Lindsay's House of Boys

I'm a big kid now!

2012-02-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

We have been working with Ammon for several months now to get him to ride his bike without training wheels. At first he was all for it, until he realized he didn't know how to balance. Since then, he wouldn't practice riding his bike unless it was his idea first. Last night he was having some trouble with his tires so we fixed it and then took the loose training wheels off his other bike too. He just took off. He wanted me to hold the seat at first when he got on and give him a push, but he totally didn't need it. Brady suggested starting at the top of the driveway and going down to gain speed; Ammon thought that was really cool. He's got the turning down, he can start and stop by himself, and he just loves it. The first time he went down the driveway he wanted everyone's attention so we could "all cheer for me," he said. Hurray for no training wheels or whining about not being able to ride his bike!!

lucky walmart associate

2012-02-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

last night we had our first experience with a puking kid in a store. i bet that walmart associate was thanking his lucky stars he got to babysit a pile of baby vomit until another could come with a mop. i bet that guy who didn't listen to me and walked right through it is super thankful too.......especially after he got in his car. hehehe. gideon's dinner didn't agree with him so he lost it in the toilet paper isle of walmart. he got stripped in the store and got to wear my jacket home. i got lots of cuddle time with him at bedtime and just held him until he went to sleep. it was really nice because i haven't held him like that since he was really really little. thankfully the last puke happened right before brady went to work, so i didn't have to deal with a sick kid all night by myself. today i am very thankful that he is feeling better and back to his normal, busy self.

boy stuff

2012-01-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

i wish you could all be a fly on my wall this morning to listen to my cute boys. gideon and i were up before the other two kids since they slept in this morning. when they got up, both boys came out of their room at full speed with stories. no 'hi mom' or anything. apparently ammon dreamed about being a police officer when he grows up and he wants to capture the bad guys.

zenock said when he's a police officer like ammon he's going to get a bad guy in each hand and smash them together. then zenock starts talking about which three princesses he is going to protect; his cousin izabella, and friends lexie and kimball. then he told me that i should be yoshi, even though yoshi is a boy.........and then he realized in the mario kart game there is a pink yoshi, so i could be her instead.

and that's how our weekend begins.

some favorite things

2012-01-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

the last several weeks we have been having computer issues thanks to a fabulous virus, so i have been unable to dump the camera memory card onto the computer. the laptop has become my usual electronic tool, but it is still missing both shift keys and one other thanks to our lovely babyzilla. so that explains the lack of pictures and super fun stuff from us the last little while. lately i have been thinking i should do a post about each of my boy's favorite things, so here ya go.

AMMON
p.e. at school
math homework
macaroni and cheese with hotdog slices and frozen peas stirred in
his ds grammy got him for christmas
reading, especially the scriptures
helping mom with whatever she needs - which i really really appreciate
having his friends come over to play after school

ZENOCK
park days with the kids from church
pizza
getting on the counter so he can 'help' with whatever i am doing in the kitchen
watching spy kids, toy story, and cars 2
anything relating to transformers, pretend or real
toast and chocolate milk
playing with his friends whenever he can - which according to him should be every day
going with mom or dad to get ammon from school

GIDEON
eating anything we will let him as long as he can sit in the highchair and feed himself
getting into anything and everything he can
opening and shutting the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen
cleaning out the shelves in the tv cabinet
playing with doors
climbing on his brothers
playing with mom's hair while sucking his thumb and cuddling
smiling with a really cute scrunchy face, especially when the camera is out
saying daddadadadadada over and over all day long - it's even better when we say it with him

gideon's birthday was two saturday's ago. he started taking steps about 2 weeks before his birthday, but he hasn't done any more than 5 or 6 at a time that i have seen. he does practice a lot during the day though, and he does a great job standing up by himself from a sitting position. i discovered the other day that he is cutting all 4 12 month molars. this means he has a nasty cold/cough, an occasional fever, yucky diapers, and he is sleeping super crappy. i don't know why most of these things only appear when he is teething. the two top molars have broken through on one corner, so those shouldn't be bothering him much now - i think. both brady and i are looking forward to when all 4 teeth are in all the way because he can start eating more things besides soft foods like chicken nuggets and small chunks of canned fruits/veggies. but he does eat really well now, even with just his cute little front teeth - he has 7 of those.

m&m cookies

2012-01-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

this recipe i have had since i did a cooking class in high school. since then - 12 years ago - i have made this recipe maybe 2 times, and it's because i NEVER keep a bag of m&m's around long enough to make a whole batch of cookies with them. and then we found old halloween candy on clearance when buying stocking stuffer candy..........so yeah, i have about a gallon and a half of the stuff in my pantry now.

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or shortening
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate candies of your choice

preheat oven to 350. cream the butter and sugars until, well, smooth and creamy. add vanilla and eggs. mix well. add flour, powder and salt. mix until nice dough forms. it should start clearing away from the sides of the bowl. throw in those candies.
scoop out onto a cookie by the tablespoon full or however big you want the cookies to be and cook them for about 10 minutes.

this time the cookies didn't spread hardly at all so if you want you can squish them down some with a cup or use a little less flour so they spread more while baking. i made this two days ago, and with my cookie scoop i made over 4 dozen cookies, but they were small.

love love love pintrest

2011-12-29T22:01:00.002-08:00

I owe pintrest a lot. Because of that fabulous blogland database, I have made some DELICIOUS food. Here is a new favorite of ours.

Crockpot Pork Chops
5-6 pork chops, thawed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 envelope either ranch or italian dressing mix

Throw the chops in the pot with soup and dressing sprinkled on top. Set your pot on high for 4 hours and let it cook and tease your nose with the awesome smell.

Make a batch of mashed potatoes any way you like and serve drizzle the soupy sauce all over. We drizzled it over the chops again on our plates too.

All 3 of my boys - yes I am including my picky 5 year old and the 11 month old too - ate. every. bite. And they ALL had seconds!!!!! Um.......that never happens.

Bread

2011-12-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

First batch of dough, made December 26th, 2011. It's still shiny even with flour dust. That's pretty cool!

This post pays homeage to my AMAZING, AWESOME, WONDERFUL, LOVING parents. They gave me a new Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas. Yes, one with enough flour capacity to make 3 ~~large~~ gigantic loafs of bread dough at the same time. It has guts, it has power, and it's really clean......unlike my old Kitchenaid mixer that has been around since 1980 and had the motor replaced 2 or 3 times. THANK YOU DAD AND MOM!!!!!!!!!!! And my family thanks you because this is, by far, the best wheat bread recipe ever. How do I know? It actually raises!

Picture review of November

2011-12-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving skit Ammon's class did for the parents

Hiking in Red Rock Canyon with my parents and sisters

Laundry day means they play in the buckets

Eating a bag, tryng to get to the crackers inside. He discovered he can open the cabinet doors. I now have pony tail holders on all the ones I can "lock."

Sitting in Santa's chair

Seeing the lights at the Cactus Garden at Ethel M. Chocolate Factory

Ammon made up a story and drew this transformer, Roadbuster. He did such a good job!

"Helping" do the laundry

From us to you

2011-12-23T12:49:00.000-08:00

I didn't get my pictures ordered in time to make cards to send in the mail this year. So we emailed this card I made and a newsletter type review of our year. If you didn't get an email from us, just leave a comment wih your email address, and I'll send it out right away. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!

Music

2011-12-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

My boys LOVE my christmas Trans Siberian Orchestra CD. We listen to it in the car all the time. Last night we were listening to the radio, and Zenock's favorite song Carol of the Bells came on, but not by TSO. He said, "Hey, this isn't the right song. They are using the wrong instruments, and I like the other one better." And then he preceeded to insist we change the song to the right one. This morning on the way to take Ammon to school, we were listening to the TSO CD and both of them were immitating the sounds of the guitars and drums and totally rocking out in the car. I think you would have had to be there to get the full effect, but it really was super cute. I hope my kids keep up their intrest in music and want learn and instrument when they are in middle school.

On a side note, currently Gideon is in the hallway making very loud sounds because he is listening to the sound of his voice bounce off the walls. He loves to hear himself, and he loves it even more when we immitate the sounds with him. I can't believe he will be a year old in a month.

Love my boys even if they are a little weird

2011-12-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

Now it's time for something amusing from Ammon. He came out of his room this morning holding the gun he build out of blocks last night. Both boys seem to be really attached to toys they make themselves. I think they may even sleep with them so they won't get lost or "stolen" during the night. I just think it is really funny that he woke up ready to play today. Perhaps it's a good thing he's out of school today for parent teacher conference. He has more time to play!

Sewing project

2011-12-07T09:27:00.001-08:00

This is Gideon's stocking. I made it last night.

I also made another one for the new baby for next year. Now I just have to hem some pants for my friend and then I can put away my sewing machine for a while. It's been hogging the end of the kitchen table since the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Someday I'm going to have a sewing room so I can leave my machine up all the time and sew whenever I want.

something cool

2011-12-06T16:01:00.001-08:00

last night we were on the way home from seeing the festival of lights at the speedway, and we hear this really loud airplane engine. even though it was dark outside, brady and i could both tell one of these puppies had taken off and was flying right over our car. we stopped to watch it for a minute, and then another one took off. it was so so so awesome. when we started driving away, we saw a third bomber take off and we could see the afterburn of the engines really well in the dark. i can't even tell you how cool it was to see those planes flying in the sky. this one of the things i really do love about living here, so close to an air force base. their planes rock!!!

wingers recipe

2011-12-05T18:35:00.001-08:00

both shift keys on my laptop have been yanked off, so there are no properly written sentences in this post....sorry.
ok, so i saw a super good looking recipe on pintrest the other day. we went and got all the stuff to make it tonight for dinner. holy crap. super good stuff. are ya ready - pretend there was a question mark there.

wingers sticky fingers
1 bag tyson breaded chicken fingers
6 tbls franks hot sauce - has to be franks or it won't taste like wingers
4 tbls water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar

cook your fingers in the oven like the directions say. while that's cooking, make the sauce. combine all ingredients in a pan and cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. when the chicken is done, dip the fingers in the sauce. eat promptly, or at least right after the food is blessed.

seriously this stuff is really really good. the blogger lady who posted this recipe said she thought it was better homemade than in the restaurant. i think i might agree with her. and even with buying the chicken and the bottle of sauce, and the bag of frozen fries not on sale it was still less than 10 bucks to feed all of us for dinner. i think i might have a new pregnant lady food. click on this button right HERE to go to the recipe link directly if you want to see a picture of the sticky goodness.

Good news and bad news

2011-12-02T17:44:00.001-08:00

Last night Zenock came up to me and said, "Hey mom, do you want the good news or the bad news?" I said bad news first. "Well, the bad news is I don't want to fold my laundry." Okay, so what's the good news? "I still want to feed Fred so do you have any other jobs I can do instead?" I love that boy!

Fred is a paper man in Primary, and when the kids do a good deed during the week they get to write it down and feed it to Fred. At the end of the year the box is being given to our Bishop. I just thought it was sooooo funny that he was thinking of ways to get out of folding his clothes. Honestly, I don't blame him at all. I hate folding my clothes too. But fear not, he had to fold his clothes anyway.....we all did. It was a laundry folding party over here.

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

2011-11-16T13:03:00.001-08:00

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

November is a month of gratitude

2011-11-15T09:58:00.001-08:00

24 Days of Thankful

1. I am thankful for my boys

2. I am thankful for my husband

3. I am thankful we have a source of steady income

4. I am thankful for my ward family

5. I am thankful for friends who are willing to help me

6. I am thankful for my parents and siblings and their families

7. I am thankful for beautiful weather in November

8. I am thankful for rain and wish we got more of it

9. I am thankful Ammon loves 1^st grade

10. I am thankful Zenock has an art preschool class

11. I am thankful Gideon loves to cuddle

12. I am thankful I can already feel baby #4 moving around

13. I am very thankful for a husband who is willing to help clean the house

14. I am thankful to have a temple 20 minutes away

15. I am thankful my parents and sisters are coming to our home to celebrate Thanksgiving with us

16. I am thankful my car is fixed….hopefully for good this time

17. I am thankful we don’t have to drive very far to go to Church or the store or school

18. I am thankful for Church activities

19. I am thankful for a garage to store things in

20. I am thankful for good friends

21. I am thankful for a clean home….when it happens

22. I am thankful for indoor plumbing and an automatic dishwasher

23. I am thankful we have enough food

24. I am thankful for Christmas music

Battling

2011-11-06T10:42:00.001-08:00

I asked the boys to get dressed for church fifteen minutes ago. They are using their clothes as weapons and fighting eachother......we may be late for church today.

2 weeks of birthday fun

2011-11-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

Smiths 350 NASCAR truck series

We got some free tickets from Smiths Food for the truck race out at the motor speedway on the 15th. We went to celebrate Zenock's 5th birthday.

Cleaning up a wreck

Just to the left of this picture is where Dan Weldon died in an accident in the Indy 500 race the following day. It was a huge trouble spot for the trucks too. The whole race there were 11 caution flags thrown up all in the first half of the race. It seemed everyone was having a hard time staying off the wall.

We found the King's number. They were both super excited.

Batman cake. Zenock inspected my work and said, "oh wow, that's cool mom!"

I think I should submit this cake to the cake wrecks blog. I had a horrible homemade frosting experience. And no backup option, so this is what Zenock got. He loved it though, so that's what counts. He turned 5!

And he is in love with Batman. He got a Batman shirt and jammies and he would wear them every day if I let him.

How old are you? 5!

Batman cupcakes for joint friend party

Frosting experience was much better this time, but I just couldn't get it to go black.

At the park with all their friends. Since both birthdays are so close together we did a friend party for them together too. They each got to invite their own friends, and they loved it. I was really happy a couple of Mom's decided to stay and help because Brady was home with napping Gideon, so he couldn't help me like I had planned.

awesome super hero capes made by my friend Melonie

Monster trucks vs. Army. Ammon's idea

If I had my way I would have done green men vs. brown men, but he insisted the monster trucks were the bad guys. It's his birthday, so I gave up. The sand is actually crushed grahm crackers.

He's 7!

Bullring at LV motor speedway. We got to go for free, and saw some cool crashes.

We got into this race for free on Ammon's birthday because the previous race we went too had a canceled demolition derby. It was fun to watch all the mini cars and late models racing. We had to leave right before the final race started because Gideon fell asleep. I love going to the races, and so do my men.

Qualifying laps are done and everyone is lined up for the big finals race.

Last race for the mini cars. These were so small we didn't need our earplugs.

Kids say the darndest things

2011-10-27T16:23:00.001-07:00

1. A little girl: was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher: said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl: stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher: reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossib...le. The little girl: said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah". The teacher: asked, " What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl: replied, "Then you ask him".

2. A Kindergarten teacher: was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl: replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher: paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl: replied, "They will in a minute."

3. A Sunday school teacher: was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy: (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

4. One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Momma, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

5. The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.' A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead."

6. A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she said, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face.." "Yes," the class said. "Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?" A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

7. The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples

Have you laughed so hard your belly hurts? You will after watching this

2011-10-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treat

2011-10-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Gideon the puppy

Zenock was Bumblebee and refused to smile

Ammon was Optimus Prime

And this is our trunk of vampire teeth. The boys insisted on helping draw the blood, so it's not as authentic looking as I was hoping to get, but they were so happy to help. We put some purple lights inside the mouth and orange lights outlining the whole thing. We had a chili dinner in the parkinglot. I made the best chili.....in my humble opinion. There were some carnival games in the gym, and lots and lots of candy being passed around. I think my boys went around to everyone 3 times. The weather was perfect. It was a blast!

Busy day

2011-10-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I ran out of laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid detergent. Since I am finally out, I decided to get busy making my own because I have had the recipes for a while now. They are super easy and super cheap.

Laundry soap

1 bar fels naphta -- $0.97 @ walmart – one per batch

½ cup borax --$ 4.79 @ Smiths – 76 oz box makes abt 10 batches

1 cup washing soda -- $3.59 @ Smiths – 55 oz box makes abt 5 batches

= abt $2.16 per batch

= abt 160 loads per batch

= abt $0.02 per load

Grate soap with cheese grater (I cheated and used my Kitchenaid attachment). Pour in pot with 4 cups water. Cook on medium heat until soap is mostly melted – just a few tiny chunks is ok. Add to 5 gallon bucket. Add borax and soda. Add hot water until bucket is ½ full. Stir well until mixed and smooth. Add water to almost top of bucket. Stir and put on lid. Stir every few hours throughout day or leave overnight. Stir very well next morning. May have to use hands to break up goopy chunks – very therapeutic J. Pour carefully into a smaller container with measuring lid like fabric softener container or small detergent container. Shake well before each use. Pour one cupful in each load. Will have to use bleach or oxyclean as well to keep whites from graying.

Dishwasher detergent

½ cup kosher salt – $1.25 @ smiths – 48 oz box makes abt 5 batches

1 cup lemi shine – $4.19 @ smiths – 1 container is 1.5 batches

1 cup washing soda – $3.59 @ smiths – 55 oz box is abt 5 batches

1 cup borax – $4.79@ smiths – 76 oz box is abt 5 batches

= $4.72 per batch

= abt 56 loads per batch

= abt $0.08 per load

Mix all ingredients. Let sit with lid off for one day, stirring often. This makes it less clumpy. Use 1 tbsp per load.

A change in our family

2011-10-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so now that we made the big announcement to our families, it's time to make it public news. We are expanding our family by 2 feet, and I am due May 29, 2012. We are all very excited. We have known for a couple of weeks, but it took a while to decide how to tell everyone. Yes I am sick, yes I am tired, yes food is my enemy - especially food commercials and dinner smells - and given that I am very thankful for a husband who is willing to make dinner and entertain the boys. We are happy that Gideon will have a partner in crime, as they will be only 16 months apart. Welcome to this new adventure. Enjoy the ride with us :)

Whole wheat bread recipe

2011-10-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a pretty good bread recipe.

3 cups warm water
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup honey
3 T yeast
1 T salt
3 T vital wheat gluten
3 T dough enhancer
5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Mix first 7 ingredients together until well blended using Kitchenaid mixer and paddle. Add wheat flour until dough clean sides and bottom of bowl. Switch to dough hook. Knead dough on medium speed for 8 minutes. Divide dough in two and shape into loaves. Put in greased bread pan and let raise until double in size. Bake at 350* for about 30 minutes.

My kitchen was cold today, so it didn't raise as much as I wanted it too, but it still tastes good. And that's what really counts right? I think if I keep making bread every week I'm going to wear out my mixer by the end of the year. The poor thing is older than me, so I guess that's okay, but I'm gonna miss it when it's gone. I wonder if I can find a bigger size in lime green. Wouldn't that be awesome? I would love to be able to make like 4 or 5 loaves of dough at the same time.

My helpers

2011-09-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

Helping make dinner

Helping unload the dryer

Zenock helping Gideon read a book

Gideon helping Daddy eat some nachos

Helping with the laundry

Helping make dessert by doing a puzzle on the counter

Dry onion soup mix recipe

2011-09-30T10:31:00.000-07:00

I have been out of dry onion soup mix for a while now and I keep forgetting to go buy some. Last night I wanted roasted potatoes with our sloppy joes, so I did an internet search for homemade onion soup mix. This is the recipe I found.

1 T onion powder
1/4 cup beef boullion powder
1/2 cup dried onions

Mix it all up and sprinkle away.

I had all this stuff on hand, and it turned out so well on my oven roasted potatoes. I doubled the recipe and I think can use it 5 times. Wow!! Love saving money :)

Observations

2011-09-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

Some observations I have made in the last little while:

- It is easier to change a wiggly baby when he hassomething to play with that is not a toy.

- I really like to cook, but if the kitchen is messy, mymotivation is quick to dissipate – bet you didn’t know I knew that word.

- Gideon doesn’t crawl around stuff, he just goes overit.

- Me time is way important to my sanity. I got 3hours to myself yesterday to go to a bridal shower and it was so fun. I came back energized and happyto see the boys.

- I feel so productive when the kitchen gets cleanedfirst thing in the morning. It gives me energy for the rest of the day andmakes the day seem longer – which is a good thing when we have fun stuff to do.

- Gideon lovesto eat off my plate

- Mormon Tabernacle Choir is in Pandora’s database, so Ijammed to Church music while making dinner today.

- Trying new recipes is awesome!

- It is an advantage to be a Vegas local. Lion King (the broadway show) tickets are ½ price so we havean awesome Anniversary date planned already, we are getting in free to theNASCAR Truck Nationals on October 15^th just for spending $5 onLittle Debbie snacks, and we are going to more races at the LVMS on Ammon’sbirthday for free.

- Today was the first day since the summer began thatBrady was awake enough to attend all three meetings of Church today. I got togo to Relief Society kidless, and it was so awesome!!!!

I love the big and little men in my life. They make me happyJ

Love to laugh

2011-09-14T13:58:00.001-07:00

Stuff I've been meaning to share but never did for some reason

2011-09-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Ammon's Kindergarten graduation with his teacher Mrs. Prickett

Solid foods......blek! Of course, he loves to eat it now, but then not so much!

Dinner date at Cafe Hiedelburg.....fabulous German food!

Making a racecar cupcake creation with my friend Alexis

So tired he fell asleep mid play

Gideon's baby quilt I made him

The cake pops I made for Ammon's spring pary at school. They tasted great but look really uncute. I had major trouble dipping the cake balls and rolling them in sprinkles. I really need to figure out how to make them cute.

One of Ammon's tball games

Swimming at a friends pool. It was lonely until we got there :)

Playing a game with Dad

Ammon's whole tball team. It was so great to watch him play! He loved it so much, we're doing it again next spring.

2011-09-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Today my thoughts are with those thousands of families who were directly impacted by the terrorist attacks ten years ago. I remember hearing about the incident's on the radio as I was getting ready to go to class at Ricks College. Later that day I went to a memorial service at the Kirkham Building, held via

satellite from President Hinkley in Salt Lake City, UT. At one point during the day I watched the CNN reports from the Manwaring Center, and later I went to my parents house to watch CNN for a while. I remember crying and watching in disbelief as planes crashed into buildings and later buildings falling and people running for their lives. How sad that day was. I am eternally grateful for my testimony today that families can be together forever. I know we are never given more than we can handle, and I know through prayer and faith, we can conquer whatever trials may fall on us. God bless America!!!

4 teeth

2011-09-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I made this one huge because all of his teeth can be seen. I have a budding vampire in my midst. He loves to bite shoulders and noses.

This is Gideon's new favorite thing to do. He climbs up on everything! He has also started cruizing the furniture. So the golden question is, when will he be walking? Sooner than we all think.

My men

2011-09-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Just happy to have attention from someone

Proud of the shotgun he made out of Trio blocks

He begged and begged to hold Daddy's cowboy gun

At the races

2011-09-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

Touring an ambulance on the way to finding our seats.

Late model race finals

late model race finals

All the cars waiting for the track to be cleared because of this dude

All the boys. Zenock, Kyle, Chance, Ammon, Kevin

The King was there! In the mini form anyway.

To kick off the three day weekend, and to celebrate the final day of my birthday week, we went to some awesome races out at the Motor Speedway. We had so much fun......even with a grumpy baby. Our friends the Hedden's came too, with their three boys. Terri and I held down the Mom front pretty nicely amongst all these men in our lives. We get to go again for Ammon's birthday for free, and that's something we are all looking forward too. I am planning on getting a babysitter for Gideon, since he doesn't have much fun at these kinds of things yet. I look forward to the day when we go do something somewhat feminine and I get to drag everyone along.........someday.

Standing, and climbing

2011-09-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hey.......look what Gideon can do now!!! One day last week he was trying to climb out of his crib because he was really upset that I didn't go in soon enough to get him from a nap. Brady caught him as he was balancing on his tummy about to go over the edge head first. And that evening we lowered the crib ALL the way down. No more of that monkey business!!!!

Mt. Charelston

2011-09-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday a bunch of us from our ward went up to Mt. Charleston to have some last fun times before school starts. It was such perfect weather. We watched the temperature drop from 106* on the freeway to a cool 69* when we got out of the car. It was pretty cloudy and sprinkled on us a few times. We finally left when the clouds opened up and poured at about 5pm. We had so much fun! 5 families were there making a fun time with 9 adults, 15 kids, and 4 babies. And some VERY dirty kids they were!!!! Trowing dirt, building dirt castles, playing games with sticks, climbing rocks and sliding down the hill on bums, and lots of yummy treats made for a wonderful afternoon. I wish we could do it every weekend! It takes an hour to get from our house to this awesome meadow, which is just a mile or so below the ski resort.

Mr. First Grader

2011-09-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ammon is in first grade!! His first day of school was the 29th, and he loves it so much. We all got to walk him to school on his first day, and he loved that too. So far, Brady has been home to go with us to take him on that first day - as long as he keeps the same schedule he has now it will happe next year too. He loves his teacher, loves eating lunch at school, and he loves playing with the kids from his kindergarten class. Have a great year buddy!!!! We are so glad you love to learn!

Tooth Fairy has early visit at Lindsay house

2011-08-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

**** This post is for my own journaling, and if reading sensitive materials makes you nauseous, please disregard this post. Thanks for understanding my motherly need to document this incident in order to prevent further accidents in our home. I plan to return to this post often and say: "See, remember that time you played too rough? That's why I asked you to stop." Ok. Disclaimer over. Read on if you want.****

Rough-housing on the couch + Ammon's head = no more front teeth for Zenock.

The collison of heads happened Sunday afternoon, about 20 minutes before Urgent Care closed. The boys were jumping and diving on the couch and Zenock's face came down on the top of Ammon's head. Zenock's mouth was bleeding, and then we saw his teeth hanging down much further than normal and pushed back. Brady took him in to Urgent care, and they just said take him to the dentist in the morning. But it looked so bad. We called around and found a dentist in Brady's Mom's ward who was home so Brady took him over there. He said Zz needed to be sedated so they could be pulled out. And they had to take x-rays to make sure there weren't any pieces of roots that broke off. So he had to wait until the pediatric dentist opened in the morning before anything could be done. I seriously can't believe that so much fun can turn into so much pain so fast. I felt so bad!!!
Monday morning Brady took him to the dentist. They origionally said he has to wait until Wednesday to get them pulled out...........can you imagine having teeth hanging down for 2 days and not being able to eat or drink well because of the obstruction? Yeah, me either. Thankfully there was a last minute cancellation while he was still at the office. After a routine cleaning the teeth were pulled out and he went home happy as ever. I don't have a before photo because it was too gross to look at. He doesn't understand that he can't have the crunchy/seedy food he loves for a few days. It's been hard for him to have a restricted diet. But he is doing so well, and he really does have the cutest lisp. I am very thankful that it was baby teeth and not permenant ones. The tooth fairy visited him about a year early.

Oh, boys!!

2011-08-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

I am in so much trouble now......he's getting curious about everything. I think tomorrow's job is to make the kids dust everywhere Gideon can reach.

He did this all by himself.......and then fell down a second after I took the picture.

~~Hindering~~ Helping make dinner.

The best spray park ever! It has a pirate theme.

Apparently Gideon thought the park was so fun he fell asleep.

Playing with some of our neighbors at the splash park.

We went to Mission Hills park for a friend's birthday party. My friend, Alexis made her little boy, who just turned 1, a hungry catapillar birthday cupcake creation. The whole party was SOOOOO cute.

A new favorite "toy"

A fire truck themed ispy bag I made for Ammon's friend's birthday. Most of the stuff was collected over the last school year from his prize box treasures he earned every Friday. I ~~accidentally dumped some random stuff from the boys room in the bag~~ purposly collected them and put them away because it was either that or the trash can for most of the stuff. Zenock was so mad at me when he found out I put one of his favorite plastic spiders in there. I almost laughed.

I promise, Gideon is in there somewhere....alseep.

And crawling.....getting into stuff in the bookcase.

More standing. He pulled himself up on the chair, and then couldn't figure out what to do after that. He was really upset in this picture, I just have awesome camera skills to catch a pseudo smile.

A little bit on everyone

2011-08-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

Gideon is growing up so fast lately. He finally figured out how to sit up without tipping over, pushing himself up to a sitting position from his tummy, and crawling. This all happened within about a week span 2 weeks ago. He was crawling the week before he turned 7 months. However, I say crawling, but he does a lot of inchworm movements still, and he is pretty slow......but he has learned he can come looking for me when I am not by him. Last night he came into the kitchen so see what I was doing, and he headed straight for the open dishwasher. Also yesterday, he was playing with the kitchen chairs and somehow grabbed the bar across the legs and stood up on it. He was a little freaked out because he couldn't go anywhere while hanging on to the chair, but he didn't know how to let go either. I got a picture, but it's still on the camera.

Ammon starts first grade on the 29th. He says he is a little nervous. I am looking forward to getting a regular routine again when he's in school all day. He is really excited to take a lunch to school, and he has a really great teacher, so I've heard from other parents in our ward. I have a goal to teach him to tie shoes by his birthday in October, and he has started to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels. He's been bugging me and Brady to take them off for a while, so we finally did, but it was SO hot that day he first tried it out. After his birthday - unless it actually cools off enough before then - we will work with him more and get him going. He does really well until he has to turn.

Zenock has yet to figure out that when Ammon is in school all day that means he has no buddy to play with.......which probably means I will end up being his sole entertainment because since he has Ammon with him most of the time, Ammon provides the entertainment and iniciates (I have no idea how to spell that word) most of the pretend play. One of my friends in our ward wants to start an art/music preschool when school starts, so Zenock will be going to that one day a week. I have been working with him on learning how to write his name, but it's tough because he gets bored with it very quickly and says it's too hard. He has very little focus ability I have noticed. It does concern me a little if he doesn't get somewhat better by the time he goes to school next year.

Brady finally got a permanent post in the dispatch/control office at the main NV Energy building. His job is to watch about 50 cameras and record when other employees call in every 2 hours to say everything is normal/they are still awake. He also responds to alarms at all the stations, and calls the boss when guard requests are placed by linemen. He LOVES his job there because starting September 1st he will be switching his shift to nights every day, and that means he can go back to school. He starts his online program at American Military University on October 3rd. He is going for his MS in Security Management. He has about 4 hours every day to do homework at work, so he should not have to do much, if any, at home. He is very excited that he finally found something that intrests him and that would help him further his career in security.

I have been trying to figure out ways to promote my Herbalife business, and it is slow going. Both Brady and I love their products, especially since he has lost 35 pounds so far. I am excited to get on the products next month so I can finally say goodbye to those extra 30 that stuck around after Ammon was born. I was nervous about starting the program at first since I am still nursing, but as long as I make sure to take my vitamins and eat healthy I should do just fine. I have heard that women take longer to lose the weight than men, so I wonder how long it will take me to lose my 30. They are doing a promotion right now to try the meal shake for $4.95. If you are thinking about losing weight, you should check it out. http://www.herbalifesuccesstoday.com/. I was at a Herbalife conference on August 13th and so many people shared their stories about losing weight, reducing and eliminating medications for heart conditions, high blood pressure, rhematoid arthritis, osteoperosis, diabetes, cholesterol, sleep apnea, and the list goes on. I am just so amazed how many people got up there to share their story. Herbalife has wonderful supplements to help people maintain a healthy lifestyle. We have great prices on calcium, joint, ocular, heart, fiber, and vitamin supplements. Feel free to check out my shopping website, http://www.skinnierumall.com/. I started this business because I have been looking for something to do with my health education degrees for a long time. I wanted something that would not only help my family be healthier, but my friends as well. I know these products work if you stick to the program, and I hope you will take the time to check it out and give it a try for you and your family. I am excited to keep you up to date on my weightloss journey!

Finally, some pictures from Idaho!

2011-08-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

All the Grandkids on my side

Zz said, "Look Mommy, it's Santa Claus!"

My favorite part of the St. Anthony Pioneer Day parade

Zenock's favorite part

Ammon's favorite, the jets rotated side to side

Gideon's favorite part

Tag blanket crinkly toy I made out of scraps

All my boys at Grandparents house

Playing with the big boy toys

A little hard to drive with my hands full, but I loved giving them all a ride at the same time

Naked babies! Lizzy and my sis Kacey

Chloe - Alayna's, and Lizzy - Kacey's, play so well together......until they were fighting over sitting in the chair!

Vacation to Idaho

2011-08-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

Idaho was amazing. We got to fly into Idaho Falls and stayed for 12 days. The weather was perfect! My sister, Kacey, came down from Northern Idaho while I was there and we all got to hang out. We had a couple of family dinners......super fun! The only people missing were Brady and Kacey's husband who couldn't get time off work to visit at my parents. Things we did:
-birthday party for Abby who turned 17 while we were there
-campfire in the backyard with smores, per Ammon and Zenock's request
-boys got to sleep in a tent outside 3 times
-2 sleepovers with their cousin Drake
-watching Grandpa operate a trackhoe in my sister's backyard
-ride the four wheeler almost every day
-community breakfast on the 23rd
-Pioneer Day parade also on the 23rd. The stake and ward floats were AMAZING!
-lots and lots of late night laughing with my sisters. One time we even woke my parents up....ooops!
-some good homestyle food from Ole's in Sugar City - you have to check it out if you live anywhere near there!
-boys got to push the buttons to dump out a load of logs on Grandpa's dump trailer. They though that was super cool!
-sewing up a baby quilt, embroiderng my Moby wrap, and making a crinckly tag toy for Gideon
-swimming and playing at Grandpa Ron's - Brady's dad
-"washing" the suburban while having a water fight at Grandpa Ron's. Each kid had a hose......it was very wet
-Gideon's second tooth appeared while we were there
-Gideon had regular baby food every day.....and he finally started liking it. He eats everything we give him now!
-Abby took them to the dollar store to pick out a toy....they LOVED that
-Gideon had his first experience tasting grass. He loved it. And he loves to sit and lay in the grass and play with it
-a trip to Idaho Falls to see the Rankins and the Martins. I miss them and thier super cute kids!
-a trip to Pocatello to see more friends - the Wades and the Hawkins. Dawna Hawkins was my best friend in high school and some how after she got married we lost touch.....and we finally got to see each other after almost 10 years. That was pretty amazing for me!

Fatness and shortness

2011-07-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

You should all have figured out by now that I have slightly vertically challeged kids. What can I say, they take after me. Today we had some weighing and measuring. Zenock is 32.5 lbs, 39.5 in tall. Gideon is 16.5 lbs, 24.5 in tall. I can't believe my 6 month old (not until tomorrow anyway, but what's one day) is half the weight of my four and a half year old. Crazy!!!!! But that also means that when Zenock has his shoes on, the next time we go to Disneyland (if we ever get to go back as soon as we can) he will be tall enough to ride thunder mountain railroad with Ammon and I. How exciting!

Honesty is the best policy

2011-07-12T20:41:00.001-07:00

Tonight it was Zenock's turn for family prayer. At one point he said, "Bless mommy to not be grumpy." And then the prayer was over. We were all giggling, and it just got worse as we tried to stop.

So far this summer

2011-07-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty darn lazy about my blog because my computer is running super slow, and I need to clean up the hard drive. However, that is a long, boring process, involving a lot of work saving all of our junk onto cd's and usb drives........so I am procrastinating that event. But because we are running so slow over here, loading pictures onto the blog takes FOREVER! And I just don't have that kind of patience right now. So here's the ~~short~~ not so short list of our summer break:

-Ammon graduated from kindergarten on June 6th
-Ammon's 2 top teeth he lost in April are finally growing in
-Ammon has discovered the old school super mario brothers 3 game and begs to play all the time
-We go swimming a lot since it is most often way over 100 degrees
-Brady has had a crummy work schedule, so he has either spent much of the day sleeping or at work, but he has also had several days off - and we like that too :)
-Zenock loves to have Ammon home all day
-Gideon has his first tooth, horray for him being so big!
-Gideon can roll over all over the place
-Gideon loves to get on the tile floor and slap it with his hand. I think he likes the sound because he always bangs his hand on stuff.......and when I clap his hands he giggles
-Zenock got Gideon giggling last week just by bouncing a stuffed animal on the ground. It was so cute to watch, but as soon as I got the video camera out he didn't think it was funny anymore
-Zenock and Ammon both LOVE to hold their little brother
-We got a season pass to the children's museum here. It's pretty cool, and the kids love it
-My visiting teacher told me about the swivel sweeper, and seriously, it is every mom's dream. I love that the kids use it so I have one less household job to do
-We cleaned out the toys among many tears and took some things to D.I. I was the happy one
-Gideon usually only gets up once during the night now......sometimes......ok not as consistantly as I would like
-And we go to Costco a lot just to visit the tasting tables. Ammon loves that.
-Oh, and we finally used our giftcard to the movies that we got from family for Christmas. We got to see the very first showing of Cars 2. What a cute movie! We still have a balance left, so on my list next is Transformers 3 in 3D......without the kids :)

Promotion

2011-06-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

I am doing a promotion right now for a free meal shake with my home business. It is a 14 day trial, and all you pay is $4.95 shipping!!!! Please check out this program. My husband has lost 30 pounds so far, and he's been doing it since the first of April. This weightloss program is really great, and I know you will see results! I can't wait to stop nursing my baby so I can get on it and lose the extra baby weight. Click HERE to go directly to my website. Thanks for taking a look!

Cupcakes

2011-06-16T16:23:00.001-07:00

My kids love cupcakes. My wonderful friend, Mandy, told me about this website. These are seriously the best cupcakes I have ever had. I used vanilla yogurt instead of the oil, but you can use applesauce too. And mine baked at 350 for 18 minutes before they were done. But that was just my oven I think. You have to try them......so dang good! We just frosted them with a can of frosting from the store, but someday I won't be lazy and try making frosting from scratch like this. It sounds good.

Summertime

2011-06-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today marks the start of 100 + degrees. I hate this hot weather!!!! And today was also the last day of school......sad for me to have 2 bored kids all day.......fun for Zenock to have his buddy back all day.........and great for Gideon to not get naptime interuppted for a while to take/pickup Ammon from school.

Easter........way late :)

2011-06-02T16:55:00.001-07:00

We drove to Brady's brother's house in Bullhead, AZ for Easter Sunday. The boys had a blast swimming with their cousins. I cooked my first ham.........and it was delicious!!!

And all the boys were so worn out they crashed in the car on the way home. Of course, I would too if I had swam all day and played my heart out.

Juli's Baptism

2011-06-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

HELLO!!! I wanted to introduce you to my newly Mormon friend, Juliane Boxberger!!!! She got baptized today at 7pm. She's been looking forward to this day since she commited the date almost a month ago. Brady and I are so excited for her! She asked Brady to baptize her since it's mostly his fault she got interested seriously in the Church. They work together sometimes, and he recognized her accent from people he met on his mission when serving in the Southern area of Germany. He spoke to her in German, and she asked how he spoke the language so well.......and the rest is history. I guess I am partly to blame too because we became such good friends. She works the graveyard shift, so we often talk on facebook about her questions about the Book of Mormon and our religion in general. She is living proof that sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the internet works!!!!!!!!! And she is also proof to me that member referrals are more successful than cold contacts. Thank you, Juli, for strengthening my testimony of missionary service. You are SO AWESOME!!! And all of us at your baptism are so proud of you! Welcome to the rest of your life!!!!

The fabulous Sisters Hanney (from Shelley, Idaho :)) and Matthew (from Hawaii). They are serving in our ward, and we LOVE them!!!!!! They taught the first couple of lessons to Juli in my home, and I feel so privileged to be a part of this wonderful event!

2011-05-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

In honor of our wonderful servicemen and women!

Camping

2011-05-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

Brady took the boys to the Father and Son's campout at Redrock again this year. I had a great time with Gideon by myself, and I was able to recharge my Mom batteries while they were gone. Camping is fun, so fun in fact that you have to get up with the sun. And that makes one tired dude.

Zenock is very proud of the lizard he caught

They both loved playing with all thier friends from church

Swimming Lessons

2011-05-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

New suit

2011-05-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am always in the market for a new swim suit. The bottoms of all my suits seem to not last much more than one summer since I sit on the pool steps a lot with the kiddos. The last several years I have purchased tankini's. This year I think I'm going for a one piece, but man, are they hard to find! I love this one from Harpi. Too bad they don't have any coverups in lime green...I'm addicted to that color :)

Southwest Eggrolls

2011-05-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

I made these Southwest eggrolls tonight for dinner. They are amazing. To make it even more simple, I just substituted the chopped red pepper, green chilis, and cayanne pepper flakes for medium salsa. The kids really liked it, and so did Brady and I. I made them just on my stovetop griddle. Knowing what I know now, we would not have gotten rid of that small George Foreman grill we got for a wedding present. Didn't have much use for it then, but we could sure use it now! Because I don't have a grill or pannini press, my rolls didn't look as pretty, but the flavor was excellent. We dipped them in sour cream and more salsa. And there's leftovers for tomorrow!!

Laugh for the day

2011-05-13T23:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but after listening to my boys whine all day, I needed a good laugh, so I thought I would share a good one.

ZZism's

2011-05-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Zenock: "My sunburn makes me hurt, so in the middle of the night and I wake up, I need to watch movies to make it better." We laughed. We tried not to laugh at him, but we weren't completely successful.
Don't worry. He never got up...silly kid!!

Lose Weight for a GREAT Cause!

2011-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

We have some wonderful friends who we met at BYU-Idaho way back in 2004. I have posted about their little 3 year old boy Austin before, but I'll tell you a little about him if you don't know.

Austin contracted an E. Coli strain last summer, and it caused him to loose 11 inches of his colon and his kidneys will never be the same. He does dialysis twice a week now until he can get a new kidney. You can read in detail about his story here. His parents are actively doing everything they can to raise money for his medical expenses, so I have decided to join in too.

I am an Independent Distributor with Herbalife. They have awesome health supplements, personal care products, and a wonderful, healthy weightloss program that actually works! My husband, who needs to lose about 60 lbs, started the month of April at 293 lbs. He is now at 279 lbs. I can't believe he has already lost 14 lbs!!!

So starting May 1st and running through May 31st I am donating 10 % of every weightloss program purchased through my website to COTA in Austin's name. And from June 1st through June 30th I am donating $1.00 for every pound you lose on the program during that month.

Please help Austin! Loose that gut, muffin top, flabby arms....whatever you have, and join me and my husband in helping someone else by becoming more healthy ourselves.

Please, please pass this on to everyone you know. The more the word gets spread, the more money we can give to Austin.

Parenting success

2011-04-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

Today was a parenting triumph, in my opinion. We are constantly reminding our boys to turn off the light in their room. Today I had had enough. So I reminded them to turn it off again, and then I said, "If the light gets left on again, I will take out the lightbulb so you don't have a light anymore." Well, guess what happened not even 30 minutes later? Yep, the light was ON! I then asked Brady to take out the light, and they heard me. He actually had a better idea...to just trip the breaker for their room so we aren't still wasting electricity when the lightbulb is out.

And then the wailing and knashing of teeth began! Oh my, you should have been a fly on the wall! I was trying soooo hard not to laugh. I seriously had to bite my lip. I just absolutely love finding a punishment that fits the crime perfectly. What a better consequence is there for leaving the light on than having no light at all anymore? I hope after having no light,night light, or fan privilages for a few days fixes the problem.

P.S. Whoever invented the swivel sweeper is a GENIUS!! I now have my boys taking turns cleaning all my tile daily! How awesome is that? (especially since they are the ones that drop food and crumbs on the floor at every meal) I won't have to drag out my broom ever again!!! And I have one less household chore to do. WAHOOO!!

New accomplishment

2011-04-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

I will forever have this day linked to a special event. Gideon rolled over for the first time today! He was taking a nap and I heard him making noise, but I didn't go get him because I was hoping he would go back to sleep since he was only asleep for an hour. Well I didn't go get him fast enough so he got mad. So mad that he rolled right over from his tummy to his back. It's about time! I wonder if he will do it tomorrow just for fun, or if I have to make him mad again.

Happy Easter!!!

Austin

2011-04-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a video made to tell about Austin's medical events. His mom and dad are good friends of ours from our BYUI days. Please help them out if you can. Spread the word about their story!

Let's face it.

2011-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

These pictures are really for the Grandmas and Grandpas :) Watching a PBS show, I think.

Playing "construction"

This is what I found one morning after I got ready for the day.

"Helping" do some dishes. I think this muffin pan got washed 4 times.

And this is what I found when I checked on him during a nap. I did NOT lay him down that way.

Toothless, not the dragon

2011-04-16T11:27:00.001-07:00

Two teeth lost in 24 hours. The first came out on Saturday while Brady was at work. It was dangling, so I just pulled it out. The second started dangling and bleeding while eating popcorn during General Conference on Sunday. Brady had the pleasure of pulling that one out. He was so excited for the tooth fairy to come. However, I should say that she forgot to come Saturday night because she was so busy....or something. And just so you all know. She does in fact pay one quarter more for those nice big ones! He wanted to call his grandparents and tell them all. He was so excited!!

K it's official

2011-04-14T23:31:00.001-07:00

They really do look exactly the same!! Zenock is 3.5 months in this one. Holy cow!!! I really do have some super cute kids, if I do say so myself! And, wow, Brady is young in this picture too :). Time flies when you're having fun!

Look alike's

2011-04-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

Wherever we go, people keep telling me how much my boys look like each other and me. At first I thought it was a little weird, especially when total strangers would comment about it. However, I decided to see for myself (because honestly sometimes I really don't think any of them look the same). Here are pictures of each of us at similar ages, doing the same thing.

Ammon at almost 3.5 months

Zenock at almost 6 months

Gideon at 2.75 months

Me at three or four months...ish. Don't you love the carpet and that fabulous chair back there?

So, do you agree? Do I really have cookie-cutter children? I think so. Poor Brady though. According to the genes on display he had no part in their appearance. Perhaps I should find a younger picture of Zenock though to really show it off.

Highlights

2011-04-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

Good idea

2011-04-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

Who knew a four year old would have a good idea for lunch? I try, and try, and try to get the boys to eat different foods for lunch. Sometimes we have leftovers, sometimes sandwiches, corn dogs, burritos, etc. Today I tried to get them to eat a tuna fish sandwich, since I get it from WIC and it's really good for you. Well they both said no, they wanted to dip crackers in it intsead of have it in a sandwich (which Brady and I do a lot, and I like relish in mine). I said, no. Then Ammon just asked for a fork to eat it plain, and Zenock asked for some celery to dip in the tuna. A little light came on in my brain right then. I thought, hey, tuna is healthy, celery is healthy. This is a great way for him to get some more of the nutrients he needs in a day instead of carbohydrates. So I also made some for me. I just have to say, this is my new favorite way to have tuna fish. And it's also really good with a dab of mustard and a tablespoon or so of Taco Bell hot salsa. I admit though, I was a little suprised how good it tasted. So give it a try. What's there to loose? A can of tuna?

Loosing = WIN!

2011-04-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

So, I am going to try loosing some of this fabulous baby fat (leftovers that never disappeared after Ammon was born 6.5 years ago). I can't diet since I am breastfeeding, but I can eat healthier. And I may think it's a swear word, but I really should do better to exercise. I am holding you all accountable to make me accountable mk? And don't let me make cookies for a while. I end up eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner....but they were soooo good! I guess since there are still cookies on the counter I can't be held accountable until after they are consumed...that would be better, don't you think? So right now I am at 160 pounds plus a muffin top. Let's see how long it takes to loose 10 pounds and a little muffin...starting today!

Food

2011-04-05T17:53:00.001-07:00

So I have a lot of cookbooks. Sometimes I use them, and when I find something that is really good I copy it and put it in my recipe box. However, since joining blogland, I have found tons of really good food blogs with step-by-step directions for great tasting food. And now I have another site I absolutely love. It's called Our Best Bites. They just came out with a cookbook sold at Deseret Book. I have no idea how much it is, but I think that is THE cookbook to have. I think I might drop some major hints to Brady for Mother's day...if he'll get what I'm saying.

On another note, Ammon has lost 2 more teeth in front. It's the top two...so now he has the cutest lisp.

Spreading the news

2011-04-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

In the last fifth Sunday lesson, our Bishop stressed the importance of using the internet to spread the Gospel. A great way to do that is start a profile on mormon.org. While on that site today, I came across my friend, Stacey. Click here to read her story.

Conference

2011-04-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

Things I learned (or was reminded of) from Conference:

President Uchdorf: The Lord most often answers prayers through others. It is vital to be of service and accept service from others so that answers may come. Share the Gospel more through social media. Invite friends to come to church.

It warmed my heart to watch the General Authorities walk out of the Sat. afternoon session with hugs to their wives and arms around them/holding hands. It's so refreshing to see wholesome affection shown these days. It makes me want to make sure to show my boys how much I love their dad, just like I saw with my parents growing up. It's so important for children to know how much their parents love them, just as it's so important for husbands and wives to know how much they love each other. This healthy display of love helps families stay strong and united together amidst the turmoil in the world today.

Elder Bednar: Personal revelation is prevalent even today. It can come powerfully and suddenly, it can come quietly and subtly. One must live such a manner where whisperings of the Spirit may come when needed and desired. And there may be times when you may not even realize you are being prompted by the Spirit.

President Monson: Temples are built with brick and mortar. They are filled with faith and fasting, sacrifice and joy. No sacrifice is too great, no trial too heavy to get to the temple. Being able to have an eternal family is worth every sacrifice. There is no more important goal than working toward attending the temple.

Elder Scott: If you are a single adult, get on with it and find a spouse to marry in the temple. It will bring great happiness in the home, and in the marriage, when a husband expresses his love to his wife verbally. *This is such an awesome talk!!* It is so rewarding to be married. There are times when you, as a couple, are extremely happy and times of trial. One of the reasons to find a spouse in early young adult years is to avoid creating inapporpriate habits that are hard to change. All things are possible to the Lord. Eternity is a long time, and have faith in the Lords promises so that he will be able to bless you througout your life.

Elder - I can't remember his name: Wisdom to live with 90% of our income instead of all of it. Blessings come from being self-reliant, being sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, creating peace and harmony in the home. Paying tithing helps us develop a greatful heart, realizing that our blessings, all of our blessings, come from God. Regular tithe payers have a strengthened testimony of the Gospel. When we pay our tithing faithfully, the windows of heaven will poor out upon us, but most often not in monetary form.

Elder Robbins: "To be or not to be" is a very good question. "To do" is an action - checking off when the deed is done. "To be" is never done. Disiplining children should not be done in anger. It should be done by kindness, gentleness, and showing love unfained. (A huge thing I need to work on with the boys!!!) Parenting 505 (difficult children) and 101 (sweet children)....awesome! I think Ammon is more often a child in my 101 class. Zenock is my 505 with a thesis project as the final exam. I love my boys both very, very much. They are showing me all the time that they are different people, and I need to remember that what worked for one will not work for both. I hope Gideon turns out to be a healthy balance between the two.

Elder Holland: We will get blessings from holding family home evening amongst the bedlam, even with little bedlamites. (So funny, and SO TRUE). Sometimes you can't have it your way. The Church is neither a fast food restaurant, nor a buffet. Bradyism: You get what your get, follow it or don't. However, the Gospel itself is perfect. The people who are in it are not.

I wish I could get the youtube videos of the musical numbers to post on here. They were all phenomenal. I love listening to some of my favorite hymns performed. If you get a chance, view them on lds.org.

I got crafty again!

2011-03-25T20:19:00.001-07:00

Isn't this super cute? I LOVE how it turned out. I made it mostly from scraps from other boy blanket projects I have done for mine and other's kids. I am now so glad I hung onto those seemingly small pieces. I still have enough scraps to do another one. I was going to donate it to the ward auction too, but maybe I'll send it to Japan instead. Wouldn't that be cool?

Wasting time

2011-03-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

So today instead of folding the laundry and doing the dishes I wasted time on the internet and came across this article and this article. I have contemplated similar ideas over the last several years of my "mommyhood," and after seven years, I think I am just starting to find my groove. Both of these articles made me feel a little better as a busy mom, and I realize sometimes it really is okay to take a few lazy minutes for myself and ignore the kids for a bit. I find it has gotten a little easier since Ammon started school, and having a third child has not been overwhelming at all. But our struggles are definitely different than they were seven years ago, and finding a good rythm has been a challenge. So enjoy these two perspectives, and think about your own. What kind of Mom are you? Have a fabulous day!

Chubby

2011-03-19T22:49:00.001-07:00

One hour old
One month old

Two months old

Gideon celebrated his 2 month birthday on our way to Disneyland. He had his checkup and shots yesterday. He weighs 10 pounds 13 ounces and is 21.5 inches long. At his one month checkup he was 9 pounds 3 ounces and 20.5 inches long. I can't believe how fast babies grow. It's amazing! Pretty soon he'll be rolling over too, I think. I have also noticed his hair has a red tint to it like mine. I hope he keeps it! It would be awesome to have a son with my hair color. It also looks like he might have Brady's blue eyes. He started smiling about a week ago, and a few days after that I heard a real giggle out of him while he was sleeping. It was so cute. I can't wait to make him laugh by tickling him and doing silly/dumb stuff to make him laugh.

DISNEYLAND!

2011-03-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

We were planning a trip to Disneyland over Spring break in the middle of April, but Brady didn't have any work earlier this week, so at lunchtime on Monday we decided to go right then. It took way too long to pack for everyone, so we got on the road pretty late in the afternoon. We arrived at our hotel around 8 pm. The boys really wanted to go swimming so they could try out their new life jackets. Then it was bedtime so we could get up and play our hearts out! Disneyland was WAY crowded both Tuesday and Wednesday since other schools around the nation are out for spring break right now. I made a mental note not to go to Disneyland ever again during a holiday of any kind. Ammon was tall enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and he got really scared. He even cried. I felt bad. And then I wanted to go on it again. Maybe next time. He and Zenock are tall enough to go on Matterhorn, so we did that the second day. They both loved it so much they each wanted to ride again. The line was too long. Both days they got to ride It's a Small World, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and Astro Rockets. We did Pirates of the Carribean, Jungle Cruise, everything in Fantasyland (our favorite general area of the park because all the rides are fun), Nemo Submarine (our first Disneyland ride), and Toon Town was kinda lame, even the kid roller coaster. Zz was having a meltdown and DID. NOT. WANT. TO. RIDE. THE. ROLLER COASTER. AT. ALL. Ammon, of course, had to go to the bathroom when we where almost to the front of the line after waiting for over 45 mintes. We got out of line and went potty. Came back to the exit to do a switch pass so I could have Gideon while they went. Zz was FREAKING OUT! Brady tricked him into riding and I could hear him screaming the whole time. Poor kid. I felt bad. Almost. Ammon got to ride with Brady after they got done. Switch passes are AWESOME! You stand in line and ask for one before you get on it. The ones riding go, and when they get back you switch kids, and the others get to go without having to stand in line again. Works GREAT! That way only Gideon got left out...but he didn't mind. He slept almost the whole time anyway.

We were another attraction in the park; at least I felt like that sometimes. Gideon got a LOT of attention from a LOT of people passing by. He was ooggled at my kids and moms in line, while eating, while waiting, and while breathing. It was kind of funny. Tons of people asked me if he was my first, and then shocked to find out he was my third boy. Heaven forbid I have more than one boy! Sheesh! We met some really nice people, several who were LDS. Brady helped a German family by translating for them so they could order their food. That was fun. We met some people from Australia too. We loved Disneyland, and we are already planning our next trip there...whenever that will be.

Springs Preserve

2011-03-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we met Brady at the end of his shift at work and took the kids to Springs Preserve. It's a museum of the desert life in Nevada. They have an outdoor playground, ampitheater, gardens, and museum. It was fun for the most part. I think the boys got a little bored near the end, at least until we got to the animal part. Zz kept getting concerned that the lizards, snakes, and spiders would come out of their cages and get him.

Help a friend

2011-03-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many people read this other than my parents and sisters, but I wanted to share this anyway. We have some friends we met back in our first year of marriage. They now live in Southern California, and they have two beautiful kids. Their son, Austin, had e-coli poisoning during the summer last year, and it destroyed his kidneys. His mom is his most likely donor, so this month they have both undergone extensive testing to make sure she is able to give Austin her kidney. Check out the button to the right, their blog, and website to find out how you can help this wonderful family. We are showing our support by ordering shirts for our family. What can you do? Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Sunday afternoon!

My boys

2011-03-06T23:49:00.000-08:00

Ammon insisted on taking a picture of Gideon

My boys cuddling on the new couch.

Crafty Crap

2011-03-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

Since my fabulous husband has been wasting his time drooling over AR 15's and AK 47's, I decided to be more productive and make some fun stuff for super cheap! As much as Brady loves guns and blowing things up, I love making quilts and crafts to make my home have some personality. I would even go as far as purchasing some power tools for me to use for crafts, like a chop saw to cut 2x4's and 4x4's, etc into blocks for some word art decorations. I am working on building up a nice fabric stash by checking out Joann's reminant section each time I walk in the store. I have found some awesome stuff in those bins! And I just have to say a quick, THANK YOU MOM!!!! She got a new sewing machine, so I got lucky and inherited her "old" one. Old meaning like at least 10 years old, but oh, so new to me since it has a computer in it with some really cool options like automatic button holes, and cool stiching designs like penguins, flowers, and airplanes just to name a few. I have sewed on her machine off and on since she got it all those years ago, so I am very familiar with the basics of it. Yesterday I tried it out for the first time at my own house. I didn't do anything fancy, but I sure to like how smooth it is. I whipped up these two baby quilt tops in about 30 minutes each. Today I made a pillow case from a cute kit I found for $1.50 at Walmart.
I found the fabrics in packages already cut in 1 yard lengths and matched to another corrdinating print. Each of these tops cost me $5 to do, including the binding. Tomorrow I am hitting an awesome deal at Joann's for flannel for the backing. All together I'll spend about 11 bucks per baby quilt. The last few I have made with this design have cost about $15 -$20 for just the top since I didn't get any of the fabrics on sale. Oh how I love a good deal!!!
This year I decided I wanted to have a door hanging for each month. Whether I make one or find a cute one on sale, I don't care. It's just something fun for me to do. I got a 14" straw wreath -left it in the plastic wrapping-, a green piece of fabric from the reminant bin, some gold coins, and a shamrock shimmery thingy to wrap around the wreath. Total cost: about $6. And I have enough coins and fabric to make another one. Now to think up a good way to store all these wonderful wreaths I am making throughout the year.

Mormon Drama

2011-03-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

Today in Primary Ammon learned about the Word of Wisdom. During the lesson he was taught what kinds of things were bad for his body and what was good. They must have showed pictures of some of the bad foods and drinks because he came home and was very concerned that we drink alcohol. When I questioned him about it he started to cry because he was worried that we had made a bad choice and given him alcohol to drink. I assured him we would never drink alcohol, and we would certainly never give an alcoholic drink to him or his brothers. He was still concerned that we had broken the rules. Brady talked to him some more, and it turns out that Ammon thought Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider was alcohol. (Which lead me to believe his teacher showed them pictures of wine bottles since they look the same). I just have to take a second here and laugh hysterically……ok, now I’m good. So we had an extended lesson about what is good and bad to eat and drink after church today. My hand goes to his teacher for being so thorough. Maybe we should have specifically mentioned the Word of Wisdom to him a while ago, but really it was so funny to see him get worked up because he thought we, as parents, were making bad choices and that means we were making him make bad choices too. Oh to be a fly on the wall at our house sometimes!

Visiting Family

2011-02-24T20:02:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we blessed Gideon at church. My family came from Sugar City for the long weekend, and my sister and her daughter, Lizzy, also flew down from North Idaho to spend a whole week with us. We had a great time with everyone, and I miss them already!
I tired to take a portrait of Gideon myself with my fancy camera, but he was really wiggly. I'm going to send a few pics to my sister to edit in photo shop for me so hopefully we can have a good one to put on the wall.

My vday present from my sweety. I have wanted a tall saucepan forever, and my wish was granted! Mashed potatoes here I come! I gave Brady the shirt he is wearing in the family picture down below. He is so hard to find shirts for because he needs a size tall. Those shirts don't come cheap, so when there is a sale, I make sure to grab one. We found some even cheaper ones at a store in the outlet mall. I love getting nice things for cheap :)

Treats I made for Ammon's class. They are smartie airplanes.

Cupid's loot

One month old! He's over 9 pounds and 20 inches already.

Awesome view from the bridge

Walking on the big bridge overlooking Hoover Dam

Gideon's first official family picture.

Gideon's blessing day. He's so cute! His great-grandmother made the blanket he is sitting in. It will definitely be a family heirloom to me. All the boys have used it at church on their blessing days.

Who woulda thunk the toybox was a toy itself?

Showing Lizzy how to feed the ducks and mooching pigeons.

Lizzy's first time playing at a park. She loved the slide. At least I think she did. She didn't smile or giggle or anything.

Ammon's very favorite slide in the whole world. It just happens to be at Mommy's unfavorite park in the city thanks to all the sand.

Meet Lizzy. She's one of my nieces, and she recently discovered zippers on her jammies. It was hilarious to watch her unzip and try to take off her clothes.

The "awesomest" track I have built so far. Too bad they decided to take it apart the next morning. I thought it was so good I almost wanted to play with it myself!

Chillin' with Mom

Tonight the boys begged to eat dinner in their underwear. When Brady isn't home I really don't have the energy to argue with them, so I let them eat in their undies. They thought it was great. I just wanted them to eat all their food.

Vday Ideas

2011-02-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here's some great Valentines ideas for tight budgets like mine!

http://imamomnotaprofessional.blogspot.com/2011/01/valentine-for-him.html

http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/02/kids-classroom-valentine-ideas.html

And lastly, I don't remember where I saw it, but I found an idea for Ammon to make his own valentine's for his kindergarten class. We are making airplanes out of smarties, gum, and peach rings. I found a fun printable banner to tape onto the ends of the planes. I'll take a picture when we do them later today and then update this post.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Household chores

2011-02-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Brady was off so we cleaned out our cars and got mine washed. That's only happened one other time since we bought it last May. Big deal. And I did some dishes, gave all the boys a haircut and bathed Gideon in the tub with the boys, and later finally folded three loads of laundry that I washed on Tuesday. The sad part is that there is still at least one more load of dishes to do that I didn't get too. It seems to pile up really fast no matter how often I do a load. I guess that happens when I cook and use lots of dishes instead of paper plates and such. Home cooked food is so much better, but eating out is so much easier.
My Mom with the boys.

Zenock was helping Mom make bread by making a huge mess and tasting the flour.

They were helping Brady put the new stroller together. They discovered muscle builders in the process.

I redid my ugly 10 year-old clock. Looks much more interesting now. I used scrapbook paper. I got the idea from my sister. Super easy, and really fun.

Made this tile for my Mom for Christmas. We have 3 boxes of unused tile in the garage that came with the house. They are 16 x 16, so bigger than most tiles for craft projects, but who can resist using free stuff?

Been busy...most of the time

2011-02-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

While my mom was here visiting she tried to make bread for me because I have real trouble most of the time getting it to raise. Well it's not just me apparently. Mom said it was because my kitchen was too cold. But even with warming up all the liquid ingredients and warming the oven, it still didn't turn out very well. The first batch she made ended up being scones. The second batch was kind of a mess up on my part. I put the two loafs in the oven, but somehow managed to dump one of the pans out on the oven door. That loaf became rolls after I scraped it off the door. The other loaf that safely made it in the oven fell because I had the door open so long trying to clean up the mess I made. Another obstacle was having to grind more wheat - thinking I ran out when I really had 2 5 gallon buckets full - and then the grinder motor started smoking. I'm not sure if it was because I made it work too hard or what. Maybe I just can't grind very much at a time. Who knows!

She made me a skirt, and she helped me make 7 bibs for Gideon - out of supplies I bought 4 years ago to make some for Zenock but never did. I altered 2 more skirts - fixing a waistband on one and shortening another, and I put a more sturdy hem in another. One project I didn't get too while she was here was making some tee shirts, that I wear in the winter under my sweaters, into nursing ones so that I don't have to mess with 2 layers. I think I might tackle that either this weekend or next week sometime. I'm still thinking about the best way to do it though. I guess if I mess up it's okay since they will always be covered by another sweater anyway.

I loved spending time with my mom. I really wish we still lived close by, but I really appreciate spending time with my family since it is a rare opportunity now. I am really looking forward to my sister coming to visit from North Idaho in a few weeks, and the rest of my family too, for Gideon's baby blessing. We are doing it on President's Day weekend because it is easier for my family to travel when they have a day off of school. I think they are all looking forward to warmer weather for a few days too! When they are here I am having one of my sisters take a family picture so Gideon can be included. I hope the weather cooperates for that since I want to do it on the temple grounds.

Food...and poop

2011-01-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

So since I have started nursing Gideon, I have been SOOOOO hungry. I feel like I start eating when I get up in the morning and don't stop until I go to bed at night. The only problem is I still get hungry right around 5 or 6 am when I am up feeding him. It seems no matter what I eat, or how much, I cannot get enough. For example: tonight I had 2 pieces of pizza, a breadstick, a vitamin water, and a bowl of cereal for dinner. And now 45 minutes later I am hungry AGAIN. I feel like I didn't have any dinner...

Apparently Gideon feels the same way too. He will take a good nap or two in the morning and then catnap and eat like crazy for the rest of the day. Then he takes a nap in the evening, and then eats and catnaps like crazy until 1 am. And then he goes to sleep for the next 3-4 hours. I feel like all I have done today is plug the little dude in, burp, change a poopy diaper, cuddle for a few minutes, then when I go to lay him down he wakes up again ready for more food. I must be a human cow or something - and that makes him the pooping machine. In the two weeks he's been here he has gone through 120 diapers. I hear it's normal for newborns to poop all the time, but I don't remember that at all from the other kids.

Free V-day printable

2011-01-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a link for a super cute Valentine's day decoration.

http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com

Check it out!

YES!!!

2011-01-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

Brady has been trying for the last week to take the kids to the dollar theater to watch Megamind, but one or the other kept making "bad choices" so they couldn't go. First Zenock didn't put his clothes away, just piled them in front of his dresser. Then Ammon was having a bad day another time. Then Zenock didn't finish his dinner on purpose because he wanted to stay home with Mommy instead of going to the movies. KIDS!!!! So today Brady had the whole day off (exciting, I know:)). I decided not to fold their clean clothes today until after they had already left, just because I didn't want them to have an opportunity to mess up again and miss the movie. So while they have been gone I have done a load of dishes and folded all the kids clothes while Gideon slept in the swing.

I have also decided that Gideon needs a nickname. The best I can come up with is Zenock, since I call him that about 5 times a day!!! Zenock thinks it's funny because I will look right at him and tell him something about Gideon, but call him Zenock instead. Then he says something like, you mean Gideon, Mom? Oh, my gosh! I don't remember doing that to Ammon, but maybe I did.

My wonderful Mom is also on her way here right now on the plane. She called just before Gideon was born and said she was thinking about coming to visit and help out some when Brady went back to work.....all I can say is AWESOME!!!! She is staying until Friday morning - thank you Allegiant Air for having a direct flight from Idaho Falls, so convenient! So tomorrow she is going to be my chauffer so I can go get some things from the grocery store, and Joann's, since I am not supposed to drive until the weekend. I guess that means I get to be her personal GPS since she has never driven down here before. And I also get to introduce her to some of my friends at the weekly park play date - mostly for moms so we can have some adult time while the kids are all entertained. I am so excited. I haven't seen my mom since July. And then my sister is flying from North Idaho in the middle of February to spend a week with us when we bless Gideon at church, and my parents and sisters are coming then again too. So I get to see my mom two times in a month. I can't wait until she gets here in two hours! We are going to have a great week!!

Settling in

2011-01-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

As a family of 5. And I LOVE it! We had an excellent week with Brady at home, and it was even more meaningful because in the 3 weeks leading up to Gideon's birth, he worked about 237 hours. The boys are doing a great job being big brothers. I heard Zenock tell Ammon yesterday that Gideon is his best little brother. I love that the boys are older and more capable of helping me, especially with picking things up off the floor since I can't bend over very well yet. I had my first trip out of the house for something other than the doctor on Thursday night. We went to the grocery store...I know, so exciting. But I am feeling pretty good as I have more days of surgery behind me. Gideon does really well sleeping at night. He wakes up about every 2.5 to 3 hours to eat and then goes right back to sleep. He naps pretty well during the day too. Sometimes he catnaps in the morning hours so it seems almost impossible to have a few guarranteed minutes to shower, but I am managing!

I found Gideon sucking his fingers one morning this week. He hasn't done it since that I have seen.

They love their little brother. Zenock always asks if he can touch him.

Okay, so we all love our new little baby!

It's difficult to take a good picture of him when he's awake because he wiggles so much. This is pretty much as good as it gets.

The boys were trying to get Gideon to play with his toy they picked out for him. But really I heavily influenced them to pick the alligator because it was the one I liked the best.

And this is Mr. Independent. We got a new tube of toothpaste for the boys, and now Zz brushes his teeth when he gets up in the morning and after every meal. It's really funny, but I'm not complaining because he has figured out how to do it himself. I just have to remember to not go anywhere important on those kind of days because he gets toothpaste spit all down his shirt most of the time. But hey, I'm not complaining about one less thing I have to do or supervise for him!

Gideon is here!

2011-01-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

We got to the hospital at 5:30 am on Friday, the 14th. We were pretty much prepped and ready to go into surgery by 6:30, but we had to wait for me to get more IV fluid, and surgery was scheduled to start at 7:30 am. We ended up waiting for the doctor to get there because he was delivering a baby at another hospital. Gideon Omner Lindsay was born at 8:46 am. He is 17.5 inches long, and weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces. He is my shortest, fattest baby so far! He is an excellent eater, and we are so glad he is in our family. We got to come home this afternoon from the hospital. I am glad to be home, and I am also glad to get to sleep in my own bed tonight!

Getting ready in the surgery prep room.

I thought of the show Tommy Boy when Brady was putting on his surgery costume. The line, "fat man in a little coat" kept coming to mind, even though it wasn't too small for him.

We're all hooked up and ready to go.

Gideon about 2 minutes old. I love the look on his face. Of course it was because just before that he was still snug as a bug and had to be so rudely taken out of his warm, yet cramped home.

Ammon was so excited to finally get to hold him.

It took a lot of coaxing to get Zenock to hold Gideon. He just wanted to look at him. But now he askes to hold him all the time. So he is apparently over his babyphobia.

I took some really cute pictures of the little munchkin. In this one I thought he woke up because he was hungry, but he didn't want to eat. So I just held him and he fell back asleep on my lap.

And later he was awake for a little while, so I wanted to get some pictures with his eyes open. He was moving his mouth around a lot, so he looks like he is smiling.

Photo time

2011-01-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Me and my gargantuan belly. We took a drive to Hoover Dam to drive on the new bridge they finished a few months ago. It was a fun ride.

Clinging to his leftover lunch so it won't spill.

Chillin' on the way to the bridge.

This is the new bridge from Nevada to Arizona. You no longer get to drive over Hoover Dam for security/safety reasons. And this is the crappy view you get. I know they made the walls that high on purpose so it won't slow traffic down because of the awesome view, but still, I was disappointed.

Playing a Bob The Builder game with Dad.

Trying out Gideon's carseat. It looks a little small for a 6 and a 4 year old in there at the same time!

We have a play group at the neighborhood park every Tuesday and Friday morning. I go for me, not the kids. I think all the mom's do though. It's nice for the kids to play with eachother outside of church, but really we all go for the girl time. My week seems off when we aren't able to go because of doctor's appointments or sickness. My boys ask just about every day if it's park day, so I know they like it as much as I do.

Ammon, Courtney, Zenock, and Klarissa. Tanner was on there too next to Klarisa, but he got up before I could get the camera out.

Ammon and Zenock on the slide with Tanner. At one point all the kids were going down the slide and running into everyone at the bottom. Zenock ended up getting squished pretty good, and he didn't like it very much. He went around to all the kids and told them to say sorry to him for squishing him. I tried not to laugh, really I did.

Back on track and birthday

2011-01-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

And now that Christmas vacation is over, we are back on our schedule! I was really wishing this morning that both boys were in school full time. They were driving me crazy! However, in light of being back in the routine, I am certain it will change when we come home from the hospital in two weeks. I wonder how it will all work out? Fine, I am sure, but still...throwing a new baby into what we do every day will be interesting. There's only 10 days left until Gideon comes!!!

Today is also Brady's birthday, sorry I forgot to mention it before. In honor of his 29 years in existance, this is a picture from way back before we even started dating in high school. It was taken the summer of 1999. We were young - and skinny :)

Boys!

2010-12-31T14:25:00.000-08:00

So I don't know why, but the last several times we have gone with Brady to the sporting goods section of any store the boys have been wanting us to buy them some binoculars. Today we were at Dicks in the mall so Brady could price some 12 ga shotguns - he's been wanting one for almost a year - and guess what the boys saw right off? Kid-sized binoculars. And guess what? They were on sale for $7. Who could pass up the "pretty please, Mom, can we buy those? They are kid sized. Can we?" I mean really? Sometimes I am such a pushover. Ammon got black ones and Zenock got army colored ones. They couldn't be happier. Binoculars, really? Boys!!! (said while eyes are rolling :) wish they had an emotion button for that one).

This is just a note to myself. Every once in a while it feels like Gideon is breathing inside of me. I can feel his body moving up and down in breathing motions. It's so awesome to feel him practicing his skills! We only have 2 weeks until he comes!

Christmas mayhem pictures

2010-12-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

Opening presents at the family party

Decorating cookies at the neighbor's house

Acting out the Nativity

Zenock the 3 minute Shepherd

Ammon was Joseph

Santa came!

The aftermath...stuff everywhere!

Gideon couldn't be left out of all the excitement! Like my dirty shirt from making the breakfast casserole the night before?

Zenock did NOT want his picture taken with the new camera.
But Ammon didn't care.

2010-12-26T17:24:00.000-08:00

Friday night we made homemade pizza for all 20 people in Brady's family. We made 5 cookie sheets of different kinds. It was really messy, but everyone loved it. We opened presents from each other after everyone ate. Ammon and Zenock got cap guns and punching bags from Izabella and Gabby. I got a cricut cartridge and some awesome paper from Bethany. Brady got a book from Ronny. We had a great time even though we had to leave early because Brady had to get home and change for work.

He has been working 8pm to 8am the last several days, and will continue that shift all this week. It's great to have him working so much because Securitas has no problem paying overtime, but it's sure hard on all of us. Brady has trouble getting enough sleep, and I have trouble feeling like a single mom because when he is here he is sleeping most of the day. And it's super hard to keep the kids from being too loud. Perhaps this is good practice for when Gideon comes.

We went to our neighbor's house for a while when we got home, and the boys got to decorate cookies and act out the Nativity. Ammon was Joseph and Zenock was a shepherd for about 3 minutes, and then he decided he didn't want to play anymore. It was really cute to see the kids act it out though, and they did really well, for being 2-6 years old. Brady stayed to say "hi" for a few minutes and then he went off to work.

I woke up Christmas morning at 7:45am. The kids were still asleep! I slept horrible because I was so excited about watching them open all the presents. When Brady got home shortly after 8 they were still sleeping! So he changed and we talked for a little bit, and we still had to go wake them up! I could not believe it! And then they were so overwhelmed with it all that they had trouble staying focused to open presents. They kept wanting to just start playing with the first things they opened. I don't know how many times Zenock asked me to open Buzz Lightyear for him. It was kind of funny.

We had a secret santa drop off presents for us last Sunday. Boy were we suprized! I don't know if we were on the angel tree at church or if someone just decided to do something nice. We have had a very good month with all of Brady's overtime, so we had a great Christmas already for the kids. I feel so blessed that someone wanted to serve us in that way though. I hope they recieve the blessings they need for being so kind and giving to us. We also had someone leave presents and quotations with pieces to a nativitiy in the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas. I still don't know who they were, but we really, really appreciate their generosity. And we had someone else leaving the same nativity pieces for us doing the 12 days of Christmas. It turned out to be some friends of ours in the ward. I never guessed it was them. We have had so many blessings since moving into this ward. We have phenomenal friends, great callings, opportunities to serve others, and since Brady got his security job we have been able to keep up with everything else at home. I feel so thankful for having the opportunity to give and receive service this year, especially at Christmastime.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

My very favorite Christmas Hymn

Almost here!

2010-12-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming
Gideon's getting fat
Today is payday, so we have money in our hat!

I am so EXCITED for tomorrow and Saturday! Brady is on a line watch special thingy so his shift for the next whole week is 8pm to 8am. That means he gets be here for the family party, Christmas morning with the kids, and Christmas dinner at his brother's house in Arizona. Woohoo!!!

And the countdown for Gideon's arrival has begun (at least for me). We have just 22 days until he comes...unless he decides to come more than a week early. I am so excited to see what he looks like, and to actually watch him have hiccups instead of feel them (which he has right now :)). I made a quilt for him back in July at my Mom's house, but I didn't have time to quilt it and bind it before we left, so she took care of that for me and sent it with the Christmas package. It is so cute. I need to take a picture so you all can see it. Thanks, Mom, for doing a great job!

Today we are having a slow one. The kids are eating lunch right now and then we are going to the library. After that it's naptime for Zenock (horray for me!), and since Brady is home sleeping, I might go run one last errand before Christmas. I need to get some heavy cream for the Christmas breakfast casserole I am making, and I need to find something for Brady's stocking. A movie maybe? I have no idea, really. Usually I am on top of these things, but not this year.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Family pictures

2010-12-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

We finally got our yearly family pictures done. They look great. I have issues with my hair (but what mom doesn't?), but the boys look so good...and so does Brady. This is the first year we have done them in Sunday clothes. Next year I want to try on location somewhere like a park or the Temple grounds.

Switzerland Drummers

2010-12-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas Traditions

2010-12-08T14:23:00.001-08:00

We took the kids to see Santa Claus at RC Willey on Saturday. It was awesome. There were no other kids, so Santa got to spend a few minutes with each of them. They had a LONG list of things they wanted. It was really cute to listen to them talk to him. I wondered if Zenock would be scared this year, but he totally wasn't.

We made gingerbread houses on Sunday night for FHE. We also watched the Nativity movie, and explained to the boys the reason we celebrate Christmas. I started a new tradition for our family this year too. We each chose one present to give to Jesus and wrote it down on paper. I put all the papers in an envelope and next year we will add to it. I think it's a great way to teach little kids about giving to others. Ammon's present to Jesus is to not be so bossy. Zenock said he wants to clean up better. They came up with those gifts all by themselves. Earlier in the day they both got in trouble for being bossy and taking too long to clean up the mess...so maybe that had some influence in their choices.

What's in a name?

2010-12-04T09:14:00.001-08:00

I think we finally decided on a name for this little man. Until further notice his name is going to be Gideon. He doesn't have a middle name yet, so if you have a suggestion I am welcome to it. He is getting bigger by the day, and moving all the time. The other day I swear he hardly had a nap because he seemed to be pretty busy having a dance party in there or something all day. It was fun to feel. I went to the doctor yesterday, and I am scheduled for a C-section on January 14th.

Since the boy's birthdays are 10 days apart, and Brady and Gideon's will be 10 days apart, the next baby we have has to be born on August 19th so I can have a birthday buddy 10 days from me too....but I hope to never be in my third trimester during the summer. We shall see in the coming years though.

Today we have plans for something fun for the kids. We are taking them to see Santa. He's going to be at RC Willey this afternoon, and the guy who is playing him is in our ward. I hope the kids don't freak out. It's been a hit and miss with that the last few years. I think Ammon will be okay, but I wonder about Zenock. A few weeks ago we sent letters in the mail to Santa, but have yet to get a response. I know in Idaho Falls he will write back to the kids, and I was hoping for that here. Maybe this week or next he'll send them a letter. I think the kids would love to get a letter from Santa just for them. I guess if one doesn't come in the next 2 weeks I can write one up and stick it in the mail to ourselves.

And now I have a gripe moment. I have started looking for a crib. Thanks to people who don't know how to put them together properly, and poor parental supervison, I cannot get a crib with a drop-down side anymore. What are we short people supposed to do? Dump the kid in the bed since we can't reach all the way to the bottom for a gentle lay down? It's frustrating because (in my humble opinion) this has come about because people today are more lawsuit happy than ever before. It seems with everything that goes wrong, it's always someone else's fault and there should be punative damages paid. SO DUMB!!! In light of that, I could get a step stool to use every day (and have the other boys run off with it when I need it most), or just suck it up and grow a few inches. I have noticed though, that a lot of the cribs are made a lot lower than they used to be, so the rails are better for bending over to put a kid to sleep. I guess my main concern is can I reach well enough when the crib is on the lowest setting? Anyway, that's my rant. Thanks for listening.