time out with the turpins

Stings

2011-09-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

This week my 10 month old got stung by a wasp...in a place I would never expect to have to worry about it. Was she galivanting in the yard, or taking a walk in the stroller you ask? Nope. Just crawling up our stairs on her way to bed. I guess that is what I get for leaving the front door open all day while the kids play. I forgot to take a picture of her poor swelled little pinkie. But she is a determined young woman. I am sad to report that her experience hasn't dimmed her fascination with the stairs at all.

Grateful

2011-07-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

I can't sleep and I wanted to take a minute and make sure that I record along with all of my complaints, and events, just how much I LOVE my kids. I often feel overwhelmed with all I have to do, or rather all I don't get done... But in spite of that, every day I am thankful for the special, one of a kind kids who the Lord was kind enough to bless me with. Each one of them sets a great example for me in their own way. I got a horrible cough over the last week or so. I haven't done ANYTHING, and they have been cooped up in this house for such a long time. But they haven't complained, even though I haven't let them out the many times they have asked. And Jayden is constantly bringing me drinks, to help me feel better. I always find myself blocked when I want to describe for them how much they matter to me. It's hard to put into words, because they each have these little different qualities that lift my heart. And I can talk about the little things they say that make me smile or things I like about them... But it is more than that. They are SO good inside, and I can feel it, and it does make me feel unworthy to be their mom, especially when I think of how bad I am to them sometimes. But it also makes me feel thankful for EVERY little minute I get with them, because my time with them is the most AMAZING of my life. Especially the ones where I get to listen to what they think, or something they discovered...AMAZING. Both watching them learn, and just learning new facets of their personality, there is nothing like it. Even Courtney already lifts me so much. She is such an easy smiler, and she grins so big when she sees us(jay and I) that it seems like her face might break. It is the best feeling in the world seeing her, and my other kids smile. Jayden is already so helpful. I am constantly asking him to go get this or put away that, and he almost always is willing to do whatever little task I give him. He loves to draw and always has things he wants to write to narrate his books he makes. I love that he is creative and wants to learn. And he has such a tender side, especially for animals. He is so fascinated with them, and tells me constantly different things he learns. Not to mention, adopting obscure new ones into his games and stories. The other day he said to me, "I am hungry like a mussel, and not the kind on your body."(I think I was an adult before knew what a mussel was. :) And when he's a badger he's not just a badger, he's a honey badger...or an arctic wolf, etc... :). He is getting old enough to understand spiritual things, and I LOVE to talk to him when we read the scriptures. He already reminds me when we don't read and tells me that he sleeps better and doesn't have as many nightmares when we read our scriptures. I hope he keeps that awareness. Ethan is also my little care taker too. He wants to help Courtney so much. A lot of his days are spent smiling at her, or trying to make her laugh. I hope I never forget the look he gets on his face when he looks at her. He looks like HE is going to burst! And his stories make me happy too. I wish I could remember every one of all of their stories. They says the cutest, and funniest things. Both boys are constantly telling me things they learn about the world. Like, for instance, Ethan said one day "You can't throw cake on the police, or they will throw you in jail". "So don't do that okay? Promise you won't do that?" Modesty is very important to him. He told Kayleigh or Jayden one time while their shirt was off: "Get away from me! Your Naked!.... You don't want people around when you are naked huh? Yeah, or I might throw up" And one more funny thing: we were watching beauty and the beast and he was SO sad at the end when the beast was hurt. Jayden always had this reaction when he watched monster's inc and found out that boo had to leave. So I thought this one would be easy. I cuddled him in my arms and tried to comfort him and let him know that the beast was alright, he was just turned back into a human. I forget he loves little monsters...whenever he pretends these days he either wants to be a skeleton with no hair, or a tron guy. Formerly, he frequently picked zombies...I know, thanks Jay! He replied, " I want him to be a beast only! I don't want him to be a women!" For those of you who are puzzled by the women comment, just watch the end of beauty and the beast as he is transformed into his handsome prince self with the flowing blonde locks, and tell me that hair doesn't look like a woman...or women in Ethan's terms. He is always very aware of Jesus and the right things to do. In fact, of late, the other person he likes to pretend to be is Jesus...It has caused me to wrestle with my conscience on how to deal with it. He wants a towel or a blanket to put over his head and has even used Courtney's headbands, wrapped around the chin part of his face for a beard. I remember when he was very little, maybe even two, he fell on the porch on his way out to the car and scraped his face. We were on our way to church and we kind of decided to stay home, because he was bleeding and hurt. He cried and said that Jesus wanted him at church. And more recently, we are pretty much always late to church. So late that rather than skulk into sacrament meeting, we just sit in the foyer. He has begged a few times to go inside and is very distraught about not getting to. So anyway, I don't want to discourage that kind of sensitivity. Of course the wrestle is because I don't want him to take the Savior and what he did lightly or not teach him enough respect for Him. But I also don't want to discourage him from making the Savior a part of his life and encourage him rather to be a skeleton or other character... Here I am on a tangent! I'm just trying to say, I am happy that he too is sensitive to spiritual things. My kids are SO much better than I was at such a young age...Who am I kidding, they are better than me now! I hope they can continue to learn how to follow those good feelings. Even Kayleigh, she loves to sing and I love to hear her sing I am a child of God. At first I thought it was so cute how it sounded like I am a child of God, but it was a bunch of garbled syllables. My favorite part though, was when she sang "w' gramma kine a ears!" Instead of parents kind and dear. Now she sings it like a pro. She has even sang it a few times in the car at my request to calm the baby... or me! She also loves to play pretend. She is an AMAZING doggy. With the panting and even an occasional doggy kiss. And she LOVEs to pretend she's a baby and sometimes amazes me with her great courtney impressions! She really likes to set up who's going to be what in her game. One minute I'm assigned to be the baby and she's the mommy, the next we swap, it really keeps me on my toes :). Another time, Kayleigh: "I a goggy (doggy), Ethan is a cow, and Jayden is a guck(duck). And you are a....cow." Me(trying not to take offense at the cow comment :): "what is daddy?" "aaa...guck." "And courtney?" "a guck." Have you seen this girl?!? She is so cute, as well as very smart and stubborn. I'll be honest, she scares me! But she is also so sweet natured. She is constantly trying to help people feel better and often forfeits her toy or does other unselfish things to make Ethan or others happy. In fact, my favorite thing to see in nursery is when she tries to find toys for the kids who are not so happy to be there. What a darling girl :). The one thing I can say about Courtney beside the fact that I love how happy she is and how remarkably patient she is. I love her wise eyes. They seem to see right through me. I'm sure she will have a lot to teach me as I get to know her better. And she is a real go getter too. She makes me tired sometimes, but I love her determination.
My one hope when I am old and grey and return to Heavenly Father, is that each memory I have of my kids is as clear as the day we made it. I'm sure I am the most forgetful person I know. And SO many are forgotten before I record them. I always feel blocked when I am trying to think of posts like these. I just hope that all those millions of moments are somehow being stored up there and will be waiting for me.
If in twenty years my kids read this, Please know this. I think you are AMAZING! Every one of you! I could never pick a favorite because each of you are so unique and special you are each my favorite you! I love you more than I could ever say in words. My one hope above all others is to see you happy in your lives and to be with you FOREVER. EVERY day, even the ones I yell and scream, I pray a thankful prayer to Heavenly Father for giving you to me. And I beg him to help you to learn what you need to learn in spite of my unskilled teaching, and to bless me with patience since I am SO lacking in that. I beg him to help you to return to him and be happy. I love you I love you I love you I LOVE YOU! Your faithful mommy :)

Count Your Blessings

2011-04-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have been in kind of a strange place these days... I have tons of blog posts in my queue, all unfinished...a pile of laundry at the bottom of my stairs unfinished...an endless pile of dishes, that though I feel I am washing constantly, remains unfinished... I assume you get the picture, only those who have been unfortunate enough to enter my home see the enormity of my failure, and for those people...I am very sorry :). Then you combine that with my short temper, and my general frazzled, forgetful, brain that can't organize a thought, let alone a sentence, or an action... and I have basically been feeling like I'm in a sand pit. I claw and claw my way up the side and think, I'm doing this, I am going to get to the top! (You know in the morning when I have already gotten the kids off to school and gotten some laundry started and dishes done. And I'm thinking, at this rate, I'll have time to clean these two rooms today AND, maybe have time to help Jayden with his homework and, read to the kids and, maybe even let them do an art project while I make dinner! And, TODAY I'm going to have dinner ready ON TIME! YES!!!) Then, the next thing I know, It's four o'clock...It feels like I just blinked. (While making meals, solving fights, feeding my constantly hungry baby, and admittedly, checking facebook) Oh well, so much for two clean rooms, homework, and art projects...good thing he's still in kindergarten!! I better hurry and fill the dishwasher again and start dinner, at least that will be on time tonight... Of course that gets interrupted several times and I am at six thirty going... Oh no! We are eating at 7 again and my poor children are STARVING, and where in the heck are all those clean dishes, and who dumped that chocolate milk behind the table!?!? Man, I wish I swept up those cheerios this morning before they dumped that milk! And I never changed that batch out!!! So basically, I claw my way up and get just high enough to see success, and that darn sand starts sliding. Before I know it I am back at the bottom, exhausted, and NO CLOSER to the summit. I have often pictured myself in some natural setting like this, I don't know why. In the past I pictured myself climbing the side of the mountain with my kids in a pack on my back. It was a hard climb, but then I could take a rest, look out, and see a beautiful view. I don't know how I got from there to this SAND PIT! I'm going back to the mountains, they are the place I love.
I read a little article in the friend, and got some amazing advice from my mom. (As usual, do you know my mom? If you do, you are a lucky person.) I think I am getting out of this place! I have been slowly implementing her suggestions, as well as some goals of my own. Oddly, my physical surroundings have not changed much... I am still WAY overweight, and I don't think I am any more organized yet... but I yelled a lot less this week! And my mental imagery has changed some... I picture a winding path. Still a little dark, but mountainous, with the darkness coming from trees shading it, that has to be a good thing. I hated the monotony of that sand pit ;). And I feel happy. Now I have never not felt blessed. I have AMAZING children and a fantastic husband. I just felt like the blight on their otherwise happy lives. And I was starting to feel helpless to change anything.
Now, I have a long way to go, but I am trying to adopt some things that will help me do better physically. I love having goals and feeling like you are moving toward some level of accomplishment. But more importantly, I want to FEEL good. And though accomplishing my goals does help, I have needed a spiritual overhaul. In case any of you feel like me, here are the suggestions that my mom gave me for baby steps that can be done even in a crazy busy life. I have sporadically read scriptures, or the Ensign, but in my disorganized life, I find that I do one thing one day, and different things the next and a week or several, will go by without any study. She suggested playing primary songs all day on the radio, as one way to change the spirit in my home. That is the only one that I have fully implemented, and it has helped A LOT! I'll get there eventually with these other two! Playing the scriptures on the computer in the morning while I get ready and make Jay's lunch etc... And getting dressed and ready for the day first thing. (Anyone who has seen me in recent months know I have not yet implemented this one!)
The other thing that has helped me was a little article I read to the kids from the friend. It is an exerpt from a Talk given by Henry B. Eyring in the October 2007 general conference. I haven't read the whole talk yet, I am going to include what I read in the friend here:
"Forgetting God has been a problem among His children since the world began. Think of the times of Moses, when God provided manna and in miraculous and visible ways led and protected His children. Still the prophet warned the people: “Take heed … lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen” (Deuteronomy 4:9).
Find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness. It will build our testimonies. You remember that song we sometimes sing: “Count your many blessings; name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done” (“Count Your Blessings,” Hymns, no. 241).
When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.
The Holy Ghost helps us see what God has done for us. I testify that God loves us and blesses us more than most of us have yet recognized. I know that is true, and it brings me joy to remember Him."

Attitude is SO much a deciding factor in our lives. So my first goal tied to this is to change the way I think. I think so many negative thoughts... Mostly about myself and my many failures, but even more than that... If I am stressed about a social situation or something negative that might happen or has happened I have these conversations in my head about what I wish I said, or even worse what I could say if the confrontation I imagine might happen actually does happen. (Of course usually those imagined confrontations NEVER happen) And isn't that sick? Who spends their life thinking over and over of their stinging reply they wish they said when someone said something rude...LET IT GO! And worse, the what if some person says something mean to them next week when a stressful situation might happen at this event or that?? Who thinks of their possible reply in a situation like that!?! I am so weird... So the one thing I got out of this is to STOP thinking, let alone saying bad things. I am trying not to gossip, or even let myself think anything bad about another person, or about myself. The primary songs have helped a TON with this. Both to making me aware of negative thoughts and helping me purge those bad habits! As with everything else, I have a LONG way to go.
The other goal I have tied to this is to record in my journal, positive things that have happened each week. Or where we have been touched by the hand of God. Since my blog is my journal, maybe I'll be actually catching up on it!
My other feel good goals beside continuing to work toward organization are to do the things I love to do. I love to spend time with my kids. I love to blog. And I love to sew, and make things. So those are some things that I am going to do. My favorite quick sewing project of late, is fabric flowers. So I am going to make some every week for my girls and to sell on ebay or give as gifts. If anyone who reads this has any interest in buying flowers, let me know and I'll post the ones I make each week. I'll probably be selling them for 3-5 bucks each. Also, if anyone wants me to make a particular kind... If you'll buy me five bucks worth of material and whatever centers you want for the flowers, I'll make you two flowers of whatever size and kind you want. (That is if you want a particular center. I make soft fleece or felt centers on big flowers and I can put a button or jewel if it is a small flower. But if you want a covered button, or other large button you'll have to buy them.) I can post or email pics of the kinds I make if anyone has interest. And I'll just keep the extra fabric as payment. (That will help me work on my hobby without spending money that I don't have!) Also, anyone who sews and wants to help me out, please give me any scraps of fabric or ribbon that you won't use. I can make flowers with very small amts of fabric, so if you are going to throw it away anyway, I would love to have it!! :) Life is great and we are so blessed to be here! I am going to count my four special blessings on another post today or tomorrow, but for now, goodbye! And thanks for listening :).

WHAT A DAY!

2010-10-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

I just had one of those not so pleasant, but probably will be funny in a couple of years moments and I felt I should record it. Jayden goes back to school next week and I thought it would be fun to do one last fun activity with mommy before going back. They always want to go play at the restaurant play areas so I let them pick the place and we ended up at Taco Maker.
It is a larger one, but since Ethan and Kayleigh are usually not adventurous enough to leave the bottom areas, I figured we were okay. Well today everyone was feeling particularly brave. Jayden lead all of them up to the top, and Ethan and Kayleigh were all over that play area like pros. After my initial panic at the thought of one of them getting stuck, I felt a wave of pride in my children and settled in to enjoy watching them have fun. And they did! It was great! They were climbing up and down all over the tunnels with no problem, and I figured they would all avoid the giant slide in the back.  Eventually I heard one of them working their way down the slide. I knew it must be Jayden, since Ethan rarely attempts any slide, let alone one that is longer than a yard. But sure enough MY Ethan emerged at the bottom. I was so happy for him I could hardly contain my excitement; and he beamed with pride that he had managed it, especially first (my boys are a little too competitive lately :). That caught Kayleigh's attention and the two of them spent the next ten minutes climbing up and sliding down again. This was the best play area in the world!! Now they had been on every part of this huge jungle gym without any fear. I was thrilled...I had nothing to worry about.
It was at about this moment that Kayleigh must have reached the top of the slide for the first time... Apparently the slide looks a lot more scary from the very top, than it does from halfway up, or however far she'd gone the twenty other times she had gone up and down it. Then, as she realized she was trapped, the crying commenced. First, I sat at the bottom and tried to coax her down. She said okay several times in between fits of crying and I thought she would come around that final bend any second... After what seemed like FOREVER I figured she was stuck halfway down and sent Jayden up the slide to check her progress. She was still at the top... So I asked him to coax her down... She wasn't interested... Since she was already crying anyway, I thought maybe Jayden could grab her feet and force her down the slide. (Maybe not the smartest move, but I have to say in my defense that I am 38 weeks pregnant, measuring 42 weeks pregnant. AND I FEEL IT! I didn't think there was ANY possible way that I was going drag my huge pregnant body up the 3, 360 degree turns that this slide took to get to the top. I was desperate.)
So Jayden commenced pulling, and Kayleigh's crying turned into horrible, SHRIEKS of sheer terror. It was painful to hear, but I figured it would be over soon. Meanwhile, Ethan climbed up and wanted to help too, and then some kind of battle between he and Jayden happened and Ethan was screaming too. I was hollering at Ethan to come down and get out of the way which elicited more sad complaints from him. I think somewhere in the middle Jayden wanted to give up and I talked him into trying again (I can't be sure, it was pretty chaotic).  Shortly after he started making attempt number two, he informed me that she had thrown up... LOVELY. This ended it for Jayden. I wanted him to do whatever it took to yank her down, but when I tried to get him to he started crying. "She's really strong and I don't want to throw up!" (He does have a point, he has thrown up just with the sight of it before. I guess I didn't want that to add to our problems.) I was able to talk him into going up the back way and trying to coax her down that way. I had to guilt him into it, telling him that he was her only hope of ever getting down. I felt bad afterward because after that failed he was crying too. Between sobs..."It SMELLS SO bad and I didn't want to throw up!" She didn't want to go down the little tunnel to go the back way anyway. Funny how that seemed so scary to her now, even though she had been scurrying through them with no problem before!
Next, I tried to climb the slide. I got just around the first curve before I started sliding back down... I pulled and held on the best I could, but gravity was too strong for me... So I layed there at the point I could get to and with the most soothing voice I could muster, begged her any way I could to come down. I told her I wanted a hug, and that I would catch her, and encouraged her over and over. She would longingly or pathetically say mommy, and then say okay, but would eventually say "I skeerd". We went through this for another long time...then I thought maybe if I scared her down... (again...I was desperate!) So I told her she needed to come down or I was going to have to leave. She cried a little and I begged some more, but still NOTHING. So I went over by Jayden and Ethan and waited a minute, hoping she would take the bait and come down, and trying to imagine how the rest of the afternoon was going to play out... Can you call the police to rescue a little girl from a jungle gym?? Do we just wait till Jay gets off work in two hours?? Start begging strangers to rescue my throw up covered daughter?? Do I try to climb through the miles of tubes and rope ladders to get to her from the other way? I figured if I struggled to climb the slide, there was no way I was going to make it up the maze. I would probably end up tangled in one of those rope nets or worse, break through somewhere along the way since it is definitely NOT made to hold someone of my weight. So there was but one choice...back to the slide. I hadn't taken my shoes off before, because I figured they would give me more traction than my bare feet.  What the heck, bare feet it is. I got to about the same place on the slide when my knees started slipping again and nothing I could do would keep me from sliding back down! (stupid slick pregnancy pants!) I begged and coaxed a little more, before realizing I could turn around and back up the slide. Ever so slowly I inched my way up the curves, feeling the weight of gravity pulling down on my stomach. The slide bounced slightly with each move and I was certain that it would eventually collapse under my weight. I finally reached her and was slapped in the face with her horrible smell...(Jayden REALLY knew what he was talking about!) I think the throw up got even more rank during the HOUR it took me to get her down; and she had added to it by pooping her pants in a more stinky than usual way.
So we finally got to the bottom and I tried to hurry and gather up our stuff and clean up. Then I dragged my stinky daughter who was quite obviously covered in disgusting slimy throw up through the crowd of people who were trying to enjoy their food...at least they WERE before WE walked by.  Then I informed the employees (as if they couldn't tell) that my daughter had thrown up all over their jungle gym...that was a pleasant end. Out at the car, I stripped her down and changed her diaper, thankful the ordeal was finally over!

Back to School

2010-10-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

Orientation Day!

I am such a slacker! My oldest son entered Kindergarten this year and I still haven't recorded this landmark! Not to mention Ethan started at Sandy's preschool. I guess better late than never!

During the first week of school for the rest of the kids, the kindergarten teachers scheduled little orientation appts for the kindergarteners. When we went into his class room, Jayden seemed to burst with excitement. He jumped up and down like he won a prize when he saw the shelf full of counting blocks and other fun educational toys. He was so READY to go!

I think his first day was August 2. That first day he ran right in there without any concern for himself, let alone his sad mother. I don't think he even said goodbye! I was actually okay until that moment he ran into class and I had to turn and walk away. My two friends with kids in the same class had the wisdom to wear sunglasses. I had to walk through a group of other parents trying to blink back my tears.

He really seems to enjoy school. At first I was afraid that he enjoyed it too much. He and his friend Zach kept getting into trouble for talking! I begged, and threatened them to make them sit apart from each other at school, and now I reward them for not sitting by each other with special activities in the afternoons. :). He really likes his teacher and I am so happy with the experiences he's had so far this year. I am so far behind that he is finishing his first track break this week.

First Day

With best buddy Zack

Still smiling after school! That's a good sign right?

Ethan's first Day!

Ethan started about a month later on September 8. He looked so little with that giant backpack on! He goes twice a week for a couple of hours and is so proud to be in preschool. In fact, he tells Kayleigh almost every day that she can't go to his school :) He especially loves color days when he gets treats!

4th of July Part 1 and 2!

2010-07-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

Since 4th of July fell on a Sunday this year, we got to celebrate it twice! On Saturday the 3rd, we did our traditional celebration and it was a perfect day for a parade. It was a pretty cool day, and I was very thankful for that. It was the most comfortable weather we've had in years! All of the kids had a great time. I brought candy so they didn't have to battle other kids for it, but SO many people threw candy to them, they had more than they wanted! In my opinion, it was a perfect morning.

Ewww! Coffee flavored candy :)

Grandma milligan made us a wonderful lunch and we relaxed at her house for the afternoon and then we moved to our house for our evening bbq and to start with the firework fun. The men left our driveway looking like a war zone, so I think they had fun even before it got dark!

We headed over to the Magna fireworks and they always have such a great show. Every year seems better because our kids get older and enjoy it more. I'm so glad that we can continue with a tradition that was Jay's all through his childhood. I'm thankful for all of the memories that our kids will have with this fun tradition.

After trekking back to our cars and taking our "secret" shortcut home, we started the BIG fireworks. Ethan and Kayleigh didn't want to participate this year, so I got to watch caillou with them inside... lucky me :). And Jay didn't have to listen to my constant warnings. I love seeing the little boy grin on Jay's face as he gets his one of rare chances to play with fire. (taking all safety precautions for my sake of course! :)

Usually Jay's sister and her kids have to miss our Magna parade, etc... because they go to the Layton parade where Chon is a fire fighter and ride on the fire truck. We had the rare opportunity to join them this year on Monday the 5th of July. Ethan wasn't so crazy about the idea of riding on top of the truck, but Jayden got to and it was such a fun experience for him! Thanks Chon for including him! I really enjoyed the parade. They have more floats and bands than our little Magna parade and it was fun to see them.

Mom's Vacation Week

2010-07-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

Mom and dad came up last week and spent a whole week with us. It was wonderful, fun and EXHAUSTING!!! I'm barely feeling recovered two days after it is all over. But I wouldn't trade the memories for the world. Wednesday we just started slow by hanging out with mom at Jana and Rachel's apartment. Thursday they came to my house and we let the kids play until time for our girls night at Cheesecake Factory! It was fun getting away with the girls, and the FOOD was great too! ;) We went back to Laura's with our ten pieces of cheesecake and everyone tried all of the kinds...yummy!
Friday is when things got crazy! Jay left Friday morning for a camp out and I packed up the kids and our swimming gear and headed to Jana's apartment. We went swimming for the first time Friday night and it was apparent that I don't expose my kids to the water enough!! Both Jayden and Ethan were most comfortable in a boat that Cari brought, with lots of supports in it. So they took turns using it. Kayleigh begrudgingly stayed in the water for a time, with various adults, but preferred to be out running around the perimeter of the pool. She scared me to death several times! I was certain she would slip and careen into the pool far away from where we were. (needless to say, we started setting rules that she stay by the table or be in the water with an adult after that day) I found out in the course of the evening that at some time I had driven over a road hazard that put a hole in BOTH of my passenger side tires. Luckily, Laura had a compressor, so I pumped them up once that night to keep the rims off the ground. We stayed up ridiculously late: after I pumped up my tires, we put the kids to bed, and then Mom and I went to walmart. We went in search of more boats and groceries needed for Saturday. We found them, but thought they were smaller so we didn't buy them. Returned home at 2 am and got a few hours sleep before getting up and starting on the business for the next day. I woke up in time to pump up my tires again and have Dad take me to discount tire right when they opened. We got back and visited the pool for the morning and it worked out well. Most of the kids weren't there so Jayden borrowed one of the big kid floaties that seemed stable to him and swam around with that while Ethan enjoyed the boat. They were having so much fun that the hours flew by! Before long it was noon and we got out, bathed the kids and ourselves and got dressed. Then mom and I went to costco for things for the Saturday reunion and Sunday birthday party. By the time we returned we ate a few bites of lunch and then I made fondant while they raced to put together stuff for the Brown family reunion in Kaysville. Even with everyone working we were an hour later than planned. (I'm not sorry though, an hour longer at the park would have made me MORE tired!) The kids watched the ducks and played around the pavillion until time to eat and then we went and played on the play ground. I felt bad not getting to talk to the fam much, but I was alone with the kids and afraid of what might happen if they got away from me by the creek that runs through the park. And they had a great time, especially once I finally let them go to the playground! Jayden is pretty self sufficient, so he just went wherever all over the play ground. There is one perfect slide for smaller kids on one side that I showed Kayleigh and Ethan after they were tired of digging in the wood chips. It was the perfect size for them to go on even by themselves. I showed them the path up the stairs and across the bridge to the slide and back to the stairs and they went around and around till time to go. Kayleigh was particularly funny; she is so small, she would often plop right on her bum at the bottom of the slide because she couldn't catch herself with her feet. But it didn't even phase her. She'd just get back up and head for the stairs again. When I reached my limit of exhaustion, I loaded up the kids trekked home to Jay who had returned from the campout while we were at the reunion. I would have loved to go to bed, but instead I worked on the birthday party prep till after midnight. (I got a second wind and its a good thing! If you read my post about the birthday, I needed to stay up that late or something probably wouldn't have gotten done!)
I will leave out Sunday since I included that in another post, but it was another long, though incredibly wonderful and rewarding day. Happy Birthday Jayden!!!
I stayed up pretty late Sunday again visiting and relaxing after the party. I was planning to get to Jana's apartment to start preparing for Arin's shower by 8...(yup, ANOTHER event! :) I couldn't make myself get up quite as early as planned and was pretty sore so my movements were slowing down. I forgot to mention that Jana and Rachel live in a third floor apartment. I am pretty out of shape, overweight, and six months pregnant, so after a few days of walking those stairs several times I was FEELING IT! After dressing the kids and one more trip to walmart for shower necessities, I didn't get there till 11! And then we wanted to let the kids swim again. Mom went to walmart and ended up buying those boats we saw as well as a ton of other floaties and it was a great thing! They weren't smaller like they appeared, they were the same, plus they had a sun shade. So we had tons more for the kids to play with and they all had a wonderful day. Maybe too wonderful. We were there for hours and apparently didn't reapply sunblock frequently enough so many of us got burned at least in some places. Luckily the burn didn't kick in for me that day. Some of us went to Laura's to prepare for the shower while the rest went to buy stuff for it, and we got it put together in time. I felt pretty good except for my stair weary legs!
It was a great party. We don't get to see that family very often and lots of them came, even from far distances. It was nice visiting and just seeing everyone. Teri brought some particularly beautiful and sentimental home decorations that brought tears to Arin's eyes and we all shared a special moment. How exciting to watch Arin anticipate her special new life to come, an unforgettable evening because we shared it with so many amazing women. After everyone left, I dragged myself home and plopped into bed.
Now by tuesday, I was pretty close to hitting the wall. Ethan was up in the night suffering from his sunburn, and I didn't sleep so well myself. During the night, I was convinced that we would not swim the next day. I suppose the wiser thing to do would have been to stay home completely. However, I am so zealous about seeing my family when they come to town. That, combined with my desire to give my kids every opportunity for fun and memories, made me drag myself out of bed and pack up again for Jana's. Everyone was pretty exhausted by Tuesday, but the kids, even Ethan still wanted to swim. So I went and got a couple more shaded boats for the kids who we wanted to keep out of the sun, and we put extra sunscreen and t shirts on them and headed back out to the pool. I struggled even at the store, but didn't even think of asking just to stay in with Kayleigh. She never really grew to love the water. We forced her to be in there on the other days, and she tolerated it as long as their were lots of adults to keep passing her around. (I think she was really just trying to find one to understand her pointing toward the edge of the pool where she wanted to be! ) She was happiest playing in the shade by the pool. We went down at right about nap time for her. She even tried to curl up and go to sleep on my lap and on a floaty on the ground under the table, but could find no rest and was getting very grumpy. I also was progressively feeling worse even though all I was doing was sitting in a chair in the shade! Luckily, Mom, Cari, and Candice suggested I go in. I felt like I barely made it up the stairs and by the time I got there I was cramping so I started feeling anxious about the baby too. Kayleigh and I laid under the table until it went away and then I got us out of our swimming clothes and laid down for a nap. It was SO nice to just rest and I was thankful that Jayden and Ethan could still be out having fun. I still felt miserable when they came up and I just wanted to go home. So we said our goodbyes and I drove home. Jay let me go right to bed and put the kids to bed. (SUCH an AWESOME husband! Especially since he had spent the day digging in the sun and was extremely weary himself.) Now two days later, I feel almost completely back to myself and all the effort was worth it. We had such a priceless week with Mom, Dad, and Cari's family. We are so blessed to have such a large family with wonderful cousins to spend time with.

I only pulled out the camera one time all week. Here's some of our swimming fun!

Our little sunbather

Reunion and Camping

2010-07-29T06:54:00.001-07:00

I didn't get any pics of this last weekend, but wanted to post anyway about our one camping trip of the summer. Jay ended up being on call and couldn't go to the Jensen reunion with us, but since I rested most of the week after mom left I decided to take the kids by myself and let them have a mini camping trip. The fam was really helpful, Laura let us stay in her tent. (Jayden remembered sleeping out a couple of summers ago in her tent and was really excited to repeat the experience.) We left bright and early for the reunion and met the family at the camp ground. It was only about a two hour drive, but Jayden kept asking if we were in Nevada yet. He thought it was a pretty long drive. My fam reserved a camp ground in Manti by the temple. I haven't been back through Ephraim for years and enjoyed seeing it again. The reunion was fun, but really hot and tiring! Ethan completely wore himself out! He had been playing forever on the playground and the swings and was looking pretty sick to me. I was swinging him and kept asking him if he wanted to get down and get a drink and he was determined to keep swinging. Finally, I insisted, and as he got off the swing he threw up EVERYWHERE! I guess I should have insisted earlier! Kids are so funny! I can't imagine he was even enjoying himself with the way he looked, but he was so reluctant to shorten his fun that he just put up with it. You'd think I never let him outside to play!!
Back at the campground we played on another more well shaded playground. The kids got to enjoy roasting marshmallows for a minute...(At least I hope they enjoyed it. My paranoia takes away from those kinds of experiences.) Roasting marshmallows was the one thing Jayden looked forward to beside sleeping in a tent. I think it's funny he likes to roast them, since he doesn't even like to eat them. I guess it benefits me since I can eat them. I was excited when someone pulled out the sparklers and drew them away from the fire :). Jayden got burned and decided they weren't so fun, but we had tons, so the other kids played for a long time! Kayleigh and Ethan even lit some. Kayleigh wanted to touch the flame at first, but Heather showed her how much more fun it was to wave them.
We had a slow moving morning and then packed everything up and went home. I don't feel like I did much, but I was so tired when I got home that Jay took care of the kids so I could take a nap!

The Big 5!!!

2010-07-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

I am late posting, because of a REALLY busy week/month, but I wanted to take a few moments and talk about Jayden's landmark birthday! On July nineteenth my big boy turned 5! I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. He was so excited and seemed to know what an important birthday it was. He talked about how he was soon going to be five for weeks before.
What a fun five years it has been for me! Of course we were very excited for his arrival since we felt we had waited a long time for him and we have certainly never been dissapointed. Our whole world revolved around our little Jayden man. And he sure LOVED the attention! He was a ham from the very start, always making faces and doing silly things that made everyone laugh. He has also always been very active and rambunctious boy, I feel like I am correcting him constantly, and sometimes feel like I am talking to a brick wall! And yet, he is very sensitive in many ways, wants to be good, TRIES to be good, and is way to hard on himself. Just the other night he was crying because he felt like he wasn't a good boy...(talk about ripping a mother's heart out! It confirmed that I am stealing his self esteem!) It was nice to be able to talk to him about how much I and Heavenly Father and Jesus love him. And that they just want us to try our best, because they know that will make us most happy. But that none of us are perfect and we just have to let things go. Not to mention that he IS a REALLY good boy and does so many wonderful things. I know I probably lean too much toward laying down the law. But I try really hard to let him know how AMAZING I think he is.
It is difficult to describe in words, but he is very sensitive, kind, and observant...the reason it is hard to describe is because it is hard to come up with examples. But I see it almost every day, in what he says and watching his little mind work...it is one of my favorite things about him. I really feel like it is a gift. He seems very aware of others, and concerned for their well being. We saw a homeless man, and he asked me about him and why he didn't have a home. He asks me questions like that a lot, when he sees things on the news etc... He seems so aware for his age and I am always surprised by what he observes and understands when we watch the news, or when Jay and I are talking. And he wants to make connections and learn new things too. He really keeps me on my toes with his questions. Not to mention delighting me with his discoveries.
In less than two weeks I will have to put him in kindergarten for the first time... I don't know if I am ready for it! He can't wait and is always asking how close it is, so I am happy for him. But I have loved having my kids all to myself, and I will miss those times. In short, I have felt so blessed to have such a special, amazing little man come into my life. He teaches me so much and enriches my life more than words can say.

I am going to include a few of his favorite things and then I'll talk about his birthday party!
Favorite color: Red
Favorite food: chicken nuggets, mac and cheese
Favorite toy: bumblebee, optimus prime, turtle puppet
Favorite tv show: transformers, curious george
Favorite things to do: playing, riding his bike
Favorite Restaurant: Olive Garden and Burger King

We celebrated his birthday on Sunday, the 18th. It followed several BUSY days so we were working all day preparing for the party not to mention being TIRED from an already crazy week! All the preparations are worth it though, when everyone has a wonderful time. Jayden wanted an Optimus prime truck cake. I found a pretty fun looking cake online and looked forward to the opportunity to try it out. I started making cakes and rice krispy treats in the days before, but hadn't finished as much as I had planned to when Sunday morning rolled around. (You know, stacking, frosting, and covering the cake with fondant :) Then when I started rolling the fondant that I had prepared the day before, I discovered that forgetting to put it somewhere cooler than my car the day before, had ruined it.... So luckily, I had bought extra fondant supplies and I rushed to make another batch. With the help of Jay, my mom, and sisters we got the house ready, the food ready and the cake ready, just in the nick of time!! (well we worked on the cake through the party, but it was done in time to sing and cut it up! :) I spent the WHOLE day on the cake, the rest of the food was made by my mom and Jana. (not to mention, Rachel did all the painting on the cake and helped me the whole time with that.) Thanks guys! What a great day it was. Jayden helped me remember the final touch I forgot: oreo sticks for smoke stacks. He seemed pretty happy with the cake after they were added.

Grandpa Turpin was one of the first ones there, he read to the boys while we finished preparing the party.

We had so many family and friends there to wish him a happy birthday. Even my parents and Cari were in town. As usual, I think Jay made the party for the kids. We bought a bunch of squirt bottles for the kids. He found a big squirt gun and ran around with him against all twenty of them. A couple of times he tried to jump over the crocodile pool, slipped and fell in getting soaked from head to toe. SO fun to watch him being a kid with all of them!

This is just after he fell into the pool for the first time :).

Presents!

Cake!

After the cake and the presents we tried to calm things down with a little sidewalk chalk. I wish I got a picture of the driveway before the rainstorm yesterday! It was very cute. A huge rainbow and tons of the kids names who were there with their drawings. I love summer birthday parties, they require very little activity planning yet always end up a blast! Happy Birthday Jayden!

Yet another vocabulary post...

2010-07-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

I didn't get a good list of Kayleigh's favorite vocabulary words so here's a few more:
EEEoow-(meow)
sniffing sound- (oink)
CHEESE!- usually means cheese, but occasionally, just stands for food
Ice and Eyes-(she says both of these words perfectly :) so cute)
Boo-(Book)
Ree-(read)
eese?- (please?)
She also says DON'T pretty clearly as well. She is really good at letting people know what she does and DOESN'T want.
Yah! Yah! This one is thanks to her brothers. She says this when she is swinging a sword or other object at Jay.
App-o - Apple
tank oo - thank you. She really says it well, but I usually have to remind her to say it.

One more fun conversation from today. Jayden and I were looking through a name book and talking about names for the new baby. I put the book down and Kayleigh started looking at it. I asked her jokingly if she was going to help us find a name and she shook her head. Jayden said: “I don’t want her to pick the name. She might pick a name I don’t like, like Kip.”

A couple more words of wisdom...

2010-06-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

We'll start with Ethan... We all know he loves hats, particularly the underwear kind... Usually when he wears them he is Megatron, or bumblebee, or assorted monsters or superheroes. This past week or so, whenever he puts on his underwear hat he says: "I'm a workin' man!" in this tough little voice. So adorable!

I forgot to write what an amazing sharer Ethan is. (Jayden is usually pretty willing too, but with Ethan it's almost like second nature!) A couple examples... Ethan was in the middle of one of his many attempts to potty train. If he went in the potty I gave him only 2 M&M's. Kayleigh was around when I gave them to him and wanted one too of course. I planned to pull out another, but before I could he handed over one of his! Then yesterday, I gave Jayden and Ethan Creamies. I hadn't given Kayleigh one yet and she went up to him and he took turns with her taking licks till it was gone. It's funny, because he seems to love to torture her sometimes and she has often avoided him because of it.  But lately they are becoming little pals.  I often find the two of them playing together, or sitting together in a box, or whatever other game they come up with. I love to watch my kids develop relationships.

Jayden has three that were just remembered or brought to my attention. He watched Iron man a while back with his daddy at the theater. Apparently it didn't hold his attention too well. He was very polite when they got home and said he liked some parts, though he didn't sound too enthusiastic. A few days later we were watching word girl and they defined the word lackadaisical. As he often does, he asked me: "What does lackadaisical mean?"  I proceeded to give him the definition they just gave on the show....bored or you don't care. He said: "That's how I felt when we watched Iron Man."

Today he told me that dogs have two names dog and doggie. I was distracted and just gave a generic agreement. He reiterated and said: "You know, just like hippopotomus." (hippo, hippopotomus) I love how his mind works! (he is always trying to put together facts and tell me enlightening things he has learned.)

Now for my favorite, he was talking to Jay and said this: "I feel bad for Darth Vader. He is so sad because he made bad choices and lost his family. And family is the most important thing to make you happy."

Just a couple little statements from our little language learner. Today she was a chatter box as usual. She said "boop" and pointed to her diaper, signifying the need for a change. tick-o tick-o (tickle tickle) is another favorite phrase. She is amazing at NO and uses it frequently...Today we met Jay's brother David's new puppy. Several times when Java would bite things (like the table runner on the coffee table)  Kayleigh would say "NO!" in an autoritative manner and try pull it out of her reach. I hope I didn't already write these but just in case, here are a few other vocabulary words... Mow= "more", "I want that", "I'm hungry", "can I have one of those?" Ba= "drink" "I want my cup" etc... uP (well enunciated P) just what it sounds like; but it also means down. Tee too= thank you. I think what is so amazing about her is her ability to communicate. With gestures and pointing she makes it pretty clear what she wants, and has done for a long time now. And I am particularly amused when I can tell she is enunciating carefully or making unmistakable movements with a piercing stare at me. It is funny, like she is talking to a child who is not such a good listener to make sure they (I) hear and understand her. She is very forbearing! :)

Love my kids!

Cute kids!

2010-06-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

I started this months ago...here is what I can remember :)

I am doing another cute things the kids have said and done post. But I wanted to start with something my friend posted on facebook today, I thought it was so cute. Her son and my son Jayden are good buddies. Here's the post: Zack:"Mom, who can I marry? Can I marry Emily?" Me:"No zack, you can'y marry your cousin." Zack:"Can I marry you then, Mom?" Me:"No Zack, you can't marry someone in your family, it has to be someone who's a friend." Zack:"Can I marry Jayden then?" (Jayden is a neighbor boy, and Zack's BFF) Me:"No zack, it has to be a GIRL who's a friend." LOL!!!
They are pretty close pals. Zack is Jayden's favorite person to pray for. And of course he never understands why Zack can't come over every day after school. Zack missed preschool yesterday and Jayden told me about it a few times and seemed so dejected :). Kids are too cute. He loves to go to school, loves his friends, and can't wait for kindergarten. He is constantly amazing me with the things he understands and his desire to do good. A couple of times he said swear words and I told them what they were and he was SO upset. I had to explain to him that he didn't know so it isn't bad...and that I am just trying to teach him so he'll know in the future. He likes to tell me the things he knows too and lately when I try to tell him something he says "Mommy, I already knew that." He is very mischievious and does get into trouble, especially when his friend Zack is around. But I love that I can trust him to be honest with me. He will tell me after church or school..."I was a little bad today, but I will try to be good." I also think it is funny how early they learn social things, or at least have a desire to be cool. Jay overheard him talking to another kid and he said. "That's my mommy, but I call her mom."

Ethan is my little story teller. Jay is always telling the kids stories, and he has always loved to hear them. Now he likes to tell them too. This is just one of many he has made up for me. First of all he always says "once upon a time" to start...so adorable. So here it is: "Once upon a time there was a transformer. He stepped on a tree and got hurt, and he got a sick pop, and said 'I LOVE IT!'" His current favorite word is DESTROY! He frequently includes it in his stories, like, "I am going to destroy megatron! Or "optimus prime said DESTROY!" or "the monster tried to destroy me!" Lately he likes to tie it to Jesus and I had to talk to him about that. He said "Jesus DESTROYS people" I had to tell him that he is nice and wouldn't do that... So now he says "Jesus can destroy people, but he wouldn't do that." (I guess it's a small improvement.) I wish I could record how he says it, I love it. He always uses a lower more menacing tone. (as if he could look menacing with that sweet baby face of his) His favorite things are super heroes. Earlier this year spider man was all he cared about, and his most current favorite is batman. He really likes action figures. It's funny how they have their own favorite things. Jayden has loved transformers seemingly from birth. He loves to transform them and always wants to be able to do it himself. I thought it was just because that is what he was taught to like. But Ethan proves that isn't necessarily so :). He also loves hats and capes, etc. When occasionally he chooses my lingerie, or a dirty pair of Jayden's underwear and I have to take them away, he is so upset. "but I wanted to be megatron!" He has about four hoodies and I had to try and make sure that there was always one clean because he only wanted to wear a "hat shirt" all through the winter. This last couple of weeks I have had to explain several times that it is too hot for them and he wasn't too happy about that. But he has settled for baseball caps most of the time. :)

Kayleigh is going to be trouble!! She knows exactly what she wants and is very good at communicating it. She is also already a little teenager in some ways, or maybe just a typical emotional girl. She is amazing at the cold shoulder and withering stare. And when we misread her request for something and give her the wrong thing, she just throws it with a total attitude. Like, "how dare you try to give me this!" Even though I think some of those things are cute, she also does some really cute, and nice, things too!
Lately she really wants to be friendly. In primary she doesn't want to sit with me, she often finds another teacher or member of the primary presidency to sit with. And she's the same with our families too. She has just discovered waving and loves to wave to people. Today at church, she kept waving to a man sitting by us, trying to get his attention. She's the best cuddler too(I am lucky enough to have three cuddlers, I am just happy about it with her because when she was younger, she NEVER wanted to. She saw it as an attempt to force to to sleep or contain her in some way.) I love how she lays her head on your shoulder and then holds on tight to your shoulders to really cuddle in close. She says a lot of things too. Hi of course, and no are really clear. She also points down and says "boop" when I am changing her stinky diapers...so funny. Yesterday she was meowing when Jay showed her a cat in a book. She is such a good mimicker, she can mimick what we say pretty clearly sometimes. I forgot to tell another cute story from several months ago. She crawled around the corner of my bed and saw Jay at the computer and said "ieee daaeee" (translation hi daddy).

As always, I am thankful to have them and to see how amazing and wonderful they are. They are the greatest blessing I can imagine.

Disney Trip

2010-04-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

This has been sitting two months waiting for pics too! Someday it will have pics :)

We had a wonderful trip last week to California. And though it was tiring in its own way, it was so wonderful to get away from my pigsty :). I had hours in the morning that I didn't even know what to do with! And we had so much fun!!

We started our drive Friday Morning. Being the responsible and health conscious mom that I am (not to mention neat and clean...), I made sure to stop at Krispy Kreme as we drove through Orem. Then I busted out the bag of super size cheetos that Jayden picked out a few days earlier. Ethan liked the breakfast I chose, I couldn't get him to stop even long enough to take a picture. I did pay for it later when I had to scrub smashed pink sprinkles, glaze, and cheese off of Ethan's pants later that day :).

We spent a laid back weekend with the family. Basically, the only thing we did beside hanging out at mom's house, was make sure we fit in trips to our favorite Vegas restaurants! :) (Again, health conscious...All my fun revolves around food!)  Our first day we went to Baja fresh for lunch as soon as we got into Henderson. (Darn Utahns like cafe rio better, so all of the SL ones closed!)
I loved this restaurant called ricardo's, and was so sad 10 years ago when it closed. LITTLE DID I KNOW, there has been another location open all this time across town! I happened upon this info a few months ago, and was determined to find time to go. Mom was so kind and watched our kids for us so we could have a date on Saturday. We hunted down a few toys r us's while we were over on the west side, went to Ricardo's and then visited my FAVORITE mall. I don't know why, but I love it. It has some of the most fun stores, and I just like the atmosphere. I really enjoyed being in Vegas this trip. Sometimes I miss it more than others, and this was one of those times. I am totally happy in Utah and feel we are in the perfect, right place for us. But I LOVE some things about Nevada. I was feeling so nostalgic this weekend, and I totally enjoyed all of the familiar things that I always loved. As well as the familiar people I saw at church. It felt so good to see people who had an effect on my life as a teen. It's nice to know that though years pass with little contact, the good feelings are still there.
Of course my favorite thing about going home is seeing all of the family. I was probably a burden this weekend, because I didn't do much of anything. I enjoyed the family, and had fun just talking and watching all of the action around me. I love that my kids feel so welcomed and loved even though they don't see their Nevada cousins as frequently. And the older kids take such good care of them, especially Kayleigh!! Kayleigh loved the attention, but is such an independant little soul. She didn't let anyone hold her for long. Meg was particularly helpful, she spent most every moment with her. One night, mom was trying to sing Kayleigh to sleep, and a bunch of the kids gathered around to help her. It was very entertaining. And as you can see, Kayleigh liked it.
All of the cousins are very familiar with Disneyland and were telling us their favorite things and getting Jayden so excited about it! I LOVE to watch kids talk. I don't know why, but they say the cutest things, and sometimes I am suprised at the things they understand at their young ages. And I love to watch the good feelings between cousins.  At least as far as I noticed, they all got along SO well. It takes me back to my own childhood and all of the laughs we had with our cousins.
After all of the family fun, we woke monday morning and started toward Disneyland.    My dad sent us with his GPS and it was SUCH a blessing!! We used it before we even left Vegas to find a restaurant to get breakfast at.  And then used it a million times to find stores and places we wanted to go. We went to countless stores that we would not have attempted without it. And got to see some places we wouldn't have otherwise. It was AWESOME.  We decided to find costco in San diego, and before you know it, we were there. And even when we misunderstood her directions and made a wrong turn, it would recalculate and send us to the right spot anyway. Best. Invention. Ever. THANKS DAD!!!
And disneyland was so confusing!! Even with the GPS, it took us a few tries to actually find where we could park. It is so big and the roads wind all over the place. Finally we arrived, much to Jayden's excitement. Ethan loved disneyland, but Jayden was the only one old enough to anticipate what was coming. We got on the tram and they all thought that was a ride, we were getting off to a good start! We spent the whole time at California adventures until it closed. We got to see lightning and mater and then Jay and Jayden went on soarin and watched the bug movie, while Ethan, Kayleigh and I played in bug land. Then went on Toy Story mania. I liked that one, but it was the only substantial line we waited in the whole time we were there. Just before it closed, Jayden took me on Soarin. I loved the ride, it was amazing (in spite of my height fears :) But the best part was Jayden.  He was so happy to be taking me on it for the first time. He was telling me about some of the things we'd see like the snowy mtns. Then when we saw the mountains on the ride, he was like "See, I told you about them!" and after "See, I told you it was fun."  He was so accomodating, and so proud to be the one showing me something. I thought he was adorable.
In the two hours at disneyland, we rode buzz a couple of times (Ethan and I continued to ride while daddy and Jayden rode space mtn),  Ethan, me and Kayleigh rode the carousel several times while Jayden and daddy rode...  That turned out to be one of Ethan's favorites! After that we found pirates, splash mtn (this time we watched everyone splash while J and j went), and finally the haunted mansion. It seemed we were running from place to place to get as many in before it closed. We got there a couple hours after opening, but were still TIRED by the end of the day. But it was so magical. Even walking out down mainstreet was fun. I LOVE the look of everything. All the shops and the vendors. What a place.
Tuesday followed a similar pattern. We arrived bright and early for the magic morning. At first we all rode a bunch of the fantasyland rides together. Ethan only wanted to ride the carousel and was EXTREMELY reluctant to ride many of the others.(Okay, he pretty much cried on all of them, and through the lines.) I started using the carousel as bribe and told him that every other ride he went on without crying, he would get to go once on the carousel. That helped him get through Toad's wild ride, but he lost it on snow white and then it was only thanks to the ride operator giving him a flash light to hold that he survived pinochio...and it was touch and go. I kept telling him to shine the light on the bad guys to "get them" when his terror seemed to be overcoming him. Jayden and daddy wanted to go on toad's again, but we gave ethan a break and let him ride the carousel. He did find one other ride that he really liked. The Dumbo elephants. At first, he was not so keen on that ride either, as you can see by this face. But once he realized he could move it up and down, he was hooked. After that he wanted to trade back and forth between the carousel and dumbo :).
Another highlight for day two was the Jedi training camp. Jayden was tired and rested in the stroller with Kayleigh. But Ethan seemed very excited to see Darth Vader!! We went on the Nemo subs and then Ethan fell asleep and Jayden was so tired he begged to go back to the hotel. It was only 2! :) We agreed to, but Jay wanted to go on one more ride first. So he and Jayden walked over to big thunder mountain railroad, and I parked by the exit with the kids. That ride gave Jayden a second wind. He LOVED it, and begged to go two more times. Then they decided to go on soarin one more time and I ended up parking to watch the pixar parade. Ethan slept FOREVER. I tried to wake him several times before and during the parade, but he saw the first half through a fog of sleep and didn't really wake up till he saw buzz lightyear. It worked out well though, he did see his favorites there at the end. Jay and Jayden had watched the parade too and then went to our agreed upon meeting spot. Since I hadn't seen them, I decided to wait outside the hollywood back lot for them. Long story short, we kept missing each other and it took us about 45 minutes to find each other. Then we finally went back to our room.
Wednesday we drove down to Seaworld and it was the perfect relaxing day after all of the running around. I loved the drive. I'd never seen the ocean and it was fun to see the beach on the places the freeway got close to it. Jayden was as excited as I was. He had talked about going to the beach several times before we even left home for our trip. I was navigating the map and got us lost right off the bat, but we got to the first show (the sesame street show) just in time to meet elmo and cookie monster before going in. We didn't meet any characters at disneyland and the boys seemed really shy, but excited too. Ethan was wearing a cookie monster hoodie and cookie monster came up from behind and hugged him as we were walking away. I wish I got a picture of it. So sweet. They didn't love getting sprayed at that movie, but they survived :). We went straight from there to the sea lion show and it was so cute!! I loved the little sea otter, and the sea lions were so fun to watch, and cute when they would smile and show personality. Then we mosied around looking at all of the aquariums before going to a pet show. It was cute and the kids had fun. They had mostly cats and dogs and a pig doing little tricks. The pig hit a button that made water spray the audience. Ethan said "That's a naughty pig" We stopped and grabbed a little snack and then headed to Shamu. We parked ourselved only a few rows back, right in the middle of the "soak" zone. Jayden had talked about this several times before we left too, and he did NOT want to get splashed. We wanted to be close enough to see them really well, but I will admit I was VERY concerned about how little our kids would like getting soaked with gallons of water... Jayden could tell that we were in a wet place (maybe it was all of the people around us in ponchos... or my nervous comments :) But he seemed to want to run away and was really close to crying. We assured him it would be fun, but he didn't lighten up at all until the show started. He calmed down really quickly when the show started. It was awe inspiring seeing those whales and all they did with their trainers. Jayden was mesmerized. And he handled it well even when we did get splashed. I tried my best to cover Ethan, but he wasn't so happy about it :).   Luckily, that first splash was our last and it wasn't even from Shamu. (THOSE WERE THE WORST!!) We were remarkably lucky. Three of the five main front sections (of which we were in...) got SOAKED!!! For any who have not seen the show before, apparently Shamu likes to splash people. And even when it is 60 degrees outside, his trainers and people in the audience do a sign that encourages him to splash people...Sounds pretty asinine to me! :) We did not participate in encouraging Shamu if that is what kept him from stopping in front of us, I'M GLAD! He takes his MONSTROUS tail and flips a wall of water over the people unfortunate enough to be in the path.  And he never did it just once, he did it three times to the hard hit sections. It was amazing to watch how far it went, but I was thankful to just be a spectator. After all his hesitation, Jayden was hooked. We asked his favorite thing from the day, and he said Shamu, and even asked if we could go back the next day to see the whales again. I don't know if Ethan was as sold, just because he HATES getting wet, but he still seemed to have fun. We went to the kids area after that for a little while, and headed home before the park even closed. So far the weather could not have been more perfect! Sunny and warm, but not too warm during the day. And a light jacket was plenty in the evening. We took a long time getting home because we stopped at costco for dinner and some bottled water, and then stopped at the temple. The kids were asleep around this time so we decided to see how many toysrus's we could find along the way. It was pretty fun!
Thursday was Universal Studios day. It wasn't really cold, but there were clouds that lingered most of the day. We didn't do too much there either. Jay went through the house of horrors and then he and Jayden went to the terminator show. Ethan, Kayleigh and I watched the coke water fountains while we waited. They were pretty cool! At one point I let my curiousity get the better of me and went to see what looked like a control panel. It had a bunch of buttons you could push to set off different water fountains. The first few were pretty fun. Unfortunately for me, I tried all of the buttons... and the last one actually turns on a fountain right below the buttons that soaks your pants! Who ever came up with that has a sick sense of humor! Tons of people walking around looking like they wet their pants!! While I was sitting there I saw several other people victimized by the same button. I tried to warn a couple of them, but I was too late. It was a good place to sit for a laugh, I must admit :)  Another funny thing I noticed later was that there were actually two little "control stands" So one of the buttons actually turns on the other stands sprayer. I was showing Jayden the buttons and had him push that one and someone was standing by it. OOPS! MY BAD...
We saw their animal show after that. (sorry seaworld, your pet show is no where near as cool as universal's)  They show a bunch of animals from the movies and show how they train them. And the host was really funny.  My favorite part was when they released a big bird from Evan Almighty (sorry, I sound like an ignoramus because I'm not sure what kind of bird it was :)   They released it from a box behind the audience and it soared right over us! Seemingly inches from our heads. It was breathtaking seeing that huge wingspan up so close. I liked that he would tell us which movie the animals were from too, that was kind of fun. They had the little husky dog from the proposal.  He's so cute!
Next we saw sponge bob on the way to the shrek show. They really liked him! Jayden seemed particularly happy.
Ethan, Kayleigh and I wandered the simpson area while J and j caught the simpson ride. Then for the highlight of the day GEORGE!! In the george play area there is this awesome ball room. There are tons of little machines that help you pick up or shoot the balls. My favorite one was right in the middle. You could dump tons of balls in there. Then you hit a button and they all go flying everywhere. So funny! I think we planned to avoid the water part of the george play area but Jayden wanted to walk through it. Then Ethan wanted to join him and daddy. They tried a couple of things that they could just spray and stay relatively dry... But before I knew it, they were running around getting SOAKED and having a blast! I was so suprised because my boys don't generally love getting wet, particularly by water getting dumped over their head etc... But it was the coolest little water park ever! Tons of levers to turn thing on and off and ropes that sent water pouring out, guns, faucets, it was awesome! In the summer I imagine you could stay there all day and never get tired of it. We took a little break in the middle to go meet george. I think this was one of the highlights for both of them. For anyone who doesn't know....my boys absolutely adore curious george. If I ever remind them it is on they drop EVERYTHING to watch it. They love his movies, his books, toys, everything! They both went up and got their picture taken with him. Then ethan blew him a kiss and just couldn't leave. So after a couple other kids stopped for pics, George came back over and gave him another hug and kiss. Ethan seemed in HEAVEN. Then I could tell Jayden wanted another hug, but he was a lot more bashful. With a little encouragement, he ran back over there. I loved how accessible the characters were! I guess there weren't that many kids there, but we could have sat there as long as we wanted with him. There wasn't that much competition for any character and we saw a lot of them around. I really liked that. (Since we saw almost NO characters at Disneyland.)
They headed back over to get wet again! At one point this monster bucket unloads over the middle of the play area. There are lots of warnings and a count down and Jay tried to talk Jayden into leaving the ground Zero of the bucket, but as he sometimes chooses to do, he ignored Jay's instructions and Jay had to save him from the downpour. I guess it was a pretty good lesson on obedience... That was pretty much the end. They were all soaked and it was clear they were getting too cold. I was afraid they would get hypothermia or something.  We took off as much of the soaked stuff as we could. Then we stopped to pick up a quick souvenir and left. We went to the car, stripped them down and put them in the warm, dry jammies we had in the car. (We were so happy we had them!) Then they slept while we headed home. We actually drove a little around hollywood with the assistance of the GPS and saw some amazing houses and some kind of scary areas too :). We got back on the freeway and ended up stuck at practically a dead stop, because of a lane blockage or something. When we first got on the freeway, it was an estimated 35 minute drive to our hotel. It took us nearly two hours to go about 4 miles (that is NOT an exaggeration) I wish I had noticed the little detour button on the gps sooner. I finally did notice and we managed to shave a little time off of our commute. Our car did have a little hiccup while we were at that dead stop. It sounded like it was going to die, but then kept idling and had no more problem. We chalked it up to the fact that we had been idling for two hours and didn't think too much more about it.
Friday there was steady rain pretty much all day. I ran to walmart in the morning and picked up some ponchos. We put them on the kids and Kayleigh was not happy about it. We assumed she would get used to it and walked outside to wait for the bus to Disneyland. There was a pretty good downpour out there and Kayliegh's objections got a much more forceful. It was clear that it would not be a good thing for her, so she and I stayed at the hotel while the boys braved the rain. Even in the couple minutes outside the stroller was very wet.
They didn't get back till after 2 and though they were extremely wet and tired, they seemed to have fun. We tried to walk across the street to outback for my birthdy dinner, but the boys struggled to even go that far. Ethan's pants were wet almost up to his diaper and he cried pitifully with each step so I finally picked him up and he laid on my shoulder. To make matters worse, it was an hour before it opened when we got there. We tried to wait a few minutes, but it was just to cold for our already frozen children. So we took refuge in the red robin and played video games for a minute. When Jay's two quarters ran out we crossed the street and walked through target till four. The dinner at Outback was worth the wait...it was delicious.
We had been thinking of skipping our San diego Zoo and beach outing we had planned for Saturday because of the rain, but what happened next solidified that plan. We went to our car so we could run to walmart. But it was immediately driving so badly we were afraid we wouldn't make it. We drove to the target and parked and called my amazing uncle who knows cars. He told us it was likely a spark plug, a disconnected vacuum hose of some kind, or a plugged fuel line problem. He helped us as best he could over the phone to find the spark plug or disconnected hose. He eased our mind that at least we wouldn't destroy our car if we drove it and that it wasn't a MAJOR problem. Since we couldn't find any problem, the only other thing we could think to do was put a fuel injection cleaner in it. So Jay did and it seemed to improve things to the point that we felt it should make it to Vegas. I was so thankful because I didn't want to be stranded in LA!
We got up and out of the hotel as early as we could and started our trek back.We stopped frequently to top off so we weren't dredging up the dirty gas a the bottom of the tank and it drove pretty well.  At one point, we gave the boys baggies of gummy bears to eat. Kayleigh loudly expressed her desire to have some too so I started breaking off pieces and passing them back to her. She was so funny! When she would want another one, she would yell "na, na!" or "ba, ba!" and reach her hand up waiting for me to put another one in her little palm. When I decided to cut her off of the gummy bears, I tried to give her cereal. She knew I was trying to pull a fast one and she threw it! She is such a stinker! We made it back without any problems. I was a little sad we had to miss the Zoo and the beach, but we were all so tired, it was probably for the best. And it was nice to be back early enough to visit a little more with the fam. We talked till pretty late, and then got up and left as early as we could. (Jay had to be home in time for the super bowl)
We ended up having to stop in mesquite and find a Chevron to get more fuel injection cleaner because it started really acting up again. That was our only problem. We stopped in Cedar just to top off and then worked our way home. Our kids were very travel weary that day, they were ready to be home! I was so proud of how good they had been on the trip. Especially with all of the driving we did. I couldn't blame them for being a little ornery that last day.
Jay watched the super bowl and we both spent the evening trying to relax. I think I am recovered now, but I still need to catch up on my house! Monday it took half my day cleaning the car. I had to pull out our shop vac to clean out the piles of cereal on the floor. When we were driving, I gave the kids baggies of cereal or crackers to snack on. Maybe that was a mistake, but it did keep them happy at the time. It looked like more got into the car than their mouths :). Though it ended a little rough, it was an amazing trip. I just wish we could afford to do it every year. I LOVED it, all the more because the kids loved it. :)

In the last ten years...

2010-04-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

I can't make myself do pics, so I am just going to post it and maybe finish them later! This has been sitting for a couple of months already!

I decided to copy my sisters and do a 10 year post...It has taken me a while, because I am not so good at being short and sweet!

In 1999 I spent the year preparing to go on a mission. I was certain I needed to go. Then a week before I was scheduled to enter the MTC, I called it off...I guess I wasn't so certain. Then I had some difficult and embarrassing experiences and I pushed aside my promptings to go...I was going to do what I want! Then, in the depths of despair I finally humbled myself and begged to know what the Lord wanted for me. The experiences that followed gave me my answer and helped me through the hardest times on my mission. I left a few weeks later MUCH more prepared and determined. In August, I met the man who would eventually become my soul mate and best friend. Of course, if you've read my anniversary entry, we were both unaware of that fact at the time :). I spent a wonderful four months around him and others who I will cherish the rest of my life.
I spent the majority of the year 2000, doing the same thing. Meeting AMAZING people and trying to help others, but finding that I was the main one who benefitted.  Sometimes feeling lighter than a cloud with joy, and hope, and other times (lots of times!) frustrated at the minute amount of good that resulted from my efforts. In the end I learned that my feeble attempts were important even if I didn't see the fruit. And more importantly, that I can't take credit for the it anyway. My greatest experiences, watching people truly accept the gospel, helped me to realize that I have NOTHING to do with it. They felt the spirit, hungered for truth, and did what they needed to do to obtain the blessings of the gospel. What a blessing that time was in my life.
I returned home two days before Christmas, feeling very awkward (MORE than usual, okay?). I felt like I had to reaquaint myself even with my family.  Almost immediately after I crossed the doorstep of my home, we loaded up and drove to Utah for Christmas. Those first few days, there were many embarrassing/funny moments for me and my family.  My discomfort leaving my "companions" at a store to go try on clothes, calling people sister, and insisting on prayers no matter where we were. :) Those are just a few of my faux pas. It was wonderful being home for Christmas. I was thankful to be around all of my family.

2001 Started out a little rocky as I tried to get used to normal life again. I got to work with my mom, that was really nice.  After a few months, I met up again with my Jay. The rest felt much like a whirlwind. He swept me right off my feet with his sweet, adorable personality...the flowers and stuffed animals helped too (just kidding!). After only a few dates, and lots of talking, I felt a confirmation that he could be the one. Only two months later, I moved to Utah and lived with my sister to solve the long distance relationship problem. After that we spent most of our time together and Jay showed me over and over what an AMAZING man he is. He went out of his way to make things special and fun. As I type I'm looking up at finger paintings we made of each other on one of our dates. He first took me to the DI and we had to choose the ugliest outfit we could for each other. Then we went to the park and painted finger painting portraits, followed by a paint fight. Now, every time I look at those pictures, it takes me back.  Other favorite memories were of dancing next to Jay's car during another game he made me play, camping, watching him take care of and play with his young brother and sister, and hours of just sitting together on my sister's porch talking about our goals, hopes, dreams... Of course, my very favorite date was toward the end of September. Jay took me up Millcreek canyon for a picnic.   We hiked along a pathway for a while and he was so much faster than me! I felt totally out of shape because he was leaving me in the dust even loaded down with a picnic basket. He told me just to relax and take my time, but I didn't want to look like a wimp, so I hurried as fast as I could :). Looking back it's funny how much harder I made his life sometimes. (Who am I kidding, I still make his life harder sometimes!) He raced up the trail and started setting up the table. He made a nice dinner and brought real dishes in a beautiful basket. The setting was perfect, so wonderful and scenic, I should have known something was up! But honestly I didn't. The leaves were colorful, the weather was just how one would hope, and the mountains, as always, had such a peaceful feeling. After we ate we sat on a picnic bench and talked. Then, Jay walked over to the trees and dug a box out of the leaves below, came over to me and asked me to be his wife. I don't remember what he said particularly, just his handsome nervous face and the amazing feeling in my heart at the prospect of being with him forever. I've since told him, he always gave me butterflies from that first moment I saw him on my grandfather's doorstep. My heart would lift when I saw him. I am sometimes suprised that I still feel that when I anticipate his arrival, or like today, when I discover that I get to spend a whole extra day with him! Sorry, I'll end this cheese fest... We married December 8th and my life has never been the same.

2002 was mostly a blissful, carefree year. The one dark spot was a miscarriage. I found out I was pregnant only a couple months after we married. We were very happy about it, because we were both excited to have kids, and wanted them right off. When I found out that I had miscarried at about 11 weeks I was devastated.  Over time, I had almost forgotten about this, because so much has changed now!  In hindsight I am endlessly grateful for the Lord's time. We really got to know each other well and had tons of fun together. We lived in our first apartment half of that year. It was not well maintained, but we made some cherished friends that made the experience worth it. Then, we moved into the apartment we should have been in from the start. We loved our Grant Street apartment, and planned to stay there until we had to move out. (You know, when we had our third child and could no longer fit in two bedrooms :) Our life was so simple, we didn't really want or need anything. (We wouldn't have had room for it anyway)

2003 was a mostly consumed by our fixer upper. In about March, Jay's dad told us about a house that someone in his ward would give to us if we just paid to move it. It seemed crazy not to at least look into it, so I started to look up the cost, risks, etc...of moving a house. We also looked at houses to have a comparison. Since the moved house would certainly cost 100 grand or more and have lots of risks involved, our little house seemed like a bargain at 82,000! To us it looked perfect...of course we had a pretty smart realtor. He had taken us to see two amazingly terrible houses that were both over 100,000. Compared to the two houses with sunken floors, holes in walls, yellow smoke stained wallpaper, and piles of garbage wood we would have to haul away, ours looked like the deal of the century! (And I still feel it was, I love our house.) At that same time I changed jobs and started working at a mortgage company my aunts family owns.  Those first six months in the house were very very difficult. We planned to remodel the kitchen, and that seemed like all the house needed beside ripping off the hideous wallpaper and painting. No problem right? Well, Jay's dad had a much more realistic picture when he first saw the house. Where we saw perfection, he saw problems... :). And he turned out to be right. We ripped off the wallpaper to find endless seas of paneling. Our kitchen remodel turned into an entire kitchen and bathroom overhaul, totally new clear down to the studs. Not to mention drywalling almost the entire upstairs, overhauling the terribly inconvenient pantry, and painting...SO much paint, SO much dust... We lived in the basement among a lot of dust, lived out of a cooler, and our basement bathroom only had a toilet.  We bummed tons of meals off of Jay's mom.  Not to mention taking all of our showers there and spending time there to escape the stinky, dusty hole we lived in.   I pretty much lost it the day I found out that our cupboards were too big. We were on the home stretch and the cupboards were my signal that it was almost done after MONTHS of work. When Jay called to tell me, my behavior could have been at least compared to a three year old tantrum... I sobbed pitifully in front of ALL of my coworkers (good times :) That was in the home stretch, we got it worked out and finally, at long last it was done!! I am thankful to have a home, and one we can afford. I am thankful for Jay's parents; we never could have done it without them. And the financial contribution from my parents too. I am also thankful to be where we are, we are so happy here. But I will never, I repeat NEVER buy a major fixer upper again!  Incidentally, we have been hesitant to take on any other projects in our house since then. As you can tell by our peeling paint, and half finished living room :).

2004 started out pretty uneventfully... We were enjoying our house, working, etc... I had changed jobs again at the end of 2003 because business at the mortgage company slowed down. I was a teller at Cyprus CU in Magna and Jay worked at foods etc... I LOVED working there in Magna. The members were amazingly nice. It felt like a small town.  I loved the old men who would talk to me about being members of the credit union since it was in a little house on main.  I loved hearing all of the stories of people who came in. It is amazing the things that people would tell me after coming in several times. You realize that every person is interesting in their own way.  And I loved the family feeling of magna everyone seemed to know everyone else. I made so many friends that year that I wish I could keep in touch with now! In the fall, my friend Erica and her daughter Brooklyn moved in. About that same time, I was really becoming impatient to have kids and my doctor put me on clomid. After only two months and right about the same time Erica arrived we got the news we had been waiting for. I was due July 21, 2005! Right before Christmas I was fired from my job at Cyprus. I was STUNNED, upset, I cannot even describe my feelings... First of all, I loved Cyprus and had a true interest in the company and particularly the members I helped, I felt betrayed. Also, I was pregnant, so WHO would possibly want to hire me. And we were out my pay AND the benefits that my job provided. It's funny to see how the Lord can make everything turn out for our benefit some way or other.

2005 We were still reeling from my job loss, but there were benefits. We have had some financial struggles, but it forced us to start living on one income. That made it much easier after Jayden came for me to stay home. And Jay started looking for a better paying job. He was able to find a much better job at a reputable company. Everything fell back into place after everything had seemed to fall apart. Erica and Brooklyn stayed with us about four months of this year, and it was fun to get to know Brookie. I had never spent as much time with her as the rest of my family. (Erica is my best friend from high school.)

In spite of our financial concerns, this was a golden year for us. We were cherishing every experience tied to my pregnancy...(okay...not EVERY experience! But all of the cool things :) Jayden moved a lot and it was so amazing to watch and feel him. Toward the end it was so awesome to watch my stomach lurch like in some alien movie. We were obsessed with him even before he was born. And that was BEFORE that magical moment I first looked into his eyes. I can still see his amazing little face in my mind, and the overwhelming joy...is beyond words. He stayed awake for a long time after the birth, and they let us just hold him and enjoy him for a long while before taking him away for his bath. I won't bore you with every detail of the rest of that year, but we were definitely smitten. Some of my favorite memories were the early mornings before Jay would go to work. Jayden would be up to see him off and smile and have fun with daddy. Everything was so new and fun!

2006 had a lot of bumps as well as blessings. In march or april I started babysitting my nephew Kaleb. At about the same time, I found out that I was pregnant again, quite unexpectedly. (I guess we should have been more responsible, but since we waited so long for Jayden, we figured we didn't need to worry much :). We were still excited for our new little one. Those first six months with Kaleb were REALLY rocky. I was sick and tired and quite overwhelmed between the pregnancy and the two little boys. Kaleb really didn't like my house or me I supposed. He cried a lot and would cry more if I tried to hold and comfort him. I vascilated a lot between guilt and frustration not knowing what to do. I would call my mom and cry and she was a great comfort to me. Those months passed fast and by the fall Kaleb was having fun with Jayden, I felt better and we were in a much happier place.
A fun time for me was being able to go to girl's camp with my young women. It was hard being away from Jayden, but he loved his week with Grandma Brown, and didn't even want to talk to me when I got back. I love my young women!
The most notable event of the year was Ethan's birth. In early November, I decided to take the final trip I could with my sister Candice. Over the past two years we had taken so many trips together. Jay used to travel for work and I didn't want to be home alone, so I'd steal her from Randall and we'd spend the week in Nevada. They were priceless and amazing trips, and awesome talks on our long drives. Neither of us had a car big enough for both of our families after so I really wanted to go. I have to admit in hindsight that I did have some forboding. I kept praying and acting like I would listen if I shouldn't go, but I did push aside my promptings. So we went, and wednesday night, I woke up thinking I was having a major bladder problem. Again, in hindsight, I should have known that my water broke since it twice I had to clean up my mother's hallway that night. (Thank heaven for tile :) It was a lot of water! (sorry, tmi) In fact, thinking back I feel like a total moron! I just had never heard of anyone's water breaking that early.  I called my doctors nurse and told her I had ZERO control and she told me I would need a bladder sling after the birth. That is the second time I felt like I should go home, but again, I was so concerned about ruining everyone's week that I pushed it aside again.

Friday we returned home and I picked up Jay at 1 am that night. Saturday afternoon I went into labor while making dinner. We went to the hospital as the contractions came on faster. When we got there they immediately tested me and found out that my water had broken. From that point on I was in a mist of shock, and guilt, worry, fear... It was an AWFUL experience. They told me He was in distress and would not survive labor, so they rushed to arrange a C section. Dr. Hughes came in and assisted Jay in giving me a blessing and then they took me in. The worst part was they kept telling me, "he'll be okay, he's strong". Instead of 'we see this all the time', or 'he's not in that bad of shape'. I knew it was not good because of the way they said that! Combined with the fact, that they told me his stats didn't look good on the monitor. I threw up through the whole surgery. I couldn't even stop long enough for the anesthesiologist to give me medication for it. Then they let me look at him for only a moment before taking him to the NICU. A little while later a pediatrician came and updated us on his status. She didn't make me feel any better. It was such a long night, but by the next day, things were at least sounding better. He was only on the ventilator for a matter of hours and he was slowly progressing through the steps to get out of the most serious section of the nicu. Those first days were still so hard. At first they discouraged us from touching him too much and we couldn't hold him at all until he had his arterial line removed. That took a couple of days but they still limited how often we could hold him even after that. I guess I took for granted having Jayden so close. Of course I understood why and I was so thankful for the wonderful care they gave him. But it was still hard. After I went home, we had to arrange to go see him in the evenings when someone could watch Jayden.  He was only in there 10 days total, but it felt like such a long time!
I have felt so much guilt over the years because of that week. Knowing that I am at least partially responsible for the set backs and difficulties he has had in his life. I do have faith that people have trials for a reason, that everything in some way is orchestrated by a higher power. And I feel he will be a better person, and be blessed because of the things he has to suffer. But, I think it would be a little easier to watch him go through it, if I didn't feel at least partially responsible. I've had people ask me if he got his "injury" from delivery, or if it was the doctor's fault. And I have to admit it was mine, that's pretty embarrassing. I do feel thankful that his problems are fairly minor. And more importantly, I am just happy he survived! We are amazingly blessed.
We spent the rest of the year at home, or taking turns going to family parties. We kept him home from a lot of parties and church and other things for the first three months and you wouldn't believe how many people had something to say about that! Even people we hardly know... oh well...I guess they mean well. And they wanted to see him. Can't blame them, he's pretty cute ;). We were just following doctors orders! :)

2007 Our first trek out this year was in February. We went to Nevada for my niece, Mallory's blessing. It was a fateful trip as well...poor Ethan probably hated Nevada at first! :)... First, he was acting really uncomfortable. While I was at the store, my sister discovered the reason why. A piece of my hair had gotten wrapped around two of his toes and was cutting into them. They were incredibly swelled. (AGAIN, WHY DIDN'T HIS MOTHER NOTICE!?!?!) They said it was probably a good thing I wasn't there because my cool headed husband had to pull it out of the open cuts that it had caused in his toes.  As you can imagine, it was extremely painful for Ethan. Luckily that healed up after not too long... But the other thing was a result of how many grandkids we have in our family I suppose. It seems like whenever we get together, at least one is sick and passes it on to the rest of them. This time it was a strange, pink eye like cold... Jayden had so much mucous in his eyes they would be stuck shut when he woke up. Poor kid. Ethan didn't get it till later when we got home. One night I was nursing him and he'd been sick and his face turned totally grey. We rushed him up to Primary's at our doctor's insistance and he spent a week there with influenza. I stayed with him and watched tv all day and Jayden stayed with Candice. It was kind of relaxing I must admit. He didn't seem in danger, he just needed a little extra oxygen to make his stats normal. And it was nice not to have anything to do but watch him.
Jayden went into nursery this year and was really happy about it! We continued to enjoy all of his little firsts.
Ethan was so sweet from the very start. I loved his cute little smiles. But we continued to worry about him. He lagged behind and he seemed to have problems with his eyes. We took him to an eye doctor who continually told us that they just looked crooked, they weren't really. But that seemed wrong to me, he only looked at me with one of his eyes sometimes. When he was clearly regressing and wasn't even rolling around at nine months, his pediatrician did some tests and found out he was EXTREMELY iron deficient. I was so happy it was such an easy fix. I was sad that the reason was he wasn't getting enough milk from me so he was starving, but we put him on formula and iron supplements and he immediately did better.  We were so happy that his problems were solved....
We also had Kaleb through this year on some days too.  We all loved it when Kaleb would come over, especially Jayden. We had lots of fun together!

2008 started out with potty training for Jayden. It went amazingly well and gave me a big head about my potty training skills. (I have since been humbled about this...) At the same time we decided to get a second opinion about Ethan's eyes. Our doctor agreed with us that his eyes did wander and his ability to see was affected. (He would stop and stare at a toy for a long time, and then slowly reach out to get it as if he wasn't sure where to reach.) We saw doctor Hoffman at the end of January and he said Ethan needed surgery. I had never imagined this! I was again shocked and scared, but wanted to do what was best for him. So Jay and I spent Valentines day at Primary's. The first day was SO bad. I brought a camera to take a picture of him, but couldn't make myself because he looked so miserable. (now I wish I had just for historical purposes) Blood red tears were falling from his RED eyes and he wimpered pitifully as he woke up. The rest of the day was NO improvement. The surgery was on two muscles of each eye, and he was upset all day. I'm sure it was scary for him, not to mention painful, and he did not know what was going on. I had to keep him from touching his eyes so he slept by me that night and Jay slept downstairs. I didn't sleep much. By the next day, things were already so much better. His eyes still looked like something from a horror movie for days, but he didn't seem to notice. And the benefits of the surgery were apparent almost immediately. He would sprint forward to grab a toy for the first time. It was clear that he could see better. We were so happy. NOW his problems were over... or were they?
He did leap forward at first, but still didn't really keep up. He had been assessed by a physical therapist and a neurological specialist when he was younger for his delays, but it was right around the time he started iron supplements and I was sure he'd catch up. Then when they sent a letter to follow up with him, he had just had the eye surgery, so again, I was sure he'd catch up. So in the fall I took him again, because he was still way behind. During the time they spent with him, they thought he had a seizure so they advised me to get an MRI and EEG.  The MRI wasn't as bad as I had feared. It seemed scary to me, but he slept through it. And when he woke up he was extremely funny. I would give a lot to have that on video! He was cracking us up, like a little mini drunk man. Then a few days later on Halloween he got an EEG. That, suprisingly, was the less pleasant test. We had to keep him up most of the night, so he was not a happy camper. He slept for a couple hours and then his mean parents dressed him up like a lion and dragged him all over the place! The EEG came out normal, but through the MRI, it was discovered that he has cerebral palsy. I have to admit to almost being relieved to know.  We had wondered for so long, and now we could get him the help he needed. And it really could be much worse. It is not degenerative, and so far it seems that his disabilities are minimal with a little extra help.
One thing I want to mention, is that all of the stuff with Ethan felt like little landmarks in my years, so I have spent a lot of time on them. And they did have some effect on me. But I don't want to take away from all of the amazing, joyful things. We love spending time with our families, both extended and our little family. Our lives are filled with wonderful visits with both of our families and trips to see my fam in Nevada. Those times are priceless. Equally priceless are the times with just us and our kids. These are some of our favorite everyday times during the last few years.  Playing in the toy room. Our kids think that room is the greatest place in the whole world, and never seem to tire of it. Visiting toy stores. This was fun for us even before we had kids, but now, they LOVE it. We spend a lot of time looking at the toys and books and trying them out. It's nice to see what they respond to, and they are really good about leaving without buying anything. Playing outside: what kid doesn't like that?   Our boys particularly LOVE the dirt, and during these early years, were not even against tasting it now and again. Life is mostly joy, with a few hiccups to humble us and help remind us who we rely on. Let's not forget our joyful end to 2008. On december 30th we welcomed our first little girl, Kayleigh.  We all loved her from the start! What a wonderful way to ring in the new year!

2009 felt like a golden year for me. Ethan got the help he needed from DDI Vantage, and showed amazing progress. He began to walk, and run, and eventually even jump. That was his favorite. At his preschool class they had the kids "jump" while holding their teachers hands. Ethan was so cute, he would crouch down like he was going to make the biggest jump ever, but couldn't get off the ground. From that day forward he seemed driven somehow to get it. And when he did, he was so proud, he jumped constantly! He still loves to show off his skills. He learned so much from his therapists and his teachers at school. And I learned some things about how to help him too. What a blessing!  He talks SO much, and speaks very well. He loves telling stories and even just talking about his day, or telling me all about his toys. And he is my little angel boy. He has the cutest little shy smile, he loves hugs, and wants to be friends with everyone.
Jayden started preschool, and he had SO looked forward to that! He loves his class and everything they do. He has had tons of fun with their field trips and show and tell, and so much more. He also loves his friend Zach and his cousin Kaleb. He started wanting to say his own prayers without help, and would often pray for them, particularly for Zach :) He is mischievious, but I love how he WANTS to be good. As he gets older, he seems to notice more things he can do to be helpful. And he is so sweet. He comes up and gives me hugs and tells me he loves me almost every day. Both of my boys are so affectionate, that is one of my favorite things!
Kayleigh was a joy from the start. She is so determined and that girl knows her mind. I'm sure this will pose many challenges in the future, but for now it delights us. It is amazing how well she can communicate what she wants without even speaking. And for me, buying dresses and attempting to make her hair look cute (note the ATTEMPTING :), is awesome! I love it!
With all of them, I think one of the greatest things about being a mother is seeing their individual personalities. I love learning new things about them, and am amazed at how different each child is. They really are their own little person from the very start. It's like a surprise every day as they grow and handle things differently, it makes every day new for me too. And seeing another person work hard and improve is so inspiring, they amaze me with their good qualities. I have the best kids! :)
There were only two little hiccups I can remember. One was another eye surgery for Ethan. But it ended up being so minor (only one muscle on one eye). And he didn't seem to hardly notice it, except that he didn't want the bandage on. (He managed to rip it off within the first couple hours home.)
The one scary moment was when Ethan had a seizure. It is probably the scariest thing that I have ever witnessed. I think I probably described it in some post last year, but I truly thought he would be taken from us at one point.  The ambulance seemed to take forever! Luckily, it passed, they attributed it to a fever, and he has not had another one. That poor kid is always the one isn't he! What an amazing boy he is.
We filled our year with lots of fun and even had a sleep over at the dinosaur museum. All in all it was a great year.
2010 Has started out similarly blessed. We took an awesome trip to california and Nevada. We have been home for a month and a half and Jayden frequently wishes we could go back again soon. :) We both love our church callings, we love our children and the ones we get to work with. Life is an amazing journey.

Just a little update...

2010-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

I updated my paragraph on our family "browntown" blog and ended up writing a BOOK. So I decided to post it here too.

We have been married 8 years, and have spent the last 7 living in West Valley. We love our neighbors, and our ward. Jay is a plumber with Harris Dudley plumbing. He will have to tell you his favorite hobbies, but I know he likes to play with our boys! He is a fun daddy. He is currently working with our deacons in the ward. This makes me happy because I taught most of them in primary and LOVE them. I feel like they are lucky to have Jay and he is lucky to have them :).

I (tara) am a homemaker, and am in the primary in our ward. I never imagined myself loving primary. I spent years avoiding it, or wishing I could avoid it. Now I can't imagine myself anywhere else. I can't believe how amazing, strong, and smart kids are these days. They inspire me to want to be better. I feel blessed to know all of them. I like to sew, and cook, when I get to do fun recipes anyway! My kids all amaze and humble me. I don't know why I am so fortunate! I KNOW I don't deserve them.

Jayden is so observant and seems to pick up on everything! He is constantly asking questions about why this is and what that thing I said means. It really keeps me on my toes! I have to really watch what I say. Not to mention educate myself so I can answer his questions! :) He loves transformers and constantly has one in hand. He loves to be creative and draw things himself, he never wants a coloring book, just blank paper. And then he'll show me all of the sharks, lions, whales, rainbows that he has drawn. He will list a hundred different items on one page, all in great detail. He loves his new art supplies we bought. I am so fond of the way he calls them "art supplies". We bought several simple things to make different fun projects (scissors, glue, pom poms, pipe cleaners...).  It was like Christmas for him! He is starting to understand gospel principles and it is so fun for me to see his testimony growing. I LOVE his gospel questions.

Ethan is my little sweet, sensitive man. He loves both Jayden and Kayleigh. He likes to play with Jayden, though I don't know why they play together...it so frequently ends in one or the other crying ;). He always wants to pat Kayleigh and help her. He is sometimes a little too rough and doesn't understand why I restrict his access to her. You know, like when he is "patting" her head with impressive force, or grabbing and pulling whatever limb is closest to him... All of those things that elicit screams of protest from Kayleigh. "But I just want to talk to her!"..."But I just want to pet her!" etc.. It makes him very sad. He does want to be nice, he will often offer her a toy or bring her bottle to her. He simply doesn't know his own strength I guess. He is obsessed with music, he absolutely loves it, any and every kind.  He also loves to talk about Jesus. One of my favorite memories of him was one week when I had to bring him home early from church. He was SO distraught and told me "Jesus wants me at church!" He loves his "friends" at school. I put it in parenthesis because he uses that term frequently lately. We'll go to the doctor or the store and he'll say, "Look at all of these friends!" SO CUTE. Jayden and Ethan both go to preschool and though it is only two hours four times a week for both of their classes, I feel like it keeps me pretty busy.

Kayleigh just turned one and she is so smart, and so involved in everything! She clearly wants to be as big as her brothers right now. In fact her main pet peeve is just being tied down.  She doesn't want to be contained in a car seat, on a lap or anywhere else unless there is plenty of entertainment! She is quick to smile and laugh, and has the funniest, low growly laugh. :). She loves peek a boo, reading, or any song or game that involves her. She actually initiates most of our peek a boo sessions. Tonight she covered her eyes with her hands and laid her face on my leg. Then after lots of coaxing. "PEEEEEEK, where's Kayleigh? Where did my Kayleigh go?" She'd peek up with a big grin, let out a low growl and grab my leg or arm to ~~pinch/scratch~~"tickle" me. Cutest thing ever! She is quite the handful, and so adorable that we probably let her get away with too much! She's our little sweetheart.

Kayleigh's Birthday Part two!!

2010-01-18T23:35:00.000-08:00

We had a second birthday party for Kayleigh so we could celebrate it with Jay's family. It was a really fun, low maintenance party. (I am a more the merrier kind of girl and love our big families, but it is less stressful cooking for less people). I made a second attempt at fondant... Better, but still not good. BTW, if anyone knows what I am doing wrong to make it not lay flat on the sides LET ME KNOW! There was a great big flap on the back that I had to fold over, not to mention the ripples on the side there :(. In spite of their imperfections, I still was happy with them. It's fun to try and improve.

Aunt Nickie bought Kayleigh a beautiful dress from China town while she was visiting her family.

Deja vu?

I STILL don't like my hand shoved in my cake!!

It didn't take long to get her involved this time.

"Daddy, don't eat Kayleigh's cake!" He's so protective of his siblings! He is also the first one to protest if he thinks we are going to leave Jayden home. ~~Yes, we have threatened to leave him home alone. And yes, we are evil, manipulative parents :).~~ He also flips if he thinks daddy will forget to wait till I get in the car to leave. It's pretty funny, except to Jay who has to listen to the screaming. :)

Kayleigh didn't seem to mind, but her eyes never left daddy. She was very curious what he was doing.

I love the look on her face in this one.

Can I have a lick?

All gone!

She loved her talking elmo.

In fact, in this pic she had just tried to dive at Jayden in an attempt to grab him! Luckily she fell toward daddy.

Ethan still wouldn't put down his beloved traveling darth vader.

Jayden and Koda kept running in and hiding under the table.

Can you see why? :)

Ethan's gonna get me!

Doesn't he look pretty? I love how half of his hand is hanging out :)

Here is how the snowman progressed...

Good Job everyone!! We loved our opera singer.

I totally messed up this one, but since everyone else looked so cute, I had to post it :)

What cute cousins!

New Years Eve!

2010-01-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

We went to Laura's house for New Years Eve this year. We had lots of yummy food and played. Ethan got a little too curious about the pigs in a blanket and ended up with a burn on his cheek from the pan. The worst part is I didn't know where he got burned. I put a cold rag on his face and he said. "NO! It's my hand!!" Then he didn't even want it on his hand. A while later the long blister showed up. I didn't take a close up, but you can see it a little on his right cheek. Poor guy. He got over it quick though and had fun playing with the kids.

Jayden wanted to take LOTS of pictures :)

Everyone else played games, but Jay and I just relaxed and watched the tv festivities. (Well, okay, I kept interrupting the game with my questions :) It looked like a fun game!) We were party poopers and left before 11, but it was a fun night. We sang happy birthday to Laura before we left.

The Kids are being candles while we sang :).

We forgot Kayleigh's coat :( She wasn't very happy with our alternative...

But she was warm!! Happy new year!

Saying bye to Grandma and grandpa

2010-01-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

These are just a couple pictures from the day my mom and dad left after Christmas weekend.

It seems like every time Jay falls asleep at Laura's, the kids want to play with him even while he's sleeping. (I know, I need to wash their faces!! Thanks to pictures, I am aware of how bad I am at forgetting/not noticing that!)

Here is Jayden piling toys on daddy.

Then Ethan took a turn.

Singing with grandma and grandpa.

The big Brown birthday party!!

2009-12-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we had a big birthday party for all of our family birthdays in the next week or so: Kayleigh, Cameron, Dad, and Laura. It was the big first birthday for our little ones, so they each had their own special cake to annihilate.

This is my first attempt covering whole cakes with fondant...I need practice! :) But it was fun.

We spent the whole day at Laura's house, and most of mine was used putting the cakes together. I took a break long enough to watch the kids open their presents.

She loves it!

What's that?

Oooh, fun! Thanks grandpa and grandma!

After all of that excitement, it was nap time!

for lots of people...

After dinner, they were ready for their cakes.

Kayleigh just wanted to pull the circles off of hers.

Great grandma tried to help her see the yummy stuff inside...

She wasn't sure she liked it that way.

Then daddy tried to help her get into it by pushing her hand into her cake.

She knew she didn't like that!! What can I say? She's a dainty little lady.

Aunt Laura tried a more gentle approach to get her to taste it.

Then Meleah made an attempt...

But she didn't think it looked very appetizing.

She did finally realize that it was not disgusting.

And then she was a little more exuberant.

She still was very careful and methodical though.

Such a girl! I love those long Turpin fingers :).

Cameron didn't have any problem digging in once someone showed him how.

He just kept looking over at her and wondering, "what the heck was wrong with her?? It tastes fine to me!"

Jay helped him get a little more messy.

Time to clean up!

Here is the final damage on the cakes

While the babies ate their cake, some of the kids enjoyed the "edible playdough"

After all of that everyone else finally got cake and ice cream.

All Clean!!

Play time!

Christmas

2009-12-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

This is the star that Jayden and Ethan made this year.

After our late night, we got a later start than planned. We got up at 8. It's a good thing we let the kids sleep as long as we did! They were still tired even at 8. Ethan wanted darth vader for Christmas, and after searching all of our local stores we had to order one on ebay. I wrote to the person we won the auction from just to make sure that it was coming. I'm glad I did because she contacted me the next day (10 days after the auction ended) and said that she wasn't going to send it...She lost it... and didn't feel inclined to let us know in time to order another. ~~I'm sure she didn't know what it was for based on the date we bought it.~~ Anyways... We did order another one that night, but she sent it media mail and it arrived today(She was supposed to send it parcel post, and I even told her my sob story and offered to pay for priority. Oh well.) I wish I could have made it work out, but luckily, he was at least tolerating the fact that Darth Vader wasn't coming till later. He didn't seem overly excited, but he apparently believed my story that Darth Vader wanted to visit the north pole so Santa was going to mail him to us. He just kept telling people that he is going to get Darth Vader like he had up until Christmas. And he was SO excited today to get his package. He never let the toy go all afternoon.
Luckily Christmas went on without Darth Vader. Santa brought him a clone trooper helmet, and that seemed to keep him happy. Jayden got his Devastator he had been hoping for and then, after we were done opening presents, Jay found a couple that santa had hidden. They got pillow pets that Jayden had talked nonstop about too. Santa was WAY too nice to us this year :)

Kayleigh trying to wake up after her late night.

When Jayden opened his pillow pet, he immediately wanted to try it out :)

Ethan followed suit.

Jay's dad dropped in for a few minutes and then we went to his mom's house. She makes cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and then we open gifts and let the kids play all morning.

Ethan was happy to get another hat!

Jayden had a long conversation with aunt Ginger. How cute :)

Daddy loves to tease as usual. Kayleigh didn't like his sour candy.

Kayleigh finally got the sleep she didn't get the night before.

I LOVE this pic. What a handsome husband!! :)

Next we saw Great grandpa Turpin and came home for a little while to play with toys and clean up. My parents came into town Christmas day, so they were our next stop. We spent the evening visiting with that side of the family.

My favorite part of the night was listening to my sisters' beautiful harmony while mom played Christmas carols. I didn't get a picture with all of them, but here is the one I got.

We have large close families, and it makes Holidays pretty busy. But that is what is most important. Our lives would be empty if we didn't have family.
After we got home we put the boys right to bed with their new pillows and blankets. Ethan was already sleeping, but Jayden said: "This is the blanket I always wanted. It's soft like heaven." That, combined with earlier that morning when Ethan said: "Whoa. That is too cool." They made it the perfect day for me. Kids are the best!!

One more funny quote from Ethan was a couple days later when he was playing with his Megatron toy. Megatron says something like "I will crush the autobots" Ethan added his own spin to it "I will crush the autobots in the face k?" What a cutie! :)

Crazy Christmas Eve!

2009-12-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

We crammed a lot of visits in on Christmas Eve, and it made for a busy, but fun day. We started early going to Laura's house in the middle of the day. It was a little different this year, not meeting with all of mom's family, but it was fun even with our smaller family group. It was just Laura and Dalton, Randall and Candice, Rhonda and Arin for a while, and then us. I forgot to pull out my camera, but the kids got to play with Dalton and see what Santa brought early for him. We prepared our traditional Stuffed cabbage (mmmmmm...). As soon as we ate, we had to run to Grandpa Turpin's house. So we didn't do the usual nativity and present opening this year.
Grandpa and Abuelita decided to do their Christmas gathering on Christmas Eve this year. The kids loved the lasagna and breadsticks. After dinner Grandpa read a talk that Elder Holland gave earlier this year about the Savior and then we opened presents.

Our final stop was at grandma milligan's

Yes, it was our third meal within less than 5 hours :)

This was the one Jay was most looking forward to!

After dinner grandma played some christmas carols on her new piano.

Ethan and Koda "helped" grandma play.

Jayden was loving this face. I could not get him to stop squinting that eye. When I told him to quit, it just became funny for him, so he did that same face all night. I guess I shouldn't have called it a pirate face. That must have sounded cool to him :).

Ethan took it upon himself to make sure no pop was wasted. He finished off any can he found. He also ate tons of grandma's ham. He is our little carnivore.

Kayleigh would have liked to help Ethan with his quest, but unfortunately for her, she only got the empties.

After Grandma's we went home and put everyone in their jammies and in bed. Jay and I stayed up till after 2 wrapping everything and helping Santa. Kayleigh decided to start breaking in four teeth that night as well, so we spent part of the time trying to soothe her. She was so miserable, she cried herself hoarse, but she finally drifted off with the help of some tylenol and a back rub.

Jayden's first Christmas program

2009-12-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Jayden's preschool Christmas program. It was a little hectic thanks to my little Kayleigh girl, but it was so fun to see him singing with his friends.

I think this was a sleepy reindeer song. Jayden was having a hard time keeping his antlers on.

This is a snowman song. Jayden sang along really well. Then he melted.

He was Joseph in the nativity play. What a cutie!!

Random Pics

2009-12-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying my camera too much! Here's some picture randomness...

These first pictures are a fairly typical night at our house. (Of course they don't always end in crying. I guess we got carried away in our picture taking :)

I pulled out the camera to catch Kayleigh who was systmatically emptying and then refilling the diaper box.

Then since she saw the camera, she decided to come check it out.

Then sexy daddy got home,

And the kids all LOVE when daddy gets home!

This is what happens when daddy tries to relax and watch tv.

Then daddy decided to have some fun of his own.

The kids were still having fun at this point...

But Jayden didn't so much like heights.

And Kayleight didn't want to be an acrobat...

So we all settled down and watched some tv. :)

Here's our little reader! She loves books lately.

Bath Time!

Going home after visiting grandpa Turpin.

Ethan got a new hat...his favorite!!

Their favorite closet club house!!

It is pretty well known that Ethan loves hats. Over the last year, Ethan has taken a liking to wearing underwear on his head. Usually he stole them from Jayden's drawer, so it was only a little annoying when I had difficulty finding clean underwear for Jayden as a result. But recently I busted him a couple of times putting on dirty underwear from the laundry. After taking off one pair and being so disgusted by their state that I gagged, the captain underpants getup had to go. At first he was pretty sad that he couldn't "be megatron" anymore. But he quickly bounced back and started putting any shirt he can find on his head...at least its a less risky substitute.

Jayden had lots of fun delivering most of our Christmas treats to our neighbors. After we got back home, he still wanted to play in the snow some more.

He was pretending to be a dog, and he is sleeping in this one.

Now he's panting.

I Loved these two shots.

Christmas Street

2009-12-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

This year we decided it would be too cold for Kayleigh to ride the trax to temple square so we decided to drive around and find some lights. Both Jay and I drove on Christmas Street as kids so we decided to go and find that. It is around 15th east and 17th south. It wasn't exactly how we remembered it. Some houses had lots of lights, but it wasn't nearly as lit or crowded as I remember it. So we decided to keep driving around the area and look for more lights. We continued west on "Christmas Street" and after a block or two of nothing, we happened upon an even better street! Most of the houses on the street had big wooden pictures of Jesus and a scripture caption. The street starts at his birth and as you progress along, it goes through his whole life. It was really neat! There weren't many people so we were able to stop and look at them.
Jayden asked me if we were going back to Christmas street again several times in the days following and I finally said something like it didn't have many more lights than anywhere else. He replied, "but what about the pictures of Jesus?" (What a humbling experience for me!!) I promised him we would go see them again. It's amazing what my kids have taught me about priorities, and what's really important. Here I was frantically making preparations for all of our parties and gifts, and he just wanted to go see pictures of Jesus again.

Happy Anniversary Jay!

2009-12-27T23:20:00.000-08:00

Written Dec 11,2009

Just a note: because I use this to replace my journal, some posts are of a somewhat personal note. I write this first and foremost for myself and my posterity :). You are of course welcome to read all of it but I wanted to make sure it's known that this is a personal one. So, though my blog is always kid friendly, it may be boring or cheesy. Consider yourself warned! :)

We celebrated our 8th anniversary this week. What a wonderful week it has been! Thanks to my sisters, Rachel and Jana, we got to celebrate it twice. Tuesday we went out to dinner and then went shopping. Then Last night we got to stay at the Anniversary Inn. It seemed like the evening was doomed to disaster. Jay couldn't get off early, and then at the last minute he had to do a service call. They ended up not having the parts so they had to wait there in park city while someone brought them up from Salt lake.   He ended up being later than he has been in a very long time!  At long last, he arrived home and we got out of the house by 8. We stayed in the Romeo and Juliet room and it was so beautiful and nice. After we checked out we went to italian village and then took care of some Christmas Shopping. The best part was just being able to escape for a while!! I love my kids so much and I did miss them, but its rare that Jay and I even leave them. So it was nice to just spend time with him for once.
How quickly time passes! It is so fun to think of all of the little experiences that lead to us being together.  I had spent at least a few years of my life hunting for the love of my life, and worrying that he would pass me by someday and I wouldn't even know it. Funny the silly things we worry about huh? Then I find him at I time when I am not looking, in a place I would never expect. Of course I feel like my story is so romantic. (but I guess everyone does, falling in love is generally romantic... :)  And being the romantic that I am, I feel it was totally meant to be and totally perfect :). The first time I met jay was in the fall of 1999. We served around each other for four months in my first and his last area of the mission. He had a serious girlfriend, and his companion liked to tease him about his stack of pictures and the life size cut out of herself that she mailed to him. I respected him a lot, for being a good, obedient missionary, and he seemed shy, humble, real, and sweet. Not to mention he was so cute with all the kids in the ward we served in. He used to do magic tricks for them, and make them laugh. Another funny thing is that my companion used to joke with me that Elder Turpin and I would be perfect for each other. I would of course shoot back that I would have to go home and beat up his girlfriend/wife :). Of course I never thought of anything other than friendship at the time. We were missionaries first and foremost, and furthermore, he was taken.
I left the area in early December, just a month or two before he was to return home. I had a strange experience when I said goodbye to him, I felt strong tingling feeling as we shook hands. It was so poignant that I thought about it several times as I drove to my next area and in the next weeks. Of course, again I shook it off because, like I said, we were missionaries and he was taken, and less than two months from going home. He didn't tell me this, but the week that I left the area, his girlfriend had written him the infamous dear john letter. My companion talked to his companion and after I heard about his dear john letter I REALLY wanted to talk to him and say sorry, but I NEVER DID!!! :)
So he went home and dated a bunch of girls and I went on to finish my mission. When I got home I felt very strange and uncomfortable. I didn't have my usual desire to get involved with my singles ward, all I wanted to do is see other missionaries from my mission. I guess I thought they would understand what I was going through, or they seemed familiar to me. Even months after coming home, I felt like a alien in some ways, like a weirdo!  (I know I'm always a little weird, but more than usual!)
My sister had been traveling a lot to Utah to meet with her fiance so I decided to tag along and set up a mission party.  I called and emailed everyone I could find and then asked all of them to send it on to any other missionaries. The day I was to leave for Utah my little sister told me someone had called for the address to the party, but she hadn't taken the name. I was upset and felt a strong urgency to reach that person, and as luck would have it, Jay called literally as we were walking out the door to leave for Utah. Another funny detail is that he had just been in Vegas for a week and he knew I lived there. He wanted to call, but was too chicken, and hoped somehow that we would run into each other.(like the locals just go and walk the strip for exercise :) So he was surprised when he got home to find a message from me of all people telling him about the party.
So he came, and he looked very handsome I must say!! We shared several glances during a game that we played and then he came over to talk to my little niece who was sitting on my lap. Several of my family were there and got to meet the missionaries I served around. I knew how much he liked kids, so it was kind of funny seeing her give him the cold shoulder at first. Not surprisingly, she eventually warmed up to him. He stayed till all of the other missionaries had gone and then asked me to come outside to talk to him. He asked me out and of course I said yes! I guess the rest of our history will have to wait till my next anniversary, but suffice it to say, he was a wonderful friend, who became my priceless, amazing best friend.  I feel thankful each day for the little moments that lead to our relationship. And all of the millions of little moments since and to come.

I should make him tell his side of the story too, because he had some similar experiences to mine. He made me feel special from those first wonderful days, and still makes me feel so valued and loved.
I have to take a minute to express my gratitude for Jay. At this time of year I always feel particularly thankful for all that he does for us. Because he works as a plumber on new construction, he is often not protected from the elements. The last week has been particularly cold; and he has worked many days in negative temperatures in a windy canyon above park city. I have felt so sorry for him as I watch him walk out the door each morning. I am so thankful that he sacrifices his own comfort and works so hard so that I can stay home with our kids. I am thankful that he is a little kid at heart and actually enjoys playing with our children. He seems to look forward to time with them and they think he is the most fun person in the world! Jayden and Ethan often ask where he is and when he will get home. When we got home today, they both ran right up to him. And when Kayleigh saw him her eyes opened wide in surprise and excitement. Even as little as she is, she already wants her special time with daddy. Tonight they played in the "toy room" and I tried to keep her with me. She squirmed and screamed out till I put her down, then she raced as fast as her hands and legs could carry her into the room.
I love his calm, common sense way of looking at things. I tend to be embarrassingly volitile, and he has helped me so many times to see things in a calmer light. I am thankful for all of the help he gives me with the house and the care of our children. I would be such a mess! (Who am I kidding? I am already a mess. But I don't want to imagine the horror my life and my house would be without his help. It is a scary thought.)
Most importantly, I am so thankful for all of the good things he does and wants to do. I am so thankful that the Savior and His gospel are important to him. I am thankful that he knows how important it is to live it and teach correct principles to our children. Even in the time I have known him, I have seen him grow so much. I know it is because he tries so hard to do what is right, and I am thankful for his good character. As we drove he talked about some goals he wanted to set to help our kids become more familiar with the scriptures. Thank you Jay for choosing me and for supporting and loving me all of these years. Thanks for being your amazing, fun self. I love you more than I could ever say.

Snow Day!!

2009-12-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

December 8, 2009

This was our first time bundling up for a snow day!!

Kayleigh spent all of her time watching from the doorway. But she seemed happy with that.

Every time we've gone out in a storm, Kayleigh opens her mouth wide to try and catch it. Today is no different I guess. She is trying to catch what Jayden is brushing off his gloves. :) What a cutie!

Jayden and Ethan got right into it.

They both made snow angels.

And Jayden made a snow circle.

He didn't like it much when Ethan threw snow on him though.

But my evidence suggests that he did the lion's share of throwing snow on people...

And he did like that, as yo can see :)

After everyone was frozen solid, we came back in the house, bundled up with blankets and watched a movie.

All in all it was a wonderful day!!

Santa and the Grinch in one Day? Hooray!!

2009-12-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

The night after I returned from Nevada we made an attempt to put up our tree. I don't know if it was jetlag or something else, but I didn't feel well and we only got this far...

Grandpa came over for dinner because Abuelita was still in Columbia.

I am embarrassed to admit that it is still at that state now! In fact worse, one of the kids must have hung on the one side and bent down some of the branches...it looks awesome now with one saggy flat side :). We have had a busy month :). MAYBE we'll bend them back and finish decorating before Christmas.
The first Saturday in December we had two Christmas parties. First, we went with Jana to her work Christmas party. Her company reserves five theaters at Jordan commons for an early morning movie and they give you a bag of treats. Then after the movie, the kids get to see Santa. It reminds me of a tradition they did when I was a kid. We went to Villa theater every year with Associated foods when we were little. I thought it was amazing because the screen was so big. Then they gave us a stocking full of treats. That was the best part:). I'm glad we've been able to go with Jana these last couple of years.

All ready to go!!

Patiently waiting for Santa!

Jayden wanted a "Devastator" for Christmas

Ethan wants "Darth Vader."

Should I be concerned that both of my boys want bad guys for Christmas??

Saturday night was the Turpin family Christmas party. The kids had the chance to meet the Grinch! So in one day they got to meet two Christmas Celebrities, what a day :). We had one little mishap when I tried to make Jayden try his potatoes. He decided to throw up. (That'll teach me to make him try new things huh?) Jay cleaned him up while I cleaned his chair and we were able to enjoy the rest of the party. The Grinch was feeling generous and gave all of the kids a new toy. Kayleigh loved hers!! She wouldn't part with it the rest of the night.

I had to post these too.

More picture fun the morning after we got home from Nevada.

I guess I should have put away my pile of stuff from the van first.

Jayden's friend Zack came over to play after preschool!

"I'm a potato hat!" ---translation: I'm a potato head.

He particularly loves his optimus prime potato head.

Kayleigh helped me eat my gourmet apple. Yummy! :)

Thanksgiving and the Brown Family Christmas Party

2009-12-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a little different for our family this year. For the first time in our 8 years together, we were going to Nevada to spend the holiday with my family. The only time we could arrange for our family Christmas party was that weekend. Well, Jay's boss didn't get the memo about that I guess, and Jay got scheduled to be on call that weekend. He tried to trade, but it was not to be. I didn't want to miss both Thanksgiving and our Christmas party, so I left my poor husband by himself for the weekend. It was kind of a funny sad coincidence, but Jay, his dad, and his grandpa were all lonely bachelors for the weekend. All of their women went home alone for the holidays. So Jay got to spend lots of quality time with his dad, and his mom took good care of him on Thanksgiving. :) I was REALLY sad to leave him, but felt like it was the right thing to do. So the trip started out a little bumpy. Tuesday morning, I went to get an oil change and found out that I needed two new tires. Well, I only had two hours till we were supposed to be hitting the road, so I raced to a tire place to get them replaced. They were pulling off the tire and one of the bolts was tightened too tight. They said they would have to sheer it off to be able to get the tire off. I was totally upset for a second, as I imagined myself spending my day at a mechanic shop instead of on the road to Vegas. But he assured me that it would be safe to drive it without that bolt for the trip.

So I headed over to pick up Laura, Dalton and my kids. I got there to discover that dalton had come down with the stomach flu and had thrown up multiple times already. (This is a funny thing... Almost every time we plan a big family trip with everyone there, Someone is sick. Then the whole party gets sick while we're there. We've had everything from stomach flu, to colds to a strange form of pink eye pass around the family at these times.) We all go down there and mom finds room in the house for all of us somehow... (We have a VERY large family :) And I guess its because we are all so close together, it passes all around :). By some miracle, my kids and I escaped this time. We had a similar flu a month or so ago, so maybe we were immune. But I was grateful, because it was awful even in my own house, I can't imagine dealing with it away from home. Unfortunately, most everyone else had it at some point in the weekend.

Okay, back on track. We loaded up all of the kids and stuff along with several zip lock bags for Dalton and headed on our way. It was a long trip for poor Dalton, but we finally got there and had time to visit a little while before bed.
The next morning was Thanksgiving and it was such a busy day! We spent the morning doing last minute shopping and preparing our feast. Then after eating it I took a nap for two hours so I would be ready for my midnight shopping excursion. I don't know what I was doing all evening, but all I know is I didn't even have time to read all of the ads by the time midnight came. so I piled them in the van and my sister and I headed to Osh Kosh. I got some great deals and left there feeling so awesome!! It was a good thing too, because I didn't have nearly as good an experience at Walmart. For the last few years, my sisters and I have made it a tradition to meet at the walmart, gather up our price matches and then divide our group up to stand by the door busters we want most. Then we slowly work our way through the crowd, gathering littler things like jammies, and clothes. I don't usually even go to any other stores I love it!! I love the crowds, I love the good will. Most of the people I have been around are nice and we all work together to get the things we want. I was excited to go to Vegas, because in the past their sales were less crowded.... NOT THE SAME THIS YEAR. I don't know if we just chose the wrong walmart or if the crumbling vegas economy has made people a little crazy. But after 5 o' clock rolled around there was NO good will and NO fun for me :(. I was basically stranded with my cart and thankfully Candice, Jana and Rachel gathered up a few things for me. Also, they had very little stock of the little jammies and other things that the utah walmarts seem to have a ton of . (In fact, my walmart still had some when I went there a week later) It was CRAZY. Too many people, no room to move and then little still there of what I was looking for. Not to mention a plethora of people rudely saying EXCUSE ME! As if it was my choice to be stuck behind the huge mass of people in front of me. I tried to get onto one of the main hallways so I could possibly move and people were just as certain I was not getting in front of them!! So after 20 carts went by pressing to make sure I couldn't squeeze in, I gave up and tried to wind back through the clothes to get to the front. The clothes racks were so close together that I had to move several just to get my cart through. Finally, Candice and I got to the front. I located Jana to get the rest of my stuff and tried to push that cart through and got yelled at again because unfortunately I had the nerve to crowd someone while I was trying to squeeze through a narrow opening between two clothes racks. (I guess people don't expect to get crowded when they go to a store with a MILLION other people there.) So I manually unloaded the cart and piled it next to my other cart and slid it along the floor till I got to the register. Needless to say, I was HAPPY when I finally got the heck out of there!! I did buy a bunch of stuff, and I was excited to get a good deal, but I just left feeling tired and stressed out. I normally leave feeling euphoric! I don't mind the crowds because they are all smiling and it seems like everyone is happy and nice. And combined with the fun of getting a good deal and giddyness that comes with staying up all night, it is a favorite experience for me. But if it was like this year every year, I would not do it!!! No deal is worth dealing with all of that meanness!! Next year I am going back to my favorite UT walmart!
We went to 2 Kmarts Kohl's and Costco and then we were done for the day. Thank heaven they were better than Walmart. Thanks to my brothers for watching the kids for all of that time!! The rest of friday was kind of a blur and I can't remember all that we did. Saturday, I planned to take Meg with me to lunch with Laura and her friend. Laura caught the flu and cancelled, so Jess, Meg and I went to lunch at Olive Garden instead. We had a lot of fun! Then we did a little shopping and came home. Then I went out AGAIN and for one more thing. The afternoon and into the evening was spent making gourmet caramel apples. It was fun! But I think it did contribute to us starting the Christmas party late :). It seemed like nothing was going right with that either, but eventually we got it all wrapped and were ready to join everyone in the living room. It's our tradition to each open a pair of "Christmas Eve" jammies. We also rotate assigned siblings to give gifts to as well as a "stocking stuffer" for each couple and sometimes the kids too. The kids played with their new toys and ate candy for a while. All except for Ethan; he slept through the whole thing. Then, we changed into our jammies and went into the tv room to watch the present we gave mom. That was the highlight of the evening. We Rachel made a dvd with tons of photos from her life. We all had lots of laughs and a few tears as we reminisced over the wonderful memories of the past and remembered those who have passed on. It was the perfect end to a fun trip. Sunday we just packed up as quickly as we could and headed home.

These first pics are some I took while experimenting with my early Christmas present hehehehe!

I was trying a portrait function on the camera. I guess it isn't good for close ups :). It does four really bright blinks before taking the picture. Soren had to protect his eyes!

Brown Family Christmas Party!

Logan, Ethan's Birthday, and Dinosnorzz

2009-12-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

(Just a note: this was mostly written November 22nd.)

We are still packing our weekends with fun activities! I guess life never slows down. We spent the first weekend of November in Logan. The kids had fun playing and watching daddy use a jack hammer to pound up cement in his friend's basement. At first they refused to come downstairs to see him because the noise scared them. I made them, because I wanted them to see Jay working. They loved it after they got over their initial fears. I must admit it was kind of cool seeing him using it so skillfully. He occasionally curses the day he chose this profession, but I am so proud of him for all he has grown and learned over these last four years.

Ethan's birthday was the next wednesday, so we celebrated on Tuesday to make it possible for Jay to be at his Young men's activity. Ethan wanted to "go eat something and watch a movie" so that's what we did. We went to KFC so they could get "pop shakes" and chicken nuggets and biscuits. Then we watched "Where the Wild Things Are". The boys liked it because it had monsters and they loved the dirt fight; but I wished it had been a little more light hearted. It was pretty depressing through the whole thing.

The weekend after Ethan's birthday we went to dinosnorzz! We waited three months for this since they cancelled the last two months, so we were REALLY eager to finally get to go. And it was WELL worth the wait. We dropped Kayleigh off to spend the night with Aunt Laura, and headed down to Thanksgiving point. After we piled our sleeping bags in the corner, they loaded us up with candy, popcorn and drinks and sent us in to watch their 3D dinosaur movie. Then they split us into groups to take a tour of the museum. Jayden is really interested in dinosaurs and likes to ask me "How did the dinosaurs die?" (I have attempted to answer this question at least 100 times :) Or he'll announce to others, family and strangers alike "the dinosaurs are dead." His interest made us excited for this experience, but our boys were younger than most of the other kids there. I hoped they weren't too young to be able to participate. The tour starts with a dark hallway full of stars. Jayden refused to enter the hallway and seemed on the verge of a tantrum, and I feared that was the beginning of the end of our fun there. I was afraid of the embarrassment of a tantrum so I threatened that we would leave. That was enough to help him gather his courage and make it through, he even begged to go back through the hall later. We saw tons of fossils, learned lots of new facts, and had an amazing time. Both boys were fascinated by all of the amazing dinosaurs we saw and they had other activities on the tour to keep them involved as well. We hunted for knomes who protect the museum. Jay and the boys crawled through a little cave. They played with water and sand on their erosion table, made rubbings of different fossils and made a pretend dinosaur by putting arms and legs on a dinosaur model with magnetic pieces. (Jayden put on all of the different kinds of pieces and he ended up with about 8 legs). They also got to take brushes and uncover fossils in a little sandy digging area and watch "modern day dinosaurs" eating their goldfish dinner.

Jay loved spending time as a family, and seeing how excited both of our boys were. He loved how Jayden would jump every time a big dinosaur would show up on the 3D movie. He said Jayden would lower his glasses for a minute to look at it and then put them back on. My favorite fossils were the biggest turtle I've ever seen, the shark that makes a modern day great white shark look miniscule in comparison to size, and the cute baby mammoth fossil. Ethan was so afraid of the shark and Jay thought it was so funny. He pretended to throw him and Jayden into its mouth.(I wish I thought to get pictures of that!) I just asked Jayden his favorite thing so it might not be as accurate as that day. He said it was the stegosaurus and the t rex, as well as the water table. Ethan said he liked the water table too.
After all of that, they had a scavenger hunt and everyone got a little dinosaur glider when they solved the last clue at the brachiosaurus. Then we all laid out our sleeping bags under the dinosaurs and got ready for bed.

We slept in the corner behind this "utah raptor".

Sitting by the brachiosaurus foot.

This is the view we had from the floor :).

I have to admit, it wasn't the best sleep for me. (I wished I brought two mats :) But the experience for my boys made it SO worth it. In the morning they woke us with sounds of birds and dinosaurs. My FAVORITE memory of Ethan was when he woke up in the morning. I think when he went to sleep, he imagined he'd find himself back in his own bed by morning. He woke up completely amazed that the dinosaurs were still there. He was running around our little area and exclaiming in an excited voice "look at the dinosaurs!" He seemed almost overwhelmed with joy, pointing out each new one he saw to me. I thought my heart would burst it was so adorable!

My other favorite thing Ethan did is say the dinosaur names. He actually knew what a triceratops and brachiosaurus were even before they told him (thank you, dinosaur train!) I also was amazed how well he said them, he enunciated almost perfectly. He is a good talker but still so little, so it was surprising and cute to hear him say brachiosaurus almost correctly. Jayden was fun because he was so involved in all we did. He had so many questions and wanted to know what everything was and try everything. There were a bunch of exhibits you could touch, and they let you know by putting a hand signal on them. He figured that out quickly and would say "It's a hand one, you can touch it." This is a funny story that happened after we got home and he was talking to his cousin Dalton. Dalton: If I were there I would touch the dinosaurs. Jayden: You can't touch them! Unless they have a hand on them. (They argued back and forth and Jay finally told Jayden that Dalton was just pretending.) Jayden said this: "That's wonderful Dalton, that would be wonderful if you could, but you can't. "
After we got dressed and they made us breakfast, we thought it was time to go home. But they had three more classes. We got to talk to a paleontologist, make a wooden dinosaur 3d puzzle, and make a plaster cast of a fossil, and use a tool real paleontologists use to uncover and outline a fish fossil. It was such a memorable experience and worth every penny.

Last week seemed equally busy, but I got a fun break on Thursday. Jay graciously offered to babysit all of the kids overnight on new moon's opening night. I was so worried as thursday night approached. Jay had been sick all week and then EVERYTHING went wrong Thursday afternoon.
Kayleigh had bad diaper rash that I had tried in several ways to get rid of and Wednesday she had thrown up and started developing a fever. I thought it was related to the diaper rash so I called for an appointment. Thursday afternoon I loaded up the kids and was going to see the doctor quickly and then pick up Jay. Sounds pretty simple right?? So we get to the doctors office and Ethan had fallen asleep. I wake him and start to unhook his seat belt when he coughs and something disgusting flew out of his mouth and landed on his leg. The smell immediately makes clear that he has just shot a ball of vomit onto himself... In panic, I reach for the only cloth I can find, a new pair of pants that his grandpa gave him for his birthday. As I am sopping up the puke with the pants it occurs to me that it might have been smarter to use the miracle new clean outfit in the car to change into rather than wiping up stinky throw up so that now I have two stinky pairs of pants. Yeah...unfortunately, my good ideas often come too late. So I wiped the spot with baby wipes in a futile attempt to remove the smellyness, and hauled my kids out of the car. I had been giving Kayleigh tylenol for the uncomfortable rash as well as her fever, but decided to leave her off it so they could get a more accurate view of her symptoms. I intended to give her some immediately after they took her temperature, but of course forgot to bring it. So the doctor diagnosed the rash and gave me a prescription, but said the fever was something else and they needed to find out what. He thought after looking at her that it was probably a urinary tract infection and they had to catheterize her. It was SO awful. She had already been pretty unhappy, but this sent her completely out of control. I could barely keep back the tears as I held her down. They left me alone to comfort her while they looked at her urine sample. I finally calmed her enough to lay on my chest and listen to me sing after several minutes. I thought the worst was over until I felt her body heave. I ran toward the sink with her but the second heave came too quickly and I found myself and her COVERED in...you guessed it...throw up. Luckily, she was already naked down to a diaper so her clean up was pretty fast, in spite of the fact that she was in NO mood for a bath. I had tried to prevent any from hitting the floor, and there were only a couple of tiny splatters to clean up. Then, I turned my attention to the endless sea of reeking white slime that flooded over my chest. My shirt was all wet and I still couldn't get it off. Not to mention, Kayleigh was laying awkwardly in my free arm, crying pathetically. She wanted to be cuddled, so I gave up. I clutched her to my chest the entire remainder of the visit. It was actually nice to have her there to cover it for me:). The boys were very well behaved through all of this and that made it much better for me. Finally they gave me another prescription and sent us on our way.
I was so uncertain what to do. Kayleigh had drifted to sleep the second we got into the car, but Jay was clearly still sick and I feared it would be a long night without me there. But I REALLY needed a night off and I had been looking forward to it for some time. Jay assured me they would be fine, and after I called and found out that everyone was happy and having fun, I was able to relax and enjoy my evening, I even forgot about my stinky shirt! :)

I went with four of my sisters and a cousin to a twilight convention. We had waited too long to get tickets to the theater we wanted to go to and had to buy the convention ticket to get good assigned seats. I figured it would be dumb, but was excited to spend the whole evening with my sisters. It ended up being the perfect evening! We took pictures in a photo booth and looked at all of the exhibits, and I found a dress for Kayleigh that I just couldn't leave on the rack :) It was too cute.

This is my twilight dress :)

My updo :)

They also had a beauty college there giving updos and manicures. That was my favorite part! I felt so pampered! And it was fun to be silly and laugh at myself a little bit. I haven't done that in a really long time. We went to burger king between the convention and the movie and got twilight crowns and took funny pictures. Then we wore the crowns to the movie. So I showed up at the theater with a flashy updo and a burger king crown. I'm sure I looked like an idiot, but I didn't care. It was a carefree, silly, immature evening, and I loved every minute of it. The movie was great if I don't analyze it too deeply, but the night with my sisters was priceless. Thanks Jay!

Finally, this weekend we found an open time for Ethan's birthday party. He wanted a tractor cake. In fact, when people would ask him what he wanted for a present, all he would say is that he wants a tractor cake. So I made my usual feeble attempt and he was really excited. Kids make every effort so worthwhile. They are so sweet and grateful. Ethan is particularly cute about gifts and things. He learned at a very young age to show excitement I guess. As early as last Christmas he was doing this, but Saturday was no different. He would open a new thing and even if it was a shirt or something, he would be like "Wow! Awesome! Or some other courteous response. He got lots of cute clothes and toys and we had a great time with all of our family who came.

He shot someone in the head with his nerf dart :) (I think it was his aunt Ginger, but I am not positive.)

Someone took the eyes off the cake and put them in this halloween mask. :)

Awesome October

2009-11-01T02:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween everyone!! We had a really busy month with lots of activities, and unfortunately several sick days. In spite of those we enjoyed our pumpkin carving, decorating halloween cookies, and halloween parties. Also, Jayden went on his first field trip this month. He and daddy went to Wheeler farm with his class. They toured the farm and had a hay ride.

The first week in October we carved a pumpkin. Daddy did most of the work, but the kids had fun watching him glow. Unfortunately, I kept him in the house and he didn't make it anywhere close to halloween. Thanks to Sid the science kid, Jayden was able to tell me that he was rotten :). Unfortunately, HE had to tell me that our Jack-o-lantern was rotten. (Thanks to two consecutive sicknesses, I spent one week waking in the middle of the night to bathe my puke covered children.  I spent my days cleaning up throw up, and washing all of the laundry from it. Then shortly after a cold hit so I slept and cuddled my croupy toddler and finally my 10 month old. Needless to say my house looks like a tornado hit it, and poor jack o lantern rotted away unnoticed on my messy table.) Last week we replaced him. (we did at least mourn a couple of days for him!!) Jayden and Ethan got pumpkins from a primary party and we made them into a pig and a bear/dog with pieces that looked a lot like they belong in a mr potato head. They turned out so cute, but we didn't take a pic. And they were easy too!
So, as I said, our parties started last Saturday with the Primary party. Daddy took them around to a bunch of activities while I made cotton candy. Then Sunday, we did our annual sugar cookie decorating party with grandma Milligan. It was so fun, because they are finally getting old enough to want to participate. They made lots of cute cookies, but again, I fell down on the job and didn't take pics.
Monday night we made jack o lantern pizzas for family home evening, then wednesday Jayden went to his school party.
Thursday was Jay's birthday and we had the most wonderful date! Thank heaven Rachel watched my boys and my still croupy daughter. We have rarely gotten out in the past couple of years and it was so nice to get away. We went to dinner and then to a Halloween store and a haunted house.  I think it was our best date since our kids were born! The haunted house provided a much better opportunity than our typical dinner and movie night. Standing in the cold in the long line gave us a chance to cuddle for warmth and lots of time to talk. And we got to chuckle at the group of cute little high school girls in front of us, doing what high school girls do. Then of course, I had to cling to him in the haunted house for my own peace of mind. It was fun for me the couple of times that he got startled and super fun for him when I got scared or surprised. He so rarely gets that experience anymore since I refuse to watch scary movies. This was a good compromise. I was scared, but it didn't stick with me like when I see horror movies. Now I just have to wait a year till the haunted houses open up again!! :)
We got home late Thursday, and I stayed up to make Jello worms for our two family halloween parties.  Friday came all too soon. From then to now all seems like a blur since our days were full of getting ready and going places. But it was all so fun, it was definitely worth a little craziness. Friday we went to Abuelita Turpin's work party at Cyprus Credit Union. The kids got a treat bag, ate pizza, and went fishing for Halloween treats. I saw a friend I worked with there five years ago and had fun catching up with her. Jayden spent most of his play time making shadows on the wall. They had a halloween picture projected on the wall and he made good use of the light.

Our next party was at Laura's house for my family. We went early to make soup and jello worms. It was such a fun night just visiting while Jay and Randall watched the Jazz game. The kids made creepy cupcakes while eating slimy worms. Jay made Jayden try one, and he gagged, but managed to eat it without any mishaps. He did note, however, that it was disgusting :). Its funny how much the look of things can effect other senses. They are basically just raspberry jello and cream with some extra food coloring.

Another late night home last night and I was up early again this morning, finishing a couple things for our two baptisms we had today. (How cool to be baptized on Halloween, huh?) There was such a wonderful spirit there today. (I always am amazed at how strong I feel the spirit at every baptism. I just particularly enjoyed it today.) Our ward was assigned to do the talks and one of my young women spoke on baptism. She is such an amazing girl. I am always so happy to see how strong and mature and beautiful they are becoming. I think the challenges teenagers face are greater every year, and it awes me to see them making good choices, in spite of all of the temptation before them. It was a wonderful morning, and then I came home and started getting ready for Halloween.

Jayden and Ethan had hot dog octupus and fish for lunch. They really liked looking at them, but again, the whole what it looks like thing got in the way, and they didn't want to eat them :)

I felt like I had tons of time, and would be able to do so much, but everything went wrong with my costume, and I still found myself running late for our visit with Jay's dad. I totally lost my cool at one point. It is so funny that on days that are supposed to be so fun, I ruin it by stressing out. Luckily I came to my senses quickly and we got out the door. It didn't end up mattering that we were late, because they weren't home yet, so my stressing was for nothing anyway. :) So we headed over to the trunk-r-treat. I LOVED IT! It is probably my favorite part of halloween. I love giving out the candy, and seeing all the cute costumes, and all the little kids I know and love, and just getting the chance to have a bunch of positive interactions with friends and strangers alike. I mean, who is unhappy when candy is being passed out right?
Jay took the kids around. He said Ethan wanted to stop and talk to all of the monsters. He talked to Jay all afternoon about how they were both monsters (I think he was REALLY happy to be a monster like daddy) He was saying that he was a blue monster and Jay was a zombie monster. And he said, "I say Grrrr! and you say, Grrrraaaaaapes, I want Grapes!" So as they were going around he would go up to the monsters and say, "Hi monster, I'm a scary blue monster. What are you?" Both Jayden and Ethan chose what they wanted to be and were so happy to be able to wear their costumes. When I'd forget to put Jayden's foot covers on his costume he said "I need my waddling feet" He chose penguins, but was hoping he could be in snow if he was a penguin. Luckily, the first day he wore it, there was some snow on the ground. He was so excited and had fun waddling around in it. At the trunk-r-treat, Jayden saw a kid dressed as a toilet and said "Can I poop in you?"
After the candy was gone, we headed over to Grandpa and Abuelita Turpin's. Grandpa got a new ghost with blinking eyes and waving arms taller than Ethan. He did okay when we first came in, but then he wandered back over to the entry way (I assume in search of the candy bowl) He was over there by himself when he set off the motion sensor. He totally flipped out until grandpa and I went over to rescue him. He was too afraid to walk past the ghost :). And he said, "I'm super scared!"

We usually try to do themes, at least for Jay and I, but we all went our own way this year. I can't do the Zombie thing :). So we have a zombie, cotton candy, a penguin, a monster, and tinkerbell.

Finally we went to Grandma Milligan's party at Crystal's house. We enjoyed her delicious chili and pigs in a blanket and Jay and the kids had fun trick-r-treating. Then we watched a couple halloween movies and came home. What a wonderful time! I Love holidays, even with all of their craziness.

Here are all of Jay's "Zombie meal time" pics

These are some random October pics I liked.

I am amazed how big he is getting! Look at those long legs :)

One more Ethan funny

2009-10-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Jay had a sleep over with the boys while I took a little overnight vacation with some of the girls in my family. They watched a cartoon zombie movie and Ethan really liked the monsters. Jay asked him to tell his uncle Carl what the zombies said and he said "GRRRAAAPES." Then the next day Jay was joking with him about it again and he said "Monster, don't take my grapes."

Funny Stories

2009-10-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

I keep meaning to update my blog, but I never do!! I really don't want to forget these stories so here I go. These first two both happened in the past week, and thanks Jay for letting me embarrass you by writing them. :) I have to record his rare gaffes because I am usually the airhead of this relationship.
I was up really late last week and heard Jayden crying. Jay got up and helped him, but he continued to cry. I went upstairs and he was pathetically repeating "itcheeeeee, itcheeee". He had an itchy bum a couple months ago and we forced him to let us put some cornstarch on it to soothe it. He said that daddy had done that again, but it was still itching. I figured the only answer was to give him a 1am bath. That immediately solved the problem and he went to bed a much happier boy. The next day I kept wondering where Jay found corn starch to use because I thought we were out. I finally asked him, because I couldn't find it. He assured me we did and I asked where he found it. He thought for a second and said he actually used baking powder..."they're all the same right?" I tried to control my chuckles...a little, and said, "um no, honey, I think baking powder is an acid"
The second one was only a few days ago. Jay ran into Walmart to get a few things while the rest of us waited in the car. He LOVES Halloween and when he came back out he had a "special treat" for the boys. He bought each of them a realistic looking gummy finger with a harder candy in the middle simulating a bone. They looked really disgusting and when he tried to get Jayden to eat it he was as adamant as I have ever seen him. In sheer horror and disgust he screamed "No! I won't eat it!!" Somehow Jay bribed him into taking a bite. He chewed it for a second and then hurled ALL OVER himself, his car seat, and even the seat of the car. He was so revolted, that he kept heaving over and over. Jay took a bite and then threw the rest of it away. I teased him for wasting it and he admitted it was a little disturbing chewing it with the gummy texture on top of the harder texture.

Here's a couple of funny or cute things the boys have said over the past couple months: Ethan was eating cereal for breakfast when he noticed a bag of pretzels on the table. An argument ensued: "I want pretzels" "You have to eat your cereal first" repeated a few times till he finally said: "I'm scared of the cereal!"
He greeted Kayleigh one morning by saying "Hi beautiful!"
Last week he told me a funny story about a chicken and said "The chicken tickled my tummy. That's a funny chicken!"
One funny for Jayden. He likes to spank people for some reason, and one day he spanked Jay on his way into the shower when he wasn't clothed... Then he said "now my hand needs a shower"
Jayden was riding with Jay when he apparently did something he shouldn't. Jayden said: "Don't do that again. Daddy, you need to make better choices."
Another day he told me "Don't give up. You're a Mommy. Mommies don't give up." (Watch out, I see a career as a motivational speaker in his future! :) They do amaze me though. I feel like a very lucky mommy and wife.

Jayden and Ethan funny stories

2009-08-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Jay and Jayden rode the tracks to SL yesterday for some fun father son time. (Ethan wanted to go to the mall with me instead. He was supposed to go with Jay, but insisted "I need to go in the VAN!" Jay pulled up beside the van while I gathered a couple of things and Ethan screamed at him to "Drive!" We had lots of fun looking at the stores. He loved the dogs at build a bear and was so happy when I bought him a Sweet's sucker.)
Jayden picked the activity for he and Jay, he wanted to ride on the bus and the train. Daddy compromised by taking him on the tracks up to temple square. On their way home they were trying to find a quizno's after finding one closed down, and this conversation ensued...
Jayden: Grrrr grumble GRRR!
Jay: What?
Jayden:I didn't say anything, did you say something tummy?
Jayden (In Low growling voice): I want chicken nuggets and pop shake!
Jayden looking at his tummy: I think daddy wants a ham sandwich
Jayden(growly voice again): I want chicken nuggets and pop shake!
Jayden looking down at his tummy again: I don't know, I'll have to ask daddy...
Jay: So you want chicken nuggets and pop shake?
Jayden: No, but that's what my tummy wants.

Then at the park later that night he was flirting with and hugging an eight year old little girl named Yolanda. When it was time to go he said "bye Ca Ca" She looked at him funny and Jay said "that's not very nice, that means poo poo" His face was immediately distraught and his eyes filled with tears. He gave her a hug and cried and said he was sorry over and over. Later they were relating the story to me and Jayden said: "I was so sad, it broke my heart" (He's such a darling boy!)

Another couple of stories from recently is one day I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said: "Ummmm....maybe a firefighter.... or a farmer. He also said he was going to marry me and Ethan would be his kid... (cute boy) He also said to Jay "some dogs are bad and some dogs are good" "Some people have bad jokes, I have good jokes"
One final Jayden story: One day I was making dinner and I had just put the raw ground beef into a pan. Jayden: "That looks disgusting! Is that poo?" Me: "No, It's hamburger" Jayden: "MMM...I love hamburger!"

Ethan is still our little hat loving man and is so sweet! He always gives big hugs and says "I love you, daddy!" (Jay shared this one, he said Ethan will get up in the morning and lay on his tummy and say that) He is so fun in the morning. He almost always gets up before Jayden, and he is so happy to spend those few minutes alone with us. He gets a big smile on his face and runs up to give me a hug. He is getting so good at walking and running and his run is cute! He usually runs a little crooked, and unfortunately he has knocked his head several times because of it, running into things. He is very brave though, he just says matter of factly that he's got an owie. One of his owie's was my fault because I was walking in to church holding his hand and he trusted me to lead him on a clear path. (not a good idea...) I let him walk head on into a van. Poor kid just backed up and kept on walking.
He speaks so well!! He is speaking so clear and in long sentences and says the cutest things! The other day I was driving home from Laura's and amazingly he was awake, and Jayden was asleep. I came home and told Jay, but I feel so bad I didn't write down the particulars! Now I can't remember the exact things he said. He talked to me for half the ride home, about monsters, and what they say and do...it was so adorable.
A funny hat story is that he still loves a knight hat he got for his birthday last year. He always pulls the mask over his face and the bigger he gets the tighter it gets. He got a scrape on his chin somehow and EVERY DAY the scab got ripped off and it bled everywhere. I was getting so frustrated, because I assumed he just wouldn't stop picking at it. It seemed like it would never heal and I was worried about it getting infected or scarring. I finally found the culprit. He put that hat on in front of me and I watched it rip the scab off. I couldn't believe I hadn't realized it before! Well, I put it up for about a week( MUCH to his displeasure) and that silly scrape finally healed!!
One more about Ethan...He fell off Jayden's bike a few weeks ago and when Jay got outside he panicked for a minute because Ethan was laying face down under the bike not moving. When Jay said his name he looked up and smiled and said " Daddy, I fall"like it was an exciting thing :) Jay ran and grabbed the camera before he rescued him and Ethan said "Cheese" for the picture. What a trooper huh? He also said "It fell on me and I can't get up"
He loves sword fights with daddy. Last week during one, he said "I get you daddy!" Today he told me that "daddy likes the blue sword" A couple of my favorite things he says are "that's cool" and "that's Scary!"

Kayleigh just can't get big fast enough for her liking. She spends most of her time panting with the effort to move to this or that new thing. And she never gives up! It can be tiring to hold her because she will wiggle endlessly or try to climb you to get where she wants to go. She has these amazing deep eyes. My friend said they "suck you in and you can't help staring at her and smiling". I totally agree of course :) Well, they are always locked in on some goal that she is determined to get to, until they turn and lock onto another one, and she struggles in another direction. She is always curious what's going on and seems to usually want to be in the middle of it! Also, she is such a joyful baby! She smiles so easily, and so big, she scrunches up her whole face. She loves most anyone who will give her attention. She especially loves her brothers! Up until recently she mostly loved Jayden and was afraid of Ethan, but lately, he can get her to smile and laugh at him too. Jayden spends tons of time trying to entertain her. And nobody else can get her to laugh as hard as he does. He will spin around or run away and back to her and she giggles every time. I think she likes when he spins best, she never gets tired of that.

Some days seem filled with endless noise because of fighting kids, and playing kids, and mess making, and tantrums, and teasing... Then I of course add to the din by yelling over them in a feeble, and misguided attempt to have peace in my house, or admittedly sometimes in exasperation because they dumped the gross raw meat filled kitchen garbage can in my bedroom or spread their lunch or something else all over the place, or said no and disobeyed me for the 100th time that day. Some day's I've considered checking myself in somewhere just to get some of my sanity back.

But all of the millions of joyful moments, bring back my sanity and lessen my frustration. What amazing personalities they have! And the older they get, the more of their qualities I see, and it is so fun to get to know them. They amaze me and I honestly don't know why the Lord gave them to me. I feel like the worst mother in the WORLD sometimes, and I feel so inadequate. I don't even have a fraction of the patience a mother should have, and I can be very immature. I should be a SO much better person by now. I fail at pretty much everything to some degree, and I just hope that the Lord covers for my mistakes. All I want is to give them a desire to be obedient and do good things. And a realization that the gospel and all of the good things that it brings are the way to happiness. And of course I want them to KNOW that I LOVE them ENDLESSLY, no matter what. Jayden got in trouble the other day and he was so sad. He looked at me a few minutes later and asked "Do you still love me?" (He as also said "you don't like me anymore?" He's said things like that several times lately and I wonder, am I too disapproving, or too harsh? Do I harm their self esteem irreparably? Sometimes I feel like I am stomping them into submission rather than guiding them gently onto the path of safety and righteousness. I decide over and over that I am going to do better, but find myself falling into the same patterns. They are SUCH AMAZING kids and I want them to KNOW IT!
Wow! I've taken a whiney turn!! This entry started out so light and silly!! It's when I think of how incredible they are that I start feeling like I am not good enough to give them what they need. I guess all I can do is strive to do my best and hope for the Lord to pick up the MILES of slack right? I am so thankful for my three angels. They inspire me and make life so much more meaningful...not to mention SO much more fun! I don't know what I did to entertain myself before.

My Big Boy's 4th Birthday!

2009-07-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend celebrating Jayden's birthday. I can't believe how old he's getting. He was very excited to be four and can't wait now to start his preschool in september. We spent the whole weekend celebrating: in fact, he looked puzzled yesterday morning when I told him it was his actual birthday and he told someone that he had three birthdays! I'm going to have a lot to live up to next year!! :)

It all started Friday. He and daddy went to run some errands and go pick out a birthday present. During their fun day Jayden said some funny/cute things Jay shared with me. First he embarrassed Jay at costco. We have a little person who works at our costco giving out samples. Jayden went up to him and said "You are a cute little daddy!" Then he turned Jay and said "Daddy, I don't want to be a little daddy, I want to be a big daddy." (He is obsessed with being big. He often says statements like "When I'm big I'm going to..." He often says he's going to like foods when he is big, like broccoli, but MY favorite is when he said he is going to marry me when he gets big.) The other cute thing he said totally warmed my heart. He was talking to daddy about his good guys and bad guys and he said "Being good is a choice, and I choose to be good" Is that adorable or what?

They got back a little late so Zach, Ethan, and Kayleigh started without him. He joined them before too long!

Of course, as usual I was still working on the cake as we should have been getting dinner on the table. Jayden had come in earlier in the day and said "make my cake yummy okay?" He has been talking about and looking forward to his "bumblebee car" cake for MONTHS now.

Every birthday, I spend hours planning and working on cakes. I often wonder if its worth my effort since my attempts are pretty feeble and I am certain they would look much better and not cost more just to buy one! He walked in and saw it and started jumping up and down in his excitement, saying "my bumblebee cake!" over and over. He looked like he was going to hyperventalate! :) That made ALL of my effort worth it. It wasn't finished, but I saw no point in adding anything else when he was SO happy already. Seriously, seeing his excitement through the whole party brought tears to my eyes. That is why we have kids!! I can't imagine anything that could make me more happy than seeing my kids THAT happy. In fact, as adults, I think we lose the ability to enjoy life as much as children do. But we can see life through the eyes these sweet, angelic, grateful little spirits we are blessed with, and life becomes so much more vibrant.

Sorry, I am going to go even more off on a tangent, but I want to remember this experience. Ethan loves peanut butter. The other day, I gave him peanut butter on a banana, and he just licked off all of the peanut butter. He asked for more and I gave him a little spoon full of it. He looked at that spoon and laughed in pure satisfaction. He was SO happy to get peanut butter all by itself. And Kayleigh gets the hugest smile on her face, every time we look at her. She is so happy just to have our attention! That's what I mean, they have so much gratitude that it bubbles right out of them even over the simplest thing.

So, back to the party, we had hot dogs and chili for dinner. We had an alligator pool Jayden picked out, a frog sprinkler and a bunch of inexpensive water guns. Even some of the dad's joined the water fight. Jayden clearly felt like the king and he had tons of fun playing with his friend Zach and his cousins. He LOVED all of his presents! He got four new transformers shirts! (everyone knows him so well!) As well as lots of fun new toys. Then he blew out his candles and we all ate cake. I wonder how long he will talk about his cake this year before he decides what kind he wants next year! I was actually eating one of the last pieces yesterday, and he asked me why I was eating his bumblebee cake. He doesn't like cake, so he didn't even eat any, but he seems to want to keep it forever. He is such a funny kid.

Saturday, we asked Jayden what he wanted to do, and he decided he wanted to go to KFC and to the mountains, and "grandpa's park". We drove up and down the canyon and looked at a couple of houses Jay has worked at alta on and then stopped for a little hike. He and daddy hiked on rocks and then played in a creek. Ethan wasn't so sure about the rough terrain, so he and I and Kayleigh played in the van and enjoyed the scenery. He loved looking at the canyon, both he and Jayden stared out the window the whole time we drove. The mountains are so beautiful!!

It was a really hot day saturday, so we waited until it was evening before going to the park. Kayleigh had fallen asleep so Jay took the boys to "grandpa's park". (It is a fun new park we found by Jay's dad's house, so Jayden calls it his. We just hope he doesn't tell any kids that they can't play there because it belongs to his grandpa :) Jay said it was really crowded, but they both got a turn on their favorite tractors and had lots of fun before coming home.

Yesterday, grandma made him a special birthday dinner, with his favorite, chicken nuggets!

I am so thankful for this special little man that Heavenly Father sent to me. He is a busy little boy and can be a handful!! But he amazes me with his understanding and his good desires. He loves every living thing, even little bugs. He found a potato bug one morning and was watching it crawl around as Ethan came by and stepped on it. He was SOOO distraught. He came crying and told me that Ethan killed his potato bug. He was so bothered that it died. In fact, he doesn't even like when Jay and I talk about killing flies or ants. He loves Kayleigh and gets endless joy playing with her and making her laugh. And he is very protective of Ethan too. I have threatened to leave one of them home if they don't get dressed or stop throwing a tantrum, etc... (Iknow, bad mom :) Jayden has started crying and told me I can't leave Ethan home. He totally foils my manipulation! In another instance, his cousin Koda is constantly trying to take toys from he and Ethan. On the fourth of July Koda succeeded at taking Ethan's toy and Ethan grabbed his leg trying to get it back. Jayden ran over there and yelled "that's my brother's!" He tackled Koda and pummeled him till he got the toy back.

He is also my little ham. He loves being the center of attention and making people laugh. He'll say, "I'm funny huh, mommy." And he LOVES to tease, just like his daddy. He is often so nice to his brother and has even given him the toy he is playing with just to make him happy. But he also has a little evil side and he seems to get even more joy out of making Ethan crazy. He will say things he knows will upset Ethan or jump out and try to scare him. In fact one day I could tell he had terrified Ethan jumping from around the corner. I was trying to scold him for scaring him, and he couldn't stop smiling at the thought of how funny it was. He even let out a chuckle or two, it was clear he wasn't the least bit sorry!

I have loved getting to know his sweet, funny personality and his loving spirit. He, Ethan and Kayleigh never cease to amaze me. They are the sunshine in my life.(Of course I have to include Jay too! He supports us so I can be home to enjoy them more often. Not to mention that he patiently puts up with me and helps me endlessly!!) Thank heaven for families!! And even more for the plan of happiness so we can be with our amazing families forever. LIFE IS PRICELESS.

Fun at the park

2009-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the park today and had lots of fun! I will catch up on old stuff later, I wanted to share some funny things the boys said before I forget. We found a new park by grandpa Turpin's house with lots of fun things...tractors, and a cute little music wall, plus mountains for jayden and a couple of little kid swings...It's perfect!! :)
While we were there Jayden came up to jay and said "my bum says I need to go poop"... Jay took him over to his dad's and while they knocked he said: "Let me in grandpa, I need to go poop!" He wasn't home so jay drove the 1/2 mile to our house, and on the way he said "my bum says you need to hurry daddy"
He likes to speak for his body parts. Several times lately when he has asked for candy or junk food and I say no he says later "My tummy wants candy but I told him no"
It took Ethan a while to warm up to the play ground. He played in the wood chips and then asked to swing until he looked sick from it! I finally talked him into going to play with the "tractor", and the one he wanted was taken so he settled for making music for a while and playing. When he saw it clear he hurried over and played until time to go. In fact he was very distraught when it was time to go. "I waaaaaaaaannnnna dig!" I guess we've found a new favorite park for a while :) He also told daddy while they were working together "It's hot digging on the tractor" Kayleigh got to swing for a minute and then played with daddy on the grass. I love my kids so much!! They make life an endless adventure. I will be writing a TON about our adventures of the past few months soon!

Potty Training...YUCK

2009-03-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again.... If I could pick any parenting task to pass on to someone else, it would be POTTY TRAINING!! I'll take the pregnancy soreness and sickness, labor/surgery, runny noses, whining, even the occasional bout of the flu complete with throw up...but I can think of nothing more repugnant than spending weeks or even months cleaning poop and pee off of 30 pairs of underwear. And that's if it doesn't end up anywhere else! I don't know how to convince my toddler to poop on the potty. After a week of trying my nerves are shot and we haven't really had any noteable progress.
I've tried asking him if he needs to go, taking him to the potty every half hour, threats, rewards, showers, lots of time on the toilet, begging, crying...(guess that's going to far huh?:) It seems like a battle of will, but then you wonder if they even understand what you want them to do. And if they don't, how do you teach them.. He begged to sit on the potty and asked to go potty so we thought he was ready. I don't want to ruin his self esteem and make him feel like a failure, and I don't know how to help him succeed. It is very frustrating. Not only that, but I am not a believer in pull ups (at least around the house) so if this goes on much longer, we are going to need more than a good carpet cleaning!! Blech!!
Any tips would be greatly appreciated :)

February

2009-03-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll just start where I left off...Ethan's surgery. It turns out I was stressed for nothing!! They only did surgery on his one eye and he had a MUCH easier recovery. In fact, he had to look up to even see the red part of his eye. He still had a hard first day and he ripped off his patch only a few hours after coming home. (little stinker!) He was back to normal by the very next day. In fact, this pic is only a day or two later and he has found himself yet another hat :) If you look closely at his left eye there is a little swelling and redness in the bottom corner...

Kayleigh started the month with a terrible case of baby acne. It is finally clearing up, but I felt bad for the poor girl!!

We blessed her on February 15th. Our house was popping at the seams, but we had lots of fun. Most of my family came up from Nevada and spent the whole week to be at Cameron's blessing the following week.

(Grandma and Cameron)

Because the family was in town, we spent every day together. And then we spent Saturday the 21st cleaning a bunch of trash and DI stuff out of grandpa's house. Jay, Randall, and Steve hauled it all to the DI and the dump and then went and loaded a bunch of Laura's stuff and brought it back to Grandpa's. They looked ready to fall over after all of that. We were all REALLY tired by the end of the week, but it is always fun to have them here. Another fun piece of news is that we finally bought a van. As luck would have it, we got it the Saturday before Kayleigh's blessing. (Thanks to my friend Travis!!) So I was free to roam wherever mom was every day. We put 0ver 500 miles on it in the first week!! (three trips to eagle mtn and several to Sandy :) I have LOVED having it! In this case, material things can bring more happiness :)
Jayden had a pretty uneventful month except that he wanted to go outside a lot since the weather improved. He loves to ride his bike and has been cooped up a lot since Kayleigh was born. He also got to spend time with his favorite cousin Kaleb. Every day when mom was in town, he would ask if we were going to see Kaleb. He told me over and over that Kaleb is his best friend and he loves Kaleb. (Of course daddy and Zach are in best friend position too :) And he cried a lot when he had to part from Kaleb. It is so cute! It reminded me of a home video of my sister Candice crying when alexis had to leave.

He is growing up so fast and is a great helper!! He particularly likes helping Kayleigh. Both boys like to help me unload the dishwasher and put the clothes in the dryer, and sometimes they like to help with their books and their room too! I am such a lucky mommy :) Now if I can just help them to stop fighting, and get Ethan potty trained, life will be perfect!!

Here are some more February Pics...

Jayden asked me to take a picture of him and Kayleigh. They are wonderful older brothers!