Look mama, a Temple!

So the kids have been doing some really funny things lately that I know I wanted to write so I would remember for when they have kids. A few weeks ago I drove with the kids to the Dallas Temple to exchange some garments for Kyle. As soon as we were passing it (mind you I hadn't said a thing) Conner points and says, "A Temple! Temple!" Yeah!!! I am a good mom!!! haha... it was too cute! They were so excited to touch the Temple and Conner wanted to go all the way in, but obviously he still has a few years yet. And today, he was eating a gram cracker and the way he was eating it, it was fat at the bottom and then came up to a point in the middle and Conner says, "Look mama, a Temple!" haha... yeah! Plus, he know all the actions to Book of Mormon stories, I can't take all the credit for that though, I'm sure the nursery helps with that too.

Conner has also resorted to not taking naps, unfortunately. Sometimes it happens, but not usually. Which is hard for me seeing as how I could use naps every day, plus I was taking the kids nap times to make phone calls. Anyway, the kids are in bed at around 7:30pm though since Conner isn't taking a nap. And I can't complain about that, it's great! The hardest thing though is the fact that Joshie's crib is behind the couch in the Family Room still so nobody can be in there past 7:30. But Ben will be leaving in a few months to serve a mission and the boys will probably take his room till we move out.

The other day when it was supposed to be Conner's nap time the kids were being so cute. I blew up balloons with hearts on them for Valentine's Day and somehow they are are still alive! The boys think they are awesome. So, Josh was carrying one and hit everything with it. Conner was chasing him and they thought it was the funniest thing. They were both laughing and laughing. Then I had a travel roll up bag (Mary Kay) filled with all my samples and Conner was running with that and Josh chased him. Then Conner would drop it and Joshie would try to pick it up. He would only be able to carry it like 2 steps before falling, but this was all the cause of lots of laughter. Then Conner yells "Pillows!" and it's like they both new what to do. They ran to the couch, each grabbed a pillow then ran to the other room and threw them. The continued this with 3 pillows each. After all the pillows were piled up both kids ran and jumped on the piles. It was too funny to see them play with each other so much. It makes me happy that they are close brothers. Some days are harder then others, but overall they truly are great kids. And I figure I'll have all our kids close together so we can always have days like this and the best part they will all be out of the house by the time I'm 45! Then Kyle and I can serve missions and things. What a great life I have!

God's Blessings

I am continually grateful for this wonderful life God has blessed me with. Everything is never perfect, nor is it how I would plan it, but I wouldn't change my life for anything. John Bytheway's collection of talks, the 2nd set has a talk titled "Be Thou an Example of the Believers" and WOW it is such a good talk. He must have a big notebook or something (it was recorded in front of an audience) and he says to pretend that each piece of paper is someone in the world. Many people complain about their lives and say they want to trade, but is it really worth it? If you were to take 1000 pieces of paper from that notebook, only 45 of them would be people born in the USA. And of that 45 only 2 would be members of the church. 2!!!! That's .002 chance of getting to be born in the USA and being a member of the church. Each of us that has that privilege, is it just a coincidence or does our Father in Heaven need us on this Earth at this time for something? I believe the latter. I'm not perfect, but if everyone on Earth were like me I can promise we wouldn't need a homicide department in the police force, there wouldn't be Drunk Driving. We wouldn't need to lock our cars/houses. So, I give the world so sososo much! But can I do more, of course. God didn't put me on Earth to not steal anything. He expects greatness because that is what He is. And we are supposed to be like Him.

I am so grateful that he has blessed me with a wonderful, fantastic, nobody is better husband and 2 beautiful children! I am grateful my husband has a job that is providing for us. I'm grateful my in-laws are so caring and giving to let us stay in their home even longer then planned. I'm grateful that Ben and Lynda also put up with us living here and are great with their nephews. I'm grateful for the health we have all been blessed with. I'm grateful we have been the receivers and givers to help when needed. I'm grateful for phones and the internet to keep in contact with my family who live hundreds of miles away. Wow, I am so blessed.

I'm blessed with my Mary Kay business. Since moving to Texas, I stopped working. But I would read my scriptures and have this feeling I needed to start again. I had all the excuses, a new baby, in the hospital, I don't know anyone, we only have 1 car....blah blah blah..... But God kept putting in my heart that He had greater plans for me then I had for myself. One day my director called just to see how I was doing and the whole day I was so much happier. Kyle asked me what was going on and I told him I talked to Holly. I asked how he would feel if I started my Mary Kay business again, and he said "great! You always look HOT when you do it!" haha! So, I finally put myself and me excuses on the shelf and started to bless some women. I LOVE IT!!! I can't explain how much I love blessing other women and being an answer to their prayers. I had a women tell me she had been praying to God for help and here I come along and she knew I was her answer. WOW!! To have someone tell me that is so powerful. I have to repent that it took so long for my thick head to get over itself. I could have been helping so many more women the past ten months. But I can't change that. Now I just need to show my Father in Heaven how grateful I am for his endless blessing. I need to be the best wife, mother, primary worker, Mary Kay Consultant, friend, and disciple of Christ I can possibly be. Any even though I know I can never do enough to show God how grateful I am, I can bless His children and I know that is what I am here to do!

Pink Eggs and Ham

So, Conner loves loves loves reading books! We could honestly sit for over an hour just reading. Josh likes to read books too, but not like Conner my book worm. One of his favorite new books is Green Eggs and Ham. So we were reading it the other day, and as we finished Conner says "no green, pink egg ham!" I was like, no, green eggs and ham. He then replied, "no bue (blue) egg ham" and we went back and forth all the colors he knows, black, brown, white, yellow... he said every color but never says GREEN eggs and ham. So the book is affectionately called Pink Eggs and Ham. Too cute!

Tantrums

So the new thing in our house that the boys seem to be most interested in is tantrums... Conner was never really bad at it before. We had our little melt downs every now and then, but over all he is a very even tempered kid. It's so interesting how different your kids can be because man o man does Joshie lay it on thick. He throws his head on the floor over and over. He learned real fast not to do that on the kitchen floor though. Sometimes his whole body gets thrown. The best part though is if you leave the room he stops, follows to wherever you are and starts it again! hahaha.... it is to funny. However, it gets really old really fast. Fortunately Conner hasn't started copying him, yet.

Hugs!

So Conner really is a great 2 year old. Don't get me wrong, we have our melt downs, but really they are not to bad. Every time he does do something wrong though like push his brother or jump on the dogs I always make him sit in time out. He hates just sitting there as I'm sure most kids do. Then I have him get up and he has to give his brother a hug and a kiss. Well, I think he has caught one because if I see him push Josh he looks at me, goes right to Josh, gives him a hug and says "hugs!" It's too cute! Of course, now he thinks he can do what he wants as long as he gives the person/animal a hug afterward. How do you correct that though because do I say "no hitting" as he is hugging his brother? haha.... oh the joys of parenthood. I also think he has figured out he gets away with more with me because his hugs and kisses melt my heart. If he does push Josh from a toy he looks at Kyle first to see if he saw it. haha.... kids are so funny, they learn so fast. He has also learned how to give raspberries. You know like the ones on your belly, except he pretends to give one to you on your cheak and instead you end up with a wet slobbery cheak. Joshie thinks this is the funniest thing in the world. He could watch Conner give me rasberries all day and be happy.

Josh had his 1 year check up. He is super healthy. He is 21lbs which puts him in the 30% range. He is 29 inches which puts him in the 50% range. So the doc said he is tall and skinny, he looks good. Of course his head though is in the 85% tile. So the Hercules big head lives on in both of my boys. It's a good thing they are so cute!

0 degrees in Texas?

Ok, I have been lied to all along, Texas is not warm and beautiful during the winter months. So, over the past 4 years when we were freezing in Idaho and we would talk to Kyle's parents and they said they were wearing shorts, they must have been lieing! It has been so cold! And tonight it is supposed to get down to 0 degrees and stay there for a while. So, they cancelled seminary at least for tomorrow. Kyle will be happy about that since it is his week to teach (he is still at work so he doesn't know yet). The said thing is that it is really hard to ride the bike I got for Christmas when it is icey outside! A well, it won't stay cold forever right?

An amazing thing happend on Sunday night. As I have previously mentioned, our dog Meg has some serious dog aggression. However, we have been taking her to training and it is really working. So, I'm walking her on Sunday night and we see a little dog on the side of the street we were on, so just to be on the safe side I cross the street and Meg is interested but doesn't freak out at this bite sized dog. Well, because we were looking at that dog, I didn't notice a lady who opened her front door right as we were passing and he dog (I'm thinking some kind of spanial) ran out straight for Meg. This dog barked a little, but just sniffed Meg, and she sniffed the other dog back. Then they were like best friends! It was amazing!! Again, if you know how aggressive Meg would get toward other dogs, this is like a miracle! So, every night since I have been trying to look for dogs on our walks to help Meg more but alas, I have found none. Now, the next step is to keep Lola from bolting out the door when it opens. I have done work though and they are much better about not barking at everything that walks by the window.... they will be perfect angels...one day. It does look like if we ever do move out of the in-laws house we will have to bring all the dogs. They are really loved here, however Larry can't walk them period, and Sherry hurt her knee somehow and I don't think she lets on how much pain she is really in. So, she hasn't been able to walk the dogs either. So, she is put on baby duty and I walk all three dogs seperatly, so it takes about and hour every night, but at least it gets me some time to myself, and the dogs get out.

Kyle started his teaching certification! Yeah!! He has a lot of the program to do online and he starts actual class on Feb. 27. He will be done and certified by April! Then he can be hiried and finally have a "real job." We really have been blessed though and are very gratefull for the help of living with the in-laws, even if it can be really hard some times.

We also finally switched bank accounts. We were ssosososososs sick of Wells Fargo and are now done with them!!! They have fees for EVERYTHING!! And they weren't honest with us about our accounts, but thankfully we no longer have to deal with them. Except for paying off the credit cards, which hopefully we can do sooner rather then later. We are now banking with Chase and really like it so far. I guess we will see how it goes...

The kids are growing up so fast! Conner loves playing ring around the roosies and loves loves loves playing hide and seek with his uncle Ben. He runs around the house saying, "where's ben?" it's really cute. He also loves Dora the Explorer and Go Diago Go. He asks all day, "Dora Boots? Dora Boots?" The only time I know that they are on T.V. is 6pm so he has to wait and 6-7 he gets to watch his 2 favorite shows. Josh is such a one year old. His mood goes back and forth and he always wants to be held! I'm getting buff arms though! haha...right....

I'm excited for next month because that is when my horse classes start again. However, I did find a Ranch in Frisco that needs volunteers and they give you free riding lessons in return. So, I may switch to that one. Firstly, it's a whole lot closer and secondly, I can get free riding lessons which I really really want. I have been checking books out at the library all about horses, and one day I will own my own. I have narrowed it down to 3 breeds I would love to have. Quarter horses, Tennessee Walking Horse, or Appaloosa. These are my favorites, and I would like to eventually lease one of each to see which breed I like. Hopefully sooner rather then later, but we will see.

So, life is good, Kyle and I still aren't eating sugar and it's going great. I've lost 20lbs and Kyle has lost 16lbs, so we are getting there. We really just want to be healthier. 2010 is going to be a great great year!

Little brother fights back!

First off, I can't believe it's December!! Man time is just going by so fast. We have most of the Christmas shopping for the kiddos done. Just one more big present for them to share and then the stocking stuff. I have no clue what to get for Kyle though.... I still have a few weeks I guess to figure it out. Thanksgiving in Ohio was great. That week flew by and we all had a great time. The drive was very long, but after watching the movie Cars 15 times we made it.

Ok, so I have a 2 year old and the other one will be 1 in just 2 weeks! They get along pretty well most of the time, but man Josh is really starting to get a personality! They are both HUGE mama's boys!! They fight over who gets to sit on my lap at church, when I'm on the computer, any time really. And when I try to put Joshie down he gets this look on his face like, "mom! why would you even think about putting me down. Don't you love me?" it melts my heart and I pick him back up. Anyway, we have this little toy Conner actually got from his uncle Joey (currently serving a mission in Honduras) it is one of those personal PDA things, pretty much a toy cell phone. Well, Conner of course forgets its in the toy box and one day Josh finds it and it has been "the toy" to have ever since. They both forget it till one grabs it then they both have to have it! Well, it was Joshie's turn with it, so he is just walking around pushing the buttons and Conner goes up and takes it from him. Josh screams and "runs" (as well as a 1 year old can run) towards Conner mouth wide open and bites his arm!! He only has 6 teeth, but he can still leave a mark. It was one of those times it was so hard to not laugh and Josh. It was so funny seeing him get upset. I think it really threw Conner off because he gave the toy back and got a book for us to read. The only thing is right before I started to write this post, once again they both wanted to sit in my lap and Josh opened his mouth to bite Conner again. Man, we are going to have to work on that, it's just so funny and cute coming from such a small person. Anyway, I'm sure this is just the start of the great friendship they will forever have!!