The hunter

Has it been forever since I've posted on here? I think it has. I just haven't had much to say. I've been crazy busy with school. My lovely sister moved in with us until she finds a place to live here in Utah. We went to Boise for Memorial Day. I didn't take any pictures!!! What was I thinking?!?! We had a lot of fun though. We ate, we drank....water, we slept, and played! My cousin Jon had his farewell talk that Sunday. He is going to serve a mission in Guatemala. The poor kid is going to get roasted! He's a red-head. There is no hope for his fair skin! Speaking of skin roasting. I can finally feel the effects of summer. Its actually warm outside and I'm pretty sure its not going to SNOW again, like it did the end of May.

Ree-donk-ulous.

McKay and I are so excited for this warm weather. We have camping trips we want to go on. There are swimming pools we haven't defiled yet with our children. There are walks in the canyon that need to be taken! It's going to be so much fun! And having Melissa and Corinne here to enjoy some of these activities with us will make it all the more exciting!

Random note, I haven't seen Ethan in about 5 days and you wouldn't believe how much can change in just 5 days. He's saying my name clearer, he can sign, 'more' and understands what it means. AND he has a new love for yogurt. Or better yet an old love reignited and magnified. Today after Melissa and I went on a beautiful walk to the BYU campus we decided we were starving and opened the fridge. Ethan was also starving. As soon as he heard the fridge door make its blessed welcome sound of opening, he ran his little bum over; squeezed between Melissa and the door and stood himself right in front of the display of food. He quickly grabbed a yogurt and said 'day-dooo' (thank you), thought for a second and grabbed another one. Satisfied he evily laughed and ran off with his prey. There was no stopping him. Those yogurts never had a chance. They were doomed from the moment I bought them.

Dead leg

I have no picture of this. But hopefully I can paint a well enough picture in your mind. I am currently sitting upstairs on the floor of my bedroom with my legs outstretched. Naturally enough, this sight to my kids means huge playground! A started it by sitting on both of my legs and bouncing himself on them. I played along and started to bounce him. E saw the fun and joined in. Within seconds I was the miniature earthquake that both of them tried to fall off of. They'd hurry and sit on my legs and then wait for me to bounce my legs. After a few bounces both of them would purposely try to fall off. E eventually lost interest and A only became more adventurous with all the possible ways he could play with my legs. Trying to stand on my feet and not fall off. Hopping between my legs without landing on them. And of course the running at me and jumping and then attempting to land with his knees on the outside of my two legs, which are pressed together. This one I wasn't expecting and got a 3 year olds' knee in my thigh!!!

*(#(%&;#$;^%#($*@!

He jumped up looking very concerned. Not wanting to scare him by showing how much he hurt me, I asked him to kiss my thigh better and say sorry. Thrilled that he could make things better he rushed to kiss my leg, slipped and fell once again, this time with his heel on the SAME bloody thigh!!!

OH MY GOSH A!!! seriously dude. Just kiss my leg and get out of here! (There was no yelling of this sort involved. I just felt like yelling and giving him a dead leg!)

In the end he finally kissed my leg, convinced it was all better now, while I, now sit here unable to move because my leg.... has died.

Remember when. . .

Remember when you were a child? Blissful, adventurous, new! Now remember your childhood with one or more siblings. . . it is still all of those things, BUT we can now add torturous and annoying to the list! Because of course parents are never involved in either of those words right? .... right.

I had a revelation a few days ago. Children do not learn how to be annoying. It is in fact ingrained into their very genetic code! I thought for the longest time, they just learned how to bug. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Now that E has been added to our little family equation I have been blessed to see this gene manifest itself in A and E.

Today E in particular was exercising his bugging gene. Do you see it there?

No?

Lets get closer.

How about now? Yeah you see it! It should be forcing a thousand childhood memories back to the forefront of your mind. Of long drives in the car with your brother or sister putting their hand on your side if the seat. It should flash you back to that time they stuck their foot on your side of your couch cushion during Emperor's New Groove. Or maybe it reminds you of good times when YOU were the one putting your foot on your brother or sister's claimed side of something. Someone always screams like they're dying. Someone always get hit, kicked, bitten or abused in some fashion.

I am here to remind you that you actually did not learn that from someone. You were just ornery because of a dang gene.

oh wait. . . who gave you your genetic make up? Your parents!! It's all their fault. See-- they deserved this punishment that you didn't realize was a punishment to them since they weren't even involved in the territory fight!!!

Hopefully my kids never come to the realization that's its really all my fault they fight.

Oh and if you were wondering how it went down with A and E. A lost his head every time E snuck his foot over that line. E was ordered to stop. He told me "nooo" while puckering his lips out at me and then proceeded to sneak his foot across A's chair again. Where it swiftly got stomped on. He deserved it. But turned to me with 'tear' filled eyes acting like HE was the victim. ooooh please. 

In the end we just separated them after several more sneaking toes, then stomped toes, which escalated to the hitting and screaming we were talking about earlier. Love being on the other end of this situation! *cough*

Can't catch a break

Poor E is like my little walking disaster. He can't seem to stay still enough or pay attention well enough to keep himself out of trouble. A few days ago, he and A were walking and E fell off the sidewalk and ate it right into our car or the pavement or some other object harder than him. I'm not sure what he hit, but it did damage to his face. A couple days later he has an encounter with the pavement. This time he was running away from me and some random child was running right behind him so I couldn't grab him. And then splat. He went down again and this time his nosed kissed the sidewalk and then his forehead.

We thought this looked bad!

So bad that he was loved and loved and loved some more!

Until the loving may have become too much. :)

Ok, actually I don't even think that's possible! E soaked up all up.

Today, E looks about a 1,000 times worse. This picture does NO justice to how awful he really is. Every time I look at him I feel bad. We can't let him out in public!! People will think we abuse him.

On a happier note. Check out A, the new acrobat gymnast in the family!

This isn't an accident waiting to happen.  *sigh*

Needed a Little Breather!

The boys and I decided after much studying and stressing that we would go on a walk!

It was such a nice day out that we just couldn't waste all day inside studying and sitting on my legs! So.... we ventured around the corner and played with the neighbor's flower bush.

Obviously not the flower bush. In case you were wondering. This is a tree on the way to the flower bush.

The insanely massive lilac BUSH!! Soooo pretty. The boys found a 'fort' under there and had a ball playing with this plant. A is so manly. He'd run up to me and exclaim, "Its sooo preeeety Mommy! It smells dood!" and then run back to play, only to come back to me and tell me the same thing over again after he'd forgotten that he'd already told me.

I watched them play and stole some of the flowers to make a little bouquet. Turns out lilacs die really fast!  All in all it was a good walk around the corner. We learned some things: lilac bushes make for really great forts, they are really good smelling forts (an important feature when you're a smelly little boy), and their flowers die really fast so don't bother picking them.

It's a ghost, it's a swimmer, no it's... a fishie!

A enthusiastically: Mommy! I did a peeeecture!
Me: You did?? What did you draw?
A pulls his picture up and explains to me: Itssss uhh happeee fishieee!!

Me: Oh wow, that looks really good A. (I'm wondering about the direction of fishies' mouth if its a happy fishy, but who am I to question his creative process.)
A: Take dah peeecture wid uh tamera!

He didn't have to tell me twice!

Toddler bed for the new toddler

A few days ago I decided to change Ethan's crib into his toddler bed. It was a lapse of insanity or perhaps boredom. Maybe both! But so far, it's actually NOT as bad as I thought it would be. He does fairly well with staying in his crib when he realizes that Mommy means business. The first day was all a party to him. We took the crib apart and reassembled it into his little bed!

Ayden and Ethan played in it for a few hours. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but I guess something that seems new is exciting to play with. As soon as bedtime came around I was pretty worried we'd have a long night ahead of us. And of course I was right.... I stuck him in the crib and just as fast as I put him in, he crawled out.

Instead of fighting him, we said prayers. This way Mommy didn't lose her head and Ethan could do the same routine he watches Ayden do every night. He was very good at promptly stuffing his face into his bed like his brother does. His arms are folded under there too!

After prayers we tried again to put him in his bed and this time; I let him know party time was over.

As you can see he's still very excited about his new bed. He couldn't hold still very long. He did a very good job laying there while I stood over him and told him to stay there, but as soon as I left, he would hop out of bed and whenever he heard the door open he'd squeal and run back to his bed. It was fun maybe the first two times and then it stopped being fun for me. I made sure Ethan knew he was to stay there. He didn't agree with my rules and was not a happy camper when he found out it was really bed time and he couldn't leave his bed.

That night I found him asleep with is head hanging off the edge of the bed between the bars. Needless to say he had an army of pillows on the ground after that just in case he fell off.

Love all around

I don't miss a lot in my family. I'm usually home all the time, but now that I go to school in evenings I miss things. :(  Last Tuesday I missed this:

 My boys loving each other up rather than abusing each other! E was done much sooner than A it looks like. But still! PROOF!! They do love each other!

Either that or they just love hugs and they don't care from whom.

Unbelievable.... why me!!!!

A travesty of epic proportions has occurred tonight. A catastrophe so heinous it had to be chronicled in black and white. The phrase Sh!* happens rings SO true to Daddy M and I tonight. What is this disaster you may be wondering? It is a very simple disaster to recreate: You take an almost three year old boy, give him his own big boy undies and then teach him to poop in the toilet or else! You instill the fear of the wrath of Mommy and Daddy in his soul if he doesn't make it to the toilet in time. . . and then you let him loose in your home!

AAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHHH!!!!!!

 Let me repeat myself...

WWWWHHHHHYYYYY MEEEE!?!?!

Now that I have you all scratching your heads wondering exactly what the big deal is. I mean I just told you that our son's potty trained. (I use those words generously) I just told you he's scared of getting in trouble when he pees his pants or sometimes poops them,  naturally he would not want to get in trouble and may want to clean up his mess without our help. So if you're intelligent people and I have faith that you are. Then you should be able to deduce that that is indeed POOP smeared ALL over MY floor! NOT just on my floor, but my CaRpEt!! It gets better- this is only his bedroom. He made it all the way out the door, into our upstairs hallway, over to the stairs and down the entire flight of stairs before Daddy M saw his poop slippers and shrieked at him NOT TO MOVE!! 

I do believe we stood there in awe for about a minute until the fullness of what had just happened under our noses sank in. It sank slowly in like the stench of A's poo into our carpet.

So. . . like any independent adult, M threw our child into the shower and called our Mommies! They gave us the wonderful idea of using baking soda to soak up the smell and agreed with the suggestion that we get a carpet cleaner in ASAP. Considering that it is 11 o'clock at night, we decided to let that go until the morning. E was evacuated from the massacred room and sent to a safer haven. Much to his displeasure; I'm beginning to wonder if he liked the smell and didn't want to leave it. . . . *pondering* highly doubtful! I am sure his nasty mood came from the sudden startle as M and I shrieked in horror at the slaughtered carpet. We finally settled him in his crib and began the Baking Soda Project.

 An effort tantamount to the Boston Tea Party Massacre and equally deserving in capital lettering now! If you dare, M recorded the mess for future leverage use. You cannot see the poop in the hallway properly, but I assure you it is like a minefield out there! If I had a nasty smoking habit, this would be a good time to say, "Boy I need a smoke."

Is thad a doste??

Salute to the bread lovers of the world E!

This picture at first glance probably seems very strange. You're probably thinking... ok, cool, your son can et food. Big woop. BUT what you don't see is he is cutting his very own meatball for the first time and he was successful! His first time cutting ANYTHING and actually achieving the goal of it getting cut.

The next two photos are just to prove E loves food. Very Kunz and Allen of him I must say. No wonder he loves food so much, his genetic makeup won't let him hate it!

Well at least until he realizes he can be picky. . . 

As you can see, we had a lovely evening this last weekend with the W family, Aunt Cor... and GGPa. They let us come and munch on their food, lounge on their couches, play with their dogs and take pictures of ourselves with their cameras!! *A is looking at the picture asking me, "Is thad a doste?" (Ghost)* As of late he's had some strange obsession with ghosts, so we talk about them all the time.

Ethan was especially taking advantage of Corinne's willingness to hold him. Its much easier to find a lap at someone else's house rather than your own. Especially since the only suitable lap walking around at home, is Mommy's.

I'm sad this one is blurry. Ayden crawled back here where Duke's doggy bed is gave him some loving, wanted or not wanted, Duke got it.

I think someone's brain may have died

I don't have a picture of this event. The moment just did not permit it. They boys and I were heading out to go visit some family. I opened both doors and shuffled them into the car and then shut the doors. I ran back inside to collect a few things and come back out. As I was stepping out the front door, I see Ethan's cute little head sticking out of the window that Ayden must have rolled down. At the exact same instant, I see the window start to roll up, WITH Ethan's head still outside. I screamed Ayden's name probably three times!! The neighbors must have thought a child was being murdered somewhere. I ran over to roll the window down off Ethan's neck. And the only thing Ethan does is look at me quizzically, wondering what all the fuss is about. My screeching has scared Ayden badly enough that he stopped rolling the window up at just the right time. No suffocating 1 year old today. Ayden actually began to roll the window back down, helping his brother get his head back in before I even made it to the car. I'm just glad nothing happened. That could have been a lot worse than it was. I'll remember this Ayden. There will be a story some day about you trying to roll your brothers' head up in car window. We'll say you tried to kill him, because I bet the thought WAS there.... juuuuuust a little.

Brick Oven Balloons

We had a fun Family Home Evening event yesterday. It consisted of a nice walk to the BYU campus to buy some books for my first classes!! Yay for greater education! Boo to buying ridiculously expensive books that are useless later in life. Anyhow. We made it to all my classes to see where they were.... all two of them, then we meandered around toward the ducky pond. That place may have a lot of ducks, but that is one sick little pond! On our way home, we all decided that we were starving and walked into Brick Oven. We walked out happily full with balloons in hand.

I tried, tried, TRIED to make sure E's balloon monkey made it home in time for a picture, but alas it did not. Instead we made it home with a monkey head and the banana. . .

E just loved his balloon monkey beyond its capacity.

Huh E.

*sorry its out of focus.*

A however did make it home with a full balloon, much to his pleasure and Mommies! The pictures may not look like he was happy, but he is. He's just still recovering from that wedding hangover I was talking about earlier. 

 Spider man now sleeps above his bed and protects him from the scary monsters. And he's still mostly in one piece.

Birthday celebration!

This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip! My Dad's birthday was on the 23rd and we were able to celebrate with him! We made a Happy Birthday Banner with two balloons hanging off as well as a delicious cake with homemade frosting. And I truly mean delicious. It was so rich I could only handle one bite of cake at a time and I loved it!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

My kids were very excited about participating in the event! You can see Ayden's little head in the corner. Anxiously waiting for the candle part.

Ethan has no idea what's going on. He's just there to chill on Grandpa's lap and be in the middle of whatever is happening, hence his stone cold stare.

We were so glad to celebrate my Dad's birth! Without him, there would be no us! Plus, he did go fishing in the morning and caught some fish for us, so he's still pretty useful. :P 

Temple Trip

My cousin was married this last Thursday. They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and it was a beautiful ceremony. I feel so blessed to be worthy to go to the temple with them to participate in their ceremony. It reminds me of how special and sacred the family is. It reminds me of my own sealing and how loved McKay and I were at our sealing.

McKay and I did things slightly backwards so at our sealing we had our son Ayden there with us. He was about 6 months old at the time.

I can still remember when McKay and I were sealed. We had just gone through the temple for the first time together a few weeks before, my heart felt full. Full of love and gratitude and thanks for my Heavenly Father and his love for my little family.

And then there we were; Kneeling across from each other on the alter. The room was filled with people we loved; Mom, Dad, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents. As well as treasured friends from the community. The spirit in the room was abundant. I am sure there were others there from the other side supporting our decision. It was all I could do to keep from not crying.

And then she, dressed in white, brought my 6 month old son in. By this time there was not a dry eye. He was dressed in white as well and fast asleep in the arms of his caregiver. She delicately brought him to the alter to us. I could barely see, I was so overwhelmed by the spirit and love in the room. I know my Heavenly Father and Savior approved and still do approve of my decision to make my family an eternal one. During the entire ceremony Ayden didn't make a peep. He just lay there peacefully with us. I am so grateful that we were worthy and still are worthy to go to the temple. It truly is a little piece of Heaven on earth.

I am so glad that I was able to attend my cousins' sealing just so that the feelings felt at my own could be remembered.


I did get a chance to take some photos. I'm sorry to admit that I did not even get a chance to take one single photo of the man and woman of the hour, but I'll have to say that I was too preoccupied with own kids to really get a shot of them while I had the chance.

  We had some time before the sealing to walk around and take pictures and look at the beautiful scenery. Anyone, LDS or not, would appreciate how beautiful Temple Square really is.

Check out my awesome shoes!!! You know you wanted to see them. Admit it.

Oh look at that handsome smile. There's my little model man right there.

Their reception was very nice. It was at the top of a massive hill in Salt Lake. I'm pretty sure my car wasted about $10 worth of gas getting there. But the view on the way up was worth it. We had a view of all of Salt Lake City and the salt lake. I almost had the potential to meet Elder Uchdorf too. I guess someone saw him taking a walk outside, if I were at all creepy, I might have ran outside and followed him just to say hi. But I'm not. Lucky for him.

Ayden and 'tappa tappa' were best buds during dinner!

Ethan was hardly ever at our table. He was flirting with everyone in the room. I think he sat on about 4 or 5 individuals' laps before he made the rounds back to me.

The last photo here is one Ayden took. He is very proud of his work. Usually he ends up just flashing himself in the face, but this time he actually almost made a regular photo!