poor poor sammy

Turns out we didn't make it out on the road today. Sam has been sick for the last day with a high fever and we decided not to travel with him feeling sick. The poor boy has not been his chipper, chatty, totting around the house getting into mischief- self but just a lump in my arms. it is so pitiful.
We are very disappointed that we will not be able to see family and that we will miss my sister's baptism tomorrow. We wanted to share her special day with her. We will be thinking of you Bekah!

meanwhile...
The rest of us feel like we are tied down on the tracks waiting for the train to come and hit us. Here's hoping for a miracle!

on the road again...

well, today is the day where i scrounge the house looking for all the things we need to take with us on our regular road trip to Utah. I can't tell you how many times i have written down lists of things to take with us. I've got this all down to a system. This trip will be a really fast four day weekend --two days driving one day with my family and one day with Josh's-- a real whirl wind of a trip.

The biggest trick is keeping the kids occupied in the car for 8 hours.

Anyone have any new and bright ideas for entertaining a 3 year old and a 1 year old while traveling? (I'll also be flying to Oklahoma next week alone with the boys, any travel tips for planes would be appreciated too!)

I have a nephew!

My in-laws, Rosalie and Tom, gave birth to their first baby last week. I am now the proud aunt to a nephew named Ammon Owen. Happy Birthday Ammon!

My Sam Sam

Sam is at the age where he is always exploring the limits. He gets this little gleam in his eye and is off. He is a lot more mischievious than Elijah ever was. Lately he loves to empty the dishwasher for me--knives first (if I'm not fast enough to get to them before he does). He will pull all the silverware out and the bowls and play like he is cooking. He LOVES to cook, especially with daddy because he will hold him up and let him in on the action. Sam is totting around everywhere and even has a double speed for when he's trying to evade getting caught (along with the little spark in his eyes).

He doesn't have the biggest vocab but manages to communicate what he wants rather well. The word you hear most out of him is "ish" with various inflections to mean different things including juice, milk, fish, this, I want, shoe etc. Josh says there isn't a difference in the way he says it but I swear there is.

He's still a very lovey dovey little boy. He gives hugs to everyone after family prayers. It just melts my heart when Elijah and Sammy hug each other. He also gives big, open, drooly mouth kisses.

Game Review: Pirates Cove

Pull out your eye patch, grab your hat, and get ready to blast each other out of the water! This is a great game that takes you back to the glory days of being a pirate. This is another game from Days of Wonder the makers of Ticket to Ride. It is a game for 3-5 players that lasts about 60-90 minutes. You get to travel from island to island looting, fighting, and upgrading your ship along the way. The rules aren't too complex and you can be as agressive of a pirate as you want to be. The most famous pirate at the end of the game (after 12 rounds/months) is the winner!

Check It Out: MeckMom.com

I rediscovered an amazing blog this morning, meckmom.com. This woman has some pretty ingenious ideas for just about anything you may encounter as a mom running a household. Job charts, home organization, scripture stickers, kid-friendly solutions, etc.

Check it out!

potty training woes

I am so ready to be done with the potty training struggle. It's been going on for months and months, off and on. Lately, Elijah has some days that he does really well-the last day and a half were really great- and others where we bomb out. Last night I was ready to pull my hair out--poopy underwear, pee pee on the floor and all. AHHHH!!! I believe Elijah knows what he is doing, which is the most frustrating part! He will go and hide sometimes instead of using the potty. Am I going about this the wrong way? Am I expecting too much? We have tried potty charts- they stay up for weeks unfilled; he's not always interested in treats or rewards. I'm just burnt out! I'm loosing hope of ever getting poop in the potty let alone in the big toilet. Any suggestions, encouragement? HELP!

Oatmeal or Pancakes?

I've had this comic strip hanging on my fridge for months. It depicts our morning debate all too well--"do you want oatmeal or pancakes?" It's always been the big question for Elijah, breakfast being his biggest meal of the day. Now that Sammy is able to express his opinion it gets even more complicated.

To make it even better, my friend Cami posted a recipe for actual pancakes with oatmeal in them! I've got to try them out! I'll let you know if the boys approve or not.

Bunnies and Super Heros

This morning was full of pretending at my house. I had two litle bunnies running around the house (one was actually hopping, or as he says it "popping"). A while ago, elijah got the idea that pajama pants made really good bunny ears. at one point or another, all of us have played bunnies, running around the house with pants on our heads. It is fun now that sam is in on the action. Yesterday we were playing super heros and all had our capes on so I put sammy's on again today to catch some pictures. Thus was born the super hero sammy bunny. Of course Elijah is all but naked in these pictures-- since we have been potty training he hates to wear clothes (and I hate to take off soaking clothes when he has an accident) so most of the time we run around with just underwear on. The pictures might be blurry, it is very hard to catch these fast bunnies.

Random Word:

tchotchkes

Six months ago I would have come across this word (like I did today at www. hgtv.com) and would have had no clue how to pronounce it let alone what it means. Thanks to my friend Christina (from Oklahoma) I am now in the know.

For those of you who aren't (I'd never heard the word growing up, apparently it's a midwest thing) here is what the dictionary says:

tchotch·ke (chŏch'kə)

n. Slang

A cheap showy trinket.

aka: knick knack

Joseph Smith Lesson 4

It turns out my ward didn't study lesson 4 last Sunday because of Ward Conference. But I read Lesson 4 on the Book of Mormon anyway and really enjoyed it. As promised (though a little later than I had intended) one of my favorite quotes from the lesson. I really liked the last three paragraphs of the lesson on page 66, but I'll narrow the quote down a bit.

“… He that can mark the power of Omnipotence, inscribed upon the heavens, can also see God’s own handwriting in the sacred volume (meaning the Book of Mormon): and he who reads it oftenest will like it best, and he who is acquainted with it, will know the hand wherever he can see it; and when once discovered, it will not only receive an acknowledgment, but an obedience to all its heavenly precepts."

I thought this to be a great promise about the way the Book of Mormon can affect its dedicated readers; that our eyes will be even more open to see the hand of God in the world around us and in our own lives.

**Does anyone have anything they found interesting about the lesson, either in their own personal study or Relief Society lesson?

hair cut time!

Sammy and Elijah got hair cuts yesterday by the most amature barber around--ME. With Elijah I have been rather lucky because his curly hair hides my butcher job, but sammy has the straight thin hair that is a challenge to cute. I'm looking at him today and noticing spots where i should have buzzed a little more. Oh well, he's still a cute kid despite the spaztic hair cuts he gets from his mother.

The pictures have Sam with his "B" 's. He has become even more attatched to his binki and blanket lately, especially now that he can call them by name. It's cute, I'll be in the other room and hear him yell "B" and I know that either he can't find his blanket/binki, Elijah has it and is teasing him, or it is stuck in his crib where he can't reach it. Goodness, it's just the cutest thing.

counting my blessings

Last night we watched the spy movie Breach. The movie is based on a true story about an FBI investigation into an agent that was leaking intel to the Soviet Union. It was a very interesting movie that made you think a bit but wasn't too tense (I'm not much for tense movies, Josh ends up with nail marks on his arms). Overall, I enjoyed the movie.

Anyway, the movie showed the wife of one of the characters struggling at being the wife of an aspiring agent. The movie made me very grateful that Josh is a student of physics and not an FBI agent. I am grateful he can talk to me about his work, even though I don't understand 90% of it. I know where he is and usually when he will be home, and he is able to take time for family when he needs to. I've been struggling lately and putting a lot of pressure on Josh to finish up school and graduate. I want a timetable and I want to know where we will be in a year, but apparently it doesn't work that way and I am trying to accept that. I love him, I love that he is enjoying what he is doing and that he is able to provide for our family. I guess I need to buck up and just enjoy the ride and be grateful for what I have.

the Laundry Fest is on!

Halleluiah!!! Halleluiah!! can you hear the chorus? 'cause I'm singing it, loud and clear to the hum of my working washing machine.

a man full of surprises

Josh was just full of surprises yesterday. He walked in the door from work with a huge Nemo Fish Balloon for the boys and a package of chocolates for me. The boys were delighted to say the least. Sam kept going "ish, ish" and wanted to touch it while Elijah was hitting it all over the house.

After our homemade dinner of shrimp and asparagus pasta (see my recipe blog for the recipe...mmm yummy), Josh pulled out a little box for me. It was a total surprise- something he doesn't pull off very often. he got me a beautiful necklace I had admired in a catalog. Talk about a melt my heart moment! He also printed off and gave me 14 reasons he loves me for the 14 days of Valentine's. Let's just say I love that man! He is amazing!

Happy Valentine's Day

My siblings, and probably my cousins, might recognize these valentine's from off the box of little debbies cakes. My grandma would always mail them to us for valentines day off of her boxes. To this day, Little Debbie cakes always make me think of her.


I had to buy a box just for the valentines and i am posting them too all of you.

I hope you have a fantasic LOVE day!

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith

It has been over four years since I had a calling that allowed for me to be in Relief Society regularly during the Sunday meeting block. I have set goals to read along with the lessons they are giving from the Teachings of the Living Prophets series, but have failed miserably in the past on my own.

Today I read the article in the January Ensign introducing the new manual for the year on the teachings of Joseph Smith and it got me really excited about the new material. Lately my brain has been processing things as related to a blog and the blogging community. Since I will be in Primary and not in Relief Society, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in sharing their insights or notes about the Joseph Smith lessons from the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of each month (whether you are in Relief Society yourself or not) here on my blog. I think this might help give me the motivation (and the deadline) to get the reading done myself and open up some gospel topics for comments.

I believe for this Sunday we are doing lesson 4: The Book of Mormon: Keystone of Our Religion. ( please correct me if I am wrong. my ward is doing ward conference this coming week and I don't know if this will affect my ward's schedule or not-can you tell I'm in the dark?)

I will post soon about the lesson (after I have read it). I'm planning on posting my favorite quote or something and would welcome any comments, insights, quotes etc. to that post.

I love this gospel and I am excited to learn from the words of our first latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith. I hope we can learn together!

super grocery sales

if you have a Safeway grocery store in your area this week is the week (and i think next week too) to check them out! they are doing a Saving Rally promotion where if you buy 25 flagged items you get a coupon for $20 off your next purchase (the are also doing buy 15-24 items get $10 and buy 10-14 items get $5). Apparently there are thousands of items to choose from. I havent' been to the store yet, but have looked around online and it looks like there are some great stocking up opprotunities to be had. Some include rice-a-roni and pasta-roni 1o/$10; with the promotion you could get 25 boxes for essentially $5 or $.20 each. Basically it's like taking $.80 off each item, and that is before you factor in any additional clipped coupons. I think the same thing works for DelMonte Tomatos on sale 1o/$10 also. I'll let you know if i find anything else when I actually make it to the store.
Please comment if you find anything!
(Sorry to those who doen't get to take advantage of this. Yay for Safeway!)

washer still not working...

apparently they didn't register the work order that I called in last Thursday for our washing machine. When Josh called the repair man monday to try and get an estimate on what could be wrong and how much it might cost they didn't have us on the schedule. Now I have to wait until FRIDAY for them to come.

I am sooooo, SOOO thankful that I was caught up on my laundry when the washer broke-a rare occurance and a miracle indeed. We have managed to make it a week without doing laundry (it is sure starting to pile up though and we are digging in the back of the closets). It is yet to be seen if we will make it to Friday, I'm thinking I will have to do a load of whites and my nightmare will become a reality unless I can convince Josh to do it for me. (have i mentioned i love that boy!) My mom stopped herself from complaining about doing laundry to me over the phone the other day... what would i give to be able to do laundry today at home!

So keep your fingers crossed for us that it will be a quick and easy repair, like they think it will be, and won't cost us too much (cause the machine sure isn't worth it).

New Recipe Blog

Introducing:
Everyday Recipes, Recipes for Real Life

I have started another blog! I'm addicted, can you tell? My sister blog is for recipes and I need your help! I would like people I know to be co-authors with me and submit recipes. I'm assuming if you are reading this blog you know me (and if you didn't know me i guess you pretty much do now through reading my blog). If you would like to be an author on Everyday Recipes, leave a comment with your email address to this post and I will send you an invitation. If you have a blogger account it's a breeze to get added. If you don't have an account yet it is super easy to start one. Let me know if you have any questions.

I'm excited to be able to post my recipes and share them with you and even more excited to see the ones that others submit!

*Keep in mind that my new blog is very much under construction and an experiment. I need your help to get it going! let me know if you see any additions or changes that I should make.