So blessed

I am so very blessed by the mothers in my life. I have a wonderful mother in law who cares so much for our family and has raised such a wonderful man. She is a true example of service. She is always serving our family with all of her little deeds. I am thankful to have her in my life and for things she teaches me when she doesnt even know it.

I am so blessed to have my mom. I can't even think of words to describe her. She is so patient, kind, loving, selfless, and a wonderful mom. She is everything I think a mom should be. I am so thankful for the example she is to me and for the things she constantly does for me and my family. She just finished there mission and I am so touched by her strong testimony about the church and missionary work. She is a wonderful mother to look up to and I am glad that she is my mother. Thank you for your constant example mom. I love you.

I am also very blessed by my friends and family members who are all wonderful mothers. I am constantly amazed at the patience and love they have for their children. I feel like such a slacker sometimes when I let my temper go or I dont listen to my kids as I should but I know through all of your examples it makes me want to be a better mom. So thank you.

Last, I am so blessed to be a mom. I am so thankful that my heavenly felt that I was worthy enough to have these beautiful children. I am thankful everyday to have them. I know I always dont do the best but I truely love them and care for them more than I thought I ever could.

I think being a mother is one of the most challenging things I have ever done but by far the most rewarding. I would not change it for the world. I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Dec. Jan. Feb.

We had such a good Christmas. Ethan was spoiled with a train table/ and a fish tank.

Aleah received a fisher price piano that she LOVES!

Dec 24th

Making cookies for Santa

I am finally blogging again. I have been so unmotivated to blog lately. I received a new calling as the primary Secretary and it has kept me so busy. It seems every time I am getting on the computer it is for primary. I really enjoy this calling, I love to be around the primary children. I also have been doing a lot of hair, which is good, but once more keeping me very busy. Other than that the kids , oh I could come up with so many excuses but the biggest one is that I am so behind I don't even know what to blog about anymore, I am SO behind.

January

(Clapping her hands, the picture does not capture this but I sure think her teeth are cute) Aleah got her two first teeth on the bottom. I love this picture showing those pearly whites off. She got her first tooth the week of Thanksgiving and her second the week of Christmas. She is crawling and I think will soon be walking. She likes to climb the stairs, scary. I try not to let her do that. She will clap her hands, wave goodbye, say something that sounds like hi. She mimics the sounds uhoh and thankyou. She is changing all the time and I find it so hard to keep up with her.

February

I love this picture she looks so pretty in her valentines dress. Thanks to Aunt Bree for letting us borrow it.

February 12th We were invited to a mom and me valentines Party. I think this outfit is so cute! Girls are so much fun. I just love dressing her every morning. Once again Aleah is clapping.

February 20th

Playing her little piano and sporting her first piggy tails. Love it!

Ethan, is getting smarter everyday. He really is into doing puzzles right now and enjoys learning his letters. He doesn't always get them right but he is getting much better. He has so much fun at preschool, it is so good for him. He also enjoys the library, we try to go every Thursday.

Evan is doing good working for American Family. It is hard to get started but he remains positive and is such a hard worker.

This week I am just trying to figure out how to get my car fixed. Someone rear ended me last week. I am fine and The car really doesnt even look bad at all. I had to take it to the car wash to see if there was even a mark. So on to the repair shop to get it fixed.

I apologize for the random blog and hope it wont be another 3 months before I do this again.

Aleah's New Trick

Aleah is now 7 months old!

I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I am a slacker of a mom and just barely got her in for her 6 month check up. She has changed SO much to me. These are her stats.

Weight- 18.9 lbs.

Height - 54%

Head-92% :(

She has a big head just like Ethan poor girl. Hopefully she will grow into it.

This is her latest trick. She loves to sit up, and now she is doing it on her own. She also enjoys anything that makes noise or is different. Why buy baby toys. Aleah is perfectly happy with a piece of paper. It keeps her entertained forever.

She has been eating her share of baby food. She loves it and gets so excited when I bring it to her. Her faves would be the traditional pears and sweet potatoes. She will eat just about anything though.

Her other trick, which I have not been able to capture on camera, is she has started to rock on her hands and knees. crawling soon? I hope not. She has also pretty much done away with her Binky which would be fabulous to not have to deal with that later.

She is such a happy baby and is so fun to have around. I just love this little girl!

They say it's your Birthday!

I know it has been FOREVER since I have updated our blog, life has been crazy. There has been moments that I could have updated but I was either too tired or just wanted to hang out with the family instead. I have so much to post and will have to blog about Aleah sometime this week.

I love this time of Year.

Evan's birthday as well as mine is in October. It is our favorite month. It is filled with so many fun activities. This year for Evans birthday we went up to McCall, Id. This is a picture of Ethan picking out some movies before our trip. Don't you love the hair ribbon. Go Broncos!

Up in McCall. Evan turned 31 this year, and of course I had to make the family fav. Dirt Cake. We ate cake and watched the BSU game. BSU beat Hawaii! YEAH! It is SO beautiful in McCall, I never want to leave. This is outside our condo.

Thanks to my Inlaws for letting us come up for our birthdays. After we returned home we had our yearly pumpkin carving night. I have a ton of pictures but I thought this one was hilarious. This is Ethan trying to carve his pumpkin...he eventually colored it with markers.

Evan enjoying yummy hot apple cider.

Then there is HALLOWEEN! I love this holiday. I think costumes are so much fun. Especially on kids. Aren't these the cutest kids ever! okay so I think so because I am there mom. But I do think They were the cutest spider man and butterfly that I saw on Halloween. Ethan did like trick or treating but was SO tired due to no nap that day. He had just a few pieces of candy in his bucket and kept complaining of how it was too heavy. Maybe next year will be better. Halloween is also my Birthday. I love it! I have so much fun with the festivities of trick or treating. Who doesn't like getting presents AND candy! It is the best birthday ever! Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween. Bring on Thanksgiving. I can't wait!

What we have been up to

It seems as though life has been a little hectic lately. Evan has been training for a new job in SLC. He is able to be home a few days here and there in between training days. When he is home I try to get in as much family time as possible. One weekend when he was home we went to the zoo. It is no Hogle Zoo, but the Boise zoo really surprised me. I had only heard how lame it was, but I thought it was actually a pretty good zoo. Ethan loved it and it kept us entertained for the afternoon. He loves animals.

Looking at the Turtles.

We were able to travel to SLC one week while Evan was there. We did not see a whole lot of him but we enjoyed our time there. We went to Lagoon ( No Pictures), went swimming, hit up all my favorite food joints, went to the movies, and This is the Place Monument Park. I had never been there. It was awesome! I loved it and would recommend it to anyone who hasn't been. Such a neat place. They had a Trolley, a Train, We went to the Indian Village where Ethan made an Arrowhead necklace. We made Clay, and washed clothes, The kids loved washing the clothes. Ethan's favorite was the pony ride and the petting zoo. He would have stayed there all day. Ethan also enjoyed his time with Granpa. This is them playing with Ethan's new ABC Blocks. Aleah is 5 Months! HOLY COW! How did this happen. It is going by twice as fast this time around. It makes me so sad. She has been rolling over for a few weeks. She always rolls from tummy to back and has gone from back to tummy a few times. Although I am sad to see her grow it is also exciting to see her change. I thought it would be forever before she would roll and now I am scared that she will crawl before I know it. The last couple of weeks have been a little rough for her. She has started to teeth, and has been fussy. I think I finally see a little white tooth trying to pop through those gums. Aleah Rolling over.

Aleah you are such a joy! I have loved having you in our lives the past five months. You are such a blessing just don't grow up to fast!

Aleah and Ethan

Aleah is getting SO big. She is just growing way to fast for me. She is just a little older than 4 months.

15 lbs 9 0z.

Height- 85%

Weight-85%

Head-50%

I feel like I do not take enough pictures of her. I am trying to catch up on that. I have a girl I know in the ward who makes hair accessories and I had to take some pics of Aleah's new hair things that we got from her.

I Love this one. She looks just like me as a baby in this picture with her gummy smile.

So sweet.

She is becoming a drooler BIG TIME! Time to buy some girly bibs I guess.

She has been such a big girl. She has just started to sit in her bumbo chair. She likes that she can check out everything that is going on. Ethan on the other hand thinks this is where you sit to go potty. Funny boy. Ethan took a spill at Grandma and Papa Waters house on Sunday. They have a brick retaining wall in their front yard. Ethan fell off of it and can you tell where he landed...on his head. Poor kid.

Change

First I have to post some pictures. Aleah is changing DAILY. I can't believe it. She is my Balding Beauty. She is losing her beautiful hair in handfuls. It makes me so sad. I just hope it grows back. she is such a sweetheart. She will try to talk to anyone who gives her the time of day and will grin until she looks like she will burst. She is drooling like a champ and can't keep her hands out of her mouth. She is very close to rolling over both ways but has yet to do it.

Ethan had several birthday parties this year. This one was at Lucky Peak at the beach. He loves the water and loves the sand even more. We had a fun time.

This was the best I could do as a cake goes. It was 104 degrees so I thought this was easy and wouldn't melt. Who doesn't like Rice Krispies.

Now for the change.

Evan is changing his career path. He will start training on Monday to become an insurance agent. He will be in SLC for 7 weeks, off and on. We both are excited about this opportunity and I think Evan will do really well with it. We also because we are losing a car do to the job change are getting a new car this weekend. I am excited but also just wanting something a little more reliable. Aleah is 4 months, Ethan is 3 Years. Evan is leaving, New job, New car, New phones. I just feel like everything around me is changing, but I know it is all good. Oh one more change.... We will not have Internet. So I will not be blogging anymore for a while.

Happy Birthday Ethan

Ethan's Blessing Day I cannot believe my Ethan is 3! It seems like he was born just yesterday. I never knew I could love Ethan as much as I do. He is the sweetest boy. He loves his baby sister and is a big helper. He is so quick to be concerned if she is crying and just wants to make her happy. He also has so much fun with kids. He will stop playing on the play equipment at the park just so he can watch the other kids play. He is such the little observer. He is such a good boy we are very lucky to have him. I feel very blessed to be his mom. Ethan's First Christmas :5 months

Here are some of Ethan's favorites: Cartoon: Super Y, and Caillou

Movie: It changes daily, but I would say Cars or Ice Age

Favorite Question: Where we going? What you doing? Evan usually responds to the first Question... to the moon. It works Ethan is content with that answer.

Favorite Color: Green and Orange

Favorite candy: Sucker or any "Big" Candy

Favorite song: ABC's, and Twinkle little Stars

Favorite book:Thomas anything

Favorite Food: Chicken nuggets, Green Peppers, Onions, and Cucumbers

Ethan 18 months

Ethan's 2nd B-day

Ethan's 3rd B-day

I will post more B-day Pictures next post.

Happy Birthday Ethan! We love you SO much!

The Fourth

For the Fourth we had a real "Barn Raising." Evan has been working on this shed for a little while and on the fourth his brothers offered to help. It was so nice to have them and there families over. We had a yummy barbecue with shishkabobs. They built almost an entire shed. All that is left is the door and the roof. Thanks to them and there families for all the help. Later we went to Ann Morrison Park for fireworks. We dropped Aleah off at Evans parents house, which was really nice not to have to worry about her. Ethan loved the fireworks. He would have done the pop it fireworks all night long. We tried sparklers and it kind of freaked him out and we also got in trouble by the "firework control" people. We had a good 4th and hope you all did as well.

Under Attack While Camping

This last week we went camping up at Lucky Peak with some friends of ours. We had such a good time, but there were a few things that made our trip a little crazy. Here is a list of things we were attacked by: 1-Red Ants, (they were all over) 2- Crows, that decided to freak out at 5 am only to find out that a Raccoon had chased them away.... anyone who knows my husband knows that he was not a happy camper, he HATES crows. Evan was throwing rocks at those stupid birds all morning trying to get them to be quiet so some of us could get some sleep, my hero. 3-earwigs, this was my least favorite. They were all over by our tents, you would open the tent and 20 of them would fall right in. I would rather see a spider any day than an earwig. 4-Sprinklers... I know crazy right. We had camp all set up and then some ranger guy, we named him JEAN, comes over in the morning and tells us to move because he has to irrigate ALL DAY! We moved all our gear on the boating dock, and our tents across the way onto a hill...we decided it wasn't all that bad. We could just go out on the boat until they were off... well JEAN said he would be back at 2 to turn them off for us. Then 4 o'clock came around and still no JEAN his boat wasn't working and we were left with sprinklers on, luckily I have a hubby who is brave enough to go and do it himself. Over all we had a really fun and adventurous trip. Our friends made it so much fun, we really enjoy there company. When we weren't tubing or skiing we were eating good snacks, playing bachi ball, and just relaxing. I was so proud of Evan for trying the air chair. It looked really hard, I wasn't about to try it. He also got up on one ski and hasn't been in 13 years! He did awesome! Ethan would have been content on the beach all day, but he loved the boat too. He Even went tubing. While we were there Aleah turned 3 months. I can't believe it. She was such a trooper camping. I couldn't ask for a better baby. Thanks Troy and Katie for a great time.

The Hogle Zoo and More

Evan decided this year to run the Sawtooth Mountain Relay. I think he is crazy, but he wanted to do it. He did really well and didn't even train. He messed up his knee a little but other than that he had a good time. I am proud of him for even wanting to attempt something like that. It is not my idea of fun.

I took the kids to Salt Lake where we Surprised my niece Laurel for her B-Day, Went to the movie Up, Went to the Hoggle Zoo, went swimming, and had a B-day Party for my Dad.

The Zoo was a blast! Ethan was so into it... well He really liked it but from the pictures you would never guess. He was Mr. Serious the whole time. He asks me every night about the animals and asks to go back to the Zoo. He really enjoyed it. Aleah did AWESOME! She slept the whole day. I couldn't believe it. To end our zoo outing we had yummy cotton candy and kettle corn(my fav).

Ethan's favorite animal of the day was the Zebras.

He is not quit as big as a gorilla as you can see.

I forgot to mention that he loved the merry-go-round and the train. How could he not love those .

Happy 71st Bday Dad!

whenever I go to SLC I love to stop at two places. First is chick-fil-a. That one didn't happen this time. The second is Leatherby's! I dream often about this place. It is the best homemade ice cream in the world. I had there Tracey's Peanut Butter Cup and Ethan had Cookies and Cream. Is any one else's mouth watering. Yumm-o!

A first for a few things...

#1-Ethan bit his sister Aleah. I was in the kitchen doing something. Aleah was on the couch. Ethan was near the couch watching cartoons. All of a sudden Aleah starts screaming. I run over to see what is wrong and you could just see the guilt wash over Ethan's face. I demanded to know what he had done to his sister. He just put his hands over his face and pouted. He sat in time out for some time. Later when Evan came home from work he ran to greet him and said, "I bite Leah." AHHH... So then he sat in time out again. I told Aleah she will have her revenge when those teeth start coming in. #2Ethan also thinks it is necessary to yell at his sister when she poops or pees in her diaper. Ethan will say "UGH!!! WEAH(Aleah) Big trouble, you poop in the potty -K-" He is turning into a little bossy boss. #3-I played soccer for the first time! What was I thinking. My sister-n-laws team was short on players and asked me to play. After much asking and pleading I caved and said okay. I am not one for sports. I like to play I am just not good ... at all! I felt like Sandra Bullock on Ms. Congeniality. I could not keep my feet on the ground. I kept tripping on my own feet....it was quit the embarrassment but none the less a great work out. Oh and did I mention I yelled at an old lady on the opposing team for taking me out by tripping me. I am very sore today but would play again if asked. #4- Helped Jeff and Brianne (Evans brother and his wife) move to California. I am so sad to see them go. I HATE that they have to leave . I am glad Jeff was able to get a good job but we will miss them all too much. Especially Ethan him and Rilynn are best buddies. I have already had to tell him that they are living far away now, and he doesn't get it. I hope that they can visit often or that we can go see them someday. Good luck to them with the move and there new little chapter they are opening up in CA.

2 Months

This Picture was taken when Aleah was 6 weeks old, but I LOVE it and I have been a slacker lately with the camera. I can't believe that Aleah was brought into our lives 2 months ago. It goes by SO fast. I felt like I was able to enjoy Ethan a lot more, now I just don't have the time to hold Aleah all day like I would want to. I am scared that I am going to close my eyes for a second and then she is going to be as big as Ethan. I have loved having a little girl so far. #1 The clothes #2 The hair accessories #3 Her girly protests...she already knows that she can have whatever she wants. She is all girl, due to her mom, I can't help myself. She has been a very good baby this last week. She is sleeping through the night. I almost don't want to write that because I could jinks myself. But Yes she will sleep 7-9 hours at night. It is nuts! But I cannot complain. Ethan didn't do that until he was almost one. I am in heaven. I also love that Aleah is getting her chubbs. She is now 11lbs 11 ounces. I love her chubby cheeks and of course her chunky monkey thighs. I think the chubbier the better. Her eyes are starting to change but we can't tell if they will be brown or green, it seems to change from day to day. She is still holding on to that hair. She is starting to get a few bald spots on her sides, but it is still there and still dark. Aleah has also started to smile, not those gasy smiles but REAL smiles. I love them, they just make my heart melt. When she smiles it is usually and open mouth,all gums smile. Sometimes you can almost get a giggle out of her. It is really fun.

Ethan is still the best big brother any one could have. He is very protective of Aleah and tries to help with diaper changing, giving her binky to her when she is sad and when she is happy, he loves to be in her face and give her kisses...his new thing is he will go over and give her an air hug. He will put is arms up to her to hug her but does not touch her. I think this is because I am constantly telling him to back up or to not touch her like this or that. So now she gets air hugs. Ethan has finally got it that Aleah can have milk and only milk..not chocolate milk, just Mommy's milk. Aleah is very lucky to have him for a brother. He would give her anything and everything.

Funny Kid

I have been meaning to blog about this for awhile. Ethan can be a picky eater, but his favorite foods are very odd. This kid LOVES and I mean LOVES onions and green peppers. He is picky about how he likes them. He only likes them raw not cooked. When I make fajitas or pizza I can't keep him away from them. I haven't tried but I bet if I gave him a whole Onion he would eat it all. I am glad he likes something nutritious.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I feel very blessed that I am able to be a mother. I have two beautiful children that are the loves of my life. although there are the sleepless nights, the crying, the dirty diapers, the whining...and on and on I think that being a mother is one of the most rewarding experiences one could have. I dread the moments when Aleah wakes up in the middle of the night but I also cherish that time we have together just the two of us. Aleah helps me realize how close we should be to our heavenly father. She is so precious and is so fresh I feel like I can smell heaven when I hold her. You can tell that she is still so close to our heavenly father. I also love my Ethan. He is such a joy and keeps me going throughout the day. He helps me forget about being a grown up and reminds me of how simple life really is. I really feel very privileged to be a mother and I only hope I can be as good of a mom as my mom is to me.

For this Mothers Day I was spoiled. My wonderful Hubby wrote a very sweet letter of appreciation and love. I am going to have to frame it. It was the best present ever! I also have been wanting a kitchen aid and I was lucky enough to get one this mothers day. I can hardly wait to start using it! YEAH! I had such a wonderful Mothers day and I hope you all did too. Happy Mothers day to my mom and all you moms out there!

There is no great joy than to be a mom.