Mr. Clean

So first off....I am pretty skeptical of anything that says 'magic' in it. Espeically when involving cleaning things. Those two words just don't mesh well in my head. Magically cleaned. Yeah right, I don't think so.

My mother-in-law gave us some Mr. Clean Magic Erasers for Christmas last year and I have never touched them until today. If you remember, my two year old, Ayden, ravaged his bedroom wall with several crayons. I was ready for an awful day of scrubbing until my hands went raw. McKay suggested I try the magic erasers and I have to say that I have never fallen in love with something so fast! I am totally converted!! Those little things saved me hours of pain and frustration. So if you ever need to get anything off your walls... I HIGHLY suggest magic erasers!!!

Bumps, bruises and scars aside

We HaD aN aWeSoMe VaCaTiOn!!!!

I posted a handful of pictures and a couple videos on here while I was on vacation, but I never really talked about what we did, plane flight post excluded of course! And naturally I have MORE photos to share.


One of the greatest things my kids enjoyed while in Oregon was the trampoline. Ethan just liked the new attention he received by being outside with brother as well as simply being outside. He was the bounc-ee for Ayden, the bouncer. :) Ayden jumps just enough for him to not go flying all over the place. The Kunz's also have a trampoline and even though I don't have any photos of us on their trampoline I want to share this story anyway. Naturally when this happened in real life it only took about 10 or less seconds, but I wouldn't do the event justice if I didn't fully describe it. 

I was out on trampoline laying down while Grandpa Kunz was on the ground making sure Ethan didn't crawl off. Ayden and I were bouncing together, or more like he was hanging onto me for dear life while we bounced. Laughing and loving it by the way, BUT after doing that for about 10 minutes I was wiped out and layed down. Much to the protest of the munchkin I was just playing with. After Ayden finally accepted that I was done-- mind it took him a couple swings at me to do this, he continued to bounce on his own. Ethan then noticed that I was on the trampoline floor and squirmed out of Grandpa Kunz's hands, making a B-line for my face. He gave it a few good slaps before I moved him onto my belly, so that he could ConTiNuE the face pulling, slapping and sucking. You think I'd learn! It was about two minutes of Ethan laying on my belly and Ayden jumping around AND me distracted and talking to Grandpa Kunz when I noticed out of the corner of my eye something massive flying through the air at me. A split second before I realized what it was I put my hand up to guard Ethan and caught Ayden on the lower half of my stomach. HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE! If I could have slowed it down it would have looked like he was swimming through the air. All I could see was this big smiling face with flailing arms and legs rocketing toward my body and I MEAN rocketing!.... right to Ethan and I.

You need to remember that this collision was not in the least graceful. If it were a flock of birds colliding there would have been feathers sprayed all over the place. If you've ever done a race in track then you'll understand that when you're so focused on something that all other sound is drowned out beside the sound of the wind in your ears or the very faint sound of the screaming crowd. In my case, I heard the faint noise of Grandpa Kunz in the background. Something probably like "whoa!" or "stop!!" or simply "AHhhhHH!!!" One of those. After things had settled down, Ayden just simply got up, looked at the both of us with a 'what the big deal?' face and continued to bouce. It was pretty hilarious!

We also had the opportunity to go to the beach while on our vacation. I'm going to make this portion of the entry short only because I've already posted pictures with us there. First thing. IF you've ever gone to the beach in Oregon you should understand that- no you really don't ever get in the water. It's like that pretty decoration on the Christmas tree that you want to touch oh so badly, but you'll be severely punished if you. In this case getting in the water means you'll most likely and most instantaneously freeze your tooshie off! Jackets are a norm and unpleasant wind to make it even more chilly *cough* miserable! is common as well. BUT about once every decade you get lucky! We won the Coast lottery! Finally made it to the end of the rainbow to the pot of gold! It was a beautiful day! Ayden was able to stay in the water up to his chest without me worrying that he would turn into a blueberry. So... naturally that is where he basically lived the entire time we were there. There was barely enough wind to fly a kite. TOo bad for the kite flyers out there, but the rest of us were loving it! I haven't actually gotten into the water in years, so I didn't bother to bring my bathing suit. But this time I got into just below my chest. It was a beautiful thing. When we were ready to go I had to pry Ayden off the sand as well as Ethan. Ethan took to eating the sand instead of playing in the water. Both were equally satisfied as far as I'm concerned. Ok- so that is a bit long, but considering HOW long it could be, this was a short entry. And onto other things now!

 The Zoo! Boy do I ever love the zoo.... BUT it would also be awesome if when we went to the zoo that the animals actually came out to say hi! We got to see a lot of cool creatures, but we also missed out on a lot too. No lions, tigers or bears. Oh my. :) Polar bears that is. My kids didn't care though. They still had a lot of fun.

Ayden got to come into a bird sanctuary full of these little colorful guys and they would fly onto your arms and let you get really close to them. Ayden was entranced. You could pay a $1 for this sweet liquid and then you were guaranteed a birdie friend. We opted to just stand embarrassingly and awkwardly close to those individuals willing to fork out the dollar.

Ayden was observing the monkeys here and I'm sure he was thinking that he could possibly be related to some of those guys down there. Uncanny likeness and all.

They also had a couple of petting zoos open for the children to pet the animals. I remember those being so much more exciting when I was younger. Ayden didn't seem all that thrilled with petting the animals. he was more interested in the terrain they dwelled in and crawled all over the place.

But yes I did get one photo of him petting the lively goat.

Ethan was a very good boy the entire time. He sat pretty much in that spot for the entire trip. After a bit my dad noticed that he was tossing his head back and forth and asked if he could be bored. We picked him up and he was so ecstatic to get out that he tried to climb up my body to my shoulders. His little legs and arms were kicking fast enough to power a small boat.

I'll admit though- I didn't mind holding him and neither did my Dad when my arms started to go dead from his weight. He's only about 15 lbs, but he's a very wiggly and busy 15 lbs!

 My Dad loves being a grandpa and Ayden loves his grandpa. I think they'll be good buddies even when they both get older. :)

Happy to be alive!

These last few photos are post vacation, before I post them. I want to mention that the plane flight home was about as busy as the flight in. I even gave them Benadryl, it did NOT work! Higher dosage next time. :P A woman told me how brave I was to do that... I was thinking more along the lines of crazy and stupid. Those two seem to fit better.

The house was clean when we got home.

It did not stay like that for long.

 

Ethan is much more mobile now and found this little cubby hole. I was trying to get a picture of him all the way in there....because YES his entire body was stuffed into that hole. What he was doing in there? I have no idea, but he was happy.

If you look close enough at this photo you can see a little bruise by his left eye or right side of the photo. This is what happens when babies get out of sorts and try to follow you around the house. In Ethan's case he tried to climb up my chair and the chair ate his face. Poor guy. As you can see he was truly upset for a very long time. :P

 

All in all-we were very glad to be home in our own element and also very sad to go home. Ayden still asks me, "Where's damma? Where's gammpa?" As well as all of my siblings. I am sure if we had spend more time with the Kunz family he would have been asking where they were too. :)

Fiddler on the roof

So my mother showed me yesterday a news clipping from Fiddler on the Roof. I guess they are doing a farewell tour for Tevye and I really wanted to see it!

I went online to see when they would be on tour in Salt Lake City and they didn't even get close to SLC. I was totally bummed. Especially seeing that the last show they are doing is in Portland and I'm going to miss it by one stinking week!

Ugh. But now that she's gotten me on a musical show fix. I'm going to frequent the Broadway website and see what is in town to watch. So if any of you are bored and want to enjoy a night in SLC watching a play, you're more than welcome to come with me. Once I actually find a decent play worth watching that is.

Oregon vacation photos

I don't really have time to comment on all of these, but enjoy looking at them!! If I could show you the personality that my little family has- then it would be through these photos here. McKay is not in these because we don't like him- we're just on vacation and he's at home still. We miss him very MUCH!

(All smiles)

(Gramma, Grampa and Ethan laying out)

(Sandy baby toes, in case for some reason you really didn't know)
(yes- he IS playing in the ocean water)


(wipeout... almost)

(Ayden's juice)
(Read the sigh behind him.)



(yes I am 2- how did you know?)

Beach Videos

I really ought to take more photos of myself. I figure that my boys are infinitely more interesting than I am... but If I am honest with myself about this blog and it being a type of 'journal' then I need to get some photos of McKay and I in here as well! Perhaps not for your guys' sake but for our kids to see what we looked like when we or they were young! Anyway- this video is of Ethan first time with sand.  This is one of Ayden with his Uncle Nathan and Daniel in this ocean. He was very thrilled with the waves.

Planes and Babies don't mix... no really... they don't.

I was always under the impression that flying was fairly easy. And at some times could be considered rather relaxing. You get a good book, maybe your iPod and you're set. But this all changes when you have children. It doesn't matter how many, it is ALWAYS difficult. One is not so hard as two. Two is not as hard as three... and it just gets worse I can only imagine! I had two children under the age of 2 yrs and 2 months. Saying under the age of three years just doesn't sound right because that would imply that A is actually close to the age of three and he is no where near the mental capacity or the age of a three year old. He is still my cute little two year old; busy, distracted, jealous of little brother, and very, very stubborn!

So I decided that with my two year old and 6 month we would fly to Oregon and it would be cake. Busy sure, but not that bad. And I was right, extremely BUSY! We arrived early enough thanks to my wonderful ride, Summer. I had two suitcases and two car seats... two kids...a double stroller, myself and two carry ons. You know that one movie- Home Alone- I felt like that woman, running around all over the airport in a hurry with a load of stuff going on... and there was only three of us total! We got to the x-ray/check through spot and my IDs didn't match and they had to pull me aside to find more proof that I was who I said I was. I appreciate that they are so thorough, but the guy wasn't all that thrilled with "dealing" with me. Thank gosh they let me through after about 10 minutes! I finally got in line to go through the censor bars or whatever they're called, my stroller is huge, so I asked the guy what to do with it and he wanted me to try to fold it up and put it through the x-ray machine. *Really man!? Do you see how BIG this thing is??* I did it anyway and once he discovered that it can't go through their machine, he called someone to come by and pat it down. So here I am, waiting with a 6 month old that I do NOT dare put on the airport ground and A who's running around without shoes on, while they make sure I haven't stashed drugs or knives inside my stroller. If I really wanted to sneak that crap in I would have been more clever than that. Maybe I just look TOO innocent to be believed. Or perhaps I just have a "I'm trying to get away with something bad" face. Whatever the case may be- I AlWaYs get stopped.

Once they realize that I wasn't hiding knives or fingernail clippers anywhere I was allowed my stroller back. And of course- Southwest's gate is the furthest one away. Once we get there we have about 1/2 hour before the plane takes off, but I have to stand in a stupid line so they can mark the stroller. They have 3 or 4 people up front and only ONE computer open. The guy behind me huffed and puffed about how stupid it was that they didn't open more computers so the line could go faster, and as soon as they started boarding our plane I was starting to feel the same way. There was no way I wanted to get on last and no way I wanted to sit separate from A.
Fast forward. We got on the plane, found a seat together. Window seat thank gosh. Sat next to the one child hating passenger there was. And I tried to relax as best I could. I observed a dead bug on the wall... wondered if it was older than me. Most likely. Then focused on my kids. A wanted to eat and so did little E. Not such an easy feat when the man next to me doesn't want to be touched and E wants to flail all over place. A finally got his A sized cheetos and E got his bottle.... now I just had to survive the 1 1/2 flight:

• 3 tantrums thrown over... 1.E was touching A   2.A had to have his seatbelt on  3.I wasn't drawing or holding or touching his coloring book the way A wanted me to. 
  
• 2 bottles drank by E equaling in about 4 formula spills
• 6+ bumps to the neighbor. He tried to read, gave that up, he tried to listen to his iPod and sleep... don't know how well that went.
• 1 little busy E refusing to sleep. He wanted to bounce up and down in my lap. Meaning if you were behind me you would have seen his little head poking up and down over the seat.
• 1 A, *Mine!*   *NOOOO*   *My colors!*   *NOO!*   *No E!*   *more snack?*   *more water* *plane...plane...plane*   *sky Mommy, the sky*
• 1 adoring flight attendant.
• 3 pilot pins for A.
• AND 1 epic headache for me!

Boy do I ever love being a Mom. I better get oober kudos for this kind of stuff when I die. Because frankly both of them are lucky to be alive. But really, I loved it once I just accepted my fate and stopped trying to put E to sleep and keep A seated.

Ted Nugent on the Right to Life

Man I just love this guy. If any of you are confused about why I posted this.... its because I AGREE to the FULL extent!! I am so SO passionate about what he says. Especially about the lame excuse that 'we feel sorry for him because he had a hard childhood' crap. Anyway- I hope you enjoy and I don't mind if you comment because you disagree, just expect me to rebuttal. :)

Love it when I find photos I didn't even know I had!

I found these cute photos in my computer database and thought I'd share them with you all. These are photos from when my beautiful cousin Krystal was married. You'd think it would have been much warmer. I think she was married in April or May? I could be totally wrong. I just remember it being freezing outside!
Why on all of the days in April or May did the weather choose to be crappy on her day.

I love my Mom- a picture without her eyes closed just wouldn't be a picture. :)

So I did these two photos backwards. :/ It supposed to be showing my Dad and I trying to get Ayden dressed first and then the after shot of him actually happy and enjoying himself.

While my parents were here they went to Cabelas and played around for a bit. We also walked around the BYU campus smelling flowers.

...and trying clothes on in the dressing room. Or in this case hiding in the dressing room.

And last of all, I found this cute video that my Mom took while she was in the car with Ayden. Don't mind the wobbling, I think it was hard for her to hold it still while the car moved.

One thing or another

We have been pretty busy around here with such and such and I realized I had a few photos sitting in my camera waiting to be shared. Today I was vacuuming one of our rugs and Ethan scooted himself over and had a look. The only words I can come up with for his look toward the vacuum is utter fascination and curiosity! Their first introduction was not the most pleasant and ever since they have avoided each other.
There is something rather terrifying about the sudden roar of a vacuum that Ayden was not so keen on. So today at a safe distance from each other, I turned it on and Ethan decided it was as good a time as any to figure out what the heck this machine was.
My boys also seem to have this love of baby powder. I'll poof it onto their little bottoms and each seems to really enjoy it. Ayden will laugh usually and make a goofy face and Ethan will give me a big smile while...yes.... Ayden watches me powder his tooshie. What a blessing it will be for these boys to never remember such intimate moments of their young life.
A few days ago I bought a little $10 swimming pool and set it up right outside my front door. And then brought everyone and a book out with me to enjoy the weather and water. Ethan was very content to just sit in his lambie chair.
I caught him several times licking his chops or sucking on his upper lip OR playing with the new appendages that he has discovered he has. I sure love my little guy!
Ayden on the other hand has a lot more freedom than Ethan and had a great time running around mostly outside of the pool. Leaving me to wonder 'why the heck did I buy this thing again? The kid on the box looks happy to be in the water? Why won't my kid just sit in the water and play?'





He was more interested in sitting next to me while I read.










Or he was more interested in grabbing the huge beach ball and throwing it at me and then throwing it back in the water. Repeating this over and over again until I told him to stop. The photos I did manage to get of him in the water were when I stuck him in there and said "don't move." All in all we did have a nice time, even if it lasted only a 1/2 hour at most!