"HOP"py Easter!

We had a great Easter this year. It was so fun having the boys older and getting more into it. Sam was all about Easter and James followed suit.
We started our Easter preparations/celebrations on Monday with Family Night. We had a great lesson on the Resurrection of Christ. We had fun visuals from the nursery manual that really helped the boys see what we were talking about.
We finally got around to decorating eggs late Saturday night to leave for the Easter Bunny.
The boys loved doing this. Sam got it....and James, well, he tried to eat the color tablets, then drink the dye. It was pretty funny. He got more into it when we added the stickers.







The boys woke up to a fun egg trail left by the Easter Bunny that lead them from their room down to this. It was fun to watch.













Here's a video of the action. It was so cute!

They had a fun time digging through their baskets and discovering all their goodies. It was fun to see Sam moving from thing to thing and playing while James just sat and ate all the candy he could. It was the best morning of his life! :)

Seth and I even got into it!



Here's a bunch of our Easter fun. The bubbles were a huge hit for James and both of the boys loved the growing capsules. It was fun to see the capsules disappear and have animals appear. They thought it was "magic"!













We went down to my sister's house for a "Spring Thanksgiving"....at least that's what it felt like! I wish I would have taken a picture. It was a beautiful meal with my family.
We then had an amazing Easter Egg Hunt. Sam took off and James soon got the idea that you didn't stop to eat each one.




Here we are going through the boy's loot and giving it away. We had so much candy from that morning that we were not about to take any more home with us.

We had an amazing Easter. It was so wonderful to have it be General Conference weekend and hear from our church leaders. It defiantly left a special feeling for a special season.
We are so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. I plan that cannot be frustrated, and a plan that allows each of us to overcome spiritual and physical death thanks to our Saviour and his atonement.

Boy's Room

Last night Sam and James shared a room for the first time. We have been planning on moving them in together so that when the new little one comes the baby's room is open and ready....little did we know it would be now.

James and Sam had a sleep over at my sister's house with her kids this last weekend while Seth and I enjoyed our anniversary. James slept in a big bed and then also took his nap in one. So I thought, why not give it a try. He is so big in his crib as it is.
It went so well. He and Sam are loving it. James more than Sam. They are especially cute in the mornings when they wake up and just play and look at each other.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday we woke up to this....

It was so nice we just sat outside forever and ever. We watched the airplanes go by, looked for big trucks, watched the cars to by, and rocked our little hearts out.

Today we woke up to this....

I have just one word for you - UTAH!

Sunday Best

I absolutely LOVE my family. I feel so blessed to have the best guys in my life. I have a wonderful husband who puts up with me (and even doesn't seem to mind it!), makes me laugh, and makes me a better person. And I have the two greatest sons in the world who I love to play with, teach, learn, and struggle with.

I just had to snap a shot of my cuties on their new favorite rock. This is their favorite place to sit after church.
Here they are in the their "Sunday Best" and I think they are just adorable.

They are doing great at church. Sam is lucky to have his dad and his great friend, Shane, be his teachers in Sunbeams. And James just started nursery last week and has two amazing teachers, Melinda and Patty, who play with him, give him an actual lesson on chairs, have activities, and sing Primary songs.

I'm counting my blessings....and I am glad to say that my two biggest blessings right now are my relationship with my husband and the fact that I have an amazing ward family with people who are willing and working so hard to teach my children the gospel whilte they are at church!

Cousin Josh

We love going to my sister, Joy's house to play with her and her kids. Sam and James just love their cousins and their puppy, Will.
Last week when we were down there we stayed long enough to play with the older cousins who go to school (Mitch, Meg, and Josh).
Josh is not always the first one to jump up and play with the boys, but this last week he was so cute with them.
It was finally warm enough to play outside so Josh took the 3 little kids (Haley, Sam, and James) and played outside with them. I wish I would have grabbed more pictures. It was so cute. From the sandbox, to the swings and slide, to the trampoline, to the bikes, Josh was helping them along the way. The boys were in heaven.

Here's my favorite thing they did. Josh was having to help each kid on the bikes so he tied them all together and was pulling them. It was the cutest thing ever.
We love you Josh!

Jamesie-James

James is really started to bud. His personality is just beaming out and we love it. He has become such a ham (not that he wasn't before...). We love watching as he gets into things and is really showing preferences. Some of his favorite things right now are balls and skates. He is constantly carrying a ball around, whether it's to throw, shoot hoops, peg Sam, or just stuff under his shirt...
He also loves his little plastic skates. He wears them all day. He can't get both of them on by himself yet, and if he falls he's stuck, which makes it so fun for me, but he loves those skates and goes for them first thing in the morning and right when we get home from anywhere. He'll be on the ice too before we know it! :)

Here's what he looks like most days trying to "carry" as many balls around with him as he can:

Oh look he found another one, I think there's some more room:

That's better....

March 11, 2010

Will always be a day to remember. I started potty training Sam. It kind of just happened. I've been thinking about it due to some wierd events in the past week or so. He always strips now and once he even stripped his diaper off and woke up to a nasty surprize that grossed himself and me out.
I just wasn't sure how to do it, if he'd get it, if I was up to it with the pregnancy sickness and all....well, I guess I am because we did it.
He is doing great and is very enthusiastic about using the potty and getting a potty treat each time (a starburst). Hey, whatever works!
He still hasn't figured out number 2, but I hear that comes....here's to hoping it comes sooner than later.
Wish us luck!

Hockey Sam

It's on! Sam is definitely a hockey player now. He has been going to "Mini-Mights" for a month now and we have seen great improvements! He is so cute out there on the huge sheet of ice buried in massive gear that we had to find special because he is just so tiny. But he loves every minute of it. He is still a little scared when left on his own, but his confidence is growing each time.
It's fun to see Seth interact with him. Seth coaches Sam on the ice while Seth's Dad coaches Seth from the bench. It's fun to watch. From Skating fast with Dad to spinning on his back, to ice angels, to head butts, Sam is getting the whole experience. He is slowly moving those little feet and learning how to hold his stick and hit the puck. Even if he falls he still reaches out to get that puck.

One of the cutest things about the other night was when Sam started to really check out the puck. He picked it up, turned it over, and even tried to bite it. He was a little shocked when he couldn't (due to his helmet).
Sam lets us know when he is done by letting us know it's time to go to McDonald's. Every week after hockey he knows he gets to go to McDonald's, eat chicken nuggets, and go play.
Here's Sam skating, a spin, and ice angel...

Amazing stick handling already...

Longing for Warmer Days

James loves to look out the window. "Outside" was one of his first words and he bolts for the door at any chance. He is definately ready for spring and warmer weather.
We just had to get a shot of him the other morning. So cute!

Maybe a Mousekatool can Help...

So, you know when your children watch too much TV when....

We were at the doctor's for James and were in a room painted with dinosaurs. There was a Triceratops head on one of the walls sticking out and Sam kept calling to it, "Triceratops, Triceratops..."
Then he looked at me and said, "he can't hear us."
I said, "nope, he's just pretend."
Sam wasn't having any of that and said, "I know, maybe a Mousekatool can help."
I started laughing and said, "maybe. What do your say?"
He looked excited and said, "Oh Toodles!"
He was very disappointed that Toodles didn't come and said, "He can't hear us. Toodles is far away."

Sad I know, but also very cute! :)

Valentine's Day Retreat

We had a great Valentine's Day at Bear Lake. It was definitely time to get away and boy was it wonderful. We love to go to Bear Lake in the winter because it seems so barren and beautiful with all the snow.
We took our friends Dave and Aymee and their kids with us for the fun long weekend. We just played games, watched movies, stayed in our jammies, and relaxed. I was able to get out with Sam a little bit. He loved playing in the snow and sledding. I wish we would have gone out more but it was VERY cold and we got a lot of snow. Poor James had to stay in because he got really sick while we were there. I got a little worried about him but couldn't go much about it until Monday because we got snowed in!
There was so much snow and so many people there snowmobiling, 4 wheeling, and sledding that it packed the snow on our hill so much that we couldn't get out. We were about there for about 2 hours trying to dig out some tire tracks for us but we just couldn't get up the hill. Finally a neighbor came out and towed us up. We were so grateful.
So needless to say we got home late Monday night and the whirlwind of real life quickly came upon us. Seth off to work, me running to the doctor for the boys, cleaning and unpacking, my Primary Meeting.....
Vacations no matter how long or short and was end so abruptly!

Here's some pics from the trip:

Cute Sam stuck in the snow. I went to go save him not thinking it was too deep because he is so light and didn't sink down. Needless to say I had to run put my legs in warm water because I definitely am not too light and I DID sink through! :)

Here's the boy's cute little Valentine's Day buckets. It is so fun to get into the holidays more now that Sam gets it.

I love this shot. Not only does it show our set up so everyone can do their own thing, but you see it all. Seth and Dave at Nintendo. Aymee and I on the big screen playing the Wii and James in the background watching a DVD on the laptop! :)

My boys aren't spoiled or anything! Look at each of them with their own laptops.

Poor James was so sick he would just fall asleep where ever. Notice the bubbles in the picture. James loves bubbles so much and had to have them in hand all weekend.

Pizza Night and Visiting Teaching Messages

We had a fun family night with some great friends. We had Melynn and her kids (Kayden, Makian, Kaleb) and our neighbors Dave and Aymee over for homemade pizzas. It was a blast. It had been way too long since we'd had people over.
We had a great time making individual pizzas and then a great Family Night lesson on the important of taking care of our bodies and the Word of Wisdom.


This fun night, plus the great Visiting Teaching Message for the month brought back a lot of fond memories from my childhood. I was remembering all the traditions I had as a child.
Each meal we would have to wash our hands before dinner and our dad would smell them to see if we used soap. They sometimes we would earn a quarter if we didn't talk the whole meal. I would have to stay at the table until I ate all my food. I remembered sitting at the table for hours because I wouldn't eat my spinach! And before we could be excused we would have to look at our Mom (at one head of the table) and say, "Thank you for the meal." Then look at our Dad (at the other head of the table) and say, "May I please be excused?"
And who ca forget the candle at each meal. It could only be blown out when my dad said "3". It was always a great game of tricks, other languages, ways to get him to say it without realizing....and if you blew out the candle before he said "3" you had to do the dishes.
It was so fun to think about all these fun little things I remembered. It made me so grateful for my parents and all they did for me. I am espcially grateful to my mom who always cooked. It's nice to look back in my mind and only remember eatting homemade meals at a table that was always full of my family.

Sam's First Time Ice Skating

Well, we finally did it! We got Sam on the ice for the first time. Needless to say he was very excited about it! Seth finally had a good hockey game time yesterday so we were able to enjoy watching him play and then hang out a little longer to take Sam skating.


It was so cute to see Sam get so excited about skating on his "Hockey Skates" like dad does.

I obviously don't have the skills of how to really tighten hockey skates yet...

because Grandpa had to fit them. It was fun to have Grandpa M there to share in the fun.

James got into it too. We weren't quite ready to have him out there too, although he wanted to be. He did get to have some fun in the stroller though and enjoyed the speed.


I couldn't decide what little video to upload, so here they all are. A progression of his ability to glide on his skates.
At first he couldn't even stand up.

Then he just wanted to run.

Then he got the idea of how to glide.

And that turned into getting a little lazy and loving having Dad do all the work!

This was definitely a fun night, but our backs were definitely tired at the end of this whole experience.

Bed Head

James has some of the best bed head I've seen since the days of living with my brother Jon. He's even cute with crazy hair! This was right before church, you should have seen me trying to comb this down!

Galactic Battle

Seth is always so great to set up big armies of his Star Wars figures for the kids to destroy. Seth has fun setting it up and the boys love destroying it. It is the perfect combination.

Here's a little of how I have to clean up after a ground battle. Mom always gets stuck with the clean up! :)

Here is the ULTIMATE BATTLE downstairs on our ping-pong table. This is every figure he has (minus the two we found later under the stove from the previous battle). It is pretty impressive.


I had to video it too to get the full impact! :)