The Hess Family

My Kids Both Lost Their First Tooth! Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of Course, Disneyland.

2011-12-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

Here goes! We went to Disneyland. Again. Audrey got to ride a lot of things for the first time because she was finally tall enough! Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Tower of Terror! All of which she loved. Especially Tower of Terror. I'm not kidding! She loved it! She went on it twice in a row and then again the next day. Man, she is one roller coaster riding fool. Dustin was finally tall enough for Indiana Jones. Which he did not love. We stayed at the Embassy Suites which was gorgeous! And the weather was great. We got to see both sets of our parents and some Aunts and Uncles, so that made it even better!

Then Halloween happened. Dustin was a knight in shining armor, and Audrey was a cheerleader and then a witch. They each had a Halloween party at school and then we went trick or treating with our friends which was so great. It didn't even rain on us! And the kids made out like bandits.

Not long after Halloween, Dustin lost his first tooth! The next morning, he woke up and looked under his pillow, and said, "ONES?!?! I was hoping for one HUNDREDS!! Didn't my tooth fairy know that?!?" I died laughing. I didn't even know he knew what a hundred dollar bill was! But apparently he asked the tooth fairy for some Benjamins, and discovered he got a working class fairy instead. It's tough to be 5 sometimes.

The very next day, Audrey announced she had a wiggly tooth! Pretty soon hers popped out too! She was just happy and excited to have a missing tooth and two dollars. Man, I hope the tooth fairy always remembers to come to our house, because I am terrible at that kind of stuff!

Then there was Thanksgiving. So thankful that we could have dinner with friends. It's hard without family close by.

Most recently, Dustin had his first surgery with anesthesia. We finally succumbed to ear tubes. I was a little nervous, but he was so brave and funny. He kept telling the nurses funny stories about remote control monster trucks, and how he's not 5, he's 5 and a HALF. He also told the doctor never to wear that funny blue surgery hat to school or people might laugh at him. Then when they put the gas mask on, he announced that it was, "Like what the Blue Angles wear! Only, dey aren't really angels, and dey aren't really blue. Dey just fly planes." OMG everyone was rolling! He's such a character. After he woke up, he said, "Whooaaa, why is this world spinning?!" And then he told the nurse that the gas tasted really bad, and they should make pizza flavored gas. He was completely fine and was bouncing off the walls an hour later. I hope these tubes help his hearing and ear infections. I know I need to post pictures of all this. Hopefully I can get the motivation!!!

What???

2011-10-16T18:48:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Dustin started saying, "What?" after every single thing that Tim and I told him.

"Hey buddy, can you put your clothes away?"

'What?"

"Put your clothes away."

"What?"

"CLOTHES. AWAY. NOW."

And this went on for quite a while. It seemed to happen more often when we were asking him to do something, so I assumed he had developed the male selective hearing technique and so I let him have it. "DUSTIN! Stop saying "what" all the time! I KNOW you can hear me. You just had your hearing tested at school and you passed, so there's no excuse!" He looked at me with his intense 5-year-old eyes and said, "But Mom, I just really can't hear you." So I said, "Well, you're gonna have to think of something other than "what" to say to me, because I'm going CRAZY!!!"

Then one day he came home from school after a really rough week. He hadn't been listening to me, he was being sassy and I was about ready to pull my hair out. Anyway, he comes off the bus and five minutes later is screaming that his ear is hurting. Awesome. We manage to get into the doctor right away, which was such a blessing when you have a kid in pain. The doctor checks him out. And of course, big fat ear infection. I mention that he has been complaining that he can't hear and she says she's not surprised because both his ears are completely filled with fluid. Dustin immediately whips his head around to me, points his finger, and says, "SEE MOM! I TOLD you I couldn't hear you. I TOLD you I was telling the truth. So don't ever get mad at me again, OKAY!!" Yes, folks, hand over the Mother of the Year Award to the Mom who got called out by her 5-year-old in front of her pediatrician. Thankfully, the doctor was totally nice, and we discussed that he's probably always had fluid in his ears (which is why we've had SO MANY ear infections) and referred him to a specialist so we can see how necessary tubes might be.

So lesson learned :)

Baby Blues

2011-09-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

School is in full swing for both Audrey and Dustin. Audrey is going to Madison Teens and Tots and she seems to enjoy it. She likes having a teen partner to do whatever she asks. Like pushing her on the swing, or coloring fish, flowers and ladybugs. She is growing up so fast. Dustin loves riding the bus home from kindergarten and I'm so happy with his teacher. And even though having a four-year-old and five-year-old is great, and I feel really blessed, I really miss having a baby. I love that both my kids are big enough to go potty, put on seat belts and get themselves dressed, but I feel like we've pretty much climbed over the baby hill and we're starting to march through the trenches of all things "kid." I've always been hopeful for another pregnancy and I'm worried that if it doesn't happen soon, the age gap will be too great and it will feel like starting all over again.

So what to do? I hear a lot of people tell me, "At least you got one! You should be thankful!" And of course I am. And I'm so grateful for a successful adoption. A son and a daughter is a huge blessing. I totally recognize that. But it is still devastating to hear that the fertility medication didn't work and my next option is IVF. But that doesn't feel right. I'm positive there's other things that can be done. The Fertility Center has been a joke these past five years. I feel like all they want is my money. Isn't there some great doctor out there who will actually care about me and take the time to figure out why its not working?

I'm sitting on a metaphoric fence. On one side, I climb down and sell all of my baby stuff, accept that I have a cute family of 4, and move on. Getting off on the other side means spending lots of time and money, going through grueling tests, lab results, and medications that make me cry for no reason, and give me hot flashes so hot I feel like I'm one fire. (I'm so sorry for every woman who has gone through menopause. From what I can tell, it basically sucks) And while the physical part of infertility is, well, crappy. It's the emotional aspect that really roughs you up. Trying to understand "why?" is a dark and dangerous void that can suck you up and make you feel completely worthless. But it's all for the hope that I will get to bring one more spirit into the world. And how can I say it's not worth the price, or struggle?

I probably wouldn't be feeling so much this way except everyone in my world has just had a baby, or is pregnant, and Andrew is no longer my baby. I'm usually really positive, or I at least try to be, but the "why?" void is so easy to get sucked up into. I know its going to be ok, I just wish I had some direction. I wish the very best of luck to anyone going through anything similar.

I Was Anti-Blogger for a While, But I'm Over it

2011-09-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Blogger really made me mad a while ago. I made a huge post with video, pictures, and plenty of gut busting dialoge, and do you know what happened?? Blogger started having technical difficulties, and erased the WHOLE THING. I also can't stand how long it takes to load anything on this site, but as my title says, I'm over it. I figure it's worth it to have something to look back on, because we all know that I'm anti-scrapbooking/crafts/anything that requires a glue gun. So, here goes...

I last posted 6 months ago, and we have been on several adventures since then. Easter happened, which was fun and cute and full of candy and egg hunting. Dustin graduated preschoool. I really loved Norkenzie. Audrey and Dustin met so many great friends in their classes and had a great year. Both the kids took swimming lessons which and it was so great to have them in the pool at the same time. Then Dustin went to Safety Town for 2 weeks which was such a great program! He loved it and learned so much! We went to Saint George and celebrated Audreys birthday. Then we went and stayed with my Mom and had our very first adventure at Knotts Berry Farm which had some super fun and amazing roller coasters and we got to visit with my sister and her husband.

Audrey turned 4 and she had a super fantastic day. Her Aunt made her the amazing my little pony cake, and she got spoiled at her grandparents house. Then Tim and I took the kids to the circus, which was really fun, and she had her party at ChuckECheese with all her friends. She is so fun right now and getting so big! She is starting preschool at Madison Middle School this year, and I hope she loves it as much as Norkenzie.

Dustin started kindergarten this year and I cannot believe he is in elementary school. I struggled to know which school would be best for him, but Irving has been really great so far and I love, love, love, Mrs. Boling. He's still getting to know his classmates, but he only goes from 8:30-11:00 M-F, so it's taking time to make friends. He also is so happy to ride the bus home which adds a little extra time for me. My neighbor Stephanie and I are carpooling our kids for preschool and Irving, and it is so wonderful to have a next-door neighbor with kids the same age and in the same schools! It is such a blessing to have her help this year.

Andrew also went to live with his grandma this summer which was hard. He was with us for nearly a year and I was sad to see him go. I was hoping he would be our third, but maybe 4 is the number for us. I won't dwell on it, because I'm trying to be positive, but we are taking a break from foster care. It's just too hard.

I hope I will be more diligent in keeping up with the events in our lives. Mostly because I feel like my kids aren't going to be little for very much longer and I have to document every cute thing before it's over!

Another Year Older For the Boys!

2011-04-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

My baby boy turned 5. Wow. I can't believe it. But I think 5 is gonna be great! He's such a good kid. A little demanding at times, a little overwhelming at times, but mostly he's kind and loving and cares so much about other people. He had the best birthday week ever! My Mom flew in, which is always fun, and we had cake, ice cream, mini golf, rides at the kiddie fair, and tons of eating out (my favorite!). And we had his "friend party" at the National Academy of Gymnastics and it was SO AWESOME! We couldn't have picked a better place to have a party. Trampolines, a huge pirate ship to jump off of, an obstacle course for the kids to run through, rings, bars, everything 5 year olds want to do! My dad picked up all the kids and "flew" (they were pretending to be airplanes) them into the foam pit, and that was a huge hit! Thanks to my Dad and Robin for helping me so much that day! I felt so great that Dustin has such great friends in his preschool class and at church.

Oh yeah, and Tim turned 30! I feel bad for the guy because, let's face it, his birthday will always be overshadowed by Dustin's. But he got an amazing new alarm clock, an imac computer, and an r/c monster truck. He got Dustin one for his birthday (a monster truck, not an imac), and Dustin LOVES it. That was probably his favorite present. Apparently, Tim loved it too, because a week later, another one showed up on our door step. He reasoned that he needed one so they could drive "together". Who am I to argue with male bonding?

I have so many updates to give, I'll need another blog. But for now, I just want to say happy birthday to my boys. I love you both so much!

Since Our Life is Measured in Disney Vacations...

2011-01-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

This is mine and Audrey's "mean face" on the bumper cars.

Just proof that my kids really do love each other. Awww

I finally have a reason to update my blog! I realize I've skipped Christmas and New Years, and even though I'm late, I wanted to say that they were both great. We had our first Christmas at home by ourselves, and it was really fun. We've started a tradition on Christmas Eve of opening PJ's, that we all put on, then we open a game, that we all play together, and then the kids open special Christmas books that we read before bedtime. We played a game called Break the Ice, and the kids loved How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Spirit of Christmas for our evening reading. Dustin was over the moon about his R/C helicopters Christmas morning, and Audrey was in love with her princess dress-up's and an Ariel doll. We went over to Flo for Christmas dinner and my sister was there with her husband which made it so great. New Years, Brian and Ann came over and Tim did his first 5K race with Brain at midnight. My kids love their kids, and it was a fun adventure to go and cheer the daddy's on. Good job Timmah!

Since we live to go on vacation (mostly to Disneyland), and my blog really only gets updated after we go somewhere, I think I'm going to rename my blog, "We Live For Disney!" It's really more accurate. But this trip was especially great. Here is why this trip was SO WONDERFUL! We got 4 plane tickets from Eugene to LAX round trip, for $353! Thank you Allegiant! The weather was 78 and sunny every day, the parks were totally empty, with hardly any wait, my mom was able to take the week off and spend every day with us, we went to the beach and watched the surfers at Dana Point, built a sand turtle, Tim and Dustin played in the waves, and Dustin tried boogie boarding (for about 5 seconds till he had his first wipe out and tumbled in the sand). He came running back to the blanket, threw a towel over his head, and said, "That..was horrible." Poor guy. We got to see World of Color again and we also saw Fantasmic for the first time. I love the shows, Disney has a way of making me feel emotional in a good way. I got to sunbathe and the kids went swimming outside, and best of all, I never had to cook! The kids were so great the whole time, not a single melt-down. Thanks mom for the great time!

Preschool Christmas Program

2010-12-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

The kids had their Christmas program last week. I can't even say how much I absolutely loved watching them. It was so fun to have both of them on stage this year. And it's so sad to think this is Dustin's last preschool program. Dustin did so well, I was shocked. He sang every word, and did every hand motion perfectly. A big change from the primary program in which he cried for me the entire time. (Seriously, he sat there reaching his arms out for me, crying, and mouthing, "I WANT YOU MOM," for the whole program.) Audrey didn't really sing, but at least she didn't cry. She was a Bethlehem villager, and of course she had the most sparkly costume we could find. Dustin was a shepherd and I'm sorry, but I have to say that I have the most talented shepherd and villager in the world ;)

Singin' In the Rain

2010-12-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

My good pal Kristen Moss did a photo shoot for us and I wanted to show you guys how stinkin' cute my kids are! (But you have to look surprised when the Christmas cards come ;)

Did you guys catch that glee episode with Gwyneth Paltrow? I LOVED it. I've decided that the mash up of Singing in the Rain and Umbrella is going to be my theme song for living in Eugene. Cause I've spoken numbers with our mortgage company several times this month and it turns out we are unable to refinance, so renting our house is out, and it's not likely we can afford to sell...in short...we're stuck. I'm still hopeful the right family will come along and give us a great offer, but I am choosing to make the best of what we've got for now :) I'm taking lots of vitamin D, got my gym pass, and I am going to find a tanning bed so I can stay sane through the winter. We are planning some remodeling and touch ups to our house that will (hopefully) add a little room. Yes, it may be raining, but I am singing gosh darn it!

In other news, I ran the EWEB half marathon with my dear pal Sara last week, and it was SO MUCH better than running a full marathon. I had a great friend to train with, and it was only half as far! It took me 2 hours and 16 minutes. Not great, but I just wanted to jog the whole time and finish. And I did.

We had the first snow of the year and there was maybe a half inch on the ground and all the schools closed! It's so funny to me, being from Canada an' all! But the kids were SO EXCITED! I've never seen Dustin so happy! They caught snowflakes on their tongues, had a snowball fight, and had some great times.

Andrew turned one. They are still looking for family to place him with, but we're hopeful we can keep him.. He just kinda fits in. Having 3 kids is hard, but I can't really remember what it was like without him now.

We had Thanksgiving with our friends the Bergesens and that was a great meal! I later had the worst Black Friday experience at Toys R Us ever, but I won't get into that now. Let's just leave it at; 5 hours of waiting in lines. Nuff said.

Anyway, Christmas time is here! We don't have anyone coming to stay with us at this point, so if you want to...we LOVE company!!!! I really mean that. I love having people to share holidays with. And we can all sing in the rain together! Woot woot!

I am so Grateful For YOU!!!

2010-11-07T19:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I mean YOU! I was struggling so badly last week, and I can't even tell you how many wonderful people came into my life to help. I'm so sorry if I forgot you, but please know I love and appreciate you.

Thank you Kristin for telling me I'm ok and you feel the same way too, AND for the amazing photo shoot, AND for making me cupcakes. I can't even tell you how much that meant to me. Like I said, you're my new best friend. Sorry, you're stuck with me!

Thank you LeaAnne and Rune for making everything possible so I could go to Time Out for Women. Thanks for arranging everything, thanks for my ticket, thanks for watching my kids, thanks for driving, and thanks for being my friend. What a blessing you guys are in our lives. I owe you. Big Time. Thanks to all the wonderful gals I met and got to see again and to all the people who put up with me. Really.

Thanks to my Dad and Robin for taking care of our kids for the night. I cannot say how badly Tim and I needed a night away. And I know it probably wasn't easy. And you're probably pretty tired. But I appreciate it.

Thanks to Jaime and Sara for being there for me when I was at the end of my rope. You guys are great friends. Sara, you are the best running partner, EVER. Thanks so much for checking on me when Tim was gone...on your birthday...you're the best. Jaime, thank you for being so willing to help me every time I need you.

Thanks Paige for being the best visiting teacher on the planet. I honestly mean it. The times you have brought me meals, or watched my kids have been SO NEEDED.

And to Tim, thank you for EVERYTHING! I can't possibly write it all down. Happy Anniversary! I love you.

I know there's others I'm not writing about and please know that I'm grateful. My hands have felt SO FULL lately and I've been feeling so inadequate. It's been especially hard because I like to be the one to help other people. And it's really hard to admit that I sometimes need help. Holy snikies, do I need help. And there you all have been. THANK GOODNESS FOR YOU!!!

Pediatricians Are the Devil

2010-11-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, to be fair, it is not only the pediatrician that I am likening to the devil. It is the whole doctors office experience. Yes, I am grateful for healthcare, yada, yada, yada. Hear me out, and you'll understand why I'm complaining. I called to get an appointment for the baby who hurt his arm, (Because Audrey tried to drag him across the floor. The Mother of the Year Award is not in my future) anyway, they said, "Yes, we have an opening at 2:00, (It was 1:40) can you come in right away?" I said I would do my best. We were at Toys R Us trying to exchange an r/c helicopter that broke the very first time Dustin tried it. So I had to drag my kids away from the toys and get in line and when we get to the front, Audrey announces that she has to go potty, "Really, realllllyyy baaaad." I leave the toy at the front, take 3 kids to the potty, come back and get in line AGAIN to exchange our toy. Finally it's our turn, but the nice 18-year-old isn't competent enough to do an exchange. I don't have time to wait because it's now 5 min to 2:00, so I bag the whole thing, and drag Dustin out screaming that he wants his helicopter.

We get to the doctors office just a couple of minutes late. We wait for about 20 minutes before being called back to wait in our room. Then we wait for an HOUR AND 30 MINUTES inside a tiny room with no toys, no snacks, no ANYTHING, to see the doctor. Couldn't they have let me know I didn't have to rush over because they were an HOUR behind schedule? The kids were going nuts. Climbing all over everything, yelling, fighting, the baby is screaming because it's way past nap time, it feels like it's 200 degrees in this room and I am seriously hoping the Apocalypse will start happening so my suffering might end.

Mercifully, the assistant came in and gave us crayons and pedialite popsicles. Thank goodness for her, because she was the only reason I didn't start threatening people's lives. She also tried to discipline my kids by telling them to stop talking while she's trying to talk, or telling them they can't climb on this or that. I was so far out of my right mind that I didn't have the ability to keep my kids from jumping off things, but I was kinda bothered she felt like I was so incapable that she needed to step in. I was a tiny bit grateful, because I knew she was trying to help, but still. Anyway, she took pity on me, and kept on telling me how full my hands are. I've never quite understood the, "Wow, you sure have got your hands full," expression. Is it just pity? Are they saying it to be nice? Or is it more like, "Wow, maybe you should have found a more reliable form of birth control.." Because that's exactly how I felt. When the doctor finally came in, he was completely overwhelmed. The kids attacked him, the baby was crying, he couldn't finish his sentences. He kept mentioning things like, "injuries are common in large families" or "you don't work, right?" and the infamous "you've got your hands full." I was sure at any moment he was going to ask me to speak to a group of teenagers about abstinence and the consequences of sex. I just wanted to stand up on the chair and scream, "We've been in this room for an hour and a half waiting for YOU, the pediatrician (who specializes in kids), and you can't function in here for 5 minutes!!!! I only have ONE biological child in this room, the other I rescued from the foster care system, and the other I am caring for out of the goodness of my heart because his mom is a meth addict!!! If you can do better, wait here, and I'll be back in an HOUR AND A HALF."

Sigh, I thought about playing the foster parent card, but I hate the stigma that goes with the "Foster Parent" title. Plus I love that no one ever guesses we have foster kids or adopted kids. Anyway, the baby was fine. Nothing broken. Except my pride. So today, I've had Lucky Charms and McDonalds because I'm depressed and feeling like a completely inadequate mother and can't think of any reason to try and look decent. If you're going to the doctors office, beware, you may find the devil instead, and he most certainly will be wearing a stethoscope.

Anyone Out There Blogging or Commenting? Anyone?

2010-10-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for a while because it seems like NO ONE is into blogging these days. Facebook has taken over the world, and the competition to see how many "friends" one can possibly have has thrown poor ol' blogspot to the curb. (It's so funny to me when people you hardly even know want to "friend" you. As in, "Hmmmm, I think I met that girl at the thing over at what's-her-names house like 3 years ago.") However, I hope to be old and grey one day and read my blog from way back in the stone age of computers and remember what it was REALLY like in my day to day life in Eugene, married, and raising small children. So here it is.

EXHAUSTING! No, haha, well, it is sometimes. Tim was just out of town for work training for two weeks and I was by myself with the three kids. It went pretty well, but I was tired a lot and lonely a lot and I REALLY missed Tim. He's home now, and it's made me realize that there isn't any way I could possibly do it on my own. Nor would I never, ever, ever, want to. Heavenly Father can't take Tim because he knows it would be more than I could handle. Anyway, things are back to normal. We still have Andrew. We're not sure what's going to happen, and I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up, but we've all gotten attached to him, and it's going to be hard if he leaves. He's a meth affected baby, and he's a little behind socially, but he's picking up really fast.

Dustin is so so big. He can't describe anything without using his hands and making sound effects and I love it. Audrey is loving preschool, and is just loving in general. She tells me 50 times a day that she loves me and I hope I tell her enough that I love her back. I think she has some kind of understanding of adoption and it's so cute to hear her tell the story anytime someone talks about babies inside bellies. She says, "When I was a baby, I live-ed inside another mommy's tummy--her name is Rosie. And den when I come-ed out, I came-ed to my family!" She says it so cute and excited, I hope she always feels that way.

We've had Halloween the entire month of October. The kids had their preschool parties and we went to Disneyland at the first of the month and did the Halloween party there too. I know I say this every time, but this trip was really our best Disney trip so far. We finally got annual passes, we stayed at my Mom's, we flew, we swam, we sunbathed, we saw World of Color, we went to a kiddie park called Adventure City and the kids loved it, everyone was healthy, we had a great day at the beach building sand castles, and we got to see Tim's family.

Life is pretty good! We had the ward trunk or treat tonight, and we only have one more day to go before Halloween is finally over.

If you're still out there reading blogs, just know I don't hate comments ;)

This is what Dustin's suitcase looked like after we asked him to start packing for Disneyland. He unloaded every single one of his drawers. He's such a character!

Preschool!

2010-09-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Audrey and Dustin had their first day of preschool today! Audrey is in a 3-year-old class, and Dustin is in a 4-5 year-old class. They both go on the same days at the same time, which is going to be SO GREAT this year. I really love Norkenzie, it's a Christian preschool and it has such a great group of teacher's and Mom's. Dustin has already made some new friends, and I have made some new mommy friends, which is super exciting for me (I can't live without my friends!) We debated about whether or not we should put Audrey in this year because it is so expensive to have 2 kids in preschool, but she has been so excited, and was so happy to walk into her classroom with her backpack, I was instantly grateful we decided to put her in. And she LOVES her teacher. I checked on them both a couple of times before I left (mostly because I was feeling emotional, they were just fine) and Audrey was sitting at her table doing a craft, a big smile on her face, and she said, "Umm, mine teacher? Could I pwees have dat red fing over der?" It made me happy to know she remembered her manners and was completely in her element. Dustin just bounced around with his guy friends and knew the drill. I hope this year is fun for him because he hates the craft part of school, and pretty much anything that involves sitting still. But he's getting better, and he has some good buddies to get him through.

I was so happy and looking forward to having a short break, I thought for sure I'd drop them off and say, "Well, see ya!! They're all yours now!" But I surprised myself and got a little emotional at leaving them. I was thinking and worrying that these cute moments will all be over soon, and they're getting so big, yada, yada, yada. But, I got over it once I got home and was able to clean my house in total peace. Well, somewhat total peace. We just got a 9-month-old foster baby to add to the mix, but he is so great (so far). He's super cute and I've almost instantly fallen in love with him. Once again, we don't know how long we'll have him, but I would definitely consider keeping this guy long term. This is Andrew.

(Please ignore the gigantor thighs, and partial cleavage, I don't know what Tim was thinking!)

Camping on the Umpqua

2010-09-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

We went camping over Labor Day with my Dad and Robin and it was great! We finally are self-sufficient campers! We got a new tent at the beginning of summer, a camping grill, and enough sleeping bags and mattresses for everyone. I didn't camp much growing up, other than a brief stint when we owned a motor home, so it's been fun to take our little family. Dustin and Audrey ran around all day long, took rides on the pontoon boats, and did plenty of fishing. I think it is so great for all of us to get away from TV and the internet and spend some time in the outdoors. Tim and I got to take the pontoon boats down the river together and it was really fun and so nice to spend some time together. We've both been really busy lately and haven't been on a date in quite a while. The only problem was that I hooked my dad's boat and put a hole in it! Oh man, I felt so bad. Tim and I are terrible at fishing. That's my only excuse. Although, Tim did catch a fish this time. Using my technique. I just bobbed my lure in the rocks where the fish were hanging out. Tim made fun of me and told me it would never work...and then he caught the fish. Where's the justice in that?? Thanks to Robin for inviting us and feeding us the best steak ever!

Happy Birthday Audrey Girl!!

2010-08-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

My youngest is 3. Officially a kid. I've been feeling emotional lately about my kids growing up. I kinda miss having babies around. It's amazing how fast it all goes by. But this year is going to be great. They are both going to be in preschool at the same time which is going to be SO WONDERFUL! Tuesday and Thursdays are going to be the best days ever!!!

Anyway, back to Peanuts birthday. She of course, wanted a princess party, and she had her first themed party with friends. I had planned to have an outside party, but guess what happened in wonderful Oregon in August, on the morning of her party? It rained. And was like 50 something degrees out. I swear I'm cursed. Everyone was posting how wonderful it is to have cooler weather and I'm ready to hibernate for the next 9 months. So, I had to move everything inside to my tiny little kitchen and living room. We were squished, but it was ok. We made tiara's, played pin Cinderella in her castle, and had an indoor princess tea party on my living room floor. (Hey, I had to improvise!) The girls were cute and had fun with the tea party set. Tim has been out of town for work, so I was on party duty alone, but thankfully some of the mom's stayed and helped me out.

Our family party was fun too. We went to the state fair in Salem and had a barbeque with Tim's work and let the kids wander around. It was kinda fun. Kinda white trash, but this fair had a lot more than the one in Eugene. Animals, free fishing, free rock climbing, and a dinosaur exhibit! We came home and had cake and ice cream and Tim tried to make a princess cake that ended up horribly mangled. It was so funny! I tried to salvage it as best I could, but it ended up looking like it had been hit by a truck. We bought one for her party with friends thankfully! Anway, happy birthday to my little girl. You are so special and we love you.

I'm Not Ready!!!

2010-08-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

I can see the leaves are starting to lose their lush hunter green color and fading to brown. The weather is cooling rather rapidly, which can only mean one thing...summer is coming to an end. But I'm not ready!!! I feel like the only time I saw the sun this year was while I was in St. George! It has been a rather cool and cloudy summer in Eugene and I am not ready for rain!!!

We have, however, had some fun. Dustin took swimming lessons, which was great. He got to be in the same class as his friend Jessica and they were so cute together. During our many outdoor adventures, Dustin also caught his first fish, a trout, and it was the biggest one of the day. He was super excited and proud. He loves fishing, and camping. A future boy scout. He also loves hearing stories about when Tim and I were little and asks every night, "Will you tell me a story about when you was little?"

Audrey is about to turn 3 and is still the cutest little diva around. When I was away at girls camp, Tim had to get her dressed in the morning...I heard it went something like this,

"Daaaad, dis shwirt is not matching dis skirt," in a almost crying voice.

"Well, Audrey, I don't know what matches what, they both look pink to me, if you want a different shirt, you'll have to find it."

"O.kay Dad-dy," Audrey says in a tone that could pass for a 13 year old. And she digs in her dresser till she finds the shirt that really does go with that particular skirt.

"Here it is!"

Tim stands in wonder and says, "Aren't you supposed to be 2?" Audrey laughs.

Tim also tried to do her hair, but she screamed the whole time because he put in purple hair tyes instead of pink ones to match her outfit. Tim says she cried the whole way to the babysitters house, and then asked the babysitter to take them out. Can you believe that?? That girl knows her mind. I was so proud of Tim for trying though. What dad puts pig tails in his daughters hair at 7:00 in the morning?!? He did great, I wasn't worried about the kids at all.

We've had some foster kids in and out of the house. We have a little 2 year old girl right now who is a cutie. We're not sure how long she'll be here, but it's been easy having another one around for Audrey to play with. They're only 3 months apart and they've been great together.

Tim is back in school and has more work training the next couple of months and also has an interview for a promotion this week! So please send your prayers our way!

Back From Mommy Heaven...

2010-07-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

I went to mommy heaven for a few weeks and it was so wonderful. In mommy heaven, I didn't have to cook, clean, or do yard work. My kids were entertained 24/7 by someone other than me, and I went shopping and went out to lunch or a movie whenever I wanted. I even had a girls weekend in Vegas with out my kids. Sound good? Well, all you need are the best in-laws in the world with a swimming pool, gigantic play room, a bazillion toys, daycare kids to play with, and great weather. Staying with them has been an absolute dream, and when I woke up, I was cramped inside my tiny house, cooking in my kitchen with 2 drawers, (literally) scrubbing my toilets, trimming my trees and staring at the cloudy sky whilst nearly being windblown into my neighbors yard while refereeing my kids. All. Day. Long. What a welcome! My brain couldn't even compute what happened. It said, "Wait a minute...2 days ago you were sunbathing poolside sippin a diet coke...and now...what the heck happened!?!" That's how I knew I went to mommy heaven. I came back to real life ;)

So many fun things happened in St. George I couldn't possibly write them all, but the most exciting, is that Dustin and Audrey learned how to swim! Dustin can now swim all by himself without floaties or anything! He loves to dive and pick up toys off the bottom of the pool and can swim the whole length of the pool. I was so proud of him and it made me feel so much better about being around the water with an active guy like him. Audrey had always been terrified of the water and has never ventured off the top step, but no more! Now she swims all over the place with her floaties on and isn't even afraid of the deep end! I wish I could take even an inkling of credit for all this, but it was really their Poppa who taught them and worked with them (I was sunbathing drinking diet coke, remember?).

Of course we had 4th of July festivities and we took the kids to the little carnival downtown and they had fun on all the kiddie rides that cost roughly four thousand dollars a ride. (Not kidding) (OK, I am kidding, but it was expensive for a "train" ride that was really a tractor pulling buckets) But the kids had fun, and we got to watch the fireworks from a far enough distance suitable for Dustin. He hates fireworks right now. He says they're too loud, and he's afraid they're going to explode on him. Is this a normal phase? I dunno. Anyway, we had fun. And we got to tour one of the oldest working chapels in the church. It was so neat inside, and it was built as an upsidown ship, without any nails or anything. It's over in Pine Valley, and I guess there's a replica in Salt Lake. Just thought I'd throw that in there so you guys don't think I was completely frivolous.

The only good thing about being back, is that we missed so many of you! But please call us, because I'm really tempted to go back to mommy heaven till my kids are 30.

Anyone Want to Buy Our House?!?!

2010-06-15T12:46:00.001-07:00

Go to rmls.com and type in MLS#10048785 Pleeeeease help us sell our house!!!

Rain, Diets, and Fishing...

2010-06-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ever since we got back from Florida it has done nothing but rain here in beautiful Oregon, so I booked another flight to sunny Las Vegas and will be staying with my mom and then with my in-laws in a place where I can actually go outside without a sweater. And I was so depressed about the rain, that I didn't even book a flight back home!!! Only because there weren't any good deals at the time though, plus we're going to be traveling a lot and I wasn't sure what airport we would be flying out from. Anybody looking for a cheap flight from Eugene, Medford, or Bend should go to allegiantair.com They have super cheap flights, but you have to know how to navigate their web page a little. Like, you don't have to pay for your seats if you click a little tiny button, and you are automatically charged for a shuttle that you have to zero out of. But other than that, you can fly to Vegas and back for less than $100 bucks a ticket. It's been so wonderful to be able to see our family for a reasonable price. It's been kinda funny when Tim tells people we're leaving though it goes something like this...
"Hey! Jen and the kids are going out of town so I'm planning a game night while she's gone."
"Really! Sweet! When is she coming back?"
"I dunno, she booked a one way flight..."
With an immediate and concerned look, "Oh....well....um....is everything...y'know...ok with you guys?"
Guys are so funny. We love our friends. I'm a little concerned that they think a one-way flight means something so dramatic though...don't we seem happy???

Anyway, Dustin's first year of preschool is over, only one more left till kindergarten!!! I'm glad we have another year of preschool because I will prolly freak out a little when I have to take him to big kid school. I've been so thankful for preschool though because it has guaranteed me a workout slot twice a week, but it's all over now. I got so desperate to lose weight that I finally gave in to an actual diet because losing weight has become impossible with just working out (another sign that I am losing all mercy of my youth and will be doing nothing but aging for the rest of my life). Tim decided to do it with me and I'm so thankful he did because it would have been impossible for me to do it without his support. But here's the totally unfair part. The first week, I lost 5lbs. Tim lost 12lbs. Twelve pounds!!!! We made it 8 days before we cheated, but we're still both trying together to lose weight. It's made me recognize some of my eating patterns and forced me to cook more healthy meals. Hopefully I can get back down to where I'd like to be...wish me luck!! Weight loss SUCKS.

We stayed at my dad's for memorial weekend and spent most the time fishing. The kids loved it. Dustin has been asking to go fishing for a long time and he stayed on the dock for 4 hours just casting his Spiderman pole. Audrey had a little princess pole she was happy with. I've never really liked fishing, but it was fun to watch the kids. No one caught anything but my dad, and I cleaned and gutted my first fish. I chopped it's head off and everything, and we cooked those little guys for dinner. A whole new experience for me!

Well, Oregon, we will be back when you decide to clean up your act and make this place a little less depressing.

Sincerely,
Jen

Our vacation to Disney....

2010-05-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

WORLD. HA! It was not Disneyland this time. We flew across the entire country to satisfy our Disney addiction. I know, right! But we got a great deal for everything and kissed our tax return goodbye. Here are some of my favorite memories from our trip.

One of the best parts, was that these guys surprised us when we got off our first ride! Jake and Jen made us all believe they couldn't go, and as they came up to us I started screaming and jumping up and down (I can't deny it, they have it on tape). It was so great to hang out with them and made vacation that much better!

Our hotel. We stayed on the resort at Pop Century which has themed areas of pop culture throughout the decades. We stayed in the 80's buildings, and they had pac men all over the place, our pool was shaped like a computer (the kids are running across the keyboard) and they had all kinds of huge structures of movies and stuff from the 80's. It was so neat!

Kilimonjaro safari at Animal Kingdom. We saw so many animals right up close! Giraffes, elephants, lions, hippos, rhinos. You name it, Disney has it. It was like a 20 minute ride through a zoo. The kids also had so much fun at a playground called the Boneyard, which had billions of slides and tunnels and dinosaur bones.

Hollywood Studios was so fun for Audrey and I because we loooove all the shows, but Dustin was sick that day (he puked at the bus stop), so we came back early. But we still had fun, and Audrey told me after watching the Beauty and the Beast musical that, "When I grower bigger, I'm going to dance like Belle." (Dustin took this picture for Audrey)

Princess lunch at Akershus in Epcot. This was by far the best part of the trip. Amazing food, great service, an all you can eat buffet, and a professional portriat given to you at the end of the meal. Princesses came to our table throughout the meal and visited and took pictures with the kids. And I mean ALL the princesses. Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, the works. This was mostly for Audrey, who was shy and wouldn't smile for the camera, but was beaming the minute the princess left and we put down the camera (I've just come to accept that my kids will never both be smiling in a picture). But Dustin loved it too! He thought it was great that chicks came to our table and gave him hugs and kisses on the cheek (such a guy)!

We spent most of our time at Magic Kingdom and all the rides there were so fun with the kids. Dustin got wet on Splash Mountain, and he was mad. He said something like, "I'm just frustrated cause now I'm wet, and I will never ever have this ride again." Sooo funny. And then he was even madder because I was laughing. But he LOVED Big Thunder Mountain, and would have ridden that all day had we let him. Audrey was easy to please and loved pretty much everything she could go on, and she got to go on her first roller coaster ride in toon town. She laughed the whole time. She wasn't scared at all, and it was so cute to watch her laugh.
Soarin and Test Track at Epcot. Dustin's 2 favorite rides. Audrey loved the Nemo ride, and her and I had so much fun wandering around the different tanks and seeing the animals. We watched the most amazing fireworks show, (except for Tim and Dustin because Dustin was deathly afraid of fireworks this time) and rode Spaceship Earth (the giant ball) about 3,236 times because the kids wanted to go on it over and over! I think we need a cruise next. Sigh, I wish I could live on vacation.

Cabin Fever

2010-04-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Let's see...I've had sick kids for a while, which has kept me home bound. I go kinda crazy when I can't go anywhere and the kids are sick and whiny. I pretty much stare at the clock all day and the second Tim walks in the door it's, "Can I please go to the gym. Right. Now?" Poor guy. No, "Hi honey, how was your day?" And the house is spotless and dinner is made. All the opposite, I'm afraid. I assume that whatever happened in his day could not be nearly as bad as taking care of sick kids and can't wait to show him what he missed all day by running out the door. Am I terrible, or what!?!? I should be so grateful that it's me who comforts and holds my kids while they're hurting and be glad for the down time we get to spend at home when someone is sick. Instead, if Tim so much as whispers a complaint about work, it's, "Oh yeah...you wanna know what happened in this house!!" Followed by the many messes and craziness that went on that day. At least I recognize it's unfair, right? And it's not like I'm like this ALL the time. I just make it really apparent when the kids are sick. But seriously, just between you and me, is there any job out there more difficult, more exhausting, more my-head-might-explode-if-I-have-to-keep-my-patience-one-more-second, than motherhood??? I can't even count how many battles I have lost to a 4-yr-old and a 2-yr-old. And I have upwards of 20 years on them!!! On the opposite end though, the amount of times they have made me laugh, made me proud, or that I have felt their love far surpasses anything I vent about. And I guess the daddy's are allowed to complain too. Sometimes ;)

The Best Spring Break Ever!

2010-03-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

Our spring break was so wonderful! The most important thing that happened, was that my two favorite boys in the world had a birthday. My little boy turned 4, and my handsome hubs is in the last year of his 20's. I can't believe it! We had a pirate themed birthday, and Tim made an amazing cake. My Mom and Grandma were here, and we had Uncle Jake and Aunt Jen here for the week. And Cara made a surprise visit so Dustin had his birthday buddy Davin! We went to Chuck E. Cheese, Red Robin, and had our party at the bowling alley. And then, the grown-ups went to see a movie! It turned out to be a pretty good birthday.

It was so fun to have Jake and Jen here! Jake is Tim's younger brother, and he also married a Jen, so there's Tim's Jen and Jake's Jen every time we're together. Anyway, they are such a fun couple! Tim took some time off and we had an amazing week. We went to the coast for the most beautiful, sunny, non-windy day ever, and saw the lighthouse and played in the tide pools. We went to the aquarium, ate at Mo's, and had an all around great day. Jen and I got to go shopping, and see some chick flicks and she did everybody's hair (it's so great to have her as a hair-dresser). We went to Portland for a night and went to Ikea, VooDoo Doughnuts (a long awaited venture for Tim), Jen and I went to a behind the scenes tour of the Pittock Mansion, and played at OMSI. The weather was great up there and we all had fun. I've never been to OMSI before, but it was great for families with kids. Audrey had the most fun in the water exhibits, and Dustin had the most fun in the ball exhibits. It was really interactive and they had so many cool things to do. We finished the trip off with a great dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. There was this amazing balloon guy who was going from table to table and when he got to ours, he made Dustin a Spiderman, and Audrey an Ariel mermaid...out of balloons! WAY beyond anything in my repertoire.

This was Jake and Jen's first visit and I hope they come back soon! Like, next week! Anyway, most of you know that our little foster baby has moved on to another home. There were just too many things that didn't feel right about his case, so we went back to short-term care. I was so devastated to drop him off, and I cried and cried after I left, but I feel a lot better now. I can finally sleep, and shower, and pay more attention to my kids. I don't feel like a zombie anymore! I just have to believe that he will be ok, and know that I did all that I could for him while he was with us. The kids still ask about him, but I think they are happier now that I'm happier.

Well, it's back to real life now. Vacation is over. School is back on. Work-out schedule is back on. I did get Primary help for Dustin. Last week was sooooo much better. Here's hoping everyone has a great Easter! Good Luck! (That's what I tell all Mom's. It's my way of saying, "Whatever you're doing...I hope you manage! ;)

Primary Blues

2010-03-17T13:14:00.001-07:00

This post is a plea for help. Remember when I posted how great Dustin was doing in primary? How he just transitioned without a hitch and everything was great and cute? Yeah, that was for 3 weeks. Week 4 was a total and complete meltdown, and it's been that way ever since. Now it's wailing and screaming that he doesn't like Primary and that he's not going to church and that he wants to go back to nursery. Here are a list of reasons that Dustin has given me as to why he doesn't want to go to Primary.

"Dere aren't any no toys"
"We don't even get any snacks"
"It's toooo long"
"I can't sit into dat chair for such a long time"
"I'm bored of dis"
"I can't even play with any friends"
"I'M NOT GOING!"
"I. DON'T. LIKE. CHURCH!"

I don't even know what to tell him! I feel like he's got some valid reasons. It's not reasonable to expect a 3-year-old to sit still and pay attention for 3 hours...is it? Is mine the only kid who can't handle Primary? I've gone and sat in Primary with him and I understand why he gets bored! Popcorn Popping is not enough to get Dustin wiggles out! I'm totally out of ideas. And me forcing him to go, just makes him resent me, and hate it even more! PLEASE HELP!

I'm Starting to Feel Like a Human Again...

2010-03-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

This was our little trip to the coast and Dustin's first kite flying experience. It was a great day. and the first pic is our little tiny baby. I just thought I should document the good stuff too!

Ok, so having 3 kids has left me almost no time to blog, (or shower, put on makeup, cook, or do pretty much anything that doesn't involve caring for kids!) but, my zombie-like behavior is down to merely laying on the couch all afternoon. And I still haven't gotten enough sleep to do very much cooking. But at least I'm not frothing at the mouth and mumbling incoherently. Well, we still have the foster baby (as you might have guessed). We are only on this list for short-term placement, but it's becoming obvious that this little guy is not going to be short term. So we are trying to decide what will be best for our family. If we keep him, there is a chance that he will be adoptable. There also is a chance that he will not, and we will raise him and be very attached to him, and then have to give him to another family.

I don't know what to do. I feel like it could go either way. I had a really spiritual experience when we first got Audrey, and I knew she was meant to be with us. But I haven't felt that same thing so far. There's moments when I'm sure he's meant to be with us, and other times, I feel...nothing. I don't feel like I've gotten an answer. And having a newborn has been really hard. There is never a time to get caught up on sleep or anything else when you have other kids (who aren't in school). For a while I felt like I had some amazing mothering skills, and I could give everyone the attention they need, and still do my calling and all my other commitments. But that was the honeymoon. And the honeymoon is over. Now I feel tired all the time, I yell at my kids because I'm tired all the time, and our schedule is way too full. I haven't been able to go to the gym much, and that makes a huge difference in my level of grouchiness. I'm in survival mode right now.

My girlfriend asked me the other day why I do it. Well, it is hard to care and love kids that aren't your own. And yet, I honestly feel like this is a calling from Heavenly Father. Not necessarily this baby in particular, but caring for kids who don't have Mom's or Dad's or even a home to live in, or who have come from abusive situations is the gospel at it's most basic. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the sick. I really feel like their little spirits appreciate what we do for them, no matter what the outcome ends up being. The foster system isn't perfect, but these kids really are everybody's children, and if I don't care for this little guy...who will? It is so hard to say no, when we have been given so much, and these kids have nothing. Although, there have been many times I have had to say no. I just don't know if this is one of those times.

Anyway, I appreciate all your love and prayers and support. And thanks for reading my rambling! And just in case my husband reads this, I have to give him some credit because he has been amazing since we got this little guy (not that he wasn't amazing before). But he has totally stepped it up. He gets up for feedings and diaper changes, scrubs toilets, makes meals, and most importantly, he puts up with me. I love you.

And thanks to all our wonderful friends. If any of you feel any inspiration for me...lemme know!

A compliment...

2010-02-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

I got a compliment today. It was exactly what I needed. Thank goodness for the tender mercies of the Lord. Last week we got a newborn baby boy from the hospital to foster. I was a little worried about how the kids would react to a baby, but they have been the best team since we got him. Dustin hold hims and talks about how much he loves babies. "I just loooove babies," he coos. "Boy babies, girl babies...all kinds of babies!" And Audrey is a little mommy and worries about him constantly. So far, he has been an adorable little baby, and sleeps and eats well. But he is a newborn, (10 days old today) and a newborn = no sleep. If I ever said I was exhausted before, I lied. A 3-year-old, a 2-year-old, and a newborn is a whole new level of zombie-like behavior I didn't even know I was capable of. The first weekend we had him, my best friend was in town from Phoenix for a funeral, and I got to stay up late for girls nights, go to movies, and help a little with the funeral. Thank goodness she was here, because she stayed up with me when the baby had his days and nights mixed up, and helped me with the kiddos. But, it also meant I was on the go non-stop for 4 days, and up all night. I got so tired I got myself sick. Then Audrey got sick, then the baby got sick, but thankfully, Dustin and Tim have been just fine!

This all brings me to today, and the compliment that made my day. After finding out this morning that the baby has an ear infection, I picked up Dustin from his Valentine party at pre-school and drove to Wal-mart to pick up the prescription. I was feeling inadequate, and sick, and wondering if I was going to get a shower today. And then Dustin spilled his red berry smoothie all over the back seat (I was so far into zombie mode that I didn't even care). I pulled into the parking lot and unloaded everyone and started walking to the front. Dustin took Audrey's hand to cross the road, and then grabbed onto my hand. They were chatting to me about puddles and Valentines. When we got to the front, a sweet little old lady came up to me and said, "You must be a patient and loving mother to have such good and beautiful children."
...
...

I was so shocked and grateful. Not many people compliment mothering. It's usually the opposite. Granted, she caught me at a good moment, and I definitely am not patient and loving all the time. But it restored faith in myself. I can do this. I may not be doing everything right, but at least I'm doing some things right ;) And every once in a great while...it shows.

Why...

2010-01-19T21:11:00.000-08:00

I remember before my firstborn could speak, I had a conversation with a mom who had kids a little older than mine. It went something like this,
"I love you mommie"
"Awwww, that is so cute! Your daughter is just adorable," I cooed.
"Thanks," The other mom said.
"I'll bet it's really fun when your kid can finally talk to you. I can't wait for Dustin to stop yelling and babbling and start talking."
"Yeah, it is fun, and they do say cute things, but then you have to answer to them all the time."

She was right.

It is fun when your kids start talking, and you get to see more of their personality. BUT, then the questions start. Questions you don't even think a toddler should be capable of asking like, "How do babies get inside Mommy's tummy's? What happens when I die? Why do I have a pee-pee?" (All of which Dustin has asked me) And the mother of all questions that every mom hears at least 3 billion times a day, "WHY?"

I am accosted by why questions all day long by Dustin and Audrey. It's starting to get out of control. I try so hard to be patient and remember that they are curious and learning, but sometimes it just gets ridiculous! Sometimes I think they're saying it out of habit, and sometimes I think they say it just for the heck of it. And one answer is never enough!

"Why do we got a new couch?"
"Because the other one had rips and tears in it, and it started to stink."
"Why?"
"Because you guys jumped all over it, spilled sippy cups on it, and peed all over it."
"Oh...why? Why do we do dat?"
"Well, you two weren't very gentle with the couch, and when you were learning to use the potty you guys had accidents all over it."
"Why?"
"Why what!?!"
"Why we had axcidens all ober it?"
"Because you guys were still learning."
"Oh... ... ... wwwwwhyieeee?"
"AAAAHHHHHHHH."

It's a constant cycle. It's worse than laundry. I guess I should appreciate these days when they want to learn from me and talk to me. But some days I just have to ask the question....why????

And the Winter Blues Set in...

2010-01-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Man, January and February are tough months for me! Christmas is over so there's nothing to brighten up the ugly clouds and horrible darkness that starts creeping in around 4:00 in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure I have SAD or something, because if I wake up to a dark and dreary morning one more time, I might lose it! Oregon winters have always been hard for me. Anyway, the good thing about the holidays being over is that Dustin went back to preschool! He was so excited and ready for it. And so was I. Now that neither of my kids take naps, I'm finding it super difficult to find things to keep them entertained for 12 hours. Every. Single. Day. So it's even harder when I don't have something like preschool to brake up the day. But he is back, and that means my gym schedule is back on, and that is much needed after all my holiday indulging.

My kids keep on getting bigger. Dustin started Primary a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't believe it. I got all emotional leaving him in that big chair next to his teacher. It was just so weird! He's a kid now. I was so worried he would freak out without toys or snacks, but he did great! He was totally reverent is his seat and didn't complain at all. I was the one who kept asking if he was alright, and he just looked up at me like, "Okay...you can go now..." Sigh, it's be the first look of many, I'm sure.

Audrey is getting cuter and sassier by the day. She just had a big growth spurt and has outgrown everything overnight. It's amazing how that happens! One day it fits, the next, goodwill. I absolutely love the way she talks, and most the time I love that she still wants me to hold her. Her favorite things to eat are chocolate and fruit snacks. She'll eat like a bird all day long, but if she gets a hold of either of those, she'll down it in 5 seconds flat. I think she ate nothing but chocolate all holiday long. The only other person who rivals her is my Mom. They share an addiction.

Another thing that's feeding my SAD is that my BFF stay-at-home mommy friend is moving. Our kids have played together almost every single day. We both have kids 15 months apart, and we both like to get out of the house every day, so we've shared countless walks, playdates, birthdays, (her and I also happen to have the same birthday! Weird, huh!) moves, phone calls, EVERYTHING! It's going to be really hard when next week when they're gone. I'm still in the denial phase, but I'm sure it'll start to sink in soon. Anyone who wants a to have a playdate, PLEASE CALL ME!!!! Seriously.

A Very Merry and Cozy Christmas!

2009-12-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Before the hurricane hit our house.

Four generations in this picture.

Making Christmas tarts with Grandma.

We had such a great Christmas this year. My brother came to stay with us from Calgary, my sister and her husband came down from Washington, my Mom and Grandma Brown came from California, and my Dad came from Calgary/Florence. EVERYONE came to see us! It was so fun to have it at our house! They collectively drove almost 3000 miles just to get here, so I really appreciate all their traveling so we didn't have to take the kids anywhere. It was so good to have my family together. Even though my parents are divorced, I'm so thankful they are able to be friends and share holidays together. I hadn't seen my Grandma on my Mom's side for over 2 years, so it was so great to have her stay with us. I really love having company. Number one, it motivates me do deep cleaning I would otherwise hide under the rug, and two, everything is so much more exciting!

Christmas morning was so awesome! There were so many presents under the tree, it was by far a record in our 7 years. The highlight for Dustin was a K-nex roller coaster that the men spent nearly all Christmas day building. They moaned and groaned at the beginning, but they secretly had tons of fun building it together. Boys never grow out of toys! And Audrey got a Disney princess piano and vanity. Totally up her alley. She spent all of Christmas day brushing her hair infront of her mirror. I thought she was 2. Not 14. Anyhow, we successfully made a Christmas dinner (with a minor melt down on my part, long story short, we didn't have salad. It's amazing the things that can be stressful when cooking a formal dinner) and my mom made Christmas tarts with the kiddies for dessert. We had so many goodies and treats that it is seriously time to hit the treadmill. Thanks to all my family for coming to see us and making Christmas fun. Tyson, we have missed you, so glad you could make it!

Preschool and Christmas

2009-12-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

Dustin had a Christmas performance tonight at his preschool. He was a mouse. And I was beaming. I don't think anyone could be prouder of felt ears and painted on whiskers. All of the kids were so adorable. I was so thankful for this moment to remember how precious and beautiful small children are. Because it is so easy to forget! It's sad that these moments are just a blink in time, and then they become family home videos and pictures that get stuffed in the photo album.

Having small children can be so difficult, but the minute your kid puts on a costume and starts singing, it's all worth it. Especially when it's about the Savior.

Halloween!

2009-11-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

We had such a great month getting ready for Halloween! We had our ward Trunk or Treat, which was so fun! I had never been to one before, so it was hard to imagine that walking around to different trunks would be fun, but it totally was! Everyone had such fun decorations and the kids loved it! Dustin took off and went around by himself, and I'm sure he got WAY more candy than he was supposed to. Then we carved pumpkins for FHE with the Webers and they turned out great, (well, maybe I should say Tim carved pumpkins) and we also had Jenalyn and Corbin over to decorate Halloween cupcakes!
Next on the list...getting ready for Christmas!!! Woo Hoo!

In the past couple of weeks...

2009-10-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

We DROVE all the way to St. George in ONE day, which went surprisingly well. The kids were great, and Audrey didn't have one single accident! I was so proud of her! The whole time Dustin kept asking how long this car ride would be, and he also mentioned a few thousand times that he, "really, really, wanted to get out of this car," but for the most part, everyone was happy. After we got to St. George, Audrey got her first hair cut from Aunt Jen,
which was totally cute! Dustin got his hair cut too, and Aunt Jen gave them special treats for not crying. Jen also gave me a super cute short bob that you will see in a later picture. Thanks Jen! The next few days were spent swimming, going to Jumping Jacks and putting up Halloween decorations. Grandma and Poppa had tons of fun crafts and things to do to keep our little ones busy which is so fun for them! Here they are with the pumpkins they made!
At the end of the week, my Mom came and stayed at Tim's parents house for the sole purpose of the trip which was so that I could do the...ba ba buummmmm...St. George Marathon! A marathon is 26.2 miles and I did it! I had never been a runner till I started training, so I was proud of myself for finishing. And if you're wondering how I felt, all you have to do is look at this picture 2 miles before the finish line...
Not my best, I know...really, I think the best comparison for a marathon is labor. I'll have to forget how long and hard it was before I decide to do another one! I have to give a big thank-you to my hubby who was so supportive the whole way through. Love you babe!
After a couple of days of recovery, we took off with Jake and Jen (Tim's brother and sister-in-law. They both married Jen's, isn't that funny!) down to SoCal. We played at Huntington beach, which was beautiful! The sand is so pretty, surfers were everywhere, and we took a walk down the pier and had lunch at the end.
But the day wasn't over yet! Then my mom came and watched the kids and Jake, Jen, Tim and I all went to Universal Studios to watch a taping of the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! I was totally excited! We love Conan, he's such a goof! This is a pic walking down to the Studio.
It was so fun to see how they do things, and we got to see Edward Norton and Kristen Stewart in live person! After that, we went to the Citywalk and had dinner at the Hard Rock, and then we drove down Hollywood Boulevard and saw the red carpet and people in tuxes and realized it was a movie premiere at the Chinese Theatre! How cool are we?!? Such a great date night, and Jake and Jen were really fun to hang out with. The next day was Disneyland Dustin was tall enough to ride almost all the rides!!! Some of them he liked, and some of them he didn't. Space Mountain was a Halloween Ghost theme, and he thought the ghost was a little too scary! But he loved Splash Mountain, Soarin, Pirates, and Bumper Cars.
We thought for sure he would love Thunder Mountain, and he was soooo excited to ride it. This is him right when we got on the train.
And this is him during the ride.
He decided the dark caves were a little too scary, and the train went a little too fast! But nothing held him back, we went on ride after ride! Audrey was a little trooper, she went on everything, and wasn't scared at all! We took time to see some of the Princesses and characters, and the kids loved it! It's so fun to see your kids so excited! Audrey kept hugging them over and over, everyone in line was laughing because she was so cute with them, especially Pooh and Tigger, she probably hugged them 10 times each!
We also met up with my Mom in the evening and we went to a Trick or Treat Party at California Adventure. The kids got to dress up in their costumes and go Trick or Treating all around the park! It was awesome! The decorations were so cool, they had dance pads and DJ's, and you could dance with the characters, and the lines were short! There was a Halloween parade, and Audrey got to dance with Jesse (her favorite). This is the kids in their costumes. Audrey is Cinderella, and Dustin was a pirate. We had so much fun that night!
A good time was had by all. We just love vacation!

Dustin Starts Preschool!!!!

2009-09-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

Dustin started Preschool at Norkenzie and it has been great!! It was hard for me to drop him off the first day. It just felt so strange to not know exactly what he'll be doing for the next 3 hours, and completely trust someone I didn't know to take care of him. And it didn't help that Audrey started crying when we left, "My Dustin, my Dustin...in the classroom... don't leave him." Ug, break my heart! But I was able to go to the gym, shower, and put on a normal outfit with make-up, all before noon! I was so excited to pick him up, but our conversation went like this...

Me: So buddy! How was preschool??? What did you do???
Dustin: We just didn't do anything
Me: Whaddya mean you didn't do anything?? What about all these paintings in your backpack?
Dustin: Paintings?!?
Me: Yeah, it looks like you had fun! How was Miss Mary?
Dustin: Miss Mary?!?!
Me: Miss Mary is your teacher!
Dustin: Oh...Mom...I'm hungry.

I could not get a single detail out of him! He's such a guy! He seems happy when I pick him up, and a couple of times he's asked to stay longer, so I assume everything is ok! Plus he brings home little art projects, and his teacher says he's doing well, so it's all good, I guess. I've enjoyed having a little break and some one-on-one time with Peanut.

I was a little nervous about Preschool, because the week before, we went up the the Zoo and Ikea, which were both really fun, except that Dustin got to go into the playland for the first time, and he had only been in there a short time before the buzzer went off for us to come and get him. So we go down to see what's up. I walk up to the counter with Tim standing beside me and Audrey in the cart. The gal at the playland looks and me and says, "Um, are you Dustin's Mom?" Uh oh. Anytime a babysitter starts with Um, you know it's not good.
"Yep" I said.
She hesitates, "Well...he...uh... keeps on taking off his clothes and running around naked." Before she even finished her sentence, Tim does a U-turn with the cart and heads down some obscure isle, and leaves me, standing there to deal with MY kid. Thanks honey.
"Really," I say, "Huh, well, where is he now?"
"Um, (Again with the UM) he's in the bathroom. He kept saying he had to go potty, but then he'd come out without his pants and underwear on."
"Ooooh, ok, I think I know what happened."
Dustin has an amazing ghetto booty (between Tim and I, he never had a chance!) and it's really hard for him to get his pants up over his butt. So I'm guessing he had to poop, and decided to hold it, but couldn't pull his pants up.
Just then, I hear Dustin in the bathroom yelling at the top of his lungs,
"I'm doooooonnnneeee....come and wipe my buuuuuuummmmmm" over and over.
The babysitter looks at me.
"Well, we aren't allowed to wipe his bum or anything..."
"Oh, Don't worry about it, I'll go in and get him"
"Well, we uh, can't let you in without a supervisor," she sheepishly adds, "I'll call one right now."

And so, I was stuck waiting for 5 whole minutes listening to Dustin yell, with Tim pretending he doesn't know me, and the babysitter trying to make small talk. Alas, the supervisor did come, there was wiping of the bum, and a beeline outta Ikea, because Dustin was screaming his head off that he still wanted to play.
This same policy applies at Preschool, so I was nervous of a repeat, but so far, so good. I totally understand this policy, but at the same time, I don't know any 3-year-old who can do a reliable job in the wiping of the bum department.

As if there isn't enough bodily fluids in my life, we have also decided to start potty training Audrey. We thought she was ready because she's super vocal and smart and she was typically dry after waking up from naps. It's been three weeks now, and she still has no clue before she has to go to the bathroom! If I make an effort to put her on the potty every hour, she usually has a dry day. But she still has only been able to tell us a few times before she goes in her pants! It's getting so frustrating! I keep hoping she will recognize the sensation BEFORE she goes, but so far, not so good. She's all excited about panties, so I don't want to revert back to diapers, but what's a mom to do?? (Besides bite my knuckles so I don't scream and rip my hair out!)
Ahhh, the joys....

Happy Birthday Audrey!!!

2009-09-01T12:26:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my baby is 2!!!! She is such a cutie, a week before her birthday, we had this conversation...

Me: So Audrey, what do you want for your Happy Birthday?!?
Audrey: Ummmm, a pink one!!!
Me: You'd like to have a pink Birthday party?
Audrey: YEAH!!!
Me: Ok, but what would you like to open for your birthday present?
Audrey: PINK one.
Me: You just want pink? Would you like a new dolly?
Audrey: Yeah! A pink one!!

What can I say, the girl loves pink! And so, we had a pink birthday. No theme, just pink. Pink balloons, pink streamers, pink wrapping; it looked like we were having a baby shower! My mom drove all the way up from California and my sister and her husband came down to be there for our little girl. We had a fun family day. We went to see Up, played at Chuck E. Cheese, had lunch at Applebee's and opened a pink frenzy of presents. She's so funny, she gets just as excited about new clothes and shoes as she does about new toys. She's such a girl, and getting so big! I love you so much Peanut!!

Ahhh Summer...

2009-07-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun fourth of July, (So I'm a little behind....BUT at least I'm posting about things in the same month!) we went to St. George and stayed with Tim's parents in the hot, hot, sun. The kids had fun swimming the days away. Dustin went from being afraid to jump into the pool, to finding out he can float with a life jacket, water wings, and an inner tube, to just swimming with water wings, to jumping in over his head without any floatation device whatsoever!!!! (I had to jump in and grab him and then give myself CPR from my heart attack---Dustin was completely unphased, he wanted to jump in again) All within an hour. I cannot get that kid to slow down! Audrey still prefers the stairs on the side, but she's starting to get braver. It was relaxing. My mother-in-law cooked, and gave me breaks from the kids, gave me more awesome clothes. Heaven.
We've done some fun things so far. We had our first family camping experience, in which we did all the packing and setting up ourselves (we went last year with my Dad and Robin, but they pretty much did everything). We stayed up by Elkton one night, and in Loon Lake the next night. And I must say, we did pretty well! My Tenderfoot husband ( I mean it, he never made it past Tenderfoot!) and I, managed to set up a tent and cook in the wilderness for 2 days. A big accomplishment for our little family! Dustin and Audrey had their first s'more experience, and their first fishing experience. Dustin was so excited, and he got the hang of it so quickly! It wasn't long before he could cast better than I could! We got him a little Spiderman fishing rod. We didn't catch anything, but it was still fun. The Becrafts took us wake boarding, and Tim tore it up!
We've been to Splash, had some free lunches at the parks, and have been loving the free wading pool by our house.
This past weekend, we went on a fun adventure to Bend. We just packed up, and left our hot house for the night. All I can say is thank goodness for our Garmin, because it made our impromptu trip so fun! We went to the High Desert Museum which was surprisingly really enjoyable for all of us. They have some neat exhibits, and our kids got to dig for dinosaur bones, get up close to a tiny owl, visit a homestead and saw mill from the 1800's, and learn all about bats and other animals in the high desert. I was worried a museum would be too boring, but they did great, and there were a lot of hands on activities to keep them entertained. The best part...4 and under is free! After that, we cooled off at the Juniper outdoor pool which was so much better than I was expecting. They have a great outdoor kiddie pool with a slide and splash pad and all kinds of water doo dads. If you're going to Bend with young ones, I recommend either of those spots. Oh, and if you get hungry, Pilot Butte Drive-In has some amazingly huge yummy hamburgers. Make sure you split it! Let me know what ya'll are doing to fill your summer days! I'm always looking for fun things to do!

Craziness = Happiness

2009-06-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been crazy! My Mom and sister were in town, and I got to go birthday shopping with them for a day. One thing that my Mom knows how to do really well, is shop. She finds the best deals! I don't know how she does it. I can look at a rack and not see a single thing. She digs through it and finds and entire outfit, on sale, and then she'll find shoes on clearance to go with it! Unfortunately, I did not get the shopping gene, but it's a talent I hope to develop! Hangin with my sis was really fun too. Everywhere we go, we quote movie lines and sing like we're living in a musical. It's not unusual for us to be in a restarunt and inconspicuosly start singing Summer Lovin' while swaying side to side. We've gotten better about not doing it in public, but as soon as we get inside the car, we bust out! It's fun to have someone who's theatrical like me around.
We had an awesome barbeque for Father's Day. The kids made Disney cards for Tim, and Dustin yelled, "Surprise!" when he gave it to him. So cute. We also saw Transformers 2 as part of Father's Day and Tim got to the theatre an hour and a half early so we would have good seats. You don't mess around with Transformers.
Anyway, having lots of family around was fun, and as always, our gatherings revolved around eating out which was great, but here's the problem I have with that...
As many of you know, I am training for a marathon. And it's going really well so far. I've improved my mile time, I feel stronger, and I'm starting to see myself as a real runner (something I never thought would be possible!). In fact, I ran 10 miles in 91 minutes today. And with all this running, one would think that I would most definitly be losing weight. Well, one would be wrong! How is this possible, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. Everytime a food opportunity is presented to me, a little devil on my shoulder pipes up and says, "Of course you can have german chocolate cake with ice cream, you're training for a marathon for crying out loud! Eat the cake! You'll run it off later!" My left brain can't seem to find any false logic to this statement and so....I give in! All the time! Like a billion times a day! I need help people! Or I am going to be rolling the 26.2 miles!
Sheesh! Everything else is going really well though. I am so ready for summer! The kids are great. Dustin is saying the funniest stuff right now. Audrey is starting to potty train, which is so hard for me! It feels like so much work. And I'm in battle with myself over whether or not she's ready. She willingly goes on the potty, when I put her on it, but she isn't at a point where she can tell me if she needs to go--alas the struggle. But look at how cute she is!

My Forever Family

2009-06-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 6, 2009

We got to go to the temple today to have our little girl sealed to us forever. I have to say, I feel so lucky to be able to have seen both my babies in white inside the temple! My chaperon said it is our reward for everything we had to go through to adopt her. It was such a special experience. Nothing compares to the awesome feeling and power of a sealing. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and Dustin and Audrey looked like angels. When Dustin came into the sealing room he kept on saying, "Is this the flying room?" My dear friend Ann suggested that maybe that meant something because the veil is so thin to little children. I'd like to think he could see angels. He also kept calling Audrey and I princesses. I was so overwhelmed with love for my little family. Having Audrey's little hand on the alter was so precious. It definitely strengthened my testimony of families and temple work. My amazing Grandma surprised me again and was sitting inside the sealing room when we walked in. She drove all the way from Calgary just for the day so she could be there for the sealing. I have to say how much I love and appreciate my Grandma for coming to every special occasion. My sister and her husband also came down for the day which made it even better.

Tim's parents were there too, and we have been having so much fun with them this weekend. We've gone to the Science Factory, Hendricks Park, and had tons of great food and laughs. And then we topped it all off with a great trip to the temple.

Thanks to Brain and Ann, James, and Chris and Tricia for coming all the way up to support us. It was special to see you all there. And thanks to everyone else who wanted to be there, but couldn't! We still felt all your love!

She's Finally Ours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Audrey Elizabeth Hess

Our final, final, final, paperwork finally arrived!!! I just have to say how happy and blessed I feel to be able to have this little girl. She is such a blessing to our family and I love her to pieces. Somehow the Spirit touched me the very first day she came to our door. I had such a wonderful feeling that we knew each other, and we had already agreed to be together. She has been the very best baby in the whole world and I am so excited to watch her grow into the beautiful girl she already is.

Our sealing is set for June 6th at 2:00pm. We would love any of our friends and ward family to be there. Just give me a call and let me know if you plan on coming so I can tell them how many people to expect. Thanks for all of your support through our long journey and for loving Audrey!

Craft Day!

2009-05-20T12:56:00.001-07:00

Anytime I do anything arsty and crafty on my own, without help-- it's a big deal for me. I'm artistic, but not in a crafty sense. So the other day Dustin was bored out of his mind and I was feeling adventurous and found something online that we could do together. (It also happened to be the only one I had all the supplies for!) I'll give you my own instructions because the web site didn't have pics and was really vague.

We made a little crab!!!

You can do it too! All you need is

A paper plate
Sand
Egg carton (for eyes)
Red construction paper
Glue

Just take the paper plate and have your kid put glue all over the top of it. Then have them sprinkle sand all over the top till it's completely covered. Next cut out your crab legs and pinchers while the glue is drying. Then fold the plate in half and glue the legs on in between the plate halfs. You can either staple or glue your crab together (just know that glue takes longer to dry and needs some pressure to keep it shut) Then cut out two eyes from the egg carton and glue those on top! Voila!

Dustin had super fun making this and played with it for days afterward. Good luck!

Notes From a Slacker....

2009-05-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

I know you all have given up on my blog, and I really can't say I blame you! My only defense is that I am a serious procrastinator and always think I'll have time to do it later...

...

...

Just kidding! I will finally take a moment to update. Since I'm so lame, let me start back at Easter. My kids had adorable Easter Sunday outfits thanks to my mother-in-law. Dustin wore his first clip-on tie. Audrey wore an adorable purple flower dress. The kids got to do 3 Easter egg hunts over the weekend and we had a yummy feast in Florence with our good friends Brian and Ann. We still have leftover candy from all the festivities. And I have a leftover 5 lbs.

Other than that, things have just been really busy over the past few weeks. Tim has been so bogged down with school, work, and church stuff, that he really needs another vacation.

Dustin started gymnastics and that has been really fun to watch. He bounces around like a monkey on speed and the teachers are constantly having to get him off the equipment.

Audrey is talking so much and knows exactly what she wants. I constantly hear, "I don wan it!" or, "top id du-tin." (stop it Dustin) It's amazing how different boys and girls are. Audrey is so much more emotional and dramatic, but she's also able to sit quietly and entertain herself, which Dustin has never been able to do. The best news is that our paperwork has been sent to the judge and we get our final adoption decree and new birth certificate next week!!!!!! I can't wait. I knew she was ours the moment we got her and it will feel so good when it is all done. I also can't wait for the sealing. That will be really special for our family.

I had a great mother's day. Tim got me flowers, let me sleep in, and took care of the kids, which is a treat in itself. Cari and I took our kids to a mother's day breakfast at the community center on Sat, which was really fun, and Tim made a fantastic steak dinner on Sunday. Perfect!

This week we went to the Zoo for $2 Tuesday and I was totally impressed. I thought it was really kid oriented and they had a ton of different animals and exhibits. They also had great viewing areas so the kids could actually see all the animals. I've been to other zoos where every single animal was inside a cave or something and I felt like it was a waste of money. The kids got to get right up close to everything and they loved it!

Our good ol' station wagon puttered out on us and we had to get a new car. We opted for a minivan for more space and seats and started our quest. One of the things I hate about being a grown-up is car shopping. We went around to pushy dealers all day, couldn't find anything we really felt great about, almost got a Chrysler Town and Country, but we called our mechanic to ask him about it and he said he was at an auction and he would keep an eye out for us. It just so happened that a Honda Odyssey went through and we bid on it and got it! It all worked out great. I feel like an official Mom now that I have a mini-van!

One more final note, I entered my name into the St. George marathon, which is really hard to get into, and I got in! On October 3rd, I will be running 26.2 miles. I'm super excited, scared, nervous, and am going to need tons of help! More posts on this to come, but I wanted to let you all know I'm in...and there's no way out!

You'll never guess where we went on vacation....

2009-04-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

Disneyland! Again! Tim especially loves Disney anything. I really love it too. And both the kids love the Disney channel, so we go there anytime we get a chance. Tim had a week break from school and we spent it in sunny SoCal. The kids did great on the drive down and we spent 4 magical days at Disneyland. Well...here's the thing, most peoples blogs tend to be super positive and perfect, and I could tell ya'll only the great things that happened and how wonderful and perfect the whole trip was, but I'm going to tell you exactly how traveling with two small children in a packed park goes.
Day one: Super fun morning, we went to California Adventure and the kids absolutely loved the Toy Story ride and A Bugs Land. I was a little worried they would get scared on the rides but they both absolutely loved them! That's all they wanted to do over and over. But the park started to get packed and it was hard to get on any of the rides. So we went to the Playhouse Disney show, where we forgot our brand new camera on the floor, and no one turned it in! So all the cute pics we had of our first day were gone along with our camera. Then we got a spot early to watch the Pixar parade, which Dustin feel asleep right before, and grumpily woke up because of the noise and watched the whole thing with a big frown. Then the break-downs started happening. Right around 6:00. We left the park early but the poor kids couldn't sleep at all that night because they picked up a nasty cough.

Day two: Dragged two extremely tired kids to a very packed Disneyland at 8:00am for Magic Morning Hour. The good news was that their cough seemed to go away in the morning and eventhough they were tired, we got to ride all the kiddie rides in Fantasyland which they loved. They loved Dumbo and the Choo choo train and Peter Pan was a big hit. Here we are waiting to go on the ride.

They were so tired by lunch that was had to go back to the hotel so they could take a nap. Mom and Dad were pretty tired by then too! We came back to the park later and got to go on a few rides and then parked it early to find a spot for the fireworks. One of the workers told us where a good spot was and we found a bench and waited. The kids were tired and said they wanted to go home, but we were determined to see the show. Finally the show started and the fireworks started going off right behind a big tree. We couldn't see a thing! It was a horrible spot! The worker lied! Irritated, we packed up the kids and went back to the hotel, which is where the kids wanted to be anyway.

Day 3: We finally slept in and got to the park at a decent hour. We did Toon Town all morning which was really fun, except that it once again, got really busy. But we did get to see Mickey and ride the roller coasters and after that we went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. I've never been to one so it was kinda fun to watch the animals and lightening storms, and the wrap I had was delicious! But before we went in to eat, Dustin had the biggest melt down of his life. I carried him down stairs that he apparently wanted to walk down himself, and he started screaming and rolling on the sidewalk yelling, "I need to go down BY MINE SEEELLLLFFFF" over and over again. Everyone was rolling thier eyes at me like I was a horrible mother. There was no consoling him. I just sat beside him till he was finished and booked it to the hotel after we were done eating! We came back later in the evening and rode some of the bigger rides when the kids were happier. Dustin's favorite ride was the Matterhorn, and he does this really funny fake scream on all the rides. It cracked me up. Check it out

Day 4: The kids were pretty much zombies by the fourth day and Audrey spent a good portion of the morning asleep in the stroller, and Dustin fell asleep on my shoulder for most of the afternoon (4 days of theme parks is too much for kids under 3, take my word for it!) But I really enjoyed the Aladdin show while he was sleeping and Audrey loved all the animals and the magic carpet. We ended the day with the amazing fireworks show that left me misty eyed. Audrey fell asleep in the middle of it, and Dustin thought it was loud, but Tim and I loved it!

The rest of the time we spent catching up on sleep, going to the Aquarium of the Pacific and seeing all the fish and touch pools, hanging out at Newport beach and Balboa Island, and swimming in the awesome water park at our hotel. Now it's back to normal life and regular sleeping schedules and that makes me happy!

Happy Birthday Dustin and Tim!!!!

2009-03-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Dustin and Tim's birthday!! My baby boy is 3, and my handsome hubs is 28! I feel bad that Tim has to share his birthday, so we are making a tradition to go out just the two of us on a day he doesn't have to share with Dustin. This year we went shopping and went out to eat together which was really fun. I love eating out without the kids.
We had a small get together at Putters for Dustin and had tons of pizza, cupcakes and ice cream. We had a Mickey Mouse themed year since we are going to Disneyland pretty soon. Dustin loved it! He got to play golf which is one of his favorite things to do right now, and had a blast running around the playground. Both Dustin and Audrey ate all the frosting off their cupcakes and left the rest. The highlight present was a big boy Lightning McQueen bike for Dustin and a brand spankin new ipod for Tim. I love both my boys so much! Happy Birthday!

We're Baaaaack!

2009-03-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

We were gone for so long, but we are finally back and things are normal. The kids and I had a blast in St. George and I had so much fin with all the Oregon girls and I even got to fly to Phoenix to see my best friend. It was hard to leave the kids at the in-laws without Tim there, and to make it even harder, I got a call right before I got to the airport to go to Phoenix that Dustin had to get stitches in his forehead!! He was playing on the playground and smacked his head on the rock structure after he ran around a corner. I guess he only cried for a minute and then he wanted to go play some more with blood gushing out of his head, but grandma and grandpa took him to Urgent Care to get stitched up. And my little man didn't even cry once! He wasn't scared or anything. Six stitches later, he was rippin around like nothing even happened. It was so hard for me to not be there with him, but they assured me he was fine and to go on my trip. So this is Dustin's first big owie! (The first of many, I'm sure)
What a little toughie! Other than that little mishap, we had so much fun. It was sunny and 70 degrees in St. George and it got up to 90 when I was in Phoenix! It was so great to see Chelsea and Tara (miss you guys!) and it was really nice to have a little break at Kimmy's house. She let me sleep in and took me out to eat everyday! It was so great to see her and her family. I have to give a big thank-you to my in-laws because they spoiled us rotten and got me and the kids tons of new clothes and toys. And thanks to Jen, who squeezed me in to cut and color my hair. Do you guys like me as a dark brunette??

A big thank-you and I love you to my hubby, who cleaned the house, painted and redecorated our bedroom, changed all the sheets, and shampooed the carpets while we were gone. Do I have the best guy or what?? I missed you so much babe!

I have to give a huge shout-out to my girl Ann, for helping me SO MUCH on our flight home. She just so happened to be riding our same flight back home and she helped me with our luggage and carried the kids, and then when our plane had to be redirected and we had to get on a different plane, she switched seats so we could sit together and entertained my kids the whole 3 hours we were stuck at the airport and on the plane. Heavenly Father blessed me so much and I felt so grateful to have a friend who was willing to go above and beyond to help me. I love you Ann!!!

It was so great to have a little break but I am very happy to be back home. I have tons more updates that I'll post soon. Missed you guys!

6th Folder, 6th Picture...

2009-02-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

My sis tagged me and the rules are that you have to open your 6th folder and post the 6th picture inside that folder and say a little about it. So...this is my sisters high school grad at Tuachan School for the Performing Arts in St. George, UT. For those of you who don't know, I grew up with a family of gypsies. This is my family and my awesome Grandma. This was such a tough year for all of us. I think we all were bawling in that picture. My sis had spent her senior year alone without family (except for my crazy aunt) and Tim and I had just moved from St. George to Florence to help my Mom work things out with my Dad. Yeesh. But Rachel did great at that school and had an awesome duet she sang at her grad ceremony. I feel like I look way younger in that picture than I do now. (Can 5 years and kids really age you that bad??!!) If any of you ever get a chance to see a performance at the Tuachan ampitheatre, take it!! It's all outdoors nestled in the red rock. It's beautiful. I love outdoor performances.
Rummaging through my folders also made me realize how horribly disorganized our pictures are! Does any one else have this problem?? I have a husband who likes to label folders things like, "Dustin Playing" or "Our Vacation" or "Pictures of the Mountains". Um...Hel-looo...how am I supposed to know how old Dustin was or what he's doing in any of those pictures or which Disneyland vacation it was or what the heck mountains he's talking about??!!!?? He's recently gotten better and made me a promise to try and be better organized as far as our computer files go, but we've already got so many pictures that I feel like it's impossible to try and put them all in chronological order! So they just keep sitting in folders that don't make sense. I can't totally blame Tim, because for a long time i didn't even know how to load the pics from the camera onto the computer. I'm pretty technologically challenged since I've become a stay at home mom. And did I ever finish either of the kids' baby books. Why no!-- No I did not. I am also craft deficient. I can't even seem to print pictures and put them in an album. I need some serious help!!!

On another note, I am going to be flying solo with the kids to St. George to visit some friends while the kiddies stay with the in-laws. I need some advice about flying with a 17-month old and an almost 3-year old. The flight is nonstop, but it's a little over 2 hours long. All I can think of is that it's like 2 back to back sacrament meetings by myself!!! Let me know if any of you guys have done this before and what you did to keep your kids entertained.

Nothing to say...

2009-02-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't been writing because I haven't had anything interesting or fun or exciting things happening. My best excuse is that I had really sick kids for almost a month. They got huge sores in their mouths and throats that lasted for a long time. It was so sad. They couldn't eat, they couldn't sleep. They just wanted to be held all day. I started to go kind of crazy with sick cranky kids all day, so when they got a little better I went up to my sisters in Kennewick for 2 days. We watched movies and ate at Red Lobster which I love! A much needed break. Thanks sis.
Lets see...I got a phone call from our adoption worker a couple weeks ago who said that corporate is ready to start the finalization process!! Woo hoo! It shouldn't be too much longer now. As soon as we have a date we can schedule a sealing and she will finally be ours! I'm a little nervous because we have to have a 3 way call with her birth mom tonight to discuss open adoption guidelines. Everyone pray it will go well for us and things will move quickly!
Tim is doing fantastically amazing in his classes and I am so super proud of my husband for being able to work full time, go to school full time, and have a family full time. He has gotten A's in every one of his classes, and still manages to spend time with the kids and take me on an occasional date. Did I mention he is also the ward mission leader? Yeah, my husband rocks.
Dustin is totally and completely potty trained. For a long time pooping was really scary for him. He wouldn't poop for 4 days in a row, and then he would be painfully constipated-- totally not helping my "pooping on the potty is fun" act. But, we persevered, he got over it, and now he poops everyday! I love not changing diapers!! I love the extra moolah too!
Well, I think that's all the updates I have for now. I wish I had something fun and witty to tell you, but what can I say? I'm boring!

Take a picture....

2008-12-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

The other day the kids were sitting on the couch watching Imagination Movers. We just love those guys! I think their show is so great. They use their imaginations to solve problems. They call them "idea emergencies." And their music is fantastic! Fun for kids, but hip enough for grown-ups to kinda sorta admit they love it too! Anyway, this song came on called Take a Picture and it's this really sentimental song about taking a picture of all the cool stuff kids do, and how they're growing up so fast. And the chorus has a line that says, these are the days for our memories. I was looking at them, sitting there, with that sweet music playing. And I suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion. Tears streaked down my face as I realized how BIG they are. Dustin is officially wearing underwear, and has done really well on the potty, he debates with me about everything, (I remember posting a while back how great it was that he could talk just enough that I know what he wants, but not enough that everything is a debate...oh yeah, I'm in debate city these days) and he is in love with airplanes, helicopters and cars. He always knows exactly what he wants, (it's never a nap) and he says the sweetest things at the most unexpected times. The other day we were driving in the car and Dustin pointed at me and said, "Mommy, you beautiful" and then he pointed at Tim and said, "Daddy you a boy." I laughed so hard. What a sweetie. One of my favorite things he does right now is wander around singing the ABC's in total disorder. It seems like such a short time has passed since he was cradled in my arms, and suddenly he's independent and so...big. He wants to do everything on his own. His favorite phrase right now is, "I wan to do it by mine-self!" Big emphasis on the self. Audrey is a fun little toddler. She is so beautiful with a sweet soprano voice. She sounds like a little fairy. She has quite the vocabulary. I would guess she can probably say about 50 clear words, which is pretty exceptional for a 16-month-old. Her favorite words right now are, "mine, no, food" and "high chair." She already loves shoes and dresses. She picked out her own Christmas dress because when I held it up to see how long it would be on her, she snatched it from me and walked away saying, "mine, no, mine!" I can't believe how early it starts. There must be something innate in us women. She also loves to give kisses. She probably leans in for a kiss 10 times a day. These are the days for our memories.
Looking at them through tear-stained eyes, I jumped between them on the couch and snuggled them close. I, of course, take tons of pictures. But I don't think pictures will be enough when I'm old and they are grown. I'll want to hold them and see them in their beds asleep. I'll want to pick them up and snuggle them on the couch. I'll want to chase them and listen to them laugh. There are some days it feels like having kids at home won't end soon enough, but there are many other days that I wish it could last forever.

Resolutions...

2008-12-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas ended up not being so lonely after all! My sister and her husband came down from WA and surprised us Christmas eve, and both my mom and dad came to our house Christmas day. It was kinda fun, hosting Christmas for the family. I remember being little and loving having holidays at our house with lots of friends and relatives. I think my kids probably feel the same way because they loved all the extra attention and goodies. I was so thankful this year, probably more so than I ever have been, for all that we have. I'm so thankful for a husband who loves me, 2 beautiful, healthy, kids. I'm so grateful Tim has a job during these unstable times. I'm so grateful for our home. So many have lost their homes. I should never complain about maintaining my home, what a blessing to have one! I think the number of people in need this year was bigger than it has been in the past. I've heard some tragic stories about people and families not able to make ends meet. I felt a twinge of guilt when my kids started opening up their presents. I felt like I should have done more to help others, that I didn't really look to find those in need. In that moment, I resolved to give more of what I have this year. Since we've been married, I've felt as though we've had little to give. I was always one of those "if I had I would give," people. But we have been so blessed and many are struggling far worse than we. I think I can officially throw that excuse out the window. So please everyone, if I start to complain and get a little selfish, remind me that I put it out there for the whole blog world to witness, that I am going to try, try, try, and be more self-less. Happy New Year to you all!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-11T14:48:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! This time of year always get so busy with activities and party's and presents, I just wanted to leave a quick little note to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. I hope your testimonies are renewed and the Spirit touches your heart. It's going to be a lonely Christmas at our house this year. No family is coming to visit us, and we're not traveling to be with family or anything, so if anyone out there is lonely too, come on over! The more the merrier! I'm also on the lookout for good Christmas family traditions. One tradition that Tim's mom does is buy everyone a set of Christmas pj's that they open Christmas eve and everyone puts on Christmas jammies and has a pajama party. I thought that would be a fun one to carry on. So if you have any good ideas, write me a post!

Battle of the Buldge...

2008-11-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

I've had this ongoing battle ever since we got back from vacation. It's me vs. the scale and the scale is winning. No matter how hard I try I can't beat it! The number stays the same! I'm not one of those people who constantly worry about weight, and I am definitely a pro-eater of all foods, but none of my jeans fit! My "fat" jeans have gotten a little tight, and my "skinny" jeans (0r fasting jeans as I like to call them) won't even button up! I'm not writing this for sympathy or using some warped method to get compliments, it's just so baffling that a woman can spend hours at the gym, eat nothing but salad, and only lose 2 lbs. While a guy could do the same thing for the same amount of time and lose like, 17 lbs! Why does it have to be so hard??? I keep on wishing there was some sort of weight loss judge that could grant me clemency. The judge would say something like, "Well---I've noticed you haven't been able to turn down chocolate cake, and you seem to be a carb-addict, but I've decided to grant you 5 lbs in weight loss anyway." And with a wave of his hand, my 5 lbs would be gone and my scale would stop laughing at me. Sigh, if anyone does anything that works without the use of a weight-loss judge, let me know.

In other news, I've gotten to do all kinds of fun stuff lately. Tim and I got free tickets to the Duck football game last Saturday with my Dad and his girlfriend. We had a free parking pass, so we got to barbecue burgers before the game and everything! We'd never been to a Duck game before so it was super-fun to see everyone in their Duck gear and hear how loud it really is. We screamed our heads off and gave high-fives after every touch down. We won, the weather was perfect, and it was the last home game, so it was even more fun! Here's a pic of Tim and I living it up at Autzen.
Let's see, I saw the new Bond movie which was pretty good. Action packed, but slower paced than the first one. We took my Mom out to Olive Garden for her birthday which is always a good time for me because (as mentioned earlier) I love food! We had a farewell party for my brother who moved in with my Grandma in Calgary. Miss ya Ty! We had a movie night at home with all kinds of snacks and beef sandwiches and watched Kung-Fu Panda. Cute show. We also tried a new place called Chicken Bonz in Springfield. It was really good! Kids eat free and the chicken is sooo tasty. Try it if you haven't! I wonder why it's so hard to lose weight and all of my fun times revolve around food....sheesh

6 years...

2008-11-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

On this day six years ago, I woke up to find clouds overhead in the St. George desert. My bridesmaids still didn't have shoes to wear with their dresses, and I discovered that my wedding shoes had been inadvertently packed away in a box, lost in the black hole storage unit. I too, was shoeless. So my Mom, obviously irritated, went to find shoes for us while we went to get our hair done. The hairdresser sighed at my grown-out highlights, muttering some comment about ruining her up-do. She glanced at my unpolished nails and asked me what I planned to do with them. Looking at my blank stare, she rolled her eyes and pulled a set of fake nails out of her pouch. But I didn't care. I wasn't one of those girls who had fantasized about her wedding day since birth. In fact, three months ago was the first time I had ever heard of a color scheme. Highlights, shoes, and nails were all details that any normal bride probably would have obsessed over. I felt kinda sheepish while she applied my shiny new nails, but I really could have cared less. All I knew, was that today, I was getting married to a guy I loved more than life itself.
So when we returned home late from hair and make-up, my already irate mother started to boil over because for some unknown reason, she had scheduled pictures to be taken before the ceremony that we were now incredibly late for. Determined not to let anything bother me today, I dressed as quickly as I could, but fate has a way of pushing irate mothers to new heights. While dressing into my gown, a cut on my thumb got caught and ripped off a scab that put very noticeable dots of blood all over my newly pressed wedding dress. If my mother had boiled over earlier, this was something probably resembling hysterics. I don't remember much, except that we didn't talk on the car ride there and my dress was spot free. But I didn't care. I only wanted to see Tim.
The pictures that were supposed to be taken outside in front of the temple were totally impossible because a flash flood and a monsoon of rain decided to make it's debut for the first time in months. I finally discovered why Flood Street was called Flood Street which you conveniently had to drive down to get to the reception. We also discovered that the wrong address had been printed on the invitations for our reception when people started driving through the flood to the adjacent church a few blocks away. That one kinda frustrated me. But all I really wanted and cared about was holding me tight, smiling at every hurdle. And it's pretty much been that way ever since.
Looking back now, I wish I could do it all over again. I've developed a little more taste for nice hair and color schemes and there's a ton that I would do differently. We couldn't help the weather, but it would have been nice to not have gotten soaked on our wedding day. Maybe that's why so many smart brides choose spring or summer weddings over fall. But, the guy in the tux would still be the same. I would still choose him over everything else. And although the actual day was a semi-disaster, I still look back thinking I was the luckiest bride in the world.

Halloween Fun!

2008-11-03T22:21:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween! Dustin was a bat, and Audrey was a ladybug. We had a huge struggle trying to get Dustin to put on his costume because he thought it was way too scary. I picked it up at Old Navy thinking it was so cute and also boyish so Tim would approve, but when we tried to put it on him, he started bawling and said it was too scary! We finally convinced him it was a flying pig costume and I warned him no one would give him any candy if he didn't wear a costume, so he willingly put it on for Halloween. They were so cute! Dustin absolutely loved ringing doorbells and saying trick or treat for candy! He thought it was the greatest night ever!

This is the pumpkin that Tim spent like 2 hours carving. (He's very proud of it)

Dustin met up with his friend Davin to hit up some houses. They're holding hands, so stinkin cute!

Fall!

2008-10-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

This year has been one of my favorite falls throughout all my time in Oregon. It hasn't been too rainy, in fact, it's been quite sunny and warm most days. The leaves are changing such bright colors and the trees in Eugene are gorgeous right now. We've been able to go outside a lot and Dustin loves playing in the leaves. Audrey likes to eat them. She's walking all over the place now and has a huge vocabulary. Her first word was "hi" and every time she sees a phone she picks it up and says, "hi" into the receiver. The best news so far is that we've turned in our adoption paperwork!!! Woo hoo! We just have to pass our 2 hour interview and home inspection and then it's just a matter of time before it gets finalized. For anyone who's confused about her name change, we picked Audrey Elizabeth Hess for her new birth certificate. Her birth name was Liz, but we like Audrey better. So everyone please pray for us that things will go quickly and smoothly and she can finally be ours!!

Here's a few pics of our trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Dustin loves feeding the goats and driving the tractor. He asks to go to the farm at least once a day.

The Best Vacation Yet...

2008-09-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

We just got back from vacationing in St. George! I'm happy to be home, but a little overwhelmed now that I'm back to reality. We've been gone for 2 weeks, which is the longest vacation I've ever had (not including school breaks). We stayed with Tim's parents, who spoiled the kids, and spoiled me because they cooked, cleaned, babysat, and even took me shopping! Now that I'm home, food doesn't get served to me, I remembered I'm the server! And the house doesn't magically get cleaned nor do the dishes wash themselves at my house either. Bummer. Also, there's the tiny issue of bills I've been evading for the past couple of weeks. Those didn't appear in my name...till I got home. But, we had a great time. Tim and I left the kids for the first time ever and took off to sunny So Cal totally alone! It was strange at first. I felt guilty for leaving the kids, and it was almost intimidating to go somewhere alone with Tim. I realized that we haven't had a vacation together without family or friends since our honeymoon! In almost 6 years, we've never gone somewhere alone together! But that all changed last week. We got to meet my best friend Kimmy and her new hubby Alex at Magic Mountain to ride some awesome roller coasters and then Tim and I went to Disneyland completely alone! It was like a second honeymoon! 4 days away from the kids was hard, but it was refreshing to spend some time with my hubby! Here's some highlights of the past two weeks...

1) Our first day, we went to a HUGE indoor/outdoor waterpark with super fun kid and toddler zones that both Dustin and the baby loved. We unfortunately forgot our camera for that event.

2) But, we went to another outdoor waterpark that we did catch on film. This is the kids at the Mainstreet park that has a little stream and wading area with waterfalls.

3) Tim took me to see Les Mis at the outdoor Tuachan Ampitheater. Totally awesome! It's nestled in Snow Canyon so all you see is huge bright red cliffs around the stage and the show was incredible!

4) We also hiked through Snow Canyon and had a picnic in the shade. The Canyon is so gorgeous and I loved the hot dry heat. Here's Tim with the baby and the canyon in the background.

5) We did two hikes at Zion National Park. This is a must-see-before-you-die park. The hikes are amazing, the views are breathtaking and it's home to the best cheeseburger I've ever had. Here we are along the Virgin River on our way to the Narrows.

6) This is Kim and I waiting in line at Magic Mountain. We did alot of waiting because it was packed! But the roller coasters were totally worth it. Kim and Alex are a super fun couple to hang out with. Love ya Kimmy!

7) After shopping, and going out to eat with my BFF, Tim and I headed down to Disneyland. No lines, great weather, and best of all no kids! Every time I started to feel bad about leaving our kids, we passed parents with screaming kids, and I felt better. It was great to enjoy the park together and do all the stuff that's hard to do with little ones. We went late night swimming at the hotel, went out to eat and actually got to enjoy our food! Anyway, here's a little shot of Tim and I with Wall-e!

We've only been back one day and I'm ready for another vacation!!!!!!

Terrible Two's...

2008-09-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

The other day Dustin and I were taking a nap together...or so I thought. Turns out I was asleep while Dustin was "doing laundry". I woke up to find this...
...beside my bed. He had taken every single article of clothing out of the dressers and put them all in a huge pile. Underwear, socks, jeans, pjs, everything! Not only that but, I opened my eyes to find Dustin laying in the pile (*WARNING* this next bit may be for Moms only, stop reading if you have a sensitive gag reflex) saying, "little poop Mom, little poop," with his diaper halfway pulled down and poop all over the clean clothes. (This picture is minus the poopy clothes) SO FUN. Only not. As if that wasn't a big enough mess to clean up, he also hit up the bathroom and pulled everything out of those drawers.
Including an entire box of tampons. Nice. Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a day that I won't have to clean up poop or find a catastrophic mess after leaving my kids alone for 2 seconds! Oh, and Dustin also took out my makeup and put on mascara. I couldn't be mad for that one though. How can you resist this face!!
I'll look back and laugh one day...right??

Updates...

2008-07-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I have been slacking...big time. But when the rain finally dries up and the sun starts to shine, I put off all the inside house-y things (like spending time on the computer) and focus on going as many places as we possibly can! (I have a tremendous laundry pile and a half-painted bathroom to prove it)
Summer has been great so far. The weather has been perfect with only one day of rain in the past month. Which of course, is one day too many for me. But we have had plenty of great, dry, even borderline hot, weather to have some fun adventures.
Firstly, I joined 6,000 others who felt the need to get up at 6am and run several miles on our country's most celebrated holiday. (Someone told me it's the Eugeneian way!) Yes, I ran the 4th of July Butte to Butte. Besides being lost for a couple of hours at the end, it was actually a pretty fun run. Lot's of hype and music. Thanks to Robin for sticking it out with me! You did great girl!
We spend the rest of the day boating with a few other families which was my favorite part of the day. The clouds cleared, the sun began to shine, we cruised around, wake-boarded, laid out in the sun, ate tons of unhealthy food....perfect. Then we went to another friends house and ate more unhealthy food and spent the whole night blowing up 100 dollars worth of fireworks. The guys obviously enjoyed that part the most and kept saying something about it being their patriotic duty.
Shortly after that, I got introduced to the Twilight world. I know I'm a little late, because this has been over the blog world for quite some time now. But put a chalk line up for me...I'm hooked. I finished the first 3 in a week. I think you all know how obsessed I am. I don't know how I'm going to function in the real world when Breaking Dawn comes out. I'll be there this Friday at midnight to get my reserved copy finally! I don't know how all the rest of you could stand waiting a year between saga's!! I had a hard time waiting 3 weeks!
When I was able to will myself out of Bella-and-Edward-land, we spent a weekend at the coast and went to the Newport Aquarium. So fun! I mean, it's not exactly Sea World, but really amazing for Oregon attraction standards. The kids had fun. Dustin loved the shark tunnel, and the jellyfish exhibit. Worth doing if you haven't done it before.
We've had lots of fun hiking adventures. Sweet Creek Falls has been one of my favorites so far. It's a breathtaking trail by Mapleton with beautiful waterfalls and cliffs. We had 4 Moms and 10 kids that day so it was a big group. The kids had fun catching salamanders and swimming, we had a picnic lunch in the sun by the river, swam some more, and headed back. Thanks to all the brave Moms who went with me!
Kristine introduced us to a great spot to go blueberry picking on a cute little farm south of town which was a really great way to entertain the kids. And the blueberry's were so cheap!! I'm never buying them from Costco again! I'm so glad Kristine has been willing to take us out to these places because it's always been so fun and satisfying. There's something about gathering your own food. It's almost therapeutic.
Finally, we just came back from visiting my sister in Kennewick. We got to watch the hydro-boat races on the Columbia gorge which was really neat to see. And Tim got to visit some old friends (he went to high-school there) which was also fun. The weather was so beautiful. I think 90 is perfect! Thanks seester for hosting a fun weekend!
Thanks again to all my Mom friends who has made this summer so much fun! I would be completely bored without you and I'm making a new rule that none of you are allowed to move away unless I give permission!!!

So there!

Surprise visits and summer fun....finally!

2008-06-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little late, but I wanted to give a shout out to my dear Grandma who drove all the way from Calgary, Alberta to surprise me for my birthday. I heard the doorbell ring shortly after my sister had arrived from Kennewick to celebrate my b-day, and lo and behold, my Grandma was standing there with a huge card in front of her face!! I knew it was her right away and was so shocked and excited. I almost wanted to cry because when she had asked me earlier what I wanted for my birthday, I told her I wanted to see her more often! And she drove all that way despite horrible gas prices for just one weekend! My Grandma is an amazing woman and I love her so much!! Here she is surprising me at the door and my big happy family. Also, Tim has tried to beat my dad arm wrestling pretty much our whole marriage to no avail...until the infamous match at Olive Garden. My dad had to cheat to put Tims down. We'll never know who really won, and there's been some serious debate, but I think Tim woulda taken him down!! Go Hubby!!

Also, I wanted to say how incredibly grateful I am that the sun has finally decided to shine, and in celebration we have bought an outdoor slide for the backyard, a little pool for the kids to swim, and have gone on many outdoor adventures. Thanks to Kathy and Chelsea for taking me hiking! We went strawberry picking and I made my first batch of freezer jam! Thankfully I had some guidance from a veteran so it turned out ok! The kids have made me smile so much lately! Things are looking good for the adoption and she has officially been in our care for 6 months! Now the fun begins! We have all sorts of meetings and paperwork to look forward to, but I'm hopeful everything will work out smoothly. The things Dustin has been saying lately crack me up! I find it hard to get mad at him because he sounds so dang cute when he talks. He has a small little lisp that melts my heart. The other day he spilled his milk and looked up at me and said, "oh man, milk evywhre!" So cute. He's at an age where he can communicate enough that I know what he needs, but not so much that everything is a debate. Perfect! Here's some pics that made me smile!

Birthdays...

2008-06-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

So I have yet another random blog. I get so jealous of all you people with super cute blogs and themed entries and neat templates! Creative writing was never one of my strong suits. However, today is my birthday and since my husband is downstairs cleaning up the birthday mess, woot woot, I get some blogging time. So this is the first birthday that I actually feel older. All of those things I remember Moms telling me would happen, are starting to happen. In fact, I looked in the mirror yesterday and swore my Moms butt and thighs were staring back at me! It's not like I'm freaked out about getting older, it's just such a strange feeling to be on the other side of the fence. I remember being little and thinking about adults as, "old" or "mature" or in other words, "no fun". I remember when my "fun" aunt got married I was totally devastated because I thought that meant she was "grown up" and wouldn't be any fun anymore. And here I am, married, and a Mom myself. So, in light of my recollection that I am now the old, mature, no fun grown up I didn't want to become, here are a few fun thoughts about me.

I really dislike washing dishes. I put EVERYTHING in the dishwasher. Even if it says not to. And all those things that say "top rack only" oh yeah, I put them on the bottom.
I say seriously all the time. Seriously.
I sometimes think I was meant to be a ballerina. Seriously, (ha, there I go again) I have naturally curved arches and pointed toes that dancers work for years to get and long arms. If I was 15lbs lighter and my dang mother had put me in a ballet class when I was 3, I might be famous.
I sometimes fantasize about being famous.
I won state in a speech and debate tournament my junior year for Radio Commentary.
I am pretty sure I got skipped on the whole "natural ability" thing. I don't think I have a special ability to do anything naturally. I don't know that I've ever made an all natural meal, I didn't have a natural birth, and I naturally suck at anything that involves making things from nature.
I am a carb-addict. I eat a piece of plain bread for a snack all the time.
I love musicals and one of my lifelong dreams is to have everyone burst out in song and dance in a random place like a mall or restaurant just like on My Best Friends Wedding.

Well, there you have it. More random thoughts from Jen. We had a fun barbecue with some friends to celebrate and our awesome neighbors came over for the first time for my b-day bash. Good food, good company, what more could a girl ask for!?!

Memorial Weekend on the Coast

2008-05-29T14:10:00.001-07:00

Our wonderful friends the Zollinger's invited us to spend Memorial weekend out on the coast in an amazing beach house for a couple of nights and although it meant the fourth weekend in a row that we have been out of town, (hence my lack of blogging) we of course were thrilled to have some play time in friendly Depoe Bay! The fabulous 2-story, 3 bedroom, 3 bath beach house came fully equipped with everything you could possibly need including a 60 inch big screen T.V. The highlights of the trip included...

We stuck all of the kids in the jacuzzi tub, turned on the jets, added some bubbles and sat back and laughed at how cute they were. They looked like adults sitting in a hot tub because the water came up to their shoulders.
Cari and I got to watch a chick flick on the big screen after all the kids went to sleep. I would recommend P.S. I Love You, it totally made me appreciate my husband more!
We of course went and played on the beach. Corbin and Dustin got soaked and had a blast throwing sand and jumping into every vat of water they could find.
We tried to build our own bon fire, but failed miserably and commandeered someone else's fire and marshmallow sticks after they left. Hey, at least we're resourceful! We had some pretty darn good s'mores on those sticks!
Cari made my favorite bean soup with fried tortillas for lunch before we left. The perfect end to a perfect weekend!

So a big thank you to Cari and Jason for a great time. We were so grateful to have some time to hang out with them and let the kids play.
Some other things that I wanted to post were that Liz stared crawling and is officially into everything. Dustin is talking like crazy and my favorite thing he says right now is, "whasup dude." I ran the Rhody Run in Florence 2 weeks ago and got 2nd in the 5k in my age group. Thanks to Brian and Ann for hosting us that weekend also. (We have the best freinds. I mean it. All of you are so awesome and mean the world to us) Tim is an official biker because he bought a jacket and rode the bike the long way to Florence and back again and got to do the "biker wave" to all the bikers in Florence. For those of you who don't know, I guess there's a special wave that only bikers give each other on the road. I hope I'm not violating some sacred biker code by disclosing that. Anyway, all is well and we're safe and sound after our many adventures!

Vacation Baby!!!

2008-05-13T21:22:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't already know, we went on vacation last week to St. George and it was awesome!!! Dustin was so excited to fly on a plane, he could hardly wait to board and kept pointing to the plane saying, "go....plane....fly". But right before we were about to board, apparently a check valve light indicated that we would be delayed for 5 HOURS!!!! So our trip kinda got off on the wrong foot because we were stuck at the Eugene airport with a screaming baby for a long time. But we finally did board, Dustin slept the whole way to Las Vegas and Liz was super happy. (I think she got all her screaming out at the airport) We stayed at Tim's parents house which is really fun because they have a big play room, a swim pool, big screen, all the fun stuff. So the kids were totally entertained even if we were just hanging around the house. The highlight of St. George was taking the kids up to Zion and going on a hike where you can stand underneath a waterfall. So pretty and both the kids loved it! The weather was perfect, not too hot, and the sun hit the rocks at just the right angle. Zion is one of those places where you feel so grateful to Heavenly Father for the beauty he created. A highlight for me was that my mother-in-law also gave me and the kids tons of new clothes which is always exciting because she has really good taste. Then I left my cute little family to go to my best friends wedding in Phoenix. So I hopped on a plane from Vegas and finally got to see my Kimmy!! It was so fun to see her again and it felt like we had never been apart. I was the only one out of the bridal party who was married, so it felt like I was living with roommates for the weekend. I forgot what it was like to borrow your girlfriends clothes, put on makeup everyday, or go out to eat at like 10:00 pm! I'm so used to sippy cups, diapers, boogers, and unwashed hair, I think I forgot that I clean up semi-cute (after tanning, showering, and taking time to put on make-up...it's not like it happens naturally!!!) I missed my family terribly, but it was a breath of fresh air to take a little break. I got to go to Kim's graduation, and although the speakers were kinda well, like graduation speakers, it was super neat to see her in her grad outfit and her little diploma. It made me think of high school graduation, and I was so proud of her. Then we got to hang out with the girls, and had some "girl talk" which is always fun. The day before the wedding, we laid out by the pool and went swimming, had In n' Out Burgers and milkshakes, went wakeboarding at one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen, went out to Mexican food for dinner, hung out in the hot tub, painted each other's toenails, and finally went to sleep. Can you imagine a more perfect day!!!! I was able to get up on the wakeboard twice, and did a few face plants that everyone still seemed to be talking about the next day. Kim's wedding of course was amazing. The sealing was beautiful, and the Mesa temple is really unique and pretty. Kim looked gorgeous, her hubby is awesome, and the day went really smoothly. I got to get my hair done with Kim, which we haven't done since high school, and she had the most amazing luncheon ever. Her husband is half Mexican and his Mom put on the best tasting Mexican food I've ever had. The reception was at an amazing golf clubhouse that was really beautiful especially while the sun set. A really perfect day. It was so great to see all her family again. They kind of feel like my family in a way since I spent so much time with them growing up. Then I had to say my goodbye's and hop back on a plane to Vegas where Tim was staying with the kids, and then we all got up to get on a plane to come back home the next day!!! Whew! All in all, amazing trip, but 3 days was definitely long enough to be away from my hubby and kids.

Random Thoughts....

2008-04-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

I love bath time!! It's the one time both the kids are totally happy and entertained. I thought the one of Dustin holding Liz is so cute. He just started hugging her as soon as I broke out the camera! This blog is mostly random stuff I guess. I haven't posted a blog in a while and these are some of the things that have happened since we hiked the butte, plus some random Jen thoughts. One of the things I wanted to mention was that we took a trip to Portland to go to IKEA. SO FUN!!! IKEA is one of my absolute favorite stores. We just got up one weekend and said, "Let's drive to IKEA!" So we packed the kids up and got out of Dodge! The kids were really good in the car, and as soon as we got there we all had to find the family bathroom so we could change diapers and all that good stuff. I mention this only because the family bathroom at IKEA is so amazing. For one thing, there's cute decorations all over the place. On the walls, hanging from the ceiling...what store puts decor inside a bathroom!! There's also a play area with chairs and toys, which kept Dustin entertained the whole time I was cleaning Liz up, and a nice step stool so Dustin could wash his hands and get on and off the potty. There's a big chair in the corner, a diaper changing station with free Huggies wipes, and a dispenser that dispenses free diapers. FREE DIAPERS!!! I never thought such a thing could be possible in my lifetime. There's also free bottle warming, and jarred baby food! We had so much fun just browsing around. We left with toy boxes, kitchen utensils, mixing bowls...that store is dangerous!!!

Here's a random thought. I am having the hardest time getting Liz to drink her bottles. It's like she started solid foods and has no desire to drink from a bottle at all. She'll only drink 4 ounces max. I've tried cutting back on solids, I've tried spacing out longer feedings, I've tried skipping solids all together...nothing works. She went from drinking 30 ounces a day to around 16. Anyone have any ideas?

Dustin is at a really fun age right now. His speech has really taken off and he's repeating back everything we say to him. It's a lot of pressure knowing that he picks up on everything I say and do!!! Some of my favorite things he says right now is poo poos, o.k., anku mommy (thank you mommie), ere'dit go (where did it go), and my most favorite thing he does is sticks out his hand and says, "hand?" when he wants me to hold his hand. Love it.

I also wanted to say how grateful I was to go to the temple last weekend with four other couples from the ward. It was so great to see familiar faces and it made the experience more meaningful in a way. The temple has such a wonderful feeling about it. It's impossible to leave the temple in a bad mood, and sharing it with members of our ward family made it that much more enjoyable. I felt so much love for everyone. Dustin watches Cars constantly and Filmore sums up my feelings perfectly with his line, "There's a lot of love out there, y'know." Sigh, I never thought animated movies would pop into my head to describe a temple experience. I guess that's the mommie brain in me.

On a last note, since the weather has been so crazy, I've been desperate to come up with inside things to keep Dustin entertained. And one of my strong suits is not arts and crafts...at all. But, Dustin and I pulled out the glue and finger paint and made a rocket ship together one cold and rainy afternoon. I had to post it because it is so rare that I do anything crafty. Here is Dustin "helping" me.

And here is our beautiful creation.
(I told you I wasn't crafty!)

True Eugenians

2008-04-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

I've heard several times that you're not a true Eugenian if you haven't hiked Spencer's Butte. And I am happy to announce that after over 2 years of living in Eugene, we finally hiked the Butte. And not only did we hike it, we carried both our kids on our backs the whole way up and down in true Eugenian style. As you can see, we had Dustin in the backpack, Liz in the front pack, and Tim and I huffed it the whole way up the mountain. The kids were amazingly content riding their taxi's to the top. They were a good workout for us. I was a little surprised that you actually kinda rock climb at one point, which added a level of difficulty with a kid throwing off my center of gravity. But, it was totally worth it to see the view at the top. We all sat and had some snacks and let Dustin climb around. It was such a clear and pretty day, we could see everything. Just beautiful. The way back down, however, was another story. We decided to go the opposite side of the mountain and be adventurous. Within the first 5 minutes, we lost the trail and ended up having to repel down a very steep cliff of mud!!! Yikes. All I can say is that we must have some good guardian angels taking care of us because we all made it down safely in one piece. All in all though, definitely a worthwhile Eugene experience.

This nice little cliff was what we had to go down to get back to the trail! I swear it's even steeper than it looks!

Happy Birthday Dustin and Tim!! And Easter Too!!

2008-03-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Whew! I am finally blogging about our busy weekend! We had 3 birthdays to celebrate, and Easter. We were partyin fools. My brother has a birthday on the 21st, and Dustin and Tim have their birthday on the 24th (yes, Dustin was born on Tim's birthday, he got the best present ever!) so we usually have a big family party to celebrate the 3 birthdays. This year, Tim made the best steaks ever, and we had an amazingly huge chocolate cake from Costco. My sister and her hubby drove down from Kennewick to celebrate with us and got to stay in our freshly painted guest room. It was fun to have everyone together and hang out and eat food.

(I told you the cake was huge!)

The next day was Easter, so we got to party some more! We colored eggs, cooked a ham and had a huge brunch with everybody, had an easter egg hunt and then opened Easter baskets. Dustin and Tim were so funny coloring the eggs. Tim was trying really hard to make his swirl eggs look pretty and Dustin just wanted to make a mess. After Tim gave up trying to get Dustin to make "pretty" eggs we all had a good time. Dustin had fun ploping as many eggs as he could into one color, and then he would move right on to the next color. He didn't really care about the end result, he just liked picking eggs up and dropping them.

The egg hunt was super fun. We hid plastic eggs all over the living room and Dustin picked up his little bucket and knew just what to do. Every time he saw an egg he'd run over and pick it up and yell, "egg!" And then he'd open it up and yell, "trrrreeeat!" He was so excited! I think he did that same thing for every egg.
The next day was Dustin and Tim's actual Birthday, and unfortunately, we spent the morning at the doctor's office because Dustin got an ear infection. Bummer! We kinda just took it easy for the day, and then we had some friends over in the evening for cake and ice cream yet again! Tim got a motorcycle helmet and a Wii for his presents and we bought Dustin his first tricycle for his present!

Happy Birthday to both my boys! I love you so much!

My First Race!!!!

2008-03-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

I had a first this weekend that I wanted to put out to the blog world, and that is that I ran in my first, official, pay to run race! I did the 10k Clover Run over in Springfield to celebrate St. Patty's day. (Because nothing screams celebrate like paying to run in the rain) Of course, there was an 80% chance of precipitation that day, and this was one of those times they weren't lying. We were good for the first 5k, which was on a really fun wood chip trail, that would have been really awesome if it wasn't so muddy. But the last 5k was on a road and then things got pretty wet. Thankfully, I didn't have to run alone, because I ran the first 5k with Chelsea and Derek and then Chelsea kept me going the last 5k. (Which included a few rather steep hills) And when I say she kept me going, I mean that pretty literally. She was totally my cheerleader, I don't know if I would have made it without her. I didn't talk very much the last 5k, because I was huffing up a storm, and Chelsea was practically breathing normally and kept saying things like,
"You're doing great Jen"
"Just think about pumping your arms"
"We can catch that person up there, just lengthen your stride"
"Ok, this is where we pick up the pace"
"You can do it, just take little steps up this hill"
So great. I'm going to record her and play her on my ipod every time I run. I highly recommend her. Anyway, that's the farthest I have ever ran before, so thank you Chelsea.

On another note, yesterday after church, we all laid down to take a nap, and of course, Dustin woke up long before Tim or I were ready to wake up, so me, being the loving wife that I am, went downstairs and hung out with Dustin so Tim could sleep a while longer. After about 45 minutes or so, Dustin asked, "Where's Daddy?" I told him Dad was upstairs sleeping and to go up and get him. Dustin took off upstairs and I snuggled into the couch and started reading. I heard banging around upstairs and shortly after that I heard the baby wake up, and then I heard them all playing upstairs. I was totally enjoying my time to myself and thankful that Tim was keeping them upstairs for me. After about half an hour or so, Dustin comes back downstairs, so I go upstairs to see what Tim is up to. I can hear rustling coming from Liz' room, so I go inside and find complete havoc!!! Dustin had opened up the closet, opened our filing cabinets, pulled out the files, and tossed them all over the room and in the baby's crib!!!! I walk in to find the baby eating my patriarchal blessing, pictures torn, and paper everywhere!!! I pick up the baby, take what's left of my blessing away (does anyone know if there's been any studies about excessive paper consumption?) and go to find Tim....sound asleep in our bed!! He claims he never heard the banging of filing cabinets and the shredding of paper, or Dustin climbing in and out of the baby's crib, even though this all took place in the room right next door! Dustin came into get him, but he rolled over and went right back to sleep through the whole thing!!! Sigh, I would have taken a picture, but our camera has been dead for quite some time now. Please don't turn us in to social services!!! We watch our kids, I swear!

My first tag!

2008-02-29T20:51:00.000-08:00

1-What is his name? Timothy Hess (Timmah!)

2-How long have you been married? Five years

3-How long did you date? We dated for 3 months and were engaged for 3 months so I guess 6 months. Hey, when you know, you know!

4-Who eats more sweets? Tim, by far. He was born with a sweet tooth. Especially for things like Hostess Donuts and cake pies.

5-Who said I love you first? I think Tim did....but honestly....I can't remember! It was love at first sight. I can't remember a time when we hadn't said I love you.

6-Who is taller? Tim. But not by much. He's barely 3 inches taller than me without me shoes on. But when I have my heels, we look like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

7-Who sings better? Probably me. But that's only because I've had more training. Tim would probably be better than me if he had learned when he was younger.

8-Who is smarter? I can't answer that because my husband reads my blog....j/k...he's smarter when it comes to tools, mechanics, and computers, he's also a way better writer than I am, not in a grammatical sense though. He's hopeless at spelling and grammar.

9-Who does the laundry? Mostly me, although Tim usually helps me fold and he puts his own clothes away. I have trained him well!!!

10-Who pays the bills? He does. I get too worried if I pay them.

11-Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're facing the bed, he's on the right side.

12-Who cooks dinner? I cook more often than he does, but Tim normally cooks at least a couple times a week.

13-Who drives? Tim ALWAYS drives when we're together.

14-Who is more stubborn? Me, I always want him to understand from my point of view. Tim is way better at letting things go.

15-Who kissed who first? Tim kissed me first. I was DYING for him to kiss me though. I almost thought I would have to go first, but he finally laid one on me.

16-Who asked who out first? My Mom asked Tim out first. My Mom invited him to dinner, and he took pity and actually showed up to meet me. But I believe I asked him if he wanted to hang out the next day.

17-Who proposed? Why would I propose? Tim packed me a picnic and brought his guitar and we hiked up a mountain overlooking the city, he sang a song he had written for me and the proposal was the last line. He was shaking so bad though, I totally knew what was up.

18-Who wears the pants? We both wear pants. I don't care so much for dresses.

Here's another tag.One word answers only.
1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your hair? wavy
3. Work? kids
4. Your father? yikes
5. Your favorite thing? shower
6. Your dream last night? forgot
7. Your favorite drink? smoothie
8. Your dream car? minivan
9. The room you're in? kitchen
10. Your fears? kids
11. What do you want to be in 10 years? happy
12. Who did you hang out with last night? girlfriends!
13. What you're not good at? drawing
14. Muffin? costco
15. One of your wish list items? treadmill
16. Where you grew up? Canada
17. Last thing you did? eat
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. What aren't you wearing? earrings
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? crappy
22. Your life? blessed
23. Your mood? good
24. Missing? chocolate
25. What are you thinking about right now? kids
26. Your car/truck? old
27. Your summer? love!
28. Your relationship status? happy
29. Your favorite color? pink
30. When is the last time you really laughed with meaning? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? forget
32. School? associates
33. Least favorite weather? cold
34. Soup? chicken
35. Movie? musicals

Just day to day stuff....

2008-02-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was kind of a busy day with a few firsts I wanted to write down. One, is that Liz is sitting up!! It's not very long before she falls over and eats it, but she can stay sitting for about 30 seconds if I give her a good base. I think she just keeps getting cuter and cuter all the time. Two, is that we took the kids to the movies for the first time. We bought tons of treats and popcorn, hoping Dustin would sit through it if we bribed him. Alas, he only lasted about 45 minutes before he got totally bored with Bee Movie, but he and I went and played in the arcade till Dad and the baby came out. Liz, of course, watched the whole movie and didn't even make a peep! For any of you who don't know Monday's are 50 cents for three or more people at Cinemark 12 in Springfield. I think it's an unadvertised family day. So, we had 45 minutes of popcorn and candy eating, which was good enough for me. Also, I did something I never could picture myself doing before I married a guy with super thick hair, and then had a son with super thick hair that grows like a weed. They both got hair cuts by yours truly! I've cut their hair before, but never this short, and never after it had grown so long! I've always been afraid of clippers, but both Tim's and Dustin's hair grows so fast, Tim convinced me we would save a truckload if I would just try it. And I did. And I completely surprised myself!! Me, the girl who can't french braid, can't use bobby pins, doesn't know a thing about hair, actually gave a decent hair cut. Well, on Tim anyway. Dustin was impossible because he never holds still for longer than 2 seconds (If anyone has any good ideas, let me know. I've tried snacks, movies, nothing works) but, he doesn't look horribly mangled or anything. So here are my two handsome boys after I worked my magic, and the massive amount of hair that came off my burly men, plus some left over cereal from that morning (sorry!).

A great day....

2008-02-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went over to the coast for a little day trip. It was cold and foggy in Eugene, but absolutely beautiful on the coast. One of those really rare days where the sun shines all day and there's no wind to knock you over. Beautiful. The kids were super good on the way over and then we had lunch and went up to Heceta Head Lighthouse. Dustin walked the whole way up to the Lighthouse and all the way back down! When we got to the top Dustin pointed to the lighthouse and ooooooed and awwwwwed and watched the big waves crash against the rocks. Liz was super content hangin out in the front pack. We played on the beach for a while and packed up and went over to my Dad's house where we were served a steak and potato dinner! With brownie cake desert!!!! I couldn't have asked for a better day. The kids were happy, we were happy, and we finally got to go outside in the SUNSHINE!!! Both the kids fell asleep on the way home and went right to bed which was amazing. I just felt so grateful for my hubby and our family. I never realized how fulfilling family life would be when I was younger. It's seems like it's portrayed as a bad thing. Like your life is over once you get married and have kids. And it is a lot of self-sacrifice. But I think that's what makes it so fulfilling. I feel like I've discovered a whole new dimension to myself by becoming a wife and mother. My capacity to give has grown beyond what I thought I was capable of, and I'm sure it will continue to grow. So here's to all you wife's and mothers out there!!! And here's to all those wonderful days that remind us how precious our families are!!!

Spiritual Thoughts

2008-02-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

The other night I had a dream...and in that dream I got a phone call from a distinguished sounding gentleman who said he was a member of the stake council and was fulfilling the role of Journal Advisory Committee and was calling to see if I had been keeping a journal or not. I stammerd and chuckled a bit, before admitting that I in fact, had not been keeping a current journal. But then, a thought occured to me. "Wait! I keep a blog...does that count??" I said, hoping he wouldn't mark me on his list as a "non-journal keeper". The man laughed and said he felt that if I was keeping spiritual thoughts in this blog of mine that it could count as a journal. I hardly ever remember my dreams, but for some reason this one stuck with me. So I figure I had better listen to this dream and write some spiritual thoughts so that if the Journal Advisory Commitee ever calls me, I can tell them about my blog!!
Like everyone else lately, I have been thinking a lot about prophets. Mostly about how grateful I am for President Hinckley and how deeply his words and actions had an impact on me. There were so many times that the Spirit undeniably testified to me that he is the mouthpiece of the Lord. But I am really excited for the new Presidency too. I love President Utchdorf (I think that's right) and I am sure that President Monson will be just as amazing as President Hinckley was. I am also really grateful that we are studying the teachings of Joseph Smith in Relief Society. He has become even more real to me in just a few chapters than before. Any of you who aren't in Relief Society, should still read the lesson book because there are so many good things in there! Today, I was so struck by Joseph Smith's teaching that one of the most important things that we have in the Church is the Prophets and Apostles testimony of Christ. That he lived, died, was resurrected, and still lives today. It is so wonderful to have leaders in the church who are so close to the Lord and to have an actual account of a prophet who saw him. It also made me think about how everything in the Church is centered around the Savior. That is what the gospel is all about and I love it!!! Sometimes callings can be tedious and there are times when the demands seem great, but when it comes down to it, the gospel is amazing and wonderful and I am so grateful to be a part of it!!!!

Little Tykes...

2008-01-29T21:37:00.001-08:00

It's been quite a while since my last blog and a lot has happened so I'll start at the beginning. First, I'll reminisce about life with 3 kids. It was fun! Busy, tiring at times, but for the most part it went pretty well. When I look back now, things were kinda a blur, but I think everything went really well. Dropping Christopher off at his new family's house was really sad, mostly because Christopher was so upset. I swear he knew all along what was happening. From the moment we found out that we weren't going to be able to adopt him, he became really needy and wanted to be held a lot, and it just got worse once we started transitioning him to another family. I've surprisingly been able to hold it together though. I think Heavenly Father has been blessing me tremendously. I miss him, and think about him often. What makes me so sad, is that he had such a hard time once he went to live with the new family that they had to move him and his brother to yet another home. I've written letters and made phone calls to practically everyone at the foster care office to try and get Chris back with us, but they insist on keeping the brothers together. The foster care system is so difficult, all about policy and procedure and not what is best for the child. But I feel I've done what I can, and hopefully we made a positive difference to Christopher. Dustin had a few rough days after Christopher left, but he seems to have adjusted pretty well. He loves our new foster baby, Liz just as much as he loved Christopher. He gives her kisses frequently, and likes to help me burp her. She is the best baby I have ever seen. She hardly ever fusses, she sleeps through the night, and she lays on the floor and coos and smiles
all day long. It's wonderful. The most recent event was the morning we woke up to find everything covered in snow!!! We bundled the kids up and took them to the park and Dustin had a ball!! He was throwing snowballs and catching snowflakes on his tongue. So cute. This is just a fun little father son moment I posted below.

Three's a crowd!

2008-01-02T21:31:00.000-08:00

I always hate when the holidays are over. Everyone goes home, the decorations get taken down, no more baked goods everywhere you go. Sigh, our Christmas was great though. Tim's parents were here which was fun. I was able to get my house mostly decorated and my mother-in-law was somewhat impressed. I was so tickled by Dustin opening his presents. He opened one toy and then wanted to play with it till he got tired and wanted to open another one. It was cute, but it took forever for him to open all of his presents. Christopher had fun too. Although he mostly liked playing in all the wrapping paper and trying to play with whatever Dustin had at the time. Christopher is still with us but will be leaving either this week or next. The sadness has been somewhat eased by another addition to our household. We just got a 4-month old baby girl who is so incredibly good! She fits in so great. It's like she's always been here. So right now we have a 4-month old, a 12-month old, and a 21-month old! Having 3 babies is fun except when I have to go somewhere! Then things get a little tricky. I was so surprised at how good the boys are with her. Especially Dustin. He always kisses and hugs her and makes her smile. It still is going to be super hard when Chris leaves, but at least there won't be an empty room anymore. I'm hoping both Dustin and Christopher adjust well and things go smoothly. The new family that Christopher will be living with seems really nice and they are being really understanding about our situation. Anyway, anytime any of you gals are bored, please give me a call or stop by because I'm starting to get a little stir crazy now that I don't leave the house unless I have to! I would love to post some pics of Christmas and all the babies, except that I somehow misplaced our camera over the holidays and still haven't been able to find it. So hopefully it will turn up or I'll have to buy Tim a late Christmas present!

Mission Complete.....sort of...

2007-12-17T22:28:00.001-08:00

We finally moved!!! Which is why my blog has been neglected for so long. We just finished cleaning our old apartment today and only have 3 more boxes to unpack before we are officially moved in. The past couple of weeks have been a blur consisting mostly of packing, unpacking, and cleaning, but there have been some events that I wanted to write about. The first is that Christopher turned 1 just over two weeks ago! I can't believe he's one already. The past six months have gone by so fast. (I will post pictures of the party as soon as I find the cords for the camera!) He ate a ton of cake and loved it! It was super cute. It's bittersweet writing about it because we also just found out that we will not be adopting the little guy after all. It was decided that he and his half-brother will be placed in another foster home together until they decide where they are going to go permanently. Christophers aunt and uncle who moved here from Alaska are hoping to adopt them both, but DHS isn't giving them any guarantees. I find myself really angry at the system for handling the case so poorly, and for basically telling us that Chris was ours for the taking without really giving us the facts. It's really hard for us, but we just decided that we couldn't take both Chris and his brother, with a huge possibility that they will both be taken away in the end. He is leaving us after Christmas and I'm still not sure how I'm going to cope. I'm trying to be positive though. It will be nice to have more time to myself and it will be great to have more one on one with Dustin. Dustin is getting so big. I love teaching him new things and watching him learning to be more independent. His latest hurdle is trying to zip up his coat by himself. He hasn't come close yet, but he never gives up! He absolutely loves Christmas and everything that goes along with it. He ooohs and aaaahs at all the lights, and anytime we go anywhere at night, he points to houses that have lights and says, "wow"! His other favorite thing is to point out all the stars. Anytime he sees a star on top of a Christmas tree or for a decoration he points to it and shouts, "a staw, a staw!" Very cute. Well, Merry Christmas to you all and I hope all of you have great holidays!

Moving...

2007-11-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

So it looks like we really are actually going to move! This whole thing has been months in the process and I'm sure you all are sick of hearing about it, but we are very close to closing on our new house! (well, it's actually only half of a house as you can tell from the picture) It's small, but it's bigger and nicer than what we are in now. I've been packing all weekend and things are actually rolling along pretty nicely. We're supposed to be able to move this weekend and I'm hopeful we can paint and do somethings to the house before we move in. We don't technically need to be out of our apartment till Dec. 18th, but I would like to be moved out long before that. We have to set up for Christmas!! That's another thing, my in-laws have decided to have Christmas at our house this year, and I would love for my house to look beautiful when they come, the problem is that I'm not that great at decorating! So any of you Martha Stewarts out there...please help!

Potty Time!!!

2007-11-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

Well, Dustin officially had his first "pee pee" in the potty!! It's funny because I haven't done anything to really teach him about going potty. He finally caught on that the thing he grabs all the time is called his pee pee, and then he started saying "pee pee" and pointing down at his diaper. So I thought maybe this was a sign he was ready to try the potty. I just stuck him on the throne after he grabbed himself and said "pee pee" one time, and he pushed and pushed, but nothing happened. The next time however, he went potty right away!! And he loves it. In fact, I'm starting to get tired of pulling him on and off the pot all day, but I guess this is just the beginning, right?!? Anyway, I was super excited because I was stressing about how to do the whole "potty" thing, but Dustin made it super easy! And it actually seems possible that there will come a time when I won't have to change a bazillion diapers a day!! I can't believe the things I blog about now that I'm a Mom. I swear I was cool at one point. But, I'm grateful I get to be home and be the one by son's side. The proud look on his face is way more rewarding than anything I've accomplished at work. I think if all us Mom's were paid for our jobs, potty training would definitely deserve a raise and a promotion!

Happy Halloween!!

2007-10-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

These are the pictures from the ward Halloween party. Dustin was a clown, Christopher was a monkey, Tim was a mad scientist, and I wore Tigger ears because I could not think of anything cool to wear! This is the aftermath because we forgot to take our camera (of course!) but the boys looked cute. And if you couldn't tell, Tim even spiked his eyebrows to give him that crazy look! The pumpkin carving was for Family Home Evening and Christopher loved it! He kept on sticking the spoon in and out of the pumpkin and tried to pull seeds out. Dustin was intrigued for about 5 minutes and then lost interest. But our pumpkins turned out great! Happy Halloween everyone!

Finger Fun!!!!

2007-10-19T12:16:00.001-07:00

Dustin and I had a blast yesterday making his first masterpiece of art. Yes, I tackled fingerpainting!! He was completely covered in paint (as you can see) and so was my floor (as you can also see) but we had so much fun!!! He was so cute. He kept on sticking his hands in the paint and rubbing it all over his chest and belly. It only lasted about 20 minutes before he lost interest and tried to touch everything else, but a good rainy day activity none the less. On another note, many of you know that Christopher has a half-brother that just got taken away from his family of 2 years (because of some problem with adoption regulations) and brought back to Oregon and DHS is trying to find a placement for the two of them together. They have essentially told us that if we are willing to take them both, we will be able to adopt them both, probably. If not, they will take Christopher away to another family where he can be with his brother. I am still in denial about the whole situation and am hoping that Jason (Christopher's brother) will be able to go back to the family he's been with his whole life and that we will be able to keep Christopher. I completely underestimated the effect that fostering kids would have on Dustin. He has gotten attached to Chris (as we all have) and I am really worried how Dustin would feel if he was taken away. Dustin calls Chris Sa-cee, and the first thing he does when he wakes up is check the crib to see if Christopher is awake. If he's still asleep, Dustin puts his finger up to his mouth and tells me "Shhhhh". I don't know what he would do if he wasn't there! I don't know, this is all so unexpected. I am trying really hard to pray and listen to the Spirit, but I don't know what to do. How can I turn away both of them and put them into the foster care system for who knows how long? On the other hand, how can I survive with 3 kids under 2?!?

Christopher's Crawling!

2007-10-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this over a month ago, but Christopher started crawling! I put some toys out infront of him and he just did it! He learned so much faster than Dustin did. He was up off his stomach for about three weeks and then he could crawl. He's come so far since he first came to live with us. He learned almost exactly the same time he turned 9 months. He crawls and gets into everything all over the house and Dustin tries to ride on his back. They crack me up! No new news about the adoption. I guess they can't find the birth Mom to serve her papers. We're hopeful that things will go smoothly, but you never know with DHS! Christopher has become part of our family and the thought of the adoption not working out is so sad. The caseworker thinks that probably around Christmas time is when court stuff will be done and we will be able to start the adoption. Thanks to all of you who have been supportive and helpful since he came to live with us.

Our Awesome Vacation

2007-09-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, we just went to California for 9 days and it was awesome! Well, mostly. We drove, and on the way down it was super hot outside, so naturally it was a perfect time for the A/C in the van to stop working. So we drove through the deserts of California with all the windows down and naked babies in the back! When we finally got there we stayed in an awesome Condo with Tim's parents (they own a time share) and Tim and I got to go to Universal together the very next day while Tim's parents watched the kids! Woo Hoo! Besides a slight mix-up with our tickets, we had a blast. Unfortunately we forgot the camera that day so no pics of that. The next day, we went to Sea World in San Diego with everybody. It was so fun! The babies were pretty good, they even sat through most of the shows! I loved it. The weather was awesome, I got to see Shamu, and Tim's parents helped take care of the kids so I got a break! The next day was Disneyland, which was fun except that first thing in the morning I realized Chris had thrush so we drove all over Anaheim looking for medicine. But we had a great time after we got that taken care of. We went to the Zoo the next day in San Diego. It was cool, not many of the animals were out, and Christopher had a puking fiasco all over the stroller, but the Zoo is huge and worth a look if you've never seen it before. And the last two days were at Disneyland. We had a blast, but on the very last day Dustin had a fever and we spent the whole morning in urgent care to find out he had an ear infection. But we got medicine and he was a trooper the whole day. Despite getting sick, the kids were so good the whole time. They were even really good in the car, Dustin actually slept which is atypical, neither of them screamed or got scared on any of the rides, Tim's parents were a huge help, and the weather was sunny even though the forecast called for rain! All in all it was a blast and a great break from the everyday.

This is me and Dustin at the Star Fish exhibit. He loved picking them up and tossing them back in. He thought it was a riot!

Chris and I at Dolphin Cove. A few dolphins swam by really close, but not close enough to touch, darn it!
I had to throw in a picture of the infamous Shamu!
Dustin at the petting zoo at the San Diego Zoo. He wasn't really into the animals. He mostly just stared!

All of us after riding Winnie the Pooh, which I think was the kids' favorite ride!

Of course we had to go on Dumbo!

This was how we had the kids loaded up the whole time. Tons of stuff in the stroller with me pushing and Tim looking at the map!

The boys and I clownin around in Toon Town.

Dustin surfin with Tims Dad at California Adventure.
The boys on Tom Sawyer Island at the end of the treasure trail.
Grandma and Grandpa bought the boys Mickey Ears with their names on the back. So Cute!

Me and Mrs. Incredible, how fitting!

The Drama Continues...

2007-09-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

So as an update from my second to last post, I would like you all to know that my Mom was engaged to my Dad for a week, and they were looking at property together to build a house, she told me how great she felt about the decision she made, yada yada yada, she was so happy to have the family together, yada yada yada, and then the very next weekend, she stood my Dad up for dinner and went out with the other guy that had proposed to her and spent the night at his house. She's stayed there ever since. Of course my Dad was completely heartbroken, and is sad and angry and confused. I've kinda been his support since all this happened, so he's been talking to me alot and over at my house crying all the time. Which is really hard for me because I just went through this same thing with my Mom last year. Except my Mom was the one who was heartbroken and rejected. She didn't even tell anyone that she had completely ditched my Dad and pretended like everything was totally normal the next day. I've blown up on her a couple of times, but she truly doesn't care how she is making anyone feel by her actions. Her famous line is that "it's her life, and she has to do whatever makes her happy and everyone else is going to have to deal with it." I just can't believe she's living with a guy she hardly knows, after she was just living with my Dad a few days ago. And she totally broke all of our hearts. She has been such a liar. Everything that she ever said mattered to her has turned out not to matter to her at all. It only matters when it's convenient to her. Things like her family, the church, standards, all have done a complete 180. She hasn't talked to any of the kids since she moved back in with the other guy. She even attacked me after I snatched her cell phone and threatened to call her boyfriend (stupid of me, I know, it was an empty threat, but she still went crazy and gave me a bruise across my arm!) And my biggest fear is that I am in some ways, just like my Mom. I see similarities between her selfishness and mine. I would like to think that I would never do what my Mom has done, but she has made me question myself to the point of wondering if I even deserve to be in a marriage and a family. I feel totally inadequate. My Mom was not very loving till the divorce and then she changed into this really great person. That gave me so much hope because I thought I had a chance to recover from the damage my Mom had done earlier and that meant I also had the ability to be a loving person. But my Mom never really did change. She needed my Dad because she didn't want to be alone, so she pretended to change, and she pretended to be loving to me because she needed me to support her after the divorce. But now that she's found someone else who's convenient for her, she drops all of us like hot cakes because she doesn't need us. I'm not defending my Dad, he was the one who walked out in the first place, even though my Mom begged him not to. But I understand now why my Dad didn't believe that my Mom had changed. He tried to tell me she was fake and I told him she really was trying and that he was awful for not giving her a chance and seeing someone else. Sigh, anyone who has advice for dealing with psycho parents and ways to overcome fear of becoming like them please post a comment. I'm desperate!

Just some pics...

2007-08-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

I realized I haven't posted many pictures. Here are some of my recent favorites of my little guy. Most of these are from when we were on vacation in St. George. Super fun trip!

My Crazy Family...

2007-08-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have to blog about the crazy weekend I had. And not crazy in a fun sense. Crazy as in my life has become a real-life soap opera. This is a picture of my fam right about the time my parents started having big-time problems. This was taken about 4 years ago. (From L to R - my Grandma, my sister Rachel, my brother Tyson, Mom, Dad, me and Tim) For those of you who don't know, my parents have been divorced for over a year now. And over the weekend, I found out my Mom was proposed to by a guy I've never met. I guess they went on 3 dates, this guy told my Mom he wanted to marry her, and my Mom pretty much said yes. She dropped off the face of the earth 2 weeks ago (so I thought) but I guess she had just been spending all her time with this new guy and she pretty much moved into his house after like a week of them meeting each other. Isn't that crazy?!? But the story gets so much better. My Dad (who has had a ton of chances to get back together with my Mom because she never could let him go and continued to want to be with him even though he was doing all kinds of mean things) suddenly has a change of heart after hearing that my Mom is getting married and decides he can't live without my Mom and admits he made all kinds of mistakes. Which is huge for my Dad. Anyway, he keeps on tracking my Mom down, trying to get her away from the new guy, he succeeds, they talk a few times, and he asks her not to marry the other guy and to marry him instead! I know! My Mom had 2 marriage proposals within a week of each other. It's like a soap opera, or high school. Either way, the whole thing just didn't seem like it was real. So the outcome? My mom kinda leaves both the guys hanging for a couple of days and then decides she has to give my Dad a chance to see if he's sincere. So as of right now, my Mom and Dad are back together. I can't even write my emotions because I've pretty much felt everything since this roller coaster started. It's just been crazy! So, I'm interested to hear everyones opinion because I really don't know what to think. I'm happy they're together, I just don't want to be disappointed again, and I'm worried our family will be the same way we were before the divorce, which wasn't very happy. I'm so thankful I have my own family, I don't know I could survive if I still lived at home!

This one is just for the ladies....

2007-08-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen those commercials for Veet? The one that shows the chick effortlessly wiping the cream on her legs and then wiping it off with that little shaver, and then she comes out of the bathroom after like 30 seconds and her husband or whoever is there rubs up her leg with that "silky smooth" look of approval on his face? Let me be the first to tell you that this commercial is NOT TRUE. I tried it. Veet. And here's how that commercial should go. A chick with hairy legs in a hurry goes into the bathroom with Veet. She pumps the cream onto her hands like the directions say and instantly throws up inside her mouth a little bit because the smell is something like dog poo mixed with ammonia. While dry-heaving, she rubs the cream onto her legs in a thick layer and starts jumping up and down in pain because the cream feels like it's burning through her flesh. After waiting the grueling 3 minutes she checks a patch of hair with the flimsy little shaver and finds that absolutely no hair is rubbing off. So she waits the maximum 6 minutes and checks again. Still hairy as ever. So she rubs as hard as she can with the flimsy little razor....still hairy. So she grabs a towel and rubs as hard as she can to wipe all the cream away...still hairy. Frustrated, she opens the bathroom door, gets a breath of fresh air, and finds her husband, waiting with anticipation. He takes a look at her blotchy, pink, hairy legs, and says, "I told you that stuff wouldn't work."
Ok, so maybe I embellished a little. The truth is, it does stink, it does sting a little, and doesn't work at all. I am so jealous of you ladies who only have to shave once every couple of weeks. I feel like a gorilla with my have-to-shave-every-single-day legs.

Let the good times roll!

2007-08-14T22:45:00.001-07:00

My First Blog!!

2007-08-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is my first blog! The biggest thing going on right now is that we got a foster baby! His name is Christopher and he just turned eight months old. He's super cute and has been doing great since he came to live with us. He and Dustin get along great. Dustin loves to give him his pacifier and bottle and he loves to feed him too! He is a great baby and we are lucky to have him. It gets kinda crazy with two babies (especially since they are in the same room) but it's so wonderful to have double the smiles!