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!

House Projects

Well, Laron's been busy around here making our house just perfect (although we sure have a LONG ways to go!). Here's a little of what he's been up to lately... Making a garden box for our strawberry patch.

He also made an area for our raspberries to go,

both of which are filled up with starts from my parent's garden.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Installing a ceiling fan into our Master Bedroom...

Installing lights into the Living Room...
(Yes, there were NO lights in this room at ALL before!)

He put 2 lights on the ceiling & 2 lights on the wall to accent our picture of Christ. This project was definitely the most time consuming one of all because Laron had to get up in the attic and drill holes and cut through sheet-rock and re-wire breaker systems... Wow hun! Your experience in electrical work sure paid off. Our house is looking great!



We also inherited a trampoline & a swing set from our backyard neighbors who are going to move to Wisconsin & didn't want to take them with them. Although Skyler was super excited about them, it still meant a day of work for Laron to take them all apart at the neighbor's house & put them back together at our own. I suppose it was worth it though!



We also just planted the second planting of our garden (sorry, no picture). We had already planted peas, carrots, potatoes, green onions & lettuce a couple weeks ago, but my Grandpa Erickson said he thought it was now warm enough to plant the rest of the crops, so we went for it... We planted beans, corn, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers & watermelon. I'm sure this will be a very educational experience for us doing a garden entirely on our own this time, but we're hoping for the best!

Skyler's 1st Shower

Skyler suddenly became interested in the idea of taking a shower (I guess he wants to be cool like Mommy & Daddy), so although I was hesitant to let him try it out on his own, I finally gave in. It took him awhile to put more than just his hands into the water, but once he got used to the idea, he liked it. But I think this will be his last shower for now... at least until he learns to wash himself on his own (because I ended up getting a shower at the same time while I was trying to help him!).

"Kimberly can talk now!"

The other day Skyler was talking to Kimberly. Apparently she said something that sounded like an answer, because Skyler excitedly ran over to me and announced, "Kimberly can talk now! I'll go tell Daddy!" Although Skyler's enthusiasm for her to grow up was super cute, I realized how much I need to enjoy her today and not just hope for the accomplishments of tomorrow.

The Living Planet Aquarium

While my brothers Chris & Jeff were staying with us a few weeks ago, we went to "The Living Planet Aquarium" in Sandy. Skyler loved seeing the snakes, fish, penguins and seahorses, but he especially loved that his uncles were there with him!

We'll definitely have to do it again sometime!

Skyler's 2nd Easter Egg Hunt

The week after Easter, my brothers Chris & Jeff came and stayed with us for a few days while my parents were out of town. While they were here, they decided to throw Skyler another Easter Egg hunt of his own.

Thanks Chris & Jeff! We had fun!

EASTER... Finally!

Okay, so I'm a little late on these Easter pictures, but I guess I just didn't want to sort through them all... But here's out Easter fun finally!

We did an Easter Egg Hunt at my Aunt Linda's house this year, and Skyler's uncle Timmy helped him find most of his eggs so Mommy could take pictures (Laron was up at his Dad's house so they could go to the Priesthood Session of Conference together).

His Grandma & Grandpa Erickson gave him this fun "Car" Easter Basket. He loved it! And now he uses it to drive around his toys...

Kimberly's first Easter Egg experience!
With her Grandma Erickson, who was MORE than happy to hold her...

Finally, onto the GOOD part of the Easter Egg Hunt!

My Dad made these Jello Easter Eggs for the dinner afterwards... They were the hit of the dinner!

Skyler playing with cousins (or maybe they're his second-cousins)... Whatever!

Feeding Kimberly

We finally were able to feed Kimberly rice cereal for the first time the other day. She's been really eye-balling our food lately so I thought she'd LOVE it, but she wasn't so sure about it. And of course, she has a lot to learn when it comes to keeping the food INSIDE her mouth, but it was fun anyway. And I had a GREAT assistant helping me as well, which made it even funner!

Going to School

For some reason, Skyler has been fascinated with the concept of "School" lately. We have a little backpack we got awhile back that he likes to put on & pretend to go to school.

Here he is on his way out the door...  Leaving his Mother behind...

Now wait, "Where do you think YOU'RE going?"

He was upset that I made him come back inside, but then we had our own little "School", so he felt a little bit better about things.