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.

1/4 mile swim, 14 mile bike ride and a 5K run

So, a few months ago a friend of mine (Kami) told me she was going to do a triathlon. I sat there with my mouth dropped open in amazement. How do people do that? Then she told me that I should do it with her. I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed some more. I even went as far as to say I am not athletic at all and I don't know how to swim. Plus it has been about ten years since I have seriously worked out. She said she could teach me to swim and none of that mattered. I said no thanks and thought maybe she could find someone else to sucker into it. Anyway, for whatever reason in a moment of insanity I started to think about it. I went back and forth and before I knew it I told her I would do it with her. WHAT????? I said that out loud, surely I must have been mistaken. Anyway, I think my pride got to me because once I said it I never looked back. Sure enough Kami taught me how to swim and that is how I began to train for the triathlon. I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to do it in the end as it seemed like every time I tried to workout something happened. I hurt my ankle, my kid was up all night, we were sick, my kids were sick, trips to Utah etc.

I attempted to do the Fourth of July 5K run. This was the length of the last portion of the triathlon. I was DYING! I had to walk and the hills were killer. I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Anyway, 38 minutes later I made it back to the church. Again, my pride got the best of me and I kept going. I even signed up for the event with hopes that I wouldn't chicken out because I am too cheap to lose 50 bucks.

In the meantime, I was trying to invite everyone I knew to do it with me. If we were all in pain maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad. I only had one other taker! Tiffany decided to do it as well. We finally got to the last week and I felt as ready as I would get. I started to get excited.

The morning of the triathlon I think I was so out of my element I didn't know what to do with myself. So, I went around posing for pictures and making goofy faces. Here is the proof that I did it!

This is Tiff, me and Kami with our fancy markings.

Here we are getting ready to get into the Lake at 7:00 in the morning. Who thought that was a good idea? Our cap color indicated what heat we were in.
Really, are you kidding me? I am going to swim now?
Here I am trudging out of the water. Nope, you don't see any other swimmers getting out of the water because, yes, that is right, I got out DEAD LAST! I just kept saying I didn't want to be last. Oh well, the swim was my weak spot. You got to give me a break as I just learned how!
Good thing I used to bike in my former days. It helped me make up some time.
Yup, that is me, running to the finish line. It truly happened. One hour and 37 minutes later.
Tiff and I proudly displaying our "I did it" medals.
This was a very empowering moment. I highly encourage you all to do something like this. If I can do it you can as well. Next May I am going to do my first half marathon. Anyone is welcome to join me!

Lucky

In honor of Matt's 29th birthday on the 29th of August and our 7th Anniversary the 24th of August I thought I would take a minute to talk about Matt. Ever since I had seen Matt I knew I wanted to marry someone just like him. In my patience and persistance I finally convinced him to date me just in time for him to serve a mission. It all worked out and by the time I came home from my mission we were finally ready to get married. At the time I had no idea what luck I had come across in convincing him to date me. Here are a couple of reasons why I love Matt:

1. He can air guitar like a champ and even tried out for Wheel of Fortune with me. We got called back to second tryouts and they are this week.


2. He looks hot in a sumo wrestling outfit. Grrrrr


3. He is always up for hanging out with my friends.


4. He is always willing to dress up.


5. He can remodel or fix anything! (Our house looks fabulous)


6. He is always willing to do anything and go on any adventure.


7. He tolerates me when I dress our kids like him and even poses for a picture.


8. He is always willing to play with the boys and has been great in letting me escape from the house to workout.


9. He can win a football game in a pinch with his gazelle like speed and even won me an IPOD touch in an obstacle course.



10. And last but not least he always takes care of business time. Specifically, but not limited to, getting a new job at Microsoft and being a great EQP.

In the words of Jason Mraz
Lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday! Here's to seven lucky years!

Hey there Caidaway here's to you

Recently we lost a beloved nephew in our family. Caiden Wilson was an energetic boy with a constant smile on his face. He loved life and he was willing to do anything. He was always happy to play with anyone that was around. His six years of life were always lived to the fullest. In the lyrics of one of his favorite songs by Plain White T's

"You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Caidaway here's to you
This one's for you"



We miss you and your smile Caiden.

I never thought I would be grateful for rain

All winter long I am complaining about seeing the sun. Then when the summer hits we are crazy busy trying to soak up as much sun as possible. We typically include a few extended trips to places with guaranteed sun. If it is sunny here we get outside at least twice a day and love every minute of it. I have to say that today as it started to rain I have never been so grateful for it. First off the weekend hit temperatures of 95 degrees. That is HOT in Seattle! Especially when air conditioning is considered a luxury that we just can't afford. When our thermostat stayed at 80 degrees for two days I thought I was going to go crazy from all of the heat crabbiness. I have been relieved as I have seen our thermostat steadily climb down to the low 70s. Also, to be honest I feel like we haven't slowed down in quite awhile it has been an exceptionally sunny summer!) and I just wanted a reason to stay inside. Thanks rain, but please make sure you only stay for one day!

Gardening in the Northwest.

Here are the results of my pathetic garden. Gardening in the Northwest is a joke! It is more cost effective to buy vegetables than plant them, but the taste of a fresh tomato is priceless so I keep on trying. It would probably be a tiny bit more successful if I didn't have so some many things going against me. If the sun would shine in June they would get a better start, but it usually doesn't come out until at least the 4th of July. Cole sometimes likes to pick the flowers before they turn into anything and has also been known to pick the green "balls." Matt had a run in with the tomatoes when he was trying to save them from his window installations and accidentally left plastic on them in the hot sun. A few plants bit the dust and had to be replaced. With all of the obstacles we have had a few ripe ones so far and they have tasted delicious! Even though Matt doesn't agree it is all worth it. I have been able to grow potatoes but hey, if you can't grow potatoes you might as well not even plant flowers.