cousins, cabins, and cake...

2 weekends ago we got to have our sweet little niece stay with us all weekend! And in total Sant fashion we of course had to take them out to eat. (anywhere with fry sauce please:-)

 And make treats... This is what happens when you let your kids turn the mixer on.

 This is the mess that happens after they play in all the flour!

 This past weekend we spent up at Brian Head skiing. Don't ask me why we went to see snow on our spring break! But it turned out to be a blast (not that you can tell from the look on Carter's face) Carter and Kai took ski lessons. And by day 3 they were rippin it up on the slopes... or at least they learned to slow down... (that was Carter's big accomplishment)

 SO, it turns out that my kids are terrified of the Easter Bunny! who knew? I guess I haven't done a good job explaining it to them, because before bed on "Easter Eve" Carter kept insisting that we leave the easter baskets outside and lock the door. He just kept saying "and lock the door Mom". He wanted nothing to do with the Easter bunny sneaking in our bedroom and waking him up. Which in turn made Brady start freaking out about going to bed. He just started crying- "I wanna wake up... I wanna wake up!" followed by "The easter bunny's not going to come in here huh?... " and "It's just a costume huh?..." when we convinced them that doors were locked and no Easter bunny would be coming inside- they finally settled down. And look at the joy when they realized the jelly bean rabbit poop and hidden Easter Eggs that the Easter bunny left behind. Crazy kids!

 We celebrated Brady's 3rd birthday. Man- I love that kid! He brings more laughter to our lives than the rest of the 3 of us combined. (also more frustration- but hey- I guess we'll keep him!)

 The kids had a great time sledding on the ski slopes. Our cabin was a ski in/ski out cabin right on Brian Head which made for great sledding and serious competition!

 These 2 little monkeys just hung out inside the cabin with us all weekend. 

 I think I must have 10 pictures that look just like this- same ski gear, same pose, same smiles... but I have to get in at least 1 picture of the trip!

 The kids loved playing games with E-ma. She's the best!

 I can't tell if this is a crazy sugar high face from all the easter candy? or a constipated face.

On the other hand... maybe Brady just has crazy morning eyes. Both of these pictures he looks a little psycho to me, but it was right after he woke up. On the other hand- he is a little crazy. This was on his real birthday. We had pancakes for breakfast and Chuck E. Cheese for lunch! If that's not a fantastic birthday I don't know what is!

Both boys were excited about his new Wiggle Racer! Looks like we may be needing another.

Next Post: Potty Training...

Mosquitos!

We had a fantastic week and THIS is the ONLY picture I took! I guess with warm weather comes mosquito bites and I was feeling So bad for this little guy on Saturday morning when he woke up after being eaten alive by a sneaky little mosquito! He had 20 new bug bites. Needless to say- I tore apart his room that afternoon. changed sheets, vaccumed under the crib, vacummed corners and baseboards, and found 2 sneaky little bugs hiding in remote corners just waiting for poor Brady to go to sleep so they could feast. Ewwww! Anyway- they are dead now- so hopefully he can sleep in peace.

 Before bug bites we had warm sunny weather and loved every second of it! We...

• Went for walks
• Fed the horses
• visited the sheep and fed the ducks/seagulls
• Played at the park
• had picnic lunches
• Played outside with friends
• enjoyed sand all over my house (benefits of a sandbox:)
• made strawberry jam
• started planting our garden
• pulled weeds and cleaned up the yard
• stopped taking naps! (what?!... definitely not a continuing trend I hope.)

All in all it was a great week. I decided to pull out the boys new Easter shirts since we won't be here on Easter. Aren't they handsome?!

* I just realized that list made me sound totally domestic- planting a garden and making strawberry jam all in 1 week?!  Not normal around here- but hey... Something about the sunshine makes me actually want to be productive- and the gardening thing was only because Jason made me:-)

For Lori

Where do I begin?! I stopped his whole blog business a while ago, because for some reason I can't understand why anyone would be interested in what we're doing every day of our life- and yet, I get on other blogs almost daily to see what everyone else is up to. Backwards- I know. Anyway, I would never call myself a blog stalker. There's really only 3 or 4 that I even check anymore because they are close friends and family and I love seeing what they are up to. SO- one of my good friends from Vegas (can I call you that?) is one that I check often- mostly because her girls are darling and her sense of humor is hillarious. We text (which I LOVE) and she mentioned posting something to my long lost blog. And while I am not funny- and don't have anything out of the norm going on around here, I guess it's only fair that I share a few pics once in a while. So- for now, I'm back. Maybe I'll do a weekly update like some. Or maybe this will be the last one. We'll have to just see how I feel about that.

Also- I guess this means carrying my camera around more often. I see why people only post pictures of vacations and the good parts of their lives- because some of us only get our camera out when we go on vacation! Not something I'm proud of. I need to do better. So if it ever appears that I'm only documenting our exotic vacations and luxurious lifestyle;) Just remember that the months in between are filled with sick kids, poopy diapers, constant cleaning and laundry, and a bunch of other uninteresting (yet fulfilling) things that make up the majority of my life. I just don't take pictures of all of it:0

This is Today! Carter was spinning around while he counted to 100. talk about 1 dizzy boy.

This past week we got to have my brother and his daughter Mike and Kate, and my mom here to visit. Most of their time was spent at Primary childrens with a joint infection-but once she got out we decided to have a little fun. We went to the zoo, flew kites, fed the horses, and ate lots of icecream (thanks to Grandma!) We were all so glad to have them visit- just not so glad about the circumstance.

This is Carter Tubing in January. We went with Katie, Jake and Sadie (my sisters family). Carter and Sadie thought they owned the hill. They waited for no one- and luckily the nice workers at the top pushed them down every time. This pic is out of order because I don't know how to blog.

Kate, Carter and Brady settling down for a movie after a long day at the zoo. Isn't she gorgeous?!

Brady wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with tubing. Except the 2 minutes when Carter ran into him with his tube and Brady got stuck head down- feet flying in the air and screaming for me! So- we sat at the bottom and he took pictures with my sunglasses, pulled a tube around and watched all the other kids havingfun.

This is Brady's normal face. Mouth wide open- and always loud! It was such a gorgeous day that the boys wouldn't even keep their coats on. I love the Sun!

Blog background

So- I guess you have to update your blog in order for your background to stay the same? I just got on my blog and for some reason the background has been deleted. Interesting.

Memorial Day Getaway

I am really looking forward to a little escape with our family for the weekend. 4 days of no responsibility, no bills, no mail,no cleaning my house, no work. Just playing with my kids and my hubby! Hope you all have a nice Memorial Day Weekend!

The Weather

OK- so I try not to say too much about the weather, because I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. After all- I've spent the past 6 years whining about 115 degrees in Las Vegas. So now we're in Utah and I do love that we haven't even hit the 80's yet. But I'm ready! I'm ready for some consistently warm weather. I was happy to see snow melt and sunshine arrive, but now it seems that it's constantly teasing us. Since March we've been back and forth with 1/2 week of sunny nice weather, and 1/2 of the week rain and clouds. We use to be able to watch the weather once a month in Vegas and know that we were going to have Sun. Now we must watch every day. We get our hopes up with a forecast of warming trends, only to be disappointed the next day when they realize a storm is blowing in. The silver lining? We love getting the much needed moisture, and we've learned to take advantage of every little pocket of good weather. If it's not raining then we are out playing. And I've learned that a little mud covering my 2 boys is really no big deal. The fun they have outside is definitely worth the mess.

Congrats to the Dabbs!

I'm just sitting here at my computer wishing I could be in Vegas with my friends! Our good friends the Dabbs are going through the temple today for the first time and are going to be sealed as a family tommorrow for all Eternity. I'm so happy for you guys! You are an amazing family and we love you so much.

Congratulations!

Comparisons

I just thought it was fun to compare their 1 year birthday pictures. I can't even believe these 2 are brothers. They look completely different. And I'm not sure if I had any part in Brady- because he is ALL Jason!

For Sarah

This is for Sarah (one of my best friends) because I guess I don't post enough pics of my 2nd child. Which is funny, because most of the time he is by far our favorite!:) I do love both of my kids, but my little baby just turned 1 on Friday!! I can't even believe it. He is still such a baby to me and until he turned 1 he has been a complete angel. I don't know what's been going on this week, we'll see if it keeps up, but right now Carter is in the lead as far as brownie points go.

This is Brady thinking about eating the cake. It took a few cousins helping, and about 15 minutes before he actually ate any of it on his own. I guess he just wasn't in the mood.

This is what Brady did while all the other kids opened his presents. I guess this is what happens when you're not the 1st child. He is always happy if he has a ball in his hand. It's the one word we hear all day long.

What can I say about that pic? I just love my sweet Brade! Just don't look at the cake. After 2 failed attempts at making a baseball cake, I called up the grocery store. :)

Happy Birthday Brady! We couldn't be happier that you're ours. And if the rest of your life goes like the 1st year, you're siblings might all hate you because you've kind of stolen our hearts.

I can't wait for these...

It's beautiful outside and I can't wait to see what color my tulips are when they bloom. Having a long winter really makes me look forward to spring!

Since we moved

After finally downloading our pictures last night I was looking through realizing that it's been a fun couple of months. Amidst all the stress, chaos, and sick kids; I seem to have forgotten all the fun things we've done. These are some random pics, but just a few things that we've been up to since we moved.

I know you've all seen this picture once before, but we are now potty trained! It helps to wait until they're ready. It turns out that it makes it a LOT easier!

Went snowshoeing for the first time! Thanks Mike and Lauren it was a blast!

Had a blissful weekend away from kids and responsibilities! I don't know why I didn't take more pictures! (sorry to everyone else who was there) I seriously haven't had this much fun in a long time! Thanks to all.

Had sleepovers with cousins.

Snuggled with brothers.

Have had some fun dates with E-ma. Here we went to the aquarium.

What a man! Jason sported this hot little number in Colorado over Christmas while doing the dishes. If that's not a turn on I don't know what is!:)

My sister Katie and I tried a new cinnamon roll recipe. hmmm... I'm not sure that they're suppose to look like this.

We loved every second of Christmas in Colorado. Here's Carter with his cousin Sadie.

Today I'm grateful for Friends

Thanks for the comments friends. I just have to say that even though we just moved 500 miles away from our Vegas friends it's so nice to know that you're all just a phone call/blog/e-mail away. It really does make me happy to talk to my friends back in Vegas. So thanks for calling and letting me call you when I need chat.

Love you all!

Moving

I have started this post like 5 times and it just seems to get harder the more time goes by. I don't have pictures and I don't feel like giving the play by play of our Holiday/Move. So, for now I'll just give the quick version of the Holidays, and hope that I can get back into this blogging once we have our house under control

We made it here to Kaysville! With a lot of stress, and a lot of help, we were able to drop our stuff off here before Christmas, Spend Christmas in Colorado with my family, and then come back to unpack. Since then, Jason has been working out of town for almost 3 weeks and I'm still living in somewhat of a mess. But I must say. Kaysville has been GREAT! Within minutes of arriving we had about 10 people including some teenage boys helping us move in. I've had cookies on my doorstep, and people stop by. They definitely gave us a warm welcome. And when I miss my friends and I feel lonely- Jason's family has been great to take care of us. His poor Mom has seen me cry more in this past 2 months than ever before.

Jason likes his pink office, and Carter thinks that every day is meant to be spent with E-ma. (grandma). We're getting use to this, and maybe as my to do list gets shorter I'll spend more time updating my blog.

Christmas Cards

These are the pictures you will NOT be seeing on our Christmas Card! I love them, and I tried every which way to use them- but it's just not working with my card- so I am going to let it go, and realize that I'm the only one that really cares how cute my boys are. I had to share somewhere, so here they are. Thanks to my cute sister-in-law Hailey!

Happy Face

Does that just make you happy or what?!

Thanks for the pic Susan.

Growing so fast!

We took a trip to Oregon a few weeks ago and here are just a few of the pics. Sorry there's not more- I just get too impatient waiting for photos to upload. We had a blast. Thank you Joni and Gordon and Fam. We watched football, and volleyball, saw the coast, went to an awesome aquarium. We had beautiful weather. And just not enough time.

Carter learned all about FunDip!

Carter, Jason, Aunt Joni, Whitney, Me and Brady after Colton's football game.

Carter was scared to death of Kona on day1 but by day2 they were inseparable. They played catch out in the back yard. Muddy football+Cute Dog=Happy Muddy Boy!

And now that we're back... Brady started sitting up all by himself! I can't believe how fast he's growing. Man I love that boy!

Not Ready

Well- not even a full day of potty training and I'm already giving up. For those of you who know me- you know I always try things too early (switching to a twin bed before Carter was ready). And I guess this was one of those things too. I just thought he could do it. Here's the problem- he knows how to hold it (which is pretty much what he did all day), and he knows how to go (which happened twice in the toilet.) but he just doesn't want to. And I don't know HOW to make a kid go to the bathroom when he doesn't WANT to! Is this normal?! We spent countless times on the toilet singing songs, talking about all the other "big boys" who also go to the potty on the toilet, played with the toilet paper holder, made our pooping faces (in an effort to help him push), and tried to aim into the toilet (which isn't natural for a boy sitting down), all this while Brady watched- (Carter was pretty excited to show Brady how big he was... for about 5 seconds.)

So ANYWAY, after about 5 cups of juice, and a concerned Carter playing uncomfortably, and trying really hard to hold it as long as he could- I decided to put the diaper back on. AND he went. Aaahhh... relief for him. Frustration for me. I guess that's what I get for starting too early.

Ready or not...

THIS is what we're up to. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Carter!!!

It seems that I am always playing catch up. I don't know why- but I have a hard time finding motivation to update our blog! I love looking at everyone else's and I finally decided I better document Carter's birthday (which was in July!) So Happy Birthday Carter!

The first thing out of his mouth in the morning was "Birthday Cake?" Well... um... no. We had to remind him throughout the day that we didn't get cake until after dinner. But he sure had fun opening presents all day long!
Do you think he was excited about his remote control truck?

And here's his cake. He's not really in to 1 thing right now- but he always loves "Monkey George" so that's what I did. And next year?... We'll do a store bought one.

And here's my sweet baby boy. Oh I just love those squishy cheeks!

I'll have to do a video sometime- but Brady was giggling so hard just watching Carter talk to him. Carter thought it was pretty cool. "He's laughing Mommy!" Was all I heard (repeated over and over) for about 10 minutes!

I'm glad they love eachother so much.