Mothers Day Weekend

We had a great weekend! On Saturday we were able to go Skiing again. Thank you Wendy for babysitting, we owe you! You need to come with us one time! Anyways, so we got up there a little later around 10:30. It was a bit chilly but the sun came out right away and we had a great time! David is a wonderful wonderful teacher! I tried new skis this time and they were great, i loved them! David said my turns looked so much better! Go me! :) and i was going down the mountain with VERY minimal stops....the fastest i made it down was like 5 minutes! Awesome huh! Yeah, we had a great time! We saw this dad teaching his little girl how to ski, i love seeing that, they look so cute! and the kids are always awesome! they smoke me and I am just like whoa, i cant wait til we can teach Tyler! He will LOVE it! So the little girl looked kinda small and we asked how old she was and he said 3 so maybe not this winter but next spring he'll probably be ready! wooo who! We skiied and skiied, the chair lift held us up for a bit but none the less, it was a great day! Craig met us up there so David got to stay a bit longer while i came back to relieve Wendy at around 3. I never thought i would drive myself down the mountain either, but I'm doing that too! Yay! So we dropped Wendy back at home, she said the kids were wonderful, like they always are when others watch them, so thank you thank you my wonderful children for being excellent! Then David got home with some Cafe Rio! Love them! and then we just hung out the rest of the night.....ate, played with the kiddos and then went for a walk, Tyler LOVES going on walks. If the garage door is open, he runs straight for the stroller, everytime! Hopefully it will stay warm so we can make it a habit, our nightly walks. David is usually on his roller blades and Tyler is always mesmerized when he is on them, i love when we get to do stuff as a family! I put Hailey in the stroller sitting for the first time, shes not quite ready, i was stopping every so often to straighten her up, but she loves walks too! No pictures bc the camera was still at Grandmas house, so dont worry i'll be sure to make up for that week!!!
Sunday, we got up for church and David got up on time to make sure to help me and to be on time, we werent on time but better than usual! Tyler made me a cute card in Nursery! His leaders are great! and then we came home....I wanted a nap for mothers day, so I got it! YAY for me! I woke up to a clean house and my carpets being cleaned! always love the way they look after that! Then we headed to the in-laws for Sunday dinner. Everyone was there and we had a great dinner and dessert! I got my camera and I was supposed to take pics with my kids, but we didnt so we're taking a rain check on that! It was a great day, received many calls and made some too! It was a great day!!!! Thank you!!

I just wanted to talk a little bit about being a mom...
I love being a MOM! Words cannot express what that title means! The love that it carries and the privilege it is! My children are the BEST! no exaggeration! I couldnt ask for anything better! I am truly blessed with the wonderful little family we have. I am not the best mother by far but I do try to try my best and do the best for the two of them. I love spending time with them, being in their presence is such an honor. They are the sweetest little beings. They do try my patience and i have lost it sometimes but even when i have had enough, they smile or laugh and i have forgotten what they did. They are so loving and caring, everything that seems sometimes hard for me, they are and they do it so willingly, how much i have learned from them and from having them. My perspective has changed in some many ways! I have always loved kids, but having my own is such an amazing experience that i will cherish forever! I loved Tyler soooo very much when we had him and then when we got pregnant so soon i was worried that i would be taking some of my love that was meant for Tyler and giving it to another little one. I know everyone told me that your love will grow and it will be the same, i couldnt comprehend that, Tyler was EVERYTHING, but now having both of them i now understand. My heart has grown! I would do ANYTHING for them, anything, i love them both with all my heart! Sometimes it is hard but i can probably count those days on one hand, they make my life so joyous! I cant imagine life without either of them, I cant remember our family when it was just me and David (i do love you babe, lol) but it has become so much more enriching with the two angels that have been put in our lives! We love them so much! and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be a mother to them. I love when Tyler "talks" to me and when Hailey cant stop smiling at me. I love being home and thank you David for working so hard for us so that I can be! I love being able to document their little accomplishments, i love being their encourager and helper! I love being their teacher! I love sharing my LOVES with them. One of them is dancing and I love that Tyler knows how to pick a beat and break a move! He is the cutest! I love being there when they are happy, scared, nervous, learning something new, anything, i am there! and I am very lucky to be! I cant see the future and see how they turn out to be, but i know they will be wonderful people, i KNOW that! :) i can see it in their personalities right now! Hopefully i will be the type of mother that will instill the right principles in them to help them toward that, it is kinda scary to me when i think about how much influence i will have on them but I know that as long as I teach them the right things, stay close to the gospel and continue to better myself that they will have a good example to follow. It amazes me how much they have encouraged me to be better and they cant even talk yet! I do think about how they will be but I do love it now though, every stage is so fun, i remember thinking, man, Tyler is so much fun right now how he interacts with me and has his own little personality, i dont really know how im going to like having a baby again, but again, i was wrong, who knows what i was thinking! Babies are the best! They are so adorable! I love love love babies! Everything is new for them and everything is a new experience that I get to be part of! Motherhood is the best! I can go on forever and ever and ever! I just wanted everyone to know how blessed I know my life is and how blessed I know I am to be able to be a mother!
I am grateful too for the wonderful mothers in my life that i can look up to, thank you! Hope everyone had a great mothers day! I did, I do everyday!
Yay for Mothers!!!

This is a cute little poem my friend Janaca emailed me, I loved it! Thanks!
Before I was a Mom-
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom-
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom-
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Parkinson Pics & a whole week of FUN!

We got a GREAT Picture of the two of them......

now we just have to work on our family ones :)

Hailey (5 months)Tyler (20 months)

So these pictures are from when we went to Jessie and Adams Wedding last week. It was beautiful! The colors, the decorations, the food and the dancing! We had a great time!
Jessie is Davids sister Kellys sister in law, so they were in town too! Christy (Davids sister too) also came in for a day to film the wedding. It was great to see everyone and spend some time with them.
Kelly and Richs family were here for about a week. It was fun to hang out with them and their fun, energetic 3 boys. Parker is the same age as Tyler (they are 2 weeks apart) and it was great to have them play together. They are getting at the stage when they CAN play, so it was so nice that they got to spend time together. We went to Outback one night, just the adults, luckily too bc we ended up waiting for about an hour, but we did get some free appetizers so its all good. On Sunday we all were at his parents house and had some yummy steak! We then played ticket to ride, a great game! and Stacey won! The next few days were busy for them with wedding stuff, so we got back together on Thursday. We let the kids play at McDonalds before dinner at Magelbys, hoping that would get a lot of their energy out before a sit down dinner, yeah, that wasnt so...lol. No the kids did great, but yes it was a busy dinner. Then we headed back to the house to talk and play games. We played Carcassone this time around and David won, again! I dont think he has ever lost that game, CRAZY! So all in all we had a great time seeing the Evansons and wish them all the best on their move to Georgia, hope to see you soon! We love you!
Then off to St George, Kyle was going through the temple so were happy to be there with him. I stayed home with the kids and I now know what it would be like with 3 little ones...it would be....A LOT OF FUN! Ha ha, it was a hand full, but they were all wonderful! Then everyone got home and we had some pizza, went to urban renewal (great little shop) got some ice cream at Blue bunny and then headed down main street to this little water attraction they just opened. Everyone was there! It was fun..... Kate especially love it! I forgot my camera at Daves parents house, hence not very many posts, its STILL there! anyways, so Brittney has all the pics we took. Tyler is not really that fond of water things like that, David did make him get in though...he started to have fun for a bit. Hailey was with the grandparents just hanging out in the beautiful weather we had. We stayed there until we had to come back and get ready for Kevins eagle ceremony! It was great! Kyle was able to give Kevin the eagle. My dad and Dan spoke and they both did beautifully! Then we had some homemade cookies Rocio made and they were DELICIOUS!
We went back to moms to pack to get ready to leave, but we never want to leave when we are with everyone, so we talked and talked and talked and eventually got out of there at around 10, yeah we didnt get home til Sunday! lol. It was a great weekend! Dan, Britt and Kate will be coming up this weekend for a wedding, so we'll get to see them, then the next weekend we are off to Cali, we can't wait!!!!!

Bottle Weening

Well yes, we have offically (I think) weened Tyler, well started to, off the bottle. I didnt think it was that big of a problem. It had gotten worse during the winter i guess cause we were inside all the time, he would just carry it around in his mouth and constantly want it and every time i would try to take it away from him, it would just be sad, so I wouldnt. I would just keep putting it off, I would say well its just so easy with him right now and especially with having Hailey, he was just perfect, on the perfect schedule, everything and I was afraid to mess that up and cause havoc. But thursday, i was turning the tv on for Tyler and I saw that Leah Remini (the actress from King of Queens) was going to be on Rachael Ray talking about how her 3 and a half year old is still on the bottle and how she has attempted and failed several times to take her off. I related to a lot of the feelings she had toward her child and the situation, i really liked when she said, "if it doesnt feel right, then do what feels right for you and your baby" I was like yeah, you are so right! She was being so honest and i was just like yeah, yeah YEAH! I feel the same way! So I watched the whole hour of it and it was very enlightening. The consistency stuff i know, i agree with, i know that once I start that I need to keep with it or its just going to get harder and harder the next time I try, i know the stuff about the teeth, things like that. The thing that got me was that the child doctor was explaining how when children use the bottle to go to bed they associate getting comfortable and going to bed with sucking, so like how we move or adjust our pillow, they (the child with the bottle) need to suck on something to put them back to bed and i never thought of it that way. But it was so true. When he was sad or needed comfort and especially if he ever woke up in the night, he would reach over to his bottle and start sucking it to put him back to bed. He eventually didnt even need milk in it to fall asleep, just the sucking on the bottle. Then she was talking about how pediatricians tell you to ween them off a bottle at a year, and she said more than 50% of parents dont, that by 18 mths they do and a few stragglers wait til they are 2. That would be ME. SO I was like ok, I'm going to do it. David had been telling me to do it, just take it away, things like that, but I would tell him that he is not home with them and I am the one that has to deal with the repercussions. So I waited and waited thinking that one day i would feel that the time was right, so when I saw this I was like okay, I need to do it. I was ready for the kicking and screaming, etc. I can handle it and I wont give in. He is on a regular schedule so he knows when he takes his naps and goes to bed, so after that episode I told myself that i would try it for his nap. Well he usually goes down at noon and sleeps til about 3 or so, so I thought maybe if he was really tired then he wouldnt notice as much. So at 12:30 I grabbed his blanket (blankets arent bad right?) :) and I said "okay its time for nap time" he went with me, we went to his room, i laid him down. covered him, kissed him and said "night, night". He had a puzzled look on his face when I didnt leave him with the bottle, he smacked his lips a couple of times, like he does when he wants his bottle, and i said "i love you!" and walked out. He didnt immediately start crying but he soon did. I skyped David this....

bottle weening in progress - 12:31pm
please be home right after work if possible-12:31pm (I was obviously bracing myself for the worst)
12:30 put down, still crying-12:31pm (yes I am use to now crying when I put him to bed, so a WHOLE minute of it was bad)
still screaming-12:38pm
SUCCESS-12:48pm
no more crying-12:48pm
it just took 18 mins and me keeping him up for forever til he was super tired-12:49pm
YAY!-12:49pm
dont let me regress dave!-12:49pm
we need to take him out somewhere tonight to get him real tired before bed tonight-12:49pm
with no bottle again tonight-12:50pm
cool beans!-12:50pm
i'll tell you why I decided to do it now, later, love you bye-12:51pm

So that was nap time, I then put Hailey to bed and then at around 2:15 I hear him start to cry, I was like OH NO! so I left him for a few minutes and when I realized he wasnt going to bed, I went in there, tried to lay with him, but no, so I took him downstairs. He was very clingy for about an hour or so, but then it started to SNOW! So I opened the back door and we started to play with the snow...yes I took pics, I'll post them later :)
So David came home at around 6ish and i was like okay, where are we going....he said no where but I insisted so we went to eat at costco, we got some pizza and berry smoothies (we love them) then we went to see Horton Hears a Who, cute movie, Tyler was kinda scared at the beginning but ended up watching the whole thing. So we got home at about 9, he usually goes to bed by 8. So again we do the same thing, David made me do it because he said i was the one that started it, so i need to finish it, anyways, so I lay him down, he didnt ask for it this time, but again started crying once I shut the door. He cried for about 20 mins, I was thinking it would be worse. He slept all night and woke up happy! YAY!
So today, we had a few errands to run...we ran them :) I got him some krispy creme donuts and their new fruit chillers on the way. We got home and I laid him down but today he didnt lay down, and today he really didnt take a nap. He cried off and on for about 2 hrs. I finally went in to get him when he was crying straight for about 10 mins. We played outside with his new bucket and shovel I got him at walmart. The little neighbor girl came out to play too so he had fun, David got home, we ate dinner and then I thought we could go for a walk because it was still pretty nice out and I thought that would relax him, he loves walks and it seems like every time we go on one, he gets sleepy. So we came home, I put him in bed and he didnt ask for the bottle, but he cried a little bit, less than 10 mins though.
So that was the past 2 days. Bottle weening is in progress! He has actually done very well, I had a whole scenario in my head and it was so so so much worse! Thankfully its not. So I hope he continues to do good. Luckily he wasnt even sad and today he didnt ask for it all day. Hopefullly the weather stays pretty nice that we can play outside and things like that, so that has been my bottle experience so far. Wish me luck if you have any advice, please give it, I hope to stay strong and have him off it. Oh and if you are around me, please do not say bottle, I have been spelling it around David and anyone else I talk to, its funny. So thats that, I just wanted to share my experience. More updates later, oh my goodness, you are not going to believe this, he totally just started crying! AHHHH! okay, we'll i'll keep you posted......

SKIING!

We have a few ski passes left, so we decided we were going to go skiing every Sat in April instead of selling them. We're doing good so far, 2 down and 2 more to go! We had a GREAT time on Sat with everyone! We went skiing with Davids mom, his uncle Roger , Aunt Sue Ellen and Uncle Steve. It was such a beautiful day! The sun stayed out the whole day , the snow was slushy and it was just a FUN day all around! I totally know why people love Spring Skiing! Thank you to the Call kids for watching Tyler and Thank you Grandmother for taking care of Hailey! She loved being with you Grandmother, thank you thank you thank you!

So we got up to Snowbird at around 11:30. I am always so scared at first, so it took us a little bit to get down on my first run and then we met up with the others and took some pictures before we went down again

David and I

Uncle Roger, Cyndy, David, Lindsey, Aunt Sue Ellen, Uncle Steve

Steve and Sue Ellen coming down the mountain

Steve, Sue Ellen and Roger on the Chair Lift
We went down the tram a few times, around the back on an ungroomed run, and we got to go through the tunnel too!

David and I on the chair lift

Roger and Cyndy having fun

Me making it down the mountain

I'm getting it and its becoming more and more comfortable. David was able to leave me a couple times, usually I want him next to me the whole time. You're the best teacher David, I appreciate all the time and effort you put in to helping me learn! I love you!
So we were there pretty much all afternoon and I am so glad we were able to go!
Thank you David for taking all the great pictures, we'll make sure to take some of you next time! :)

So after skiing we picked up the kids and headed home. We grabbed something to eat, got home and all went to bed for the night after the fun filled day each of us had!

P.S. like I was saying about the sun on Saturday when we were skiing, well, I didnt put any sunblock on and it didnt show up that day but today when I woke up for church, my face was fried!!!! and i guess it would have been ok if it was my whole face, but no, it was the nice goggle sunburn, not pretty at all and pretty painful! So if you saw me at church and you were wondering what was wrong with my face, that was it :)

Conference Weekend

We had a great weekend, not only because we were able to be together watching conference but we had family come in town and we all got to hang out.
My cousin Laura and her cousin came in from Miami on Friday for Lauras mission reunion and for conference. They were able to go to the sessions on Sat AND Sun. They were really excited and we were happy they got to go. During priesthood session, Laura, Paola and Wendy hung out with me and we decided to have a cousins dinner. So Sunday after conference all the cousins came over and we had dinner, dessert and a lot of FUN!

Roland, Andrea, Andy, Andreas brother Paul, Wendy, Laura, their cousin Paola, Anthony, Kyle, David, Tyler, Hailey and I feasted on some chicken and rice, with bread and salad. I dont think David and I ever made a dinner for that many people, but it came out great! Gotta love the crock pot! Then we talked a bit, everyone played with Tyler and Hailey and then leave it to Kyle to bring out a new multi player wii game and we were all hooked.Oh so the story with Tylers lip....On saturday morning, David and I decided to go skiing (yes we did listen to conference on the radio) anyways, so we head over to his parents house to drop the kids off and as we were heading out, we see Tylers hat was in the car so I tell David to go leave it with his mom. He was taking a little longer than expected so i head in and hear Tyler crying. Apparently he decided to follow us out and tripped and fell and cut his lip WIDE open in the process. Davids dad came up and said he might need stitches. WHAT!!! and why david didnt come running out to get me when he saw Tyler crying with blood all over instead of cleaning it up so I wouldnt see it if I walked in, thats another story :)
So my poor child is so sad but he is a trooper, after a drink and a banana he calms down, the wound doesnt look that bad and he goes to grandma. We say bye and head to the mountains.
We had a great time, it was cold, i was scared, but i got over it and had a great time.
So back to the pictures, that is the mark on the bottom of his lip, it is probably all healed by now, but it was weird, when i first saw it, it looked like he already got stitches because it was a perfect, i mean perfect X under his lip, it was weird, but yeah so hes fine and we're very grateful!

This was funny. Every time Tyler saw Paola, he would run to her and give her a big hug and want her to hold him constantly....does that sound familiar, yeah, thats what he does with my MOM, crazy huh, we think he thought Paola was my mom. When Laura and Paola came in on Sunday, Laura came in first, Paola followed and Tyler started running toward them and then jumped straight into Paola arms, totally skipping Laura, it gave us all a big laugh. But yeah we couldnt believe how he was acting, luckily Paola didnt mind holding him and playing with him all weekend, Thank you!

Tyler and Paola aka Grandma for the day

Pictures....yeah they werent all ready...

As I said Kyle brought this new wii game, you had to do some crazy things with the remote, it was very involved. You would need to stand up, twist, hold the remote to your nose and oh watch out if you got the "big cheese" who knows what you would end up doing, lol!

Kyle

Anthony

Lindsey

We had ice cream and brownies for dessert. I usually dont make dessert for our meals, so this was a treat, especially for Tyler

ummmm....I'll say he really liked it!

I guess Kyle did too!
What do you expect from a poor, starving for home cooked meals, college student getting ready to leave for his mission, I'd look this excited too :)

Hailey loved having everyone over, she especially LOVED Laura. Laura would take her and talk to her and Hailey could not stop giggling everytime she had her, it was very cute!
p.s. thanks for holding her so much she loved it!

Our smiley baby Hailey

Tyler and Uncle Kyle

First attempt........

Second attempt.....
YAY we got everyone looking!
Back: Wendy, Anthony, Paola, Laura, Lindsey, Hailey & David
Couch: Andy, Tyler, Roland, Andrea, Paul (Andrea's Twin) Kyle & we cant forget Precious

Thanks guys for coming, we love spending time with all of you, come again any time! We'll have to do it again very soon!

Friday Night & Saturday in St George

So after Kyles call, we all ate pizza, we put our kids to bed and then we headed to Rocio's house for some games. Thanks mom for babysitting! We started out playing Mafia and then we finished the night with imagineiff. We talked a bit and went home at about 1. At my moms house, me, kyle and my mom stayed up til about 4 in the morning talking, about everything and anything and a lot about Kyle going on his mission. Then Saturday morning came along, we were able to go to Roberts endownment session, thanks to my mom babysitting again! Thanks! It was great to be with everyone and share that moment. After the temple we picked up the kids and my mom and went to Rocio's for some lunch. After some really good croissant sandwiches we decided to go to Annies parents house and hang out. Thanks to Rocio and mom AGAIN! David and I were able to go as well. The guys played some basketball while the girls relaxed by the pool and talked. It was about 75 degrees out, sun beaming all day long! The boys finish up playing bball and wanted to cool off. One by one they jumped in the pool, even though it was so hot out, the pool was still pretty chilly, but i guess it was refreshing to them. Here are some pics from the pool....

Erik and Roland takin a jump

You can tell from David how cold it was when they got out

More jumping....

Roland, Dave, Erik and Kyle

nice jumps guys!

Luckily no one jumped on each other

Anthony was the only guy that didnt go in, I guess he was expecting some nice warm bath water like the pools in Miami, which this one definitely was NOT, lol, maybe next time

Us girls just lounging by the pool getting some sun, which we DID!
Carly, Lindsey, Andrea and Annie

COLD, WET GUYS - TOWELS=

Drying off the old fashion way :) look closely and you will see spiderman joined in on the fun
Kyle, David, Robert, Erik and Roland

David and Lindsey

Roland & Andrea, Erik & Annie and Carly & Kyle

After getting dried off, we played some pickle ball. Annie & Erik vs. Andrea & Roland, Annie and Erik took that game and then Carly & Kyle vs. David and I. It was neck and neck the whole time but we pulled out a victory with a 12 to 10 score. Good game!
So back to Rocio to get the kids. Come to find out, Tyler didnt get a nap, go figure :) (its okay mom, I'm glad you guys spent time together!), so we now head to Golden Corral for some dinner. Great food and great company is always fun! Back to my moms to put the kids to bed. David went to play tennis with Roland and Adrian; Kyle, Dad, Carly and Kevin went bowling and me and mom did crossword puzzles! Fun around every corner! Thanks for hanging out! We did miss Brittney, Dan and Kate but Sunday they were coming to celebrate Easter with us!
So....more pics to come of course!