blessed

I always get asked that question that you don't want to hear when you have suffered through infertility. The question itself is not bad or even rude it just always makes me a little emotional answering whether or not we are going to have more kids. For a while I just said no and took whatever response or judgement came after. I also tried explaining our situation in great detail which always made people feel awkward or I would just be evasive and say who knows. The truth is that there are times when I ache inside wanting what I am sure I can't have and there are times I am so grateful for what I've been given that I think I think I couldn't possibly want more.
Last night as I was laying in bed with my husband and my previously fussy 3 year old, both of them snoring in unison, one big arm draped over my waist and two tiny arms pulled so tight around my neck that there is a small adorable face barely an inch from mine, I can't help but think about that moment we were told that we would never conceive and being so filled with gratitude and love.  We have made the decision not to go through infertility again and to enjoy each other and the miracles we have been blessed with even if that means this is it for us. If the Lord has other plans things will happen but I can't deny His hand in my already blessed life.  I am eternally grateful for the tiny arms that wrap around my neck and couldn't ask for anything more than that.

Bribes, Tricks, Threats and Follow Through

I am the worst when it comes to using bribes, threats and tricks to get my kids to do what I want. I was reminded of this last night when I read the story that Carter did for his homework.

Not one of my finer parenting moments but I had to follow through. It reminds me of the time my mom was driving all of us kids to my brother and sister's band concert and we were all fighting in the back seat. She said if we didn't stop she would turn the car around and we wouldn't go. My sister started freaking out and throwing a fit even though we kept telling her to just be quiet and my mom actually turned the car around. We missed their concert. I could not believe that my mom did that and I actually asked her about it as an adult. She told me she regretted saying it but she had to follow through. I totally get it now. I am the queen of making stupid threats in the heat of the moment and this was one of them. Carter was having a huge tantrum and kicking and throwing all of his toys so I told him if he threw it again I would throw it in the trash. He did. Dang it. So I took it and threw it in the recycling. After he went to bed I took it and hid it in storage and plan to give it to him for his birthday. I thought he had forgotten until I saw this story. Ouch.

I did have a win when I got so frustrated with the accidents that I made Carter write lines. He hated it!! He only had to do it 3 times total and now he has been accident free for 11 days! WHAT!!?? He is so excited that he is allowed to play wii now! I was surprised that it worked but I am not complaining.

Today I had a fun time trying to get Jude to eat his lunch. This is part of our conversation:

"Jude, take a bite like a doggie."

"No, like a dinosaur!"

Bite.

"Jude, take a bite like a reindeer."

"No, a snowman!"

"Ok, eat like a snowman!"

Bite.

Success.

This is what it looks like to eat like a snowman:

Apparently.

My purpose behind this post is to ask how you motivate your child to get the desired end result. What works? Any moments that you regretfully had to follow through with?

Stop the glorification of busy

Everyone knows I love keeping myself busy. So much so that I start to freak out because I've overbooked myself. Well, I dropped a class. Take that! Even with that I haven't blogged since January. Just shows you how often I get to sit down at the computer and actually type. Today was a rare day. Carter had his 100th day of kindergarten today so he went off to school looking like a dapper old man and Jude and I got ready and went to the store to do our grocery shopping. I feel super blessed that Jude spotted the only "car cart" at Whole Foods and was perfectly content to drive us around the store. He even was adorable and popped through the windshield to put his bunny fruit snacks on the conveyor belt when we got the register. We finished running our errands and I came home and did some chores (not many...) and played with my super happy little one. When Carter got home they played happily together for a bit which was nice and then I put them in front of separate movies and finished my report for my textiles class on a real life invisibility cloak. And yes. I did go there in my report. I'll always be a Potter nerd.

         Anyway, it was a busy but not busy day and it was perfectly fine. My house is not as sparkly as it was in the weeks before school started but I've managed to finish all of my homework before it's due AND had several people from my sewing class over for 3 hour blocks to help them with their homework. I'm busy enough. Now can someone please remind my brain of that. I'm sure I will take on more. I always do. So my question to all of you is why do we always insist on being so busy? I know with kids and school and work and what not we are naturally busy but it seems like I seek out things to fill my time if it's not already full. Do you do that too? I need to stop and smell the flowers once in a while. It seems like a kid snuggle is the only thing that can derail me from my hyper drive mode. Oh well. I survive.

Carter got a crown for 100th day so Jude needed one too.

In their presidents shirts for President's Day. They are getting so big. The shirts are the same size!!

At church being themselves. Can't tell you how much I love them kids.

Three steps forward, one step back

So I was all ready to post about how awesome I am but then... well... let me explain.

      Carter, my super smart boy genius, has always struggled on and off with having accidents. It makes us SO frustrated because we know he knows better and makes a conscious decision to wet his pants because he is too busy and doesn't want to stop what he is doing. A while back we made a rule that he had to be accident free for 7 days straight before he could play wii and if he had an accident it would start all over. It worked at the beginning and then we hit a rough patch where nothing worked. Even over Christmas when Carter got new games that he really wanted and couldn't play he was having accidents almost every day.
    Well, the other day I had a thought. I bet he forgot how much he likes playing wii. So when I had to go to class I asked Dave to play with him for 20 minutes as a special reminder. And for the first time in a LONG time he went the whole 7 days!!! It was amazing! I was all excited and about to post about how smart my "incentive play time" was until today, on day 11, he had an accident. Dang it. We were at a school friend's house for a play date and it was his first time there and he was really excited so I'm sure that had something to do with it I was just so sad. Oh well. Tomorrow will be day 1 and we will just keep going. Such is life right?

     In other news, I have my first week of the semester under my belt and I am starting to feel a little more confident. I was freaking out about how I was going to juggle it all but I have faith in myself. If that first semester did nothing else for me (which it did do tons!!) it gave me a little confidence in myself. The kids and I seem to be getting a routine down and that makes things a little easier but we still have our moments. Don't we all though, really?
      In conclusion, I love staying home. Not every moment but all the moments put together.

I get by with a little help from my friends

Today I learned that at times I can rely on other people to help out where I fall short and that it is OK! It was a rough day for me as a mom. I just feel like I kept dropping the ball and my kids were not happy with me. First of all, I love fun things my kids do in school but most especially dress up days and I actually forgot about opposite day at Jude's preschool today. I felt so awful! I love opposite day!!! Luckily my amazing friend Amanda came to my rescue and put him in one of her daughter's skirts when I called her from the train to school. Of course it didn't last long since Jude is so particular about what he wears and he was upset that it was Pennie's and not his. Oh well.
        Later in the day Amanda came to my rescue yet again giving me a kid free hour to go to the fabric store and get supplies for school. I did have one win today though... I went online and printed every competitor coupon I could think of for Joann's and ended up saving $123.01. Take that! Anywho, I felt kind of like a failure for not taking my kids while running an errand. I know moms take their kids everywhere and I still struggle to do anything with my kids in tow. I just start panicking and then struggle to even function. I hate that the fear of stressful situations keeps me from just living my life. It's not even that my kids are that badly behaved in stores it's just the idea of not knowing how they are going to act when I am trying to accomplish something. At home I stop what I'm doing and devote all of my attention to the kids if need be but I can't really do that when we are out and about. This is something I am definitely hoping to master in my new life.
       When I was done and went to pick up the boys I decided that tonight would be a fast food night. No, we don't have them often. I've explained to Carter that it is unhealthy and expensive and should be a treat. So tonight, we treated ourselves. And then the chaos happened. Carter has this habit of overreacting to everything with a very loud, very high pitched scream. I repeatedly tell him this is not an appropriate response to the current situation but then I wonder if I am wrong for telling him how to feel and react. Jude stole Carter's french fries and there it was, the ear piercing, blood curdling scream. I got so frustrated that I immediately sent Carter to his room kicking and screaming and pulled the fries out of Jude's hand. Of course I then had two screaming children to deal with. Oh boy. So I went into Carter's room and he was throwing a huge tantrum and destroying his room. When I walked in he was throwing and kicking Rockem' Sockem' Robots so I told him if he touched it one more time it would go in the garbage. Needless to say Dave questioned why the game was in the recycling when he got home. (We did take it out and put it in storage for the next month at least...) I sat down and talked to Carter about what the appropriate reaction to the situation should have been and made him practice it. Not sure if that was the right or wrong way to handle that but it seemed to help and smoothed things over.
         I just feel like I don't know what to say and how to react to situations appropriately myself. So do I need to practice like I ask Carter to do? Any tips from moms out there that can help me in those melt down moments? I feel like I totally fail in those times of chaos and calamity. My anxiety is heightened in those moments and I don't know what to do. I can't even handle my kids' meltdowns sometimes and it is the worst feeling. Being a mom is hard.

It's all relative

It's been a very productive day, yet here I sit, at the computer, avoiding my Beginning Sewing textbook. I was chatting with Dave last night about something that has been on my mind again today so I think I ought to share. Hopefully Hubby doesn't mind me throwing him under the bus a little bit... I had my first class Monday night and wasn't expecting to get home until around 11PM so I asked my sweet husband to make Jude's "all about me" poster for preschool. It didn't have to be fancy and I actually told him exactly what I wanted it to look like to help him out (and because of the OCD...) I got home from school around 10PM and had my "decompression" time where I sit on the couch and watch TV until I can turn my brain off and go to sleep. At about 11:45PM I asked Husband about the poster and he said he hadn't had a chance to work on it and then could not find the construction paper. Boo. At that point I just wanted to go to bed.

         In the morning as Dave was leaving for work he told me he printed the pictures that I had requested for the poster and that I could just glue them on and make it "simple". Nope. He knew what would happen. Simple, while a lovely thought, is not in my vocabulary. I love simple, don't get me wrong, but those that know me know that I have a little problem and seem to do everything the most complicated way possible. That's just how I work. So after Husband and Thing 1 left for work and school I put Judela in front of some Yo Gabba Gabba and set to work all the while moaning and sighing about the fact that I asked Husband to do this the night before. When I finished and Jude saw my masterpiece it was worth it all. It was then I had an Ah Ha moment. 

            A month ago I would have been the first one to leave the house and any unfinished projects would have remained unfinished until I returned in the evening. A month ago I would have been doing busy work, talking to customers, solving work problems and the like rather than cutting and gluing. Why was I complaining!? I literally had 2 hours that I could spend creating something that my child would absolutely love and I was upset about this? I quickly realized that everything is relative. I told myself to take a step back and realize what I would rather be doing here. Yes, what I did before was important, somewhat satisfying and actually fun most of the time but, I'm telling you, making the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse out of construction paper is a lot more fun, more satisfying and, arguably, more important than anything I was doing before. I am grateful for this opportunity and I may have to remind myself about that constantly. 

        Today I was able to put a joke in my kid's lunch, watch Carter receive the Principal's Pride award at his school, attend a dance class of Jude's best friend (even though we weren't able to sign him up as planned), sing and play with Jude while we made and then messed up my bed, vacuum, take out trash, hand wash things I've been meaning to hand wash FOREVER, and even clean a toilet. Woohoo! All better than not having the opportunity to do any of it. There are days I don't feel like doing anything... and there are days I don't do anything but the key here is that I can do things I wasn't able to before. I never thought I would be grateful for the opportunity to clean a toilet used by a 5 year old boy but today I am. I know not every day will be like this and I will surely complain about having to clean up after my not-so-sharp shooter but today I am overwhelmed with appreciation for the fact that I get to do something so worth doing that even the "crappy" jobs are better than anything I could have done before. 

Carter accepting his award

Jude's super awesome place mat for preschool

Diary of an Anxious Mom

It's been a while. A long while. A lot has changed with our family since the last time I blogged. Husband got a job as a city planner for the city of South Jordan and is currently going to school part time to get his masters degree. Carter is in his first year of kindergarten, just started piano lessons and is my little boy genius. Jude just started preschool officially this week and is in no way ready to potty train but that is the next thing on the horizon for him. Me? I feel like I've had the biggest change of them all. This fall I started school for the first time in over 10 years at Salt Lake Community College for a degree in Fashion Design and almost exactly one month ago I quit my job to be a stay at home mom and full time student. Everyone was so positive about my decision to stay home but most people also threw in their condolences for the fact that I will most definitely go (more) insane and at times regret my decision to leave the work force and be governed by 2 small, and at times angry, bosses.

        I decided today as I was waiting for TRAX in the cold that I should create an outlet for my feelings on being a stay at home mom and my triumphs and downfalls in this new world. Do I expect people to read this? Maybe... Do I expect people to care? Maybe not... This is for me and for anyone else that has ever felt inadequate, lazy, anxious, excited, confused, or just down right scared crapless to be a mom and be responsible for the lives of small little people. 

           Anyone that knows me knows that I have always had anxiety and feeling of guilt about my ability to be a mom. Husband grew up surrounded by kids with younger siblings and nieces and nephews by the dozens but I was the baby of the family and there were no kids. I didn't hold a baby until I was at least engaged if not married. I always knew I wanted kids but I was always afraid. Afraid I would accidentally drop them, drown them, screw them up psychologically, feed them the wrong thing, make them cry... you name it, I was scared of it. When Carter was born I was a wreck. I would go all day without using the bathroom so he wouldn't cry, or only eat lukewarm food in case I spilled on him because heaven forbid I put him down long enough to actually eat something. I slept with him on my chest for the first month and a half because I wanted to be sure he was alive. I cried when the nurse told me to give him formula so he wouldn't have kidney failure when I had severely clogged ducts and trouble nursing. I had a lactation consultant come and help him go back to breast feeding after only bottle feeding for at least a week because I did not want my baby to be bottle fed. But the worst of all... I hated being alone with him. I always wanted people there to make sure I was doing things right. There was always someone better suited for whatever task that needed to be done even though I was his mom. 

            When we moved to Utah Dave and I both ended up staying home for a while and I loved it. I always had that support and someone there to help and watch to make sure I wasn't screwing things up. I went back to work full time when Carter was 8 months old and I hate saying this but I felt like there were others better suited to take care of him. I always had that "mom guilt", sure, but I never worried about him getting adequate care without me there. I always fully trusted everyone that was watching him even more than I trusted myself. My end goal was always to be a stay at home mom but I never really believed the day would come and I would have to be solely responsible for the care of my child. I've worked since then and even went back to work 6 short weeks after having Jude. During my time as a working mom of two I was diagnosed with anxiety and OCD and was taking medication for these things. Once I discovered that I had anxiety and started working to correct it I started wanting to be home with the kids more. With every little success came a greater desire to be solely responsible for my own children. 

         Don't get me wrong, I still feel very inadequate. I'm in no way a super mom. The hardest part is that I am surrounded by super moms and can't help but feel less than. I watch my sister in laws with their kids and wish I could be that confident and amazing. There are women in my neighborhood that home school their 10 children who are all so polite and considerate. All I can say is WOW. I am so jealous of these women and their ability to nurture, teach, discipline, organize, clean, cook, serve and run a happy home. Rather than focus on my deficiencies I have decided to try to be more like them. I am grateful that I have so many good examples of moms around me. Will I ever be perfect? H no. Will I ever be good enough? Yes and that is my goal. Be enough for my kids. 

          I am hoping to blog more about my journey as a stay at home mom but be warned. I'm sure there will be plenty of self deprecation, mom guilt and hopefully, at times, bragging when I feel I've done something right. You don't have to read it if you don't like it. I know I am long winded and even if people do read it I doubt they will make it to the end. I want to see my journey and my progress as a stay at home mom. I am so excited for the opportunity and know it will be a challenge. Not to get all Stuart Smalley on you but today I will tell myself "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me."

My weight loss story

A little bit ago a friend asked me for my weight loss story. Even though I felt less than qualified I sent her the following:

My weight loss story:
I've always had a skewed perception of my body. In high school, as a size 4, I thought I was fat and after my first son at a size 16 I didn't think I was "that big". I always compared myself to others thinking "I'm the smallest one here" or "I don't look as big as them" which I quickly noticed was not correct. My lowest point was the night I was watching biggest loser and one of the contestants mid season weighed in at 173. I was 170. I thought gosh she looks way bigger than me and then I realized that she was even like 5 inches taller than me. Obviously I was way off. I started eating healthy and exercising. Counting every calorie in and every calorie out. I got down to 142 but went on fertility medication that made me crazy and was 148 when I got pregnant a year later. During my pregnancy I felt a lot better than during my first. I ended up at 165 after my second baby and decided to start working on my weight when he was about 2 months old. This time my husband was doing it with me which made it so much easier. We never had bad food in the house, ate healthy good tasting meals and snacks and made a low calorie dessert once a week. At that point the only exercise I was doing was nursing my son. I dropped weight fast! So much so that I had to quit nursing my son after 5 months because my milk had lost most of it's fat content. I started exercising at least once a day on my lunch break and occasionally after the boys would go to bed. I would lift weights for 10 minutes on my morning break, use a stationary bike for 40 minutes on my lunch and do a 10 minute ab workout on my afternoon break. I started feeling good about myself for the first time ever and everyone seemed to notice the transformation. A year later I had lost 50 lbs and was 115 and a size 2. Smaller than I had ever been. I wish I could say I kept it off. Unfortunately I have gained 10 lbs back and have struggled to maintain. It's not easy. I'm back on the wagon now and am happy to report that I lost a pound this week. All I can say is that there is no real secret to weight loss. No fad diet or new fangled exercise will take the place of healthy eating and hard work. It takes dedication and support from everyone around you and is completely possible no matter who you are or what size you are starting out. Just start now! If you eat something you shouldn't have don't chalk it up as a ruined day, eat as healthy as you can and burn more calories! Don't completely deprive yourself just set limits. If you want a donut cut it in 4ths and eat 1 piece. 100 extra calories is far better than 400. Just educate yourself on what you are putting into your body and keep going. I will always struggle but the only difference between me and someone else that hasn't started this journey yet is that I know I can do it because I have done it before. All you have to do is start. Start now. Don't wait for some other day or for one last meal. Start now.

Today we had our assessments for our company wellness program and it made me think about this. Everyone was sure I would pass with flying colors but I was worried. I have never had so many people come up to me and call me a stick! It made me realize that I do really have this skewed sense of self. If only I could see what everyone else sees. It's been a great few weeks for me and I am really enjoying exercising and eating right. It seems that the switch in my brain finally flipped and I am back on track and happy about it! I thought I should share my story and you can take it or leave it.

Letters to Hailey 2

Hey Hermana Amiga,

                First off, Jude LOVED the stamp so thanks! Carter kept saying your card was his computer which was pretty funny. I hope you liked your surprise and also your Valentine from Carter. He was so excited to send it to you. So now let me think back to the events of this week…

Ah yes, lots of kiddo cuteness. We had a good Valentines and the boys loved their presents. Jude of course got a talking Woody doll and Carter got some Lego guys and “The Brick Bible” which is the Old Testament done in Legos. It is super awesome but quite graphic. There’s a lot of violence and prostituting in the Bible… What can I say? We let Jude take Woody to his cousins’ house that day and he broke so that night we had to return him and get a new one. He was so sad when his leg broke off but the look on his face when we replaced it was worth the trouble. That night after putting the kids to bed Dave and I built card houses and watched TV. Low key, but nice. I actually hate going out on Valentine’s because it’s always so busy and I’m not good in big groups of people. Plus finding a babysitter is a nightmare on Valentine’s day.

                In other news, you will be happy to know that Carter says he now loves me more that Dave. That is quite a leap forward for me since he is always very vocal about our rankings. I hate to admit that it may have a lot to do with the fact that I brought home Star Wars underwear for him from Costco but I do what I have to. Still no word from the school but we should hear this week. I found out last week that they had over 800 applications for only 350 spots!!! Luckily I know we are about 250 in line so hopefully all the other kinder moms are slackers. Carter has been doing a really good job of reading and reads a book every night with little to no help. He wants to start Matilda after seeing the movie so we will have to take a trip to the library. We have gotten in a really good rhythm with our bedtime routine with Carter. We’ve been reading from the Brick Bible and reading a BOM scripture mastery each night and explaining it. I figure reading important scriptures and understanding them is better than trying to get through the whole BOM word for word with my 4 year old and not have him understand it at all. He seems to really be getting it. Joy sent his picture to the friend with his certificate for memorizing all 13 articles of faith so we are hoping he will be in the magazine. That would be so cool. I signed Carter up for T-ball which starts in April after soccer is over. He is getting a lot better at soccer each week and definitely isn’t afraid to get in there which is the most surprising part.

                Jude is in a monkey see monkey do phase and likes to copy faces that people make at him. He is still in his hat phase and loves to play with Dave’s hats. He is now really into boxes and likes to sit in them with his toys. What a boy. One of his favorite things to do is act like a doggy and crawl around the house barking. It’s really cute and Carter likes to join him so I end up with the 2 cutest doggies ever. Jude has been randomly signing the song Hey Jude which is funny. The na na’s are probably my favorite part that he sings. I really think he will be the musical one in the family. Fingers crossed!!! He is growing up quick and is starting to say more phrases like “This way” or “that one” and uses words like thirsty and hungry which is super helpful. Too bad all he ever wants is pirate booty and fruit snacks and goes into hulk mode if we refuse him. He loves to say Amen super loud even at church which I don’t really mind because it’s cute. Luckily both boys have been pretty healthy lately and that makes me a happy mommy!!

                I’m feeling a lot better and am actually able to exercise and lift Jude now which makes life so much easier for everyone. I offered to make the costumes for my friend’s theater class’ production of Suessical which I am excited about. I’ve already started working on bird tutus and I have to make monkey vests and kangaroo ears and all that. Should be fun! I can’t remember if I already told you this but Dave is going to Chicago in April to go to a National planning convention which he is super excited about. I invited Nancy to come keep me company while he is gone so I am hoping she can. That would be super fun.

                I am sorry to hear that your investigators have gone away but you planted the seed and there will be many more opportunities. Everything you do out there could help someone. You just never know. Be diligent and keep your spirits up. The Lord loves you and will give you opportunities to reach people that are currently being prepared. You are being prepared to teach them. Know that we pray for you constantly and know you are making a difference. Even on the days you feel like no one out there cares, you are making a difference. Carter is excited about missionaries and cannot wait until he can go out and teach people like Auntie Nanny Hailey does. If nothing else you are a great example of faith. Keep it up and you will be blessed. I love you and miss you lots! Thanks for being awesome.

Letters to Hailey

So it's been a while since I blogged and there has been so much that has happened! I have decided that since I write to Hermana Pierce so frequently I will use edited versions of my letters as blog posts! Here goes:

                Sorry it has been so long since I wrote last but the past few weeks have been crazy! First off, how are you? So, a week ago this past Sunday I had emergency gall bladder surgery. I ended up having the worst pain ever right below my sternum and at about 1am we went to the ER. They hooked me up on all sorts of drugs and Dave had to leave but got back before the surgery the next day which went well. We left the hospital at about 9pm Sunday night but when we got to the middle of that hill near our house we realized there had been an accident at the bottom and we couldn’t get by without sliding into them. Dave drifted our car into a snow bank in the middle of the hill and got out to see what our options were. As he was out there a suburban came down the hill and I started honking like crazy to get everyone’s attention before they hit me. Luckily the suburban was able to slide into a nearby driveway and out pops my neighbor and his 3 boys. The 4 of them pushed all of the cars out of the way and pretty much pushed us home! Then he took Dave to pick up my pain meds. It was definitely a divine intervention moment. So I have been in pain recovering from that and coming back to work has been insane! SO MUCH TO DO!!! 

                So in happier news: Carter started soccer and oh my gosh… he is so stinking cute!! He is like the worst on the team but he gallops around the field and chases the ball everywhere! He was smiling and laughing and TALKING TO OTHER KIDS!!! Who is this child!? I am so glad we put him in soccer!! We are still waiting to hear back from the smarty pants school but we should hopefully find out if he got in this month. Fingers crossed. Apparently there is a bully at Carter’s preschool that called him a “doo doo head” and he told me it made him angry. I told him if someone calls him a mean name to say “Nah, Actually I’m pretty awesome.” He was practicing and so excited about it but Monday the bully ended up picking on his friend instead. Carter told me that he leaned over and whispered in Henry’s ear to tell him the phrase that he had practiced but Henry didn’t understand why Carter was whispering in his ear and told him to stop. So I told Carter if someone is calling someone else names he should say that person is awesome and stand up for him/her. I think he really got it and it was a good lesson. I almost can’t wait for this kid to call Carter a name and see how it goes!

                Jude has been struggling with the fact that I can’t lift him and I am not able to be the mom I was before (who am I kidding… I am struggling with it even more!!) I literally am not able to watch him by myself! I feel like such a cruddy mom but I am grateful that I have people to help me and I will get better soon. Right now Jude is obsessed with Toy Story. It was cute until he started getting super OCD about Woody’s hat! Now if it falls off, no matter where we are or what we are doing, we stop everything and put it back on. It’s actually pretty funny though. He has also been trying to show everyone Mommy’s “owies” by lifting my shirt in public. Gotta love that kid. He has been really obsessed with hats lately which is cute. The gluten free diet seems to really be helping him so that is great. He has started praying with our help but he is still not much of a talker so it is pretty basic. Cute though.

                Dave has been working on school and his internship and it looks like he might get to continue his internship with the city of Taylorsville into the summer and train the other interns. He might even get paid! Either way it will look great on his resume and can only help him to make contacts in his field.

Sometimes you just need Mommy

My boys were both upset when I got home and needed a mommy snuggle.

Hey, Ho!

A quick date

Carter and I went out to get balloons for Jude's party and we decided to stop for frozen yogurt. I love the places where you pay by the ounce because the 2 of us never spend more than $3 together! Love this silly kid!

Party time!

We had Jude's birthday party with the family last weekend and he loved it!



Here's my happy birthday boy!



Dave made him his own Sesame Street sign!




Grammy made him an awesome Cookie Monster Cake (with a little help from Mommy)




He loved it!



He used his hair as his napkin.

A good time was had by all!

A Story by CartMann

Merry Christmas to all!

 We had such a fun Christmas this year! We decided to stay with the Philpotts and do Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with them and Grammy and Papa. It was a crazy fun filled day. Here are some pictures.

The big boys in the their new Christmas jammies.

Good morning! It's Christmas!



Yeah! Fishies!



Carter has been having fun telling us where the hands of his new watch are pointing and letting us figure out what time it is.





Jude was so happy with all of his "car cars"

 

We spent the day putting together Legos which made Carter the happiest kid alive. This was not even half of the Legos he received.



After Jude went to bed we played Ninjago

 

Carter won.

 

We had a great Christmas with family and friends and were happy to just be together. We hope you had a great holiday and a fantastic year!

Carter Art Part 4

Carter drew a picture of Christopher with his friends Sparkles and Jack. He then told me he was an elf expert.

Going to the temple

Last night we met up with my Uncle Jim and cousin Elizabeth at the temple to look at the lights. It was raining and cold but they were really pretty. We ended up in the city creek food court and the boys played at the dinosaur playground. It was nice to see my family around the holiday!



The cold tired boys waiting for Trax.



Happy Birthday Jude!

Yesterday my little boy turned 2! I cannot believe how fast these 2 years have gone. Jude brings so much joy and laughter in to our lives and is such a happy little guy. We are so grateful for him and the blessing he has been to our family.

Happy Birthday Dude!!

Meeting Santa

These pictures go backwards but I am too lazy to move them:



Carter and Jude with their cousins at our ward party




Finally a happy smily picture of Carter with Santa!




I think he was a little shocked to actually be meeting Santa. He even forgot to tell him what he wanted!




Jude wasn't sure what was going on...




Kissing my Santa under the mistletoe




Santa baby!




Jude kissing our little Santa




My friend from California made hats and beards for the boys last year and I absolutely love them! I am so glad Carter likes wearing his now!




My cute little boy all dressed up and finding his nose.