out with a FUN dance class/workout at Gold's Gym where we learned the Thriller dance and other combo's to 80's music. It was awesome!
At 1pm we went to the SUU football game. My parents had stayed in St. George the night before at my sister's house and came up to spend the rest of the weekend with us. After the game we hurried home for some lunch/dinner and then headed over to a halloween carnival that the Baptist church organized. It was a fun carnival! All of the games had some relation to a bible story, they had the bounce houses and slides, lots of candy to hand out, and the boys even sat in a police car and got to turn on the siren which was pretty cool.
After the carnival we knocked on a few doors, but we could tell Ashton was VERY tired and Jared and I had a date, so we called it a night. Ashton fell asleep in the car on the drive home and went to bed for the night at 6:30pm!
Before Jared and I left for our date, we put a "Do not knock, out of candy!" sign on the door just to make sure the kids didn't get woken up by kids that are TOO OLD and out TOO LATE to be trick or treating. Then we were off at 7pm to go see Michael Jackson's This Is It!
IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!!! I really could do a entirely different post just on this movie, but I won't, but I highly recommend seeing the movie. I am, again!, on Wed. night with some ladies from the ward. (Cedar City friends, come join us!!)

I can say that I'm am very glad Halloween is over. I'm tired of the boys being ghosts and scaring each other all day long; the shreaks and the yells and the chasing, I've had enough! I'm tired of costumes laying around the house, the fighting over costumes, and helping them take them on and off a million times a day. I'm tired of scary cartoons that aren't scary but the boys want to act out afterwards which never leads to nice, friendly, brotherly playing. And mostly, I'm tired of the boys asking for candy as soon as they wake up and then every hour all day long! I want all this candy to be gone.

Once I told Braden halloween was over he asked, "what's next?" I said, "Thanksgiving!" "What do we do at Thanksgiving?," he asked. I told him that we have to write down something we're thankful for every day and then at the end of the month we get to eat a lot of food. "A lot of candy?" No, food, do you remember what food is?

I Know My Savior Lives

Last night I had a Primary Leadership meeting and it was SO good! Of course I was looking forward to it mostly for the opportunity of leaving Jared with the boys and having a night off. The other reason I was looking forward to it was because I love the ladies that I serve with and we always have fun. But once the meeting was over, I was mostly glad I went because a lot of good things were said and I felt the spirit very strongly. Not only did I learn about how to teach the primary children more effectively, what rules have changed for the upcoming year, etc., but I also finally realized why I have been called to serve in the primary.

As I sat there listening to how we as a presidency should teach the kids more from the scriptures, ways to get them to bring their scriptures and rewards for doing so, how to memorize scriptures, and how to help them understand and apply doctrine, I went from thinking, "okay, we can do that, and that, and that," to "oh!, these are ways I can teach my own sons the gospel too!" Why has it taken me this long to realize this?!? Thanks to my calling in the primary, I can take all of this training and leadership and use it in my own home. Aren't we all looking for new ideas and methods? I am! I find myself praying daily for ways to teach my kids. I also tune in to the Today Show or Dr. Phil to get tips on temper tantrums and other common struggles. :) Since having kids, I've realized that I'm not a very creative mom, it's hard for me to come up with activities and new ways of teaching. I'm always asking other moms what works for them, basically, I just want to be told what to do and how to do it. I am so thankful that my calling does just that. It gives me the materials and training opportunities to learn about what the prophet and church leaders have prepared, specifically for gospel teaching in primary, and then lucky me, I get to use it in my own home.

I felt the spirit the most when a member of our stake presidency got up to end the meeting. I'm assuming he's a seminary/institute teacher because he said that his job was in the church educational system. He told us how much the brethren are stressing the importance of teaching the gospel to the youth of the church, including primary children, because of all the challenges they are facing and will have to face as the world gets more wicked.

Pres. Pace said:
"Principles of the gospel need to be taught with power and testimony to fortify children of challenges they will face. Children earn trust as we take every opportunity to teach them."
And then my favorite thing he said, and I think he was quoting a scripture:
"Faith cometh as they (the children) hear the word of God."

I know none of this is necissarily new, but what was new to me was the reason of why Heavenly Father wants me to be in primary; I need to be in order to learn how I can be a better mom in teaching the gospel at home. My testimony was strengthened last night of how much my Savior loves me and that he knows I am trying to be the best mom. I'm thankful that I'm learning how to do that. I also know how much he loves the little children of the world. One of the new songs for next year's primary outline is called "I Know That My Savior Loves Me." It is the most beautiful song; the melody and the words. You should all listen to it!

http://broadcast.lds.org/primary/Primary_03_IKnowThatMySaviorLovesMe_eng.mp3


A long time ago in a beautiful place, children were gathered 'round Jesus.
He blessed and taught as they felt of His love. Each saw the tears on His face.
The loved that He felt for His little ones, I know He feels for me.
I did not touch Him or sit on His knee, Yet, Jesus is real to me.

Now I am here in a beautiful place, learning the teachings of Jesus.
Parents and teachers will help guide the way, lighting my path ev'ry day.
Wrapped in the arm's of my Savior's love, I feel His gentle touch.
Living each day, I will follow His way, home to my Father above.

(chorus:)
I know He lives!
I will follow faithfully.
My heart I give to him.
I know that my Savior loves me.

Thank you, Braden

I should be a lot better at remembering the small things the boys do, because really, they aren't as bad as I make them out to be sometimes. There are many times when they do things that make me smile, make me laugh, and make me happy.

Tonight, Jared is out visiting new members of the ward with the Elders Quorum. That means I got to put the kids to bed by myself, sigh. While I started to get Ashton settled down, I told Braden to do three things; get his jammies on, brush his teeth and go to the bathroom. By the time he was done doing that, I should have read Ashton his books, turned his music on, and been able to slip away to get Braden in bed. Usually Ashton wants me to lay by him and scratch his back so I knew he'd be calling for me a few minutes after the light went out and I closed his door. I quickly checked on Braden who had 2/3 checked off, he was working on putting his jammies on, he also gave me the hungry excuse so I told him to get some crackers, take them to his bed, turn his music on, get in bed and then I'd be back for prayers. Back over to Ashton's room I went. A few minutes later Braden opened Ashton's door, crackers in hand, his jammies on. "Mom, mom, ummm, look. I did it all by myself." Not really caring at the moment, I said, "that's great, now go get in bed." I could tell he had more to tell me and I let him know he'd have the chance when I was done with Ashton. Five mintues later, I'm done with Ashton, one down, one to go (and still going as I type).

Once I gave my full attention to Braden he wanted to show me something. He took me into the kitchen and said, "I started to do your chores for you." He went on to explain that since there were no clean snack bowls in the kid drawer, he got one out of the dishwasher. Then he climbed up, got a box of crackers down, poured some in the bowl and put the box back. "See, I didn't leave a mess for you to clean up," he said with a big smile. He then proceeded to show me that the kid drawer was now full of cups. "I did your chores for you, see? I got them all out of that thing (meaning the dishwasher), and put them away. Now we have cups," again he has a big smile on his face.

My first thought, "the dishes in the dishwashwer are dirty!, now I have to put them all back!" Instead I told him he did a great job, thanked him SO much for helping me, told him how proud I am of him doing all these big boy things, and for doing them on his own.

It's moments like this that make me very happy to have the boys grow up. I really only had to put one child to bed tonight because Braden did everything on his own. You'd think putting two kids to bed wouldn't be that hard, it's just that it takes time and patience, and I'm so ready to have peace and quiet that I want it to all happen fast, and to have them do things the first time I ask. It really helps to know that I can turn that responsibility over to Braden and know he is now old enough to do it. It's wonderful!

And even though I get annoyed every time he says to me, "mom, I need to tell you something," and I just want to yell back at him, "NO, go to bed!," he makes the sweetest comments. He's been on this kick where he tells me, at just the right moments when he's in trouble or I'm trying to shew him away, "Mom, you're beautiful" or "Mom, you're an angel" or "Mom, you're pretty," the list goes on and on. So I'm going to try and show my boys off in a positive way and make it look like I love being a mom........all the time!

Our whirlwind weekend

Last April, my cousin Chris got married on the beach in North Carolina. He's in the Marines and has been stationed there for the last couple of years, so only my aunt and uncle were able to fly out and be there for them. We knew he'd be coming home in October and that he and his wife would be having a wedding dinner for all the family and friends. SO, last Saturday we packed up and left for Ferron at 12:30pm. The boys quickly fell asleep, just like we hoped they would, making at least half the drive pleasant. After an hour and a half, they woke up, we put on a movie and by the time the movie was over, we had made it to Grandma's with no problems! Shortly after we arrived, my mom, dad, Ian and Neil got there. The boys were happy to do anything outside, so we all started to help Grandma by picking apples.

Ian, Braden and my mom.

One of my favorite pictures ever!

The boys found some games to play with. Remember this crocodile dentist game?

(Top: Mattee, Chris, Chris' military buddy, mom, dad, Grandma and Ian. Bottom: Grandpa, me and Jared.)

After Chris and Mattee's wedding dinner, we went back to Grandma's to put the boys to bed. Meanwhile, the gang started watching the BYU vs. UNLV game. Uncle Ray, Aunt Nancy and cousins Chris and Jessica are huge Ute fans, so since they could care less that the game was on, the rest of us found ourselves half heartedly cheering for the cougars. That was okay though because I think Jared and I came to the conclusion that we hadn't seen Chris in 5 years, and we had a lot of catching up to do!

We didn't stay up too late because we had to get up bright and early the next morning to drive another hour and half to Levan.

My sister in law Christina, and her hubby Terry, were blessing their daughter at 9am Sunday morning. We had printed off the route from my Grandma's to Levan on MapQuest, but while discussing it at my Grandma's, we were convinced another way would be better.

I woke up at 5:30am Sunday morning to get ready. Then I got Jared up, he got ready. We packed up the car and at the last minute got the boys out of bed. Off we were at 7:10am. To make a LONG story short, we should have stuck with the MapQuest route because we ended up missing the baby blessing by 20 minutes! Grrrr! Not only did it take us longer than we thought, it was just a horrible drive with the kids because they didn't need naps and they were awake and whiney what seemed like the entire 2 1/2 hours. Grrrr!

But we made it and joined the family for the rest of Sacrament meeting. Afterwards we went to Terry and Christina's for lunch.

Braden and Ashton had some time to play with their cousin, Jane. I think this picture was taken when they were lying on the floor pretending to be hiding? I don't remember what they were doing, but it was kind of funny.

Here she is!, baby Mae sitting on Grammy's lap, Christina, and Braden too. I believe this is the first time I've seen Mae cry, she is such a good baby!

After lunch, and some much needed bonding time with my sister in law Mary talking about how difficult our children can be, (Jane and Ashton!), we all left so that the kids would fall asleep once again in the car. It would take us two hours to get from Levan to Cedar City. And thankfully, the boys slept the entire time!!

In a period of 24 hours, we drove from Cedar to Ferron, then from Ferron up over Huntington Canyon to Fairview, through Mt. Pleasant to Moroni, out to Nephi and then down to Levan, and finally from Levan back to Cedar City. We were so glad we could make it to both events, even if it meant driving seven hours all over central Utah, because we love our families and always look forward to seeing them!

Now, what to do with ALL those apples we brought home! Jared requested an apple pie or apple crisp, neither of which I have ever made. But I didn't want the apples to go to waste so I peeled, sliced, cut my finger, and then steamed the apples. Way too much work if you ask me! Once the apples were soft(er), dumped them into a baking dish and made some kind of sauce with ingredients I've never used before but had to go buy. Then made a crumbly mixture to go on top, baked it, and ta-da!

It was tasty.....but it's not chocolate, so it wasn't worth it.

Go T-Birds!

We LOVE football season!
We've been to a handful of T-Bird games, but the DSC vs. SUU game was by far the most exciting one yet. The stadium is NEVER this packed! Granted DSC fans only had to drive a half an hour, none the less, a packed house of everyone wearing red made for a very good home opener.

Braden, being the loyal BYU football fan that we raised him to be, insisted on wearing his BYU jersey to the game. Ashton, who is in love with his "too small for him" Dixie Rebels hat, showed up looking like a Devils fan (oh wait, DSC mascot is now a storm cloud or something lame.)

And then we have Becca, a true DSC fan and alumni, who drove up with husband Jimmy to join us. Her husband was partial to SUU b/c the quarterback is a long time college friend. It made it interesting to have family cheering for both teams, but all that matters is that SUU came out on top.
(We like to think the team is getting better due to Jared's help in weight room, hehe.)

I like to joke with Jared that not only is he cheering and coaching for a "red" team, but because he is a student, that means he is also now a Thunderbird. Go T-Birds!
(My high school mascot is a thunderbird and we beat Jared's team, the Orem Tigers our senior year. I will never let Jared forget that!)

Daddy and his little buddy.

Jimmy and Becca came up for another game. This time, SUU upset Texas. GO T-Birds!

The four of us, all bundled up. Probably the last game we'll go to b/c we are wimps, okay, Braden and I are wimps, he complains just as much as I do if he's cold and it's just no fun sitting in any weather colder than it was on this day.

I'm sad this is the last SUU football season that we'll be here for, but I am so happy that Jared has chosen a "career/job" that will always involve sports and give us the opportunity to go to games and cheer for a team; there's no better feeling than that!

He's got it!

What a coincidence! It's been exactly a month since my last post, and today I come to announce that Ashton's officially potty trained!! HOORAY!

(k, well, he still wears a diaper to bed but it's pretty much dry in the morning.)

I can NOT believe that it only took a month! Braden took six months, on and off, and it wasn't until he turned 3 years old when he finally "got it." I am so proud of Ashton!

It's really strange to not have to buy diapers anymore; we've been buying them for about 5 years now! I mean, he's only two years old (and 4 months), but he's acting like such a big boy in so many ways. NO, we're definitely not ready to have another baby soon, but I am a little sad that any baby stuff we do still have, is all packed away. :(

tick, tock, tick, tock.....

Okay, I'm not sad anymore. Look at how cute he is in his underwear!

He loves having some play time all to himself while Braden is at school. Aaaah, no fighting or teasing for a whole two hours!

We can completely trust him to stay dry when he takes his naps, if we go to the store, when we go to church, etc. It's such a weight off our shoulders to be able to trust him!

Ohhhh, THANK YOU ASHTON for making this potty training experience SOOO much better than when we trained Braden. You are awesome!

Potty Training

Ashton's doing pretty well. With going pee anyway. He has no problem and he gets excited when he's done it. Of course we throw a party everytime he goes and give him a treat, and then he puts a sticker on his potty chart, so we're having lots of fun. Today he's gone to the potty by himself a couple of times, sat down, peed and was done. Usually I go and get him every 20 minutes or so, or just keep asking him if he has to go, so for him to just go when he felt it was great!

With poop, that's a struggle. I remember Braden doing the same thing though. Braden would sit and sit and sit, as long as 45 minutes, and as soon as he'd get off the toilet and put his underwear on, he'd run and hide and go poo in a closet, or wherever he could be by himself.

Today, all the way up until 5pm, Ashton hadn't gone poop yet so we knew he had to go. He kept saying his tummy hurt, he wouldn't eat dinner, and he was very cranky. He was so angry and mad while sitting on the potty, but I didn't want him to get scared with the feeling of going #2, and I didn't want to force him to sit there, so I put a diaper on him and just let him go play. He seriously let it out just a couple of minutes later. AND THEN I said, "okay, let's go get a clean diaper," knowing he had gone because I could smell it. He was very embarrassed and shy and when I walked into his room he immediately held his hand out and said, "stop! you stay wight dere." He wouldn't let me get close to him. I kept telling him he wasn't in trouble and it was okay, but he ran and hid under his train table and just laid there. 10 or 15 minutes later he was ready and came out and told me he had poo poo. After that, he was happy as could be, ate his dinner, played, etc. So I think he's going to have a hard time with #2, but that's okay because I know he'll go when he's ready. He's picked up on the pee so quickly that the poop shouldn't take that much longer, right?

Overall, I'm happy. At least he's not having accident after accident and peeing all over the house, and we've only had to throw one dirty pair of underwear away. I've even taken him with me to go pick Braden up from school and pick Jared up from work and he made it home nice and dry. So far this is a much better experience than we had with Braden, he's doing great!

"Poop goes in the potty" (it's a song)

Last night we had a fun Elder's Quorum BBQ at the Ludlow's. Although we didn't get home until 10pm and had a hay day getting Braden in bed, it payed off because he didn't wake up until 8:30am!! Ashton slept in until 8am and even though I was in bed, I wasn't dead asleep so I remember hearing Jared come home, the car beep after it's locked, the key unlocking the front door and Jared turing the TV on for Ashton. (Apartment living: you can hear everything!) I thought to myself, "yey, I can stay in bed for at least another half an hour!" Jared then got on the computer to start his homework, etc., and about 20 minutes later I was officially woken up to a nice, poopy bottom being waved in the air.

Ashton had taken his diaper off, which he's never done before, and had a little bit of poop on his finger from touching his bottom, which he's never done before.

Within a short minute, I started putting puzzle pieces together. Since I wasn't really sleeping, I had heard the TV stand drawer open, where we keep some diapers and wipes, and thought, "Ashton's playing with the wipes again." Then I remembered hearing a noise as if Ashton was trying to fit a chair through a door.

I quickly got up and went to get the wipes as Jared carried naked little Ashton down the hall, Jared's arms completely extended to ensure no part of Ashton was touching him! As we layed Ashton down to clean him up I noticed four wipes on the floor, a couple of them with little bits of brown on them. :) We also found the training potty in the hallway with some smudges on the potty. ;)

Ashton totally tried to go potty (after he had already gone in his diaper) and wipe his bottom all by himself!!! We were so proud of him for understanding the process and trying to do it on his own!

Every now and then we say something to him about going potty, but we haven't started training him. There's been one or two times that we try to have him watch Braden, or Braden has said, "Ashton, look how I do it," therefore, Ashton would sit on his potty, clothes on and all, but just for fun. There have been other signs such as Ashton "going into hiding," come to find out he hides so he can poo and then come and tell us that he needs his diaper changed. So we've known the time would soon come, but not as early as just turning two years old! Braden was 2 1/2 when we started but it wasn't until he almost turned 3 years old that he finally got it; no more accidents at home, we could leave the house and not worry, he could go all night, etc. Of course we hoped Ashton would be trained earlier because he's had Braden as an example, but I haven't been dying to getting him out of diapers yet.

So as I sit here and type, Ashton's running around naked. Every 10 minutes or so I yell, "Make sure you go in the potty!" Do I really have to officially start training him? Sitting down with him every 20 minutes? Not leaving the house for a week? It's not just talk anymore? ugh. I probably should if he's smart enough to go poop this morning, take his diaper off, sit on the potty, try to wipe his bottom, and then come looking for mom and dad with poop on his finger!

Ohhh, here we go......

Labor Day

What a fun Labor Day weekend we had. On Saturday morning, around 9:30am, there was a knock on the door. Of course I'm caught off guard, no one I know just comes over, and since I'm in the middle of exercising, I run down the hall into my room while the boys run to the door to answer it. "No!, come here!," I yell at them. 10 minutes go by, I'm wondering who it was at the door, and then I get a phone call from my sister. "Why aren't you answering your door?," she asks in a stalkerish way. I open the door and then said, "Where are you?" She told me to yell my brother Neil's name, and that's when I remembered Neil was coming down for the weekend. And there he was, over by the garbage bin taking out our trash. He did not tell me that he planned on stopping by our house on his way to St. George, but it ended up being a nice surprise.

Jared had to work at the fair in Parawon so he was gone, I was carless, and very happy that someone would be there to hang out with me and the boys all day. After getting ready we went to McD's for lunch and to let the boys play, had naps (all of us), then Becca and Jimmy showed up, we played games and had dinner, put the boys to bed and then waited.....and waited.....and waited for Jared to come home so we could watch the BYU vs. Oklahoma game! We had to wait until 10:30pm to watch it and it was killing us!!! The BYU game is a whole other post, which I'll do later.

Neil ended up staying with us most of the weekend, and good thing he did or I would have been stranded on Labor Day. Jared had to work at the fair again, so the boys and I drove down to St. George with Neil on Monday to go swim at Becca and Jimmy's. This was sadly our last time at the pool for the year.

Before getting to Becca's house, I had to stop at The Children's Place to buy a hat. I bought Braden a hat during our girl's weekend and of course the boys fight over it, so I needed to go back for another one. I ended up buying the hat, two visors, and two outfits all for $10!! I love it!!!

Here are the boys in their new outfits, minus the matching visor that Ashton isn't wearing.

Most of the day was then spent at the pool. The kids took snack breaks and then we had pizza and breadsticks delivered to the pool for lunch.

I was so proud of Ashton who made lots of progress this time. Usually he plays quietly by himself and never gets in the water past his waist. Today he wanted me to carry him around, I taught him how to kick his feet, I bounced him up and down in the water, splashing just enough to get water in his face but not scare him. And then!, he realized the fun of jumping into the pool!

"Again, again, again!"

Neil and Ashton

Me and Braden. I love that he loves to wear goggles. I think that everyone looks funny in goggles, but because Braden doesn't swim or even dare put his face in the water, it makes him wearing them for fun even funnier. What a goof!

And then there's Ashton who thinks he's so cool. He is.

I guess the goggles came in a little handy while running under and through the water fountains.

Bye, bye pool. Bye, bye sun and tanning. Bye, bye peace and relaxation. Bye, bye happiness. See you again in nine months. :(

Braden's 1st day of school!

Finally!!!! Braden is in school!
Of course we've been talking about it for months; wondering how Braden would do and how we would feel as parents sending him off. The night before, Jared gave Braden his first back to school blessing and after putting him to bed Jared told me that he was having a hard time with the idea of Braden growing up. Jared is very sentimental when it comes to closing one door and opening another. He actually started to cry a little, which then made me cry. He thought I would be the one crying, but I just don't think I was sad because I'm in need of a break as much as Braden is in need of being around kids and learning.

I wrote down all of the things Braden said leading up to his first day of school, as well as the conversations we had with him when he got home. I also overheard several things he told Ashton about how excited, and now old enough, he was to go to school.

One of the things Braden said to Ashton, as we were walking out the door and down the stairs was, "Yipee! I'm going to school now. It's time. And Ash, only I'm going today. You are only two so you can't go yet. I'm big, and I waited and you'll go someday." After a few seconds, Braden says, "Don't worry Ashton, someday you'll be big and do big boy things like me and dad. Maybe next year you can go."

Ashton will usually be napping during the time Braden is gone, but since we took him with us to drop Braden off, he only had a short nap in the car. I kept track of how many times Ashton asked, "where's Baden?" Total, within an hour and a half, was 11. We ran some errands before picking Braden up and just within that half an hour Ashton asked six times, "mom, where Baden?" I have to say too that even though Ashton may have wondered where Braden was, I don't think he missed him. He played SO well by himself while Braden was gone, it was great!

Here he is! Ready for whatever comes his way. It was so easy dropping him off. His teacher, Mrs. Orton, showed him where they hang their backpacks, he picked which one he wanted to hang his on, hung it up, then went back into the classroom and sat down. There was only one other kid there when we dropped Braden off, but he showed no signs of being scared or wanting us to stay, so we just left.

I had the greatest feeling after dropping him off. It was much different that just leaving him at a friend's house to play. It was that "I'm cool" feeling because I have a kid in school. It was also as if a burden had been lifted off my shoulders knowing that someone else was teaching him, that I wasn't solely responsible for teaching him everything! I don't know how else to explain it, but I love it!

Ashton and I got to his school a few minutes before class got out, so it was really fun and cute to see all the kids come walking out in a line, carrying their papers, getting their backpacks off the hooks, putting their papers in their backpacks and then finding their moms. So fun!!

I tried to make it a big deal that we missed Braden by giving him lots of hugs and kisses and telling him how many times Ashton asked where he was. I tried to get a school report out of him on the drive home, but he seemed really tired. Once we got home I asked him again, "What did you learn and what did you do?" All he said was, "I don't know mom, but I have papers in my backpack that are very important."

Later on he did give more information, like, "Look at my prize (holding up a little ninja toy). I got it from my teacher, I mean, Mrs. Orton because I did lots of good things." I asked him what good things he did, but he didn't say. Later he told me that he also did bad things, but still got his prize. I asked him what bad things he did and he said, "Ummm, I just talked to Emma." I said, "Oh, so you were talking to Emma when you were supposed to be listening to your teacher?" His response, "Uh huh." Hopefully he doesn't end up being the kid in class that doesn't listen to his teacher, but I'm glad to hear that he knows that was a bad thing and he's learning the principle of speaking when it's his turn.

Since I really wanted to know if Braden missed us while he was at school, I picked him up and cuddled him, he smiled while I gave him hugs and I asked again, "Well, did you miss us?" "No," and then after a short pause, "Because mom, I only had Emma in my class and we're already friends, so I didn't cry. And I even made new friends, but I don't remember their names."

This month he's learning about manners and rules, what to do in an emergency, what 911 is, and some letters, numbers, shapes and colors. I'm slowly seeing that he has already learned things, for instance, he said today during a hectic time of day when more than one of us was talking, "Mom, when we want to say something and have a turn, we need to ask the teacher and wait our turn." Well, okay then, that's what we'll do at home. Not that I haven't tried telling him that before, but if he gets it by learning from someone else, fine with me!

The only thing I thought would be better due to this whole school thing was how Braden would act when he got home from school. I had the expectation that he would have missed us and missed his own toys, that he'd be nicer to Ashton and play better, maybe be a little more obedient....but no. As soon as he got home, I went right back to playing referee. Ohhhh well, I'll still take whatever break I can get and I appreciate so much the help and patience of his teacher, and all teachers to come! And most of all, I'm so proud of Braden, our Mr. Independent!

Jared's 31st birthday!

Jared's birthday was on August 26th. As usual, he had to go train at 6am but by the time he got home at 9am, we were ready to go out for breakfast at IHOP.

I wanted to do something fun for him, but he doesn't like surprises and he doesn't like other people knowing it's his birthday. I thought about getting a group of friends together to go out to dinner that night, but then I remembered it was the ward neighborhood block party. So I thought, hmmm......I could get a huge cake and make that our contribution to the dessert menu for the ward party, AND if it happens to say "Happy Birthday Jared!" on it, then maybe some people would catch on that it's his birthday and he'd get a little bit of attention." I made the mistake of taking Braden to the store with me to order it, but since we didn't actually go home with a cake right then, I told Braden to not say anything about a cake. What are the chances of a four year old not saying anything?!? The first thing Braden said when we got home was, "Daddy!!, we got you balloons! But don't worry, we didn't get you a cake." I just played it off because we really didn't get him a cake and because he'd never see one until the ward party, and knew we weren't doing anything that night because of the ward party, I think he believed that there really was no cake.

But there was; a huge football themed cake, chocolate with raspberry filling and whipped icing. I told Jared I had to go get chips for the party, which I did, but I also picked up the cake and took it over to a friend's house for them to bring to the party. Because I knew Braden would tell Jared that we got the cake and took it to "Bubba's house," I had to distract Braden by going to the gym afterwards and filling his head with a whole other story. I kept saying, "if you say something to dad, tell him we went to the gym to talk to Bennion." (Coach Bennion is the strength coach Jared works with, so I thought if his name came up, Jared would think we were planning something at the gym.) Braden ended up falling asleep on the way home and he woke up right before we went to the ward party, so nothing was ever said.

NOW!, once we got to the party, there were a few people that came up to Jared and wished him a Happy Birthday. He thought it was clever that I did have a cake there and he was okay with that. But once Aaron Ashworth, a trickster kind of guy in the ward, found out it was Jared's birthday, he had the idea of having the band sing to Jared. I thought to myself, "oh no! Jared is going to be SO embarassed!!" And he was. After everyone was done eating, they asked Jared to come to the tent over the microphone and said something like, "we hear you're getting close to 40!," and then the whole ward and all the neighbors sang to him. He got a little red and I got embarassed for him, but it was fun!

(Shannon, Jon, James and Trecia)

The next night, we did go out to dinner with a bunch of friends. Jason and Julie, Aaron and Tricia, James and Trecia, Jon and Shannon and us. We went to Ninja, probably the best place to eat in Cedar City, it's a japanese steakhouse. It was Jon's birthday in a couple of days so we told the waiter and they came out singing to both he and Jared. It was really funny 'cause we were all sitting there and all of a sudden we hear, "GONG!! GONG!!"

This lady came out and banged on the gong while we all sang Happy Birthday. It was quite funny and different.

(Hard to see b/c of the window, but there's Jared, me, Julie, Jason, Aaron and Tricia)

The week ended with Grandpa Harper coming down, kind of for Jared's birthday and just to visit. We went to our favorite mexican place and then to the SUU stadium and gym so he could see where Jared "works."

I wish I could do bigger and better things to surprise Jared....someday. But for now, the simple things are still fun. One of my other favorite parts about his birthday was taking Braden to the store to pick out which ever card he wanted for daddy. Without my help at all!, the card he picked said this...

Outside:
Some psychologists say a DAD is the single MOST IMPORTANT element in the formation of a child's character.

Inside:
In other words, I'm mostly YOUR fault. But Happy Birthday anyway dad!

The card had a picture of a family on the front and an old, doctor guy so maybe that's why Braden was drawn to it. I thought it was very fitting, mostly because Ashton is so much like Jared and on the days that he (or Braden) are driving us crazy, it's funny to think they are that way in some part because of their dad. :)

We love you Jared!!

Girls weekend!

Here are pictures from our Girl's weekend. Kristan and Wendy picked me up around noon on Friday. We met up with Katie and Lindsay at the outlets and had yummy sandwiches at a little bakery place in the strip mall. After a little shopping, we took all of our stuff to Lindsay's house, went swimming, and hung out until 6pm when the dad's would get home to take Katie and Lindsay's babies.

After that, it was just the girls!

First stop, pedicures!

Second stop, Olive Garden!

I don't remember what we did that night, so I'm guessing it was just a night of talking, laughing and relaxing. It was great!

On Saturday we tried to sleep in; I guess waking up at 9am is technically sleeping in for all of us moms, but not anything like waking up at 11am back in the "single ladies" days. Lindsay made us breakfast, we then took our sweeeeeet time getting ready, and off we went to shop.

I don't think I've spent over an hour in ONE store in a long, long time. We were in TJ Maxx and I had so much fun taking time to look at everything, go up and down every isle, and dig through clearance stuff. I was actually able to take time to think about what I wanted to buy, what I should buy, what I'd do with it, where I'd put it, what I'd wear with it, etc. It was great!

After shopping and massages, we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. Then, Kristan wanted to go get a new phone, so she and Lindsay took care of that while me and Wendy and Katie did more shopping. We went to Ross and Katie found some really cute sweater boots; they were so cute! This how our next conversation went down:
Katie: "Maybe I can just wear them around the store until we're ready to go."
Me: "And then, maybe you can just walk out of the store and forget you're wearing them." (I was totally kidding!!)
Katie: "Heather?!"
This was in a matter of seconds all the while we're both still looking down, trying on shoes. Then we hear a ladies voice: "Oh, you wouldn't want to do that with one of us around."
We both look up and on the other isle was a lady that worked there. I felt a little stupid, but not too bad b/c I know me and I was kidding.
Katie says, "Oh, she's not serious. We would never do that."

It was a little embarassing, but whatever. Later that night we watched a movie in the theater room, had treats and popcorn. By the time the movie was over it was midnight, but we still wanted to watch another movie, so we did.
(As I write this, I realized that I never told Jared that we watched two movies that night, and I stayed awake through both of them. We were up until 3am! He'd get so mad at me seeing that I struggle to stay awake through one movie, at home, starting at 8pm. eek.)

Sunday was the day we went home, back to life, back to reality (yes, I just sang that song in my head.) It was nice to get home, be with the family for a few hours, and then leave again. Leave? Yep, our babysitter Mari came over to watch the boys so Jared and I could go to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple dedication at 3pm. It was a great way to end the weekend; just me and my husband having some alone time. Peaceful, spiritual alone time. Then it was time to deal with the boys and the craziness 24/7 again.

Side bar update

I'm drawing your attention to the "Funny things they do and say" on the side of the blog. I've written down some cute things Braden and Ashton have done, or said lately!

Family Fun

Sunday: Sitting in their favorite chairs, outside of our apartment, anxiously awaiting the arrival of family! My cousin Tawnia, her husband Carl, and their twin 14 year old boys, Kyle and Kody were visiting UT from NY. They, along with my brother Ian, two of his friends, and my dad were all driving down and we were the first stop of their way to Zion National Park where they were going to spend a couple of days. At first we had plans to accommodate all eight guests!, instead, Ian and his friends and Kyle and Kody decided to go on ahead of the adults and camp out at Zions.

I'm sure Ian or one of his friends took this picture, and set it up. "Uh, hang loose?, is that what I'm supposed to say?"

Braden and Ashton blowing the aerobed up and down, and up and down. So much fun!

Thursday: The boys with Kyle and Kody.....aren't they cute?!?...all of them! After spending time at Zions and then a couple of days in St. George at my sister's house, Tawnia, Carl and the boys stopped to see us on their way to Grandma's house in Ferron. They had a great time rough housing with Braden and Ashton, and I was thankful that they wore them out in time for naps!

PS: Jared wasn't around for any of this chaos because he was busy working all week at the Washington county fair in Hurricane. So while I'm at home with family coming in and out, he was driving down and back every day. Except for Friday night, he stayed at Becca and Jimmy's over night.

Friday: Jared and I had scheduled a meeting long ago with the company I was a property manager for. We were done working for them and had to turn in all of the keys, etc., so we dropped the boys off at the Hjorth's while we took care of business. After the meeting, Jared went back to the fair to work, and I went to the pool with the kids. What a hard life for me. :)

Saturday: Driving to the fair to see dad, have some good food, and go on some rides! Braden loves to make funny faces and have his picture taken.

The same day that Tawnia and family drove to Grandma's, which was Thursday, my mother in law arrived to stay with us for the weekend. She came down for the festival and went and saw a lot of plays and read in's with her dad, Grandpa Chuck. It was fun to go see The Secret Garden with her on Saturday while Braden and Ashton spent time at the Wood's (thanks again Melissa for watching them.)

What made Saturday even more hectic was getting a phone call from Jared who needed us to bring down more stuff, so they didn't run out on the busiest day of the fair. I asked him if they would be okay until 4pm when we originally planned on coming down to see him, but they couldn't. So we hurry and jumped in the car at 11:30am, drove down, dropped the stuff off, got back to Cedar City by 1:00pm, got the boys McD's, went home and ate the food in literally 10 minutes, dropped the boys off at the Wood's at 1:30pm, and got to the play at 1:45pm (it started at 2pm). WOW! I don't think this week could have been any busier!!

Ashton copying what Braden was doing for the camera.

Jared at his booth, working hard!

All of that family stuff was during the second week of August. The following week Jared took some time off and we sort of cleaned up after all the craziness and went no where, or did anything.
Wednesday: We did go to the green show again, the boys love it and it's a great way to pass the time away from 6:30pm to 8pm. That time after dinner and before bed is so long!, so it's nice to take them somewhere, outside, and then go home and go straight to bed.

This is the first picture Braden has ever taken.......that actually turned out. He has his own camera and walks around the house all day taking pictures, but they are of nothing and they are always blurry. Okay, I shouldn't say they are of nothing, because to him they are; his tiny cars, someone's nose, what he drew on the board, etc. But he gets so close up and never stops moving when he takes the picture that it makes it really hard to tell what he's taken a picture of. So this picture is a pretty good one (except for us not knowing when he was going to take it, or if he already did.)

This was also the night that I threw my back out. Yes, just by sitting. Braden was sitting in between my legs and I put my hands on his waist to help him stand up and that's all it took to hurt my back in a very scary way. I felt sick, I wanted to cry, my legs were hurting, I couldn't bend over or reach for anything, I couldn't tilt my head down. Not fun! I could walk, that was a good thing, but it took a lot of rest, massage and laying on the heating pad for it to get better.

Ashton in treat heaven.

Thursday: The next day we drove to St. George again to swim and hang out with Becca and Jimmy. We had pizza, salad and treats and played Sorry!.

Jimmy, and Braden squishing his face.

I should have taken all of my things for the girls weekend I was going to just the next day, which was in St. George, but I didn't. The next day, Friday, our annual roommate reunion would finally be here and I couldn't wait to spend time with my girlfriends! It was much needed after such a busy summer, an even busier month of August.

PS: I just counted, and in just 12 days, we drove to St. George 7 times! That's a lot of gas.

My "Tim the Tool Man Taylor"

(Don't scroll down! Read slowly so you don't see the picture below.)

This happened a month or so ago, but I was just reminded of it and Jared is the one who actually suggest that I write about it. Even though he's the one who will be laughed at, remember, it was his idea.

Pedicures. It's a treat to go and get one, but not always affordable, or a priority really (at least not for me). Instead, I make Jared give me pedicures every now and again. One night we were talking about how horrible his feet are and that he needed a pedicure. He asked me how much they cost and I said around $20, so if we were to both go and get pedicures it would cost $40.

Then he comes up with a brilliant idea (I'm not going to say what this idea is just yet). We were on a date one night and he brought up this "idea" again, a solution to not having to go and pay for pedicures anymore. I could not believe he was really serious, but I shrugged it off and said, "okay, you try it." We stopped at a store, bought "the solution to no more pedicures" and went home to try it.

As I'm putting the kids to bed we hear this really loud noise. I just rolled my eyes and thought, this is so ridiculous. Once the boys were in bed, I went into the living room to see how this "thing" was working out. What was Jared's great "idea?"......

THIS!!! An electric sander! This exact one.

It only sort of worked on his heel, under his big toe and around the outside edge of his foot. But on the ball of his foot and in the middle, where it's sensitive, it tore up his feet! I don't remember if he said they bled or not, but his feet were very sore for the next couple of days!!


So, not only will I NEVER let him use it on my feet! (mine are not even half as bad as his are), but who wants to sit down and relax and enjoy a pedicure to the LOUD noise of an electric sander?!? NOT ME!


Men?

A great pick-me-up!

I don't read, so for me to take time to post something about a book.....it must be a good one! And this is a great one!

Jared brought this home for me, just because, and it sat in the house for a month before I picked it up. I had heard of the book and wanted to buy it and read it; it's always nice to learn from other moms' experiences and relate to them in one way or another. When I finally started reading, I read half of the book in just a couple of hours and then finished the book the next day. It's not a long book or a hard book to read and it is well worth your time, I highly recommend it. I wouldn't say that there was a lot of information that was new to me, however, I've had such a better attitude towards my boys and the work I do around the home since reading it.

So if you feel like you're in a rut or that what you do goes unnoticed, or if you just want to hear again how important and great moms are, (after all, who doesn't like being reminded of how great they are?) then go read this book!

Bedtime

All of these memories came flooding back tonight as I watched, or should say "peeked," through Ashton's door that was left cracked open. I wanted to see how he got himself to sleep now that he was getting used to a big boy bed.

As I stood there watching him read a book and talk out loud to himself, I thought, "I can't believe he's not a swaddled baby anymore!"

Then I thought about how much I loved the stage when Ashton was too big to be swaddled and loved sleeping with his hands out. I thought it was so great that I could leave his arms out and he'd still fall fast asleep. This was my favorite sleeping picture of him at 4 months old.

Then, I loved it even more when I didn't have to wrap him at all! How easy it was to just lay him down in his crib and off to sleep he was!

And now, he's not in a crib at all. Sigh. He's SO big! Bedtime is definitely not as easy as it was during the crib years because now he can "get out." But he's progressing. For the first two weeks of him being on a mattress, we attempted to have he and Braden share a room. You can imagine that there was no sleeping, just lots of playing and laughing. Even when we moved Ashton back to his own room he would not stay in bed, he'd play, and play, and play......

BUT!, over the last couple of nights he's learned to stay in his bed! Yey! As loud and playful as he still is, as long as I know he's not up and playing, I didn't care how long it takes him to fall asleep on his own. And tonight, it took him an hour and a half before actually falling asleep.

He talks and talks and talks, and sings, and calls for me, and reads and rolls around, and yells that he has "owies," and calls for me again (all the while I ignore him), until he finally just STOPS! It was so interesting to stand at his door, peeking through the crack to see how he would go on and on. He'd yawn every minute and close his eyes really tight as if he were trying to go to sleep, yet he'd still muster up any energy he had left just so he could stay awake a minute longer. Until he finally STOPPED!

(PS: He likes to sleep with the light on so I'm sure that's partly what keeps him awake, but right now I don't want to listen to an hour of crying, I'd rather he just get used to going to bed IN his bed, and the next step will be turning the light off at bedtime.)

I am so glad he's learning how to go to bed on his own, without us laying by him, or scratching his back or something. I'm thankful that I was made aware of his progress, and that all the sleeping memories came back to me tonight starting as far back as a newborn; swaddling as tight as we could, to getting his arms out, to no wrapping at all. Then from a crib to a bed, from playing to staying in his bed. He's getting it!! If only he knew what we all know! And that is, JUST LAY THERE!, HOLD STILL!, and you'll fall asleep much easier and quicker! Bedtime is great!!!

While looking for some baby pictures of Ashton, I came across these ones of Braden. These were taken when Braden was two years old and we had taken him out of his crib and put him on a mattress on the floor.

He didn't always fall asleep, or stay IN or ON his bed. Several times we found him in other places in the room!! Ashton has yet to do this.

I love these boys so much! I love any chance I get to lay around with them; whether we're watching a movie on the couch (like we are here), or if I take a minute to lay by them in their beds at bedtime, their cuddles are the best!

And it's even sweeter when I get to stand there and STARE at them once they've fallen asleep! Ahhhhh, bedtime is lovely.

St. George and Zions

This is what summer is all about! We love St. George and go there often, and now that my sister and her husband live there, we now have a place to hang out!

Becca and Jimmy

The greatest pool....and it's free!

Braden is finally comfortable swimming on his own again.

Me and Ashton.

Ashton went to bed, Braden got to stay up until 9:30pm to enjoy the games and treats with the adults.

The family, minus sleeping Ashton.

What a great way to carry around the kids. Ashton really does have fun when Jared swings him around, but by the time we took the picture he was done.

After staying the night at Becca and Jimmy's, we drove to Zions to spend the day. We had our backpack full of water, sandwiches, chips, fruit snacks, juice, treats, diapers, wipes, chapstick, hand sanitizer, a leash for Ashton, our camera, and some money.

We started the day off by taking the shuttle to the top of the route for our first hike; the River walk.

The end of the River walk is the beginning of hiking the Narrows. I've hiked the Narrows before, (not like my brother Ian and his friends, I'm not that daring), but one day it would be fun for Jared and I to keep on going, through the river and the canyon.

For now, it was enough to let the boys take off their shoes and socks and get in the river.

Then, it was back in the stroller we go, back down the trail and back to the shuttle. Before the next hike, we got some ice cream and smoothies to cool down, it was 104 degrees that day! We filled up our water bottles which we had frozen the night before so they still had big chunks of ice in them, and then we were on our way.

Jared took his turn pushing the stroller and good thing he did b/c this hike had much steeper hills to climb than the river walk did. Ashton fell asleep at the beginning of the trail and Braden wanted to walk with me, so it gave Jared a little break pushing one child rather than two. You can imagine ALL the comments we got from the other hikers seeing a double stroller with kids enjoying the ride; "That's the way to go," "Wish they had one of those for adults," "What a great workout for you guys," etc. Our usual comment back, "$50 a ride!"

This was at the point of the lower pool of the Emerald Pools hike.

By the end of the hike, Ashton was still asleep and Braden had fallen asleep. We were happy they took naps, but now we were stuck at the Zion's Lodge, unable to get on the shuttle to go do another hike while they were asleep.

After the boys woke up, we got back on the shuttle and headed back to the museums and visitor's center. It was 5pm by this time and we were all worn out. We knew we'd be taking a different way home, a drive through Zion's and the mile long tunnel, so we left. The drive through the switchbacks was beautiful and the boys loved the tunnel.

In the tunnel we go......

.....and out the tunnel we go.....on our way home.
Supposedly, this route to Cedar City was the same mileage as going out the Zion's entrance, through Hurricane and back to I-15, but after a very LONG two hour drive home, that piece of information HAS to be wrong!

It was a really fun weekend, and we're so glad we live close to Becca and Jimmy and to Zions for a quick, much needed "daycation."

Ashton cracks us up!

I had to write down this story before I went to bed because it's just too funny to forget.

Ashton turned 2 years old a month ago and we immediately took him out of his crib and put him on a twin sized mattress which is on the floor.....you know, just to get him used to a bed w/out having anything to fall from. At first we tried to have the boys share a room, but that didn't work, so we put Ashton back in his room, which we had made a toy room, and took out TONS of the toys knowing there was a 100% chance he'd play when supposed to be going to bed. Even with the few toys in there, every night after we "put him to bed," he doesn't actually go to sleep for an hour or so.

Lately, we've kept the door cracked open following Ashton's demand, "leave little bit open and light off peese." (The phrase "light off," actually means "light on" in his world.) So tonight, at 8pm we put him to bed and tell him that we'll leave the door open as long as he stays in his bed, but I still always turn his light off. About a half an hour later we hear him yelling for me, "Mom, help! Uh-oh.... mom..... help." Jared took a turn going to see what the problem was, of course it was nothing, and while I'm sitting on the couch I can hear Ashton telling Jared, "one more minute, peese." ASHTON IS VERY CLEVER and knew that if one of us came into his room he could turn on the charm and buy some more time before going to bed. Jared called me saying, "Heather, you better come quick before I give in." So I go into his room, Ashton is standing there, he puts his hand on his hip, tilts his head to the side, looks at out of the corner of his eye, holds up one finger and says, "one more minute mom." HE IS SO CUTE!!!, but I still said no. We put him to bed again and leave; light off and door cracked open.

Jared and I are in the living room watching something, eating watermelon, when we hear little footsteps running down the hall. We both look at each other and roll our eyes. Then we hear him fall and whisper, "owe!, oops, fell down." HE IS SUCH A KLUTZ!!! Most kids will try and tippy toe when they don't want to go to bed, but not this big bruiser of a kid. He is not graceful or quiet by any means!....ever.

I'm already laughing, and as he comes around the corner from the hall to the living room and then he says, with a smile, "I wanna watch it?"

My answer?, "No!, Ashton go to bed or I'll close your door." Of course he gets a sad face, you know, the pouty, about to cry look.

Jared says, "here Ashton, have a bite and then go back to bed." Jared gives him a small piece of watermelon, Ashton happily turns to run back to his room, falls down again (he probably tripped over the same toy or over his feet), we hear another, "owe," then he says to himself, "back to bed, back to bed," the door shuts and it's quiet.

Sure enough, ten minutes later we hear him coming down the hall again! This time he says with an unsatisfied attitude, "more!......Big one dis time," while nodding his head up and down as if he's saying, "okay?, understand?" LOL! And because he saw us laughing at him, he says louder, "big one!," then gives us the squinty eyed cheesey smile, "peese?" HE LOVES FOOD!!! Jared and I were cracking up, which was much better than getting frustrated and mad at him, (that would come another 30 minutes later when he still wasn't going to sleep), but for now, he was being so funny!

And the reason we laugh at him so much, let me rephrase that, the reason I laugh at Ashton so much is because he is like Jared in every way! That may sound bad since I'm talking about Ashton being goofy and klutzy and loving food, but it's more than that. I wish you could see the connection and the similarities these two have, but that's a whole other story for later.

Ashton did end up staying in his room after that, but fell asleep with the light on, as usual. He surprises us every day with something new and he's got the sweetest, most loving, happy, funny, animated personality mixed with attitude, stubbornness, drama!, and cleverness. I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this picture of him because of his messy face, but then I thought, "that is TOTALLY Ashton!," and we totally love him!

Pictures! Yey! Becca and Jimmy's June wedding

The newlyweds have been traveling A LOT since getting married a month ago. They went on their honeymoon for a week to Palm Springs, came home and worked for a couple of weeks, went camping another weekend, and last week they spent four days in San Diego. Then, they came home Sunday night, finished packing up their things and moved to St. George on Monday. (My brothers and mom and dad had already packed up two car loads, drove to St. George, we met them there, moved all of it into their apartment for them, and then drove home the same day! What a helpful family we are!) And we finally have the wedding pictures!!

The Petersen side of the family. The boys had pink eye and ear infections so these are the only pictures they were tolerant for, and they only lasted an hour at the reception. My grandparents (my dad's parents) and my cousin Jessica drove up from Ferron for the weekend. And my handsome brothers.

Pictures at the Provo Temple....it was SO hot! Aren't they a great couple?!? My sis is one gorgeous bride!!

Other pictures from the reception. Mmmmm, that cake was SO yummy! Becca and Jimmy love playing games so they had badminton and croquet at the reception. It was a great day (for them), and after all their travels this past month, it's time for real life to start! HeHeHe....

Jared's 10 days in Palmyra

Jared recently returned from a work trip to Palmyra, NY. He sells for the Living Scriptures, so he and five other guys flew out to work during the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We knew 10 days would be a long time for him to be gone, but to be honest, I was excited for him to have the opportunity to "work" in Palmyra amongst all the church history sites!

Jared left on Thursday and arrived very late. That Sunday, since the guys didn't work, they drove an hour or so to Niagara Falls.

(The falls are behind Jared)

As the sign below says, this is the Joseph Smith Sr. log home. Jared took a picture of the house from the side so you could see the fence behind the house that Joseph Smith jumped over to get the grove of trees when he went to pray.

(The log home from the front)

This was the upstairs of the log home where Joseph Smith was visited by the Angel Moroni.

A picture of the Palmyra temple in the middle of the trees. Jared told us the story of how President Hinckley wanted to put a window in the celestial room so that you could see the Sacred Grove from the celestial room. When the temple was being built, there were three trees in front of the window that were in the way of being able to see the Sacred Grove. NY law only allows for one permit to cut down one tree, so the church did that, but it still left two trees in the way.....they were struck by lightning! Notice the treeline; how all the trees are the same height across and then it makes a U-shape where the temple was built so it overlooks the Sacred Grove. So cool!!

This was the home the Smith's moved into, and the home they lived in at the time Joseph was finally given the gold plates.

Here, in this front room of the house, is where Joseph paced back and forth once finding out that Martin Harris lost the pages of the manuscript that was translated.

Underneath this fireplace is where Joseph hid the plates when the house was being searched.

The Sacred Grove

The fenceline seperating the grove from the log home.

The Living Scriptures owns a store called Latter Day Harvest where the guys sold from. Above the store is an apartment where they all stayed for the trip. Their store, and apartment, is right next to the Book of Mormon publication site.

This is what the pages looked like after being printed and before they were folded and bound.

Another night, after work, Jared was able to see the pageant.

This is the Hill Cumorah and the stage. Somewhere on this hill is where Joseph met Angel Moroni and was given the plates that were hidden under a rock.

And this is what I remember the most about the Hill Cumorah pageant.....Christ descending from heaven to visit the Americas! There are two huge posts on each side of the stage and the person playing Christ is harnessed to a cord going across. While hanging up there, his costume is black so no one sees him until he opens up his costume to show the white and is then lowered down to the ground so it looks like he all of a sudden appears and is descending from heaven! You really get the feeling that you are watching Christ come and you're in his presence.....eek!

I am so glad that Jared was able to visit upstate NY. Someday we'll take the boys and I can't wait to go back! The trip ended up being a good one, as far as work goes, but even better for strengthening our testimonies. We were happy to have daddy come home though, that's for sure!!!

Busy as can be....I like it and I hate it!

Jared left for Palmyra last Thursday. Lucky him! What better place to go work than there? He's been there for 4 days now and yes, he has been working, but he's also taken a trip to Niagara Falls and been to the Sacred Grove. He said the Sacred Grove was amazing!, I'm sure it was. I can't believe I'm old enough to say this, but it's been almost 20 years since I've been to Palmyra. WOW! I feel like I am still 20 years old, but I'm not. Anyway, it was amazing way back then and I only know it would be so much better now that I'm grown up and have a deeper testimony. Lucky him!

Since he's been gone, I am so thankful for Joy for coming down to spend a few days with me. Since I had to drive Jared up to Orem at the last minute, I only stayed a night and then drove down with Joy. That made the trip a little more interesting. We stopped in Scipio so she could feed her 4 month old son, Beck, and we also got some lunch and ice cream for the other kids. On Friday we drove down to Washington to go swimming. It was a pretty cool mini water park; it has a lazy river, water slides, swings in the water for the babies, a splash pad, and a lap pool. The only thing was that everything is inside, kind of. The only part of it under the sun is the splash pad, so even though we had a great time in the heated water, we came away with no tan lines. Saturday we got lunch at Great Harvest, they have the yummiest sandwiches! Later on we took the kids to the track to ride bikes and run around. It was so great having a girlfriend stay with me, I just wish it would have been a girl's weekend without kids. (pictures will be coming soon, as soon as Joy sends me some.)

Today we got back into our normal routine; wake up, breakfast, workout and play outside, lunch, naps, another activity outside (today it was riding bikes), errands (today we went to the bank, the store, and the post office), dinner, more outside time (we went to SUU to see the Green Show which is a free 40 minute singing/acting/dancing show they do every night before the plays), bath time, and bedtime.

Even though I love busy days like this, the boys are driving me crazy!! CONSTANT TEASING!, all-day-long! As we speak, I'm listening to them fight in their room, where they're supposed to be going to bed. But I've had it, no more breaking up fights, they can battle it out and maybe in a couple of hours they'll fall asleep. I usually do really well when Jared leaves because I know I'm on my own, I know I can do what I what, when I want, I can keep the same schedule every day, I can keep the house organized and clean, and then I can relax at the end of the day. But I can NOT take the teasing and the fighting and the arguing any more! If I give the boys a choice, they make a decision and then change their mind, back and forth, back and forth. OR, if Braden wants something, that's what Ashton wants and vice versa. Argh!!! Why don't they just listen to me and obey the FIRST time? Why don't they just love each other? Why does my day consist of constant screaming and whining? This is the hard part of being a mom, for me. I don't care how busy I get with however many kids we end up having. I love running from one thing to another. I love taking care of sick children. I don't mind cleaning up and putting things away and straightening and organizing. But I don't know how to make kids understand why it's important to be nice, and to obey, and to listen, and get along.

And I know I've said recently that I won't be driving up to UT county for a long time b/c we've done it so much over the last few months.....BUT, I am. My sister in law had her baby a couple of days ago, Mae Lynne Sharp, so we're going to go see our new neice and cousin. Jared flies home on Sunday so we'll pick him up while we're up there and then stay a few more days. Going places and doing things makes my life a lot easier! I feel like as long as we're doing anything, anywhere but at home, it's easier.

I'm done, I could go on and on. Instead, I'm going to bed at 9:45pm because there's nothing to watch on TV, I don't want to check facebook again, I don't want to do the dishes that are sitting in the sink, the rest of the house is clean which always makes me happy, and I am just very worn out. Good night!

Michael Jackson

Since I turn my blog into a book, and all of my posts are about things that are important to me and that I want to remember, I had to slip a post in about Michael Jackson passing away. I've been glued to the TV the last couple of days, or thanks to TVO, I've been able to record just about every show on Michael Jackson.

I love Michael Jackson's music and his dancing! There have been several songs that I've danced to, or that it were choreographed to his music that I will never forget. In high school we did an opening number to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," and our student body president dressed up and "danced" like Michael. I wish I had those pictures handy but they are packed away in one of my high school scrapbooks. Another favorite dance, even though I wasn't in it, was to "ABC." The costumes were great; white knee high boots, disco style dresses, headbands, a disco ball, it was such a fun number! But most of all, I will never, ever forget the dance to "Thriller" that Stacy and Jessie and Kass?, Breanna?, and all the other THS class of 2000 girls did. I think they took state with that number. Whenever that song is played, no matter when or where, Jared will always look at me because he knows the wheels are turning in my head, and he's just waiting for me to get up and move. It's kind of embarassing, actually. There are so many other songs that we learned dances to that will always stick in my mind; "They Don't Really Care About Us" and "Scream." Even though my dancing days are officially over, it's the best music to work out to it because it motivates me and makes me want to move. I've said before that music is the one thing that touches me the most and has a big impact on me, and Michael Jackson's music did. I so wish that I could have been old enough to remember him in the 80's when he was at his peak!, and I would have LOVED to go to one of his concerts!

I was really touched today while watching the memorial. I was impressed with how many comments there were regarding life after death and that as much as the Jackson family wished he was still here, that God has a plan and must have needed him more. I loved hearing that they knew they would be with him again, you just don't hear those messages often from Hollywood. The memorial really wasn't a "funeral," but a celebration of his life, and I'm glad that I was able to watch it. As crazy as it is, I'll really miss Michael Jackson.

Happy 4th of July!

This was the extent of our celebration this year. But!, at least we made it to the parade. Last year I was working (thank goodness it took me a few minutes to remember why there was no fun last year...ugh, that job!). Every year I can't help but think of how big and fun the Provo Freedom Festival is and that nothing will compare to it....but, as I sat on the curb during the first few minutes of the parade today, I looked around and actually had the thought that I would miss this place when we leave. Yes, I just said I would miss Cedar City........

(Braden laying out while waiting for the parade to start.)

.......Afterall, this is a place where the kids are growing up and we're making memories here. We literally walk around this city every day, for one of my workouts, and I love it! We stand on this very corner, waiting to cross the street on our way home. I love that we live right at the base of the canyon, so close to the "Rock Church" where we go to church, close to the bank, close to a couple of parks, close to Lins, everything is in walking distance.........

.......It was at this moment, when the fire engines drove by, that I was so happy we were actually celebrating the 4th of July, as a family, at a parade, and I loved being in Cedar City!

(The boys both said, "the fire engines are too noisy!")

.........See the clock in the background? That's our church. As I sit here writing, I'm realizing that last summer didn't exist since I was working full time and didn't have the opportunity to get out and explore with the kids. And then winter came and we were stuck inside, so over the last few months, I've spent a lot of time outside and really appreciated this town that I've thought was too small and boring........

.......And I've realized too, that it doesn't matter where we live, what matters is how you make the best of it. So even though the Freedom Festival is bigger and better, today was great! There weren't any HUGE balloons, there was only one band, there was only one high school group of cheerleaders, there were tractors and 4 wheelers and tons of vintage cars, lots of local companies driving in the parade to advertise.....

(Ashton being sassy because he was actually allowed to be in the streets. It was an "in your face" moment since he knew he wouldn't get in trouble for not staying on the sidewalk. And then Braden below, complaining that he couldn't look at the camera because it was too bright. Yes it was, so all of us look like we're in pain while trying to smile.)

.......But the feeling of celebrating the 4th of July was the same! I got a little choked up when a car of military Veteren's drove by, and then this tank........

.......and the kids were having such a good time! And there were water fights! I've been to parades where some of the floats carrying kids have super soaker water guns and they spray the crowd for a little cool down, but I've never seen the crowd be prepared with TONS of water balloons to throw back at the people on the floats! It was so funny!......

.....And best of all, it felt like there was a lot of interaction between the parade and the crowd. We didn't just sit there and watch. This small town parade felt like a close, "every one knows every one" kind of parade. There was so much candy being thrown out that it really made the parade very kid friendly too.....

......All of the pictures I took were things that Braden got excited about; not the boat, but the big cow on the boat! The airplane and the tank of course. And then, "Daddy's football players!!!" I love when we go on our walks around SUU campus that Braden knows that the gym is "daddy's gym where daddy works," and the stadium is "daddy's track....."

......It was a fun morning and I'm really glad we took the boys to the parade. We didn't have any other big plans for the rest of the day, except for our BBQ, and in our house, food is exciting! We had ribs, potato salad, rolls, corn on the cob, cucumbers, and a yummy lime sherbert w/sprite drink. Then for dessert we had brownie sundaes!! We watched some fireworks on TV since the boys would be long asleep by the time the city fireworks put on their show at 10pm.

And even though it was a great day to be in Cedar City, there's a good chance we'll be living in Provo next summer which means we can take the boys to the Balloon fest in the morning, then the parade, and then the Stadium of Fire! It's been SO long since I've been in Provo for the 4th and I can't wait to take the kids to the same events I went to growing up!

Happy 4th of July every one!

Ashton's 2nd birthday!

As I said on facebook, a part of me can't believe that Ashton is two years old. I don't have a baby anymore!, and we don't plan on it for another year. Hmmm, now that he's actually 2, I'm reconsidering when we have the 3rd. I'm also sad because his birthday reminds me of our last days in Florida. My parents flew out to help with the move and to take care of Braden while Jared and I were in the hospital. We left FL when Ashton was only two weeks old. Oh, the memories of little Ashton being born.....

The other part of me thinks it's about time that he's two! He's been so big for his age, he's been talking forever, he has learned A LOT from his older brother, therefore, he's been acting older, and he's been going through the terrible two's for what seems like forever! So, we can now say it's all because he's two. Here's an update on his stats:

*Ashton weighs 30 lbs. (Braden weighs 34 lbs.)
*Ashton is no longer off the charts for his height, he's slowed down a bit and is in the 90%, being 36" tall. (Braden is 40" tall)

Jared and I have had to constantly remind ourselves that he is (was) just a baby. When it came to disciplining or wanting to teach him new things, or take him out of his crib, or buy him new toys, we always found ourselves reminding each other that we couldn't treat him the same way we do Braden, or he's not old enough for those toys, or let's just wait until he's at least two to do that.....And now he's finally two!

We wasted no time taking down his crib and moving him into Braden's room. It is very, very weird to see Ashton's room as the toy room; just tons of toys and no crib. I'm really not ready for another baby, but I really miss having a crib and baby stuff! When we transitioned Braden from his crib to a bed we started him out on a mattress on the floor so there was no chance of him falling. We're doing that with Ashton too, but I planned on starting him out in his room for a while and then moving him into Braden's room. Jared thought it would be fine to do it all at the same time, so we did, and it actually hasn't been that bad. Although we go in there every five minutes and tell them to get back in their beds and then end up lying be each one for 15 minutes or so to calm them down and make sure they stay put, once one of them is asleep, the other lays there quietly. And his all happens within an hour....it could be worse, right? We've thought to put Braden to bed first, right at 8pm since he's the most tired, but then Ashton throws big tantrums because he wants his bed. Or at least that's what he says, "my bed!" Really he just wants to be in there with Braden. I'm hoping this is the beginning of them getting along better and becoming friends. At this point, it's a struggle, to get them to go to bed easily, anyone have other suggestions??

So, on his birthday, which was June 29th, we woke up and reminded him that it was his birthday. I figured it's just his second birthday, what's the big deal, he won't know that we weren't having a party or having tons of presents....but this kid, he KNEW what his birthday meant. He had the biggest smiles in the world when we called him the birthday boy. He would walk around singing Happy Birthday to himself! Braden was very good at telling him all day long that it was his birthday and that he was two years old now. Despite the lack of company, I think he got a lot of attention from us and his brother and he really, really enjoyed it!

Both Ashton and Braden got new bikes; Braden's was a late birthday present due to his birthday being in the winter and what's the point in buying a bike in January? Ashton also got a big bouncy ball (he LOVES balls) and a road, carpet thing to drive his cars on (see pictures below). We had tons of balloons, another favorite of his, and of course a birthday cake. Ashton is so funny when it comes to any kind of treat or sprinkles, whenever he sees brownies or pop tarts or cookies, he says very excitedly, "Birthday!, yey!, yey!" So, he knew when we got his cake out that it was a birthday cake just for him!

The boys riding their new bikes

I love how Ashton rides with his tongue out.....so cute!

"Show us your teeth Ashton!" His smiles don't come from us telling him to say cheese, he always closes his eyes and makes a silly face. So we tell him to show us his teeth. Works much better.

The big brother!

The boys were still getting over horrible coughs and I can't believe they were both coughing at the exact moment we took this picture. It's so funny!, look at Braden!

We LOVE having Ashton in our family. He is the most hugable, lovable little boy, we love his kisses and how polite he is! He is very stubborn and independent which worries me for the future. I hope that the cuteness lasts a long time and that he never stops saying thank you and telling us that he loves us. We love him!

Becca and Jimmy's wedding!

No, there aren't any pictures yet, so this is just a reading post. When Becca gets back from her honeymoon and sends me pictures, that post will be a little more interesting if you're like me and like pictures more than stories. But I had to write down the thoughts and feelings I had from the wedding before I forget, so here we go, it's going to be long. :)

Since I was close enough to be involved in some of the wedding plans, we drove from Cedar City to Springville 12 times in four months. As much as I loved being up there, it will be a LONG time before we make that drive again. ugh. My favorite trips are the ones where I was there for one of Becca's dress fittings, her engagement and bridal pictures, bridal showers and of course, her endowment.

The endowment was amazing! This was the first time I was able to be in the temple for a family member going through for them self, and I was so glad I could be an escort, along with my mom. Both of my brothers had already gone through before their missions, so when I got married, it was only Becca that was missing. I will never forget the overwhelming feeling I had when she walked into the Celestial room and we were all there as a family. I turned to Jared and said, "if I'm crying this much tonight, I'm going to be in trouble when she gets sealed." It was the coooolest experience, I was so proud of her!

The week of the wedding was very stressful. Ian and Becca drove down on Sunday to pick up me and the boys. It was hard leaving Jared behind knowing that he had a very, very busy week with school and that we wouldn't be around for him. Even though it was hard to leave, being there at Becca's bridal showers was SO fun! Especially the 4th ward shower....the ward I grew up in. It was so refreshing and fun to see my old YW leaders and neighbors! I haven't been back to that neighborhood since my parents moved to Springville in 2006, so it was great to see all of those ladies again. I love them all!

About mid week, Braden starting getting a cold, of course. Jared was amazing and finished A LOT of his assignments early so that he could drive up on Thursday night in time for the big family BBQ at Jimmy's relative's house. FYI: There were probably 50 people there that night from Jimmy's family, while our family totaled 10!, and that's counting my kids, and Jared and Jimmy. Jimmy has a great family, they were all so nice and welcoming.

The next morning, the BIG day!, both of the boys woke up very sick. I called my mom and told her that I couldn't help set up at the reception because we were taking the boys to the doctor. They both had pink eye!, and Ashton had an ear infection!! Are you kidding me?, the day of the wedding? sigh. So, off we went to get antibiotics and then ran home to get ourselves ready for the sealing. Luckily, the boys took great naps, which made it easier for Jared and I to leave them with my mother in law.

THEN, on the way out the door to go to the temple, it was 1:45pm and the sealing was at 2:30pm, Jared asks me if I have my temple recommend. I didn't!!! I panicked! Jared usually has it in his wallet, but the weekend before when we came up for the endowment, instead of giving it back to him, I put it in my temple bag. And since I didn't need my temple bag, I didn't pack it, I left it at home in my closet, in Cedar City! Aaah! So I call my dad and tell him to not tell mom, but I had forgotten my recommend. He tried to reassure me by saying, "well, someone at the temple will call your bishop and then you'll be able to get in." I said, "what if they can't get a hold of the bishop?!?," and he responded by saying, "then you'll have to wait outside." That's when I started crying, a little. I was trying so hard not to cry. I am the bride's sister!, I have to be there! Thanks to a wonderful husband, I stayed calm, Jared called the EQ president and got the bishops cell phone number, just in case.

We got to the temple, told the man at the front desk the situation, waited 15 mintues, a guy came out and asked me my name, my birthday and the ward I was in. Five minutes later he came back out and said I was good to go. What a relief! So, on top of worrying about my sick boys, I had a horrible experience forgetting my recommend, which I will never do again!

The rest of the day was great, pretty much. I didn't cry as hard as I thought I would during the sealing, but that's because I tried to not look at my sister, or anyone else who was crying. It was so wonderful being able to help her get dressed into her wedding dress after the session was over. Thankfully, Friday was the ONLY sunny day that week, so the pictures afterwards will hopefully turn out good. I loved staying after with her to walk around the temple, the Provo temple, and help with the pictures. We then scurried down to Aspen Salon for touchups, grabbed a Gondolfo sandwich, and ended up at the reception.

I am so proud of my mom for all of the hard work she put into setting up and decorating. The backyard looked beautiful, and thanks to Becca and Jimmy's idea of having badminton and croquet, it was a fun reception too! I loved seeing everyone; Becca's soccer friends that I've known since they were little who now are married and were carrying around babies!. Old 4th ward friends, distant family that I haven't seen in ages!, and Jared's family who came to support Becca. The food was good which I made sure I enjoyed since I didn't get to eat any food at my own reception....a chocoloate fountain!, yum!! They had the yummiest wedding cake; chocolate, carrot, and white cake with raspberry filling. It was so good! Becca tossed her bouquet off of the balcony which was so cute. And then it came time to get her changed and send she and Jimmy off for their honeymoon.

K, now I'm starting to get a little teary eyed. I haven't thought much about things since that night, so now that I sit down and write about it, I am SO happy that my little sister found the perfect guy for her. They are so cute and so funny together. I don't think, for them anyway, that their wedding day and reception could have gone any better. Of course for me, I wish my boys would have been healthy so that they could have been at the temple for pictures, stayed at the reception longer than an hour, been able to play and run around with the other kids, and been in more pictures. Oh well. They were just too miserable and contagious, so a BIG thank you to Cathy for taking care of them that day and taking them home at night!!!

As Becca and Jimmy drove off, Jared and I looked at each other, totally jealous that they were going on a honeymoon. Oh how we wished we could just drive away ourselves without leaving any worries behind (kids)! The good old days when it was just he and I, and we could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was such a fun time being newlyweds, but we love life as it is now with our two boys and someday we will be able to run away for a week, by ourselves again.

I just have to say that I love my family; both sides. I am SO happy that someone else on my side of the family is married!!, and she'll be living in St. George soon! I loved spending a lot of time with my mom, cutting food for the wedding, choosing pictures, dress shopping, etc. I loved having the family all together, often, because I know that had we still been in Florida, we would have only made it for the day of the wedding. I loved spending time with the Harpers too, they are so fun and I'm so glad that I married into an awesome family! Mary and Christina, I just want you guys to know that you are really like sisters to me!, and I love you!

It was also great being there for Christina's baby shower. She's having a girl and since I don't have any girly stuff, it was so fun to see all of the cute, cute stuff she got, I loved it!! Then, Saturday night, Jared surprised me with a birthday present. We both agreed that we wouldn't be doing anything for each other because of how busy we were with the wedding and school. My birthday was on Father's Day this year and since we'd be driving home, we were going to do something later. But Jared didn't keep his end of the bargain.....

(This is a long story itself, but I'll give the short version.)

I really, really, really needed a new swimsuit and all of you ladies out there who have had kids know how HARD it is to find a swimsuit to fit our post pregnancy bodies. Not fun! But I found the perfect one, I loved how it fit and I loved the colors. Although I liked it a lot, I decided I could wait to buy it until all of this wedding stuff was over, I mean, when would I be going swimming anyway? Plus I needed to buy the boys new clothes, we had wedding and baby shower presents to buy, etc. You know how us mom's are; always putting everything and everyone else first before buying even socks for ourselves, right? But Jared surprised me with the swimsuit, a huge surprise!

I asked him how he got it and he said that he called my friend, Melissa, who had been deciding on some things she wanted to buy for herself from Layers. He asked her if she knew how to get a hold of the "Layers lady," so he could get the swimsuit. Melissa said she would call the lady and that she knew the exact swimsuit I wanted, she even offered to drive to this lady's house herself and buy it. (Thanks Melissa!!!, and I have to mention that Jared did this on Monday, the day after I left. Melissa was very busy herself getting ready for girls camp, so it was so sweet of her to help Jared out!) On Tuesday, Jared went over to Melissa's to pick up the swimsuit, got it from her husband, paid him back, and that was that. I could NOT believe it! Jared is so good at surprising me, and to go through all of that, while having that crazy, busy week himself, isn't he the BEST husband ever!?!

And now we're back, it's been almost a week and my house is finally in order again. Jared left on Tuesday to go to Manti for the pagaent, for work. It's been forever since we've had a normal routine and since we've seen each other for more than a few days, so I can't wait for him to get home Saturday night and for all of us to be together, in our own home, not living out of suitcases.

Happy Father's Day....early

I've been wanting to brag about Jared and how proud I am of him for a couple of weeks now, and as I sat down to write this I realized Father's Day was only a week away. Perfect timing! So, I'm going to make this my Father's Day post. I'll be so busy this next week that I'd probably forget to write anything, so I'm glad I'm doing it early.

As you all know, we've had a lot of changes over the last couple of years; Losing jobs, moving from Florida to Utah, moving four times in one year, deciding on what Jared wanted to do "when he grows up," and then moving to Cedar City to start a master's program. Jared talked about wanting to be a graduate assistant since that's how most coaches got experience before being hired on anywhere, so I knew that Jared would do whatever it took to get the graduate assistant position. And he did it! Now he's getting experience and it's paying for his education.

Over the last year, he's done very well in his classes and LOVES what he's doing. He loves training the athletes and studying about how to train athletes more effectively. It's still been rough trying to find a good job that fit his tight schedule, but he's stepped up to the plate and has worked odd jobs, one of them being a graveyard job. (If any of you haven't experienced your husband working graves, it's tough!!, on everyone in the family.)

Most recently, Jared started working for the Living Scriptures and is doing very well. He's great at sales and the hours work with his busy schedule. It's just the kind of job we've been hoping for. And!, for the last three weeks, he's been the top seller!! Way to go Jared!

At this particular time he's very stressed trying to work, studying for the CSCS (a national certification for Strength and Conditioning), and going to his two summer classes. These summer classes are a killer! Basically, it's a semester's worth of work in just two weeks! He's gone from 11am to 5pm everyday, including Saturday, comes home to write papers and do powerpoints, and then finds some time for the family and CSCS stuff. Luckily his classes finish the day before Becca's wedding, at which point he'll drive up to meet the rest of us.

After the wedding, he'll start working again. He'll be at the Manti Pagaent, the Nauvoo Pagaent, and the Palmyra Pagaent. He's going to be gone a lot, meanwhile, still trying to find time to study while he's traveling. His goal is to take the CSCS test before fall classes begin so that he can use his classes at SUU as continuing education credits for his certification.

I think this is the busiest Jared's ever been, but he's taking it one day at a time and we are very proud of him! You should hear how this guy talks about all this training stuff, it's amazing! He's on track to submitting his thesis, he'll start his testing on the football players in the fall, and then defend his thesis sometime in April 2010. We could even move up to Provo/Orem sometime during the winter b/c the Living Scriptures wants him to be a manager!, we'll see.

Jared, we love you, me and the boys. Thank you for being such a hard worker! And even though Father's Day is on my birthday this year, it's still your day and you deserve to be recognized and praised. You're a great daddy and a wonderful husband!

Mmmmwah! xoxoxo

Family Pictures

We took pictures at the Provo Temple before Becca's endowment. Thanks Christina for taking them!

June is a busy month

Since we'll be spending so much time in the Provo/Orem area, we may as well just live up there this month. We got back last night after staying at Cathy's for almost a week. Next, my sister will drive down here to pick me and the boys up on Sunday so that I can be around to help with wedding preparations, more showers, etc. Then, Jared will drive up next Thursday night and we'll all be there until the end of the month. The last week of June Jared will be driving back and forth to Manti for the Manti Pageant where he'll be selling for the Living Scriptures. Fun and busy, just how I like it, except for all of the driving.

This last week we were there for family pictures and Becca's endowment on Friday night, her bridal pictures on Saturday, and a shower Saturday night. During the week, Jared worked a little, we went running in the mornings with Scott and Marina, hung out with Kristan and Tammy, and Braden got to go to a birthday party for Mayzie.

Now we're home for a week. I have a Primary activity this Saturday that I need to be here for and can't wait for! Jared started classes today and they will finish the day before the wedding. Hopefully he'll make it up in time Thursday night for the family BBQ, but if not, at least he'll be there for the wedding!

Kristan and Kali at the park. We had a little picnic and let the kids play.

The boys and Grandpa Harper playing in the back of Grandpa's truck.

Going to Training Table

Mayzie's "unicorn themed" birthday party! They had a pony that was supposed to be dressed up like a unicorn. If you think unicorns have an empty paper towel roll as a horn, then you would have been happy with how the pony was decorated. I thought the people who brought the pony did a poor job and would have been mad if I was the one paying for it.

Braden and Ashton riding the pony.

If the kids weren't riding, they were bouncing and sliding!

Ashton feeding the pony carrots.

That was one BIG pinata filled with TONS of candy!

And nothing makes this kid more happy than candy.Me and Bec before her bridals. She's so pretty!

Me, Becca and my mom.

Just one of the gazillion pictures taken; one from my camera, not the real ones.

This shower was the "soccer shower," a combined baby/wedding shower for Becca and Kendra. All the girls that came, including Kendra, were on Becca's Black Widow soccer team, which was started when they were 8 years old! Most of the girls played together all the way up until college. It was so much fun to see them grown up, married, and now having babies! Crazy!

Updates

It's been 2 months? Oops! I'll try my hardest to remember what we've been doing and why that stuff wasn't important enough to blog about. To be honest, I don't think we've really been doing anything.

Since March 22nd, we've been up to UT county a couple of times. The boys and I went once without Jared and that trip was to focus on wedding dress shopping for my sister. It was exciting that we found "the dress," which actually ended up not being the dress. Becca found a better one the day after I left. But I've since been up for her fittings and it is beautiful! I was also there for her engagement pictures which turned out great! That night, we drove to Sandy to meet Neil for dinner at The Olive Garden. It's been so long since my brothers and sister and I have gone out together, so it was really fun.

At Gowns by Pamela

Not "the dress."

Jimmy and Becca during engagement photo shoot.

Mmmmm, Olive Garden! My favorite place to eat!

A week or so after that was Easter. My friend Mary and I did a fun activity with the kids making Easter Bunny cupcakes. All of the preperation, work and mess is well worth it, even if the activity only takes 15 minutes! The kids made some very interesting cupcakes and more candy was eaten than decorated with.

Mary and her girls; Emma and Hannah

The end result. We used the top of a snowball for the head, large marshmallows cut in half for the ears, M&M's for the eyes, a mini marshmallow and jelly belly for the nose, and licorice for the whiskers.

Easter weekend, we were glad to have a lot our family come down to Cedar City for the weekend. Jared's grandpa was in SUU's production of The Wizard of Oz and Grandpa Chuck was Oz. Saturday night we had Mari come babysit, and Jared I went to the play with most of the family. Tim, Becky, and Mary went to the matinee so they could be home with the babies that night. We all went to dinner at Sizzler the next day and then to Discovery Park for the Easter egg hunt. Grandma Pat's easter egg hunts are the best b/c she puts dollar bills in some of the eggs!, and even the adults still get excited to find the eggs with the money in them.

Grammy with Ashton and Jane.

Cousins; Ashton (20 months) and Austin just turned two!

The gang; Becky, Tim and Austin. Uncle David, Jared, Ashton, me and Reneta. In the front is Natalie, Braden, Sarah, Rylie and Maycen.

Yey!, Ashton got a $1!!

Speaking of babysitters, the weekend prior to Easter weekend, we asked one of the young women in our ward to babysit. This was the first time that we've ever had someone other than family watch the boys. They loved her and she did such a great job that she watched them again for the play. Braden asks for Mari to come over all the time now. It's great! We also had a day trip to St. George to hang out with Scott and Marina, AND Geoff and Joy stayed a night with us on their way to Cali for Easter.

Let's see, after Easter what happened? Jared found a job with the Living Scriptures and had a four day training in Ogden the beginning of May. We drove up, I took turns staying at Cathy's and my parents. I think the highlight of that trip for me was going to Zumba for the first time. Oh my gosh, that class is SO much fun! I was a little nervous before going b/c I hadn't done any type of dance since Braden was born. It felt a little weird at times doing the salsa, I wasn't quite coordinated when doing a couple of the moves, but it just felt good to be in a huge class and shake it to loud music! It was such a great workout too!! I'm addicted, but come to find out the Cedar Gold's gym doesn't have the class anymore. I just may have to do something about that....sometime....maybe. I also surprised my friend and roomie Kristan and hung out with her for a while. I love that girl!

Now that it's summer, we do as much as we can outside. Every morning we try and walk down to the SUU stadium, let the boys run free, Jared and I run, if the weight room is empty we lift, and then walk home. It takes about 2 hours, but it's great getting some sun, working out, and doing it all together. Jared then goes out, to sell, in the afternoon and gets home after the kids are in bed. The boys and I find stuff to do; we love playing at the playground, throwing rocks in the river, riding bikes, and playing with friends. I feel like we're alive again now that we aren't trapped inside.

Next week we'll be in Orem/Springville again for family pictures, bridal showers, and for Becca's first trip to the temple! I'm also looking forward to seeing Tammy on Monday! The Waldron's will be driving back to Cali and I can't wait to see her family!!

The things they say....

Jared always uses the phrase, "Braden, when I was your age....."

For example:

Braden gets a toy that Jared had as a little boy, "when I was your age, I used to play with these toys."

When they watch Star Wars together, "I used to watch these movies when I was your age."

Recently, Braden's starting to say, "Dad, when I was your age......" It was so funny the first time! I asked Braden, "when were you daddy's age?" All he could come up with was, "ummm, when I was in heaven."

Okay, maybe.

He's also said on several occassions while watching a commercial for girl toys:

"When I was a girl I used to play with those, huh mom?" Hmmm, I don't even want to think about that.

I may as well add some of my favorite things that Ashton says too. Ohhh, little Ashton, he talks SO much, I love it!

Today I was taking a short Sunday nap, but I was awake enough to still hear Ashton playing in his room. I could also tell he was getting closer and closer to my room, he opened the door and says, "Mom? Mom?" I just layed there. He then says, "Where she?" I knew he was looking around and didn't see me because I was under our big comforter, so I throw back the covers and say, "Hi Ash." He says excitedly, "there she is!"

We always play the "where is it?" game when getting ready for bed, looking for toys, looking for a certain snack that he wants and I love that he looks me right in the eyes when he finds what he's looking for, points, and says, "there it is!"

Today he said TOOTHPASTE, very clearly. He amazes me! I know he's talking a lot because he's the second child and he listens to me talk to Braden, or to Jared, but I can't believe how quickly he's picking up on ideas and putting sentences together, and he communicates so clearly. Some of my favorite words are WATCH, TWEAT (treat), TOOTHBRUSH (he's obsessed with toothbrushes and brushing his teeth), CUPUTER (for computer), STROLLER RIDE, and TED BEAR.

Ashton is also very good at saying please to everything!, with a little smile on his face and a tilt of his head, he gives the most innocent look and says, "Pease." I love how he says "Juice Pease," everytime he wants a drink. And 9 times out of 10 he will say THANK YOU, whether it's because Braden shared a toy, I gave him lunch, I changed his diaper, you name it, he'll thank you for it!

With the good comes the bad. He really knows how to push Braden's buttons by repeating things over and over. The most common things Ashton says are "stop it," "don't do that," and "you don't!" Ohhh, those phrases get Braden so mad, especially when Braden actually didn't do anything to provoke Ashton. He "sings" in the car too which Braden tells him to stop doing. Yes, Braden is just bossy sometimes, but everything he's learned has come from one of us saying it, so I just tell Braden that he doesn't always mean what he's saying, he's just repeating it.

I love these little guys SO MUCH and I'm so proud of the things they are learning and figuring out. Braden and Ashton I love you, even if I'm the one who taught you to say "stop it!" Please don't stop doing everything that you do, I love every little bit of it.

St. George trips

Going back to our days in Florida, these are pictures of Braden and Calvin when they were almost 2 years old. I made a few great friends while in Sanford, Angela Larsen being one of them. Calvin was her only son at the time, and since he and Braden were just a couple of months apart in age, we hung out all the time.

These are pictures from the ward Halloween party and Christmas party. Others are from when Angela watched Braden so Jared and I could go on a date. And the pictures of Calvin in the red one piece is from when he stayed with us overnight while Angela was in the hospital having her second son.

We had some GREAT times!

Angela is originally from Utah, so once her husband was done with flight school, they moved back here. The last time we saw each other was when we first moved back to Utah, Ashton was only 6 or 8 weeks old! Since they had a time share in St. George last week, we drove down to spend a day with them. I was very happy to get away from the snow and see our friends!

I posted the collage of pictures from when Braden and Calvin were little because that's how I remember Calvin. Angela and I both could not believe how big our babies are, that we both have two sons now!, and they aren't even babies anymore! It was also funny to think that we were busy and had it hard with just one child. We both wish we could turn back time and hang out WAY more than we did, we had so much more free time that we should have taken advantage of!!

So below are pictures of the boys playing at the park, feeding ducks down by the golf course, playing cars on the sidewalks around the pool, getting dirty in the sand (Ashton got VERY dirty of course!), and just running around. It felt really good to be outside for a long time letting the boys go crazy!

And how lucky are we to have some more great friends decide to stay in St. George just a few days later. Scott and Marina, with their girls, Zoey and Maddy, came down Tuesday. They stopped by to see us and convinced us to go with them and stay for a night.....so we did!

That night we went to Pirate Island, a fun restaurant with a little play area, an arcade, thunder and lightning sound effects with a pirate narrative story, and good food. I love Zoey's pirate face!


The next day we did a little shopping, went back to the hotel and sat outside to eat lunch (it was SOOOO warm!!), and while the guys went to hit a bucket of balls, Marina and I took the kids to the pool. Later that day we ate at Texas Roadhouse, yum!, and then went to a nearby playground to let the kids play.


Ashton and Maddy got along so great! They're both our clumsy babies, the ones looking for trouble, running off on their own, sticking together.....those two are two peas in pod!

And I just LOVE this picture of Ashton! He said he wanted some chips but wouldn't let me give him a little portion, he wanted the whole bag, so I just let him at it. You should have seen him stuffing his face, and then when I got the camera out he yells, "CHEESE!"

What a cute mess he is!

Me? Raise boys?

I had the thought the other day, "I just can't do this anymore!"

I've always wanted to be a mom; I love kids, I love being organized, I love cooking and decorating, I love going on walks and playing outside with my boys, I like cleaning, I love that I can talk to my friends whenever I want, I can visit teach during the day, I could go on and on.....

So what's so hard about being a mom? What's my problem lately? Well, it may be surprising, but it's NOT the busyness that wears me out, I like running from one thing to another. What I've realized is hard for me, is having boys! Boys and my personality just don't mix. I'm losing control!! Not that I'm controlling in a red personality, power sort of way, I'm organized and I like order, so when my house is chaotic, I lose it.

It's not to say girls don't do some of the same things boys do, but let me just vent for a moment and paint a picture of what my boys do on a DAILY basis....

*They constantly tease

*They create the biggest, most unnecessary messes!, with toys and food.

*They are noisy

*They are dirty (Ashton)

*They undo everything I do....on purpose, with that little cunning smile while doing it (Ashton)

and

*They hurt each other...all-the-time.

How do I live with this?!?

Here are some things I've come up with, BUT I NEED MORE ADVICE!

*I've picked the living room, kitchen and our bedroom to be free from toys at ALL times.

*I've learned to not clean up toys in Braden and Ashton's rooms until the end of the day, and sometimes I'll leave it for the whole next day. (even though it drives me CRAZY!)

*I've accepted the fact that baths have to be given everyday, sometimes twice a day.

and

*I don't try and break up every fight, even if it means listening to screams of help and crying for the next 10 minutes.

So, all of you mom's out there that have this problem trying to be clean and organized, while still raising kids....

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

My Addiction

I can't believe how quickly grocery stores stock for the next holiday so soon after one ends!

Before I was a mom I probably went to the store, oh I'd say every two weeks. Now I'm there on an almost daily basis which is why I have just come to this realization. I was just at Lin's on Saturday getting milk (or something) and they had all the Valentine's stuff up front; candy, balloons, teddy bears, boxes of chocolate, etc. Then, a couple of days later (Monday), all of this Valentine's stuff had been replaced with Easter goodies.

And that's when I saw these!!!......

I'm not complaining because I LOVE CADBURY MINI EGGS!!, but really, do we not have anytime to relax (and stop eating candy) before thinking and planning for the next holiday?

If you haven't ever had these, go buy some! They are SO GOOD!!

Valentine's Day, plus....

On Valentine's day morning, Jared was going to let me "sleep in," which in my world doesn't actually mean sleeping in. When I ask to sleep in, I'm really saying to Jared, "you get up with the boys, get them breakfast, change diapers, and get them dressed (sometimes). Basically, relieve me of the morning duties." I can't sleep past 9am anymore, and usually I'm just laying in bed with my eyes closed because I can still hear what's going on. At any rate, it was still nice to get up, take a shower, and get completely ready for the day all without the boys bugging me. AND, by the time I was done, Jared had already started making the breakfast we planned.

I really wanted crepes, so that's what we made, along with bacon and sausage and fruit. Oh, and orange julius, mmmmmm!

Before naps the boys were surprised with their treats. Later that day, Grandpa Harper came down to visit and we all went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I think my favorite thing about the entire day, was that whenever I said to the kids, "we got you a little present for Valentine's day," or when Ashton saw balloons, he related those things to birthdays and started singing Happy Birthday to you, over and over. I loved it!! In case you didn't see the video of Ashton singing Happy Birthday, check it out under the "Birthday videos" post.

The other part of the slideshow is from today. My friend Mary came over with her girls and she made peanut butter playdoh. She got the idea off of Jon and Kate Plus 8, it looked like a great idea, but really, we both decided that it was too much work making it when the kids only played with it for 15 minutes, AND they didn't even try to eat it! All kids try and eat playdoh, at least mine do, and now they can and they don't. Go figure.

Sundance!

If any of you know Kerm & Bobby Jo Jackson, they have the most amazing cabin up at Sundance!! It is beautiful! With 5 big bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, we all comfortably had our own space for a couple of days. This place had a fooze ball and pool table, flat screen TV's in each bedroom, one of those basketball shooting games, Guitar Hero, laser tag, and all the toys in the world for any age kid. Jared brought a PSP and a couple of remote control helicopters for the guys to fly....or break, both happened. We had lots of fun talking, playing games, watching movies, and eating yummy dinners made by Grammy. It was so much fun to be "stuck" up in the mountains with the family, and once the kids were in bed, we could all hang out!!

To the left of this window is the front door and this is how much snow lined the path up to the garage and driveway!! SO MUCH SNOW!!

Ashton riding a motorcycle that made real motorcycle sounds....he LOVED it!!

Of course the girls, and Ashton sometimes, would be taking care of babies and pushing them around in strollers.

Then there's Braden who played with Nerf guns and anything boy related. He also did a good job being the oldest cousin by making sure all the babies were sharing and being nice to each other. It was good to see that he gets the sharing and trading stuff that I try and teach him at home, even if he doesn't always do it. He proved to me this weekend that he knows better and tried to teach Jane and Charlotte how to share better.

Us, with Charlotte in the background. She has her picture taken WAY more than I take pictures of my boys so whenever a picture is being taken, she thinks she has to be in it.

All of the girls, except for Wendy. Cortney, Mary, Jane, Christina, Charlotte, me and Cathy.

Jane watching Charlotte throw a tantrum on the floor.

The gang. Again, we're missing Bryan and Wendy, we missed you guys!!!

On Saturday, the guys spent some time clearing the driveway and salting it. On Sunday night it started snowing again and we thought that maybe we should leave that night so there would be no problems getting out. We didn't leave, we decided to wait and leave on Monday. When we woke up that morning it had snowed another 18" or more!!!

We didn't have any problems getting out though. It was so beautiful up there! It's been a very long time since I've been to any ski resort, or even up in the mountains and seen that much snow! It was great and we had a lot of fun. My sister in law took a TON of awesome pictures of Charlotte and Braden, and Jared and Matthew playing out in the snow. I'll post some of those once she emails them to me....it'll be a while.

Birthday videos!

My brother just sent these to me, they're from his phone. I swear aunts and uncles can make up the funnest things to do with their nephews/neices. I'd say I'm a good mom, but that creativeness isn't always there, or the desire to be honest. Thank goodness for family!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaQm9W1pyvY

And this one is so cute! On Ian's birthday, Jan. 22, I had Braden call and sing "Happy Birthday" on his voicemail. I didn't think Ashton was paying attention, but he was and he started singing Happy Birthday over and over....for a good 10 minutes. I wish I had caught it on tape, so thank goodness he did it again on Braden's birthday! It's SO cute and funny! I love how he stops for a couple of seconds and then belts it out! (Remember, he was sick so that's why he's wiping his nose and has puffy, red eyes.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqkTNZlUFys