U of U Nursing Program

So even though Pat has his Bachelor's degree (Exercise Sports Science) and has been a Realtor full-time for two years now (and doing awesome) he wants to do MORE! He has been taking some classes to fulfill his pre-reqs and has officially applied to the U of U Nursing Program!! If he gets accepted, he will start in May of this year and go 4 semesters. He is so excited and has wanted this for a long time. He won't find out if he's accepted for about a month, so until then, cross your fingers for us!! Ironically enough, one of Pat's favorite movies is "Meet the Parents"!

Life

The past couple of weeks have just gone by and what do we have to show for it? There are some days that are so busy, but then someone asks, "what did you do today" and you think...I HAVE NO IDEA!! That is us lately. Not that I'm complaining. Lukas is back in preschool and things are back to our routine. It's hard to want to do much because it's so cold here. I don't like snow I've decided. I like it for Christmas and to play in every once in awhile, but I don't like the salted streets and having to shovel our walk or get the car heated up to go to the grocery store. Guess I should embrace it and roll with the punches. I've been worried about Lukas lately. It seems to me that he is having anxiety issues. He doesn't like it when I have to leave him at preschool or for sunbeams. He cries and throws a huge fit when I leave him. Eventually he's fine, but I thought he had outgrown this phase. And every night he complains about monsters in his closet and under the bed. We do the whole "monster spray" thing and I do my best to comfort him (leave a light on, tuck him in, read him stories, sing songs, happy thoughts), but he inevitabley wakes up during the night and comes tearing into our room, scared. Then we're so tired, we just let him sleep with us, which means I get NO room b/c he has to sleep so close to me and Pat sort of takes up the whole bed anyway. I ended up on the couch last night b/c there was just no room. I don't know what else to do for Lukas. I don't know if it's normal, or if Lukas is really having anxiety about something. If anyone else has gone through this and has helpful hints, PLEASE help!! Other than this phase that Lukas is going through, life seems to be pretty good. I forgot to mention that Max had quite the fall last week. He was just walking and fell right on the corner of the coffee table. I didn't think it was that bad, but the cut was pretty deep. We thought about taking him in to get stitches, but it was small and so we mended it with TLC and a butterfly bandaid. He is doing better, but got quite the shiner. He's a tough kid. Then that same day, Lukas bumped into Max and he fell onto something and cut up his chin. It was not his day. He's fine now, though.

Mr. Max

I have been teaching Max a little bit of 'baby sign' to help him learn to communicate. Just the other day he did "more" and "all gone". It is so cute to see him do it and understand it! He already does "milk", squeezing those fat hands together so fast when he sees his bottle! It's so cute! And he is starting to say words. Everything is "uh oh". And he throws his hands up when he feels he's done something that is worth saying "Yeeeaaah!" for. It's cute. I was showing him pictures of our family and he says "mama" "dada" "nana" "papa" and then I showed him my sister's family and he said "kars" for Karsten! It was so cute! He is just a little tank that rams into everything and falls over and head-butts, so it is fun to see him understanding the world around him. He makes me smile and laugh daily! On the same note, Lukas says the funniest things. The other day he was acting like a baby (as he often does, so that he can get the same attention that Max gets). Anyway, I was asking him if he was a baby and he said, "No Mom, I'm not a baby anymore! I'm a KID. I'm your little sweetheart". It was so funny.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2008

I am so excited to start a new year. There is just something about a fresh start that gets me motivated to do better and be better! I just sat down and finished my list of goals. I listed 7 and can probably think of 5 others that should be on there, but I don't want to get discouraged and not accomplilsh any of them. So this is the year! I can feel it! It's going to be a good one. I love getting organized and excited about life. Sometimes I feel like there is so much that I need to improve that it feels like, "why try"? But I heard something once that stuck with me. "Do a little more tomorrow than you did today." I get easily overwhelmed and frustrated b/c I want to be everything all at once (a good mom/wife who is patient and put together and cooks great meals and does her visiting teaching/scripture study/FHE lessons/temple attendance and shows up to church 10 minutes early with well-groomed kids who are potty trained and well-behaved and that live in a spotless house that is organized and the laundry is always done...ok you get it). I am trying to get out of that frame of mind and just improve the me that is already here. Baby steps. I compare myself way too much to others and that is not good. I don't have to be anyone but ME! And I'm learning to appreciate that and accept it and LOVE it! Thank you to all you who inspire and uplift me! This is the year!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a Merry Christmas!

We had such a wonderful Christmas and I am finally catching up to write about it! My parents went snowmobiling at Brianhead for Christmas, so we had a family party with them and my brother's family on Sunday. It is always so fun to be around loved ones during this time of year! And it was just beautiful up in the mountains and my parents have these gorgeous ice sicles that hang all around their house. It looks like they hung each one, but they are all natural!! Sadly, I didn't get pictures of them b/c by the time I realized I wanted a picture, it was dark out. Next time I'm there I'll have to get a shot. Here is a slideshow of the family. (We also had a Dixon Family party--that's my mom's side of the family--and I'll include those pictures in here). We did the nativity and Lukas was a shepard. Which I'm so surprised he dressed up and actually participated! He's usually so stubborn. We had a great time with the Marshall fam, as always!

Pat's family has different traditions...Every year we go to Jessica's house in Eagle Mountain and have a nice dinner and visit then wait 'til midnight and open all our gifts to each other. It's fun, but really tiring and hard with young kids. Every year I say I'm going to switch the clocks ahead two hours. No one will go for it! The kids had fun and were wore out by the end. As soon as we put them in the car they were asleep! We had fun hanging out and being silly.

And finally, a Christmas at home! We were all pretty tired from the festivities in Eagle Mountain, so we slept in until about 9 (Pat was up first wanting the rest of us to get up to open gifts...) but we waited until Lukas finally woke up around 10. The kids were so excited and it was so fun watching them open their gifts and being so happy! I realized that I wouldn't have cared if I didn't get any gifts because it was so joyful to watch the kids! We got to rest and relax all day and had a nice dinner at Aunt Lecia's house in Riverton. It was a wonderful and merry Christmas!!!

Maxwell

I have a little notebook that I write in for the boys when they reach a milestone or do something cute/funny. I haven't gotten to it lately and since blogging is way more fun than writing, I'll just post it here so I remember it later. Max is 13 months now and SO cute. He is also very busy and into everything. The entire bottom half of our Christmas tree is bare b/c he has taken all the ornaments and decorations off. He has the cutest walk and he'll run away in delight if you chase or growl at him. He still falls a lot, but just bends in half and gets back up. He can say a few words "ba ba" for bottle, "pu pu" for a stinky diaper, "mama" and "dada" of course, "nana" & "papa" too. He does the baby sign for milk. He will also say "ah gah" for all gone and when he sees anything that resembles a phone he holds it to his ear and says, "aaahh" like he's trying to say hi. I guess we talk on the phone a little too much! :) If he sees a doll or baby, he'll hug it although he has yet to learn what "soft" means. (He made two kids at church cry b/c he hit or took their toy...) He likes to head-butt things, especially the couch and will stomp his feet in place when he's happy or being silly. He sees a dog and says, "woof woof" or "ga ga". He loves to play peek-a-boo and will try to cover his eyes, but it's usually his nose. Lukas constantly says, "no no no Max" so Max walks around saying "no no no no". And if he puts something in his mouth that he's not supposed to and I get after him he'll say, "yucka". He is the CUTEST! Of course I can say that b/c I'm his mom! Max weighs about 25 pounds and is solid. He is tough to pack around. Luckily he can walk, but doesn't always want to go where we're going. He likes to eat whatever we're eating and his favorite is gogurts (frozen). He loves his milk, too. He is learning to go down the stairs backwards and loves to climb up them. He and Lukas can have growling wars until we can't stand it anymore. In Pat's family, we give kisses a lot, so Max gives the cutest kisses, if he's in the mood. If you are laying on the ground, Max will come at you full speed and tackle you. It's funny to see Max take down Lukas!

Lukas

Lukas is 3 years and 2 months. He is very independent and territorial. He has knocked Max over countless times b/c Max got into Lukas' area. Poor Max. I keep hoping someday they will be friends and want to play together. I guess I just need to give it time. Lukas loves playing with play-doh and will use the cookie cutters to make shapes. Sometimes he pretends he's making cookies. He went through a phase where he had to cut everytihng up to look like a puzzle and then insist I help him put it together. He could watch "Go Diego Go" all day. He thinks every meal is lunch and could eat cereal each time. He thinks when we go to the store he gets a treat! Ahhh! I hate going to the store lately. And he knows how to throw a fit, too. He goes to preschool and has fun, but sometimes he'll come home and say, "I was mean today Mommy. I took Tommy's toy." He loves pizza and pepsi (uh oh). He takes care of Max's binkies and when the house is too quiet I look around to find Lukas in a corner being sneaky with the binkies. I think if I let him, he'd still want one. He is great at cleaning up and likes to line up all his toys. He gets really hyper when he's tired and it's a nightmare trying to get him to sit still. He loves to repeat whatever we say when it's prayer time and says the cutest prayers on his own. He likes to hear bedtime stories (like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty). What can I say, he likes Princesses! But he knows it's for girls, like at the store when we look at toys he'll say, "that toy is for girls". Whew! Lukas is a picky eater and I wonder if he'll ever weigh more than 30 pounds. He could live off of milk and popsicles. I sure love my little guys!

Ode To Pat

Well, it was Pat's birthday on Sunday and so I thought I'd make a little tribute to him. What can I say? I married a 12-year-old who just turned 28! He is a kid at heart, but he makes things fun. He is an awesome father and the boys love him. He works hard and plays hard and is a joker all the way through. Some things you might want to know about Pat...He loves sour things (sour patch kids, lime popsicles). He can fall asleep in about 1/2 a second, anywhere, if he's tired or watching a movie. He can solve the rubix cube (and loves to teach anyone who wants to learn). For being a food lover, he is quite picky. He could play basketball every day of his life and wakes up at 5 on Tuesdays to play ball with the guys. (Recently he told me how he wants to take a class on getting his vertical jump higher. I thought he was kidding, but oh no, he was quite serious). He knows every word to any Wu Tang song. He loves magic tricks or card tricks and will show anyone who will listen his tricks. He loves to read and does so for at least 30-45 minutes every morning. Just ask him where he reads... He has a lot of determination and self-motivation which is why he works from home successfully! He wants to try out for American Idol and will practice while driving in the car. That's my Pat and I sure love him! Happy Birthday Patricio! XOXOXO (Just look at this picture! The way he struts his stuff. Not much has changed!)