Go Cardinals!

On Friday night we went to our first Cardinals game! Kenny's company gave them all tickets and I will have to say that is the best way to watch a baseball game. We were up in one of the party rooms and they had a lot of free food and drinks. They also gave Kenny (and all the other employees) a jersey and hat! The seats were all padded and comfy and we just loved it. We went with our friends from our ward, Jared and Terra Reed. Somebody must have known that Terra and I would get along so well because we seem to get put together a lot. We are visiting teaching companions, and she's the counselor over Enrichment, and I'm the Enrichment leader so we work together a lot for that, and our husbands work for the same company! It's pretty cool. We had Tyler stay there at their house with the babysitter (they have 4 kids) and we carpooled with them down to Busch Stadium in St. Louis. We had such a good time!


Terra and Jared

We won! I tried to get the billboard saying "home run" but it didn't quite catch it.

Brynlee's first MLB game. We realized later that Tyler went to his first MLB game when he was 6 months old too, only it was the Astros. Funny coincidence.

Brynlee even fell asleep on Terra during the game and took a little nap. She had just woken up here. Thanks guys for a wonderful time! I realized once we moved here that fate wants me to be a Cardinals fan. :) You see I have only ever played 1 year of baseball. It was some little league team in Houston when I was young; a team with both boys and girls (my sister Kim was on the team with me). I was not very good at all. But the point is, we were the cardinals!! Cool huh.

Saturday night we had a ward picnic and had a great time there too! There are so many fun people in our ward and we love getting to know them all better. I love Saturdays because it means I get to go running all by myself without pushing the kids and it was so nice. We also got a lot of yard work done which I'm glad about.

I love the weekends because Kenny will pay me compliments without even knowing it. He forgets what it's like to be around the kids a lot (obviously because he's at work all the time) so he will say things like "I don't know how you do this all day." or, "How do you get anything done with these two? I think it's a miracle you get anything at all done!" hahaha. I just have to laugh. Makes me feel like I'm doing an OK job.

Bryn had her 6 month check up this past week (a couple weeks late I know) and she's doing great! She's just above the 75th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference so she's very proportional :).

We're looking forward to another great week!

Rocking Chair

Here's my newest project that I've been working on the past few days! I found this stinkin cute rocking chair at the flea market for 10 bucks. I felt so handy buying an electric sander all on my own and putting it to work. Once that was completed I got a stain called "Early American" which I may or may not have bought just because of the title :). Anyway, I can't decide if I want it in the kids' room, or in the play room. I love it.

Do as I say, not as I do

I hate bugs and spiders. I really do. Any kind of insect, spider, or "bug" (that term seems to cover them all) is no friend of mine. The problem is, I have a 2 1/2 year old son. I don't want him to grow up to be a wuss like me. Any time I go "Ah!" and let out a little scream, Tyler looks up and casually says, "a bug, mom?" Kenny laughed so hard the first time he heard him do that, because it was obvious he had done it a lot. Which in turn means I must scream every time I see bugs or spiders. (You can also gather from this that we have A LOT of them around here!) It's not like I'm a 100% wuss, I do kill them myself. But like I was saying, I don't want Tyler to be like me because then he'll be made fun of the rest of his life. Little boys are supposed to be fascinated with and interested in bugs, not scared like me. So I checked out a book at the library called I Love Bugs and I read it to him every night until it was due back. I try not to scream when I see a spider crawling in our house. Also, if we're at the park and there's a big bee or wasp flying around I tell him that he's ok, and that it won't get him. (Have I crossed the line there and made myself a liar? I don't know.) I'm just hoping that Ty will pick up the things I say about bugs, not the things I do; otherwise he's doomed!

It's possible that I apply this rule to parenting far too often. For example, swimming at the lake. I am really not a fan of yucky lake water and swimming/walking where I have no idea what's under my feet or swimming around me. I don't let Ty in on that secret though. I tell him that it's fun and he's just fine, etc. Or when he drops food outside and I tell him it's still good to eat. I totally wouldn't eat it. And if he yells at me I make him go sit in his room for a 2 minute timeout, but nobody makes me sit in timeout when I yell. Perhaps I should change my hypocritical ways...but not with the bugs.

Remember Who You Are

This morning after breakfast, Tyler wanted me to help him down off of the chair. He has given up the high chair because it is now Brynlee's to use, and our chairs and table are pretty tall. I told him that he was a big boy and that he could get down by himself. And he did.

He does that a lot lately--asks me to help him when he's very capable. Like with opening doors, going down a big flight of stairs, undressing, and getting off the tall chairs. But all I have to do, is patiently remind him that he is a big, strong boy and he can do it. That little reminder gives him the confidence to accomplish the task.

I think I'm the same way, because sometimes I just need a little reminder of who I am. I forget that I am a daughter of God, and what that really means. When I do remember, I am able to do so much more, and it gives me the confidence to accomplish what I need to. Remember who you are.

Mom Update

Last post I said my mom was in a car accident and that she was totally fine. Well it turns out the horrible headaches she was having was actually her brain bleeding. Yesterday morning (after not sleeping the entire night) my dad and another man from the ward gave her a blessing. Then she went into the doctor, after looking at her for a while, an ambulance took her downtown to another hospital in Houston that has a good neurological something or other unit. They ran a bunch of tests and scans and kept her overnight. Last night my dad texted us all after another CAT scan and said that she was doing much better and they could hardly see any more blood which is great.

This experience has made me more grateful for the health and accident-free lives we lead every day, and I realize how much I take that for granted. I know people all over have to deal with different injuries or sicknesses, or help their family members go through it and we are so blessed. She could have been so much more injured than she was, and it really is a miracle.
I also love that my dad is a worthy priesthood holder and can immediately call upon the Lord's power whenever it is needed. They are very encouraged that my mom will be just fine, and I am so so glad. It's hard to be away from her and my family while they go through all of this, but I'm sure they'll be taken care of.

Whitey Tighties

Oh I love these kids. I changed both of their diapers and didn't put their bottoms back on. Then we were sitting on the couch and realized they both had white shirts and diapers on so we hurried and snapped a few shots and I love them.

We've had a good week. I had a big super saturday activity for enrichment, combined with another ward. We've done a lot to prepare for it, and now it's over and I'm glad. It went pretty well. Brynlee did great with Kenny too, which I was worried about since she's been so difficult this past week. She does have 3 new teeth on the top though and she is so cute. She's got a little flirty personality. She always tilts her head to the side and flashes a sweet smile at everybody.

My mom got in a car wreck this morning on her way to stake conference. The van is destroyed but she is miraculously totally fine (minus a little whip lash and headache) and I'm so thankful she wasn't hurt, or killed. But it really made me think about life and how quickly it could be taken. It only takes one time of going out on the road. You never know when something's going to happen, and it's pretty crazy how fragile our time is here on this earth. Some lady just ran a red light and that's all it takes. One person's small decision could lead to a tragedy for so many people. Just got me thinkin.

Anyway, not a whole lot to say. Life is good.

I would suggest not coming over here

...lest you catch some of the bad luck we've been having lately. Ever since we got back things have been breaking down on us. Our disposal isn't working, the A/C went out (but that was only gone for a day before we got it fixed thankfully), our garage door is partially broken. (It will go up when you push the button, but not down), Ty ran into our full length mirror and broke the outside trim on it, our kitchen light flickers on and off randomly, and that's all I can think of for now. I'm just hoping the roof stays in tact.

On top of all these fun things, Brynlee is teething like a mad woman. I definitely deserve the bad mother of the year award. I had no idea. I wasn't expecting more teeth for a few more months, I guess because that's how Tyler did it. She just barely got her two bottom ones in and now she's got 4 on the top!!! 3 of the 4 have just started to poke through. I feel bad because I was just thinking that she was just having some super attachment to mom disorders. I was frustrated that she wouldn't sleep through the night, or sleep for very long at all, and she even hated when Kenny took her. I finally saw those teeth yesterday and immediately gave her some motrin. Poor little girl. She grinds them together all the time like she's trying to figure out these new hard things in her mouth. I am glad they're all coming in close together though. Teething is no fun so we might as well just knock it out all in a few weeks right? Let's get it over with.

Despite these things, Tyler continues to go about happy and carefree. He has started making up songs about everything! He'll just start singing about what he wants to eat, the toys he's playing with, just everything. He's so much like Kenny it's amazing.

6 months

We didn't want to go to a studio so we thought we would take a chance and try to do Brynlees 6 month photos ourself. As you can see we are amateurs, it's a good thing that Bryn is so Stinkin cute!

Another Trip--Part 2--Edited

Last night we made it home safely. What a trip! I think we are definitely done travelling for a while. We did have a wonderful time though. I'm splitting the trip up into 2 parts because it really was like two different vacations, and plus I don't have any pictures from the first half of being in Utah. So here is our IDAHO section of the week. On Sunday after church, we said goodbye to my family, and my brother for the next 2 years, and drove up to Rockland to see Kenny's parents. It happened to be the day all the older siblings were coming to drop off their children for the week to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma. It worked for us so we got to see them without going to them. We did a lot of visiting and catching up. Luckily, Andy and Shalee, and Shariane got to stay for the rest of the time we were there. Here's what we did in pictures.

Brynlee being held by her sweet cousin, Riley.

Ty got some lovin from a few of his crazy girl cousins who were playing dress-ups :)

Grandpa Weston teaching Ty and some other grandkids how to harvest the peas in their garden. We ate those peas (and the carrots they picked) in a delicious soup for dinner that night.

Kenny took Ty and Josh over the electric fence, and the barbed wire fence, out to see the cows. They got pretty close and the boys thought it was way cool.

Brynlee's first 4-wheeler ride!

Ty swam in the big pool with the big kids, and the water was obviously very cold.

Brynlee swam with her cute cousin, Skyler, (Andy and Shalee's boy who's 2 mo. older) in the warmer baby pool. I guess you can't really call this swimming, but they did enjoy sitting in and splashing the water :).

Kenny and his brother Andy, of course couldn't help themselves and ended up throwing me and Shalee in the water...it was cold.

Kenny and Andy built a fire and helped all the kids roast marshmallows and make yummy s'mores.

Grandma Weston and Brynlee watching Ty jump on the trampoline.

The sunset was so beautiful while out making s'mores. Later that night, we put the kids to bed and Kenny and I, along with Andy and Shalee had sort of a double date. The boys cleaned out the pool and tried to put some hot water in it, and we went night swimming under all the beautiful stars that you can see so well out in the country. It was the boys' idea and they were so cute to try to be romantic. It was freezing cold though, so once we were sufficiently numb we went inside and had hot chocolate and popcorn and played Apples to Apples. We had a great time with Andy and Shalee. The day before we had gone into Pocatello (we took our babies, but left Tyler) and ate lunch at Craigo's, then saw the movie Angels and Demons. It was a really good movie, and I wish I would have read it first, but oh well. We always have so much fun with A&S and wish we still lived close to them like we did in Rexburg.

Brynlee got her second tooth in while we were there. It made for some pretty awful nights, but you're not really supposed to sleep on vacations anyway, right?

Wednesday morning we packed up and left around 9 to return our rental car and get to our flight in the SLC airport. We were lucky enough to get our seats arranged so that Kenny was in the row right behind us this time so he was actually able to help me. After such a very long, chaotic, and exhausting week, our kids welcomed the plane ride as quiet relief and both of them slept the majority of the time!! Nothing like a good week with cousins to wear them out. We are so glad to be back home, and back in our own beds. It makes a huge difference. Like right now, it's 9:30 a.m. and they are still asleep. Brynlee's woken up and eaten, then gone back down, but still. They are tired! Stay tuned for part 1--the wedding.

Edit:

I forgot to say a few things. First of all, I finished reading Jane Eyre yesterday and liked it so much I want to name my next daughter Jane, but Kenny's not too excited about that ha. And no, that's not an announcement.

Second, I played a Wii for my very first time in Rockland. I know I'm way behind the times. It was so dang fun I wish we had one!! My arms are sore from the boxing haha.

Third, Tyler fell off the swing and hurt his head and back while we were at the park in Idaho. Here's his back a few days later. Good thing he's so tough.

That's all.

Fleurs

The other night Kenny made an emergency run to the store, because we were almost out of diapers for both kids. Not a good way to go into Sunday. So he took Tyler with him because he was so wired and we knew he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. A while later they came back and Tyler comes running in holding this bouquet and says "Mom flowers! flowers!" He handed them to me and said, "Love you". It was so sweet! Kenny had been "coaching" him on the way home and it was so cute. I love when Kenny brings me home flowers, which he has done a few times since we actually have an income (so since we graduated ha). But it was even sweeter that he involved Tyler in it. He sets such a good example for Tyler on how to treat me, and Brynlee too. He never lets him get away with talking back to me, or yelling, etc. at me. He always makes sure Tyler includes me in his prayers, and does such a good job of showing Ty how important it is to respect and love women. I love that because I think it is so important, and it really does take starting at such a young age. My boys make me feel so loved. Et j'aime mes fleurs aussi.

Unrelated Updates

I am on a bad streak of blogging right now. We are pretty busy all the time and sometimes I just forget to get on here.


This picture was taken a few weeks ago of our new favorite toy. Kenny spoils me and bought me a really nice bike and this trailer to go on the back of it. I was getting a little sick of my Biggest Loser Cardio Workout DVD (after a few months of only one movie, it gets pretty old). So now I don't have to have my exercising done before the kids wake up, I can take them along!! The best part is you can take it off the bike, throw on the front wheel and it becomes a jogging stroller! I LOVE it! We use it every day at least once (except Sunday of course). I was afraid the kids wouldn't like it very much, but I was so wrong. They are such good sports and love riding along. I have since figured out a way to keep Bryn happier, for longer. I just loop some of her chewing toys onto her straps so she can let go of them and pick them up as she pleases, and they don't go far. It's awesome.
Our favorite time to go is when it's threatening rain. The sky gets all clouded over and a nice breeze picks up. I like that the best so the sun's not beating down on the kids and it's cooler to work out in. We go until it starts sprinkling rain and it's so fun.


This little nut makes me laugh so hard every day. He talks like crazy and says the funniest things. Sometimes it's more just the way he says it, not necessarily what he's saying that makes him so hilarious.

We sometimes call her "inspector gadget" because of her amazing ability to reach everything. She can sit up now and I'm so glad to have her at that stage. I will still put a boppy or a blanket around her because she still leans too far and plops over sometimes, but she gets better every day. She melts my heart all the time.

Another picture of our litle one tooth wonder. Tempting rolls huh? Yeah, we chew on her all the time :).

This is a random picture of a sign that's a few miles away from our house. I thought it was pretty cool that somebody bothered to put that up. In case you can't read it, it says "At this point you are 1/4 of the way around the world from Greenwich, England".

We've had some pretty neat missionary opportunities this past week, and it helps me to realize how much I take the gospel for granted. I really forget sometimes what we have, because I've never not known the truth. It's a good reminder though, and I love telling other people about the church. We are so happy to be living out here in what people call the "mission field" because it's helping us to become better people and realize how this gospel is so much bigger than just us, or our families. It's for the whole world--every one of His children.

I made some peach jam this week for the first time in my life. I've only ever made strawberry, but the peach turned out delicious. I've been SO good at trying new recipes for dinners and desserts this past month or two and Kenny loves my new-found boldness. Sometimes my courage needs to be tamed though, just ask Ty. I tried cutting his hair with only scissors this week. I usually use the clippers/buzzer thing. I did not know what I was getting myself into. It took two handfuls of Reeses Pieces candy and a drink of juice to keep him sitting still for that long; he was such a trooper. Let's just say it's a good thing that 2 year olds don't care how their hair looks. My only regret is that I tried it a week before my sister's wedding. :)

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Thursday and had a good time getting to know them. We also had our next-door neighbors over for scones on Sunday and that was a lot of fun. I sewed some school bags for a humanitarian project the bishop's wife is doing and the fabric was so ugly I almost felt bad sewing them haha. But it was donated to the cause by some generous fabric store, so you can't complain about free fabric right?

Well I'm sure I had more to say (I've always got more to say hah) but now the kids are up from their nap so my thoughts are very distracted and my time is up. We're going to Utah this week for Cami and Tyler's wedding and we are so excited to see everyone!!