The rules are: Go to your pictures folder, upload the 4th picture in the 4th folder, post and explain the picture.  Tag 4 friends. 

Amy, although it took me over a month, I am happy to admit this is the first Tag that I have ever followed through with.  It was interesting enough but not as daunting as the other Tags I have received in the past.  So here it is:  This is the first picture of my Dad's first born son holding my first born son, and may I say one of my favorite pictures of my brother.  Although Mike doesn't think he is fit to be a dad, I think he is wonderful with my kids.  He will be a wonderful dad someday.   

I tag Janelle, Lori, Melissa, and Kristi (because she failed to do it the first time)!

Ahh, the summer is over and I miss it already.  It is my favorite season and this is why this year was no different. . . 

tradition, tradition, tradition, of tents and trees and tired kids

a weekend of camping

sun, sun, sun and a nice shiny sweaty sunscreen glow. 

a St. George vacation

family, family, family and a lot of little ones scampering around.

baby Boston's blessing

together, together, together. . . forever

jeff and michelle marry

memories, memories, memories of a random but hillarious nature

a summer obsession with helmets

fresh, fresh, fresh, food with family by sunset

an evening Barbeque

but, Fall brings its own joy. . . most importantly (according to Shane) the smell of football

sweet, sweet, you

Boston.  how can I love you so much already and yet have only known you for four months?  i can already sense a distinct vibe of your gentle nature and patient personality.  how can something so small fill my world with so much love?  my world is truly sweeter and more lovely with you in it.  i love you this moment and forever.  

photography by jennifer anderson 

visit her website at photographybyjennifer.net

We love the potty! . . . at least sometimes we do.

We have entered a new frontier ladies and gentelmen, that of trying to coerce a two year old that going to the bathroom in the potty is cool. Luckily, he thinks that being like his Dad is pretty cool, so we ask "Does daddy go poo poo in his pants?" We hope not. I knew it was time to start weening him off the diapers when one day after he took off a load he promptly stuck his hands down the back of his pants came up with a little more than expected and said, "icky". You think? Nasty is more like it. Well, needless to say I wish my kid was the angel child that is potty trained in less than a week. Not a chance. Some mornings are good days and we make it on the pot a few times before we go in our pants. Other days, he could care less and it's all diaper again. A few days ago we had a decent day and he went actual number two in his "big boy potty". However, the funny thing about Camden is that he already wants his privacy when he braves this new potty adventure. The minute I get him up on it he looks up at me and says, "Close door mommy, go out." Because I'm so happy that he is even trying to go I allow him this one wish. A minute later I ask through the door, "Are you finished?" He says, "me done". I walk in and to my surprise he has gone poop in his small potty but felt it imperative that he take his poop in hand and transfer it to the big flushable potty. Wow.

By the way, I wrote this entry a few weeks ago and now Camden is wearing the big boy undies everyday. He really has surprised me. Although, he has become even more particular about his routine of going number two. Not only does he tell me to "go out, close door mommy" but now he demands to have a book while he unloads. "Get me book mommy." I wonder where he gets that from? hehe

The dreaded Fwd: a pet peeve.

 

This is going to be a short little entry and may offend a few

people but it must be said.  What is with the pathological forwarders?  We all have them, one or two people in our Contact list that forward every little thing they can get their clickers on.  I don't know about you but I surely don't have time to read every little hallmark sob story or email fear scam or even the somewhat witty but forgettable joke.  News flash for these offenders:  i don't read forwards! Now please don't get me wrong, this entry is not for the one or two time forwarders that occasionally get something of actual interest and pass it on for others to benefit.   

Another thing is this whole forwarding activity really plays with my emotions when I open up my email and I see "Inbox (3)".  A little silent "Waa-whoo" goes off in my head, a little flutter of my heart says "did someone think of me today?,"only to discover the dreaded "Fwd: blah blah blah blah blah blah"  It's similar to getting a hand written envelope addressed to you and getting a poopy advertisement inside (sorry about the "poopy" adjective but amidst potty training it was all I could come up with).  What's worse is that the advertisement is from someone you know!  These forwards are coming from people we know that lack the ability to use the keyboard to write a personal line and instead opt for four pages of  a big waste of time.  Aaah.  Okay enough whining, I'll jump off my soap box now and call it a day.    

One lucky little boy

You are definitely one lucky little boy Camden. Your Dad took you fishing for the first time at the wee age of two. Now that is some serious love kid. Shane said that it was a little difficult because you constantly wanted to, "Me do it, me do it, me do it" but he was happy to oblige such a cute request. You may notice the different expressions on Grandpa's face as you fling that pole around. Back home when cooking the fish you were extremely proud of your catch, petting and practically kissing the dead things which truly grossed your mom out. I wouldn't want my boy any other way.

What the chub?

I just thought you all might like to know that my son is 14 pounds at two months. That means he has doubled his birth weight, which means that only 6 more pounds and we have to move him into a bigger carseat, which means he is already in size 3-6 months clothes, which means 29 dollars down the drain because all those size one diapers are useless now, which means he is darn heavy, which means I get to kiss those juicy cheeks everyday, which means he is the cutest thing in the world. Here is a before and after picture of him at birth and him now. . . Phew all that growing makes him sleepy. . .

The Before:

And now for the After:

Confessions from a "Pop" Addict

I never thought that I would say this but I went to a Jordin Sparks concert. And I really never thought I would tell the blogging world that I went to a Jordin Sparks concert. But I'm telling you now-- I went and by gosh I liked it. There.

I'm not going to lie, I've always been a little ashamed to admit that I like pop music. Why? Is it because "real" musicians think it's plagiarized mindless crap or because if you listen to it you're labeled as shallow, immature or stuck in high school? Or is it because music is like fashion in that you can't be a Gothic wearer on Monday and a preppy sweater wearer on Wednesday, just as you can't head bang to hard rock on Monday but listen to country on the weekends. That would make you a phony. At least that is the impression I've always had. Well, whatever my reason was, I've always kept my love for pop music on the down low and I'm ready to come out. I like the crap they call pop. And I've liked a lot of it. Justin Timberlake, Christina Augulierra, Kelly Clarkson, I've even been caught listening to a few older Brittany Spears hits. Ohh, that one was a hard one to confess. Okay now I need to feel cool again and so I'll tell you that I like other genres of music too. I love alternative, rock, whatever genre Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and Indigo Girls fit into, punk, some country, blues, Broadway, and classic rock. Continuing on. . .

My sister-in-laws were all in town and we needed a reason for a girls night out and when we discovered that Jordin Sparks was coming to wittle Orem Utah (I know, I hope her career is still working out) we jumped on it. Although I know none of her songs it was fun just to get out and dance especially because I haven't been to a concert in ages, since right before I got married. That my friends is totally lame! I've decided that must change because I really love live music and just because I'm a mom doesn't mean that I can't party too! Actually I told Shane that concerts would be even more fun now because it's totally legal for us to dance dirty (mom don't freak out I'm kidding about that).

Katie Lila decided that to spice up the night we should all dress up like 80's rockers. When that wasn't a go with my mother-in-law we opted for a toned down version and all wore side ponytails! I took Boston with me and he slept through most of it until the very end when I took him out of his car seat to jam with me as she sang her hit single "No Air" (which I have to say I really like.) She has an incredible set of lungs, is a decent performer, and all in all we had a great time. Because she doesn't have a large repertoire of songs yet she sang quite a few from other artists that we knew well, Traci Chapman, Alicia Keys, and Stevie Wonder to name a few.

So now that I've come out of the pop closet, it's time for you all to admit to your sinful music loves. What or whom do you really like that you have never fully embraced? Now is the time, now is your time to come forth. .. da dun duh.

Here are a few pics of the gals at the concert. Don't mind my crazy face!

How clean are you?

I grew up in a really clean house. So clean that you literally could eat off the floor and it was probably more sanitary than most peoples kitchen counters. My mom is a nut about cleaning. Last year she spent an entire 3 days cleaning out the grout between her kitchen tiles. She put foaming bleach on every single grout line and scrubbed until it was abnormally white. And for her birthday all she asked for was a power washer to clean out the concrete seams in her driveway. Who does that? Apparently my mother. Well, because of her crazy obsession I've always wondered what is normal or sufficient in terms of cleanliness. How often do you clean your bathroom? How often should you change your sheets? Carpet cleaning? When do you replace your rugs? My mother said you should never go a week without deep cleaning your bathroom (for those who are not familiar with her standard of "deep", we are talking about soft scrub, sponges, down on your hands and knees scrubbing the floor clean). Changing your sheets is the same-- not a day over a week. Do people really pay attention to grout? These are the questions that are driving me insane with worry when I don't make it to cleaning my bathroom for a week and a half. So please share with me your feelings about cleaning and what you were taught.

p.s. A little note for my former roomates: You are probably thinking, "Katie clean?, her room was a fire hazard with all her clothes strewn about, but I have to say those years were my rebellion from so much cleaning as a child. I'm much better now!

BOSTON and much more

Whew! It has been a little while hasn't it? I'm sorry. With moving, being pregnant, and Shane stealing the laptop 6 out of 7 days of the week for work it has been a little tough to stay on top of our blog. I'm sure most of my friends and family had given up on my blog but I'm back and with more than a little news. We had a baby! Waa-whoo. Wait a minute, one correction from above, I had a baby. Shane was a definite necessity in creating the little tyke but I have to take the credit for the delivery of our son because I have the battle scars to prove it.

He came quite unexpected, four weeks earlier than planned, and besides a 5 hour short stop to the NICU was beautiful and healthy. As most of you know, my labors are unusual in the fact that I don't know I'm in labor until about 45 minutes before the kid comes a knockin. I was afraid that this labor would be similar to last where I delivered with no time for medication, but as an answer to my prayers a routine check up at the doctors proved to be very important!

I had a scheduled doctors appointment on Monday, May 19th in the afternoon for my 36 week check up. I asked the doc if she wouldn't mind checking my cervix, because of my precipitous history and so I could gauge where I was in the process. The only thing she said when she checked was "wow". I was dilated between a 6 and a 7 and was 80% effaced. I had no idea. She sent me to the hospital and three hours later little baby Boston Richard was born. He was a very decent size, 7lbs 1 oz. 19 1/2 in long, especially for a 36 weeker. He is adorable and fuzzy and we are so thrilled to have him here healthy.

So far, Camden thinks Boston is pretty cool. When he came to visit he tried to climb into his baby bed and continued to repeat his name over and over. When we let C hold him, he would point at Boston's body parts and say in a high pitched baby talk, "eyes", "wittle fingers", "nose", " ohh cute". I love my boys (Shane included).

So that is the latest with us. We are so blessed to have been able to have another child given to us. I can't believe that we are a family of four now. It all happens so quickly and what a miracle it all is. We are so thankful to our families and friends for being a huge support to us and giving us a boost when we need that extra hand. Wow. We can't believe this is our life, God has been so wonderful to us.

We will keep you all updated on everything and tell you when we will be blessing him.

No More Butt Comments

I felt it wasn't appropriate for me to post a picture of my bare butt and so Camden graciously lent me a picture of his cute butt. You might ask, "why even post a picture of a butt?" I need to get this off my chest and what a better medium than to the whole blogging world?

A few days ago I was getting myself ready, a real feat for me and my chubby self these days especially because Camden loves to pull apart the bathroom while I'm trying to make myself somewhat presentable. I usually make it to a half-way presentable stage before he does something that requires my interference, such as eating the deodorant stick or filling the toilet with tissue. While in the midst of this adventure my mom came down from upstairs to say hello. I was in my underwear blowing my hair. My mom came around the corner, saw the scene and said, "Ohhh, look at your cute pregnant bum", and proceeded to pat my over sized cheek. I turned off my blow dryer and looked at her dumbfounded. "Did you really just do that?", I asked her. "What, I said look at your cute pregnant bum" as if the added "cute" had made it okay. "Uh, no more comments about my fat butt please," I said. "Oh come on Kate everyone knows that you're supposed to gain weight when you are pregnant." she replied. "And that doesn't make me feel any better about it especially because my butt is not were the baby is growing. What if I came up to you, patted your butt and said 'Oh look at your cute middle-aged butt.' And if you were upset told you not to worry because everyone gains weight when they get older." She said that was different but could sorta see why I was a little annoyed. I dropped it but was a little more self conscious that day of my "cute" pregnant butt. I'm sure I was being a little over sensitive, as I tend to be with all the extra baby hormones, but please it's hard enough being pregnant, so. . . no more butt comments.

p.s. no hard feelings towards my mom, her intent was not to offend.

News from the Belly

When I had Camden I knew he was a boy. Although, I thought I wanted a girl the hunch was always there that "it" was a he. This pregnancy I was sure I was going to have a she, and even the bizarre but famous "ring" test told me I was due for a girl. And so, I bought fabric to make a girl quilt (a very adorable one at that) and apparently the universe felt I was meddling and now I will be having a boy. I really didn't even care what sex I got until I bought all that fabric and cut it up and sewed it all back together just in time to find out I would not be using it. Blast. That should teach me.
Truly though, I am very excited for my baby boy. I can do boys, and Camden will have a friend for life. I also have a boy name that I've been wanting to use that my brother-in-law was trying to steal from me (although, he thought I was trying to steal it from him) I know what you are thinking, "a brother-in-law has names? I thought only girls did that?" But it is true, I've tried to tell him it's like a boy having picked out wedding colors as a teenager or doodling their girlfriends name during school. Nonetheless, I beat him to the punch! Sorry Jeff, I love ya still the same. Here is a pic of the tyke from the belly.

Christmas Chaos

I'm so excited to have found a picture of the mess!


I think my nephew Caleb said it best after he finished playing with Camden one afternoon, "This kid is busy!" Christmas Eve was a perfect example when we decorated gingerbread houses and Shane and I were creating a barn/farmyard version to enter into our family contest. I, being the meticulous perfectionist I am, wasn't allowing Camden to help as much as he wanted, mainly because he was less help and more chaos than anything. I'm usually not that kind of a mom but I'm sure all you mom's can relate that sometimes you just want to make something nice even if it is a gingerbread house. Luckily, Mike came to the rescue!! He let Camden go to town. He stripped him down to his diaper, gave him a table knife and some frosting, and let him at it. Every minute or so Mike would take Camden to the fridge or pantry and let him choose a new food embellishment to use. By the end of the experiment their gingerbread house had frosting, marshmallows, pretzels, almonds, two honeycombs, ketchup, mustard, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, I think a few pieces of dog food, and honey. All of that was conglomerated on one section of the roof. It was quite the masterpiece and really sweet of Mike. I think Mike has a soft spot for Camden which makes me happy.