Getting to Know {Taylor}

I am really enjoying spending time with my two little ones, while older brother goes to Joy School.  We spend our time running at the park, and then if Taylor has let me (aka:  Not whined and screamed the whole way!) do my 3 mile workout, I am so thrilled to let him play while I stretch and catch my breath afterward.

 How old are you?  two-an-a haff

What are these (tugging on my earlobes)?  ear pits

What is your favorite thing to eat?  chocolate chips

What do you do when Tanner is at Joy School?  color (we've never colored...LOL!  Maybe we should!)

What is your favorite story?  nuffin...my catipiwar (The very hungry Caterpillar)

What is your favorite primary song? My famwy and the temple song.

Do you have a favorite toy? huh?  yeah, I do!  What is it?  my tuck (truck)

Do you have a favorite color?  boo dy (blue sky)

How many brothers do you have?  two an a haf  What are their names? uhhh...my Tanny and Kortwen.

What makes you smile really big? I getting big!  (growing up)

Is there anything that makes you sad? uhhh.  bitin' makes me mad! (Tanner bites a lot)

What kind of treats do you like? chocolate chips

Did you know you're a silly goose? head nod.  no, you're a silly duck!

What is one thing you'd like Santa to bring you for Christmas?  dis big airplane! (his arms spread as far as they can go...we saw a man at the park with a remote control airplane...good luck, buddy!)

Getting to Know {Tanner}

Every time I look at my sweet and energetic little boy, I can't help but wonder what kind of experiences are in store for him.  He knows FAR too much for a four year old, in my opinion, yet he has SO much to learn before being 'really big' and going to school.  The things that come out of his mouth puzzle me, and often surprise me.  He comes up with the most funny and contemplative ideas, and is like a little sponge, soaking up everything Ryan and I say.  I just might start calling him 'big ears', if he actually USED his ears to listen to me when he should be listening!  *chuckle*

How old are you?  four

When is your birthday?  mmm..when the Christmas tree goes up and there's snow on the ground

What is your favorite thing to eat?  candy treats, chocolate and food is sausage and eggs and the sausage is nected together (links)

What do you like about Joy School?  mmm...Joy School is kinda not good for widdle boys that four an a haff

What is your favorite story?  about pigs, horsies, donkeys, and about a horse, a donkey an a pig  (okaaaaay)

What is your favorite primary song?  the church song (I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, of latter-day saints...)

What do you like to do?  uhhh, I like to swing on that (pointing to the picture above)

Do you have a favorite color?  bwoo, pink, and orange

What makes you smile really big?  water and bubbles get into my ears and i waff (laugh)

Is there anything that makes you sad?  When daddy spanks me (and mommy)  (we're working on that)

What does daddy do at work?  daddy has suckers and treats at his work

Do you think mom should go back to work?  no.  atuzz (because) you said when you were done with work for the rest of your wife, you would stay home and pway with me. 

What does two and two make?   two two's make four!  How about five and two? i don't know, seven?

What is one thing you'd like Santa to bring you for Christmas?  I want two fings.  Taywor gets one fing.  A different airplane and a dragon toy. 

Closing Summer

Is it already time for the leaves to change colors?  Didn't I just get out the shorts and t-shirts and now it's too chilly to wear them?  I love autumn time, but honestly, it's been a very cool summer, and I'm just now enjoying the bright sunshine.  The weather lately has been perfect, and not too hot.  I think for the first time in a long time, I want summer to stay, just a while longer.  I've got my fall decor up, and am thinking about Halloween Costumes and Christmas Presents.  Already, I'm back to wearing slippers at night and in the morning, and dragging the space heater out because of the draft coming in from the front door.  I suppose all that means is that Summer is coming to a close. 

____________

We spent our Tuesday afternoon having many adventures while Ryan finished digging & pulling out a 200 pound tree stump, mowing the lawn, and helping with yard work at Grama and Grampa Poulsen's house.

We found and made new friends...like ladybugs in the green beans and worms in the grass...

and skipped naps to play in the garden and smell the sweet-peas.

We giggled for a good hour while swinging from the rope swing and rolling down the hill...

and later wound up at the nature park feeding the hungry geese and ducks so they won't be hungry when they fly south.

Daddy and Grampa were content to sit and visit.  Kortlen was wanting in on the action, but there's not much he could do about it, now was there!

Most importantly, we tuckered ourselves right out and went right to sleep, without any arguments after a warm bath and snuggles in bed. 

__________

I tucked my babies under quilts, chopped and froze onions from my in-law's garden to be used for delicious soups and stews for the coming Winter, and washed and dried a couple loads of laundry.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to being a little nicer, eating a little better, and enjoying these precious moments even more.  I can't wait to breathe in the crisp fall air on my jog, and bundle up under a blanket while I read my scriptures.

I am blessed. My heart is full. 

The BEST Wife Award

Fifteen minutes ago, Ryan was getting dressed for work, and his only work pants (and only khaki pants) that he has were in the washing machine.

He had 15 minutes until he had to clock in, and it takes 10 minutes to get there...so his pants dried for a total of 4.5 minutes.

He just walked out the door with hot, dripping wet pants.  Looks like I am no longer in the running for the Best Wife Award.  Good luck to the rest of you!

Why I can't make mom friends...

Be sure to stop the music on the sidebar.  This is hilarious!!! 





http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7148143/


Do you ever feel like that?  I think I've been on both sides of this fence.  LOL!

{untitled}

I am so glad these two are good friends.  Besides Tanner biting Taylor and leaving plumb colored bruised and scratching his face to look like we have a demon cat, and Taylor egging on Tanner and boxing his older brother a good one, these two get along pretty good.  They can each hold their own.  And they can each scream so loud when the other one attacks that my ears ring for a good ten minutes. 

And this is how Kortlen feels about tummy time.  End of Story.

Have I mentioned what an Angel Baby he is?  He's simply wonderful.  I suppose he's trying to get in some shut-eye before he has to defend himself at bedtime, in a crib, in a room, with two other hoolagins.  *chuckle*

{two months old}

Mr. Kortlen is now two months old!

His little personality is starting to shine through, and he is undoubtedly the best baby.  He literally eats, sleeps, and poops.  In the last day, he's had two terrible blowouts...bigger than both his brother's, combined!!! Funny, that the second one was in the same cleaned onesie.

I love how he sleeps with his arms above his head, and his little hands are balled up.  Most of this week he's gone to bed around 8pm after feeding, and does not wake up till 5am.  After an early morning feeding, he'll go back to sleep till 8 or 9, allowing me to get the boys dressed and fed.  We are certainly blessed to have such a good sleeper.

When he wakes up, he gives a nice, long, arching stretch.

His facial expressions are hilarious.  He loves to coo and gurgle, and is starting to blow bubbles...probably out of frustration.  The other day the boys were throwing paper airplanes, and one hit Kortlen right in the side of the head.  His little cry was so cute...and his face, just melted me!  I cuddled and cuddled him, and it was the first time he'd really cried, hard.  He very rarely cries...only if he's really hungry (which seldom happens) or his brothers are picking on him (which also seldom happens).  He snorts more than any little piggy I've ever seen, and I think Ryan loses sleep over our noisy napper.

Tanner and Taylor are pretty good about leaving him alone if he's asleep on the floor or couch.  About once a week they ask to hold him.  Taylor is quick to say, "ewe!  He's going to frow up on me!"  And Tanner is a pretty good helper.  I'm relieved that neither have tried to pick him up and carry him around, yet.

Kortlen loves his baths, loves to eat, loves to talk to us, and loves to watch.  He's calm, and not real intense yet.  He eats about ever three-four hours, and after a 20 minute feeding is good to go.  I don't wince every time I have to nurse like I did with Tanner and Taylor, and haven't gotten mastitis like I did with them, either!  Hooray!

Yesterday when I weighed myself and Kortlen and then just myself, he weighed in at 14 lbs.  And we have a nice digital scale...so I'm thinking it's pretty close to accurate.  I haven't measured how long he is, but the fact that he's already wearing 3-6 month clothes and they're crotching him out, indicates he's growing pretty well.  The only lectures on weight that I get seem to be on my weight (I really only have about 25 pounds to lose to be ideal...not that bad, right?).  The picture below is Kortlen on his Blessing Quilt that my mom made, in an outfit that I planned to let him wear in October...It is a 3-6 mo outfit, but is clearly just right, right now!  I have washed it each night because I'm making him wear it all week, just in case it doesn't fit next week.  I'm such a mean mom!

I've started doing BYU TV's Total Body Workouts, and walking.  I'll drop Tanner off at Joy School and Taylor, Kortlen and I go to Community Park to walk a few miles.  It's fabulous.  I'm trying to eat healthy, too, but it doesn't help when Ryan brings home Ding-Dongs and Hostess Cupcakes as snacks for work.  When I banned all Hostess 'treats' and told him he had to keep them at work or in his car, he hid them in our bottom drawer of the dresser...thanks sweetie.  Now I can be a true closet eater.

On a happy note, Kortlen has probably seen the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" one too many times.  I swear, Deb could have taken this picture.  Too funny!

I love Kortlen's sweet smile, pushing his cheeks up till his eyes nearly disappear.  We are so happy he's in our family!

Growing Up

Does someone look excited to be heading off to Joy School?

Would you believe me if I said Tanner was posed like this asking for his picture on our way out the door? ...  (Because he did, and I could barely take the picture, I was laughing so hard.)

... And then asked for another picture sitting down?

I think someone is definitely happy to be growing up and starting on a new adventure.

Me?  I couldn't agree more with his sentiments.

Check out more about "Joy School" by going to www.valueparenting.com.

{Labor Day Weekend...Version twenty-ten}

We have got to be the luckiest kids on the planet, seriously.  My parents' planned vacation did not disappoint!  We spent four wonderful and beautiful days canoing below the Grand Tetons, making memories and learning lessons.

Friday, September 2nd
We packed up our car (with four sleeping bags, two duffle bags of clothes, and diapers...it's about all we could fit!) and headed to Pacific Creek/Moran Junction (just below the Jackson Dam) to meet up with my parents.

We put back in the water (my mom took Kortlen) and met us down the Snake River.  I wish I would have had my camera, despite the risk of getting it wet, because the MOST beautiful view of the Grand Tetons was around every bend of the Snake River on this day. The water was relatively smooth. We did a 9 mile stretch from Moran to Deadman's Bar.  We had two people per canoe, and five canoes.  Tanner and Taylor got to pick which canoe they rode in, and sat on the bottom, in the middle.  They were quite the troopers!  They didn't even complain about wearing a personal flotation device (pfd).  The river was really low, and in some parts (if we didn't navigate right) we had to get out and push for a few yards over 5 or 6 inches of water.  It was relatively calm, and we had to learn to work together, as a team. Some of us struggled with this, but in the end, I think we all realized we were just going to zig-zag for 29 miles if we didn't figure it out, and quick!

Saturday, September 3rd
We put in at Deadman's Bar, and I was the 'driver' this day.  I knew it would be a long 10 miles for our crew, but didn't know how long it was going to be waiting for them at our destination.  It was a bit chilly, so everyone had on hoodies under their pfds.

This next picture could have easily been the last picture I took of my sweet boys and loving husband...but angels were watching out for my family, and especially for my little Tanner.

I took my time taking pictures of these grand mountains as I knew I'd have at least 2 hours before having to pick up the crew down stream.

I wandered through the Craig Thomas Discovery Center, which is VERY cool.  They had a neat relief map of Grand Teton National Park and surrounding areas (I am my father's daughter, remember?  And I love looking at maps), videos of rivers in the floor, a one minute geological animation about the formation of the Grand Tetons (pretty spiffy) and equipment from different decades used to climb the magnificent mountains and much, much more.

Around the time I was to meet my family, I grew increasingly impatient as the time dragged on.  After a few commercial tourist groups from rafts had docked and were leaving in their own vehicles, I felt prompted to ask a nearby couple if they had seen a family with five canoes in the area they were floating.  The couple looked at each other and then me, and told me they had, indeed seen this group, and that they were going to be a while yet getting to this landing.  As I inquired why, they explained that they had some problems but that everything and everyone looked to be okay.  I learned that two women and a boy about the age of five had sunk their canoe, and the group was trying to get the canoe out as they passed, and juggling passengers to get everyone to fit into the remaining four canoes.  I felt the blood drain from my face as I realized that my mom and sister and Tanner had been the ones to receive the frigid welcome into the glacial waters, and their canoe was swallowed by the beautiful Snake River.

My Sister, Stephanie, recounts what happened:  We were heading for a ginormous fallen down tree with it's huge roots in our way and we decided which way to paddle a little too late. As we were pushed perpendicular to the river and into the roots of the tree, the water forced the canoe to capsize with the hull in the roots and us being pushed by the water into the canoe.

Mom was pushed out of the front and to the left of the tree and I was being pushed to the back of the canoe. Tanner was in the middle and the water was pulling him down. I wasn't sure what or where Mom was, but as I saw Tanner go down, I grabbed his life jacket and the paddle and we headed for another branch or tree that was caught in the roots.

I never went under the water, as it was only 3 feet deep. I set Tanner up on the log and calmed him down. As I was calming him down, I decided to wait for Ryan and Katelyn, who were upstream from us about a mile. A few minutes later, they came around the bend and quickly docked the canoe in the rocky beach about 15 feet from us. I Carried Tanner across to his Dad and we calmed him down some more.

Tanner was freezing so we stripped off his wet sweater, life vest, and swimsuit and put him in Katelyn's and Ryan's warm sweaters to get him warm. It took him a while, as he was very shook up, but he got dry and a little bit warmer.



After over an hour of trying to get the canoe out, and to no avail, we left without the canoe. Which still happens to be up there.

After I finally settled down, we got a report to the rangers, and we headed back to camp to eat lunch (three hours later than expected) before heading into Jackson for the evening.

Everyone had tickets to the Playmill, but I opted out for my little family, not wanting to spend the money on tickets only to sit outside with three tired and screaming boys.  Instead, I sat at the only laundromat in town to wash (without detergent) and dry everyone's wet jackets and clothes while Ryan took the boys with everyone to the shootout at the town square.  While everyone went to "The Fantastics", Ryan and I took our boys to the Rec Center to go swimming (aka: take a bath).  Despite the traumatic events earlier in the day, both boys jumped right in!  (And since we've been home, Tanner has LOVED the water, even laying down in the tub to wash his hair!!!)


Sunday, September 4th
Most the family went to the Cunningham Cabin at 6 am to hear the elk bugle, but our little family stayed snug and warm in our tent.  When we couldn't sleep any longer, we opted for hot chocolate and a blazing fire.

Where's the baby?

There he is!

Breakfast on Fast Sunday while Camping....(in our defense, the first thing my brothers did at camp, was break out their laptops.  LOL!)...watching netflix on the campsites wifi.  We're terrible.

We attended Sacrament Meeting at the local ward in Jackson, and returned to camp for hamburgers and corn on the cob.

Tanner was cracking us up with this huckleberry soda...

And Kortlen, doing what he does best!  Sleeping...

Then we loaded up, again, to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive into Yellowstone National Park to see the new visitor's center.  See pictures HERE on their site.  Structurally, the building was beautiful and modern.  But like my dad said, "why didn't they take all the down timber and build a beautiful building with it?"  We weren't there long, but did venture over to the Old Faithful Inn.  If you've never seen it, it's beautiful.  I want to know who had to scout out all the beautiful trees to build this out of!

We stopped off at Mormon Row on our way back to camp (along with 4 other pull-overs, threatening our children that we would sit until they quit picking on each other, which we did, turning off the car and waiting, sometimes for as long as 10 minutes!) to get the famous "Barn with the Tetons" picture...well, it was pretty dark by the time we arrived, and so it ended up being a nursing stop for Kortlen.

Monday, September 5th
We quickly ate delicious breakfast burritos and packed up camp.  It was a joint effort on EVERYONE's part, and thanks to my fabulous sisters and sister-in-law, I was able to pack our stuff while Ryan helped the guys and they played with and held onto the boys.  And our trip wouldn't be complete without a snapshot in front of the famous antler arches.

Dad, to a couple passing by, "Hey!  You guys want your picture taken with the arches?"
Couple, "Uhhhh...Oh!  I guess so."
Dad, "Great!  When we've taken your picture, would you..."
Couple, "take yours?"
Dad, "Yeah!"
Couple,  "I see how this works,  I can connect the dots!"

Thus, a great family picture!  And of course, my dad ends up talking to them for a good ten minutes, finding all sorts of connections...nice couple.  :)

This particular morning was probably the coldest, but we were determined to put in the water one last time for one last hurrah.  We decided on Jenny Lake.  Because of the one canoe loss, and it being very cold, my mom, Katelyn, and I ferried across Jenny Lake with my three little boys while the crew beat us to the other side where we met up at Hidden Falls.  Tanner was absolutely CRUSHED that he couldn't go on the canoes (which I was VERY relieved that he wanted to get back in one).  It was simply too cold to get wet.

We were the most awe-some (literally) group at the falls.

I'm considering making Kortlen a onesie that says, "I hiked Hidden Falls and all I got was this onesie."  The sweetheart slept the. entire. hike.  LOVE him!!!

 ***Do you think this picture is Christmas Card Worthy?  

I think we've met the requirements of:  

One child making a face, one child not visible, multiple squinting eyes, and it was taken on a family outing.  Check out the awesome shadows on my face from my glasses.***

Additional fun pictures of the half mile hike (perfect for the little boys and a mama carrying her sleeping babe:

Turned out to be a lovely day, don't you think?! 

We had to make a stop for our very first square ice cream cones at the Rainey Creek Store...

and eventually made it home safe and sound.

The first thing I did when we got in the house was bathe Kortlen (the poor kid didn't have a bath (only his behind wiped!) for four days), gave Tanner, Taylor and Ryan haircuts, and made them all shower before heading to bed.  Well, they went to bed.  I did four loads of laundry.  And finally went to bed at 2 am.

In short, the weekend was a success, and we had a FABULOUS time!  Thank you, mom and dad, and also my wonderful siblings (Tricia, that's you, too!) for everything!!!