Santa 101

Note to self: unless child asks to go see Santa don't even bother

I have been prepping Jake to go see Santa. Every time I ask he would get all excited and say " YAAAAH".

So on Christmas eve day I was feeling guilty for not taking Jake to see Santa. He is almost 4 and really seems to understand this year.

So I take my boys to the mall and the line to see Santa isn't to terribly long. But Jake has to pee, so by time we got back Santa was gone for lunch. So I take my kids to get something to eat and then we go get back in the LONG LONG LINE to see Santa. We waited in line for about 45 minutes and not one child cried. The entire time Jake was off by himself looking at the gumball machines or the display of stickers. Then he would comeback to me and then wander off. The closer we got to Santa the farther back Jake would stay. When there was 2 people ahead of me Jake wouldn't come by me and then I realized that he was scared. OH and did I mention Aiden is crying to:) So I run and grab Jake and he is in full out Freak out PANIC mode. So he escapes my arms and it is now our turn to see Santa. Aiden is screaming because he knows whats next and I am thinking "ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I waited all this time someone is going to sit on Santa's lap and its not going to be me.

By the way Jake is still screaming in the back by the gumball machines and so Santa's elf went to grab him and I am sure everyone in the long line is just starring at my panicking children. I put Aiden on his lap, he turned into a wet noodle with arms stretched out and tears rolling down his cheek. Sorry no pictures this year. I didn't want to spend $18 on a terrible picture. Jake never made it within 10 feet of Santa. On the way home I was frustrated and said. I thought you wanted to see Santa. Here is his reply "NO RARRRRRR"

Christmas Stocking

For Jakes first Christmas I bought three Christmas stockings for our family. After we had Aiden I have looked and looked for a stocking for him that was the same size, colors etc. I couldn't find anything and so last year poor Aiden had to go without a stocking. So this year I decided to make one because I really wanted it to be the same style as the others. I am really please with how it turned out.

Deck

I am so excited that Jake is finally starting to really show improvement on his speech development. I noticed the improvement about three weeks ago which is when I started to watch a new boy in my daycare. So I really don't know if it is his preschool or the boy at my house that is contributing to motivate him. He has also starting doing a weird thing like when he says the word "what" he says "what t t t t".

Matt has been working like MAD on his deck. I keep telling him to just wait until spring but he really wants to get it done. You can see that it snowed this Saturday and he made him self a shelter from the snow. I think he is doing an amazing job.

Mouse in the House

So yesterday night Matt came into the kitchen and saw a mouse run across the stove. I know YIKES!!!! We set out all our mouse traps and hoped that we would catch the little varmit. Latter that night we were in bed and Matt got up to get me a glass of water he saw the mouse on the COUNTER!!!! All I heard was stomping and wrestling and a loud thud. Note: you animal lovers might not want to read this. Matt said that he chased it across the stove then to the end of the sink where all my clean dishes were and then it dashed back to the stove from where he came out of. Just as he was crawling into the back of the stove Matt grabbed his back and threw him against the wall. Who needs mouse traps when you have a husband!

New Words

Jake learned TWO new words the other day. Which is huge for him because I can't remember the last new word he said. And to have him say 2 on a single day just made my day. He said TWO and CUTE ( or toot) is how he says it. Jake is loving preschool, and I think it is helping a little. Jake is also teaching all my daycare kid" word that he made up like "hey D", and "no day." They repeat it exactly like he says it and think it is so funny, and I don't know what they means and I am sure they don't either.

Aiden has picked up a few of the things that Jake says like "ah ah" which is for-Curious George. Baby is for his blanket, he also is in love with the word no. I can ask him any question the answer is always no.
Mommy- Do you want a treat
Aiden: NO!

Mommy Do you want to go bye bye
Aiden: no

Mommy: DO you want curious george
Aiden: no

He doesn't realize the difference between yes and no. I am just waiting for the day when Aiden is the one teaching Jake how to talk.

Happy Halloween

Jake LOVED Halloween. He got a ton of practice before Halloween with all the parties and Trunk or Treat so by time Halloween came he knew just what to do. He loved painting his carved pumpkin, he loved the candy, his dash costume. He loved to knock on all the doors and he even learned how to say a new word, well I will let you hear it for your self. It seemed like this year I could really see Jake get really exciting.




Aiden on the other hand HATED his costume. He threw a huge fit and didn't even want the candy at the first three houses that we went to. But then I guess he realized that the tiger suit wasn't coming off. I had to hold Aiden the entire 2 hours that we were gone. So by time we got home my arms were dead tired. The video at the bottom gives you a little idea of how much he loved it.




If you cant tell Jake is Dash from the Incredibles. I gave him a couple options from the internet and that's what he picked. I even had little leather gloves like Dash has but by time we got home the gloves came off.



I love fall. Here is some pictures that we took on a little hike up the canyon.




One of my favorite traditions is carving pumpkins on Halloween. Jake loved painting his pumpkin. And Aiden loved trying to eat the paint off of it. I have to say this is the first Halloween that the kids really enjoyed.




Here Aiden is sharing his sippy cup with Mr. Pumpkin Head

Man Cold

When I saw this video I just about died laughing. I don't know why but it seems like girls handle colds better than guys do. At my house I seem to be immune to all the diseases that come in and out of the house but poor Matt seems to catch every little bug- and he doesn't handle it well. Maybe it's because I am exposed to it all day long, or perhaps because I find myself washing my hands every 10 minutes-expecially after wiping noses all day long.

Right now we are stocking up on vitamins and cold/flu medicine. We are also gargling salt water and flushing our sinuses with nasal flush rinse -which is my all time favorite "NOT"!!!!

So the next time your guy gets a nasty cold just rub his forehead and say "poor little bunny." I just can't wait!

Is it just me or do guys handle colds worse than girls?

Dare Devil

I think when Jake grows up he is going to be a professional stuntman. This is not the first post titled "Dare Devil". I mean what kind of a kid comes up with this kind of stuff on their own? Do all normal boys do this kind of stuff?

And yes of course I told him to get down because he was going to fall and did he listen? Let me just say he didn't get hurt too bad. Lesson learned because he didn't do it again:) Sometimes kids just have to learn it the hard way.

Finally some Peace and Quiet

I just wanted everyone to know that LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN!!!! It has been an emotional traumatizing and difficult week for both of us. I am so happy and relieved to say that Aiden has finally given up on his bottle. I can't believe that it took 6 hard days! And I did not give in ONCE. The only reason I didn't cave in during this time is just the thought of having to go threw that again made me want to go hid in a dark closet.

I know he hasn't forgotten about it because he still goes and sits under the drawer of where the bottles were kept. I think the biggest thing that helped was buying a sippy cup that he could suck on like a bottle. It took forever for him to accept it but now he is eating and not crying so that is WONDERFUL especially for me.

I forgot to mention in the previous posts that Aiden didn't want anything to do with me during that time. He only wanted Matt, and must of been really mad at me especially during the first 5 days. Now he has seemed to forgive me and LOVES me again.

After taking the bottle away he has decided that he doesn't want anything to do with his crib. Maybe its because he has spent the last 5 days screaming in the dark at the top of his lungs. Or maybe it was a painful reminder what was taken away from him. All I know is before the whole bottle thing he loved his crib and loved to sleep and NEVER cried-even when he wasn't tired. For one he learned how to climb out of it during his fits of rage and so one night I decided to let him sleep in Jakes bed. It worked like a charm. He cried at the door for like 2 minutes and then climbed up on his bed and fell asleep.

I think I have learned a hard lesson here. No bottles after 14 months!!!!

Day 4

When I came home from game night Aiden was still up and it was 12:00 a.m. He cried (I mean screamed) until 1:30 a.m. I think he spent the night sleeping on the floor because when I found him he wasn't in his crib. Poor baby.

Bottle Woes

I'm sure all my neighbors are concerned about Aiden's well being. Only because he has spent the last 3 days crying at the top of his lungs for his bottle.

Aiden is in love with his bottle. I have tried twice to get him off it and now that he is 2 he really should be off it.

The first 2 times I only let him have his bottle when he was in his crib. We have watering down his milk until it is just nasty water with a tiny bit of milk. I have tried giving him only water. But he doesn't care because then he just sucks air from the nipple and doesn't suck the liquid.

How is it going? Lets just say now I know why people get their babies off of bottles at early ages. I have weaned lots of daycare kids from the bottle but Aiden is by FAR the hardest kid I have every experienced.

The first day wasn't so bad. He definitely wanted it and let me know it. He only cried at night for about 45 minutes and then fell asleep. Not too bad.

The second day. He screamed for it all morning. No tears but a loud piercing "I want it and you better give it to me cuz I'm not going to quit screaming until I get it." By noon he was exhausting from all the screaming. I put him in time out twice and that just upset him more. To make matters worse he has completely boycotted every sippy cup, and refuses to eat food. So he is hungry and mad at the same time. BAD COMBINATION. Everything I give him just makes him more mad. Matt describes it as punch drunk mad.

We first saw this side of Aiden when he was 12 months old. Aiden fell and bit threw his bottom lip so Matt took him to the ER and in the waiting room Aiden kept grabbing his sippy cup and flinging it accost the room. Turns out that the sippy cup had orange juice and I took the stopper out so he could suck the juice because of the pulp clogged it. So Aiden is seeing RED, and orange juice is all over the room. Serves them right for making him wait for hours!

Back to the bottle.

So yesterday was the second day he had gone without his bottle. He cried a good portion of the day. I sent Aiden with Matt to young mens so that I could have a break from him. Turns out he was just fine with Matt and the second he gets home Aiden runs to the draw that had his bottles and started to FREAK OUT! PUNCH DRUNK MAD!!! I keep showing him that the bottles are gone and offer him a sippycup with chocolate milk, or juice and every time he grabs it and throws it. Then he sits down under the bottle drawer and cries. Then he brings me to the bottle drawer and again freaks out. Nothing soothes him. So by that time it is like 9 o'clock which is past his bed time so I put him in his crib and he starts to freak out. I read him a couple stories-he is mad and crying the entire time. I'm sure by now the neighbors are worried and any second we are going to get a phone call regarding why we are torturing him. Next I sing songs-still mad. By then my head is ringing so I kiss him goodnight and off goes the lights. -note: he normally never cries when I put him to bed.

The next 2 HOURS he screamed at the top of his lungs in his crib. He feel out of his crib once and I even took him on a car rid hopefully trying to get him asleep. Well I made it one block and turned around because he was screaming so loud I thought my head would explode. So I put him back in his crib and continues to act out of control. I let him cry for about 1/2 hour and then I rocked him until he fell asleep in my arms. Then when I put him in his crib he woke up and back to the screaming. By then I was so frustrated and wanted to cry but there is no way I was going to give in because I am not going to go threw this again!!!! He cried for about 10 minutes and then fell asleep.

Today is day three and this morning was also bad. He cried for about 2 hours. He would only take milk from a cup (but it couldn't have a top on it) so I had to follow behind him to clean up any spilled milk-which was a lot because he is still mad and spilled it when he walked. For nap time I gave him a treat and his sippy cup and he actually drank from it so I think we are making some progress. Tonight is game night so I will be gone when I put him down which is good because Matt seems to handle the crying better then I do. I think that after hearing him cry for like 3 days straight is just emotionally exhausting.

He seems much happier today and is even laughing! I am so glad because I don't know how much more I can take.

Out with the Old in with the New

Before Aiden was born I made a blanket. It was red and white made out of furry fleece and I made it so I could have a warm blanket during the winter for the couch. When Aiden was born he fell in love with it and decided to claim it as his own special blanket. The problem is it weighed like 20 pounds! So I cut it in half and took out the batting but it still was too heavy for him to carry. He gets so frustrated every time he tried to walk with it because it was too heavy for him to carry so it drags on the ground and gets very dirty. I tried buying him other really soft blankets but NO it was clear he wanted this old nasty blanket. Did I mention that it takes up the entire load to wash it. Did I mention it isn't soft anymore? And it always gets filthy because he drags it everywhere-because it is so heavy. So for his birthday I decided to trick him. I made a much smaller blanket out of the same red furry fleece but the back I used regular fleece. He had no interest when he opened it. In fact for the first few days he didn't want it and would cry for his old blanket-which disapeared into thin air. But now he has finally accepted it as his own and it is SO NICE. He expecially likes putting it on his head. And did I mention its small, and soft and it doesn't stink. Good bye nasty blanket.

Happy Birthday Aiden !

Typically for birthday cakes I slap some tasty frosting and poke it with a few candles and call it good. After seeing my sisters teenage muntin ninja turtle cake I decided that I should make a fun cake for my kids b-day. I made a construction cake just to see how the kids liked it. Jake kept saying "WOW." Aiden also got really exited when he first saw it and kept pointing to it. Then Jake tried playing with the trucks and I was forced to put it away. And of course when I took it away their were a few tears.



We had Matt's family over to celebrate his birthday and had a ton of fun. Whenever they come over my kids get all wound up and totally act like they are on a sugar high. They absolutely love them. I was taking this video of Matt playing with Aiden by swinging him back and Aiden has laughing really cute. Then my mother and sister in law starting to laugh like crazy and you will see why they were laughing. Just keep your eye on Jake's stick.

Video coming soon!

Misc.

Here is an update

School:
Jake started his preschool a few weeks ago. We spent all week prepping Jake for the school bus that was going to come to our house to take him to school. So there we are waiting and waiting and it never came. So Matt took him and made sure his teachers knew that he needed to ride the bus home. When Matt left the school Jake fell on the floor and cried "I want Ma Ma." When the teacher took him to the bus to go home he saw he bus and yelled "There it is. . . BUS." I have to say he has enjoyed his bus rides and I have even noticed a small improvement on his language.


FOOD STORAGE:
The nerdy homemaker in me has come out. Everyone knows I love to do crafts, sew, quilt, but I do not like to CAN food. It is a tedious process of cleaning the fruit, slicing and dicing, cooking, and more cleaning. We have a apple and pear tree and I have to admit last year I canned like a mad women. I did over 75 cans of applesauce, pears and peaches. I did so many last year that I have plenty for this year. This year I only did two batches of pears and applesauce. I guess I'm a still a little worn out from last year. It definitely is worth it because the food is free and is great food storage.


FUN:
Jake and Aiden got an addition to their play area outside. The reason I got it is because I have lost some of my daycare kids due to the economy. I saw this on KSL and decided that if it helps me get a kid it will pay itself off quick. The economy is not very good and parents who are looking for childcare are interviewing at 7 or more homes. Last year I got calls for infants all the time. But right now it seems like all day cares are struggling to get kids. It is so frustrating because every time I interview a parent I have to clean the house from top to bottom inside and out. And then they don't show up. . .grrrr or they call and reschedule which means I have to do it all over again. grrrr OR. . . the come act interested and then never call back. . . grrrr.


AIDEN: is almost 2 and I have decided to try AGAIN to get him off the bottle. I admit I am a slacker and give in to him every time he throws a fit for his precious bottle. I know I give in because of all the other situations that I have to go through with all the kids that I watch in my daycare. It is just easier to shut him up so I can do what I need to with my daycare. It is very hard because he wants his bottle for comfort. He loves his blankie and stuffed dog but he doesn't want them without his bottle. I have started watering down the milk, and offer him a sippy cup with the good stuff. He can definitely tell because he doesn't gulp it down so quick. He almost always chooses the nasty watered down stuff or just sucks out of the top of the bottle so he is just sucking air.


BAG: I bought a cheap looking bag from the grocery store and took it apart and used it as a pattern and wa la I have a new church/diaper bag. It only took me like 6 HOURS!!!! IT took FOREVER I know but I think it turned out cute. I got really frustrated at the lining part because it wasn't laying flat. I probibly could have done it quicker if I do another one. I can usually figure out how to sew things together without instructions but it takes me a little time and a lot of patience.


If you are a sewing freak -check out this site. They are having a drawing for really cute fabric. http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/

Nightmare

So here is an update on our deck.

Matt has spent almost every spear minute of his time on the deck. He finally got all the joist done and we were ready for the fun part-laying down the floor. So we pulled out the Trex boards and realized that some of the boards were scratched.

When we bought it it was new on the market and looked beautiful on the web site. We ordered the most expensive Trex called BRAZILA. It is supposed resemble a hardwood that comes from the rain forest. We have heard nothing but good things about Trex and they are coming out with new products so we thought that we were safe ordering something new from them. WRONG!

After we discovered that almost ALL of the boards were scratched from shipping it-we just about freaked out because we spent $1500 on it and had it special ordered.

It didn't take us long to find how easy it scratches. You can scratch it with your finder nail. It scratches when our dog walks on it. It scratches when you move it. It scratches just looking at it. Can you even imagine what it will look like in a year or two-not to mention what it will look like after our kids ride their toys on it. Or when our kids put sand on it. Or when you put furniture on it. Oh I know what we could do -tell everyone to take off their shoes if they want to walk on it. WE ARE SO DISAPPOINTED.

We put an ad up on ksl seeing if anyone wanted it for a discount. Last I checked 250 people had looked at it but not one call. Who could blaim them? Why would anyone want this crap. If you want to see pictures http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=7903530&cat=&lpid= (sorry my computer is being difficult right now)

Matt called Home Depot and explained to them the problem. They said they needed to come and see it on our deck. I told Matt to scruff up his bushy sideburns and make his hair wild and if needed to use his angry voice -if they argued with us. But thank goodness they were very workable and Matt didn't even have to persuade them.

We are looking into another alternative called Tigerwood.

http://www.tigerwooddecking.com

It is more of what the Brazila Trex is trying to resemble. So we are just relieved that this mess is over. We are also very glad that it was scratched during the shipping because if we had discovered after we put in on the deck we COULD NOT return it. The only thing we could do is file a law suit to Trex and they would just say that it was not assembled correctly. I guess after we google "Trex Problems" we are freaked out about using it.

Pretty Boy

30 minutes before church started Jake found my mascara and well the pictures says it all. He actually did a good job with his top of his eyelashes. And this is not the first time he has gotten a hold of my mascara.

p.s I plan on using this as blackmail for when he gets older.

Prayer

So even though Jake can't talk in complete sentences yet I have been having him say his nightly prayers. I think they are precious.


ME: Dear Heavenly Father
Jake: Da da

ME: Thank you for my mom
Jake: Ma Ma

Me: Thank you for my dad
Jake: Da da

ME: Thank you for my brother
Jake: Neigh neigh

Jake: Thank you for my dog
Jake: bo bo

ME: Thank you for my home
Jake: house

ME: Help me to sleep good tonight
Jake: shhhh

ME: Help me not to be afraid
Jake: rrrarrs

ME: Help me to be happy
Jake: Hap

ME: Help me to be nice to my friends
Jake: ice

ME:Amen
Jake: A

Anywhere but his Bed!

I know it has been forever since I have updated my blog. I guess I just feel like I don't have anything exciting to share. So this is as exiting news as it gets.

Over the past 2 weeks Jake has started developing a bad habit of waking up in the middle of the night crying. He says that there are "rarrs" (translation for monsters). I guess he has watched too many Scooby Doo and Indiana Jones movies. He is waking up 2-3 x a night and it is really annoying because Aiden also wakes up. He really wants to sleep in our bed but that is out of the question. We usually take turns by sleeping with him until he falls asleep in his bed, but lately when we wake up in the morning he is sleeping on the floor by our door. A couple of nights ago I laid down with him in his bed and he wouldn't fall asleep. By time 1:00 a.m. rolled around he still wasn't asleep and I was frustrated and left. 5 minuets later we heard him moving around in the hallway. When I got up to see what he was doing I found that he had made a little bed for him on the cold hard tile. Every morning we wake up and he is sleeping in our doorway to our bedroom. I have put a sleeping mat on the floor by the door way and he just gets up from his bed and lays down on it without making peep. At least we get to sleep through the night without hearing him cry about monsters. I don't know what else to do! Any suggestions?

p.s sorry about the white-the color option has disappeared

Retaining Wall

So here is an update of what Matt and I (well mostly Matt) have been doing for the past 3 weeks.

This is our new retaining wall. Good bye old rotted timbers. Matt spent many days cutting the block to fit just right, and then when WE (yes me too) cemented the top block on so that it remained intact. The first night we used the concrete Matt rubbed his two fingers raw from scraping the bottom of the cement bucket. The next night we used gloves. Because of all the landscaping being done all of my plants have spent the last month in plastic garbage bags and I am surprised that almost all of them survived. Maybe it to soon to tell but I think that they are much happier. The wall has some residue of the white cement but after a few rain storms it will go away.


Matt has also spent the last month fixing our sprinklers. We have a sprinkler system but it was located in the planter box. Since we ripped it out we decided to relocate the sprinklers.

One thing that I love about Matt is he is so handy! The great thing about Matt is he is very ambitious to try to fix things on his own. If he doesn't know how to do something he figures it out. Sometimes he has to make a phone call or buy a manual, but he can almost always figure it out. And then he knows how to do it the next time.

Up next: Fix the swamp cooler, and repairing our fence

Poor Matt his project list keeps getting longer and longer!

What Color?

I can't decide what color Aidens eyes are.

They are definitely not brown.

Not BLUE like Matts.

They aren't GREEN like mine.

They aren't HAZEL!

So then what color are they?

Is seaweed a color?

My Precious!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to give Aiden some root beer. I think that this was one of the first times I had given him root beer. I put some in a sippy cup and he took one big swig and his facial expression was hilarious. His face went from happy to angry, he cradled his sippy cup with both hands and held it close to his neck and said "mine, mine, mine" as he turned his head back and forth. My bro in law said that if he would have said "my precious" things would have gotten freaky.

Aiden is starting to pick up a lot of new words. He will repeat words that I have him say. (jake never did) He also knows the difference between mommy and daddy. I won't be surprised think that Aiden will be talking before Jake does. Jake is coming along slowly with his speech. He has learned 4 new words in the last 2 months which isn't great, but the fact that he doesn't call us Teresa anymore is a huge improvement.

Dirty Work

Matt and I are very excited to finally have our patio done. This last week has been very exhausting and stressful for both of us.

Our house had ugly rail road ties up along the side of our house. When we pulled them out some of the boards on the bottom were so decayed they were the size of a 2x4. I guess that explains why the retaining wall wasn't level and collapsing.

BEFORE:AFTER:

We had the concrete done by a professional. It is stamped and colored to look like stone but costs a faction of the price. I think it turned out really nice. I was so scared of choosing a pattern and the colors but I think it turned out nicely. It will also be so nice to be able to come down the deck and through out the trash without walking on grass/snow. The stairs from the deck will come down were the 4 pillars are. And I think my kids will like having a place to ride their bikes on. We also had the concrete on the left side of the house ripped out so that I have a bigger garden. It will take away our basketball court but we NEVER used it. It got so hot next to the house the concrete just made that space to hot-my kids never played on it. Plus with the new patio it would just be too much concrete in our yard.


The night before the concrete truck came Matt, Nate (Matts brother) and I stayed up until 2:00 am digging 6 holes for the pillars. Two of them we had to dig 3 feet deep into the hard clay. It was not any fun. Thanks again Nate! We had to get it done that night because the concrete truck was coming at 7:00 am the next morning. Of course they came early and the first 30 minutes was very kayotic. Matt also had to repair 2 sprinklers that got cut during the excavation. So that explains our dead looking grass. We also spent all day Saturday (which was a very hot day) patching the side of the patio with sod, and hauling junk to the dump.

So hopefully the hard part it down. We are going to put up a small retaining wall next to the house with a retaining wall stone. Then I can replant my plants and hopefully they won't die. We also need to fix the cement on the side of the house. If you can see in the picture it is black and ugly. I also have to go through the dirt in my garden and get out the clay clods and rocks. I wish it wasn't so hot. I really can't even go out and work until it is 7 or 8 because the heat just about kills me. It has also been over a week since I have taken my daycare kids outside. That is just about killing me. When it is finished we will post more pictures. This is just the start of a work in progress.

Sewing

I know that it has been a long time since I updated my blog, and I have to confess that I don't have have much to share with everyone. For those who don't know I do know how to sew but only get out my machine 3 or 4 times a year -mainly to fix and alter things. My true love of sewing comes to sewing baby quilts. I think that I like them because they are small and I can get it done quick. I especially like to applique them so that they are unique and different. I can put together a patch work quilt in a matter of days so appliqueing them gives me a challenge. It is all done by machine, (I don't do any hand quilting). I also like to free hand sewing, which is where the feed dogs on the machine is down so the needle is moving up and down and I control where the stitches go. I use this so make the squigly lines in the middle of the quilt, you can see if you click on the picture. I have started to make a quilt for each of my sisters when they have a baby. This is for my sis Vaylene who is expecting her first boy in a couple of months. She told me she loved circles and stripes, and this is what I came up with.

Happy Anniversary!

This week was our 7 year anniversary. This year we decided to go to Park City and spend a couple days without the kids. And it was WONDERFUL. In the past we really don't do anything big for our anniversary, so when Matt's parents offered for us to use their time share in Park City we couldn't refuse. We dropped the kids off at Grandma Davidson's and drove up to Park City Friday night.

Biking:
We brought our bikes along and after getting lost a couple times we found a bike trail that looked fun. Not soon later dark thunderclouds rolled in. We decided to keep going and hoped that it would be a short storm. Matt asked me if I still wanted to go and I did because we had spent all morning getting our bikes ready. The first 20 minutes into our ride it rain and I was really glad that I had my raincoat on . After we got to the top of all the switch backs it POURED and DUMPED on us. By this time my fingers were cold and I was ready to go back. My Capri's were soaked and it was hard to pedal because they were sticking to my skin. Not only this the rain was making the trail muddy and slippery. Our tires would skid out and we had a hard time getting traction on our tires. At the top of the hill lighting and thunder circled around us and we decided to get off our bikes and sit down low. Luckily it didn't last to long and got back on our bikes. At this point the trail was filled with big puddles, and our shoes and legs were caked with mud. The rain made our hands icy cold and braking our bikes was a challenge because mud was in our brake pads. We debated what would be the quickest way back because we didn't have our map with us. Luckily we came within a few hundred yards of a major road so we ditched the trail and walked our bikes through the sagebrush so that we could take take the road back home.

NOTE: I have to mention that it may seem like I am extreme but I am definitely not at mountain biking. Mountain Biking is definitely Matt's thing. I just tag along for the ride. HE is also very good at being patient with my slowness. Our first year of married Matt took me to Moab on a advance trail called "slick rock trail" and not even 1 mile into the ride I went over the handlebars and had to get stitches put in my chin. Ever since then I have this extreme fear of going downhill and getting flipped over my bike. So. . . . this is why I go very SLOW and I am very cautious of myself.

Here we are huddling together so that we wouldn't get struck by lighting. I know, how romantic is that! Sorry the picture isn't very good, it was hard to keep water off the lens. It was also kind of fun to sit and watch the lighting bolts strike in the distance.

After we got back to the condo and got all cleaned up we decided to go to "Butchers Block" and get some steak for dinner. This restaurant was super fancy and was definitely the most money we ever spent on a meal. We have not been out to eat since Jake was 5 months old so we felt like we could splurge. After the delicious meal we went to the swimming pool and relaxed in the hot tub while it rained on us. It was so relaxing sitting in a hot tub while cold rain fell on our faces.

The next morning we drove back and got the kids. They had tons of fun at Grandmas and I hope they didn't wear them out too much. (thanks again Paul, Julie, and Amy) It was good to have them back and we missed them a ton.

No No Neigh Neigh

Aiden has learned a new word: SIT

Only his "s" sounds like "sh". And he emphasises the sh. He LOVES to repeat this over and over. He even did it at church today and I just have to clarify that he didn't learn a swear word from us, he must have picked it up when we tell Soby to sit.

Aiden also learned to say my name a couple of weeks ago. "se saw" I was so sad the first time I heard him calling my name and searching for me. I really really want at least one of my kids to call me mommy. (jake now calls me 'hey D' ) Aiden has this thing were he will say the same thing over and over for a week or two. He hasn't called me "se saw" for a couple of weeks and I am okay with that. Instead he says sh*t!

Any where but the bed!

JAKE IN A COSTCO BAG













Jake has a strange habit of making a bed in different areas of the house. He rarely falls asleep in these places.

Jake has started developing a bad habit of waking up at night and cries because there are "rarrs"-translation for monsters. I guess he has watched too many Scooby Doo and Indiana Jones movies. He is waking up 2-3 x a night and it is really annoying because it wakes up Aiden. He really wants to sleep in our bed but that is out of the question. We usually take turns by sleeping with him until he falls asleep in his bed, and lately when we wake up in the morning he is sleeping on the floor by our door. Last night I laid down with him in his bed and he wouldn't fall asleep. By time 1:00 a.m. rolled around he still wasn't asleep and I was frustrated and left. 5 minuets later we heard him in the hall way and I got up to see he had made a little bed for him on the cold hard tile. I put a sleeping mat underneath him and he slept through the night! -yes in the hall. What a weird kid!