Our Fortune

The other day, Jeff brought home chinese food. It's always a happy day when there's orange chicken and rice involved. "wice" as Tyler says each time we drive by Panda Express.

A couple hours later, Tyler found the fortune cookie and we cracked it open. Here's our conversation:

"Oh, you want the cookie?"

"Me do"

"Ok, you open it."

"Paper," as he hands it to me.

"Your financial situation will soon improve." I read

"YAY!" tyler yelled excitedly!

I couldn't stop cracking up. I talk to my kids all day long; read them things, talk about what I'm doing or about to do and make jokes. Usually no one laughs at my jokes or replies to my constant jabbering. Now I am getting replies and having conversations with my 2 year old. I LOVE it! Tyler has been so fun to be around lately, he is really my little pal!

PROOF

For those of you who keep hearing how much my boys look like their dad, here's the proof:

Jeff: 10 months old

Jeff with momma Judy: 2 years old

Let's just hope the girl(s) look like me!

((Wait, I'm having more kids? Just kidding.))

My cute little disgusting messy boy

I forgot what it was like to have smashed carrots and peas all over the house after each meal! Now I remember giving Tyler a bath 3 times a day when he was about this age. We are at that point now with Jack Jack. Lucky for me he is a GREAT eater. Each meal consists of 1 container of food and 2 or 3 TBS of rice or oatmeal cereal. Plus he's doing juice bottles, but those usually end up on the front of his shirt for some reason...
Anyway, I've decided its easier to feed him naked. Here's why:

And then we just take a bath. He loves sitting up and splashing in 1 inch of water:

Man, I love this kid!

Not too much goin' on...

It's too hot outside to leave the house past 12. We do errands in the morning and then try to entertain ourselves all afternoon. Today I spent hours on the computer doing some designing for kirstikoo product packaging. At one point, Tyler was playing with water in the sink and those little capsules that turn into sponge animals. I was telling myself how worth it it was that I got a few packs from the Target dollar section, because it kept him busy for a long time. Even Jackson was content laying in the hallway between the bathroom and office lulled by the sound of running water. At one point, Tyler came into the office and said, "uh oh, wawie spilled." He says this anytime he gets a drop of water on his shirt, so I just said, "it's ok" without looking up from the computer. He repeats it about 20 times, getting louder and adding a mommy to the the beginning, middle and end of the sentence ("Mommy, uh oh! Mommy, wawie spilled, MOMMY!")
and then I started getting worried. I ran to the bathroom to find the water overflowing from the sink, over the counter and onto the floor (I have carpeted bathrooms.) I screamed! and tried to ask Tyler why he didn't tell me sooner when I remember I answered, uh huh or ok about a thousand times!
I cleaned it up and told myself it was break time! aka, time to stop ignoring the kids!
TYLER's new favorite movie right now is Jungle Book, not the animated kind, the one with real animals. He loves the monkey part with the snake and always pretends that the snake bites him during the movie. Silly boy!
JACKSON is rolling across the room and also scoots to whatever toy or object he wants. He does it catepillar style; he pulls up on his knees and then flops down on his tummy. It's pretty funny to watch!
Well, that's pretty much the update. Jeff's working 100 hour days again, so I don't get to see him very often, but oh well. The boys keep me busy and having fun!

This is where I should be, but am not!

Awwww, I feel relaxed just looking at it, the place I used to go yearly for a week of fun and relaxment (is that a word?). Anyway, my parents and sibling are there (without me!) right now and today was the first day that I would give anything to transport my body to Lake Powell. It's only noon and its been one of those days.

The only thing that keeps me from being super sad is that I know it would be super hard to be there with 2 kiddos. So I am at home reminding myself how nice it is to be keeping regular naptimes and sleeping in my own bed!

My Simple Testimony

Today during sacrament meeting at church, Tyler ran up to the stage and played a few keys on the piano before Jeff was able to grab him. (I know, I hid my face behind Jackson.) Jeff stayed up and bore a beautiful testimony of the gospel. I felt his strength and it strengthened me.

I've been thinking about what I know and why I love the church I belong to...

I know that God is my Heavenly Father, that He loves me and wants me to be happy. I love that I can pray to Him whenever and wherever I need to and that my prayers are always answered. Whether it be through a feeling of peace or an obvious miracle.

I know that Jesus Christ is His Son, my Redeemer and my Savior. He suffered through the atonement and a painful death so that I can enjoy the atonement, and happiness even though I am imperfect. His death and resurrection bare testimony to me that I will one day be resurrected and can live through eternity with my family.

I'm so grateful for the promise of eternal families.

I'm grateful for the scriptures which lead me and give me confidence daily that I can do what I need to do and am given strength because of reading them.

I know that modern day prophets are called of God and that they are able to give us revelation; messages that our Heavenly Father wants us to hear; words that can uplift us.

I'm thankful for the sabbath, a day like today where I'm able to worship the Lord and thank Him for all my blessings and find a new strength at the end of the day and feel refreshed.

I know that as I am obedient and do the small and simple things I am asked to do, I am blessed. That the blessings I receive far exceed the work I do, the effort I put into my life. I cannot do it alone and I don't have to. I am always blessed when I think of Him first.

Some days, I feel like angels lead me to where I am supposed to be. That they carry me through the day and above the stress to find the big picture of life. That I am here to find joy and to give joy. To love others and to feel loved. To receive help at the hard times and to serve others when I can. I love the gospel. I love the feelings I get when I do the right thing and daily recommit myself to righteousness.

Shark, bite!

Ever since the aquarium visit, Tyler has been obsessed with sharks. We left his stuffed animal at the JcPennys photo place, and I went back to go get it this morning. After we got home from the long drive plus traffic and errands, this was our conversation:

Me: say thank you to mommy for getting your shark back

Tyler: thank you mommy

Me: for?...

Tyler: five!

I was cracking up, and he was so proud of himself! That was thank you enough!

Target dollar section just happened to have shark plates and cups. Coincidence? I think not!!

Bye-bye Nanie

Lanie went home yesterday morning and it was a sad day. We had a blast together and I'm going to miss her until I see her again. Tyler has talked about her all day and said things like:

"N0, Nanie do." When I would wash his hands. I guess this was on her job list for the past few days.

"Nanie Bye-bye." Sadly a few times throughout the day.

and as we were getting ready for bed, I grabbed the super cute frog book she got him from the aquarium. It has googly eyes that pop out and a funny lyrical story. As I started reading, he said,

"yay, Nanie book!"

I love that my kids got to spend some time with the grandma that I grew up with just down the street. It was wonderful to catch up on life with her and for her to see what my life is like now. I love you Lanie!!

6 Months!

How is that possible?

Well its almost half way through the year already, how weird is that? Here is my little baby at 6 months old. It confused me a little on February 28th when to celebrate his 2 months, since he was born on the 31st. The last day of the month or the 3rd day of March? I never thought about that before he was born.

Anyway...

On July 1 (pretty much June 31st!) We took him to get his 6 month photos. I don't have them yet, or I'd show you how cute they turned out. Here's one I took of my little Jack Jack yesterday.

His shirt says "turtley cool" which I think is turtley adorable!

Jackson is 17 lbs, 13 oz at 6 months.

Dallas World Aquarium

On Tuesday, we set out to see all things aquatic at the Dallas World Aquarium. It was pretty cool...

We started (and ended) with the sharks (cuz they were so cool!)

Tyler kept yelling "nine" and "booboo" when he'd see this one. (nine=knife). It looks just like the hedge trimmer Jeff has in our garage that we tell him he will get booboos if he touches it! Ouch.

This little birdie was hungry, so we gave him one of Jackson's dissolvable corn puffs. He thanked us by posing for a picture. Thanks "burpie."

The waterfall by the penguins and lizards, another one of our favorite areas.

You can't see it very well, but there is a crocodile behind us. This was just a few minutes after they scared Tyler and a bunch of kids almost to tears!!

...So there were two crocodiles sun bathing right next to the glass. Their bodies were half in the water, half out so we could see them very well. All of a sudden, one crocodile freaked out and suddenly whipped his head around which scared the other one and they both flipped around and splashed water higher than the kids' heads. They all screamed and I saw Tyler run in place for a few seconds before he knew what to do. Then he grabbed my legs and said, "aligada bite!" They were only inches away when that happened and right at eye level, so I don't blame them all for screaming! It was really funny. I kept hearing random people talk about it for the rest of the day.

I think the chameleon was my favorite. His colors were beautiful! It reminded me of the chameleon at the beginning of the Curious George movie when George plays ring around the rosie with animals and the lizard keeps changing colors so often that he goes dizzy and falls over! This guy had every color on him. It was cool!

Jackson looking up at the turtles and manatees.

All of us after visiting the gift shop. Tyler picked a shark and has been obsessed with it ever since!

We had so much fun. I miss Lanie already. Come back soon!!

4th of July Celebration

Jackson was a little grumpy after our walk to the park. It was about a mile away and 100 degrees outside, so I don't blame the poor guy. He's also trying to get over an ear infection, so he was pretty uncomfortable.

Lanie and I have been having fun all weekend. It's nice to have an extra pair of hands around the house and with the kids and we've been having fun visiting and catching up.

Jackson perked up during the fireworks and enjoyed the bright lights

Tyler was so excited for the "pya woks!"

our little family

the finale was amazing- they coordinated the music to the fireworks- it was an amazing show and a really fun night!

Lots of SAND

Laguna Beach has always been my favorite place to vacation! We got to go for a day and enjoy the nice relaxing weather, warm waves and fun SAND!

building, and of course, destroying SAND castles

laying on the warm SAND after a dip in the ocean,

eating a yummy, but probably crunchy SANDwhich,

and even a visit from the SANDman!!

Jackson slept almost the whole time we were there- great idea mom to bring the packnplay to the beach!

More Beach Pictures

The best part of our beach day was the great company! Here is part of the Ingalls family, my cousins that I grew up with in Claremont. Andy, Alicia and my aunt Terri. I also got to see Sarah for the wedding and Micah comes home from his mission in August!

My mom and the matching cousins, Isaac and Tyler

Tyler loved the waves. He would scream everytime they came but wasn't really afraid of them. We had fun jumping over the waves!

Melonie and cute little Isaac

Grandma Nauna and my little Jackson

The funniest thing happened on the way home. We got the car all packed up and of course the kids are exhausted. Tyler looked at me with half opened eyes and said, "Mama, bappuice." (apple juice- his last request during naptime or bedtime to stall the inevitable.) I was about to tell him I didn't have any, when he blinked twice and fell asleep for good. It was so funny!

We had such a fun day!

Clark Family Fun

We were so blessed to see my family and Jeff's family during our California vacation. Jeff's family is from Pheonix and only about 5 hours away, so they drove in to get their Jeff fix. It was awesome to see both my dad and Jeff's dad, and both my grandparents on Father's Day. Especially since we don't get to see family very often, it made for a very special day.

Papa Ken (Jeff's dad) with Jeff and Jackson

Jeff's little sister Kendi came up with her two kids; Kloey and Kottan. Kloey and Jackson are about 3 weeks apart and Tyler and Kottan are about a year apart. The boys had tons of fun playing together.

Grandma Judy with Tyler and Kottan

It was so awesome to see Kaylynn and Chad, Kendi and Kevin and Ken and Judy! We even got to see Jeff's cousin Natalie for a couple hours. We love you guys!!

More posts coming soon!

Jeff and I have had an amazing time together in California! We celebrated Katie's big day on Saturday, and Father's Day on Sunday. Jeff's family even got to come so we've had tons of fun with family all weekend! Now Jeff is back to work and I'm still here playing with my family. Yesterday we went to the beach and tomorrow we are going to the lake. My grandma Lanie is coming back to Texas with me on Thursday so the fun will be extended another week as she visits us! More pictures coming soon!