And it came to pass

Little kids are so perceptive. Anyone who has read the Book of Mormon knows that the phrase "And it came to pass" is used a lot. Now, whenever we pull out our scriptures to read as a family, Eve always says "And it came to pass." I just think it is funny.

Hogle Zoo

This last Saturday we went to Hogle Zoo with my parents as a belated birthday celebration for my mom. We went together last year too and it will probably become a birthday tradition for years to come. It was lots of fun even though we all froze our butts off! As cold as it was, we had to force Eve to wear a jacket. I guess she thinks jackets cramp her style. The kids were in awe of all the animals and just seeing their happy faces was so worth walking around all day in the cold. Sometimes the animals would be holding so still that Jack couldn't tell what he was looking at but then the animal would move and Jack's eyes would get all wide and he would get this expression of "wow" on his face and he would get so excited and wave and blow kisses to them. It was way cute. There were lots of animals that Jack through a fit about having to leave but as long as I promised him he could see more animals, he would calm down. There were so many baby animals. They were all so cute. Before we went I knew there was a new baby elephant but I didn't realize that over the summer practically every other animal had babies too.

Baby elephant Zuri and her mom.

Rhinos munching on dirt.

Baby giraffe and mom.

Jack pretending he's a turtle.

Eve enjoying her ride on the train.

Jack getting kisses from Grandma Wendy.

Jack snuggling with Grandpa Rusty.

Jack riding on the warthog on the carousel.

Eve on her tiger in bull-rider pose.

Here she is practicing her Lion King on pride rock pose.
At least they are both facing the camera.

Jack thought this alligator was so cool.

Good to sleep on the way home after a long day.

Strangely normal

Jack really liked his cereal this day... so much that he couldn't resist the crumbs at the bottom of the bag. I am not really sure how they got all over his face but it is possible that at some point he had stuck his head in the bag and was trying to lick the bottom. I suppose my mom will tell me that I need to be more responsible so he doesn't suffocate. I'll pass the message on to him for next time.


This is not some kind of Chinese torture I perform on my children. Actually, Eve does it to herself. I think it looks painful. She calls them her "bad witch fingernails." They go right along with her "bad witch attitude."

Is it a bad thing that my kids like to play "drive through restaurant"? Eve "drives" up on her tricycle and Jack "makes her food" and hands it to her out the window. It's cute but kinda sad at the same time. Maybe it's a sign that we eat out too much or maybe they're just practicing for their future careers. Oh, I hope not.


The quiet moments are so few and far between that I sometimes have to take pictures to remind myself that they really did happen.

Who me?

I don't know why but there comes a day when children start to lie. The experts say they don't do it on purpose... maybe they forget what really happened or maybe they're imaginations are just so creative that they blend reality with fantasy and can't tell the difference. Blah, blah, blah. As I observe my "sweet and innocent" little 3 year old Eve and her fictitious stories, I am pretty sure she lies for the same reasons adults do: either to not get caught and in trouble for doing something wrong (such as hitting, biting, kicking, or strangling Jack and then taking his toys away) or so she can get something she doesn't deserve (such as in today's lie). I tell her that she must eat her breakfast before she can have orange juice. So I go upstairs to do something and she comes up a minute later to tell me that she finished her breakfast and now she can have orange juice. Being a little suspicious I go down to the table to check it out. Sure enough, I see no breakfast. But where is the evidence that there even was breakfast? Hmm, there do seem to be a lot of newspapers suddenly spread all over the table. Turns out she hid her uneaten breakfast under the newspaper. Like I wouldn't notice. Little fibber! So I give her another chance and a few minutes later she tells me she can have her orange juice now. I go to make an inspection. Once again no breakfast but there's no plate either. "Where's your breakfast?" I ask. "It's gone. It got eaten." she replies. Yeah right, I think. So I search and find that her plate is under the table and the cat is finishing her breakfast. Sneaky. Not just outright lying but bending the truth. They grow up way too fast. But in response, I have now become the orange juice Nazi- "No orange juice for you!"

10 Hours of TV

Well, this last weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Being a rainy weekend (as it usually is Conference weekend) it was easy to stay home and be warm while we watched conference in our pj's and relaxed. We actually caught all the sessions and Kole even went to the priesthood session- taking the total conference watching to 10 hours this weekend. WOW! The kids were really well behaved too. We didn't make them sit and watch with us. They played quietly and let us watch as much as possible. But Eve loved to see the prophet whenever he spoke.

Anyways, everything was really edifying, uplifting and inspiring. I hate to even pick out the talks I liked best since they were all so great but I have to admit that Elder Holland's talk on the Book of Mormon was truly magnificent and powerful. I was almost in tears. And I always enjoy Elder Oaks and Elder Bednar and President Uchtdorf. Elder Hales was also amazing as he spoke about the reality of God and bore his testimony as an apostle and special witness of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful to have a living prophet and apostles on the earth today. I mean, we have current and living prophets and apostles who know God and have seen Him! How can anyone compete with that!?!

Well, for those who missed it and need some inspiration, here is a link to the talks. http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-1117,00.html

So You Think You Can Dance?

Here are Eve & Jack just dancing away in the kitchen. Well, I think they call this "dancing." Eve has some unique moves. Notice her new slutty princess dress that her grandma gave her. I didn't know Cinderella liked to show off her mid-drift. Anyways, enjoy the show.

Get down from there!

Jack climbs on top of everything- cabinets, tables, dressers... and then he tries to jump off. Ahhh!

I think I'm going to have a heart attack. What do I do? I can tell him no over and over, put him in time out, try to block him from areas with baby gates (which he just climbs over) but nothing works. I don't know how to get him to stop.

If anyone has any ideas on how to keep him from hurting himself (and stopping my heart), please let me know.

Potty Practice

Don't get too excited... I'm not saying Jack is potty trained or even anything close. I feel Jack is still too young for potty training- I mean why push it and make the whole process take longer? But he likes to practice, which is fine with me. I think it helps him to have a big sister that he adores because he always wants to copy what she does. His practicing is pretty messy but I'm not surprised- after all he is a boy and we all know that for some reason boys just aren't as accurate as they would like to think they are. I'm just thankful he's not the type of kid that takes his diaper off and makes really nasty messes. I'm sure you know and have probably experienced what I'm talking about if you have kids. But being a boy, Jack enjoys peeing in random places when he is lucky enough to get a moment to run around without his diaper on. Fun for me! Anyways, I couldn't resist taking a potty picture. I'm sure my kids will hate me for these kind of pictures when they're grown up (even as cute as they are). Ahhh, what greater joy is there for a parent than embarrassing your children? Hey, don't judge...it's good to have a little ammo in your pocket to ensure they stay in line when they are teenagers.

The big blue abyss

Here is Jack staring into the big blue abyss... or the tube slide as it is better known. Yesterday we had family home evening at the park. (If we have a fifth Monday in the month, we try to get out of the house for FHE and go do something fun. This time the park was all I had energy for. We enjoyed our typical Little Caesars pizza and bread sticks which we have for dinner every Monday- so I don't have to cook.) At first Eve didn't want to go because we told her she would have to wear something different than her princess dress which she has been wearing day after day- even in public sometimes. But after a big fit with lots of tears she finally gave in.

Lately she is really into picking out her own clothes and dressing herself. When I hide her princess dress she ends up going through her closet and changing outfits all day long. She has no sense of style yet (which I am sure she got from me) and so she never matches. But she thinks she looks great. It's cute though... seeing how independent she is. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she goes to preschool and so I try to dress her in practical clothes. Today I picked out her clothes for her and she wouldn't talk to me for an hour. She is such a drama queen. I can't wait until she's a teenager!

7 Years Ago

This last Saturday was our 7 year anniversary. It makes me feel old to count years. Here is a picture from our wedding day. What a blissful day it was. We were so young and in love.

Babe, after all these years, I still love you more than anything in the whole wide world! In fact, I love you so much, I hope you die first! (OK, anyone besides him reading this may think I am a terrible wife but it's just a little inside joke. I used to always say, "I love you so much that I don't want to live without you, so I hope I die first." But then I realized, that's pretty selfish. If you really loved someone should you really hope to die first and leave them in this world so sad without you? We figured it is much less selfish to say "I hope you die first." But when you say it that way it just sounds wrong, doesn't it?)

Anyways, our families were great to watch the kids for us so we could go have a date all day. We didn't do much but it was nice just to get out together... we went and did sealings in the morning (and ran into Adam and Emilee at the temple) and then went to dinner and a movie in the evening. We hope that by our 10th anniversary we will be able to afford something a little more exciting. Here's hoping.

Of course we had to call it an early evening since we still had to go home and prepare our Sunday school lesson for the next day. We are such procrastinators! But in all sadness it won't be that way much longer. Kole got a new calling in the Elder's Quorum presidency on Sunday. It was totally unexpected and of course they called us Thursday to meet with the stake presidency on Sunday so we could stress all weekend about what was coming! But it's all good. He's been the elder's quorum secretary and first counselor when we were in our student ward so at least he's used to all the meetings. But now, since we co-taught the 14-18 years olds, we are both getting released from that calling. I am sad because I really liked it. Oh well. The Lord knows what He's doing. Change is good even if it doesn't seem like it at first.