Train Boy

Boy, does our boy love trains! This is him playing with the tracks at his Grandmas house. The other night we went to the mall to let him play on the playground. When we were walking through the mall I noticed William wasn't with us anymore and I look back to see him following a boy that had a Thomas shirt on. Later we went to get ice cream and some spilled on his shorts. When Russ wiped it off William shouted "Thomas" and the wet spot did remarkably look like Thomas. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera. The next day we went to Williams first birthday party. When we got there he just started walking around saying, "where's Thomas cake?" I'm trying to teach him that not everyone will want or have a Thomas cake. He seems to think that is all there is. And anytime someone says they have a present for him he says, "Thomas present." I think he is a little obsessed.

Road Trippin'

These are pictures from a few weeks back when we went to visit our parents. Don't worry, the blue berries clean up with just a wipe. The pool or the "cool" as W calls it, is so fun.

Watch me grow

It just keeps growing and growing and growing...



Isn't he sweet?

Straight A's

R finished another semester and we were both pleased to find out he got straight A's. He works very hard, but I am so happy that he has not been stressing when it isn't necessary and spending a lot of time with us too. He is so great. Just to give some of you of the kind of guy Russ is, at school he had the opportunity to apply to be a TA next semester which would give him a significant discount on tuition. At the beginning of the year he was excited about it and planning on doing it. As the year went on and he realized that some of his fellow classmates pay out of state tuition and that is a lot more. He decided not to apply because he didn't want to get it if someone from out of state could. I was really impressed by that. Most people just seem to think of the ways it could benefit them, but he thinks of others and I think that's great!

Thank Heaven for good books

So starting Wednesday (the day we left to go camping) I had what felt like a UTI or bladder infection. For those of you who don't know what that feels like, it feels like you have to pee really bad all the time and kinda burns when you do. I stopped by the lab on our way out of town to leave a sample so the Doc. could figure out what it was and get me some medicine. I must say I handled camping pretty well. Mainly because I would ignore the urge to go. Friday came and we went to see Thomas a still I did pretty dang good. The doctor called and said that my results were normal. What? Then what was I feeling like this for? Oh well. But then we got home Friday night and it started to hurt, a lot worse. I spent a lot of time laying down and reading the book I am re-reading right now. I was able to sleep that night but woke up Saturday feeling pretty crappy. Russ had a lot of homework he had to get done so he took off to the library and I called the after hours doc. When she said that she had no idea what it could be and that it might just be pregnancy pain, I called Russ in tears and he came home. I knew this wasn't just pregnancy pain, because I have that all the time. I drove myself to the E.R. and they sent me up to labor and delivery and I left a sample and continued to read. It helped me because even though I was very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain it gave me something else to think about. When the lab came back they said there was a lot of blood in my urine even though I could not see it. They gave me a prescription for bladder infection and told me to come back if the pain got worse, because it might be stones!I knew that it most likely was because I was already feeling worse, but I went home anyway. There I just laid on the bed and rolled around unsuccessfully trying to get comfortable and rid myself of the pain. Then Russ took me back to the E.R. and of course and soon as I was at the check out counter my pain was almost completely gone. I was confused but I was staying, because I knew once I got home it would come back. So again I lay in bed waiting to have an ultrasound to see if there were any stones and Russ needed to take W home and feed him so there I was with my book and a huge glass of cranberry juice.Mmmmmm. So there I read until I had to go to the bathroom and when I went, sure enough there was a little stone in the toilet. I told the nurse and she said it looked like it. So then I just had to wait and wait to go home and again luckily I had my book. So everything is fine now and I have passed a kidney stone. The pain was bad, but not worse than labor. The baby is fine and I feel mostly okay, except the medicine I have to take makes me kinda sick, oh well.
So anyway this fabulous, wonderful, and mesmerizing book that saved me from boredom was none other than Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. I suggest it to everyone. I have already read it and its sequel, New Moon, and decided that I blew through them too fast to really enjoy them. So now I am reading them again and suggesting them to anyone else who reads this blog. You won't be disappointed.

Do you have hair?

This is W's new thing he started yesterday. Isn't he so cute?

A Day out with Thomas!

This last Friday we had such a fun time at A Day Out with Thomas. I was so excited for this day to come because I knew how much W would love it, and he did! He was a little shy when meeting Sir Topham hat, but he was soooo excited to ride the big Thomas. When we were in the gift shop he loved watching the trains go and nearly grabbed a Thomas place mat out of a woman hands. Since it was most likely the cheapest thing there we decided to get it for him and he loves it. The sun was pretty bright, but other than that it was a good and fun day that we will remember for a long time.

Camping!

On Wednesday R was finally done with his last final. Yea! So we packed up and went camping. Good thing we went with great friends who were totally prepared, or we might not have had so much fun. They just happened to have an extra tent, two seeping bags, and a blow up mattress for us. Plus they provided the guns, which was a lot of fun for R. W did really well. Right before he went to sleep he lifted up his head and said, "this is awesome". He did wake up a couple times in the night because it was cold, but he just wanted a couple of songs and then he would lay back down by me and go to sleep. He was pretty excited that he slept in the trees. It is something we will have to do again sometime.

Who is the boy that I love

I just can't believe how fast my little boy is growing. There are sooo many things that I love about him that it would be impossible to put them all on my blog, but I am going to try and name a few. He is so smart, he learns a dozen new things everyday and remembers them all. I love when he looks at something and says, "look at all the colors!" The other day we were driving past a tractor and he said, "I can't pick up dat tractor, dats too big". I had never said that before to him, so it made me laugh. He has also expressed his desire to walk in the sky a few times, though now I think he knows it is not going to happen.

He is so loving. I love when he is watching a video and he asks me to come sit with him and he snuggles on my lap or we just lay on the couch together. Sometimes he still requests me to hold him by saying, "ho-chee", and even though that does not oten seem appealing to me, it still melts my heart when he says it.


He has started to sing more and can say so many of the words. I try to get him to sing all the time. Sometimes he is on key and other times he's not, and I love it both ways. He can sing pretty much all the words to I Am A Child of God (or gone, as he would say). I saw on the program in Stake Conference that we would be singing that and I told William. When it was time he sang all the words he could and when it was over he kept asking to sing it again. I don't think there is anything sweeter than hearing him sing church songs and listening to him pray. Both get me pretty choked up inside.



He loves Thomas the train and any train for that matter. He is starting to use his imagination and I love that. He will ask to go outside and take his Thomas and another toy like his airplane and roll them around in the grass. I hear him say things like, "want to go park?, Okay, let's go." Or somethimes he gets stern and says, "I said right now!" I have no idea where he learned that.
I just can't believe how fast the time flies and how rewarding it has been to be a part of his life. No one could have prepared me for this.

Faith in Action

This past weekend we had a Faith in Action day where a lot of faiths came together to do service projects to help clean up our town. I was excited for this opportunity to serve and that W was big enough to help. He would walk around and pick up trash, but spent a lot of time looking at worms. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot, and we had a lot of fun.

W's surgery

W's Surgery

So last Thursday W went in for a outpatient surgery to repair a communicating hydrosil (sp?). I have no idea how to spell that. I won't go into exactly what that is, but the surgery was close something off so that he would not get a hernia. It turns out that when the doctor went in he found that he did have a small hernia and was able to take care of it, so that's good. Our prayers were answered and W did extremely well. We had a lot of concerns, but he has been fine. He woke up from the anesthesia really well and only had Motrin for a couple of days. If he had that then he was fine. Running, jumping, and squatting. He still won't look at the incision. I think he wants to pretend it isn't there. It's pretty funny because when he talks about going to the hospital he says, "doctor fix my pee-pee" like he is really excited. It is nice to have such a good boy.

Easter with Russ' fam

Again on Saturday night we went to Russ' brothers house and had a nice dinner and Easter Egg hunt and we did the little activity of looking through the 12 eggs that talk about the real reason for Easter. It was a time to be reverent, but with cousins sometimes that can be hard. William did really well and was very sweet. When his grandma would play the piano he would climb up next to her and play some extra notes, but it sounded pretty to me.

Easter with Debbie's Fam

We had a very fun Easter. On Saturday we went with my family to a fun park and a little egg hunt and had fun riding the rides. W loved the train and being with his cousins. It was getting a little too hot by the time we left and W's face was bright red.

The Big News

So our big news is we actually found out about 2 and a half weeks ago (and I am sure that anyone who reads this already knows) but it's not official if it is not on the blog, right? We are having a GIRL! A lot of people have asked us how we feel about this so I will let you all know. At first we both thought that William should have a brother and that another boy would be fun, not to mention easier and cheaper since we have a lot of boy stuff. Russ started having dreams that it was a girl and I started having dreams it was a boy. I really felt like it was a girl though, because this pregnancy was different. I did not get as sick or throw up as much with this one and with William I craved fruit and too much fruit still makes me queezy. With this one I want veggies! I also felt, what am I talking about, feel more emotional with this one so that points to girl. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea and when I found out for sure I was so excited. I was mostly excited to see that she was all there and everything looked normal and healthy. Russ was not sure how he felt at first, but he is getting used to the idea and will have so much fun with a little girl.

Steve Nash

Once William was watching a basketball commercial and he asked me who the guys was. Luckily it was Steve Nash so I could answer him (he is the only player I know). A week or so later we were in the store and he said "Steve Nash" out of the blue. Then I said, "what does he do?" William responded, "fah-di-ball". Every once in awhile he will say, "Steve Nash doin'?" and we or he will answer with Basketball!

The Wheels on the Bus

We have been trying to capture this on video for a long time, but every time William sees the camera, all he wants to do is watch it. Sorry you have to hear me singing too.

Swim Lessons

I signed William up for swim lessons yesterday and that night he had his first lesson. He hasn't been in a pool since last summer when he loved it. He got there and liked watching the the big kids swimming and jumping, but when it was time for him to get in he threw a fit. He cried and held on to Russ for the first few minutes until he found a toy for William to throw and then "swim" after. His next lesson is tomorow, we will see how it goes.

FHE

Last night, we were having Family Home Evening and we were talking about families. As part of the lesson we were looking through our family albums and came across this picture from last summer. William saw it and started laughing and said, "baby tummy". We loved his huge pop belly. He still sort of has one, but it is nothing compared to what it used to be.

William the Baller

We are very proud of our little boy for being such a patient, persistent, dedicated and passionate little ball player. Those words aren't usually used to describe a two year old but for those who have seen him play basketball you know that they actually fit him perfectly. He will try something over and over until he gets it and once he gets it he will keep practicing until he can get it consistantly. Just recently, I raised his hoop to about 4 1/2 feet above his head and though he doesn't make it every time, he doesn't get frustrated and just keeps trying. He's got a little free throw line from which he sets up and has a routine before shooting it. His routine usually consists of just making sure that the "Wilson" on his basketball faces him while he shoots. It's pretty freaking cute. Watch out NBA.

ps He really likes Steve Nash. We didn't teach him specifically about Steve Nash but he has heard his name from being in the room while SUNS games are on. I guess he's got good taste in favorite basketball players.

The Kid has a passion!

Here is Russ adjusting William's bike before he goes for a "ride". He is still learning and does better on his friend's bike than his own, but he is getting there. William is such a good helper.

Luckily he loves his helmet so that is not a fight.



















Here are my cute boys making funny faces.















Russ wanted to try sardines. Don't ask because I don't know why. He says he wants to try new things. He ate one and then we gave the rest to our friend with cats.















Too cute! We love our boy! I was thinking today about how much I love him (I do that a lot) and I was thinking about how he learns something new everyday and that is not an exaggeration. Today he learned what a branch is and the difference between his pointer and pinky finger. He got it mixed up and called it a porker finger. Today he was sitting at lunch and out of nowhere I heard him say "I love you". I am not sure if he was saying it to me or just working on his speach, but it was cute just the same.

The Belly

So here it is, my little bump. It looks much smaller than it feels. We are really excited for this baby, but to be honest I don't think that it has hit us yet. We are not as into this pregnancy as we were with William's. We both think that we are having a girl. We will find out in 2 weeks, March 14th. I think I put the wrong due date on one of my blogs, its the 7th of August (our wedding anniversary). Russ and I have both felt the baby move and that was exciting and sweet. Just a tiny little thing, but its growing.

The Picture-less

I always feel like I can't post if I don't have any pictures. Well I guess I will anyway. This past weekend Russ didn't have class on Friday so we went to the Valley to stay with my parents. On Friday we spent some time at Russ' parent's and had a fun time visiting with them. Friday night we went to my friend Lauren's to play games. It was a lot of fun. On Saturday I talked Russ and my sister Connie into going to the zoo. We loved it. I was always a few feet behind everyone, but William got to see an elephant, monkeys, and much more. I love watching him experience new things. It makes me feel like a kid again and appreciate things that we seem to think are mundane, like a school bus or a choo-choo train. Before we went to the zoo William pointed at me and said, "its big". I just looked at him and he repeated himself and then said, "big tummy". So there you have it, it is visible to a two year-old. I will have Russ take a picture of me soon so I can post it.

Our Christmas Vacation

Adventures in the Snow

I don't even know where to start

So like the title of this blog says, I have taken soooo long to update that every time I even think about it I get overwhelmed. Anyway, I will start with the good news, on December 4th I found out that I am pregnant! Yeah! About a week later I started throwing up....crap! Oh well, that is the way it goes with me. Luckily we went to the Valley to stay with my parents for the holiday and I could spend all my time laying around on the couch and Russ got the chance to go make a little extra money by working at his old job over the break. We were there for a month and had a great "craw-chris" ("Christmas" as William would say it). This was a great year because he is excited about presents and he is soooo easy to please. I knew that he would love every one of his gifts and he did. Right now I am in the Valley again because after a couple weeks at home on my own my stomach couldn't handle it anymore and would not let anything (and I mean anything) inside it. So Russ drove William and I down here on Sunday evening, took me to the hospital and stayed well after midnight, then drove back to catch a few hours of sleep before his 8:00 class. He is coming today and I am soooo excited. Me and William have missed him so much. Life without him is not the same. Oh, and I have been better all week with the medicine they have given me. I have not thrown up since I was in the hospital and it took a couple days for me to regain my strength, but I am doing pretty good. I will add pictures soon and more details of the time that we have had, but for now that is all.