Uncle Eric

My uncle Eric passed away yesterday, he will be missed so much! I have so many great memories of him, especially when I was a kid. I remember he used to spend summers with our family and drive with us on our family vacations. I have been told that one particular trip I got carsick and threw up on him (and he still loved me!) He has always been so fun and kind and wonderful to be around.

This picture is one of my very favorite memories of him, I remember riding the SeaDoo with him at Lake Powell!

Another one of my favorite memories of him I have now passed on to my children!! Whenever we would pass the cows on the drive to Sacramento, we'd say, "Eeeew, Eric!!", as if he was the one making the car stinky :) This past summer when my mom and I drove the boys up there to visit, we did the same thing. One day when I took off Jackson's shoes, he smelled his stinky feet and said, "Eeeew, Eric!" I will continue to think of Eric often!

24 Weeks Baby Update

I went to the doctor today for my 24 week check up. I swear this pregnancy is flying by!! I had a couple weeks of swollen hands, achy body and joint pain but other than those uncomfortable days I've been feeling super good. I finally feel like I have things under control at home (besides the bedrooms most days) because I have more energy but it doesn't last forever!

We heard the heartbeat, scheduled the glucose test and my rogham shot (dumb negative blood type!) and the C-Section date!! AUGUST 13th-- different than what I previously thought, but I'm so excited because it's my brother's birthday (no, we are not naming her Thomasina!) :)

 The dreaded belly shot! I felt myself get bigger each day this week. And I still have lots more to go!

We just got back from visiting my sister, Katie and her darling baby Samantha! The boys LOVED holding her and knew to be quiet when she was sleeping.

Today after lunch time, Jackson was yelling at me to get him out of his booster chair. I walked up to him with my finger over my mouth and said, "shhh, say it quietly please." He said, "your baby sleeping in your tummy?" It was so sweet and totally made me laugh. Thanks Samantha for letting us practice on you!! :) More pictures coming of Samantha and our Utah fun soon!!

Jackson's first big boo boo :(

This week has been crazy, to say the least! Jackson fell (or got pushed?) off the toy shelf in the playroom and landed on a toy right on his forehead. He cut it bad enough that by the time I got to him his face was all bloody! I called Jeff and he came right home (I love that work is less than 5 mins away!) to check it out. He butterfly bandaged it and gave him a priesthood blessing, which helped to comfort us all and told us we would know what to do next. Jeff took Tyler and went back to work while Jackson and I cuddled and I watched his wound. Olivia and Alissa came over a little after that to pick something up and cheered Jack right up. Then Jeff called and said we should head over to urgent care so the doctors could take a look and see if he needed stitches. Alissa drove us over so we'd only have one car at urgent care and Jeff planned on meeting us right when he got off work.

We walked into the care center and I could see blood dripping from his bandages and a sense of relief that we listened to inspiration and brought him in. I peeked in the window and the nice front desk lady frowned when she looked at Jackson. She took our info and I heard her say, "we have a cute little boy here with a head wound". They took us right back and I tried to keep up with the paperwork as they started checking him out.
They sent us to the triage then procedure room and told me he'd need stitches. This was so awful to watch. It had nothing to do with the blood- although the doctors put a chair behind me in case I fainted. They had to strap him down on the table and Jackson was so calm until they started numbing him. They actually stuck the needles in the cut!! (I thought they'd just poke him a couple times next to it) It was awful. From that second on the screaming begun. I tried to talk to him and tell him he was doing so good but at one point I couldn't talk and almost cried! It was just so sad to see him so upset and not understand they were trying to help him. Afterwards when he was calmed down he pointed to the bed and told me, "bad guy did that". I told him the doctor was a good guy helping is head stop bleeding, but how do you explain that to a 3 year old??!

Anyways, he has been doing so great since then. One of my sweet friends watched the boys today during my doctors appointment because he wasn't up to going to Tiny Tots, and another friend brought toys for the boys to play with. He is running around like a crazy boy today, and climbing on everything. Now he can actually understand when I tell him to get down so he doesn't crack his head open! I've asked him a few times when he was climbing on a chair arm, the same toy shelf and all the way up the outside gate if he wanted to get stitches again! Seriously, I need him to slooooow down!

please, no more boo boos on this pretty little face!!

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter this year! Pretty low-key, and enjoyed the day together as a family.

In the morning, the Easter Bunny came and left the boys a basket full of goodies! We skipped the egg hunt -they hid eggs for each other all week, so it was old news :)

Then we got all dressed up and headed to church!

After we went to our favorite scenic spot (my parents backyard!)

My handsome men!!

Seriously, I didn't know he was making this face... it was at the end of our "photo shoot" and I think he was ready to be done!

Cuties and their shades!!

Then we headed home to finish our baking projects-- deviled eggs and rice krispie treat eggs! (Thanks Christine for the egg holders and cute bunny plate!! I enjoyed taking them to our family dinner!)

Did anyone else see that cute commercial with the mommy and kids making these? I saw it and just had to make them!!

Then we headed to my parents where my grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins were at- we had lots of fun and enjoyed the time together!!

All week I have felt especially grateful for our Savior. That he lived such a beautiful life and sacrificed for us so that we can live again. During one of the speakers at church, Tyler turned to me and said, "I know this. I know about how Jesus died on the cross." I love teaching my children about the gospel and the true meanings of why we celebrate holidays. Our boys know that we will all live again in heaven and I'm so grateful for that knowledge!!

Tyler Funnies and Jackson Jokes!

The boys have been cracking us up like crazy lately!

The other day, Jackson was jibber talking and he said something to the effect of, "booboo berries, poopies." I told him, "Hey, we don't say poop words. If you need to say poop words, go sit in the bathroom." He immediately walked to the bathroom, put the toilet lid down, sat down on the toilet and after a few seconds I heard him say, "poop words"

Tyler was asking me to tell him all about Texas. I told him about how we walked to the park that was right by our house all the time and he asked how old he was, "was I three?" I told him he was 2, and he said, "oh so I was really close to the ground, then."

We were driving and Jackson called out to Tyler, "hey baby, what'cha doin?" no answer. "hey baby, what'cha doin?"

Tyler-- "I'm not a baby!"

Jackson-- "hey boy, what'cha doing?"

It was raining and Tyler asked if they would see a rainbow. "Maybe after the rain goes away, we'll see one." I told him. Jackson overheard only part of the conversation and said, "A monster?!" (I think he was excited)

IT's a...

GIRL!!

We found out on March 19 at about 10am! I don't have scan-able or printable ultrasound images so no proof until she's out, but we did see her on the screen! When the technician announced it, Jeff looked at the screen and said, "yup, there's nothing there!" It was a great experience for us, I always love being able to see the baby, hear the heartbeat and watch them move. Jeff met me there during a work break, then I picked up balloons to take to the boys. I have to admit I had a hard time not being an emotional wreck! I have waited for this for so long! I also have to admit that I have already been baby girl clothes shopping and am planning out the pink and purple nursery!! We are so excited to have a SISTER in the family!

Sea World!

I found out about a great way to get into Sea World with their homeschooling program. My mom & I took the boys and their cousins for $5.75 each! We drove up the day before and stayed in a hotel so we didn't have to leave at 5 am (best decision ever!) The trip was super fun and a ton of work, but I'm so glad we did it! Tyler is obsessed with sharks right now and cousin Lily had a dolphin birthday, so it fit it our March celebrations perfectly!!

The kids watching the turtles and tropical fish! I love the silhouette look next to the bright colors!

I think this is the megaladon jaw (extinct shark- thank goodness!)

See why we didn't take very many pictures? HEHEEE!!

My mom is pretty amazing and I'm so glad she always wants to have a crazy adventure with me!! Imagine a 3 hour drive with 5 kids ages 1-6 and no dads... there and back. We found ourselves cracking up quite often at the craziness around us... laugh or cry, right?!!

Tyler's SHARK birthday!

Our big boy Tyler turned 5 this week!! He chose to have a SHARK theme party which was a big hit!!

We had a coloring station with the pinata candy bags to decorate and put stickers on...
THE COOLEST SHARK WATERMELON full of berries and melon... so yummy and cute!

we filled cups with goldfish, pretzels and fish gummies as "shark bait" for snacks

And LOTS of great friends!!

and family! :)

PINATA time was a huge HIT (no pun intended, ok maybe a little bit!)

even Grandpa got in on the fun!

and everyone loved jumping on the trampoline!

My good friend Alissa made these delicious and scary cupcakes!

Singing Happy Birthday:

and present time from all our great friends:

Here's the party favor gifts he gave his friends:

The party turned out perfectly! Everyone was able to make it and it was a beautiful day- perfect for an outside party.

And of course Daddy took the boys shopping on his REAL birthday and came home with this huge thing!!

A day to remember...

...and not necessarily in a good way, but in a way that will hopefully make me a better mom. The day started out really great, we were up early as a family, Jeff was headed running, I jumped in the shower, Jack got a bath and Tyler even showered too. It was picture day for Tyler so we picked out a handsome outfit and put gel in his hair. A little before 9 Jeff headed to work while the boys and I piled in the car. Jackson and I went to mommy-and-me gymnastics after we dropped off Tyler at preschool. After gymnastics Jackson and I shared a pretzel and juice at Target and I got a few storage boxes to organize the office. We came home for an hour before preschool pick up to wrap presents and straighten up a bit. I had a great conversation with Katie, and enjoyed a quiet, productive morning.

At noon, we picked up Tyler and his friend and all the boys ate snacks outside in the warming sun, with the back door open while I cleaned my already tidied kitchen. I was productive all afternoon while the kids played and we enjoyed the day. We headed to see Lanie in the afternoon, to invite her to Tyler's b-day party and pay rent for our home. We picked up Grace who comes to play with the boys on Thursdays while I get jobs done. Today I worked more on organizing the playroom.

When she left, we started dinner and my kitchen helpers moved their chairs up to help me cook spaghetti. We talked, laughed, stirred, and prepped our dinner. After dinner Tyler decided on cherry-chip flavored cupcakes to share with their Tiny Tots class tomorrow so we got to baking those. Tyler stirred the kitchen aid while Jackson filled the cupcake tin with white papers. I remember thinking how darling it was that he pushed each paper into the tin with his hand even though it was already in there just fine. We put them in the oven and Tyler found some floss to play shark fishing. He literally tied the dental floss around his toy shark and sat on the counter until it "bit". I almost stopped him, because that is just not what we do with floss, and then I stopped myself, remembering that this is how boys explore and learn. I remember thinking how awesome my kids are and how great of a mom I am being... and that's about the last of the happy memories. It's not uncommon for a mommy-melt down to occur after 5pm. But tonight, I am left feeling like I ruined our perfectly good day.

I pulled the cupcakes out and walked into the office to get some computer work done. Tyler told me Jackson had a cupcake and I immediately found Jackson red handed with a cupcake paper (and no cupcake left) yelled at him and spanked his bum. A few minutes later Tyler came in to tell me "Jackson had another one" In which I said, "seriously?" Then I looked at his face and saw that there were cupcake crumbs on Tyler's face. I yelled at him for eating one "Now we won't have enough for your friends!! And don't EVER lie to me."

The look on his face broke my anger and turned it into pure regret. I hate that I yelled before thinking and ruined an opportunity to teach and uplift. So what if there aren't enough cupcakes for the kids in their Tiny Tots class who I don't even know their names...

Tyler ran off and cried on his bed, while I came up with a lame apology and tried to take it back. But at that point, we all lost it. I tried to make up for it by happily performing our bedtime routine of songs, tickle backs and good-nights, but my obvious bad mood rubbed off on all. Jackson cried about the Megatron robot he wanted and didn't have, Tyler kept saying, "I'm so sad" and my desperate attempt to make it ok just wasn't enough.

I am now writing it all down in hopes it will be therapeutic, not positive that I will hit the publish button, but sure that I am making a learning moment out of this. Tonight I have prayed for more patience, for the ability to think before I talk (or yell), and the constant understanding that I am taking care of two very special little boys. Boys that have come directly from our Heavenly Father, who in a lot of ways, still remember Jesus, and who have taught me more about life and love than I could ever learn in any other way. So tonight I go to bed with a heavy heart, with the desire to make tomorrow better, and a little scared that I will fail again. In fact, for sure I will. But I will never take for granted that we have a happy family and opportunities to do better. Maybe that's why we get to live so many days. Chances to re-do situations and eventually perfect ourselves. I found these words of counsel that gives me some relief in my quest to be a better mom:

President Ezra Taft Benson said, "We must be careful, as we seek to become more and more Christlike, that we do not become discouraged and lose hope. Becoming Christlike is a lifetime pursuit and very often involves growth and change that is slow, almost imperceptible."

Ty Ty

Tyler surprises me everyday. He asks the most profound questions that 4 year olds don't usually ask, like "When I am a dad, who will be my kids?" He asks why to EVERYTHING I say and sometimes I have to tell him to just say, "ok mom." instead.

He is learning his letters and although he enjoys learning and writing, it is like pulling teeth to get him to do his homework.

He loves primary and one of my best friends is his teacher, which is so fun! One day I asked him what he learned and he told me "C-Y-T" and I said, "CTR?" "Yup, CYT, choose the right!" He knew what it meant, but not the right letters!

Tyler is SO kind. When he sees other people or animals that are hurt he is so truly concerned about them. This lizard did NOT get hurt during this handling process :)

He LOVES going to preschool and always comes home happy.

He has the best memory and I cannot promise him something that I don't intend to carry through- he will remind me and remind me until he gets it! He knows how to drive anywhere and which direction to turn to get there (church, doctors office, gma/gpa's house, grocery store, preschool, a specific park). He knows his right and left.

He is so helpful to me when I'm not feeling good and will run and get me anything that I need- a snack, ice water, and will even bring me a surprise (our cat, some candy, or a toy).

Tyler hates when it gets dark and wishes he could skip bedtime everyday. He loves mornings and often asks me "is it the middle of the day?" or "is it getting dark?" followed by "I didn't want it to get dark!"

He still loves animal shows on the Animal Planet, which has brought about many other questions that I really should be more prepared to answer :) He also loves watching "Daddy movies" when I go to mutual!

Tyler loves helping me in the kitchen. If I am mixing, baking, cooking or preparing something, he will grab a stool and help me. He knows how to make macaroni and cheese and could make it himself if I just hand him things. I don't know if this is something I should brag about-- we make it a lot :)

Tyler and Jackson love doing things together-- Tyler will often ask Jackson "do you want to play on the trampoling (yes, G) with me?" and Jackson will say, "uh, yeah." everytime!

I love my boys and I love that they are close in age and close in relationship. They are such good friends!

Jack Jack

Jackson is our little fire ball!

He has more energy than I could ever imagine a child to have. But he will finally sit through a whole movie or cartoon.

He loves running and runs with his upper body twisting back and forth- it's pretty funny to watch!

He wakes up in the middle of the night, opens his door, closes his door, and walks in our room and yells "poop!" which really means pee.

He is a man of few words, but when he talks, he means it! His favorite thing to say is "Nope." or "I do it" in a low raspy voice.

He loves calling Grandma on the phone, and asks if we can go to their house everytime we get in the car.

He is very much a homebody- I have put him and Tyler in a tiny tots preschool one day a week to practice and get Jackson ready for preschool in the fall. Every morning when he wakes up, he asks if it's a preschool day and when I say no, he sighs a breath of relief and says, "I stay with mommy."

I get to do a mommy and me gymnastics class with him once a week and although he loves the one on one time, he's not afraid to run off and play on his own.

He loves dancing and singing- the first week in primary he would stand and dance while the other kids sang.

He LOVEs primary and has never once asked if he could see the toys in nursery! I think it helps that both Tyler and his daddy are in primary.

One day he was dancing with his arms on his hips and wigging up and down. Jeff said, is that the chicken dance?" Jack said, "not chicken dance, dora dance" We realized he was really dancing just like dora does!!

He loves to dress up and asks to be batman.. no robin... no dinosaur... no tiger everyday. That's at least 5 wardrobe changes everyday... makes for one exhausted mommy!

Jackson is great at giving loves, hugs and kisses. If I ask him for a kiss, he'll say, "no! cry!" then I pretend cry and he hugs me and kisses me as much as I want!

We love bedtime and he will always ask me to read Are you My Mother? and he knows all the words. (He also knows if I skip a page!) Then we sing I am a Child of God while I tickle his back. We also sing popcorn popping and itsy bitsy spider and if we forget one of these, he will come out of bed and get me and remind me that we didn't sing them all. He is very much a creature of habit!

Jackson is very destructive. I can organize the playroom or his closet or bedroom and the next second he has everything pulled out and dumped out! He also loves to unroll the toilet paper. He even dumped out the kitty food just for fun! I have to say it has made me give up on organizing my house until he is over this phase.

He hurts Tyler often- throws toys, hits... but unlike his brother, he will sit in time out and do his time without whining, complaining or moving- usually.

He is so sweet and loves to pick up Tyler from school. He is impatient and yells Go! while we wait at a stop light or in the drive through line to get him, he just can't wait to see his brother. The boys are best friends and usually love to play together.

We love our Jackson!!

We're gonna have...

...another baby!! The new little one will join our family on August 13! We are thrilled and the boys are getting ready to be great big brothers. Tyler has decided that since he already has a brother, he would love a little sister. We are dying for some pink around here, too!

I have a few fun memories I want to record about our pregnancy journey so far:

1. A few months ago a friend asked if we were planning to have another baby soon. I told her a year from now would be great. Tyler will start school in September and timing would be perfect. Well, Tyler heard the conversation and was very curious about how this was going to happen. So he asked me, "how is a baby going to get in your tummy?" I wasn't ready to give him the whole 'birds and the bees' lesson and at 4 1/2 he wasn't ready to hear it! So, I told him, "When Heavenly Father decides we are ready to have a new baby in our family, I will get a little seed that grows into a baby." Tyler thought about this for a minute and said, "but how will the bean get in there?"

2. Last week I was scrolling through pictures on facebook and we saw a picture of twin babies in an ultrasound. He asked, "are those our babies?" I told him, no we are only having one baby. This mommy has twins! Confused, he asked, "Did Jesus forget?"

3. We announced our pregnancy to my family on Christmas day. I wrapped the pregnancy test that I had taken a week earlier and put it in a box with my Tommy's name on it. There was no from name and everyone assumed it was from Melonie. At one point, he started opening it and my mom said, "wait until Melonie comes back, I think that's from her." My mom helped the surprise without even knowing! He opened it up later and saw the pregnancy test... His blank panicked look turned into shock and he asked Melonie if it was from her. She didn't see it or know what it was so she just said, "I don't know, what does it say?" In a way that seemed like it WAS her! A few minutes went by without Melonie stating that she was NOT PREGNANT! Katie was 8 months pregnant at the time so I asked if she peed on a stick.. .she said no. My mom announced it wasn't her! Then I admitted it was from us, and with tears of joy, we announced our due date and our excitement!!

At this point in the pregnancy (I am 11 weeks) we are thinking it's a girl... I don't know if this is our hopes of pink and purple interfering with our suspicions, but I am just imagining a baby girl this time. My first symptom was a very sore chest (different than the boys- cramps and nausea for the first signs). My biggest complaint is that I am nauseous all day and absolutely exhausted- like if I sit down I have to really convince myself I need to get up! And I crash in bed at about 7pm every night (Seriously, ask Jeff!) But I have been taking anti nausea medication, so I haven't thrown up (except when I got the stomach flu!) I had two rough weeks of sickness- morning sickness on top of a yucky cold and congestion, which turned into an upper respiratory infection. Then the stomach flu hit. Luckily I was the only one who got it in our house and it only lasted a day. Anyways, just me recording my memories (sorry if it's TMI!)

I will have a scheduled C-Section on August 13th, a week before the due date (and Tommy's Birthday!)... I had an emergency C-sec with Jackson and our hospital has a no VBAC policy, so I am going in with the hopes that it will be much easier and that the actual surgery won't be too terrifying... And of course that we will have a happy healthy baby by the end of the summer!!

More Funnies-- Grandma's Hair!

Obviously I haven't taken any pictures lately, but my kids continue to keep us cracking up. The other day my mom came over to play with the boys right after she got her hair done. It was straight and blond with fresh color. (It looked beautiful!) Jackson took one look at her and pointed to her neck and said, "you Grandma?"

Tyler said, "yeah it's Grandma. Her hair doesn't look like Grandma but her face does. Her shirt doesn't look like Grandma but her pants do."

Then the next morning, still bewildered by her hair Jackson said, "Your hair pretty. Is it green and black?" He doesn't know his colors yet but is always throwing out his best guess!

Tyler Funnies-

My mom reminded me of a few funny things Tyler has said recently:

When we were in Arizona, Jackson woke up with pink eye. I didn't know it at the time but he also had an ear infection and sinus infection. So we fed him, gave him some meds and he went back to bed. Tyler and his cousin Kottan were playing and Tyler told him, "We have to be quiet because mine brother is blind!"

Tyler fell down the ladder of the trampoline and cut his lip open. There was blood but luckily didn't need stitches. He showed my mom the drops of blood outside and made a story about how it was rhino blood and then changed his mind and said it was people blood from a rhino attack. That night he told me he needed to sleep in my bed because of his "poor lip."

Jackson Jokes

Jackson has been talking a TON lately...

Today in the car he was going on and on about his Grandma Shauna. He told me, "My Grandma Shauna came to my house one day and she is my lady friend and she played money with me in my piggy bank" My mom confirmed the information about playing with the piggy bank but we aren't really sure where he came up with "lady friend" all I can think of is CARS2 when Mater meets Holly!

I love what comes out of his mouth lately. He cracks me up all day long.

The other day Jeff and the boys slept on the trampoline. Last night on the other hand, Jackson came into bed with me in the middle of the night and we were both too tired to move him. Even though he loves to sleep diagonally on top of us. So the next morning I was giving him a lecture. "Where are you supposed to sleep, Jackson?" He looked at me and smiled and said, "on the trampoline."