Magic Poop

As most parents probably do, whenever we think Ethan has a stinky diaper, we check to make sure and then take him upstairs to change. Sometimes Kellin & friends he has over to play also notice when Ethan has a stinky diaper and so Kellin will check to see if he is poopy and then come tell me. Apparently, Ethan doesn't like this very much and so, being the very clever little boy that he is, told me one day, "mom, you can't see my poop. It's magic poop. You can't see it." So now, whenever I tell him he is stinky and needs a diaper change, he informs me, that no, he is not, it is magic poop and I can't see it. And me, being the very clever mom that I am, say, "Well, even if I can't see it, I sure can smell it and it smells stinky. It must be very stinky magic poop."

Easter 2010

As I packed our bags for Easter weekend I kept thinking, "this just isn't right". What isn't right you may ask?? Packing boots, scarves, heavy jackets, long pants & sweaters for Easter weekend, that's what is not right. But, such was our Easter this year as we headed from Sunny St. George to cold Springville for a weekend visit with Kade's family. Growing up in Southern California, my Easter memories are of green grass, flowers in bloom, warm, sunny weather, and egg hunts at a park somewhere. So packing for the snow just felt wrong. As we pulled up to the gas station to fill up before hitting the road, we noticed plenty of out-of-towners stepping out of their cars to bask in the warm sun, obviously visiting from Northern Utah to escape the snow and cold. And here we were, about to travel 3 hours North right into the cold. Along the drive, Looking out the window I noticed the gradual change from green to brown, from flowers to snow, from sunny skies to cloudy ones. And as we pulled into the driveway, I hesitated in the car for a few moments, shrugged on my winter coat, and braced for the cold. Now, anyone who knows me, knows I do not like cold weather. I spent several cold years in Northern Utah and as soon as Kade graduated school, I booked it out of there. Needless to say, I think we will surely invite Kade's family to our house next Easter.
But, I do have to say, that although the weather for our Easter weekend was awful, everything else about it was wonderful. Saturday morning we went to an Easter egg hunt at UVU, where Kade's dad works, and the boys had a great time decorating cookies, coloring, and collecting eggs. Kellin searched and searched for an egg with a golden ticket in it, and luckily pops had connections and was able to get both boys one. After the egg hunt we met up with our good friends the Fells and headed to Alpine to visit a special candy store to stock up on some Easter candy. The store is called The Peppermint Place and has some really great deals on super cute candy. Later that day we went back to kade's parents house and ate (of course) a delicious dinner and hung out with family & friends.
Easter morning we awoke to 6" of snow, so instead of saying Happy Easter, we all wished eachother "Merry Christmas" as the boys searched for their Easter baskets and eggs. The Easter bunny asked us to "reduce, reuse and recycle" this year, so the night before the boys put out their Easter baskets and each picked 20 eggs that we had from previous years and put those in their basket as well. Then, the Easter bunny filled their basket and their eggs and hid them for the boys to find. The Easter bunny would like us to do this every year, bonus - it saves mom some money at the store :) After collecting endless amounts of candy filled eggs, we ate a delicious breakfast and enjoyed and day of lots of yummy food and visiting with family. We headed back home Sunday evening. I was excited to get back to warm weather, but the boys insisted on taking a cup of snow home to Saint George, since we don't get much of that where we live (thankfully).
Another great part of the weekend was getting to finally meet our new baby niece, Maeley. Kade's sister Lonny had her several weeks ago and we finally got to see her adorable little face. She is a doll, and I am so happy for Lonny & Josh. Meeting her made me wish even more for a little girl of my own, and I really hope when I finally do get pregnant again, it will be a girl. It's a little strange, but I just know that I have a little girl waiting up there, and I really hope we get her some day.
Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend:

Decorating cookies at UVU.

Yummy frosting!

I see you!

Kellin & Maeley at the egg hunt.

Not too sure about the Easter bunny!

Coloring at UVU Easter egg hunt.

Kellin & Ethan with their eggs.

Searching for a golden ticket with grandma & pops.

Easter morning Egg hunt - I found a golden egg!

A golden egg with money!

Thanks Easter bunny!

Ethan & baby Maeley - Ethan loves babies!

Ethan pretending to give Maeley a bottle - so sweet!

Kade, Maeley, Ethan & Kellin

Child for sale...

This was definately the case last week - I don't know what was going on with my little Ethan but last week I seriously felt like someone had secretly exchanged my child for another one. Ethan has always been a very strong willed, determined child but let me tell you, last week, I seriously considered posting an ad on craigs list! Ok, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but he definately pushed my patience to the limit. All week he had this incredibly grumpy attitude, with just about every phrase including the word "no!" in it, and all the other phrases including the words, "I do it myself!" When I would talk to him about being nice and using kind words, he would turn his head, look away from me, and cross him arms over his chest! Honeslty, I feared for my sanity and thought oh my, how long is this going to last? What have I done wrong? Even Kellin was getting frustrated with him, and kept asking me why Ethan was being so mean. By the end of the week, I was so grateful I had a weekend trip planned with Kade and some friends. Unfortunate for my niece who agreed to watch the kids for us, but much needed for me. We returned on Sunday morning to the same grumpy, grouchy alien child and I thought, alright, I can do this. It's got to just be the terrible two's, this too shall pass! Then, a few hours later, trying to understand the dramatic shift in behavior, I put my finger in his mouth to feel around for new teeth and sure enough, two big molers are coming in the back. All I have to say is that when this kid is teething, he is a bear! The last time he was getting new teeth was when he had the biting problems at the day care and had to be "suspended" for a month! Thankfully, the teeth must have broke through overnight because yesterday morning we awoke to our sweet little Ethan. Seriously, it was amazing. Instead of "no!" it was "thank you mom" and instead of "I do it myself" it was ok, mom!" And I am not exaggerating! All day I just kept holding my breath hoping the monster Ethan wouldn't reappear. Even at bedtime, he was happy to get into his crib, didn't throw a tantrum, and went right to sleep. He played great with Kellin and even shared his toys with other kids at the splash pad. Who knows which child will wake up this morning, fingers crossed it's my sweet little Ethan, otherwise that ad really might show up on craigs list!

Kellin's First Race

Following in the tradition of his mom, Kellin ran his first race - it was a 1 mile run and he did awesome. We had originally signed him up for the 1/2 mile but decided to switch him into the mile since his friends were running in that one. I really thought he'd end up walking most of the way but he tried his best and ran as much as he could. He finished in just over 13 minutes and crossed the finish line with his good friend Braden. They even had bibs & timing chips and got to go get free food from the runner's court when they were done. I'm so proud of him! We've been trying to find a sport that Kellin seems interested in, so far no luck with tee ball and soccer. He has taken to swimming really well and also running, maybe he'll be one of those individual sports kind of kids, kinda like his mom! I tried out for softball & volleyball and didn't make either team (I blame the mean PE teacher/coach that hated me - Mrs. Davis!) so I ended up on cross country, track & swim team! All the sports I didn't have to try out for! Anyways, here are a few pics from his race day:

New Years 2010

This year we spent New Year's with our friends the Gilbert's & the Zimmer's at a cabin on Cedar mountain. We were excited when the Gilbert's called and invited us up for some snowmobiling fun! Kellin LOVED the snowmobile that Kaden & Kailey got for Christmas and now keeps asking, "Mom, why didn't Santa bring me a snowmobile?" Our only half decent response is, "well, Kellin, you didn't put that on your list." Thank heavens for that, because even if he had, I don't think Santa would've come through! Ethan didn't love the snowmobiles nearly as much as he loved walking around in the way too big for his head helmet that nearly pulled him to the ground everytime he put it on! We had a great time, thanks to our good friends. Kade and I really feel this should become an annual tradition - here's hoping! Here are some pictures from our fun weekend:

Christmas 2009 Photo Album

Make a Smilebox photobook

Christmas 2009

Alright I'd better get this post up before I can't remember what we did for Christmas this year; which, given my deteriorating mental state, is likely to happen sooner than rather than later. I don't know what it is about being a mom or getting older or maybe it's just me, but it seems like these days I can have a thought in my head about something I need to do, walk into a room to do it and then end up stading there, compltely blank, trying to remember why I am in there. So, anyways, on to Christmas. We traveled to the land of snow and cold, otherwise known as Utah County, for Christmas this year. After frantically wrapping all the presents and getting last minute stocking stuffers we loaded (and I mean loaded!) up our trusty Kia and headed up to the in-laws for a 4 day Christmas vacation. We love to visit family for the holidays, and I really love to go up to the snow for Christmas but I made a vow that this would be the last year we would travel for Christmas. It's just too much to get all those presents and clothes, snow gear, etc. packed up for a trip. I think instead we will try to do Christmas at home and then travel for either the days leading up to Christmas or the days following Christmas. I honestly don't think my kids have ever had a Christmas at home. Moving on, as soon as we arrived at Kade's parents house we could feel the Christmas spirit. Yummy smells of delicious food, grankids running everywhere, beautiful Christmas decorations, and of course, mounds of snow outside. I decided at that moment it would be perfectly fine with me in we just stayed inside their warm and cozy house for the duration of the weekend. But, of course, we ventured out into the snow. On Christmas eve we took all the grandkids up hobble creek canyon for some sledding which was sooo cold but also lots of fun. Kellin had a great time with his cousins and Ethan, well Ethan and I mostly enjoyed the warm fire they had going. Afterwards, we headed home for hot chocolate and lunch, which of course, at the Mathews' house is always fantastically delicious, as is every meal. Christmas eve night we had a yummy dinner, followed by roasting marshmallows in the backyard fire pit and smores! We opened a few presents with the kids, including the traditional pajamas that they get every year on Christmas eve of course.
On Christmas morning the boys came down stairs to their Santa gifts which included a Nintendo DS Lite for Kellin and a scooter, among other things, for Ethan. It was a crazy Christmas morning with bows, ribbon and wrapping paper flying everywhere. The boys had a great time although Kellin had to learn the lesson that when you ask for an expensive gift like a DS, there's not a lot of other gifts to open. Tough lesson, but I think we all learned that at some point in our lives, after all, Santa has a budget too!! We lazily spent the day playing with toys, the Wii, eating lots more yummy food, and napping. Kellin played the DS almost nonstop the entire day and Ethan, of all the toys he got, loved a Handy Manny flashlight he got from my brother. We had a delicious Christmas dinner, literally eating ourselves through the night.
By Saturday, I was finally ready to leave the comfy, cozy house and do something. So we headed over to the Wilk for some family bowling fun! The boys had a great time with the pops & g-ma and actually bowled some pretty decent scores. Then it was over to the mall for some lunch and shopping. Later that night we were invited over to our good friends the Fell's for a traditional Boxing Day dinner. Boxing day is an English holiday that we have been so blessed to have gotten to share with the Fell's a few times. They cooked a fabulous meal of turkey, potatoes and veggies and an incredibly decadent chocolate dessert that I literally could have bathed in! Seriously, it was sinful to eat but oh so good! Kellin and Ethan had a great time playing with their two daughters, Addy & Lauren, while we caught up with our friends.
It was a great Christmas weekend and we really feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. From Kade's family to our wonderful friends, we really couldn't enjoy our visit more.