Adventures from Z to A

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

2012-02-11T20:01:00.000-06:00

I am sadly lacking in Valentine decorations, so while Zane worked today, the boys helped decorate. After firmly setting down the no licking your hands rule for Gavin, we got started with finger painting hearts. I had to keep cutting out more and more because they loved it. Dallin isn't really into crafts. At preschool, the craft time last 5 to 10 minutes (and 10 minutes is pushing it). I hear a lot of, "Am I done yet?" especially if there is a lot of coloring or painting. Finger painting is different though. The boys lasted 20 minutes.

They weren't into making a design, mostly mixing colors and seeing how messy they could get their hands.

I forgot to establish the no rubbing paint up and down your arms rule.

We also folded the hearts to squish the paint and see what new symmetric design we could make.

We also worked on some crafts I had left over from preschool. These involved glitter glue which was a lot of fun for Dallin. Gavin mostly just watched us and made a mess on the table.

Much more festive right?

I made my Valentine breakfast this morning just because we had more time to eat as a family. I did the Double Chocolate Waffles with Berry Sauce and our family has come to the conclusion that we are not double chocolate people. These were good but too chocolatey for our family. Next time I won't add the chocolate chips or put a lot less in. The berry sauce was really good and I think I will start putting that on our go to pancakes instead of syrup from now on. (By the way, I love, love these pancakes especially with blueberries. My boys love them and I know they are getting whole wheat and oatmeal for breakfast. These pancakes keep me full until lunch and they are so easy to whip up in the morning since you already have the dry ingredients mixed up. Try them out!) More Valentine's fun to come!

Know How to Have Fun

2012-02-11T17:02:00.003-06:00

We have had some crazy weather this winter. We may start the morning off in winter clothes and shed them by the afternoon and a couple of times we switched out our summer clothes for winter ones by the afternoon. There has even been a few days where I'm thinking about turning on my AC (if you have a two story, I'm sure you had to turn on your AC.) We have also had a lot of rain which we really needed. No matter what the weather is like though, my boys know how to have fun outside. Some days I feel like we practically live outside. Whenever the wrestling, jumping, or running starts rising dramatically, I know it is time to get outside!

While Gavin napped, Dallin enjoyed the rain.

And he convinced me to join in too.

You can see that this was one of those days where we were shedding clothes (Dallin with our neighbors.)

Gavin has decided that mom takes too long to come help him climb the ladder, so he now takes matters in his own hands.

He climbs to the top, turns around on his own, then slides down.

Gavin is really into balls right now. He love, loves to be outside and gets very angry when it is time to come in or Dallin sneaks out first before I get Gavin's shoes on.

Riding a bike for the first time!

Isn't he adorable?

Dallin has just started being interested in sports. This was his first football lesson that lasted more than 2 minutes.

Zane's definitely got his workout chasing Dallin around carrying an extra 25 pounds.

The lesson was also in tackling.

I'm not sure this is legal???

I'm not sure what we would do if we lived somewhere where it was too cold to go outside....

A Love Story--Reposted and Hopefully Fixed

2012-02-11T10:30:00.000-06:00

My grandparents met at a bus stop. Thank goodness my grandpa was wearing a hat. He asked my grandma out and she accepted. When my grandpa picked her up, the hat was off and Grandma realized he had red hair just like her! I am glad she still went out with him and gave him a chance despite the worry about what their children would look like. Grandpa must of swept her off her feet because soon the red hair didn't matter anymore! They have been married 64 years (almost 65). My grandma passed away last November, and my grandpa passed away (at the age of 89), a month and a half later. I bet the first thing my grandpa did when he saw my grandma again in heaven was kiss her. At my grandma's funeral, my grandpa kissed her goodbye and announced that she kissed him back!

My grandpa's story is remarkable. His father abandoned the family when he was young (around 8 years old I think). During high school, my grandpa worked three jobs to support his older twin sisters and his mom during the depression. Hard work describes his life. He served in the Army Air Corps then went to college and became a sales man. My dad remembers money being tight growing up, but my grandpa always worked hard to provide enough for his wife and six kids while saving for later. By the age of 62 my grandpa could retire. My grandparents frugal natures paid off and they lived comfortably as retirees serving a mission to California and traveling around the world. I'm grateful for his example and what I have learned from him.

Each one of the grand kids wrote down their memories of my grandparents. I wanted to share one story here about my grandpa saving my life.

Although I was too young to remember, I have heard the story many times. I was around two and had wondered into Bear Lake by myself on a float tube. It was probably one of those freak accidents when my mom was distracted with a newborn on the beach and my dad was distracted with my older brother or talking to someone. The tube flipped over and I was under water. Grandpa had his back to the water and in his mind saw the whole incident play out. He turned around, ran into the water and saved my life. How grateful I am that he listened to the spirit and rescued me.

When Dallin was born, he met all four of his great grandparents. Our next child will only know one (my mom's mom who is in great health thank goodness!) My hope is that my kids will still know their great grandparents though pictures and stories so that they too can learn from their examples.

Paci Problem

2012-02-05T23:43:00.003-06:00

We know it is time to get rid of paci. We can't bring ourselves to do it because Zane and I are enjoying uninterrupted night sleep. We are worried that without paci, Gavin's will have a really hard time going to sleep and if he wakes up during the night, he won't be able to put himself back to sleep. Right now we are focusing on only having paci while he is sleeping.

One problem is that Gavin doesn't need just one paci; he wants to have as many as possible. He will lay in his crib before going to sleep trying each paci out. He will often times fall asleep with one next to his mouth (once he falls asleep, paci falls out) and one in his hand. Multiple paci's started because when Gavin woke up during the night (which is use to do a lot), he could find a paci anywhere in his crib, put it in and fall back asleep allowing Zane and I to keep sleeping uninterrupted. I think his paci's are his favorite toy.

Another problem is that Gavin doesn't quite understand the no paci outside of the crib rule yet. He will disapear throughout the day and I will hear him in his room whining as he tries to reach for paci or squeeze behind his crib to find a paci he threw behind the crib (he likes to throw his paci's over when he wakes up and then gets frustrated that he can't get them back.)

The biggest problem though is that Dallin loves to find paci's for Gavin and give them to him. If I hide them in a drawer, he will find them and the next thing I know, Gavin is walking around with three paci's in heaven. You can see why Dallin is his favorite. He is Gavin's hero.

Dallin understands Gavin. He was a paci lover too (and he knew just where to look to find one!)

Preschool Fun

2012-02-04T22:35:00.003-06:00

Crab Walks

Jellyfish (or sea jellies)

Making donuts on Letter D Day

Future Veterinarians?

I love teaching these boys!

Annual Aquarium Trip

2012-02-04T22:18:00.000-06:00

Once a year the home preschools takes a trip to the downtown aquarium. We get a steal of a deal and invite our friends and neighbors to join us. This year I was in charge of organizing and collecting the money for the trip. We had 240 people come! It took some time to organize, but it was all worth it because we love...

the shark train (Dallin is growling like a shark)

and the carousal and ferris wheel.

The aquarium is great too and the white tiger at the end is always popular (I'm not sure how a white tiger fits in at an aquarium). A friend took Dallin through the aquarium while I passed out the tickets and I could never convince him to leave the rides to do it again with me until I told him it was time to leave. By then though Gavin was done, so I missed the aquarium.

Dallin didn't like this ride as much.

In fact, after this above ride, I think he was embarrassed or felt a little sick and so saw a friend going down to the other rides and ran after him. By the time I grabbed Gavin to follow him, I couldn't find him. I started panicking and running around calling for him. After 5 minutes of looking, my friend found me with Dallin. A man found Dallin wandering around and took him to a worker saying, "He is looking for Noble." My friend then saw Dallin and told the worker she would take him to me. I'm glad it all turned out ok, but it was pretty scary. We have since had more talks about staying with mom and what to do if we get separated. We have these talks all the time, but Dallin gets distracted so easily and forgets everything I teach him!

By the way, asking for Noble wasn't going to help Dallin. Noble is his 3 year old friend.

Despite not having a nap, Gavin was happy all day walking around and socializing with everyone. One aquarium worker came up to talk to us and tell us Gavin is so cute that he could kidnap him (he said this in a very joking way.) I thought it was an extremely weird and didn't find it funny at all. Believe me, I didn't let Gavin out of my sight!

What a fun field trip!

The Big 18 Month Old Boy!

2012-01-19T21:05:00.000-06:00

It is official. Gavin is walking. He turned 18 months on December 26th (behind on blogging of course) and started walking more than crawling about two week later. He resorts to crawling if he is trying to go fast and is frustrated with his wobbly walking. I still think he crawls more than he walks outside for some reason. He is still getting holes in his pants!!! Gavin started nursery on January 1st and went right in without any problems. He loves playing with toys so why wouldn't he love nursery? He has great teachers and his cousin Carter is in his class.

Here is a little about the 18 month old Gavin:

Gavin is always on the go. If we are playing (especially outside), he can go all day without a nap and without getting cranky. Once we stop (like get in the car or put him in his bed), he will be asleep in seconds because he is so exhausted. He isn't going to give up play time to sleep though! This picture was taken at the aquarium. I felt like I pushed an empty stroller around because Gavin wanted to be out walking.

Gavin is daring and will try anything!

He loves to be outside. He will find his shoes and bring them to me when he wants to go outside. Gavin is starting to like balls more and is enthralled with basketballs.

Gavin plays be himself so well! He is the perfect second child.

Gavin is a very picky eater. He is picky about his textures. He loves yogurt but if there is a chunk of fruit in it, he will pull it out of his mouth. Gavin thinks throwing food off of his tray is soooo funny. He doesn't care if he goes to time out either for that. He just giggles and it infuriates us. Yesterday he threw his bowl of cheerios over. He loves cheerios and wanted them right back, but at the moment, he thought it was so funny to throw them over. Gavin eats a green smoothie everyday (thank goodness he likes those), yogurt, cheese, sometimes a peanut butter sandwich or ham slices depending on the day and his mood, crackers, cheerios, and rolls.

Gavin loves giving kisses and we love getting them.

Gavin puts up with a lot from his touchy, loving, sometimes too rough big brother

but they are the best of friends.

Gavin is a mommy's and daddy's boy and gets so excited when one of us comes home.

Gavin knows what he wants and lets us know it too!

He is the sweetest, cutest boy ever

and he brings so much joy into our family!

Here are Gavin's stats from his 17 month well check up:
Head: 46 cm 12%
Height: 32 in 50%
Weight: 23 lbs 6 oz 23 %

Cookies

2012-01-17T08:30:00.000-06:00

We have been making some changes in the way we eat lately. I did a Biggest Loser competition with some ladies from my church. During the three month competition I learned more about healthy eating. I also learned that I had an easier time having self control if I didn't have temptations around the house. Needless to say I didn't bake treats as much. On Sunday though we did some baking together and there were two boys who were pretty excited!

Yes they both were licking the oven door

and making lots of mmmm noises.

The Clown and the Teacher

2012-01-16T14:00:00.000-06:00

Dallin loves to be the center of attention. He loves to make people laugh. He loves tumbling and being silly. He may one day have a secret ambition to be a clown.

He learned from the best.

Disclaimer: Zane may or may not have approved the above video tape.

Bed Head

2012-01-15T23:20:00.003-06:00

We have seen some good bed head in our home. This is Dallin when he was 2 years old.

I think Gavin beats him though. It was pretty crazy this morning!

Dallin still has a pretty good hair do every morning.

I'm not sure what will happen if a girl comes into our family. I may never get anywhere on time trying to get everyone's hair done!

Playing Together

2012-01-11T15:36:00.000-06:00

I love days like these... when the whole purpose is playing together instead of seeing how much we can get done around the house. We went to this indoor playland during the Christmas break. It was our first time coming here and the boys loved it. Hopefully we can get another online coupon and go back sometime!:)

Both boys are so fun to play with because they bounce back quickly if they get hurt and they will try anything (making the first point even more important as these dare devils have lots of crash and burns).

Gavin loved going down all the slides by himself, feet first every time.

The Superman Style

Trying it Gavin's way

I had to add this one to prove I was there racing the boys through small spaces. They are both faster crawlers than me!

This was a great way to end our Christmas break together and gear up for busy season starting...

(With Zane's new job, he still has a busy season although he shouldn't be pulling extreme hours of working until 11:00 every night and working both Saturday and Sunday. Because the boys are so young and have early bedtimes, their playtime with their dad has diminished greatly.)

Gingerbread House

2011-12-28T00:21:00.000-06:00

It wasn't the nicest Gingerbread House, but they were in heaven. We had to build quickly since it is really hard to keep three boys from consuming all the candy before it actually gets on the house. This is definitely a tradition that the boys want to keep!

Excited Boys

2011-12-25T00:17:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning was really exciting for the boys. Everything that someone opened was awesome to Dallin. He kept the rotation of opening gifts going pretty fast, but he was also great about waiting his turn. Gavin didn't care about opening presents or even playing with the paper. He would focus on one toy for a couple of minutes then look at something else. He didn't care about unwrapping more toys, as the ones already unwrapped were too distracting! (I didn't get any pictures because we video recorded opening presents and then later, I had to recharge the battery in my camera.) We had a late church so we had time to open presents, put things together (Zane and Dallin are putting together his wall track that is under his loft bed), play with toys, and have a Christmas breakfast.

I am in charge of the music at church, so this last month has been busy with rehearsals getting ready for the Sacrament meeting program. I started writing and organizing the program back in October, so I was thrilled that everything turned out well. The program was a mixture of narration from Luke 2, choir numbers with instrumental parts, musical numbers, and congregational singing with organ/piano duets. I really enjoyed having Christmas on Sunday because it was nice to do the present thing and then have a nice spiritual service afterwards.

We are all a little sad that the Christmas break is ending. It has been a great year!

The Best Night of the Year

2011-12-24T23:57:00.000-06:00

The month of December is my favorite time of the year. I especially love Christmas Eve. My mom makes it so special and I have a blast spending time with my family. This year was wonderful because all my siblings were in town. They were all in town last year, but now Lindsey is married, Clayton has a new baby, and Jared was in town from the Netherlands. It was a busy vacation with game nights every night, black light miniature golfing, dinners, and more game nights. I didn't get a lot done on preschool or any other projects, but I loved spending time with family.

Back to Christmas Eve...after dinner the kids put on a play for the adults by acting out the nativity.

The wise men (giving a gift of a cow I guess.)

Mary and Joseph

Getting distracted with a toy

Every year my mom does a white elephant (with cool gifts.) Even the little kids get involved (although theirs is rigged.)

The adults is quite funny especially if you end up with a girlie gift like Derick did! The wives don't mind too much if their husbands get stuck with a girlie gift!

Opening Grandma's gifts (look how happy Sammy is in the background!)

The boys loved playing with Sammy's present too!

We enjoyed trying candy and food from the Netherlands. This chocolate egg had a toy inside it.

One of the highlights though every year is playing chimes. I didn't get any pictures because it was too intense this year. We attempted "O Holy Night." The melody is written with a harmony, so half of the family focused on that and the other half focused on something new we tried with chimes, an accompaniment part (the triplets). Let's just say it was intense and we never quite made it through the whole song. At one point Zane had three chimes and then played a fourth chime that Lindsey held out for him that she couldn't play as she was the counter and music leader that was absolutely necessary for this song. It was a fun attempt that we would have gotten if we had a little more time, but the kids were sick of being ignored and shouted at whenever they got in the way of the music!

It was a wonderful night and great that we were all together!

Remembering that Special Day

2011-12-23T15:39:00.000-06:00

Some of my favorite moments from December 23rd, 2010 were sitting in the backseat between my two boys and Dallin singing, "I love to see the temple. I'll go inside someday. I'll covenant with my Father; I promise to obey. For the temple is a holy place where we are sealed together. As a child of God I've learned this truth: A family is forever." (He may not have gotten everyone of these words, but I was so touched that he broke out singing this song showing he understood where our family was going.)

I remember walking into the temple with Zane holding Gavin and then Zane and I holding Dallin's hands between us. I cried on the way to the temple, and as we walked in, I cried some more.

I loved watching my mom walk in holding Dallin's hands all dressed in white and my dad holding Gavin in his arms dressed in his special white outfit looking like an angel.

I remember feeling peace and so much love for my little family during the ceremony. I loved having all our friends and family members there to support us.

Gavin has brought so much joy to our family. I'm so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who brought our family together, for a wonderful, courageous birthmom who placed her son into our family, and that we were able to go to the temple to have Gavin become part of our forever family.

A Tradition We Hope to Keep Going

2011-12-23T00:09:00.000-06:00

We were invited by a friend to go caroling on a hay ride and we loved it! Dallin was always front and center knocking on the doors and singing loudly his version of the song. Gavin loved the hay and riding in the trailer. He was like a dog and kept trying to lean his head over with his tongue hanging out.

My attempt at getting a picture with my boys!

Growing up, my family always caroled to our neighbors. By the time we were teenagers, we were good enough to break into parts. I always loved caroling and I was thrilled that my boys loved it too. This is definitely a tradition we want to keep!

Snow Day at the Zoo

2011-12-21T15:14:00.002-06:00

It was a little crazy. Snow must be very popular where we live...probably because we will be having a green/brown Christmas. We squeezed into a spot and the boys started playing. They didn't seem to care that it was crowded. They just wanted to dig, touch, throw a snowball here and then, and maybe try to eat it.

This was Dallin digging utensil...

The best part was when we were done, we could take off our gloves and go see the rest of the zoo in great fall time weather!

Our tiger had a snow man too!

Gavin is fearless on slides. He just turns around and goes whether I'm there or not.

Sneaky Gophers

Sleeping bear

Because we have a zoo pass, we never do the whole zoo in one day. We haven't visited the kid section for awhile, so we spent most of our time here. Gavin loved the petting zoo.

He refuses to try my food, but he wanted to give goat food a try. Go figure.

Caleb met up with us at the end.

Despite the crowds on the snow mound, we had a great time.

Lights on the Water Way

2011-12-21T14:45:00.001-06:00

We try to do a family outing every Saturday. A couple of weeks ago we headed to the river walk that goes around the mall. The trees are lined with lights and then in the middle is a fountain light show. By the fountains were groups singing Christmas carols. We had a great time getting bundled up, running around looking at lights, and listening/dancing to the music. It was a perfect family outing.

Did I mention the free hot chocolate with marshmallows!

This was Gavin singing along to the music. He got a lot of walking practice.

After enjoying the music and lights, we found a hill to roll around on.

Gavin needed some help rolling.

Dallin volunteered for the job

I keep telling Zane that I never catch the fun moments with my boys and me because I'm either behind the camera or in the middle of the fun with no one home to take the picture. Here is the picture he caught of me playing. I was really excited to see that!

The perfect family outing: lots of running around and laughing, free entertainment, and free refreshments!

Hip Hop Randy

2011-12-21T14:10:00.000-06:00

He's cool. He wears baggie pants with his hat on backwards. He sings and he dances. He is Hip Hop Randy, and he can make this little boy smile every time.

He has been used to make Gavin smile many times this month as Gavin has all four molars coming in right now. Sometimes Randy is the only one who can make him happy. Grandma gave Randy to Dallin and Gavin, but Gavin didn't understand that. He will put up a fight if anyone else tries to touch him.

If Gavin has a desire to start wearing baggie pants down to his knees and his hat on backwards, we are blaming Randy...and Grandma of course.

Grandma also gave us Elf on the Shelf this year. We officially adopted Frosty on December 2nd with a letter from Santa and his adoption decree. Dallin is more into Frosty than Gavin. He finds his night time antics especially funny!

Thanks Grandma!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

2011-12-18T23:41:00.001-06:00

I love this time of year! I love decorating, listening to my Christmas music and watching my favorite Christmas movies (White Christmas is still my favorite), the anticipation and excitement, thinking about others and trying to find the perfect gift, and doing things together as a family. Zane sang in a Christmas concert put on by our church this year (they needed men more than women, so he got to go while I stayed with the boys.) I have been busy organizing musical numbers and practicing for the program for our church service on Christmas Sunday. It has been a busy month getting ready for Christmas, and to fit it all in other things had to be let go (folding laundry, cleaning etc). It is all worth it as we are making memories!

We started the month out taking our Christmas pictures. My sister-in-law caught some get pictures portraying a happy family. In reality, we woke Dallin up from a nap. He did not want to be twinsies with Gavin that day, and he was in a very bad mood. Gavin didn't want to take pictures either, so smarties saved the day. The header picture is the boys looking up at the smarties in my hand! The picture below though was a natural moment that my sister-in-law caught. It is one of my favorites.

We do a lot of decorating. Zane has a Nutcracker collection and I have my village and nativities. Dallin loved helping with lights this year and he really was a help! He keeps looking at other homes and tells us more things we should put up in our yard. We failed to get pictures though probably because Gavin was "helping" too with the decorating and we had to watch him like a hawk!

I have also been really busy with preschool. The boys learned a couple of songs to sing to their moms at the Christmas party. Here they are practicing a reindeer song with antlers and a red nose!

Gavin got in on the action too.

We are doing a lot of baking. I enjoy baking and trying new recipes, so making a Christmas treat for each day of preschool this month was a nice excuse to do it! I nicknamed Dallin Little Chef awhile ago because he loves helping me in the kitchen. Most of the time his help means a bigger mess, but I love it. Now Gavin wants to be part of the action too. (We are making dinner here, but they have helped make a lot of cookies!)

I love these tortilla snowflakes found here. Perfect for any kid.

They made sure there were plenty of sprinkles.

Here are the boys at the performance for their moms. They cracked me up because during practices they couldn't hold still for the life of them. They sang and twirled and somersaulted around the room. During the performance they shocked me by standing still except for their rear ends. All three of them moved back and forth hitting my entertainment center with their rear ends in time with the music. I think it may be physically impossible for 3-4 year old boys to hold still for more than a couple seconds!

Singing Jingle Bells

Finally, Dallin got really excited about Christmas when he got to meet Santa! When you ask Dallin what he wants for Christmas, it changes each time which is great because the things he says probably won't be under the tree Christmas morning due to the fact that they are made up toys.

Gavin was enthralled with him too. I don't think he smiled once. He just kept staring...but no tears!

We have really tried hard this month to keep a balance with the fun Christmas activities and learning and understanding what Christmas is really about. I love the age that Dallin is now because he is starting to understand so much more. Last week when he saw a manger scene outside, he pointed it out saying, "Look mom, there is Mary, the baby Jesus, and Joseph Smith!" Some things are catching on and some need some more clarification! He has also got into some service projects that we do. He keeps gathering up his cars and giving them to me to give to another child who needs them. As a mom, I love those moments when you start seeing some things that you are teaching actually stick!

Finally, family will start arriving in town this week. My brother and sister-in-law are already in from the Netherlands and we couldn't be more excited to see them. It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas (even without snow!)

Trying to be a Walker

2011-12-04T09:30:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of videos of Gavin's attempt to walk.

October 24th- Around this time Gavin started really enjoying walking with a toy. We have three different types of walking toys and I would place them in different parts of our home and Gavin enjoyed tons of entertainment. We tried to get a good video of him walking and steering the toy, but Dallin liked to get in on the action, so instead you get to see Gavin walk for a little and then climb on the toy and go for a ride!

One of the hindrances to Gavin walking has been his giggling. Since he was born, he has been a very giggling baby!

Gavin has been walking with one of our hands for a couple of months now. He is more stable with two, but Zane always makes him use one hand to practice.

For some reason, Gavin prefers trying to stand in the middle of the room to start walking instead of walking from the couch. The most steps he has taken now is eight. He is getting so close! Gavin is super motivated and practices all the time. He doesn't care how often he falls. He just giggles and gets up again. Way to go buddy!

Beautiful Heartbreak

2011-11-26T23:39:00.001-06:00

I love this song from Hilary Weeks. It puts into words so many of my thoughts and feelings over the years. I have been thinking about infertility a lot lately as I have two friends struggling with secondary infertility. They are both at that moment when the doctor looks at you and says he doesn't know what else to do. That maybe they should look at other options. It has been almost five years since my last IVF when our doctor said those words to us. A door was closing on our hopes and dreams and at the same time another door, called adoption, was opening. It was new, different and very scary, but soon we started seeing a new light shine through. We grabbed hold of that light and started learning everything we could about adoption. Hope came back in our lives then.

During those infertility years I struggled at church and other activities listening to women talk about their pregnancies, complain about pregnancies, or complain about children. I just wasn't in a place emotionally that I could handle it. I felt like God must love these women more than me because they could get pregnant or that there was something wrong with me. I felt God must not think I was good enough to be a mom.

It was at these lowest points that I would see miracles happen. These came in the form of a church talk that said exactly what I needed to hear, something that a friend said, or a peaceful feeling in my heart that brought the comfort and a surety that God heard my prayers and would answer them in His way and His time. This was also the time when I started to understand the atonement of Jesus Christ better and build a relationship with him.

I was asked today while a women was talking about a surprise pregnancy if it was hard to hear things like that, someone who can get pregnant so easily. I'm so glad that I could say that it doesn't bother me anymore. Infertility never goes away and there are times when I still get sad, but I'm sad for different reasons. The hard days come when we are trying to find our next baby and I'm frustrated with the process. Those days all I can think about is how much easier, and lets face it, more fun, it would be if I could just get pregnant. Now I know that pregnancy really isn't easy. I have watched members of my family go through sickness the entire pregnancy to extremely hard recoveries, but on days when I'm really frustrated with the adoption process, I forget about those things and just think how hard I have it. Those days are far and few between though. Instead I try not to think about the long journey ahead of us, and instead think about the end result.

Infertility took an emotional battering to my heart, but with each hug and kiss from my boys, my heart starts to heal. Zane and I don't have this wishful thinking deep down hoping to get pregnant one day. We closed that door and are thrilled with the path we are on. We are thrilled because that path gave us two beautiful boys. I wouldn't change anything about my boys including their birth stories. Their birth families are part of who they are, and my boys and their birth families are amazing.

Every fear, every doubt, All the pain I went through

Was the price that I paid to see this view

And now that I’m here I would never trade

The grace that I feel and the faith that I find

Through the bittersweet tears and the sleepless nights

I used to pray that He’d take it all away,

But instead it became

A Beautiful Heartbreak.
(Chorus from "Beautiful Heartbreak" by Hilary Weeks)

So to my friends going through infertility, don't give up. There is a plan and one day when you have little arms wrapping around your neck giving you hugs and kisses you will look back at the journey and say it was worth it.

Enduring Well

2011-11-26T23:27:00.001-06:00

My grandma should have passed away four years ago. We all rushed out to one last family reunion to be with her. Instead, she surprised everyone and kept living life. I think she knew how much my grandpa, who is suffering from dementia, needed her and so she chose to stay with him that much longer. I'm so glad we got those few extra years with her. My grandma was an inspiring lady and I really enjoyed the life sketch my cousin did of her and the tributes made by each of her kids. I have been thinking more about family history lately and realizing that I don't want my grandparents to be forgotten. There is so much my kids can learn from their lives.

This is my grandpa saying goodbye with my parents behind him. My grandpa kissed her goodbye and told her she had been a good wife. At another time, he kissed her then announced she kissed him back!

As a child I remember grandma's house as a place where we played games and where there was always candy, ice cream, or something yummy. She liked to make sure we were all well fed and loved family gatherings. One of the funnest memories is playing card games with numbers crossed out and a new ones written in. I think this carried over from the depression years. She didn't throw away a card deck when it was missing cards. Instead, she combined multiple decks by crossing out numbers and making a new deck.

As I got older, I appreciated my grandma more as someone who really cared about me. When we went to the temple with Dallin for the ceremony to make him a part of our forever family (when he was 6 months old), my grandma flew out to join us. She was very sick on the trip, but I'm so glad my grandparents were there. That trip ended up being her last trip to visit us. I was glad she was able to join us on that special celebration because she was part of our journey to get Dallin in terms of the support she gave us. During my infertility years, she was always praying for me and asking how things were going. She would call up temples and put my name on the temple prayer roll for extra prayers! During our last family reunion she asked all my relatives to help find us a baby and pray for us. Dallin joined our family six months later.

I hope I can follow my grandma's example and live my life as well as she did.

My grandpa with his kids and their spouses

The pallbearers- all the grandsons except for my brother Jared who lives out of the country

My family who attended the funeral. This was my first time away from my boys and I got a little emotional at times. I'm really glad I wasn't chasing after them either though and got to enjoy time catching up with family!

It was great spending time with my little sister Lindsey and having my mom's attention all to ourselves (meaning the grandkids weren't stealing her away.) It is nice to have grown-up conversations.

My beautiful sisters

Family was very important to my grandma. She loved having everyone around. She would have loved the funeral with all of us gathering from across the country to celebrate her life and after the funeral, to talk and play games.

I had to add this poorly taken picture to show how fun and crazy my family is. I happen to chuck one snowball at my dad as we were walking to the car, (I couldn't resist because although I'm glad I live in a place where it doesn't snow, it sure is fun to play in!) and two of my aunts inside immediately come running out to get in on the action. They attacked my dad and anyone else in the way yelling something about getting even from all the snowballs with rocks in them that apparently my dad threw at them when he was little. My dad says he is innocent...

I have to give a shout out to Zane who took on the boys by himself for the weekend. I left very early Friday morning (we were up at 3:30 a.m.!) and I came home late Sunday night. The boys had a blast with dad doing all kinds of fun activities. When I got home Zane made the best comment by saying he doesn't know how I get anything done during the day. I love being appreciated! The boys kept him busy! They were well cared for and the house looked great. Thanks Zane!

In Disguise

2011-11-25T23:24:00.000-06:00

Has anyone seen Gavin and Dallin?

Saving Our Sleep

2011-11-25T10:00:00.000-06:00

My blogging has been a little sparse lately. I have been busy with this...

Preschool takes a lot of my time but we have a lot of fun and the boys are learning so much!

Zane has been busy because he was building this....

Dallin's new hideaway. When Gavin started sleeping through the night, Dallin started waking up. He discovered how much he enjoyed sleeping in our bed. At first we (or I should say I did as Zane ended up on the edge of the bed and never liked him sleeping with us) allowed it, then we tried to put a stop to it. Breaking that habit started a new habit of putting him back to bed by sleeping in his bed. Breaking that habit meant sleeping outside his door. The list could continue on and on. At 2 a.m. we just kept coming up with more and more bad ideas. During one sleepless night of multiple wake ups (Dallin got in the habit of waking up every 2 hours), we joked about making a high bed like our brother-in-law made for his son. We figured he would be too scared to climb down or break his neck doing it. Zane mentioned it to Dallin joking around and that started both of them dreaming of the new bed and the car toddler bed not being cool anymore. While Zane had two days off of work, he built the bed with his two little helpers.

The bed is a hit. Dallin can climb down during the night without breaking his neck, but he is choosing not to because he loves his bed! His habit of waking up every two hours has ended and we are all getting sleep!!! Can I say again how much we love this bed! Thanks Jake for the inspiration and for giving Zane pointers.

So Much to be Grateful For

2011-11-24T17:51:00.001-06:00

These boys teach me to appreciate the simple things in life. They remind me to stop worrying about what needs to be done and to get outside and enjoy nature (on this particular day that reminder consisted of two boys trying to sneak outside.)

I think these are the biggest acorns ever.

And we are lucky enough to have both pockets full of them!

I'm grateful to Gavin who teaches me to not give up. He walked around the block pushing Lightning McQueen. When he fell, he got up again, put a smile on his face and kept going. Gavin is a pro with pushing a toy. He is also a pro at climbing ladders, climbing on chairs, and really getting anywhere he wants to go. He is just too stubborn to walk independently.

He took a break and enjoyed riding McQueen. He will walk around McQueen and figure out how to climb on him by himself. Gavin is very independent.

I'm thankful for Dallin because he can always make me laugh. There is never a dull moment in our family!

I think Gavin thought the fire hydrant was the most amazing thing ever.

We are so grateful for our little family and we are especially grateful for our boys' birthmoms. Not a day goes by where we don't think of these wonderful women and express our thanks to God for His hand in bringing our family together. Because of them, Zane and I get to be called the best names ever...daddy and mommy.

Moments

2011-11-10T22:35:00.001-06:00

When we visited my new niece a couple of weeks ago, my super talented sister-in-law had her camera out taking random pictures. I'm not sure if it is her camera or just her, but she catches moments with my boys that I never seem to capture. I love how close by boys are and how much they love playing together. They have their moments when they fight (or in other words, Dallin is playing too rough), but for the most part, they just crack us up with their silliness together.

I dressed the boys in matching outfits for the day for when they weren't wearing costumes. I love dressing the boys alike for a couple of reasons. One is that Dallin likes being twinsies. He will ask to wear the same thing as Gavin and if he doesn't have the same shirt, finds something similar between the two so that he can say they are twinsies. Another reason is so people looking at our family know that the boys are brothers. We have had our moments like at the beach when some nice, well meaning girls asked if we knew where (pointing to Gavin) his parents were. Another time I was walking out to my car after grocery shopping when a lady asked if I had a day care in my neighborhood assuming that I was babysitting Gavin. It really doesn't matter if they are wearing the same thing or not though because if you spend any time with the boys, you just know they are brothers and have always been brothers.

Visiting Baby Ellery

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Remember that post about the sweeter side of Dallin? We got to see Dallin's sweet side this weekend as he met his new cousin, Ellery (my little brother Clayton's first child.) He loved holding her. So much so that we used holding Ellery as a privilege e.g. when you finish your dinner you can hold Ellery. Watching him brought back flashbacks to when Gavin was born. If Gavin was crying, he would come over to him and say, "It's ok. I'm here." He did the same thing with Ellery if she started fussing. He enjoyed singing to her except that he was a little rough during the "cradle will rock" part of "Rock-A-Bye-Baby". When I use to sing that song to Dallin as he got older, I would really rock/shake him during that part making him laugh. Ellery didn't laugh though. He constantly had to check on her and kept trying to show her stuff like acorns. By the end of the visit, he announced that Ellery was his favorite cousin.

The proud mommy, my sister-in-law Kara, Dallin, and Ellery

We went to a festival at the arboretum for a few hours and Ellery was an angel!

Gavin didn't get his picture with Ellery. He was interested in her because she has eyes to poke or a paci to steal. He isn't quite ready to be a big brother yet.

BTW: The arboretum was awesome. The kids got to trick or treat at Cinderella's castle made out of pumpkins, the step sisters' house, and tons of other Disney princesses. Pumpkins were everywhere and it was a lot of fun!

Getting Ready for Halloween

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

I think the month of October is Dallin's new favorite month (until December comes along). He thought nothing could get better than Easter. In fact, he still asks to die eggs at least once a week or he suggests a new game where we put candy in eggs and hide them (so sneaky...trying to trick me into giving him candy.) The idea though of saying "Trick or Treat" and people just giving him candy without him having to earn it, may make this holiday even better than finding candy in eggs (he doesn't remember doing it last year).

He loved playing with pumpkin guts

And he is very proud of his jack-o-lantern

Dallin practiced his Trick or Treating/roaring skills at the church Trunk and Treat getting ready for the big day

And Gavin practiced his alligator crawling skills (or he may be attempting a get away from the posing for the camera.)

Giving an alligator growl

Cutest alligator ever

We are ready! Have a Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun at Preschool

2011-10-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

We had a lot of fun at preschool getting ready for Halloween.

The cutest monster ever (Gavin thinks he goes to preschool too)

Preschool boys sporting their masks (they all picked the same one to make) and their bats flying from the straw

Scary Monsters

And Scary Pumpkins

We made a spooky lunch and invited the moms. Our menu consisted of mummy dogs, cheese stick fingers, skeleton bone bread sticks, monster apples, jello worms, and spooky sugar cookies (recipes from Our Best Bites and Mels Kitchen Cafe

We had a lot of fun getting ready for Halloween and the boys crack me up! Whether they are pretending to be bats or scary monsters, they are fun to teach.

The Sweeter Side

2011-10-28T16:00:00.000-05:00

He's silly

And sometimes scary

I'm amazed that he hasn't broken a bone yet with all his jumping and flipping. He plays with cars sometimes, but his favorite activity is running and jumping. He also has a reputation of being high energy and as a result, a harder kid to teach.

Dallin has a very sweet side though. This is the side that Zane and I get to see so often, and we love it.

Here are some of our conversations:
D: "I love you to the moon and back."
Me: "I love you to the sun and back."
D: "I love you to the milk (any object that he sees) and back"

D: "Gavin is my boy. Call Gavin my boy because he is my boy."

The I love yous and hugs and kisses can go on for awhile whenever he is saying goodbye or good night. If I try to walk out of the house by blowing him a kiss instead of giving him a kiss, he will run after me saying he needs a kiss.

Situation: Gavin is in his high chair and starts crying. I'm in the other room getting ready. Dallin is on the couch watching TV. I come into the kitchen to see why Gavin is crying and he has stopped and now playing with a toy.

M: "Dallin, how did Gavin get this toy?"
D: "Gavin was crying and I wanted to make him happy."

Dallin is a really good brother. He has his too rough moments, but he loves his baby brother.

D: "Gavin is my favorite brother."
M: "He is your only brother. Do you want another brother?"
D: "I want a baby sister then two more Gavin's."

Dallin loves to pick flowers for me. The rule is he only picks flowers he finds in the grass. Once he picked a dandelion for me and a dead one for my grandma. I don't think my grandma knew what to say.

Lastly, Dallin loves to tell me that I'm pretty especially when I'm wearing a dress. He is great for my self esteem.

I'm glad we have both sides of Dallin, the super fun boy and the sweet boy.

Big Changes

2011-10-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

Getting a truck can't really be called a big change, but for us it is. Our first car that Zane and I bought together was a Corolla. I had a long commute, it was reliable, and it worked for us. Zane then graduated from college and got his first job. We thought he would be able to take the bus at the park and ride (it is a bus for business commuters going downtown) but because of where his clients were located, he couldn't. We were in the process of buying our first house and needed a second car quick that had good gas mileage as we were now both commuting. We went with what we knew worked well and bought another Corolla. We were teased of course for owning two Corollas and when our neighbor had parties, we knew we weren't invited solely because we didn't own a truck (after all, everyone that came to the party had a truck.) A few weeks ago, Zane's Corolla broke down and so if was time to trade it in. We can now say we own zero Corollas and maybe we will get invited to the next truck party.

Now for the really big change...Zane is no longer a public accountant. He has worked for one of the big four accounting firms for the last seven years. It has been a great job giving him the experience he needs but it has required a lot of hours. Although his new job is still downtown (he can take the bus to this one though), he should have a more manageable schedule allowing him to spend more time with us. We are all excited for this huge change!

Fall Fun

2011-10-27T21:39:00.000-05:00

We have been enjoying lots of fall activities and wishing for cooler weather (although we did get a few days of it.) Here are some highlights.

Pretty good picture for taking it ourselves while we enjoyed a train ride!

Gavin's first experience riding a horse and he loved it!

I love how happy Dallin looks. He rode the horses 4 times!

Hayride at a pumpkin patch

Taking a train ride- Don't you love Gavin's smile! Despite Dallin's deer in the head light look, he had a great time too.

Love this picture of the cousins

Being tortured by the big brother (being forced to stand up and hold still)- the first picture Gavin wasn't smiling

Taking a picture with mom can also be catorized as torture...

because sometimes you just want to roam

or lay

Now we just need the cooler weather!

He Sure Knows How to have Fun!

2011-10-14T22:41:00.000-05:00

No matter what we are doing or where we are, Dallin has a good time.

Things that Gavin does to Make Me Smile

2011-10-13T22:24:00.000-05:00

Gavin makes all of us laugh all the time. He is silly, loves to flop on the ground, loves to flop in the bathtub and make huge splashes (this doesn't make me smile all the time...), loves to flop on us when we are laying down, crawls on my lap when he needs a cuddle, and giggles when you tell him no (which makes it so that I'm not mad at him when he throws his food over the high chair.) Here are the newest things he draws to make me smile.

Drinking from a straw

This makes me smile because we drink a lot of green smoothies in our house and it gets really old to feed him a cupful with a spoon. The problem now is I know he can do it and yet sometimes, he just wants to be fed by a spoon. He is still stubborn!

Loves Reading

Gavin finds books on the ground or on a low bookshelf, pulls them off and starts flipping through them. I love reading, taught reading for 6 years, and love it when my boys enjoy reading.

Obsession with Pacies

When we get Gavin out of his crib, we say, "All done pacies" because they are only for sleeping (and church when we are desperate). I will pull the paci out of his mouth, and he will put the next one in his mouth. Notice he has two in his hands. When we get to the last one, he will bite down trying his hardest to keep his paci as long as possible. He then gives up and enjoys snuggling with us while drinking his milk.

Peanut Butter

Dallin and I love peanut butter. Zane was kicked out of our club a long time ago because he complained of peanut butter spoons in the sink. I couldn't get Gavin to eat his peanut butter sandwich, so I gave him a taste of just peanut butter. He went crazy and wanted more and more. I had to hide the peanut butter and distract big time. So now Gavin has joined the club.

On the Potty

My sister-in-law mentioned her kids are number 2 trained by 18 months. I tried putting Dallin on the potty when he was 12 months old. He didn't have much success so I wasn't as consistent as I could have been with putting him on the potty although he did train pretty easily after he turned 2. I realized though that Gavin had a bowel movement every morning usually before 9 and then another one in the afternoon. It was kind of like clockwork. I would plan it in my get ready and out of the house schedule to change Gavin's diaper twice, once when he woke up and then when he had a bowel movement a little later. We started putting Gavin on the potty at the beginning of September. I think he had success the first time we put him on. We rarely change a poopy diaper any more!!!:) Gavin giggles when we put him on the potty because he enjoys the attention, clapping for himself, and loves reading stories with me. Not having to change poopy diapers really makes me smile!

2011-10-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

We had our first preschool fieldtrip this year to the fire station as we talked about fire safety. The boys thought the truck was awesome especially when they got to sit in it. They also thought the huge tires (which were bigger than some of them) were pretty cool.

There is something adorable about a baby with a fire hat.

At least Gavin is adorable with a fire hat.

Dallin the fire fighter rescuing the stuffed animals.

How Did We Ever Live Without It

2011-09-25T10:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what we ever did without a play set in our backyard. We are outside playing almost every night while we wait for daddy to come home from work. It is a great diversion for the boys and gives me a little bit of a break while they play.

The above picture is a favorite game. Both boys climb up the slide. Gavin likes to slide down head first. Sometimes the above happens when Dallin slides down while Gavin is climbing up. Dallin is very careful about stopping himself in time so that he doesn't knock Gavin off and Gavin of course loves it since playing with Dallin is his favorite activity!

The Start of Another Year

2011-09-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

Preschool is officially up and running smooth! Last year I taught with my sister in her home. We both learned a lot and enjoyed two of us prepping as new teachers. This year I am on my own teaching in my house a group of boys Dallin's age while my sister continues teaching our students from last year (these kids are a year ahead of Dallin). I have a great group of four boys (including Dallin) who are full of energy and all get along great. I was very apprehensive about this year because last year Dallin had a very, very hard time with school. I was so pleased the first day of school to see Dallin sitting on his carpet and participating in class. He has been wonderful! I think a year's maturity, teaching in our own home, a small class, and teaching on his level all really make a difference. Both of us are loving preschool days!

Gavin is also doing well. He takes one nap during preschool, enjoys snack time and recess time with the boys, and plays with toys in the "cage." He loves the attention and gets very excited to see all the friends coming over.

Here's to a great school year!

What I Love About Gavin

2011-09-12T08:50:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a post just about Gavin for awhile. He is such a fun kid and is growing and developing so much that he needed his own post.

What I love about Gavin:
(these are in no particular order)

1. He is so happy. Sometimes it is hard to tell when Gavin needs a nap because he is a very happy boy.

2. I love his kisses. Gavin puts his open mouth right on my lips for a kiss. Sometimes I feel a little teeth on my lip and a couple of times a little tongue on my lip (we had a talk after that one :). Most of the time it is just a full, slobbery open mouth kiss and I love it. What is special about his kisses is that he if very selective in giving them. If you ask him for a kiss, he may just look at you like your crazy or he will grant your wish. Most of the time he just looks at me. Every once in a while though, out of the blue, he will just kiss me. It is like he is feeling extra love for me at that moment and knew I needed a kiss. It is special!

3. I love his hugs. He will wrap his little arms tightly around my neck and squeeze. He may have learned this from Dallin who loves to give him hugs which sometimes is really more of a squeeze to Gavin's head.

4. I love that Gavin plays independently. While I am in the kitchen cooking and Gavin is playing by himself, I will have to go find him because he will move from room to room finding new adventures. His favorite room to hide in is Dallin's especially if he gets the toys to himself!

5. I love how adventurous Gavin is. It is fun to see him discover new things and climb on everything! Nothing is too big or too hard for this boy.

6. I love Gavin's sleeping schedule. In the past I have complained about Gavin's 5 a.m. wake-ups or his need to have a bottle in the middle of the night. I still can't really say when he started sleeping through the night because he was never consistent at it. Now, he sleeps like a champ and if he does wake up, it is because his teeth are bothering him. He also goes down for naps very easily.

7. I love how easy it is to make Gavin laugh. Everything is funny to him. When we practice standing, Gavin just bends his knees, starts giggling and jumping. If we let go of him, he will giggle, flop to the floor and crawl away. (Gavin stands and walks along things, but he isn't walking independently. Our goal is by 18 months!) Gavin still will army crawl, but mostly, he crawls on all fours. He loves it and he especially loves it when Dallin crawls with him.

8. I love how Gavin dances to any music he hears (this includes music with strong beats or hymns at church!) He also dances to rhyming books. He has a great ear and has some moves. The boy has rhythm!

9. I love how Gavin loves to read books. He giggles, touches each page, and many times kisses the characters in the book. If he is playing independently, he will crawl over to my box of books and look at books by himself. I love it!

10. I love how Gavin loves Dallin. He will follow him anywhere and thinks he is the funniest boy. He loves to give Dallin hugs/tackle him. Dallin always looks at me with a smile and says, "Gavin loves me!" He does love his brother.

What would we do without this sweet, giggly boy!

Crazy Boys Playing

2011-09-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

Boys sure love to climb!

Jared and Kari gave us their swing set when they sold their home so this is what the boys play on now. Zane had to replace some boards, but the boys love it and it has been great for preschool!

Cousins

2011-09-04T09:20:00.000-05:00

Dallin loved playing with his cousins. He is one of the youngest in Zane's family, so he loved older kids playing with him, seeing their cool toys, and following them around. Zane and I also loved the older cousins. They took care of our children for us! Dallin's twin cousins, Candy and Jade (9 years old?), would take his hand and he would follow them any where. The boy who is usually running constantly and scares me in the pool with his no fear attitude, was calm and content with these girls. We went swimming one day, and Dallin was carried around like a baby doll in the pool the whole time. He apparently forgot he knew how to swim. I wish we could have brought one of the girls home with us.... We played a game similar to hide and seek in the dark (I can't remember their name for it) and Dallin just held one of the girls hands and loved running around in the dark chasing everyone.

Playing at the park (this picture is missing half of the cousins. I failed to get a picture with all of them. :(

Gavin with his cousin Brooklyn- Brooklyn is two months younger

Stair races- I can't tell you how much entertainment this was. They each won one race although in Gavin's defense, there was a tiny piece of grass on the stairs that was a major distractions towards his goal of getting to the top first!

Garrett and Dallin- Garrett had the coolest toys (meaning lots of Cars 2 toys). He was so sweet to keep playing with Dallin who fixates on playing with cars and only cars non stop.

Toni's kids ( we stayed here two nights)

Nikki's kids (we stayed here the rest of the time since her boys are the closest in age with ours.)

We had a really fun trip. The boys did really well considering Gavin's illness and no naps and late nights for Dallin. There were also parts of the trip that are just boring for little boys like helping my little sister Lindsey set up her classroom for her first teaching job. (They loved seeing Aunt Lindsey, but staying in a classroom for two hours isn't high on either of their lists of fun things to do.) It was great though to get home and be back in our own beds with a schedule again!

Why Aren't You Holding Me???

2011-08-30T23:28:00.000-05:00

I can see you mom and yet you are not holding me! WHY IS THAT?

Despite what Zane thinks, Gavin is a mommy's boy. He is happy to play by himself as long as I'm near or as long as he can't see me. He has a hard time letting others hold him if I'm right there. Oh how I wish I had just sat down on the couch next to my grandparents and held Gavin while Zane took the picture. This was the first time Gavin met his great grandparents and his first picture with them. Again, I wish I had just been in the picture holding Gavin next to my grandma!

Despite what the picture looks like, we had a great visit with my grandparents.

Another regret- I didn't get a picture of my boys with my other grandma. Ahhh!

Playing with a Wonderful Friend

2011-08-29T15:26:00.000-05:00

We spent a morning with one of my bestest friends Lori (friends from high school, college roommates, and newlywed friends) and her cute kids at a really fun park. This park has little streams for the kids to race boats down and to just wade. There were places to run around, climb, and explore. It was a great way to spend a morning!

Lagoon Day

2011-08-27T21:01:00.004-05:00

The first day in Utah, we met up with parts of Zane's family and headed to Lagoon. This was Dallin's first time on a roller coaster and he liked most of them. In every picture we took of him on rides, his head was facing the wrong direction. Maybe he was embarrassed that I was taking so many pictures of him and waving to him like a maniac! I mean, he was with his cool friends so maybe mommy isn't the most important person in his life... (sniff, sniff)

Dallin has met his cousins, but he didn't remember them. Everywhere we went, he was pleasantly surprised that there were more "friends" (as he calls them) to play with. Dallin especially enjoyed waking up every morning having slept in the same room as his friends!

Dallin is with his cousins Brigg, Brayden, and Eli. By the end of the week, we heard Dallin telling Brayden (the cousin his age) that he was his best friend.

Getting ready to ride the dinosaur egg ride.

Afterward- Not his favorite

We went on a lot more rides and did the water park. I didn't think we would stay as long as we did because Gavin doesn't enjoy sitting in a stroller all day long. I realized later in the afternoon the reason why Gavin was so content to stay in the stroller was because he had a fever. By the time we got back to where we were staying and checked his temperature, it had risen to 102.7 under the arm. For the next three days Gavin acted fine as long as he was on ibprophen, but when it wore off, his temperature spiked back up again to 102.7. Being out of town with a sick baby is hard. My doctor's office got plenty of calls from me as I worried about what could be causing his temperature. In the end it was just a virus. I think Gavin doesn't like leaving home because when we went to visit his birthmom, who lives in another state, he got sick too. Both trips Gavin liked to wake us up a lot at night reminding us that he wishes he was in his own crib where he could get better!

Airplanes

2011-08-26T13:41:00.004-05:00

I was not looking forward to the plane rides for our vacation in Utah. Traveling with a one-year-old is not my kind of relaxing vacation. Having a four hour lay over and a flight that leaves at 8 a.m. is also not high on my list (we flew with frequent flier miles, so we got the flights that were available). Going through security twice because the airport where we had our layover has a lame layout where guests have to leave the airport to get to another terminal which means going through security again. Going through security with two kids, a stroller, tons of carry-ons to avoid charges, and baby food isn't fun the first time. The second time wasn't any better.

I was expecting a nightmare. Actually though, besides the two securities, the flights to and from Utah went really well. Gavin fell asleep on both our flights to Utah and on the way home. He didn't sleep the whole time, but enough so that we could handle the crawling around from lap to lap and trying to climb over the chairs to get to the people behind us. Dallin watched a movie on the first flight, fell asleep on the second, and was asleep on our return flight before the plane had left the runway. He woke up for the last 15 minutes of that flight.

During the layover, we let both boys run around in an emptier part of the airport, ate lunch and then pulled out the cars. The last hour of it, both Zane and I were getting pretty tired of entertaining (we had been up since 5:30 a.m.), but then an angel sent straight from heaven in the form of a little girl Dallin's age, saved us. Dallin and this girl became best friends and played for an hour with cars while Gavin trailed behind them. Zane and I got to relax for a little.

All and all, the flights were great and way better than driving!

The End of an Era

2011-08-14T21:14:00.005-05:00

We knew this day would come. Honestly, I thought it would last five years at the most, so we should count our blessings that we got an extra year and a half together.

Yesterday, Jared and Kari moved away from us. They didn't just move to another city, they got on a plane and moved to another country to start a new adventure. I am excited for them. Honestly. But I have also shed many tears this last week.

Growing up I never imagined I would live so close to so many of my siblings. I especially never thought three of us would all be in the same ward together. It all started 6 1/2 year ago when Zane graduated from college and we moved back to where I grew up. Zane had landed a wonderful job and we were starting our grownup life together with college behind us. We moved at Christmas time and found a house in January of 2005. We actually were deciding on two houses and over Christmas break Jared announced they were pregnant and were leaving downtown to buy a house. They looked at our second choice house and were sold on it (I think Kari made Jared look at a few other houses but he was probably just going through the emotions of it.) We moved in on the same day a street apart from each other. Jared and Zane immediately started their busy season, and Kari and I were left to the unpacking and the loneliness of being without a husband. We relied on each other to help put up pictures, someone to talk to, and eventually someone to eat dinner with. I just hated cooking for just myself (the boys eat at work during busy season), and so we started our rotation of eating at each other's houses. Kari and I became fast friends.

I have always felt like I needed Kari more than she needed me. She is a great listener and I love to talk. I would say that within a few months she became one of my best friends, someone I could always turn to whenever I needed something.

I hope she got something out of the relationship too. She and Jared got free babysitting quite a bit before we got Dallin. They had the perfect situation, the aunt and uncle living down the street with no children who loved spending time with their nephew. There again though, I probably benefited more. I wanted so desperately to have children and she shared her son with me. When the girls at church talked about being mothers, I had nothing to say, so I would tell Drew stories. She never cared. Kari's recovery after having Drew was very difficult for quite awhile and she needed a lot of help. I remember taking him for a walk to my house one afternoon after work and realizing how much I loved my nephew. It was at that moment that I first felt like I could adopt. Zane and I were so focused on getting me pregnant, that we hadn't thought much about adoption. We never thought that would be our path. I realized at that moment that maybe it would be our path and that I could definitely love a baby that wasn't born to me.

Kari was a huge help during the infertility years. She helped give me shots, encouraged and celebrated with me as I learned to give myself my shots, and was a fantastic listener when I needed someone. I have been so grateful over and over again that Jared married a nurse!

Just like the story of Ruth and Naomi from the Bible, I have followed Kari throughout our service in the church. She would be asked to serve in the young women's program, a year or two later, I would be asked to help too. When she was asked to serve in the Relief Society (women’s organization), I followed a year later. We did girl's camp together, meetings, visits, and there was a moment during one horrible young women’s lesson about mothers (ok, it was probably a great lesson, but at that moment, it was too much for me to bear when I needed a shoulder to cry on desperately. I held it in until most of the YW had left, but I knew I couldn't hold it in any longer as I searched for Zane so I ran over to Kari, put my head on her shoulder, and bawled. She hugged me, cared about me, and let me bawl. Kari is never judgmental and always knowing what to say.

I remember specifically telling Jared and Kari that a birthmom picked us to adopt Dallin. I remember it because of their reaction. They were so excited for us. The night we brought him home, I can't remember who was there first to celebrate with us Kari or Haley. Kari has acted like a sister for so long now.

We have shared a lot of things over the years. In the beginning, Jared didn't have a lawn mower and we didn't have...(we can't remember because we didn't use his for very long) so we traded and shared. You can imagine a Saturday morning one of us pushing the lawn mower down the street to each other's house so we could share it. I'm sure we impressed the neighbors. We didn't have satellite TV for a long time, so we would go to Jared's to watch Conference, Lost, So You Think You Can Dance and other shows that didn't come in very clearly on our TV.

Kari and I continued trading cooking off and on over the years even when our husbands weren't working late so that we didn't have to cook as much. Kari and I got a little girl time in and Jared and Zane got a little sport time in. Four years ago Haley moved out by us. She eventually started cooking with us and we started our three time a week rotation. We didn't always stay and eat as our families grew and life got more hectic, but we all saw each other and talked together almost every day.

I haven't talked much about my brother Jared. I will miss him too but he knows all that and saying it makes him conceited. Besides, he didn't even get a little emotional saying goodbye and even looked at me like I was a little silly. I will miss our talks, our banter back in forth, and his hugs that are far and few in between, but are great when I really need one.

As I walked around their empty house, I realized I was sad for changes that are happening because I know things will never be the same again. Even without Jared leaving, changes were coming. Our dinners were going to end eventually because it was getting too hectic, and both Haley and I have been talking about moving to bigger homes as we are getting squished out of ours. When Kari and Jared come back in two years, who knows where we will all be. It was good while it lasted and I love and miss my neighbors already.

On the upside, my little brother is moving about four hours from us and he too is a nurse. I haven't forgotten that when Kari left the country a month ago to find a house, Gavin landed himself in the ER. At least I will have my little brother although his knowledge on pediatrics needs to pick up! I might just have to Facetime Kari with my questions and hope I don't catch her in the middle of the night!

Sam taking the boys down!

Gavin with his best friend Alex. When they see each other, they get soooo excited! It is stickin cute.

At the zoo together. I'm not sure what Dallin is doing, but Drew and Sam know how to pose!

A Conversation with a Wise Dallin

2011-08-07T22:12:00.005-05:00

Dallin: Why are you crying?
Me: It has finally hit me that Jared and Kari are leaving and mommy is going to miss them.
Dallin (pausing for a little bit): Well, Matt, Haley, and Caleb will still be here.
Me: That's true. What if we move far away?
Dallin: Then a lot of people will cry for us.
Me: You're right.
Dallin: Mom, you're a princess because you are crying.

See, so wise and very sweet.

So Loved

2011-08-06T12:01:00.001-05:00

Zane is getting older, is losing hair, and when he plays sports like he is 20, he feels it the rest of the day. I have also never loved him more (because honestly as Zane always says, "bald man are sexy) and there is not a dad more loved than him.

Happy Birthday sweetie!

Remember Goliad!

2011-08-05T07:44:00.000-05:00

Instead of heading straight home from our vacation, we decided to do a little site seeing. Zane had left early that morning with my little brother and his wife Clayton and Kara to take them to the airport and to go to work. Other members of my family had left the night before because of work, so our little site seeing trip was just my parents, Haley's family, and mine.

We have been to the Alamo many times and San Jacinto, so it was only fitting that we visit Presidio La Bahia in Goliad. In the final battle of the Texas Revolution, the battle cry at San Jacinto was "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" In August 1835, the Texans had taken Presidio La Bahia in a small skirmish. Later in March 1836, Fannin's man were attacked by the Mexican army in the field near the Presidio. (The Battle of the Alamo ended at the beginning of March in 1836). The Texans were outnumbered and defeat was imminent. Colonel Fannin and his men surrendered thinking they would be held prisoner then released to the United States. Santa Anna had different plans and 303 Texans were marched out and shot point blank. The survivors of the execution were knifed and clubbed to death. 39 more men were killed in the fort. Colonel Fannin was the last to die after watching all his men executed. The bodies were burned and left in the open for vultures and coyotes to get.

We also learned about the Angel of Goliad, Francita Alavez, who spoke up for prisoners for more humane treatment and help save 20 prisoners. I love learning about brave women who risk their own life in the name of humanity and freedom. There is a statue of Fancita Alavez to honor her. I failed to take of it though.

I'm glad we stopped by and learned more about our Texas history despite the heat!

Vacationing at the Lazy L Ranch

2011-08-03T22:59:00.000-05:00

My favorite type of vacation:

Great Company: vacationing with my family (everyone came but my little sister Lindsey who was honeymooning with her new husband Derrick. We are glad they chose not to honeymoon with us!)
Relaxing: With extra people around and cousins for the boys to play with, the parents actually got to relax a little. I even picked up a book for the first time in forever.
Playing games: Ticket to Ride and Dominion were the two favorites. We love to play late into the night.
Great Conversation: I love being able to relax and catch up late into the night.

The Lazy L Ranch offered it all. We went swimming twice a day, the big cousins loved playing constantly or watching movies together, and the adults enjoyed playing games. The little cousins (Gavin has two cousins all born within 5 months of each other) loved the adventure of crawling around a new place and causing mischief.

The only downfall to vacation is sleeping. We had a couple of rough nights of boys waking us up during the night, but we also caught some naps during the day.

Swimming with everyone (Gavin was taking a nap)

Dallin loved playing with Caleb's snakes. There seemed to be a lot of toy snakes laying around the house. I seemed to find all of them during the middle of the night which led to a couple of screams.

On a side note, before we left, my friend mentioned that I'm always prepared which is why it takes me so long to pack. We packed quickly for this trip because my sister got married on Saturday and we left Sunday after church for our trip. On the way out I grabbed the Clorox wipes and infant ibuprofen which both came in handy multiple times. I wished I remembered to grab my pants and one more pair of clothes for Dallin. I packed clothes from the folded laundry, but forgot to go into Dallin's and my closet to grab the rest. Needless to say I wore my exercise clothes every day which was fine because we didn't exercise at all. Dallin kept his clothes pretty clean, so he wore an outfit twice.

We had a great trip and I'm glad we fit it in. I think it was rough on my mom who helped plan girl's camp this summer, the Youth Conference trip to Nauvoo (I think she really planned this mostly on her own), and a daughter's wedding. She did get to relax a little and we all enjoyed spending time with my little brother and his wife who were visiting from Utah. It was also great to have one last vacation with Jared and Kari who are taking off on an adventure overseas for two years.

Aunt Lindsey's Wedding

2011-07-31T11:28:00.001-05:00

I wasn't the best at taking pictures throughout the whole extravaganza. It is hard to carry Gavin and take pictures at the same time. The wedding though was wonderful and we are so glad that Derrick is now part of our family.

Derrick's family provided a luncheon before the temple. Here the boys are ready to eat their spaghetti and stay clean at the same time!

We loved having Clayton and Kara come visit

Gavin causing havoc to the table because dinner wasn't coming fast enough. He sure looks cute as he causes havoc.

A cute couple

Derrick playing the cello for Lindsey- very romantic

The bride and groom with the nieces and nephews. It was a little on the warm side!

Lindsey with her sisters

Trying to get a quick family picture

I failed to get pictures at the reception which looked beautiful. I need to give a shout out to my mom who had a crazy summer with planning girl's camp, a youth conference trip to Nauvoo, and a daughter's wedding. She did an amazing job handling it all!

Congrats Lindsey and Derrick!

Swimming Lessons

2011-07-28T15:43:00.003-05:00

Dallin started taking swimming lessons this summer. I'm so glad we went with the teacher we did. We chose private lessons for him which cost a little more, but they were totally worth it. Dallin was able to focus so much better and got more out of each lesson. Miss Gail was wonderful with him too. She was tough on him and knew just how to motivate him. We are very pleased with his accomplishments.

Swimming was also wonderful for Dallin because he excelled at it. He thrived under the positive attention he was getting. Dallin had two lessons a week for four weeks and then we would practice at the pool around three times a week with us. Zane and I didn't have to fight him to practice with us (sometimes he needed a little persuasion to roll on his back) and he was always excited to go swimming. After his first lesson, he enjoyed swimming so much he refused to wear his floaties again. He told us they can go in the garbage now.

Miss Gail teaches her students to roll on their back to breath. Dallin didn't always like doing this because he would swallow a lot of water at first, but he definitely understands that if he can't breath in the water for any reason, he needs to roll over and float. Today his shark was floating on his back in order to "breath."

This video was after 6 lessons.

Dallin has now had seven lessons, and today at the pool he swam across the width by himself while I watching nearby with Gavin. He also jumped off the diving board, rolled over to breath, then swam on his stomach to the side while I was a few feet away with Gavin. Next time we are at the pool with Zane, I will get a video of this. Besides safety, this was my main goal for him with swimming lessons. Gavin likes to try to crawl out of his floaty into the water, so I have to watch him like a hawk. If Dallin can swim to the side by himself, then I feel a lot safer going to the pool while Zane is at work. We are so proud of how hard Dallin worked this summer and how much he learned!

Opinionated

2011-07-24T20:03:00.004-05:00

He looks so sweet and angelic. Ever since he turned one though, Gavin has had an opinion. It is not hard to translate what he is trying to say.

"Ahhhhh" (very loud scream): Don't take my toy away from me.
"Ahhhhh": Put me down. I don't want to do whatever you want me to do. I want to play with toys.
"Ahhhhh": Put me down. I would like to crawl...(under benches at church, into the refrigerator, in the garage, wherever I want to go.)
"Ahhhhh": I want to play with the DVD player (or anything else he isn't suppose to touch.)

If I move Gavin to another room to get him from under my feet while I'm cooking, he will immediately crawl back unless something else distracts him. This is the same if I remove him from the same room as Dallin if Dallin wants to play with a toy that Gavin will destroy or if he has a friend over and Gavin is getting in the way. If Dallin is playing with a friend, nothing will distract Gavin. He wants to be in the same room as the big boys and play with them.

What we have really struggled with is switching over to sippy cups. Gavin had no problem switching to whole milk, but he wanted nothing to do with a sippy cup. He has never liked them. I first switched out the afternoon bottle with a sippy cup. When I did that, Gavin decided he no longer wanted anything to drink in the afternoon. (He won't drink any liquid from a sippy cup.)

My next step was to keep trying different kinds of sippy cups during the day with different kinds of liquid. No luck.

With Dallin we went cold turkey so that he had plenty of time off of bottles since we thought we were adopting another baby when Dallin was 14 months. Dallin did fine. He likes to eat. Gavin though doesn't like to eat. If he doesn't get enough milk/food during the day (because he refuses to eat or drink), he wakes up screaming at 3 or 4 a.m. and nothing will calm him down (not even paci) until he gets that bottle. He has done really well lately not waking up (he was waking up 1 or 2 times a week), that we didn't want to ruin this because we went cold turkey or dropped another feeding.

We finally decided we had to brave waking up at night and switched out the morning bottle since that is when he is hungriest. When I walked in his room in the morning, he would take one look at the sippy cup and start screaming. At night when he saw his bottle, he would go crazy with happiness. After three mornings of no morning bottle, Zane came in to see what all the screaming was about, picked up Gavin, tucked one arm behind his back and held the other one down, and stuck the sippy cup in Gavin's screaming mouth. Gavin finally gave in and drank.

This sippy cup was the winner. The cup was full and he downed it in one of his fastest feedings. I think he was missing the milk.

He is now off of bottles and doing fine. He still doesn't drink sippy cups while sitting in his high chair (meaning he gets very little liquid during the day), but he will drink a full cup morning and night while we rock him in the rocking chair. I don't mind though because I love cuddling with him.

Gavin is still sweet and angelic, but he is definitely letting everyone know what he wants and he does it in a very loud way!

Playing at the Beach

2011-07-16T13:14:00.005-05:00

I may have gone over board on pictures but between Dallin running in and out of the water and Gavin arming crawling on the beach, I couldn't help but catch the moments!

Dallin's favorite- mud

Gavin thought crawling in the sand was awesome!

And eating it wasn't so bad either

I think this was Gavin's best day ever! He was allowed to roam free and get as dirty as he wanted.

Ready to take on the waves

Who cares about the salt and brown water. There are waves to be jumped.

Conqueror!

Swinging with dad

And loving it too

Army crawling together- Gavin loves it when Dallin gets on the ground with him

Spending time with dad is awesome!

Within five minutes of being in the car, Dallin looked like this.

Gavin looked like this the whole way home. While we were out jumping waves, he fell asleep on my shoulder. I guess he liked the rocking of the waves. He stayed asleep as I walked back up to the beach and we both napped under the umbrella.

We had a great day at the beach and enjoyed Zane's time off of work. It sure is hard the first day back. I think Dallin went in the garage four times throughout the day Monday thinking Zane was home. The first time was at 10 a.m. It was a long Monday. The boys sure love their dad.

Staying Cool

2011-07-10T21:49:00.004-05:00

We haven't hit the fountains as much this year simply because they wouldn't be any fun for Gavin since he doesn't walk. We went as a family during the evening, and at first Zane and I took turns swinging him through the water. We didn't bother putting a swim suit on him because we assumed he wouldn't be crawling around. Gavin's stubborn though and apparently has tough elbows and knees because what he really wanted was to be able to crawl around, cement and all. Gavin figured it out how to play in the fountains pretty fast, with help from Dallin of course.

Dallin showing Gavin what to do

Dallin trying to steer Gavin to the fountains behind them.

Trying to catch one

Where did it go?

Both boys patiently waiting

Finally catching one
Loving it

Notice how long Gavin's hair is and the super long eye lashes clumped together

Simple pleasures.

Looks Can be Deceiving!

2011-07-03T08:22:00.004-05:00

Two brothers just hanging out together

Actually, I'm not sure how I caught the above picture because it lasted a second. This is what really happens when they are together:

Gavin jumps on Dallin and a wrestling match ensues in a chair.

Sometimes it goes too far and needs a referee

Some hugs are too tight

But as soon as the referee interferes, it begins all over again.

Two brothers who just can't get enough of each other.

(And Dallin, you better watch out. In a few years Gavin won't be so little.)

Children's Museum

2011-07-01T09:14:00.000-05:00

I've done plenty of posts about the children's museum, but Gavin was so cute playing in the dirt (cut up tires), I had to get more pictures.

I think there is a tire in his mouth in this pictures. That is the down side to letting him play. He is into eating everything.

Dallin with his new love, dinosaurs.

Gavin at 12 Months

2011-06-30T09:25:00.000-05:00

Gavin at 12 months is an active, giggly, silly boy. I love this 12 months picture because it shows his new teeth. With these teeth, he looks more like a toddler instead of a baby.

Taking these pictures were a pain! Gavin refuses to sit still now and immediately rolls over to start moving and climbing around. I got one picture of him forward facing only because Dallin sat next to him. This then started a wrestling match which is a whole other post.

Here are some funny things about Gavin:

While at a restaurant, Gavin got a hold of a lemon from my water and enjoyed it immensely. He has had several now.

Gavin is persistent and knows what he wants especially when he is crawling. If something is in the way, a toy, legs etc, he just crawls right over it. There is no going around something for Gavin no matter how big.

Gavin loves his paci. When we put him in his crib or naps, he will stand up, giggle for awhile, and throw his paci. We then come in and lay him back down and give him his paci back. He thinks this is the funnest game and will continue it for a good 10 minutes before he gives up and sleeps.

We also put two paci's in his crib at night because he moves so much so when he wakes up on the opposite side of the bed, there is a paci right there. If he can find paci, then he falls back to sleep. It is funny though when he realizes there is two in the crib. He will put one in his mouth and hold the other then switch them to see which one taste better. He will fall asleep holding his extra paci like it is his blankie.

Reading stories to Gavin is also a lot of fun. He giggles the entire time. Every picture is the funniest.

Gavin is on the move and is just content to crawl. (He can walk along the couch though, but he still prefers crawling). He is also a picky eater. This showed when he was weighed today at his well check up. He gained 8 oz from his 9 months appointment. The doctor wasn't worried. He just is on the move all the time!!! Now that he is in the clear to eat anything, his new favorite foods are yogurt and peanut butter bread.

Here were some other cute pictures (I took at least 30 pictures trying to get a couple where he was facing me.)

Gavin is such a fun boy and I love seeing his personality coming out more and more. I'm always amazed with adoption how perfectly everything works out. When we were visiting his birthmom, Tracy and I talked about the miraculous way we were brought together. It is a testimony that God has a plan for each family. Gavin fits perfectly in our family.

Happy 1st Birthday Gavin!

2011-06-26T22:25:00.010-05:00

We celebrated Gavin's birthday three days early because my little sister was in town and left that night. We had a family party where we ate lasagna, opened presents, and then had cake and ice cream. I picked lasagna for dinner because it feeds a lot and figured Gavin would try it, refuse it like other table food, and then eat his baby food. I was pleasantly surprised when he loved it. Apparently lasagna is his favorite dinner!

After dinner we opened presents. With tons of little kids around, it got a little hectic. As Zane and I watched the video back of the event, I'm putting tissue paper back in the bag that Dallin or someone else had just pulled out while giving the present to Gavin. I think the whole present part was over in a few minutes as I tried to keep up with the little kids. Poor Gavin was over whelmed. At one point he received a yellow ball from Caleb and Carter. He held onto it for a few seconds, dropped it, and then it was snagged up by someone else. Multiple times in the video you see the ball come close to Gavin again, he reaches for it, and then it is moved away by another kid. In the following clip, you will even see me pull tissue paper out of his hands, Gavin reaching for sippy cups that I'm holding and me tossing them aside without realizing he wanted them, and the famous yellow ball. Poor Gavin. He wasn't able to enjoy the opening of presents because of the choas. (Also notice in the background Dallin opening one of Gavin's presents.)

Zane and I made an alligator cake because Gavin looks like an alligator when he crawls. The big boys were very exciting to eat it. The cake is turned around because all day Dallin liked to touch the alligator's face (it was made out of candy and marshmallows). No matter how many times we talked about not touching it, the candy on it was just too tempting!

The Cake (the candies on his back are different because we ran out and had to use different brand fruit slices.)

Gavin didn't quite get the blowing out the candle thing, but he was intrigued by his cake.

Gavin making his usual disgusted face when seeing food or taking a first bite.
He calmly took small bites like eating cake for the first time was no big deal.

He eventually got more into it.

And in the end, loved it!

Gavin has been a wonderful addition to our family. It has been a great first year!

Father's Day

2011-06-25T20:07:00.000-05:00

These boys love their dad.

There are many reasons. He plays fun games with them like Gavin hat (putting Gavin on his head and bouncing which makes Gavin laugh like crazy), wrestling with Dallin, throwing the boys up in the air, racing them (both running and army crawling), and kicking balls around. I'm sure there are tons more games.

Zane tells the funniest made up stories and uses really silly (he would say cool) voices when reading stories.

He can make the boys laugh like no one else.

They are so excited when he comes home from work and hate it when he leaves. Sometimes I wonder if they rather I worked instead.

These boys are so lucky to have Zane for a father. I picked a pretty good one. :)

Medical Emergencies: Ariane

2011-06-24T21:29:00.005-05:00

My medical emergency was actually a month ago on the last week of preschool (much to my sister's dismay who had to cover all the prep I usually do.) I learned a lot about taking care of infections and about doctors with this problem. Warning: I will include pictures at the end, but you may want to skip those if you have a weak stomach.

Saturday (May 21): I woke up with a slight throbbing in my right pinky. I had a little cut on that finger which was starting to have a red circle around it, so I immediately thought of staph. Dallin had a staph infection on his knee the week before and I was the one taking care of it (meaning I popped it.) We know a lot about staph infections in our family because my sister has become a pro taking care of her son's many staph infections. By the middle of the day I started to take some over the counter pain medication because the pain was bothering me.

Sunday: The swelling on the bottom half of my pinky was getting worse and redder. By that night the pain was bothering me so much that I knew I needed to see the doctor. In my mind the infection needed to be popped, but it wouldn't. My mom informed me she had nothing to do the next morning (meaning she had tons to do but was willing to drop everything to come babysit...bless her). I really struggled with sleeping that night because of the throbbing. I think I woke Zane up a couple of times informing him I couldn't sleep. He loved that.

Monday: We are on a new insurance plan this year where we no longer pay a copay but have to meet a deductible. We hadn't met it yet, so when I made my appointment, I made it with a PA. I have seen many PA's in the past for small things with much success. Not only are they cheaper but you can get in right away whereas a doctor may have a hard time fitting you in. I went in first thing in the morning hoping the PA would recommend lancing. This just shows the amount of pain I was in. I was all for lancing knowing whatever pain this caused would bring relief.

The PA confirmed that most likely it was staph (we couldn't be positive without taking a culture) but then said that lancing wasn't possible because of the many veins in the finger. Instead she prescribed an antibiotic. She considered giving me an antibiotic shot to get things working faster but decided I should come back in on Wednesday if things were getting worse. All I could focus on was that she wasn't going to provide relief and I was going to be in pain for awhile longer. When I mentioned the pain, she kind of looked at me strange and asked if I wanted a prescription for pain medicine. She obviously didn't think my finger could hurt that bad. I kept thinking I'm some kind of baby because Dallin didn't complain this much when he had a staph infection.

I slept very little that night.

Tuesday: I woke up with my right hand all puffy and my finger growing bigger. I decided not to wait until Wednesday and started calling the PA's nurse to tell them how it was getting worse and ask what I should do. The nurse and I played phone tag all day until she finally called me back at 5 p.m. (when it was too late to come in) to tell me to come in the next day but that this PA wasn't going to be in so I needed to see someone else.

Wednesday: There are two offices in my area for my doctor. I was able to get an appointment with a PA down by my mom which was perfect because I could bring my kids to her. This PA took one look at my finger and said, "That must be really painful." Oh thank you. She said it was more painful because the infection was stuck in such a small area. (She probably didn't say it like that though.) The infection was also in the right pinky, so I had to use that hand a lot and the kids kept bumping it. She then said that an antibiotic wasn't going to do any good until the finger was lanced and the infection was allowed to come out. While she tried to get me an appointment with a doctor right away, the nurse gave me the antibiotic shot in my rear end. I should have insisted on this shot on Monday but I have a big problem with needles (ironic since during my infertility years needles had to become my best friend.) The antibiotic shot is a killer. My bum hurt for a few hours after wards (not like my finger hurt, but for a shot, it was annoying.)

I got a doctor's appointment for that afternoon with the dermatologist associated with this clinic. Luckily the kids were at my moms and getting well taken care of. I joined them for lunch, got Gavin down for a nap, then headed to the dermatologist skipping out the door (I was that excited for the lancing.)

This doctor was wonderful. He took one look at my hand and also said the wonderful words making me feel less like a baby, "That must really hurt." I felt in such capable hands because this doctor had dealt with this problem many times and quite frankly loved it. He was so excited about the prospect of pushing out all that mucus.

As he and the nurse started prepping me and explaining the process, I finally had the thought that maybe I should have had Zane with me (if I'm ever getting a lot of shots or anything with needles I usually have someone with me in case I faint. It has happened in the past many times.) The nurse was telling me that since my finger was so big they may not be able to get the whole thing numb and I may feel the lancing. This doctor was wonderful though and made me feel so comfortable and laughing. He then started giving me shots in my finger which weren't the best (better than the antibiotic shot though) and after three I couldn't feel the last two as much. (6 shots in one day; not bad.)

At first I didn't watch the lancing process, but I couldn't feel anything so I decided I wanted to see what was causing all the pain. Let's just say it was all really gross (but the doctor loved it. You really have to be weird to be a dermatologist.) Soon my finger had shrunk and the doctor was stuffing the cut with packing (the material that keeps the wound open so that it could continue to drain kind of like a candle wick.) He wrapped up my finger and we were done. It was the best money I have ever spent.

The Recovery:
I took pain killers after I drove home with my kids and then as we (Zane left work slightly early to be home when I got there) were leaving the house to go to my sister's for dinner, I took what I thought was my antibiotic. It was actually a third pain pill (I guess I was a little out of it and open the wrong bottle.) At my sister's house I got in a huge fight with my littlest sister on the phone then I bit Haley's head off. Next thing I know I was crying horribly and on the couch sick to my stomach. I don't think pain killers mix well with me especially when I take too many. By the next afternoon, I wasn't even taking pain killers any more.

The only problem with the recovery was changing the bandage and soaking the wound in a vinegar/water mixture. Because of the packing sticking out of the wound and the fact that it was still draining, it was pretty gross looking. The first night both Zane and I got a little queasy changing it. The next morning while changing it, I looked at Zane and he was as white as a ghost telling me he needed to go lay down. I think it was too early in the morning for him to see it. After that, I got pretty good at changing it myself even though Zane kept saying he could do it.

I was still pretty frustrated that my finger was still so sensitive and I couldn't use it. I tried to play the piano to see if I could play the organ for Sunday, and I couldn't do it. I wasn't in as much pain, but if anything bumped my finger, it hurt pretty bad.

By Friday I was allowed to take out the packing. I spared Zane that job and went to Kari (the nurse.) I think the doctor stuffed at least an inch of packing in a tiny cut. It stung pretty bad coming out but about an hour later my whole finger felt so much better. I could move it again and the pain was gone!

Lesson learned: PA's are great for small things, cold, pink eye, persistent coughs etc. If it is something serious, see a doctor. I could have gone straight to my dermatologist and had everything done on Monday. I would also have saved $150.

Second lesson learned: When taking care of someone else's infections, wear gloves. This should have been a no brainer. I got my infection from Dallin.

Here are the pictures. Look only if you feel up to it. Luckily I was taking pictures with my old camera which was dying so the pictures aren't the clearest.

Before lancing; I didn't get a picture of my whole hand which was all puffy.

This picture was taken on Friday, two days after the lancing so it doesn't look as bad. For some reason, the skin around the cut pealed off.

A few days after the packing was taken out- When Kari took at the packing, she was amazed how deep the wound was. At first she thought she could see bone. You can see that my pinky was almost back to a normal size.

Medical Emergencies: Gavin

2011-06-21T16:09:00.004-05:00

We arrived home from our vacation on a Wednesday. The Friday after wards, Gavin had a really bad, smelly blow out. The same thing happened on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. One blow out each day, that was it. Gavin wasn't eating or drinking his bottles as well either, but Gavin is a finicky eater, so not having a good appetite doesn't raise any alarms for us. That week Gavin had been around his birthmom and half sister who at the end of our vacation became sick. He had also eaten yogurt and a chicken and broccoli casserole for the first time in our quest to get him to eat table food. Our other concern was that he was teething. Any of these could cause some bad diapers, so we really weren't sure what was going on and weren't too worried.

By Monday night though, I decided it was time to call the nurses at the doctors to ask them what they thought we should do. (I'm always hesitant about calling the nurses because they always seem to say come in and if we are dealing with a virus, I knew there was nothing they could do.) Gavin was crankier Monday, more lethargic, and he was drinking very little. During the night though, Gavin woke up to drink a bottle and then took a 4 oz bottle Tuesday morning. We knew he still wasn't getting enough milk, but at least he was drinking again. Gavin took a great nap Tuesday morning, so I forgot about calling the nurses. When he woke up though, he was still acting so tired and lethargic, that I finally called the nurses and left a message. We also started pushing water more and more, but Gavin is very stubborn and if he doesn't want to drink, he will not. The nurses returned my call at 5 p.m. and asked the all important question, "How many wet diapers has he had?" I felt like the dumbest mom then because I wasn't even counting diapers or worried about them. When I thought about it, I realized he had one on Monday and one on Tuesday. After talking to the doctor, I was told to get to the emergency room because Gavin was dehydrated.

The Emergency Room:
The first step the doctor took was to give Gavin a popsicle to get some quick fluids in him. This was Gavin's first and well I had to force him to eat the very little that he ate. (We didn't have our camera so we had to use Zane's camera on his phone. Sorry these pictures are so unclear.)

Checking out the Popsicle

Showing his disgust

Then we tried pedialyte in a bottle; he refused. Next we tried Gatorade through a straw; refused again. Last we tried pouring Gatorade down his throat using a syringe. This worked because we could pry his mouth open and pour the Gatorade down. It was a slow process amongst a lot of crying and fighting. We finally got 4 ounces down Gavin and then he threw it all up. We tried again and got 4 more ounces down him when he threw up again, even more than the first time. It was everywhere including all over me.

We got a short break from the force feeding when they did an Xray on Gavin's stomach. They couldn't see anything so we were told to continue the force feeding. After the first time he threw up, I was starting to get annoyed. We were tired of listening to Gavin cry while we forced fluids down him. When he threw up again, I really was done. We had been at the hospital three and a half hours with no progress. Luckily the doctor was with me and told us Gavin had just earned an IV. I hated seeing the IV in him and Gavin hated it, but he was hydrated quickly. Once we were able to feed him 2 more ounces of liquid (again by forcing it down) and Gavin kept it down, then we were allowed to leave.

It was a good thing the nurse wrapped the IV up completely because he couldn't leave his arm alone. We spent a good 30 minutes trying to distract him.

I spent the next two days feeding Gavin pedialyte from a syringe to make sure he stayed hydrated. We got a little system going and I made sure Gavin wasn't exhausted when I was trying to feed him, so it went much better at home. He still doesn't like popsicles and I had to force and trick him to eat jello (he was on an all liquid diet). By Thursday night, Gavin was back to drinking his bottles again and acting like his normal, cheerful self.

I learned a very important lesson though about Gavin. When he refuses to eat or drink, I need to force him instead of allowing him to push all liquids away assuming he will start drinking when he needs it. I'm just glad everything turned out ok in the end.

Wearing the Kids Out

2011-06-21T11:07:00.000-05:00

We did two activities without Gavin's birth family in order to kill time and get some energy out before crashing at the hotel. The zoo in the city we were staying at had a dinosaur exhibit. We didn't have time for the zoo, but we ran to see the dinosaurs. Dallin loves dinosaurs right now, so this was a hit (and honestly, he was a little scared.)

We also walked along the river after dinner Monday night. Dallin enjoyed having some freedom and running around.

We took two days to get out to Tennessee in order to give the boys some breaks while we were driving. Zane was determined to make it back in one day. He felt like driving 14 hours in a car was better than one more night at a hotel fighting the boys to go to bed. He was right. We survived with non stop movies for Dallin and constant changing of toys for Gavin. Luckily, Gavin also slept really well on the way back. He was exhausted from all the attention and lack of sleep. Zane and I were especially grateful to have our bed to ourselves that night and the boys in their own rooms where they couldn't wake each other up! The fun parts of vacations...

A Day at Chuck E. Cheese

2011-06-20T22:17:00.007-05:00

The first day we spent with Gavin's birth family, we went to the YMCA and went swimming (sorry, no pictures). We had a great time and it gave all of us time to talk while the kids played. On Tuesday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. This was the first time for our boys to play here and of course it was even more special because Tracy was with us.

This is where Zane and I squished ourselves in the tunnels/play area. Dallin was too fast to get caught in a picture, but he loved that Zane and I were up there with him. Gavin loved that he was able to join his big brother and cruised through the tunnels.

Playing Together

After Chuck E. Cheese, we spent more time at Tracy's house visiting everyone and then it was time to say good bye. We really enjoyed our visit and look forward to when we can visit again.

A Special Visit

2011-06-17T15:58:00.004-05:00

When we picked up Gavin in Florida a year ago, (can you believe this boy is almost one!!!) we talked with his birth family about visiting them a year later. A couple of weeks ago, we made the trek out to Tennessee (Tracy moved out to Tennessee a few months ago where her mom and daughter live) for a vacation. We had a great time spending time with Gavin's birth family.

Tracy: G's birthmom
I loved the picture of Gavin looking at Tracy. I think he sensed something familiar about her.

Gavin's half sister Julia: He loved all the stuff animals she pulled out for him

Mimi (Joyce) and Gavin: his birth grandma

Dallin loved playing with Julia's dog Scooby

Saying good bye to Mimi, Tracy, and Julia
I loved how Gavn's birth family made Dallin feel special and part of the family too.

My only disappointment with the trip was Gavin's crankiness. I think between limited naps (and maybe spending two days driving in a car), teething, and unfamiliar environment, Gavin changed from a little angel who is happiest when he is on the move, to a mommy's and daddy's boy. I really wanted Tracy to be able to feed him, but Gavin decided he didn't want to drink his bottles (Gavin has always been a finicky eater.) Next time I'm sure he will be happier since he will be older. Beside Gavin's occasional crankiness, we had a wonderful time and I'm glad we were able to visit.

Memorial Day BBQ

2011-06-04T19:10:00.001-05:00

We ended our weekend with a BBQ/swim party. We had tons of yummy food including home made ice cream (which turned out to be quite a head ache since we discovered our ice cream maker was broken.) Here are some pictures of the kids on the slip and slide.

Notice that in this picture, my brother Jared was throwing his daughter down the slide. The dad's all enjoyed taking turns throwing their kids down.

We had a great weekend!

Memorial Day

2011-06-04T10:07:00.000-05:00

Monday morning we headed out early to go pick blueberries ...

And then went swimming to cool off.

A good friend's son died suddenly the Saturday before Memorial Day. Naturally their family was on our mind all weekend. Normally on a long weekend we do something fun and then spend the weekend catching up on our to do lists. There were plenty of things to do around the house, but we just didn't feel like doing them. Instead, I wanted to just hold my family close being so grateful for these two little boys in our lives. There was a moment in the pool while playing crocodile and hippo (the game involves lots of dunking and being thrown in the air that even Gavin got into) that I had to pause and wipe my eyes because I was so over whelmed with feelings of love for my little family and so very thankful for them. I think my friends would approve. We celebrated their son's life by spending time together as a family and holding each other close. After all, there family was extremely close and loved playing together. Dallin informed us on the way home from the pool that he had tons of fun and that mommy, daddy, and Gavin were his best friends.

Memorial Day Weekend: Zoo with Daddy

2011-06-03T16:00:00.004-05:00

We are getting the most out of our zoo membership! Zane hasn't joined us at the zoo yet, so we spent the Friday before Memorial Day playing at the zoo.

Big Boy Gavin- 11 Months

2011-06-03T15:12:00.006-05:00

Gavin turned 11 Months on May 26th. I can't believe he is almost one. This year has flown by. Gavin is very active army crawling all over the house (he will crawl now, but he is faster at army crawling, so he will always switch to that in order to keep up with Dallin). He loves to play independently and explore where ever he wants. He doesn't liked to be cuddled for more than a few seconds before he is crawling off my lap. If I'm in the room where is is playing, then he loves to crawl on me or get into whatever I'm doing. Gavin gives the best hugs. He squeezes tight wrapping his whole arms around your neck. He is a tough kid. I'm not sure if that is nature or if that comes from having a big brother. He loves to wrestle with Dallin (up to a point). If Dallin is in the room, then he will follow him and try to play with him. They are really starting to play a lot together now that Gavin is getting older. I'm starting to see little glimpses of the freedom two brothers playing together will provide me. I'm also starting to see glimpses of the wrestling matches/ pillow fights etc that I will have to break up. Gavin is such a friendly, happy little boy. You just can't help but love him.

Gavin still prefers baby food over table food, but he is trying more and more food and is interested in what we are eating. Gavin sleeps much better at night now, usually sleeping until 6:30 a.m. If he does wake up during the night, it is because he is teething. His hair is growing really long on top but is still short on the sides and a little sparse in back. Gavin stands holding onto an object and will move his feet slightly to reach something, but he really gets angry when the toy keeps getting pulled out of reach. He just doesn't want to move his feet. His crawling gets him where is wants to be and he sweeps my floor while he is at it!

Gavin's fro- He fell asleep after swimming before we could condition his hair. You can see how he has a lot more hair on top!

We love Gavin's giggles and smiles. They won us over during his first few months and they keep winning us over.

Saying Goodbye

2011-06-01T23:31:00.004-05:00

My first year as a preschool teacher has ended. We ended the year with a super fun swimming party which ended with a big water fight which may or may not have been started by me. I may or may not have also taught some water fighting tricks. We had a great time.

This was also a sad party because I'm saying good bye to these students. My sister and I taught together this year, but the plan was always for us to split up after the first year so that I could teach Dallin's grade level. She will continue with the majority of the above students and I will start my own preschool for Dallin's age.

Here are the things I loved about teaching preschool:
1. The students. It was great to be a teacher again. I loved seeing the students outside of school and have them run up to me to give me a hug. I loved seeing growth, excitement about learning, and kids imaginations. My favorite time was story time when the students were enthralled in a story. I also loved excitement about the themes we were doing and questions that were asked (and some of the funny comments.)

2. I enjoyed teaching with Haley. My family had bets that there would be fights and this might ruin our friendship, but we survived! I will miss bouncing ideas off each other, sharing the work load, and learning from her. She is a wonderful teacher and a great coteacher.

3. I learned tons this year about teaching 3 year olds (very different than 12-14 year olds and yet in some ways very similar!)

Here's to summer break (and preparing for next school year)!

The Mystery of the Bloody Hand

2011-05-28T08:36:00.005-05:00

Zane rolled over in bed and saw this on the sheets.

The first words out of his mouth that morning were then, "Ariane, why is there a bloody hand print on our sheets?"

Not Zane's usual first words.

After the fog cleared from our too tired heads, the memories of the night before came back. Dallin climbing in our bed saying he had a bloody nose at 2:30 in the morning, turning on the bedside lamp, dabbing at Dallin's nose saying it wasn't a big deal (there was a tiny bit of blood coming out of his nose), and telling everyone to go back to sleep.

After seeing the blood on our sheets, we checked Dallin's bed. Blood drops and smears were on his pillow and sheets where he must of wiped his nose repeatedly smearing blood everywhere before climbing into our bed.

I think it is time to buck up and get his nose cauterized. Anyone had this done or had to get their child's nose cauterized? Dallin's had bloody noses since he was very young. He doesn't even flinch when it happens. He just calmly walks to the bathroom telling me he has a bloody nose.

It sure was an interesting way to wake up!

The Ramp

2011-05-28T07:31:00.004-05:00

Over General Conference weekend, Zane built this ramp. Dallin expressed interest in a ramp like his cousin and Zane looked at the scrap wood in the garage and came up with this. Pretty impressive.

It started out as Zane and Dallin's project until Zane's attention to detail and perfectionism was too much for Dallin's attention span.

"Working" Together

After it was finished, Zane brought it in to show Dallin. Dallin looked at it and said, "Let's break it apart." This just shows the phase Dallin's in. Zane and I build the towers, Dallin knocks them down. I put together the train tracks, and Dallin pulls them apart. Zane may have been a little hurt though as it has been played more by friends than by Dallin although he doesn't play with many toys. He enjoys running and jumping more.

Then I caught these pictures the other day.
(Dallin's wearing his cousin's Transformer Halloween outfit.)

I loved watching the boys play together and Zane loved seeing his boys playing with the ramp!

Tamina Festival

2011-05-21T08:36:00.002-05:00

We enjoy going to this festival/fundraiser every year. The games are perfect for Dallin and he wins lots of prizes (candy).

The big prize this year was our first pet named Nemo. Dallin was very excited for his pet and enjoyed feeding it, watching it swim, and checking on him throughout the day. Unfortunately Zane and I didn't read up enough on how to care for a goldfish, because Nemo died Monday morning after being in our home one and a half days. I think it is best to say that Zane and I should stick to raising kids and keeping them alive and visit other families with pets.

He's A Swimmer Too!

2011-05-18T07:49:00.000-05:00

Gavin loves, loves the bathtub. He gets on his stomach and army crawls all around the tub. In water though, it looks like he is swimming (he has a nice butterfly kick already.) He hasn't liked our baby pool, so I wasn't sure how he would take the big pool. It was also cooler water. It took a couple of minutes, but now he loves the pool, especially the splashing.

Learning to swim (army crawling in the water) Check out his legs! Perfect butterfly kick.

Swimming with Grandma (my mom and dad joined us for our first swim of the year)

Some of Dallin's antics: This kid has no fear. He hasn't been in a pool since last summer and he immediately went to the diving board to work more on his "flip" (crouch down at the end of the board and roll off like a somersault.)

Swimming with daddy

Blurry pictures of the slide

and daddy

Of course the diving board

We are so excited the pool is open now!

Who is Going to Win???

2011-05-17T07:05:00.000-05:00

Here's the game: Show Gavin and Dallin the stuffed animal. Throw it. Hold Gavin back so that he doesn't false start and Go Go Go!!!

Stay focused on the prize

Who's going to win?

It was close each time. When Gavin wants something, the kid can move! This might be our new favorite game!

Rain

2011-05-16T07:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks for coming rain. We have sure missed you. After the thunder and lightning stopped, we sure enjoyed the puddles! Please come again soon!

Slip and Slide with Daddy

2011-05-15T07:29:00.001-05:00

While I was getting dinner ready, Zane was hanging out with Dallin outside while Dallin played on the slip and slide. I guess Zane felt like Dallin wasn't getting the sliding part right, so he decided to show him.

Then the game became throw Dallin to see how much further he could go.

We had to call it quits early that day because Zane popped the end of the slip and slide. I tried to tell him the slide was meant for 5 to 12 year olds (or something like that). Zane sometimes forgets how old he is.

The next week they decided to play again (this time everyone was in swim suits and after Zane fixed up the slip and slide) and Gavin joined them. Zane doesn't seem to understand that he is a little too big for the baby pool.

Gavin wasn't sure about the slip and slide

Dallin trying to help him

A new way to throw him down the slide???

What entertainment!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-14T22:54:00.003-05:00

This Mother's Day I took many mental pictures but failed to take out my camera for some real pictures. I'm a little bummed not to catch all the fun moments.

The one and only picture from Mother's Day: First thing in the morning opening presents and wearing PJs still. Both boys are looking at the camera though and smiling! Aren't they cute???

Mother's Day started first with celebrating it at preschool. We had our students make lunch for their moms, sing some songs for them and present a flower craft. The moms got to enjoy eating a real lunch and talking to women instead of fighting kids to eat. It was a lot of fun preparing the lunch with the kids.

Saturday night Dallin walked into the house carrying roses for me that he picked out while at the store with Zane. He looked so sweet holding out roses for me and he reminded me all weekend to look at my flowers.

Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast that Dallin and Zane made. Zane was really sweet because I wanted to try a new breakfast casserole that you have to make the night before so Saturday night he and Dallin were making breakfast. I'm sure it was the last thing he wanted to do. We were also hosting our extended family's dinner and Family Home Evening Sunday night, so that meant more work on our part making our house presentable and making dinner. Zane insisted on doing most of it to give me a break. He was great and the boys made my day special. I'm not sure my mom got much of a break. While we had our FHE lesson, my mom kept the grandkids in Dallin's room teaching them a lesson so we could have an adult discussion. She survived somehow but she is a pro!

It was a great day with my boys. Mother's Day always has me reflecting even more on their wonderful birthmoms. Without these amazing women, I wouldn't be a mom. How grateful I am to them.

Zoo fieldtrip

2011-05-14T07:00:00.005-05:00

We had tons of fun on our zoo fieldtrip with preschool. Dallin loved being with his friends and rarely walked around with me. At the last minute, my mom joined us which was really helpful with my own kids.

We made these masks for our art project in preparation for this fieldtrip

Dallin loves animals right now. The only TV show he likes to watch is Wild Kratts. It is a new find and I really like it. He is learning so much about animals and I enjoy watching it too! He especially likes anything to do with alligators/crocidiles, snakes, and sharks. So you can imagine how cool it was to see a live alligator! (Dallin is the one touching the alligator with the tank top on.)

It was a long and tiring day but a lot of fun!
(Can you see how tired they are from this picture!)

Gavin at 10 Month (April 26)

2011-05-13T14:40:00.004-05:00

I'm obviously a little late in posting a 10 month update. Gavin is fun to photograph because he loves it. He freezes and smiles when he sees the camera. He actually just loves posing for anyone who is giving him attention. He will crawl around a room and stop at whoever is there and flash them a smile. Because he loves posing so much, it is hard to catch a face other than a smile. This one though cracked me up.

Gavin at 10 months is on the move. He has perfected the army crawl and is fast. He will get up on all fours, move one hand, and then plop back down on his stomach and is off. For some reason he thinks following Dallin around the house is super fun especially if Dallin has a friend over. Pure entertainment.

Gavin started kneeling up on objects and then two days after he turned 10 months, he stood up first in the bathtub, then a few days later in his bed. Gavin is definitely losing his baby weight with all his moving. He also became a pickier eater for a couple of months I think because he had three teeth coming in at once. He is now back to eating all baby foods, cereals, and crackers although he doesn't like our table food yet. Dallin wanted to eat all the time and loved the table food. Gavin though is taking his time and enjoys being fed with a spoon. He has also become a pro with saying mama and dada.

Here are some favorites:
Food- Goldfish: He gets very excited if he sees goldfish

Time of Day- BATH TIME!!! Gavin loves his bath. He does his army crawl all over the bath tub which makes him look like he is swimming. Dallin gets annoyed at times because Gavin is everywhere in the bathtub and won't stay still! If he is sitting up, then he is splashing like crazy. This also causes problems because Dallin thinks he can also splash like Gavin. He can't figure out why when Gavin does it we think it is cute and try to get pictures and when Dallin splashes he gets pulled out of the bath tub.

Person- Dallin hands down. He loves mommy and daddy, but Dallin is his favorite. He loves wrestling with Dallin and I'm really amazed with how much rough housing he can handle. I'm constantly saying be gentle but Dallin doesn't understand because Gavin is laughing.

This little boy is growing so fast and constantly making us laugh. We love him!