The Plastic Cup

Last night Ryan and I witnessed one of the funniest things we had seen in a long time! Carson is growing up so fast, 8 1/2 months old and crawling all over the place. Well the boys had left a plastic cup on the floor (one that you would throw away) and Carson spotted it and went for it. Licorice (the dog) was watching his every move, and right before Carson got the cup Licorice ran over and picked it up and walked to the other side of the room. Carson doesn't give up easily and headed after him. As soon as he reached Licorice, Licorice once agan relocated, with Carson following close behind. Several times Carson practically crawled over Licorice to get the cup from him. Licorice started boxing him out, turning his back to Carson over and over to prevent him from getting the cup. Licorice finally jumped up to Ryan as if to say "please save me" Ryan and i just laughed and laughed. Then Ryan took the cup from licorice and gave it to Carson. Licorice looked so betrayed. I felt bad and went into the kitchen to get a new cup for Licorice. When I gave it to him he immediately headed down the hall with him far away from Carson. A little later he came back and grabbed the other cup (Carson had now moved on from it) and took it down the hall too. I tried to get it on video, but it was dead. I love seeing our dog interact with the boys!!

Bubblegum Monster

We went over to my mom's house for her birthday and were faced with a box of 850 gumballs (minus all the pink and most of the white that were used for my niece's birthday party) These aren't the little gumballs, no, these are the big ones. I could barely chew them myself. So I allowed the boys to have 1/2 a gumball at a time. Grandpa got a sandwhich bag and filled it up with gumballs for the boys to take home which I put by my purse. As the evening went on I noticed that Dylan had disappeared. Wondering where he was I set out to search. I found him in the toy room laying flat on his stomach underneath the horse. At first I thought he was pooping (we are still working on using the potty EVERY time) and so I asked him. He put his hands over his mouth and said no. I kept asking him what he was doing and was getting no real response. I finally reached under the horse and pulled him out. That's when I saw the bag of gumballs that he must have been laying on. He admitted to eating some gum but kept saying over and over, "I not eat all them mom, I not eat them all gone." It was the funniest thing. Then as I looked in the bag I see a gumball bitten in half. Dylan says, "I break it in half with my teeth mom." At least he stuck to only 1/2 a gumball at a time. He is a sweetheart, it makes me laugh everytime I think about it!

Life is passing me by

Capturing my families memories is something I haven't done well with. I seem to let other unimportant things control my time, and before I know if I've forgotten. So many new year's resolutions. So here's a little story for ya.
When I was getting married at one of my bridal showers we tied blanket. It's flannel and cozy and Ryan has deemed it his own blanket and he loves getting all wrapped up in it. Well the children picked up on Dad's special blanket and request it for bedtime or naps or just snuggling while watching a show. It is definitely starting to wear out. It started with a couple of holes (that mom never fixed) which lent itself to a finger poking through, then a hand, and arm, and eventually a body. Brayden now uses it like a snuggie with his head poking through the hole and the rest of him all wrapped up. So before bed tonight he was snuggling in it with dad while reading books and when it was bed time he asked for it. Dad told him no, tonight he got to have it, but that he could take his jean quilt. (this is a blanket I made him for Christmas right before we were married) So he dragged the heavy thing down the hall and when I came to tuck him into bed he said, "I was looking to see if there was a pocket by me so I could put lamby in it and he could sleep there." I showed him where a pocket was and he said that it wasn't by him enough to snuggle. Then he asked if I could sew a pocket close by him. I laughed and said it sounds like he was trying to take over this blanket too. He smiled his Brayden smile and laughed a mischievous laugh. When I left the room he was rearranging the blanket to get a pocket close enough to him where he could put lamby in. I should check and see if he succeeded. Brayden is such a sweet boy and I fear that he puts up with so much from me. I need to do a better job simply playing with him and enjoying him as he takes in all that he does from life. He makes my heart smile! My goal this week: take a picture of our favorite blanket and add it to this post.

8 YEARS

Two saturdays ago, August 21st to be exact, I woke up to a blaring alarm clock in my bedroom. Carson was on one side of me finishing nursing, and Dylan on the other, who had shown up in my bed at who know what time. I yelled to Ryan, who was missing to come and shut off the alarm. Shortly thereafter he pops his head in and says, "I really can't right now, could do it?" and off he goes. My mouth about dropped off my face as I watched him leave me sandwiched between two sleeping babes while the alarm continued to blare on. Very much annoyed I got out of bed to turn it off. (which was on the floor because we have no nightstands). Much to my suprise I found a dozen roses with a poem awaiting me. Since my life is my own and I haven't figured out how to run it yet, that note is in a very safe place. So safe in fact that I can't find it (but I will add it when I do). I came out of the bedroom to the smell of Pizza cooking, and a small table (Brayden and Dylan's table) for two complete with candlelight set up on the balcony. Another note was awaiting which sent me to the Vitamix where I found a gift certificate to emeral smoothie waiting, along with a promise that each day I would recieve another clue. My love was recreating (in a way) the night he proposed to me. It's funny though, after 8 years and 3 children things tend to get shifted. Originally Ryan sent me on a all day scavenger hunt which ended up on a rooftop with candlight (by emergency candles he found in the car) and a Pizza was delivered. On the pizza box it said, "Will you... Be My... and written in pepporoni was "Best Friend" My first thoughts were, "thank goodness he didn't propose with pizza!" After the pizza dinner he hugged and kissed me goodnight and sent me to bed. A little confused (I thought it was going to be made official that night) I went to sleep and was awakened at 2 am by my roomates with a dozen roses. A friend was waiting to take me to the spot where Ryan and I danced under the moonlight after making the decision to marry. Everything was very simbolic. Ryan and I had decided to marry on 8-12-02. Our pizza dinner was at 8:12. He officially proposed on 8-21 (or 12 backwords) at 2:18 am (8-12 backwords). So when he tried to recreate it the original plan was to wake me up at 2:18 am. The night before he had rented a romantic movie (only for my sake) and had planned to outlast me by staying awake until 2:18. However, we were both really tired that night and he wasn't able to stay awake. So the alarm went off the next morning at 8:12 am. Our romantic balcony setting was quickly occupied by our two oldest boys who were very enthusiastic about have pizza for breakfast. It was a good day that ended with a picnic and soccer in the park. I truly love my family and especially my wonderful husband who works so hard all the time to provide for us. I can't imagine my life without him and look forward to celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary this January.

Kids in Charge

Today I told Brayden to try and put Dylan down for his nap. I said, "Lay with him him bed, look through some books with him, then wait a bit and you can come out." I thought it should be interesting to see what would happen. A few minutes later Brayden is coming out saying, "stay in your bed." Then I hear some crying by Dylan, and Brayden runs into the kitchen with his Lamb. He says, "I told Dylan if he stayed in his bed he could have my lamb, but he came out so I took it away." He'll make a great babysitter some day. I gave them a few more chances to pull it off, but it looks as though I will have to intervene. The last time they came out Brayden said, "It's okay if Dylan comes out this time, we put in a really scary tape, really scary!"

Dylan just loves his older brother. He follows him around and copies everything he does to a T. He can at times be a very stubbern and difficult child, but he easily wins you over with his sweet and sincere smile and personality. He truly wants to be a helper. When Carson was about 2 or three weeks old and was sleeping in a bed that is low to the floor I asked Dylan to go and see if the baby was crying. Next thing I know he walks into the room with the baby. I about had a heart attack, but everyone survived, thank goodness.

And speaking of our newest member of the family, Carson. I call him my angel baby. He has such a sweet personality. From the beginning he has stolen my heart. He is starting to smile and is filling out. My midwife comes this week, and I am excited to see how much he weighs now! The boys are doing beautifully with him. They are patient when I'm nursing, (expect when Dylan realizes I can't chase him and gets into trouble!), and both love to hold him and kiss him.

These three boys of mine!! I hope they grow up to be great friends!

Hopefully I can do better at blogging. Our family needs these memories!

My sweet boys

Dylan has always been a climber and when we were in Utah a few weeks ago for a funeral he figured out how to climb out of his pack n play, and open doors. I wasn't sure if it would carry over to his crib at home, but it did. Ryan and I can put him to bed and in 30 seconds flat he scales up the side flips his body over, lowers himself down, and has opened the door. I have been worried that he will get hurt so we took the mattress out for him to sleep on the floor. That didn't really go over so well. He kept climbing into Brayden's bed, making it difficult for Brayden to sleep. One night I came in and they were both asleep in Brayden's bed, then later that night Brayden woke up and I came in to him on the floor crying and Dylan was sprawled out on the bed with his arms tucked behind his head. The other nights we put Dylan in our room (must to his dimay) until they both were asleep then we moved him into his bed. We wanted to take the side of the crib off and turn it into a toddler bed, but with everything in the storage unit we had no luck finding the attachment. We ended up just taking the side of the crib off anyway, and I threatend to take away his blanky and sippy cup if he got out. Last night I checked on them and Dylan had fallen off the bed. I put him back and then before going to bed checked on him again, to find again he had fallen off the bed. I decided to leave him on the floor and went to bed. A couple hours later Brayden woke up and came into our room. He said, "Mom come with me, I need to show you something" He had spotted Dylan on the floor and needed to tell us. It was so funny even at 2 am. I truly love our children and feel such a privilege to be their mother.

A Yates Update

I was in the car today talking about blogging and I remembered why I started in the first place. I saw Leah Jensen's beautiful book that she made with all her blog entries for the year. That was a year ago and once again I have failed to make this everything I want it to be. However, better late than never, and here I am. So we are currently living in my parents basement in Coeur d'alene, ID. Ryan is working on opening his practice in Liberty Lake and we are hoping for that to come sooner rather than later. It is frustrating to wait on everybody else when all you want to do is get started. Also with the holidays and a funeral of my grandmother in Utah everyone's been busy. I received a calling as the beehive adviser and have really enjoyed it. This is one area of the church I haven't ever worked in. We are expecting our third child due the end of June and are very excited. Brayden says it will be a girl but mom and dad are conviced it'a boy. Hopefully we will be able to find out the end of January (pending I find a doctor by then). We had a great Christmas and are looking forward to and exciting year for our family!

Savior of the World - Revisited

Ryan and I got the opportunity to attend a production of Savior of the World in Tacoma a few weeks ago. Having just participated in the production done by our ward we were excited to see what the differences would be. This was a multi stake production. Five stakes to be exact. Looking at that Ryan and I were amazed once again that our little Bettendorf Ward was able to put on the show. Well, a lot of memories were brought back. Here's what we discovered. This production had a lot of cool effects. They had a live orchastra, an actual boat, a fancy set with all the props including pregnant bellies for both Mary and Elizabeth. But they were missing the "heart" that our ward put into. In Bettendorf those who played married couples were indeed married showing true relationships on stage, and while we lacked in fancy props, I felt more on the boat as I remember Bro. Jensen casting the nets, then I did when a real boat was there. Because we didn't have to travel across 5 stakes for practices and rehersals, because we saw each other regularly we had true emotion and interactions and it just felt so real! I'm not trying to talk badly about the Tacoma production they did a wonderful job, but it will never be the same. I'm grateful to those who listened to the spirit and new how this would bless our ward, and for the opportunily I had to be in it!! With all the challenges it presented it was worth it in the end! Thanks Bishop, thanks Jim, and Thanks to all those who made it happen!!

Moving

So, I get online to blog after what (3 months, I'm pathetic) and I spend an hour reading everyone elses blogs! It's good to hear what everyone is up too. So, we did it. We drove for hours and hours across the world to move to Seattle. By the end Dylan would scream everytime you put him in his carseat and Brayden had watched the "Cars" movie probably 10 times. But, were here. We are trying to get settled into our small apartment, but not too settled (cause we're not staying here forever). Brayden tells me all the time how he wants to go back home. When I tell him this is our home now, he says, "no, our real home in Iowa" He has enjoyed being closer to grandma and grandpa (5 hours away). On our first trip to CDA, he was very upset because my idea of close to grandma and grandpa and his idea were very different. He said, "You said we would live close, this is not close." Once we (my mom and I) convinced him that it was only a 2 movie trip, instead of a 10 movie, he seemed okay with it. We are headed there this weekend in hopes to catch some waves in my dad's boat, and check out some places there.

Ryan's been kept pretty busy, but we have enjoyed spending Wednesdays with him as he has this day off. We are glad to get rid of the midwest heat, or should I say humidity. Nights, for the most part have been fairly cool, which is a nice change. Hopefully I can do a better job and keep everyone up to date. We miss you all!!

These are pictures of the pile of boxes in the corner of our apartment that are not opened because who knows where we would put it all. At least the living room is finally livable again, after our last rampage (we spent two hours opening boxes looking for a book, which we never found)!Time for another garage sale I suppose!

Happy Birthday Dylan (part 1)

Well, the newest member of our family is one year old and we can hardly believe it! Time has flown by so quickly of we have enjoyed this sweet little spirit in our home so much!! He definitely has personality and can take on his older brother in a heartbeat. He lets you know when he doesn't like something, and he's quick to show he wants to be close to you. Ryan's favorite is when he scoots back and plops his tush in your lap. He doesn't like to be cuddled so much but this is his was of being close. He loves to pull Brayden's hair as he tries to get his attention. He really loves Brayden, and Brayden has shown time and time again of his love for Dylan. As parents we couldn't ask for anything more! We sure love our two sweet boys!

Dylan got a birthday bath and what a cutie!! Look at all that chub. The very last picture he is trying to comb his hair.

(I am having to do these in different sections because for some reason it's not letting me upload photos, and I have no idea how to do a slide show.)

Happy Birthday Dylan (part 2)

We had a small gathering for Dylan, nothing to fancy. We had carrot cake cupcakes (of all different sizes) with cream cheese frosting. Dylan's cake was one of the large cupcakes specially decorated by mom. Who is by the way still working on the whole decoration thing. The last picture is Dylan in a birthday outfit that he received. Sadly, Dylan woke up from his afternoon nap with a fever, so he wasn't his complete happy self.

Happy Birthday Dylan (part 3)

Here comes the birthday cake! Dylan just stared at it like we were crazy! I put some frosting on my finger and stuck it in his mouth to try to get him interested. Nothing! Finally, for some reason we though he wanted the fork on the other table, so I handed it to him and that's when he decided to dig in! What manners for a one year old!

Happy BIrthday Dylan (part 4)

It would appear that Dylan finally has figured out this cake thing ain't so bad!

Happy Birthday Dylan (part 5)

Dylan seemed to have his fill of cake, and I'm sure in the second picture he is clearly thinking, "Enough partying for me, let's go to bed!" After getting cleaned up the last two pictures are of Dylan with some of his toys. Dylan received a high chair from mom and dad, and Brayden got him a drum that he just loves. Friends and family gave him several toys, books, clothes, shoes, and a new cloth diaper. Thank you to all those who love our little boy and spoil him rotten! And for all you skeptics out there, I don't care what you say, Cloth diapers are so darn cute!!
We sure love our birthday boy, it was a wonderful day!

From the mouth of Babes

I regret not writing everyday because I know I have missed some really great things. Today Brayden was playing with his friend Lucy. They come out of the room together and Brayden says to me very matter of factly, "We are going to the temple, and we were wondering if you would watch our baby Elmo. He is asleep in hi bed." I told him I would and he replies with, "There is pizza in the fridge that we made for you." The Brayden and Lucy squeeze into a car (which is made for one) with Lucy's tush practically hanging out the side. It was the funniest thing I have every seen.

Later on the were head off to the temple once more and inquiring about my babysitting services. I told them that they would have to bring the baby to my house if they wanted me to watch Elmo. Brayden looks at me very seriously as says, "Ok, do you live on 53rd street or 58th?)

Oh how he keeps me on my toes. I know that I am far from the perfect example, but how grateful I am to know that he is familiar with the temple and sees it as part of life, something to be mimicked in play.

And then there is my sweety pie Dylan. We were at dinner tonight and I took a drink of water from my cup and he started squealing wanting and reaching out for my cup. Well, his sippy cup had fallen on the floor, so I picked it up and put it on his tray. He reached out grabbed it, tossed it off the side of the tray onto the floor, and started reaching out for my cup once again. After doing this twice I couldn't help but laugh, and needless to say he won my cup of water!

Toliet Papering

So I told this story to some friends at a bridal shower (we were making toilet paper brides), and one suggested I should blog about it cause it was so funny, so sorry mom, you'll have to correct it if I mess it up! This is how I remember it.
When I was in high school my mother would never let me go toilet papering. Well, we moved to Idaho, and my mom attended an annual Relief Society sleepover. Half way through the night they all hop in the car and hand my mother a couple rolls of toilet paper. She said, "we're doing what?" It was tradition for them to go and toilet paper the sister's homes who didn't attend the sleepover. As they are driving around they get pulled over by the police who says to them, "It has come to my attention that a certain white van has been reported toilet papering houses. (as the entire back row of women are holding toilet paper in their hands) I'm sure if that were true then that certain white van would be on it's way home!" He let them go and despite the suggestion of going home and switching cars their toilet paper night was over! Guess you just have to wait till your older to have all the fun!

To my friends

I have come to realize just how important the power of friendship is and what a true friend is. I am grateful for the friends I have made while living in this area and I will miss it all. I will miss going over for play dates so moms can visit. I will miss waking up at 5 am knowing someone will be walking through your door to work out (or just sleep on the couch). I will miss a friend who willingly says, "GO to the temple with your husband, leave your children here", even when that means coming to your house at 5 am then cart them around." or"Here, take a loaf of bread" Who doesn't care that I am a slob and truly sees who I am. Those who teach me to be a better mother, wife, church member, friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you ! I will miss you all!

Sweet Orange Juice

We were eating dinner: orange nut pancakes, fried eggs, and fresh squeezed orange juice (putting that new juicer to work) and I gave Dylan a little bit of juice in a cup. He absolutely loved it and couldn't get enough. I couldn't get over the pictures!

Just Remembering

I have a lot on my mind these days and to clear my head I was looking at some photos. I came across a folder marked Easter and Dylan's birth. They are together because I went into labor Easter morning and then Dylan was born the next day. I just realize what a wonderful family I have. My boys are the sweetest children and Ryan is such a wonderful husband. I can't imagine my life without them. I often wonder what I would do if I lost any one of them, especially Ryan, I would be so lost without him. I pray him safe as he works these late nights. So I put a few pictures of dying Easter eggs with Brayden (you'll have to excuse myself, I am VERY pregnant) and then some pictures of Dylan's Birth

You never know

So, I haven't been doing so well with this blogging thing lately. I feel like a teenager when I would write in my journal and say, "I'm making a goal to write every day," and then the next entry says, "It's been six months now, but I'm making a new goal to write every day." LOL Ryan and I had a great experience this past weekend. I am a craigslist frequenter, and I saw this great juicer, something Ryan and I have been wanting ever since we burned out the cheapo walmart one. However the price they were asking was more than we felt like we could spend at this time. So I emailed this lady and told her that even though I was very interested we justed couldn't do it right now. To my surprise and delight I received a reply asking if my husband was handy because she had a couple of projects that she really needed done and would be willing to make an exchange. So Saturday morning, we showed up with our two children unsure of what to expect. Ryan laid some carpet for her (and did an awesome job, especially considering the fact that he'd never done this before) and then Ryan and I installed a storm door (and when the drill cord exploded we were grateful no one was hurt!). We spent the better part of the day getting to know this women, a single mom of 3 older children. We came home feeling satisfied with the exchange and knowing we also helped someone out. That night I received an email from this sweet woman sharing with us the death of her husband 13 years prior, who normally would have done these things for her. She said that she had been praying for a way to get these tasks finished and had no way of doing them herself. We were the answer to her prayers. Here we were thinking we were getting a great deal on a juicer, when truly we were Heavenly Father's hands at work. It reminded how God loves ALL his children whether they are members of the church or not, and will answer prayers that are righteous. I also feel so grateful to know that I have a ward family who can help me when I don't know where to turn.