My New Reality

My friend Denae has an ongoing series on her blog about her approaching the age 30. Denae is one day older than me so naturally I love to read about what she is going through to see if I in fact have a 30 year old body. My 30th birthday is one month and 18 days away. The past few years I have been really looking forward to this day because I hate the looks from others who find out I have a 6 year old and I am still in my 20's. That is not that weird, but so many people these days wait to have kids that by the time their kids are 6 most are over 40. So anyway, I have been excited to be 30 to not feel like the teenage mom in some groups. I thought I was doing pretty good, but I am starting to feel the effects of getting older.

I am starting to notice wrinkles that weren't there before. I have always been a morning person, but it seems like if I get up at my 5am time more than twice a week I am just dead. I used to be able to do this at least 4 times a week and at night when Dallin is finally sleeping I just want to fall into bed.

Last year I pulled a muscle in my rear-end and I just can't shake it. It seems to come back with a vengeance every few months. I limp around like an old lady and make Jeff give me 2 hour massages (you really are a saint babe, Jeff is 6 weeks younger than me, just wait sweetie.) It is starting to feel better but man is that a painful injury. My sister has the same problem, maybe it's genetic to age this way.

I have had two root canals this past year and fillings that keep falling out, ON MY FRONT TEETH!!!! (I want veneers) I have TMJ, or to those who don't know what this is, I feel like I have a broken jaw sometimes.

I have always been someone who has bags under their eyes. I think this is genetic too. I try everything to alleviate this but my whole life they have been there and I think they are getting worse :(

I still want to be 30 and look forward to "growing up". We are going to buy our first home this year and we will finally be settling into a more permanent life, but it is hard to realize that your mind is still 18 but your body isn't. I am thankful that I don't have gray hair!!! I hope that doesn't come for a long time.

What are we going to do with him?!

This may be the cutest face you have ever seen, but boy can this little guy get into some trouble. As a lot of my friends and family know Dallin is a very picky eater. I try to ignore this fact, but that is what it is a fact. The other night we were having a great fruit salad full of raspberries, pineapple and blueberries. I was sure that he would love to try one of these great fruits. I started with a raspberry which he did put in his mouth but would not swallow. After about 5 minutes he spit it out. We then tried pineapple and ultimately the dreaded blueberry. I was determined to make him at least try a piece of fruit, because I was sure he would love it if he just tried it. After many tears he finally got down from the table but did not eat the blueberry. This was on Sunday and we were going to have chocolate cake for dessert because it was Father's Day and that is Jeff's favorite dessert. I told him he could not have cake unless he ate one blueberry. The blueberry sat on the table for the rest of the night and stayed there. We all had cake and I was firm that he could not have cake. He put up a fight but I was strong. He finally forgot and we got ready for bed.

With daylight savings our kids go to bed later so we finally got them in bed around 9. Dallin kept getting up and dawdling. Around 9:45 we thought he was finally asleep and Jeff and I were asking each other what we were going to do with this child. We were only discussing this for a few minutes when Dallin came out of his room with chocolate cake all over his face. This little sneak had gotten up one last time without either of us knowing. How he did this I do not know since we live in a tiny apartment, but that is beside the point, he had gotten up on the counter stolen a cupcake and brought it back to his bed and eaten the whole thing and gotten crumbs everywhere!!!! He had a time out and a good cleaning and a talking to and Jeff and I began comisserating again, what are we going to do with him?!!!?

Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers in my life

Today is a special day for our little family.It is Father's Day and we get to celebrate all of the Father's in our lives. I will start with their own father, my sweetheart who my kids get to call their wonderful daddy. I don't think my kids could love their daddy more than they do. They look for any excuse to be with him and if they had it their way he would be home and playing with them 24 hours a day. If they hear a garage door around dinner time they think it is their dad and if it isn't they are very disappointed. When he does get home they scream and run around and immediately ask him if he wants to play cars, hide and seek and go searching for wild rabbits. (There are a ton of those in CO) I couldn't ask for a kinder, gentler man for my kids to call Daddy. He really is the perfect guy and I love everything about him, but especially the way he fathers his children. As you can see in this picture my kids never get tired of being with him
whether it be on an adventure or just hanging out at home. Thanks hon for being the kind of man they can look up to and emulate.

Here is a photo of Alexa with my dad way back in 2004!!! I couldn't find a picture with just him and the kids. Dad, next time we are together I need you to step in front of the camera instead of always being behind it. I couldn't ask for a better dad! You were always there for me growing up whether it was for a soccer game, schoolwork or just telling me how proud you were of me. I truly look up to you and the way you always have a positive outlook on life. You are such a hard worker and you go after what you want and always taught your children to do the same. I love how sweet and wonderful you are with my kids. They always want to hang out with you and read a book or play silly games on your Mac. You truly are an amazing father and grandfather and we love you so much.
Another amazing father in our lives just left us a few days ago. Jeff's grandfather passed away this Friday and we are going to miss him so much. He was such a sweet man and we will never forget how wonderful he was. Papa Dee always had a smile and a hug for you as soon as he saw you. He wanted to know what you were up to and how he could help you along the way. I loved to watch him with his sweet wife Melba who we all call Nana and see how much he truly loved her. Papa Dee taught his children and his grandchildren how important it is to work in life. He took his own advice and was always working on something. He had a wonderful business, which he had to give up a few years ago, but that didn't stop him from working. He always had a project going in the yard and just last year when his health had already started to fail he built a beautiful deck in their backyard. Papa Dee also had a beautiful singing voice. I remember the first Easter after we got married we went to a sunrise devotional with Jeff's family and I was blown away at how powerful and grand his voice was. From then on everytime I hear Easter hymns I think of Papa Dee and how he was able to bring the Spirit into our lives. He had such great faith and knew that the Lord knew what he was doing and would bless his family as he saw fit. He lived life to the fullest and showed each and every person he knew that we were here on this earth for a purpose. We all have different missions, but we were to go out in this life and find out what our purpse was.

A few years ago I was living in Utah working through a certain trial of my own while at the same time Papa Dee was going through some health issues himself. Every time I saw him he had words of encouragement for me and he told me how beautiful I was and how he knew that I was strong enough to overcome this trial that had come to me. He would always give me a hug and tell me how much he loved me and how proud of me and Jeff he was.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to see him one last time. One morning I had the chance to sit alone with Papa Dee and hold his hand while he slept. He was asleep for about 20 minutes and every few minutes he would squeeze my hand and I knew he was glad that I was there. When he woke up he looked and me and said "Who is this beautiful woman holding my hand?" Even though he had had some major strokes he could still crack a joke and tell me that I was beautiful (He had had some strokes, but he knew who I was, he said this with a smile on his face.) Papa Dee was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. You have left a legacy of hard-working, loving, talented people behind and we will miss your smiling face. We love you Papa Dee, Happy Father's Day!!!

Thank you to all the father's in my life I hope you have a great day.

Papa Dee's favortie photo that would make him smile even when smiling was almost impossible because of the strokes.

Alexa drew him a picture

He loved it!

Dallin was sharing his goldfish with Papa Dee, they were both having a ball. Here he is giving him a big hug, he loves him so much.

More cute pictures of Papa Dee

My Baby's Three!!!!

These pictures aren't from today, but I am too tired from such a fun filled day to upload pictures. We had such a great day with our little birthday boy. This morning we went to play at the gym and then headed to get a donut at our favorite donut shop. After we had full tummies we headed over to the park to burn off the calories but it was too cold, go figure on June 11, so we went bowling. Dallin loves to bowl. He gets so excited when he gets even a few pins down. Then later tonight we had presents with Daddy and went out for ice cream. Dallin had such a fun day that it is now almost 10 and he is still up wanting to play with his new toys. ( pictures of the new toys will be forthcoming.) I want to tell Dallin how much he means to me. Some things that I love about Dallin in no particular order are:

1. His excitement for life. He always wants to know what is going on and he wants to be a part of it.

2. He has the cutest smile in the world.

3. He always says "thank you"

4. He is a great snuggler

5. He gives great kisses and hugs.

6. He is a great friend.

7. Our house if always a little more exciting with Dallin around.

8. He loves to be a total boy, he loves cars and airplanes and as of late pirates, arrghh!!

9. He loves to come into our room in the morning and snuggle with us until we get up to get him something to eat.

10. He loves to have his back scratched and if you do he will definitely hang out with you as long as you want him to.

11. He has a blast with his sister when he is not tormenting her.

12. He is such a good boy. He wants to do what is right and be kind to others.

We love you so much little guy and we are so glad that you are part of our family. It has been such a blessing to be your mother, you have taught me so much and I can't remember when you weren't part of my life. I love you, Happy Birthday!!!1

Girls Night Out

This last week was pretty crazy with potty training and such and I felt the need to reconnect with my little girl. Alexa goes on tons of dates with her daddy and I thought it would be fun for us to spend some alone time together. I came up with this idea and then read two different blog posts about other people doing the same thing. I guess it was a good week to hang out with your kids one on one.

Here's the rundown of our date. Jeff came home and we hightailed it out of the house without the boys. Alexa loves to go out to eat at Chili's. Every time we pass by one she asks if we can go so that is where we went. She had pasta and corn on the cob. This little one loves corn on the cob so much. While we were sitting at dinner I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and she said "Mom, you know I want to be an artist." I said I just wanted to see if that was still what she wanted to do. She said of course. I asked her what kind of art she wanted to do and she said. "I want to do it all, and people can buy it." This girl really knows what she wants! She also knows that she has to sell it to make it a job, what a smartie. She really is a good artist and I can't wait to see her talent grow. I have a ton of artwork on my dresser that needs to be framed, that is how good she is.

After we finished our great dinner we headed over to Target to buy a fairy Barbie, which she is obsessed with right now and we bought a treat. She really wanted root beer barrels, but we couldn't find them so we got root beer Jelly Bellies, not quite the same but they were good. Then we headed home and chatted the whole way home. We had so much fun just being together. She is a crack up, she talked the whole time and she loved being out alone without a little brother hogging all the attention.

I loved having real alone time with her. I know I am home with her all day everyday, but it just isn't the same when there is laundry, dishes, cleaning, a little brother and all the other things in life around. She is growing up too fast and I just don't want to miss it. I hope to keep this up and have a girls night at least once a month. We might just go for a walk or to get an ice cream cone, but at least the girls will be together.

p.s. Alexa looks like she is winking in the photo, she has such a hard time keeping her eyes open with the flash.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!

The day has come! We have bribed him and danced with him and sang songs. We have told him what big boys do and told him he had to be patient and it would work. Today was finally the day that our little guy actually went(#2) in the potty!!!!!!! We were all cheering and he got the car that was promised to him. We told him that if he went a few more times he would get another car and we are hoping that this is it and that he will be fully trained. He is fully trained in the (#1) department by the way. Way to go little guy. I recently saw an episode of John and Kate plus Eight in which she took a picture of her kids with their first (#2) victory. I thought I would spare us all that wonderful sight, but it truly was a great moment. I now have two kids fully potty trained, no more diapers in this house. Maybe it's time for another one.

Where is it?

I for the life of me cannot find our little digital camera. I got an SLR camera for my birthday last year and I have loved taking photos with it, but sometimes it is so nice to just throw a little camera in your diaper bag for those little moments where a larger camera is just not practical. I have turned my whole house upside down looking for this little piece of technology. I miss pulling it out to capture my kids jumping into the pool or taking it to the baseball game(which we went to last night and I was being lazy and didn't want to babysit the SLR.) If you have seen my camera please let me know. I am really hoping that as we do our spring cleaning to move yet again we will finally find our little gem. For now I am just frustrated and mad that I cannot remember where I put it!!!!!

Potty Update: I'm a Big Kid Now!

So, we have had quite the crazy past few days. Sunday was okay. We didn't have any accidents at church, but that is because Jeff and I took him to the bathroom about every 20 minutes. But, after church we went to some friends house for dinner and he had two accidents there, one involving poop. Monday was pretty good, but we had a seriously yucky poop accident at the gym. Yesterday he told Jeff once that he needed to go potty and I reminded him all day and it was okay. But, today has been great! He has told me twice that he needs to go and he has gone and he was dry the whole time we were at they gym!!! He hasn't gone poop yet today but I am hopeful that he will tell me and make it to the potty. This is the fifth day and I think he is getting the hang of it. He can take everything off himself and he is even washing his hands on his own. He is growing up right before my eyes. He still has to wear a pull-up at naptime and at bedtime, but this morning the pull up was only slightly wet. I can't believe he is actually doing it.

Dallin will be three next week and I think this is a perfect way to celebrate his three years as a part of our family. He is such a doll and he even does a potty dance when he goes. I will post the video when I figure it out. Here's to a diaper free home!!