Microsoft

Matt recently got himself a fancy new job at Microsoft. For people who are not from Washington it probably doesn't mean anything to you. However, getting a job and working at Microsoft is a pretty big deal. In Matt fashion, of course he decided to join the Xbox team. So, we are still connected with all of the latest games! It is also a pretty big deal for me because now I am in possession of the Prime Card. The Prime Card is a card that gets you discounts all over town! It is fabulous and I always looked at my fellow Microsoft friends with a little bit of envy until I got my own. They also have amazing medical benefits. We pay 0 dollars for the insurance and we pay 0 dollars for everything! There is absolutely no out of pocket expense. Coming from an HR background I truly value this benefit and we enjoy it very much! We are happy to embrace the Microsoft world hope to make the most of it.

To make an impression on Matt's new team he decided to join a Rock Band competition. They called themselves the Sandbaggers and he went to work like this:

Nice huh?

Hulk

We live in a house of super heroes and it became more apparent to me how it dominates our lives when Ethan said Hulk! No joke the boy can only say, mama, dada, uh-oh and no. However, he now refers to everything super hero as hulk. He is pretty pleased with himself and I am not sure if I should be embarrassed that his fifth word is hulk versus cat, dog or ball which are the normal words a 1 year old says or if I should just look at it as progression! Progression it is!

Hot, humid and full of bugs but we loved it!

While we were in Georgia we loaded up the mini van with four adults and four children under five to drive a few hours to Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed in a condo on the beach and soaked up the rays of the south. Next to the beach the weather was fine, but the minute we went downtown we were very hot! (I have become a heat wimp because of my time in Seattle and I was overheated.) We were also surprised at the onslaught of bugs. They were everywhere. I was constantly hitting myself and the kids so we wouldn't be covered in bug bites. After my dutiful bug swapping I learned that there are people in this world who are not affected by mosquito bites and I happen to be married to one who also passed this gene onto our kids. I can't even imagine never itching from a mosquito bite. How nice. Despite the heat and bugs we enjoyed the scenery, beach, history and company.

We went out to Fort Sumter which is were the Civil War started. Those darn South Carolinans were so rebellious!


You have to take a boat ride to get there! Ethan enjoyed the trip. Notice that I glisten? Yeah, it was hot! The fam on the boat! We got to see dolpins jumping in and out of the water. It was delightful.

Our traveling companions! Becky, Aaron, Cooper and Gavin.Matt in the drivers seat at another historic visit!
The glorious Love Bugs! I just can't get over them. In Seattle we also don't have many bugs. I guess you can't convince them to live in the rain. One of the only benefits of our climate.
The beach. I am covering my back as I happen to be fairly sensitive to the sun. However, I should have been covering my legs because after gooping up everyone else with sunscreen I forgot to apply it to my legs. They were nice and red afterwords. Can you tell Matt is a resident of Seattle? The boys LOVE to swim. Matt and Cole enjoyed the actual waves. Ethan and I stay in this little pool. We went on a carriage ride through the town. The trip was full of gossip and intrigue. Apparently South Carolina wasn't a hot spot for settling so they had to bribe people to stick around. I think they said that you had about a 66% chance of surviving there! Gratefully that statistic has changed. However, I am not quite sure that people live there without being bribed. Especially in the summer.

Georgia on my mind

We got to spend three weeks in Georgia. Here are a few of the highlights.

Playing at Chick-fil-A

Playing at the park.

Swimming!

Ethan tried a lemon. What a good eater.
Playing with our cousins.

and he walks...

Just a few days after turning one Ethan decided to walk!

He even has the bruises to prove it!

The climbing has already started

Ethan has proven quite adept at climbing. He is just starting to walk, but if there is something to climb on he is all over it. When I was pregnant with Ethan we purchased bunk beds as we knew the boys would have to share a room. The other day Ethan was playing in Cole's room by himself. He often does this and I don't worry about him. I heard him grunting from the other room, which he often does, so again I didn't worry about him. He didn't stop so I went in the room to see him perched happily on top! I'm not quite sure how he scaled a ladder to a bunk bed, but he did it.


While at my sisters house he was obsessed with climbing on the kid table. At first he would just fall off, but by the time we were ready to come home he could get up and down by himself.

Cole and his TV

Don't get between a man and his TV. I hate to say it but Cole is addicted to TV. It started at a really young age. I worked from home and could have 30 minute work phone conversations while Cole watched Baby Einstein without making a peep. I thought all children would sit and watch TV. I thought it was the nature of the beast. Now having a second child that won't even glance at the thing, I realize it is somewhat unique. Unfortunately, I have to admit that sometimes I love it. He is a fabulous traveler, if I am ever sick we can make peace on the couch together and when you are making dinner or putting a child to bed it is a handy tool. PBS also has some really great shows on right now. They are all about letters and learning. It makes it easier to excuse the watching when it somehow seems educational. I think I would worry about this habit except that he is extremely active whenever the TV isn't on. So, I figure, the TV makes life a little easier for all of us.

This is Cole in a typical position in front of the TV.

Love Bugs!

When we were in Georgia we went out to Charleston, South Carolina. We got to go out to Fort Sumter which is were the Civil War began. While there I don't think I got to fully appreciate the history of the event as I was quite distracted by the Love bugs. They were EVERYWHERE. The tide was changing so the breeze died down and all the Love bugs decided to stick around. Here is a little video of my experience.

Let the depression begin

I just spent three fabulous weeks with my sister Becky. Becky and I are really close in age and friendship. We are 10.5 months apart which means we will both be 30 next month at the same time. She was the miracle and I was the "what the heck." Although it wasn't intentional it has been a crazy wonderful experience having a sister so close. We had good times and bad growing up but through all of that we have a great friendship. I don't know that we can be any more alike and different at the same time. People say we talk alike, look alike, and use the same mannerisms. We live parallel lives. We both have two boys, we married men that are similar, we have both flown the Utah home base and we are both dedicated to raising our families in the gospel. We both served a mission. On the flip side she is much more fashion aware than I am, she knows her politics, everyone wants to be her friend, she is extremely thoughtful, she appreciates the memories and little things in life, she always says sorry and she gets homesick. I always wish I could be a little bit more like her.

When we were little she used to bribe me to play barbies and I used to bribe her to play games. I'm not sure why, but we used to grab each other by the neck and pinch as hard as we could. We spent hours playing in the playhouse and outside. I remember one time I was mad at her and told her that I would get her sick if she didn't stop bugging me. She didn't so I pinned her down and breathed into her face. Yup, she got sick. We always dressed alike and our favorite outfits were the ones with the owls on them and pink knicker bockers.





I know she loves me because she didn't kick us out of her house after Cole peed on the stairs, Ethan peed on the rug, Ethan's poopy diaper leaked all over the stairs, Cole's wet pullup leaked on the new leather couch and Cole threw up on her bed. Not to mention milk and cheerios all over the floor and car. (Yeah, no joke, all of that happened on our last trip). When we are together we can talk and talk and talk. As her husband likes to point out we seem to talk about the same things over and over but it doesn't matter to us. We love to share ideas and experiences. Even if we have nothing to say we are comfortable being together in silence.

Every time I come home from a visit I get depressesd not being able to talk to her about every little thing that is going on. So, Becky, thanks for being a great sister and thanks for a great visit. I miss you already.

Happy Birthday Cole and Ethan!

September 22 is a big day for our family. We get to celebrate two birthdays. This year Cole turned 3 and Ethan turned 1! The day didn't begin as expected. It started out in the wee hours of the morning when Cole woke up coughing and ended up throwing up all over his bed. :) Then Ethan, who is still on Georgia time, woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:25am. Delightful. I could already tell is was going to be a great day. For months Cole and I have been planning his Batman birthday party. He LOVES Batman. (By default Ethan has to enjoy Batman as well) He has two pair of batman pajamas and wears them every chance he gets and everywhere we go. Ethan even has a pair. As we were going to be out of town I had been buying things and preparing the party pretty far in advance. All weekend we had been busily trying to get the house in order after a three week vacation and I had even made a few Batman cakes. (Which is in itself a pretty amazing accomplishment because I do not make cakes.) However, after a visit to the doctor, a double ear infection and some more throw up we cancelled the party! Even Cole didn't want to party at that point. So, we spent the day in the front room watching Batman and Spongebob occasionally playing with the new toys. A little disappointing but we have plans to reschedule and one cake made it to the freezer. Here are the boys with their new toys. Cole got a new scooter and Geotrax set and Ethan got a car track.

The highlight of the day would have to be Ethan eating his cake! I made the boys an individual bat shaped cake. It was of course black, which turned out to make the event even funnier. I knew that Cole would probably not touch his as he has yet to eat a birthday cake, but I thought Ethan might get a kick out of it and even play with it. I was right! Here is the proof. Ethan loved playing with his cake and afterwards had a pretty good sugar high. He was going crazy when we were trying to clean up. I'm not sure how long his hands will have a slight tinge of black on them!


Here is Cole's untouched cake! Here is some video of Cole doing what he did all day!


It seems like every once in awhile we have days like this!

Pure Insanity

This last year we have done a fair amount of traveling. Most of that traveling has been without Dad. Yes, you read that right. I have been on a plane with two small children and stayed away for 2-3 weeks by myself! Matt calls it insanity and I call it desperation to get out of rainy Seattle. However, I have learned a few tricks that I thought I would pass along.



1. Dress your kids in costumes. Cole happens to be in a batman phase and wore his cape and mask flying home from Utah one time. Everyone had to talk to "Batman" and everyone wanted to help us! It was great. I had the stewardess take the carseat, buckle it up and they even gave us extra snacks instead of angry scowls. We repeated this for our last trip and we had the same success.

2. Ask for help. I started saying "could I trouble someone to..." and I always had several volunteers to fold my stroller or even take a crying baby for a minute!

3. Have good snacks and toys. You can usually postpone a meltdown with the right mixture of toys and snacks. Fruit snacks and chocolate milk work for us. As well as mom's cell phone.

4. Be calm. It will all work out even if your kid cries the entire time. My kids feel my energy and act the way I act.

5. Smile. People probably think you are crazy but they are much happier to help if you are happy about your situation!

We are currently in Georgia and the flight here included a three hour lay over and it was fabulous! The boys did great. When we got on the plane you could feel the uneasiness of the passengers near us and then when we landed everyone commented on how well behaved they were. So, if you are thinking about it, take the trip!

Thanks Grandma for helping us pass the time in Utah and a fun trip to McDonald's.