Basic Overview

It's been a while...

2011-02-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

Wow...it's been a while! I just uploaded 413 pictures onto our computer and realized that there is no way that I can possibly blog about each of those pictures! So I won't even make an attempt. The past few months have been crazy and I haven't really felt in the mood to blog about anything. But I suppose that I should start blogging again...although I don't consider myself that great of a blogger anyway! :) I have been more into writing in my own personal journal over the past few months and have been debating whether or not I should even continue this blog. I'm still thinking about it...

A few weeks before Christmas, both of the kids came down with a nasty cold. To be honest, I was expecting it. It seems as if someone is always sick for Christmas! :) The coolest part about them being sick (if there could possibly be something cool about it) was that I got to use our stethoscope and otoscope! I didn't want to take them to the doctor unless I was positive that something was seriously wrong with them. Using the otoscope, I was able to diagnose Bryce's ear infection! It was pretty awesome seeing how his inner ear was all red and swollen! Actually, I felt bad for the little guy...it looked painful! He was miserable for about 4 days straight and it seemed as if I could do nothing to console him. Luckily, he recovered pretty quickly once the antibiotics started to kick in.

Here's a sad picture of my sick little man:

For Christmas this year, we decided that we wanted to go to Disneyland. We only bought the kids ONE present to open up on Christmas (and the things in their stockings, of course). It actually worked out great and it made me realize that we should really only give them one thing EVERY year! We bought Bryce a Tonka car track thing and we bought Lizzie a big MagnaDoodle. Jon and I didn't get each other ANYTHING. Well, we bought a new camera in November, so I suppose we could count that as our Christmas present to each other. :)

On Christmas morning, the kids got to open up their stockings, their present from us, their presents from my parents, and their presents from my sister's family.

I was planning on making homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast but the mere thought of eating anything sweet made me sick, so we opted for hash browns and eggs instead. Even Bryce helped with the cooking! :)

After breakfast, we relaxed for a few hours while Bryce took a nice long nap. Then we went to Jon's parents house for lunch (pizza) and to exchange gifts.

I seriously think that Lizzie forgot how to smile normally for the camera. She is constantly smiling like this...I think that she looks constipated! :)

This is Justin (my brother-in-law) and his cute little bald son, James:

After Jon's parents house, we went to Justin's parents house to enjoy a little Christmas "buffet" that his Mom invites everyone to every year. We were there for a couple of hours snacking and visiting before the kids decided that they were done. Then we went home and discovered that, after all was said and done, the kids were sure given a lot of gifts! We were absolutely spoiled this year! We truly feel so blessed!

Here are most of the gifts that the kids were given. Not pictured are all of the clothes! And, believe me, there were a ton!

Bryce's pile:

Lizzie's pile:

It was an awesome Christmas!

Here are some pictures of our Disneyland adventures:

A few days after Christmas (or was it New Years?) it snowed! It was pretty awesome! And pretty cold too...I'm not used to the cold weather anymore! :)

Here is Lizzie's Gingerbread House that she made practically all by herself. I honestly think that she did a great job! If only she could have smiled normally... :)

Jon went with Lizzie to her friends birthday party a few weeks ago. She ate blue cake and she seriously got the frosting ALL over her. She came home with icing all over her entire face and sleeves. Luckily, it came out of her clothes just fine! :) If I was at the party with her, I would have fed her the cake myself. Yes, I'm one of "those Mom's" who still feeds her 3-year-old on occasion. Hey, I have cream-colored carpet underneath my dining room table! I have to take precautions. :)

A few days after Christmas, Jon pulled out all of his Lego's that he used to play with when he was a kid (his parents saved practically all of his old toys). He and Lizzie LOVED playing with them together! :)

Actually, I'm pretty sure that Jon enjoyed it a lot more than Lizzie! I totally saw his inner-child come out! :)

For some reason, we have about a zillion pictures of Bryce eating. Why? I'm not sure. He does eat a lot though! :)

We had some visitors from afar! My Grandma and Grandpa Duncan came to visit us from Canada! They are from Edmonton, Alberta (the place where I was born!) and they just spent a couple of months living in Mesa, AZ. They were headed to St. George, UT for a couple more months and so they decided to take a little detour to come and see my sister and I! It was so great to see them, as I had only seen them one other time since I have been married.

Well, that's basically all that has been going on with us over the past few months! Well, aside from one other thing. I wasn't going to mention it, but maybe I will anyway. Just in case someone else who reads this goes through the same thing some day. We found out at the beginning of December that we were pregnant. We were very excited! We didn't tell another soul for 2 whole weeks. Even after that, we tried to keep it a secret. After having a miscarriage, I was very scared that I was going to have another one. I was pretty confident that everything was going to be okay with this pregnancy because I was feeling SICK. More sick than I felt with Lizzie or Bryce. I was so happy to be feeling sick because, to me, it meant that everything was going to be okay!

When I was supposed to be nearly 11 weeks a long, I went in for my first ultrasound. In an effort to make this short (because I could totally go on and on with details), let me just say that I had an absolutely horrible experience with the OBGYN department. Horrible. So horrible, in fact, that I went home crying and ended up going to urgent care almost immediately after. I would never, under normal circumstances, choose urgent care over an actual gynecologist. But that day, however, I was lucky. The care that I received at urgent care was amazing. The doctors actually listened to me and treated me like a person with feelings! What a shocker, right?

Anyway, I was diagnosed with a "Blighted Ovum". Basically, my egg didn't have any genetic information inside of it. The sperm was able to penetrate it, however, and a placenta began to develop. The placenta is what houses the majority of pregnancy hormones. Due to the placenta that was attached to my uterine wall, my body thought that I was pregnant. The pregnancy tests turned out positive. I felt all of the pregnancy symptoms. My uterus even expanded as if I was pregnant. In fact, when the doctor palpated my uterus before I had that first ultrasound, she said that my uterus felt like a 10-week uterus. Weird, eh? So I was "pregnant" with a placenta and an empty amniotic sac. What a complete fluke of nature!

The doctor said that it would expel itself on its own, like a miscarriage. I didn't even start spotting until over a week later. And then (to make another long story short)I started bleeding so heavily that I lost consciousness, went into shock, my mother-in-law had to call 911, I got to the hospital and the doctor informed me that my placenta was stuck in the cervix. After he pulled out our huge "baby" the bleeding started to slow down somewhat. And let me tell you, there was A TON of blood. Seriously. I could go into details about how much...but I won't. It scared me!

It was a crazy day, to say the least. I'm glad that it's all history now! When all of this first happened, I told myself that I was never going to try to get pregnant again. I just couldn't handle all of the emotional excitement and let-down. A few days later, however, I decided that I wanted to get pregnant again. But I didn't want to start trying until Bryce turned two. With every passing day, however, I can't help but feel like I want to be pregnant NOW. I don't want to wait! The doctor recommended waiting for at least 3 more menstrual cycles until we start trying again. To me, that just seems like too long of a wait! :) Plus, who knows when I'll even get a regular cycle again. It's been over three weeks since I gave birth to our placenta, and I'm still spotting!

Anyway, when all is said and done, I really do feel incredibly blessed. Things worked out really well. I know that things could have turned out a lot differently and I'm just extremely thankful that things are okay! :)

Thanksgiving and Early December

2010-12-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

Since I have completely neglected my blog for such a long time, I have a lot of pictures to post! I have so many, in fact, that I am publishing two posts in one day. A record for sure. :)

Here are some pictures documenting our Thanksgiving and a few other things (everything is completely out of order...sorry!):

We attended the annual Christmas Creche Festival last night and it was amazing, as usual. There was an incredibly large variety of nativity scenes from all around the world displayed in the cultural hall of our church. I loved looking at each and every one of them! And throughout the evening (and the rest of the weekend), a variety of musical performers from around the community come and perform special Christmas musical selections to help the people in attendance feel the true meaning of Christmas.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I think, Jon and I played 4 piano duets. We played "What Child is This", "Jeanette Isabella", "Silent Night", and "O Come O Come Emmanuel". When we practiced the pieces at home, they sounded pretty good. But leave it to me to make a zillion mistakes during the actual performance! :) I don't know what my problem is, but when I have to play in front of people, the notes on the page have a tendency to melt together and all that I see is a big blur! :) Oh well. It has been a lot of fun learning those pieces with my husband.

Anyway, at the Creche Festival, there is a special little Children's room set up where the kids can do a variety of Nativity focused activities. They had a bunch of dress-up clothes and I wanted to get a cute picture of Lizzie and Bryce...but it didn't quite worked out the way that I had planned. It's a good thing that my kids are cute no matter how well they pose! ;)

Here are the pictures that I was able to get:

Lizzie decorated this gingerbread man by herself (with a little help from me placing the frosting where she wanted it to go). It looks like a gingerbread ALIEN!

Random pictures of Lizzie:

We put up our Christmas decorations the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This is what Bryce looked like near the end of the decorating:

Lizzie loved helping out with the tree this year!

I felt so bad for Lizzie! She wanted to decorate this little tree all by herself. Every time that she was almost done, Bryce would come and knock it down! Needless to say, I ended up just taking the tree down and putting it back in the garage. It can come up next year when Bryce isn't so destructive!

Both of the kids loved discovering the Christmas toys that we get out only during the Christmas season (our Christmas Ducks, the stacking Santa's, Christmas books, Christmas stuffed animals, Christmas boxes, etc.).

Okay, on to Thanksgiving. We hosted the dinner at our house again this year and I think that it went really well. The only thing missing was my family. I missed them an awful lot! But aside from missing my family, it went really well! Everyone that came brought a dish or two (or three) and there was so much food that we ate like kings!

Jon wanted to give a shot at smoking the turkey this year. And I'm not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that it was the absolute best turkey that I have ever tasted in my life! (No offense, Dad!). It had the best smoked flavor! It. Was. Delicious.

He stayed by the grill the majority of the day making sure that the coals were still burning and that the temperature was still ideal. Actually, the entire process of smoking the Turkey began at 4:30 in the morning! While Jon was getting the smoker ready, I cleaned the turkeys and injected them with seasoning. It was an early start, but definitely well worth it!

Am I lucky, or what? :)

I contributed to the meal by making homemade crescent rolls (which turned out pretty yummy), and homemade wheat rolls (which usually taste great, but this time they tasted and felt like pieces of whole wheat brick).

I also made mini-cheesecakes, which turned out pretty well. Actually, I ended up eating most of them single-handedly. Not a good thing at all!

Here is the set up. We borrowed tables and chairs from the church which made hosting the meal very convenient!

Here are the people. There were a lot!

After the dinner had been cleaned up, Jon's Dad and Brother Manry played with Bryce's little Lightning MacQueen for about 30 minutes straight. It's the kind of car that you shake and then it goes. They kept shaking it and letting it go to see if they could get the car to go all the way across the table without falling off! It was pretty entertaining! Lizzie loved it, at least.

Thanksgiving afternoon, before we ate dinner, Jon was eating and sharing a popsicle with Bryce. Bryce LOVES to eat anything that Jon is eating. It's comical, really. He runs to his Daddy whenever he hears a wrapper opening up, or even if he suspects in the slightest that any type of food is being consumed. So, naturally, he tried this popsicle that Jon was eating. Apparently it was a little too cold for his liking!

He finally utterly refused to try it any longer! It was so funny!

Bryce has a habit of putting peoples shoes on his hands and walking around.

He also loves wearing the potato head glasses on his own head! I just love this boy to pieces!

And I love this little girl just as much. She is such a character!

It was a great Thanksgiving! We are truly blessed.

Miscellaneous Pictures

2010-12-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some completely random pictures of the last couple of months!

My cute little Chunk of Joy! :)

Jon wanted to take pictures from the other side of the glass cup that Bryce was drinking from:

Bryce loves, loves, loves his bottle! I don't have the heart to take it away. Even if the doctor wants me to...oh well! I'm not really ready to get rid of it. I love it when he brings his bottle to me and wants to cuddle. I look forward to it so much! He is such a cuddly little guy, especially when he is drinking water from his bottle. :) He doesn't even mind cuddling with Lizzie when he is sucking on his bottle! These two really love each other.

Some pictures of Bryce when we went to Santa Clarita...

As was mentioned in a previous post, we completely skipped celebrating Halloween this year due to the stomach flu. But we still handed out play-dough to the trick-or-treaters who came to our door! Jon wore his Jack Sparrow hat/wig. Bryce didn't really know what to think of him!

We tried to put the wig on Bryce...he didn't like it much!

When the kids were sick, I made them Jello. Lizzie loved it. It was actually the only thing that she would eat for a couple of days.

Bryce loves to play with his cars and his stacking blocks! And now he's really into playing with our mega blocks as well. It's so fun to watch them learn and grow...although I think that they grow up way to fast for my liking.

Lizzie loves playing with this little flannel board and random shapes. Also, as you notice in the picture, she HATES wearing pants. As soon as we come home from anywhere, the first thing that she does is take off her socks and her pants. Why? I'm not sure. But she claims that it's impossible for her to drink water, or cuddle, or eat, or do ANYTHING while wearing pants.

Bryce loves going outside. We try to go out every day if the weather is agreeable, and he cries every time that we have to go back inside.

It rained a couple of weeks ago (I know, a shocker). Lizzie and Bryce loved watching the phenomenon through the window.

Jon had his AP Physics Textbook on the table, along with a calculator. Lizzie started playing with it and actually looked like was solving equations!

I am so thankful for my family. I have such a wonderful life! :)

Congratulations, Craig and Amanda!

2010-11-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

My brother (Craig) and his wife (Amanda) had their first little baby on Wednesday! Little Jazlynne wasn't scheduled to arrive until late January, but Amanda developed Toxemia and the doctors had to do an emergency c-section. Amanda had just gone to her 30-week OBGYN appointment when the toxemia was diagnosed.

Little Jazlynne was born in the Logan Regional Hospital and was then immediately taken by helicopter to Ogden, where the facilities are better equipped for such small babies. Jazlynne weighed only 2 lbs. 5 oz. when she was born, but she has done amazingly well and her weight is already 2 lbs. 6 oz. It is truly miraculous to me the way that modern medical equipment can keep such small babies alive! Jazlynne is a fighter and the doctors say that she will be just fine. She just has to keep growing.

I love her so much! She is truly a precious little miracle sent from above! I can hardly wait to see her in person.

Congratulations Craig and Amanda!

Prayers are needed for my friend

2010-11-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

One of my friends, Tessa, is fighting cancer for the second time in her young lifetime. We have known each other since we were 10 and it just breaks my heart that she has to go through this again (the first time was when she was 16).

She is married now with two small children and lives in New Jersey. She started a blog to document her journey with cancer. If any of you want to be inspired, you should have a look at it. Here is the link:

http://tessascancerjourney2.blogspot.com/

Please keep Tessa and her family in your thoughts and prayers!

(Thanks, Trisha, for allowing me to copy the majority of your post!)

I don't feel like posting...

2010-11-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

...but my husband reminded me that I haven't updated this thing in a long time. Yeah, I realize that. I started a post a few weeks ago, but I just never got around to publishing it and it would be weird for me to post it now. So I won't.

I haven't uploaded any new pictures on my computer and I don't really feel like it right now. So I won't. This post will be short and sweet. Well, unless I start typing and I can't seem to stop. Which happens to me on occasion. So who knows. This may actually end up being one of those really long random posts without any pictures.

I stopped doing pre-school with Lizzie. It didn't last much longer than the letter "C". Why did I give up so soon? Because I got sick of making my child do something that she really didn't want to do. She seemed to enjoy it at the beginning, but then it started to seem like a chore to her and she just had no interest in it. At first I was frustrated. But now I'm fine with it. She's only three, anyway. What was I thinking?

It seems like I always set goals for myself and then give up on them. It really does happen a lot. My husband thinks that I'll feel better about myself and experience more success if I set only a few goals rather than a zillion. That makes sense, but how can I choose which ones to focus on? I really have lists of things that I want to work on and improve. And I get so overwhelmed that I just give up altogether and then end up not moving forward at all! It's a little frustrating! Yes, a change definitely needs to occur.

I really want to run a local 5K in December. I haven't ran a race in years, but I really want to run this one. I made myself a training schedule (yes, another goal) and I began to fail before I even began. Things just happened. The kids got sick. I got sick. It's too hot, too windy, or too cold. My knees started to hurt. And now? My lower back is killing me. I'm not sure what I did to it. It most likely has something to do with the fact that I despise stretching. I can't stand to stretch! It's so boring! I turn every exercise video off as soon as the hard part is over. I hate stretching! Yes, I know it's a very bad habit I have. But I have it nonetheless. Anyway, on Thursday my back hurt to the point that it hurt to sit down and I couldn't pick up Bryce. I went to the chiropractor on Friday morning and I thought that I would be cured after that...but I wasn't. He placed a heat pad on my lower back and snapped a couple of joints, but I hardly felt a change! Granted, it feels a million times better now than it did on Thursday, but still. I wasn't able to exercise on Friday or Saturday. And I most likely won't be able to for a couple of more days, or longer. I'm going back to the chiropractor tomorrow. I hope that he fixes me this time! :) But I'm a little concerned that I may not be able to run the 5K in a couple of weeks. Oh well.

A small part of me (a very, very, very small part) actually doesn't mind if my back is injured for a while. That way I don't have to worry about exercising! Life would be a lot easier if I didn't have to worry about squeezing exercise in. But then again, if my back was injured, I wouldn't be able to hold my little Brycie-Boy comfortably. And that would break my heart!

Speaking of Bryce, he can walk now! Not a lot yet, but he can do it! I love watching the little chunk-man wobble across our house. I could just eat him up!

I'm sad that my family isn't coming for Thanksgiving anymore. My parents, my sister, and my brother and his wife were all planning on coming for Thanksgiving. We were going to have a huge dinner with Jon's parents, my visiting family, Tara's family (of course), Darlene and Justin, and Justin's parents. It was going to be awesome! We reserved the institute for the dinner. The institute is large enough and it also has pool tables and ping-pong tables, a major plus! :) After Thanksgiving, my family and I were going to have a mini Christmas together since we were probably not going to be able to see each other for Christmas. It was going to be a lot of fun. But to make a long story short, my Mom is really sick and it wouldn't be wise for her to travel. She has had a 2 major surgeries over the last couple of months and she may need another one this week. She needs to be near her doctors now. We offered to visit them for Thanksgiving, but they would rather have us visit when my Mom is feeling better so that she can actually enjoy the visit (since we don't get to see them that often). So, we'll be visiting them eventually. Just not sure when. And my family will come and visit us eventually. Just not sure when.

We'll still have an awesome Thanksgiving Dinner. I just wish that my family could be here for it.

Oh yeah! At the end of October, my mother-in-law and I were able to go to Time Out For Women in LasVegas. It was so awesome!!! Jon watched the kids while I got to listen to really awesome inspirational talks and music. Some of the speakers included Jon Bytheway, Brad Wilcox, Kris Belcher, Ardeth Kapp, and others. Mercy River and Dallyn Bayles performed probably at least 10 songs each and it was really awesome listening to their music! I hadn't heard of either of those musicians before, but I really enjoyed them!

We completely skipped Halloween this year. I feel horrible about it. It wasn't our fault though. Our family got the stomach flu the Thursday before Halloween. It was bad. I don't remember ever being so sick in my life! Jon had to go to urgent care and get intravenous fluid. I took Bryce to the doctor because I couldn't get him to keep anything down. The doctor gave him some Zophran and it did wonders! I was on the way to take Lizzie to urgent care when she threw up all over herself, not to mention the entire car. After returning home, cleaning everything up, and finally making it to urgent care, the secretary told us to go home because we would be waiting for over 4 hours just to see the triage nurse. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. I told Jon that in our next life, we are not going to buy a brand new house until the kids know how to puke in bowls. Our carpet looked pretty decent in September. Now? After being puked on so many times it aged at least 237 years.

So Halloween came and went. I put away our Halloween decorations on November 1st and Lizzie was very confused. She said, "But Mommy, I didn't get to go trick-or-treating!". I know, Lizzie. I know. But it's a good thing, really. Who needs all of that candy anyway? :)

Jon and I ordered a Christmas Piano Duet book. It has been really fun learning a few duets together. We are going to play a couple for the local Creche at the beginning of December. We also were invited to play a duet in Sacrament Meeting in early December. I sure hope that I don't completely mess it up. Practicing is one thing, but performing in front of people other than yourself? That's a whole other ball game. Well...you know what I mean. :)

Well, I guess that my fingers got away with me again. :) This ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated. I guess that I had a few things to talk about after all!

REALLY old cell phone pictures

2010-10-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

I found the charger for one of my old cell phones that Lizzie and Bryce currently use as a toy. I was surprised to find some old pictures of Lizzie-Lou! Some of the pictures are really cute. A few of them are so hilarious that I busted out laughing and could hardly stop!

Here are a few:

This next one is seriously the funniest picture that I have ever seen in my entire life! I'll have to keep this picture in mind if I ever need a quick pick-me-up. ;)

A ton of stuff

2010-10-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

It really has been too long since I have updated and posted pictures. As such, this extremely lengthy post will contain a zillion and a half pictures! I attempted to put them in some kind of logical order, but it didn't really work the way that I had planned. So this post is basically a mess, but I really don't feel like fixing it. So I'm not going to. :)

Things are going well, and I feel so incredibly blessed. This past week has truly opened my eyes to how ungrateful I have been for the many things that I have been blessed with. I really need to be so much better than what I am. I feel kind of like a piece of dust...but in a good way. There are so many wonderful people that I know whom are such great examples to me. Wow -- some people truly amaze me. I need to be better!!!

We enjoyed watching General Conference! Well, as much as we could with the kids running around screaming. :) No, they actually behaved pretty well, for the most part. The only down side was that the volume doesn't turn up that high on our laptop, so we had to be pretty much right next to it to hear what was being said. But we managed. Man! Here I am being ungrateful again...at least we HAVE a laptop and internet access to be able to watch conference! :) I swear, President Monson's talk was just for me!!! Sorry.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, these pictures are in no particular order. And there are a ton of them.

Bryce is turning into such a chunky happy little joy (that's what I like to refer to him as). :) I just love him so much and I honestly don't know how I would survive without him! He is just so squish-able and kissable and lovable!

He loves the mirror that is hanging in Lizzie's room. A little too much, actually. In fact, I'm surprised that it is still hanging up on its hinge.

Bryce has an obsession with sunglasses. Really. He is constantly bringing them to me to put on. And when I put them on him, he gets the biggest smile on his face!

Here he is, playing peek-a-boo with himself:

Bryce and Lizzie's sunglasses:

I am really laughing out loud right now thinking about what I'm about to explain next. We thought that Lizzie would enjoy taking dance lessons, so we signed her up for a community dance class. The class was for 3 and 4 year-old's. It cost $90! In addition, we had to buy her a leotard, and ballet and tap shoes. But we were fine with the cost because we thought that it would be something fun for Lizzie to do.

Well, before we went to her first class, she got dressed up and I took some pictures of her home:

She was so excited to go to dance class! I kept telling her the entire day before class that she needed to respect her dance teacher and follow her directions. Lizzie assured me that she was going to listen to the teacher and behave.

When we got there, the teacher had all of the little girls choose a star to sit down on. Lizzie immediately chose her star and sat down. The teacher then proceeded to do some basic stretches with the girls. Every girl BUT Lizzie did everything that they were supposed to do. You know, they touched their toes, reached their arms up, etc. Lizzie just sat there and did absolutely nothing but stare at the girl next to her. It was very comical, to say the least.

Words cannot fully express how the remainder of the class went for Lizzie. I seriously can't stop laughing about it! I have realized that there is a HUGE difference between someone who just turned 3 (Lizzie) and someone who is almost 5 (the rest of the girls). :) Lizzie basically did her own thing for the remainder of the class period. She really just wanted to dance and had no idea why everyone else was doing crazy things like walking on their tiptoes in a line, walking around cones, bending their knees up and down, and standing still when the music stopped. In this next picture, you will notice that every girl but Lizzie, of course, is standing in a single-file line. The teacher asked the girls to stand in a line and wait their turn to tip-toe around some cones. Lizzie did not understand this concept! She just wanted to go around the cones...NOW! She was supposed to be at the end of the line, but she kept walking forward and tried to get in front of all of the other girls. The teacher had to continuously walk her back to the end of the line. The rest of the girls were annoyed with her because she was "butting in line". In addition, Lizzie tried to talk with them about her outfit and her new shoes, but they didn't want to talk to her. (Which is kind of sad, really).

Needless to say, the teacher came up to me after class and told me that she thinks that Lizzie is a bit too young for the class and that she should try again in 6 months.

Fine with me! I won't have a problem whatsoever spending the $90 elsewhere! :)

I actually got A LITTLE discouraged yesterday after the dance class. I thought for a minute that something was seriously wrong with Lizzie. Why couldn't she follow directions? Is she doomed forever? Or is this simply a stage that will eventually pass?

Plus, I started "preschool" with her on the same day and realized that she has an incredibly short attention span (she can't focus on anything for longer than 10 -20 minutes). Is this normal for 3-year-olds?

This preschool thing is nothing official, just me trying to teach her a few things. I decided to work on a different letter each week.

This week is the letter:

That's an "A" if you can't tell. I want to try and make a little letter pillow each week. The "A" pillow needs to be redone because I didn't have any stuffing and had to use cotton balls, of all things, to stuff it. Who knows if I'll even continue with the pillow idea, I'll probably get sick and tired of it pretty soon...

She glued goldfish in the shape of an "A".

She practiced forming the letter "A" by with play dough.

I have a variety of "A" activities planned for the week. The internet is very useful for things like this! I'm really excited to be doing "preschool" with Lizzie. She could probably care less and would much rather be watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse instead, but that's besides the point. Right?

This is what the little chunk-a-roo does while I'm attempting to teach Lizzie:

Jon turned 28 TODAY! Hurray! I love it when we are the same age. :) Jon and I went on a date to Red Lobster a couple of days ago in an effort to celebrate. I had never been there before (I'm not much of a seafood person), but Jon loves the place. Particularly because he had the option of ordering an all-you-can-eat shrimp dish. And believe me, he truly did eat all that he could. I got nauseated just watching him! I ordered blackened talapia. It tasted wonderfully fresh and healthy. :)

On Sunday after conference, Jon's family came over and ate dinner with us. I made Jon's birthday cake that day so that we could eat it with his family. The cake turned out considerably better than last year, thanks to a few cake-decorating supplies that Jon gave me for my birthday.

Unfortunately, for is actual birthday, he was sick with a head cold. But he went to work anyway and toughed it out. I always have such a hard time thinking about what to give him for his birthday, or for Christmas. He's tough to shop for! But I surprised him with a noodle-maker (he has wanted one for a while), some treats to for him to take to work, and a book about the Bible. Now I have to start planning for Christmas...

This is a picture of our Halloween countdown pumpkin-man. Lizzie takes off one link every day. When they are all gone, it's Halloween!

Lizzie has been enjoying coloring a lot more than usual lately. She puts so much concentration and effort into the task.

Bryce likes to get in on the action occasionally as well.

Bryce is starting to stack things.

Bryce isn't walking yet, but he loves pushing things around! Especially Lizzie.

Lizzie and I had the opportunity to go to the Stake Mother-Daughter/Sister's campout. It was awesome! We got to "sleep" in cabins, eat delicious food, sit by the fire, walk and walk and walk and walk, and do crafts. I had so much fun with Lizzie-Lou!

I was so busy having fun that I forgot to get my camera out. I just took two pictures.

Picture #1:

Picture #2:

I really wish that I would have taken more pictures! Oh well...next time!

Okay, I think that I am finally about finished. Here are some pictures of Lizzie and Bryce on our playground. They love playing out there!

Hooray! I'm finished!

Jon's thoughts in poetry (about our miscarriage)

2010-09-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

27 Sept 2010

there is a fun'rel in my brain
and emptiness has left its stain.
there was knowledge of a heartbeat
and present feelings of defeat.
how delicate is life!
mistaken for pleasure!
whilst unbeknownst to most
its enduring measure:
conceive
be born
to grow
to sow
imbue
endure
and retire in amber glow
a life so young
or scarce begun.
there is one word that can encase
circumstance' indelible taste:
miscarriage.
a word not said, or heard, but felt
and brings renewal through death so dealt.
mourners...to and fro...tread
but the floor will not break
with dreams witheld
'till other lives
nor breathe air sweet
or feel faint light
requisite of
ev'ry man
exquisite the
eternal plan
a time to live
a time to mourn.

Um...Nevermind

2010-09-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

I had a miscarriage on Saturday.

I wish that I didn't announce my pregnancy so soon. Because now I have to announce my miscarriage to everyone. Next time, I'll hold my excitement in a little bit longer.

Anyway, I started spotting brown on Saturday morning. I didn't think too much of it because a lot of people spot brown in early pregnancy. Although, deep down, I think that I knew something wasn't right.

The bleeding kept getting heavier and it turned into a dark red color. I decided to go to urgent care. I was there for 6 hours. They checked my cervix and it was closed, which was a good sign. They did blood work and my HcG levels were normal. They did an ultrasound and the baby seemed to be fine. The heart was beating and the doctor could offer no logical explanation for the bleeding. So they sent me home.

When I got home, I started experiencing very painful cramps. They felt very similar to labor pains. Then I started bleeding like crazy. I sat on the toilet and blood kept pouring out of me. And there were lots of huge clots coming out as well. Based on what I have heard about miscarriages, I knew that's what was happening.

I really wanted to go to sleep, but the cramps were too painful for me to relax. So I took some Tylenol. The Tylenol didn't kick in for about an hour. I fell asleep after that, but then woke up less than an hour later because I had bled through my pad. That continued throughout the night.

The next day was Sunday and I really didn't want to go into urgent care again. So I figured that I would wait until Monday to see an OBGYN in order to confirm whether or not I had a miscarriage.

I saw an OBGYN this morning and they did an ultrasound. As was suspected, there was nothing in my uterus anymore.

I cried. Jon cried. It's a sad thing, losing a baby. It made it harder because I had just seen the little heart beat on Saturday. All that I can think about is that little heartbeat and how it suddenly stopped. And how I flushed it down the toilet, unknowingly. It just breaks my heart.

But I know, deep down, that it is for the better. I couldn't have done anything to prevent it. The doctor said that there was probably some chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus that caused it to abort itself.

And if I had to have a miscarriage, I'm glad that it happened with this one. I wasn't waiting for months to get pregnant, like I was with the other two. If I had been waiting for months to get pregnant and then have this happen, it would have been a million times worse. So I truly consider myself blessed.

I had to tell Lizzie that Mommy didn't have a baby inside of her anymore. She sensed that I was sad and so she said "Wait, Mommy. I have something that will make you happy.". She ran into her room and pulled out her doctor kit. Then she came back to me put the thermometer in my mouth and told me to say "Ahhh". I did and then she said "See? You're all better. You can be happy now.". She is such a sweet little girl!

Anyway, that's what happened in our family this weekend.

Shocked

2010-09-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well...

I'm pregnant.

Are you shocked? I was. Still am.

But I am EXTREMELY excited!

It's not that we weren't trying to get pregnant. We were. In fact, we have never used birth control. And even without birth control, it took us 4 months to get pregnant with Lizzie. I didn't get pregnant with Bryce until Lizzie was 16 months old.

And now? I had ONE menstrual cycle after having Bryce. Just one.

I took a pregnancy test at 36 days past my last cycle. It came back negative. I was positive that something was wrong with me. I wasn't producing enough progesterone. Or something. A week later. Still no period.

Jon was at work. I took another test and it came back positive. I was shocked. I threw the kids in the car and we drove to Wal-Mart to buy another test. The second test was positive.

I jumped up and down and leaped for joy. I told Lizzie that baby Bryce was going to be a big brother pretty soon. She responded by saying that she wanted a sister, not another brother.

Jon came home for dinner. I didn't tell him anything. He left for his Elder's Quorum Meeting.

After the kids went to bed, I wrapped up the pregnancy test and put a ribbon around it. When Jon came home, I gave it to him and told him that it was an early birthday present.

He opened it up and was just as shocked and excited as I was.

So, here I go. Again.

I can hardly wait!

And I feel so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so incredibly blessed beyond my wildest dreams.

Oh yeah. We are due in May.

Bryce's Party

2010-09-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

For the record, on Wednesday, Jon and I celebrated our anniversary by going to Valencia. We played a few games of miniature golf. I won the first game, he won the second game. When I totaled all of the points, he beat me by a measly 3 points. Bummer. I'll get him next time! After mini-golfing, we went out to eat at The Elephant Bar, and then spent nearly an hour browsing around Borders. We didn't buy anything, but we both just thoroughly enjoyed looking at all of the books that we wish that we could own. :) It was an awesome Anniversary!

Anyway...

Here are some pictures of Bryce opening up his presents from us on the morning of his birthday:

We didn't give Bryce his Birthday cake until Saturday. We invited family over and we ate pizza and salad. After our "nutritious" dinner, we gave Bryce his even more nutritious chocolate cake and let him have at it. I was originally planning on making strawberry shortcake because it seemed a tad bit healthier and I was still sick of icing from Lizzie's birthday cake. But I realized that strawberry shortcake wouldn't be as messy as a chocolate cake, so I changed my mind. :)

Here is Bryce's individual cake that I made him:

Everyone else ate cupcakes:

And here are the cake pictures!!

He got messy, but not as messy as I was hoping. I thought that it would have been really cool if he would have rolled around in his cake, but it didn't happen. :)

Since I have been so horrible lately with taking pictures, I failed to take pictures of anyone else at the party. I just feel like I'm busy doing more important things that taking pictures and grabbing the camera doesn't usually cross my mind. I regret it. Oh well. I did, however, manage to get a picture of Lizzie eating her cupcake. She had her own little chocolate beard too!

Anyway, it was a fun night! And I am officially DONE with eating frosting for a while. Well, until Jon's birthday in October. But he usually wants whip cream on his cake rather than frosting anyway, so I think that I'm safe there.

Happy First Birthday Brycie-Boy!!

September 1st

2010-08-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

September 1st, 2010 is an awesome day!

It is exactly 4 years since we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple...

And it is exactly 1 year since Bryce graced the world with his presence!

(Too see more pictures, see the slide show below this post.)

Time sure has flown by quickly! It's crazy to think that an entire year has gone by since Jon and I were eating at B.J.'s in an effort to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. And I went into hard labor in the middle of dinner. And we rushed to the hospital just in time to push Bryce out less than 2 hours later. What a memory! What an anniversary!

I think that it's pretty neat to share our anniversary with the birthday of one of our children. Because although I loved Jon so much when we got married (of course), that love multiplied by the zillions once we became parents. Our kids help mold us into the people, and the couple, that we need to become and they truly bring out the best qualities in us. (And sometimes the worst too...but that's beside the point.) ;) I have loved forming a family with Jon and I wouldn't want my life any other way right now.

A lot of people don't really know how Jon and I met. Or how we came to be together. So, in celebration of our anniversary, I'm going to briefly summarize our story. I really don't expect anyone to read this. It's just kind of fun for me to reminisce...

August 4th, 2005: I had must moved to CA and I didn't know too many people. The YSA ward went to the L.A. Temple once a week to do baptisms for the dead, so I decided to go. And I met Jon for the first time. I know that this sounds cliche, but I swear that I had seen him before somewhere! My first impressions of him? He was extremely nice. And probably rich. He had a brand new car!

August 11th, 2005: Jon took me on our first date. He picked me up at 10:00 a.m. -- and he brought flowers!! We doubled with Rod and Lona (an unofficially engaged couple). We went to the beach and had a picnic lunch. Then we cleaned up (as well as possible) and went to a Kenneth Cope performance at the visitors center. And then we did baptisms for the dead. And then we went out to eat at Denny's. It was the longest date that I had ever been on in my entire life! Impressions? He is WAY too good for me. I shouldn't pursue this relationship!

A few weeks later: We went out again. Jon was quiet and hardly said a word. I felt extremely awkward. My thoughts? Well, I guess that he doesn't like me. His thoughts? I'm not going to pursue her anymore because there are too many guys after her. My current thoughts on his thoughts? WHAT WAS HE THINKING?!

We didn't say a word to each other for months.

New Years Eve, 2005: I had just broken up with my boyfriend. (A short relationship that I really don't prefer to dwell on, but I was devastated at the time for some reason). Jon felt bad for me and so he invited me to a party at his house. So I went. And watched him kiss his girlfriend at midnight. In my opinion, however, he really didn't look happy with his girlfriend. Which I know now is 100% true.

May 20th, 2006: Jon left a message on my phone wondering if I would go out with him again. We played phone tag for nearly a week.

May 25th, 2006: We went on our first date of the "second round", as we like to refer to it as. He picked me up and gave me green flowers. He remembered, even after all of the months that we never spoke to each other, that my favorite color was green. I was very impressed! We went to Apollo Park and walked around and played on the swings for a few hours. And talked like crazy. And then we went out to eat at Johnny Carino's. And talked some more. And then he took me home and was so elated that I couldn't sleep the entire night (let alone teach anything worthwhile to my freshman the next day!). Impressions? He is seriously the best guy that I have ever met in my entire life and I can't believe that I didn't go after him last summer.

May 28th, 2006: I had to go to Utah to attend my sisters high school graduation. So what did I do? I asked Jon to come too. There were 3 other girls in the car too, so he was definitely singled out! We all went to church in order to take the sacrament, and then we went back to my apartment to change our clothes really quickly before the trip. Jon was a such a gentleman and refused to even be in the apartment when any of the girls were changing their clothes (even if we were in the locked bathroom). Again, I was so impressed! The trip was fun. Jon didn't meet my parents though. I dropped him off at a mission buddy's home.

May 30th, 2006: Jon called me from his friends house and wanted to know if I would meet him at temple square. I, of course, jumped on the opportunity and drove the hour and a half down there. He didn't know that it was such a long drive, or he probably wouldn't have asked me. But I'm glad that he did because this was the day that he apparently knew that I was the one for him.

We returned to CA and continued to spend a lot of time together.

June 5th, 2006: I returned from work to see a card taped to my door. A card from Jon, of course. And it was the sweetest thing that any member of the opposite gender had ever written me.

June 8th, 2006: Jon asked me to be his girlfriend. I was really nervous because I truly had no idea why a guy like him would want a crazy girl like me. I really didn't want my heart broken. Again. But I consented, of course.

June 14th, 2006: Jon and I were sitting in his car after a date and he told me that he wanted to tell me something. He wouldn't say it, but I told him that I already knew what he was going to say and that I thought the exact same thing. We finally got it out. We both felt and knew that we were going to get married. After laughing for a while (I mean, really, we hardly knew each other!), we decided on a December wedding. It was quickly changed to September. :)

I called my Mom the next day and told her the news. Yeah, she was a little shocked. But she knew that it must be right because I am not the kind of person to jump into things like this. If that were the case, I would have been married a long time ago!

We called our friends. No one believed us. Most people didn't even know we were dating.

Jon met my parents. And they approved. Big time. In fact, if I remember correctly, my Dad's exact words were, "Andy, where did you find him? He's almost too good to be true.". Thanks, Dad. I fully agree with you 110%.

My Grandpa Turley sealed us together in the Salt Lake Temple on September 1st, 2006. And my life has been a dream ever since.

Thank you, Honey Poo, for loving me (for some reason) and choosing to marry ME (rather than all of the other girls that were beating down your door). I'm not sure what I did to deserve you, but I would never trade you for the world.

Happy Anniversary!

And Happy Birthday to Brycie-Boy too!

Bryce turns ONE!

2010-08-31T20:02:00.000-07:00

Personalize a slideshow design

Earthquakes

2010-08-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

We have been thinking a lot about emergency preparedness lately. Because, in reality, the question isn't "IF", but rather "WHEN" we are going to experience an earthquake. To be honest, I'm scared out of my mind! I often find myself running various scenarios through my mind in an effort to prepare myself. I wouldn't be as apprehensive if it weren't for the two little rascals that depend on me for their safety. What if a 10.0 earthquake hits when Jon's at work, and the kids and I are at home are in separate rooms, at opposite ends of the house? Will I be able to rescue and protect my children in time? What if I'm in the shower when it happens? Seriously, that wouldn't be the best spot to be in in the middle of an earthquake! That would mean that I would have to jump out of the tub, run and grab my children, race to the middle of the street, and dodge falling telephone poles while being stark naked. Hmm...not a pretty picture to imagine. However, since it hasn't happened yet, it's kind of comical!

Anyway, I'm scared of earthquakes. But what can we do to prepare ourselves? Not much. We don't sleep underneath windows and we make sure that everything we hang on our walls are stuck for eternity. And we have been attempting to develop our food storage. Enough water and calories to last for at least a week until help comes.

I organized our pantry today in an effort to take a casual inventory. Just to see how long we could actually survive on the food that we have. Jon strongly believes that we could survive nearly one month. Not eating like kings, of course, but by consuming 2 - 3 meals per day. I, on the other hand, beg to differ.

Because what did I find?

This:

Yup, that's right. Condiments galore.

19 Bottles of Salad Dressing
10 Bottles of BBQ Sauce
4 Jars of Mayo (in addition to a large box of mayo packets)
2 Bottles of Ketchup

And other random condiments, like mustard, teryaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce, peanut butter, jam, and corn syrup.

Let's just say that Jon is OBSESSED with buying condiments! He goes shopping and comes home with bags of salad dressing. Why? Because they were on sale. Well, that's just fine with me. As long as he is willing to be the one to gulp down all of the bottled sugars and saturated fats in an emergency! :)

Nah, I'm joking. I'm really fine with all of our condiments. Besides, they will probably make our gigantic bags of dehydrated carrots and re-fried beans more edible. Or edible, period.

In reality, after examining our pantry, I'm feeling better about the whole earthquake situation. We have water (although we could definitely use more). We have food (or something that somewhat resembles it). Now if we can only make our pantry earthquake safe...

Because it would really bite if an Earthquake demolishes our pantry.

And everything in it.

Especially our bottled lipids.

Earthquake?

Bring it on!

Well, you can wait till my kids are grown if you want to...

pretty please???

The Fair and Other Stuff

2010-08-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

We went to the AV Fair yesterday. It's the first time that I have been since I moved here 5 years ago. I was pretty impressed -- definitely an activity that we will repeat in the future, I'm sure.

We went to a little Mother Goose Magic Show. Lizzie really loved it! I must admit that I was a little sad, yet proud at the same time, when I saw Lizzie happily sitting down on the grass with all of the rest of the kids in the audience. Without us. She was probably the youngest kid in the group and it was kind of funny to watch her copy what all of the other kids were doing (raising her hand when the girl next to her raised her hand, etc.). I'm glad that she had fun!

Her picture with Mother Goose:

Both the strong wind and the obvious fact that Lizzie is in desperate need of a haircut, caused this potentially adorable picture to turn out a little silly.

She had fun playing with this little rubber duck/water pump thing. It was neat!

She didn't quite enjoy milking the "cow", despite my efforts to convince her otherwise.

Other Stuff

Lizzie truly cracks me up sometimes. I was reading Bryce a story the other day and she came into the room dressed like this:

I mean, really, how could anyone not die laughing when they saw her crazy ensemble?!

I went to enrichment last week and got this cute flower. Lizzie wanted to wear it in her hair every day!

Does reading while taking care of business on the toilet really start this young? Apparently so!

Daddy, teaching the kids some tunes on his good old banjo.

And last, but certainly not least, a few pictures of my Brycie-Boy. This post has definitely lacked pictures of him.

He is seriously the happiest little chunk-man in the whole entire world. I can't get enough of him!

Until next time...

Lizzie is THREE

2010-08-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

It's crazy to think that our little Lizzie-Lou is already three years old! Time has flown by so quickly, particularly this past year since Bryce was born (he will be ONE in two weeks and I can hardly believe it!). Lizzie has grown exponentially over this past year and it has been so much fun to see her come out of her shell and watch her cute little personality shine. We love her so much!

Here is a quick re-cap of her past birthdays:

(in the hospital as a newborn)

(1st Birthday)

(2nd Birthday)

We decided that we didn't want to throw our kids BIG birthday parties until they were three. So her first two birthdays were celebrated with only family members. This year, however, was another story. Lizzie has been talking about her birthday for months now. She kept reminding me that she wanted to have a Green Eggs and Ham cake. And that she wanted a party where all of her nursery friends could come. So we went along with her wishes and invited a bunch of her friends and their families over.

The party was actually the day after her birthday (Friday the 13th). And I was so busy having fun that I didn't take a single picture. I know, what kind of Mother am I?! I really had a great time thought. We ate BBQ food (hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.), and all of the kids played on our playground the entire time. It was a little crazy with so many kids on the playground, and although there were a few tears, there weren't any major injuries. After playing for about an hour and a half, we ate the Green Ham Cake and Green Eggs Cupcakes that I made and then Lizzie opened her presents. She got TONS of presents and we are so grateful for everyone that came and made her birthday so special!

As a side note, me made WAY to many hamburgers. Holy Cow. Jon and I have been eating hamburgers for nearly every meal since Friday night. I only have one per meal, but Jon has had up to 4 per meal. Needless to say, I hope that I never see a hamburger again! :)

I was originally thinking that the party would be both inside and outside, and so I decorated the inside of the house a bit. No one ended up coming inside, but it doesn't really matter because Lizzie has been having a blast with all of the balloons!

The cake was really easy to make, surprisingly. I baked it in two bread pans and then carved, stacked, and glued it together with icing in an effort to make it somewhat resemble a ham. It was pretty fun!

Pretzels with green eggs (melted white chocolate with an M&M in the middle). They tasted pretty good!

I really love my husband! He is a man of many hidden talents. He bought some plywood and traced out a bunch of Dr. Seuss characters. Then, using a Jigsaw (that Jon's Dad gave us -- Thank You!), he cut the characters out! My duties were to simply hold the wood steady as he moved the saw and sand around the perimeter of the finished product. I then fixed it up a little by outlining the lines in black, coloring the hat red and the ham green, and paining the face, plate and feet white with a paint pen. Oh yeah, I also had to glue his arm back on. :) Lizzie loved the Sam-I-Am!

The good thing is that I can use this to decorate Bryce's room. I have always wanted to turn his room into a Dr. Seuss room but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. So we are going to finish cutting out the rest of the Dr. Seuss Characters and use them in his room somehow. I'm excited!

On Lizzie's actual birthday, she happily woke up to this sight:

And then she opened up her gifts:

(A Dr. Seuss counting book from my Mom)

(The Hungry Hungry Hippos Game from us)

(This is definitely a game to be played when Bryce is napping. His little fingers kept going for the marbles!!) :)

(A giant Green Eggs and Ham floor puzzle from my Mom)

(And yet, another puzzle, from us)

If you haven't guessed by now, Lizzie ADORES puzzles. She can't get enough of them! And I love them too because she can focus on a puzzle for quiet a while and it gives me a much needed break sometimes! :)

After Bryce's morning nap, we went to the mall with Grandma Over, Darlene, and James. They invited us to eat with them at Red Robin. I brought the kids lunches because I wasn't planning on eating out. So Lizzie ate the PB&J that I brought for her, as well as a few french fries, and some of Darlene's milkshake. Right before we were about to leave, Lizzie accidentally dropped the milkshake on the floor underneath the table. My stroller was also lying down under the table and the bottom of it was baptized in milkshake! But I took it to the bathroom and washed it off in the sink. :)

Eating lunch...

After lunch, Lizzie wanted to go home. Grandma Over gave her a bag of gifts for her to open up at home. Lizzie is so spoiled! Actually, the parents are spoiled. Because when Lizzie gets things from Grandma, or other people, it's less stuff that we have to buy for her! Thank you, Grandma Over, for the clothes that you bought Lizzie!

And she also got some Leggos,

and an awesome "Cake-Decorating" play dough set. She loves the play dough set! And so do I, actually! It's pretty enjoyable, as far as toys go. :)

Lizzie's birthday went well and I'm so glad that she enjoyed herself so much. She wore herself out! So much, in fact, that on Saturday night after Dinner (around 5:45) she went into her room all by herself, got into bed all by herself, and went to sleep. She didn't wake up until 7:00 the next morning! :) She hasn't taken naps during the day for nearly a year now, but I wish that she would. Not only because it would be nice to have some quiet time all by myself, but because I really think that she needs the rest!

Our little Chunkster:

I love this little guy so much! And Lizzie does too, although she is having a hard time admitting it lately. She gets pretty upset when Bryce ruins her puzzles or takes her toys away from her. I often here the phrase "Take Brycie-Boy into another room, Mommy."

But I also see her hugging him and giving him kisses. And whenever he isn't around, she is always looking for him and asking me where he is. And she loves making him laugh. She is such a great big sister!

Oh, before I forget, I want to record just a few funny things that Lizzie has said lately:

*Ever since Bryce was born, Lizzie has watched me change his diaper and she has noticed that he looks "different" than her. The other day they were in the bathtub together and she poked his private part. I scolded her and told her that it was a bad choice to touch Bryce there and that she shouldn't touch his private parts. She looked down at herself and said, "Mommy, I don't have a private part.". Should I be bathing the kids together? Any suggestions you Mom's out there with kids of different genders? :)

*One of Lizzie's favorite things to do is to sing the Happy Birthday Song. Lately, however, she is very selective as to who we sing it to. She prefers us to sing Happy Birthday to "Bryce's STOMACH". Yeah, my child is crazy!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Lizzie-Lou!!!

Utah Trip

2010-07-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

Before I write about our Utah trip, I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Jon's sister, Darlene, and her husband Justin. Darlene gave birth to their handsome little 7 pounds, 5 ounces baby boy, James, on June 30th at 2:30 a.m. Darlene did an amazing job and I believe that it was truly a miracle that she was able to give birth naturally, and not via c-section. Darlene is TEENY (barely over 5 feet) and the doctors had mentioned on more than one occasion that she had very narrow hips. Additionally, she was 10 days OVERDUE!! Jon and I were able to be in the waiting room during the majority of the labor and delivery and it was wonderful (we weren't the ones feeling the pain...how could it NOT be wonderful?!).

For a while, I was certain that she was going to have a c-section because she was stuck at a 4 for hours. The nurse mentioned that some women simply don't dilate and, as a result, a c-section is deemed necessary. Jon's mom didn't dilate past a 6 and had to have both of her kids via c-section. Anyway, Justin and Jon gave Darlene a priesthood blessing and in it, she was promised that if she had enough faith, she would be able to deliver the baby naturally. And what do you know, she started to dilate almost immediately after the blessing. Truly a miracle. :)

Anyway, congratulations Tia and Tio!

About our vacation. We went to visit my family over the 4th of July weekend. We had a blast! We had to cut the trip a little short, however, because Lizzie developed a boil (I know, gross) right below her belly button. It started out pretty small, and then it kept increasing in size and redness. I kept bathing her and putting ointment on it, but it didn't improve any. We decided to go home a little bit early so that she could see her doctor. As it turned out, the doctor claimed that the boil developed from a clogged hair follicle as a result of bacteria on her skin. The doctor simply ended up squeezing some puss out of it and prescribing her antibiotics. And I simply stopped putting diapers on her. Yes, for the past week and a half she has not worn diapers (except at night and at church) and she has actually done pretty well! I really don't know why I didn't start the whole toilet-training thing earlier. I assumed that it would be so much harder than it actually was. Oh well, lesson learned. :)

We had anticipated leaving for Logan at 4 a.m. on July 1st. But as it turned out, we didn't end up leaving until nearly 8:00 in the morning. After making stops for lunch and dinner and being stuck in horrible traffic around St. George, we didn't end up arriving at my parents house until about 12:30 a.m. I have made the trip in 12 hours before (when I was single and not stopping for anything but gasoline). It's amazing how much LONGER the trip takes when you are hauling two young kids! But it was worth it, of course. :) Alyssa was with us on the way there, which made it a lot easier. And more enjoyable. :)

Here are about a zillion pictures of our trip...

On the way there, we stopped at Southpoint in Vegas for lunch. It was DELICIOUS. And very affordable, as far as Vegas buffets go.

Jon and I spent nearly 5 hours wandering around our favorite stores in Cache Valley (The Book Table, Deseret Book, The LDS Distribution Center, Old Gristmill, and the D.I.). They don't have any of those stores here and whenever we go to Utah we make a special effort to visit those places. Anyway, while we were "shopping", the kids had fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here are some random pictures:

Lizzie LOVED playing with their tiny little poodle, Max.

On July 2nd, we went to the fireworks show at USU. We used to go there every year when I was growing up and it was fun to see the fireworks again. My brother,Craig, and his wife, Amanda, were able to join us too. It was a lot of fun! Oh yeah, Amanda is expecting a baby and is due at the end of January. We are so excited for them!

Here are some random pictures of the fireworks show:

It was really weird. Lizzie was playing and then she suddenly got really tired and fell asleep on my Mom's lap.

I had to laugh when I saw this picture. Craig's face is hideous and Amanda's eyes are popping out of her head. Ha-Ha! :)

Bryce loved this little glow-stick!

On Monday, we spend nearly the entire day in Logan canyon in my parents awesome tent trailer. It was so nice being in the beautiful mountains! I have missed them SO much since I have been in CA. I used to go hiking or running in the mountains almost every day when I lived there. It has definitely been an adjustment for me to get used to the dry dessert life. The desert is beautiful in it's own special way, but nothing can truly beat the beauty of the mountains.

Here are some pictures:

Lizzie liked the pink squirt gun better than the green one, but she accidentally dropped the pink one in the fire and we had to watch is slowly burn. :( It was sad! Yet somehow funny at the same time...

Alysa and I were able to go on a mini-hike. It was beautiful!

Our plan was to sleep in the tent trailer and then head back to CA in the morning. However, after unsuccessfully trying to cajole our kids to sleep, we decided to put the kids in their car seats and drive all night. It took us about 13 hours to drive home, but we made it in one piece. The best part about the drive home was that the kids slept almost the entire way! I always love driving at night for that reason, but I really dislike being so tired and worn out.

Anyway, it was a very enjoyable trip and we were grateful that we were able to go!

The Month of June

2010-06-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

The past month has just flown by and I can't believe that it's almost July 1st! I always regret it when I let too much time pass between posts. It usually means that I have a million pictures to upload. Which is a good thing for my parents - they love seeing pictures of the grand kids!

The month of June has treated us very well. I had goal at the beginning of the month to wean Bryce...and I did it! After getting over the guilt of weaning him sooner than I had anticipated, I can't help but admit that life has gotten MUCH easier! As soon as I quit nursing him, he started sleeping through the night. (The same thing happened with Lizzie.) Aside from getting more shut-eye, it is much easier giving him a bottle when he wants to eat rather than stopping whatever I'm doing to sit down and nurse him. Plus, I can go places WITHOUT him. It's kind of nice. Not that I have taken advantage of that fact at all, but it's nice to know that it's a possibility. :)

I think that I weaned him a little too abruptly though. I thought that I was doing it gradually, but I guess that I wasn't. When I decided to completely stop feeding him from me, my chest KILLED. Holy Cow - I couldn't think of anything but the pain. I don't usually take medication, but I had to resort to taking some Ibuprofen! I hope that this isn't too much information, but my chest was so hard for a few days that I swear I could have ran into a brick wall and shattered it to pieces. But the pain eventually went away. :) I was completely shocked (and a little sad) at how small my chest got after all of the milk dried up. One of the perks of pregnancy and nursing (a larger bust size) has finally come to an end. I can't feel too badly though...I'm still bigger than both of my sisters ! :)

Anyway, enough of that.

Here are some pictures of the past month:

We bought this huge white bucket from Wal-Mart. Lizzie and Bryce love to play inside of it!

These two are becoming such great buddies. I love it!

We watched "The Adams Family" the other day and Jon was imitating Fester (when he was trying to impress a girl by sticking carrots in his mouth like fangs). Lizzie tried to do it too -- crazy little Lou.

Jon's parents kept pretty much all of the toys that Jon played with while growing up. Every once in a while, Jon takes some of his old toys to our house and gives them to Lizzie. This is a container of random small figures (like dinosaurs). Lizzie loves to play with "Daddy's toys". :)

Random pictures of Brycie-Boy:

Already studying the mission discussions. :)

Mikey and Lizzie painted with pudding the other day. They were supposed to finger paint, but neither of them would get their hands dirty. :)

We took a day trip to Santa Monica Beach. It was the perfect beach weather. Overcast and not too hot. We didn't actually go swimming (the water was FREEZING!). But Lizzie, Alyssa, and I walked along the shore line and got our feet wet. :) After eating lunch and playing in the sand, I put Lizzie in the bike trailer and I took her on a bike ride. I could ride along the coast forever. It's so relaxing!

Here are some pictures...

While the girls were having fun, Daddy and Bryce took a nap. :)

My Surprise Birthday Party

2010-06-27T22:25:00.001-07:00

My birthday was on Father's Day this year. I was really excited because that meant that I got to split the attention with my husband. :) I really don't like being the center of attention much. Well, apparently Jon had other plans in mind. We had been planning a temple trip for a while and we were finally able to go on Friday, June 18th. His Mom and sister came over to watch the kids while we went. After we did a session (which was WONDERFUL), we braved the traffic and headed straight home. Which was strange to me because Jon ALWAYS wants to go out to eat after going to the temple. Especially on Friday afternoons when we are bound to be stuck in weekend traffic.

Anyway, I was getting pretty hungry on the drive home and I asked Jon if he wouldn't mind making a quesadilla for me after we put the kids to bed. (He makes the BEST quesadilla's). He was very enthusiastic about my choice for dinner and I honestly couldn't wait to get home and put the kids to bed so that we could eat! When we got to our house, I noticed that Jon's Dad's truck was on the street in front of our house. I didn't think anything of it, however, because I thought that he just stopped by to visit Lizzie.

As soon as we parked, I rushed out of the car and practically ran to the front door because I really wanted to see my kids. When I opened the door, my brother-in-law (Justin) was standing right in front of me with his huge camera. I quickly looked past him and noticed a bunch of balloons. Then everyone yelled "Surprise!"...and I was so embarrassed that I walked right back out the door and tried to hide. :) Jon was right behind me, however, and he made me go back in the house.

It was all okay in the end. :) Sandy (Jon's Mom) made chicken cordon blue, mushrooms, spinach salad, and mashed potatoes. And my sister, Tara, made the BEST chocolate peanut butter cake ever. I really had a great time and am so appreciative of everyone for coming. I was also spoiled to death with gifts. Jon gave me a bunch of cake-decorating supplies (yeah...I want to try to get better at it), Tara gave me a glass cake dish, Darlene and Justin gave me a Willow Tree statue to add to my collection, Jon's Dad gave me a beautiful Snow White figurine (it reminds me of Lizzie), and Jon's Mom gave me another Willow Tree statue and a really nice picture frame. Talk about being a spoiled 28-year-old! Wow...did I really write TWENTY EIGHT? I am getting so old. I'm going to be THIRTY in 2 years. That just scares me!

Anyway, here are some pictures that Justin took at the party...

Thanks for making my birthday wonderful everyone!

Picture Regurgitation

2010-05-29T22:33:00.001-07:00

The past week was great! Especially due to the fact that Friday was the last day of High School! Jon would typically get the entire summer off of work, however, we were extra blessed this year. He gets to attend some trainings next week, and then he gets to teach summer school until the beginning of July. Extra money is always welcome! Especially when teachers here only get payed 11 months out of the year. Even with teaching summer school, he still gets almost an entire month off of work. What an awesome job!

Jon is really excited because he just found out that along with teaching Algebra 2 next year, he will get to teach Physics, and AP Physics. His first AP class! He is really excited for the challenge! I am so proud of him.

We have a family tradition of going out for breakfast the Saturday after the last day of school. We have always gone to IHOP in the past, but this year we decided to try Home Town Buffet. It was only $4.99 per adult and $.99 for Lizzie. Fairly inexpensive.

Here are some pictures:

We bought the Chunk-Man a walker. We borrowed one from my sister when Lizzie was learning how to walk and we figured that Bryce will need one of his own pretty soon. Well, hopefully. I'm a little worried about him. I told myself that I wasn't going to worry about him as much as I did with Lizzie, and I was succeeding until about a few weeks ago. I was so worried that Lizzie was never going to learn how to crawl! She didn't start crawling until she was about 10 months old. But she obviously progressed just fine and now she runs all over the place. Bryce is almost 9 months old and he still isn't crawling. I'm trying to convince myself that he will be just fine and that he'll start crawling when he's ready. But I can't help but worry that I am doing something wrong. He is a big baby and I think that his size might be impeding his progress. I keep thinking that maybe I'm feeding him too much. I'm not really sure what to do. I suppose that he'll be just fine and that he'll crawl when he's ready. Sometimes this motherly guilt just about drives me insane!

Anyway, here is the walker that we bought him. He loves it! He is seriously the happiest baby that I have ever seen. His entire face just bursts with joy! I love this little guy so much.

Grandma Over found this princess dress for $6.00! Lizzie absolutely loves it, of course. I love my little Lou-Lou so much.

Lizzie has been really into making towers recently. I love watching her determination to build the tower taller and her frustration when it collapses on her. I have actually been kind of surprised at how tall she can build some of her towers!

Lizzie's imagination has also gone wild lately. A daily occurrence in our house is sitting down to a meal consisting of a variety of balls. She invites all of her animals to her "dinner". Lorax, Minnie, Ducky, and her two Baby Dolls are her regular guests.

Oh, and Pinocchio too.

It's hilarious, really. Every ball has a specific cup that it is supposed to sit in. (And she miraculously remembers from day to day which cup belongs with what ball). Every ball represents a different type of food (cupcakes and ice cream are the most popular types of food). What a character!

Speaking of food, Bryce is finally starting to like a variety of different foods. He LOVES avocados! As well as strawberries, bananas, cheese, bread, and yogurt. Just to name a few.

He just finished eating some avocado in these pictures and his face was really green. The pictures don't do his messy face justice! :)

Lizzie saw me taking pictures of Bryce and she wanted me to take her picture too. Funny girl.

Lizzie took a rare nap the other day. I just had to document that it actually happened. It was wonderful! :)

Well, until next time?

Bargaining with God

2010-05-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

If it were possible for a Mother to bargain with God, I would...

*Gladly be sick every single day of the year (I'm talking strep throat, the stomach flu, migraines, etc.) if it meant that my children would never have to suffer with an illness of any kind.

*Never run another day in my life if it meant that my children would always have strong and healthy bodies. Bodies that would enable them the opportunity to fulfill whatever mission God has in store for them.

*Never eat another piece of chocolate in my life if it meant that my children will always have highly functional digestive systems.

*Gladly give up my many hobbies (piano, cooking, baking, reading, crafts, writing, sports, teaching, etc.) if it meant that my children would be well-rounded individuals, being able to experience and enjoy the wide variety of activities that exist in the world today.

*Be willing to experience the worst pregnancy imaginable (I'm talking puking my guts out for the entire 9 months, swelling up like a balloon from head to toe, getting my ribs snapped out of joint, etc.) if it meant that Lizzie would always be able to get pregnant easily (after she is married of course) and experience very painless and uneventful pregnancies and deliveries.

*Rapidly pluck out all of my eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair if it meant that Lizzie would always feel good about herself and truly believe that she is a beautiful daughter of God. Not just say it, but truly believe it.

*Amputate my left leg if it meant that Lizzie and Bryce would have no trouble finding their future husband/wife as soon as they have the desire to get married. I would give my other leg too if it meant that they would both be sealed to their spouses in one of the Holy Temples for time and all eternity.

*Read my scriptures from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. every single morning if it meant that my children would have a strong desire to choose the right and that they would also have a desire to gain their own testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.

*Set my alarm clock to go off every 10 minutes each night if it meant that my children will always have an easy time going to sleep, that they will always sleep through the night, and that they will never experience nightmares.

*I would give up my piece of paper that claims that I earned a Bachelors of Science degree if it meant that my children would be intelligent. If it meant that they would always have an ongoing thirst for knowledge, spiritual and secular.

*Cut off my hands if it meant that my children would never have to experience the pain of getting injured in a car accident, or any other type of accident for that matter.

*Give up my comfortable bed and sleep on the hard tile floor every night if it meant that my children will always have a nice, warm, comfortable bed to sleep in.

*Go without breakfast for the rest of my life if it meant that my children will never have to suffer the pangs of hunger.

I could go on...but I think that I'll stop now.

It's a fact. It can't be denied. I adore my children! I would really do anything for them. But i know, deep down, that I can't save my children from everything. They are going to have to experience pain and sorrow, along with the joy. Although making bargains with God may not be altogether possible, they aren't really necessary. The Savior willingly gave up everything, even his own life, for each of Heavenly Father's children. Including my children. My children can be saved (if they continuously repent, keep the commandments, and endure to the end) because the Savior made the ultimate sacrifice. What an incredible blessing.

So I suppose that I can keep my limbs attached for now.

The Magical Kingdom

2010-05-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Jon's parents have Disneyland season passes and they have taken Lizzie alone with them a couple of times this year (she can go in free until her 3rd birthday). Yesterday, I decided to fork out some money (Jon's Mom paid for half of my ticket -- THANK YOU) and we all made the trip to the magical kingdom. "We all" meaning Jon's Mom (Sandy), Lizzie, Bryce, my sister (Alyssa), and myself. Aside from the fact that it took us 2.5 hours to get there (the traffic was HORRIBLE on the way down and I was driving about 15 miles/hour for an entire hour), we had a blast! The weather was PERFECT. The sky was overcast and I was a little afraid that it would start raining, but it didn't. We didn't even have to apply sunscreen!

Lizzie insisted on wearing her Snow White dress, of course. So I allowed her to in hopes of possibly meeting the "real" Snow White and taking a cute picture of the pair. Unfortunately, we never caught a glimpse of Snow White all day. But Lizzie sure thought it was neat that everyone new her name. Little kids all over the park would yell, "Hi, Snow White!". And Lizzie would smile back and wave. She felt pretty famous for a day, I'm sure.

Here are some pics:

(Notice my "blonde" hair. It's not as bad as I originally thought. But it's going to look awfully funny when it starts growing out!)

(I had to throw in this gross one. She's such a stinker sometimes!)

We were all quite surprised when Lizzie posed for this cute picture with Mickey! I thought for sure that she would be absolutely terrified. But she gave him a big hug and even kissed his nose. It was so cute!

Bryce did amazingly well the entire day. He didn't even get a nap! I nursed him a few times (one of the times on the "Small World" ride -- very convenient!), but he didn't spend enough time in his stroller to actually sleep. Needless to say, he was completely tuckered out by the time we took the tram back to our van.

They both were.

I love Disneland! It's impossible to see everything in one day though. We are discussing the possiblility of giving ourselves Disneyland season passes for Christmas this year. I hope that it works out...because that place is the happiest place on Earth! Well, besides the temple, of course. :)

Random Ramblings

2010-05-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

I feel like rambling today.
So here goes nothing.

*Potty training. Where do I begin? Lizzie will turn three in August and I know that she is more than ready to go to the bathroom in the toilet like a big girl. But I just don't know if I have it in me to train her. I just can't do it! Aside from the fact that I don't want my new carpet to be soiled with her accidents that are bound to happen, life with diapers has been amazingly simple. I don't ever have to rush around to find her a toilet. Having her in diapers allows me the luxury to take her wherever I want, whenever I want. When she is toilet trained, I honestly don't know if we will ever go anywhere again. Ever. How in the world does a female toddler use a public toilet without contaminating herself with the most disgusting germs on the planet? If I am ever in a situation where I must use a public toilet, I squat. I don't ever touch the porcelain throne while taking care of my business and I always use my foot to flush. It's quite easy for me because I happen to be taller than the toilet seat. But a 3-year-old? What am I supposed to do? Hold her above the toilet, let her drip, and hope that nothing gets in her socks? Or am I supposed to carry rubber gloves and Clorox wipes with me wherever I go so that I can wipe down and completely sanitize every public toilet that it is necessary for us to come in contact with? Who knows. All that I know is this whole toilet training business is no fun at all. Running a marathon was way more feasible in my book.

*Jon surprised me with an $8 highlighting kit from Wall-mart. He has highlighted my hair in the past, and so I didn't see a problem in having him experiment on my hair again. Well, to put it mildly, it didn't quite work out! I'm not sure what happened, really. He pulled some hair through the little cap, put the coloring solution on it, and I waited. When it looked light enough, I washed the solution out, combed my hair, and admired the highlights. He did a great job! But I apparently didn't wash all of the solution out of my hair. Because when I woke up in the morning, I hardly recognized myself in the mirror! Jon says that it looks fine, but I'm not quite sure. There are no noticeable highlights. I'm almost a full-blown blondie. Almost. Who knows, maybe it doesn't really look that bad. Perhaps I just have to get used to it. But I am a little embarrassed about it! I would put a picture up of myself, but I just don't feel confident enough. Maybe in a few days when I have gotten used to the idea of being an almost-blonde.

*Speaking of confidence, I really hope that Lizzie has a good self-image when she gets to be a teenager. I want her to be happy with herself! How does a mother instill confidence in her daughter? I want her to always feel of her individual worth. I want her to always know that she is a Daughter of God. I want her have the courage to completely ignore the voices of the world (her peers, the media, etc.) that will try to tell her that she is ugly, fat, not tall enough, not good enough, etc. The worldly pressures are so incredibly strong! I just want to protect her forever from anything bad. When I tuck her into bed, I always tell her that she is a beautiful daughter of God and that she is loved. I want her to always believe that. Currently, Lizzie is at a stage in her life where she believes everything that I tell her. When will she stop believing and start questioning? I truly dread that day.

*I don't want my kids to be spoiled brats. Well, let me rephrase that. I guess I don't mind if they are "spoiled". Just as long as they aren't "brats". Frankly speaking, our kids are spoiled. They have so much. Lizzie has so many toys! And she has a million books. No exaggeration. Although, I don't really mind that she has a lot of books. In fact, I think that the books are mostly my obsession, not hers. I get really sick of reading the SAME books over and over and over again. So when I see cheap books, I get them. The Lancaster City Library has 2 huge used book sales each year. And you can also buy used books there every day from 12:00 to 3:00. These books are really cheap - 25 cents per book! (Adult books are 50 cents - still a really good deal). I LOVE going there and I often hit jackpot with the kinds of books that I find! Seriously. I have gotten Dr. Seuss books, classic Golden books, Scholastic books, Disney books, books about the human body (my personal favorite), and many more!

Anyway, back to not wanting my kids to be spoiled brats. How do parents prevent their kids from being bratty? I want my kids to be nice and respectful to everyone that they meet. I want them to share what they have with others. I want them to be grateful for what they have. The question is, how do I get them to behave? Lizzie is a really well-behaved girl for the most part. However, she has been having a lot of tantrums lately. She especially has a difficult time LEAVING places that she doesn't want to leave. Like the park. I get so embarrassed because she refuses to get back in the stroller so that we can walk back home. She screams and does the arching her back thing that most parents are familiar with. The other day we drove to a park on the other side of town that we don't normally go to. I was holding Bryce in one arm and she absolutely refused to come with me to the car. I was really at a loss as to what I was supposed to do! I thought about putting Bryce in the car and then going back for Lizzie so that I could use both of my hands to force her into the car. But the car was far away from the playground! In California, you just don't leave a baby in the car all alone! Besides that, I didn't want to leave Lizzie at the playground all by herself (again, you just don't do those things in CA) while I put Bryce in the car. It was horrible! And it was hot. I finally ended up half carrying, half dragging her to the car. Yes, dragging her. With her screaming the entire way. I'm sure that I looked like an abusive mother and I'm surprised that no one called the cops on me. :) Jon doesn't know why I put myself in such situations. I don't know either. I just want to be a good Mom and take my kids to the park! :)

Okay, I have rambled on enough. It was kind of fun! I'll have to do it more often. :)

A post isn't complete without pictures. Sorry, none of Lizzie this time. Does that make me a bad Mom?

We thought that Bryce might like to try some of Daddy's chocolate pudding. He, of course, loved it. And we got an inkling of what he'll look like in the future with a mustache and goatee. :)

He has been making this face a lot lately. I think he's touching his two bottom teeth to his top gums or something. This little boy just melts my heart! That's why I'm having such a hard time weaning him. I want to wean him. It just breaks my heart when I think of forcing him to only drink formula when he doesn't care for it. (He liked it for a very short period of time). He's 8 1/2 months now, so I suppose that I can handle nursing him for a few more months. I really love this little guy!

So Blessed

2010-05-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

I have felt so incredibly blessed lately. Seriously. Our family is REALLY blessed.

This is going to be somewhat of a long post. Sorry! You don't have to read it though. It's mostly for me anyway. :)

Let's see...where to begin?

My husband.
Allow me to brag about him for a moment.

Wow. There is no doubt about it in my mind. I truly have the best husband in the whole entire world. I have no idea what I did to deserve such a man! He treats me better than a queen on EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR. He is constantly buying me things. On most occasions I feel horrible about it because I can NEVER surprise him with anything. But despite my feelings of guilt, he continues to shower me with STUFF.

For instance, he knows that I'm a sucker for chocolate milk. I don't know what it is about chocolate milk, but it works like magic on a troubled heart. As such, he is constantly surprising me by bringing me home different varieties of chocolate milk. The other day, he brought home an ENTIRE BOX (20 bottles) of chocolate milk for our "food storage", he claimed. What a guy.

He also knows that I try to eat healthy. I TRY to. I'm not perfect by any means (very far from it). Hence, the chocolate milk addiction. :) But he likes to bring home healthy treats for me. Like double fiber banana muffins, blueberry flax seed, all-natural almond butter, jars of gigantic white beans in zesty tomato sauce, chocolate soy milk ice cream (which, frankly, was utterly disgusting), yummy fat-free salad dressings, and ginormous bags of baby carrots and cucumbers. Just to name a few.

I enjoy exercising. Jon is very much aware of that. Despite the fact that I have never seen him run (except for when he is racing to the bathroom..and that could be a completely different post in and of itself), he supports me 110%. We have an exercise bike sitting in our bedroom. My huge exercise ball is always floating around different rooms in our house. The other day, he surprised me with a weighted jump rope and some 5-pound weights. Again, what a guy.

I am also an avid Mary Higgins Clark fan. If you haven't read one of her books, you are depriving yourself of some good fiction. Her writing truly sucks you in. She is probably one of the cleanest mystery writers out there. Well, besides Joanne Fluke. But her books are somewhat corny. Anyway, I have read ALL of the books by Mary Higgins Clark. She writes a new one each year. On Saturday, Jon came home and surprised me with her newest book. And this isn't the first time that he has done that.

When it comes to piano music, there is nothing that I enjoy playing more than David Lanz (a new age composer). His music is so incredibly beautiful and very relaxing. I'm pretty sure that Jon had never really heard of him when we got married. But he claims to enjoy his music now and has more than once surprised me with David Lanz CD's (complete with orchestra), and numerous copies of David Lanz sheet music for my enjoyment. He is even sweet enough to tell me that I play his music BETTER than the CD's and he invites me to give him his own personal concert in our living room. Now, for those of you who know my husband, he is very musically gifted and is seriously one of the best pianists ever. So it's completely obvious that he is downright lying when he says such things. But I humor him and play along anyway. :)

Last June, we bought a brand new vacuum. I didn't use it until DECEMBER. I'm not exaggerating. Jon made it his goal to do all the vacuuming and he refused to allow me to use it. It took me nearly six months to convince him that I really didn't mind vacuuming. I practically had to BEG him to allow me the pleasure of vacuuming our house. :) He was reluctant to pass the vacuuming baton to me at first, but I think that he is beginning to get used to the idea. And I'm grateful because vacuuming the house is at least ONE thing that I can do for him on a regular basis.

Okay. I could seriously go on and on about my wonderful, fabulous, and stunningly handsome husband. I am truly so incredibly grateful to be married to such a wonderful man.

As I mentioned above, he treats me better than a queen on every day of the year. And Mother's day was certainly no exception. He made (yes, you read that correctly, MADE) me my own Mother's Day card. He also made cards for his mom, his Sister, and his Grandma. He really is one talented guy!

Here are what the cards looked like on the exterior:

(Mine)

(His Mom's)

(His Sister's)

(His Grandma's)

Pretty impressive if you ask me.

After church, he effortlessly whipped up a mouth-watering dinner nothing short of gourmet.

Aside from these crescents which were purchased at Sam's Club, everything was made completely from scratch.

Salad with strawberries and a sweet vinaigrette:

Broiled asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper, and I believe a touch of balsamic vinegar:

The picture just doesn't do these little Bella mushrooms justice! They were absolutely divine!

Angel-hair pasta with a roasted pine nut pesto and fresh Parmesan cheese:

Again, this picture doesn't do justice to this meat! He barbecued Argentine chicken (my favorite). He also made some stake (which I can't offer an opinion on since I didn't care to try it. I'm not a steak person).

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband that helps to make Mother's Day (and every other day) so special.

I love Mother's Day because I have an opportunity to reflect on the wonderful Mother's in my life. Namely, my own Mother and my Mother-in-law. I truly have one of the best Mom's in the entire world. And I couldn't have hoped for a better Mother-in-law.

Mother's Day also gives me an chance to thank Heavenly Father for allowing me the blessed opportunity of being a Mother myself. I truly try to treasure each moment that I have with my children. I love them so much. They light up my life!

Here are a few recent pictures and tid-bits:

Lizzie is such a character. She wants to wear her princess crown ALL OF THE TIME. And she frequently puts those little "donut" toys on her feet for shoes. She cracks me up!

Lizzie has also said the funniest things lately. I wish that I would have written them all down as she said them. But here a few things:

*I was in the bathroom and she came in and turned off the light. I was just about to ask her to turn the light back on when she said "Here in the dark? Would you, could you, in the dark?". (A Green Eggs and Ham quote).

*She is always talking about her birthday. She wants me to make her a Green Eggs and Ham cake. Yeah...we'll have to see about that.

*Out of the blue, she said that she wants a baby sister. Named Claire. Um...it's kind of impossible right now (I don't get back to "normal", if you know what I mean, until MONTHS after I stop nursing. Well, at least that was the case after I weaned Lizzie).

*She has a friend in nursery named Claire. (That's probably why she wants to name her sister that). But she always talks about her and says "I love my friend Claire so much". She also says "I love my brother Brycie-boy so much too".

*There is a little boy at church named Micah. She claims that she wants to marry him in the temple. Hmmm...it's a bit to early to tell, but I suppose that I won't completely object to her current choice of spouse. :)

*Whenever I cackle like a witch, she looks at me and says "Don't say that. You're a Mommy, not a Witch. Be a mommy!".

*Whenever I put a hat on, she looks at me and says "Are you a person?"

*A few weeks ago Jon's sister, Darlene, had her baby shower. I told Lizzie the morning of the shower what the plans were for the day (that we were going to a baby shower). She paused, looked at me, and said "I don't want to get nakey, Mommy." Priceless!

I'll have to add more as I think of them.

More pics...

These next two pictures have a funny story to go with them. As you can see, Bryce is sucking on a pickled sausage (arguably the grossest processed food in the history of the world). My sister, Alyssa is living in Lancaster for a few months (possibly longer) and she gave him this pickled sausage to suck on when I left the house for a few minutes.

I saw him sucking on it and figured that there wasn't any harm in it. As long as he didn't eat the plastic. Besides, every time I tried to take it away from him he would SCREAM. Really loud. I didn't quite understand his attachment to thing until later on.

After Bryce went to bed that night, Jon saw the sausage sitting on the counter. After examining it, he realized that our little stinker had torn a minuscule hole in the wrapper and DRANK all of the icky vinegar out of the package. The sausage was sucked dry. Absolutely disgusting. The little rascal.

Bryce and Daddy. Two nearly identical peas in a pod.

A few weeks ago, we went to the Poppy Festival. Lizzie was really tired in the car on the way home but we were trying to keep her awake so that she could go to sleep in her bed, rather than her car seat. Well, we made it home and she literally stumbled into the house, took a few steps, and collapsed. She would NOT wake up. We tried everything. I finally ended up changing her into her pajamas, giving her a mini wash-cloth bath, and changing her diaper. And she stayed asleep the whole time. Unfortunately, when I tried to transfer her to her bed, she woke up as soon as her head hit the pillow and looked at me and said "I'm not tired, Mommy. I want to play." Yeah, we couldn't get her to go to bed for 2 more hours.

Alright. This post has gone on WAY too long. Believe it or not, there were more pictures on here but I just deleted them because I am DONE. :) I started this post early this morning before Lizzie woke up and tried to finish it in between the loads of laundry, the diaper changes, the playing, the reading, and the eating. It took way too long!

But I really wanted to record some of these things for posterity.

I am so blessed!

Is California REALLY that desperate for money?

2010-05-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently.

Today, we received a letter in the mail from the city of Lancaster.
If certain things aren't fixed, we could possibly earn a citation of up to $500.

Our crimes?

Crime #1: Our trash containers are stored within public view. (On the back corner of our driveway).

Crime #2: Our property contains unmaintained landscaping. (Weeds).

WHAT??!!

They were even kind enough to include in the notice pictures of our trash cans AND our weeds. You know, just in case we had no clue what they were talking about. Believe me when I say that our weeds are VERY minimal. I have seen worse in my day. MUCH worse.

We have until tomorrow to remove our trash cans from public view and to pull our weeds.

Needless to say, our trash cans are now in our BACK YARD, and I have developed a slight blister on my thumb as a result of pulling weeds.

California has major issues.

Enough said.

Um...has it really been over a month since my last post?

2010-04-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind in my posting. Oh well. I definitely go through phases with my blogging. And this past month has definitely been an "I could really care less about blogging" phase. Consequently, this will be another one of my LONG posts.

Life has treated us amazingly well over this past month. We are so blessed!

In March, my parents came to visit for about a week and it was awesome! We always love it when my parents come to town!

They make our kids laugh!

They are great at cuddling...

and reading stories.

And, believe it or not, Lizzie took her first (and unfortunately her LAST) nap in months.

Lizzie and Mikey always spend a lot of time together when my parents are in town. They look like an old married couple sometimes. Especially when they watch movies together! It's priceless, really.

Lizzie really likes her new beautiful Easter dress that Grandma Over gave her. She claims that she is a "princess" when she wears it. Actually, she claims that she is princess when she wears ANY dress, which happens quite often. She is very much a girlie-girl! And I love her for it. :)

She loves playing Daddy's guitar. And she HAS to have the pick.

The weather has been really nice! It has been in the 70's for the past week or so and we have taken advantage of the "cool" weather by heading to the local parks as much as possible. Pretty soon, it will too hot to be outside anytime after 9:00 a.m. I'm not really looking forward to the scorching hot summer that I know is inevitable and completely unavoidable. But we will manage with a smile, as we always try to do. :)

Here is a plethora of pictures of our little son-man (as Jon prefers to call him). I hope that no one thinks that I favor my second child over my first. That is truthfully not the case. I just happened to take more pictures of Brycie-Boy this month than I did of Lizzie-Lou. But I love them both the exact same! Honestly. :)

Bryce LOVES the piano! His face lights up whenever we play it. He especially loves listening to Jon play. He merely tolerates my playing (and I don't blame him). :)

He is truly the happiest little chunkaroo that I have ever seen in my life!

What a stud! :)

Oh...his two bottom teeth came in a few weeks ago.

I personally prefer the spiked look as opposed to the combed-part look. We just need to cut his hair a bit shorter.

Let's face it. Bryce resembles a ball. His entire body AND his face. Jon just HAD to take a picture of this ball next to Bryce's head because he swore that the ball looked just like Bryce. My husband is funny like that. :)

I love these classic Mr. Potato Head pictures.

My two little munchkins are quite the pair!

And last but not least, I just had to include a picture of our latest investments. For the longest time I have been wanting my very own stethoscope and otoscope. I know, I'm a little on the odd side. But when my family is sick, I want to be able to listen to their lungs MYSELF to see if their coughing is merely caused by congestion, or something more serious like fluid in the lungs. And I want to be able to check my kids for ear infections at home rather than go to the doctor and have them repeatedly inform me that my child is fine. In short, I want to avoid unnecessary doctor's appointments at all costs.

I was very excited when these two babies came in the mail:

Hooray! :)

Well, that's all for now. Let's see if I end up going another month before my next post...

Life Goes On

2010-03-12T13:49:00.000-08:00

When your kids are sick, you feel as if life will NEVER be the same again. But we made it! Lizzie actually recovered pretty quickly from her illness. I didn't take her to church last Sunday simply because I didn't want her to infect her fellow nursery friends, but she was pretty much better by then. There were no more sleepless nights after the first one. Hallelujah!

Speaking of nursery, I have a love/hate relationship with those blessed two hours. It often seems as if Lizzie enters nursery as healthy as an ox, and then when I pick her up I find out that she had somehow developed the quickest ear infection and case of bronchitis known to man. How does that happen? All that I know is that I have missed more church this year, thanks to Lizzie, than I have in my entire life. Is nursery the sole culprit? I'm not sure. But I have finally come to the conclusion that young kids are going to get sick often and I should simply accept it as the norm and stop stressing about it.

ANYWAY, here is what we have been doing to keep ourselves busy the last week or so...

I made Lizzie a couple of dinky musical instruments. The "guitar" lasted a day or two in good condition before it began to resemble something that was hit by a semi. She enjoyed it while it lasted.

Lizzie colored some construction paper and I taped them onto empty paper towel rolls for drumsticks. The drum was made out of an old cylindrical box that once held dishwasher soap. She really likes her drum set and refers to herself as "Quincy" from "Little Einsteins".

Here's a picture of Lizzie wearing Daddy's coat. She wanted me to take a picture of her. :)

We made a fort one morning and we played in it the entire day. We had a lot of fun!

I thought that this was so precious. Bryce is only 6 months old, but he already has a desire to help Daddy "fix" things.

Lizzie LOVES, LOVES, LOVES reading the "scripture stories". We have the illustrated versions of the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. She especially loves the New Testament and is beginning to learn quite a few of the stories. I find it hilarious when we are reading about Elisabeth and Zacharias (John the Baptist's parents) and she points to Elisabeth and says "That's me! Lizzie!". She loves it when characters in books share the same name as her!

I made her a bunch of fish with the alphabet letters written on them for her to practice. She likes playing fishing games!

Bryce doesn't do much. :) But he is still as cute as can be!

And he absolutely adores Lizzie. I'm not sure why though. Lizzie abuses him sometimes! But he is always so ecstatic when he sees her. I love it!

Oh, and this picture looks like something that belongs in the toilet. I know, I'm gross. But it's true! I wanted to make "15 Bean Soup". Jon had it while growing up and he was craving it. So we bought some from the bulk section at Winco's and I decided to try it a few days ago. Only, I didn't care to follow directions of any sort and decided to just throw a bunch of the raw beans into the crock pot and cover it with water. I also added a diced onion and some salt. Needless to say, directions would have been very helpful because this resembled NOTHING remotely close to soup. All of the lentils turned into brown mush. And to make it all the less aesthetically pleasing, Jon chopped up some hot dogs and threw it into the mixture.

It actually didn't taste too bad. If you are a bean person. Which I am. I put a little bit of Trader Joe's organic ketchup (the BEST ketchup in the entire world) on top and it turned out to be quite the tasty meal. :) I'm going to definitely try this again in the future, only I'll be sure to cook it on the stove top and add a lot more water.

Well, that's pretty much it. Oh, except for the fact that Jon and I were able to FINALLY go to the temple for the first time since Bryce was born. Bryce can take a bottle now and so we were able to leave the kid's with Jon's parents while we went. My in-laws are really great with Lizzie and Bryce and they are always so willing to babysit. THANK YOU!

I have missed the Temple like crazy and it felt SO wonderful to go inside! I can't even describe the feelings that I felt. It was such an overwhelmingly strong feeling of peace and happiness that has been void in my life over the past little while. I love the temple! I really wish that we had one closer to our house. I grew up being able to see the Logan Temple from my bedroom window and I don't think that I fully appreciated the fact that we lived so close to one. I wish that I could go to the Temple more often!

When I told Lizzie that Mommy and Daddy were going to go to the Temple she thought that we were going there to get married. I told her that we had already been married in the temple, but that we were going to go there to do some work for other people who can't do it for themselves. She didn't really understand, of course, but positively insisted (for the umpteenth time) that she was going to marry her "beet" in the temple one day.

When we got back from the temple, Lizzie ran up to me and the first thing that came out of her mouth was "Mommy! Are you married?". She cracks me up!

Okay, that's it for now. :)

Before I forget...

2010-03-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

I have to quickly write this down for my own record-keeping. Last night was one of those horrible nights that I hope to never repeat any time soon. Lizzie was sick. The night was full of coughing, puking, baths, and laundry. It finally ended at 4:00 a.m. when Jon strapped Lizzie in her car seat and drove around for half an hour to see if the car ride would force her to zonk out. Which it did. Hooray!

But that's not the part that I want to remember.

I want to remember this:

At one point amidst the coughing, I decided to try giving Lizzie the simple home remedy of a spoonful of honey. I brought her the spoon full of honey and tried to give it to her while she was sitting in our bed. She refused to eat it. I asked her to please try it because it might make her stop coughing.

She told me that she couldn't eat it without saying a prayer first.

She proceeded to say the prayer:

"Heavenly Father," (cough, cough, cough) "thank you for the honey." (cough, cough, cough) "Please" (cough) "bless it" (cough, cough). "And please bless Mommy," (cough, cough) "and Daddy," (cough, cough, cough) "and Brycie-Boy" (cough). "In the name" (cough) "of Jesus Christ" (cough, cough) "amen."

Then she ate the honey.

My heart was touched. And I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be the Mother of this sweet little girl. If only I could be more like her.

50 Things

2010-02-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

A few of my friends did this on their blogs and I thought that I would copy them and do the same thing. It was actually kind of fun! I invite any readers of my blog to do the same!

Here are 50 facts about me that you may or may not know:

1. I love my family and would do anything for them.

2. Jon and I went on two dates right after I moved to California. We didn't speak to each other for 10 months. Then he randomly asked me out again and we were unofficially engaged less than three weeks later. Timing is everything!

3. People didn't believe me when I told them that I was engaged. Most people didn't even know that I was dating anyone!

4. I REALLY didn't want to move to California. It was the last place on my list that I would prefer to get a job. But to make a long story short, Heavenly Father basically forced me here. And it's a good thing too. I would probably be single still had I not listened to those promptings.

5. I couldn't have married anyone else in the whole entire universe but my husband. I love him more than I can express in words.

6. I didn't get married until I was 24. I was depressed about it for the longest time and thought that something was seriously wrong with me. I dated a lot of guys. Most of them dumped me. Although I did break a few hearts as well. I'm really glad that the dating game is over!

7. If a girl wanted to get married in college, all they had to do was by my roommate. All of my roommates got married.

8. I am the oldest child of four. I have 2 younger sisters and 1 younger brother.

9. I was born prematurely at 29 weeks and still weighed a "hefty" 3 pounds 7 ounces.

10. I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I have dual citizenship.

11. My brother and one of my sisters have been sealed in the temple and I wasn't present for either of their sealings. I couldn't watch Tara get sealed to her husband because I wasn't endowed yet (she got married before me). I couldn't watch Craig get sealed to his wife because I was about to have Bryce and couldn't travel. I really wish that I could have witnessed those special moments in their lives.

12. When I was 10 years old, I was walking down the street and a UPS truck slowly drove up to me. The driver smiled and waved at me. I smiled back. I then proceeded to throw a big rock at the windshield of the truck and the window shattered. To this day, I am at a loss as to what in the world possessed me to throw a rock at that nice man's windshield. My parents had to pay for the damage.

13. I never bite anything with my front teeth because I have an overwhelming fear that my front tooth is going to fall off. I cut up most of my food with a knife and fork. People think that I'm being proper. But I'm really just terrified.

14. The reason that I'm scared that my tooth is going to fall off is because it's 90% fake. When I was 11 I was jumping around with a sleeping bag on my head and fell onto a table corner. The only part of my body that hit the table was my front tooth. It bent all the way back to the roof of my mouth. The tooth ended up dying and turning dark gray. I had to get a root canal on it. And then the dentist shaved the majority of the tooth away and covered it with a crown. The first crown that I got fell off when I bit into a piece of toast. Even though it was replaced and the dentist assured me that it would never fall off again, I'm extremely skeptical and absolutely refuse to bite anything with it.

15. I grind my teeth at night.

16. Despite flossing my teeth daily, I continue to get cavities. Unlike my husband who rarely flosses and has NEVER had one cavity.

17. I'm afraid of heights.

18. I have a bachelors degree from Utah State University in Community Health and School Health Education. I minored in Physical Education.

19. I really want to get a Masters degree someday.

20. I really want to go to nursing school too but know that it isn't a reality right now.

21. I love learning new things.

22. I taught 9th-grade Health for 2 years. I'm not a crude person by any means, but my favorite subject to teach was Sex Ed because it was the only subject that the kids were interested in (go figure). I made models of the reproductive systems out of balloons, paper, yarn, etc. My students loved it! I'm planning on doing the same thing for my own children when I teach them about the birds and the bees. :)

23. My first year of teaching was rough, to say the least. My second year, I learned to incorporate Sex Ed into almost every subject in an effort to keep the kids interested. It worked like magic. :)

24. I used to be pretty good at sports. You wouldn't guess by watching me now!

25. I was on the high school basketball team as a sophomore. I played the bench really well. I was also pretty good at fetching water for the starting players.

26. I wish that I could remember everything that I learned in college. I feel like my brain cells are dramatically diminishing.

27. I graduated from high school 10 years ago this May.

28. I graduated from college 5 years ago this May.

29. I have had 27 jobs in my lifetime, including being a Mother. Click here for the details.

30. I sometimes feel overwhelmingly guilty being a stay-at-home-mom and wish that I could contribute financially to our family.

31. My Mom has been sick since I was 8 years old. I feel so bad for her and really want her to get better and live a "normal" life. I know that she probably won't get better though and it makes me sad.

32. I wish that we lived closer to my family.

33. I have ran 4 marathons. My fastest time was 3 hours and 38 minutes. I want to run more marathons some day. But I don't have the time to train for them right now.

34. When I trained for my marathons, I would have my Dad drive me 14, 16, 18, or 20 miles away from my house and I would run home. I loved it. Even though it was so hard that I would consider giving up often.

35. I miss the mental and physical challenge of running long distances.

36. I was really scared when I found out that Lizzie was a girl. I didn't know what to do with a girl. I'm not that great at creating beautiful hair styles. And I was terrified that she would be really girlie-girl and want to paint her fingernails all of the time and go shopping. When she was born, I realized that she was simply an innocent little baby girl and that the only thing that she really needed was unconditional love. And I love her more than anything. And I will always love her. Even if she decides to be the most girlish girl in the entire world. :) (NOTE: I am in no way against girls who like to paint their finger nails and go shopping. Some of my favorite people in the entire world do those things. I'm just not the best at doing those things!)

37. The last time that I painted my fingernails was for my wedding. I don't intend to ever paint them again! :)

38. At first, I felt a little sad when Lizzie was born and I realized that all of our kids will most likely resemble my husband, not me. Not that I'm vain and think that I'm the greatest looking female on the planet, but it would kind of be nice to have at least one of my characteristics passed down to my children. By the time Bryce was born, however, I had completely lost any desire whatsoever to have my children resemble me in any way. I am honestly just grateful to HAVE children, and that I was blessed with the opportunity two times to become pregnant. I hope that there will be more opportunities some day.

39. I wish that I knew Spanish fluently. Particularly because I really want to communicate with Jon's Grandma Ester, who only knows Spanish.

40. I play the piano. Not as good as my husband, but I'm not too bad.

41. I find it really difficult to lose weight while being a stay-at-home Mom. I only want to lose 10 pounds (the rest of the baby weight), but it is SO HARD. Especially due to the fact that I am home ALL DAY and around the kitchen ALL DAY. And I really love food. :) And I can't exercise as much as I need to because I'm taking care of my beautiful children.

42. I love exercising (especially biking and running).

43. I miss living in Utah. Aside from my family, I miss the beautiful mountains.

44. When I lived in Utah, I used to love hiking/running the Crimson Trail almost on a daily basis in the summer. It was heavenly.

45. I love chocolate-chip-cookies. Especially the dough. I haven't gotten salmonella yet. :)

46. I wish that I could be in the kind of shape that I used to be in, but I know that it's impossible.

47. I used to be really shy. I still am, but not as bad as I used to be. As a result, I think that some people think that I'm mean. I really don't intend to be rude, and I feel really badly about it.

48. If it wasn't going against the female norm, I would totally shave all of my hair off. I dislike doing my hair more than anything in the world.

49. My way of rebelling as a teenager was refusing to sign up for city league softball one year just because it was something that my Mom wanted me to do. I regretted it afterward.

50. I also rebelled by refusing to listen to my parents when they told me to stop wearing Dole Banana Stickers on the middle of my forehead. Don't worry. I wasn't alone in my strange habit. The majority of the cross-country team did the same thing.

Wow -- 50 facts already?!
I could go on and bore you all to death (if I haven't already done that), but I will spare you all and end here. Thanks for reading and I can't wait to read your random facts!

The past few weeks...

2010-02-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Holy cow -- I can't believe that it has been 3 weeks since I last posted. Things have been crazy around here. Jon has been sick with an upper respiratory infection for just about 3 weeks. He sounds horrible and I'm surprised that his lungs are still intact. He sounds so bad that I forced him to go to the doctor TWICE (I know, I'm a really mean wife) just to make sure that there was nothing seriously wrong with him. Of course, it's just a virus and the doctor's can do absolutely nothing for him. So he just has to let the illness run its nasty course. I feel so bad for him!

BOTH of the kids were sick last week. Fortunately, they seemed to have recovered a lot quicker than Jon. I seemed to have completely escaped the sickness altogether (hallelujah). Last week was pretty rough though. For the majority of the nights my head rarely hit the pillow as I was playing "musical kids". Lizzie would cry and I would go into her room and find her burning up with a fever. So I would have to take care of her (give her medicine, put a washcloth on her forehead, get her a drink, sing her songs, etc.). Then when I thought that all was well and I could finally get some shut-eye, Bryce would cry and I would find him burning with a fever as well.
The kids kept switching off and on and I literally thought that I was going to go insane!

I was honestly more tired last week than I was when I first took Bryce home from the hospital. Crazy! Besides the lack of sleep, I was worrying like crazy. I always do when my kids are sick. Why are the having fevers for 3 days straight? Is something seriously wrong with them, or is it something minor? Will Bryce get brain damage from all of the heat in his head? Does Lizzie have a bladder infection? Oops...the Tylenor expired last November. What are the side effects of giving your kids expired medicine? The list of worries just went on and on and on. I was going crazy!!! And more than once last week I told myself that I was NEVER going to have another kid because I just can't handle it mentally. How in the world am I going to be able to worry about ANOTHER kid someday?! Anyway...I'm really glad that last week is history! :)

Here are some pictures of the last few weeks...

Jon and Lizzie watching "Muppet's Treasure Island". Jon really likes that movie and so I bought it for him for Christmas. He and Lizzie have already watched it twice. I have yet to watch it. Oh, and you'll notice in many of the following pictures that Lizzie has finally decided to smile BIG for the camera when I tell her to. It's kind of funny. :)

On one of the days we decided to venture out to Apollo Park so that we could get some fresh air after being cooped up in the house for so long. I love Apollo Park!

I love it how the trees are reflected on the water in this picture...

As usual, I took Lizzie on a bike ride. She loves going on bike rides! We also played on the playground equipment and fed the ducks. :)

While Lizzie and I were playing, Jon played his banjo while Bryce sat patiently in his car seat -- he's such a happy baby!! I just love him so much!!

More of Lizzie's smiles! She wanted me to take pictures of her holding Bryce.

Bryce tolerates Lizzie pretty well. :)

One of our favorite things to do is to sit in our den and listen to music. Lately, we have been enjoying Disney music and the Primary Children's songbook. It's cute because Lizzie gets all comfy in her pink fuzzy chair and snuggles up with her "beet" (her blanket) when we listen to music. Speaking of her "beet" (I'm not sure why she calls it that), she told me the other day when we were looking at pictures of the temple that she loves her beet and wants to marry it in the temple. :) I told her that she should probably marry a person in the temple, not her beet. She told me that she wanted to marry me, or Brycie-boy, or Daddy. :)

Lizzie has two collections (or "cowections", as she refers to them).

This is her "eraser" collection. It's actually a bunch of erasers that I have had for YEARS and some new ones that I bought her for Valentines Day. She likes to take them out of the box, one by one, and tell me about them.

This is her "Baby" collection. Jon's Mom was given a bunch of tiny babies with some accessories and she gave them to Lizzie, thinking that she might enjoy them. They are actually pretty funny looking, but Lizzie loves them!!

She likes sticking these things on the play toilet!! It makes me laugh.

And here is our little Brycie-boy all ready for church with his hair slicked back. :) I can't believe that Bryce will be SIX MONTHS on Monday. I swear that it took CENTURIES for Lizzie to hit the six-month mark. With Bryce, it felt like I just had him yesterday! I just love our little chunky man. I could just eat him up!

He likes standing up...

And he likes to sit on Daddy's shoulders.

Just for fun, I thought that I would throw in some pictures of Lizzie at the same age for comparison purposes. They look very similar, but there are some differences.

Here is Lizzie...

Bryce playing with his train...

Lizzie playing with the same train 2 years ago...

Bryce LOVES these red cups!! I remember Lizzie did too at that age.

Here's Lizzie...

Bryce loves chewing on ANYTHING!!!

And he started liking his binky a lot over the past few days. He didn't want to have anything to do with it for MONTHS, but he suddenly decided that he loves it and it is unfortunately the only thing that will make him happy sometimes. Bummer. I have created a monster! :)

Here are just a couple of pictures of him sitting up all by himself. He can do it pretty well now without support, but he still occasionally falls over and gets carpet burn (ouch!) if I don't have pillows around him. I don't think that he will be crawling for a while. I thought for sure that he would be a faster crawler than Lizzie, but I'm not so sure now! Every time I put him on his tummy, he promptly rolls over to his back. He despises being on his tummy! :)

Well, that's pretty much the last few weeks in a nutshell. We are truly so blessed and I am extremely grateful for all of my many blessings.

Picture Catch-up

2010-02-02T21:34:00.000-08:00

I just loaded a bunch of pictures onto our computer and realized that there were a few things that I haven't yet documented on my blog. Here goes nothing...

At the beginning of January, we went to the California Science Museum again. Tara, Mikey, and Riley tagged along and we had a great time. I was a little disappointed to find out that a couple of the really awesome displays that were at the museum the previous time that we had visited were not there anymore. A museum employee informed us that some displays are merely seasonal displays. So, the pickings were unfortunately slim, but the kids enjoyed it all the same!

Lizzie "playing" on one of the computers in the kids room:

Lizzie and Mikey playing with the car mat in the kids room:

Lizzie riding the car:

Lizzie pushing Mikey in the car:

Lizzie and Mikey have so much fun together and I am so grateful that she has cousins close by! She has another BOY cousin on the way too. Darlene (Jon's sister) is due at the end of June. We are so excited to get another cousin!

Jon is obsessed (to put it mildly) about washing our cars. He cleans them as often as he can. And it usually rains the next day. :) One of the first things that I noticed about Californians after I moved here was how clean their cars were. In Utah, it seemed that all of the cars were dirty and that no one really cared if they were dirty. I know I didn't. My little green Dodge Neon that I had in college and when I first moved here hardly got washed at all before it died on me. Poor little thing. :)

Anyway, here are some pictures of Lizzie helping Daddy was the car. She was such a great little helper that day!

We told her she was "brushing the cars teeth".

Jon's Tia Miriam came to visit from Miami. It was really nice having her around for the few weeks that she was here and we already miss her!

There ARE perks of being a teacher. Although some may think otherwise. All of the teachers in Southern California got a FREE ticket to Universal Studios AND the rest of their family members got to go in at HALF PRICE. So, we took advantage of this "perk" and paid Universal Studios a visit last Saturday.

Our family at the entrance:

We took an awesome tour that took us through various movie-making sets. Here is the set for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Lizzie especially liked this one (being the Dr. Suess fan that she is).

This was on the set for "The War of the Worlds":

Here is the set (and shark) of "Jaws":

We saw so many more things, but I didn't take too many pictures. It was an awesome tour though!

Here is a classic Lizzie "Zombie" face. We call her a "Zom" when she looks like this. You know, staring into space at absolutely nothing for an extended period of time...

We learned that Lizzie is TERRIFIED of people dressed up as cartoon characters. Here is just a small glimpse of her absolute terror when we tried to get her to pose for a picture with Curious George:

I'm not sure why, but she was scared to watch the Shrek 4D movie. She clung to Jon like plastic wrap the whole time we waited in line.

She was more happy, however, as soon as she got to put on these snazzy green glasses to watch the show with:

I honestly can't get enough of this happy little chunk. He was a perfect little angel for the entire day. His face is often bursting with joy and I just love him so much that I can't stand it. :)

I was doing the dishes after dinner tonight and I looked over to where Lizzie was playing and saw this:

I couldn't help but laugh. Lizzie cracks me up!

Okay, I think that wraps it up for the picture catch-up post. :)

Wheat, Cookies, and the Kiddos

2010-01-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

We really want to work on our food storage this year. Our small family could maybe last for a month on our current amount of food in our pantry...maybe. I honestly am at a loss as to what/how much food that we need to buy and am a little concerned at the practicality of some specific food items that people generally have amongst their year supply.

Take wheat for example.

My mother-in-law bought us a 50 pound bucket of wheat for Christmas. I was REALLY excited because I really love wheat!

Here is the very large, and HEAVY, bucket of wheat:

I borrowed a hand wheat-grinder from my sister-in-law with high hopes of grinding the entire 50-pound bucket of wheat in one evening. HA-HA!!! Boy was I wrong. :)

You put the wheat in the top of the grinder:

And then you proceed to turn the handle over and over and over again. As the handle is turning, minuscule (almost microscopic) particles of wheat come out and fall into the bowl placed under the grinder.

Lo and behold...I ground that wheat for nearly an hour and I barely got TWO QUARTS!!!

Afterward, my hand was pretty sore. I'm definitely wearing gloves next time! :)

I barely made a dent in my bucket of wheat. I can realistically look forward to an entire week of grinding non-stop if I am ever going to get through that bucket! It would be nice to have an electric wheat-grinder. Maybe we'll have to invest in one soon...I just hope that a big natural disaster doesn't come before we get one. Because what good would an entire bucket of unusable wheat do for us?

We also have a HUGE bag of oatmeal, which I can picture us using pretty easily. And HUGE bags of dehydrated re-fried beans, dehydrated carrots (who knows what I'm going to use them for...they stink really badly), dehydrated apples (could be promising), and dehydrated potatoes. We have been trying to buy extra water every time we go shopping, but it still isn't enough.

If anyone is reading this blog and has ANY ADVICE whatsoever on how to start a decent food storage, please send your advice this way!! It would be very much appreciated!! :)

As a side note, I have used the wheat flour that I slaved over and it is actually really delicious. I have made a couple of batches of whole-wheat rolls with it, as well as home-made graham crackers (which were unfortunately pretty addicting and surprisingly tasted almost like the real thing!).

Speaking of baking, I love to bake. Too much for my own good. After Lizzie was born, I swear that the baby weight just came off without me even thinking about it. But with Bryce, it's a completely different story. A few weeks after giving birth to him, I had only lost 10 pounds of what I gained during the pregnancy. I didn't really care because I thought that the rest would come off pretty easily since I was exclusively breast-feeding. Um...I don't think so! Unfortunately, I seemed to have hit a very stubborn plateau! I'm kind of stuck because I honestly feel like I eat pretty healthy for the most part and I make it a point to exercise regularly too. It wouldn't be that bad if I didn't have an entire closet full of clothes that don't fit me! :) I finally gave in and bought a pair of jeans that are 2 sizes bigger than the rest of the pants in my closet that I can't seem to pull over my hips. I don't want to get obsessed over my weight, because I don't want to go insane. But losing this baby weight has been really difficult! Someone told me once that losing weight is more difficult than quitting smoking. Because although cigarettes contain nicotine (one of the most addictive drugs), if you simply avoid cigarettes, you can go without them. Food on the other hand is a basic necessity of life and is, therefore, unavoidable. Hmmmm...very true. I am definitely a food addict! :)

And so is my husband. The other night, he was craving oatmeal cookies. And I love him so much that I told him that I would make him some. Even though I knew that eating those cookies would take me further and further away from my quest to lose weight.

Fortunately for me, when I took the pan of cookies out of the oven, I accidentally burned my hand and I dropped the cookies all over the floor! Hooray for me! :)

Jon was devastated. He salvaged what he could until I made him throw the rest away because I didn't really want to kiss him after he had eaten stuff off of the germ-infested floor. :)

This post is so random.

Here is a picture of Lizzie playing with play dough. Yeah...random.

Little Bryce-a-roni LOVES listening to Jon play the piano. He can listen to him for at least 30 minutes non-stop. I think that we have a future concert pianist in our hands...

Just for fun, I wanted to put pigtails in Bryce's hair to see if he resembled Lizzie at all. He is definitely all boy. Lizzie was much more girlish in my recollection.

Bryce's new funny thing to do is to stick his tongue out. I remember Lizzie doing the same thing and I think that it's so cute!

Anyway, enough of my complete randomness. I write more on my blog than I do in my real journal lately...I should just make this my journal like lot's of other people do.