A fabulous finish to the week

Fun Fun Friday

Friday was doubly fun. We went to Peter Piper for lunch. We met my sister Sarah and 3 of her friends and their kids. Tina and Jodi and Shauna who are all really fun and friendly and easy to hang out with. Tucker was being a darling big brother as he took Charlotte by the wrist and showed her around the place telling all the other kids that this was his sister.

I had been telling Trent that I wanted to take the kids to the zoo for weeks. Trent never wanted to go on a Saturday and face the crowds and he didn't want us to go without him. So when were we supposed to go? The zoo closes at 5pm. Well Friday before he left for work I asked if we were going to go out that night and he said we could go to the zoo! He took half a day off of work! After Peter Piper we went straight to his work to pick him up, and although this eliminated naptime, we knew we needed a couple of hours to spend there, so we just hoped the kids wouldn't get to grumpy. When we got to the zoo the kids looked like this.

We let them sleep a little bit, but then got going. We had so much fun. The kids got to pet goats and touch stingrays (although I'm not sure that was worth the $3 extra per person since I was the one who enjoyed it the most). Charlotte got more excited by little birds crossing our path eating crumbs than by most of the big animals. The weather was perfect and I am so glad we went that day! What a fun day out with Daddy.

Saturday the most exciting thing we did was wash the cars. It was fun having two little helpers!
We also got our first volume of the "Signing Time"DVD's and all watched it together. We've seen it several times now and Tucker can do all 15 or so signs and Charlotte actually watches this movie which is a first! She did the sign for baby this morning! Cool.

so far this week

Not too much exciting to post about today. Tuesday we went to the family fun van again, which was great. THe weather was perfect and we got to see Raan and her cute kids. It ended around 11:30 and I had planned on going straight to Costco, but my cheap flip flop broke so that wasn't going to happen. We were close to Grandpa's work and decided to go say hi and see if he wanted to grab lunch with us. The kids were very excited to see Grandpa Wes and have him join us for lunch. Gimping around in one ugly flip flop for lunch wasn't as bad as trying to do it all around Costco. We all had a great time (and way too many breadsticks). After naps I put on some other shoes and we made our Costco trip with coupon book in hand, we got some great deals.

I have got to video tape Charlotte's new tricks as nothing else could possibly do them justice. First off she imitates Tucker shooting webs like Spiderman. It is so cute how she twirls her little wrist and makes the shooting sounds! She also has begun flexing her muscles. She first did this on the way to my parents' house on Easter. I didn't really know what she was doing. She was making little fists and straining her face so hard while making this funny grunting noise. I was in hysterics! We finally figured out that she was imitating Tucker again. He always shows us his muscles after every time he eats a meal. It is fantastic. Last but not least Charlotte tries to imitate one more thing Tucker does. If Tucker is playing out back and has to potty, he goes to the perimeter of the yard which is lined with rocks and pees there. Well, sure enough after Tucker had finished his business the other day I saw Charlotte walk over to the spot, lift up her shirt and reach in between her legs. I was dying!

Also Tucker has been doing more of his fantastic drawings. Lately his favorites are "cities" which are tall buildings, "baby Tucker's", whales which always include a spout of water from their heads, and fish, sharks, and chickens.

"Baby Tucker" by big boy Tucker.

Easter Weekend

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning I hid some eggs all around our backyard. Once Charlotte saw what Tucker was doing, and figured out there was candy in the eggs, she had a lot of fun hunting.


Saturday Afternoon

Sunday Morning
I had the most wonderful Easter Sunday spirit in Young Women. We combined with the Younfg Men and had several guest speakers who had participated in the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple. A couple of them performed beautiful musical numbers. I cried like a baby and certainly felt the sweet reassurance that the Easter holiday brings that yes He lives! My Savior lives! What a wonderful holiday. Tucker grasped the concept only a little, but I'm sure each year will bring more special learning moments for all of us.
Sunday Afternoon
We had a wonderful dinner with Trent's family and more egg hunting. The kids were exhausted from lack of naps, but we headed over to visit with my family after that. It was a great weekend to spend with family and reflect on our Savior and his love and sacrifice for us.

I can't believe in a few short months this won't be my youngest baby anymore!
Baby Boy is so active, I can already SEE my belly moving when he is "exercising". Crosby was becoming my favorite name, when Trent decided to tell me on the way to Mexico that he doesn't think he likes Crosby or Griffin much. What?! Does that mean it's Henry. I do love that name, but I don't think I am ready to settle on one name for sure yet. Feel free to submit suggestions.
I have been spending hours looking for houses. I have been searching online and narrowing down my choices by location, square footage, garage size (Trent thinks this is the most important factor and is determined to find a 3 car garage.), and other factors. I have mainly been looking at forclosure and bank-owned homes. These aren't usually listed with any pictures, so I have also spent a lot of time driving around town taking pictures of potential homes. We'll see how this pans out. Our house in Provo is scheduled to close at the end of this month, and then we can start making bids. Pretty exciting.
Charlotte has broken a couple new teeth through. One on the bottom right of her center two and one molar on the left bottom! Wow. Maybe once she gets those molars through she can stop doing her signature under-bite chew. It's not easy chewing with only front teeth you know.
Tucker continues to amuse me and everyone else he meets. He is looking forward to starting school next year. He tells anyone who will listen that he is going to be four on his birthday. He is not shy and neither is Charlotte. Strangers just love them.

I Love Ross

Puerto Penasco

I did it! I talked Trent into taking us to Rocky Point, Mexico for the weekend. Yes, we will have to get our conference talks from the internet, Ensign, and possibly someone DVRed them for us.

My parents store a nice trailer down there and we got to borrow it. After only 4 hours of driving, including one stop in Gila Bend ( the bumpy road and McDonalds caused an adverse reaction, or puke, in other words. Nobody else seemed affected.) we arrived right around 9:30pm Friday night. We woke up to a chilly morning and the sounds of the ocean splashing against the shore and seaguls calling to eachother. It warmed up in no time. We had so much fun playing in the sand, finding hermit crabs, flying our kite, collecting shells, and splashing our feet in the water.


I'm sure Trent would've enjoyed himself a little more with a sand rail or four-wheeler to play on, but I was glad to have him there with me, playing with the kids. I love the food in Mexico. We had delicious potato and cheese burritos, taquitos, and tamales, all from the comfort of our little blanket on the beach, brought to us by vendors walking by. We also ate at Pollo Papago in town, the owner Martin (Mar-teen) knows our whole family since my dad has been taking us there for years. Before we left we had some tasty quesadillas and fish tacos. Ahh delisioso. Two days was perfect.This belly isn't from all the good food. 23 1/2 weeks pregnant.


The way home wasn't as quick, since we waited about an hour and a half to get throught the border. Sunday afternoon seems to be a pretty busy time to go home from a nice weekend getaway in Mexico.

2 for 2getherness

Tori tagged me, so here goes.

2 things you compliment your spouse on while in his presence:
1. HIs face and body.
2. He's an awesome dad and husband!

2 compliments you make about your spouse to your friends about your spouse:
1. HIs face and body. Hee hee.
2. He is so ambitious and hard working.

2 traits you married him for:
1. His face and body. (Are you seeing a pattern here?)
2. HIs faith, kindness to children and ability to completely calm me. And did I mention he fixes cars.

2 days you cherished most when you and your spouse were together:
1. When our babies were born.
2. Any Saturday that he makes the time to spend with me.

2 Material things you could give your husband if you just inherited a fortune:
1. Big machines. Tractors, excavators, dump trucks, ect.
2. Toys. Motorcycles, a boat, four-wheelers, a Ranger, guns.

2 things you would miss the most if he left for two weeks:
1. Snuggling up to him at night and tickling him.
2. His company, hearing about his day, eating dinner with him.

2 thoughts that crossed your mind when you first met/saw your spouse.
1. Doesn't he know that tapered pants are SO not cool?
2. He sure has nice bone structure.

2 favorite dates:
1. 4x4 ing in his truck.
2. Wakeboarding at the lake.

2 funny things you love about him:
1. The way he puffs up his cheeks when he's shaving.
2. The way he wants to get everything for the kids, and usually when they're too young to even care about it.

2 places you have lived with your spouse:
1. A 2 bedroom apartment in ghetto-ville, az.
2. We bought our first home together in Provo in 2003.

2 favorite Vacations:
1. Our Honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
2. Visiting his grandparents in Idaho. He had fun taking Tucker on tractors and spent lots of time with us.

I tag Emily, Abbie, Stephanie, and anyone else that feels so inclined

Easter

Easter is great. I love coloring eggs, hunting for them, filling baskets, eating jelly beans and doing all the other stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the real meaning behind Easter. This year Tucker is old enough to hear kids talk about the Easter Bunny. Let me just say that I don't want my kids to believe that some giant magical bunny comes and gives them a basket of treats. I wasn't even keen on the idea of Santa Clause, but at least in my mind I can justify that he represents the spirit of giving and has some symbolism that I can relate to Christ. But the Easter Bunny. Come on.
Can I just tell my children that Mommy gets them treats to celebrate the day. Tell them what the day really means and explain that bunnies and chicks are just fun because they represent springtime?

Superheroes and Sidekicks

TGIF

Tuesday was my first experience with the Family Fun Van. It comes to a school and parents and kids come and the kids play with toys and then have a snack and story time and they get a book. All for FREE. It was fun. My friend Raan invited us to come with her and her 2 kiddos. She has a little girl one year younger than Tucker. He must have told her 100 times that he was her boyfriend. He is really trying to understand different relationships right now, like husband and wife, parents, boyfriends, and such. It's pretty cute. Somehow I didn't manage to get any pictures of this new girlfriend (Sunni), but I did get some of the cute baby Rusty.


Yesterday (Thursday) Trent ended up going to Holbrook for business and had to stay the night. So not only did I have no Girl's Night but I had to cancel dinner with the missionaries. I just dropped some enchiladas off at their apartment. But I also made another big batch and had Blake and Andrea over to eat with me and keep me company. I also made some no bake cookies which turned out really well (you never can be sure with those for some reason). I enjoyed the rare stormy weather and the wonderful smell the rain brought. While I was coming out of the Walmart Marketplace there was a clap of thunder so huge it set off my car alarm.


Today we have Gracie over. She is so easy and pleasant. She is only 2 weeks older than Charlotte, so it's been fun watching them interact.

Baby Name

Before I talk about baby names, other stuff.
Gina called last night. I am usually not much of a phone person, but I had so much fun talking to my old friend last night. I was laughing so hard and having a great chat. The only other people I seem to be able to interact on the phone well with is Michelle Bl. and Candace. I am pretty sure that is because they are far away, so by the time I get to talk to them, I have a lot to tell them.
Anyway, what was supposed to be girl's night this Thursday has turned into feed the missionary night. Not quite what I had in mind, but what are you gonna do, you know?
I went to my mom's for a while yesterday. Sarah was there and my baby was really kicking, so she got to feel him. It was really exciting and fun to share with someone since Trent is the only other one who has felt him yet.
Charlotte was looking darling in her new shirt. Here she is climbing on the dishwasher door.

And here she is sitting on Tucker's chest reading a book.
So now, about the names.
There are 3 names we like. I debated putting them on here, but I am curious what people think. And well, my curiosity won out. Go ahead, take your vote, even suggest other names. Now just to clear things up, these votes will in no way affect the outcome of our baby's name. It is simply for my own amusement and information to consider.

1. Henry
2. Crosby
3. Griffin

*Voting for Dummies Tip: Saying that you hate one or all of these names may be offensive, as we obviously really like them. We are aware that these are unusual names. That is part of their appeal. Mocking these names may lead to awkwardness later when we name our child one of them.

Thanks for participating.

This weekend . .

Friday
Andrea hung out with me while the kids had afternoon naps. My sister (in law) Michelle brought her kids over a little after 6pm. Moqui looked so stinkin cute in a darling yellow dress and pigtails. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of the night. The boys took to the trampoline while Trent fired up the grill for hot dogs and chicken. Tucker somehow ended up with a huge bruise below his left eye. Adam came over from work and his kids were happy to see Daddy especially little Moqui. What is it little girls love about their Daddy's? Anyway Adam headed home after tucking the kids in-he couldn't take them home in his little truck and Michelle came to pick them up a little after 10. By this time Trent had been asleep in the lazy boy for about 2 hours.

Saturday
We played outside with the kids in the morning, but it got hot fast. Charlotte had gotten a fever on Friday afternoon, and although it wasn't too bad, it was just enough to keep her feeling whiney and sad when the Tylenol wasn't working. Nothing of much consequence all day, housework and yardwork. I talked to my mom for probably an hour on the phone and then Trent's mom called and said that since she and Wes were going out of town next week and Trent and I hadn't spent much time together all week, they'd like to come watch the kids so we could go out. Trent and I had a nice dinner and Rosa's and then picked p a couple things at the store right next to Rosa's. It was so nice actually talking like a couple that share a life together. Sometimes i feel like we lead totally seperate lives and just happen to live in the same place. We had good discussion about Trent's job and selling our Provo home and finding a new one. It was just nice and relaxing.

Sunday
Just the usual, a nice calm morning, church, and a lazy afternoon. I did manage to get roast, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot so we had a nice dinner to come home to. Too bad my kids would hardly touch it. The most frustrating thing that Tucker does is not eat dinner. I hate begging him to eat good food that I cooked for him. He also asks me the same questions over and over again which is so typical of three year olds, but tiring nonetheless. Charlotte's fever has diminished her appetite, so she mostly just wanted to drink. The kids wouldn't nap and Trent could, which left me irritated and frazzled. I found myself being resentful of all the love and attention the kids heap on Trent and that he heaps on them and I seem to get what little is left. I don't feel like that all the time, but yesterday it was just getting to me. Then last night for some reason Charlotte woke up so much! She usually sleeps about 11 hours straight, but needed a lot of rocking last night.

Today
I am faced with my house a terrible mess. Laundry to fold. Dishes to do. Mouths to feed. I am not feeling really optimistic and cheery this morning. I am hating my hair, none of my pants fit right. I am out of money for the month. No one can come to girls night. My husband has been so tired from the last 2 busy weeks that I am feeling like he is showing me even less affection than usual.

Sorry for the vent session. I know it is less than uplifting.

BUT alas, there is good news. Our Provo home has been getting tons of action! We got 3 bids on it this weekend. We plan to accept one this morning and start closing! What a blessing and a relief. I am so excited to start shopping for a house of our own.

My boyfriend's back

Trent got home close to midnight last night and I got to hold him all night. Charlotte, who I may have mentioned is not much of a cuddler wanted only to be held by him all morning and to lay her little head on his shoulder. It was pretty adorable. Tucker was snuggling us in bed this morning and when Trent got up, Tucker noticed something he had never noticed before.

"Dad, you have hair all over your legs. Eew, you're really ugly."

Good stuff. The kids were pretty upset that their dad had to go to work today, but were reassured when we said he would be back tonight.

Here are some pictures of our house in Provo.Before. This is when we still lived there. It looked better than this when we left, but nothing like it does now.The paint on our house was never finished in the back. Where Trent replaced this window was never painted while we lived there.One thing I am sad had to go: the circle border I did in Charlotte's room. But I guess it's not exactly neutral.

This fireplace used to be painted all white and the walls were white.

After. This is how it looks all painted, rock up, painted front door. What you can't see is all the hole filling, caulking, texuring, painting, and other work that he did inside. He tiled the whole kitchen, entry way and guest bath while we lived there, making a huge difference. Some other things he did while we lived there: replaced the old wooden garage door with a new automatic one, closet doors, a bathtub, vanities, light fixtures, oven, leveled the yard, put in an automatic sprinkler system, planted grass, removed wallpaper, did all new paint, drywalled over all the asbestos popcorn ceilings, fixed the swampcooler, and put up a beautiful wooden fence. I am sure there was more too. He is amazing. The carpet was torn out this week and new stuff went in this morning. I think that Trent has brought up the value quite a bit since we moved in there in July of 2003. There aren't many other houses this size and price range on the market in Provo right now, so we hope to be getting a bid soon. Thanks Trent! You are the best!

I have my camera back now, so here are the kids playing with dumptrucks in the backyard this morning.

Hallelujah!

Trent will be home tonight! Can't wait. I am excited to see the pictures of all the improvements he did and how our house turned out. It wasn't the newest or fanciest house, but it was where I had both my babies and it holds wonderful memories. I learned of Trent's many handyman capabilities living in that house. I made wonderful friends living in that house. I had a home in that house. So while I am sad that it won't be ours for much longer I am grateful for the time that we had there. I am also really excited to begin the hunt for another house to make our own and call home. One to have more children in and make more memories and experiment more with paint and decorating!

Well as usual my children have been doing cute things all week. Sunday when I got out of the shower Tucker was reading the scriptures by my bed. He said I could listen and I quickly grabbed a notebook. Some quotes from the Bible of Tucker:

"Jesus came and He saw the truth."

"The Nephies didn't want to see and Jesus told Santa no comin' in the store, then he saw him makin' his bed and he was mad."

"... and then Nephi was baptized and he came out of the water, and the baptizer let him out and then he was in heaven and he saw his children."

And those are just a couple.

Monday we got a couple little, plastic watering cans at Target. I kept the hose on really low and we filled those things up a hundred times so they could water the lawn with them. Charlotte has also been sporting Tucker's sunglasses and thinking she's pretty hot stuff. Tucker informed me that I need to get her her own baby pair.
Monday night Charlotte managed to get her jammie pants off. Since the house probably never got below 74 degrees she stayed pretty comfortable.
The weather has been perfect for playing outside every morning. The kids have been enjoying jumping on the trampoline and pushing dump trucks each day before baths. I plan on enjoying this fabulous spring before the real heat kicks in. I am a little afraid.

Long, lonely weekend

My husband is in Utah getting our house all ready to sell. It should be on the market this week. (Anyone needing a 3 bedroom house in Provo let me know.) So the kids and I have been missing that guy. I used to be so accustomed to weekends alone when Trent was a college athlete gone on meets all the time. But I've been spoiled now, and it seems so hard to not have him around.
Anyway, not only is he gone but my whole family is in Mexico for Spring Break! Not fair. I would love to be laying on the beach watching my kids play on the sand and eating fresh tamales. But alas, I am here with my 2 kids and my huge appetite. My big plans for today, a trip to Target.
The weekend wasn't totally lonely and boring though. I did get to see Jake, Abbie, and baby Sophie on Saturday. Tucker loved it. We went to the park for a bit and hung out back here later, where Sophie took a nap in the kid house. Sunday after church and naptime we got to enjoy dinner with all my in-laws. Way better than cooking for me and 2 small kids and having no entertainment. It was a great night for hanging out on the porch.
Charlotte may be picking up some vocabulary. She really doesn't say anything except "hi" if you give her a phone. However, Abbie and Jake swear that she said "cup" while holding one and this morning while looking at a birth announcement on our fridge she said,"baby" twice.
Stay tuned for more developments.

IT"S A . . .

Yesterday was my ultrasound. It was so fun and exciting. Trent, his mom, and my mom all came. This was a total first for me since it has always just been Trent and I in Utah.
It was so exciting to see my darling baby. It's perfect spine, beautiful profile (which was also a first as both of my other babies wouldn't turn their heads and were looking head on for a scary kind of skeleton face shot), and cute little hands and feet.

He started out with his legs crossed beneath his bum, concealing everything, but with a little prodding. . . We are so excited!
As track records go and inklings, I'll tell you I always get it wrong. With Tucker I had convinced myself it was a girl. With almost all the grandkids on both sides being boys, I thought it would be great to have a special little girl to get spoiled rotten. Turns out having a boy was so perfect and wonderful and I would never change it! With Charlotte, I had thought that while having a girl would be great, what would be better than two little boys in a row. Well who would know that the only thing better would be having a big brother who adores his little sister. This time around was no different. Since this baby will be only 19 months younger than Charlotte I thought that another girl would be just perfect. But it turns out that the moment I found out it was a boy, tears came to my eyes and I knew it was just how our family should be! I can't wait to meet my handsome little guy!

Peer Counselor?

What is it about me that screams "Strangers, please tell me all about your life! I can't wait to hear about your divorce, neices, and travel arrangements."
I have not figured out why, but weird strangers seem to find me approachable. I know that having two adorable children with me tends to get old people wanting to tell me about their neices, nephews, and grandchildren. Their ages and the cute things they do. Having a child with a band-aid on her head has seemed to attract even more people to talk to me about the woes and joys of children.
This last Saturday was a particularly annoying case. I was at a Super Wal-Mart with the whole family. We were picking Tucker some new shoes, as one of his favorite "strap overs" had been tragically lost. While trying his shoes on him a handicapped man, probably in his late 50's approached in a motorized cart, followed by a strange gray haired woman with her own cart, who was obviously with him. Trent and Charlotte were standing near-by and the man who appeared to be passing through- this was after all the children's sizes, asked if we were having fun looking for shoes. We replied that we were indeed. But suddenly all that changed. He stopped in his tracks and began to tell me "he knows how it is". I supposed he meant having children or something along those lines. Trent slowly backed off, while the man continued. He told me where I should go to get shoes. Seeing as I had just chosen a pair for Tucker I wasn't interested much, but nodded and smiled. He continued telling me that the guy there (on Dobson and Broadway) has been taking care of him for years and that though it would cost me a little more, around $50 for Tucker that it would be a good idea. While I wanted to reply that I came to Wal-Mart specifically for convenience and cheap prices, as kid shoes are grown out of super fast and/or lost before I would get $50 worth, still I sat there smiling in spite of my growing irritation. Right when I thought he was done and about to move on, considering he had to be noticing that he was blocking the entire isle and several people had turned around to go another way, he began to tell me about how he was divorced and years ago had traveled several times a year several hundred miles to visit his daughter for birthdays and Christmas. Then he told me his beginning and ending points of travel, informing me that I could look it up on a map. Finally it seemed he was done and he began to move on. That's when the woman behind him briefly told me about her niece before wishing me a good day and heading out of the aisle.
I had survived.
I do not go to WalMart to socialize and my goal is usually to get out of there as fast as possible. Not to seem unfeeling, but unless I know you please keep walking when you see me in public.

If this seems a bit harsh, that's not what was intended. I just thought I would share this less than exciting bit of my weekend.

Silly Kids

Last night, as usual the kids were having a great time climbing all over their dad when he got home from work. When Tucker climbed on Trent's lap to look at 4Wheeling Adventure magazine with him it was too cute so I had to take a picture.

Then it was time for a little play with Charlotte. Last Saturday Trent got a fabulous box from Home Depot. Sure, the new lawnmower inside is handy, but the box is the real treasure. Tucker fondly refers to it as the "kid house" now and even had me write an address on it. He chose "seventeen-fourteen" to be his house number.

After a little kid house play it was time to do tricks. Charlotte's favorite trick is sticking her head on the ground like she is going to do a somersault, I call it the "head plant". If your lucky she gets enough balance to then stick her hands up in the air behind her head and balance only on her head. She is always sure to clap for herself after this trick. Yesterday she was doing a new trick. I was holding her waist and she decided to throw her head backward to look at her dad. Tucker joined in and did some great little backbends. Whenever Charlotte is being clapped for he does her tricks to try to get the same reaction. It's pretty cute. Afterward when Charlotte was laying on her back she started rolling around steamroller style. It was a fun night for tricks.

Some new Tuckerisms:
His very own word- Amn't
Example: "No I amn't."
He says it all the time.
Also he is very curious about the different bodies of boys and girls. He is always asking if Charlotte or I have a weiner and why not. The other day he even asked me if I pee out of my butt. I couldn't help but laugh.
This morning he said he has a husband named Ronny Kachonny. I don't even know.

*Remember you can click on images to enlarge them.

Doin Alright

Well my brave little girl has been so good. She hasn't been acting whiney at all except for needing a little extra love at bed time. I think that's from a combination of head trauma and the recent end of nursing. I don't think that Trent minds rocking his little girl before bed though, he's been the one to go in and rock her without a word from me.
She woke up with her band aid off this morning so I took some pictures of her stitches. I am still worried about scarring. I hope she heals well. Trent says there's always bangs.

It seems we lucked out on bruising though, there isn't a bit around her stitches and she hasn't gotten black eyes. I am so grateful for my little angels!