Spotted Ethan

So last week we had a bit of a nasty surprise, a spotted Ethan. It started one Thursday afternoon. At first I thought it was nothing just a simple skin rash to something he had been around no big deal. We have had tons of those. So I threw him in the bathtub and waiting to see if it just went away. That's usually all it takes with him. By Friday morning this is how he looked. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but we are talking head to toe spots. Even the bottoms of his feet were covered. Thankfully they didn't seem to be bothering him yet. I called the Dr and luck would have it they could see him in an hour and they wanted me to bring him in the isolation door. I love this feature of our Dr office. If your kid has a rash that could be contagious they have a special room with an outside door so you go strait in without having to go threw the waiting room just in case. Well it turns out Ethan is allergic to amoxicillin! Ugh. It can take up to a week for them to show a reaction and Ethan had just passed a week on it for his sinus infection. So they took him off that and gave him a new antibiotic since well he had an ear infection as well which I knew nothing about. We also got some pretty hefty allergy meds for him. By the time we made it home from the Dr office the spots had started to itch but one dose of the new allergy med cleared that up. The spot well they took almost three days to completely disappear. Did I mention I hate allergies?

All I want for Christmas...

This week I sat down with Ethan and had him dictate to me his letter to Santa so here you all go...

Dear Santa,

Bring me presents, please. I would like a red house and a car. Please bring a rattle for Danny. Mommy would like a race cars that go really fast. Please bring Daddy a new big table. I would like more games to play with mommy and daddy. I would like a new train that says chooo choo and a rock tunnel that's really cool. Danny would also like some chips. Oh and I would like paper and scissors so I can cut lots of things.

Thank you,

Ethan

Yesterday morning Ethan hurried down stairs and ran up to me to ask a very important question. "Mommy has Santa come yet?" I told him no that he would come tomorrow so after he went to sleep again and got up. Ethan responded with utter discusses "but I just did that!" 

Sledding with Friends

A few days ago some great friends invited us to go sledding with them. So much fun!! So here are  few photos to remember the day.

For some reason I can't insert text under these first three pictures or put them in the right spot. Blogger doesn't like me right now anyhow the first is Caleb so cute in his winter garb. The second is of Danny enjoying his first gingerbread man and the second is Ethan showing us his first gingerbread man. Ethan decided he would rather just eat the frosting so that's what he did, silly kid. After sledding we decorated gingerbread men and had hot chocolate it was the best.


Danny sitting in the snow because he couldn't move in his winder gear...poor guy.
Ethan with the runny nose we just can't seem to get rid of

"Charley Factory" one of Ethans best buds
The Bman going down full speed.

Trip to the dentist

Today was Ethan's first trip to the dentist. I expected crying maybe a little hysterics and all together an unpleasant event. What I got was a pleasantly surprise. Ethan was excited about seeing the dentist. He thought the cool glasses he got to wear while they looked at his teeth were great. He did everything they asked him to with excitement and a smile. The dentist told him how beautiful his teeth were and he just beamed with happiness. It was great! At the end he even got a sugar free sucker. The dentist said he was the most patient 3 year old they had ever seen. Some days I'm glad I have such an unusual son.

In other news we finally got all our christmas cards in the mail today. Every year our christmas card list grows this year we toped 75.  However next year I swear I'll be more organized and get them out way earlier. Ok so it's a good theory at least.

Snow Day pictures

Snow Day

So I've learned one thing today be careful what you wish for. Ok I wanted a little snow. Can we say overkill? So last night Ethan prayed for snow and I should have known right then that we were in for trouble. I don't know what it is but when the boy prays for something it just happens and in spades to boot. So this morning we woke to 6 inches or more on the front lawn. He was so happy. Once we found out church was canceled since it was still coming down we decided to take some extra time and enjoy a special family breakfast. Jared made pancakes and I made home made strawberry syrup while we listened to Christmas carols. The kids ran around like little crazy men and we had a wonderful morning. When we put Danny down for his nap the rest of us trekked outside into the snow. Ethan really loved it and thought it was great that because of the drifts we have spots that are deeper than he is (umm it had kept snowing not sure how much we got grand total but I'm going to guess a foot with really high drifts). We had a family snow ball fight which I think I might have lost and help daddy shovel the driveway. After our outdoor adventure we came inside and warmed up with hot chocolate. Then Ethan drew me some awesome pictures for the fridge while I did dishes. After that we decorated a little foam tree that I got for Ethan, also a big hit. 

This evening we had some great people over for dinner, the Dunns. They are awesome!!! So they have five crazy kids who get along great with our two crazy kids. He does computer stuff so has stuff to talk to Jared about. She is big into photography and scrapbooking! As a matter of fact she is doing the exact same thing as me with the photography thing and is working on setting up her own website and all that. Have to admit though she is a little better than me. Her sister is a big photographer in London and charges like $300 for a sitting fee. Needless to say we kinda hit it off and best of all I get to visit teach this person. So we've decided we are going to get together to talk about photography stuff once a month and call that visiting teaching...ok and I'll bring a message as well. So my goal of making a new friend this week I think is accomplished. Jared is trying to talk her husband into Friday night game night with the kids so me and his wife can go scrapbooking together. That would be really awesome but we'll see if it pans out.

Let it snow

Tonight it's coming down in big fat flakes as I sit here and all I have to say is let it snow! Christmas is almost here and I'm ready for my snow. I want to get up in the morning to enough snow to make a snow man with Ethan. He's been asking to do that every time we get a few flurries and I feel bad when I have to tell him that there just isn't enough snow. So tonight I hope we get all the snow they predict and tomorrow will be filled with snow men, snow balls and hot chocolate.

Twice upon a Christmas

So today has been just as insane as the rest of my week. Just to keep people up to date Ethan has a sinus infection and Dan has pink eye so we are just not happy campers right now. Thank goodness for drugs right now I don't know where I would be today with out eye drops, and . Anyhow tonight Ethan was going crazy since hes tired of being cooped up and beating on his brother. Danny was objecting strongly and as for me I wanted to pull my hair out. So I thought well I'll put on something for Ethan to watch and give Dan a bath. Well it sounded great at the time anyhow but turns out Danny wanted none of it. Once his hair was washed he wanted out in a bad way, so he climbed out with less than spectacular results. So I wrapped him in a towel and we tried to be in the same room as Ethan again but neither boy was having any of that. Then I tried putting Danny to bed (at this point he had been pretty much nonstop cranky/crying for about 2 hours) but he just objected even louder. So my solution? Mickeys twice upon a Christmas. I went downstairs and made popcorn. Then put in the DVD and got Ethan all situated. Then I grabbed a hysterical Danny from his crib and settled down on the sofa. Ethan holding our popcorn Danny leaning contently on my chest and a bowl of popcorn wedged in between the two of them. We turned off the lights and just cuddled on the sofa with our movie. After about 15 mins Danny was asleep and Ethan was burrowing in closer. I have to say I love moments like those. 

Christmas comes early

I must have been good this year because I got my first Christmas present today from my loving husband. What you might ask? A brand new IMac!!! It's really pretty. Silver with a supper thin keyboard. I love macs they are soo cool and now I have one all of my own. I'm looking forward to Jared being here so I can actually play on it. Right now all I can say is it looks very pretty and I can't wait to try out all my new programs.

In a small life update I took the boys to the Dr today and found out Ethan has a sinus infection so he's on med for the next 14 days. Should be fun since to get the first dose down him I had to sit on him and pry his mouth open...twice a day for 14 days this should be fun. He's going to love me after it's all over I'm sure. Danny has a minor eye infection that should clear up on it's own but if it's still there in two days I have a prescription for him as well. I'm glad I'm done with Dr visits this week...the boys teepeed the room with that roll of paper that they use on the examination table. Ethan's pediatrician think Jared owes me something expensive and shiny for all I went threw with them today. That made me laugh. It's nice to know that other people understand at least a little.

Dr Visit gone wrong

So this afternoon after several really bad coughing fits and a lecture from one of my sisters I decided to call my Dr's office. Luck would have it that they could see me today in less than an hour from when I called. So I packed up the kids and off we went. Danny ended up falling asleep right before I got there so I figured my hopes for a peaceful wait were pretty much out the window. I managed to get inside without waking him up but receptionist asked me a few questions and the sound of my voice talking woke him up. Now it probably wouldn't have been to bad if I had been called back when I was suppose to but we ended up spending almost an hour waiting in the waiting room. This is not a Dr office equipped to handle kids mind you...no toys just magazines and a very pretty Christmas tree with glass ornaments. Ethan was very taken with the Christmas tree and had to go look at it. Danny followed and tried to take ornaments off the tree. I retrieved my children and tried to distract them with the cars we had brought along. This did no work at all. I tired to read the a story we brought with us. This also did not work. Ethan discovered the older gentleman sitting with his wife in the corner and proceeded to ask me all kinds of questions about said man. The one that sticks in my memory is "Mom is that my grandpa?" To which I told him no but it was probably someones grandpa. Ethan then wanted to go see the older man who just smiled and laughed. Thank goodness for people who enjoy crazy kids. Danny then discovered the radio in the waiting room and all its wondrous buttons. I then tackled the task of removing Danny from said radio which involved a whole of screaming and crying. I'm pretty sure half the waiting room suddenly started to shift away from us at this point and I can't say I blame them. Next came the water cooler. Ethan got him self a drink which was fine but then Danny had to explore. Several drinks of water for both boys latter I was ready to hog tie them. Ethan seeing my temper rising decided this would be a great time to start playing with the tree again resulting in the rearrangement of several items while I delt with Danny. After getting Ethan under control again Danny decided to crawl under the chairs. Fishing one kid out from under the chairs the other decided to take advantage of my distraction to run around the whole room giggling hysterical. At this point I was pretty sure going to the Dr was a bad idea no matter how sick you are. Ethan then made a tunnel out of the chairs and had Danny chance him threw and around it. I merely tried to catch the two of them and looked totally ridiculous. Danny then decided to push chairs around the waiting room. After fixing the chairs I was on the verge of saying you know I just can't deal with this and I'm going home to my bed and my Pajamas and cartoons when they finally called me back. The nurse who called me back was great and had it not been for her I'm pretty sure I would not have made it threw the visit. She was very understanding of the fact I had two boys who did not want to be there and were bored out of there minds. So Ethan got to take my temperature, and blood pressure. Which shockly was elevated and my heart rate was up as well. She then had Ethan help her with a few other little things she had to do. Ethan got to go get stickers for being such a good helper and he was so proud of himself. After the nurse left and we had to wait in this little room for the Dr the insanity returned. Danny tried to get in the drawer with all the needle stuff in it. Ethan pulled the stirrups out of the table. Gold Fish crackers were spread over all the floor etc. When the Nurse practitioner came in (in hopes of getting me out of there sooner) she had a look of complete horror on her face. She tried to talk to me about other health issues while I was wresting with the kids until I said look can we make this as quick as we can we need to get out of here. Ends up I have bronchitis. I have never been so happy to leave a Dr office in my life. I never want to have to take my kids to the Dr with me again!!! I can't wait until Jared gets home from Japan.

Let's play ball

Tonight I was pleasantly entertained when the boys decided to play baseball in the house. I probably should have put a stop to it but it was just so dang cute that I couldn't. Ethan had found a small plastic baseball bat and a tiny ball that matched. They both went to other toys but kids will be inventive when they want to do something. Ethan taught Danny how to throw the ball to him. So Danny would pitch and Ethan would hit the ball, then they would both chase it. Then they started switching batters so Ethan would pitch for Danny etc. This went on for about 45 mins. It made me glad I have boys. Not sure if this whole playing baseball inside thing though will work in another few years. I see lots of broken windows in my future.

O Christmas Tree

Yesterday I finally decided there was never going to be a great time to put up our Christmas tree, I just had to pick a time and do it. So the middle of the day with both boys running crazy I drag our 7 ft tree (it might be 8 ft not sure) out of the basement. With Ethan asking five million questions and Danny trying to climb my leg I somehow managed to get the thing together. I have to admit though I was rather sweaty and more than a little irritated at this point. I trecked back downstairs and managed to find one of the boxes labeled Christmas in the jumbled heap we call a basement and hulled it up stairs. Much to my surprise it contained a few ornaments and lots of lights. On the tree went the lights. Danny thought this was the coolest thing and tried to pull them off again. Bright shiny things that blink who wouldn't want to play with them? Ethan on the other hand couldn't wait for me to stop playing with the lights so he could hang something. Thoughts of duck tape started running threw my head but I somehow managed to suppress them. Ethan started hanging ornaments and Danny started taking off ornaments which lead to a lecture from Ethan about how we are suppose to treat ornaments. This part was rather amusing. I discovered the ornaments that I really wanted to put on the tree...the ones I had made when Ethan was Danny's age, weren't there so I went down stairs to find them. At this point our tree has been but together for all of five mins keep that in mind. By the time I return for the bowls of our basement box in hand total chaos had descended. Danny had knocked over the Christmas tree and broken an ornament (separate events). Ethan started screaming that Danny has broken his Christmas tree. I want to go hide in the basement. Deciding I just couldn't take this I carried one crying child in each arm upstairs and we had some chill out time. After tempers has settled a little we returned downstairs and fixed all the damage. Our Christmas tree doesn't seem any worse from the whole ordeal thank goodness. We now have nothing but kid friendly ornaments on the tree and the boys love it. Ethan has proclaimed our tree beautiful and that's all the matters tonight. Hopefully it will be the only time this Christmas season our tree falls over but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Oh Christmas Tree How Lovely Are Thy Branches...

Good Friends

Jared is back from DC and I have two sleeping boys AND it's only 8:30. I think I'm in heaven. :)

Right now I am grateful for great friends. There are some friends you don't see every day. People you may go a month or more between conversations with but when you do find the time to talk it's like that gap was never there. There are very few people I can put in this category of friends so I'm grateful for those I have. Other friends come and go but these few will always be there I know. I think you know who you are so thank you.

Tonight a friend called and we got five whole mins to talk just the two of us about life and it was so great. You think five mins isn't much but with her kids and my kids trust me it is. She the one person who I can truly swap insane kid stories with because her kids do a lot of the same type of things. In the end we both just end up laughing and enjoying each other. Pam your the best.

Crazy funny facts:

Jared took my keys and his to DC with him this week....perhaps a small part of why I'm so happy he's home.

Ethan is scared of his own snow pants and will cry when he has to put them on

Daniel is learning more and more words after telling him I would pick him up in a min he shook his head no and said quite clearly NOW

Kitchen Amusement

So as of late my boys have been rather obsessed with our kitchen. I'm really not sure why but they always seem to be playing in the pantry these days and finding new and interesting things to do. So here are a few things my sons have done in my kitchen over the last few weeks:

Daniel discovered onions. At first he was rather puzzled by them. He tried rolling them across the kitchen but they don't roll as well as balls. So they can't be for rolling. He then tried to bounce the onion but that didn't turn out that well either. Peeling off the outer layers turned out to be somewhat amusing. He must have decided that since nothing else seem to be working it must be for eating so he chomped right in. He turned to me with the saddest face in complete shock before breaking down in heart wrenching sobs. I don't think he'll be biting into any more onions anytime soon.

Ethan discovered paper towel rolls. At first he decided to see how tall he could stack them but every time he got up to 5 they would fall over. Which was rather amusing so he would laugh like a loon. Then he discovered an even better game, human bowling. He lined all the paper towels up in a row and used himself as a human bowling ball and knocked them all over.

We've also learned that potatoes are not just for eating. The boys discovered the potatoes the other night and after taking every last one out of the 10 pound bag they were in they loaded them in there little dump trucks and hauled them all over our house. I'm still trying to find them all.

The boys also decided to make me breakfast the other morning. It was really a sweet thought and I love them for that. They beat me downstairs the other morning so they decided they would just make breakfast. They pulled out my biggest pan, two huge spoons and a box of cereal. By the time I made it down stairs they had emptied the box of cereal into the pan and where about to add the milk. I am very grateful I made it downstairs before that happened.

So there are just a few of our kitchen amusements.

Goals

So I've decided to that there is no point in waiting around for the new year to set a few goal. I also figure if I have them in writing I won't forget about them (or pretend to) and maybe it will give me motivation to actually get them done so here are my life goals right now:

1.) Try to help someone every day...this actually has been a goal sense stake conference and it's worked out pretty well so far.

2.) Read my scriptures every day...ok I'm a looser on this one so I have lots of room for improvement

3.) Loose 30 pounds...ok so that's my big one but I've decided for each 10 pounds I loose I get something special but I haven't figured out exactly what that will be yet so if anyone has suggestions send them my way. I am considering a night away at a spa if I make it to 30 though.

4.) Get to bed by 11...ok this is actually on Dr orders and I've been bad about it again so I'm going to try to get back in the habit.

5.) Eat better...ugh I'm suppose to be on a low sodium low fat diet also Dr orders but the last few months it has flown out the window.

6.) Get one date with my husband a month.

7.) Get to the temple before the end of the year. I haven't been well in almost a year ugh I need to make this a bigger priority!

8.) Remember to enjoy my children they won't be young forever

9.) Make one new friend every week

10.) post on my blog every day. I've noticed when I take the time to record something about my day I feel better about life in general which is always a good thing.

I think 10 is a good number so we'll start there and if I manage to get threw those I'll have a whole new list come the new year.

Tooth Drama

So a few weeks ago Danny hit me in the mouth with a 5 pound dumbbell. I was talking and turned around and he handed it to me, right in the face. Teach me to pay better attention to my own child. At the time I didn't think it did any damage but it sure hurt a lot. Then about a week and a half ago he nailed me good with a headbutt in the mouth. The result well a whole lot of pain but again I thought it was fine. However the next night I went to bite into a roll and got a shooting pain all the way up my tooth. All I could think is this is not good. Well to make a long story short the next day I went to the dentist. A few X-rays latter it was confirmed that indeed Danny had managed to chip not one of my teeth as I had thought but three of them. Right now there is a little bit of a question about me being able to keep one of the teeth (my front tooth!) but for now things are looking good. With this type of trauma it can take up to a month to know the whole extent of the damage they say so it's a wait and watch thing. So now I have a grand total of 4 chipped teeth in my life. Sucky! I think I need to invest in a face mask.

Daniel appreciation

Tonight I realized I never take the time to appreciate my youngest son. Ethan doesn't let me not pay attention to him so there are time in the day that I feel Danny gets left out. I don't mean it to happen but it seems to be the reality of having a three year old and a one year old. My only hope is that tomorrow I will be better at juggling those things than I am today. So tonight I would like to take some time just to appreciate the person I have in my life who often gets taken for granite.

The Things I love about Danny in no particular order:

1.) Dimples, need I say more
2.) His shinning personality--When your around him you just can't help but smile
3.) The way he flirts with all the girls---yup he's my heart breaker
4.) The way he loves to stack everything--even if I get annoyed when he stacks all the cans in the pantry
5.) The way he tries to be just like his big brother
6.) The fact that he will cry if he thinks he has displeased you--last night at dinner he threw a fork at me thinking he was playing luckily it missed but when I shook my head and frowned at him his little smile turned to tears and I wanted to cry with him.
7.) The way he makes little car noises when playing with Ethan's cars
8.) The way he will just lay in his crib singing to himself until I come to get him
9.) The fact that he is a constant stream of almost unintelligible language--even if some days I pray for five mins of quite
10.) The way he loves stuffed animals--he carries them around everywhere. We were even at a friends house last week and he had to rock his teddy and give him hugs and kisses it was so cute.
11.) The way he loves me without reservations
12.) The way he giggles
13.) How smart he can be--yes every kid is smart and we as parents are allowed to say our kids are smart--there all equally smart just in different ways
14.) His love for our cat---he runs around after Pinky trying to give the cat hugs and kisses. Luckily Pinky has grown use to such behavior and usually just looks at me pitifully and takes the abuse. I do try to help him I swear but I'm usually across the room and he's already been assaulted by the time I get there.

That's just to name a few. So tomorrow when he's throwing his food at me or chipping another one of my teeth I'll try to keep these things in mind and maybe life will be a little better.

Halloween Photos

Leaving from Aunt Bonnies to go trick or treating...yes the sword Ethan has in his hand HAD to go trick or treating with him don't ask my why

The wonder of suckers.



My Boys at the Ann Arbor Halloween Party




My boys at our Ward Halloween Party having a good time

I should be in bed

It's almost 4 in the morning and I should be in bed but it just seems a little like a useless effort. Ethan is sick with a very very bad cold so every time I get to sleep he wakes up and needs a little comfort. Morning and the Dr office can't come soon enough for me. So I think to save my self some frustration I'm going to attempt to update here.

First of all thank you all for such kind words on my talk. I never know quite what to say when people have such nice things to say. It always amazes me the reaction my conversion gets from people. Because it's me I tend to think it's normal and everyone has a conversion just like that. I'm beginning to see that my life may not be normal after all but I think I'll keep up the illusion for the time being.

I never did get around to posting about Halloween so heres the short version of things. We ended up going to our new Wards Halloween party on Friday before Halloween, though I have to admit after Ann Arbor I was a little disappointed. It just wasn't built for young kids at least not 3 and under. When the kids get older I think they will enjoy it but this year was a little big of a bust. It was a little weird standing around with very few people to talk to and we ended up leaving as soon as the tricker teating was done since I just couldn't take any more. This made me miss Ann Arbor horrible so we decided to drop in on there Halloween party which was on a Tuesday night I think. Ethan didn't seem very into things but was happy to be with his friends again. On the way home from said Halloween party Ethan came down with the flu! Lucky for us it didn't last very long and when he asked to go out trick or treating the next night we gave in. It was outside and he hadn't been sick in almost 20 hours so we took a chance. Ethan made it down about 4 little streets when he decided he was done and just wanted to go lay down. Danny on the other hand loved Halloween but didn't understand why we need to wait to eat our candy until we get back to the house. He sat down right in front of one of the houses and just dug into his little goody bag. He was very upset with me when I made him stop but forgave me once I pulled a sucker out of my pocket for him.

Since Halloween we have been plagued with colds so we haven't been out much. Hopefully this coming month will be better. So that's pretty much all that has happened in the last month besides Thanksgiving which I should get around to posting about by next month.

Ohh and all of you out there wondering if I ever got around to making apple sauce the answer is no. I didn't want to make it while I was sick with a nasty cold at least not in a big enough batch to can so I just made small batches and baked apples and apple pie to use up our apples. Maybe next year I'll get around to canning something. It was a good thought though.

Why I Believe

Today I gave my first real talk in Sacrament meeting. It was a truly wonderful experience though I don't think I've ever been more nervous. I was given the topic Why I Believe. In preparing this talk I did tons of Google searches and scripture searches etc but it was all for nothing really. No one else can tell me why I believe so in the end I sat down and wrote about why I joined the church. Yesterday I debated about the rightness of my chosen subject but since I couldn't come up with a better illustration of my why I believe decided to run with it. When I walked into sacrament meeting and saw I got to speak with Shawn Quinn I knew I had picked the right subject and that my prayer for peace and calm for my talk was answered. You see Shawn has this amazing effect on me, he really makes me feel calm I can't explain it really. So knowing that Jared was sitting out there cheering me on and that I got to talk with Shawn just really put my mind at ease. It also happens that Shawn's first Sunday as a member of the bishopric was my first Sunday at church. So thanks Shawn for being there and giving such a wonderful talk.

My talk:

Why I Believe

I believe in this church. To believe is to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, without absolute proof that one is right in doing so. Why do I believe? To answer that question I have to give you a little history of how I came to be here before you today.

When I was young the only religious people I knew were my grandparents. My earliest memories are of going to church with my grandmother. Of sitting under the pews playing while she stood up and talked every Sunday. I remember the feeling of love and peace I felt every time I went to church with her even if I didn’t always understand what she was talking about. When I was six I lost my grandmother to cancer. After that I didn’t go to church any more but I never forgot how it felt to go to church with her.

It wasn’t until Middle school that I really started to feel like something was missing in my life. I wanted to feel the same way I did when I went to church with my grandmother again. I wanted that sense of rightness in my life again. So I started going to church with friends finding out about all the different religions, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian even a non denominational Church but none of them ever felt right to me. In the bottom of my heart I felt I would know the moment I found the right church and none of these were it. After a while I gave up trying to find the right church I didn’t think it was out their to be honest, but the lord is funny he doesn’t let people give up so easily.

It was about that time that I meet my husband Jared. He was a less active member but always believe strongly in this church. He never said much about his religion not wanting to impose his beliefs on me and I never really brought up the subject with him. From time to time I would be around when his home teacher would stop by and share a message with us, or the missionary’s would come by with cider and cookies just to see if there was anything we needed. Gradually I started to grow more interested in his church but wasn’t quite ready to take the plunge figuring I would just be disappointed when I did go. Right about then was when we decided to get married. I had always wanted to get married in a church but since I didn’t have one I felt strongly about and Jared did I decided we should just get married in his church knowing nothing about that whole temple thing. Anyhow we started meeting with Bishop Ward and planning our wedding. It was in one of these meetings that we began to talk about children and how we wanted to raise any we may be blessed with. We both agreed that our children should be raised in a religion and I felt that since Jared’s meant so much to him that it was only logical to raise them Mormon, but I wanted to find out more about it first. So threw the Bishop we set up a meeting with the missionaries. Everything was really low pressure and just seemed to click. So I decided to learn more and on Easter Sunday we came to church for the first time. All I could think was this is right, everything just felt the way a church should.

I do just about everything on gut instated for lack of a better term. I would like to say I read the whole book of Mormon before I got baptized but I didn’t. I didn’t want to wait that long. On June 14 2003 I was baptized. That day I felt just like the Grinch on Christmas morning, my heart grew 3 sizes. There was so much love and joy that I felt like I couldn’t contain it all.

So why do I believe? I believe because the spirit tells me it is true. It’s the sense of welcome I get from entering the chapel. It's the feeling of love I feel each time I kneel in prayer. The sweetness evoked by a hymn and the rightness I feel in studying the scriptures. It’s the peace of mind I get from hearing the profit speak and the joy I feel when I entering the temple.

I Believe in this Church. I know that Heavenly Father loves us all as individuals. I know that the book of Mormon is true. I know that he sent a profit to guide us. That the apostoles were hand picked and prepared by heavenly father to lead us.

So in ending today was my best week of church yet in the new ward. I'm starting to make friends and after giving my talk a lot more people were willing to talk to me. It's not home yet but I no longer feel like a complete outsider. It will take time but this is the ward we are meant to be in I know that. Each week will be a new challenge but as long as I don't give up it will be ok. If I can make one new friend every other week that's a start.

Amusing Kids

It's always a good thing when your kids make you laugh so I thought I would share a few things that my kids did this week to make me laugh.

Yesterday morning I put a cartoon in for the kids while I took a shower. It's usually a pretty good way to keep them occupied while I get my 5 min shower. Anyhow I turned on the water (it always takes a few mins for the hot water to get there) and then realized I had forgotten to close the door to the boys bathroom. This sounds like a very minor thing but if the door is not closed Danny will play in the toilet and usually end up drinking the toilet water. Don't ask me why I have yet to figure it out. Anyhow I hurried across the hall and sure enough Danny was in the toilet. So I escorted him out of the bathroom and did a quick clean up. While I was doing this Danny hearing the shower running decided to go investigate. I found him happy as can be fully clothed sitting in the shower splashing away.

Danny has an unhealthy obsession with phones and I can't seem to keep the cordless phone away from him. Every time he see it he goes nuts and if for any reason, like say your talking on said device, he can not have it he completely looses it. Anyhow earlier this week I set the phone down and walked away to take care of something. The next thing I know I hear Danny in the other room: "Hello opps hello booo hello...." I peak around the corner to see him holding the phone to his ear and pretending to talk on it. It was so cute that I just couldn't take the phone away and I just figured I would pick it up latter. Little did I know he had other plans for it. I have spent the last 3 days looking all over for the phone. I even went threw the garbage when I couldn't find it inside thinking he must have thrown it away. Not something I want to repeat in this lifetime. Image my surprise yesterday when I pulled out a pan to make dinner and there sitting in the bottom was our phone and two cars as well as 3 baby spoons. I wonder why I didn't think to look in all my pans sooner, next time I will.

Graditude

So I read this great article today in a local paper about gratitude and how we should use the holiday season to jump start our own gratitude in life. After reading all the many things in this short article I came to realize lately I just haven't taken the time to appreciate the great things I have. I feel like hanging my head in shame for focusing so much on the less than spectacular parts of my life (probably the reason I haven't been posting as much). So tonight I decided to sit down and make a short list of things I'm grateful for just to remind my self that life is not always as hard as it sometimes feels.

1.) Great friends who make you chicken soup just because you have a cold.
2.) Little boys who give you hugs and bring you tissues when your not feeling your best.
3.) Husbands that call home just to say I love you
4.) 3 year olds who offer you the other half of there chewed on chocolate chip cookie
5.) Friends who are always willing to listen when I just need someone to talk to so I know I'm not alone in the world.
6.) The support of a husband who thinks you can do anything even if it's sometimes a little overwhelming.
7.) Sloppy kisses from a one year old
8.) Big beds you can lay in with your kids and watch cartoons when your not feeling very well
9.) That someone up there watches out for me. Today while on the way to pick Ethan up from preschool a traffic light fell down in the middle of an intersection I was about to go threw.
10.) Families even if we complain about them driving us insane.

This list could go on for a while but I have a 3 year old begging me to watch myth busters (his current favorite show) with him and I think tonight I'll give in and watch an episode I know I've seen at least a dozen times.

Jared's Meetings

Ok so Jared showed this to me the other day and really made me laugh the true sign I spend way to much time around his work...it's rubbing off. Ok so I couldn't do the things he does but I actually got some of the inside jokes which in a way I'm kinda proud of. I feel like I deserve some sort of geeks badge or something. Anyhow if you want to see what really happens at these so called meetings he goes to check out this link.

http://www.secret-wg.org/

Ok so he wasn't at this meeting it was in Europe but they are all pretty much the same thing no matter where they are as far as I can tell.

Apple Picking

This morning we went apple picking for the first time. It was a lot of fun though next time I think it would be better if it wasn't so wet. We picked apples between rain storms so it was wet and of corce Ethan found mud puddles to play in and go supper wet. His shoes are still dripping wet so I think I'll have to figure out how to dry them in the drier.

Anyhow it was fun for the boys and over all a little stressful but not to bad. We picked 1/2 bushel of granny smiths and 1/2 a bushel of Ida reds. I never knew picking apples was so fun. The boys ran around while I picked apples. Danny was in heaven picking apples and eating them right there. His favorite fruit besides bananas are apples. Ethan climbed trees and was in general a wild man but that was ok. We got to spend time with friends and do something outside what more could you ask for?

Now I have all these apples and I need to figure out what I'm going to do with them. You would think I would have thought of that before I picked them all wouldn't you. Nope not me. I just thought it would be fun to pick apples and I figured I could come up with something to do with them. So I think I'm going to make some apple sauce and pie filling and attempt canning it. I'll keep you posted on how that goes but I have high hopes...umm after I get the stuff to try out canning. Small investment in the grand scheme of things exspecially if I start canning other things like Jam which I really want to try out one of these years.

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch by our house. It was great the boys just loved it. Ethan loved picking out pumpkins so much we ended up with 5. Since pictures say so much more than words ever will here are a few pictures that capture our experience.

What I've been up to

Life has been hectic so sorry I haven't posted in a while. So what has been going on to make life so insane. Well Jared was gone for a week which was crazy and we missed him horribly. I've started doing a little more with this whole Christmas workshop thing. A little more work than I thought it would be but it's all coming together. So for the Christmas workshop they wanted a cookbook put together as kind of our gift to the sisters. I wasn't doing anything so I said sure I can do that. Thinking it was umm 10 recipes nothing big umm I probably should have asked more questions oops. Anyhow turns out it was a little bigger of a project. The book will have somewhere around 35 or 36 pages I'm getting it bound by a friend a cost luckily and it's going to be great but ugh a little more time consuming than I thought it would be. Still trying to work out the details of how to stay mostly on budget for the food portion (budget being $30 and feed about 33 people) that has actually been the problem taking up most of my time. I think we will be able to work that out though or at least cross your fingers and hope it will turn out ok. I've also been doing a few photo shoots here and there ...I'm actually about two shoots behind on pictures and should be working on those right now but I won't think to much about that. I also had the privilege of hearing Elder Bednar talk in person. What a experience that was!! I'm so happy I got to go even though Jared was gone. My only regret was that Jared couldn't be there in person...he had to settle for me talking to him about it pretty much nonstop for almost a week. Every time he would say something it would remind me of something Elder Bednar said which would lead to a 10 min story about something that night. On the other side if he would have been there all those thoughts would have just been running through my mind and I wouldn't have had a single person to tell them to. On other news I got a calling this last Sunday and I have to say I think it a great one. I get to go to camp again!!!! They called me as Ward Camp director which is going to be so fun. A lot of work it sounds like but hey I don't mind a little work. I also found out that our church building will be undergoing construction sometime in the next few months to make it bigger and here's the really great thing in my mind WE ARE GETTING PEWS!! I wanted to jump up and down when I got that little bit of news. Oh did I mention that Chelsea has decided to let me go ahead and form my photography group after all so I sent out sigh-up sheets this last Sunday. Things are going much better in the new Ward by the way. People have really started to warm up to me the last two weeks. People have started talking to me in the hall and smiling at me. I think I know at least 4 peoples names which is a real bonus for me. We have now made it threw two sacrament meetings without any major issues like umm Ethan pushing an entire row of chairs onto the legs of the family behind us (I think that was three weeks ago) I've started to notice it's not just my kids that have a hard time in sacrament meetings which makes me feel at least a little better. Of coerce I think we were the only family that bowed there heads for the sacrament prayer and looked up to see one boy running up one side of the church while the other runs up the opposite side. Ugh! So things are not perfect but they are getting better. On a funnier note our Primary program was this last Sunday and they let the nursery kids come up to sing a song at the end. So when they called all the kids up Ethan who had wanted to go up on the stage from the start ran to the front of the chapel past all the other nursery kids right to the microphone and with the biggest grin ever on his face leaned in...luckily it was right then that one of the primary teachers reached him. Thank you. He did a really great job and sang the whole song just not right into the microphone. As for Danny well his world is ending this week as he getting two eye teeth but hopefully we'll both make it through.

Blessing from Above

Ever have one of those weeks that you just know someone up there is looking out for you? Bad things happen but without skipping a beat something nice happens to balance it all out and in the end your left feeling better than you were before. So here are my two little blessings this week...
(ok it might be a week and a half)

Last Thursday when Jared went into town to pick up Ethan from school he stopped at a gas station to get gas. Once he was done filling the tank he went to start the car but nothing happened. So after a few more attempts with the same result he decided to leave the car walk the two or three blocks to Ethan's school to pick him up and then come back to deal with the car. He called our friend Sara since he didn't know what was wrong with the car and being stuck at a gas station with a toddler is just a recipe for disaster. They walk back and get there about the same time as Sara who loves Ethan and volunteered to watch him while Jared and the Gas station guy looked at the car. Turns out the Battery just up and died on us. Luck would have it that there was an auto parts place right next door so Jared was able to walk next door and buy the battery without issue. The guy from the auto parts place came out with tools and helped him put the new battery in the car. Within half an hour they were on there way home. It really made me glad we live in such a small town where people are really willing to help out one another like that.

My second story is about our garage door. So last night I was up here looking at pictures when I hear this really weird sound kinda like a branch off a tree hitting the house...ok I thought Jared had fallen down the stairs but it turns out that it was the spring to our garage door breaking. Having never had a garage before now I didn't even know this was possible (umm or that there was a spring to be honest). Anyhow we realized pretty quick that without the spring 1.) it very very difficult to open the garage...we managed it with a jack and a lot of arm power and 2.) the garage wont stay open without it so Jared had to hold the garage open so I could quickly back the car out. So we called a guy this morning to come and fix it which was great but the bill was not so great at $169. So we were trying to figure stuff out for this month since Jared is traveling a lot which even though work pays for we have to pay for first etc. Anyhow in the mail today came a check we weren't expecting for just a little over what we payed to get the garage fixed. It means we don't have to dip into savings we are trying not to touch.

There is one last thing I am grateful for and that's the fact that both of these things happened before Jared left town. I'm sure I could have dealt with this but I'm so glad I didn't have to.

All I can say is thank you.

Crazy Morning

The kids have been sick with icky colds so we've been stuck at home for days. It seems like an eternity when I look at my house. Ashes all over my kitchen because the kids decided to make me ash soup before my brain was fully functional and able to make them breakfast this morning. Pans all over the kitchen because they decided to make me french toast again (They did this last week as well) while I was making them breakfast. Stuff animals all over the kids rooms because we had a stuff animal fight last night. Pop corn all over the entertainment room because all Ethan would eat yesterday was popcorn and I decided it was better than not eating at all. I've decided once the kids are feeling better then I'll worry about getting my house clean again so for now we have a disaster area but the kids like it.

Anyhow today I thought we would get out just for a quick trip since I'm pretty sure both my kids have gone crazy cooped up in our house for umm let see 3 days so after feeding them breakfast...oat meal for Ethan which had to be the peach kind since we didn't have strawberry and Cheerios for Dan who was thoughtful enough to share them with the cat who strange enough likes Cheerios...we headed off to the store to buy Ethan's Halloween costume. Ethan has decided he is going to be a dragon because Daniel Cook was a dragon (Daniel Cook is a Disney TV show with a kid who looks just like Ethan). In the car after 5 mins of whining from Ethan I pulled over turned around and informed him that we were going to get his Halloween Costume, he was going to like it and he was going to be happy the rest of the trip. I hate loosing my temper with the kids and honestly that should have been my sign to turn the car around and head back to our insane house but no I decided not to listen to logic and just forged ahead. Danny of coerce fell asleep in the car on the way to the mall but we were there so we might as well go in right? Surprising enough Ethan followed my orders and was happy and cheerful after our little road stop. He said he wanted to help and after I got him out ran around the car to get Danny out. When he saw Danny was sleeping he said "Look mom Danny's sleeping I'll wake him up." He leaned over and gave Danny a big kiss and said "I love you Danny. It's time to wake up." That made the winning in the car not seem so bad. I was sure that going past the play area at the mall was going to delay our little outing but I was ok with that however much to my surprise even though some of Ethan's friends were there he wanted to go get his costume first. Off to Children's place I went Ethan pushing the stroller with a groggy Danny and me hoping they wouldn't hit anything along the way as I tried to keep up. We found our Dragon costume at children's place and Ethan was thrilled. While I was looking for the right size Ethan took the head off the little girl manneken next to the rack. I looked up from dozens of little tags to Ethan saying "Look mom" and holding a head like a ball he was about the throw. I told him as calmly as I could that he needed to put the head back. He at least followed those instructions. He then hid in a rack of cloths because he wanted to play hide and seek. After some pleaded on my part mainly for my sanity he reluctantly came out. While I was paying he took apart one of the display that holds the socks and was drumming with the pieces on another display. At this point I was reminded why I never I repeat never take my children shopping with me. It's really for there safety and ok a little for my sanity. So at last Ethan, Danny, the Dragon costume, and I leave the store much to the sales woman's relief. The kids are playing on those little kids rides that cost $0.50 so Ethan decided he wants to join and I decide he hasn't seen anyone in days it's ok. Danny tired of being in the stroller wants out so I let him sit on a the roller coaster ride while Ethan playing with some friends. Things were going great until I looked over and Ethan was taking apart part of the little train. there is a bell on the front that he had completely taken off...much to my shame I could not get it back together the way it was before. At this point I moved both kids to the play area and all was fine for 5 mins. Then Danny decided the play area was not the place to be and just ran off. After retrieving him 5 times I told Ethan Danny really wanted to go for a walk so lets walk to the water fountain since I wanted to poke in Gymboree anyhow. Well we made it there without issues and the boys had a great time playing on this play mat outside of Gap...really cute. The problem was when Ethan wanted to stand on the edge of the fountain for some reason I didn't think that was a good idea silly mom. After a few debates on the safety of said issue I decided let go see what's on the TV in Gymboree and I can look at cloths for you guys. Ethan didn't like the show so we only stayed long enough to see yes there jeans are on clearance but I need to go back to see how much on clearance. After this I decided I didn't want to fight my way to the car because if we did I was pretty sure not all of us would make it home...mainly me. So we got cookies with the agreement that we would eat them on the way home. Ethan was so excited about his cookie that he pushed the stroller all the way to the car as fast as he could. Luckily no Danny's were harmed in this endeavor. Not my most shinning mom moment but one I think I'll remember for at least a while.

The good points of my day after all this happened. After lunch Danny fell asleep and slept for almost 3 1/2 hours. While Danny was sleeping I decided to watch cartoons with Ethan because I just didn't have the energy to figure out something else. Somewhere in the middle of an episode of Tom and Jerry me and Ethan fell asleep together. We all really needed naps I think. Ethan said our prayer for dinner "Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day, Thank you for our food, Jesus Christ Amen." Tonight after taking the boys for a car ride to get them to sleep...With the colds the boys have a hard time falling asleep so it's just easier sitting up...I put Ethan in his bed and he turned to me and said mom we need to say goodnight to Heavenly Father. Even though the morning was a little crazy I am so glad to have my boys.

Photography group Blog

Tonight I finally found some time and put this together. Point of View I tried an in person thing but it just didn't work so here is my second attempt at a photography group. Anyone wanting to join let me know and I will add you to the authors list.

Twins what a joy

So this weekend I got a chance to photography wonderful little twins. It was interesting to see just how alike and how different twins can be at the same time.