Our 6-Year Anniversary!

Wow! Can you believe that Laron & I have now been married for 6 years? That really is amazing to me, but I sure wouldn't have it any other way! Our Anniversary was on Tuesday, but we ended up celebrating it on Monday (because of Laron's work schedule). Without boring you with all the details, we ended up going canoeing, went out to eat at Red Lobster, & then topped it off with watching a movie at the theater (I don't think we've done that since Skyler was born!). It sure was nice to go do something with just the two of us (which doesn't happen very often nowadays), but we still found ourselves thinking about our kids while we were out (like how much Skyler would have LOVED going canoeing & seeing all the wildlife with us!). So thanks Mom for watching the kids for us so we could go off and have a fun day together. And thanks Laron, for being my constant support & comfort, for being patient with me when I'm being a confusing female, for bringing fun & excitement into my life, for being the world's best daddy to our kids, and for falling in love with me all those years ago.

Skyler's Concoction

The other day I was just finishing making up some lunch when Skyler asked if he could help me. I explained to him that there wasn't really anything else he could do, but I could tell he was disappointed. So I told him that he could make up his very OWN soup... Skyler was pretty excited about that idea! First of all I just put some water in a pot for him & brought over the spice rack, and let him go to town adding a few shakes of this & that. Then he started going through the fridge and put a little of everything: lemon juice, yeast, Bacos, milk, noodles, milled flax seed, mustard...
At one point, Skyler put his face right down near his potfull of stuff & smelled his concoction. "How does it smell?", I asked him. "It smells bad," he said with a tinge of disgust on his face. But that didn't stop him... he just went back to the fridge for more ingredients. Skyler sure had fun making his own food, although he made quite a mess in the process too. I'm just glad he didn't want us to eat it afterwards...

Kimberly's Obsession

Kimberly's favorite thing to play with lately (or at least while I'm changing her diaper) is her wipes container. There is something about the crinkly wrapper that just has her fascinated. The other day I took it away from her before she had her full share of playing-time in & BOY did she let me know about it! It sure seems like the cheapest & funnest toys are the ones that aren't even "toys" at all...

Spending Money

Skyler got some money awhile ago in his Easter eggs & has been hanging onto it ever since. Today he finally decided that money is for spending, not just for saving. And what did he want to buy with it? Bananas. How could I say no to that? What a cute kid we've got!

Rachel Belle

Yesterday we went up to Logan and spent the day with my sister & her new baby girl, Rachel Belle. Skyler was excited to meet his new cousin & we practiced saying her name all the way up there. Finally we got there & Emily took Skyler over to see the baby. Skyler thoughtfully looked at her for a moment or two, and then honestly announced, "I like our baby better..." My heart stopped for a moment as I glanced over at Emily to see her reaction, but she just laughed. Oh, the honesty of children! It sure makes your kid look big though when you compare them to a newborn! Kimberly & Rachel were almost exactly the same size when they were born, but it's amazing what 6 months can do for an infant! Time sure flies when you're raising children! But Emily, although we are a little biased, we sure think your baby is cute too... Congrats!

"We're Raising Children"

What started out today as touching-up paint spots around the house, turned into an all day painting project... and I sure wasn't too eager about Laron letting Skyler help out. I knew he would love it, but I also knew it was just stress me out worrying about what thing he was going to get paint on first. After several close encounters, he got paint first on his shirt & then on our bathroom cabinetry. That's when I lost my patience... And after yelling at Skyler, dragging him from the room, & making him cry, that's also when I remembered reading this quote the other day:

The great baseball hero Harmon Killebrew once said, "My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, 'You're tearing up the grass!' 'We're not raising grass,' Dad would reply. 'We're raising boys.'"

We're not raising walls, or shirts, or bathroom cabinetry, I kept trying to tell myself. We're raising children. And although it sure is hard to remember sometimes, I know that raising my children well will be worth far more then all the perfectly painted walls in the world ever will. Now if only I could always remember that.

Sticky Fingers

After eating some leftover Smore's today, Skyler was, of course, all sticky. Next thing I knew, his fingers were in Kimberly's mouth & she was happily sucking them off for him. What a kind brother he is! Too bad he didn't ask Mom what she thought about the idea first... Oh well.

Memorial Day Camping Trip

We heard of a lot of people going camping over Memorial Day weekend, so we decided to have a camping trip of our own... INSIDE! It took tons less preparation, we didn't have to worry about the rain, and most importantly, Kimberly could sleep in her own crib! That sounded good to me!

Skyler got SOOOO excited once we started putting up the tent... He kept running around going, "Whoo Hoo! Whoo Hoo!" And then once it was up, he ran in and out of it time after time. Then he kept asking, "Can we go to bed now?" as if that's when the real fun would start! It obviously has been awhile since we've gone camping.

To make it even funner, we tried to have all the "fixins" of camping. Tin-foil dinners, smores, flashlights, camping chairs... Skyler's favorite was the smores.

Thanks Laron for playing along with my silly camping idea!

All in all, I think it was a pretty fun "camping trip"... It was all worth it for those first few minutes watching Skyler’s enthusiasm!

Our Cute Little Girl

UPDATE on Skyler's Fears

A while ago I mentioned about how Skyler is scared-to-death of noisy things... the vacuum, the lawn mower, & the most inconvenient one lately has been Laron's drill. When Laron will go outside to work on his latest project, Skyler will ask me, "Is Daddy going to use his scary tool?" with a look of panic in his eyes.So other than sit there with him & comfort him or to try and give him candy to "make him braver" or to distract him with a movie or something, I was pretty clueless at how to help him. Well, I just had to announce that we finally found the solution that works! It's really quite simple... I just wish that I had thought of it sooner! One day, while Laron was using his drill yet again, I decided to try singing "I am a Child of God with Skyler. Before we started singing, Skyler was shaking & clinging to me for dear life, but as soon as we started singing the familiar words, I could just feel his body relax. We've tried this several times now since then, and it seems to work like a charm! There certainly is power in the word of God... even in a simple Primary song.

Touching the Temple

Skyler was looking at our wedding picture in our room the other day, which sparked a conversation about the temple, which turned into a random, on-the-spot trip to the temple so Skyler could touch it. It was super cute how excited he was about it & we loved being able to stroll around Temple Square amongst all the many opportunities to teach Skyler more about the gospel. I just love how much he soaks it all in right now!

One of the many missionary companionships that we talked to also suggested that we take him over to the Church History Museum where they had a new exhibit called "I am a Child of God." It had tons of different activities all totally centered around children's learning styles, one of them being a bunch of coat-racks of scripture-character outfits that they can dress up in. Here Skyler is being Samuel the Lamanite and preaching "Behold!" up on a table top. I'm not sure how long they'll have this exhibit up, but if you have young children, I highly recommend it! Super cute!

Reading Scriptures

While we were reading Scriptures the other day, Skyler wanted a turn to read all by himself. Here's what he read: "And it came to pass that Jesus wants me for a sunbeam." The next day's scripture was pretty cute too: "And it came to pass that everybody got baptised with me." It's not much, but you can tell that he's learning something. Things like that make all the effort that scripture study often is worth it.

Peek-a-Boo Smiles

Skyler was playing Peek-a-Boo with Kimberly the other day & I managed to capture one of those precious smiles of hers... Darling!

Freezer Cooking Day

I've been struggling lately at being motivated to cook dinner for my family (or at least to have it ready by 5:00 when Laron has to leave for work) & so I decided to have a freezer cooking day with my sister-in-law Kajsa on Saturday to try and get a little ahead. We made a lot of food, but really the best part was not doing it ALONE. Anyway, between the two of us, here's what we made (some of it I made after Kajsa left though):

2 Chicken Enchiladas
3 Beef Enchiladas
2 Pizza Crust Doughs
4 Dozen Rolls
2 Chicken Casseroles
2 Tuna Casseroles
2 Layered Enchilada Bakes

I think all-in-all it was well worth our time! Thanks Kajsa for helping my family get fed! I'm sure they appreciate it...

A New Experience

The other day I was out with the kids when Skyler announced that he had to go potty. And of course, we were in a place that there wasn't a potty. I was a little worried about how Skyler would respond to the concept of just going potty OUTSIDE, so I tried my best to explain our predicament to him & what he would need to do. Skyler paused for a few seconds, obviously processing the task that I was asking him to do, & suddenly responded with "AWESOME!", along with a big grin. Needless to say he was great at it... I suppose most boys are.

My Sister's Graduation

I'm a little late on these,

but 2 weeks ago we went to my sister's College Graduation.

Yeah Emily!

It's pretty interesting because Emily graduated 8 1/2 months pregnant, I graduated 7 months pregnant & my mom was like 6 months pregnant when she graduated... And we all graduated in the same degree even: Elementary Education. Pretty cool!

Skyler enjoying a chair of his own...

Taking this picture reminded me of when Laron graduated

2 years ago.

HERE'S A FLASHBACK:

Our cute little family back then...

Well, life after Graduation wasn't exactly how we thought it would be, but I'm sure glad that we've been able to enjoy the ride TOGETHER!

Taking Pictures

Every time I've taken Skyler's picture lately, he's asked if HE can take a picture... After saying "no" plenty of times, I finally gave in. While most of his pictures were of walls and door handles and carpet, this one of Laron and I was pretty good (and we don't even have any main body parts missing!). So thanks Skyler for taking a great picture! It's not often Laron and I get our pictures taken together anymore...  And then we started passing around the camera...

Skyler's Latest Question

Skyler's latest question about anything and everything is: "How'd you buy this?" I guess he finds it fascinating that all of our "stuff" actually came from someplace else first. Another phrase he has been saying since we first looked at houses last year & that he occasionally continues to say now is, "This is a nice house!" or "That's a nice garden!", with his hands on his hips & his eyes surveying his surroundings. And oftentimes he combines these two phrases together: "This is a nice room. How'd you buy this?" He asks this question so much now that Laron's standard answer is, "I bought it with Mommy's money." Skyler's going to grow up thinking I'm one rich Momma!