Max- 16 months

What is not to love about this kid? He is starting to talk and repeat whatever we say. Some of his favorite words are: cookie, please, milk, juice, book, daddy, woof woof, ba ba (for bottle), binkie, bath, no, cracker, egg. He likes to be wherever we are and constantly wants our attention. He LOVES his daddy and gets super excited when Pat comes into the room or home from work. I think Max understands a lot more than we think. I ask him to do something and he can do it ("Go get your toy on the floor" or "Go give this to daddy"). He likes to be around Lukas and he knows how to get Lukas going. He'll hit him on the head with a toy b/c he knows it will get a big reaction. Or he'll take whatever Lukas is playing with and run away as fast as he can. Trouble maker! But it's still so cute b/c he's still innocent in a way. He likes to watch what Lukas watches, which lately has been "Go Diego Go" and they always ask questions--"Is this the animal in trouble?" and I can hear Max say, "noooo". Max is so good about sharing and likes to trade toys. I will say that going to church is nearly impossible with Max these days. He just doesn't sit in my lap or sit still anymore. He likes to toddle around and get into EVERYTHING! In fact, he knows just what he shouldn't get into and then he'll go for it over and over. Like the paper clips in the drawer, or the mud puddle in the driveway or the piano in the RS room. And he likes to get people's attention and then show off for them. He likes to dance when he hears music or mimic animal noises when he hears daddy do them.Tonight he was playing play station with Pat and he was actually doing pretty good! He moves his elbows up and tilts his body to go with the movements of the player on the screen while he holds the controler. It's funny! And we really don't play it that often, but he loves it when we do. He is the best eater and gets so excited to see food. Especially cookies. His smile will melt your heart and I think I squeeze him 10 times a day b/c I can't stand how cute he is!! It's hard to think he'll be entering difficult phases like Lukas sometime in the future. But until then, I'm just enjoying every moment I have!

Lukas- 3 1/2

Lukas is getting big in so many ways...he can use the computer mouse to navigate through his favorite "Winnie the Pooh" game, he can get himself dressed and put his own shoes on (velcro, of course), he can brush his own teeth (although rarely does unless heavily prompted), can count to ten in spanish, can use scissors to cut multiple things and leave tiny pieces of paper everywhere, he can operate the DVD player to play his favorite movie, he can reach in the freezer and find himself a popsicle, or grab a snack out of the pantry, he can walk up to the door for preschool w/out me and knock on the door, he can go to Sunbeams w/out crying, he can say the funniest things ("hey big butt (to Pat) are you gettin' in the shower?" or "wow, that was so cool"), he can share and help Max with his toys, he can clean up the toy room and put the toys in the right place, he can sing & dance his heart out, he can say sorry and mean it, he can say thank you and be so polite ("Thank you so much for getting me oatmeal, mom. That was so nice"), he can wash his own hands, or put his puzzles together or paint or color all by himself. * * * And then I wonder if he'll ever grow out of...screaming, crying, whining and throwing a complete fit when he doesn't get what he wants, still wearing those darn diapers, stealing Max's binkie for himself, not sharing with Max and pushing him away, coming into my room in the middle of the night to squeeze between Pat and I, eating so many sweets and wanting treats all the time ("so what treat can I have?" "what treat do you have for me?"), getting so hyper and O.O.C. (Out Of Control) when we're at the grocery store or shopping somewhere that I am mad at myself for bringing him, not being able to handle it when the answer is "no", saying things in his "sassy" talk-back tone, or being the pickiest eater and not eating his dinner unless I make sure it gets in his mouth. But then again, he is just 3. And I love him just the same.

Riverton Fire Station

Lukas had a preschool fieldtrip to the firestation this last week. He got to meet some real fire-fighters and hear all about what they do. The kids got to jump in the fire truck and touch all the cool gadgets. All of us moms came, too and we had just as much fun as the kids. The kids got a little scared when the fireman put on his full suit and the breathing mask, but it was neat for them to see it up close.

Spring Fever

What a beautiful day today! I am really feeling the spring fever after the nice weather we had today. The kids were so good and played outside while I organized the garage and cleaned it up a bit. (Max followed Lukas around wherever he went and ate whatever snow he could find, and Lukas was sweeping the snow onto the driveway.) A winters worth of dirt has dripped off the cars onto the ground. And things get piled up to the sky it seems when it's cold and you don't want to worry about where it goes. So I am happy to say the garage looks a lot better. And we are getting our basement framed and there was stuff everywhere down there, so I tackled that little project and now things are in tip top shape there. I also went through some of the boys clothes to see what I could give to D.I. and what I wanted to hold onto. We even got really brave and went in the backyard--we haven't been back there since summer. It's amazing that most of the snow has melted. Lukas and Max had so much fun playing in the sand box. If you notice in the sanbox picture, Lukas put his coat on upside down! It made me laugh, but he insisted it be left that way... I can't wait for nice weather to be the norm so they can get out every day. I think I spent most of my day outside in the garage or in the backyard. I can hardly wait to have spring here for good!! It was quite a "spring cleaning" day for me b/c I also vacuumed out my car (it was beginning to smell like a dog had lived in there...eeewww!) and put together some lawn furniture we got for Christmas! Something about the sunshine makes me want to be active again!

Fun in the snow

My sister is in town for a week (she lives in San Fran) and is staying with my parents in Woodland Hills. I went down for the day with the boys and we had a blast watching "Nanny McFee" and drinking hot chocolate, and just being together! Lukas and Karsten actually play together now (a few months ago when we went to Cali to visit, they did nothing but fight). Nana & Papa have great snow, and it started snowing so Mindy took her girls out to play. Max doesn't like to get bundled up and Lukas fell asleep, so I stayed in until Mindy came to get me to help her build a snowman! What fun! I felt like a kid again. I was playing around and threw a snowball that hit Skyla in the face, then a little while later, Papa threw a snowball at me and whacked Nana in the head. You can imagine there were no more snow balls thrown after that! Max came out for a little bit and loved eating the snow. Lukas finally came out and had so much fun in the snow. There are huge piles of snow heaped up all around the house and he would climb to the top and he could almost touch the roof! Today I think I actually liked winter.

Discovery Gateway

Saturday Pat and I took the kids to Discovery Gateway. We were really excited to go to their special exhibit with Sesame Street. But we get there and realize what a mistake it was to come on a weekend in the middle of the day. And we had to pay extra to go to the Sesame Street thing. LAME! We have a yearly membership and so we weren't happy to find that we had to pay extra, so we didn't. It was really super crowded and luckily, the boys didn't seem to mind. They had fun and after an hour, everyone was okay leaving. When we were trying to get out of the parking garage...it seriously took us 20 minutes to find the exit! We kept driving in circles...we were just following the signs! So we finally realized how dumb we were being trying to get different results doing the same thing, so we went a different way than the signs and finally got out. One of the signs was wrong!!! I think someone did it for a mean cruel joke! Anyway, we were laughing about it!

Pat's Office

I promise this is the last "house project" picture for a while. It seemed to all come at once...painting the living room and then the doors. Anyway, my brother (Jared) came over one Saturday to help us put doors on Pat's office. He did an awesome job. We needed doors since Pat works from home and the kids always bug him when he's on the phone and go through his desk and make a mess of everything. Plus, they can be so loud. The doors look great (WAY TO GO Jared) and Pat is so glad to have them. Only now the problem isn't the noise...it's the finger prints! (And Max wouldn't get out of the picture!)

BEFORE

AFTER

There are still some walls that need decorating but I'm getting there.

Universal Umber

This is the color I chose to paint my kitchen/livingroom/dining room. It was a cream color before and it was just so blah. I did paint an accent wall Bullfrog green, and I really like it, but it just wasn't enough color, so I wanted to add a darker brown. I worked very hard to finish in one week b/c my sister was coming into town. I'm happy to say that I finished and I made my deadline. It was fun at first, but the last day I was so tired of being in ugly paint clothes and getting nothing else accomplished. I must say I'm very pleased with the results. It's amazing what a simple paint job can do! And I also have to note that it's not like I just got to paint all day long. I had to get up early and work on it until Max woke up, then take a break and wait for his naptime. Then wait again until he was in bed, so most of it got done in the wee hours of the night. I'm exhausted!

Tag! You're It!

10 years ago I was:

• Living in Provo, going to school at BYU and getting ready to go on my mission (New Jersey Morristown Mission--Harvesting the Garden State, a mission of excellence) .

5 things on my to do list today:

1. Take a shower (pretty basic, but if I don't plan it, it won't happen).
2. Clean the bathrooms---not fun, but something that needs to be done.
3. Go to Ikea and get a Futon bed (my sister and her kids are coming and I need a place for them to sleep.)
4. Laundry
5. Do something fun tonight with the fam and wait up for Mindy!!!

Things I would do if I became a billionaire:

• Pay off my house, Pat's car and all our debt (which isn't too bad, but it's still debt).
• Buy a new car for myself (fully loaded people...I want the DVD player, the GPS the heated seats, the rear-camera for backing out...)
• Finally get health insurance
• Take a sweet vacation and buy stuff for our families.
• Finish our basement. Or maybe buy a bigger house and a house for Mindy and Jared so we can all be closer. My parents already have a sweet house, so I don't think they want another one.
• Invest my newly made money so I don't spend it all.
• Donate to a charity and pay tithing, of course.
• Pad up our savings accounts and the kid's college funds.
• Hire a fashion consultant and get a new wardrobe.
• Ooh, get laser hair removal so I never have to shave again.
• Hire someone to help me clean my house so I can enjoy playing with my kids. Or maybe not, it's good to work.
• Buy my own private jet so I can go visit my family or go anywhere whenever I want. but then again, if they will be living close to me in their new house, I probably don't need a jet to see them. But a jet to go on vacation and take them with me.
• HEY, I can dream can't I?

3 of my bad habits: Just three? I could think of a few more than that...

1. I'm too bossy. I'm always catching myself telling Pat how to drive or how to do something.
2. I get distracted with housework and neglect spending more time with the kids.
3. I stay up too late and am tired and grouchy the next day.
4. I eat too many sweets. I love chocolate!

5 places I've lived

1. New City, New York (mission)
2. Elizabeth, New Jersey (mission)
3. Rexburg, Idaho (college)
4. Placentia, California (hometown, baby!!)
5. Rawlins, Wyoming (birthplace)

5 jobs I've had

1. Cinnamon Works (a yummy bakery in Cali)
2. Sweats 'n' Surf at the Brea Mall (my first job)
3. Law Offices of Rigby, Andrus and ? I already forgot the name -Assistant to the Secretary
4. Boys And Girls Club of Midvale- Teen Director
5. Murray School District- After School Program Director

Something most people don't know about me:

• I have always wanted to make my own "font". When I was younger I'd write in all these different styles and play around with my handwriting. My mom would always have me write stuff for her (like names on Christmas ornaments, or if she was decorating a card or something, she'd have me write it because she like my handwriting).

I don't think I'll tag anyone specific since I just tagged in the last post, but if you feel inclined to share stuff, please do! Thanks Shayna for tagging me!

Me and My Valentine

1. How long have you been together? We have been together for almost 6 years (Dating for 9 months and married for 5 years).
2. How long did you date? Oh, I already answered that question. We dated for 9 months and were engaged for 3 of those!!
3. How old is he? He just turned 28. What a young buck.
4. Who eats more? Is this even a question?? Definititely it is Pat. That man can pack it!
5. Who said "I love you" first? It was Pat. He called me from the freeway one night after we were hanging out. I lived in Orem and he still lived at home in Sandy so he would always drive to see me and we'd talk while he drove home so he wouldn't fall asleep.
6. Who is taller? I would hope it's Pat. And yes, it is.
7. Who sings better? If you read my last post you'd see that neither of us sing that great.
8. Who is smarter? Well, he is smarter when it comes to math, chemistry, real estate, and spanish. When it comes to kids, household chores, cooking, cleaning and fashion it would be me.
9. Who does the laundry? I would love to see him do it, but then I'd be afraid to have my whites pink or something. He may have done it a few times, but most always it's me.
10. Who does the dishes? He is supposed to, but seems to always be busy or have an appointment after dinner. Hmmm...
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Well, Pat technically, but he sort of goes diagnol and takes over the whole bed by morning.
12. Who pays the bills? I am the one that takes care of finances, but he makes the money to pay the bills
13. Who mows the lawn? This is funny b/c we just got our grass in the last summer and I think he mowed it a total of two times. He tried to hire a neighborhood boy to do it, but I got mad and told him "Why pay someone to do something that you are capable of yourself?" So, I hope this summer our grass isn't overgrown.
14. Who cooks dinner? I do and I love it. Cooking is so fun. It's just hard with two kids hanging off my legs while I try and do it.
15. Who is more stubborn? I am for sure.
16. Who kissed who first? He kissed me the smooth mover!
17. Who asked who out? He asked me out for a Saturday and I didn't want to wait that long, so I invited him to go to the movies on a Wednesday (half price at the dollar theatre)!
18. Who proposed? Pat did. He took me on a hike to Little Cottonwood Canyon and smooth talked his way into my life forever!
19. Who has more friends? It seems like he does...everywhere we go he knows someone. Seriously. Everywhere. It's no wonder. He's so friendly and outgoing.
20. Who has more siblings? We each have two.
21. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Just like Heather said, we both share a leg.
22. Who are you tagging? Aubrey, Alison and Candy

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a great Valentine's day! We took the kids to Grandma's (Pat's mom) so Pat and I could go out. Pat took me to 'Fleming's' in downtown SLC. It is an awesome steakhouse and we had the BEST food. I can still taste it! MmmmmM! Then he took me to Kingsbury Hall at the U and we got to hear Jim Brickman in concert. It was so incredible! I loved every minute of it!!! He is so talented and you just get lost when you hear him play. You think about the important things and life sort of gets put into perspective. It made me think of my wonderful family and how blessed I am. There is just something about music that really touches me. Sadly, I have NO musical talent. I can barely hold a tune and singing at church and along with the radio is about all I can do. In fact, on the way to Gma's we were all singing in the car. Lukas wanted us to sing the Shrek song (All Star by Smashmouth) and the Little Mermaid song. Anyway, Pat and I were singing our hearts out (Pat was singing in this loud, low base voice and didn't really know the words, so he'd wait for my lead and I was laughing so hard that I couldn't sing) and we were laughing and having so much fun. I'm sure we sounded horrible, but it was one of those small moments where we connected with the boys and forgot about everything else and just had fun. I know I'll look back at the memory and be glad I took the time to write it down. It was a great night. When we picked the kids up, they were so happy to see us and I felt my heart melt. It was a great Valentine's Day! P.S. Jim Brickman had David Klinkenberg touring with him. He was AMAZING! He plays the Celtic Violin (he called it the fiddle) and OH MY GOSH...I was ready to cry listening to him, he was so good! I looooooved it! I had no idea music could make me feel like that. You gotta check him out. http://www.davidklinkenberg.com/

Brothers

I don't have as many pictures of the boys together, so this week I made an extra effort and they are so cute together. Most of the time they play well, but a lot of the time they fight. That's life...but I'm so glad they have each other. Pat never had a brother and so we are happy that Lukas and Max are brothers. I know how much I love my sister and brother. I got lucky with one of each.

Dark Hair

It's funny how bored I get with my hair. I could change it every six weeks and it wouldn't be enough. I just had highlights and of course my roots were getting bad and so I decided to go dark. And it's really dark, but I actually think I like it a lot! Now all I need is red lips and I could be snow white! haha!

Projects around the house

I have been wanting to get things just the way I like them around our house. We've lived here a year and I still don't feel complete yet. So, I've decided to add more color and finish the decorating. I can't quite find my "style", so it's hard. Here is one of my first projects...painting the mudroom green (matching the living room where I painted an accent wall when we first moved in). I am pleased with the result. Now I want to get some vinyl lettering above the coats. I was thinking "Return With Honor" or...?? Any suggestions?

The Living Planet Aquarium

Emily and I (and our boys) went to the aquarium today. It was really fun to see all the different fish and watch the boys get excited. We got to touch sting rays and we saw so many cool fish...sea horses, octopus, jellyfish, sharks, trout, toads, salamanders and of course all the fish you would find in "Finding Nemo". It was a fun afternoon out!

Jazz vs. New Orleans

Last night for FHE, we took Trax to Downtown SLC and went to a Jazz game. It was really fun to be there, even though were were only 3 rows from the top. Talk about nosebleed... We had fun being together and cheering on Pat's favorite team. And to top it off, the Jazz won!! The boys loved it. Especially Max. He would dance anytime the loud music would come on. I would much rather be at a game, then watch it at home. Go Jazz!

The Hinckley Challenge

I'm sure many of you have gotten emails about taking the Hinckely Challenge...to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days to celebrate/honor Pres. Hinckley who was 97 when he passed away. I decided to step up my game and DO IT! If you want to do it yourself, go to

http://hinckleychallenge.com/createuser.php> Goood Luck!

SNOW Storm

We woke up this morning and got all ready for church and looked out the window to see SNOW. I thought it was just a little, but we opened the door and couldn't even see the street or our yard or the driveway. The plows didn't come through, so Pat got out there and started shoveling so we could get out. He was out there for a good hour trying to clear the path, but we were snowed in. We even loaded the kids in the car and tried to rev it up to get out, only to get stuck and not get anywhere. So we're snowed in. Only now it started to clear up and all the neighbors are out there clearing the driveways and sidewalks. We had stake conference today too, and they were splitting our ward. Now we'll have to hear it through the grapevine what the new boundaries are.