Stuck Inside with Mom...

Skyler's 1st Birthday Party

So Skyler went to his first Birthday party last Saturday... I wasn't quite sure how my 3-year-old was going to do at a birthday party, especially a Princess Birthday party, but it went okay (besides the fact that Skyler barely wanted to leave my side to go do all the activities). But once they decked out the boys in crowns, shields, swords & turned them loose to play, Skyler suddenly knew exactly what to do. And boy did those boys get into it!

Who cares about damsels in distress
when you've got bad guys & dragons to fight?!

Before going to bed that night, Skyler had to find special "spots" in his room for all his new accessories... He sure loves to organize things & feel in charge of his space. What a great spot Skyler!

You sure make a handsome prince!

I Love to see the Temple!

So the other day we stopped by the temple while we were in Salt Lake. Skyler gets pretty excited about the temple, especially the Salt Lake one, because he knows that that's the one we got married in.

As we were crossing the road to get to the temple, Skyler's excitement got the better of him as he jumped up & down while holding Laron's hand & shouted, "Whoo, hoo! Whoo, hoo! We're going to see the temple! Whoo, hoo! It's the temple you got married in! Whoo, hoo!" Let's just say he didn't go unnoticed, particularly by an elderly couple walking behind us who I heard whisper to each other, "Man, he's more excited than if his parents had taken him to Lagoon!"

What a compliment... I suppose! :)

Family Pictures

My family took these pictures back on Labor day,

but I just got a copy of them from my Dad,

so I thought I'd share...

I sure love my wonderful family!

(As well as my brother Robert

who's on a mission in the Philippines.)

And thanks Mom & Dad for the cool shirts...

They change colors in the sun AND glow in the dark. Wow.

A Special Bond

I thought that Kimberly looked particularly adorable on Sunday, so I tried to get her to smile & take her picture, but to no avail... Plenty of mediocre pictures, but no "perfect" pictures. So then I enlisted Skyler's help and got these:

Adorable, huh? Yeah, there's something between those two kids that I just can't match! They seem to have a special bond that only brothers and sisters can have.

For example, a couple of weeks ago when Kimberly was teething, she wouldn't eat anything, wouldn't nurse & didn't want a bottle (even of juice!) because her teeth hurt so much. But if Skyler offered her the bottle, she would drink it right down! It was a good thing we had Skyler around, or Kimberly would've been pretty miserable AND hungry.

Also, lately Kimberly has been waking up in the morning before Skyler, and when she wakes up & sees Skyler across the room sleeping silently, she just can't help herself but yell over to him to get his attention until he wakes up. Skyler doesn't always appreciate it (in fact, he groggily comes out of his room rubbing his eyes & announces, "Kimberly woke me up again Mom..."), but I know that Kimberly just adores him. In fact, if I go in to get her from a nap & Skyler's not with me, she searches the room & looks over my shoulder until she finds Skyler. Then a big grin creeps up on her face as if she's just spotted a huge pile of birthday presents. :)

They also have that special kind of brotherly/sisterly bond that knows just how to bother each other, but their special moments of pure love quite often overpower those other moments. What a sad life it would be without FAMILY!

Fun Moments in the last few Weeks...

-Last Sunday after we picked Skyler up from Nursery, he ran up to Kimberly & gave her a great big hug & exclaimed, "I missed you Kimberly!"

-After getting Skyler dressed one morning, Skyler looked down at himself & proudly said, "I look almost awesome!" Just almost though... :)

-Kimberly loves dirt... If we set her down outside, she crawls straight for the cracks in the cement to dig it out & eat it. Inside, she likes to crawl over to our sliding glass door and pick out dirt from the tracks at the bottom & eat it. She's like a girl-version of a boy!

-When the kids were playing together the other day, I overheard Skyler making one of the toys say this: "Behold, this is my beloved son. Hear him." Wow, he has been listening!

-Skyler told me this the other day after I apparently said/did something funny: "Mom, you make me laugh all night!"

-Both of my kids tried their first cherry tomatoes this week, and amazingly, BOTH of them liked them! Impressive.

-Kimberly ate her first moth last Thursday... Crunchy, yet apparently satisfying! SO GROSS!

-In Skyler’s prayers, we've had him make sure to bless the prophet & the missionaries lately. But it’s so funny to hear him say “missionaries”… He pronounces it: missa-ronies (a cross between missionaries & pepperonis). Pretty cute.

-Laron: "Skyler, do you have to go to the bathroom?"

Skyler: "I already went to the bathroom yesterday!"

My awesome little girl

Well, Kimberly's at that stage now where she pulls herself up on everything. Today she pulled herself up on our toy kitchen set & started opening up the fridge and grabbing at the faucet & I had to do a double-take... Wow, where did our little girl go?! When Skyler saw her standing there, he turned to me & yelled, "MOM, Kimberly's awesome!" Yes she is Skyler... She's imitating you.

Baseball Fun

Yesterday we played a fun game of baseball here in the backyard... My favorite feature was that the bases were from the rugs in our cars (Laron's idea, of course!).

Although Laron naturally went a little easy on Skyler,

I'm impressed at how good Skyler's getting!

He's going to be just like his Daddy... :)

Finishing Touches

Well, we've lived in our home for 6 months now & I'm finally getting up some of the finishing touches in the house!  Here's some of the latest...

A beautiful wreath for above the stairs & our family picture finally up with vinyl lettering saying "Families are Forever".  I often find myself just sitting and staring at my beautiful family.

Wow! We sure are blessed!

Pictures of my cute kids on the wall & "Behold your little ones..." vinyl in the kid's room above their dressers. I love it because it brings a smile to my face as I get Kimberly up from her nap or as I glance through their bedroom door throughout the day. These beautiful children of mine will always be my precious "little ones."



A simple flower arrangement for the kitchen table & more vinyl for the computer room wall...  I absolutely LOVE it there because the computer room is the easiest place for me to waste time doing other things that don't directly help my family, & so this quote reminds me of the greater things in life & ultimately brings me back to my family.

This picture and greenery was another simple little finishing touch in the computer room that I think really finished it off.  This vinyl is above the window in our downstairs Family Room. I love it because it sums up the atmosphere that quite often accompanies our TV room/Toy room:

"Live Simply, Laugh Often, Love Deeply."

I'm sure there will always be more finishing touches that I'd like to add here & there, but I feel like these really added a lot & are turning my house into the Home I want it to become.

Eating grass & apples...

So, Kimberly loves the grass outside.

More specifically, she loves to EAT it.

But, if it's just the right length (not too small), her favorite thing to do with it is to just suck on it. She'll put the blade of grass in her mouth & then slowly pull it out. Put it in again, then slowly pull it out. Maybe she likes the texture or the taste?... Either way, I'm just glad she's found a way to enjoy it without always having to EAT it!

We also had our very first apple off of our apple tree today! It was sure yummy as we tried to savor every bite (because our wonderful apple tree only produced three other apples besides this one this year)! Oh well. We've been told that certain kinds of apple trees only produce apples every other year, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for NEXT year. Until then, we'll try to drag out the remainder of our plentiful crop for another couple of days...

Fun with Kimberly

It's official... Kimberly finally got her 1st tooth last week and her 2nd tooth yesterday! I've been waiting for her to get a tooth for months now (Skyler got his first tooth at 4 months & she's 8 1/2 months old now!), but I suppose teeth are over-rated for a baby anyways! Besides, I'm afraid that she'd going to be a biter! I think we can also officially say that she can crawl now too. She's been experimenting around with the idea for a few weeks now, but some left out wrapping paper seemed to be just the trick to make her want to crawl for distance! The next few weeks will be a whole new adventure for me, because I've never had a baby crawling around before... Skyler never crawled, he just went straight to walking! It'll be pretty exciting around here!

Kimberly is also playing with toys cuter than ever now too. She knows already, somehow, that there's something more exciting about playing with Skyler's toys. And she's learned that all you have to do to play with them is hit them together and make lots of noise... What a great example you are Skyler!


Kimberly also tried enchiladas for the first time the other day... She loved them. Obviously!

Holy Ghost Conversation #2

If you haven't already read my post entitled "Andy," you'd better read that one before you read this one, or you'll be a little confused...

So for scriptures tonight, I thought I'd try and address the topic of the Holy Ghost again, to hopefully clarify my poor explanations yesterday, but I think I only confused the poor kid more! We started off by saying the 1st Article of Faith again & naming the three in the Godhead. Afterwards, Skyler boldly declared, "I don't like the Holy Ghost." "Why?!," I interjected. He simply explained, "I just like the Holy, not the Ghost." Okay, I figured that made sense to not like a ghost, so I tried to explain that the Holy Ghost doesn't look like the ghosts he sees in movies, he looks like us (with a head & hands & feet...), he just doesn't have a body. Skyler furrowed his brow, deep in thought for a moment. "So will he come and eat dinner with us?," he asked. I tried to explain that the Holy Ghost doesn't eat food, because he doesn't have a body. Then Skyler's eyes got wide as he asked, terrified, "So does he eat people?!" Ohhhh...

And who says having a Teaching Certificate makes you a good teacher? It certainly hasn't done me any good the last two days... Does anyone have any simple ideas for teaching this concept to a child? I'm certainly botching it!

"Andy"

Tonight for my scripture study with Skyler (Laron was working) we read the 1st Article of Faith & Skyler repeated it back to me. And then we discussed what it meant. I asked him, "So who do we believe in?" to which, of course, I got a blank stare. So we began saying together, over & over while I pointed to three fingers, "We believe in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost."

Now time to check his understanding... "Okay, so who do we believe in?" I asked while pointing to my first finger. "Heavenly Father." Second finger? "Jesus Christ." Third finger? "Andy." What?! I had to do a double take... Andy? Where did that come from? And then I realized that I was saying, "...and the Holy Ghost." Wow! I guess he WAS really listening! So then I had to fix the mistake that I had accidentally just taught him, so that he didn't grow up thinking that we believe in some nice God named Andy. I was sure glad I had him repeat it back to me!

So after a little conversation about who the Holy Ghost is (it's got to be kind-of a confusing concept for a kid), it was time for Skyler's prayers. With the Holy Ghost fresh on his mind, he added this nice little line into his prayers: "And please bless the nice ghost. The one with the spirit..." Close enough I guess. I did my best for a 1st-time "Holy Ghost" conversation. At least he doesn't still think his name is Andy...

Laron's Birthday!

Laron's Birthday was last week... And although we didn't get to see him much (because he was either working or sleeping---he works nights), we still had fun.  He woke up to this...

And then also got his own Volleyball set so we could have fun at this...

I threw him a late Birthday party the next weekend he was off & invited all his family to come. It was so much fun getting together with everyone for a barbecue, homemade ice-cream, volleyball & good conversation. Thanks for having a birthday Laron so we could have a good excuse to throw a fun party! We'll have to make it an annual occurrence! Thanks everyone for coming...

Can YOU do this?

It's amazing the things we could do back when we were young!

Timpanogos Cave

A few weeks ago we watched my 2 youngest brothers (Chris & Jeff) for a couple of days while my parents were on a cruise in Alaska, so we tried to figure out some fun things to do...

The first day we drove down to Timpanogos Cave, but they were already sold out for the day, so we just found another place to hike around & ended up here at this little pond. Making bark ships with bugs on them for passengers & sinking them seemed to be the funnest part of the hike!

On Saturday we got down to Timpanogos Cave really early (yes, we were determined!) & started our way up the mountain...

Of course, we had to stop and play "swords" with the sticks along the way too.

The cave was fun, but the tour was a bit shorter than I remembered as a child. Oh well.

Kimberly fell asleep almost the moment we entered the cool cave. Must've been just the right sleeping temperature for her... Not for me though!

My adventurous brothers, Chris & Jeff.

My brothers saw these tree roots protruding out of the mountain on our way down & MADE me take their picture. Cute spot though.

Thanks so much for hanging out with us boys! Skyler LOVED having some friends along & so did we. We're just sorry we had to make the drive twice in order to go on the hike. That's how good ideas go sometimes I suppose.

Tattle-Telling on Daddy

Skyler is amazing us at his story-telling abilities lately. Laron will come home & Skyler will tell him a story about something that happened that day & I am just amazed at how accurately he can describe what happened & how many details he says about it. Like, the other day we went to the park & this is what Skyler told Laron about it when we got home & I told him to tell Daddy what we did today. “We went to the park & I walked on the cement & went boom & got an owie on my knee & Mommy sang me “I am a Child of God” & then we ate lunch & then we walked on the grass & then we played on the park.” Wow!

Laron’s birthday is coming up in a few weeks, & I can already tell that I’m going to have to be careful what I tell Skyler, because secrets are no longer safe with him… For example, last night after I tucked Skyler into bed & was telling him a final good-night at the doorway before leaving, Skyler suddenly became quite chatty, obviously trying to prolong his inevitable destiny of going to bed. One thing that he said was this: “Daddy let me ride with my knees on the car-seat,” he confessed with a smile. “Oh he did, did he?” I said with a raised eyebrow. “And he didn’t buckle up my seatbelt,” he replied with a sense of excitement, “But I held on real tight!” That inevitably led us into a conversation about how dangerous it is to ride in cars that way (which we’ve had several times before… LARON!). Later that night when I was talking to Laron, I slyly mentioned to Laron that Skyler tattle-telled on him today. Laron immediately got a guilty look on his face & busted up laughing (a little nervously, I might add )… He knew what conversation was coming! But it just made me realize how many details Skyler can remember nowadays & how big he is getting. Kids sure grow up in a hurry! One minute you’re trying to decipher their grunts & points into common English, and the next, they’re tattle-telling on their daddy.

Vacation Time!

Well, last week we took our first vacation with our little family of four... We went up to Snowbird for a few days & stayed in one of my Grandpa's condos there (which made the trip even more enjoyable because we didn't have to pay for it---other than food)!

We did lots of swimming... Everyday in fact.  I loved putting Kimberly in her swimming suit everyday...

SO adorable!  We all loved the water, but especially Skyler & Kimberly (she was super excited the first time we put her in & just kept kicking around with her legs and splashing excitedly)!

On our second day there we went on a BIG hike with my family (like, over-4-hours-hiking-UP-the-mountain-with-2-small-kids BIG). What were we thinking?!

Laron ended up carrying BOTH of the kids for about 1/3 of the hike... What a trooper! I have to say though, Skyler did pretty amazing for the first 1/3 of the hike, but it still made for a long remaining 2/3's of the hike...

At least we got to stop & eat some snacks while enjoying beautiful "Secret Lake" in the middle of the hike.

I assumed that we'd all be dying hot on our hike, like most normal hikes, so when it got super windy & freezing cold on the middle of our hike, I was at a loss for what to do for my freezing children. Luckily my Mom was there to help me problem solve... She took off her socks and put them on Kimberly's legs & I took off my socks and put them on Kimberly's arms. She kinda looked like she had soccer-socks on or casts on all limbs or something, but at least she was warmer!

The best thing about hiking up this particular mountain range at Snowbird is that, during the summer, if you hike up the mountain, you can ride down the mountain for FREE on "The Tram." We were trying to explain what it was to Skyler, but once he saw it, it became known as the bus in the sky. I'm just glad that we didn't have to hike back down...

Wow, what a view! As we rode down the mountain, Skyler put his fist up in the air & loudly declared, "To infinity, and beyond!"

The final highlight of our trip was playing at the park... Lots!

After we got home, Laron commented that our family seemed closer together after taking our little vacation. I agree. There is something so bonding about making family memories together & we hope to keep it up and do it lots more over the years!