Sign language

I have kind of done sign language with my kids but never very consistently. The only sign Rex ever learned was "more". With Sam, we have kind of done "food", "more" and "drink". Tonight he was so irritated and ornery and I asked him if he wanted some food or num-nums. Much to Mark and I's shock he busted out the sign for "food"! We were shocked! He was so proud of himself so I had to get a picture of him with his food. Fish and salad. He ate the fish, but the salad ended up on the floor!

Bring on Spring!

We have had a very chilly, rainy week this week. So when we woke up and the sun was shining we were excited! To top it off, it just kept getting warmer and warmer! We spent most of the afternoon outside doing yard work and playing baseball. ViAnne and I went to Costco this morning and bought some rose bushes to brighten up the front of our houses. The two kinds I got were the Betty Boop and the John F. Kennedy!
Betty Boop

John F. Kennedy

They had one called the Sexy Rexy and I almost got it just so we could have a plant named after Rex, but I liked these ones better so I didn't. That would have been funny though!!
ViAnne and I planted them this afternoon. I am excited for them to start blooming! Mark isn't as excited about having roses, he thinks they are a pain in the rear. I told him he doesn't have to take care of them so he doesn't need to worry about it!
Rex had a great time playing outside with all the neighbor kids and daddy. Sam loved being outside also, he just crawled around our porch the whole time. Mark got a cute picture of him.

We are so excited for Spring to come! Please come quickly!

7 random things

I have been tagged twice and I think they were both pretty similar, something about random things about myself. This has taken some thought but here ya go.

1. I have a major fear of death. Not necessarily of me dying because I have a testimony of the plan of salvation and what the other side will be like, but of my husband or kids dying, or of me dying and leaving them on their own. So basically of being left on earth without my loved ones, or leaving my boys without a mother. Sometimes when Mark goes out of town, I have a little anxiety attack and make him PROMISE that he won't die. Like he is really in control of that!

2. I met a bunch of women online through a parenting website and developed some friendships, so we created a Yahoo Group so that we can chat about parenting issues. It is nice to vent about life sometimes with others who are also parents but that may have different ideas then you. We are quite a diverse group of ladies. We have an Evangelical Christian, 23 year old, a couple of Canadians, an inactive Mormon, a woman with Cerebral Palsy, a woman who's husband has been in Iraq for over a year, and a woman who is 43 and just found out she is unexpectedly pregnant with her 5th child! I have even talked to a few on the phone. I have learned some great things from these women about parenting, and I have also had the opportunity to share my testimony and clear up many misconceptions about the gospel. The only negative is that between that group and this blog, I spend WAY to much time on the computer!!

3. I am the Young Women's 2nd Counselor, so I am over the Beehives. This has been my favorite calling so far! It is so much work, but is so very rewarding. The random thing about this is that I never received my Young Womanhood Medallion. :( I was such a lazy, ornery teenager and I didn't gain a full testimony of the gospel until after I left home. (My old Young Women's President reads this blog so SORRY Sister Merrill for being such a PITA Young woman!!) I am just happy that I have this second chance to earn my medallion! (and it's much easier as a leader! ;))

4. I am a bathaholic! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my baths! I take one almost every day.

5. I just asked Mark what most people wouldn't know about me and he said that I was lazy! RUDE! The thing is he is correct. I am extreme, I am either super productive or completely lazy! I can't stand a dirty house so I get on these cleaning kicks where I scrub everything, but I also get on these lazy kicks where I literally don't do a thing, which is usually followed by a bath!

6. The other thing he said is that I have expensive taste. That is such a man thing to say! I am a major cheapo on some things but I admit I do have expensive taste on some things. The thing I splurge the most on are my jeans. I LOVE designer jeans so I save up so instead of 2 or 3 pairs I buy one REALLY nice pair. The nice thing is I usually love them and they last for years.

7. Finally, some of you may know this but I am an animal lover. Before I had kids, animals were my passion and my dog Boykin was my first child. He used to get one or two walks a day and a visit to the dog park, but unfortunately he has been bumped to the bottom of the totem pole since the kids came. Poor dog. I used to also watch Animal Planet daily. I even found a stray dog on my mission and kept it overnight until I could find it a good home, even though it was against the mission rules. (woops) I named him Moriancumer! :)

I tag whoever wants to be tagged!

Easter weekend

We spent the weekend at my mom's house and overall we had a great time. The boys were
excited to be there, and Rex was especially happy to go to Grandma's work and look at the snakes.
Friday night Stefanie and Steve came from Burley to visit with their 3 boys. Rex and Daeson had a great time reconnecting.

Stefanie and I got some cheesy pictures together!


Saturday we colored eggs and had an Easter egg hunt in Grandma's backyard. Rex loved it of course and Sam was a good sport as usual!





Saturday night Mark and I actually got to go to a movie, THANKS MOM!! It was nice!
Then Sunday I got the boys all dressed up in their way too expensive Easter outfits! They looked pretty cute and I got a couple of good pictures.




We also went to Grandma's grave to put flowers on it for Easter. I hadn't seen her headstone yet, it was so pretty!

Rex wasn't exactly sure what the graveyard was all about, I got a cute picture of that.

Happy Easter!

The boys and I went to Walmart today to grab a few things and I couldn't believe how many Easter baskets and Easter stuff they had all over the store. It was EVERYWHERE! It looked like the Easter Bunny threw up all over Walmart! It was kind of annoying to me because of course I like to give my kids Easter baskets, but the true meaning of Easter, and every holiday for that matter, is totally overlooked in all the commercialism. Do we really have to spend $50 for every person on every holiday, I mean come on. We of course will do an Easter egg hunt and baskets but I really want to focus on the true meaning of Easter this year, the Resurrection of Christ. Such an amazing event and one that we all can look forward to because of His sacrifice. He has broken the bands of death for us, so that this life is not all we will experience, there is so much more. For that I am grateful.

We will be going to my mom's for Easter so we won't be around for a few days. Rex is so excited, when he woke up from his nap today, he said, "Alright, let's go to Grandma's!" I was like, no buddy, not till you wake up from the night, not naptime! Cutie pie! He loves his Grandma's!

Excited Rex

Rex's friend Annie had her 3rd birthday party today so last night we went and got her a birthday present. After we got home he couldn't stop talking about it! So much so that he wouldn't go to bed! He didn't take a nap so he was exhausted but he kept coming downstairs to tell us something about the party! He stuffed his bears backpack with random toys to take to Annie's party because apparently the bear was "invited". He didn't go to bed until 10:00! So then you would think he would sleep in a bit, no, he was awake at 7:00 am ready to get dressed and go to Annie's party. Unfortunately the party wasn't until 2:00 so he had awhile to wait! So, to appease himself he held her present all morning. It was so funny how excited he was and he seemed to have a great time! I had to get a picture of him holding the present, right before he went to the party! Thanks Chanell for scheduling the party during Sam's nap, I got a whole hour of silence and time to myself today!

Sick days and silly kids

The kids and I have been battling some crude lately. Rex's is allergies, and since we put him on Claritin and his nose spray, he is as good as new. I think Sam's is allergies also, but he is so little, it's hard to give him much as far as meds. He has been miserable at night and this evening I could tell he was just absolutely miserable. Poor guy! I have had a sore throat and so Sunday I took the day off and literally slept most the day. It seemed to help because I felt much better today. Good think Mark was feeling good so he could take over! Here's a picture of the boys and I having a little fun during a time I wasn't sleeping on Sunday!

Rex is such a funny boy and is completely potty trained. He has had a few little accidents but he always catches himself and runs to the bathroom. He is even wearing underwear at night with no accidents! I am so proud of him. Here's a pic of him proud in his underwear.

Sam got his first real haircut the other day. I have trimmed up parts of his hair before but this time I did it all and cut off like 3 inches! It was long! He looks so little now. This is him feeling cool with his new haircut and sunglasses.

Funny video

I had to grab the camera the other day while the boys were taking a bath because Sam was dancing in the corner of the bathtub for like 10 minutes. This boy loves to dance. Anytime there is music, whether it is in the car, in the house, or during the hymns at church, he starts dancing. The funny thing is that there was no music, he was just rocking out! The video is choppy because I tried to edit out as much of the private part shots as possible. If you don't want to see little nakey bodies, don't watch!
Edited: I took the video down because Mark is afraid we will get a phone call from the Feds for child porn, even though you can barely see anything. Does anyone know how to blur out something in a video? Anyway, I don't know how to fix it but it is just such a cute video and shows Sam's personality so well! So if anyone wants to see it, leave me your email and I will send it to you!

What the heck?!!

I heard this story on the way to the dentist this morning (yes more work done :(). I had to read the whole story on Fox news when I got home.
I am literally speechless! All I can say is WHAT???
Here's the link. Bathroom story
WICHITA, Kan. — Deputies say a woman in western Kansas became stuck on her boyfriend's toilet after sitting on it for two years.

Potty trained!!!!

You guys have all heard me whine about Rex not wanting to be potty trained. I swear I have been trying off and on for a year to do this. Finally I gave him a break and then I came up with a potty chart that has stickers for everytime he goes in the potty and then a prize at the end of the week if he gets enough stickers. He really took to it and has done great! He hasn't had an accident in over 2 days now and we even have been able to go out places without an accident!! He doesn't ask for his diaper anymore which is huge! I am so excited and had to share the good news. Here's his chart!

He got the first toy yesterday and was so proud of it because he earned it all on his own! He even had to sleep with it!
We had a busy weekend. It was VeAnne's birthday so I took her to lunch on Saturday and then Sunday they had people over for dessert. It was really fun! I really love VeAnne and am so grateful to have such a great neighbor and friend! Here is us!

Here are some pics of the party.

My laughy baby boy

I just love this little boy! He is such a sweet heart and never fails to put a smile on my face. I think this video says it all!

Family Pictures

My friend Dana down the street loves photography and has a real knack for it, so we have been meaning to get her to take some family pictures of us for awhile now, unfortunately the weather hasn't cooperated with us very well. Yesterday it was sunny and supposed to be around 50 degrees so we decided to do it. Unfortunately the wind was blowing pretty hard which made it much colder, but we still got some good shots. She did a really great job and I am so impressed with her talent! Rex didn't cooperate to well as usual, that kid is not fond of taking pictures. Oh well. I am really happy with how they turned out though. Thanks Dana so much, you are so talented!!
Here are some of my favorite shots. If you want to see all the shots just click on this link.

Learning words

Sam has learned his first words besides mama and dada. They are car and ball. Do I have boys or what?!! It's so cute, he picks up a car and goes, "ca". I tried to get it on tape but of course as soon as the camera came on he wouldn't say another word, even though he had just said it 20 times! I also let him attempt to feed himself some yogurt yesterday. It was pretty hilarious! He made quite a mess, but it was worth it since he enjoyed himself so much and I got these cute pictures.



Last night, Rex would not go to bed. He took a really long nap yesterday so he was wired. Finally at 10, we just let him come down and watch Mark and I, we were engaged in a competitive game of pool on the Wii. He was so cute, I could hardly be mad that he was up. He would get so excited whenever we won. He would say "Mommy/Daddy I am so proud of you!" And then he said, "Daddy I am very impressed with you". It was so sweet! It's nice to know that your 3 year old is proud and impressed with you!
This is Rex with his "spaceship".