A Poopy Day.....Literally

It feels like we've been elbow deep in poop around here. Both kids have had the runs for a good week, maybe more. Brynn has been pooping 8-10 times a day and her poor little bum is so sore no matter what I put on it. Mason has had a few surprises in his underwear when he thought it was just a toot. I don't know if they've got some sort of stomach bug or if it's just their love of yogurt to blame (50% of Brynn's diet consists of gogurts, no lie). Whatever the cause, today I found myself wanting to scream after changing my 6th poopy diaper in as many hours.

Then I remembered this gem of a card my sweet brother Brandon made me several years ago.

I was feeling down and discouraged by some things going on when this personally made card (using the Paint program) showed up. I'll keep the simple but very sweet note that was written on it for myself, but couldn't resist sharing this card that has brought me so much joy. This card was a turning point for me at that time and has reminded me many time since that it's up to me how I react to the trials I am given. Plus, it just makes me laugh everytime I see it. Did you see the "paint" on the artist's pallet?

So for anyone out there who might have had a Poopy Day, hope this put a smile on your face.

And Uncle Beetle we might just take your advice literally and whip up a special painting just for you, so keep checking the mailbox.

Zion Getaway

Last weekend we took our good friends the Dastrups, Carliles, and Lemons down to the Murray Family cabin at Zions Pondarosa Ranch. Although the cold weather managed to follow us down there, the change of scenery and good friends to play with made it a wonderful getaway. Mostly, we just hung out around the house watching all the march madness action and playing games while the kiddos played together in the bunk room (it's amazing how a room full of bunk beds gets the imagination going) and downstairs with all the toys and games. It's Jimmertime!! Scott taught everyone how to play Ticket to Ride, a long time Murray favorite.

The kids must have come to see what all the excitement was about.

The girls.
Brynn, Halle, and KatelynThe boys.
Jackson, Andrew, Mason, Tyce, and Sky

Friday's weather cleared up enough that we were able to drive into Zion National Park and go for a hike. We chose the Riverwalk, a nice kid-friendly hike.

Brynn walked most of the 2.2 mile hike herself. Her and I made a lot of stops because she was surprisingly enthralled with all of the nature around us, especially the river which she wanted to swim in. When her hands got cold I gave up my socks to keep her little fingers warm. It was too cold for the lizards and frogs we usually see all over on our hikes, but it didn't stop the squirrels from coming out.

Here Brynn is trying to share her granola bar with a squirrel. She must not have read the sign saying there was a $100 fine for feeding the squirrels.

If we had put a pedometer on these boys they probably hiked and extra mile with all the running around they did.Together they collected as many rocks and sticks as possible.

Put three 4-year-old boys together with sticks and good luck trying to stop the sword fighting. I'm surprised we didn't loose an eye.

My little family.

All of the kiddos.

This is what our crew looked like hiking along.

The boys found this slanted rock for us to climb up that made a great slide coming down.

Brynn couldn't get enough sliding down the rock and wasn't very happy that I wouldn't let her go down by herself.

It was fun to get away, but as always it's nice to come home.

A big thanks to Mike and Linda for letting us use their cabin for the weekend.

Rolo the Dog

Scott has been trying to talk me into getting a dog for the last month. There have been several times he has teased me so much about it I have expected to come home from work to find a dog at our house. In a way, that's exactly what happened. One day this adorable puppy named Rolo (self-named) showed up at our house. We built him a house for him to spend the night in, which he did, and gave him a food and water bowl.

It didn't take long for him to win us over with his many wonderful games and tricks like playing fetch, shaking hands, rolling over, and of course those wet slobbery kisses. We found he was much more obedient than our children and would do pretty much anything for a doggy treat, aka fruit snacks.

Our amazing dog is like Lassie in that he is able to communicate messages using only barks and a pointer finger. (and sometimes a sentence or two in a "barky dog voice" if we aren't getting the message.)
Rolo stayed with us for 3 days straight and now he visits us from time to time.
Scott was right. Having a dog really is great!

*side story*
Scott tried to win the dog battle by getting the kids on his side. Brynn was a given. Have you seen her around dogs? She is crazy about them. Mason was originally on Scott's side of the debate until I told him a dog would eat all his toys. I win.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

We are big fans of Dr. Seuss around our house. So, naturally, we had to have a little celebration for his birthday today. First, we visited the bookstore and each of the kids got to pick out a new book. Then we came home and read our new books along with some of our favorite classics while we enjoyed a dinner of Green Egg and Ham omlettes.

Did you know that Dr. Seuss wrote the book Green Eggs and Ham after his editor bet him that he couldn't write a book using 50 words or less. Green Eggs and Ham uses exactly 50 words, which are:

a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, like, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

That is absolutely incredible to me.

Happy 107th Birthday to the wonderful Dr. Seuss who has fostered Mason's love for reading.

So tell me, what is your favorite children's book? I am looking for some new favorites to introduce to my kids.

Dodging a Bullet

One day, I was driving along singing songs with my kids in the car, when we passed an Animal Control vehicle. I watched in my rear view mirror as it turned on it's lights and flipped around behind me. Now, I was under the impression that Animal Control cars had some volunteer type person in them and had no legal power, so much so that I thought they must have seen some stray animal and so I started looking around for the poor dog who was about to get caught. I was so disillusioned/stupid, whatever you prefer to call it, that I told Mason, "See that car with the lights on, they're going to catch a doggie." I pulled over for it to pass since it's lights were on and was shocked when it pulled over behind me. It was then that I realized that I was the animal who was caught. Who knew there were ticketing police officers in animal control cars? NOT ME! And I hadn't even been going that fast. The officer came to the window and was very kind as he explained I was driving 35 mph in front of the high school with a 25 mph speed limit. He kindly explained different statistics about the distance it would take to stop and how stupid high school kids/drivers are and how I need to be extra careful here. I agreed and apologized for my carelessness. He asked for my license...oops left my wallet at home. He shook his finger at me, but said he could look it up. Asked for my car registration...looked through the glove box but best I could come up with was one that expired in 2009. He laughed now and said I was striking out, but said as long at the policy was the same he could verify it was still current. Two strikes against me. It wasn't until the officer started walking back to his car that I realized the third, and very big, strike was about to come. My drivers license had expired the week before on my birthday and I had forgotten to renew it. Mason, who hadn't asked any question up until this point asked quietly, "Are they going to take you to jail?" I told him "no" and hoped I was telling the truth. It didn't take long for the kind officer to re approach my window. I rolled it down and immediately exclaimed, "It expired last week!" He nodded his head, yes. That kind kind kind man then told me that although I had failed every single thing so far I had gotten one thing right and that was my kids were buckled into proper car seats and since that was the most important thing he wasn't going to give me a ticket. I couldn't believe the bullet I had just dodged. Good things like that don't usually happen to me. I swore up and down I would renew my license immediately and told him Thank You about a million times. Whew, that was a close one. However, I never have been very good at learning from my mistakes and I still have not renewed my license...better get on top of that.

Beating the Blues

I can't believe January has already come and gone. What surprises me more is it wasn't half bad. I always get a little mopy and blue around this time each winter, but this year is different. It's still bitter cold outside making going anywhere outside, even to the car, miserable. Scott still went on several long business trips last month leaving me with no relief at 5 o'clock each day. But this year I have a 3 1/2 year old and 1 1/2 year old that are busier than ever putting a smile on my face and keeping me on my toes. Here are some of the things that have been going on in our home that have been driving my winter blues away.

• Little Miss Independent discovered that she can reach a lot more things with the help of this stool, so she carries it all around the house to aide in her mischief making.
• Mason discovered Legos and spends hours building things along side his daddy.
• Brynn learned how to dress and undress herself and insists on doing it entirely by herself. Many mornings I wake to find a happy naked girl jumping in her crib and by the afternoon Brynn has dressed up in multiple layers of clothes, usually everyone elses....Mason's underwear and Mommy's bras tend to be favorites.
• Mason decided he needed to wear goggles to keep the sun out of his eyes when we went to Costco one day. He put a smile on more faces than mine that day.
• Brynn wears said googles around her neck as a necklace for the majority of every day.
• These partners in crime run around the house together.
• Brynn loves to jump, jump, jump on anything with spring to it. She climbs up on everything, big or small, and whether we are there to catch her or not she counts to 3 and jumps off. Seriously, how have we not had a broken bone?
• We have fun building forts, boats, helicopters, and anything else we need for a good adventure.
• Brynn spins in circles until she is so dizzy she can't stand up.
• Mason loves having playdates with his little buddies from preschool and sunbeams. Is my little boy really old enough to be calling his friends to see if they can play?
• Brynnie talks and talks and talks and we actually understand most of what she says now.
• Mason is learning how to read and amazes me with how well he is doing. He is already reading beginning books.
• Brynn walks around the house singing her version of Ring Around the Rosie "ashes, ashes, down down down!" ALL DAY LONG.
• We finally have an awesome non-family babysitter who I trust completely and my kids absolutely adore! Now we can go out on dates without having to feel guilty about mooching babysitting off our family.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I turned the big 2-6 and it was honestly the best birthday I have had in my adult life. I woke up to my sweet little boy jumping on me and saying, "Happy Birthday, MOM!" completely unprompted. It sounds silly, but there was something so special about Mason remembering it was my birthday without us telling him. He made a big deal about my birthday all day and did so many things to make the day special for me. Brynn made me pancakes for breakfast....seriously, she makes pancakes. We help control the mess and help with the griddle so she doesn't burn herself, but she gets everything we need out, puts in the mix and water, stirs, pours, and flips without us telling her what to do next. She's a better mom than I am and I'm lucky to have her.

Then it was time for the real birthday celebration. I got to pull out my snowboard and hit the slopes with Scott. It's been awhile since I've skied or snowboarded....a LONG while. It's been six years since I've flown down the snow covered mountain and oh boy did it feel good. It took almost no time for my body to remember how to carve through the snow and before I knew it I felt 16 again. The best part is I got to share something I have enjoyed doing since I was 5 for the first time with Scott. Honestly, how have we never been skiing together in 6 years? School, work, two pregnancies, and two kids. That's how. But we did it now and it was a blast.

Scott's skiing pose.

My snowboarding pose.

Do we look good or what?

I could have stayed on the mountain all day if I didn't have two darling kiddos waiting at home to finish off my birthday celebrations with balloons and cake, which is exactly what we did.

It was the perfect birthday!

Thanks to my wonderful kids, husband, and parents for making it possible.