A FORT night :)

S and I have been having so much fun latetly. C has been so busy lately that we've had lots of time together, but its been cool. The other day we made this awesome fort, unfortunately it was much more fun for him to jump on top of it and crash it down then it was to just sit under it, so the fort didnt last long, or rather mom got sick of "fixing" it.
Then on Friday S and I went out on a date. I really wanted to get out of the house and C was working late so S and I went out to dinner at the Pizza Factory. It was actually really fun and he was great. We just talked and he scarffed down olives. I love that I can actually have conversations with him now. Its hillarious. Although him learning new words sometimes gets confusing. Let me give you an example. Sometimes when he like accidentally does something wrong like tripping and falling on his sister, I say something like "S you need to be more careful, but I know it was an accident." Well somehow he caught on that if its an "accident" he doesnt get in trouble. So lately when ever he's doing something he knows he shouldnt be doing or I tell him no, he says "mom, its an accident." Sometimes it totally doesnt make sense though and it makes me laugh. Like once I told him S dont play on the computer... and he just looked at me and said, "no mom, its a accident."
Unfortunately though right now he's sick. Last night S woke up croupy. I hate the croup. It sounds aweful and they get so scared cause its hard to cough. I am just hoping he feels better by the end of the week cause I won Disney on Ice tickets off of some news show! Whahoo. I am so pumped cause The Lion King and Peter Pan will be there and he LOVES both those shows.
Alright better go S just dumped a cup full of water on my back. Nice.

February update

Holie Canolie, its been over a month since I've posted. February has been CRAZY. So I'll start off by telling y'all what we've been up to. At the beginning of the month my sister K and I threw T (my other sister) a baby shower. It was a lot of fun. And I am so excited for her. C skipped out and went skiing with his brother that day and had a blast. The next weekend our ward got split and combined with another ward creating a whole new ward and C got put in as executive secretary so needless to say, he's been gone and on the phone a lot lately trying to help make every calling a ward needs to function. Then this last weekend we went with the Young Women in our ward back up to Bryce Canyon and went cross country skiing again. It was way fun, but I didnt take any pictures cause my camera was lost. Actually I completely accused C of using it last and then losing it. I was so angry when he wouldnt even help look for it. Then at church on sunday I found it in S's sacrament meeting bag and I remembered I had put it in there a couple of weeks ago. Oops. Sorry C. But needless to say I havent taken very many pictures this month. Oh yea, I almost forgot on the 10th was my BIRTHDAY. Wahoo. C was great and took off half a day and we went down to St. George and went out to eat. He got me a very coveted double kid bike/running stroller. This summer is going to rock! I am so excited. Now I just got to fix my bike and get into shape so I can actually push/pull both my kids around. Our V-day was pretty low key mainly cause we are too chicken to get babysitters. I dont know why its so hard for us. Who do we get that can take care of a baby and a toddler? How much do you even pay a babysitter? Is 8-10 too late for a 14 year old to babysit? Anyways and then we're both just chicken when it comes to calling. Lame huh? We seriously need to get past this so we can go on a DATE sometime! But while C was gone getting our annual heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's I wrote I Love you in the snow with food coloring and water....pretty sure its going to stain our grass red not to mention it ended up looking like I killed an animal and dripped blood all over the snow just to write the endearing message to my husband. Matter of fact the first thing C said was, "please tell me you didnt split your wrists to write that message"...how romanticly morbid eh? Ah well. We took a picture. And that was our V-day.

Anyways other than that we are doing great. J is getting so big, I swear her chubby legs dont even fit in the bumbo chair anymore. But I seriously cant get enough of her. She is so darling! Ah I love having a baby around. I cannot stop kissing and tickling her. Its so fun! I attached some of her latest pics. S is doing great, he is talking more and more now and I CAN FINALLY UNDERSTAND HIM. Well thats us for February! Kind of a lame update, but an update none the less.

Isnt he HOT?...Its okay you dont have to answer that.

This is a snapshot I got of Cordelle, doesnt he look like some GQ model?  Ha, I made fun of him for that but secretly I think he looks HOT in it.

Anyways while Im at it I thought I'd post some pictures of the snow day we had the other day.  Cordelle is such a good dad.  When he saw that it was snowing like over a foot, he decided to come home early so he could take Seth sledding around our house.  Needless to say Seth loved it!  Heres the pictures from the day.  P.S. Yes that is our snowman.  The snow wasnt great for making a snowman so it ended up looking like a snow martian, that and I had to use what I could find in our junk drawer.  But when all is said and done, I am proud of it.

And this is just funny of Seth, he got so mad when I tried to take out the balls too....weird.

New Years Eve Sleep over.

I know once again I am late posting...but I wanted to include what we did for New Years. As is tradition for the last 3 or 4 years we celebrated the new year with one of our best friends, the Huffs! It was so fun. We ate till we were sick (cause most of us had some sort of resolutions that would be beginning the next day). And we stayed up playing games all night. Lily and Seth started out having their first sleepover...but it lasted about 2 minutes, when we decided no one was going to sleep until they were separated. Once the kids were asleep we played Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader all night (it seemed.) The game was kind of lame, but I did win the million dollars so I guess thats something (okay honestly all the answers were some pr-i-t-ty good guessing :) Anyways, once 12:30 came around, they were thinking of packing up and leaving back to Cedar. But after a little persuasive convincing that they'd have to wake up Lily in the cold and drive back to Cedar, they consented to having a slumber party for all! Wahoo. It was so cool to have friends where we would totally feel comfortable just telling them to crash on the floor and stay for a new years breakfast. And they did. We love them. Its going to be a sad day if they ever leave us (probably in May). But no worries, Im sure we'll stay friends for a long time. Seriously they're closer to us than a lot of family is. God has blessed us with AWESOME friends! Thanks Huffs for a fun night!

Life lessons from a 2 year old

So this past week Seth has taught me two important lessons I thought I'd share. The first happened after we got home from Christmas up North and he wanted to watch this Liken the Scriptures movie about the Nativity story. We had him watch it all throughout December to try to teach him about baby Jesus and the shepherds etc. Well he got to where he loved to sing and dance along with it. So it was no surprise that he wanted to watch it when we got home. But being that Christmas was over, I told him, "lets watch something else" its not Christmas anymore. He insisted on watching "the angels" and "shepherds" and the part where they sing "glory to god in the highest" (which of course Seth now sings along to). Anyways it got me thinking, just because we celebrate Christs birth in December, doesn't mean we have to ONLY celebrate it then. Seth was right, why shouldn't we continue to watch that movie throughout the year and to go even further, why shouldn't we remember what an incredible event that was all throughout the year? I came to the conclusion that I want Seth to remember stories like this all year long and you know what? Even if we're still singing Silent Night in July...I guess thats okay.
Lesson number two: Seth got a bike for Christmas and New Years Eve day was actually warm enough and the snow was melted enough for us to go outside and try it out. I was excited for him to ride it probably more than he was. But he was not riding it like I wanted him to. He'd get on for a second and then get off and pick up a rock, then eventually he'd get back on for 2 seconds and then get off and kick the snow. He was just so interested in everything outside. But of couse I kept urging him to get back on his bike. I found myself keep saying, "Lets ride your bike," or "come on lets go further"...but he wanted to take things at his own pace and look at every single interesting thing on the way. Its not that he didnt like his bike, cause once he was done exploring what was on the side of the road, he was excited to get back on his bike or put his treasure in the cubby under the seat. Anyways it got me thinking...why was I in such a hurry to get him to keep riding? Was there a dire destination that we needed to be to? If we hurried and got up the street and back, then what? Was I always in such a rush to do things when there was never really a need to be? So I stopped telling him to hurry up and get back on his bike. I just let him go at his own pace. Enstead of making it all the way around the block like I had wanted to, we made it like 2 houses down the road, but he loved just being outside. You know that saying, "stop and smell the roses?" Well I have a few new ones. Sometimes in life, we need to slow down and "stop to pick up that cool little rock" or "stop and splash in the gutter water" or "stop to touch the snowbank"....sometimes we just need to stop.

Christmas

For the Grandparents! (this was incredibly CRAZY to get all 5 kids looking or not screaming)

Christmas this year was fun. We stayed up at my parents house again. It was great being with family but I think next year, we might want to try having our own Christmas at home. We had lots of friends do that this year and they loved it. Do most of you stay home for Christmas? It is harder with more kids, packin' all their stuff/presents and trekking it up there. But it was still nice. We also got to hear from Neal who will be home in 6 months!! I miss him so much. Anyways heres a few pics from Christmas.

Jaquelle at our house

Seth at our house

Beautiful Sunset and snow Christmas Weekend

Opening Pressents

Christmas Morning with Mason and Anna

Christmas Eve with the Masons

MERRY CHRISTMAS

So Cordelle thought it would be a good idea to give a general summary of our family for this year on our blog, kind of like most people do in their Christmas card. And because I listen and go along with everything he says (:) I decided to oblige. Ah, I kid, I kid.
Cordelle is still busy working as a graphic designer at the Leavitt Group (an Insurance Brokerage with their head quarters here in Cedar City). He loves the people he works with, but is very busy these days being the only full-time designer. He spends most his free time either playing hoops or football with Seth or doing other freelance projects to bring in extra cash. One of which being our home business doing wedding announcements (cedarweddings.com). He is still serving as the 1st counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency and loves being involved and getting to know the people in our ward.
Wendy is just chillin' at home with the kids. She loves being a mom to a crazy, yet entertaining 2 year old and a sweet little 2 month old girl. She loves any chance to get outside or get some sort of exercise. She always has some sort of project to work on whether its a craft, a home improvement project, or some random idea she thought up to engage Seth for the day. She still serves as an advisor in young womens and works with the Laurels. She loves being involved with an organization in the ward and thinks the world of her girls and the other leaders. She also helps with the cedarweddings side business by meeting with the couples who are getting married, consulting what they want for the announcement and then relaying the information to the "Designer. " (That was difficult writing about yourself in the 3rd person)
Seth is two....need I say more? Probably not, but I will. Seth's most recent loves are Dancing and singing especially to David Archuletta's new song Crush. (which surprisingly he knows like every word in the song... he speaks in broken toddlerese, but knows all the lyrics to the latest pop songs..crazy!). He LOVES to help with dishes which usually means a mini flood on the floor, a soaking wet outfit, and dirty dishes mixed in with all the clean ones. But it distracts him long enough for mom to clean the rest of the kitchen. He still loves riding his bike, playing with his friends, watching his movies (sound of music, Tarzan, The Lion King, Toy Story, Cars...to name a few). He really is hillarious and is learning new words everyday. So dad and mom have learned we have to be a little more careful about what we say cause sure enough, clear as day, our little parrot repeats it.
Jaquelle is darling. Mom cant get enough of her, but already she is showing signs she is not a cuddler....but that usually doesnt stop us. She is smiling a ton and compared to a couple of colicky months ago, she is an angel. Other than that she cant do much, but she gets her fair share of photo shoots cause dressing up girls is far too much fun. We love this stage of babies!
Well we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and hopefully you can spend a little time appreciating the gift we've really been given...our Savior. We love you all.

Happy Birthday Tallie!

So Sunday is my little sister Tallie's birthday and she's going to be 24! So I decided I wanted to post how much I love her! Growing up it was amazing we didn't kill each other. Although we did drop a TV on her violin because we were fighting over watching Star Trek the Next Generation or MASH (I know we had a strange childhood). There were typical sister rivalries like when I drew a line down the middle of our shared bedroom with tape, threatening her never to come on MY side of the room. And then there were times when we would be grounded to our bedroom till it was clean, but enstead of getting to work, we ended up staying in there for 2 days just playing with each other amidst the toys and clothes and who knows what. There were mutual backscratches where we both had to scratch each others backs for 15 minutes and after I got my entire allotted time, I conviently fell asleep 2 minutes into hers. Of course, I totally abused the older sister privileges. I would make her get me peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, cereal or drinks of water late at night when we were supposed to be sleeping. (Although she did get me back a couple of times by putting toothpaste, or even worse, soap in my food/drinks as her funny way of getting back at my ordering her around.) We fought over clothes, cleaning the bedroom, her getting the pink stuff and me always getting stuck with the "boyish" blue colored toys. Yes, as kids...we were...well, kids. And I fully admit to being the big bully older sister. But sometime between high school and college something clicked. "Tom and Jerry" finally sat down and ate some ice cream together so-to-speak :) and now I honestly can say that that kid is one of my best friends in the world. She is downright hillarious and one of the only people that can still make me laugh till I cry or pee (preferably the former). She is always giving and always thinking about everyone else. Whether its spoiling her neices and nephews or shopping with her brothers (who completely owe their sense of style to her), she is always the first person to drop what she's doing for her family and friends. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and be the cool older sister that let her little sister tag along with her friends or that alway watched out for her. I wish I would have been a better friend to her while we were young but I suppose kids are kids, and siblings are siblings. I guess all I can say now is I am grateful we've become the friends we are and Tal, I love ya. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Picture overload....of Jaquelle, but their cute

Jaquelle is getting so big! Today at her 2 month appointment she weighed 12 bls 10 oz. So looks like she's healthy all except for her BM's. You see she only poops once every 10 days! Weird huh? And let me tell you, it just stores up in there cause when she does poop it is like never ending poop fest. If we dont catch her grunting in time, it will be up to her chin. Sick. But I tell you those days that she poops we all have a mini poop-party where we dance around and sing "Every party has a pooper thats why we invited Jaq, party pooper!" That song takes on a whole different meaning now. Anyways but she is doing great and I love it cause she's starting to smile and (knock on wood) I think the collick is slowly subsiding so perhaps there is a light through that tunnel or at the end of it, or however the saying goes. So thanks for all your advice.
Seth on the other hand is getting crazy! I think the jealousy might be sneaking in. Whenever we lay a blanket down on the floor for Jaquelle or in the swing he hurries and lays down on it. And if we go to put her in her vibrating chair and he didnt get there in time to snatch it from her sometimes he just sits on her. But the weirdest thing he does is in the car. When we put him in his car seat first and then go around the other side to snap Jaquelle into her car seat base (which is right next to Seth), he always has his hand on top of the her car seat base. So naturally we tell him to move his hand cause Jaquelles carseat will smash his fingers but he admittantly wont move his hand. So once I gently put it down on top of his hand and still...nothing. Then one time Cordelle was trying to put Jaq in quickly and forgot about this weird habit of Seths and he really did smash Seth's finger under her car seat. But even remembering how much it hurt doesnt deter him from keeping on doing it. Cause everytime its the same thing. Weird. Well I guess if he's trying to get our attention he gets it so, mission accomplished. Still though, why would he do that?
Anyhow enjoy the photos of Jaq from the last month.

A busy Weekend

Wow, its been like a month since I posted. How lame. Well nothing much has happened until this week anyways. Thanksgiving was fun but we literally ran from one thing to the next the whole time we were up north. We had dinner with a friend of Cordelles from High School, went to two movies (Bolt, and Twilight), hung out with my sister Krista and her kids, had Thanksgiving with my family, had Thanksgiving breakfast with Cordelles family, hung out with his 3 brothers, hung out with Tallie, played Rock Band with Brett, visited with Dave and Laura (who we hadnt seen in a while) and lastly squeezed in watching Wall-e with my parents. Seriously it was crazy. But it was fun to see everyone. Here is a picture of all of us getting a ride in Cordelles dad's newly restored Model T Truck and Model T. (I guess Jaq isnt in it, she was sleeping). And then I threw in a couple of pictures of Cordelle and Seth playing in the back yard and Jaquelle in her swing at Grandma Morris'.