Blaine and Sierra

Family Home Evening Fun

2012-01-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

We had a great Family Home Evening last night. My fabulous friend Katie made me these really cool prophet face posters that totally go along with the song "Follow the Prophet". I used them last week in Sharing Time during primary and the kids loved them. When I came home that night, I caught my kids getting into them and it was so cute!

Conversations with Caylor

2012-01-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

Caylor: "Mommy?"
Me: "Yes Caylor?"
Caylor: "Do you remember you told me that after I take a nap you would give me lots and lots of candy?"
Me: "Um...no."
Caylor: "Can you go get the candy now?"

Something Every Young Mom should read.

2012-01-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

2011 Lesson #2 : Don’t Carpe Diem

Happy New Year from the Hicks Family

2012-01-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! I think it will be a fantastic year! I hate to be negative, it would be hard to NOT beat 2011. It was a rough year last year, lots of great things happened, but we also had a lot of hard ache and trial in our lives. We are stonger for it, but I am ready for a fun, happy year!

As each year rolls by, it really makes me think about my life. I can't believe that I have been "with" Blaine for over 8 years now! I don't know what I would do without him! I can't believe I have a child going on 4 years old! I am really loving this part of my life. I am starting to feel like a grown up which is really strange.

Last night for New Year's Eve we had a party/sleepover. We invited some of Blaine's family over for some games and fun. I got hats, prizes and the whole 9 yards, but then we had so much fun I forgot to take pictures! But it really was a fun night. We played white elephant, gestures/signs, and this game that I think the Hicks family made up. You write a sentence and pass the paper on to the next person who draws a picture describing the sentence who then passes to someone who only sees the picture and had to write a sentence describing it and so on. It is a really funny game.

One of the White Elephant gifts was a movie that we all watched together, the movie ended at about 11:30 so we told our most embarrassing stories and then rang in the new year complete with noisemakers and loud horns. It was really fun, but I am sleepy today for staying up so late!

Today we all went to church together and then came back to our house for lunch and to say goodbye. All of Blaine's family lives relatively far away from us so it was a little sad. Some we will get to see in a few weeks, others not for another year. We really love the Hicks family! And we love when all the cousins get together to play. We currently have 4 Hicks cousins, but with so many married siblings we will probably be mulitplying fast! We already know of one due to be born in 2012. Shannon is expecting a little boy. So Olivia will have to be the only girl for still longer. She loves it though.

Here is to a great year!

Mild December Day

2011-12-22T06:33:00.000-08:00

Contrary to popular opinion, I really love the weather this year. It has been unusually mild and not cold this December. Yesterday, it was in the 60's. So I took the kids to the backyard to play. It has been a while since we have played in the backyard, due to rain and cold, but yesterday was the perfect day. The kids in just a few short weeks since the last time we played back there have grown up so much. Caylor put Noah in our little red wagon and pulled him the whole length of the fence in our yard, which is quite a long walk for him to pull a wagon carrying a kid who weighs almost as much as him.

Then we headed to the trampoline. I have tried to put Noah on the trampoline a few times before, but it seemed to him a suicide mission to see how fast he can run to the edge to try to jump off. It was too exhausting for me to run around in circles trying to catch him. But this time, he did great! He and Caylor played ring around the rosie and Noah actually got both his feet off the ground and caught some air. We had a great time. I love watching my little boys grow up and learn and grow. The older Noah gets, the better friends Caylor and Noah are becoming. The other night I put Noah to bed and Caylor said, "Mom! Don't take my best friend away!". I love it.

Kid funnies

2011-12-14T05:48:00.000-08:00

My wonderful friend Katie gave me a beautiful nativity advent calendar that she made her self, it is so awesome! Anyway, we were doing one of the days this week, and Caylor put Joseph on the calendar. He looked at me and said, "This is Joseph Smith." (I have been reading him the story of Joseph's conversion) So I said, "No, this is Joseph, Jesus's Daddy." So then he said, "Ooookay! Joseph Smith and Jesus Smith." Oh well, I tried.

Caylor loves the movie Cars. He has a little figurine of the tractor from Cars that tips over when it gets scared. He will act out the tractor and fall down and make the noises, it is too funny! Well on Sunday he wanted to take it to church with him and I asked him what happened to it, it had a tire missing. He told me this elaborate story; "Well Daddy had gas, and it blew the tire off the tractor." Well I confronted Blaine about this, I had to find out if this were true. He did not remember that happening...

Noah is a boy of few words. He has gotten so good at sign language that he doesn't want to speak, he wants to sign. Well he finally spoke a little bit the other day. I was picking him up out of bed for the morning and I told him that I was going to change his diaper. He looked at me and said, "Diaper" and I said "Good job!" so then he looked at me, and laughed and said, "Heh heh heh, poop" and sure enough, he had a poopy diaper. I am so proud! I certainly do have boys, don't I??

Waffles

2011-12-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had some friends over and Blaine let me sleep in and then he made his famous homemade waffles. He woke me up to tell me that breakfast was ready. :) It is a great way to wake up, preferable to the usual daily poke in the eye from Caylor. So we set the table and put the kids in their chairs and started to eat. I gave Noah little bits of waffle dry with nothing on it and he ate it but wasn't too happy about it. Then when I wasn't looking Caylor gave him half of his waffle. Caylor's waffle had pure maple syrup and his Nana's last jar of apple butter on it. Blaine was sad to open that last jar, but it sure is so good! Anyway, before I could take it away, Noah ate a bite and got the happiest look I have ever seen on his face! I should have given him that for his birthday instead of cake because I have seriously never seen him so excited. It was a big piece and he devoured it in a matter of minutes and asked for more. He knows some sign language and started to say please in sign and was so excited and rubbing his chest really hard (which is how you make the sign), and we were cracking up.

Caylor and Noah updates.

2011-12-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

This morning Caylor came into our bedroom and cuddled with us in bed for a while. Blaine had to go to work, and after he left, I decided to have a good talk with Caylor. I asked him how he was doing and what he was learning in school. He named off all the continents and told me the Earth goes around the sun. Then he told me the months of the year and said that August is the month that he blows out his candles. I can't believe how much he is learning at school! It just amazes me.

He is a pro at going potty. I don't have to do ANYTHING for him anymore. As a matter of fact, I was at the park with a friend last week and couldn't find Caylor, as I started to panic a little, she pointed accross the other side of the park where Caylor was entering the public restroom. I was proud, but I also had to explain to him that he can't just leave by himself and that he needed to let me know. He loves to "pee in nature". One time, we caught him facing the road in our front yard peeing "on a leaf". Oh brother.

He LOVES his brother. Is absolutely obsessed with him. If we do not lock Noah's door at night, we will find Caylor curled up beside him in his crib the next morning. So most nights we lock the door because sometimes he wakes Noah up, plays with him and then goes back to his room and Noah gets REALLY angry about the abandonment and lets the whole house know about it at 3am. Fun. We are thinking about having them share a room soon, but we don't know when that should be. Any advice?

Yesterday we had a RS activity at church and Caylor was playing in the nursery. He was playing with an ark with lots of animals in it. Noah tried to share with him and he ran to me saying "This is NOT Noah's ark, this is MY ark!"

The other day Caylor pulled his pants down in front of Blaine and Blaine said, "Caylor, What are you doing?!" Caylor calmly replied, "Dad, I have an itchy on my butt and I have to fix it with my finger." Okay, how do you argue with that?

Noah is learning this as well by the second. He is still a fabulous sleeper, and will sleep anytime, he still takes two good naps during the day, then sleeps from 7pm to 730am. Nothing like his brother...

Noah is pretty quiet, he can talk, but he prefers sign language. Today I have been trying to make him speak instead and now he is talking my ear off. He said "please, mommy and daddy". The other day, he pointed at an alligator head my crazy husband got Caylor as a souvenier from New Orleans and Noah said, "Alligator".

I love my boys and I am trying to keep up on the blog about all their shenanigans, but sometimes this proves difficult.

Halloween - Trick or Treat 2011

2011-11-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

Ward Trunk or Treat 2011

2011-11-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween this year. We did lots of fun things, and Caylor is really starting to get to the age to enjoy the festivities. This year for the first time since we have had children, we are in a new ward. This ward had not really done a Trunk or Treat in the past, so Blaine and I brought the idea up and boom, that is how you get in charge of an activity! So Blaine and I were very busy the month of October busily getting ready for the event. Don't get me wrong, we had lots of help from other members in the ward, it was great and it turned out fantastic!

We had a chili cook off and Blaine won 2nd! His chili was SO good! We had 11 entries! Crazy, lots of good chili to eat that night! Oh, and I put the missionaries in charge of taking pictures. :)

We had a craft for the kids and made little spiders, they turned out really cute. Later we raced them.

Then we played a hilarious game where you had to eat donuts hanging from a string. I definitley lost! But it was so fun.

Here is Blaine dressed as a "Mad Food Scientist", complete with lots of pens and some other sciency stuff I don't know the name of. All the accessories he is wearing came from a Food Science Expo. This is also the trunk of our car, spookified. Its a word, look it up!

Here are the cute kids. Noah was a monkey, Caylor was Buzz lightyear, and I had to include Bee, her mom made this dress from scratch. She made a beautiful Cinderella!

Trip to the Aquarium, I mean pumpkin patch!

2011-11-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of October, I decided to drive my kids and a couple of girls in our ward that babysit for us a lot to an aquarium that is about 2 hours away from where we live. It is near 2 of my brother's siblings and their families, so we planned on a visit to the aquarium with Shannon and Olivia and then hanging out with Dawn later that day.

The day started out well enough, it was a BEAUTIFUL day! I picked up the girls and we headed on our trip. We talked about boys, the kids, and lots of fun things. We were about 10 miles away from the aquarium when something scary happened to change our whole day. We were on the highway on a very busy, trafficky part of the road. I was in the left hand lane on the four lane highway going entirely too fast when my car swiveled a little bit. Right as I was wondering what that was, I completely lost control of the car. I didn't panic, I thought of my kids and the girls in the car and that I was responsible for them. I then heard a voice like someone else was in the car right beside me saying "Hit your brake and steer to the right". I heard this sentence over and over again. So I obeyed it. It made me do a 180 accross all four lanes of traffic. There were cars EVERYWHERE. I kept seeing cars almost hit me and I kept thinking what I was going to do not if, but WHEN they hit me. I finaly got the car to stop on the shoulder facing the wrong way on the highway. The person in the far right lane had to slam on their brakes and were about less that 2 feet from my car. He called the police for me. It is a miracle that we were safe, that I followed the prompting that I got, and that the car was fine. I had blown a tire going 80 miles an hour. I do not reccomend it. It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. We were watched over and protected that day. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father believes those in my car important enough to keep safe from harm.

So instead of going to the Aquarium that day, my sister in law Dawn ended up coming to pick us up and us going to get 4 brand new tires on my car. While the car was being worked on, we went to Dawn's house for some pizza. And then we headed over to her church building because she had volunteered to clean the church that day.

After cleaning and picking up my car, I drove much more slowly and carefully to a pumpkin patch near Dawn's house. I figured we needed to do something fun if not the aquarium. We ended up having a great time. I made Julie carry Noah a lot of the time because he loves her. She refused to do it anymore when she started getting stink eye from people who thought it was her baby...

Noah loved all the animals in the petting zoo.

Caylor had so much fun with his Aunt Dawn! He really loves her and she is such a good Aunt. She took him around to see all the animals.

Then she took him to get his face painted. He picked a green spider, then she told me I had to get my face painted too, but I said only if she did. So she got an ear of corn. Julie and Ashley told me I had to get a tire because of our little adventure.

This camel seriously tried to bite Noah's hand off! It scared the heck out of me! Noah is now forever traumatized from camels.

Some more pictures from the night.

Pumpkin Carving 2011

2011-11-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

We were so busy this year with our callings, Blaine's job, and other shenanigans that we did not get to carve pumpkins until a week before Halloween. I love to decorate for holidays, and Halloween is one of my favorites! But alas, we had Halloween decorations out for a week and then packed them up again for another year. Although I did make sure to buy some cool stuff for next year when I did after Halloween sale shopping! I already have our costumes for next year!

Anyway, for FHE we invited our friends Katie, Ben and Bee over to carve pumpkins. I say carve pumpkins, but me and the kids painted ours while the other adults carved. We had way too much fun!

Ben gave Bee a big hug after painting and had a souvenier...

The finished products:

My Aunt Shirley gave me the recipe for this peanut butter pie. I have to say it was divine!

Noah's blackmail someday.

2011-10-26T19:52:00.001-07:00

So yesterday I taught Noah how to clean using a washcloth, etc. So he has his own rag and he follows me and "polishes" things while I clean. He was smart and realized his was dry and mine was wet. He quickly remedied this by going to the nearest toilet (in which Caylor had just peed and forgot to flush) and made his rag wet and continued to help clean the walls until Blaine realized what he had done. At least his intentions were good. Its the thought that counts right?

My sweet little workers

2011-10-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

This touches my heart. I love these kids more than words can say.

Oh my Noah

2011-10-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

Poor little Noah. The second child. I have noticed in looking at my recent posts that I have talked all about Caylor and Noah has been a little overlooked. I also noticed today how grown up he is all of the sudden. I don't want his babyhood to be completely undocumented, so I thought I should update a few things.

The other day, I realized just how much he is starting to understand. He obeys and will follow directions very well. But I had no idea to what degree he was understanding. Example - Right before a dinner party we were having at our house, Caylor had just eaten dinner and I had just cleaned the entire downstairs. Caylor asked me if he could eat grapes in the family room which I gave a big NO. So he shrugged and continued to watch his movie. I went upstairs to work on a few things there, and then the next thing I hear is a big CRASH. So I run downstairs and automatically look to Caylor. He is still on the couch where I left him. I go to the kitchen and Noah has opened the refridgerator door, got out all the grapes which is what crashed to the floor, picked one off and walked over and gave one to Caylor. Wow, what a smart and kind little kid! But also a little bit of a punk to get grape juice all over the mopped floor. :)

(This look says "Yes mom, I know I am making a mess, but you love me anyway!")

Noah is starting to talk quite a bit. We have taught him a few signs because he was whining way too much at the dinner table. So we have taught him to ask for things nicely and communicate without all the fuss. So we taught him "food" , "all done", "please" , "milk", and "more". The last few days, when I ask him a question in sign (I also say it out loud), he answers by saying something, rather than signing. So I will say "Noah, do you want more?" and he will say "Yes" or "Yeah". Today I asked if he was "All done" and he looked at me and said "I Thirsty". That is his first sentence, I am so proud. So I gave him his cup of milk and he downed it.

He knows some of his animal sounds and is a little stubborn about them. He refuses to say that a dinosaur says "Roar". He insists that dinosaurs quack like ducks. Cows say "Boo!" and he just learned about pigs today. Obviously he knows duck, but he also thinks dinosaurs speak the same duck language, we don't know why.

He is getting so good at walking and running. He is a pro at crawling up and down the stairs and is trying to now walk up and down like his brother. That scares me to death! He has also (thanks to his father) learned to climb up the slide, the big kid slide that is about 7 foot long! So he can climb all the way up and slide back down, or much to my horror, play around up in the playhouse way up high where I just hope he doesn't fall. He is obsessed with the bathroom and toilets. He has eaten toilet water more times that my dignity will let me admit. He loves to go and sneak into the bathtub and turn on the water and get in and play! I leave the doors closed, but Caylor sometimes forgets to close the doors after he goes potty. It is like Noah has radar and as soon as a bathroom door is left opened, he runs there faster than you can. And boy is he fast!

He is growing up so fast, I love him so much! Some of my favorite things about him: they way he smells after he has a bath, his beautiful shiny hair that is just like his father's, his little beady eyes, his chubby cheeks, his laugh, his kisses, his contagious happiness and joy for life. I am so glad he came to our family and we get to play with him and love him everyday! I love you Noah!

Caylor's trip to the Dentist

2011-09-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

Caylor went to the dentist last week. He met his new dentist (since we moved), and learned how to brush his teeth with "big kid" toothpaste and spit in the sink.

He did great! I am terrified of the dentist, which I of course don't want my kids to know or sense. So I make sure to take then regularly and take really good care of their teeth. I was so proud of him. They said he was probably the best kid they had ever cleaned teeth with. He seriously did not move at all. What he will do for bribes (he got a bouncy ball at the end for being good). They gave him an XRay and Cleaned his teeth. They told me that his baby teeth look great, but that in the Xray it looked like he will probably have to have braces someday. It amazed me that they could tell something like that now for something so far in the future. But the problems she foretold him having are the EXACT same reasons I needed braces. And I am a big advocate of braces. Having a good smile is so very important for your confidence and health.

But I am so proud of how brave he was, I would not be that brave, they usually have to sedate me to get within 3 feet of me.

Eating Crow

2011-09-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

I vowed I would never ever do this...

My mom used cloth diapers on my brother Galen when I was younger. I was 8 years older than him, so guess who many times had to clean up the mess? Me! And it was disgusting! Not to mention ugly,and little "safety" pins that stick you in sensitive areas. So every time someone mentioned cloth diapers to me that is what I had in my mind.

So when I had Caylor I of course turned my nose up to the prospect. Then fast forward to an extra kid later and paying for 2 sets of diapers. I saw someone in the nursing room at church using some cute cloth diapers. So I asked her about it, but still, when she told me about having to use her hands and wash them in the toilet, I thought, "No way!".

Well recently my sister in law started using and selling Oh Katy brand diapers. I know I sound like a commercial, but they are awesome! I didn't really believe her at first and thought she was exagerrating when she told me how much better they were than other cloth diapers, but I have had them for 2 weeks now and really love them. Now for my reasons for the switch:

-To Save money: You don't in the immediate beginning, but once you have at least a day supply of diapers, you are good to go!
-Diaper rash and comfort: Noah was having diaper rash issues, after switching the problem has almost completley gone away. The only reason I say almost is because every time someone uses a disposable on him it comes back with a vengeance.
-Save the Environment: Yeah I really am not a "green" person, but why not?
-They are much cuter! Enough said.

So, I know they are not for everyone, and to protect myself from eating further crow, I will not say some blanket statement like, "I will never go back to disposables!". But so far, I love them. They really are not hard to clean, and they have been great!

Cookies for Mr. Gramps

2011-09-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

Today was a very busy Saturday. We stayed home all day and got stuff done. It is sad when you have lived somewhere for 6 months and you still have so much unpacking to do. So we got a lot done today. On top of our overwhelming to do list, we had two fun kids who wanted to play all day and I had cookies that I had to make for a funeral for someone in our ward.

So I cleaned all morning and looked at the clock and realized it was already 12pm. The cookies had to be at the church at 1pm. So that gave me 1 hour to make about 5 dozen cookies, yikes! So I worked like a maniac and got them finished by 1:15 and tried to get in the car and to the church as soon as possible. Noah and Caylor both wanted to go with me, and I wasn't planning on taking them. Caylor was even still in his pj's with no shoes on, and I didn't have time to change him. So I took them thinking it was fine because they weren't even getting out of the car.

On my mind I was just thinking about getting to the church as soon as I could, and then going home and getting more stuff done. Caylor helped me to get some perspective. When we got to the church, Caylor saw me take the cookies into the church and come back with no cookies. When I backed up to leave, he asked me if he could go to church to eat the cookies. I decided to teach him about service. So I reparked the car, and looked at him. I told him that a family in the ward had lost someone they loved very much. That person lives with Heavenly Father and Jesus now. Although that can be a happy time for the person, it is very sad for the family who misses them so much. So I told him I made them cookies to make them happy again. I asked him if he liked me to make cookies for him when he was sad. He really thought about what I said for a minute. I expected him to cry and say he wanted the cookies, or say something that a 3 year old withheld from cookies would say, but he looked at me and said, "I want to give Mr. Gramps cookies". I asked him why and he said, "Nana lives with Heavenly Father and Jesus now and Mr. Gramps is sad. I am sad. I want to give him cookies to make him happy again." I smiled at him and turned around so he wouldn't see me crying. The hardest thing about missing Laurie is everytime Caylor does something new that she will never be able to cheer on or the hugs he is missing out on, or that someday, he may forget the memories. It has been 6 months now, and he still misses her and remembers her. Six months is a big portion of his life.

I cried all the way home. I left the kids in the car (with ac) and ran inside and gave Blaine a big hug. I was bawling and he was very worried something terrible had happened, like someone died or something, but I explained to him the story. It makes me cry just to write this. But I wanted to write about this while it was fresh on my mind.

Laurie, I really miss you. You were like a mother to me. It is not the same on this Earth without you. Sometimes, I can feel you near me. I know you miss us, especially Blaine and Caylor. We will never fully get over your loss. But you make us want to be better people so we can be with you again someday. Find some good games to play up there when we meet you. Caylor asks me for songs that you used to sing to him, he gets mad when I don't know them. I remember getting mad when we would spend the night at your house and I would hear you and Caylor playing ball at 3am. He would cry and you would sneak him out of bed and play with him. And you loved it. I remember you coming to my house and helping me when I needed you. I remember you being there for me when I needed someone to talk to about my problems. You gave such great advice and you were such a good listener. I wish you were here, but I know you are doing great things where you are now. I can't wait to see you again. I love you.

Repentence as understood by a 3 year old.

2011-09-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

So today Caylor was very rowdy during Sacrament, so I explained to him quietly what we can think about during sacrament. I told him many things, and then I tried to explain repentence to my 3 year old. So I said "If you do something wrong, like hit Noah, not only do you say you are sorry to Noah, but you should say a prayer in your head and tell Heavenly Father you are sorry too." He looked at me and thought for a moment, then folded his arms on top of his head and said a fervent prayer in his head. Blaine and I tried not to laugh in the middle of sacrament.

So proud.

2011-09-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was putting Caylor to bed. After reading him Winnie the Pooh stories, we started to sing songs. I wanted to teach Caylor about music. He has almost every song I know memorized and he is RIGHT on pitch! So today I was going to give him a little lesson. So we sang "Twinkle Twinkle". I explained to him the difference in words and melody. Then I asked him if he knew any other songs with the same melody. In my head I was thinking of the "ABC song". On his own with no help, he sang that song and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear". I didn't even think of that one! I am so extremley proud of him. I hope he turns out to be interested in music so we can do stuff together and enjoy it together. I sure do love him!

Caylor's first school project.

2011-08-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

Caylor started Montessori on August 10, 2011. He is doing really well and loving it. He is learning so much! On Caylor's birthday this past Monday, We had a Celebration of Life presentation. I went to Caylor's school and gave a presentation that I already posted on here. As a gift to his classroom, Caylor went to the pet store and picked out a fish and named him Arnold. So we put him in the class aquarium after the presentation. Then I gave all the kids my chocolate chip cookies and milk. It is Caylor's favorite. Caylor showed me all around his class and everything he is working on. He was so proud of himself, and I am so proud of him.

Tomorrow Caylor has his first presentation that he is doing all by himself. We went around the house today to look for different items that start with the letter "S". This is what we found:

Sand from our sandbox. Caylor scooped it into the bag and was so proud.

We found a straw from the kitchen that Noah uses for his drinks.

A Snake that Caylor got from his Aunt Shannon for his birthday. The only downside was he cried when I put it in the bag because he couldn't play with it anymore.

We found stickers.

This has been a fun thing to do with Caylor. I love how much he is learning.

Caylor's celebration of life.

2011-08-21T19:27:00.001-07:00

This is Caylor's bio that I made for his school's celebration of life. Happy birthday to my sweet big guy! I love you so much!

Caylor Matthew Hicks was born on this day 3 years ago. He had a personality from the moment he was born. He loved cuddling, eating, and moving as much as possible. He started walking at 9 months old! (Which is really little). He was into everything!

Caylor had a love for animals right away! He especially loves fish, whales, sharks, and anything that lives in the water. At home we joke that he is going to grow up to be a marine biologist. We have taken him to Aquariums all over the world to try to embrace his love for marine animals. His 2nd year of life he welcomed his little brother, Noah, into the world. He is an amazing older brother and always shares and watches out for his brother.

Caylor loves to play outside, climb trees, and go biking with his mom and dad. He loves to swim and we think he is almost ready to swim without any help at all! He is very good at playing sports and doing active things like climbing a lot! He also loves to jump on the trampoline. Caylor is very caring and cares very much about others around him. He does not like to see people hurt or sad and will try his best to make them feel better. His favorite thing to do at home is play with his brother and make him happy. He also loves music and will sing anytime you ask him to.

Hicks Family Photos June 2011

2011-08-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken by the fabulous Britanie Myers. Check her out at www.britaniemyers.com

Caylorisms

2011-08-08T19:48:00.001-07:00

I told Caylor we were going to a pool party tonight. He looked at me and said "not poop potty mom, we are going to poop toilet." I don't know what to think of that...

Noah's birthday gift.

2011-07-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

Noah is 1 year old and he is so selfless, he gave us a present. I love my little guy!

Pioneer Day

2011-07-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Pioneer Day is celebrated every year on July 24. It is a celebration of when the Pioneers made it to Salt Lake City, Utah after months of sacrifice, struggle, and even loss of loved ones. They finally made it to Utah after many years of trials and tribulation. Today, Salt Lake City still stands as a tribute to those pioneers. I love that city. It is filled with history and memories of those tremendous people and everything they did to stand up for their right to worship God and live the gospel.

This past weekend we celebrated Pioneer day in our primary. Saturday we had a ward pioneer day activity. The Primary presidency was in charge of the event. It was the first big ward event that I have been in charge of. I was a little nervous, but I think that it was a success. My husband and friend Katie helped me out A Lot. The kids had a great time. Caylor loved the water balloon toss.

We went on a mini trek. Boy was it hot!

The next day at church I was in charge of Sharing time. So again, my friend Katie, her husband, and my wonderful husband dressed up as pioneers and told the kids stories about the pioneers. Blaine talked about the Salt Lake Temple, Katie talked about the Nauvoo temple, and her husband Ben talked about the Louisville temple. The kids had a great time and learned a lot about their heritage.

A child's prayer.

2011-07-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

When I was preparing a sharing time recently, I needed some pictures of the Savior and found this one. It really brought a lot of emotion to me. I want to have this picture printed and proffesionally framed. I really love it. And it shows a soft, gentle example of how Christ started his relationship with his Father in Heaven, with his mother's help, teaching and example. That is powerful to me that even He needed someone to teach him as a child. How much more important is it for me to teach my children.

So today, before breakfast I asked Caylor who he wanted to say the prayer and he said it. This was his prayer today, silly but sweet and he has said many prayers, but this was his first completely from the heart prayer. I did not prompt him at all, he just said the things he wanted to say.

"Please bless the food, and mommy, daddy, Caylor, and Noah. Please bless Bee and Katie that we can go swimming today, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I love him so much and I hope I can teach him the things he needs to know.

My secret crush.

2011-07-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

So tonight we went on a date night with some members of our ward to see Harry Potter the last. It was I must say AMAZING. I really loved it and already can't wait to watch it again. Watching this movie made a memory stir from over a year ago. I have a not so secret crush on Daniel Radcliffe, I'm sorry, but he is a hottie, and I know I am a cougar for saying that, but so be it. But...

I have a secret crush.

I have never told anyone but Blaine this before, but I have had some very interesting dreams involving.... wait for it...

Professor Snape.

I apparantly love his demanding personality. He is mean and I like it. He is also a little teddy bear inside and I like that too. I have to say I don't care for the greasy hair though. So when I told Blaine this deep dark secret, he could not stop laughing. So when Halloween rolled around he could not resist - he MADE his costume, sewing machine and all and became my secret crush.

My husband is so creative and I have to say the costume got him some brownie points. :)

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July was full of fun activities. We started the weekend out by having our good friends Katie and Ben and their little girl Bee over. We cooked out and made smores and swam in the pool. Then when it got darker we got some little fire crackers for the kids to see. Then we watched professional fireworks from our trampoline. It was a great night. The kids were up until about 11:30 at night. Lets just say it was a little hard to get up for church the next morning.

Caylor has always been afraid of fireworks and this year was no exception. He at least tolerated them this year, and even tried a sparkler, until it burned his foot. But we still had a great time.

Then Monday, on the actual holiday, we headed to Blaine's dad's house. He had the REAL fireworks. This is the first year that the big fireworks have been legal in Kentucky. So we celebrated. We ate yummy food all day and played games. Then Noah could not stay awake any longer, but we let my niece Olivia and Caylor stay up for the festivities. They were both a little scared, but in awe at the same time, but by the time we were finished, they were so ready to go inside and go to bed. We had a great time. All the Hicks grandchildren are just now getting to the age where they play REALLY well together. It used to be really hard to make sure they didn't kill each other, but this last time the adults watched movies and played games while the kids entertained themselves. I have been wanting that for a long time - Caylor to have cousins to play with and run around with them. It was so great. All in all it was a great holiday!

Quote for today.

2011-07-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

"Some sins are committed because we do wrong; other sins are committed because we do nothing. Being only sort of committed to the gospel can lead to frustration, unhappiness, and guilt." -- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, and Words of Mormon (Whew!) Rewards Party

2011-07-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

So I combined Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, and Words of Mormon for the next rewards party because together they only total 11 chapters. But Caylor flew through it! He loves the Book of Mormon and reminds me every morning at breakfast that we need to read. And he actually listens and remembers things that happened the day before, etc. Right now we are in Mosiah reading about Alma and Abinidai and he has really loved it. It probably helps that it is one of my favorite stories.

So for this reward we took Caylor to see Cars 2. Noah has been a bit of a handful lately and I knew he wouldn't sit still for 90 minutes, so my good friend Katie babysat while we went to the movie.

For some reason, going to see this movie made me think of where I was for all the Pixar movies, we always go to see them in the theater, so lets take a trip down memory lane...

We shall start with
The Incredibles - November 2004 - I just got engaged to Blaine and we went to see this together. We loved it!
Cars - June 2006 - Blaine and I saw this for the first time at a drive in with our friends Esther and Jared from our ward. Not my favorite Pixar, but it was entertaining.
Ratatouilie - June 2007 - Saw this in the theater with Blaine. It was good, not the best, but okay.
Wall-e - June 2008 - We saw this one in theaters again with Esther and Jared. One of my all time favorite Pixars. Andrew Stanton is by far my favorite Pixar director. I was pregnant with Caylor at this time and about to pop!
Up - June 2009 - This was the first movie we took Caylor to see. He didn't do that great, he wasn't even a year old yet, but he enjoyed it. I still cry every time I watch the beginning montage in that movie.
Toy Story 3 - June 2010 - This movie experience will forever hold a special place in my heart. Laurie took the whole family to see this movie together. Caylor cuddled with her the entire time and LOVED the movie! He loved it so much we made his birthday party a Toy Story Theme. He really still loves that movie to this day. Its a good one.

Now to Cars 2. I have to say, after thinking of all the movies they have come out with over the years, I thought this one was a big dissapointment. First of all, I didn't really like the first one, so I didn't have great expectations for it. Second of all, come on! Come up with a new movie and fresh ideas! Stop making sequels. Third of all, Mater is great and all, but he was the main character in this one and 90 minutes of the same joke over and over again gets really grating. There is a reason you make the village idiot a side character. But I have to say, Caylor really enjoyed it and that is what matters. And he did look awfully cute in his 3-D glasses. I am so proud of my boy.

2nd Nephi Rewards Party

2011-07-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

In March Caylor finished reading 2nd Nephi! He is flying through the Book of Mormon, I am so proud of him. Right now we are almost done with Mosiah! He has also memorized the prophets in order and the first Article of Faith.

The week before we moved to the new house we took Caylor to this cool kids place. They had arcade games, bouncy houses, pizza, ice cream, bumper cars, you name it! It was such a fun time, and the food was pretty good. We had a great time, especially daddy. Blaine and Caylor seriously did not want to leave.

Quotes for today.

2011-06-22T05:17:00.000-07:00

"It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose provincial aids can supply every human defect, that HIS benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes." -- George Washington

"...Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." -- Philipians 4: 8-9

They grow up so fast...

2011-06-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Caylor has been growing up so fast lately. He has been doing so many things lately so I thought I should write down a few things.

-Today was Caylor's first day of being 100% accident free! We started potty training in October 2010 and the day is finally here! He took his time, but I am glad he has finally decided to take a leap and want to do it. I am so proud of him. He got to go to the store and pick out big boy underwear and he loves them. He doesn't want to wear pull ups at all anymore.
-Caylor started singing his ABC's this week, it is so sweet.
-He can recognize certain letters. I know he can recognize A,B,G for sure, but I know there are more.
-He can count to 10, and sometimes will count to 20.
-He starts Montessori in August. He had an interview with his teacher this past week and he did great. I am so excited for him to start school, but I sure will miss him when he is there! He will go 5 days a week 3 hours a day. I think it will be so good for him though.
-He knows so many songs! He loves to sing and he will sing to me all the time. I love it.
-He has been speaking in full sentences lately. He is pretty clear and his vocabulary is growing every day. He repeats EVERYTHING we say so we have to be pretty careful what we say in front of him. We don't say anything really bad, but words like "stupid" and things like that. The coolest sentence I heard him say lately, "I don't need a consequence!" (When he was in trouble)

I love him so much and I thought I would write some of these memories down while they are still fresh.

Aminals!

2011-06-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I watched my darling friends little girl, Bee. She is super cute and Caylor's new best friend. You will hear me talk about her and her mommy a lot. I decided to take them out on a little "date" to the library to an exhibit they were doing called "Kentucky Down Under". Our library is awesome! They just built it, it is 3 stories and is gorgeous and has tons of fun activities for kids. So anyway, I did not think I could handle this activity with 3 kids, so the Bishop's family watched Noah and we headed to the library with Caylor and Bee.

We saw a Kangaroo.

We saw a snake.

Caylor's face when the snake came out of his cage...

We saw a giant Cockatoo.

After the library, I promised the kids we would go out to eat for lunch. I found this new website called kidsmealdeals
If you put in your zip code and what day of the week it is, it will tell you what free kids things are in town. So Thursday was Wednesday was supposed to be Captain D's. So I searched and searched this new to me town for this restaurant and found out after 30 minutes of searching that the Captain had closed down about 8 years before. So we went to Dairy Queen instead. I almost didn't go, they were falling asleep in the car, but I had PROMISED them. And I am glad I did because they ended up having more fun at DQ than they did at the library.

At one point, Caylor broke his hot dog in half and stuck both sides in his mouth and looked like a walrus. Bee and I thought this was hilarious, but I could not get a picture in time. Darn. But I did get one of Bee with a chocolate mustache.

It was such a fun day. Kids are so fun. I can't wait to do more stuff like this in my new town!

Noah Walked!

2011-06-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

My litte Noah took his first official steps today! He took some about 2 weeks ago at the park, but I thought it might be a fluke so I didn't count it. But today he took 6 steps in his room! It was so cute. It was first thing this morning when I got him out of his crib. He was so excited to see Caylor and to be free that he took off running while I was holding on to him still, he likes to walk while holding my fingers. So I let go and he kept going! Then he looked back and saw that I was not holding on anymore and he fell over. It was so funny. He has not walked since then, and I think it will be a while before he walks all the time, but I am still way excited. He is growing up so fast. I love my little guy.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-06-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

This past Memorial Day Weekend was so fun filled. It started off with Blaine taking the kids so I could go on a Stake Relief Society overnight trip. It was a camping trip. My new friend Katie and I left for the trip together. It was so fun and it felt like girl's camp all over again. It was so renewing to my spirit and helped to strengthen my testimony. It was also relaxing, but I did miss my hubby and my kids. It made me appreciate them more. But I had lots of fun with the girls!

On Sunday, Blaine's sister Dawn and her husband Adam came to spend the night. They live about 2 hours away so it was nice of them to come all this way. We had a great time! We played the marble game and watched some hilarious Youtube videos. I have to post a few.

So the next morning they were nice enough to take us to McDonald's for breakfast. Then they headed out for some hiking while we headed to our annual Downtown Bike ride.

We did a 10 mile ride through our Downtown area. They closed down the streets to cars and pedestrians - only bikes allowed. It is so much fun to ride a bike down the middle of a normally very busy road. It was such a beautiful although hot day. It was 96 that day! But we had a great time!

The New Adventures of the Hicks Family

2011-05-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

Busy busy busy! I cannot say it enough. I am so behind on everything in my life. But I haven't been this happy in a long time. I am loving my new life, my new home, my new ward, and my new friends. We are starting to find happiness, peace and joy in our lives once more. This has been the craziest year of our marriage, but it is finally starting to calm down again and we are starting to get some normalcy.

First of all, I really do love my new ward. The people are so great. I have made one friend in particular and she is so awesome! When we first bought our house, she came over EVERY SINGLE DAY to help with painting, watching the kids, or just being here when I was discouraged. And we have pretty much been hanging out every day since. She is such a good example to me of what a friend should be and of how to be selfless. She has a daughter Caylor's age and they have been the BEST of friends. They love each other, most of the time. They do hit a point where they have had enough of each other and then its all down hill. She is very girly and he is the biggest boyish boy I have ever seen.

The rest of our ward is great too. We already feel part of this ward family. I got a new calling about 2 weeks after we moved in. I am now the 1st councilor in the Primary presidency. This is my first calling with this much responsibility. At first I was really nervous, but now I am just so excited. I have loved working with the kids so far and have had such a blast planning lessons and activities and getting to know the other fabulous ladies in the presidency. It has been such a great blessing in my life already.

The kids are adjusting really well to life here. They love having all the extra space and having a "park" outside. Everyone likes to come over to our house to play, so Caylor has friends that come over pretty much every day. He is not used to being so popular. :) I'm not either for that matter. Our neighborhood is beautiful and we love to go on walks and see our friendly neighbors- both the people and the cows.

I have some pictures of different things we have been doing recently. We took our first bike ride of the season/since we moved/since I had Noah. It was so fun to get on my bike again. It felt so good to get some great excercise, and the kids had SO much fun. Caylor and Noah held hands in the bike trailer, it was so cute!

We just found out that our bush in our front yard is actually a rose bush - because it bloomed this week! It is so beautiful. I just find out more and more every day to make myself fall more in love with my house!

We have trees in both the front and back yard that Caylor loves to climb. He is actually pretty good.

There was a cat that decided it was going to adopt us for a while. She was so sweet, but ever since the last big storm I haven't seen her, oh well.

And here are some more pictures of us having a good time.

Waiting on the Road to Damascus

2011-05-23T05:47:00.001-07:00

I had to give a talk in my ward yesterday, and I thought I would share it on here...

Today I was asked to choose a topic from this most recent General Conference address. I have known about this for 2 weeks now but had a very hard time choosing a talk. I put a lot of thought and prayer into which talk I was going to choose. I knew afterward that I would know the talk as soon as I stumbled across it. But I had to stumble across the right one first. So I read talk after talk, one at a time in order, which did not work for me. I knew they weren’t the “right” talk. Some were very tempting, for example “LDS Women are Incredible” that sounds like a talk I would really like. There were some good ones on the Atonement and Faith and Parenting, but none of them were what I was meant to talk about.

So after the frustration of not finding it, I shelved it for a while and I hate to admit that I did not find my talk until yesterday. I prayed again, turned to the page and found the talk immediately. I knew it was the one I was supposed to talk about. It was a talk from the Sunday morning Session by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”. I am sure most of you have heard it, and I hope you bear with me as you hear much of it again.

First, he tells the story of Saul who persecuted many members of the church in his time, even causing them to flee from their homes. He pursued the believers, but as he came to the Road to Damascus a light came from Heaven and he heard a voice saying “Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?” This moment changed Saul’s life forever, and it changed many people around him by following his words and example.

He also talks about the amazing moment in our church’s history when Joseph Smith went to the sacred grove and “…Saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other ‘This is my Beloved Son, Hear Him’.” -JSH 1:17

But just because there are many stories such as these in the scriptures and our history, that does not mean that we will necessarily get answers in this way from the Lord. I have a very strong belief and testimony that Heavenly Father loves us very much. He knows each one of us and he does listen to our prayers and petitions. But there are some as President Uctdorf has said who “…feel that unless they have an experience similar to Saul’s or Joseph Smith’s, they cannot believe… Instead of taking small steps of faith on the path of discipleship, they want some dramatic event to compel them to believe.”

Our God is a God of faith. We are here as part of our test. We have a veil placed upon our minds for a reason. If we were always going to get clear answers and know everything the moment we want those answers, then why are we here being tested in the first place? That would be like a teacher giving out a test and then raising your hand, and asking her to feed you all of the answers, one by one, to make sure you get an A.

I believe that although it does not work that way, our Father in Heaven lets our test be “open book”. He won’t give us all the answers directly, but he gives us ways to find the answers for ourselves. He lets us use so many tools that he has so graciously provided us with. The scriptures, modern day prophets and apostles, patriarchal blessings, the priesthood, the Holy Ghost and so many more things to help us get an A.

President Uchtdorf goes on to say “The Truth is, those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it often comes in the form of a puzzle - once piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us - not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed.”

This quote really touched my heart. Sometimes I admittedly am waiting for some “opening of the heavens”. I will be on my knees waiting for a clear, direct answer. And it really is many times as he said, one piece at a time. Unfortunately, our faith can be lost in the same way. Satan is very clever and knows how to make us lose it so slowly that we don’t even know it is slipping away right in front of our eyes. I have known people that I believed at one point and time much stronger that I was in testimony. People I looked up to and admired. They were so strong, and recently they have left the church saying that they had lost what they had once believed so strongly. Then you look at Laman and Lemuel. They did have the heavens opened to them and so much to help them believe, and they still would forget. How much easier would it be for us to forget when we don’t have those dramatic events. We have to be very careful that we slowly nurture our testimonies each day, every moment. I believe that everything you do will either bring you closer or further from the Lord, I ask that you think about the things that you do and think about which direction it is taking you.

One piece of advice that we are given is said in the following; “…Often He speaks to us in ways that we can hear only with our Heart. To better hear his voice, it would be wise to turn down the volume control of the worldly noise in our lives. If we ignore or block out the promptings of the Spirit for whatever reason, they become less noticeable until we cannot hear them at all. Let us learn to hearken to the promptings of the Spirit and then be eager to heed them.”

He goes on to tell us a story of an example of following the promptings of the spirit from our Beloved Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, as told by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the quorum of the twelve apostles. “Once while President Monson was on assignment in Louisiana, a stake president asked him if he would have time to visit a 10-year- old girl named Christal, who was in the final stages of cancer. Christal’s family had been praying that President Monson would come. But their home was far away, and the shedule was so tight that there wasn’t time. So instead, President Monson asked that those who offered prayers during the stake conference include Christal in their prayers. Surely the Lord and the family would understand. During the Saturday session of the conference, as President Monson stood to speak, the Spirit whispered, ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.’ His notes became a blur. He attempted to pursue the theme of the meeting as outlined, but the name and image of the little girl would not leave his mind. He listened to the spirit and rearranged his schedule. Early the next morning, President Monson left the ninety and nine and traveled many miles to be at the bedside of the one. Once there, he ‘gazed down upon a child too ill to rise, too weak to speak. Her illness had now rendered her sightless. Deeply touched by the scene and the Spirit of the Lord…. Brother Monson …. Took the child’s frail hand in his own. ‘Christal,’ he whispered, ‘I am here.’ With great effort she whispered back, ‘Brother Monson, I just knew you would come.’”

He talks about how many times we do not get answers to our prayers right when we pray for them. “Our Father in Heaven expects us to study it out first and then pray for guidance as we seek answers to questions and concerns in our personal lives. We have our Heavenly Father’s assurance that He will hear and answer our prayers. The answer may come through the voice of the wisdom of trusted friends and family, the scriptures, and the words of prophets.”

There have been many times in my life when I would pray to know that I am loved, and I would get a phone call or an unexpected visit to my house from a friend. Or a text from my husband telling me how much he loves and appreciates me. There have been times when I would pray for guidance and directly been told to open the scriptures and I would immediately find a scripture that would answer my prayer. He will answer our prayers, but we have to be willing to do some work on our own as well.

He goes on to say, “It has been my experience that some of the most powerful promptings we receive are not only for our own benefit but also for the benefit of others. If we are thinking only of ourselves, we may miss some of the most powerful spiritual experiences and profound revelations of our lives. President Spencer W. Kimball taught this concept when he said: ‘God does notice us, and we watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other.’ …We each have a covenant responsibility to be sensitive to the needs of others and serve as the Savior did - to reach out, bless, and uplift those around us. Often, the answer to our prayer does not come while we’re on our knees but while we’re on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits, remove the scales from our spiritual eyes, and open the windows of heaven. By becoming the answer to someone’s prayer, we often find the answer to our own.”

Lately, I have received such a strong testimony in service. Our family has gone through many trials over the past few months. In January, my sweet mother in law was diagnosed with cancer, she passed away March 3rd. We were already in the process of buying our home but were so devastated we felt like we couldn’t even move forward. It felt like the world came to a standstill, but yet we had to move on and take care of the other things that seemed not nearly as important. I prayed by the hour, if not by the minute for strength, courage, knowledge and help from the Lord. Our answers came by a peace in our lives, in knowing that our mother was in a better place. Our answers came in countless phone calls and visits from members of our ward. And then when the time came to move to this ward, so many people came to our aid. We had yummy cookies, people helping us paint, babysitters, and most importantly immediate good friends. That was something that I had desperately needed in my life. And you will never truly understand how much your friendship and service has meant tome. It has taught me a lesson I will never forget and I hope that through my service I can answer your individual prayers.

This life is hard. It is a trail of tears. We lose ones we love, we hurt each others feelings, we lose hope. But this life can also be beautiful. I testify to you that God lives, and he loves us so much. He has created this beautiful world for us to live in. He grants us breath each day. He watches over us. He sent his son to atone for our sins. And all he asks is that we believe in Him. That we take His name upon us. That we live our lives to be closer to Him each day. He is waiting, knocking at the door, but you have to let Him in. It may be faint and you may not always hear it, but he is there, waiting for you to let Him in. Live your life so that each day, little by little, you will gain a stronger testimony of Christ and his gospel. And these things I say in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Its just been one of those days...

2011-05-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

Lets see, today....

- I had literally the WORST grocery shopping trip since I have had children, and that is saying something. (Note to self - Do not coupon when you have children with you)

- Caylor dunked his head in the toilet... after he peed in it.

- Diarhea in "big boy" underwear, need I say more?

-Our air conditioner broke and it is literally 90 degrees in the house right now.

- Blaine had an impromptu business outing and got home really late so I put both the kids down alone.

- Our new bank in our new town made a mistake and I have no debit, credit card or checks.

Just had to vent, I just need to count my blessings, again. Good night.

Our New House!

2011-04-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make this post for a while, but my life has been so busy with moving and getting the house to look the way I wanted it. Man, we worked so hard! I have never ever been so tired in my entire life than the week we bought this house. We purchased the home on April 7, 2011. To anyone out there who has never bought a home before, brace yourselves. Buying a home is stressful, takes an insane amount of money and time, and just plain tires you out! Especially when you are moving to a new town. Now there are so many little things I didn't think about. New library cards, new banks, new pharmacy, the list goes on and on! So anyway, we bought our home and started to paint and remove wallpaper right away. We painted EVERY room in the house except the bathrooms and 2 bedrooms. This house is 2100 square feet and that was A LOT of painting! Also, the wallpaper in the hallways was hideous, but when we tried to remove it there were 3 additional layers underneath. So with the limited time we had, that is a project that will be a long term undertaking. It is a shame because the rest of the house looks spectacular and then your have shredded hallways. Oh well, thats life.

We have worked so hard painting and installing things, but looking back at the before and after pictures, I think it was worth the effort. Before pictures, here is a little info. The home is 4 bedrooms with a 1/2 acre fenced in backyard. The back yard has an above ground pool, a trampoline, and a playground. And I love it!

The formal living room: This room is "my" room, I got to decorate and do whatever I wanted. I wanted the focus of this room to be for music and FHE, or for a place to entertain when we have guests over.
Before -

After -

The dining room: I LOVE having a formal dining room!
Before -

After -

The Kitchen: I thought this room was really lacking some color before, so I love what we did to it. It is a great kitchen! I love the tile countertops.
Before -

After -

The hallway: The hallway had 4 layers of wallpaper, so it is still a work in progress, but I think the ripped up walls still look better than the previous hideousness.
Before -

After -

Caylor's room: I kept his room the same color, but put some vinyl stars on the walls and glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. He loves it! I used my cricut to make the stars and it was a much easier task than I anticipated.
Before -

After -

Noah's room: Noah's room was the easiest, because I already loved the color and it was in good shape, so no painting needed. I am eventually going to put a vinyl quote somewhere on his wall about his namesake from the bible.
Before -

After -

Master bedroom: I love our master bedroom, it is quiet, farther from the kids rooms, and we have our own bathroom that connects! I hated, hated, hated, the old color though, it looks much better now.
Before -

After -

Playroom: This room is by far the biggest bedroom. It is so nice, it also has a little area with a built in desk that will be my crafting area.
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After -

Kid's bathroom: We didn't do much to their bathroom, but I love the shower curtain that I put up!
Before -

After -

I will post pictures of our back yard and family room at a later time. Let me know what you think!

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter. Ours has been wonderful. This was our first holiday in our new home! We bought our home on April 7, 2011 and moved in April 16, 2011. So we have lived in the new house for a week. We were ambitious and decided to invite both Blaine and my family over for Easter dinner after church. We also invited some new friends we have made in our new ward who are so great! So we ended up having 12 adults and 5 kids at our house for the holiday celebrations. It was so nice finally having a house that we feel comfortable inviting that many people to and really enjoying it. I am already creating some really fond memories here, and we do not plan to move for a very long time. Very. Long. Time. If ever. If we can help it, our children will grow up here.

So back to Easter....

I have been trying for a few days to explain to Caylor the purpose of Easter. Blaine and I do not do fictional characters with our children, we try to keep the true meaning of the holiday, although we still have many traditions and fun. But Easter was hard. It was hard to know how to explain to Caylor that Jesus died and that his body was raised from the dead 3 days after he died. It has already been so hard explaining death to a 2 year old lately and I was not thrilled to not only try again, but also try to explain ressurection, something even I have a hard time understanding. Through all of the explaination, I thought a lot about Laurie. I am grateful for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made so that she will be reunited with her body again, but not a body that is so frail and weak like the one she left behind, but one that is perfect. I will get to see her again happy and healthy. That is such a good feeling to have. It gives me strength when I feel down about missing her and my children not getting to see her and constantly asking me where she is. Caylor asked me a lot today why she wasn't coming to dinner today and that was hard.

This morning Caylor and Noah woke up and Caylor new it was Easter. Before he went to bed last night I told him when he woke up, we were going to get Easter Baskets and go to church to learn about Jesus and then I told him that Mr. Gramps was coming over for dinner. So as soon as Caylor woke up he asked me about his Easter Basket. I told him that we could open them as soon as daddy got out of bed. So Caylor went to get Blaine and kept saying "Easter Basket please!!" They were both so excited to look at the fun things they got.

After the Easter baskets we started to get ready for church. Blaine's wonderful owners of the company he works for bought our boys the cutest suits for Easter Sunday. So we put those on the boys and they looked adorable. So of course we took a ton of pictures.

After Church, Blaine's brothers and sisters that live in the area, Mr Gramps (Blaine's dad), and my mother and brother came for Easter lunch. Some new friends we have made in the new ward also joined the fun! Lunch was great, and then it started to rain so we quickly got the eggs hid outside and did our Easter Egg hunt. The kids loved it.

Mr. Gramps joined in on the fun too! After all, there was a contest: whoever got an egg with a picture of Jesus inside won the prize Easter basket.

After the hunt, Caylor and his new friend Bee wanted to stay outside and play in the playhouse and on the trampoline (I love having a nice backyard!!). They are already the best of friends. Caylor's new nursery is him and 7 girls, so we joke that he is going to be a catch when he turns 16.

Noah had so much fun as well, my brother Galen helped him on the Easter Egg Hunt and then he played in the grass. He LOVES to play in the grass!

Noah is 8 Months Old!

2011-04-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

8 Months Old:

6 Months Old: 5 Months Old: 4 Months Old: 3 Months Old: 2 Months Old: 1 Month Old:

Okay, so you may have noticed that Noah never had a 7 month post. Well to be honest, we were so busy with our wild lives that I just did not take pictures or even really notice what was going on. We were in the process of trying to buy our house, trying to rent out our current house, and dealing with a death in the family, oh and a thrown together family reunion/vacation/burial in Utah! So month 7 slipped by me. But in my defense, well more in my defense since I have already defended myself a lot on this point, he technically never turned 7 months. His "monthaversary" was supposed to be Feb. 29, and there was no Feb. 29 this year, so there.

Noah has been such a champ! When he got his baby blessing, it said that he would bring peace and calm to our family. I truly believe it. We have so much trial and change and busyness in our lives right now and he is a breath of fresh air. He doesn't pay attention to all of that and always has a smile on his face. He never cries when you put him to bed, just goes right down with a smile. He usually wakes up happy and ready to play. The only time he really gets upset is if he is hungry or when Caylor loves him to much and hurts him in some way. He also is starting to get annoyed when Caylor takes toys away from him. But he really is such a sweet heart. I love both of my children so much for such different reasons. Caylor makes us laugh, he always has. And Noah is just sweet. But they both are sweet and make us laugh so who knows. Caylor was a very mobile child who would never sit still, Noah takes it pretty easy. Even when I was pregnant with both children I feel that their personalities shined through. Caylor was so wiggly that he bruised my ribs and I thought he might have broken them a few times, but he didn't. Noah was so calm during pregnancy that I was always terrified something was wrong with him because he hardly ever moved.

His influence in our crazy lives right now is much needed. Like I said before, he is not nearly as mobile as Caylor was at this age. He has just started to roll around a lot. He has been able to roll for a while, but he is really starting to want to do it to get to things. And he is getting very close to crawling. He hated being on his belly, so therefore never rolled or crawled anywhere. He would just scream until someone (usually Caylor) felt sorry for him and would roll him over. But one day while Caylor was napping, we had some one on one time. I decided to show him what crawling was. So I cleared some space and put him on his tummy and then I crawled around our living room ( I know everyone is enjoying that mental image ). At first as usual he started to fuss about being on his tummy. But then he looked at me crawling like I was crazy, then he started laughing. Then he started to try to do it. His first attempt looked like a little inchworm, he kept just sticking his bum in the air over and over again. He looked so proud of himself and you could tell that he thought he was going somewhere. So we have kept up with this crazy tradition everyday and he is getting better and better every day, while I get knees that have more callouses on them every day.

Another new thing is the fact that we are probably going to have to wean very soon. And when I mean very soon, I mean he is already down to 2 feedings a day. For some reason, with both of my children, 6 months my body goes nuts. It has happened with both kids. This may be TMI for some people, but bear with me. Right at 6 months post partum on the spot, I start my cycle again. I start to lose a ton of weight, and I really lose a lot of milk. My body just decides that I am done. So he will get a little bit at each feeding, but hardly anything. I don't change anything, that is just the way my body works. I also have crazy hormonal things going on too during that period so I am just a wreck. This time has been so hard because on top of my hormonal emotions and nursing problems, I have all these other problems in my life. So it has been very difficult this time. So I have resolved not to feel guilty about the whole nursing thing. I do a great job for 6 months, and even after that I do the very best I can. That is all I can do. I do miss nursing him all the time though.

Here is the list of things Noah can do now:
-He eats just about anything you (mainly Caylor) sticks in his mouth. He loves just about any kind of baby food. He is a good eater. He eats solids at least once a day.
-He sits up perfectly now, that is his main position.
-He rolls all over the place now as I said and is trying to crawl.
-He has had one pathetic tooth for two months now. It is too funny! He finally has a second one coming through, both of these teeth are his front bottom. Even though it is just one tooth, that thing is sharp! Don't underestimate it.
-He is drinking formula fantastically now, which is a huge relief. When I first started having nursing troubles, he would have nothing to do with formula, and was just hungry all the time and screaming. I think a combination of him getting too hungry to care and changing formula to Target Brand (bless Target, they are amazing!) has made the change. He can hold his own bottle and gets so excited when he sees a bottle. I have to say it is a relief that I can go places now without having to worry about only being gone 2-3 hours.

He is my sweet little guy and I love him more and more each day!

1st Nephi Rewards Party

2011-03-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

Caylor started reading the Book of Mormon in October. In the beginning of December he finished 1st Nephi! So as a reward, we took him to see the movie "Tangled" in theatres. We had so much fun. We saw the 3-D version and Caylor loved wearing his glasses. > The movie was so good! Honestly one of my favorites. I really loved it and loved the songs and the storyline. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD! We had a great time. I am so proud of Caylor for reading the Book of Mormon and being so enthusiastic about it. He loves learning about the people and the stories and songs that I sing to him that go along with the stories. He is a great example to me about how excited I should be to do these things every day. "Little children are so lovely, innocent, teachable, honest, cheerful, submissive, optimistic, and pure and have a host of other attributes. They are everything Jesus held them up to be: 'For of such is the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. 19:14)."

6 Year anniversary

2011-03-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

March 11 marked our 6 year wedding anniversary. I know I am late, is anyone surprised? Lets see, what were we doing for our 6 year wedding anniversary? We were in desperate need of sleep, showers, and food and traveling all day back from Utah for Laurie's burial. I know, very sexy.

But March 12 was a much better day. Blaine and I went to Les Miserables with our friends, Josh and Kauti. It was Kauti's birthday so it was a day to celebrate! We started off by going to this really nice Steak restaraunt.

It was really good! The only downfall was that they gave us SO much food and we couldn't eat it all and couldn't take leftovers since we weren't going home for a long time.

After the delicious dinner, we walked to the theatre. On the way, we met a very strange man. He was really into Kauti, and Kauti couldn't stop staring at him.

Then we went to the show. I have seen Les Miserables on stage now 4 times. I am quite obsessed. It was the first Broadway musical that I had ever seen, at age 11. It was with the Young Women in my ward growing up. The musical was so amazing. I had never seen anything like it. It was then, at that moment, that I decided that music would be my calling in life. I had always loved music, and was very musical from a young age, but I always thought of it as a hobby. When I saw those people on stage I wanted to be one of them. Now I never quite made it that far, but I went to an arts middle school and high school and went on to college for vocal performance. So that show has a special place in my heart. Shortly after Blaine and I got married, we got another chance to see it in Washington DC. Blaine had never seen the show, but he knew what it meant to me. It was my birthday, and the only tickets that were left were standing room only. But he loved it almost as much as I did. So when we found out it was coming to town the weekend of our anniversary we had to get tickets.

It was as good as I remembered it. I am sad its over and I don't have it to look forward to anymore. But we had a great time.

Happy anniversary honey, I love you!

Downer

2011-03-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

I really need to blog. I really do. I am so behind, I don't have enough pictures of my kids, I need to write funny stories before I forget, and we have had a lot of changes in our lives that I need to document.

But I just feel so down. I have to admit it. I guess I have an excuse. I heard that the 3 most stressful things in a person's life is
1. Losing a loved one,
2. Divorce and
3. Moving

So we are currently doing 2 of those 3 things (and you better guess correctly which one we are NOT doing). ;) It has just been so stressful lately. And what I have realized when something this important and significant happens is that life doesn't stop. You can't just curl up in a corner and wither away. I have 2 kids to take care of. I have bills to pay, and a house to clean. I have church callings to do mediocre and visiting teaching that I sometimes do. I can't just quit, I have to keep chugging. I just need a major pick me up right now.

Thanks for listening to my rant...

I needed to read this today.

2011-03-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

Looking for the Good By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor in the First Presidency

While looking for a new home, a young Latter-day Saint couple talked to potential neighbors about the neighborhood and the schools in the area.

One woman they spoke to said of the school her children were attending: “This is the most incredible place! The principal is a wonderful and good man; the teachers are well qualified, kind, and friendly. I am so pleased that our children can attend this wonderful school. You’ll love it here!”

A different woman said of her children’s school: “It’s a terrible place. The principal is self-absorbed; the teachers are unqualified, rude, and unfriendly. If I could afford to move out of this area, I’d do it in a heartbeat!”

The interesting thing was that both women were speaking about the same principal, the same teachers, and the same school.

Have you ever noticed that people can usually find whatever they are looking for? Look hard enough, and you can discover both good and bad in almost anyone and anything. People have done the same with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since its beginning. Those who look for the good will find a kind and compassionate people—a people who love the Lord and desire to serve Him and bless the lives of their fellowman. But it is also true that those who look for the bad will certainly find things that are not so ideal.

Unfortunately, at times this happens even within the Church. There is no end to the creativity, ingenuity, and tenacity of those who look for reasons to criticize. They cannot seem to release their grip on grudges. They gossip and find fault with others. They nurse wounds for decades, taking every opportunity to tear down and demean others. This is not pleasing to the Lord, “for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16).

President George Q. Cannon (1827–1901) knew President Brigham Young (1801–77) well, working closely with him for many years, both as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as his counselor in the First Presidency. After the death of President Young, President Cannon wrote in his journal: “I never criticized or found fault with [Brigham Young’s] conduct, his counsel or his teachings at any time in my heart, much less in my words or actions. This is a pleasure to me now. The thought that ever was with me was: If I criticize or find fault with, or judge Brother Brigham, how far shall I go; if I commence, where shall I stop? I dared not to trust myself in such a course. I knew that apostasy frequently resulted from the indulgence of the spirit of criticizing and faultfinding. Others, of greater strength, wisdom and experience than myself, might do many things and escape evil consequences which I dare not do.” 1

President Cannon’s powerful counsel is something we members of the Church should consider with great care. The word of God admonishes the followers of Christ to be “pure, … peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” For those who make peace, “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace” (James 3:17, 18).

We have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find.

An Elect Lady

2011-03-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

Last night Blaine's mother passed away. That sentence doesn't seem right. I have known Laurie for so long. She was such a strong lady, even when she was sick or tired or upset, she never let anything stop her. She was always serving others and never asking for anything in return. Her life was dedicated to her children and her grandchildren. She was my second mom and was always there for me. I really do love my mother in law.

Laurie started to get sick starting in August 2010. She would get a cold, nothing that was a big deal, but she would never quite get over it. Then a cold turned into Pneumonia, then Pluersy, etc. She tried to pretend to everyone that she was fine, and kept working even though she was sick and miserable. Then she started to slowly have problems with her digestion. She was nauseous and sick and couldn't eat hardly anything without getting sick. She was always so tired. She tried to keep people from worrying about her, and told everyone that she was fine. But I knew better. My kids will bring out the worst in you. She was such a perfect grandmother, but I could tell a difference in the way she interacted with the kids. She was just so tired. This phase went on for a while, until finally in December she had a stroke. That was the wake up call for everyone in the family. Her husband was out of the country in Indonesia. He could get emails sometimes, but no phone calls and had no way of getting home before schedule. So he was stuck worrying about her waiting for my email updates every day telling him how she was doing. She stayed in the hospital for a little over a week. She still had high spirits and vowed that she would take it easier and be a little less hard on herself. So she was able to go home but had to be on bedrest for a little while.

All of these things happened right before Christmas. She started to get better and recover. We had a great Christmas, probably the best Christmas I have ever had a the Hicks home. The focus was on family, rather than things. We were just so grateful that Laurie was still with us and that we were together. Blaine, me and the kids ended up staying at the Hicks Farm for about 2 weeks and told everyone we were on vacation 20 minutes away from home. It was wonderful, and looking back I wouldn't trade that for anything. During this time, Laurie had gotten a Colonoscopy to make sure that her digestion problems weren't caused by something serious. She also had Chron's disease for the last 15 years so they just thought that was what was causing all her problems.

A few days after the Christmas holidays, Laurie's doctor called Clair to tell him that Laurie had Colon Cancer. He told the kids before he told his wife. He wanted help and advice from them as to how he should tell her and wanted them to be there to comfort her. She took it stoiclly. She was so strong. Her doctor told us that the cancer was an extremely aggressive form of colon cancer. They told us that it was spreading very quickly and that she needed to have surgery immediatley. We found out on a Tuesday that she had cancer and she had surgery on Friday. The procedure was a big operation. She was to have her entire colon removed and would have to spend the rest of her life with a bag attached to her. But the hope was that the doctor would be able to remove all the cancer and that it would be gone. However, the day of the surgery, they discovered that the cancer had spread to other parts of her body. They ended up giving her a Hysterectomy during the surgery, but even then they could not remove all the cancer. The cancer had spread to her liver, which we were told that no matter what was done, liver cancer was terminal. They told her that IF she could undergo Chemo, she could live up to four years. The day of the surgery Blaine was with Laurie the entire time. The surgery lasted about 3 hours and he waited until the surgeon came out with the bad news. He was then the one that had to call everyone in the family to tell them. I know that was really hard for him, but I was so proud of how strong he was for her and for everyone else.

After the surgery she had to stay in the hospital for about a week. The doctor actually said she was recovering very well and was hopeful. She went home in high spirits and with a great sense of humor. We visited often and Caylor got to give her his love, although we had to make sure we was very gentle. This was hard because this was the first time Caylor could not wrestle and hug and play with his Nana. It was hard for me to watch. She was sad that she could not do those things and she tried to push herself. I know she loved him very much. When she got home from the hospital she had a really hard time eating. She couldn't eat anything without getting very sick. She felt terrible and it just got worse and worse. Finally, she got so bad one day that she could not even get up. That is when Clair decided to admit Laurie to the hospital again. This was about the beginning of February. She went to the hospital and the doctors did everything in their power to help her, but her health quickly declined. They discovered that she had an infection from the surgery and because of the cancer her immune system was down and it hit her a lot harder than it normally would. So she couldn't eat hardly anything. The doctor kept asking her if she would accept a feeding tube, but she said no. She promised them she would eat, but then she just couldn't do it. She went almost an entire week that way in the hospital. Finally her doctor told her to either get a feeding tube or go home and get ready for the end. She really thought hard about her decision, but with some family guidance, she decided to get the feeding tube. This was a few days before her birthday (Valentine's Day). She got better for a while, but then she started digressing again. Her oncologist came to see her and told her that she was too weak for Chemo and that the cancer had spread very rapidly. So he sent her home with Hospice. We were very sad, but at the same time so happy to have her home again. I could not take my children with me to the hospital. Caylor did not see his Nana for a month. So when she came home from the hospital, I went to see her every single day unless the kids were sick. I wanted Caylor to see her as much as possible.

It was sad to see her digress every day. She lost different abilities every day. But she stayed so strong the whole time. Even though she didn't have the energy, she wanted to see Caylor as much as possible. We played games with her and watched movies. We joked with her and had fun. Her two daughters have been in town taking care of her. One day the three of us were there taking care of her. She told me that day that the medicine she was on gave her very vivid dreams and that sometimes she could not tell between dream and reality. After talking to her for a while, she told us she wanted to sleep, so we went into the kitchen to talk. We talked for about an hour when we heard Laurie say loudly, "You're not my real daughter, by the way!". We were confused and went in her room to see what was going on. She looked at us and said, "I heard what you were talking about." We were confused and she told us we were talking about her. We told her we weren't and that she was just having a dream. Then she protested saying, "No! I remember! You were talking and you made a cake out of malted milk balls. I asked Dawn if I could have some and she said that I could smell it but I couldn't eat it!" We could not help but to laugh. It was just a really funny sentence. That brought her more into reality and she laughed with us. She had such a great sense of humor about everything.

After that, things continued to go down hill fast. This past Saturday, Laurie decided that she was ready to not be in pain anymore and was ready to go home. She told her nurse to give her the maximum medication so she would just sleep until it was time. She told everyone there that day her goodbyes. Unfortunatley, Blaine and I weren't there. Noah had the flu and I wasn't cleared to go there until Monday. So Blaine went Sunday but she did not wake up. I went Monday and took Caylor with me, devestated that we didnt' get to say a final goodbye. When I went Monday they told me that she wasn't even waking up when they tried to wake her up for medicine. Everyone left the room and I decided to say my goodbyes even though she was not awake. So I told her I loved her and that she was a great mom and a great grandmother. I promised her I would take care of her son. Then she woke up! She looked at me and smiled. Then she mouth "Caylor, Caylor." So I asked her if she wanted Caylor and she smiled and nodded. So I went to the other room and told everyone that she had woken up and we took Caylor in there. When she saw him she smiled and spoke to him. With every bit of energy she said, "I Love you, I love you." Then she cried. He told her he loved her and kissed her. He was so sweet with her. That day and Tuesday he went in there about every 10 minutes and leaned over her and kissed her and patted her and said, "Its okay Nana".

On Tuesday morning a friend of the family who is a nurse came to visit Laurie. She told us that Laurie was close to the end. She had not had food or water since Sunday. So I called Blaine at work and told him that it was coming soon. So he left work to come and see his mother. She did wake up sometimes and would moan and sometimes nod when asked a question, but that is about all she could do. Wednesday (yesterday) Blaine went to visit his mom in the morning. Then he came home and spent the day taking Caylor to the park. I then took Caylor to the grocery store that evening and got a phone call from my Sister in law Shannon saying that the signs we were told to look for at the very end were there. So I rushed home, called my mom, and she watched the kids and we went over there. We told her we loved her. Our Stake president came over and gave Clair a blessing. He spoke to us and comforted us and spoke to Laurie. He said a prayer before he left, asking Heavenly Father to have mercy and let Laurie leave soon. About an hour after he left, Dawn told us that Laurie's breathing had gotten shallow. We all went in there and stroked her and told her we loved her and told her goodbye. And then we watched as she left. We all got to be there around her. I am so happy that I was able to be there. I never thought I would ever say something like that. I was afraid of death and being around something like that. But this was a sad, yet sweet experience. It really strengthened my testimony that this life is not the end. I will miss Laurie, but I rejoice for her that she is happier now than she was in her frail body. I know that I will see her again. I am sad that Blaine will miss her so much and that my children will probably not remember her and the deep impact she had on their lives. Caylor asks about her every single day and tells me that he misses her. I miss her too. She was and is a great woman, and elect lady. I truly do love her and was blessed to know her. I will miss you Laurie, rest well.

A Cookie from Heavenly Father

2011-03-01T05:08:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get Caylor to pray by himself more often recently. Today, I bribed him with a cookie. When he was done with his prayer, I gave him his cookie and told him I was so proud of him. He looked at me and said, "This cookie is from Heavenly Father." I love it.

It's been a while.

2011-02-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

You know its been too long since you have written in your blog when it is still decorated for Thanksgiving and you have not even blogged Christmas yet in the middle of February. Things have been so crazy. I am serious. Crazy. Things started getting crazy at the end of November, beginning of December. I wish I could write about all my thoughts and feelings on here, but I don't want to get too personal for other people's sakes. But we have had a member of our family that has been very ill. Someday I will make a much longer post with many details, but now is not that time. It has been really hard and kept me away from many normal Sierra activities such as blogging, paying bills, showering, anything that takes time or energy. (I do actually get around to showering and paying bills eventually.)

In addition to illness in the family, lots of other things have been going on. The kids are continuing to grow and change, and with that comes a lot of work on mommy and daddy's end. And I have learned that one of the hardest things about dealing with a crisis is that just because you are dealing with it, the world doesn't stop. You still have to pay those bills, you still have to kiss your kids goodnight and smile like everything is okay. That has been a hard lesson for me. But although I have been insanely stressed out and at times very sad, I have learned a lot and grown closer to many people, especially people in my husband's family and my husband himself.

Other things that have been making life crazy, is the fact that we are moving! I will blog more extensively about this later, but I am so excited! We are moving just about 30 minutes away from where we currently live to be closer to Blaine's work. It is a much bigger house and I am so dang excited. I am nervous to live in a new town and to be even further away from family and friends, but its really not that bad. And I love the community we are moving into. I have visited the ward there a couple of times and already feel like a part of the family there. My kids love it, and they love the new house even though they don't live in it yet. When we looked at it a final time before making an offer, we purposely brought the kids to see how it "felt" to be there as a family. And it felt right! It is so perfect for us.

So that is all I can think of right now. I promise to blog about my new house, also to post lots of pictures and updates of my little love bugs, they are into everything lately and are glued to each other.

Noah is 6 months old!

2011-02-11T05:23:00.000-08:00

6 Months Old:

5 Months Old:

4 Months Old:

3 Months Old:

2 Months Old:

1 Month Old:

I would say the biggest change in Noah this month has been his developing personality. He is so sweet, patient, and funny. He is always smiling, unless he is absolutley miserable, which is not often. When he smiles, he always has his mouth wide open(you can see in the pictures below). It is too funny! He loves his big brother who will not ever leave him alone. Caylor loves Noah almost to a fault! He can't wait to see him every morning, will "save" him from dreaded naptime, and oh yeah, feed him! Today I went downstairs for a second to get Caylor and Noah some day clothes. I went back upstairs and Caylor was feeding Noah crackers. Noah was loving it, but I was scared to death. So I took the cracker out of his mouth and found 3 more jammed inside his mouth! I Didn't even know Caylor had food, he had sneaked them out of the pantry. So I had to fish out all the crackers, but Noah was happily eating every crumb he could hold onto. So I scolded Caylor and told him that Noah can only drink, not eat, because he was little. So Caylor said, "Okay Mama!" and went away and came back with one of his sippy cups and stuck it in Noah's mouth. Crazy kid!

Anyway, Noah is such a cutie and I love him more and more every day. He fits into the family really well.

Here are some things Noah can do this month:
-He eats like a champ! His favorite is oatmeal.
-He can sit up if you make him. He is such a lazy kid!
-He can roll over from tummy to back. Again, he is pretty lazy and doesn't do it often. it doesn't help that when he cries for help Caylor will save him and do all the hard work for him.
-He can hold a small book and turn pages.
-He has a bottom tooth that has been trying to poke through for months now that finally fully erupted!
-He can hold a bottle or sippy cup. He only is interested in drinking water in a cup/bottle. Nothing else.
-He has started to get opinionated on when he should be held and what toys he should get to play with. He doesn't like it when Caylor tries to take toys away from him and will fight him for them. He is more interested in Caylor's toys than his own.

Poor Bambi

2011-02-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Blaine has in all seriousness told me that I cannot buy the movie Bambi. I was very upset about this and asked him why. He told me that he is afraid that his kids will hate him and call him a Bambi killer. He has now had 4 deer accidents! I am so amazed and blessed that he has never been injured in any of these "Hunting accidents". I cannot say the same thing for the poor deer that he keeps hitting.

The last deer he hit was when he was coming home in the middle of the night from a very long day at work. It was bad weather and the Stag ran right out in front of him. The Antlers mangled the hood of the car and streaked the whole side of the car.

So long story short, yet another car is totalled because of a deer. So tonight on our date night we went out and bought a car. I have to say it was the most painless car buying experience I have ever had. And that is saying something because I used to be a car salesman.

We have been looking for the last 2 weeks at cars online and making phone calls. I have hated every minute of it. Finally we decided we were going to drive 2 hours away to look at a couple of cars at a dealership. But tonight as a last ditch effort we decided to try a local Hyundai dealership just to see if they had anything. We were looking for a sedan, but found this car and just could not pass us the great car and the great price!

The car ended up costing us the EXACT amount we got from the insurance company. We really are so blessed and always have everything we need. I am so grateful that we are being watched over on even small things like this.

Valentine's Party

2011-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

I joined a playgroup in a town Blaine and I are planning to move to in the very near future. I am really nervous to move and leave all my friends and family behind, but I also feel like it is time. So I joined this playgroup to make new friends for myself and my kids.

Today was my first time going. They had a really cute Valentine's party for the kids. All the kids were about Caylor's age, and there were a couple of babies Noah's age too. They colored hearts and put stickers on them and passed out their Valentines to all the other kids in their mailbox/necklace. It was so cute.

Noah was so well behaved and sweet while we were there. Caylor was entertaining, enough said. Caylor made a cookie with icing on it with "Twinkle Star" sprinkles. I actually was really impressed, he did this all by himself.

It was a fun day and really fun to get to know some new people. It was a successful event.

New Obsession

2011-01-30T18:14:00.000-08:00

I got a Cricut for Christmas and have not used it yet! But I am going to download some software for it and I found a website with tons of great project ideas! You just buy the project (for a minimal amount of money) and it comes with step by step instructions on how to do it.

If you do not have a Cricut, you can just look at the website for some cute ideas by hand!

http://underacherrytree.com/

Creative Sledding

2011-01-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

I really don't care much for winter. I get stuck in the house day after day with the kids and it gets boring. Fast. So after about 50 days of staying in (maybe a slight exageration), it was a terribly snowy day and school was cancelled. I officially told myself that me and the kids were getting out of this house if it was the last thing I did. So I called up my good friend Mariah and invited myself over there. She seemed okay with it. :) Its fun to hang out with her because her kids are older than mine, but they LOVE babies! They are so good with my kids! They fight over gets to hold Noah and who gets to play with Caylor. It is so fun, because I chat with my friend while the kids run around and wear each other out. They did everything imaginable. They played with glow in the dark Nerf guns, we made cookies, we watched funny Youtube videos. But my favorite thing was the makeshift sled that Mariah's daughter made for Caylor. It was a laundry basket with a jump roap attatched to it. She put Caylor in the basket and ran all over the snow in the back yard for at least an hour! If that wasn't bad enough, her little brother would push it from behind, get tired and then get dragged as well! It was so funny. I had to make Caylor come inside because I thought his nose might fall off he was so cold.

Noah had a great time too. That family absolutely spoiled him! Just after a day there he wants to be held constantly now. He is such a stinker. They thought every thing he did was cute and funny.

Who Knew??

2011-01-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

Last week Blaine came home bragging about our nephew, Ryan. He was telling me all the new things he can do, including sitting up all by himself! He is a whole month younger that Noah. I was so impressed that Ryan could do that so young, and then I thought back to when Caylor could do that and realized it was around Noah's current age. Well I never thought to try it with Noah. I still think of him as this new little newborn. He just now is starting to roll over a whole bunch. Admittedly I don't work with him as much as I did Caylor and so he doesn't "practice" as much. But I tried sitting Noah up the other day and lo and behold, he sat up on the first try for all of 3 seconds! So I have been working on it a little every day, and today, about a week after working on it, I can proudly say he can sit up on his own! I have to position him and sometimes he will topple over, but mostly he can do it! He looks like a weeble wobble sometimes it is very amusing.

Caylor is such a good brother. I know it gets repetitive because I say this all the time but he really is. Today Noah woke up from his nap MAD! I was in the middle of cooking something and could not leave it at the moment, so I told Caylor to go check on him. I heard them talking on the monitor from his room and Caylor immediatley got him to stop crying and they were giggling together. Caylor also helps Noah roll over and will show him how to do it doing it himself. Then he will roll Noah back on his belly and they will take turns rolling over and Caylor will clap for him when Noah gets it right. Caylor also has all his toy story figurines "roll over" too. It is pretty funny.

Sometimes when I try to play with Caylor and Noah when they are having sweet brotherly moments, Caylor looks at me and says "Go Away!". He likes his one on one time with Noah. And they are finally getting to the ages I can leave for a minute and let them have that time. Its great. I love my kids.

I'm mad at you...

2011-01-17T09:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, not really... but seriously, leave comments if you read my blog! Every once in a while?

I will tell you what, I will reward you for comments. I am totally stealing this idea from a lady in my ward but I don't think she will mind. The local person who leaves me the most comments in the month of January (any post in January 2011) will get fresh cookies (of their choice) hand delivered to their door. Hope that motivates someone.

Have a good day.

Caylor goes to Senior Nursery

2011-01-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

2 weeks ago Caylor graduated from Junior Nursery at church to Senior Nursery. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but it was to me. He is growing up before my eyes. Blaine reminds me all the time that "In 14 years he will be driving!" or "In 16 years he will graduate high school!" or "in 17 years he will leave you for 2 years to go on a mission!" I just love these reminders. I actually do, but it makes me sad to see him grow so fast.

He just loves his new class. Every Sunday they make things and his first Sunday it was a snowflake necklace that said "I am a child of God" in glitter. Now he wears it all over the house and sings "I am a child of God!" He gets very excited about it.

Here is a picture of Caylor and his Best friend in the whole wide world Hailey going to Senior Nursery for the first time. They were so cute!

Noah is 5 (and 1/2) Months old!!

2011-01-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

5 Months Old:

4 Months Old:

3 Months Old:

2 Months Old:

1 Month Old:

I can't believe I have let so much time pass without blogging properly! My kids have done so much lately and changed and grown, as a matter of fact, so have I. Maybe that is why I haven't had time, because I was too busy living the experiences to write about them.

What inspired me to write this very belated post is the fact that Noah said his second official word today. I almost said first official word, but I forgot he knows how to say "Hi". Today, Caylor and Noah were playing together and Caylor was being a little too rough. Noah got sad and looked at me with his little puppy dog face and said, "Mama". It was very purposeful and genuine. It melted my heart! I knew I had to blog about it, but I realized I hadn't even blogged about him turning 5 Months old. But lets get to it!

Here are some things Noah can do this month:
-He says "Hi" and "Mama" (just in case you forgot)
-He started eating baby food and is doing really well. He now eats carrots and squash. We are so proud. (And relieved! He doesn't take a bottle very well.)
-He will wave at you. He knows how to twist his right wrist back and forth and pretty much does this all day. He will put his arm up in the air and do it over and over again and smile like he is so proud of himself.
-He can pass a toy back and forth from one hand to the other.
-He can hold a small book and turn pages.
-He has learned to be very tolerating of Caylor's rambunctiousness. He adores Caylor! He puts up with a lot.
-He likes to fake cough to get your attention.

That is all I can think of right now. I sure do love him!

My little man

2011-01-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

My little boy is growing up so much! He is now going to the potty pretty much all the time. He still has a hard time with number 2, but number 1 is going great!

He can now count to 10 and has a bunch of songs memorised. These include: I am a child of God, Heavenly Father Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, On a Golden Springtime, Latter Day Prophets, ABCs, I love to see the Temple.
I am sure there are more that I can't think of right now. He will not sing on command, but if you pretend you aren't listening you can hear him singing these songs. He will also do fill in the blank, which he does in one of the videos below.

He is such a good big brother. I cannot say this enough. We went to the doctor today (Noah has RSV!) and Noah was so upset with all the tests they had to run on him, etc. So Caylor was patting him on the back and telling him that everything would be alright. Then he sang him a song about monkeys and tickled him. I sure do love my kids. They bring a smile to my face even during the roughest of times. They make me remember why I decided to be a mom and what is really important in life.

Manic Baby

2011-01-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Count your blessings

2011-01-05T19:04:00.000-08:00

I have been so bad about blogging. The funny thing is, I have been bad about blogging because I have been so busy and have had so much going on. I want to kick myself because this is my version of a journal/scrapbook. So it is important to me that I keep up with it.

One problem is that a lot of things that have been going on lately have been personal, so I don't feel comfortable writing everything on here. I wish blogger would let me do some private and some public posts. But it seems to be all or nothing. Anyone have any suggestions?

Don't worry, the personal things aren't anything about me, just some family stuff.

Anyway, the point of this post is to count my blessings so that when I get sad, I can look back and remember what makes me smile.

1. Noah's smile
2. Caylor's laugh
3. Naps
4. That I can stay home with my kids
5. That my husband is supportive of me going back to school
6. That I have gotten to know some of my inlaws on a much more personal level over Christmas. I have known them for years, but I really bonded with them this year. In particular my sister in law Meg. She is such a great person.
7. The Office (pathetic I know)
8. My visiting teachers
9. Chocolate
10. My new scrapbook desk and cubby my husband just hand built for me.
11. My home
12. That my children really and truly love each other
13. The spirit that resides in our home
14. Air conditioning
15. Books
16. Harry Potter
17. Edward Cullen
18. Movies
19. Flylady
20. Blaine's eyes
21. Water
22. Tuna
23. Popcorn
24. Making my kids laugh
25. Making my husband laugh
26. Cleaning (I'm in a wierd mood lately)
27. Jesus Christ
28. That I have the gospel in my life
29. Blaine's awesome job
30. Caylor can count to 10!
31. Caylor is almost completely potty trained!

I'm sure there are so many other things, but that is enough for tonight, I am tired.

In A Nutshell

2010-12-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

So Behind!!!

2010-12-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

I have not had internet on my laptop, so I am unable to blog very much! I feel better when I make lists, so here goes...

Pumpkin Patch
No Fun Halloween
Noah's 4 Month Checkup
Thanksgiving
1 Nephi Reward Party
Messiah
Brother Bonding
Noah's Baby Blessing
Noah's Birth Story

I'm sure I am forgetting tons of things, but oh well. I will get to this someday.

Things I don't want to forget about Caylor.

2010-12-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Caylor counted to 10. I had no idea he could do this. We are reading the BOM and he gets a sticker on his chart for every chapter we read together. So yesterday he got another sticker and I counted how many he had (which is about 17). And to my amazement, he started to say the next number before I did! He got to 11. I did it again just to make sure I wasn't crazy, and he did it again! So I called Blaine and he said "Oh yeah we have been working on that for a while." Well thanks for telling me... :)

He also played with Playdoh for the first time yesterday. He kept trying to eat it at first and I told him no about 20 times. Finally he was just doing it to pester me and I said "Go ahead and see what happens, but it is gross". So he stuck the Playdoh in his mouth and made the most horrible face and spit it back out. I looked at him and smirked and said, "I told you so". So just out of spite, he looks at me and tries to put a grin on his face (quite unsuccessfully), and says "Mmm..thats good!". He is too much like his parents!

The other day Noah was really grumpy and tired and Caylor was trying to console him. So I asked Caylor if it was time for Noah to take a nap and he said "uh-huh." Then I asked him if it was time for his nap and he responded "No way!".

I love my little boy and the smile he brings to my face.

Noah is 4 months old!

2010-11-30T05:42:00.000-08:00

4 Months Old:

3 Months Old:

2 Months Old:

1 Month Old:

Yesterday, Noah turned 4 Months old. I can't believe my kids are growing so fast! It feels like just a short time ago that Caylor was this age. And last night I looked at Caylor while he was asleep. He was tucked into his big boy bed with his pillow and blanket and looked so old.

Noah has such a personality! I absolutley adore him. He smiles pretty much all the time, unless he is sleeping or crying (which he hardly ever cries). He could be starving from being asleep all night and you can just look at him and smile and he will give you a big grin. He is very patient and a sweet, peaceful little baby. He loves Caylor and the feeling is mutual. I am so amazed at how well Caylor has fit in to this big brother position. At first I didn't think it was going well at all. Now he is so good to Noah and takes care of him. And now only Noah, but any baby he sees he will play with and make them laugh. I ask Caylor all the time to "go to the bag and get a diaper" or "get Noah's blanket". He will do it right away.

Noah is sleeping through the night EVERY night which makes me very happy. He goes down between 6:30 and 7pm. Then I wake him up before I go to bed (between 10 and 11) and feed him and put him right back down. And then he will sleep until about 6-7. He goes right to his bassinet and does not complain at all. I really don't ever have any trouble out of him. Sometimes I am afraid he will wake his brother up in the mornings, but it is not because he is crying. It is because he is giggling and gooing so loudly I am afraid Caylor will hear it and wake up!

Noah is a lot healthier than Caylor was at this point. I think it could have a lot to do with us getting rid of our cat. Caylor was very allergic to him, but we didn't know to what degree until we got rid of him, now Caylor hardly gets sick. Noah also is very healthy and (knock on wood) has not yet gotten sick.

Here are some new things Noah can do now:
-Sit in his bumbo for long periods of time, or sit in the corner of a chair.
-He talks and talks and talks! The only official word he has said is "Hi". But he says it several times a day clearly. He can also smack kisses when you are doing it. He also laughs out loud and giggles.
-He can roll from back to side and from belly to side. He has rolled over a couple of times, but I am not counting it yet because it has been one time incidents. But he is so close!
-Recognizes Mom, Dad, Caylor, and all his grandparents who live nearby.
-He loves to read with Caylor. They have reading time every day in Noah's crib.
-He loves for me to sing to him and many times will sing back close to the note I am singing. If I am singing low, he will "sing" low. When I sing high, he will "sing" high.

I truly do love this little boy so much! I am so lucky to have him in my life.

Ridiculously Good Cookies

2010-11-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Peanut Butter Temptations:

Ingredients:
-About 30 Reese's miniature cups
-1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margerine (softened)
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used JIF)
-1 egg
-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
-1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-3/4 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Remove wrappers from candies. Line small muffin cups with mini paper bake cups.
2. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, egg and vanilla until fluffy in large bowl. Gradually add mixture of flour, salt, and baking soda to butter mixture.
Beat until well blended. Shape dough into approx. 1 inch balls and place in cups (do not flatten).
3. Bake 8-10 minutes until puffed and lightly browned. Immediatley press peanut butter cup in center of each cookie. Cool completley in muffin pan.

~These were so easy, cute, and delicious!!!

Storytime

2010-11-20T21:19:00.000-08:00

Date Night

2010-11-19T20:25:00.000-08:00

Before Noah was born, Blaine and I went on date nights every Friday night. We have been doing this ever since before we were even married. When Caylor was born, we still kept it up since we are lucky enough to have so many grandparents around. But when Noah was born, it made it a little harder to go every Friday night. And we have happened to have lots of things going on lately on Friday nights. I have had a lot of performances and rehearsals lately for some singing things which have kept me busy on weekends and hard for us to go out together.

But this Friday was FINALLY free and Harry Potter opening night! So it was meant to be. Blaine and I read the Harry Potter series together so it was perfect. He came home tonight and brought me some beautiful flowers. It meant a lot to me because he went to the same florist he went to our first Valentine's Day. And their arrangements are gorgeous! I am not the plain jane rose type. I like variety and uniqueness and color. It was perfect and very thoughtful.

The night was great and the movie was AWESOME! But my husband is even awesomer. (is that a word?)

I'm in love

2010-11-13T18:34:00.001-08:00

I am in love with this little boy. He is so sweet and so cute! He is so patient and calm and kind. He is full of smiles and giggles. Last night he slept 11 hours straight and woke up in the morning with a grin on his face. He did't cry or anything, just woke up happy and played with me before he ate. As a matter of fact, I had to tear him away from giggling at Blaine to nurse because I was so uncomfortable.

We got Caylor's old jumparoo out of storage thinking Noah might like it in the next couple of months. We didn't think he would be quite ready for it yet. But we put him in it a couple of days ago and Caylor got so excited to show Noah how to bounce and what all the buttons did. Then Noah started doing everything Caylor showed him! I can't believe he can already comprehend to mimick things like that already. They really do love each other so much and copy one another all the time.

Woke up on the wrong side of the bassinet.

2010-11-05T07:22:00.001-07:00

Book of Mormon challenge

2010-11-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to start reading the "big boy" Book of Mormon with Caylor for a while now. We have been reading the reader for kids and he honestly loses interest pretty easily. We have some pop up books that he loves, but they only have so many stories, and I want to teach him everything in order. And lets face it, if we read it together, I also get something out of it and it is multi tasking for me! He has had his own Book of Mormon since he was born with his name written inside and everything, so I told him one morning over breakfast that we were going to start reading it togehter. I expected him to get bored really fast, but surprisingly, he loves it! I thought I would be lucky to read 2 verses a day, but we go through a whole chapter sometimes and then I will ask if he wants to stop reading and he will say, "more please!". I try to dumb down some things so he understands it and I show him the pictures that are in the front every day and ask him to name all the people in the pictures. I also found a really cute Book of Mormon chart at this website to download for free.

http://goodkoppbadkopp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/3-down-236-more-to-go.html

I love it and it is a great way to keep track of what we have read, and I want to reward Caylor so everytime he finishes a book in the BOM, he will get to go somewhere fun. And when he finishes the whole thing, (which will probably be a while but who knows!), we will go on a big trip like to an aquarium or zoo or something.

I love my family.

2010-11-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

Noah is 3 months old!

2010-10-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

3 Months Old:

2 Months Old:

1 Month Old:

I can't believe how big Noah has gotten! He is so interactive and fun now. I don't notice the change until I think about it. It feels like he has always been so talkative and smiley. Don't get me wrong, he started smiling before he was even 2 weeks old and started gooing around the same time. Caylor didn't start doing those things until way later. But now Noah just constantly talks to us and flirts with us. He fits in to our family so well.

He usually wakes up around the same time Blaine is about to leave for work at 6am. He will nurse and then stop nursing when he has had just enough to not be starving anymore, and he will smile at me endlessly. I am not a morning person, but I can't resist him. I will just stay awake and talk to him and goo back at him. Blaine can't even resist. He will stop getting ready for work and come over to talk to Noah.

Noah is very good at rolling with the punches. He doesn't currently have his own room, so most of the time he naps on the living room floor during the day. He still manages to take full naps. Sometimes he is happier on the floor than if you pick him up to play with him.

Two weeks ago Noah (supposedly) rolled over from stomach to back twice in a row. I say supposedly because Blaine was the witness of this event and he hasn't done it since then. But I don't doubt it because he is very active.

I have gotten so used to having two kids now. I can't imagine my life without both my sweet little boys!

Deer Mayhem

2010-10-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

This goes out to Blaine.

Potty Party Part 3 - The saga continues...

2010-10-27T06:29:00.001-07:00

I think I have Caylor potty trained, but with the following pitfalls.

1. He now HATES being wet, so he stays dry all night. However, some nights (last night) he will wake up 2 and 3 times crying to go to the bathroom.
2. He is afraid of public toilets. He is VERY good at holding it in and almost never has an accident in public, but if we are somewhere (like church) for a long time and it happens, he is so embarrassed and sad. :(
3. Sometimes he will fib and say he has to go potty when he really doesn't to get out of things (like church and nap time)
4. He refuses to poo in the potty or toilet.

Any advice would be marvelous!

Potty Update

2010-10-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

So we started potty training last Friday. He was excited at first, but he got embarrassed every time he had an accident. He come tell me "mess", show me where he had the accident, and then while I cleaned it up, he would hang his head in shame and go towards the corner like he was in time out. I told him I wasn't mad, that accidents happen, but I think my stress level at the whole situation made him feel bad. So Friday he went to the potty twice, then Saturday and Sunday he kind of fell apart. He went sometimes, but usually it was because he would cry and hide and I knew he had to go.

We have been doing everything to encourage him, I think he was just embarrased about making a mess. So Monday my mother in law came over with some thicker training underwear and a cover to go over them. That way I won't ask him as much about potty so I won't have to worry about cleaning up a mess, and Caylor won't be as embarrassed if he has an accident, yet will still feel "icky" when he has an accident.

I think that did the trick for Caylor. I tell Caylor we are going on the potty once every 30 minutes unless he tells me he needs to go before then. Just for sitting on the potty he gets 1 m&m. If he is dry, I make a big deal about praising him for that. I let him watch a movie on our portable DVD player to keep him occupied while he sits there (which he likes to sit there for a LONG time before he finally goes). If he goes in the potty, he gets 5 m&ms which to him is a big deal.

Yesterday Caylor only had 2 accidents. He stayed totally dry during his nap(which was pretty long) and told me he needed to go potty when he woke up. This morning Caylor told me at 6:30 he needed to go potty, went potty, and then went back to sleep. That made me very happy and feel almost like this hard work has been worth it.

I have heard people complain about potty training before, but I had no idea how horrible it would be, at least for me. This has been my most difficult experience so far in motherhood. His illnesses were close to this bad, maybe as bad, but I don't know... It has been difficult. I'm glad he is starting to show improvement, but boy was it rough before then, and we still have a while to go before we are out of the woods so to speak. If I could go back and do it all over again, I probably would have waited a few more months. But we are planning on moving in the 6 months and then Caylor will start school next year, so we wanted to get this over with before all of those things happen and put his life in a tailspin. Also, now that he has started, he likes being a big boy and doesn't want to wear diapers anymore. If I gave up now, I think he would blame himself and feel bad. I will write an update again hopefully with good news, we shall see!

Commencing Potty Training

2010-10-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we begin potty training. I have been preparing for this day for a while. I have had this day marked in my calendar for about a month now. I have been both looking forward to and dreading this day at the same time. I am very excited for him to be a "big boy". I am excited to not have to buy Caylor diapers anymore. I am dreading that something will go wrong and Caylor will not want to potty train at all.

We have been working hard to get him excited about this for a long time. It is working so far. He has been looking forward to potty training since we got him some of his potty things. He got to pick out his potty and his potty doll and today we went and picked out some reward treats and underwear.

The rewards:

Potty Elmo! (Caylor is so obsessed with him...)

Toy Story Big Boy underwear:

Lightning McQueen Potty:

We also bought a Sesame Street potty training DVD. We will watch it tomorrow morning and then we will teach Elmo to use the potty. Then when Caylor says he is ready, we will put his Big Boy underwear on and we will get started! Hopefully this works, I will keep my blog posted.

I am using the method in the book called "Potty Training 1-2-3" by Gary Ezzo. (The same guy that wrote Babywise.) It got good reviews so I am hoping it works well. We shall see! Wish us luck!

Conversations with a two year old...

2010-10-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Mom - "Caylor do you want to wear your red shirt or blue shirt today?"
Caylor - "Red Blue shirt!"
Mom - "No, Red or Blue?"
Caylor - "Red Blue Red Blue RED BLUE!"
Mom - "Ok, fine I will pick" (Get red shirt ready)
Caylor - "No! Blue shirt! BLUE SHIRT!"
Mom - (in exasperation) "Caylor, you are acting like a 5 year old!" Oh wait, thats a compliment...

Noah's 2 Month Checkup

2010-10-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Noah had his 2 month checkup last week. He is growing fast! Here are his stats:

Weight: 11.7 pounds -- 44th percentile
Height: 23 inches -- 50th percentile

The doctor said that he is growing well and doing really well. He liked how responsive Noah was. Noah had to get his first set of shots and he did NOT like it. But as soon as I picked him up and held him he was back to his sweet self. Then he slept for the rest of the day! I guess that traumatic experience wore him out.

Red River Gorge

2010-10-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend Blaine, Caylor and I went to Red River Gorge for a hiking adventure. It was Caylor's first hiking trip. It was also the first outing we took without Noah. Everything turned out great! Caylor had such a good time. He rode in a hiking backpack on Blaine's back for the first half of the hike (about 2 miles) and was happy as could be. He pointed out rocks and bugs and pinecones and all kinds of exciting nature.

At the halfway point we rested at a place called Rock Bridge. It is a Natural formation and really neat. Blaine climbed up the steep rock and Caylor looked at me and said he wanted up there too. I was nervous about it, but Blaine talked me into it. It was so high up that I had to put Caylor high above my head and Blaine could barely reach Caylor's hands from the top. Once Caylor got to the top he looked at me, pointed his finger at the spot next to him and said "Mama, up!". I wasn't planning on going up there but I was outnumbered by crazy boys. So I very clumsily climbed up there. Caylor reached his hands out to "help" me up to the top. He was very protective of me. It was a beautiful view, and then we went back down.

We ate a picnic lunch and headed back on the trail. Caylor walked the trail for about half a mile and then said "Backpack!" So we put him back in the pack. When we got back to the car, Caylor was SO exhausted. He fell asleep somehow in the backpack and we transferred him to the car.

Noah is 2 months old!

2010-09-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

My little Noah is growing up so fast! He already has such a little personality. He brings so much peace to our home. In our crazy, whirlwind life with busy job, hobbies, callings, and a two year old; he shows us what life is really all about. He even gets Caylor to stop in the middle of his craziness to enjoy time with him. Caylor absolutley loves his brother, and Noah loves him even more! Caylor always goes up to Noah when he is crying and will pat him on the back and say, "aww, its ok". It is so sweet. I know that they will be there for each other throughout the years. I can already tell by their personalities that there will be a loving bond there. I'm sure they will have their moments, but Caylor is a nurterer, and Noah is even more chill and mello than Caylor is (and was).

Noah is not sleeping as well as Caylor was at this age, and I am sure that is largely due to the fact that I am not nearly as dilligent to the Babywise schedule as I was with Caylor. I stick to it for the most part, but he doesn't always get to sleep in his crib. I am pretty strict about his eating schedule and the eat/wake/sleep cycle, but I am not as good about putting him down for a nap exactly when I should. Usually I'm not even home or I am in the middle of something with Caylor. But he is doing well. Most nights Noah will go to bed at 7:30, have a "dream feed" at 11:30 and then will sleep until 7am. Caylor did just about the same thing, but more consistently. Noah will still wake up every once in a while for a "midnight snack", ok more like 2am snack.

Noah is very talkative and will hold many conversations with you. Caylor at this age was very advanced when it came to physical ability. I think Noah's unique gift so far has been his social skills and perception of things. He has been smiling pretty much since about 2 weeks old. People didn't believe me, but Blaine couldn't deny it when I showed him the smiles. He started cooing by about 3 weeks, which Caylor did not coo for a long time. Noah loves to say "Ah goo..." He will do a silent giggle which I love, and he has a breathy laugh. His smile is almost as big as his entire face which I can't get enough of. He loves to just stare into your eyes. He would stare at me forever if I let him (or if Caylor let him).

Noah is a TV watcher just like Caylor. This afternoon I put a movie on for Caylor and put Noah on the floor for some one on one time with me. He was too busy watching the movie to give me the time of day! Caylor was and is just the same way.

Noah loves to sleep, cuddle and play on his belly. He is a belly time maniac. He can't get enough of being on his belly.

He is about 11 pounds right now, and is a very thick boy. He is very durable which Caylor has tested many times. He is a keeper!

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!

2010-09-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

The other day, I was putting groceries away and Noah was in his carseat crying. Caylor kept saying "Noah, out!", but I was trying to hurry and put the groceries away. After putting the groceries away, I came to get Noah out of his carseat and found this:

...I don't think he was amused, but I was!

Caylor is so sweet with his brother. He loves him so much, and the feeling is mutual. Some of Noah's first smiles were directed towards his brother. Caylor likes to make Noah laugh and giggle and he is very good at it. Noah is very responsive, more so than I think Caylor was at this age. If you talk to him, he will talk back. If you laugh he will laugh back. So sometimes I will look at him and smile and say "ah goo!". Caylor will do the same thing as me, but even more exagerrated. He will get right in his face, shake his head, and say "AH GOO!" really loud. Sometimes this makes Noah smile, other times just scare him. Caylor also loves to give him LOTS of kisses which Noah finds very amusing as well.

If Noah is crying or unhappy, Caylor will go and pat him on the head or hug and kiss him. Sometimes he will even say "Ahh, ok" or "Ok now?". He is very sweet. I love that they are doing so well together already. Caylor is no longer jealous of him at all. If Noah is in his bassinet in the morning, as soon as Caylor wakes up he will go find Noah and say "Noah out" and try to get him out or tell me to. The only concerns we have left for Caylor's interactions with Noah at this point is being too excited to play with him. We certainly don't feel comfortable enough to let them sleep in the same room yet and I don't think we will for a very, very long time. I'm sure everything will work out and in the meantime we are looking forward to their increased hilarious interactions.

Sleeping through the night and teething?!?!?

2010-09-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Noah is really growing up so fast! I can't believe he is already teething! That is way early. Caylor started about 4 months, which is still pretty early. Last Thursday I was at my friend Maggie's house and she told me she thought she saw a tooth coming through in Noah's mouth. I told her that sometimes newborns have white gums and it looks like a tooth coming through. I knew it couldn't possibly be a tooth... until Friday we took Noah on our date night and Blaine asked the same question. I took a closer look and sure enough, it was his left bottom tooth peeking through! You can even feel it cutting through. So we bought him a teether that vibrates when he chews on it. It was hilarious the first time he used it. He chewed on it and looked so suprised when it started vibrating.

Two days ago Noah started to sleep through the night which has made me a very happy woman! So now I feed him right before I go to bed and he wakes up at about 6am for his morning feeding. I have been really busy lately so I am probably getting less sleep than usual, but to get the sleep continuously is amazing! I was worried he wouldn't start sleeping through the night as early as Caylor did just because I can't be as diligent to a schedule. With Caylor, it was easy to work around just him, but now I have two kids to worry about. So Noah is on a schedule, but a fairly relaxed one. I am trying to stick to it as much as possible, but its hard. But I am glad that what I have done is starting to pay off.

He really is such a sweet little boy. He seriously gives me no trouble, unless you count watching him vigilently to make sure Caylor doesn't jump/step on/torture him...

Take your family to work day.

2010-09-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

Blaine works as a food scientist at a Dairy Plant. He loves his job and works very hard at what he does. The only setback is that he works 1 hour away from where we live. So he drives 2 hours a day, every day to get to and from work. We are trying to sell our home to be closer to his job, but in this economy it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Lunch dates with Blaine are very uncommon because it is such a drive, but every once in a while I decide to brave it. This was my first time with 2 kids taking the journey to visit him, but I figured he would want to show Noah off to his coworkers. They sure did think he was cute! All the people Blaine works with are so nice!

After visiting at the plant, we headed out to a local park and had a picnic. It was so fun and such a beautiful day. It was some of the most fun we have had in a long time. I think Blaine appreciated us coming out to see him and bring some crazy fun to the middle of his work day.

Noah is one month old!

2010-08-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little Noah is already a month old! I can't believe I am already feeling like I have always had 2 kids. It is getting to be a much smoother transition now. Caylor is getting used to Noah being here and adores him. I still give Caylor plenty of one on one attention because Noah sleeps half the day and is a very easy baby when he is awake. I am getting used to everything now. I have taken them on my own shopping, to the park, the doctor, etc. It is not nearly as bad as I feared it would be. Caylor, now that he is over his whole episode when Noah was first born, is a very good listener. So when we go out he is pretty good at obeying. And he knows when I am serious and will not toe the line then for sure. Noah just goes with the flow and I can take him anywhere which is nice.

Anyway, back to just Noah. He is such a sweet little boy. He looks and acts completley different than Caylor did. He loves baths. Caylor hated baths. Noah is so happy when he is taking a bath. You just have to make sure to get the water nice and hot and he will be as happy as can be. Giving him a bath is one of our special bonding times. I don't get much one on one time with Noah because I am so busy with Caylor all the time. I guess that is part of being the 2nd born... But at bathtime I have to pay close attention of course, so we get to spend time together and he will smile and goo. He especially likes when I scrub his head really well.

Noah loves belly time. I don't know of any other baby that loves belly time. But he does. It calms him down if he is upset. He is really good at it too. He can lift his head and roll from side to side already. He also started grabbing at toys at 2 weeks old. I was so surprised. I was in the kitchen one day doing dishes and I heard a bell ringing in the living room. I thought it was the TV or something, but I go to the living room and it is Noah on his gym, grabbing a toy and making it ring.

He started smiling last week. You really have to earn his smiles. Ususally it is just when you are looking at him and there are no distractions. Which around here is not very often. So ususally at our middle of the night feeding is when I get my big smiles from him. There is one exception. He LOVES Caylor! He smiles at him all the time. He will goo and smile at him. It is the sweetest thing.

This little boy sure is getting big already. I have really enjoyed him and I love him so much. I wish I could give him more attention like I did Caylor, but I think there is not much I can do about that.

Caylor's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-08-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

Although Caylor's birthday was last week, we celebrated it yesterday. Last year we felt we way overdid his birthday party. Everyone had fun except for Caylor I think. And it was really stressful for Blaine and I to get everything together for it. Because it was such a big deal, Caylor ended up being too wound up to take a nap and was really fussy during his party.

So after last year's party, Blaine and I had a sit down to discuss what we did wrong and what we should do in the future. Because there is no point doing a birthday party if the guest of honor is unhappy. So we decided that a 1 year old does not need a big to do. We decided that we don't have to have an all out big birthday party EVERY year. So we decided that for the rest of our children, we would do birthday parties on even years, and on odd years, we will have an intimate dinner with just family, presents, and cake. The birthday boy(or girl hopefully someday) will get to choose where to go for dinner.

Since this was an even year for Caylor, we did another party, but a much smaller party. We had it at our house and only invited 4 kids. We just did some food and then headed to the public pool near our house afterwards. It ended up being a success and Caylor could not have been happier.

I purposely made sure I did all my cooking and cleaning before the day of the party so that on the party day I could just focus on being with Caylor and enjoying him. Because again, it should be about him, not about me and the other people coming.

So I stayed up until about 1:30 am Friday night finishing the cake and cleaning and so forth. On Saturday morning, Blaine stayed home with Noah and I took Caylor shopping for decorations. We had so much fun! We went to the dollar store and he picked some things I wouldn't have even thought of. He got some party hats and bouncy balls and all kinds of fun things. Then we headed to Kroger and picked out some balloons. Of course his choice was Toy Story balloons. He is currently obsessed with Toy Story since Toy Story 3 came out. He saw it in theatres and loved it. That was also the theme to the party this year. I had always told myself I wouldn't do "name brand" type parties and fall into that trap, but this is what Caylor really wanted and it made him so happy which is what really matters. When we came home he was ready for a nap, and when he woke up he was so excited about the decorations all over the house. He also sneaked a look at his Toy Story cake which he was so happy about.

I think the kids all had fun at the party too, because it was such a small party, we were able to kid better "goody bags" and focus on them and make sure they had fun too. I made the goody bags look like a present and they got to open it while Caylor opened his gifts which made them feel less left out. It also helps that Caylor does not do very well opening wrapping paper so they helped him with that too. I think he is afraid to tear paper because I am pretty strict about him tearing books in the house. He is now really good about reading even "big kid" books and being gentle with them. However, it has come with the cost of brainwashing my child of being terrified of EVER ripping paper.

The party guests:

The Birthday Boy.

Hailey, the light of Caylor's life. These kids seriously LOVE each other!

Olivia, Caylor's niece.

McKay, Caylor's buddy from church.

Nana, Mr. Gramps, Aunt Shannon, and Uncle Trent were there too. For some reason we didn't get pictures of them...

Birthday presents:

The big gift of the day was the Buzz Lightyear from Mommy and Daddy. I was quite nervous getting such an expensive toy for a 2 year old. But so far he has taken such good care of it and has absolutley loved it! His friends loved it too, and all took turns playing with it.

Mr. Gramps got him a really special storybook with Disney stories inside which he loves! Nana got him Toy Story 2 which him or I had never seen. Today we all cuddled as a family on the couch and watched it together. We had so much fun and I think I enjoyed it at least as much as he did.

Birthday cake: I have to say that I was very proud of myself! I made this cake (with the help of a very awesome friend!). It was my first ever fondant cake which I think turned out pretty good. I will blog in detail about this cake later so I remember how to make something like it again in the future.

Singing happy birthday: Caylor was so shy when everyone sung happy birthday to him. I don't think he has been that "center of attention" before.

Funny things:

The string on the party hats was REALLY tight! The adults couldn't even wear them and when the kids wore them they were acting like they were choking.

Hailey decided Caylor didn't look pretty enough and needed something that stood out for his birthday celebration.

After the party, everyone headed to the pool. We all had a great time, especially Caylor. All in all I think his party was a success and that he was a happy little birthday boy. I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Before you know it, I will be getting ready for his 3rd birthday!

Smiles

2010-08-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Today Noah turned 4 weeks old. And today at 3am was when he gave me his first "official" smile. I have been getting smiles and giggles for a while, but I could never tell if they were "real" smiles. I always thought they were, but I am his mom!

He is such a sweet boy. I cannot say that enough. He puts up with so much eye poking, shoving, and general roughhousing from his brother. He also deals with lots of noise all the time, and not getting a lot of attention. I feel so bad for him. I try so hard to give him attention, I really do, but it is so hard when Caylor is getting into stuff and wearing me out. And the only time I get "alone" time with Noah is when Caylor is asleep. And by then I am ready for some "me" time. But he is such a trooper and will happily play on his own. His favorite place to play is on his gym. He loves the toys on there and has been grabbing at them since he was 2 weeks old. He was exactly two weeks old actually. Caylor was asleep and I was in the kitchen cleaning when I heard a bell ringing from the living room. I couldn't figure out what it was until I looked in and saw Noah grabbing a toy and making the bell ring! I was very suprised. I guess he is in the gym so much he has had lots of practice.

He, unlike Caylor, loves bellytime. Usually when I put him on his belly, he will play for about 10 minutes and then falls asleep he loves it so much. And he will sleep like that for a long time! And when he wakes up he will wiggle around and continue to happily play.

He is getting better at sleeping at night. He has a "dreamfeed" at 11pm and then gets up at about 3:30 every night and then sleeps until morning. So really I only have to get up once in the night. So it is not too bad, but I will love the day when he just sleeps through that middle of the night feeding.

He is currently sleeping in a bassinet in the hallway, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Caylor is not ready for a sibling in his room. I feel bad for Noah because he LOVES his crib. Anytime I put him in it he will look around a few minutes and fall asleep without one little fuss. He does not like the bassinet nearly as much. It worries me because if he can already tell the difference now, what will it be like when he gets older?

Here are some pictures I took of him today. I love this little guy so much!

Last 24 hours...

2010-08-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Last 24 hours: Got pooped on while preparing a bath for Noah. Left the kitchen sink running and flooded the entire kitchen. Destroyed our dishwasher. Called Maytag to find out it just ran out of warranty and has a major recall due to fires it has caused in people's homes! Put Caylor down for a nap and when I went to ...check on him, had gotten into the baby powder. Now his room looks like snow and smells like flowers...

Caylor's 2 year checkup

2010-08-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today was Caylor's 2 year checkup. His birthday was yesterday, which I will have to blog about later when I actually get a little bit of sleep and time. Here are his stats:

Weight: 25 pounds -- 22nd percentile
Height: 35.5 inches -- 80th percentile

Caylor's doctor told us that he is very advanced with speach and comprehension skills for his age. I knew that he was advanced with understanding us, but I was a little concerned he might be behind in speech just because he has had so many problems with his ears. It was good to know that not only is he right on track, but he is ahead. He talks a lot, just sometimes it comes out jabbery, you can tell what the word is, but it isn't perfect. He is just starting to put words together into sentences.

His allergies are a lot better as are his ears. We made a very difficult decision in June and got rid of our cat, Tang. He was and is a part of our family, but when Caylor's Ear surgeon told us that he would need another surgery due to his allergies, we knew it had to be done. Caylor is allergic to the cat and has had problems since he was born. We have tried medication and avoiding the cat and everything to no avail. Since we got rid of the cat in the house, he has not been sick once. Which for Caylor is amazing. And he no longer snores at night. Tang is now living on the Hicks farm until we can get a house with a bigger back yard so Tang can be an outdoor cat there.

Although he is doing better, the doctor thinks Caylor may have asthma. So that is something we will have to officially diagnose in the next few years.

The doctor also told me that Caylor is ahead with social skills, and that he was impressed at how well he listened and obeyed. That made me feel good because that is something that Blaine and I work very hard at. It is a trait we value is to make sure he is a good boy and is obedient and an overall good kid. Sometimes we can be a little strict, but I think he is turning out pretty good so far, so hopefully it will continue to work for us.

Hearing his doctor say all these things about him made me feel appreciative to have my sweet little boy. The first two weeks after we brought Noah home was very difficult. I thought I lost my little Caylor. He was not the sweet boy I was used to, but an honory, tantrum throwing, little terror. He did not want to have anything to do with me or Noah. It was so hard for me. But now he is so sweet to his brother and loves him so much. He is back to himself again which is such a relief to me. And being a mom of two has its difficulties, but it isn't as bad as I expected it to be now that I am getting the hang of it. The hardest thing right now is not getting nearly as much "me time" and sleep. But with time I think it will get better. Today at the doctor I took both boys and Noah slept the whole time and everything went well. It gives me hope for the future as a mommy to my sons!

Brotherly Love

2010-08-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

Noah's first day of Church

2010-08-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Noah's first Sunday at church. He was so good the whole time and looked so cute in his tuxedo! This suit is the outfit Caylor wore to his first Sunday at church. It was fun to remember Caylor when he was that small. Time is flying!

Little Blue Loveseat

2010-08-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

This is our loveseat. This loveseat has so many stories to tell. I know it is ugly, and frumpy, and torn. But it is the most comfortable loveseat in the world. Today, we are giving this loveseat away to a new home. We bought another loveseat. It is much prettier, not quite as comfortable, and doesn't have any stories yet. But I am sure it will get there.

Although our living room will look much better with the new furniture, I will really miss the little blue loveseat. Blaine bought me this loveseat in January 2004! And he bought it used. We had just started dating, and my roomate was moving out of the apartment because our lease was up and she was getting married. I was going to school, and working 10 hours a week making next to nothing. All the furniture and everything in our shared apartment belonged to my roomate. So I found a new apartment in the same complex and the landlord had pity on me and gave it to me at a discount. I had no furniture or pretty much anything to my name. My roomate let me have a twin size mattress that I laid on the floor of the bedroom. That was literally my only furniture. I did not even have blinds or curtains.

One day my landlord glanced in my apartment (since I had no blinds) and saw I had no furniture. He came up to me later and told me that my neighbors were selling their furniture and saw that I had none and thought he would let me know. So that evening Blaine, my mother, and I went and looked at the furniture. It was a couch with a matching chair and of course, the blue loveseat. It was already used and worn, but it was cheap and I was desperate and had no money. So Blaine bought the chair and loveseat and my mom bought me the couch. I think total everything cost $70.

After that day, Blaine surprised me one Saturday. I was at work and he went to a yard sale and found some nice picture frames and an entertainment center. He overheard the lady selling them say that she was tired of the yard sale and just wanted to give the stuff away to whoever would haul it away. So Blaine took her up on that. He literally carried the entertainment center on his back from the yard sale accross the street to my apartment. When I came home from work, I had an entertainment center with my little tv inside. I also had pictures on the walls of Blaine and I everywhere. It was probably one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.

I haven't thought about these things in a long time. I guess getting rid of the loveseat has pulled a sentimental string in my heart and made me think about how blessed I am and how far I have come in the last few years. That was a difficult time in my life. I didn't really know what I was doing with my life or where I was headed at that point. I was pretty much destitute with no where to go. If it hadn't been for Blaine and some good friends, I don't know what would have happened to me.

Now I look at where I am today. We are blessed that Blaine makes enough money that I can stay home with our children. He has a college degree and a good career which is more than many people can say. I have two wonderful children whom I love unconditionally. I know where I am headed in life and have goals to reach. I have a family that will be there for me no matter what. I haven't always had that. I know this post is kind of sappy, but all these thoughts came to me today when I looked at that loveseat and thought about it not being here anymore. It has seen me through some tough times and it has seen me change from a lost girl to a woman who is happy and knows who she is and where she is going. I hope that whoever takes this chair will appreciate it and how hard it is for me to part with it. I will miss you my friend.

Caylor Singing

2010-08-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight when I was singing a song to Caylor, he started singing along to my surprise! It is a song from a Book of Mormon movie that he loves. Tonight for family home evening we made brownies together and when we sat down to eat them we tried to video tape Caylor singing the song, but he got shy for the camera. Then Blaine told me to bribe Caylor with another brownie to sing and he did indeed perform. Notice in the video he keeps looking at me, I am holding the brownie out for when he is finished singing. He is a child after my own heart.

Caylor's Big Boy Bed

2010-08-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

Blaine and I have been battling this decision for weeks now. We didn't know whether or not we should do the toddler bed before or after Noah was born. Since they were going to share a room, we finally decided to wait for a few months.

The day before Noah was born, Caylor started to get in and out of his crib all the time. He was a complete pro at it and nothing we did stopped him from getting out. We certainly didn't want to pick that day to change something like that for him, so we still decided to give it a few weeks.

When we got back from the hospital, he didn't try to get out of his crib at all so we thought that maybe we would have nothing to worry about for a while. We did not want to do a big transition like that when he is already dealing with the newness of having a sibling and having to share mommy and daddy's attention.

A couple of days ago when Blaine went to get Caylor for the morning, Caylor was standing on the highest side of his crib, with his hands held high in the air like he was so proud of himself. So that is when we decided it was time to change things. He could easily break an arm or a leg or worse if he continued to do that!

So yesterday we sat him down and told him that he was ready for a big boy bed. We got him really excited about the idea and we went to his room and watched Blaine transition his crib into the toddler bed. Caylor was so excited the whole time as to what was going on. He kept hugging Blaine and trying to jump on the bed before it was finished. When Blaine was done Caylor jumped on the bed for about 20 minutes, he could not get enough! And when it was time for a nap, Caylor got so excited to take a nap in his "new" bed. And surprisingly, he took a great nap! The only difference is that he napped for a shorter amount of time, then got up and played in his room for the rest of the naptime.

Last night we were a little worried about how he would sleep in his bed, but again he did fantastic! We said family prayer and Blaine did his bedtime routine with Caylor that he does every night. When Blaine left the room, we could tell Caylor got out of his bed and was playing in his room. We let him for a few minutes to see what would happen and within half an hour he was asleep. Before we went to bed last night, Blaine went to check on him. When he opened the door, he kept running into stuff. First, it was baby powder. Then he ran into some books. Then he ran into Caylor. He was alseep with his blanket in the middle of the floor. Blaine put him into his bed and Caylor slept until normal time this morning in it. When he woke up he played for a little while and then we went to get him. We just put him to sleep about 2 hours ago tonight and he has done great. Blaine went to check on him twice. The first time, he was asleep in his bed. The second time he was in the middle of the floor again. I don't know what he likes about the middle of the floor, but I guess it must be comfy!

I am so proud of my son. He is having to grow up fast, but I think these changes are scarier to me than they are to him. He has been ready for this change for a while, I think that I just wasn't ready yet. Now that I have a little newborn to compare him to, I realize how much he has grown up and how fast the time has gone! I really do believe people now when they tell me that kids grow up fast. I feel like it was just yesterday when Caylor was the newborn I was holding in my arms. Blaine teases me all the time about Caylor getting older. He says things like "only 11 years until he is a teenager" or "only 17 more years before he goes on a mission". Although it is a little sad to see him grow so fast, I love it at the same time. He really is growing up to be a great little boy and I couldn't be happier.