Things you should know about St. George in the Summer

So, if you go outside before 8 am, it's pretty nice. Any time after that, stay inside, unless you're wet. And just so you know, the water comes out of the hose warm... all the time. You can not get cold water out of a tap or hose, which is really nice for the kids when they are playing in the water.

Cheesecake Mania... I hope your mouth is watering!

We had a shower in St. George for my future sister-in-law, Sydney. I thought it would be fun to try my hand at making cheesecake. My good friend, Cami, is the cheesecake expert (and I had never made cheesecake), so I enlisted her help, It was fun and I think I could do it again. And they all turned out yummy! I made a marbled strawberry, almond poppy seed and snickers. I liked the almond poppy seed the best. And they look rather fancy schmancy.

Blood Bath

So, as a reward for peeing in the potty all week, Brenner got to pick a prize at Target. He decided that he wanted this fizzy bath tablets that turn the water the color of the tablet. They are a great teaching tool. If you put a blue one and a yellow one in the tub together, you get green water. If you put the whole container of them in the tub, you get kind of a reddish purple color (one would suppose that it should be brown, but it was more of a dark purple). Brenner thought he should fill up the container with water and it started fizzing and boiling over into the tub. We tried to rescue the $7 bottle of tablets and dry them out so we could use them again. Anyway, it freeked Brenner out, so we only have pics of Joren in the blood bath.

I can't live without my internet!!!

So, we had our internet go out last week on Thursday. We thought we checked everything, but then we went to St. George for a long weekend. When we came back and it still didn't work, we called a repairman to come out. You would never have guessed that one of the kids just knocked the cable out from the wall.... how dumb are we to not check that!!! So, we're back and up and running. I will put some stuff on there from last week that I really wanted to post, but couldn't.

Mac-n-cheese Boogers!

Sometimes I just don't know what to do with this kid. He is so cute and he looks so sweet and innocent, but he definitely has some sort of spark in his eyes. Today for lunch we had Mac-n-cheese. After getting bored with his food and not wanting to eat any more, he decided to stick the noodles up his nose. I think his nose is still full of boogers... gross.

Sticky Feet

Joren is such a crazy little toddler. I can not believe that this kid can climb up a slide at 18 months. He is such a little monkey!

Puzzled?

Brenner is so amazing at doing puzzles. He will sit there and do them over and over again (nice for mom that he can entertain himself.) He currently has 6 puzzles and has to do them all at once. Then he will take them apart and put them away.

Potty Training Day 3 Part 1

I'm sure there's more than part 1. But I just have to say that Brenner woke up with a DRY pull up and went pee pee first thing this morning. What a super boy!!! And this is after my stress last night. He took a late nap and ended up peeing in his pull up. So, of course, I told him we would go to walmart after he peed. He never needed to pee, so we didn't go to walmart and I didn't want to put a pull up on him because I wanted him to pee in the potty before he went to bed. Needless to say, he ended up with a pull up on and it was still dry this morning. Wow, this kid must not need to pee much.

Oh boy!!! Potty training time... Day 2

I know these posts are just moments apart, but I didn't have time to write last night and I don't know if I will tonight. I knew day 1 was too good to be true and today would be hard. Brenner does okay with the pee pee thing... for the most part (he just had his first accident). However, he has Poo pooed in his pants every time he has had to poo. So, all of you experienced moms out there, how do I get him to poop in the potty??????

Oh boy!!! Potty Training time.... Day 1

So, we decided that we were going to start the week out with potty training. We got Brenner are geared up by warning him a couple of days before and getting him excited about it. Monday morning was the day. He did great. He couldn't figure it out at first, but pretty soon he filled the whole potty. With much persistance from mom asking him every 30 seconds if he needed to potty, he did really great. He would maybe spot his undies just a little, but then ask to pee in the potty. We didn't have any accidents all day and he would ask to go pee. So far so good, but who knows what's in store for the rest of the week and beyond.

I love brother, he loves me... we are a happy family!

We thought we should try to take a family photo today. So, after church, we headed up millcreek canyon with Lucas, Shellie and Legacy for a BBQ. We kept our church clothes on so we could get a pic. It turned out okay. I guess it will tide us over until we get around to trying to get one taken professionally. I just can't stop thinking about how Brenner and Joren almost got into a brawl during sacrament meeting. Joren found a piece of candy on the floor and picked it up to show to us. (Don't mind the fact that my kids eat strange candy that they find on the floor, because that is not part of this story.) Brenner wanted that candy so bad, he was literally trying to grab it out of Joren's mouth and throwing a royal fit. Ryan had to hold him to keep him away and finally had to take him out in the hall. Joren, sits there eating his candy with a very smug grin on his face. He loves to torture his older brother. I love brother, he loves me... we are a happy family!!!

Joren loves Legacy

Joren just loves his baby cousin, Legacy. He got a hold of a picture of her today and proceded to kiss it. Very Cute!!!

All Day Crop!

As busy as I sometimes think I am, I love it when I can find time to scrapbook with my friend Cami. For some reason, we can get our kids together, have them play, and we can scrapbook. One may think that when you have 6 hours in a day to scrabook, that you would get more done than 4 layouts. However, when you have 5 kids that you are trying to feed, entertain, get toys for, help clean up toys, clean up food, clean up messes, keep them from killing each other, etc. sometimes, you don't get as much done as you would like. But it is still one of my most favorite days of the week, when we both have time to have a crop.

I am actually pretty up to date on all of my scrapbooking. This layout is of Joren learning how to stand up after he learned how to walk.


This layout is of Brenner and his love for ASPARAGUS. What a weird thing for a kid to love (however, I have always loved it.)


This layout is of Joren's first flight. It's too bad that Brenner had been on a plane at least twice by the age that Joren finally got to fly anywhere.


This layout is of my boys obsession with rocks. Which you probably already know about from some of my blog posts.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!

Yesterday Brenner was downstairs watching TV and I thought he was going to take a nap. I was upstairs playing on the computer, and the next thing I know....I hear, "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo." He kept playing and singing. I went downstairs and he was building his train tracks and playing with the trains. It was so cute to see him actually play by himself.

I've always wanted a dog... NOT!

Oh... little Joren. I guess he was thirsty. Yumm Yumm.

Bring on the rain!!!

On Tuesday night we had our enrichment activity. For the 2nd year in a row we did a Home and Garden Show. People in the ward and neighborhood showed their home or yard and then we had dessert at the end. My home and yard got to be in the show. Thanks to Melissa taking the kids, and hiring a housekeeper, I got my house all cleaned. I EVEN GOT THE WINDOWS WASHED. Therefore, you can thank me for the rain (at least if you live in northern Utah.) My house was perfect for one night. I even lit candles. It didn't last long because little Joren broke the glass on one of the candles and spilled lemonade all over the kitchen chairs and floor, first thing in the morning. But it was nice while it lasted.

We can't take this kid anywhere!

Joren is a crazy little boy. I don't know why we continue to take him out to eat. He is always throwing food, won't sit at the table and runs all over the restaurant. He usually dumps out the salt and pepper and always just makes a huge mess. In these pics (taken by Ry's cell phone), he is eating JAM! What a crazy kid.

My Baby is 18 months

I took Joren to get his 18 month pics taken today. I'm amazed at how great they turned out considering he can't hold still for 2 seconds. He got these cute little animals this morning and doesn't want to put them down. So, they got to be in most of the pictures. The cutest thing was he would put them on the top of the ladder, then he would climb up and throw them off the ladder. He is a lot of fun to have around and keeps us amused all the time.

2 peas in a pod

These two boys of mine are so similar (and yet so different). I looked back at them today in their car seats. In their left hand, they both were holding something that they were chewing on (Joren a pencil eraser and Brenner his blanket). With their right hand, they were both playing (or picking at) their toes. This pic is of them both taking a nap in my bed. So similar (and yet so different).

RRrrrrr!

Joren loves animals. He loves to look at books with animals and he loves to carry around and play with his plastic animals. I was trying to keep him out of my hair one day, so I put him up on Brenner's top bunk and tossed up some animals for him to play with. When I came in to check on him, he had the cows head in the alligators mouth and was growling! I guess alligators eat cows.

Our Little Fishy

I signed Brenner up for swimming lessons and couldn't even get him near the water on his first day of class. (I'm sure it had something to do with a scary stranger as his teacher.... Brenner is a little shy at times.) Later that week his dad got him in the water with his spiderman life jacket and he has loved swimming ever since. He doggy paddles all over the pool. He's so cute to watch him run and jump in. He gets all ready-- gets his nose plugged and eyes closed. Then, he starts running, but has to keep stopping to open his eyes and look. Finally he gets to the edge of the pool and closes his eyes and jumps in. It is so cute!!!

My baby brother is getting married!

Logan is getting married. His fiance is Sydney. She is a really cute girl and they seem very happy. The big date is set for Aug. 17th!!!

Fireworks!!!

The 4th of July was rather fun this year. Brenner was so excited for fireworks (as long as he didn't have to hold them and they weren't loud). He especially loved the snakes that grow and the flowers. He would even let Ryan light them in his hand so that he could throw them out in the street and let them spin. He had a hard time waiting for it to get dark to light them. Joren didn't quite understand the concept of fire and I think he got mildly burned a few times. But he loves any activities that involve him being outside.

I can't handle the peer pressure!!!

I guess I shall join the band wagon and create a blog. I don't even know what it is, but I suppose I get to put pics of my boys (including Ryan) on a webpage for everyone to view. Don't expect to see it updated often. But I will try.