Biker Family

So we've pretty much been wanting to get a motorcycle since we were dating and Craig took me for a ride on his dad's, but of course we never have because of babies, and bills, and everything else that comes up when you have a family. Anyway, after Craig started this job we started talking about it again because he has such a long commute. The gas savings alone would make a bike worthwhile, (I love how easy it is to justify something you want...) So at the end of last summer Craig started talking to a guy at work about how he wanted to buy a bike, and found out that the guy had one that he hardly ever rode. He told Craig he would sell it to him for a really good price. So we talked about it and decided to wait since it was about to get cold. Anyways, as it started to warm up we decided that now was the time. So Craig asked the guy about the bike, and he still had it and was still willing to sell it! So, Friday afternoon we drove up to Bountiful to look at the bike. A few hours later, we were driving home with me and the kids in the car, and Craig on the motorcycle in front of us. The poor guy was freezing all the way home because by that time it was about 9:30 at night and 45 degrees outside, Brrrrr. Luckily it was pretty sunny on Saturday and Craig got to take it for a spin around the neighborhood a few times. Not so luckily we went to check the weather this week to see if he could ride to work and found out there was a severe weather alert for today (too much snow) and cold and rain for the rest of the week. Bummer. Oh well we're still totally stoked about our new motorcycle, and the best part is, it's the most awesome color red! Anyone who has seen my house knows I'm slightly obsessed with the color. So of course I wanted to get it because of the way it looked , Craig wanted to get it because it ran well, silly boy. I guess we're a biker family now.

Congratulations Craig!!!

I just wanted to congratulate Craig on receiving the ATK A3 award for his analytical work on the Minuteman missile A3S Nozzle, where he led the design team and "performed the task quickly and accurately, saving the government a tremendous amount of effort." Few people are awarded this honor, especially so early in their career, and we are so proud of our little rocket scientist(and yes, he is a real life rocket scientist)! Since I am pretty sure he is WAY too humble to ever tell anyone about this, I thought I would announce it for him! Leave him some love...

Overcoming Fear!

Besides jumping out of an airplane, there's only one kind of diving I swore I would never do, SCUBA. It pretty much combines all of my biggest fears. 1. Not being able to breath correctly, and duh, breathing under water is NOT natural, and also pretty claustrophobic at first, which is also my number 2. claustrophobia. 3.Something happening to me and not being able to raise my kids, I was pretty sure that scuba diving was extremely dangerous, and 4. Sharks. I know this sounds immature, but JAWS still scares the crap out of me. Anyway, so I swore I would never learn to Scuba dive. Then of course I'm married to Craig who has always wanted to certify. The thing is, for the first 4 years of our marriage, I had this kind of stubborn, obstinate, attitude towards it, and basically told Craig that he might as well not bother, I was never going to change my mind. He was free to do it himself, I was out. But here's the thing, he wouldn't do it without me. "Why would I want to go do something without you, that I know we will never be able to do together? It's not fun for me if you are not there." He would say to me. Dang it, he is perfect. So that got me thinking. If he was willing to give up something that he wanted so badly just to be with me, shouldn't I be willing to at least give it a shot? I wanted him to know that I loved him more than I loved my fear. Now I know this sounds weird, but I really do believe that we love our fears. They provide a safe place for us. They are familiar, and they give us permission not to push ourselves. We tell ourselves of course I can't climb that ladder, I have a fear of heights, of course I can't sing in front of all these people, I get stage fright, and for me, of course I can't go diving, I have a fear of being eaten alive. But the truth is, that most of those things aren't really as scary as we think they will be. I know, because on Friday morning we went and did our first open water dive. I have to tell you, I was terrified. I could hardly keep myself from shaking for the first five minutes. I was so grateful that I had Craig right next to me to keep me calm and be my anchor (no pun intended) and then the most amazing thing happened. I started to calm down, and relax and then I realized that I loved it. It was the most incredible sensation, probably the closest I'll ever come to being an astronaut, or flying. On the second dive I did even better, and that was when Craig had a little trouble, he couldn't get his ears to clear, and he started having a little pain, I could tell he was starting to get anxious, but we just stuck together and got through it, and as we descended I was so grateful that he didn't have to be there going through this kind of scary, kind of challenging thing alone. Isn't that what marriage is all about? When we ended our dives, I felt so empowered, overcoming a fear does wonders for your self-esteem, let me tell you. I feel like a big tough girl! And I realized that diving is like most other things, if you take the proper steps and do it carefully, it's not really that scary. The only thing to fear, is fear itself. I'm so glad I made myself try this. If I hadn't I would never have known how much I love it. Living a safe small life never got anyone anywhere. Go for the gusto!

last week, in a nutshell

It's kind of been a crazy week, surprise surprise, so I haven't really posted anything, although there were some very interesting moments. So here's the not so "reader's digest" version of last week:

MONDAY:

Started potty training Carter, full on no more diapers, big boy underwear and all. Carter's kind of a strange kid and even though I put him on the potty every 20 minutes and he went every time, he still managed to pee and poop his pants 3 times. Enough for one day, I thought, so he finished out the day in a diaper. This was only further cemented by the fact that my junkie 2nd hand dryer quit working Monday afternoon. Why does that always happen when you've got your last 2 wet loads, so you end up with gross mildew clothes? Disgusting.

TUESDAY:

I started Ethan on rice cereal:-( I'm not ready for my baby to not be completely dependent on me as his food source. But, unfortunately after 4 days of screaming I realized that his little tummy might not quite be ready for it, so darn it we are just going to have to wait a few more weeks...

WEDNESDAY:

Hannah does school, and I have a group I go to with some of the other women in the ward called, the 12 week challenge program, not to be confused with 12 steps, very different... I am not an alcoholic. It's all about laying the correct foundation for success, kind of one of those "take control of your life" things and I love it! If any one's interested it's written by Sidne O'Reilly.

THURSDAY:

I went to a mid-week kick boxing class that my friend Lori teaches, and they call it "kick" boxing for a reason, because it totally kicked my booty. I thought I was in shape because I work out everyday, boy was I wrong. Then I spent the rest of the day running back and forth between my friend Miranda's house and my own because our dinosaur of a computer doesn't have a DVD drive and I needed to load a program that was on a DVD. So I would go to her house, load half the program on our jump drive then run back to mine, unload it, then go back... etc, etc. It was a mess. This was all in preparation for what we did Thursday night, we started our open water diver certification course! My mom came down and watched all three kids and we spent all evening 5-11:30 (yikes) on our first 3 classes. Thanks, mom.

FRIDAY

Especially since she watched all three kids again when we did our first 2 open water dives. Craig took Friday off and we drove up by Heber City to this crater, that's kind of like a cavern filled with water, and it's nice and toasty... 93deg. it was like diving in bath water. I loved it! We dove down 40 feet so it was pretty intense, and very cool. We had to get up at 6 am to be there by 8, so we were pretty dead on our feet since we didn't make it to bed till 2am, but we had a blast! Thanks again, Mom, for watching the kids.

SATURDAY:

We spent the day doing all sorts of random "get the house in order" stuff in the morning and Craig fixed the dryer... again, props to Craig. We

finished up the Easter shopping in the afternoon, spent the evening coloring our eggs, and the

night setting up the baskets and watching "I AM LEGEND" oooohhhh creepy!

SUNDAY: Happy Easter!

We got up and did our little Easter egg hunt around the family room (still too chilly for outside) and then got ready and went to church. Hannah looked like a little angel in her blue Easter dress, it went so pretty with her blue eyes!

So that was our week, for better or for worse.

Craig

So I just feel like posting a little something about Craig, because he proved again this weekend that he is the world's best man. He took Hannah, Carter, and Matty to the movies to see "Horton hears a Who" on Friday night so I could go out and do my book club with my mom and sisters. Then on Saturday, he watched the kids again so I could go and get a pedicure with Tashi and Heather, and go shopping. Oh, and he also took Matt to the movies again. But that's not the only reason I want to blog about him. Mostly I would feel like I am very ungrateful if I didn't acknowledge the kind of man I married. This might sound corny, but I can't help myself, I'm still so in love with him. The first time I saw Craig, he was standing at my doorstep in college, looking right at me with his beautiful blue eyes, and I literally felt a shiver go down my spine. He never looked away from my eyes, and I was so drawn to him, that I had to look away after a minute because I was starting to turn red. That was the first thing I fell in love with. He was so genuine and confident. I had never met anyone with that much conviction in their eyes. And that's probably how I would describe him, conviction. He is so good. I don't quite know how else to say it. I've never met someone with so much integrity. He never tries to get away with something just because no body's looking, he always does the most right thing in every situation. He never thinks of himself first. He always takes care of me, the kids, his calling, his job, before he thinks of himself and there usually isn't much time left for that. I always wanted the opportunity to stay home with my children and I am so grateful that he works so hard to make that possible. Craig makes me laugh, he is so light-hearted by nature. I love that about him, it's so hard to get that boy down. He's also kind of like a monkey, if there is something to climb on he's all over it. I don't know why, but I love this. I think it's kind of sexy the way he can climb just about anything. It's probably because he's got the most massive muscles in his arms, which is also sexy. I feel so protected by him, the boy is ripped, no one is messing with us. Mostly, though, Craig is perfect for me. We are such a perfect match sometimes it's almost scary. He's almost always thinking the same thing as me, half the time we finish each others sentences. Sometimes all I have to do is look at him, and I know he understands me. Emily Bronte once wrote, "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same..." that's how I feel about Craig. If I looked my whole life I'd never find anyone better suited for me, I'd never find anyone who understands me the way he does, I'd never find someone I'd want more. I love him more now than I did when we got married, I'm always surprised when I discover another facet of his personality that I didn't know existed. I told my roommate long before we started dating that I was going to marry Craig, and I'm so glad I was right.

Surprise, Surprise

So it we partied this weekend at my parents house. My sis Meghan threw a surprise party for her husband Ashton, and was stoked because he was actually surprised. We had a blast. I love hanging out with my family. I think I've got the world's coolest sisters! I thought I would post a few pictures.



Only Matt could fall asleep in the middle of a party.

Book Club

On Friday night I got to go out with my mom and sisters for our book club meeting. Now normally, I'm not a "girls night out" kind of person, I just like being around Craig too much, but if it's my sisters, that's a different story. So we went out to talk about our January book, pretty sad since it's half way through March, it's nearly impossible to coordinate with 4 or 5 people's schedules. So we went out for Sushi, and talked about the mediocre book we read. So I'll address both issues. Sushi: Now I have been told (of course by my sisters and cousins) that sushi grows on you. This was only my second time eating it, and I must say they are correct. The first time I had it, it was so shockingly different than anything else I'd ever eaten, that I had a hard time enjoying it. This time, I loved it! I thought it was so good I probably ate way way more than I should have, but Meghan's right, it's addicting. If there's anyone out there whose tried Sushi and doesn't like it... I suggest you give it a second go around, you might just like it this time. Next, our book. The Guardian, by Nicholas Sparks: it was an okay book, kind of creeping, kind of forgettable. But, what we ended up talking about was Twilight. Of course. I don't know what has happened to all of us. There is something about that set of books. It's like you can't get over them. We were all talking about how we mourned when we finished the 3rd book. We just weren't ready to let go of Edward and Bella. So there we all were sitting in the middle of a tiny, cramped sushi joint ranting and raving about how perfect Edward is, how we imagined Alice looking, how we can't stand how manipulative Jacob is, and how many hours are left until the fourth book comes out. Sick, a bunch of grown women sitting around obsessing over a teenage Vampire love drama. We even rushed to Tashi's house after dinner so I could show them all the pictures of the Cullen family from the upcoming movie on Stephenie Meyer's web site. I know, we're pathetic...

ten years

I didn't think that I was going to post anything about this today, but I can't seem to stop myself. For some odd reason it doesn't matter how many years go by, you never forget the worst day of your life. I'm lucky though, because mine had a good end result, but still every March 13th I feel a little sick to my stomach, a little bit of a sinking feeling when I think about how close we came to losing Matty. It's so bizarre how well I remember almost every detail of that day. It was Friday the 13th, and we had a rally at school, I remember being nervous that day because elections were the next Monday. I was running for Student Council. After school, Tashi and I were driving home when she got a page (remember pagers?) from my dad saying come home now. We thought we were in trouble but didn't know why. When we got home my dad told us to sit on the couch, and we had to wait for Tarah and Meghan to get off the bus and get home before he would tell us what was going on. I didn't understand that at the time, but now I realize the he didn't want two 13 year olds walking in on a scene of hysteria. My mom and Matt weren't home, Matt had had pneumonia for a few weeks, so we knew something might be wrong, but we just thought maybe it had gotten worse. Those 10 minutes waiting for the girls to get home were some of the longest of my life. Then my dad told us and it was like time stopped. I never understood the phrase "the room was spinning" until that moment. He told us that my mom had taken Matt to the doctor that day and that they thought he had cancer, but they weren't sure. Leukemia. That was it, and then he had to leave. We spent the rest of the night in some kind of trance like state, being fed pizza and smoothies by one of our neighbors that we barely knew, until my dad called to confirm what we already knew. That's when the real hysterics started, and then I talked to Rachel Crandall on the phone, and she did something that I will never forget. She sat on the phone and cried with me for about a half an hour. And I don't mean one small tear. She balled like a baby right along with me. There was nothing that anyone else could have done that would have done more for me. I finally understood what it meant to mourn with those that mourn. I will always be grateful to her for being there for me and understanding in a way that I don't think anyone else could. So if you read this Rachel I just want to thank you for that beautiful act of kindness, I don't even know if you remember, but I want you to know that I do. And I'm thankful to the Lord, for letting us keep Matty longer, and for giving us that trial, it made our entire family better, and stronger. These experiences don't leave us. They are woven into the fabric of our lives, they change who we are, make us something different, something more. The Lord loves us, and for that reason, he sends us through the refiners fire. I love you, Matty. Happy Anniversary.

ABC's

A-Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Craig is my best everything, and my sisters
C-Cake or Pie: Always pie. I'm not in love with cake...maybe once a year, but I love pie, we always have birthday pie instead of cake.
D-Day of Choice: Friday, it means the week is over and I get two whole days with Craig.
E- Essential Item: chapstick without a doubt, I'm cronically chapped, and no Craig, it's not just in my head.
F- Favorite Color: it changes, but I love red, I have red in almost every room of my house.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: neither, I hate both.
H- Hometown: well this is complicated: I'm from California, and still consider that my hometown, where I grew up, but none of my family lives there now, so I never go back. Right now I live in Eagle Mountain, Utah, but I don't really consider it my hometown, more like a stop on my life road.
I- Indulgence(s): hot chocolate, um pie, again, and giving myself a manicure, I've become obsessed with this lately. I find it very relaxing to just sit back and paint my nails.
J- January or July: tough, January is my birthday month, so that's fun. But I love July for the summer!
K-Kids: Three, yikes. Hannah is 31/2, Carter is 2 1/2 and Ethan is almost 5 months. I know, I can't control myself.
L-Life is incomplete without: The gospel, Craig, my babies, and mom.
M- Marriage Date: August 22, 2003
N- Number of Siblings:4 sisters, and 1 brother
O- Oranges or Apples: Definitely oranges, apples are okay, but they dry my mouth out. I love a good juicey orange, as long as Craig peels it for me, he is the master peeler, he can get all the gross white stuff off.
P- Phobias or Fears: sharks, ants, something happening to Craig or my kids, and I am very claustrophobic.
Q- Quote: what ere thou art, act well thy part.
R- Reason To Smile: Craig, I married the world's greatest man... life is good.
S- Season: Summer is fun, but I love the fall, I like that going back to school feeling in the air.
T- Tag Six: Meghan, Tracy, Darla, Kaisa, Marisa, and Julie.
U- Unknown Fact About Me: My greatest dream is to write a book... someday.
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Um, I'm a steak and potatoes kind of girl.
W- Worst Habit: staying up way too late, reading, watching a movie, blogging. It's a terrible habit.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds!!! I've had quite a few of them and they always rock!
Y- Your Favorite Food: artichokes, pasta, broccoli I know it sounds weird, and milkshakes. i'm a real health nut, hehe.
Z- Zippers or Zebras:Zebras I can live without, but I HATE zippers, ever since I zipped my skin up in my jamies when I was 5, to the time my zipper broke on my backpack and dumped all my stuff out on the sidewalk in 4th grade, I've had zipper issues. They never work right, they always break and then what ever they broke on is completely usless and has to be thrown away!
Thanks Stace, that was fun.

Technical Problems

Sunday night Craig and I were doing some stuff online, and all the sudden the internet stopped working. Oh well, we thought, we'll just finish up in the morning. Uh, ah. In the morning it still wasn't working so I called the phone company to tell them that our DSL was down. They said they would send someone out as soon as possible. Yeah, okay. So I'm waiting at home all day on Monday, I didn't even take the kids to the park(and it was a beautiful day), just in case they came by to fix it. Guess what, they didn't. So Tuesday, I call again. Oh yes, they say, for sure someone will be there today to fix it, it never takes more than two days for someone to come by and fix it. So once again, I wait at home, and once again, no one shows. Today, I call again and get the same load of crud from the phone company, and Craig decided enough was enough. So he clouded up and rained all over the phone company, and guess what happened, they showed up ten minutes later to fix our internet. Hmmmm. I hate being a girl, no one takes you seriously. Craig said that I just needed to get a little aggressive with them, I told him I thought I was being aggressive. I even tried to use my "I'm a big angry adult" voice. But, for some reason I couldn't adequately intimidate them into actually fixing the problem. Well anyways, we're back up and running now! yippee! I swear I'm an internet alcoholic or something. I was totally going through withdrawals for the last 4 days! Plus, it doesn't help that we pay all our bills and do all of our banking online, so it was totally stressful to not get on and take care of business. You never know how much you depend on something until it's not working. Anyways, I'm happy to be up and running again.

Sunny Days

Well, the sun finally showed it's face here in Utah. Yesterday was a balmy 50 degrees, haha... so we had to take a little excursion to the park. The kids loved it. I was a little cold the whole time, but they didn't seem to notice. It was like they had never been outside before... well I guess it's been like 5 months since we've really been able to play outside. Sick. So here are some pics.

I couldn't resist this one, Hannah's face is classic, she even said, "Mom, I look kinda funny there!"

TV Snob

I've never really been a TV person, and (sadly) I've always kind of prided myself about this. I guess I'm a little bit of a TV snob. Well, now I'm humble. I'm totally addicted to American Idol, which by the way, I have been bagging on for about 6 years now. What's even worse is that Craig is totally addicted too. We actually plan our whole evening around when our "show" is on. Sick. The other night Craig got home late for work and seriously sprinted up the stair to see who was getting voted off. I can't believe that I'm even writing this... But I LOVE IT! My favorite part is to listen to Simon bag on everyone. "That was absolutely terrible, I thought it was completely predictable, The vocals were pathetic, etc. , etc." I can't get enough of that guy. Craig was totally bagging on me the other night because I voted for David Archuleta like 8 times. I love this kid! And he sang a John Lennon song, so automatically he's a favorite. So, now you can all say your a witness to the fall of a total TV snob.

Can't stand this kid------->

Love this kid-------->

Um, enough said.

Hannah, Carter, and Ethan

So I realized that I really haven't been posting any pictures of the kiddos lately and they change so quickly that it is scary. So here is every random pictureand some quick info. about what my little munchins are up to.

Quick facts on Ethan: he is absolutely my sweetheart. The kid has the cheeriest diposition I've ever seen. And yes, I know I'm ripping off Mary Poppins, but I can't help it, this kid just makes me happy. Also please notice the michilin man thighs... he's a porker. The fire chief jammies are in honor of papa, love you Dad. He's already four months old, sad, I wish they could just stay little.. they get big way too fast. He loves to suck on his thumb/hand, laugh (which is totally infectious), eat (obviously) and he absolutely adores Hannah. Who, by the way is also in love with him, and is such a good helper. He's rolling over, since two months, and starting to act interested in sitting up.















Quick facts on Carter: Is all boy, and I mean it. He's obsessed with horses, as always, and loves to play rough. His new favorite thing to do is tackle Hannah and then lay on her, totally pinning her to the ground, gotta love boys. Got extremely obsessed with leftover Valentines balloons and snuck one into bed one night, which for Carter is not out of the ordinary... he's always got a little collection of toys and books in bed with him. He is NOT morning person, as you can see, although for some insane reason his little head pops off the pillow at 5:30 am every single morning. He's FINALLY really starting to talk, yeah, that's at 2 1/2, we just call him our strong silent type, and he's got one of the meanest glares I've ever seen. That kid can stare you down for ten minutes straight without cracking a smile. But, he's also quite the teez. As my mom put it: "Carter has many moods!" But we love our little cowboy, and the terrible 2's only last a year... which brings me to...



















Hannah: Oh what can I say? Hannah was in the terrible 2's for like 2 years, starting at about 18 months and ending at 3 1/2. But, I love that little stinker so much. She is such a crack up. Her favorite frase right now is saying "or something" after just about everything. She goes to pre-school and LOVES it. She can spell her name, and can almost write it all by her self. She loves to help me cook and is slightly obsessive about this. Every time I go in the kitchen to do anything, even pour a bowl of cereal, she runs in asking, "can I please help, Mommy?" and b-line's it right to the drawer where I keep the apron I made for her and starts putting it on. How can I say no to that? She loves to read, loves babies, but most of all she LOVES princesses. Which is fitting because she is totally my little princess!

The rest of these are just random pictures. The first one was just one day when they were all three laying on the floor in our room watching "An American Tale" and it was so cute I couldn't stop myself from taking a picture. I'm sure you notice the lovely bum shots, in the second one. This is a constant problem in our household, my kids pants DO NOT stay up and so we constantly have plumber's crack. I tightened the little waist adjuster straps so tight that they were digging into Hannah's skin and she was telling me that her pants where hurting her, and yet her bum was still hanging out! Oh well, what do you do.And, of course I saved the best for last... Grandma! My kids are seriously in love with my angel mother.. which isn't really that surprising. Everyone that has ever met my mom is in love with her, she's pure sugar. So this is the kids helping Grandma make her famous cinnimon rolls. Grandma Nora: "Practically perfect in every way."

Poop

I love my babies. Can I just say this. I have been so unbelievably overwhelmed these last four months since Ethan was born, and I must be honest, I haven't been the world's greatest mother. But, my sweet, rambunctious, hilarious, wonderful children have been so patient with me. No matter how grumpy I am, they just keep being sweet, keep loving me. I definitely don't deserve them, but I love them. So, I have to share what my little cowboy Carter did this morning. Craig and I were asleep in bed (it was about 5am, Carter's an extremely early riser, unfortunately for me) and Carter comes in, Craig told him it was still night time and to go back to bed, so he leaves for, oh, 5 minutes. When he comes back in he's buck naked, yep that's right, no diaper even, and he's holding a new diaper saying, "I poopy, new diaper, mommy!" The smell radiating from his bum, confirmed what he had so eloquently told me, uh oh, what's he gotten it on. But here's the clincher, it got on nothing! Another miraculous escape from Carter's wild poop antics! I love this kid! P.S. Does anyone have any good tips on how to potty train a little boy...I'm at a loss.