Caleb...Oh how we love you!

Okay, I'm not sure if it's the age or what but this kid seriously is adorable! I'm wanting to blog all I can before this new little bundle of joy arrives in our home. Before I'm totally sleep deprived and no longer a "nice" mom to my two year old, or even able to think about another child besides a newborn. Let's just say that I am in LOVE with him. He is such a happy kid and really hilarious. He TALKS and TALKS and TALKS and makes the funniest faces EVER. Honestly he can't go more than 10 seconds with out a pause in between words, sentences, thoughts, etc. My dad has nicknamed him Glenn Beck, because like Glenn Beck Caleb has the gift of GAB.

A few days ago I went over board on buying spices. Random, I know but totally important in your food storage. My sister of coarse had this brilliant idea to make home made dressings, dips, from all the spices. So that's what Jared and I did one night. We made Ranch dip, Taco Seasoning and Italian Dressing Seasoning. I have all three in three different mason jars and I have to admit I have used two of the three already and I really am pleased. So thanks again Shan for the great tip! I have to admit though we had to shower that same night because we were both sneezing and coughing due to all the pepper! But after the mess was all cleaned up it was totally worth it. Ok, on to my story about Caleb. He has been creating his "Oquirrh Mountain Temples" by stacking all the spices up on the table. One morning Jared thought he'd totally impress his little dude buy building it all the way to the ceiling! Lets just say Caleb thought it was SUPER cool! Jared was nice and even let him knock it over!

Here is our little man helping roll out pizza dough. Like I said in a previous post, he's really my only kid at home most hours of the day, so hence the MANY pictures of him.

Just one happy goofy kid!

He ate all his dinner and Jared had a favorite "Daddy treat" for him...Ice cream!

Oh, and here is the confession...Caleb LOVES cartoons, movies, t.v., you name it he loves it! He started his little wee life not having any interested in television, but either he has an addictive personality or I have allowed a little more TV time for this kid. Call me a bad parent, but sometimes a cartoon here and there is good. That smile you see on his face is because he as adopted/kept a toy from a friend of mine. If you don't know who that character is, let me educate you on Caleb's favorite show...Little Einsteins, "rocket" He LOVES this show. I find it totally adorable. In fact I really enjoy sitting with him and watching it. He does all the little hand movements, calls out the levels of sound, and sings the little songs. We played at the reservoir the other day and our friends had this toy, Rocket. Caleb saw it and instantly he didn't let it leave his hands. So after about 2 weeks of "stealing" this toy, he has yet to loosen his grip from it. It's totally adorable though because he pretends he's chasing after "big jet" (the bad guy on the show), has Rocket sleep, eat, dance, fight bad guys, etc. It really has been fun to see him LOVE a toy so much. I think it's time I invest in our own little Rocket toy and give this one back. So, thanks Alissa for sharing your Rocket toy with Caleb. It's been well loved and will continue to be until I see you again!!

General Conference, Birthdays, Preschool...etc.

General Conference weekend is a personal favorite at my house. It's not only my favorite but it's quickly become a favorite of everyone. Now, these pictures DO NOT DO JUSTICE to how darling our pancakes turned out. My friend Emily told me to buy a ketchup/mustard squeeze bottle and then make shape pancakes. Well we did just that. My kids (and Jared) were in HEAVEN! When my family stopped by and saw the darling picture pancakes they were SHOCKED how cute they were. Jared made faces of our family...let's just say they were darling! The shapes on the griddle are a roller skate, tree and a rocket ship. These were children creations so just imagine the possibilities Jared made!

Snuggling up and enjoying conference!

I just have to document that he can finally help around the house! :)

A big 30th birthday celebration for Emily! I planned a little SURPRISE birthday lunch with some friends at PF Chang's. It was an AWESOME surprise.

Here's to the 30 year old birthday girl!!! Happy Birthday Em, we love you!!!

And yet, our little Jacob is blossoming in preschool. So last week if you remember he mastered his letters and sounds. Well, don't you worry this week he came home and said he earned is "Blending Badge!"

This is his first book that, YES he can read! As I sit and listen to him read and sound out new words I feel like he's pretending or someone is whispering in his ear. It really is darling!

Here is yet again, his little award! If anyone is in search of a fabulous preschool teacher, well lets just say she gets a ringing endorsement from me! WAY TO GO JAKE!!! It is really fun to have two kids needing reading time now. I feel this sudden lunge into a new life of responsibility, having to be MORE organized with my time, and spending equal time with both kids learning. Oh, the joys of now adding yet another little monkey into our family!

More updates...

Caleb is really my little buddy. Because we live so close to cousins it seems like he and I are at home alone...a lot! So with him taking SHORT naps lately, he is around for "cooking" dinner. He thinks it's great because Jake isn't home to tell him to take off his apron. I think it's time I make Jake a bigger one and give this one to Caleb. Either way, I couldn't be happier to have this HAPPY kid around. Yes, he puts his fingers in EVERYTHING, and spills everything but honestly, I have to admit I have several "tender" moments when I think, "Seriously, you are so adorable!"

Alayna and her cousins working on a FHE art activity. They were all in HEAVEN! I had just enough girls camp supplies left over for the four older kids to do a temple art project. They all were so proud of their hard work!

Isn't it amazing the DARLING smiles you can capture when it's a 2 year old, a balloon and NO older SIBLINGS teasing him! Once again, he's in total heaven when he hangs out with mom!

I guess paying for preschool is paying off...He knows how to write his name. And he passed off all his Alphabet letters and sounds.

Way to go Jake! Let's just say that this STAR is something special to Jake. He lost it momentarily, starting BAWLING hysterically and then was screaming..."But MOM, my star necklace is VERY SPECIAL TO ME!" Thankfully he found it in a bush and it's in a safe place now.

Updates on life...

Grandpa turned 90...he had his 4-tier cake that he decided he wanted and too many cupcakes to count! We all sent my Aunt memories and favorite things we loved about Grandpa. She shared them at the park for everyone to enjoy. It was SO fun to reminisce on so many memories and reasons why we are so thankful to have Grandpa in our life. And to have set such an amazing, inspiring and hard working example for us all. His legacy will always live on.

Just a cute picture of Caleb and Krista at the park!

We have also been spending some time on Saturday's cheering on Conner at his football games! Go Mustangs!

Olivia and Caleb posing for a cute picture...Caleb is yelling at the top of his lungs either..."Go CONN-O" or "Conno's football game!" (I write Conn-o because Caleb can't say his "R" sounds just like my other kids at this age!! We are just hoping he grows out of it too!!!

Something to Celebrate...

90 Years old! That's right, my Grandpa Perry turned 90 years old yesterday. It's unreal to think of the cycle of life. Here surrounding him are a few of his great-grandchildren ranging from 1-11 years old.

Aunt Kath, Grandpa, my Dad

Caleb really enjoys my grandparents. Thankfully he is super social and always happy to see them. So my Caleb was sitting by my grandpa saying "Happy Birthday!" Then my grandpa asks him, "So is 90 years OLD or YOUNG?" Caleb stopped and thought...then he shouted...YOUNG! My grandpa gave him an enthusiastic high five! Despite many different health challenges my grandpa has continued to modify his lifestyle and adapt to his challenges. The one thing I have always loved about my grandpa is he has remained up beat and always up for visitors. It's wonderful having them so close to us now in Herriman...I mean as if Riverton wasn't close enough!

We lucked out having my entire family there so I too advantage of having a family photo with my grandparents. My grandparents just returned from Portland Oregon for a family wedding. So since they just flew home we didn't end up celebrating a BIG PARTY yesterday. So we are waiting until this weekend. The cute request that my grandpa made was to have 90 CUPCAKES! It looks like we will all be baking this weekend!!! Happy Birthday Grandpa.

Time Out For Women

Time Out For Women 2011
Logan Utah

Thanks to my sister Angela for inviting us last year to TOFW - we have fallen in love with a new mini-getaway. It really is so inspiring, fun, lots of laughs and tears. It's wonderful!

Our fun friend Amanda, who came with her mom and sister-in-law. With her around it always makes a fun weekend!

Krista and her Mother-in-law Diane and sister-in-law Laurie.

Our dear friend Marci. We had an extra ticket so I quickly invited her to attend with us. It was wonderful to introduce someone else to the GREAT weekend!

Oh, and it's just not the same if I don't get a picture with my all time favorite speaker...Merrilee Boyack! If you haven't read any of her books...(Yes, I have read them! SHOCKER I KNOW!) She is wonderful. So inspiring, motivational and just my all time hero. I was determined to NOT talk to her this time because the last time I had an all time MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT with her...Anyways, I happened to be walking next to her (on my way to the restroom, not famous people stalking!) Then my sister Angela happened to be there waiting for a picture with her and she said, "Hey isn't this your hero??" I was stunned, but then of coarse I had to cease the moment and get a photo. I ended up talking to her and asking her to mention "running" in her talk. Long story, but Shandra my sister felt like every speaker mentioned running some how and she was SOOOO tired of hearing about how you should RUN. Amanda and I of coarse LOVED it, but Shan was so done with hearing about it. Anyways, Merrilee totally did it! Her first intro into her talk was about "Why did they schedule TOFW on the Top of Utah Marathon weekend?" Then she continued to talk about how she hated running and the only marathon she would be apart of was a Star Wars Marathon... Anyways, it was totally hilarious for us who knew I had mentioned something. It gave us all a BIG laugh and we enjoyed her even more!

We finally met up with our favorite Kaysville friend. Emily and her mom. Hopefully next year we can spend a few more hours with you!

Until next year...we've wised up and booked our hotels already!

Happy Birthday Grandma Lou!

That's right we've had a Birthday shout hurray! Happy Birthday to Grandma Lou.

Alayna several months ago decided that she wanted to go get pedicures with my mom for her birthday. She's been saving her money and today was finally the day to go! She was in heaven!!

The cute part of this memory is that Alayna has been saving her money for some "shoes" she saw in a Childrens Place catalog. Get this the shoe price for little girls was $22.95! Unreal. She's been saving for a while and holding on to the picture of shoes she liked. The morning of the pedicure she was debating to spend her money on shoes or a date with Grandma Lou. Well, as I was folding laundry in my room (yes I actually do that every so often!) She jumped up on my bed and said, "Mom I decided that it's better for me to spend my money on making a memory with my Grandma, then buying some shoes...I figured I can always find cheaper shoes anyways!" I have to admit it was one of those darling mom moments when you realize that something clicks in your little kids brain and heart. Let's just say that this is a memory Alayna will remember forever!

Off Track...

We are entering our third week of being off track and I have to admit I am so sad to see it end! I've loved the spontaneous play dates, parks, staying up late reading books, walks, sunshine, swimming and sleeping in late!

Here is a simple memory of pretty much everyones favorite activity the past few weeks. Swimming at the reservoir .

Practice...Practice...Practice

Well, it's been a long (overdue I'm sure) time coming...Jacob can finally write his own name. It's a good thing I as the mother can take credit for this and not his preschool teacher! :) Good Job Jake!!

September 11th

My mother has attended the healing field in Sandy the past couple of years and I finally had the opportunity to take my kids. It was really neat because before we headed over we had a little Family Home Evening about our country, honoring the flag, the laws and what the word honor means.

Cute little Jake took the lesson to heart when he kept his hand on his heart the entire time we were there. Here is the new sculpture that was released this year. I also, have to mention that my kids knew we were going to attend the flags this morning and they all came down dressed in their flag t-shirts. I have to admit I was totally impressed by their patriotism. This really was so overwhelming and very impressive to attend. It really has given us all something to stop and think about, especially our feelings and memories on how we felt 10 years ago. Not to mention to immense gratitude we have in our hearts for those who continue to fight and defend our country. Here is a THANK YOU to all of you who we personally know that are defending our country.

Jacob

Caleb

Alayna