Thanks A Lot Grandpa!!

The other day I was getting ready to make dinner, and I told Jordan, "I don't really feel like making dinner today." He said, "Why? Do you just like to eat candy all day?" (I must be setting a really good example of healthy eating habits, don't you think?) Well, someone must have relayed this conversation to grandpa, because this is the package Jordan and Jarrett got in the mail today from Josey's dad:

Where's My Camera When I Need It?

I'm really mad at myself for forgetting to take my camera everywhere I go. We went to the BYU-Wyoming basketball game a couple of weeks ago. Forgot my camera. Josey's basketball team's been doing some great stuff. Forgot my camera. I took the boys on a fun outing with their cousins yesterday - bowling and McDonald's. Forgot my camera. So just use your imagination for now.

I'm really just making this entry to get some blogging done. Today is my day to get everything else done (laundry, clean the house, organize, etc.), so why not blogging too?

As soon as I'm done with this stuff, I'm going to try to think of something great to make up for not getting Josey anything for Valentine's Day. I made the mistake of just kind of putting it off until the last minute, and then...one of the greatest husbands in the world (seriously) didn't get diddly squat, except for some tomatoes in the shape of a heart on the pizza I made him (that he sliced and ate before even recognizing the heart). I didn't think he really cared that much until last night when the subject came up. Oops. He's a sentimental kind of guy, and would probably appreciate nothing more than a heartfelt letter or card from me, and I didn't even do it. I started to. I started writing him a letter, but it sounded all wrong so I threw it away. So today I'm going to try really hard to think of something special to make it up to him. Just for the record, I made his Valentine's Day really easy. I wanted to go for a long run outside, and have some M&M's, and if I was really lucky (or loved), a massage. He came through with all I wanted. Really, it was just a great day. The Kemmerer girls beat the #1 team in the state, so he was in a good mood. Then we just got to relax and watch the BYU basketball game on TV. Then he got to go chaperone the high school dance (okay, so that part wasn't so great, but he wouldn't take my advice to tell one of the single teachers to do it.) It was a day that I felt a lot of love for my hubby; I just didn't do a good job of letting him know it.

Okay...I've got something for those of you wanting a picture. While I was writing the previous paragraphs, my sweet son Jarrett flooded the bathroom by filling the sink to overflowing and clogging it with a towel. Lucky for me, Jordan tattled. The only problem with Jordan's tattling is that he doesn't tell me until all the damage is already done because he's having so much fun watching (and participating too, I'm sure, but I'm blaming this one on Jarrett because he's been up to no good all morning). I tried getting a picture of Jarrett throwing a fit so you could see how sad he was that he got in trouble for being naughty, but by the time I got the camera ready, he was ready to smile and play again. And now I better go clean up the flood, which somehow came through the floor and drenched my laundry room floor in the basement. Love these boys. This is what happens when I try to update my blog!

Our January

I've been meaning to sit down for awhile and do some blogging, but you know how it goes. Life gets busy, and time flies by. This time, quite a bit has actually been happening in our lives, but I haven't taken too many pictures. Here's the rundown... (stick with me, this might get a little boring, but we really have had a lot going on.)

Both of my sweet boys had birthdays in January. Jarrett turned 2 and Jordan turned 4. I hate to admit that their "parties" were anything but spectacular, if you can even call them parties. I think both nights Josey was coaching late practice, which means he comes home from school at about 5 for dinner and then heads back to practice at approximately 5:15. Both boys got boring presents from their parents (coats), although Jordan did get a computer game, which turns out to be the biggest waste of money ever because it is really DUMB and doesn't teach him anything. (Does anyone have any suggestions for computer games for preschoolers?) At least they both got some fun presents from their grandparents, and next year I will do better, I promise! We want to make a yearly tradition of taking them to a BYU basketball game for their birthdays since they are so soon after Christmas, but we didn't think we'd get to go this year because Josey coaches basketball practically every Saturday. He actually doesn't have a game this weekend, and it just happens to be Family Day at the Marriott Center so we got cheap tickets and we're going. They're playing Wyoming, and it should be fun.

Poor Jarrett didn't even get a cake, just some ice cream with a couple of candles.

Jordan fared a little better; at least he got a cupcake.

Some other big news is that Josey's little sister Arielle has come to live with us. She's a senior in high school and she's going to be staying until the end of the school year. Josey felt inspired to ask her if she wanted to come live with us, and it was a really hard decision for her to make, but it felt right, and she moved in last week. I hope it's a good experience for her. My boys are loving it so far, although I hope they adjust to all the change soon. They got bunk beds and have been waking up at about 5:45 or 6 every morning and going into Arielle's room instead of ours. At least she's already getting up to get ready for seminary, but still, I feel just a little guilty. Plus the lack of sleep is making Jordan a REALLY grumpy little boy come about 6 p.m.

On top of this change, my mom had to have an emergency stomach surgery last week. She is still in the hospital, but when she gets out, I'm hoping I can go over there and help her out for a few days. She's recovering well, and I think she should be getting out of the hospital soon. She'd been complaining to me about her sore stomach for a couple of weeks, and it turns out she had a hole in it, and the pain finally became so excruciating that she could barely move. Poor lady! I've been worried about her, but luckily she didn't get any infection, which was my biggest concern. So for a few days, I felt pretty tired and stressed (because on top of these things, I have also had a mild cold that still won't seem to go away and it's been almost 3 weeks), but life seems to be returning to normal.

We'd been experiencing unusually mild winter weather for Kemmerer until about this past weekend. I've even been enjoying running outside a little bit. Then the snow fell, and now I don't know how long I'll be stuck inside. Running on the treadmill or 140 times around the track at the Rec Center just isn't quite as fun as running outside, and I want the snow to GO AWAY!

Now I have just have a few thoughts to share about a little horrifying experience I had this week. I went to the grocery store with my boys, and as we were walking towards the store, Jordan took off running right behind a truck that was backing up. I took off running after him and slipped on the ice and fell. I think I managed to grab Jordan's arm and pull him back, but I don't know. It's all a blur. The lady never did see Jordan, but maybe she saw me, and another truck saw Jordan and honked at her. It was such a close call. I don't know if I've ever been that scared. I'm sure Jordan didn't understand the enormity of what he had done. I was too scared to do anything to him other than reprimand him for running away from me and not listening to me when I yelled at him to "Stop!". I don't know what I needed to do to teach him to never run away from me like that again. It's time like these when you hear a spanking is in order. Well, in that moment I was just so grateful that my little boy was not hurt that I couldn't spank him.

We went into the store and I was pretty close to tears, shaking and just trying not to cry. Then this old lady comes up to me and starts telling me how she saw what happened, and she was talking to the boys, asking them questions, just trying to be friendly. This made me break down, and I started bawling my head off right there in the store. I finally calmed down and managed to finish my shopping, but the old lady gave me a hug and bought me a chocolate rose. I thought this was a sweet thing to do, especially from a stranger.

That night during Family Home Evening, it was just me and the boys because Josey and Arielle were at basketball practice. We had a lesson on obedience, and the boys were practicing obeying me. It was Jordan's idea to practice running away from me and stopping when I said to stop. I just hope they learned a little lesson there about why it's important to listen to mommy and daddy (because we love them!! and want them to be safe!!). That night as I said my prayers, I made sure to tell Heavenly Father how grateful I was that nothing had happened to Jordan. I love him so much and I can't imagine the pain I would be in now if something had happened to him. Kids are so precious, so make sure you tell them all the time how much you love them! I know we all know this, but it's moments like these that remind us how precious they are.

These Boys Make Me Laugh

Mommy (after witnessing Jordan running around in nothing but a shirt): "Jordan, did you wet your pants?"
Jordan: "Nope, I was wearing shorts." And runs off playing happily. (It was really just the way he said it that made me laugh. He was thinking he was really smart because he didn't have to tell me that he actually wet his pants.)

Overheard while I was in the other room:
Jarrett: "I pooped."
Jordan: "Don't tell me. Tell my horse." (His new little toy horse.)

Oh the many funny things I get to hear my kids say in a day. I'm so glad they give me something to laugh about!

We're Back!

Our long Christmas break is finally close to ending. It has been fun having Josey around so much. He remarked to me yesterday that he thinks Jarrett has really enjoyed having him around so much. I think so too, except I don't think Jarrett enjoys the numerous times when Josey has been rough-housing with him and accidentally dropped him on his head. Yesterday this happened at least 3 times of HARD bonks, not little things that a mommy should just ignore. I felt bad for the poor little guy, but he keeps coming back for more. Jarrett also took a great liking to his Grandpa Allen while we were up in Montana. I guess dads and grandpas are just a lot of fun.

We had a great Christmas, and luckily Jordan's main wish for a Lightning McQueen car was fulfilled by his grandparents. Our main wish of spending lots of fun time with family was also fulfilled. We played a lot of games, went sledding, played with lots of new toys, visited with family, enjoyed the hot tub (it was cute listening to Jarrett say he wanted to "go hot tubbing"), and had lots of good food and laughs.

Here are the boys developing their creative talents with their aunt Arielle. Don't they look like they're getting smarter?

And here is Jordan developing the talents of his father and uncles. Doesn't he look like he's getting dumber? Ah, the joy of video games.

My New Skills

Hi everyone. I know it's been awhile, and once again, not a whole lot beyond the normal has been happening. We've been seeing a lot less of Josey with him coaching basketball now. He is the girl's JV coach, and I think he is enjoying it so far. They have just had one game, which they lost, but by a much smaller margin than they did to the same team last year. He thinks they will continue to improve.

I guess the only thing new in my life is that I recently started a workout from my fitness magazine (using weights and a stability ball) that's supposed to "tone me all over" in 15 minutes a day 3 times a week. Yeah right, especially with all of these holiday sweets I've been devouring. But so far I've found myself a little sore and we'll see how it goes.

Every night Jordan asks me if Santa Claus is coming tonight, and I have to tell him "no, not tonight - not until we go to Montana" (I'm so excited!!). He has a few interesting things on his wishlist, including a self-flushing toilet like the one at the store he was fascinated with. I told him I don't think Santa can fit a toilet in his sleigh. I know, it's the same thing every parent tells their child, but I know Santa's not going to be able to bring one this year.

Jarrett's favorite new phrase is "No way Jose" and he repeats this (although sometimes without the "Jose") approximately 500 million times a day. This boy has a major attitude and loves to see what he can get away with. Good thing he's so stinking cute when he says it, though he's been spending much more time in time-out lately (both for this blatantly opposing mommy and daddy when it's something serious we're telling him not to do, and for finally starting to stand up to his brother and whack him when he's being annoying - I can't say I blame him much for this, but you know the rule - no hitting.) Unfortunately, I still don't see too much what the experts see in time-outs, as they seem to have basically no effect. He is still really little though, and it gives him a break to scream in his room with the saddest of cries for a minute and come out with huge tears covering his face, resulting in me smothering him with kisses and feeling a little guilty for torturing him so much. Such is life I guess.

Anyways...about my new skills. I'm so excited about a project I just did yesterday. True, I spent the majority of the afternoon ignoring my kids and coming to understand why Josey wants a new computer chair for Christmas, but it was worth it in the end. I've been wanting to get some pictures of the boys, but they are so difficult! We got family pictures, and managed to have one turn out where both boys weren't leaping off our laps, but we couldn't get one good shot of the boys alone. It is impossible to get Jordan with a natural smile. So yesterday I had my own photo shoot and did some editing, and this is how things turned out. I'm just excited because I actually did something that I'm happy with. Thank goodness for Photoshop.

Before the edit...

After the edit...

Handsome Boy

Just wanted to post Jordan's first ever "school" picture. Isn't he handsome? Looks a lot different from that orphan boy from a few weeks ago, huh? I know it's just because he's my kid, but I think he's so stinkin' cute! I still kiss him all the time, and luckily he still likes it.

Not a whole lot has been happening around here. Last weekend, Josey and I left our kids with my parents and we drove over to Glenrock, WY (5 hour trip) to watch Kemmerer play in the state championship football game. They had gone undefeated all season, but they lost the game 18-0 against a tough (also undefeated) team. So that was a bummer, but it was fun to have just a little break from the kids. It's the first time I've had a night without Jarrett and the boys did great. Jordan did call my mom a "mean grandma", and she got a real kick out of that.

This weekend we get to go to Bozeman, MT to watch Josey's sister Arielle play in her state volleyball tournament. The boys are very excited to see their other grandma and grandpa. A few weeks ago Jordan told me, "we haven't seen our Montana grandma for a very long time" so I decided to push Josey into letting us go watch Arielle play. He started coaching basketball this week, and he's very busy and already starting to feel the stress. He's also working on his master's degree and trying to implement some new things in his teaching, and I think he feels he's being pulled from all directions, so hopefully this will be a little break for him and not just a time when he's worried about everything else. Sometimes I wish I could do more to alleviate his stress, but I'm thankful he loves us so much and does so much for us.

By the way, does everyone else see this little Photobucket icon on my blog? Does anyone know how to get rid of it? And where did my background go? Probably the virus that I downloaded a couple of weeks ago (that Josey is still really mad at me about) has something to do with it.