Camping!

On Friday, we took our family camping for the first time. We loved it and decided it needed to be repeated, even though the Bear Warning sign kept Andrew a little too on the alert. :) The kids went to sleep well in the tent and Michael even took a nap in the tent on Saturday. We went hiking , made several fires, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores. Jeremy woke up early on Saturday and went out for more firewood and made us all breakfast. It was so fun to watch Jeremy teach the boys how to make a fire and put up a tent. The boys and I did some serious rock climbing where Andrew's shoe fell off and we saw several wild animals. We saw crazy chipmunks and Andrew kept trying to talk to them, several really brave and beautiful birds, Jacob saw a rabbit, the boys both saw different lizards, I went to the scary bathroom and had to search for courage to enter after watching a mouse scurry away. Then after the boys were all sleeping, Jeremy and I were sitting by the fire and we heard some rustling sounds. Jeremy shined the flashlight near the noise and we watched a skunk(!?!) casually walk by! Oh, the irony, because our bedtime story was Curious George Goes Camping, in which George meets a skunk, puts out a fire and takes a bath in tomato juice. Thankfully, the skunk is probably pretty used to having people around, so we had no need for any tomato juice.

It was nice to be surrounded by trees and the weather was beautiful. I ate way too many s'mores, but we all had a great time. Jeremy is really excited for when the boys can help carry the load. Poor guy, we all tried to help, but Jeremy carried the brunt of it all. He is a great outdoorsman. He makes me feel safe and taken care of.

Texas!

I just returned from the land of my birth (I was born in Houston a little more than 29 years ago) where I celebrated my birthday a couple of weeks late with my family there. I took a trip all by myself. It was a little surreal the whole time, I only had to take care of myself, no little boys! I missed them, but it was really nice to sleep in! I took advantage of the no children situation I was in and tried to do all the things I usually had to get a babysitter for. I had my hair done, I went to lunch and shopping with Alexa (it was so fun to catch up and see her beautiful house and feel so at home with her), I went to the temple, went to Time Out for Women on Friday night and all day Saturday. We went out to great restaurants where I didn't even have to look at the kids menu or keep little boys in their chairs. I stayed up late talking with Donna, I enjoyed all the green grass and plants that Arizona doesn't have (hooray for bluebonnets!). I loved spending time with my Mama and my sisters. I ate Texas BBQ and even took some home to Jeremy. I read two books. It was a wonderful trip. 

Before I left, I tried to prepare my boys. Jacob told me in a very determined voice, We are coming with you! When I told him that I only had one plane ticket, he said, "Okay, then we will be the men who fly the plane!" Jacob was very brave when I left, but Andrew and Michael were sad. I talked to them on the phone a couple times and via the web cam once. They had a great time without me. :) I came home to a welcome home banner made up of drawings from each of my boys and beautiful tulips. I am happy to be home and ready to be a even better wife and mother, completely rejuvenated.  Michael is not sure what to think. He didn't want me to put him to bed last night. He is really confused. I think a little mad at me.  I think our relationship will recover. :)

Change

                                                                                                                                              I have just been looking at my children and thinking how much they have grown.  And then they will do or say something that seems so grown up.  A trip down memory lane was in order. The boys and  I watched as they slowly grew up in iPhoto. And we came across these pictures of Michael's first real bath right after we took some other bath pictures. It has been 20 months and looked at how much they have changed! 

Tax Return

Just a cute picture

After

Before ( with a crazy Andrew)

I think our television could sense the extra money in the form of our tax return that was now resting comfortably in our savings account.  Our bank account was not quite accustomed to having so much there. So, our television decided to take action and turn colorblind or make us all feel colorblind. The color just went out. Jeremy said that it didn't look all that different to him.  We say thank you to Costco for giving us a good deal and broadening our viewing pleasure.

This was the first TV Jeremy and I have ever bought. Our first TV was a gift from Bob and Laura - they had decided they didn't want a TV, so they gave us the one that was in the house. :)

Then we inherited the one that just decided it wanted to think in black and white when Grandma died. So, it was kinda fun to buy one together. We really like it. I know that it is a little funny to post about this. :)

Asia Elizabeth Ball Lowe

Happy Birthday, Asia! I love this picture of Asia and Andrew that we took when we were living in Austin.  I hope you have a wonderful year, Asia,  it should be an eventful one! I miss you and wish we lived closer together and could see each other more often. I am grateful that you are my sister and my friend.  I am still waiting to hear from Ben about our spa trip! :)

Memories of Asia:

1. Asia used to say she was older than me because her birthday is four days before mine, only I was born three years before. :)

2. When my family was living in Germany, we starting calling her Little Miss Sunshine, hoping it might wear off on her attitude.

3. She went to a dance in Heidelberg castle. Isn't that romantic?

4. She cooked for her own wedding reception.

5. She once etched my name in the window sill with a screwdriver, hoping I would be the one to get in trouble for it.

6. She studied Art at Texas Tech.

7. She is the only one of us kids that didn't go to BYU.

8. She has beautiful blond hair and blue eyes.

9. She is so fun.

10. She took care of my boys when I was in the hospital after Michael was born.

11. She is very generous - my boys love getting presents from her.

12. She loves my boys.

13. When I was a senior and she was a freshman, it was fun to have her in Drama with me.

14. She is a great scrapbooker, I love the pages she has done for me.

15. I love going shopping with her.

16. She was born in Singapore and will maybe have her baby in a foreign country, too.

17. She made and decorated my wedding cake - it was chocolate.

18. When we were in Europe, we (mostly me) had eaten so much chocolate and I made her exercise with me, doing lunges, etc in the hotel hallways. We tried to look inconspicuous  every time we saw someone. 

19. I made her go on a date with me once when she was visiting me in Utah, my date (the guy) wasn't too thrilled. But, she made it so much better for me! 

20. She has a beautiful daughter.

21. She has visited me everywhere I have lived, except for Arizona. What's the deal, As?

22. She helped me go buy a pregnancy test when I thought I was pregnant with Jacob. ( I was )

23. She is so brave to drive across the country all by herself to see her husband before he left for Iraq.

24. She has always been one of my best friends.

25. She used to bite me as a kid. 

26. She used to share a bedroom with me and once we doing running somersaults onto the bed and we put a hole in the wall.

Happy 26th birthday!

My Valentines

Yesterday, Andrew and Jacob told me I was a princess.  I thought it was pretty cute.  I will be a princess surrounded by my princes.  Last night, Andrew and Jacob were changing into their pajamas and were taking turns using the bathroom before bed. Andrew came running out of the bathroom completely naked and Jacob was running into the bathroom wearing only underwear and they ran right into each other. I thought it was so funny. For some reason, it warmed my heart, like I was really experiencing motherhood. I know that sounds silly, but watching the looks on their faces and how they literally take life at a run, I feel lucky that I am their mother.

Jacob slept on the top bunk last night for the first time and I am surprised regularly that he is growing up and ready to be a big boy.  Michael loves Nursery as long as he can see me. Hopefully, he will get used to it and be ready to be in there alone once he is walking.

Shark Teeth

What a great morning picture! 

A little while ago, Andrew told me a new tooth was coming in.  Come to find out, his new tooth was coming in behind one of his baby teeth. It worried me a bit that we would need to get the baby tooth pulled and that his tooth would stay back there. But, I looked it up online - hooray for the internet - and found that it is fairly common ( they called them shark teeth). That the tooth will usually come out on its own or if we had to, it wouldn't be a big deal to pull it. And that the tooth typically moves to the spot it ought to be in. That baby tooth was a little loose, so we worked on it to loosen it a bit more.  Andrew was determined to get it out. He had a hard time going to sleep, he really wanted something to put under his pillow for the tooth fairy.  So, two days later when I picked him up from school, he smiled really big to show me his new smile - without one of his teeth!  They said he was wiggling it and it came flying out and one of the aides caught it. :) They put it in a cute little treasure chest and sent it home with him. I was a little sad that I wasn't there when he lost his first tooth. Oh, well. Anticipating the tooth fairy made getting to sleep a bit harder than usual, but he put the tooth in an envelope under his pillow. And woke up a dollar richer. :) He was so excited to go buy a toy with his money. My baby is growing up! The big tooth is starting to move up to the right position. Hopefully, all the other teeth come in the right way! But, for now he is our little shark.