What kind of mother...

...actually lets her son go out of the house looking like this? It seems that I used to care a lot more about what my kids looked like when we left the house. When Jordan was a baby, I would always dress him in the cutest outfits, but when Jarrett came along things must have started to go downhill. And ever since Jordan started picking his own outfits, things have apparently gotten way out of control (judging from this picture). But at least he's happy, right? And we were just going to Artic Circle for some ice cream. He fits right in with the Kemmerer crowd that hangs out there, I think. (Notice his socks - one is inside out. And his shoes are on the wrong feet. And his shorts don't match his shirt. And he's got an orange mustache...)

Eights List

My friend Audrey tagged me, and I don't think I've ever been tagged before, so I guess I'll give it a try. (And just for fun, here is a picture of me when I was 8.)

8 TV Shows I like to watch...
(I used to watch TV a lot more than I do now, so it's kind of hard to pick 8)
1. What Not to Wear (I usually watch this when I run on the treadmill)
2. American Idol
3. The Biggest Loser (I haven't watched it yet this season because I keep forgetting it's on)
4. The Price is Right (I occasionally fold laundry to this one)
5. 48 Hours Mystery (This one kind of freaks me out so I haven't watched it in awhile - and this is the reason I gave up watching all other crime shows - CSI, Law & Order, etc. - they were giving me nightmares)
6. BYU Football (Although Josey informed me today that I'm not a very good fan because I don't sit glued to the TV the whole game - I think he forgets we have kids!)
7. Oprah (Maybe once a week she has a show I'm interested in)
8. Rabbi Shmuley (This one's an XM Radio show, but I think it should count)

8 Restaurants I like to eat at...
1. Olive Garden
2. The Brick Oven (Mostly because it's where Josey & I went on our first date)
3. Tucanos
4. Ruby Tuesday
5. Chili's
6. Jacinto's (Or any good Mexican restaurant because I'm not sure Jacinto's exists anymore)
7. Applebees
8. Wendy's (for fast food)

8 Things that happened today...
1. The kids got to eat popcorn for breakfast (I didn't put it away last night & it was the first thing they saw this morning - even better, it was caramel popcorn)
2. I ran 5.25 miles on the treadmill
3. We went to storytime at the library. Jarrett sat on this lady's lap for 10 minutes straight - he has NEVER sat on my lap for that long.
4. Jarrett got his binky at naptime even though I swore I was throwing it away (I decided I'm going to wean him off of it at bedtime first. He didn't even miss it last night.)
5. I vaccuumed my house for the first time in a week. (My vacuum broke last week and I was supposed to get a new one this weekend, but then we didn't go out of town, so finally I had to borrow a friend's because I'm not getting one until Saturday.)
6. I swept the floor numerous times (after breakfast, after playdoh, after lunch...). I'm sick of sweeping!
7. The snow melted a lot.
8. The boys actually ate their dinner, & it included 3 vegetables.

8 Things I am looking forward to...
1. Halloween (Can't wait to see my kids in their costumes & eat their candy)
2. Running outside again
3. Refinishing all of our basement
4. Having another baby (I don't think it will be for awhile, but when the time comes, I think I will be ready)
5. Spending Christmas with Josey's family (I hope everyone can be there)
6. Josey being done with his master's degree (He just started & he's got 3 years)
7. Christmas shopping (as long as I have a little money to spend) & wrapping presents
8. Our Relief Society Super Saturday to be over (Sorry about adding this one, but sometimes putting these things together can be stressful - thank goodness Carolyn has pretty much been doing everything & is doing an awesome job)

8 Things on my wish list...
1. A new car
2. A vacation with Josey...
3. And a trip to Disneyland with the whole family (but Josey has to be excited & happy about it)
4. New clothes (I always love new clothes)
5. Patience
6. A cute haircut
7. Nice skin
8. The wind to stop blowing in Kemmerer (except in the summer when it feels nice to get cooled down a little)

8 People I tag...
Natalie, Megan, Sarah, Christy, Carolyn, Rachel, Panda, & Aimei.
Anybody else that wants to give it a try I would love to see it! This was a lot harder than I thought. I'll be checking to see who does it!

At least we got SOME fun out of it...

Here's Jordan and his daddy with the snowman he's been begging us to help him make since the snow started falling. Glad he's having fun. I just can't wait until next week when all of this melts!

Bummer

Last night it was fun; today, not so fun. I'm talking about our first snowstorm of the season. That gives us three months out of the year with no snow. Last night the boys were excited for the snow and wanted to play in it so they made a few snowballs before their little hands were freezing off and they wanted to come inside.

Today, we were supposed to go visit my parents and spend the night because my brother's new baby is getting blessed tomorrow. The day looked okay starting out, but by the time we were ready to leave it was really windy and snowing. For those of you not from Wyoming, the wind can be very strong and cause a whiteout quickly, even if it's not snowing that hard. I had to take some papers to a friend, who lives just around the corner, and we thought we'd see how bad it was. It was bad. I slid off the road and almost hit a stop sign, and Josey was yelling at me to hit the gas, not the brakes. I am really bad at driving in the snow and the roads were pure ice, so I was really scared. When things were under control, I let him drive us back home. In Kemmerer, it is really hard to get back to our house in a storm because the roads are so steep and our car does not have good traction so we have to go all the way around the town just to find some roads that we won't get stuck on. The boys were bawling because they really wanted to go to grandma's, but we just had to tell them that we'd have to come home and have hot chocolate instead. Luckily, they got over their disappointment quickly. Sometimes the weather is a bummer.

Here is a picture from our front porch last week:

And here is a picture from our front porch today:

Life's Little Moments

This week a few things have happened that have made me smile. They've made me stop and reflect on how blessed I am. I don't always take the time to think about all the cute things my kids do when I'm frustrated with some of their naughtiness and whininess, but I wanted to share a few of the cute things that I got to experience this week that made me laugh and appreciate my sweet family.

About a week ago at the dinner table, Josey & I were talking about baptism for some reason. Jordan asked what being baptized meant. Josey told him that someone says a prayer and then you put the person in the water. I can't remember what else he told him, but that is about all that Jordan got out of it. A couple days later, I was watching Jordan & Jarrett play and all of a sudden I see Jordan on his knees saying a prayer (his baptismal prayer went something like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this dinner...") and then he started pushing Jarrett down and telling him he was getting baptized. I was actually a little worried for when they went in the bathtub, and sure enough, Jordan tried baptizing Jarrett in real water. When I told him not to, he started baptizing his toy dinosaurs. Since then, the baptisms have stopped because Josey told him that only people who have the priesthood can baptize and Jordan doesn't have the priesthood. He seemed to accept that explanation.

Another thing that made me laugh is one of the exchanges between Jordan & Jarrett. Jordan was bossing Jarrett around telling him to do something and Jarrett keep asking "why?" Jordan kept answering "because." It was funny because it went on for awhile and Jordan was getting pretty frustrated. A good dose of his own medicine!

My boys say & do funny things all the time that make me wonder where they got so smart (you're right - probably from their mom) and learned these things. But yesterday my favorite moment was taking a nap with Jordan. He's given up his naps, but yesterday I really wanted one so I laid with him on his bed & read some stories and then we both took a nap. I guess it was so sweet because those days have already passed that I used to nap with him, and it was just a nice little part of my day, not to mention that we got a 1 1/2 hour nap. I always love that.

I'm so lucky that I get to experience so many things with my boys every day. Yesterday I was complaining a little to Josey that my days seem to be full of making food & cleaning up, over and over again. He started singing me the song "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. He's right and I know it. I need look for the many happy positive moments that happen every day, even on the worst days. This helps me so much to be grateful for all that I have. Even right now as Jarrett is whacking me with a hanger, I can't help but think how cute he is doing it. Now I better give him some attention because I think that's what he wants.

It's Been Awhile...

It's been a long time since I've made an entry, and I'm not sure why because I think about it a lot. Sometimes it just seems like a little too much effort to sit here and type out my thoughts while Jordan keeps asking, "Mommy, are you done with your blog?" There hasn't been a whole lot going on, but the month has flown by. Jordan started preschool at the beginning of September. He loves it and comes home exhausted on the days he goes. He has a little buddy that he goes with and there are 10 kids in his class. Most days I can't get too much out of him about what they did, except for a few sketchy details here and there. I can't believe he's growing up so fast. I can't believe he can actually sit still for longer periods of time now! (In fact, the last three weeks we've made it through the whole sacrament meeting with both boys.)



A couple of weeks ago, Josey and I took our big date excursion of the year and went down to the BYU-Wyoming football game. We took some pictures, but I haven't been able to upload them so just imagine a slaughtering of 44-0 and us having a lot of fun. It was great to be able to go back to the BYU campus just to see how it's changed. I loved that place. I didn't love Provo necessarily, and I wouldn't like to live there, but while I was going to school, it was the perfect place and I'm glad I got the chance to be there. No, I don't think BYU is the most righteous university ever (or all those other things that sometimes non-BYU fans think BYU people think); it was just the perfect place for me and I spent a very happy 4 1/2 years there. We left our boys with a sweet lady in our ward who watched them all day. They love being with her because she is so great with kids and we all had a great day.

Since then, we've just been enjoying this lovely fall weather. I cannot believe how beautiful it's been, and I know I've got to enjoy it while I can. There hasn't even been any wind for the past 3 days! I took my boys out in the stroller yesterday and today for runs because I knew I had to take advantage of the weather. (I usually prefer running by myself because it's my time, and easier to run without the stroller, but I'm a morning person and didn't want to wait until Josey was home to see if things would work out that I could go running.) Anyways, yesterday as we were running, Jarrett fell asleep and Jordan was looking at all the pretty trees changing colors, and the river, and the mountains, and telling me that Jesus made all of these things because he loves us. What a sweet boy to remind me of these things. I'm glad we were able to take some time to enjoy some of the beauty God has blessed us with, even in Kemmerer! I have to admit that I don't always listen to the things that Jordan is saying because I usually bring my headphones and sometimes turn them on and just run. After yesterday's sweet moment, I shut the headphones off for a minute today when I heard Jordan jabbering away and I asked him what he was saying and he said, "I'm just talking to myself." I thought that was pretty funny -that a little 3-year old has to talk to himself so his mommy can have some time to think and kind of escape into her own world for a little bit - but glad that he's willing to do it and be happy about it. I love my boys - they bring me so much joy that I never could have imagined before they came into my life. How can you look at this sweet face and resist giving it a big kiss? (Never mind the fact that it's covered in dirt, but haven't you noticed this recurring them in all my pictures of Jarrett? - the boy LOVES dirt!)



And one other thing...I started taking a dance class. It's really hilarious. This lady in my ward teaches dance and a couple of people approached her about having an adult class. I do her accounting, so in exchange I decided to try out her class. We are learning hip-hop and jazz. I really stink at it. I have absolutely no rhythm, and I'm not sure I'll ever get it, but it's worth it just to go laugh for an hour at us old ladies trying to dance. I'll let you know how things turn out.