A new year

I can't believe it's already time to say goodbye to another year! I am positive the older you get, the faster the years go by. So, I guess it's time to make some New Years resolutions...but first, I have to look back at where the time went in 2009...

Do u remember when we were expecting the year 2000, and thought the world was gonna end? All the computers were supposed to crash, we were gonna lose everything, it was insane (of course 200 came in like any other year). But can you believe that's been 10 years ago? I was still in High School then, and my hubby was finishing up his senior year. Also, 10 years ago today, Erek and I celebrated our first New Years Eve together as a couple. We officially started dating a couple days before Christmas. Has it really been 10 years? WOW!!!

Ok, so here is a recap of 2009. Sorry, no pics, lost my camera...again :)

January...We went to the Draper Temple open house, I found a Tambi Shrine on the internet, Braedyn became a CTR in Primary, and Erek and I went to see Jeff Dunham live

February...My first MS attack of the year, started intense physical therapy. I learned a few "valuable life lessons". I learned I am a pessimist, and a wimp.

March...I figured out how to change my blog to look a little more entertaining. I lost my voice. Learned how to do wheelies in my wheelchair, and got a wheelchair ramp installed in my garage. I graduated from wheelchair to walker. And my baby got his first "it's spring" injury. And Brock entered nursery

April...we celebrated easter, and I was finally walking on my own again.

May...Erek and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary, I got glasses...ick! and we found out Brock has mild autism.

June...Erek shaved his facial hair with fire, I found my lost camera. My big brother got married. and, We celebrated Braedyn's 5th birthday.

July....Independence day, I graduated Physical Therapy!!!! and a family of 4 moved into our basement.

August...Erek turned 28. Braedyn lost his first tooth, started karate, and entered Kindergarten.

September...not really sure what happened this month...

October...Brock turned 2, and had no problem adjusting to the "terrible twos" stage. We took our first big family vacation to Arizona.

November...I turned 27, and was told by my 5-year-old I am replaceable with a visit to the mommy store.

December...of course, Christmas!!!

I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us! :D

There's no place like home

You know how when you're young, and particularly a teenager, you always say "I can't wait till I'm old enough to move out of this place!"? Or maybe I'm the only one who did this. And you just wish you could grow up faster so you can move out and no longer have to get your parents permission for everything. Then you move out as soon as possible and start a new life. You get married, buy a new house, make it a home for your children, and all the bills and stress start coming.

When that point comes, it is so nice to have a home to go back to. My parents have lived in the same house for over 30 years, it's the house all us kids (except the oldest) were born and raised in. It is definitely home, and I love it! When I come home all my worries go away. I have my mommy to talk to about all my problems, she listens, and tells me what I should do (which I love by the way, cuz she is so smart!). And I get to be here for 3 1/2 days for Christmas. I am LOVING it!

Now I just hope my boys will feel like they have a home they love with lots of memories when they grow up, get married, and have a family of their own.

The Mommy Store

As you may or may not know, Wednesday's are kind of fun for our little family. Wednesday nights are my late nights at work (I work until 8pm). So, after the boys wake up from their nap at 3, we make the trip up to West Jordan so I have someone to watch my 2 crazy boys while I work. Today was a little different, because of Erek's annual review (which went great by the way). So, he took Brock to my parents house on his way there this morning, and all I had was Braedyn to take care of once he was out of school. Basically, I just had to give him lunch, and he did the rest (ate, and went down for his nap). Just before naptime he said "is today your late night mommy?" I said "yeah, it is" in a kind of bummed out voice, cuz I don't get to play with my boys at all on Wednesday's, so it's really hard. He said "YAY!!!! that means we get to go play with Grandma! Okay, good night". So, I'm beginning to think my boys actually look forward to Wednesdays.

When 3:00 came around, Braedyn woke up, got ready to leave, grabbed his snack, and was waiting in the car before I could even unplug my laptop. I drive the speed limit, and attempt to hit every light red on my way to West Jordan, to give us more time to chat. Today, I ended up behind a cop the WHOLE way! Braedyn randomly decided he wanted to say Tigger 10 times, and wanted me to hold up my fingers to count. I told him I had to keep my hands on the wheel or we might drive all crazy and crash. He said "And then the cop will take you away forever, and lock you in a cage". I said "Maybe". He responded with "Then I won't have a mommy anymore". I said "well, if they took me away, then nope you wouldn't" Thinking that was such a sweet response and he loves me so much. Until he said "That's ok, then I'll just go to the mommy store and get a new mommy". I was in a little bit of shock at this response, I just said "There is no such thing as a mommy store". Well, apparently I was wrong, he informed me "Yes there is, Wal Mart"

2 year olds

What can I say about 2 year olds. I don't know if boys are easier at age 2 than girls (I've heard boys are easier to raise than girls) If boys are easier, I feel SOOO sorry for all the mothers of 2 year old girls. No wonder I have never been blessed with a girl ;). Today was definitely a "Terrible Twos" day. It was one of those days where I was surprised I had made it through the terrible twos with another boy already. It was like a completely new experience for me. I am certain Braedyn was easier at age 2. I'm not sure if it's because Braedyn spent most of his day driving his daycare teacher insane, so by the time he got to me he had all his naughtiness out of him, or if I just don't remember (I never have claimed to have a good memory).

To start the day off, the people living with us had made a haunted Gingerbread House. It had been sitting on the bar since Saturday, and all the kids knew don't touch it. So, this morning, Brock went in and ate almost all the candy corn off the house. I can't really say I blame him. I mean, you put that much candy in the reach of a 2 year old, it's bound to get eaten. He also spent most the morning running crazy, and making all sorts of noise (like 2 year olds do).

After nap, it got even better. My boys get snack every afternoon after nap. Well, every snack I would try to give him he would throw across the room. I gave up, put a snack on the table and told him if he wants a snack, that's the one he gets. Otherwise he can wait until dinner. After snack I spent about 20 minutes doing a quick clean of the whole upstairs. About 5 minutes into my cleaning I hear a scream and cry from the back room. I run back there, and Brock has his older brother's arm in his mouth, and his jaw is clenched shut. I get him off, and poor Braedyn has deep bite marks on his arm (fortunately no blood). About 2 minutes later Brock brought me his "bup" (cup) wanting a drink. So, I gave him a drink and he threw his cup across the room. No more drink...another 5 minutes, and he comes into the kithen, grabs one of my glass halloween candy dishes, and throws it across the room, shattering it. After that I decided ANYTHING that can possibly be broken needs to be put out of this kids reach for now. I don't know if it's the Autism, or if it's a 2 year old thing, or if I've raised a trouble maker, but that kid just might drive me to the crazy farm...It's a good thing he's completely adorable, and I love him so much :)

After I was completely done cleaning I decided this kid was really begging for attention. So, I sat in the living room with both boys, and the kid could not sit still for 2 seconds. He was running all around the living room, and kept tackling me, jumping on me, running toys on me, and anything else he could think of to get his massive amount of energy out. I decided it was much better for him to act crazy and loud playing with me, than to be destroying the house :)

I just love the Twos!!!!

Birthday, Tooth, Vacation, and LOTS of pics

Wow! We have had a BUSY week this past week. To start off, Last Tuesday, October 6th, was my baby's 2nd birthday! Can you believe it?!?! My baby is ALREADY 2! He had a fun, and very busy birthday.

To start the day off, my boys favorite part...when they wake up they get 2 baskets of balloons thrown on them, and silly string. They LOVE it! Brock was still trying to wake up, so he wasn't sure what to think at first. Once awake he wanted to keep throwing balloons and playing with the silly string...

When he walked out of his room, BIG Scooby Doo was waiting to wish him a "Scrappy Birthday". He was so excited. You can't see his face super great in this pic, but he had a HUGE smile, and his whole face lit up. It was adorable!

Then...PRESENT TIME...We got him a bike. Erek was trying to see if he was too short for it. Because as everyone knows, my boys are definitely short for their age. He is a little short. But it has all sorts of fun games on the steering wheel, so he didn't really mind at all...

Once Braedyn was out of school we made a quick stop at the dentist for the pain in Braedyn's tooth. He ended up having to have a root canal and a crown put on a back tooth.

Then off to Grandma and Grandpa Moser's house for the presents from them. He LOVES this gift. He has played with is EVERY day since he got it.

And finally, dinner at the birthday Boy's favorite restaurant. This is another birthday tradition for our family. For some reason, the past 3 years the resaurant of choice has been IHOP. Not that I mind, since kids do eat free :). And, when he finished his dinner, he was brought a big bowl of Ice Cream, and a stuffed dog

YUMMY......

The next day, was another busy one. A morning checkup at the doctor for Brock turning 2 years old. He is still tiny for his age, no big surprise there...He does finally weigh 25 pounds! YAY :)

After the checkup, we left town for vacation in sunny Arizona with Erek's awesome family! On our way down one of the vans tires had to be replaced, so we stopped at this gas station in Beaver...yay for random picture opportunities...

We went to Phoenix to visit one of Erek's step-brother's who recently moved down there. It was a lot of fun. It was fun to be able to wear shorts for a little while longer. And the temperatures there were similar to our summer temperatures, so it was really nice. And, of course, it was fun to get a vacation.

Now, like I said, we went with Erek's family. I never really stopped to think about how big his family is, but while we were down there, it became very apparent to me. We were missing 3 people of the family, but there were still 23 people that were able to go. So, just think of 23 people walking down the street all together. There were 11 children age 5 and younger...lots of strollers...and 12 adults. Whenever we went to eat the average wait time for food was about 2 hours. So everything we planned, we had to plan a lot of extra time, due to the size of the group.

The best part was the zoo. We went to the Phoenix zoo, which is a beautiful zoo by the way, with a LOT more animals than our wonderful Hogle Zoo :). As we would walk around, everyone would mention how busy the zoo is today. But no, it was actually just our very large group. Here are a few fun pics.

In the monkey area, we were actually able to go in the monkey cage, so Erek was able to get this awesome picture, without even having to use the zoom.

This Ape was my favorite. He's the big papa ape. You can't tell very well in the pic, but he is lying under a tree eating, just chillin. above him is the mama ape, the baby ape, and another ape all taking care of each other, eating together. When this papa ape was done eating, he just went to sleep. What a life...

I don't really remember what type of bird this is, but he was the ugliest animal there. I have no clue what that nasty ugly bald spot is in the middle of his chest, but it's super disgusting looking. If anyone can tell me more about this ugly creature, please do.

Brock LOVED this tree house

Both boys loved petting the goats. In case you didn't know, goats really stink, but they are super calm to pet. I put brock down and he was randomly running around petting any goat he could het his hands on. He thought that was great!

A two-headed turtle...isnt' this the cutest turtle you've ever seen ;)

Grandpa Rey and Nana Dian with 11 of their 13 grandchildren...the oldest is the girl in the pink sitting next to Grandpa, and the baby is being held by Nana

After the zoo, it was time to head to the beautiful Phoenix temple. In case you can't tell, or didn't know, this temple is one of just a few in the world WITHOUT an Angel Moroni. But is sure is a beautiful temple

After the temple, we decided to let the kids get their energy out OFF the temple grounds, and went to Chuk E Cheese for dinner. The kids (and Erek) loved it! They spent a whole bunch of time in the games area.

The next day, we went to Erek's step-brother's house in Maricopa. It is a BEAUTIFUL house. we celebrated Brock's birthday while there. The kiddos played a little verified version of duck-duck-goose. Not sure how this one works. Apparently EVERYONE runs to get the person who is "it"

And, of course, you can't have a birthday without cake....

And, in case you were wondering what it was like to have a bunch of cousins your age, it's a blast. That's a great way to have pleanty of people to share your toys with (good thing my boys are good at sharing)

And, when you get lazy, you can have your cousins open your presents for you

That way you can lay out every piece of paper all nice and neat on the ground, to make sure it is well preserved...

I didn't post pics of all the gifts here, but he really loves them all. I just love that our families always seem to know just what to get my boys.

My boys loved having so much fun time with all their cousins. The moms enjoyed having Aunt Kristen to entertain the kiddos for a while as well. It was a nice break.

However, we couldn't have the kids completely tearing up the house, since Uncle Clint and Aunt Kristen are not used to having children in their house, we decided to give the house a break, and take the kids to the park, which they also enjoyed.

Early the next morning it was time to make the 13 hour drive back home

And that, folks, was our week. It was absolutely crazy, but a whole lotta fun!

Update.....

Ok Kalynne, just for you I decided to post an update. Actually, I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post...I am such a slacker, lol.

The weekend after I last posted we had a family of 4 move into our basement. For those of you who have been to our house I'm sure can only imagine how crazy it can get having 8 people (4 adults, a 5-year old boy, a 3-year old girl, a 2-year old boy, and a 9-month old boy) all living in this little house. And this is why I have just not had much time at all to post. It has been a lot of fun, and a completely new experience for us all.

Also, my oldest, Braedyn, has had a few big events. He lost his first tooth...

He was so excited, he made me take like 20 pictures of it. He has since lost the other bottom middle tooth.

He started karate...he looks so cute in his karate uniform. I really should get some more pics since they're all on my phone currently.

And the end of last month he started Kindergarten!!!! Such a BIG day. He was so excited. I couldn't get very many pics of him because he literally RAN the whole way to school, and darted int he door as soon as he could. He turned for a quick second to say "see ya mom, get to work" and then was in the door. But here are a few I could get...

Hopefully u can tell which one is him in this picture...seeing as he IS the ONLY boy :)

And then, typical me, about 2 weeks ago I broke my collar bone. Sorry no pics, I don't take pictures of me ;) It's just a hairline fracture, so it definitely could be worse. I know everyone is gonna want to know the story. It's sad story, so here it is...My baby (who will be 2 years old in 2 weeks) closed the refrigerator dorr on me...the end. That's it. The top edge of the door hit my collar bone just right to fracture it. good times :)

And....I think....that might just be everything. That's really sad for how long it has been. But at least that's the big stuff, right. Maybe I'll try to post more often so you can know about all my drama more often...lol

SO Embarrassing!!!!

I have learned as kids get older, it gets more and more embarrassing to let them talk. They repeat everything you say, they know some things, and think they know everything, but are still very curious (at least 5-yesr-olds are). Today was one of those super embarrassing moments. Fortunately, it was with all friends who are very understanding.

So, today we had our monthly friend get together. Always a good time. However, a lot of the usual people were not able to come, and we missed them ALL!!! But a bunch of people who hadn't been able to come before were able to. It was a lot of fun! And, everyone who came had kids, so I was, for once, not the ONLY person with kids. My boys loved it! However, my boys are not used to girls. There were 2 little girls, an almost 2 year old, and an almost 3 year old. Lots of fun.

Well, after dinner, my one friend had to change her daughters diaper. Braedyn just happened to be in the same room as she was changing her. He watched for a minute then says, in a very concerned voice, "Mom, she doesn't have a penis!" I said "That's because she's a girl" He then asks, "What happened to her penis? Did it fall off?" I about died of laughter inside as I tried to explain. Every adult in the house was dying of laughter. Maybe it's time to talk more about the differences between boys and girls

Kids......

a BIG day!!!

Do you remember the day you graduated high school? It was a huge day! You spent 3 (sometimes 4, depending on how your school works) years having lots of fun, yet looking forward to the day when you can actually graduate and be a "grown-up". And then that big day comes, and you're excited you made it, but sad you're leaving all your friends, and know you will most likely never see many of them ever again :(, except of course reunions...

Well, today was one of those kinda big days. Ok, not as huge as a high school graduation, but still a happy/sad day. And I did graduate, just not high school again. And I have been working a LONG time, mostly playing around making friends, but still working hard. It also has not been 3 (or 4) years. Actually, it's only been just over 4 months. Any idea what it is?....

I graduated physical therapy today!!!! It's super exciting! I did it! I am actually better than I was before I had my last episode. In fact, I'm better than I have been since my very first episode back when I was 17. I can stand on one foot (on a BOSU) while they play catch with me with an 8 pound ball. In case you're wondering what this is, here's what it looks like (no, none of these people are me)...
I can run on a treadmill for 12 minutes, 10 of those minutes I go 5.5 mph, and the other 2 I go 4.5 mph for the cool down. I don't know how well I can explain the rest of the stuff I do, but with 2 hours of exercising, it's a LOT...

Anyway, so it's exciting, but it's also sad. I have made friends with all the therapists there, and I'm gonna miss the socializing with adult people in person. at work I get to socialize, but it's over the phone. Not quite the same. So yay for graduation! But boo for not seeing the people again...

4th of July fun

I love the 4th of July! Not that it's my favorite holiday or anything, but any excuse to get an extra day off work and hang out with the kids is ALWAYS a fun day!

Braedyn is finally into the whole holiday thing now, so the 4th was a lot of fun for us. When he woke up he said "Guess what today is Mommy! Its' Da-Merica's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DA-MERICA!!!" And, all day for his "hand washing" song he sang the Happy Birthday song for America. He was a little confused when he found out America doesn't open her gifts. but then he was told that the fireworks are her opening her gifts and eating her cake, then he was ok with it.

We started our day at the West Jordan Parade. It was the only one we could make it to since it didn't start until 10:30, and we had an hour drive to get there. Braedyn LOVED the Parade. He got a bunch of candy, and even a cool wooden car. There were only 2 royalties in the parade (West Jordan Royalty wasn't in it). He said they were pretty princesses. Brock's favorite part was the dogs. But we could really see the economy take it's effect on the parade this year. It was crazy. The West Jordan High School Marching Band wasn't in it, and neither was their Football team, or SBO's. The only people there from West Jordan High was the Cheerleaders. Actually, my brother that just got married lives in Park City, and the parade up there goes right in front of his house, and he said the West Jordan High Marching Band was in their parade. They thought that was a little strange.

After the parade, we went to Riverton Park for all their free childrens games. It was a blast. The boys got balloon animals, which they LOVED. Brock, of course, got a dog on a leash...

Braedyn, is obviously much older, and he got a Ninja...

Then they got their BACA tattoos (WE LOVE BACA!!! Yay for Davie Chandler setting up the Utah Chapter!)

Braedyn loves his tattoo and doesn't want it to ever come off

And they rode (or sat on) the BACA mini motorcycle...

They sat in, and attempted to drive, a military Hummer

Braedyn says this is what he wants to drive when he gets big like mommy and daddy

Then they rode mini horses...

Brock did NOT want to get off of his horse. We had to pry him off, and deal with screaming for a few minutes...

After the fun activities there, we had a little picnic at my parents with all the family, then went to West Jordan Park for the free movie in the park (Barnyard)

This is how Braedyn watches movies (On Aunt Stephanie's lap)...

And this is how Brock watches movies (Using Uncle Scott, and everyone else as a jungle gym)...

During the movie I got Brock to say another word though. He learned the word "Help". I guess he decided the sign for help was too difficult, and it's just much easier just to say it.

After the movie...Fireworks! This was Brock the first half of the fireworks...

And the second half....

I was glad Erek thought to take the wagon with us. Made transporting him from park to car much easier...

It was a fun 4th of July...with no injuries, or visits tot he ER! That's a milestone in our family :)

The next day, we spent some time as a family at home, which is very rare on a Sunday. The boys used the Lincoln Logs Braedyn got from his Grandma Moser, and built a log cabin...

But Brock did not let it last very long :)

Yay for holidays!!!! :)