New Family Pics!

One of my best friends sister took our pictures a few weeks ago and she did such a great job! Thank you Kara!

Halloween Cookies!

Halloween could be my favorite holiday. I have these great memories of my mom sewing our ornate costumes and spending hours on our hair and makeup. (You are great mom!) A few days ago me and the kid put up all the decorations and, of course, made some sugar cookies! You probably know how that went though, the first 10 minutes are fun and kids help, then after that, it's all mom and not so much fun :).

Here are the boys in action - Tyler thought that since I put a spoon in the icing and put it in front of him it was his own personal serving :).

Here's "our" product:

And here's what happens when you make a 4 year old hold a really heavy plate full of cookies - even though it makes his "arm hurt."

First Day of School! (A little late

(I drafted this post weeks ago and forgot about it :). Oh well, better late than never!)

How did this happen? I have a kid in pre-school? I'm posting a "first day of school" picture? It's all a little sad for me, but Dylan doesn't seem to notice. I pulled in to the parking lot of his pre-school and he starts unbuckling and says "Thanks Mom, Bye." What?! He didn't want me to walk him in and he now has started thanking me for rides?? I think he thinks he's 15.


We headed out to Pocatello Labor Day weekend to see some family and so I could run in the Pocatello 1/2 marathon.

I pretty much look how I felt in this picture, like I had been run over by a Mac truck... a few times. A little swollen in the face and ankles from dehydration, in pain for sure, but still enough adrenaline left to be unaware of the blisters, raw skin, and the incredibly sore muscles (I wasn't quit prepared for a few of the hills!) It was a lot of fun, except the part when I used every ounce of strength left to push it in to the finish line only to realize it wasn't really the finish line, and I still had 1/4 mile to go!! The horror! I almost died, really....

My "big dog" is 4!

Today is officially Dylan's birthday! 4 years ago today was when it all started - nothing, NOTHING changes you life like a new baby. I can't believe it I've been a mom for 4 years!

I decided we needed to celebrate with a Disney Cars "friends only" party. I'm not really sure what was going through my mind, but I may have gotten a little carried away with this one - I think the total count of kids was somewhere around 20 - pure craziness!. With the help of a couple of my good friends (shout out Shelley and Season :) ) we seemed to get through the 2, yes 2, hours. As crazy as it was, Dylan had the best day of his life with all of his little friends running around and racing in box cars. Thanks to every one who came!! We had so much fun!!

Happy birthday my sweet boy!

Some of the cars (made from used cardboard boxes):

I had lots of ideas for this party, but unfortunately the making of the cards took over my life and the rest of the party got thrown together the night before (I mean the ENTIRE night ... and morning). The drink station was V8's cafe and the doughnuts are suppose to be Luigi's leaning tower of tires, but as you can see - the tower didn't last very long :).

Here is my little Toe-Mater! Really though, they look alike!

And this picture below pretty much sums it all up :)

New Family Photos!!

I have been so excited to get some new family pics taken and they have finally arrived! Our photographer, Nena, did an amazing job. Here are some (o.k. - a lot!) of my favorites:

(this kid literally tried to back up into the water the entire time we shot around it - he's crazy!!

(Stay tuned for pictures of Dylan's 4th birthday party! It was so much fun!)

"Big Dog"

Easter? What?! Seriously, my last post was Easter? My poor, abandoned family blog. Good thing I have renewed my commitment to document our lives on this blog once more :).

So far this summer has been great! And in more than just a "Seriously So Blessed" way. I've had a reality check these past few months and have re-prioritized my life. Blah blah blah, gag - I know that's what your thinking, but really it's been great. My kids and family are number one - I always knew that, I just know it more now. I've made much more time for my kids and even me! I have been having lots of fun playing outside with my kids and making new mom friends :).

Anyway, on to the good stuff! Dylan had a big day Wednesday! He decided it was time for his Dad to take the training wheels off his bike. After hearing that his friend Cam had learned to ride without training wheels, he was convinced he could do as well. So Jeff took them off, and he took off! I've never seen Dylan so proud of himself. All day yesterday, he kept calling himself a "Big Dog" and asking if he could go play with his friends (so he could tell them the news of course).

Here he is, the Big Dog himself:

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny (who happened to be covered in flour), visited our house! He made a serious mess - I'm still finding grass everywhere :).

I was trying to get a pic of them together and that was the best I could do (And yes, Dylan is wearing shorts over his pants - he's obsessed with basketball short right now - thank you Tiffy.)

Below would be the "bunny feet" chocolate chip pancakes we ate for breakfast - I fooled Dylan anyway :).

My boys, of course, were super aggressive during the Easter egg hunt and had to be pulled out mid way to allow for other children to find some eggs. TY especially loved it!!

Ooooh I love this little face! The picture below (he's eating jelly beans) make me want to go wake him up right now and give him kisses!

Dylan's Swim Lessons

Swim Lessons are one of those times during my week, when I am so in love with my little Dylan (I always love him - but you know what I mean!). He is the cutest little google wearing boy ever! He seriously is a fish and can't get enough of the pool! If the teacher isn't talking directly to him, he pretty much hangs out on the step and snorkels the entire lesson. Occasionally, his snorkeling will be interrupted by short burst of leg and arm flailing, which he considers his "big arms". Oh, and I almost forgot, his "dolphin" moves/spasms are pretty funny as well. They mostly consists of him sticking his buns in the air while bring his knees to his chest then straightening them as fast as possible in a repeated motion. None of the above listed moves get him anywhere! He's not exactly water proof at this point, even though he thinks he is :).

I'll let you watch some of his moves:

Warning: You may get dizzy watching these videos - they get a little better as they go along, but I'm not so great with the camera. I would have also cropped the videos to the important parts, but I don' t know how, so you get the full clips! And fell free to laugh at how dumb I sound in the background! It's one of those things when the camera is rolling, you automatically start talking weird and sound really dumb.

I'm Back!

My poor, sad, blog. So much for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even Christmas - the prime blogging holidays! Oh well, better late than never.Just FYI - I'm going to talk a lot so feel free to skip to the pictures.

Here are just a few updates for journal purpose, I know this may be cheesy, but I know my mom will at least love it!

Tyler is the cutest little tiny 1 year old. He is soo little - like the 4th percentile little. I know one day (if I'm lucky) I'll have the huge massive Jaba the Hut baby girl that will put my two little skinny boys to shame. He may be the size of a 7 month old, but he's is so active. He starting walking toward the end of his 10th month and has been trying to run ever since. He's not so great at talking, everything still sounds like gobble gobble, at least that's what Dylan thinks (think Thanksgiving). And even though he can't verbalize his feelings, he will definitely let you know if he's mad at you. I'm not sure where he learned yelling from :).

Tyler somehow manages to keep up with Dylan as well. In fact, they have actually had a few roll on the ground, baby fingers pinching skin and grabbing hair fights, very funny. One of my favorite things about my sweet little baby is how much he loves to "give loves". He will cuddle on my shoulder and make little baby sounds as he wiggles to get as close as possible. Every morning he comes in my bed and literally mauls me to death with slobbery kisses and hugs as he flaps his little body all over my face. If I mention or push him even in the direction of his dad, he get mad at me! Not that he doesn't love his dad, of course he does, but some moments are just mom moments.

Dylan started Joy School last year with all his little primary friends. He absolutely loves it! We are still working on the whole alphabet thing :), but he loves every second of it. We will be starting swim lessons in the next month and I can't wait to see his cute little cheeks squished by over sized goggles. You know what I'm talking about. Baby goggle faces are the best. Of course, anything that has to so with sports, or that his dad likes, he likes. "Next year" he plans to play football, soccer, tennis, and baseball. Everything is "next year." Santa is the best thing that has ever happened to him, and me. Any item that interests him at the store, "maybe Santa will bring that for Christmas." Yep, maybe. That means no more melt downs! Well, less meltdowns.

Age 3 1/2 is much easier than 2-3. Much. We are best friends.

Some of my favorite pictures from the past month:

Tyler turned 1 year old on Dec. 23, while we were visiting Arizona.

Christmas was so much fun with all the little cousins. If you know my family, I bet you can guess which sister made the cute nativity costumes - Tiffany of course. The kids entertained us all with the angel/Tinkerbell busting some seriously inappropriate dance moves during Angels We Have Heard on High and Mary literally using her shawl to dance with the angel, again, inappropriately.

(Dylan wasn't so happy about the situation)

Ty was more interested in climbing on the presents than actually opening the presents

His signature move: