For the yearbook

It's too bad this picture is blurry. It's pretty sweet. My boy. In a dress up. With his pants around his ankles after a bathroom visit. It doesn't get much better than that. Oh wait....it just did...the fluffy princess shoes. This one's going in his senior yearbook for sure.

Friendship lasts forever

So when I went to BYU, I had these neighbors in the dorms. I suppose I was a bit of a goody goody and was bothered by their loud music and the fact that they had guys in their room against the honor code. I finally took the matter to our Room Attendant after trying to study amidst the loud music. She came into my room and shared a scripture with me. It was in Matthew 5. It talks about loving our enemies and even praying for them. It was a doink to the eyes. I thought she would go in there and lay down the law, but instead, being an inspired returned missionary, she did something that would change the course of my relationship with that neighbor forever. And so it began. I went next door and started talking to them. We talked about music we liked and classes we were taking, where we were from (we grew up in neighboring cities in southern California) among other things. Now when I was studying, I would just ask them to keep the music to a low and other times, I'd come over and we'd dance around the dorm to their loud music. One of those girls was Tiffany. We were an unlikely match when it comes to friends. She was a bit rebellious and I grew up a bit more straight arrow. She helped me break out of my shell and become more social, while reading scriptures became a more common occurrence in her life.
We would dress our selves up and go out on the town....in search for a Provo party. It was one of those nights that she did my hair and makeup and took me to a restaurant of my choice for a Friday night out (she had a car). And that is how I met Dan at Panda Express.

Our path took a strange course....one you might assume would take us apart, but somehow, through ups and downs, and dating the same guy at different times, things just worked out. And now, when we meet every few months, we pick right back up where we left off....and the best part? Our families are growing and we get to see our kids play together. There are some people who come into our lives at key times and help us to become who we are today. She is one of those. College life was fun in large part because of my friendship with Tiffany. Looking back, I see that that RA was led to tell me what she did and it is a lesson I will remember. Here's to you Tiff......I hope we can reminisce together until we're old about those good ole days at college. Love you!

Today's Checklist

9 AM: Get rice cereal sneezed in my face....Check
11 AM: Shower with tired screaming baby in background......Check
11:02AM: Shave legs with new razor and get tiny cuts everywhere......Check
11:30AM: Let baby suck on and then puke on necklace while still around my neck....Check
1 PM: Get grease all over my hands from trying to fix Cole's bike chain......Check
2 PM: Get peed on during pee sample collection from Alli's physical.....Check

All in a day's work.

3 is BUSY

When you have a baby squaking in the background....things just seem a little more hectic. That's when I enlist the kids' help. Most often the squaking comes from a hungry baby....and the kids have been looking forward to feeding Kaitlyn babyfood for months....so I let them. It helps me, and they like it. It does have it's drawbacks...their aim isn't always great. This cracked me up the other day.

Knock Knock Peeky Peeky

Just a little sneak peak at what I've been working on...I'm hoping to complete the room before the kid is a year old...sheesh!

Sympathy teething??

Um, so this Valentine's Day Allison decided it would be sweet of her to have sympathy teething with her little sister who has a tooth on the way, so she decided to grow one herself.
In the same place no less... before losing one...Oops. Hopefully she can wiggle one loose to make room so we don't have to get it pulled!!!! Who woulda thunk! Sisters...Siiiiiisters.
Happy Valentine's Day!Here's Mr. Cole after enjoying one of Nana's secretly delivered sugar cookies...And little miss love herself.

Birthday and a Date Night

Allison was my angel baby. She was by the book. She hardly ever cried. She only whimpered when she was hungry. She took a bottle. She took a binky. She went to everyone. She slept 8 hours at night at 8 weeks, and 12 hours at twelve weeks. She loved to be swaddled all the way until she was 11 months old! She took two 2-hour naps a day until she was 18 months old and has since taken 2 or 3 hour naps since....that's right, she'll still nap a few days a week for that long!
When I got pregnant with Cole, I was a bit nervous about how close in age they would be. Thankfully, Allison could communicate really well before Cole was born and I could meet her needs pretty easily. But then Cole was born, and so were Alli's tantrums. I found days where my blood would just boil at her meltdowns. I remember one day in particular, we left early from the park because she ran away from me into the street. She screamed so hard on the way home, I had to pull over half way and get out of the car to cool down. I remember feeling sad because I loved her, but I really didn't like her. She used to come into my room in the morning and just be so grumpy at me and the day hadn't even started. She LOVED her daddy...he could do no wrong (and still can't) and our relationship struggled. Until I found a key to it's undoing. And you'd think that since I've found the key that I'd use it all the time, but I just have to keep reminding myself. First, I started acting really chipper about everything...especially in the mornings...then I PRAISED her for every good thing she did....and it was then that she began to blossom. I still need to be better because I see how much good it brings out in her.
Now she is a smart, thoughtful, creative little girl. I love it when she gets this deep bout of laughter when she's being playful...I wish I could capture it in a bottle. She loves to help out...especially with the dishes, or doing odd chores like organizing things or putting stamps on envelopes. She loves to sing sing sing.....and she's actually really good at it. She also loves to dance to music...but she doesn't like dance classes. She's really into gymnastics. She finds an easy escape with markers and a coloring book. She loves to tell Cole what to do--he makes the perfect dog or monster, or daddy when they pretend.
I'm SOO SO happy we are at a new stage.


Sometimes I think- I have a 5 year old, what?! I can't believe how big she's getting....and how much she's learning. It seems like she's mastering one thing after the other day after day--tying shoes, learning to whistle and snap her fingers, writing letters, sounding out words...anything she puts her mind to, she learns it!
One tradition we had growing up in my family was date nights. My parents went out EVERY SINGLE Friday night on a date. But once a month, my parents took one of us 4 kids on a date with them. We got to choose where we ate and it was just us. We got to go on our birth month and then 2 other times during the year. I really looked forward to that individual time, and I'm so excited that my kids are getting old enough to where a date night would mean a lot to them. Alli turned 5 this year and she is a January birthday and we figured...what better way to start off the year than with a new family tradition. So we told Alli that we were taking her on a date and explained to Cole that he would have his date next month. She chose Oggi's to have stuffed stix. So off we went. She was so cute and excited. While we waited for our food, we let her open her birthday gifts from us. We ended up sitting near another couple with their 5 year old daughter. Her dad had won a few stuffed animals at the vending machine and I mentioned quietly to Dan that maybe he ought to give it a try. I think the dad saw what we were thinking and I saw him whispering to his daughter about giving one of her stuffed animals to Alli because it was her birthday. So the little 5 year old girl, hopped down from her seat and handed a stuffed teddy bear to Alli and wished her a happy birthday. It was the sweetest thing! Then, 3 teenage boys from another table nearby came over to our table and asked Alli if it was her birthday. I answered for her since she was too shy, and so they proceeded to sing happy birthday to her!! I mean teenage boys! It made her blush....and it made my day. After we stuffed ourselves with stuffed stix, Alli got a little ice cream birthday dessert and we headed home. She had been asking for a certain dessert for her birthday that I couldn't quite understand, and I finally figured out that we was asking for a snow cone. So right before bed, the birthday girl got a little homemade snow cone and then her birthday was complete. Here she is sporting her hew sparkly pink converse...And her new night gown
I think I'm gonna love five. It's definitely been a better age for our relationship in general. Just when things seem to be going great...she's going to head into Kindergarten and be away from me for half the day :( It will be bitter sweet.
This is where the joy is at....