February 2014

The boys loved Mario Kart N64 so much that when I saw this Toad hat in Ikea for $3 I had to buy it. 

My mom is so good at sending little packages for the boys for each holiday. Camden was pretty excited when we got the Valentine's day package. Grandma Jodi is so fun!

More and more Camden wants to be like his brothers. On this particular morning I lowered his high chair so he could eat breakfast with Ryan and Brady. He thought it was pretty cool.

Ryan and Brady got really into Ninjas this month. To break in our newly finished theater I bought Season 1 of Ninjago on DVD for family movie night. The boys were instantly hooked. One evening they found some masking tape and went to work making themselves into Ninjas while I was cooking dinner. This was the result:

February means BYU basketball! We went on a family date one evening down to Provo to go to one of the games. Before the game we went to the Nickelcade in Orem. The boys love that place. I was helping Brady with a game and asked Zach and Ryan to keep an eye on Camden. When I turned from helping Brady this is what I found. Such is life as the third child.

Brady won one of the jackpots. He was pleased with himself.

It was fun to be back in the Marriot Center with my three little boys. I remember, not so long ago, going as a freshman to every BYU basketball game. At least, it didn't seem that long ago. When we got into our seats and saw the students in the student section, however, I realized that it was FOREVER ago! I am so old. Three kids? What?!

Brady's face is amazing and I love his tucked in t shirt. 

One morning we played pin the cheerio on the baby. It was a fun game. If you have a baby and cheerios, I highly recommend it.

Roxy and Camden continued to define their relationship. Roxy has been so good with all my kids. She lets Camden use her as a drum, pull on her ears and roll all over her. And she loves it.

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur museum with Brittany and her kids. I set Camden down in the sand box at the end and he loved it!

Camden started crawling like a pro in February. He could get around before, but we hadn't had to block anything off because of the step down into the living room. He never really tried to get past that step. One day, however, I ran to the bathroom and came back to find him halfway up the stairs and standing! My heart skipped a beat. He was very proud of himself. That night I instituted the baby blockade. It was made up of an ottoman and a bench. It looked ridiculous,  but it kept Camden safely enclosed until he mastered the stairs a few weeks later.

On Valentines Day, after we dropped Ryan off at school, we went to Zach's work and had lunch with him. It is always surprising to me how having one less kid makes life so much more manageable. And it doesn't matter how many kids you have. If it's one less, it's a piece of cake.

Brady loved playing oldest brother on our little lunch day. He got to do the ball ramp and play on the arcade machine in Zach's office. It was a really fun afternoon.

While we were busy with Zach, Ryan was busy having fun at his school Valentine's Day Party! He got Valentines from everyone in his class and his teacher made these cute personalized Valentine mailboxes for each of the kids. She was a super teacher. I assume that the kids cut out their own hands- either that, or she has a thing or two to learn about using scissors. Chop! Chop! (notice the baby blockade in the background)

After dinner on Valentine's Day, we headed over to the Dinosaur museum for a little family date. It was a good night to go. It wasn't crowded at all and the kids had a lot of fun.

Just because the basement was "finished" didn't mean we were done making trips to Home Depot on a fairly regular basis. The older boys loved the "race car carts" they have there and were always really good sports about going.

My sister, Anne, gave Camden these Batman pajamas at my baby shower before he was born. It's always crazy to get 12M clothes when your baby is still a newborn. It all looks so big! I was excited to finally get to pull these pjs out and try them on him. They fit perfectly and he looked so cute! Thanks Anne!

With the theater up and running, Zach and I started spending our evenings in the basement watching TV instead of in the living room like we used to. Ryan and Brady seemed to get a sense their new bed time freedom because we found Brady sleeping like this when we came upstairs to go to bed one night. Perched on the top step, totally asleep. Crazy kid.

Camden and Roxy have a cute relationship. One or the other of them seems to be getting on the other ones nerves 90% of the time. Either Camden is trying to pull Roy's tail or Roxy is licking Camden in the face. There are those 10% moments, however, where they both seem to genuinely enjoy each other. When those moments happen, you take a picture.

We reached a HUGE milestone in February. Brady finally was officially potty trained! He was so tricky. We had a gigantic potty training fail in October 2013. It was a traumatic experience for both of us. So you can imagine my trepidation at attempting potty training again with him. He started showing interest on a Monday and said he wanted to be done wearing diapers. We went out that day and bought a potty chair and I let him pick out potty treats. We brought it home and I was thinking we'd jump right into it, but when we go home he was over it. So the potty sat in our front room for a few days. Then on the way home from an outing on Saturday night he said he was ready to wear his underwear. I couldn't think of a worse time to start potty training. With church the next morning and family coming over for dinner in the evening, I was so stressed. I totally turned it over to Zach (bless his heart).

Brady wore underwear that night and kept his bed dry! He even got up at 5am and peed in the potty all by himself!  Things were looking up! But when it was time to go to church at 11am and he still hadn't gone again- in fact he was refusing to even sit on the potty- I realized this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. I tried to get him to put on a pull-up for church but he saw right through it. He knew it wasn't underwear and refused to put it on. Zach said to let him go in underwear and we did, but I refused to even sit next to him in Sacrament meeting. We were just waiting for the inevitable accident and I couldn't handle it. Sure enough, about halfway through, we noticed his pants were wet.

Zach took him out to get changed and put a diaper back on him. When they got into the parking lot Brady threw the most epic freakout he has ever thrown. Zach had to physically restrain him from running half naked back into the church. It was all a little too much. So Zach took him home and Brady continued to throw a huge fit. He threw all his stuffed animals down the stairs, he was crying and yelling. He did not want a diaper and I think he was so frustrated about having had an accident. Finally he calmed down enough for Zach to talk to him. He ended up in underwear again and came back to church for the rest of Primary.

After church, Brady was still very resistant whenever Zach or I asked him to sit on the potty. What finally clicked was setting a timer and having the timer tell him when it was time to sit. By the end of the day he was coming up to Zach or I and asking "Did the timer go off?" This was code for "I have to go potty." We played the timer game for another day and on Tuesday morning he told me he didn't need the timer anymore and from then on out he used the toilet all on his own. Even when he was playing outside he would come inside and go to the bathroom when he needed it to. He had enough success that he finally earned the fishing toy he had been working toward back in October. It was a happy day for all of us. Potty training is the worst part of parenting for me to this point. I shudder to think that we have to do it all over again with Camden in the future. My stomach hurst just thinking about it!

Brady with his hard earned fishing toy. 

Toward the end of the month, Ryan got his first ear infection. I got a call from Ryan's teacher about 15 minutes before school let out. She said that Ryan was complaining of an ear ache- so much so that he had his head on the desk and was crying. I told her I'd be right there to pick him up. Then she said that he didn't want me to come get him. I talked to him on the phone and he said he didn't want to leave school. (His love of school astounds me. Is he even my kid!? I hated school.) I met him at the door and I could tell he felt poorly. I found a sitter for Brady and took Ryan into the doctor as soon as I could get an appointment. It was my first ever sick child visit to the doctor's office with one of my kids. The doctor looked into Ryan's ear and sure enough he had an ear infection. The doctor wrote a prescription for antibiotics, but told me to wait to fill it until the ear ache persisted for 24 hours. It was dinner time by the time he got out of the appointment so we went to McDonalds on the way home and stopped at WalMart and bought the second season of Ninjago. By the next day Ryan was feeling much better so I never did fill the prescription. I was mad that I broke my no doctor streak when all we needed was time, but I was more happy that Ryan was feeling better.

Good thing my kids don't get sick more often. I feel so bad for them that I give in to whatever they want when they're sick!

*Written on June 19, 2014

January 2014 contd.

January was cold, but we tried to get outside as much as we could. Camden was very content to bundle up, look adorable and watch the boys play from the stroller. 

We had several snow storms, but the snow melted between each one. When the snow had melted just about everywhere else, there was still snow in our neighbor's side yard. One of the boys' favorite activities before lunch was to take their little snowmobile sled out to the patch of snow and pull it in circles. I would pull them for as long as I could (it was hard work!) and then go in to make lunch and they would take turns pulling each other.

Our lovely snowman from the last post melted as all snowmen eventually do. His face was laying on the grass one day and Ryan and I decided to give it new life. At first we gave him a smile, but then we thought it would be more realistic to give him a frown. I love that even when Ryan is trying to look sad he looks completely cheerful. He is such a happy kid. I love it!

Camden was minding his own business playing with his walker when the other boys started cracking up. I walked over to see what all the laughter was about to find a cheerio stuck to Camden's bum. 

My sisters came to the Midway Ice Castles with us. We had never been before and they were beautiful! It was definitely cold and they kept the ground really slushy, so I was happy that we wore our boots, but by the time we left our feet were freezing cold. Lindsey blogs about it here. (Psssst. She's much funnier than I am) 

Camden was bundled up and staying in the front pack the whole time and didn't complain once while we were there. I love his cheesy smile in this pictures. 

It's been so fun to have my sisters in Utah with me. Every time we do things together I wonder why we don't do more things together.

One night Camden was up a little past his bedtime. I was sitting on the ground when he came and sat down and cuddled into my leg. Melted my heart.

Ryan got Martin Luther King Day off of school. The boys pulled every pillow from the whole house and brought all their blankets downstairs and watched a movie. They loved it! It was like a giant slumber party and a great break from our normal schedule.

Camden continued to get cheerios stuck in funny places. Never a dull moment with a baby around!

In honor of our trip to the Rose Bowl earlier in the month, Pam outfitted the boys in MSU gear. They were so excited when the package arrived. They had been practicing their "Go Green! Go White!" cheer and felt all the more official doing the cheer in their new Michigan State shirts.

Our friend, Curt, gave the boys his old Mario Kart N64 game. It was a big day in our house. Ryan and Brady loved it. I grew up playing this game and it was so fun to see my kids like it so much.

Camden had his first haircut in January. It was growing past his ears and I was getting a few too many, "She's so cute" comments when we were out in public.

I gave him his first lollipop and that seemed to do the trick! He stayed pretty still and I liked how the haircut turned out. It's always a little sad to give my babies their first haircut. He definitely lost his baby look and looked more like a boy after the hair cut.

Zach's goal for the basement was to watch the Super Bowl in the theater in the basement. It was quite the incentive because he got it done. It was really exciting to watch it all come together.

The night before carpet. 

The theater. I love the lighting!

The morning before the carpet came in I let the boys ride their bikes in the basement. They loved it. 

The day the carpet came in felt like Christmas! It really pulled everything together and finished it off. We love having the basement finished. 

The toy room. The kids love the under stair super hero fort. 

One night I got Camden all ready for bed only to find his little toes sticking out of the bottom of his pajamas. Looks like it was time to go up a size! I guess that's what happens when you are wearing hand me down hand me downs. That's life as the third brother for you! 

The boys loved having hot chocolate in the morning. One morning I put it in styrofoam cups and they drank it sitting on the front porch. How is Brady's adorableness even allowed? He is seriously the cutest. 

And that was January 2014!

*Written on June 18, 2014

January 2014

The day after Christmas we loaded up the car and headed to St. George. I was still very sick. I felt a little crazy going on a trip when I felt so awful. I was also worried that everyone in my family was just a ticking time bomb and they would end up sick while we were on our trip. We spent the night at Zach's parents house and it was a rough one. Ryan was up half the night with an ear ache. So far, things were going about as I imagined them. Terrible. I'm such an optimist, I know. The next morning we headed to sunny San Diego! 

I never really understood why people made such a big deal about California, but our visit to San Diego made me a huge California fan! It. was. awesome. Right after we got into town we took the kids on a train ride. On the walk home from the train ride Ryan completely fell apart. He was exhausted and felt feverish. My only thought was, "Oh no. Here it comes!" I had been sick for about 5 days and our vacation was... 6 days long. I had visions of living in the hotel room with sick kids for a week. Splendid. Ryan fell asleep immediately when we got back to the room. It was the first night in a long time that I actually slept well. I woke up feeling great and, miracle of miracles, Ryan felt great too! I think California is magic.

We spent our first full day at Legoland. The boys were the perfect age for Legoland. They loved all the rides and the Lego sculptures were awesome. Camden was still just a little baby and I wondered how our day-long outings would go with such a tiny guy. I had been wanting to make the switch to formula, and this was the perfect time to do it. We bought some bottles of formula for Camden and it was the most liberating thing I have ever done in my whole life. I was free! Pam took "Camden Watch" the majority of the time and I was free to go enjoy the park with Zach and the boys. When he was tired, he slept on Grammy. When he was hungry, she gave him a bottle. It all turned out better than expected. Thank goodness for Grammy Pam!

Waiting in line for a ride at Legoland.

On our second day we went to Sea World where my mind was officially blown. I love Shamu. I mean I really love him. Everything about it was amazing. The park was just the right balance of fun rides for the kids and awesome animals to look at (for me). I want to go back. It was my favorite day of our trip.

Day 3 we went to San Diego Zoo. I was not impressed. Way too big and spread out. The kids were tired from our fun filled days at Legoland and Sea World. So we saw the koalas and bats, ate lunch and left. This is a picture to prove we were there. Taken in the parking lot. on our way out. Adios gigantic zoo. I appreciate you much more on Saturday morning specials with Jack Hanna than I do in real life.

Day 4, on the other hand, was spent at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (or "Fazari" Park as Brady would say) and it was 100 million times better than the zoo. Seriously, so cool. Camden continued to soak in his Grammy Pam time. And loved every second of it.

We started with the Safari ride and it was really cool. Pictures don't do it justice. The kids were great and stayed engaged the whole time.

One of the most awesome things we did on the trip was watch the "Cheetah Run". Basically we crowded around a little strip of grass with a bagillion other people while the Cheetah trainers released the Cheetah and had it run full speed for a little treat on a rope. It was one of those once in a lifetime things and, like the Safari ride, pictures don't do it justice. We didn't have a good enough spot to do a video. Just believe me that it was awesome.

The boys got wet in a water feature while we were waiting for the cheetah and then they were cold. Don't you just love those "I told you so" moments? I thought I would feel more vindicated, but really I just had to listen to whiny kids who were cold. I don't think they regretted not listening to my warning about getting wet- I think they were just offended that they were cold (as I so accurately predicted they would be!). Lesson not learned.

That evening (Dec 31st) we drove to Mirada and all went to bed well before midnight (Happy New Year!) The next morning we woke up early and drove to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl Parade! The kids did so well. There was a lot of waiting, but once the parade started the floats seemed to hold the boys' attention. About half way through there was a thirty minute delay where the whole parade was stopped. We came to find out later that some animal rights activists decided to try to protest the Sea World float. (my favorite float!) Shame on them. I know they are trying to save the whales and all, but think of the children! Namely, my children. Who had to sit in the hot sun for thirty minutes waiting for the parade to start back up. Yep, animal rights people who stopped the parade, you suck.

After the parade, Pam and I took the boys back to the hotel for naps and lunch. Doug and Zach continued on to the Rose Bowl football game. Doug and Pam's Alma Mater- Michigan State- was playing in the Rose Bowl! It was all very exciting and was the reason behind our whole trip to California. So I can whole heartedly cheer with the rest of them, "Go Green! Go White!" but I would have to add, "Go Trips to California with your In-Laws!"

After the boys woke up from naps we looked up a park to go play at because football games last forever and the men wouldn't be home for another few hours. I brought bread to feed the ducks. I guess California ducks feel a little more entitled than normal ducks (perhaps it's something in the water... like the same water the people drink...see where I'm going with this... #donthatemecaliforniapeopleiloveyourstate) because they did not wait for us to offer them bread, they just came up out of the water and took it out of our hands- which is terrifying if you are Brady and the ducks are as tall as you are.  If I thought the ducks were bad (and I did) the geese were horrible! They literally chased me and my boys up a hill. Imagine me carrying a stocky three year old while trying to push an umbrella stroller up a bumpy, grassy hill with an angry goose on my heels. It is funny only in memories, I assure you.

MSU won the football game!- effectively solidifying this trip as the most epically awesome vacation that ever was or ever will be. There are lots of fun and exciting things to write about the game. Tales of how tickets were acquired, play by plays, descriptions of poor sports on the Stanford side, etc. etc. I could go on and on! ...but I won't. Give me your email address though and I can have Pops send you a thorough report. Love you Pops!

The next day was our last day in California. We spent the morning looking at all the floats from the parade. "Wait." you might be thinking, "Didn't you look at the floats the morning before?" Yes. Yes we did. This was, surprisingly, really fun though. They had all the floats parked at an events center and we got to see them up close. Plus there were no stupid activists to mess it all up. It was hot and super crowded, but actually really fun.

How cute are these two? And Ryan will immediately point out that they are standing in front of the "Support Potty" That's what he calls Porta-potties. I hope he never learns to call them by their real name. 

There was a creepy guy on the corner making balloon creations... by all means, yes please! He talked way too long to us, but we came out with two swords, two masks and a balloon thing for Camden to play with so I guess all the creepiness and unwanted conversation was worth it! I guess.

After the parade do-over, we headed down to Santa Monica Pier. Talk about the most excellent place ever. There were carnival rides for the kids and the ocean was right there. You know you are in a good place when changing your baby's dirty diaper in an alleyway feels like a dream. True story. 

It has to be noted that this picture was taken on January 2nd. Everyone back in Utah was freezing their butts off and we had our toes in the sand. I think knowing that everyone back at home was miserably cold made the warmth of the sun on our backs and the cool ocean waves on our feet that much sweeter. Muahahaha.

Under the pier there were lots of mussels. We even saw some star fish!

Best picture of the whole trip. 

We stuck around and watched the sunset at the end of the Pier. It was so beautiful. And pictures did do it justice. I just can't find one to post here. Sorry. Just before sunset the GO GREEN GO WHITE cheer broke out and after about the fourth rendition a local yelled out GO HOME. And we did. The very next day. 

We stopped in Las Vegas on the way home to visit our old stomping grounds. It's all still there in case you were wondering. The highlight was spending a couple hours with our friends, the Johnsons. Jake was Ryan's very first buddy and it was fun to see them reunited. I don't know who let them grow up so much because that's gotta stop. Brady and Ryan Johnson were just babies when we left and in this picture they are both on the verge of (very late, mind you) potty training! So crazy.

When we got home, winter was waiting for us. The kids had fun rediscovering their Christmas presents and we built a snowman or two. Life was good.

We changed church times with the new year. Changing from the 9am block to the 11am block. I loved being able to have more relaxing mornings, but having church over lunch and naps is hard on kids. This is Brady after our first week of 11am church. This boy loves his sleep! We started our new calling teaching the Sunbeams. It was a rough first couple weeks while a few of the kids adjusted, but we are loving it! Zach and I get to teach together and we have Brady in our class. It's been my favorite calling so far, hands down.

Ryan spotted a cardboard castle at Michael's when he was Black Friday shopping with Zach's sister in St. George way back in November. It was love at first sight. He had his heart set on this castle, so when he got a little bit of money from Christmas, you can bet he knew what he wanted to get. We went to the Michaels closest to us and searched high and low before finally asking someone about it. The employee knew what we were talking about but couldn't find it either. Turns out they were completely sold out and, get this, it is a seasonal item that they won't be getting back in stock. My heart fell into my stomach. I called every Michaels in a fifty mile radius and they all said the same thing. I even called the St. George store thinking Pam could pick it up for me. No dice. I looked up "cardboard castle"s on Amazon but none of them matched the coveted one Ryan had in mind. On a whim I stopped at Hobby Lobby thinking, just maybe, they would have one and they did! We got the last one and, with the coupon we used, it was much cheaper than the Michaels one. Bless you Hobby Lobby. I will love you forever for that day.

Ryan feeling like a million bucks after only spending $12. That's a pretty sweet deal, I'll tell you what.

We ventured out on the golf course across the street from our house a few times. Roxy loved to run in the snow. Camden got to touch the snow for the first time! He hated it. It ended up being great though because it was like a natural play pen for him. Surround him with snow and he wasn't going anywhere!

Snow golf- a favorite winter pastime.

I hate those sunglasses, but love those baby smiles! 

We spent many, many January nights at Home Depot getting things for the basement. Zach was working on the basement a couple hours every night and about 8 hours every Saturday. He is amazing. When he makes up his mind about something, he gets it done!

And that's not even all my pictures from January! I guess when you take over 400 pictures  from December 27th to January 2nd you might expect a recap to take up more than one post. Stay tuned for the rest of January.

I don't know about you, but I already can't wait for these recap posts to be over. Haha. Good night.

*Written on June 17, 2014