Lyman Family

We've had birthdays

2012-01-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

Since Hanna and Hunter's birthdays are so close (4 days apart) we decided to have one big party. Hanna really wanted to have a princess party and invite some friends over, but I just never got around to getting it all put together. Besides, when I asked her who she wanted to come she said, "just Kennedy" (a cousin). So having a family party was an easy choice. We had my family over, and who could come of Trent's family, as well as a friend or two. It was a fun evening filled with pizza, cake, ice cream, presents, and fun. (all squashed into our house that wasn't made for hosting parties...sorry, it was squishy)

Hanna was just a little excited as people started showing up!

I love the tradition of giving baby their own cake on their first birthday, so I may have taken a few too many pictures of him...and he didn't even like it!

It actually took him a long time to really get into his cake, he really doesn't like messy hands, he doesn't like wet things (feeding this kid is a real challenge, but that is a whole other post that I'll get too, sometime:) And after only a few minutes he realized how messy his hands were and started to freak out. He was screaming, wiping his hands on his tray and flinging his hands in the air trying to get the goop off, he didn't care how good it tasted, he was messy. My sister started to feed him some ice cream and he long forgot about his messy hands. He even signed more when she wasn't fast enough getting it into his mouth.

Present time!

They both were spoiled rotten, but then, shouldn't you be on your birthday! Thank you for all the wonderful gifts, the are truly loved by the two of them. (and some even by an older brother too:)

This one we shall call "the silly faces of Hanna" and "Aunt Karina gives the best gifts"

Hunter got two boxes of tissues as a gift, cuz he loves to pull them out. Best gift ever! We just scoop the tissues up and put them in a gift bag and he has hours of fun with the tissues (as seen in the bottom pictures)

Picture Time!

2012-01-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

I love love love having pictures taken of my kids. (Trent, not so much) I like having yearly pictures done around their birthdays. Since Hanna just turned 4 and Hunter just turned 1 I figured this is as good a time as any to get their pictures done. (And since I rock at being a mom, I totally spaced out Carter's school pictures, so we did his too.)

Now to get family pictures done...

Suprise! Hunter's been in here too.

2011-12-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

If someone could please invent a toy that resembled a Kleenex box with tissues a baby could pull out one at a time,but can't ingest, and then mom could easily reload just for baby to do it all again, I'd buy it.

Temple Square

2011-12-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

I don't recommend going to Temple Square two days after Thanksgiving, it was very busy!

This is what happens when he isn't yelling at me

2011-12-14T09:12:00.000-08:00

One piece at a time, he threw the cereal all over the place, he didn't eat it, just tossed it out of the bag. He was very proud of his mess, and I was happy he wasn't screaming. He is getting too big! I wish he would stay my little baby forever. I love this stage of life. Happy and content (okay, most babies, not so much him most of the time) to crawl around the floor and explore. Kinda self feeding and usually sleeping well through the night. Oh, and occasionally will fall asleep while being held, there is nothing better than holding a sleeping baby.

Baby Bed Head

2011-11-17T10:37:00.001-08:00

If only I looked that cute with bed head hair! (please ignore his messy face, apparently it didn't get cleaned very well after he ate) We just cut this cute little guys hair so it doesn't stick up everywhere as much. It's a good thing he's cute!!

Next time, no blue raspberry

2011-11-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

It's true, I may be desperate for 5 non-baby-screaming minutes. I may have seen the trick-or-treat candy and had a genius idea; give the kid a sucker (in the high chair of course:) And poof! a happy baby, for 5 minutes. I actually got dishes done without the screaming baby. You can still see the tears in his eyes through the smile on the top picture (as well as that first little tooth in there). Yes he was messy, but I got something done. Magic! I shall keep those little suckers around, but next time, really no blue raspberry, he was blue for two days. ooops.

October Fun

2011-11-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

We had a super fun month filled with football games, birthdays, family visits, and Halloween fun.

We had Trent's dad and step-mom (and step-sister Kimberlee) over to celebrate Blair's birthday. He is such a tease and the kids LOVE him! Carter called and invited them to come down to watch his primary program and then we had a little birthday party before they had to head home to Idaho.

Then there was Hee Haw's. This year we went with our good friends the Roberts for FHE.

First, catch a pig! Carter l.o.v.e.s this. He talks about it all the time. We like to go to Hee Haw's every year, and every years since he was 3 he's tried to catch a pig. He got pretty close this year too. He had to catch it long enough to give it a hug, he'd get his hands on it and then it would wiggle off. He sure had fun trying!

After the pig races we headed over to the Trick of Treat hay ride. A favorite of my kids for obvious reasons.

They got so much candy they didn't know what to do with it all! At one point I didn't think Hanna was getting anything so I kept tossing some over to her, when we stood up I couldn't believe what she was hiding under her.

Trent took a week off of work, he recently got a new job up at the University of Utah hospital working in the surgical ICU. He wasn't loving his other job so much so he'd been looking for a while for something else and is so very excited to do this. So he took a week off and while he was off we went and did some fun things. I made him to go IKEA with me, we went to St George to see my amazingly talented nieces in their school play "Fiddler on the Roof" and we went fishing. I'm happy to report that I caught the first fish. :) However I won't touch them, too slimy for me! They were little, but it was still fun. It was cold outside so we didn't stay long.

Oh, and we carved pumpkins. I let Trent do the dirty work, I have issues with slimy things :)

But best of all was Halloween! Trick of Treating and a school parade. What fun!

Maybe next year I'll remember to take pictures of their fronts too :)

We've had some firsts at our house

2011-10-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

First day of Kindergarten (a few months late) and first day of preschool. They both LOVE school! Hanna only goes twice a week and asks everyday if she gets to go to school. Everyday when Carter gets home from school he will say "thanks for signing me up for kindergarten mom, I love it!" Seriously, everyday. Carter is doing very well in school, he loves to learn and loves to listen to his teacher. Hanna is enjoying her teachers and tells me she's only been in trouble once, and that was for kissing her friend she rides with. (sorry Tionna, we'll have to work on the no kissing thing a little more:)

Hunter's first BIG mess, yes he did that all by himself. (and he wasn't even crawling yet) My house doesn't stand a chance against these kids. The other day I spent a good amount of time cleaning the upstairs, putting things away, vacuuming the floor, you know, just cleaning. I got down the hall, and turned around and kids were throwing toys out their bedroom doors into my nice clean house....not cool! Why do I even try?

Crawling! He started crawling the very night I took these pictures (sometime in September). I sat him down next to my feet (I was on the couch) He laid down, rolled over and then sat himself back up again. Then he giggled. He thought that was so fun! He did it again. Next he was on his knees and he was moving. He was giggling with each move. He was so proud of himself. A whole new world of discovery had been found. He could move where ever he wanted, and he loves it! Carter and Hanna, not so much. Often I will hear "Mom, he's getting our toys!" So once I responded, telling them to set them (meaning the toys) on the bed. Next thing I hear is Carter saying "quick Hanna, catch him" They were trying to put Hunter on the bed. Next time I'll be more specific when I say "put them on the bed" I'm learning that after years of not having a baby in the house (okay, so he's the first baby in this house) we are far from having a baby proofed house. We're working on it still.

mmmmm Cookie!

2011-10-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

What are aunts for....they give you all the forbidden things mommy says you can't have. After all, you can't spank the aunts!

Who says men can't multi task?

2011-09-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

6 years ago today.....

2011-09-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

...I went to my doctors appointment. I was 38 weeks and 6 days pregnant. The appointment was at 10am. I was tired, sick of going to the doctor every 3-4 days since the beginning of August. Tired of all the tests...liver enzyme tests, non-stress tests, blood platelet tests...tired of being on bed rest. I was huge, no like HUGE, I had retained so much fluid that I could stick my finger down to the second knuckle into the flesh of my ankle, I was 75lbs bigger than when I started this journey 9 months before.

I get called back, the nurse checks my blood pressure 220/110, she checks my urine....positive for protein (again) I go into the exam room, and wait (I seemed to do a lot of that with this doctor) The doctor comes in, looks at my chart, looks at me, looks at the nurses notes of my blood pressure, and then leaves the room without saying a word to me. A few minuets later he comes back in with a cordless phone in his hands. He is talking to Labor and Delivery at UVRMC, reading them my chart. He gets off the phone and then starts to talk with me. He explains to me the risks of being induced. He explains to me my chances of having to have a c-section. He tells me that I will be started right away. I am to go straight from his office to Labor and Delivery, they will put some medicine up into me to soften my cervix, 6 hrs later I am to go back to repeat the process, 6 hrs after that I am to come back to be hooked to a pitocin drip. So I left, and did as I was told.

On the way home from the hospital I called Trent. You see, his National Guard Unit (144th ASMC) had been deployed a month earlier Aug. 13 2005 (which also happened to be our 1st anniversary). We hadn't picked a name for this baby yet. Only talked about it. I couldn't reach him at their mob station, he had really shoddy reception, but I left a message "Trent, you'd better decide on a name, cuz we're having a baby now, today, well maybe tomorrow.." Lame I know. I was a little in shock that it was all happening, now, not at all like how I had envisioned having a baby would go. Oh well.

At 6pm I headed back to the hospital for yet another round of drugs. I had dinner with my family, went and got ice cream, then tried to get some rest. At midnight my mom and I headed to the hospital. About 1am things started happening, the pitocin was dripping, the contractions were coming, but I was okay. 2am, in walks my doctor, he sits at the edge of my bed, checks my progress, and the next thing I knew there was a gush of fluid going everywhere. I was shocked! Maybe a little confused, did I just pee everywhere?! He didn't tell me he was going to break my water, I didn't know what to expect, in fact I had no idea what was even going on. When it was all done and over with he told me he had broken my water and that things should start to speed up. And that they did! I got an epidural not too long after that as I was hurting SO bad.

4am: baby is stressed out, heart rate keeps dropping. They put more fluid up around him and turn off my pitocin. They put the probe up on his head (twice, she knocked one of them off). And for 4 hrs I made no progress. At 8am the new nurse come in and turns in back on. I tell her that I cannot wiggle my toes, I've never done this before, but I keep thinking maybe I should have a little more feeling than I've got. She assured me I didn't want to feel anything and left the room. 10am dilated to a 5, the doctor comes back around. He turns my epidural off, tells me I'm too numb. (I was thinking so...) Tells me he'll see me later. 10:30, I'm DYING, I hurt, no epidural, I'm shaking/shivering, my nurse is no where to be found. 11:30 still no nurse, but someone did come check me, I'm at a 10. 12:00 anesthesiologist comes in and gives me a shot of something in my epidural line...I feel much better in about 3 mins. Nurse comes back in (where has she been!) We start pushing. 12:20 Doctor comes in and says "I don't know, that baby is still pretty high, you may have to have a c-section." I. am. angry! If he had asked me at 2am when I was in all sorts of pain if I just wanted to have a c-section and just get it over with I might have said yes, but now, oh no! I've worked too hard to stop now! I tell him I'll push till my eyes pop out, but this baby is going to come down! He leaves to back to the office, tells me he'll see me in a couple hours. And I said, no you won't give me 20 mins! It only took 10. The nurse told me to stop pushing, she had to get the doctor back in here. In the middle of all that Trent called, my mom kindly told him I was busy and I'd call him in a bit.

At 1:05 they handed me my baby boy, with the biggest cone head I've EVER seen. I'm convinced that is why they put that little hat on new babies, it's not to keep them warm but to keep new moms from freaking out about the size of their babies head :) I called Trent's cell phone, he didn't answer, but I held the phone out so he could hear his baby screaming on his voice mail.

(Seriously, that head was huge!)

Carter James Lyman came into this world weighing 8lbs 6ozs and was 20ins long (but only because of that cone head) He has brought a smile to my face everyday since!

Carter is such a blessing to me! He loves to play with his sister. Loves to help his baby brother. He is kind. His teachers tell me he is very polite (which makes my heart smile!) He tells me all the time I'm the greatest mom ever. What a special blessing he is in our lives!! Happy Birthday Handsome!

Mud Bath!

2011-09-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

We helped Grandma clean her potatoes and carrots. We had lots of fun!

We even got a little dirty.

And then it was time to empty the pool.....

Maybe next time he'll pull his pants up instead of giggle when we tell him they are falling down :)

Aunt Kimberlee's Wedding

2011-08-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Trent's step-sister, Kimberlee, got married in July (that is where Carter met "the girl of my dreams" as he puts it:) Hanna just adores her aunt Kimberlee! She loves her so much, always wants to be with her and call her. (she lives about an hour and a half from us) When Kimberlee is around Hanna is in heaven. So when Kimberlee asked her to be her flower girl at her wedding Hanna was so excited, although I don't think she knew what it meant, other than she'd get to dress up like a princess too. Carter was asked to be the ring bearer and he was excited to participate as well. What a fun day!

This is Trent's dad and step-mom: Blair and Rhonda. Then we have Todd (step-brother) and Carter. Carter loves his uncle Todd. We don't see him very much, maybe once a year. He lives in Hong Kong and Carter is always asking when we get to go there to see him. He often asks how long it will take for us to drive to Hong Kong. So it was a real treat for Carter (and us) to spend the day with him when Kimberlee got married!

Upper left hand corner is Todd's boyfriend, Josh. So glad we got to meet him, he was so fun. Thanks to him getting Hanna's hair into her curlers took half the time it would have if I had done it myself (since Trent wouldn't help). He'd hold on to the end of the curler while I pulled out the rod...ever heard of curlformers, they are AMAZING!

This is how her hair looks with them in, I'm still new at putting them in and it took me a while, thank goodness Josh was there to help me! Hanna loves him for it :)

Top left: Hanna asking Kimberlee if she could have one of her strawberries off her cake. Bottom left: Kimberlee feeding Hanna asked for strawberry (spoiled girl!) Top right: Kimberlee and her new husband, Reed, cutting the cake. (doesn't that look amazing!)

When it came time to toss the bouquet she wanted all the girls to come get it, married and single. So Blair thought that meant him too.

So happy for you Kimberlee! We love you both!

Why'd I answer that door?

2011-08-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why you did something after you did it. Well that is me right now. I was putting Hunter down for a nap and happened to notice out the window that my neighbor was talking to what appeared to be sister missionaries. She didn't look to happy to be taking to them, she looked a little defensive. Hmmm, must not be the sisters, I'd be happy to chat with them any day.

About 10 minutes later there was a knock at my door, I thought to myself, it's probably whoever was talking with my neighbor...let it go...BUT I DIDN'T. I really wish I didn't answer, now I'm shaking and I'm mad. Really, why?

I bet you want to know who they were now don't ya. It was none other than the Jehovah's Witnesses (or J Dubs as I like to refer to them). They've gotten smarter, they make themselves out to look like Mormon missionaries. No more back case they carry. So, I smiled and answered the door. And of course right away they start talking to me about..... politics. She read me a few scriptures, which I knew weren't exactly what mine said so before she read another one I ran and grabbed mine so I could follow along.

Oh, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. First she asked me what I thought the kingdom of God was. So I told her that I believed that is was Christ's church on earth, as well as where he dwells in Heaven (she wanted a physical place). And then the scripture reading started. She read a few about how Christ will come and destroy all other kingdoms, okay, sure I do believe that Chirst will come to earth and that He will be the King of the Earth. That really wasn't good enough. She read more scriptures about how Satan was in charge of this Earth. She got into our world is governed by Satan. She kept asking me what is more important what God thinks or what government thinks....duh. So I then told her that we had a civic duty to put people in office who shares our same beliefs and values. She wanted me to go to the bible and find a place that says we should get involved with electing government officials. I'm mad now...really! They didn't elect people back then! They were born into their office and the people didn't have a say! BUT NO, she wouldn't let up. I couldn't find an end to this conversation.

Seriously, I'm so flustered right now. I have been in her shoes, I've knocked on peoples doors not knowing what was behind it. But let me tell you, I'm pretty sure I NEVER left someone with the spirit that I was left with. I didn't go about attacking someone, bible bashing with them over something so ridiculous as God should be in charge of government not man. DUH! It will happen ladies, but not right now.

Somewhere along that 40 min conversation I did tell them what I know to be true. I told them I believed that when Christ died there was an apostasy, a falling away from the truth. I believe that there is some truth in most religions, but they are missing all truth. I told her I believe in the restoration of the gospel, I believe that Joseph Smith restored Christ's church on the earth, with that restoration all aspects of His gospel were also restored. blah blah blah. She wanted to get back to government. Frustrated I told her I wasn't going to bible bash with her, she wouldn't find anything (at least to my knowledge, and I could be wrong) about electing officials to government in the bible, like she told me to find. And now I'm left with a nasty angry feeling.

I really did try to use missionary skills to find a common belief, but I could see this conversation going no where, she wasn't going to get me to believe what she wanted me to believe, and she pretty much wanted me to say that I'd stay out of elections because that is what God would want me to do. So I told her my lunch was getting cold and I needed to go. grrrr!

True Love

2011-08-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

While at Aunt Kimberlee's wedding Carter found love. Carter and Hanna got into trouble for running around the church (so maybe I'm crazy but I don't think running around a church is an okay thing to do, unless of course you are in the gym, and especially not okay in a rented tux that I don't want to pay for) so I had them stay in the gym. While sitting in there Carter and this little girl started hanging out together. There was music playing and a few people out dancing, so they started dancing. The photographer came over and started to snap pictures of them dancing. He asked Carter "is this your sister?" Carter responded with a no. Then he asked, well are you cousins. Carter looked over at this little girl and then back at the photographer and said "uh, nooo. We just met!" I was laughing so hard! About ten minutes later the little girl (we'll call "A") came over to us, pulling Carter by the hand behind her. This is the conversation we had:

A: Can I take your son out of here (referring to the gym) for just a few minutes, he says he's in love with me.

Without so much as a pause Carter speaks up from behind her "yeah, I think in like 20 years I'm going to marry her!"

It was all I could do to nod my head letting them know it was okay to leave for a few minutes without busting up.

A little while later they were dancing and Carter went in for a kiss. A thew up her hand and said "NO! I can't do that till I'm 16!"

Carter still blushes when we talk about her.

Guess it's time for a bigger pool

2011-08-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

I promise the kids were out there too :)

Hunter's 6 Months

2011-07-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

I really can't believe that Hunter is 6 months old (well okay, he's now almost 7...I'm a little late at posting this). It seems just yesterday that he was born, and yet it seems as if he has always been apart of our family. A couple of weeks ago we had him to the doctor for his well baby check, he weighed in at 15.4lbs about the 10-25th percentile and he was 27 1/4 inches long, about the 75-95th percentile, a tall skinny boy.

Some things about Hunter right now:
*he still doesn't like to sleep
*he FINALLY will take a bottle (yay!!)
*he loves to watch his brother and sister play
*he's still trying to figure out solid foods, he's not so sure he likes them or not
*he can roll all around his bed, however he really doesn't like laying on the floor
*he love his blanky
*sits up
*loves the exersacuer
*loves the jumper at my parents house, and as a result loves to jump on people
*wears 3-6 month clothes

We went and had pictures taken today, they turned out SO darn cute!! Here are a few...of the 30.

First Hair Cut

2011-07-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hunter was born with a lot of blond hair, then as he got older he lost a bit of it (either that or his head grew into it :) He's really been in need of a hair cut since the day he was born. Today I finally got around to it.

Newborn--1 day old

2 weeks old

4 months old--it's a little long on top

And just so you can see the back--5 months old

Really, he needed a hair cut, I cannot believe I waited so long. He had some hairs on top of his head that were over 6 inches long. And then there was that mullet looking thing in the back...

Before we got started

There is uneven hair sticking up everywhere, but it's a bit hard to see cuz it's blond.

Not so happy with this...

We resorted to a sucker to help him hold still---it worked for about 2 mins :)

After--you get a side shot

All the front shots look like this:

He was SOOO done!

Remember the back...looks so much better now! He looks less and less like a baby to me each day. So sad my baby is growing up, part of me wishes him to stay little forever. And then a more rational part of me says it's okay to grow up, maybe then I'll get to sleep through the night.

Sometimes I feel like I'm staring at the same baby.....

2011-07-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is more for my benefit than for anyone else :)

I know I've said this before, but I swear that Hunter looks EXACTLY like Carter did as a baby. But then others tell me he looks just like Hanna did as a baby. So I decided to solve this problem by putting a picture of them at 6 months old side by side....

Of course they all have food in their mouths.

Slave Labor?

2011-07-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

Maybe, I do really like me some clean walls!

It's really hard to see, but they've got wipes in their hands scrubbing the walls. Wipes are good for more than wiping bums :)

Change

2011-07-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

So on July 4th I'll wear scrubs to work for the last time. I was offered and accepted a position as a clinical liaison for the same hospital I currently work for, Utah Valley Specialty Hospital. Basically I'll be working with surround hospitals and facilities to screen and evaluate potential patients to be transferred to our hospital to continue their healing journey. I'm really excited for this new opportunity to assist people in their healing process. In the two years that I've worked at UVSH I've seen some pretty amazing things. We've had several people wake up from comas and walk out our doors, (not all in the same day). I'll be missing all my friends, coworkers, and other staff that I've come to know so well but I'll still be around and we can hangout. The biggest change will be working Monday thru Friday 9-5. This will be a huge change from working 6 12 hour shifts in a row with 8 days off, but will hopefully give me more (consistent) time with my family. Sorry no pictures to go along with the post.

He Graduated!

2011-06-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

It's true, after 10 years of college (in all fairness he wasn't in school the whole time, there was a mission in there and Iraq in there) he has finally obtained his Bachelors of Science in Nursing. Yahoo!!

When I first met Trent, way back in 2003, we stood outside late into the evening and talked about where life would take us. Somehow the conversation took us to what he wanted to do, this was maybe the first or second time we hung out---it wasn't a date, I swear, just two friends from work hanging out. Denial...maybe. He told me of his desire to be a nurse. He told me it wouldn't be till the Spring semester of 2005 that he would be able to even start nursing school because of boot camp and A.I.T. with the National Guard. My thoughts...holy crap that's a long time away! AND army boy=big trouble. Friends, just stay friends. That worked out real well, that's a story for another day :)

It wasn't until after he came home from Iraq in 2006 that he got accepted to UVU's nursing program. He started the Winter semester of 2007 (just a couple years off his goal) He's done an amazing job with balancing school, work, and family. We've had two kids while he was in school. He graduated Cum Laud. (and yes, I did have to explain to him what that was)

As for future plans; well, they include going back to the National Guard and going to PA school. In Texas. For two years. It's a pretty hard program to get into, they take 10 National Guards men from all 50 states, that's it, only 10. He applied 3 times before getting into UVU's nursing program and got the #9 slot, however, that round they only took 3 because they had to recycle 7. With more education, more experience, a higher rank, and a few other things we think he's got a pretty good shot at getting in.

YAY TRENT!!

Carter was my graduation partner as no one else came. Trent didn't think it was important enough to invite anyone, besides it was at 8am. WHO plans these things!! Don't they know that is REALLY early for me! For real, really early!! I don't do mornings. This is how he entertained himself during the most boring parts (which was all of it for him):

First Experience With Bountiful Baskets

2011-06-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to sign up for Bountiful Baskets for a long time now, and last week I finally did it. I put in my order on Monday and early (okay so maybe it's just really really for me) Saturday morning I went and picked it up. There was one basket of veggies and one of fruit. Combined it filled up one of my laundry baskets.

All of that for $15, quite a seal if you ask me. When I got home and started putting it all away Carter and Hanna got so excited, they both started eating the apricots. They both tried mangos for the first time this week, both loved it (of course). I'm super excited to keep getting fresh produce for a price that won't kill my budget!

So, does anyone else get Bountiful Baskets? They've got other things too, like bread, and I'm wondering if it's any good.

Worlds most unhappy baby

2011-05-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

This is how my cute little baby is MOST of the day...SCREAMING his cute little head off. If he's not sleeping, nursing, or being held (by mom), he is wailing. He shoves he little fists into his mouth and rakes with his fingers and ends up with a bloody mouth half of the time, no matter how short his nails are he still scratches the inside of his mouth up, so sad. I've no idea what could be causing the extreme madness, cuz there are times (very rare ones) that he will hang out on the floor for 2 or 3 mins before he starts wailing, and he is pretty happy when he is being held. But really, who can hold a baby ALL day, no wonder my house is a disaster, I've got a baby in my arms all day long! He has been a pretty grumpy baby since he was born, but man I'm having a hard time with all the screaming, especially since I've NO idea what is causing it. I don't dare leave him with anyone, except my mom, because he is so grumpy, and a screaming baby can grate on ones nerves SO fast, besides no one wants a grumpy baby around. Poor baby, you must learn how to be happy!

2011-04-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

If you've seen this movie:

Then you will know why I find this SO funny:

Yes, that is a plastic frying pan in her hand, and only because I wouldn't let her have one of mine from the kitchen. She has gone EVERYWHERE with this little frying pan since Monday. If we are going somewhere where she can't hold it she asks to put it in the diaper bag. I think we've watched a little too much Tangled here.

Okay, confession, that picture might be a little staged, but only a little. You see that is what she looked like when I ran and got my camera, well, her little blankie was up by her head. By the time I had gotten back things had changed just a little bit:

She had switched places with the pan and blankie, but it was so cute I had to put it back the way it was to get the picture.

Our new pets according to Carter

2011-04-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

Pets that will not be welcome in my house! Carter however LOVES them. They reside under our front porch and when the sun is out they come out into the flowerbed to sun themselves.

Mom, we need more strawberries!

2011-04-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

Busted!

2011-04-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

I spent a really long time (okay so like 10 mins) cutting up that pineapple, the kids ate that whole bowl in 2 mins. They know a good thing when they see it!

Do you need a laugh today?

2011-03-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Carter or Hunter?

2011-03-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or do these two boys look very alike. I swear sometimes when I'm looking at Hunter that I'm having flash back to when Carter was a baby.

Well, they are defiantly related!

(Can you tell which one is which?)

What? I didn't kill 'em?

2011-03-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

The flowers that is. It's a miracle! :) AND it means that spring is here AND that warmer days will be had. I am one happy girl! (not to mention that the kids are in heaven that they get to be outside till I MAKE them come in. Carter has informed me that he wants to live outside)

Isn't it pretty! I was so happy to see these little guys in my flower beds the other day. Oh and these ones too:

I really did think that I had killed all my flowers with my non-watering skills. So happy to see life again. And today when I went outside I saw this:

In case you just can't see it...little buds! There will be new flowers soon. I'm very excited to plant new ones too, and hopefully those ones will make it through the summer. :)

Hunter's Blessing

2011-03-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

Trent blessed Hunter on Sunday. We had lots of family and friends come to visit. What fun we had! After church we went over to my parents house for lunch. (our house just isn't big enough for all our family)

3 generations. Trent's dad Blair, Trent, and Hunter.

I didn't get a really good picture of him in his blessing outfit. So this will have to do.

Aunt Kimberlee and Hunter.

Carter go hold of my camera and took a TON of pictures. (more on that later) He did manage to get a few of people (lots of bum shots :) The rest are ones he took.

THE best cake ever!

Char! She was a roommate of mine 11 years ago (holy cow I'm old!) My family has adopted her as a member of our family (can't you see the resemblance:) and we love having her around. Funny story...Carter was taking pictures and snapped one of her, looked at the camera to see the picture after he took it, looked up at her and said "looking good!" We had a good laugh.

Yeah, I don't know what was so funny...well, okay, we had lots of good laughs. And yes, this one is from Carter. (my mom, Kathy, and sister, Jamie)

No stolen camera is complete without a self portrait of the thief, and yes, he took this himself.

Easiest Dinner. Ever.

2011-03-03T18:47:00.000-08:00

1 box Long Grain and Wild Rice A Roni
1 1/4 cups water
2-4 chicken breasts
garlic powder
basil

Dump rice box with seasoning packet into 8x11 Pyrex dish (or 8x8 or 11x13 or whatever you have:). Mix with water, add chicken (mine is usually frozen still), sprinkle garlic powder and basil onto chicken to taste. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hr, or until done. Serves 2-4

That's it. You're done. And the best part, it's yummy!

Pictures of cute kids

2011-02-23T17:18:00.000-08:00

I may have a slight addiction to cute pictures, especially when the subjects are my kids. I'm sure my husband would tell me I spend WAY too much on pictures, but I say it's worth! They will only be little for so long, besides, how cute are they?! Don't be too offended that there isn't single pictures of Carter, his birthday (I like to take their pictures around their birthday) was in September, and believe it or not his school picture was SO cute, so I decided not to have any more taken of just him. Any way, here are just a few of my favorites...really I LOVED them all but realize I can't post all 50 of them here :) So they are in a slide show. Enjoy!

Seriously can't believe this little girl is mine. She is so beautiful! I LOVE LOVE this picture, it's her personality totally, cute little grin, eyes that sparkle and seem to say "want to know what I just did?" Love it!

I really did try to get his hair to lay flat...Trent even tried the whole spit-on-hand flatting trick...all he got was yucky smelling hair. Oh well, it's cute, and I still cannot get that section to lay flat. This little guy has so much hair, and it's growing over his ears (as you can see in the picture) and down the nape of his neck....soon, very soon he'll be getting his first trim. :)

I could kiss whoever invented this:

2011-02-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

It's a swing frame that the car seat hooks into. Brilliant! You see we have this one:

oh, and this one:

But apparently they aren't good enough. When he sits in either one, except for very rare occasions, he is one very unhappy kid. He loves his car seat however and is now sitting peacefully, without screaming, he may even be asleep. And I'm in love! Oh, and did I mention that it vibrates (on a 30 minute timer) and plays music. I admit it, he may have slept in it for a bit last night, but hey, I slept for 4 whole hours, it was bliss! A sleepy mom is a desperate mom. :)

Cagged up Kitty

2011-01-21T09:48:00.000-08:00

This made me giggle. Betcha can't guess who did it.

Our Orphan Child

2011-01-19T18:07:00.000-08:00

It's true, she got herself dressed, put her shirt on backwards, and I didn't turn it around. (I may have told her a few times it was on backwards...) Oh, and I didn't do her hair today, not at all. I think she may have ran a brush through it after her nap...but man...what a sight she is. This is what she looks like when we don't leave our house all day. And today I was okay with that.

2011-01-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

It amazes me how 3 seprate kids can start out looking so much alike!

Carter

Hanna

Hunter

Baby Boy is here!

2011-01-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

After a very long 10hr labor, baby made his entrance into the world through an epidural that had worn off...call me a wimp...but WOW, that hurt! Baby was face up during labor which made things go so so slow.

He had a little trouble right after he was born, as a result of me not being able to push him out fast enough. The nurse almost bagged him, but the respiratory therapist disagreed and quickly got him screaming. Even before they weighed him the nurses were trying to guess his weight, the respiratory therapist guessed 8lbs 4.5 ozs.....

I don't know how well you can see that, but it says 8lbs 4.6ozs, he was just about dead on. They just rounded it up to 8lbs 5ozs.

I've got better pictures on my camera that I'll put up later. He's got tons of hair, and it's blonde at the roots with brown tips. And it just amazes me how much he looks like Hanna when she was born.

Oh, maybe you want to know a name....he's had about 5 in the last two days, but the one that we are liking the best is Hunter Blair Lyman. Hunter is my maiden name and Blair is Trent's dad's name. It wasn't a name I liked at first, I think it gets confusing when you are talking about "the Hunters" or just Hunter, but I like it for him, and Trent loves it. We'll see if he comes home in the morning with that name :)

Oh yeah, there are some pictures here click on "view photos" password: 0105babyboylyman They will only be viewable for two weeks and then they'll be gone....unless of course we decide to buy some then I'll post them up, we shall see, they are so darn cute, but SO expensive!

Puppy breath

2011-01-01T13:55:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago my dad mentioned to my mom that he'd heard that people going through chemo and radiation, as he is, do better when they've got a cat or a dog. Obviously he'd been thinking about this a while before he said it. Christmas eve we decided to go "look" at the pet store to see what they had. I was with my mom and little sister Julianne. When we got there we saw this little guy, Julianne fell in love. Mom asked to hold it, and to make a long story short he came home with us. Dad was thrilled! He is a puganeese (pug and pekingese mix). So darn cute! He is just over 2lbs now, but should grow to around 10-15lbs. His name has changed a few times, but I think right now it's Chewy.

This would be his favorite spot to sleep. The puppy and dad take many naps together each day.

And Hanna is ecstatic that there is something smaller than her that she can tote around, and surprisingly enough the puppy doesn't mind at all. He loves to play with the kids. He climbs all over them and doesn't seem to mind having little hands carry him all around.

Now if only we can potty train him....any tips?

While Daddy Sleeps....

2010-12-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

I thought they were being too quiet up there. They must have thought daddy might be getting cold.

I love that they even put the sleeping mats on him, for added comfort of course.

Gross....

2010-11-30T12:13:00.000-08:00

I guess if we didn't want him in the toilet we'd leave the bathroom door shut, right. Oh, and yes, he does that by himself, we were just lucky enough to catch him on video this time. I sure hope bleach tabs don't make dogs sick :)

Hanna's song of choice

2010-11-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

So, she may be missing a few lines, but this is how she asks to sing Book Of Mormon Stories, instead of just saying the name, she sings it to us, and then we have to sing it all over again! Part of our bedtime routine is letting each of the kids pick a song to sing, Hanna has been choosing this one for months now...and we can't convince her to chose another one.

2010-11-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

See this baby, pretty cute, I know. Time is quickly approaching for this babies arrival (like 63 days till d-day) and we don't have a name for it yet. I've got a list ten miles long, but nothing that I really love. We don't know what we are having, so that makes it a little challenging. So, we need ideas, help if you will. What do you think we should name our baby?

Hanna's first trip to the dentist.

2010-11-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

I've debated on what to post first...Halloween, the pumpkin patch, or the dentist. The dentist won.

Could she be any cuter?

I don't think I've ever seen a child so excited to go to the dentist. She squealed with delight when it was her turn to get in the chair. Practically kicking brother out so she could get in. The dentist doesn't usually see kids till they are 3, but I thought we'd try it anyway, since she's almost three. He was shocked at how well she did (even stating that his own child at age 5 still freaked out).

They told me they'd probably just look in her mouth and count her teeth, which I was totally okay with since this was her first time. She let them clean her teeth, loved it in fact. She told me it tickled her teeth. She got a full exam, just like her brother.

Of course the favorite part is the spit sucky thing, she thought that was awesome. She can't wait to go back! (I wish I felt the same way:)

Meet my Dad

2010-10-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

He went to the doctor the first of the month to see why he'd been so sick for so long. He is self-employed as a chiropractor and has no insurance so he put off going to see a doctor for a few months. The doctor sent him for a CT-scan and they sent him right to the ER after getting the results to meet with a surgeon. He had a perforated bowel, internal bleeding, and a huge mass in his abdomen. After getting admitted they put a drain in to drain an abscess in his abdomen and they wanted to do a colonoscopy on Sunday (he was admitted on Friday). So he spent Saturday doing a colon cleans getting ready for the colonosocopy. Sunday morning they took him in, not too long into the procedure they had to stop. They couldn't get through. His colon was completely blocked. They scheduled him for surgery later that afternoon. He went in just before 3pm, Carter and Hanna got to give him hugs and kisses before he went in. My whole family was there; my brother and his wife and their 4 kids, all of my sisters, even some adopted family came to be with us. And then later in the evening my aunt came and a really good family friend came. We were told the surgery would last 2 hours. As 5pm came and went with no word we decided to take kids home and feed them, Jason. Trent, and my mom stayed there. By 8pm there was still little word. A nurse had come out as she was headed home to tell us they were still working on him, but hoping to close soon. About 9 the surgeon came out, they had removed a foot of his colon, about half of his bladder. He had what appeared to be stage 4 colon cancer (which would later be confimed). The cancer (the mass they saw on the ct scan) was about the size of a football. It had started in his colon and then made it's way out and onto the bladder, but not into it which is good. They got all that they could see. Later tests would reveal that the cancer had not gone into the liver or the lymph nodes, both really good things. We were told that he would be in post-op for about 30 mins and then he'd be taken up to the ICU for the night. We waited, and waited, as Hanna wouldn't go home till she had given papa kisses goodnight. About 10pm Trent called back there to see how much longer it would be (we were waiting by the elevators for him). They weren't sure, so he asked if the kids could go back there to see him. The nurse had to get special permission as they don't usually let people back to the OR. I guess since he was the only one back there they let the kids go back to see him. Papa was still a little out of it and didn't want the kids to get to close (he doesn't remember any of this) so they blew him kisses from the door, but that was enough for Hanna and we were able to go home. He spent 11 days in the hospital before coming home. He will start chemo and radiation in a couple weeks. He is recovering well now from his surgery, a little sore, especially if we've made him laugh.

He has no insurance and won't be able to work like he used to for sometime. My brother in law setup this website to help them. www.helpthehunters.org . Many people have asked what they can do for my parents, and really all I can think of is this...they need financial help. Even tiny bits add up and is much appreciated! My parents are some of the kindest people I know. They have opened their home to many many people needing a place to stay or just a family away from family. I truly wish there was more that I could do for them!

I told her to go wash her hands.....

2010-10-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

I guess she thought her feet were dirty too.

Another painting project

2010-09-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've always hated the color of the outside of our house. Really, green...well hunter green. It is yucky! Well, it WAS yucky. Before:

And now:

Bye bye nasty green house! The color I choose is a grayish black. It's probably hard to see the difference in the picture, but I LOVE it. I'm still debating about what to do with the garage...leave it white (seems to be too much white to me) or paint it the gray color or the dark blue color that the apartment garage is painted. What do you think? We've not yet attempted the back yard. The deck will be a NIGHTMARE! It is peeling badly so all the paint will have to be scraped off. Anyone have any wonderful advice on tackling the deck? (or knows someone who does paint/decks for cheap :) Slowly we'll get our house to look how we want. Next step, the wall paper and peach paint in the front room.

Just in case you wanted another look:
Before:

And now:

Seriously, is that even the same house?

No noise for Hanna Banana

2010-09-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

Hanna has always been a little sensitive to loud noises. When she was younger if a dog barked right near her she'd shake and cry, she even now sometimes does it, but she's much better than she used to be. On the 4th of July she discovered fireworks had a very LOUD sound, and she decided she hated them. She hated the noise, not the fireworks. She wanted to watch them, but from inside the van or the house. Well, the week after the 4th we went camping up in Idaho with Trent's dad and step-mom. Something we do every summer. Evening came and we started a fire. Hanna FLIPPED! She thought that fire=fireworks, and was certain it was going to be LOUD. She wouldn't come out of the motor home. The door was open (screen shut) the windows were open. Yet she insisted that it was too loud to come outside! She missed out on roasting marshmallows and just sitting around a campfire. Nothing I said would convince her that it wasn't loud outside. When she did come (usually by force:) out she looked like this:

Hands pushed up against her head as tight as she could get it. If she was holding something, or walking, she was like this:

I tried to pull her arms down, they were pinned up against her head. Oh, and just so you can see how close the motor home was to the fire when she was happy inside with the door and windows open:

Pretty close, I will never understand the logic of a two year old! Oh, then she fell asleep....cuz when you're camping there is no bed time...right?

I kid you not, dead asleep and I couldn't move her hands. I tried and she put them right back up there. I took her inside the motor home, changed her clothes, and put her into bed and she slept like this:

Man she's cute when she's sleeping!!

The next night I thought I'd see if I could trick her. Enter the magic hat:

It's true, it blocks out all the noises, so she can enjoy an evening of roasting marshmallows by the fire! (even if all she wanted to do was play with the big feather papa found while we were on our four-wheeler ride that day, and eat non-roasted marshmallows!)

Carter's First Day of School

2010-09-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Preschool started today for Carter. He was so excited. He woke up a little early, got himself dressed, and waited till it was time to go. He's been so excited to go to school ever since he got to go meet his teachers and see his classroom. He would squeal in total excitement when we would talk about him going to school. Today as I dropped him off, he found his cubby, hung up his backpack, got his name tag out, and then turned around and said; "Bye Mom!" His teacher looked at me and said "well, I think he's good to go." Yes, yes he is. He went to a little home preschool last year out in Pleasant Grove and loved every minute of it. He only went two days a week for 2 hrs. This year he's going to a preschool through Alpine School District at an elementary school four days a week for almost 3 hrs. He's in heaven!

Got to LOVE that cheeser grin that he has. He was SO excited to have his picture taken this morning!

A little close up, man this kid is growing up! Can't believe he'll be 5 in just a few days. (I'm REALLY not old enough to have a 5 year old!)

And of course Miss Hanna had to get in on the picture taking action. She even found a backpack to put on. (don't mind her MESSY hair, I was running a bit behind and hadn't gotten to it yet)

Baby Ultrasound

2010-08-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

I had my 20 week ultrasound today. I've always loved getting ultrasounds. I love being able to take a peek inside on me to see the life growing inside there. Baby is quite the mover, the tech had to reposition every few seconds as baby kept moving away from the little thing. We didn't find out the sex of this baby. Which is REALLY hard for me. But, this baby started a surprise, why not let it end that way. Baby looks really good. Baby does have a couple of cysts growing on it's brain, which could indicate down syndrome. But we really aren't worried about it. We could go have more blood tests done to rule it out, but the doctor didn't seem to worried about it, and frankly neither am I. IF by that small 1 in 1000 chance that this child does have some issues, we'll love it as if it was perfect.

Here we have a baby foot and leg. Baby had it's legs crossed and tucked up underneath it, so even if we wanted to know the sex it would have taken some work to get it to move it's legs. I LOVE little baby feet! Cannot wait to hold it!

Cute profile! While we were doing the ultrasound baby was yawning, and sticking out it's tongue. AMAZING that we can see that!

Back of head with spine up and tummy down.

Baby is due Jan 20th, so I'm 20 weeks along, only 20 more to go. Half way! Hopefully these next 20 weeks fly by. This pregnancy has been really rough on me, I've been SO sick. The doctor gave me some zofran to help with the nausea, it doesn't help at all. I do good most days now, nights however are really bad for me still. Hopefully it will go away soon!

Ahhhh

2010-08-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Do you ever walk into a room and think...yeah, I LOVE it. Well that's how I feel about my newly painted half bath. Here's a little before (sorry the picture isn't really that good, I took it when we were looking at the house, and didn't think to take one before we ripped the wall paper off)

And in case you wanted a close up on that lovely wall paper, here it is:

Yes, that trim is blue, yes the door frame is blue. And what you don't see in this picture is the crown molding, it's unfinished wood, not caulked, nail holes and all.

And here is the finished bathroom, did I mention that I LOVE it?!

Just in case you wanted another look:

And for my own crafty purposes...I made these little tiles, they didn't turn out just as I wanted, but I think they look okay (now to keep the junk off the shelf)

I seriously love love how the bathroom turned out. And yes, I did it all my self! Well, with the exception of taking the toilet apart so I could paint behind it. Carter when he walked in to wash his hands after I had it all put together said (in an awe struck tone) "Awesome!" And I agree. Now when I walk into the bathroom I don't cringe, I sigh....I'm no longer embarrassed to have company use the half bath, cuz it's cute now!

Zions

2010-08-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm sure Janel will get crafty as usual and post pics and tell a story. All you get from me is a link to all the photos of my trip to Zion's National Park with my brothers and nephew. It was a blast. I think I'm the most sore from playing in the river building a rock dam. Oh to be a kid again.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049967&id=1425440447&l=e015313be8

Getting Crafty!

2010-08-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

So, if you know me well you know there's one (okay so maybe there's lots more) thing that I DON'T do well at all....crafts. I don't enjoy them, I'm just not talented in that area, I'd rather buy the finished project then spend my time making it. Besides, I bet what someone else makes is MUCH cuter than what I can. I just don't have the eye or patience to make thing. But I got looking on line for some craft ideas for my calling and found a few that I thought I'd try. I'll post finished projects later. I went to the store got all my supplies, and made the first one. Well...really I just designed it in photoshop, but now all I need to do it modge podge it onto my tile and then I'm done. But I just wanted to share what I designed...I LOVE it!

I'm going to mount it on a 12x12 tile that I just picked up at Lowes for $.98 and then hang it on our wall.

This other one I'm gona mount on a styrofoam block, also 12x12. I'll paint the edges of the foam, it's 1" thick, probably a brown color, then I was thinking of using a ribbon to hang it with. I'm not near as excited about this one as I am about the first one, but I still like it.

Family Adventures in Yellowstone

2010-07-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

Trent's dad and step-mom live in Rexburg, ID so we decided to take a trip up to visit them and go to Yellowstone. Trent's work schedule has changed so that every other week he has 6 days off in a row which is perfect for a little summer getaway! Trent's dad has an RV and we spent two days in the park, camping at night, cruising and hiking during the day. We saw TONS of animals. We saw 4 bears, that's 4 more than I've ever seen in my whole life there. Lots of elk and bison, and a handful of deer. Oh, and an eagle's nest, Carter loved that. The kids had so much fun looking for animals as we drove. Carter thought the mud pots were awesome. The falls were beautiful. And we took way too many pictures. So here are a few:

Getting to Yellowstone took a little longer than it should...road work. Trent, Carter, and Kimberlee on the side of the road, we were stopped like this for over 30 mins.

Elk

you may have to enlarge to see the grizzly bear

Looking at the bear on the side of the mtn.

How cute are they?!

I'll have to post the rest of the pictures later...there's still more.

A little catch up....

2010-07-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

We really have been doing some fun things the last few weeks/months...but with my lack of energy and with what energy I have I've been putting into not throwing up all over the place, all day long. I've done nothing but lay on the couch. My children have watched too much TV, ate too many waffles, and have not gotten enough attention. My poor husband has also been neglected. My garden is now more weeds than plants. I've managed to kill my flowers that I planted because I couldn't get myself off the couch to go water them. But I'm hoping to revive them. My back flowerbed has been overcome with weeds...I just went outside to find that my sweet husband has pulled all the weeds for me...LOVE him! My house...well that's also been neglected. Thank goodness my husband likes to do dishes and gets bored when he's home and will clean a bathroom here and there. But now that I'm feeling better some days, I've got a lot of work to do.

First...post our wonderful trip to Oceanside. We spend a WEEK without kids, it was heaven. We went with our good friends Josh and Kenna to Oceanside, CA for a week. We had no plans, no responsibilities, we did whatever we felt like. We slept in everyday. Read books with out being disturbed. Sat on the beach and slept. Trent spent time every day in the water boogie boarding with Josh. It was fun to see him catch a wave and then smile at his accomplishment. We ate yummy food at the harbor (fish and chips) and a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant (I still dream of the food). We went for long walks as the sun set on the beach. It was the perfect week away from life. We were excited to get back to Carter and Hanna, but not to get back to working and life in general. We have already talked about our next trip out there.

We didn't take a whole ton of pictures, but here are a few:

We spent a morning in the Zen Gardens, it was at that was there that I decided that I NEED a garden like this. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I loved it! And we took a load of pictures there :)

ice, ice ICE

2010-06-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

All I want to do is eat ice. What is wrong with me? Who craves ice?! I get out of the shower at night craving the stuff. My mouth is dry and all I want to do it eat ICE. All day long I want the stuff. I lay in bed at night and think about it. Wake up in the morning at eat it. Thank goodness for the ice maker! Crushed ice, cubed ice, shaved ice, ooooh fluffy snow cone ice (minus the syrup, just ice), oh oh PEBBLE ice. I need pebble ice. Did you know Macys sells pebble ice by the bag full. I'll be at Mayces if anyone needs me.

Did I mention I'm 12 weeks pregnant?

Funny Story....Well I thought it was funny

2010-06-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

At our house we use correct wording for ALL parts of the body. We've tried hard to teach our kids not to be ashamed of their bodies or their body parts. However, trying to teach them when it's appropriate to talk about said words is a whole other story! That being said, Hanna has a hard time with pronouncing vagina and penis. It comes out peanut and gina.

So...here's the story......Sunday, during sacrament meeting the little boy sitting behind us pulls out his snacks. He is enjoying his snacks when Hanna looks back and says "you have a peanut? I have a gina." He was eating peanuts. I wish it was quiter, but Hanna doesn't do quiet. I died laughing. I know, sacrament meeting isn't the place for such laughter, but I couldn't help it, it was cute/funny!

2010-06-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

See this little girl...she's pretty cute ha?! But man let me tell you...we've had one heck of a time trying to get this kid potty trained. From taking off her diaper and peeing on the floor, taking off poopy diapers. We tried at the end of November and into December to potty train. She was SO interested in the toilet then, always wanting to use it. And then one day it was gone. GONE. She just didn't care anymore. We had a potty party back in April, as I thought trying again was a good idea. We threw a party, threw away all the diapers, pulled out the panties, played games and even ate cake. It lasted two whole days. She didn't want to have anything to do with the potty. Even to this day she'll tell us "I'm peeing" Well ask her if she wants to go sit on the potty and she'll run away. I've tried bribes...barbies, trips to Chuck E Cheese, candy. She'll announce as soon as she's pooped. So I thought we'd just wait a little while, till she wants to do it. It hasn't happened yet. Today she took a LONG nap...or so I thought. I put her down at 1, like usual, and she didn't knock on her door to let us know she was up till just before 5:00. When I opened her door she says "I wiped my bum and changed my poop." What? I was a little confused till she took me to the garbage can and I saw the pile of nasty wipes, I had just emptied her garbage that morning, and besides I NEVER put poppy anything inside the garbage's in the house. She had changed her own poopy diaper, I think I've seen it all! Oh, and she did a pretty good job too.

running, running, running...

2010-05-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Trent and I ran in the Provo 5k, there was EVERY type of weather you could imagine....rain, sleet, hail (that so didn't feel good!), and of course a little snow. I was dripping wet. Water was running down my face, my sleeves were soaked, my fingers were water logged. The kids went on this run with us and had a blast, all snugly warm in the stroller. And we've got no pictures to document it, I didn't want to ruin the camera with all the water. We finished in 38 mins, I know, a little slow, but hey, I ran the whole 3.1 miles, didn't stop once. Okay, so maybe once, my shoe came untied and I had to fix it. But it was awesome. We ran at about a 12:30minute mile pace, so not really fast, but we kept pace the whole time and it was fun. I've decided that it was a little easy this time and I could have pushed myself a bit harder. But not too bad for taking 6 months off of running, me and winter don't get along very well when it comes to running.

This last weekend Trent did a half marathon...yes a half marathon. That is 13.1 miles, he rocked it! 2hrs 14mins. He ran in the Ogden half marathon with his step-sister and her uncle. They got up at 4am, met a shuttle at 4:45 and started up Ogden canyon. We got to the finish line just before 9am, found a spot along the fence and waited for them to pass so we could cheer them on. It was so fun to cheer on those runners that had been working SO hard to see that finish line. We thought that three of them would be running together, the uncle had on a neon yellow hat so he'd be easier to spot in the flood of people. I was struggling with kids at one point....and there came Trent...I MISSED A GOOD PICTURE! They weren't together after all, Trent was about 5mins ahead of them. So all I have is of his back side passing me:

The white shirt and black shorts....that's Trent. I saw him right when he was in front of us so we still got to scream really loud for him. I'm so impressed that he did it! He's a bit sore now, he chaffed in places he forgot could chafe (and I had no idea could even chafe...), his lungs had a bit of trouble around the 10 mile maker, but he made it! He finished some where in the 1000s out of 5000+ runners, not too bad for his first half marathon ever.

Here are the runners. Kimberlee, Trent, and Greg. Just a little note on Kimberlee....she's amazing! She asked Trent to run this with her back in October after we had her run a 5k with us, so it was also her first half marathon. She has recently lost over 100lbs, she's literally been working her butt off to do that, and she looks amazing!

Do ya think he's proud of this....

2010-05-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

In case you can't see it well.....

That would be 100% on his research paper. He is now all smart on Vitamin D...good job Trent! Oh, and he put that up on the fridge all by himself, I think he was very proud of his work!

This kid...

2010-04-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

See this kid....he NEVER takes a nap, gave that up in September right after his 4th birthday (pretty much the saddest day of my life:) At around 3am he had a really bad bloody nose, something that happens often in the middle of the night. 10 mins later it was all cleaned up and he was on his way back to bed. Well, when Trent got up at 5am to get ready for work, there was this little boy sitting up watching TV...ha, wonder how long he'd been up for. No wonder he's exhausted at 11am! Got to figure a way to keep him in bed till a reasonable hour.

Yard Work

2010-04-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

We've been working like mad in our yard...and by "we" I really mean Trent. I'll give that guy most of the credit, he's worked hard....and it looks AWESOME! Here are some before and after pictures:

Before

After

I will however take credit for these....I love them!

I really couldn't find a good backyard before shot, there was a hill on the other side of the white shed that we tore out....

But this is what it looks like now:

I can't even tell you what joy it brings me to open my front door and see beautiful flowers and GRASS...ahh I love it! And I love that I have an amazing husband who has worked so dang hard to make it look good. He put that swing set together by himself, with very little assistance from me. I'll be honest, I'd rather be in the house reading a good book than working in the yard, but Trent has made the yard look AWESOME!! We've still got a little more to do, but I love the way it has turned out so far.

Destroying Angel

2010-03-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Isn't she just so sweet...we really love this little girl! I love how she has her kitty in a bear hug, and her blankie in her other hand. She LOVE LOVES that kitty. My mom found it at her house a few weeks ago and gave it to Hanna. She has not gone anywhere without it since. Kitty has it's own special chair at the table. She has to give kitty hugs and kisses and put her down for a nap in my church bag when she goes to nursery cuz I won't let her take it with her, and as soon as I go get her she goes for her kitty. It really is cute! However.....this little girl has become quite the little destroyer and I don't know if I'm going to survive her. Here's a review of Hanna's week:

*toothpaste fingerpainting ALL over the toy room, her clothes, herself...(not once, but twice)

*figured out how to open doors, that causes ALL sorts of new problems

*climbed out of her crib

*taking her wall stickers off (about 10 times, not kidding)

*dumped out her nice and organized hair elastics, TWICE in 10 mins (all 480 of them)

*dumped out the dog food...4 times

*climbed up the shelves in the laundry room (when she was supposed to be in time out) and got the lotion, finger painted ALL OVER clean clothes, washer and dryer, tools, anything she could really

*dumped 2 bags of cereal out

*dug in the little cups that contained the starts for our garden (a few of them did survive)

*Poopy diapers removed...why must we play in it

*speaking of diapers....took diaper off and PEED in her bed! on her pillow, on her blankets, on her cheetah, nasty, gross!

*climbed up the counters and found the treats, then dumped them everywhere

*tore pages out of a book, one page at a time

*the $30 dog shampoo (remember he's got skin problems...darn dog!), dumped ALL over the carpet, her doll stroller, herself, MY wallet (where'd she get that?) in my purse, all over the table.

*water, why do kids love water? dumped up in here room, all over the floor. Which reminds me...WHERE did she get a cup of water?!

*fingernail polish remover, dumped at my moms house, all over her carpet and down the wall

*skin cancer cream, all over her lips, the floor, and her hands....no worries poison control says it's non toxic

*dogs bitter spray...cuz he likes to chew on things he shouldn't....dumped on the floor

*playing in the toilet, three times, one time WITH the toilet bowl scrub brush...gross, gross, gross.

I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out...I should be writing this stuff down so I remember it. One might ask where I was when all this went down...I was cleaning up her previous mess, not kidding.

Let's just hope I survive another week!

Bye bye crib.....

2010-03-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official, Hanna can now climb out of her crib. The crib is no longer serving it's purpose of keeping her contained so it must go, mostly so she doesn't hurt herself climbing in and out of it. Ahhh, sigh, guess I can't keep her my little baby forever! And yes, I almost cried. Oh, and she's figured out door knobs this week too. She just didn't care for the longest time, well, that's over with now too and I've got to go get more childproof handles (except she knows how to take them off) so she'll stay out of places she's not supposed to be in.

Such a big helper! She was SO excited to have a big girl bed.

In case you couldn't tell by that smile....she LOVES it.

And I'd have to say she did pretty well for the first night. I was so scared to take her out of her crib because she goes to bed so easily, I didn't want to stop that. She only got up once. I let her cry for about 10 mins then went in and put her back to bed. I asked her if she wanted a nightlight in her room since there wasn't one, she told me she did. So I went and took one out of another room and stuck it in hers. She immediately told me it was a scary monster and she didn't want it! A few weeks ago she had a nightlight in her room and she kept telling me there was a monster in there. Well, I being the wise mom told her that there was no monster and to go to sleep. After her nap I went in to get her and she insisted that there was a monster in her room, I told her to show me. She took me to the nightlight, and in a very scared voice said, right here is monster! Silly baby. She fell out of her bed once last night, and after I put her to bed the second time she did great. At nap time today she did good too. She got up once, I let her cry for about 10mins and then went back in told her it was nap time and laid her back down, and she's out cold now. I did however have to put a childproof door knob thing over he door knob to keep her in there. I just hope she keeps doing well. I don't like my sleep or quiet time interrupted!

I told her not to put them on me....

2010-03-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

...so she put them on the dog instead.

And yes, the dog is walking on the treadmill.

Speaking of that darn dog. We're still working on kennel training him. He sleeps all night in his kennel with no problem at all. We've had a couple of successful outings with him left in the kennel, both times Trent has put him in there. So I thought I'd try it again. Put him in the kennel, stuck a metal rod down the holes, and bungee corded the door so it wouldn't just pop open when he smacked his head against it. Well, I come home with the dog at the door, went up stairs to find his kennel like this:

I don't know how well you can see this, but that metal bar is bent in two places. The bungee cord is still in place, and yet, some how he still managed to get out! I officially give up!!

First hair cut

2010-02-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

This girl has needed a hair cut for a LONG time. I'm just too chicken to have it done. I didn't want to cut off her curls and then lose them forever, but really, that almost mullet look needed to go. Her hair was in three different layers in the back and the tail was driving me crazy. So today I finally got up the nerve and took her while Carter was in school. Beware of photo over load :)

I'm having some serious trouble getting these to all go where I want them too, so sorry if they are messy!

That's one messed up head!

2010-02-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

This is Carter the day he was born. I remember him having a really messed up head when he was born. Well, today as I was looking at some pictures I came across these:

Got to love the HUGE flat spot! And I promise it just wasn't the angle of the picture, there really was a flat spot for almost a day after he was born.

CONE HEAD!

Carter is just over 24 hrs old here. I have another picture that shows his HUGE HUGE cone head right after he was born, cuz, believe it or not...that actually looks a little normal compared to the other one!

Don't worry though, it didn't even take two days for his head to recover from the trauma and we were left with a perfect little man! And that folks is why they put those little hats on babies when they are born...not to keep them warm, but to hide those hideous after birth heads :)

5 days old

How'd that happen?

2010-02-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

She got her onsie shirt off of her some how, but it's still tucked in and snapped. Girls got talent!

Things I should be doing...

2010-02-05T13:37:00.000-08:00

-Clean kitchen
-Organize office
-Organize filing cabnet
-Clean bathrooms
-Rip off caulking around tub and clean out mold that is under it and then re-caulk it
-Figure out dinner
-Clean
-Clean off desk
-Work on RS lesson for Sunday
-Run
-Yoga
-Rearrange pantry
-Balance check book
-
-
-I'm sure there's more
Ever have those days when you just want to do NOTHING at all? Well...I do. And today is one of them. So here I sit doing nothing at all....well okay, truth be told I'm downloading digital scrapbooking stuff...I've got a little bit of an addiction. Maybe tomorrow I'll care. :)

Hanna Photo Shoot

2010-01-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do with my kids is taking them to get their pictures taken, I love the way it captures their personalities and their smiles! I treasure these pictures, I LOVE them, Trent just doesn't understand why I love taking them to get their pictures so much...but I do. So here are the pictures for Hanna's second birthday, and then a couple of Carter too as we haven't had his 4 year old pictures taken. Enjoy!

Fun pictures from Jamie!

2010-01-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

My sister, Jamie, always seems to have her camera when I don't and she captures the BEST pictures at those times. Here are a few of my favorites:

Hanna walking down the mall carrying her "purse" It's her diapers and wipes....how cute is she!

Another Hanna moment....I've no idea why she doesn't have a shirt on.....she LOVES LOVES shoes! And wearing brothers shoes is the best cuz he gets upset when she's got them on.

Cheese! I don't know what it is with lemons (and limes) and my kids, but they love them. They especially love when we go out to eat because someone will always have a lemon or a lime for them to chew on, they love it. Just looking at a lemon makes my mouth water, no way I could just pop one in my mouth and eat it...too sour. Silly kids!

This one has to be by far my favorite! We had just gone to see Planet 59 (I think that was the name anyway) and then we went to Sandy. Carter got in the car holding Hanna's baby and about 5 mins into the trip that is what we saw. Just in case it's hard to see....He's got the babies binky in his mouth. He was a binky baby, but hasn't had one since he was 15 months old, this totally cracked me up.

Yes, my son is having a tea party with his sister. Notice how he's got the big one and she's got the little one, and the flower is in the center of the table in the vase....I was pretty impressed with the setting. This was Christmas day at my parents house. Hanna got the tea set from my brother and his family and I don't know who loved it more, Carter or Hanna.

Silly Dog....

2010-01-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

Before we go any further....some pictures may be viewed as a little graphic....

We've been working with a trainer for a couple of week now to iron out a few kinks with the dog....jumping on counters, HIGH energy, jumping on guest, to name a few....She told us that we need to get Bently used to his kennel, he'd spent all night in it, which he already does and does very well. When he wakes up he walks for 30 mins, then he eats, then he goes back in the kennel for 2-3hrs and the process repeats (minus the feeding) 2-3 times a day. He comes out for 30-40 mins in between kenneling and during that time he is to be on a leash, we walk him for 15 mins on the treadmill (yes, I said treadmill...I'll post a video if I can figure it out) Anytime we leave Bently is to be in the kennel. The idea here is that he will be calm while he's in the kennel and then calm when he comes out. That, my friend, has NOT happened. The dog goes NUTS when he's in there. Any good dog trainer will tell you to kennel train a dog, they like kennels, and it's a good place for them to be if you are going to be gone so they don't destroy the house. Before we'd just send Bently outside if we were leaving, but then there's a whole other issue of yard dominance....Anyway, Bently has horrible separation anxiety, he flips if he cannot see us. Putting him in the kennel and then leaving....well, you might as well kill the dog. He cries and whines.....and breaks out. For real, breaks out!

Last night I left for a whole hour and a half, when Trent got home from work he found the kennel flipped upside down, a small hole, and a bloody dog. See that little hole in the kennel....that's where he squeezed out. Notice BOTH of his collars were removed during this process. One of which is a training prong collar that I have a hard time putting on. Well....Bently had two lacerations that had to be fixed. Notice the piece of metal sticking out, that's what did it. Of course it was after hours and our vet was gone for the night so we had to take him to the insta care for pets. 7 stitches and $360 later we took him home, one sad hurt dog. The vet gave him some shot for the pain and he totally passed out halfway up the stairs. Trent had to carry him up the rest of the way.

Happy Birthday Hanna Banana!

2010-01-09T14:58:00.000-08:00

We went and got Hanna's pictures taken last night and this morning I went and replaced her picture in the frame on the shelf and this is what I found ( it brought a HUGE smile to my face, and a tear to my heart...she's so big and grown up now!)

6 weeks

6 months

1 year

2 Years

I'll post the rest of her birthday pictures when I get a chance to scan them all in....they turned out amazingly gorgeous!

Wrong way little girl!

2010-01-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

And yes, she put those shorts on all by herself!

Couch Potato

2010-01-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

We've created a monster! An Elmo monster! I don't really want my kids to sit around all day and watch shows,but that's exactly what they want to do, and to be honesty, sometimes I just don't care if they watch some TV/movies. However, I think it's gone too far with this little monkey. Hanna wakes up in the middle of the night asking to watch Elmo, it's the first thing she says when she wakes up from her nap. There are currently 2 shows that she wants to watch over and over and over, Elmo Pets, and Shrek, yes, Sherk. What on earth does a toddler see in Shrek, but she loves it. This is what she looks like RIGHT now. I know, her hairs a mess, but come on, what's the point of doing her hair when all she's going to do is take a nap 4hrs after she wakes up and I'll have to do it all over again after her nap (I know, I'm getting lazy). Since we haven't gone anywhere yet today, her hair is messy, and I'm okay with that. So, here are two of Hanna's favorite things, Elmo shows, and being wrapped in a blanket. She will often bring me a blanket and ask me to wrap her in it. We sure love you Hanna!

Must they get bigger?

2009-12-19T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hanna will officially be two years old on January 9th. I can hardly believe that my little baby is so grown up. So big in fact, that she has decided to potty train HERSELF. I would just assume that she stay in diapers a little longer, really I would. She won't have it. So on Monday I thought, okay, why keep fighting her, I'll just let her at it. She's never pooped on the toilet yet, and I so don't want the mess on my floor, or in her panties, so I'm using up some pull-ups that we got on clearance for like $2 a package. I didn't think she really would care all that much about using the potty once I gave in and let her do it, boy was I wrong!

Since Monday she's had two accidents. One of them was on Monday, and I had just forgotten to take her to the potty. The second was Thursday night, and it was so my fault. She told me she had to go potty as we were getting out of the car to come inside, and I had forgotten till she told me 10 mins later "I just peed the pants." She's been waking up from her naps dry, still soaking wet in the morning, but Carter still in diapers at night...so that one I think will take a little longer to come. This morning I hadn't gotten her diaper off yet, because I was lazy and wanted to sleep in since both kids thought it would be super exciting to get up at 6am (that's like 2 hrs earlier than normal!) Well, Hanna pooped in her diaper this morning and she was soo sad. She just cried and cried, she kept repeating "I pooed the pants." Big tears rolled down her face. I felt bad for her. I think she's been holding it in all week long because she didn't want to go in her "panties" (I've totally convinced her the pull-ups are panties) that she's made herself constipated. Poor baby! She's so excited to put her poo in the potty, but just hasn't done it yet. So does anyone have any ideas of how to teach her to poop in the potty so I don't have a melt down/self-esteem crash like I did this morning every time she doesn't make it?

I'm very impressed with the progress she's made. She HATES to have a wet diaper on, and thinks it's so very fun to pee in the toilet. I told her the other day that when she can get her poo in the toilet we could go to the store and she could pick out some big girl panties to wear, it was one of those moments that I wished I had a camera on her, she giggled and danced and squealed all at the same time. She was SO excited about the thought of going shopping for panties for herself. I'm so impressed with her, she is one determined little girl, really, she's done this herself, cuz I'd just like to keep my baby around a little longer!

Picture(s) of the day...just in case you need a smile...

2009-12-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

He came in from sleeping outside all night....we got an insulated dog house from my brother and we thought we'd see how he would do...not so well. He was up all night long, and when we let him in he promptly got on the couch, right under where the heat blows. Hanna felt bad for him, cuz he was cold, so she thought he needed a blanket too. I didn't have the heart to make him get off the couch, he was so cold. He's now sleeping inside (but NOT on the couch)! Spoiled dog!

Fun giveaway

2009-12-01T07:13:00.001-08:00

There is a really fun giveaway at Because Babies Grow Up....go check it out by clicking here!

A little photoshop fun..

2009-11-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

I'm still learning all the fun things you can do with photoshop, here are a couple of things I've just created:

Before: After:

Before: After:

Happy Veterans Day!

2009-11-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

Veterans Day will always be a special day for me, well for us. It was three years ago today that we welcomed Trent home from Iraq! It was a LONG awaited day, one of the happiest days of my life. And believe it or not, this is the only picture I have of that wonderful day. The rest were on my parents computer when it died and I don't know yet if they survived :(
Seriously one of the best days of my life! I don't even know how to explain the emotions that I was feeling. One of my greatest friends, a friend that I made because of this deployment (she's the reason we are still married:) but really in all seriousness, she's the reason I survived that deployment. Her husband was also deployed with the 144th ASMC. So...back to my original thought....my friend and I got a hotel room close to the Air National Guard base, where the boys would be flying in early the next morning. We didn't want to miss a second of it! Well, now, imagine Christmas Eve when you were a little kid. The giddiness, lying in bed, not sleeping, giggling. That was us! We couldn't sleep. We got ready for bed, and were so excited that sleep just wouldn't come, we were talking, laughing, I think there might have even been some jumping on the bed. I think somewhere around 3am we settled down, only to be woken up an hour later by phone calls from our boys saying there were getting up to get ready to come home. I don't really remember all the details of the times of the day, it's a little blurry now, but it was amazing! I had left Carter at home with my family, they would bring him to the base in the morning with them. I got up around 5am to get ready. We had to be out to the base by 6:30ish, and the flight was supposed to land around 7:30 or 8. They were flying in from Ft Collins, CO. It took EVERYTHING I had not to drive out there the previous week when they arrived there for all their debriefings. The boys called us when the got on the plane, THEY WERE EARLY! Folks, if you're at all familiar with the military, that never happens. So onto the phones we got to let all the family know that they'd better hurry or they'd miss it! We got ready in record time, making ourselves as pretty as possible, and booked it to the base. And there we waited....of course they weren't early....the FRG (family readiness group) had bagels, and doughnuts, and other yummy food for us all. All our family arrived, and once again, I cannot even describe the feelings. It was electrifying. They opened the hanger door, we were able to watch the plane make it's decent, the feeling of it's FINALLY over washed over me. I was jumping up and down, holding my 14 month old Carter. The plane came to a stop, the door was opened and out came the commander waving a flag. One by one the soldiers of the 144th ASMC filed off the plane. Then came my man.....I booked it though the crowd. I've never been so happy to be in his arms! With Carter in one arm and Trent in the other, we were a complete family, together for the first time since Carter was born 14 months earlier.

Veterans day will never mean the same thing to me again. Years ago it was just another day, today I remember the day my veteran came home for war. Even as I sit here the emotions that I felt that day come rushing back to me. I never want to relive that day, but I never want to forget it.

Thanks to all those who still are sacrificing to make our nation free, and to free others!

We have some very naught children here.....

2009-11-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

...Okay so maybe not so naughty as they are just kids. However, really....come one....do we really have to go through this! The other day I was downstairs, probably on the computer cuz I seem to be here often :) I thought to myself; wow, those kids are playing SO well together right now. It was quiet upstairs, but not the dead silent that you know somethings up, I could still hear kids up stairs, but they weren't yelling and screaming at each other, and no one was crying. The kids had been locked out of the toy room because the REFUSED to clean it up and I refuse to always do it for them! So they didn't have many options to play with upstairs, but they had none the less kept themselves busy for almost a week (I'd ask them everyday if they were ready to pick up the toy room so they could play in there again.) Carter came bouncing down the stairs "look mom, I did my hair!"

And I "did Hanna's Hair too.......
That pony is NOT supposed to be sticking straight up!
He used the spray gel, the hair pomade/puddy stuff, and hair spray, and he used it ALL! Nice job Carter! AND Hanna had taken off her poopy diaper, so I had quite the mess to clean up. SIGH....I got my bathroom taken care of, Hanna cleaned up, and the poo all cleaned up and went back downstairs. I really really tried hard not to get angry. I sat back down at the computer (I'm a little addicted to digital scrap booking) and I could hear something strange going on upstairs. It was a noise I couldn't identify, I was instantly worried. Ran upstairs to find this:

Yes, those were my blinds. She pulled them out one slat at a time and then threw them neatly on the floor into a very nice pile.

Now lets fast forward to this afternoon, as all that happened in about 30 mins in one afternoon LAST week. SO on today. I love having a clean house, but having 4 kids under 4 makes in a little hard at times to get it clean (I watch two little girls during the week). Trent took Carter to run so errands, I put the dog out, put the baby down for a nap, and then put the other two in front of the TV. I got the kitchen cleaned up, the floors swept and moped, and even got lunch on the table. I called upstairs to the girls, they had been SOO good while I was cleaning, I was excited to tell them how good they had been. But they weren't responding to me. I could hear them....what were they doing....so up the stairs I went to find them. Not in the toy room, not in Carters room, not in the family room watching the movie. Where on earth were they? IN THE BATHROOM! That's always trouble for miss Hanna. On Friday these same two girls finger painted with Carter's toothpaste all over the wall, counters, and Hanna. Well today tops it all. They took the little bathroom cups and EMPTIED the toilet bowl. Hanna was soaked, the floor....well it's swimming, the rugs...dripping, and me....I just want to cry! How does that happen?! The little girl I watch is 3 1/2, old enough to know that playing in the toilet is so not okay. Hanna is known for playing in the toilet, we keep bathroom doors closed and I keep bleach tabs in the toilet, but still....GROSS!! I take Hanna's clothes off, send them both downstairs to eat lunch. After Hanna was done eating and ready to take her nap I took her up to her room to find clothes. But they were gone. There were NO clothes in her dresser at all.....they had emptied them ALL (even the clothes from the closet that don't fit any more) into the dirty clothes hamper. WHAT THE HECK!! Thankfully I had just sorted the dirty clothes out so it was empty, but still it took me almost half an hour to sort through the clothes that no longer fit and refold everything. Naught naughty children!

Help!

2009-10-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Notice anything wrong with this picture( sorry it's a bit blurry...my battery was on the fritz)?

Hanna has entered in a new stage, one that Carter NEVER went to. Removing of the diaper. In the morning when we go to get her out of bed she's NAKED, totally naked. She can remove her clothes and her diaper like it was nothing. She then sits in her bed, sometimes in a little puddle. Often during the day she will remove her clothes and her diaper, just because she can. Well, yesterday we reached a stinky new low. I was downstairs, she was upstairs. As I went up stairs to get ready for church I noticed Hanna with her onesie (yes, she can undo a onesie) hanging low, and it smelt awful! That's right, she had pooped in her diaper and had taken it off! There was poop ALL over the onesie, all up her back, and the nasty diaper was just laying on the floor. THANK GOODNESS she had not sat down anywhere!! So...we need help! How does one keep their baby from taking off their diaper. She's not ready for potty training yet, she has no clue that she has control over "going" just yet. She does love to sit on the potty, but this mommy is so not ready for the disastrous mess that comes with potty training a child who's not ready!

Putting her diaper on backwards kinda works, it pretty much just slows down the process. Any ideas would be great!

Military Awards

2009-10-20T13:01:00.001-07:00

On Sunday Trent and his buddy SGT Parson were asked to come out to the unit for something. They asked them to bring their family as well. We left church early so we could make it out to Camp Williams by 3:30. We got there with plenty of time to spare and it true military fashion waited, and waited, and waited....for like a hour and a half. Both Trent and Parson's 6 years were up in May, so they don't drill every month any more (yipee!) and so we had to wait for final formation for the awards to be presented. Both Chris (SGT Parson) and Trent were awarded the same thing. Trent and Chris have become great friends over the course of 6 years that they've spent together. Often riding out to drill together, they also did a lot for the unit together.....they had a few nick names in the unit, one of which is the twins (the other is fat boys). So it seemed very appropriate that they receive their awards together. I didn't get very many pictures as my camera was dying AND I got the honor of presenting Trent's awards to him and pinning my husband's ribbon on to him. That was such an honor for me! Oh...maybe you want to know what he was awarded.....The Meritorious Service Medal. If you want to learn more about it go here. I truly didn't know much about it, and when I asked Trent about it he kinda just shrugged it off, but it truly is a honor to receive this medal!

I don't know if you can see it very well or not...but they are both trying so hard not to crack up. When 1st SGT Sterling was reading the award, he was having the HARDEST time not dying in hysterical laughter. Trent, Parson, and Sterling (aka Crazy) have worked together for many years, in many different roles. 1st SGT is a newer role for Crazy and both Trent and Chris have teased him about it....that and he's really short...and he's bald...oh did I mention that he's crazy?! They have great respect for him and I know Trent misses working with him and his commander, CPT Steffel. His unit is getting ready to deploy again in January and after the ceremony CPT Steffel and SGT Sterling came to me and Sarah (Chris's wife) and asked us what it would take for them to take those two with them over the "pond" Sorry boys, you can't have him! There is no amount of money on this earth that is worth having my husband gone for another 18 months! Trent respects these men so much that he's actually considered going with them....that's when I ask to have the divorce papers handy :) I never want to have to repeat what we went through while he was in Iraq. Anyway....sorry this is getting long.

Just a little about his medal that he got...he was awarded it for "meritorious service in the performance of your duties as a Combat Medic Instructor Non Commissioned Officer and Squad Leader. Your ability to work independently together with your sound judgment [that's where Crazy lost it] played a critical role in the success of the unit and the Combat Medic Transition Team. Your conduct and enthusiasm [once again trying SO hard to stop laughing] toward your leadership responsibilities brings great credit to the unit, the Non Commissioned Officer Corps, and the Utah National Guard, and the United States Army." That was taken directly off the award he received.

And this is his other award, presented from his unit, the 144th ASMC (area support medical company) We are so proud of you Trent and the service that you gave!

This is the medal he received:

Meritorious Service Medal

Awarded by United States of America
Type	Medal
Eligibility	Military Personnel Only
Status	Currently Awarded
Precedence
Next (higher)	Purple Heart
Equivalent	Meritorious Service Medals: Joint Service, Branch Service
Next (lower)	Air Medal
Meritorious Service Medal ribbon

Look what I learned to do....

2009-10-06T13:29:00.001-07:00

I don't know why this excites me SO much...but it none the less does. I learned how to use templates (THANKS Emily!!). Cuz, lets be honest, I cannot make a cute scrapbook page to save my life, but these little templates show me just how to put it together to make a cute page. I'm in love. Oh...so do you want to see what I created?

I started with this:And ended up with this:
Ah....I'm so proud of myself! And it took me less than 10 mins!

If you too want to learn how to use these little templates go here.

Not for the faint of heart.....

2009-09-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday I was cleaning the floors and kitchen, really it seems like I clean them EVERY day. When I see a little movement out from the corner of my eye. There is the cutest little mouse scurrying across the floor, along the wall, into the other room and into the closet. Naturally I was a little shocked about such a critter in MY house, but, eh it happens and I will catch the get the little guy, cuteness will not save him like it does my kids. I set aside the cleaning for now, a little preoccupied with catching this mouse. I get him cornered into the closet, I know he cannot get out, I round up all the kids (I watch 2 extras during the week) and we all go to Target for some supplies. Once home I set up the traps. But nothing happens, he must have found his way out. Saturday morning, I'm sitting at the computer, Trent is in the kitchen/entry way, and screeches/screams like I've NEVER heard before. My husband screamed like a girl! The mouse ran across the floor right in front of him and I am hysterical laughing, just thinking about it makes me crack up still. The mouse runs under the fridge. Trent naturally starts to shake and move the fridge in an effort to get the mouse out. Well, out comes mouse and runs right across his foot, and out of his mouth comes that screech/scream again! I can hardly contain myself, I was laughing so hard! Carter does a great impression, I'll have to see if I can get it on tape. A couple of hours later we returned to find the mouse in not one trap, but two. He had gotten his back legs caught in one and drug it across the floor and then got his head caught in another one...that'll teach him to mess with Trent!

I don't think he'll be running across Trent's foot anytime soon!

This afternoon I decided we should clear out the weeds under the stairs outside and put in a sand box. Trent thought that was a good idea, Carter thought it was an AWESOME idea. So out went Trent to get to work. This is what he found:

I don't know if you can see it well or not, but it's a snake skin. Yuck! I guess if you've got mice then having a snake around isn't a bad deal. Just as long as he stays out in the yard I think I'll be okay.

Will smile for chocolate...

2009-09-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

....well, maybe not.

Meet the newest Lyman....

2009-09-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

Meet Bently, he is an 8 month old Pit Bull. Aka, a BIG baby! He thinks he's a 5 lb lap dog, seriously he wants to sit IN our laps, he needs to be the center of attention and LOVES to play. We picked him up on Monday from a cute little family in SLC who just moved into a new townhouse and the landlords wanted a $500 pet deposit, which they didn't have, and they just couldn't afford to keep him anymore, as with most teenage boys, he eats a TON. We've found that he has the NASTIEST gas EVER!! On the way home he kept farting, the first time I totally thought it was Trent, it was awful. Trent on the other hand was really proud of it, he thought it really was his nasty smelly fart, cuz apparently they both ripped on at the same time. I drove down the freeway with my head OUT the window. It was gross! So any advice on getting rid of doggy gas is appreciated! Just like having a newborn again there is alot of adjusting to be done. He came from a home where he spent all day, except when he needed to go out, inside. That's not going to happen here. I like my new house too much to have it destroyed by doggie. And within the first 5 minutes he peed in the front room, not okay! Lucky for me it was on a plastic bag and not the carpet. He's getting used to spending more time outside than he ever has before. Oh, and if the pure name of pit bull scares you...look here to learn more about the breed. We've done our research and are excited to have him in our family and hopes it works out well. Our kids love him and he is so good with them, all except for that tail of his that swings so hard left to right, it knocks on things and I wonder if he's going to break it one of these times.

Hanna was trying to give him a kiss, Bently kept moving in circles, Hanna was getting ticked, so Trent had to make him hold still.

Trent showing off his tricks. Bently looks to Trent as the leader, he's been so easy to train and we hope to be able to get him socialized to other dogs soon.

Our little fire fighter

2009-09-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

So Carter got a little playhouse for his birthday. His favorite thing to do is climb up on top of the roof. His next favorite thing to do is pretend he is a firefighter and put the house out. He'd sure come in handy in California with all their fires.

It has FINALLY happened....

2009-08-21T08:25:00.001-07:00

On July 1st we walked through a house that we LOVED. Being very new to the house looking process we really didn't know what we were doing, but had an excellent agent that did know what to do. Without really thinking about it we put an offer on a house. That offer was accepted and on July 3rd we started the very very long loan process of buying a home. Had I known what an incredible pain in the rear it was I probably would never had even wanted to buy a home. Seriously, that was a pain! We started doing a VA loan and ended with an FHA loan because the VA was asking some ridiculous things of us. Well, we are now finished and the real work will begin as the house needs some SERIOUS painting and cleaning. I've got loads of pictures, and the previous owners still had some stuff in there when I took them so they look a little cluttered. But oh well. The house has an accessory apartment in it, you can look here for those pictures, and we need a renter if anyone knows anyone who's looking. Our half of the house is 2500 sq feet, has 5 bedrooms 1 full bathroom, 1 3/4 bathroom, and 1 1/2 bathroom. There is a formal dining room, a formal living room, and 2 family rooms. The backyard is HUGE, it is fully fenced, has a garden area that is fenced off from the rest of the yard (and needs some serious cleaning up) there is 2 sheds and 1 workshop out back. We are excited for the new change in our lives, but terribly sad to leave our wonderful neighbors and ward. We truly have made some of the best friends here that we hope to have forever! There are a ton of pictures, so that's why I made a slide show out of them. Enjoy!

5 Years Later

2009-08-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

5 years, 3 apartments (and almost a house), 2 kids, 6 cars, 1 motorcycle, 1 scooter, and 1 intensely long deployment later.....and I still love you! If I had to do it all over again I'd still choose you!

A must see Hanna clip....I'm still laughing!

2009-08-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

Can anyone tell me where my baby went.....

2009-07-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

....Every time I look up this girl gets a little older, says new things, and does new things that reminds me that this beautiful baby girl that joined our family almost 19 months ago is no longer a baby; but a beautiful little toddler growing up into a gorgeous little girl, a bit sassy, but beautiful none the less.

She LOVES to feed herself using a spoon or fork, she does pretty well too. She has learned how to annoy her brother and does it very well too!

Momma....you in there?

Seriously, can't I have 5 minutes to myself!?

I've been out smarted by a spider

2009-07-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE spiders. Well, I've now been out smarted by one, maybe two, maybe it was the same one. One that looks like this:

You see, I hate spiders so much that when I see one, IT WILL DIE!!! If Trent is home, he does the killing, and since kids have come along the raid can isn't used as much, so I have to work up the courage to kill the darn thing myself, and let me tell you, it's not easy. A couple of days ago I was sitting in the front room, alone, kids were sleeping and Trent was at work. When I see some movement on the floor. SPIDER, I feel a little panicked. I grab a near by shoe, not mine of course...once I put a shoe on and squished a spider with my foot, that's a story for another day...I'm sure I grabbed one of Trent's seeing they are the biggest. I slam that shoe down over and over again on top of that thing. It curls up into the I'm dead position, I push it to the side of the room, you see I'M NOT GOING TO TOUCH IT, I'll get the vacuum when the kids wake up. Well kids wake up, I forget till later, I remember that thing on the floor on the side and go to look at it, it's not there. Hmmm, maybe Trent saw it and threw it away. On to this morning, I go in to do Hanna's hair in her room. As I walk into the door I notice something out of the corner of my eye, huge, okay I'm totally not joking, it really was huge, red spider crawling up the wall. I go grab one of Trent's big hiking boots, I check the inside to make sure there's no spiders in it first of course, and I pound the spider ON THE WALL with the boot. Spider falls to the ground, guess I was just a little off with my pounding. Spider is still alive. So I pound him into the carpet. He curls up into the I'm dead pose, you know that one that ALL spiders do when you've killed 'em. I push him off to the side of the wall so he's not in the middle of the room satisfied that he's dead. Sit down to do Hanna's hair. As I get up to leave I look behind the door, cuz that's where he was now laying. AND HE'S GONE! WHAT. THE. HECK. I thought I killed it. How does a spider out smart me?! He pretended to be dead?! And that was when I remembered the first spider that I thought I killed. Now I go into panic mode, I've got to leave the house and let off bug bombs....where did that thing go. I move the dirty clothes bin, not behind it, I look in Carters room on the floor, down the hall, I move the things from Hanna's room praying that it doesn't come flying at me. Cuz I'd probably flip, and then pass out. Did I mention I hate spiders? Deep breath, stay calm, maybe it's some WEIRD ghost spider, once it's dead it disappears, sounds good to me. Or Maybe it's on me, yes, I took off my clothes! Not on me, thank goodness! I finish getting ready so we can head out the door for Hanna's 18 month check up, run into Hanna's room to get a diaper for the diaper bag, and what is crawling across the floor!! I must have injured the darn thing as he appeared to have a little limp, I ran and grabbed the boot, and this time I MADE sure it was all the way dead!!! No more disappearing spiders for me! Trent would be so proud of me, I killed a spider all by my self, and I didn't even scream!

Carter's Saturday Night Prayer....

2009-06-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Heavenly Father.
Please knock down the church so I don't have to go to primary tomorrow....

Yes, he really did say that!

More School

2009-06-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

So I get the great pleasure and honor of attending UVU for 2 more years to get my bachelor's in nursing. I just got the acceptance letter in the mail today and already I'm overwhelmed with getting things in order for school, again. I applied for financial aid and GIBill in under an hour. You might think that I'm getting good at filling out all these bloody forms. I also accepted a job offer at the specialty hospital in Provo and start tomorrow. Now we just need to get with our realtor and find something in our price range and size.

Got to love this kid....

2009-06-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

Carter keeps us laughing all the time with the things he says and repeat...here are a couple conversations I've had with him in the last few weeks....

We were all over at my moms house one evening, my brother was there with his three boys who are 7 and twins that are 5. Carter and his cousins were outside jumping on the trampoline when I hear Carter SCREAMING, like he'd just been killed. Usually I ignore his cries, I like him to work things out on his own, unless of course I can tell that he is hurt. So I jump of from the table and run outside to see what is going on. The four boys are on the tramp, Carter is crying, I get to him and try to find out what happened. Through tears and from the other boys I came up that somehow he got poked in the eye. Not a very hard thing to do, four boys jumping on a tramp, arms flying all over, eh not a big deal. I tell Carter that maybe he needs to come in and take a brake as he is hysterical. I take him off the tramp and carry him inside the house. As I'm walking in the house holding him I tell him I'm sure it was just an accident, you were all on the tramp having fun. To which he responds, through great gasping sobs...."Their tryin' to kill me!!" Seriously?! Where does this stuff come from? I almost dropped him I started laughing so hard! Where does he come up with this stuff!

Well, this one I know where he got.....Friday afternoon my sister Jamie and I were in the car driving back to my moms house with the kids. From the back seat Carter yells "stupid car!" we've had the talk about not saying stupid before. So I thought now was a good time to remind him....
mom: Carter we don't say stupid. It's a mean word. Say silly car instead.
Carter: Well, some people just need to learn how to drive!
Jamie and I looked at each other and just died laughing!! Yes...I'm sure that is something that has come out of my mouth a time or two, and I got it from my dad :)

We love you Carter, thanks for keeping our lives full of laughter!

The moment I've been waiting for

2009-06-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

Well folks I just passed one of those milestones in my life. No not the big 30 but the big RN. I'm officially an RN. I just paid the $8 to find out early that I passed my NCLEX exam. I'm all giddy inside like after your first kiss with the girl of your dreams.
This is a huge deal because now I can look for a job as an RN knowing that I am qualified and not just hoping I'll pass the test. We have some thoughts and ideas of looking around for a job in Salt Lake County northward and even perhaps Arizona. The ER job in Roosevelt fell through and the offer I had here in Provo doesn't feel the best right now. So if any of you know if any hospital jobs for an RN, preferably in the ER, I'd love to know about them. On the same note if you know of any killer deals on a house we're in the market for a 3bd 2 bth, white picket fence with a puppy all bundled into one :)

I'm so relived that life is finally coming together. So there is hope for all of you out there who are still in school. 28 years old and finally have a working associates degree yehaw! Of course next week I'm sure I'll feel like life is crazy again with no order and no end in sight.

Many thanks to all of you for your support and listening to me ramble on about diseases and treatments when I know that you didn't care that much.

To infinity (eternity) and beyond
Trent

What the?

2009-06-08T12:51:00.001-07:00

SO I tell Carter to go potty and get ready for nap time. I come back a few minutes later to find him with his shirt up and his belly plastered against the running dryer. "Carter what are you doing?" "I;m trying to get warm Dad." I could see him holding a "here's your sign" sign to me. What else would he be doing half naked against the dryer?