Long time...

So it's been quite a while since I've posted... and a lot has happened since Isaac's birthday party... Isaac went back to school! Yes... my little boy is growing up. I was really nervous for him and after I dropped him off, I came home and cried for an hour.
the night before, we went to "Back to school" night. And we got to pick out a train and come home and decorate it. He chose blue and then he and I retired down into mommy's craft room and we decorated it. This train helps him identify his cubby at school.
He has had the time of his life! He love going to preschool and when it's time for him to go home, I almost have to pick him up and haul him to the car because he doesn't want to leave.

Next, we had peach days!!! I love the celebration of peaches... We got together for our annual parade celebration. And I think that all of us feel that if there aren't any doughnuts at the parade, It really isn't a parade. Every single one of us brought doughnuts to share. it was pretty funny. Isaac still doesn't like the sound of the sirens. And cousin karter was pretty terrified of them. Grammy and aunt Maryanne had a great time with the umbrella hats. It was perfect weather and we all had a super fun time...
There is much more to post but for now, I have to go console a teething child.
Till then...
(P.S. Why didn't someone remind me how rough teething children are? )

Getting bigger...

My little Isaac turned 3 this week... He is growing up so fast! This year we decided to do a Dinosaur theme... We broke out the Cricut and the streamers and turned our house into Dinoville and he was so stoked...
For days he talked about his birthday and how he would instantly get bigger... We would ask him how old he is going to be and instead of telling us "3' He would say "And I will get bigger and stronger like daddy."


He was so cute because he would open his present and go and hug the person who gave it to him. We had dinosaur cake, cupcakes and sugar cookies... The cake was hard to make... I didn't have a good time. But he thought it was pretty cool.
Cute cousin Karter came. and he was just as excited as Isaac was to open his presents...
We made dinosaur eggs by pouring a couple of drops of brown ink inside white balloons. This made the dinosaur eggs look dirty :) We had a lot of fun putting this together.
Happy Birthday Isaac!

Camping... The Easy Way!!!

So we just got back from our last vacation of the year and it went pretty well! We had a great time. We headed up to the cabin in Island park and considering it was a vacation on a budget, it was awesome!!! We have discovered that the only time we can travel with Logan and have him be happy is at night. I hand him back a bottle and after he's done, he falls asleep. If we travel in the day... Boy Howdy!!! He lets us have it the ENTIRE WAY... He has a great set of lungs, that one!






Anyway... We got up there about 11:30 pm which was pretty good timing considering we were traveling with a 3 year old that is just freshly potty trained. The next day we decided we'd better get the boat out and go boating because the weather was supposed to cool down drastically. (Which it did...) Yes, that is me you see in the inter-tube being hauled behind the boat. I didn't have my swimsuit with me (and let's face it, if I did, who would really want to see me in it?) (I mean... seriously!) so I just hopped out there in my clothes! It was awesome. I haven't done something like that for many years. This picture of Logan is right before we went out on the lake. I thought I had left his hat home so we did a do-rag for him... It didn't last long. That's why I had him under my sling the entire time... You can see a picture of him peaking out from under it. He wasn't very happy with me... Eric tried to water ski but it had been too many years and he couldn't quite get out of the water. But he was able to knee board.
The next day the boys got together and went paintballing. Isaac was desperate to go but we kept telling him he was too young. Maybe next year. He did get a chance to shoot Eric's gun and try on his mask, though... It was pure torture to keep him in the cabin while the others were out there playing. He was pretty miserable.
I spent time working with Logan on sitting up. We got pretty good at this. He was a really good baby. He talked and cooed and didn't give us too much attitude for being away from his crib for almost 2 weeks. My in-laws may have wanted to hurt us at 6:30 in the morning when my plumpster thought it was a good time to get up and have a bottle. (They were really good sports about it! They said it didn't bother them at all)
We spent the rest of the time playing games... a lot of Hand and Foot and some Farkle. Noric has officially lost its magic winning power... It happened when we had kids. We didn't win any game... And then we relaxed. Which was so nice! We had great meals cause we each took a night to cook. All in all it was exactly what I needed... To get out and go have a relaxing time with my family.
I feel refreshed and like I can handle anything:)

Camping in the Tetons!!!

We just got back from an awesome vacation! We left on Monday night and arrived at Colter Bay in the Teton National Forest at about 1:30 in the morning. My family had already been up there and set up camp for us. On Tuesday, we got up and the boys went for a hike while us girls sat at the picnic table making jewelry... Yes, we did play with little itty bitty beads while sitting in the dirt. At first I thought it wouldn't work and that we were crazy but we didn't lose too many beads :) Wednesday, we went into Jackson Hole and then went to the Bar J Wranglers. They are hilarious and Isaac was so cute! When they would say something he would climb in his dad's lap and say "What he say, daddy?" We did a lot of playing and at the end of the day we were all sooo exhausted. The high up there was only about 75 degrees and it got down to about 35 degrees at night... It was awesome! We had to stay very bundled up.

Grammy and grandpa did some awesome thing to make this such a fun vacation. They put together a goody bag for both boys to play with that had fun little airplanes, helicopters, coloring books, and stickers for a sticker book in it... It also had a ton of candy. Isaac acted like he had died and gone to heaven. This pic is of Grammy stringing a fruit loop cereal necklace for Isaac to take hiking. It was his "Emergency Preparedness Necklace." Grammy helped him get started and he strung 3 little loops on it and then he wanted her to do the rest. He wanted the benefits without the work... Grammy caved :)
One of Isaac's favorite thing to do was to play in the dirt and pine needles. He was playing like he was a dump truck and he would move the dirt from one place to the other. This face says it all. It doesn't need much more explanation. Needless to say that the first thing we did when we got home was bathe our boys...

Our cute sister and brother-in-law brought up their hammock. This has become quite the popular thing since Kenny has joined the family. Camping just isn't camping without being able to swing in the hammock. Logan had some great quality time with his daddy on this hammock and Isaac thought that it was the best thing to run and swing into the hammock.
Here is Logan doing what he does best! Eating and being cute. Camping with little ones is quite a bit more difficult than without. For instance: Logan would wake up like he always does at about 6:30 AM and he would want his bottle ASAP!!!! Well it's not as easy as turning on the faucet and having warm water pour out. We would have to wake up grandpa to get his burner out. Then we would have to hook up the propane tank and then go down to get some water from the water place... After that we have to heat up a pot of water with his bottle sitting in the middle of the water..... It was quite the hassle. We just about had to do that with all the feedings. It was a hassle but so much fun...
Thank you mom and dad for making this such a great trip for me and my family! We love you so much!!!!

.... As Good As New...

My son is hilarious! He doesn't like to eat anything new... So, in the past, we have been eating regular dinner and making him chicken nuggets, peanut butter sandwich, or mac and cheese. I'm getting tired of doing that and we don't eat together when we do it. He is to the point where he won't even try the food sitting in front of him. So he can't get down from the table until he has at least 2 or 3 bites.
Last night we had the Bear Creek cream of potato soup and homemade bread. I loved it and so did Eric. But of course Isaac won't try it. He ate his bread, but no soup. So we looked at him and said he couldn't watch Cartoon Transformers until he had his 2 bites. So he stalls.... "I drink my milk first." "I eat my bread first." My favorite was.... "I scratch my bumb first." No kidding! Then he scratches his bumb and looks at me and says: "Ok... As good as new!"
We burst out laughing! We couldn't hold it in... Where did that come from? "As good as new!" I think he's quite the character. Needless to say, Eric had to threaten that he was going downstairs without Isaac. I helped him eat his 2 bites to which he gagged on. He'll learn to eat what we eat... eventually :) (Of course after the bumb has been restored to "as good as new")

Isaacs First Crush!

There is the cutest little girl that lives directly south of us... We share a fence with her and if any
have ever seen Monster's Inc. she looks quite a bit like Boo from that show. Cute brown hair in pig-tails, big eyes and the cutest little voice. For the longest time, Isaac would see them come out to play in their back yard and he would walk over to the fence and watch her play. And probably for about 6 months or maybe even more, he has remembered her in his prayers at night. He has called her "goyl" that's girl with a little Jersey accent :) "And please bless goyl!"
He has finally learned her name is Ryan. So the other day, Eric was out heating up the grill for dinner and Isaac was out with him. Eric said "go say hi to Ryan." Isaac goes down the stairs and stands at the gate and Ryan comes over to say hi. They both stand there watching each other and you can hear Ryan talking to him. After about 3 minutes of just standing there, Isaac comes back up the stairs and looks at Eric and says, "I no can talk to Ryan. I'm sick!" And turns and walks inside. He wasn't sick... Maybe love sick :) He must have gotten nervous when approached by this cute girl... Butterflies.
This picture was taken on July 5th. We were at a family reunion and he was playing sword fights with Karter and Grandpa great when he got hit in the face with a stick. I think the picture is classic :)

Parenthood... Do I have what it takes?

A week ago my teeth decide that they have had enough! So I'm forced into the dentist to have him drill, poke, and prod at my teeth. I don't do well with this. So he numbs me and leaves. When he comes back I think to myself. My teeth don't feel as numb as they did last time. Sure enough, he starts to drill and I can feel it! (There is nothing worse!) After an hour and a half of this misery, I finally drive back to Layton to pick up my sweet little children. Isaac decided that he didn't want to leave Karters house and I was half tempted to let him live there... I'm sure Nicole isn't quite ready to have 3 kids. So I haul out the little ones to the car and drive like a mad man to get them out to grandpa running's house. Of course, Little Logan is in the back seat SCREAMING to the top of his lungs cuz he hates the car. I drop Isaac off and head up to teach at Weber. I teach for an hour, head back out to Plain City (Where grandpa running lives) to pick up Isaac... I stay and visit for about 1/2 hour so Isaac can play a little more and of course when it comes time to leave, he gives me fits. By this time the numbness has completely worn off and my teeth are pounding. Isaac is screaming because he doesn't want to leave, Logan is screaming because he is once again in that car. I rush home and realize I desperately need a break. So I put Logan down for a nap and take Isaac downstairs where it's cooler. Our house is at 82 degrees because our swamp needed to be cleaned. Anyway, after about 20 minutes, Logan decides he his hungry. I make his bottle and trot downstairs to feed him. As soon as I sit down and put the bottle in his mouth, Isaac looks at me and says, "uh-oh, There's pee-pee in my unner-wear." I put the bottle down and haul both screaming Logan and Isaac up the stairs and I make Isaac go pee-pee. Now, we are still trying to get this poo- poo thing down. I told him he needed to go while he was sitting there because he hasn't gone for days. He refused. So I picked up a screaming Logan and went back downstairs with both boys... I hadn't had Logan up to the bottle for more than 30 seconds when Isaac goes running upstairs to grab his blankie and run back downstairs. I looked at him and asked if he needed to go poo-poo. He started screaming and crying and saying "No like to go poo-poo." This is not a normal response to this question. So I put the bottle back down and walk over to see what has happened, and sure enough, there is a little bump in his "unner-wear". Back upstairs I go to put down an even more hysterical Logan, who truly believes that he is never going to get to eat. Isaac refused to come upstairs, so I had to go downstairs and drag him up by his armpits. As I assessed the situation, I decided that the little poop was going to fall and needed a place to do it. So I grabbed a plastic bag an put it under him. I was doing great! It plopped down right where I needed it to. Now all I needed to do was get him on the potty. As I helped him off with his unnerwear, everything went in slow motion... Isaac lowered his foot right into that log of poop! I don't know if it was the stress of the day, the throbbing in the side of my head, or the screaming child in the next rooom, or the fact that my house was 82 degrees but I lost it. I let out a pretty good scream which scared my little Isaac. He was crying pretty hard before but when that eeked out of me, he was even worse. As I was cleaning up poop in the cracks of my little boys toes, he was gagging. I thought I was going to have to clean up vomit as well. I was able to stop the hysterics and love him better. But he was not getting off that potty until he had gone poo-poo. I went in the other room, grabbed starving, screaming, wasting-away-to-nothing Logan and went out to the rocker to feed him. As I held my little baby I cried. I had lost my temper at my toddler because of something I shouldn't have. It was a build up of a lot of things. I'm sure later that evening he had gotten over it, but I'm sure I will forever have that little tot sitting on the toilet, sobbing and crying, forever burned into my brain....
Not one of my prouder moments...

Hip, Hip.....

HOORAY!!!!!! Congratulations Eric! Eric got accepted to Weber's MBA Program... We got the letter last night and he opened it and read the first line to me. It told him he was in... Then he went upstairs and started to play with the boys and light the grill for dinner. Good thing I take an interest in his life. I grabbed the letter and continued to read. Because of his "outstanding" GMAT scores, they told him he can apply for a scholarship that would cover anywhere from $2000-$5000 a semester. That would be SUCH a huge help! I am so proud of him and can't wait to begin this journey with him in the fall.

My Blessings.

Today was the funeral of that little boy up in Willard that accidentally inhaled a couple of drops of paint thinner. My sisters (Nicole and Natalie) and I were asked to sing at this sweet little boys funeral. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. My heart just went out to the parents. He was only 14 months old... It made me really sit back and think about my wonderful blessings.
I am the luckiest mom alive to have two beautiful little boys who fill my life with such joy and laughter. I don't know what I would do without them... I am also grateful for my sweet husband and the knowledge that, heaven forbid, I were ever to lose one of my children I would be able to see them again and be with them forever.
It really put things in perspective for me today, how blessed I truly am...

Bumps, Bruises, and Shots.... OH MY!!!!

What a day!!!! It was a day that I should have stayed in bed and hid from the world :) The two boys and I decided that we needed a couple of things from wally-world. So I pack up the boys in the car and head down the road. I put them in a cart and got the items I needed. Isaac kept standing up in the cart I kept telling him he was going to fall and get hurt. As I strongly tell him to sit down he finally obeys and slams his mouth into the edge of the cart. (I think that's how you spell cart... maybe it's with a k.) Anyway... Isaac managed to rip the little piece of skin that connects the lip to the gum and really messed up his tooth. He was hysterical!!! Sobbing and crying all the way out to the car... Here is a pic of him with a blood blister on his lip. Then we had to take Logan to get his shots. He didn't do so well with his first shots and I knew he would struggle with these ones. He got 2 in his left leg and 1 in his rignt. Sure enough. He took about an hour nap and he's been screaming all afternoon... Isaac was able to pull a smile out of him while I was taking pictures.
Anyway... He's a big boy he weighs 16.1 pounds and 24 1/2 inches long. He's 75 percentile for weight and 35 percentile for height! I love my chunky baby boys :) Even when they are screaming at me all day. (Eric, when are you coming home from work?!?!)

Piano... By the wayside?

So today I thought I would get on and practice the piano. I had fed little Logan and Isaac was content to just sit and play with his trucks. I put Logan on the floor to do tummy time right next to me and I started to learn a new piece. This is something I haven 't done for an extremely long time! I miss it and I feel like I need to keep my technique so I don't lose everything I have worked for. I started to play and immediately my sweet 2 1/2 year old was sitting on my bench with me playing right where I needed to be and Logan started screaming. I plugged the binky in his mouth and scooted Isaac over to my teaching chair. Then Isaac wanted to sit in my lap while I practiced. I loved that he wanted to be with me but I didn't get anything done... So I turned off the piano light and went and played with my sons. I guess there is a season for all things...

Busy Weekend

We had such a great weekend!!!! For Kelly's birthday, we all went to their house for a barbeque. Well their back yard is Hill Air Force Base so we got a great show without having to fight the crowds... and there was shade! We ate so good and watched the boys play. Every time a plane would go by, Isaac would be either super excited or cry cuz the noise was so loud. I was sad though because we couldn't stay for the thunderbirds.
Sunday we gathered back at Nicole and Kelly's house and church to bless baby Jace. It was raining outside so we couldn't play out there but we still had an awesome brunch. Thanx Nicole and Kelly for providing the parties this weekend! It was a blast!

The Potty Experiment...

So, on Friday, I look at my dear sweet husband and say "I have a hair cut, good luck with the potty training." (I was a little more diplomatic than that but that's the general idea.) On my way back to Ogden I get a phone call from Eric saying "You need to come home right now!!!! We have an emergency!" I asked him what it was and he wouldn't tell me. After much prying, I was able to get the reason out of him. My darling little boy was wearing the Dora the explorer toilet seat around the top of his head and when Eric turned his back, Isaac had somehow managed to pull it down around his neck. Eric tried and tried but couldn't get it back over his head. He eventually had to unscrew the plastic ring and cut the rest of it off. Isaac was so sad about this and he was also mad at dad for taking these pics. It was pretty awesome!
Potty training has gone pretty smooth thanks to my wonderful husband. He has been very patient with Isaac and has spent endless hours on our bathroom floor. And Isaac has seemed to be ok with the whole idea. By Sunday, we were accident free. But he also had been holding his bowel movements... aka poo poo :) He wanted to wear big boy pants in his nap. So we told him he had to go potty first... He wanted his Giraffe while he sat there and he looked at us and told us to close the door. When we asked him what he was doing he replied "I'm paying the puter" (Playing the computer) This is what dad does when he needs to go poo poo... So Isaac is following close in dad's footsteps.

Is there life.... After Potty Training?

This is the weekend. I think we are going to do it! We are going to potty train Isaac. I'm pretty scared and I have nooo clue what I'm doing. We've gone to the library and checked out Once Upon a Potty on dvd for him and we are currently in the process of learning the potty song... Pretty intense :) We also bought the Elmo's potty dvd. He seems to like them. Then we went and bought some dinosaur training pants. He's totally stoked! So this morning, Isaac sneeks into our downstairs bathroom to hide to go poo-poo. I thought "Hey this is a GREAT opportunity to have a positive experience." HA! A lot I know!!!! So I take him by the hand to lead him upstairs to the pottty. We take off the diaper and sit him down. We read books, look at a toy he really wants that is promised to him if he poo-poo's in the potty, and sing songs. After about 7 minutes he looks at me and tells me he's done. So I go and get a diaper to put on and when I come back, he's standing over by the tub and says "The floor is wet." Sure enough he felt the floor was a much better place to go "wee-wee". This is going to be a FUN weekend... Any suggestions... Anyone? Anyone want to get paid to do this for me? NO? Just wondering... I'll keep you updated...

Memorial Day Fun...

We had a great Memorial day. We had a lot of fun but we also got a lot of house work done. Saturday we went to a brunch at the golden corral with Eric's grandma. It was nice to see and visit with Eric's family... We don't get to visit much.
After brunch, we went up and visited Grandma Sparrow's grave. I didn't get very much time to know this special lady. She was so wonderful and welcoming. She loved every one of her children, grand children, and great grand children. She had so much love for all of us and I feel so honored to get to know her.
Isaac got a new swing set this weekend and Saturday morning he was up by 6:30 wanting to go out and play. He had an awesome weekend!
On Monday we went up to Soda Springs where there is the world's Largest Man-Made Guyser there!!!! This is where my Grandfather was laid to rest. It's a tradition that we all get together and decorate his grave and then we have a picnic at the park next to the cemetary. This is a picture of Isaac and his cousin Karter they just got done running like crazy through the grass. As we traveled back home through some pretty awesome rain-storms, Eric and I decided that we don't know that much about my grandpa DeWin... We get together because it means a lot to grandma Nea and my mother, but I would like to know more about grandpa. My mother is the youngest in her family and therefore we are the youngest cousins and grand-children. I have very few memories of my grandpa since he died when I was about 4 years old. And my youngest sister has no idea what a great man he really was... I think I need to make it a goal to become more acquainted with his memory and try to get to know him better.
Anyway... Fun was had by all!

Happy Testing Day!!!

Today my handsome husband is down in Draper taking a 4 hour grueling test. He's taking the GMAT. Not my idea of a fun day off. He had to take work off so he could take this test. It's one step closer to getting back to grad school. I am so proud of him and I love him very much... Best of luck Eric!!!! We will be cheering you on at home...

The Saga Continues...

So... Last night, Eric goes upstairs to check on Isaac and he hears Isaac in there grunting. Eric asks Isaac what he's doing and why he's grunting. He looks at dad and says "it's hard!" He was trying to get the shell off of the turtle with the binky in it. The shell is actually a backpack that is velcroed on. So Eric helps him take off the shell. Isaac turns the turtle around and starts to look for an entrance inside the turtle to get the binky out. Eric tells Isaac that the binky still can't come out. He eventually went to sleep...
Isaac also had his first nap yesterday since we put the binky away. I was really worried because I need him to sleep so I can teach. I put him down at 2 and he stayed in there and played. At 2:30 he comes out of his room and says "Wanna Wock." (rock in the rocking chair) I was in the process of feeding Logan so it was not possible to "wock" him. So back to bed he went. I started to teach at 3:30 and he had not gone to sleep yet. All of a sudden I hear the door knob being hit and Isaac starts to complain. Now, Isaac has known how to open doors for at least a year now so I was a little confused as to what was going on. I excused myself from my lesson and walked back. I opened the door and his room smelled of lovely mandarin oranges. He was completely slimed with my mandarin orange lotion. He looked at me and said "I scrubbed myself, mommy" I couldn't help but laugh! I finished rubbing the lotion in and put him back to bed. He cried for about 5 minutes and then fell fast asleep.
He has never had the need to find things to do in his room during his nap because he has just loved sleeping with his binky. Now that his binky has gone to live in Mr. Binx, he has become VERY creative with his nap/sleep time :)

No binky?!?!?!?!

It has been an interesting weekend. Eric and I decided that Isaac was old enough to put the binky away. I have heard of many ways to do this but I wanted to make it a special day for him. So we got up early in the morning and went to Jeremiah's for breakfast. We ordered him a chocolate chip pancake... I don't know why we do this because he only takes one bite of it and then spends the rest of the time eating the fruit. The fruit this time was Watermelon and he ate at least 2 huge pieces. We had to ask the waitress for more. Anyway... Then we boarded the train to ride down to Salt Lake.We hopped on trax and rode to the gateway. On the way down, we explained to Isaac what we were doing with his binky... He looked at us and said "I ride the train!!!!!" We went to build a bear and let him pick out a turtle to put the Binky in. We then named him Mr. Binx. He was doing fine until it came time for bed. He looked at dad and said "Where's Binky?" Eric told him that he was in Mr. Binx and that was where he was living now. He cried but fell asleep anyway. He woke up 3 times that night crying so hard. Eric was very sad... He didn't want to get rid of the binky. But it was time, right? He's adjusting... He only woke up one time last night and cried... We're improving.