Something Off The Wall

eventful morning

2011-09-17T19:31:00.001-06:00

So we had an eventful morning with some firsts for more than one.

First first... Jon taught LM how to walk with her walking toy! HOORAY! And just 3 days ago she wouldn't even try it for her physical therapist. But get mom to leave the house for an hour, and she'll let daddy teach her all sorts of things!

Second first... CJ played in a very very wet soccer game. Now he's the kind of boy that hesitates to make messes and has never been puddle jumping. So being encouraged to run through the puddles splashing water and mud everywhere, was something new to him. Here's a little clip to show how wet the field was - and how distracted CJ was because of the water. He's in the orange #20 jersey with the white sleeves. The video got stopped because CD had decided to walk across the field to get to me and had stopped right in the center. Oops.

eye muscle surgery

2011-08-09T16:56:00.000-06:00

Friday, August 5

This morning we headed out early with CD to travel down to Primary Children's Medical Center where she was going to have eye muscle surgery. The technical term for what was done - bilateral medial rectus recession.

on our way

Last December we had discovered that CD was getting a lazy eye. When we took her to the eye doctor about it, he told us what she really had was called esotropia and that only surgery would fix it in her case. What that means is that her eye did not sit straight, it was slightly turned in. This was causing double vision and in response her brain started to "turn off" the bad eye which is why it looked like a lazy eye. So we started patching CD's "good" eye to help strengthen her "bad" eye. Until the bad eye (her left one) was strong enough, there was no point in doing surgery.

Patching worked miracles on strengthening CD's left eye and it was determined she was ready for surgery. We were going to a doctor here in Logan and he referred us down to PCMC to a doctor who does these surgeries all the time - Dr. Dries.

We told CD that she was going to an eye doctor to get her eyes fixed. She isn't a fan of doctors and didn't even like having her physical exam. She refused to put on her ID bracelet - on her wrist or ankle - so they taped it to her back. CD did however LOVE playing toys while we waited. Of course that was her favorite part. She found a little microwave she especially liked. She was given some medicine to help her relax to help with the separation too. So she had to sit on my lap and couldn't wander for a bit. The microwave helped with that a lot. Then the time came for her to go back to surgery. I carried her to the "double doors" where they then took her away. She was upset, but not too bad thanks to a spinning toy with lights they showed her.

Then the waiting game began for Jon and I. We got lunch, ate lunch, and waited and waited. We actually only had to wait an hour, which wasn't too bad. Dr. Dries came and told us that surgery went well and he was happy with the results. We then had to wait for them to tell us that one of us could go see CD. Of course I was the one who went.

When I got to the room to see CD, it wasn't a pretty situation. She was waking up from her anesthesia and really struggling. As the nurse described it, she was "thrashing around". It turns out they called me down as soon as possible because CD was thrashing around, trying to pull the IV out of her foot, and trying to get out of bed. So they brought me a rocking chair to sit in and I did my best to hold her and keep her from tearing out the IV. She kept saying she wanted to go play with the toys. If she wasn't fixated on the IV, she was fixated on getting out of there to play toys. The pain medicine she was getting was pretty strong and helped to make her sleepy. But she was fighting sleep so much. Finally I got her to sleep a tiny bit and I convinced the nurse to take the IV out since she had had a couple of sips of chocolate milk. While taking out the IV CD woke up and the fight started again. But since the IV was out they decided to send us to the next waiting room that had a TV. Jon could then join us at that point too. Once in that new room I finally got her to sleep again and she had a good 15-20 minute nap on my lap.

When she woke up again, she was a different girl - although she was still very tired. CD was no longer thrashing around and she woke up and noticed that "Princess and the Frog" was playing on the TV. So she sat on my lap, drank ALL of her chocolate milk, and watched the movie. At that point the nurses said we could leave. So we got our discharge papers and instructions, and Jon headed downstairs to get her prescriptions filled. After getting all of our things together, CD got to ride in a wagon out to the car. She also was given sunglasses to wear to help protect her eyes from the bright sun.

still not feeling great, but on her way home

While on our drive home CD slept a little bit and ate almost a whole little box of Gold Fish crackers. When we did get home, she finished her crackers, drank her chocolate milk, and fell asleep pretty quickly on the couch. It had been a long, difficult day after all.

so tired

Surprisingly CD actually was interested in eating dinner, so I made her some macaroni and cheese. She almost fell asleep at the table, but she refused to get down until her dinner was gone. Shortly afterward she went to bed and slept wonderfully. The next day, CD was a new girl and you never would have known she had surgery the day before! She talked non-stop, played all day, and even ran around the house. She was her normal, happy, crazy self - and it was good to see!

There is no patching or bandaging required for her. She just has to have eye drops in both eyes 4 times a day for 2 weeks - something she doesn't really enjoy. She will have a followup in a month on September 6, and then we'll see what happens from there. But so far, so good. ;0) She is an amazingly tough and strong little girl!

lava hot springs

2011-08-09T15:15:00.000-06:00

August 1-3 (no pictures because I didn't take any, my bad)

We joined my family (ALL of my family) for a camping trip at Lava Hot Springs from August 1-3. It was like a little family reunion that was a ton of fun! There was Grandma & Grandpa Allen, Uncle Justin & cousin Morgan, and Uncle Clint & Aunt Hilary. And of course the 5 of us. We camped in our "palace" tent, Clint & Hilary also slept in a tent, and Grandma & Grandpa had their trailer there. And boy were we super glad we had a trailer...

Monday night everyone arrived around dinner time. After a late dinner we started cleaning up. When we were about done cleaning it started sprinkling a bit so we hurried and put everything inside the trailer and closed the windows of the tents. Then the wind started to pick up. So we rushed to get things safe from being blown away while the men (Justin wasn't there that night) ran to the tents to get them staked down better. That's when the down pour started. To say it was storming is a understatement. It was more like a hurricane. The clouds burst open and started dumping rain everywhere. The wind would blow from one direction, and then suddenly switch to another direction. Dad, Grandpa, and Clint came back drenched by the time they made sure the tents were okay - and they were only out there about 10 minutes. They seriously looked like they had jumped in a swimming pool completely clothed. It was bad. Thankfully we were able to stay inside the trailer and avoid the storm. We just kept praying that our tents and what was inside would stay dry. Thankfully the kids weren't too bothered by the storm either. They stayed entertained with a movie while we waited for the storm to pass. And it did. The winds and rain lasted about 45 minutes. Then it was gone. We got the men into dry clothes and checked if there was any damage done to the tents. Thankfully our tent survived and everything inside was dry - all except one little corned that got the very bottom of Dad's sleeping bag a tiny bit wet. Clint & Hilary's tent wasn't so lucky. The water gathered and piled on top of their tarp that was sitting under their tent. So a ton of water soaked up through the bottom of their tent getting everything wet. They were able to clean it up though and were still able to sleep there. Because of this crazy storm, we didn't get to bed until about 11pm. That's pretty late for the kids.

Tuesday morning the kids were awake by 7am and anxious to go swimming. The plans for the day were to spend all day at the pool. Unfortunately the pools don't open until 11am, so we had to find things to keep them entertained until then. We had breakfast, played at the KOA playground where we were staying, and watched the trains. Then it was time for swimming!

CJ's favorite part was "going on the red water slide". It took quite a bit of convincing to get him to try it though. We had already spent most of the day there before he tried it out. He really enjoyed it though and went on it 4 times. CJ also really liked wearing his life jacket and "swimming" out to the 4-feet part of the pool where he couldn't touch. He LOVED being able to go where he wanted and being able to float and swim.

CD's favorite part was "playing in the water". At first she was excited to go swimming. But when we got to the pool she changed her mind. It took awhile before we could even get her to put her feet in the water. Then we slowly had to encourage her to go down into the water step by step. We kept a life jacket on her most of the day. While she was wearing the life jacket, she wouldn't go any lower than the 2nd step. She seemed extremely nervous about the water as long as that life jacket was on. So I took it off her and we tried again to get her in the water. Without the life jacket we got her to go down to the 4th step all by herself - making the water a little above her waist. Then she slowly started walking out into the pool and got as deep as her chest. I then took her out into the 4-feet part by holding her the whole time. She LOVED it! She didn't quite understand the danger of the water though, so I held on tight to her the whole time. I don't think she liked the floating sensation with the life jacket on. But once we took it off, she had a blast!

LM absolutely loved the water too! She LOVES splashing in the water and got herself soaking wet! It was a very long day for her, but anytime she was in the water she was happy. We tried putting her in a floating tube, but she didn't care for it since she couldn't reach the water. Seriously, as long as she could splash, she was happy.

After our long day of swimming (and a pizza dinner) we went to the hot pools to relax. LM had to stay in her carseat by the side of the pool so she could sleep. I didn't know what CJ and CD would think of the "hot" water, but we gave it a shot. CJ slowly got in and really enjoyed it. CD would only put her feet in and loved splashing Grandma. Grandma was a good sport about the whole thing too. Dad LOVED the hot pools and spent most of his time away from us in the hottest of the pools. It was great for his foot. I tried it, but it was way too hot for me. It was a good way to end our long day.

Wednesday was the end of our trip. We had to be out of our camping site by 11am, so we spent the morning cleaning up and packing up. Then we decided to walk the streets of Lava and do some shopping and sightseeing before leaving. We also stopped for lunch and ice cream. After seeing the town - which didn't take too long - we headed on our way home.

Overall we had an awesome time in Lava Hot Springs with my family. We are hoping to make it an annual tradition. ;0)

kids...

2011-08-09T09:55:00.000-06:00

A conversation this morning with CD as I'm taking the sheets off my bed:

CD: "Mom, what are you doing?"
Mom: "I'm changing the sheets on my bed."
CD: "Mom, did you pee on them?"
Mom: "No CD, they are just dirty and it's time to clean them."

Silly girl. We had to change her sheets yesterday since she had a little accident. I guess she thought that was the only reason you have to change sheets - because you pee on them. ;0)

********************************************************************************

The older kids really are not a fan of their baby sister playing along with them. So yesterday they decided to play in the front room and CJ constructed this "wall" to keep LM away from their toys.

I want to play too!

adventure at the Dr.'s office

2011-07-28T19:42:00.000-06:00

So we had quite an adventure yesterday at the Dr.'s office. Here's the story...

LM had a cough less than 2 weeks ago. The cough sounded worse at night and in the morning and was tight sounding to me. It made me nervous, so I took her in. The Dr. said that she looked fine, but to make sure that the cough didn't turn into croup and get worse, he sent us home with some medicine (a steroid). The cough got better and life went on.

Yesterday LM started coughing again - the same tight sounding cough. So just to be safe I took her to the Dr. again. Just a side note, I also took the other kids too. At the Dr.'s office once again LM looked fine except for tiny signs of a cold (the same cold that Jon, CJ, and myself have). The Dr. wasn't sure why her cough was sounding that way and he didn't want to send us home with more steroids, so to be safe he sent us to the lab for x-rays. We had to get x-rays of LM's chest and neck. Have you ever seen how babies get their chest x-rayed? Not pleasant. I of course did not take pictures because my hands were full trying to comfort LM and actually get the x-rays, but this is what she pretty much looked like.

photo found online - NOT our baby girl

But LM is skinnier and she was screaming like mad and fighting us so hard. She actually got her arms behind her head and then her head was wedged up against the hard plastic sides hard enough to get red welts on the side of her head. (LM wasn't in her contraption quite as tight as shown in the picture above - probably because she was wiggling so much)

kind of hard to see, but there is a red welt on the side

I know, I know, but the story keeps going. So the radiologist and the Dr. couldn't conclude that what was showing on the neck x-ray was okay. There was a spot that looked a little swollen. So to make sure that LM really was okay and that she could breathe fine and all of that, we were sent upstairs to an ENT. He was going to stick a camera up her little nose and down her little throat to get an inside look. So I held her on my lap with a nurses help while the Dr. did this. Of course LM didn't like it, but it wasn't the first time she has had something stuck up her nose and down her throat - it's just been awhile. And guess what, the ENT didn't see anything except a little sore throat.

So, the good news is that after everything our precious little girl was put through... she is just fine. Apparently LM just has a tight sounding cough. According to the ENT, the cough sounds tight to me, but it physically is NOT tight. So that's a relief. And would you know it, after all that trauma, LM was just fine and acted like her normal self once we got home. I expected her to fall asleep in the car (which she did) and stay asleep. But when we got home she was ready to play and eat dinner. She is such a tough little one!

When we got home I just kept thinking, if only I wasn't such a paranoid mother, LM wouldn't have had to go through all of that. But I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

our camping trip

2011-07-25T14:41:00.000-06:00

This last weekend we went camping with Grandma & Grandpa Allen. The kids were so excited to go! And this marked LM's first camping trip! We had a lot of fun. We went up Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Of course we slept in our "palace" tent. When using air mattresses, it's not too bad - just a bit cold.

CJ learned how to shoot a pellet gun and had amazing aim! He loved it and did quite a bit of it. He even tried about 4 different guns.

CD was very hesitant to get on the 4-wheeler, but once she did, that's all she wanted to do! She kept asking everyone, "you want to go a 4-wheeler ride?". It was cute. She went on rides with Grandma, Grandpa, and nice long ride with Dad.

LM just enjoyed being a baby on a camping trip. She had her first taste of plum and almost ate the entire thing! Definitely wasn't expecting that. Especially since she only has 2 little bottom teeth.

One of our favorite things to do while camping is to play Mexican Horseshoes. I don't have any pictures of it, but Jon and I played a game that lasted FOREVER because we either went over our points or kept canceling each other out. It was kind of funny. We taught CJ how to play and he loved it! In fact, he is in the process right now of making his own version here at home. ;0)

Definitely a good weekend for all!

too smart...

2011-07-17T14:00:00.000-06:00

<this conversation took place after church during the middle of the day>

CJ: "Why is dad sleeping?"
Mom: "Because he has to drive tonight during the night."
CJ: "That would mean he's going to be nocturnal."

Yes CJ, that will make him nocturnal. ;0)

conversations

2011-07-15T16:04:00.000-06:00

Because I absolutely LOVE this idea, I thought I would share it with everyone!

First of all, this is NOT my own original idea. I totally stole this off of a craft blog, I just don't remember which one. ;0)

These are "Conversation" posters for my kids. The first one the questions are geared for a toddler, and the second for an older child. I decided that I had to do something for the baby too, so I created my own list of firsts or milestones I could record of the baby.

Now here's the deal - I want YOU to be able to do this with your kids too! Imagine how much fun it would be to read these responses from your child year after year. And yes, all of these were exactly how my children responded to the questions. So back to you... I am willing to make YOU your own child's conversation posters! The posters are 11x14 in size, so they would be easy to frame and hang up just about anywhere in the house!

For just $7 each (plus shipping) I'll make your kids one! All you have to do is tell me what conversation you want to use (kid, toddler, or baby), email me 3 pictures, have your child answer the questions, and I'll do the rest! How easy! And how CUTE!

If you are interested, email me at jeanaparker@msn.com and let me know how many you want and what conversations you want to use. Then I'll email you the list of questions (which can be edited by you if you wish) and we'll go from there.

I can't wait to get mine here! Now if only I could find some room on my walls... ;0)

zip-a-dee-do-da

2011-07-05T22:41:00.000-06:00

Okay, so Jon's brother-in-law has built a zip line at Jon's parents house. Last year he built one that went over a pond on some of their land. This year they decided to move it to the hill side of Jon's parents house where it was closer and a bit safer. I had mixed feelings about going on it. I wasn't nervous about the height or anything - it really isn't that high up. But I was nervous to get going too fast. And let's face, the thing is home-made. But I finally tried it out for the first time last night. And it was fun! But would you believe I actually wanted to go faster? You control your own speed and I was having a hard time getting myself to go, especially at the beginning. I guess I'll just have to keep trying it out to get the ride how I want it. ;0)

We also got CJ to try it. We have been trying to get him to try each time one of his cousins do it. But he never has. I think because both mom and dad did it, he decided to give it a try. He was excited to go until he was all buckled up and on top of the platform to get started. He was so nervous and scared, but we wouldn't let him back out of doing it once he was all ready. We knew once we got him on it, he'd love it. And guess what? He did! He loved it and actually wanted Jon to let him go faster. You see, Jon held him by a rope and controlled all of his movements down the line. CJ can't wait to go again!

going backwards - can this thing go faster?

saying "hi" to CD watching from the safety of the yard

lift those legs - clear that brush!

there he goes!

so proud of our BRAVE boy!

faster dad!

super heroes and butterflies

2011-06-21T18:50:00.000-06:00

Today CJ has created his own super hero - Vironeck and his sidekick, Super Dog. He has designed a costume he is ready to make - if only we had the supplies. So while playing super heroes with his pillow pet (a.k.a. Super Dog), the following conversation took place between him and CD...

CJ: "Are you going to be a bad guy or a good guy?"
CD: "I'm going to be a butterfly."
CJ: "Are you going to be a good butterfly or a bad butterfly?"
CD: "I'm going to be a happy butterfly."

If only CJ had a brother to play with instead of just sisters. At least he has his pillow pet. ;0)

ready, set,... catch up time!

2011-06-19T12:08:00.001-06:00

I have spent the morning playing catch up, for the month of June at least, on this here blog. Quite a bit has been happening. So if you are interested in seeing what we have been up to, keep scrolling down!

Both CJ and CD had their last day of school on June 1. We have only had 2 1/2 weeks of summer, and it has already been crazy and busy. CD will start her summer session of school tomorrow. There is Cub Scout day camp for me in a week, lots of Heritage Makers things going on, and lots of family visiting. So things won't exactly be slowing done any either. Oh well, it should be a fun filled summer!

one year

2011-06-19T12:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we celebrated LM's first birthday! It is hard to imagine that it has already been a whole year since LM entered our lives unexpectedly. She has come a long way since her humble beginnings at only 2lbs 14oz. Here are few "new" things about our little one:
~ She is now sitting up! She still prefers to be on the floor where she can get around on her own, but she can sit up on her own for short amounts of time. This is a skill she is still working on. ;0)
~ She is also eating more and more "real" foods. She has tried bread, pasta, rice, beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, crackers, cereal, cantaloupe, and of course chocolate cake for her birthday!

We had a little birthday party for LM inviting only family. We still had a house full though. She had lots of help opening all her presents thanks to her own sister and cousins. I think overall LM really enjoyed her birthday - especially her new toys and her cake!

Happy Birthday Little One! We love you!

family swim time

2011-06-19T11:42:00.001-06:00

Because of LM's involvement in the State's "Up to 3" program, we are allowed to swim for free every Saturday from 10-11:30am during the summer at the Logan Aquatic Center. So we decided to take LM swimming for the first time the morning of her first birthday. And she LOVED it! LM absolutely LOVED being in the water and splashing it every where! CD was hesitant to get in, but really enjoyed her time in the water. CJ was quite comfortable and had a good time being able to do what he wanted to.

loving it

2011-06-19T11:33:00.000-06:00

First time in a swing and loving it!

swim lessons

2011-06-19T11:25:00.000-06:00

CJ had this first swim lessons ever this summer. He went to swim lessons at the Logan Aquatic Center from June 6 - June 17. CJ has a fear of water being on his face and especially in his eyes. So when his cousins decided to have swim lessons, we thought it might help CJ to be in a class with them. His cousins, G and S, are opposite of him - they have no fear when it comes to water. It was fun watching the difference between CJ and the others. They jumped in the pool with no hesitation on the first day. CJ gently and very slowly slid down into the water. But CJ improved each day and by the end of the session he had come a long way. Instead of getting in very slowly, he would almost jump in, but kept his hand on the wall. Instead of clinging to his teacher when asked to rocket, he would just ask the teacher to still help him not sink. Also by the end of the session CJ went from barely putting his mouth and nose in to blow bubbles in the water to doing a complete bob down into the water. He is so proud of how is doing and loves to tell people that he can bob in the water now. Way to go CJ for facing your fears and getting more and more comfortable in the water!

happy and proud boy

clinging on to his teacher

his complete bob!

looking good

the gang of cousins all in swim lessons

talent show

2011-06-19T11:04:00.000-06:00

Our Ward's Primary planned a Talent Show on June 3 in order to give service to the elderly in our ward by providing an evening of entertainment. Of course I knew CJ would love to participate. The last talent show he was a part of he sang. So this time we decided he should try something different - so he played the piano. CJ hasn't had any piano lessons but he loves to play by ear and have people help him figure out notes. He played "Follow the Prophet" three times (top hand only, however using two hands). The first time through he played the song normal. The second time he used different keys - something he figured out and taught him self. And the last time he played both hands together - one playing the normal way and the other hand playing a few keys lower. It really does sound pretty awesome together. And he did an AWESOME job!

CD isn't much for performing in front of groups, but we did convince her to "dance" on the stage with the other 4-5 year old girls. They were asked to do a dance all together so that they could participate in the talent show too. I put "dance" in quotations because CD really didn't dance. She stood there acting shy most of the time. She did turn a few turns though. She loved the thought of being up on stage and she really was cute doing her little jig. ;0)

love good music!

2011-06-14T15:43:00.000-06:00

Okay, I promise that the next post I do will be pictures of my kids. But I just HAD to share another AWESOME and AMAZING music video! Such amazing talent, imagination, and creativity!

Jon Schmidt + Steven Sharp Nelson = AMAZING

2011-05-21T17:30:00.000-06:00

oh so proud!

2011-05-10T10:03:00.000-06:00

My boy always sees me working on making my books on the computer using Heritage Makers. Well, he decided he really wanted to make his own book. He is always writing stories and creating all sorts of things out of paper - books, games, transformers. So I decided I would help him publish his first official book. I told him that if he would write and draw his story on paper that I then could get it on the computer by scanning the pages. He was way excited about this. So I prepared the paper for him and he went to work creating his story. It took him a couple of months to finish his project - it's pretty easy for a 6 year old boy to get distracted, and I made him color his pictures which he wasn't always excited to do. But he finished it last month. So I scanned his pages in and uploaded them into a Heritage Makers project. Here he is holding his final product. Can you see how proud he is?

We had 3 copies printed and published - one for us, one for his Kindergarten teacher, and one for Grandma Allen (who was kind enough to let us use her points to publish). I chose to use the square flip book for his project so we wouldn't have to shrink his pictures too much. I also decided this style of book would make it easier to look at over and over. If you'd like, take a look at CJ's "The House Question". Not only is he proud of his work, but I am too!

10 months!

2011-04-19T10:33:00.000-06:00

Things about LM at 10 months old...

she loves to growl and laugh
she will smile at anyone who smiles at her
she loves to roll around the house and has even started army crawling
she already loves getting things she shouldn't
she loves to eat baby food and has started eating finger foods
she loves her family
and most important... she is the happiest and cutest baby ever!!

priceless

2011-04-08T10:35:00.000-06:00

After using the bathroom, CD was suppose to be getting into the bathtub. So she had taken off her socks, pants, and underwear and then went to her bedroom to get her pjs. She wasn't coming back as quickly as she should have, so I told her she needed to get in the bathtub. I didn't expect her to get in with her shirt on. But when I went to see if she had come back to the bathroom, I found her like this. Silly girl. It didn't even seem to phase her.

hogle zoo

2011-04-08T10:34:00.000-06:00

For Spring Break we decided to take the kids to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City one day. It has been at least 2 years since we have been, and we knew CJ and CD would enjoy it.

Here's a bit of background info for my first story - Anytime we go on a trip that lasts longer than an hour, we let the kids watch a movie. So they don't get tunnel vision and only watch the movie and get car sick, every once in awhile we will encourage them to find something outside of the car. Also, because of our business I visit FedEx at least 2 times a month usually with the kids in tow. So CD, even though she can't read, recognizes the FedEx logo and knows what it is.

Now here's my short story... At one point on our drive we were passing by a FedEx truck. CD had been transfixed to the movie, so I asked her to look at the truck and tell me what it was. She immediately says, "FedEx!". Then for the rest of the trip (there and back) CD somehow saw every single FedEx sign we passed. She kept saying, "I see FedEx!" and she would get so excited about it. It was just funny to see and hear how many times she found FedEx that day.

The zoo was a hit like we knew it would be. The first thing we had to do of course was ride the train. We waited way too long for such a short ride, but you can't go to the zoo without riding the train.

We saw lots of animals and did lots of walking. CJ and CD did awesome and never complained about being tired. However, by the end of the day I could tell both of them (especially CD) were done. LM was most awesome and amazing. She sat in her stroller, got in and out of her stroller, and never cried and never slept! She was definitely a trooper!

One more story. We bought tickets for the kids to ride the carousal. I knew CJ would love it and CD would be nervous. Nervous doesn't even begin to describe it. She was TERRIFIED! But I was a mean mom and forced her to ride. I told her that if she wouldn't and couldn't ride the carousal that she couldn't go to Disneyland. (which is something we are hoping to do in the future). After it got going and she got used to the movement she did really well. She was nervous the whole time, but she conquered her fear! I think she even had fun. As soon as we got off the carousal, what did she say?.. "Now I go to Disneyland!"

CJ's favorite animals to see were the elephants and the giraffe. CD's favorite animals to see were any kind of cats and the elephants. Both kids really liked seeing the baby elephant. Jon didn't have a favorite animal. As for me, I always love the monkey's and apes. I found one gorilla quite fascinating and could have stayed and watched it for awhile, but didn't.

We were glad we took the time to have some fun and take the kids to the Hogle Zoo. We picked the best day to go too since it was the only day that didn't rain or snow during our "spring" break.

lil roller

2011-03-28T17:03:00.001-06:00

So my baby just keeps growing and learning more. She is now rolling everywhere! So that means the older two have to keep all their stuff off the floor that they don't want to end up in the lil one's mouth. They are still learning. Here is a little slide show of pictures I took of her rolling. I need to make a video of it, but I wanted some pictures too. After all, I can't put videos in my yearbooks. ;0)

flowers & bows

2011-03-28T16:57:00.000-06:00

While my mom was visiting last week we spent some time crafting by making some hair accessories. It was so much fun! And there are so many more I want to try. I found a wonderful blog called Fabric Bows and More that links to tutorials of how to make all sorts of bows, flowers, and other girlie things. There are quite a few I want to try. But this is what I have done so far.

The top pink flower and wrapped headband are my favorite! I especially LOVE the flower! I plan to make 2 more as soon as I can. ;0) I turned the flower into a clip that I can add to the headband or just put in my girls' hair. Click here to make your own beautiful flower and headband.

The purple flower I'd like to re-do, but I won't. Instead I'll just make more. ;0) Click here for the instructions on how to make it. Once again I just turned it into a barrette by adding a clip on the back.

I LOVE the korker bows too! And they were so easy to make! Click here for the instructions on how to make them. I definitely need to do more of these.

red hat, blue hat, yellow hat

2011-03-16T22:43:00.000-06:00

Today CD came home with a book from school that she decided to read to me. She did an awesome job and was oh so cute! To add to the cuteness, LM started babbling this morning! So she decided she needed to be heard too.

yum, yum - part 2

2011-02-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

the new favorite dessert as of yesterday - hot chocolate!

yum, yum

2011-02-01T13:47:00.001-07:00

first taste of baby food - squash... and she liked it!

one of the best sounds in the world

2011-01-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

LM loves laughing at CJ. He can get her laughing like no other. Unfortunately, almost every time when I get the camera out, it becomes a distraction and she doesn't laugh quite as much.

And here's another one just for fun.

a little adventure

2011-01-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

** Here's a little background to help my story make a bit more sense. CD started preschool in December. Last week they started helping her potty train by making her wear underwear during school. She has enjoyed wearing the underwear so much that she asks to wear it on top of her diaper while at home. And here's our adventure...

Yesterday we decided to do something fun and spontaneous as a family - something that Jon wanted to do since he doesn't get to do too many things he wants being away from home so much. So we decided to go down to Salt Lake to the Auto Show at the South Towne Expo Center. It probably has been about 5 years since we have gone to the show and obviously we have never taken three kids with us. We knew it was bound to be an adventure with 3 kids - we just didn't know how big of an adventure.

The kids weren't too entertained by the cars, especially since when we first walked in we happened to be by a place where playground sets were available to play on, there were scooters to ride, and many basketball tosses set up. The kids just wanted to stay there instead of look at cars, so I convinced the kids to go on a treasure hunt. I encouraged CD to find a pink car (not knowing if we'd find one) and told CJ to find all the blue cars he could. So off we went on our treasure hunt.

And lo and behold, look what we found! --all our pictures were taken on our phones and didn't turn out too well. sorry--

a blue car for CJ

and a pink car for CD!


Jon liked this one - a Jeep Wrangler - and I happened to love the color of it

And here is where the real adventure begins. I had to stop looking at the cars to feed LM, so we sat down in the back of the building by some restrooms where I could be out of the way to feed LM her bottle. So while I fed Jon took CJ and CD to keep looking. This is what they found.

Bumblebee from Transformers

and a Corvette Jon claims is on Transformers too

After Jon took the picture of the Corvette, he turned around and CD was gone. GONE. She had disappeared on him. He quickly looked around him and then immediately phoned me to tell me that CD was missing. I hurried and put LM back in the car seat on the stroller and headed off to look for CD. We frantically walked around the building for about 10 minutes looking. We told the security people there and they called everyone on their walkie-talkies and gave a description of CD. Jon and I both kept thinking that we needed to check by the bathrooms. I quickly looked in the one I had been in - after I left the area - and didn't see anything. After looking around separately Jon and I both ended up back at the same bathroom where I had been. Just as I was arriving Jon was asking a lady who had been cleaning the bathroom and was leaving if there was a little girl in there. We heard her say, "your daddy is out here looking for you." And then CD appeared walking around the corner of the bathroom. What a relief!

Now believe it or not, but this is where the story gets interesting and kind of funny. After finding CD we were going to start looking at cars again when CD kept telling me that she wanted to sit on the potty - she never does this at home and remember, she still wears diapers. So I decided I may as well changer her diaper and we went into the bathroom. We went into a large stall wear CD proceeded to pull down her pants. When she did this I discovered she had her underwear on wrong - both legs in one leg - and she had on NO diaper. Apparently when she disappeared she took herself to the bathroom, went in a stall (which is why I probably didn't see her when I looked for her), took off her shoes, her pants, her underwear, and then her diaper. Before leaving the bathroom she put her underwear back on (wrong), her pants on correctly, and put her shoes back on. Had I not decided to take her in the bathroom to change her diaper, I would have had no idea she had done all of that. As we were leaving the bathroom, I saw her diaper sitting on the floor of another stall. Silly, silly girl.

Before leaving the Auto Show we stopped and let the kids play with some Legos. They were suppose to create a car and then race it. CJ made a very cool car and actually won a race against a much older kid. He didn't get anything for it - he was just able to have a moment of fun.

We finally decided to end our adventurous evening with one last adventure. So we took the kids to eat at the Mayan Adventure. They seemed to like it and we had a good time.

Overall it was a good day - even if we didn't get home until after 8pm. We were just extremely grateful that we found CD safe and sound after disappearing in such a large place with lots and lots of people! What a blessing!

new trick

2010-11-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

LM just started this yesterday. I think it's pretty cute. The kids get a kick out of it too. (You may want to pause the music to the side so you can hear better)

preparing for winter

2010-11-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make a reversible car seat cover for quite some time now. I bought fabric and everything a long time ago. But before making it, I was going to have to learn to sew. Thanks to a friend I was given the very basics of how to operate my machine. After about a month I had got as far as cutting the fabric, pinning it together, and sewing the two pieces together. After having my project sit on my counter for a couple of months, it was time to be honest with myself... I was never going to finish a project I had to sew.

Knowing that winter was coming, and coming fast, I knew I wanted something to use. So I decided to still make a car seat cover, but I cheated a bit. I went out and bought some fleece - a material I figured I could handle. Within a week I had my project complete - and just in time for the first huge snow storm!

I just cut and tied the edges - so much easier than sewing. So all I had to do was figure out how to sew the straps on. If you were to see my sewing job you'd be able to tell that sewing isn't my thing. But guess what, I did it! And it works! Hooray! Oh, and can I just say, I LOVE the fabric!

5 months

2010-11-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, November 18 our little LM turned 5 months old. It's hard to believe that it has been that long already. Like everyone says, she is still like a newborn. From the scientific method of weighing me + baby and then me alone, I estimate she weighs about 8.5 pounds. I think that's the big increase. She also has increased the amount of food she is eating, so she really is growing!

our little princess

of course upon getting the camera out, everyone else had to join the picture

when we brought her home she was about the size of this doll

primary program

2010-11-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our ward's Primary Program. The theme this year was, "I know My Savior Lives". All the children in our ward had speaking parts and each one helped in writing their own part. Both of our kids had their parts memorized and did amazingly well, requiring no help. Here were their parts:

CJ: "A miracle is something that turns the sadness into happiness. My new baby sister is an answer to praying for a miracle."

CD: "He gives me food." --Her class was asked how they know Jesus loves them.

Jon and I were very proud of our little ones. Grandma & Grandpa Allen, Clint & Hilary, and Grandma Parker all came to support them. It was a very beautiful program.

why oh why do I let them...

2010-11-06T13:11:00.000-06:00

Most people have beans as part of their food storage. Not us. Our beans are for entertainment.

happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T20:58:00.000-06:00

Here's a bit about our day while celebrating Halloween.

While carving pumpkins... Dad did most of the work - cleaning them out, that is. CJ but his hand in a couple of times and thought it was pretty cool. CD put her hand in, touched it, and immediately said, "that's gross!" Mom carved her first pumpkin - Mickey and Minnie Mouse. And Dad carved a dragon.

This was a rainy Halloween but we were determined to go out. So we suited the kids up in their costumes and found umbrellas for everyone. We even took LM out for a bit. CJ was Mr. Incredible, CD was a dancing butterfly, and LM was a kitty. Even though it was quite wet, it really wasn't all that cold. I think I'd much rather deal with rain than snow. Mom took the kids around after Dad took LM back inside. Surprisingly we didn't get as wet as I thought we would.

While trick-or-treating CD would repeat almost everything any one at the door would say. The cutest is when she'd say, "happy Halloween!"

Here are some pictures from the day for you to enjoy.

weekend review

2010-10-25T22:37:00.000-06:00

We spent this last weekend in Rupert, Idaho visiting my parents. This was LM's first road trip and visit to Grandma & Grandpa Allen's. Thankfully she slept the whole way there. Saturday my mom and I went to a craft fair taking LM with us while CJ and CD stayed with dad and played in the leaves. We don't have many leaves at our house, so they loved being able to play in the leaves at Grandma's. That night we had a little birthday party for CJ. We opened presents and had cake and ice cream. Can you believe he's going to be 6?! I can't. Over all we had a good relaxing, fun weekend.

where does time go

2010-10-19T14:08:00.000-06:00

Our little LM is four months old - already! AMAZING. She went in for her check up today and she is now 7 lbs 10 ounces and 20 1/2 inches. Even though she is just now the size of most newborns, she has come a long way from her 2 lbs 14 ounces and 16 inches at birth!

Notice the feet by her head... That would be CD...


CD really didn't like the fact that LM was wearing "her" flower in her hair.

Here are some things about LM at this stage of her life:

she is a very happy baby that only cries when she is really tired or hungry
she loves to smile
she has discovered her voice a bit and loves making noises - especially in the car with CJ and CD encouraging her along
she sleeps 6 to 7 hours at night on a regular basis (now if only I would go to bed when she does I could get that kind of sleep too!)
she enjoys hanging out on the floor as long as her siblings don't squish her (yeah right!) and now we just really need to work on tummy time ;0)
she also has discovered her hands a bit and enjoys sucking on her fingers

She has the biggest smile - it's just really hard to catch on camera

And one last treat for all of you. Here is a little video of her smiling and making some of those cute noises that she does. You may also notice (and even hear) her little legs kicking and going 100 miles per minute. Definitely a happy baby! We love her SO MUCH!

Not the best quality - sorry. Notice, she has the hiccups too.

crafts

2010-10-11T22:50:00.000-06:00

I have always thought of myself as being a creative person, but not crafty - there IS a difference. I LOVE designing and digital scrapbooking is mainly where I do my designing. And of course I use Heritage Makers to do that scrapbooking and storybook making. However, Heritage Makers can also be used to make way cute home decor! Here are two projects I completed this weekend - neither designed by me - but I did craft them together. ;0)

a very cute block calendar - I did choose my own color scheme on this one

beautiful Fall blocks

For some reason I have just been in this "crafty" mood. I have found a few different blogs that display their own craft ideas and those of others. I just keep thinking how cute everything would be and how much fun they could be to make. I have never sewn in my life but I happen to be in the middle of trying to make my own car seat canopy. I won't tell you how long I have been working on it, or how far along I am. But it's started and one of these days I just might finish it. And when I do, I'll be sure to post my success (or, hopefully not, failure). ;0)

quick weekend adventure

2010-10-11T09:48:00.000-06:00

We are fortunate to live about 2 miles away from a wonderful place called the American West Heritage Center. It offers lots of fun things for families to do including pony rides, a train ride, and seasonal activities and events. This year we bought a Gold Membership pass for our family. So we are able to attend certain events as many times as we want! Unfortunately we haven't been too many times. But we did go on Saturday.

We have been wanting to take the kids to the corn maze for awhile. This last week it rained a little bit each though. We finally decided that maybe Saturday afternoon things would be dry enough to go, so we went. The first thing we did was went on a train ride. CJ decided to ride in the caboose this time with a couple of other kids - he had a blast being silly with them. CD was nervous at first, but then really started to enjoy it. After the train ride we walked over towards the corn maze. Before going in the big maze Jon and CJ went through a "black out" maze. CD played around in a little straw maze for kids and enjoyed figuring it out on her own.

Finally it was time to go in the corn maze. Jon, CJ, and CD all had maps to help us find our way through. To begin with CJ was navigated us through on his own - and he was doing awesome at it! All the sudden we would come to a place where their was two paths. He would tell us, "you go this way, and I'll go this other way". So we would split and meet up again. I thought it was amazing that he could follow the map well enough to discover that. After awhile he lost his place on the map so we just followed Jon. I knew Jon could get us out. So I just follow along. CD was cute because she would look at her map and say, "we go left". She walked this year, so we were a bit slow going, but it was still a lot of fun. And it turned out to be a beautiful day! Oh, and LM slept in the Moby the whole time. Love that thing!

our little one

2010-09-15T13:40:00.000-06:00

Here is a little video of LM. I'm not that great at making videos, but hopefully you get the idea of how cute she is. She started smiling about a week and a half ago on the 3rd, but it has been really hard to catch on camera. I think she smiles more for her daddy than me. And every once in awhile she makes some cute little noises too. She sure is growing!

getting so big

2010-09-03T23:26:00.000-06:00

The older two kids aren't the only ones getting big. LM is getting big too! As I was talking to a couple of neighbors yesterday they commented on how small LM was - they all think she's small. I mentioned to them that she of course was a lot smaller than now and told them that we had taken a picture of LM by one of CD's dolls they day she came home. That got me to thinking, just how much has she grown compared to the doll? So here are a couple of pictures for comparison. LM came home from the NICU 8 weeks ago on July 9. (Just a side note, I was playing with Picasa a bit too with these photos.)

July 9, 2010 - 3 weeks old and the size of a small doll

September 3, 2010 - 11 weeks old and no longer looking like a doll!

And here's another pic just for fun because she is just so darn cute!

So close to smiling!

first day of school

2010-09-02T21:07:00.000-06:00

Both kids experienced a first day of school this week. Even though CD had been attending speech classes in the spring, she was starting out this fall at a different school with a different teacher. Her first day back was Monday, August 30. She wasn't sure if she was excited to be going or not.

She was being shy and didn't want her picture taken

Outside her school

Her new teacher, Miss Raegan, said that CD did an excellent job. About the only other thing she said was, "She is adorable!" Thankfully when I went to pick CD up, she was all smiles! Now I can say she is excited about school again!

CJ had his first day of Kindergarten today. Is he really big enough for that already?! Wow. He was so excited and ready for school though. The school he is attending is a different school than CD. He gets to go to the NEW school!

Outside his school

Finding his name on the fridge

We had attended an assessment for CJ with his teacher, Ms Chris, the week before and he was walked through the routine of what to do when he arrives to class. Today he was so anxious I had a hard time keeping up with him and taking pictures. He remembered exactly where he was suppose to go and what he was suppose to do. He has such a sharp mind and memory!

Sitting at his table

There are quite a few kids in his afternoon class that are also in our Ward. He was excited to see a couple of the boys he just already knew. I know he is going to have a great year at Kindergarten!

Between running CD to class three times a week in the mornings and CJ to class five times a week in the afternoons, LM is going to be spending a lot of time in her car seat. Poor girl! We'll find a way to make it work some how!

seven years

2010-08-23T11:27:00.000-06:00

Here is a brief overview of our lives the last 7 years presented in numbers.

1 move

2 houses

3 kids

...

4 jobs (for Jon)

....

5 months running our own business

.....

6 surgeries between Jon and I

......

7 years of marriage!

.......

just for fun

2010-08-19T22:21:00.000-06:00

CJ, 2 months old, 9 lbs 14 oz, 22.5 inches

CD, 2 months old, 8 lbs 7 oz, 20 inches

LM, 2 months old, 5 lbs 10 oz, 18 inches

my new best friend

2010-08-17T21:13:00.003-06:00

I would like to introduce you to my new best friend. She is referred to as "the Moby". Can I just say, I am in love! Because of the Moby I am able to work on the computer, prepare meals, help the kids, walk freely around the house (and anywhere else for that matter), do dishes, fold clothes, etc, etc all while holding LM and still have two hands available. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! And the best part... LM loves it and sleeps for hours!

LM has been to the park, to the fair, to church, and even for a short ride in the Model A all while in the comfort of the Moby. Love it!

fun at the county fair

2010-08-17T19:56:00.000-06:00

Last minute Friday night (around 7:30pm) we decided to take the kids to the fair. It really was my fault because Jon had recently gotten home that evening (something that doesn't happen often - getting home on Friday before the kids are in bed) and I asked him if we were going to take the kids to the fair during the weekend. I of course was meaning Saturday, but he said, "Let's go now." Okay.

So we got everyone packed up and headed to the fair for a couple of hours - something that isn't my usual routine. As soon as we got there we saw the cows and CD threw a fit. So we skipped seeing the animals and looked at the tractors instead. We also saw the princesses on the horses at the rodeo. CD was excited about that since they were all dressed in pink and we made sure she knew they were princesses - even if they weren't in frilly dresses. We then headed to the carnival rides for CJ. He loved them. That night he went through a maze thing, rode the carousel, and even went on the little roller coaster. We were very proud of him since two years ago he barely did anything.

Apparently we didn't get enough of the fair Friday night though because we returned Saturday. On Saturday we actually were able to see the animals and looked at some of the booths. And of course CJ had to use up the rest of his carnival tokens. We tried to get CD to go on some of the smaller rides, but she wouldn't have a thing to do with it. CJ went through the fun house, went on a car ride, and road the roller coaster again. We ended our day by getting snow cones and relaxing in the shade a bit. I forgot to mention, LM both days spent her time in the Moby with mom - sleeping of course. Here is a slide show of some pictures from the fair.

the joy of 3

2010-08-04T19:10:00.000-06:00

one of them always needs something at all times
or more common, all three need something at the same time
LM prefers to be held which makes it harder to help the other two
CD has discovered that whenever LM cries she gets held and attention
so that means CD is crying all the time too - fake crying of course
some one is always needing to eat which means I never get to eat
and the list could go on...

Seriously though, three just means there is that much more to love and that much more love that is received. Even though challenging, motherhood is the best!

the Animal Rescue

2010-07-28T12:55:00.000-06:00

CJ watched an episode of "Fetch: with Ruff Ruffman" on PBS Kids where they made a video of a cat being rescued by an Animal Shelter. After writing a book about it last night, CJ decided today that he really needed to make a movie himself about rescuing a cat. So here is his rendition. Enjoy!

cj's mode of transportation

2010-07-26T11:12:00.000-06:00

CJ has quite a unique way of getting around the house. He does this all the time and is quite fast at it. Anyone who sees him doing this trick are way impressed with how well he can get around.

CD also enjoys playing with the big balls, but she doesn't bounce around like CJ. Instead she rolls on her belly on them.

June 18, 2010

2010-07-21T20:59:00.000-06:00

On June 18, 2010 at 2:48pm we welcomed a new little addition to our family.

To say she was little is an understatement. She was TINY! Being born 6 weeks early she only weighed 2 pounds 14 ounces and was 15 1/2 inches. Even though our little girl (LM) arrived early and very unexpectedly, she was very strong and healthy. Her lungs were fully developed and she had no major complications. She only had to stay in the NICU for 3 weeks. She was released to come home on July 9th. Her doctor had never discharged a baby so small - weighing only 3 pounds 7.9 ounces.

What a miracle she is! And such a blessing!

some 2010 happenings

2010-07-19T13:45:00.000-06:00

Now that the year 2010 is more than half over, I thought that maybe it was time to actually post something to my blog. So here is a very limited account of some of the major happenings in our lives over the past 6 months (Jan-June).

January
~ CD started attending speech classes through the school district
~ CJ continued to attend preschool

February
~ We made the huge decision to start our own business - Parker Transport, LLC

March
~ We learned we were expecting a baby girl to arrive around July 30
~ Jon finally started driving his own truck and Parker Transport became official

April
~ CJ started his first spring season of soccer - and he loved it!

May
~ Soccer, preschool and speech all came to an end - phew!

June
~ We took the kids to a Rachel Coleman (Signing Time) concert
~ Our little baby girl arrived very unexpectedly 6 weeks early

december 2009 in pictures

2010-01-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

happy halloween

2009-11-01T21:30:00.006-07:00

Here are the few pics I got from last night. The kids were so excited to go trick-or-treating (especially CD) that it was hard to get any pictures.

I love the tail!

CD absolutely loved going door to door. She would knock right after CJ did. She also told almost everyone "love you" after telling them bye as she walked away. Silly little girl. She wasn't too happy when we told her we were done and going home.

Checking out their loot.

halloween at preschool

2009-10-29T17:21:00.003-06:00

Today CJ's preschool had a short little program where they sang some Halloween songs and other songs that they have learned. It was so much fun to see CJ with all his little friends and here him sing his songs. Of course we hear his songs all the time at home!

first day of preschool

2009-10-29T17:07:00.002-06:00

Yesterday marked a huge milestone for CD - it was her first day of preschool. She has been involved in many classes and other activities with the "Up to 3" program, but I have been by her side during all of them. Yesterday was different. This is a transition preschool for her to get used to separating and following the whole preschool routine. Two days a week for 2 hours a day, she'll be attending preschool alone.

Thankfully she has been in the classroom before for another class we go to already, so the environment wasn't all that new to her. There was a new teacher and new kids, but that didn't seem to bother her. I took her in, got her dressed up (her first day happened to be their Halloween party day), and after talking to the teacher told CD good-bye, love you and that I'd see her after snack time. She told me bye and love you and went off to play. I then walked out the door. No tears from either one of us. I then proceeded to watch her from another room (where of course she couldn't see me) through her free-time up until the first transition - clean up and circle time. She cleaned up with no problems and sat down willingly. What a relief. Hopefully the success we had on her first day will continue. I just can't believe my little girl is going to preschool by herself already! She's definitely not a baby any more!

She would not hold still for a picture at all, so that's why the pic is so blurry. Getting pics of her is so difficult lately!

birthday, birthday, birthday

2009-10-29T16:47:00.006-06:00

CJ was a very lucky boy who got to celebrate his birthday 3 times! First we celebrated in Rupert with Grandma & Grandpa Allen on Oct 24. He got to open presents and eat his "Lightening McQueen" cake Grandma bought him.

Then on our way home from our trip, we stopped at Grandma & Grandpa Parker's house Sunday evening. There CJ had cupcakes and more presents to open.

And last but not least, on his birthday (the 26th) we celebrated without presents by just having lots of fun. The first thing we did was went to lunch at McDonald's (his choice). Then we took him to the Fun Park to play. First we tried bowling. He loved it. And then we had invited his friend and her family to join us. CJ had a great time running around with his friend in the soft play area.

Overall I'd say all of his celebrations were a big hit! What a big boy our little 5 year old is! It's hard to believe that he is that old already. What joy he brings to our lives each day!

fun in the leaves

2009-10-29T16:34:00.004-06:00

We went to Grandma & Grandpa Allen's last weekend and the kids absolutely LOVED playing in the leaves in their backyard! CJ kept saying, "I've never jumped in a pile of leaves before!". What a deprived kid. I guess we need to plant a lot more trees!

birthday & surgery

2009-10-29T16:28:00.003-06:00

On October 20 Jon turned 33 years old. We celebrated that day by going to the Temple. The next day he had surgery on his left foot to have the hardware removed from last year's surgery. Surgery on the 21st went well and later that night he opened his birthday presents. Today (Oct 29) he had the wrapping removed from his foot and hopefully will be completely healed in two more weeks.

matching pjs

2009-10-29T16:15:00.002-06:00

Besides the kids just being so stinkin' cute, there is a story behind the matching pjs. While at the store we were looking for some new clothes since the kids keep on growing. CJ really needed some more warm pjs. As soon as we got near the selection, CD discovered these Mickey ones and would not stop screaming about getting Mickey. So I found some in both the kids' sizes. Minutes later I did discover girl pjs with Minnie Mouse, but they weren't good enough for her. She had to have Mickey!

jump rope

2009-10-19T22:05:00.002-06:00

The kids decided to play with a jump rope today. CJ is getting pretty good. CD is just funny to watch.

dominoes fun

2009-10-05T12:35:00.002-06:00

And quite the imagination!

Sorry I'm not that great of a video taker.

late night trip to the corn maze

2009-09-25T13:40:00.003-06:00

Last night (at 7pm), Jon decided that we should take the kids to the local corn maze at the American West Heritage Center. Since we never know when we'll all get the chance to spend family time together doing fun things such as this, I gave in and said let's go.

We really should take more advantage of living so close to the AWHC. They offer so many fun activities for the family. Before going through the corn maze last night we went on a wagon ride and a train ride - all included with the price of the maze. The kids loved crawling all over the little kids' hay maze (which Jon informs me is actually straw). We even climbed up to the top of the hay jump. I chickened out from jumping from the very top standing up, but I did jump off from a sitting position. I was the ONLY one to jump though, so that should count for something. Anyway, we eventually started the maze and of course it was completely dark by the time we got out. Good thing Jon brought flashlights along! We all really had a great time though. Next time we'll have to go when we can spend more time there.

the kids and I on the wagon ride

Jon and CJ on the train ride - the train is a brand new addition to the AWHC

at the end of the corn maze - we made it thanks to Jon leading the way!

Check out all the fun activities the American West Heritage Center has to offer families at http://www.americanwestcenter.org/.

labor day weekend

2009-09-13T15:28:00.006-06:00

This post is coming a week late, but better late than never. Labor Day weekend we went camping with my family as seems to be tradition. We had a lot of fun with lots of stories and adventures. Rather than relaying those stories, I'll just leave you with some key words and a couple of pictures: 4-wheel rides, Mexican horseshoes, guns, campfires, Mafia, moose, coyotes, and one phone call.

our new tent that I have appropriately named "the Palace"

eating lunch in Grandma's new trailer

CJ right before his first ride

CD stealing licorice from our fellow campers

the kids in their bed - this was the first time CD had camped out of a pack-n-play

preschool

2009-08-25T13:50:00.003-06:00

I have been trying to decide for quite sometime what to do about the education of my children. Because of CD's speech delay, she will be starting preschool when she turns 3 - and most likely even before that to help with transitioning. Up until now she has been involved with quite a bit speech therapy, occupational therapy, and even physical therapy (in the beginning) plus some language classes and gymnastics. For the last year we mainly have just had therapy at home. But now that her speech is coming along at an exciting rate, we have started the language classes again. Through all of this CJ has been great. He likes to participate in the home visits and comes along to the classes even though he doesn't sit through them - he plays in a back room with other siblings. Anyway, because of all the attention and special things CD gets to do, I have been feeling like CJ is being left out. He is so ready for school and won't be able to start Kindergarten until next year. Especially now that CD is starting some classes, he wants to go to class too.

So I have been contemplating whether or not to send CJ to preschool. He is such an intelligent boy I really don't think he needs it academically. But I know he could gain from the structure of it and of course the social aspect. So I have been fighting with myself, "Is it really worth paying money (a lot to me) to send my boy to preschool that he doesn't need?". I have been asking myself this for awhile. In the meantime, I hadn't done any research to even find out about preschools in the area.

Well, my visiting teacher happens to have a sister who teaches preschool right here in Nibley where we live. Tanna (my VT) mentioned this to me awhile ago and I have been thinking about it but never asked for more info or pursued it. Then Tanna came for a visit yesterday morning. Once again we started talking about preschool. She left me the name (Megan) and number of her sister with some details before she left. That afternoon I called Megan and asked about her preschool. She gave me the details, told me she still had openings in her afternoon class and that school started the next day (today). I said, "sounds good, let's do it".

So this afternoon at 12:15, I took CJ to a house I never have been to, to meet someone I had only talked to once on the phone, and left him there! That's right, I took CJ to preschool today to a complete stranger. All I really knew is that it was Tanna's sister Megan and that I trust Tanna. So he is there at this moment hopefully having the time of his life and behaving (finger's crossed). He will go on Tuesday and Thursday's from 12:30-3pm.

Last night in order to get CJ ready and excited to be starting school all the sudden, we went and bought him a backpack. While at the store we also went ahead and bought CD one too because she will most likely start school herself within the next couple of months. Here is a picture of the kids sporting their backpacks before taking CJ to preschool this afternoon.

I told the kids to say "preschool" while I took the picture. CD may look like she is clapping because she is signing the word "school" - the sign, hitting one hand on top of the other as if you are clapping.

Aren't they adorable?! I have no problem with the idea of CJ in preschool - I'm ready, he's ready. But the thought of sending my baby who isn't even 3 yet to school,... TERRIFYING!!

6 year anniversary

2009-08-25T13:36:00.003-06:00

On Sunday, August 23, 2009, Jon and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary. To both of us it seems crazy that it already has been 6 years. We have had lots happen in those six years - good times and hard times - but we have continued to grow and strengthen our relationship through what life gives us. I just hope that we can continue to grow closer together and increase our love for one another throughout the rest of our years and through eternity. We certainly are blessed!

back then...

and now

more recent happenings through pics

2009-07-22T16:35:00.002-06:00

quick update

2009-07-22T16:16:00.002-06:00

I realize it has been too long since I last blogged anything. You would think that there hasn't been anything going on. But that's not entirely true.

I guess things kind of started on June 28 when Jon's grandma, Grandma Zbinden passed away. That day before she passed we were able to see her at the hospital and tell her good-bye. It's always a sad experience when you lose a loved one, but Grandma had lived a long (she would have been 92 in August), productive, love-filled life. We will greatly miss her. Now our children have no more great-grandparents living. At least we have photos and memories.

Because of the timing of Grandma's funeral, most of Jon's family was around for the 4th of July. So between the funeral, the Cruise In (the local car show Jon likes to put his car in), and the regular 4th of July festivities, we stayed plenty busy and was able to enjoy lots of time with family. Thankfully Jon had 4 days off at that time, so it was nice to have him around for once.

After that we dealt with illness. I got a stomach bug one night and the next day Candace started getting a fever. I was afraid that she was going to go through what I did, but here's was much worse. She fought a fever for 5 days and wanted to do nothing but lay around, whimper, cry, and sleep. She barely ate anything and rarely laughed or smiled. It was scary to see her so not her - does that make sense. I had taken her to the doctor and the doctor said whatever was ailing her was viral and just had to run it's course. So we just had to watch her suffer and could really do nothing for her - I hate that helpless feeling! Thankfully she did get better though and is back to being her normal feisty self!

Right after everyone got better my Mom came to visit for a couple of days to help my brother plan his wedding. We didn't get to see her as much because of that, but we always enjoy our time with Grandma!

Since then things have pretty much returned to normal with the exception of me getting pink eye yesterday. So now we are just hanging low until I get better. Thankfully the kids have not gotten it and neither has Jon.

what was I thinking?!

2009-06-15T13:38:00.005-06:00

This last Friday Jon had the day off of work. I had intended to do some grocery shopping that morning, so I invited Jon to come along for some family time. That was a mistake. My planned 2 hour , 2 store shopping trip turned into a 4 hour, 4 store and a trampoline shopping trip. That's right, we went out for groceries and came back with groceries and a trampoline! That's what I get for inviting Jon! ;0)

Jon didn't get it set up until late Friday night, so the first chance CJ had to jump was Saturday. And because of the rainy weather, both kids didn't get on together until Sunday afternoon (when these pics were taken). Really having a trampoline isn't a bad idea. It will help CJ be more confident and daring (the daring part I could do without, but he is a boy after all). And it will help CD with her balance and sensory needs. And besides, who doesn't enjoy jumping on a trampoline every once in awhile!

hair twirling trauma

2009-06-06T15:49:00.003-06:00

Our little princess has an unfortunate, bad habit - hair twirling. This is something she does when she is tired. It used to be cute. Now it is a problem. She twirls and twirls and twirls until she has made a knot. Two times this last week she had twirled enough that the knots had to be removed with scissors. So today we had to go get her another haircut. The new shorter look is very cute on her. I'm just afraid it still isn't going to be short enough to keep her from twirling and knotting her hair. She just might always have to sport short hair now. Only time will tell. So here is a before picture. The mess in the front is a knot.

And here is the new look. Lately it has been difficult to take a decent picture of her too. As soon as she sees the camera she charges it saying "cheese". So every picture of her is very up close and personal, and usually not the cutest. This angle shows just how short it is anyway.

Daddy hasn't seen the new look yet. Hopefully he won't be too upset! We really didn't have much of a choice though.

talent show

2009-05-29T21:06:00.003-06:00

Our ward's primary had a Talent Show tonight. As soon as we learned about it, we asked CJ if he wanted to sing. Of course he said yes - that boy LOVES to sing! But I told him he had to sing an actual song. If I would have let him, he would have just made a song up on the spot and kept singing to his hearts content. So anyway, we decided to pick the "Silly Pizza Song" from Signing Time. He loves singing any Signing Time songs and memorizes them quite well.

I am quite proud to say that Carter did AWESOME at the Talent Show! I wondered if he would sing once he was in front of a big group - and there were a lot of people there! He did really well though. He paused now and then when he would forget what was next, but then he would keep on going (it's kind of a long song). And every time he did pause, the audience would start clapping. He would just continue singing and everyone would laugh. Quite entertaining. Early today when I had him practice a couple of times he sang tnrough the song with no problems. But I guess an audience is bound to make anyone nervous!

Before we left for the talent show I made sure that I charged my camera's battery so that I could take a video of him singing - after all, his dad wasn't able to make it. But silly me didn't even think about the memory. So when I started recording (already a little bit into the song) I only got about 30 seconds before the camera's memory was full. I felt horrible! But here is the bit that I did get. (Sorry mom, I tried!)

CJ was a little disappointed that the video wasn't of the whole song, so before he went to bed we decided to record him again at home. Here is that video - of the whole song this time. He wanted a stage so I had him stand on the couch. And the paper towel is his microphone. Cute kid!

crazy kids

2009-05-19T19:45:00.005-06:00

I absolutely LOVE the sound of my kids playing together and getting along - even if they are a bit destructive while doing so! ;0)

2 minutes of craziness that actually lasted more like 10

And just for kicks, here is a conversation that happened between CJ and I yesterday.

Me: "Take your shoes off and wipe your BARE feet on the towel."
CJ: "I don't have BEAR feet!"
Me: "You don't? What kind do you have then?"
CJ: "I just have PEOPLE feet!"

Silly me, what was I thinking.

a little family update

2009-05-13T14:24:00.002-06:00

Okay, so it feels like it has been awhile since I have blogged lately. So I have decided to give a quick update and include some pictures that I have recently taken of the kids.

First of all, the kids are loving the spring weather and playing outside! If I'd let her, CD would spend all day every day outside. But as it is, she doesn't get to spend very long out there since she takes off running away as soon as she is released. Not a good habit. But to her it is a game. CJ loves playing outside as well and hates being able to see the kids playing at the park by themselves. You see, I'm the kind of mom that won't let CJ play by himself yet. Everyday he asks if he can play at the park by himself with the other kids. When I tell him no, he says, "but you'll know where I am." That is true, but if I can't see him, I'm not comfortable. I think I'm going to have to try extra hard to find some little friends for him to play with on a regular basis this summer.

For me things are about the same - playing mom, wife, housekeeper, gardener, blah, blah, blah. Does it ever end? My biggest challenge lately is the yard work. There is just SO MUCH that needs done! And I don't particularly enjoy yard work, so that makes it that much more difficult to motivate me to do it. But since I am desperate to have a beautiful flower garden in the front yard and a little garden for CJ to watch grow in the back yard, I better just do it!

Jon has been B-U-S-Y! He has been working almost 80 hours a week. Insane. Not fun. Tiring. Hard on him and the rest of us. Etc. Etc. Need I go on? So we are desperately trying to find him a new job. One with less hours, better pay (he doesn't get overtime at this job), and benefits. He is such a hard, honest worker, that he deserves better.

So we have been trying very hard to remain happy, optimistic, and have lots of faith and patience. Most days that's easier said than done. But we try to do our best!

random pics

2009-04-23T20:58:00.004-06:00

"I'm just a good kite flyer." - CJ

No more candy for you before dinner!

absolutely beautiful music

2009-04-18T09:52:00.002-06:00

Get ready to be AMAZED and UPLIFTED by some good ENTERTAINMENT and MUSIC!!
Jon Schmidt is AWESOME! And who doesn't love piano and cello?!

need for inspiration

2009-04-17T13:01:00.005-06:00

Lately I have felt that I could use a constant reminder of some uplifting, positive messages or quotes. I began feeling this way Conference weekend when I heard our Prophet give an excellent quote that I did not want to forget:

"Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

I soon realized that what I needed was inspirational quotes around my house so that I could have a daily reminder that life is good and will always be good as long as I keep the Savior in my life. So I have come up with a way to do just that. I have created the following 12x12 page using Heritage Makers that I will cut into 6x6 squares. Then I plan on displaying my quotes throughout my house on little picture easels. I can't wait to have these wonderful messages around my house to be my gentle reminder... "The best is yet to be!"

If anyone is interested in having these quotes around their house (or others of their choosing), I would be more than happy to make your own inspirational quotes. A 12x12 page (4 6x6 quotes) is only $3.95! Just let me know how I can help brighten your house with faith and encouraging words!

Easter weekend recap

2009-04-13T12:58:00.007-06:00

Here are some pics from our Easter weekend. Saturday morning the kids participated in the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt at the park. CJ loved it - his basket was quite full. CD just screamed and cried the whole time and would not hold her basket or pick anything up. We're not too sure what was her problem.

Saturday evening we actually drove to Heber City to enjoy an evening with some of Jon's friends from high school whom he hadn't seen in many years. It was a very enjoyable evening filled with yummy bbq, dyeing eggs for the kids, and karaoke for everyone. The worst part was leaving at 9pm and still having a 2 hour drive home with the kids. Thankfully they slept in the car and went right back to sleep when we put them in bed after getting home.

Sunday morning came too fast. We went to church in the morning, hung out at home, and then enjoyed Easter dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Parker's house. Oh, and the Easter bunny finally showed up at our house around 3:30pm. Maybe next year we'll ask him to come on Saturday instead. It was a good Easter.

tubes

2009-04-03T10:30:00.002-06:00

Early this morning at 6am, CD and I made a trip to the hospital for a scheduled surgery - tubes for CD's ears. The surgery went very well - I even got to watch it on a TV screen in a waiting room. It was quite interesting. When CD woke up from her anesthesia, she was not a happy camper. She cried for a good 15-20 minutes. Part of it was being tired from waking up so early. But by the time she got home she was back to normal, happy CD. She didn't even go down for a nap first thing.

CJ was quite cute. We explained to him the night before that CD was going to the hospital in the morning to get her ears fixed so she could hear better and learn to talk better. We had to explain this to him because he was going to wake up to mom being gone and Grandma Allen being there instead. Anyway, he was quite excited that CD was going to learn to talk. He's been trying to help her learn to talk everyday at lunch by playing the game "Candace say...". As soon as I walked in the door with CD, CJ got all excited and said, "I want to hear her talk!" Apparently he was thinking that she would be able to talk as soon as she got back. Not quite so. But we are hoping that with having all the fluid out of her ears that she will pick up on her speech quicker than what she has.

1, 2, 3, ... 100!

2009-03-31T11:35:00.003-06:00

CJ lately has been obsessed with counting. Which is not a bad thing at all. He counts anything and everything he can. Recently he has learned to count to 100, with a little help from me. This morning he decided to count to 100 by counting objects and placing them along the floor. In the first picture he claimed to have gotten to 100. Don't try counting the objects though, because I know he messed up a couple of times, and you actually can't see the beginning in this picture.

After counting to 100 he decided he wanted to count further on than that. So I taught him what comes after 100 - 101. This next picture is of his additional objects added to the first 100. I think he counted up to around 150. He really wanted to count to 1000, but I convinced him that would be a little too difficult. CJ is our counting fool! Way to go smarty pants!

what was I thinking?

2009-03-23T20:11:00.006-06:00

So today I created what we are calling a "bean box" for the kids. The idea of it is to give CD more sensory input and stimulation by burying things in the beans and having her dig through them to get them out. Of course that is not how the kids play with it. It's more like "let's see how big of a mess we can make". And I knew CJ would like to scoop the beans, so we bought special scoops just for our box. Here are some pictures of kids' first time adventures with the "bean box". After playing with it this morning, that's about all CJ wanted to do today. Definitely a hit with the little ones, but a pain for the mom who has to clean the mess up.

first haircut

2009-03-10T12:20:00.006-06:00

This morning Jon and CJ went to get their haircuts. The whole family went because I was hoping that we could possibly get CD's hair cut at least just in the front - some bangs or something. As you can see from the picture below, her hair was definitely in her eyes.

But as we were talking to Heather (who cuts our hair), we decided that CD may as well get a whole haircut. So today CD got her first haircut! How exciting! She did so good too. She just sat there on my lap and didn't make a sound. Hardly anything got cut. Just enough to clean it up and make it look good.

And here she is with her haircut complete. So cute! And now she can see better without hair in her eyes! Oh, she even sat through getting her hair curled a bit with a straightener. Now how's that for a first time haircut!

energy

2009-03-08T21:33:00.004-06:00

Wow. What would it be like to have this kind of energy? The video is short, but they did this for quite some time before and after the video was shot. What silly kids!

Maybe just 15 minutes later they ended up running circles around a chair in the other room. For those of you who wouldn't know (or recognize), this happened at Grandma & Grandpa Parker's house after our Sunday dinner today.

trouble maker

2009-03-06T16:54:00.004-07:00

When things get quiet and you don't see CD anywhere around, you know there is trouble brewing. That is what happened today. I realized the house was a little too quiet and when I looked around CD was no where to be seen. I asked CJ to help me find her - there really aren't too many places she can go in our little house. The little culprit was discovered in my bedroom emptying a brand new opened box of tissues. I went to grab the camera and she fled the scene of destruction. Here is what she got away with.

More than half of the box was emptied. I tried to get her to go back to the room so I could get her picture with the mess, but she would not go near the room. She obviously knew she did something she shouldn't have. And yes, I picked up each tissue, folded it, and placed them back in the box!

a little creativity

2009-02-28T13:06:00.004-07:00

This morning I was invited by a neighbor to attend a bow making party at her house. I wasn't sure about going because CD really doesn't have that much hair - long or thick. So bows don't quite work. But I went anyway (her hair will eventually grow, right?) and learned how to make some really cute bows! Here are my creations. It was a lot of fun. Everyone loved it, so hopefully we'll be doing it again!

foot update

2009-02-18T22:27:00.002-07:00

I decided that maybe some of you would appreciate hearing an update on Jon's foot. So here it goes...

Jon had an appointment with Dr. Rocco yesterday in Ogden and he received some great news: his foot is now strong enough to resume normal daily activities! Yeah, he's back! That's right, Jon can now walk on his foot full-weight bearing without causing any damage. He is however still in pain if he's on his foot too much. So even though he is cleared to be on his foot at all times, he's still trying to take it a little easy to help with the pain. Hopefully that will slowly diminish over time.

The other great news that Jon got is that he will be officially released to work on March 2nd. So that means it's time to start job searching again. We knew this day was coming soon, so we have already done some looking. No luck so far, but we are keeping the faith that a job will come along that will be perfect for us. We'll keep you informed of what comes along when it does.

Thank you to all of those who have been supporting and helping us in different ways for the last two months. We appreciate you all!

big cute fun

2009-02-11T22:17:00.005-07:00

I am a HERITAGE MAKER!

2009-02-08T14:40:00.005-07:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity and privilege of not only spending the day with my best friend, but also of attending an amazing, uplifting, and motivating conference with Heritage Makers. They are such an awesome company with so many great and successful leaders. Once you meet another Heritage Maker, you have met a friend. And after such an experience I am proud to declare...

I am a HERITAGE MAKER!!

What is Heritage Makers?
Heritage Makers is an online publishing system that allows me to preserve my family’s photos and memories in beautiful hard-bound storybooks and other products. I can either create and design my own or use many pre-designed templates. Creating these books and projects allows me to strengthen and enrich my home and family.

Why did I join Heritage Makers?
I became a Personal Publishing Consultant for Heritage Makers because I wanted to share with others the opportunity of being able to preserve their stories and photos in beautiful books. I felt very strongly about their mission then, and I still do now - “to strengthen and enrich home and family through the power of story”. And thankfully over the last three years I have been able to see this happen in many cases. Just imagine how rewarding it can be for a young child to see and read a book that is all about them!

I have absolutely loved being a part of Heritage Makers for the last 3 years and plan on being a Heritage Maker for life!

weekend of learning

2009-02-01T20:45:00.002-07:00

So we spent this weekend in Rupert with Grandma & Grandpa Allen. Of course we did not take any pictures - the camera was there, but we never got it out. So sorry no pictures. We do that almost every time! But there were some things that are worth writing about. Some of use learned some things this weekend.

CJ learned about no-where: On the way to Rupert (while we were in the middle of no-where, which is quite common on the drive) he asked what town we were in. I responded with "no-where". So CJ kept asking, "are we still in no-where?". So apparently he believes that no-where is a town that we go through to get to Grandma's.

Mom learned how to sew on patches by hand: Now that I am a cub scout leader, I decided to become official by purchasing a uniform. So this weekend my mom taught me how to sew patches on it. Fun.

CD learned the most over the weekend: She learned some new words, and signs. Her new word (or an approximation of it) is Chewy - my mom's dogs name. She loved looking for him and saying "chew!". She also learned to say hat. While in the car on the way there I quizzed her on signs - we have been watching a lot of Signing Time and Baby Signing Time. She loves watching them and always sits very still and focused when they are on. She has never done the signs along with it, but I asked her "how do you sign..." while we were driving and she really surprised me. She showed me the signs for bear, hat, yes, bird, please, thank you, hurt, banana, dog, more, milk, drink, and others. Now we just have to hope that she starts using them spontaneously! Go CD!

just for you, mom

2009-01-25T20:49:00.007-07:00

These are some picture and videos of the kids taken today. Just for you mom since you have been missing your grandchildren so much.

Mom, here is a story from CJ just for you...

It's only fair to include CD as well...

puzzle time

2009-01-25T20:21:00.006-07:00

Here is how some of our time has been spent while Jon recovers. Too bad each puzzle only took us 2 days each.

This smiley face puzzle is suppose to be a "world's most difficult puzzle" - double sided, same image on each side, flipped 90 degrees. It must not be too difficult though, because we finished in just 2 days.

quick update

2009-01-20T20:24:00.005-07:00

So I have been slacking this year - in more ways than one. So I decided that it was about time to post something again and give a little update on the fam.

A lot and nothing has all been happening since the holidays. One thing that has been very prevalent in our lives this last month is sickness. We just can't seem to get the colds to leave. Once one person gets better the next gets sick. And then it just keeps cycling through. CD has had it the worst, and she just got sick again last night - just when I thought she was over it. Poor girl.

The other thing that seems to be happening a lot around here is a lot of wii playing. With Jon still recovering from surgery and having to stay off of his foot, playing games on the wii is his number one form of entertainment. The kids love watching him play and CJ loves to play with him. Our favorite game is Mario Kart. I don't have any good recent pictures of the kids, so here are a couple of pics of the kids doing what they do the best - or the most... playing and watching wii.

One last thing to report... Jon had another follow-up appointment today with the foot doctor. Some good news from it - he can start putting weight on it. By the end of the week the doctor is hoping that Jon will be walking on his foot still using the crutches. We'll see if that happens or not. But one thing is for sure... we're on the uphill side of recovery! Yeah!

Christmas moments

2008-12-26T09:11:00.007-07:00

We had a very enjoyable Christmas this year with lots of celebrating. We actually started by celebrating an early Christmas with the Allen's on Sunday, December 21. Grandma & Grandpa Allen were here along with Uncle Clint and Hilary. After church we enjoyed a Christmas dinner and then presents. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

On December 23, Jon got a great Christmas gift - he got his splint/cast off of his foot. Now he just has to keep his foot in a boot for at least 6 more weeks. That means, at LEAST six more weeks of not walking on it. The doctor said it may be longer. This will definitely be a long, long winter for us!

In order to help Jon with his being bored and being stuck on the couch, Grandma & Grandpa Parker gave him his Christmas gift early - a Wii. He has enjoyed playing it quite a bit and helps keep him entertained. We also got our Christmas gift early from Grandma & Grandpa Allen. They got us a new dining table and chairs! We were quite surprised! But Grandma & Grandpa Allen know better than any one how crowded we were around our little round table. Our new table can easily fit 8 - 10 when the leaf is used! Awesome! Sorry, I don't have a good picture yet.

On Christmas Eve we went to Parker's. The Parker family has always had the tradition of Santa Clause visiting the house. CJ was quite excited to sit on Santa's lap. When Santa asked him what Santa was going to bring him, CJ looked around at everyone with questioning eyes. Obviously he didn't know what Santa was bringing him since he hadn't got anything yet. CD hated Santa Clause. She screamed when mom carried her up by him and then she screamed when mom went to sit on his lap too. Poor girl. Maybe next year she'll like him better. This was her first year seeing him after all.

Christmas morning CJ was so excited to see Santa had left him. He was pretty disappointed that mom and dad made him wait until CD woke up before going to look under the tree. Both kids enjoyed their gifts though. CJ got lots of new farm toys. His favorite was the big green combine. CD got lots of "little people" toys.

After we were done with presents at our house we went to Grandma & Grandpa Parker's house for traditional German pancakes and more presents. We all felt quite spoiled this Christmas with all the wonderful presents we received. Later on Christmas day Grandma & Grandpa Parker and Carrie came over to play the Wii. We had a great time watching Grandma & Grandpa box each other. They didn't stay as long as we would have liked because they had to leave before the blizzard stopped them from getting home.

Well, that was our Christmas in a nutshell. We loved it and felt very blessed and lucky! Thanks to everyone who helped make our Christmas a wonderful one!

our Christmas letter

2008-12-22T21:29:00.005-07:00

For those of you who didn't get one, here is our Christmas letter for the year...

Dear Family & Friends,

This year has been a great year for our family with many changes and accomplishments too.

CD has come a long way throughout the year by first learning to crawl in February and then walking in September. After she started walking she started taking gymnastics once a week to help build her strength and balance. CD is still receiving language help with the "Up to 3" program. She has a few words and signs and shows great interest in trying to communicate more and more. Overall CD is a very happy girl who can make anyone smile!

CJ has grown so much through the year. He definitely has turned into a little boy rather than a toddler. He loves to talk, tell stories, and loves to ask questions. He not only asks one word questions - why, what, where, how - he makes his questions very detailed which proves to us he knows and understands more than sometimes we want him to. CJ is very fun, imaginative, and always keeps us entertained and on our toes!

Not only have things changed for our kids this year, but Jon and I have gone through some changes too. For instance, I started babysitting in the afternoons for a friend starting in September. It works out great because it allows me to continue to stay at home with my kids (which I love) and still be able to help provide for the family too. I also have continued working with Heritage Makers and love to create books for my own family and help others make their own storybooks.
Jon perhaps has gone through the most changes this year. And they all have happened in 3 months of time. In October (on his birthday unfortunately) Jon was laid off at work with Nuera Transport. It was something that we expected to happen eventually, but we still were not prepared for it. After looking for a new job for a week, we decided that maybe now would be a good time to get Jon's foot fixed for good while he was unemployed. It took some time to get things worked out with Worker's Comp and everything, but he finally was approved and scheduled for surgery on Dec 8. Surgery went great and now we just have to wait for 6 weeks until he can fully walk on it. After then, he'll be job searching again.

We also have celebrated this year as a family too. First their was our 5th Wedding Anniversary in August, CJ's 4th Birthday in October, and we were able to go on our first family vacation since CD was born. We were fortunate enough to go to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving and spend the holiday with our friends. And of course we just celebrated CD's 2nd birthday on the 20th.

We have many reasons to be happy and grateful this holiday season. We hope everyone is able to feel the Spirit of Christmas in their homes and have a safe,

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

happy birthday

2008-12-20T21:23:00.006-07:00

Today our little CD turned 2! Okay, she actually won't turn 2 until 11:56pm. But we celebrated anyway! Grandma & Grandpa Allen as well as Uncle Clint joined in the celebration. The night started with pizza for dinner and then presents and cake and ice cream. Here are some pictures of CD's favorite presents...

a new baby from Uncle Clint...

a fun jack in the box

a beginner band set which included 5 instruments

CD's all time favorite turned out to be the jack in the box. She kept going to it and had a hard time showing interest in anything else. She also got 2 beautiful church dresses (one from Grandma & Grandpa Parker) and a cute outfit and 2 my little ponies from Grandma & Grandpa Allen.

After presents we dug into CD's cupcakes. CD enjoyed eating her own little cake. However she mainly just ate the frosting. Look at that face! I think she made a bigger mess this year, than last year!

Overall, CD had a really great birthday. We just can't believe our baby is 2 years old already! Where does time go?

Too end your night, CJ would like to share a song with you. A little harmonica came in CD's band set, and CJ was quite quick at claiming it as his own. But when he has such natural talent and ability with it, why not? You listen to his song and see if you think he could go pro. Enjoy!

wendy's

2008-12-16T13:19:00.002-07:00

Apparently we eat out too much. The reason I say this is because CJ thinks that each time we go to WalMart as a family (or at least to the north end of Logan) we also have to go eat - and I'll admit that a lot of times we do eat on Saturdays. He also knows many names of places to eat. His favorite by far is Wendy's. Not just any Wendy's though. As he would say, "The Wendy's by Sams Club with stairs". Now not only does CJ think we always have to go out to eat, so does CD. Yesterday on our way to WalMart as we passed by Wendy's, CD started saying, "ee, ee" - which is her word for eat. I wasn't sure if she really meant it until she also started signing eat too. So yes, we obviously DO eat out too much!

back home

2008-12-09T16:27:00.004-07:00

That's right, we are all home now. Jon and I arrived back home from the hospital around 2:30pm. And Sharon brought the kids back around 4pm. CJ and CD were able to stay the night at Grandma & Grandpa Parker's house. CJ was so excited to have a sleepover! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for helping out!

Now that Jon is home, he is able to rest a bit better. He had a horrible night last night - he was just in so much pain. But this morning we finally were able to get his pain to a level he could tolerate and the doctor released us to go home this afternoon. His foot will be in a splint for 2 weeks until he sees the doctor again. Can't you just feel his pain?!

a day at the hospital

2008-12-08T15:45:00.001-07:00

Background - for those of you who don’t know or those who have forgotten:

On May 5, 2005 Jon was injured in a farming accident when a farming implement landed on his foot crushing the arch of this left foot. He had surgery that month to reconstruct the arch. Since then his foot has given him increasing pain and problems. We finally requested a second opinion about options available to help with the pain when his local doctor couldn’t give us any answers or help. We went to see Dr. Rocco, an orthopaedic specialist, who practices at McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden. He showed confidence that a foot fusion would help with much of Jon’s pain. Dr. Rocco showed enough confidence in his decision and knowledge of the procedure that we knew he would be able to help Jon.

And that is why we are spending the day at the hospital. Jon was taken into surgery at 11:40am this morning. The doctor was planning on fusing the mid joints in his foot together and reconstructing the arch in his foot which was collapsing and deforming. Jon was in surgery for just under 2 hours. When we talked to the doctor after surgery he said everything went very well and seemed happy with what was done. I was finally able to see Jon after surgery just before 3pm. He is doing very well. Jon’s dad, Brent, came to see how Jon was doing and commented on how big Jon’s foot is. He jokingly suggested that we’re going to have to buy a special shoe for him. Jon’s foot is in a splint, and yes, it does look really big.

We will be staying overnight here at the hospital and Jon will be released sometime tomorrow morning. His foot will be in a splint for 2 weeks and then in a boot for 4 more. Recovery will take at least 6 weeks before he’ll be able to completely walk on it. Things are looking good, and we’ll definitely keep everyone posted. Thanks to everyone for all their love and support!

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!..."

2008-12-03T19:52:00.007-07:00

So we finally got our Christmas tree up and decorated yesterday. We decided not to use all of our ornaments and make it a little more kid friendly. I don't think we'll have too many problems with kids taking things off of the tree since we have a train track that goes around it that kind of hinders at getting to the tree. CJ insisted that we have a train track around our tree since Grandma Parker has one around hers. We'll see whether or not CJ can last that long without his GeoTrax in his room though. Lately it has been hard to get pictures of CD because she is always anxious to see the picture on the camera and starts walking towards it before the picture is taken. That is why I finally had to put the kids on the chair to take their picture. Sorry you can't see the tree better, but I figured it is more fun to see the kids anyway. One last thing, the paper chain on our tree is our countdown 'til Christmas. Happy Holidays everyone!

our Thanksgiving vacation

2008-12-01T15:42:00.010-07:00

CJ, why don't you start us out by telling everyone where we went for our Thanksgiving family vacation.

That's right, we went to Vegas for Thanksgiving! Our trip to Vegas was Jon's birthday present from his parents and a chance to have some fun before life gets crazy with Jon's surgery coming up.

Our friends Rochelle and Travis invited us to Vegas for Thanksgiving because we had been trying for 2 years to visit. Everything worked out, and we went. We drove all day Wednesday leaving at 6:30am and arriving at 2:30pm in Vegas - not as bad as we expected. We stayed at Ro and Travis's house, so that was nice and relaxing. We enjoyed a very delicious Thanksgiving meal with our friends on Thursday and then decided that we would have enough time to see a bit of Vegas that night. So Ro took us to the Strip as our tour guide and gave us some tips for traveling (like how to deal with all the crazy drivers) and told us what was worth seeing. That night all we did was drive down the Strip and watch the Bellagio fountains - a must see in Vegas.

at the Bellagio Gardens (inside) and of course the famous fountain show (outside)

On Friday we decided to spend the day on the Strip - just our little family. We don't have pictures of everything, but here is what we saw: MGM Grand and the Lions inside (pretty lame, you're better off going to a zoo), M&M World, lunch at the most expensive Wendy's we've ever been to at the Food Court, and then we walked through New York, New York and over to Excalibur.

M&M World

After seeing the Castle (Excalibur) we decided we needed to give CD a break and do some driving so she could sleep. She prepared herself for a nap by walking from the Excalibur Hotel back to our van at the MGM Grand Hotel. That's a pretty long walk for a little girl who isn't quite 2. But anytime I tried picking her up she would fight me until I about dropped her. So she walked. And then she slept. In order to give CD a little nap, we drove by the Luxor (the big pyramid) and down the Strip towards Caesar's Palace.

CD's walk

At Caesar's Palace we walked around the Forum Shops and loved looking at the ceiling that looked like you were outside and seeing all the intricate work and statues. The one store we went in was the toy store - the kids loved it! Of course we didn't buy anything though - too pricey. While at Caesar's CJ discovered his favorite thing about our vacation. Can you guess what it is? The moving stairs! Up to this point we were always taking the elevator because of the stroller. Well, CJ had seen the moving stairs and really wanted to try them out. So we finally did while in Caesar's. If you were to ask CJ what his favorite part of Vegas was he would say, "the moving stairs!". Good to know that next time we want to entertain the kids we just need to go to a mall big enough to have escalators!

CJ on his favorite thing - the escalators!

After Caesar's Palace we decided the kids were done for the day. So we stopped at In-n-Out for dinner on the way back to Ro's place (a half an hour away) because Jon said we had to eat there. By the way, that's the cheapest place to buy dinner just in case you didn't know. Anyway, we got back to the house, put the kids in bed, and then Jon and I decided to go back out for some more fun! Thanks to Ro and Travis, we were able to do this. Night time on the Strip is quite a bit different than day - and not just because of the lights. Vegas is apparently always busy, but night is worse. We left Ro's house at 8:30pm to head to the Strip (once again, a half an hour away). We got to the Strip a little after 9pm and decided to visit the Luxor first. Well, by the time we found the parking for the Luxor and drove around to find a parking spot, it was already after 9:30pm. So we gave up on the Luxor and decided to drive down to the Mirage - which took us until 10pm to get there! Yes, things are definitely crazier at night! And don't get us started on the taxi drivers!

Anyway, we finally got out of the van at 10pm to start our night life on the Strip. Funny thing, we thought we parked at the Mirage, but when we walked inside the hotel, we found ourselves in TI (Treasure Island). So since we were there we decided to go see the ships and found ourselves in a huge mess of people who were trying to watch the show. We bagged the idea of watching the show (which we heard isn't really worth watching anymore) and went across the street to the Venetian. There we decided to take the outside Gondola ride. The weather was beautiful, our guide had a beautiful singing voice, and it was very enjoyable. We then walked inside around the shops and saw the inside Gondola ride.

The last thing we had to do before calling it a night was try the slot machines. Yes, I gambled. I was in Vegas, I had to. We had a hard time finding a machine that took actual quarters and had a pull down lever, but we found one and wasted a couple of dollars. I did win $5, but then of course I blew it. Gambling really is a horrible thing - very addicting like they say. And most people who sit at the slot machines do not look at all happy. Kind of sad. The other sad thing was seeing how many people had their children out with them that late at night. We couldn't believe how many unfortunate kids we saw out with their parents at midnight in Vegas. Sorry there were no pictures of our night out on the town.

After experiencing a day of the Vegas everyone knows about, Ro decided that we needed to see and know that there was more to Vegas than just the Strip. So her and Travis took us to Lake Las Vegas on Saturday. It is a very beautiful, very peaceful resort and hotel. We had a lot of fun just walking around and enjoying the beauty and quietness of our surroundings - such a difference from the day before.

CD, CJ, Jeana, Rochelle, and baby L at Lake Las Vegas

After that and lunch we decided to continue on to Hoover Dam since it was only 20 miles away. Only our family went and it was quite an adventure. At 7 miles away we ran into bumper to bumper traffic. That meant 7 miles of 5 to 10 mph driving. It took forever! We didn't know until we returned from the dam why the traffic was so bad. Apparently crossing the Hoover Dam is the only way to get from Nevada to Arizona. So the traffic wasn't only from people visiting the dam, but also people going to Arizona. And that is why they are building a bridge over the canyon. It is going to be huge - if they ever get it done!

at Hoover Dam

After visiting the dam we returned to the house and just hung out and got to visit a bit for our last night. Sunday morning we had to climb back into the van and start the long drive back to Utah. Thankfully even though the drive was an hour longer (time change) we made it with no real problems. Would you believe the kids didn't sleep at all during either trip? Okay, CD slept a half an hour there and back, but that was it! Crazy!

Anyway, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Parker we had an excellent Thanksgiving Vacation! And thanks to Ro & Travis for letting us crash your house! We loved it!

garbage girl

2008-11-06T15:26:00.002-07:00

So CD lately has been obsessed with the garbage. She recently learned what the garbage was and began putting stuff in our kitchen garbage can. That garbage can happens to be in our laundry room off of the kitchen - purposely hidden to keep kids out of it. Anyway, CD learned how to open the door if it was already slightly open, put garbage (or anything else she may have picked up) in the can, and then leave the room and shut the door. Because she always shuts the door behind her I was able to tell when something might have been put in the garbage that didn't need to be. Well, besides the kitchen garbage she has caught on to the bedroom garbage's as well. Besides putting stuff in, she has started taking things out too. Yesterday we discovered that one of CJ's trains was missing. We searched the whole house until Jon thought to look one of the bedroom garbage's. That's where he found it, clear at the bottom. Thanks CD. So now we need to find a way to elevate or hide all of our garbage cans before CD puts something in there we don't catch and we lose it forever. Silly obsessed girl.

happy halloween

2008-11-01T11:35:00.009-06:00

On Halloween Eve we finally decided to carve the one pumpkin that we had (which was graciously given to us by our neighbor). I wanted the kids to help clean it out. Here is a little video of them helping. Sorry it is sideways. I keep forgetting I can't turn the camera when I do videos. CD loved it though. She is always so willing to try almost anything. CJ tried to take the seeds out one by one with his spoon. I did convince him to put his hand in there once. Anyway, they had fun for a couple of minutes until dad took over.

On Halloween we had plans to go trick-or-treating on Main Street in the morning. But since mom and CJ felt horrible with colds, we skipped out. CJ was so excited to dress up and go trick-or-treating that we did go out at night even though he was sick. CJ loved going door to door and knocking on the doors. CD seemed to be more fascinated with the pumpkins on every porch. Maybe that was because she was dressed as one. Who knows. When the door would open, she would try to go inside everytime. Another cute thing CJ did was that he would not let the people put the candy in his bucket. He always had to do it himself.

We had a difficult time putting on CD's costume. But she soon got used to it and didn't mind. We could not get her to stay still for a good picture though. She kept wanting to run off, so I had to hold her in place long enough to get a picture taken. CJ on the other hand put his costume on all by himself. The weather was wonderful and everyone had a good time trick-or-treating.

We hope everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!