A Separate Vacation Together

This last weekend Matt and I got to go Utah BY OURSELVES! We left the boys with some friends and took off.  Matt got to go skiing and I got to spend time without someone touching me 24 hours a day.  It was great!  I saw two movies (one with Matt), got my hair done (thanks T), spent time with family and ate some good food.

We went the weekend that Matt's niece and two nephews got baptized. It was great to see their smiling faces. Congratulations Aislyn, Kimball and Adam.

We got to see all of Matt's family at the baptism.

We had a family dinner with my family the Sunday before we came home.  It was so nice to see everyone!

While we were gone Seth and Amy watched Cole and Ethan.  The day before we left they both got sick so they had to also take care of them more than they bargained for.  Cole was great at talking on the phone and telling us all about the things he was doing.  I'm not sure they realized that we were gone because they were having so much fun.  

Cole even made a move on Jayne!  

Thanks Seth and Amy for letting us have a worry free vacation!

25 random things

I have been secretly hoping to be tagged since I joined the blogging world and finally was on Facebook! So, here we go.

1.   I had wanted to marry Matt at a very young age so with a little manipulation and persuasion I got him to take a class with me where you had to study together on your homework.  We were dating within two months!  

2.  Most of our dating took place via letters for three years and then we were crazy like and got married three months after being reunited. 

3.  Marrying Matt  remains the best decision of my life.

4.  I learned Spanish in Spain on a mission for the LDS church and I get to go back there this May!

5.  Because I learned Spanish I ended up getting my degree in it.  I was supposed to do Spanish Teaching but dropped out of the program my last semester because I had been sick with Epstein Bar for two years.  It was a great decision. 

6.  I thought maybe I would have a tough time getting a job after I graduated with my degree, but ended up getting into HR which is something I love!

7.  I have fired several people.  A few reasons include: drugs abuse, sexual harassment and stealing.

8.  I have had mono/epstein bar twice.  I think I have been sick for probably at least five years of my life in total.

9.  I have had various jobs over the last few years working form home, but currently work as a resume writer.  

10.  I have extremely high arches and just got myself some orthotics.

11.  I always enjoyed school and apparently I used to do my older sisters homework everyday because I wanted to learn the information a grade ahead.

12.  I once met Ross Perot in Washington DC at the Flight Museum.  He even posed for a picture with me.

13.  I have had eye surgery several times without any medication.

14.  My boys share the same birthday.  

15.  I love to keep a clean house but that has been seriously impeded with two active boys.

16.  I have a weakness for doughnuts.  I always want to buy them at the store when I am on a diet or hungry.

17.  I love to read.

18.  I love to travel.

19.  I tried out to be on Wheel of Fortune but only made it to round two.  I have wanted to be on Wheel of Fortune since I was little and attempted to try out before but got in a car accident.  Maybe the time is not right just yet.  

20.  I will try anything with heights.  I once repelled face first off an open edge.  i will go on any roller coaster.  I hope to sky dive and bungee jump.

21.  I enjoy public speaking.

22.  I covet people with thick hair.

23.  People would probably call me a picky eater.  I don't eat much fish, mushrooms, olives (especially green ones), celery, avocado, and I have issues with cheese.

24.  I love to grow vegetables, but I haven't been very successful in Seattle.

25.  I am generally a happy person and I giggle when I am nervous.

Quarters

This morning I had a quarter on the counter and Cole asks, "Is that Jesus" (pointing to George Washington)  

I said, "No, that is George Washington, he was the first president of the United States."  

He flipped the quarter over which happened to be a Hawaiian quarter with an angel moroni looking statue on it and he asked, "Is that the temple?"  

I have to admit I was quite pleased with that little bit of confusion!  He then ran off to tell Matt that George Washington is on the quarter!

Life is a fight

and I might be losing.  

I don't ask for much.  All I really want is the boys to wear clothes, eat, grow and play nice.  However, sometimes they think that is too much.  So, they throw tantrums, and more tantrums, and more tantrums.  They throw tantrums to get dressed, get undressed, get in the bath, get out of the bath, eat, not eat, put the shoes on, and take them off.  I think between the two of them today we could safely say there was about three hours of crying.  

Maybe it was the sun.  They aren't quite used to that in January.  It must have thrown us all off.  

The Pleasure of my Company

So, today I was attempting to read my book "The Pleasure of my Company" and the boys were fighting over lap space.  Cole was singing Jingle Bells Batman smells into his microphone and Ethan had a book. Each one was using elbows and pushing a little to get a little bit more space.  I couldn't help but chuckle and thought to myself how nice it is for my boys to fight over "the pleasure of my company."

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam

Cole is a sunbeam!  I almost started crying.  He sat through opening exercises and even enjoyed class.

This is what Cole did at the Children's museum.  He was making his own Batman mask.

Ethan is 15 months!

We had Ethan's 15 month check up the other day.  He weighed in at a hefty 26 pounds!  The kid loves food and it shows.  He is a "side sipper" because he never wants to miss a beat by having his cup in front of his eyes.  He also loves to play.  He will spend a lot of time playing by himself.  He always pulls out the trains, cars and trucks.  If we ever hear him whining down the hall we know he is carrying the train bag around and wants us to open it for him.  He can nod yes or no to let us know what he wants.  He can say a few more words and it seems that the list is growing longer everyday.  He currently says: mama, dada, Cole, no, all done, uh oh, hulk, more, milk, and car.  He also makes car and train noises, acts like a dog, and is starting to identify body parts.  If we don't understand what he is trying to say he will drag us around to show us what he wants.  He loves to play with Cole and try to do everything he does.  He loves to read books especially the super hero books.  He is very happy and keeps us laughing. 

Ethan also has a special little blankie.  It is one that Matt's sister makes.  If it ever gets dirty I have to find the right moment to wash it because he loves to have it all the time.  Matt asked his sister to send us a new one.  It happened to be a tad different and Ethan spotted the impostor immediately.  Let's hope that nothing happens to blankie!

Top things of '08

Here are some highlights for the year '08 in no particular order.  

1.  We started remolding the windows and have almost finished.  This one has dragged out longer then we expected, but this is what the final product will look like!

2. Trip to Utah to help Nanny and Grandad.  My mother had a miraculous recovery from a 3 year illness and my father can still see out of one eye.

3. Another trip to Utah. 

4. Another trip to Utah for more family time.

5.  We discovered Prevacid.  It changed Ethan into a happy baby at 10 months instead of a baby that cried all day.  Too bad we didn't find this one sooner.

6. We tried out for Wheel of Fortune.  We made it to the second round, but it ended there!  Maybe in two years we will try again!

7. I competed in my first sprint triathlon and became a runner.

8.  Matt got a new job working for the man.

9.  I weaned Ethan and he started sleeping through the night.

10. Trip to Georgia to visit Becky and fam.

11.  We got Guitar Hero World Tour

12.  I got Lasik.

 

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve we went to a party at the Elenbaas house.  There were a few other families and we had a great time.  Matt and I spent most of our time playing a new game called "Lips."  It is a singing competition and I think I found a new hidden talent!  I won every song.  Ethan crashed while I sung him to sleep around 11 and Cole lasted until we went home at 1:00.   He spent the evening chasing around the older kids and watching movies.

Nice picture I know, but it did capture my singing moment!

No wonder why housework takes longer than it used to....

I don't have a picture of this, but whenever I pull out the vacuum we begin Kung Fu Fighting or chase....

Gingerbread Houses

Making gingerbread houses is now a family tradition.  We started last year and it was one of my favorite days with Cole.  It was the first time that he discovered candy (yes, as a first child and a picky eater to boot he never ate candy until he was 2!) Not only did he discover it, but he ate enough to make up for his two year absence.  This year was no exception.  He was popping in the candy faster than we could put it on the house.  Ethan caught on quickly and was shoveling it in as well.  We invited the Rhynard's over to share it with us and we had a great night.

Seattle always does a gingerbread house display and this year was a super hero theme.  We knew we had to make a visit.  We went after Christmas and Cole loved it.  He looked at each house probably 10 times.  He kept going around and around catching every detail.  Of course he had to go in one of his super hero pajamas. 

The Bat Cave!